Trump evicts highest-ranking woman in the military from her home on short notice after her ouster over obsession with DEI policies
President Donald Trump gave former Coast Guard commandant Adm. Linda Fagan just three hours to leave her home on Tuesday following her ouster over her support for DEI policies.
Paedophile, 54, who plied schoolgirl, 10, with booze and drugs before grooming her for sex with other men is jailed for 20 years
Yusuf Kayat, 54, sexually abused the primary school child more than 30 years ago between 1989 and 1992. He would drive her around in his car and 'pass him off' to his mates in a derelict building.
The car brands with the most loyal customers: Tesla ranks second overall in huge poll of UK drivers - how does your manufacturer perform?
Three in five UK drivers stick with their existing brand when it comes time to change their cars - and a new report reveals which manufacturers have the best customer retention.
The Enshittification Hall of Shame
In 2022, writer and activist Cory Doctorow coined the term "enshittification" to describe the gradual deterioration of a service or product. The term's prevalence has increased to the point that it was the National Dictionary of Australia's word of the year last year. The editors at Ars Technica, having "covered a lot of things that have been enshittified," decided to highlight some of the worst examples the've come across. Here's a summary of each thing mentioned in their report: Smart TVs: Evolved into data-collecting billboards, prioritizing advertising and user tracking over user experience and privacy. Features like convenient input buttons are sacrificed for pushing ads and webOS apps. "This is all likely to get worse as TV companies target software, tracking, and ad sales as ways to monetize customers after their TV purchases -- even at the cost of customer convenience and privacy," writes Scharon Harding. "When budget brands like Roku are selling TV sets at a loss, you know something's up."
Google's Voice Assistant (e.g., Nest Hubs): Functionality has degraded over time, with previously working features becoming unreliable. Users report frequent misunderstandings and unresponsiveness. "I'm fine just saying it now: Google Assistant is worse now than it was soon after it started," writes Kevin Purdy. "Even if Google is turning its entire supertanker toward AI now, it's not clear why 'Start my morning routine,' 'Turn on the garage lights,' and 'Set an alarm for 8 pm' had to suffer."
Portable Document Format (PDF): While initially useful for cross-platform document sharing and preserving formatting, PDFs have become bloated and problematic. Copying text, especially from academic journals, is often garbled or impossible. "Apple, which had given the PDF a reprieve, has now killed its main selling point," writes John Timmer. "Because Apple has added OCR to the MacOS image display system, I can get more reliable results by screenshotting the PDF and then copying the text out of that. This is the true mark of its enshittification: I now wish the journals would just give me a giant PNG."
Televised Sports (specifically cycling and Formula 1): Streaming services have consolidated, leading to significantly increased costs for viewers. Previously affordable and comprehensive options have been replaced by expensive bundles across multiple platforms. "Formula 1 racing has largely gone behind paywalls, and viewership is down significantly over the last 15 years," writes Eric Berger. "Major US sports such as professional and college football had largely been exempt, but even that is now changing, with NFL games being shown on Peacock, Amazon Prime, and Netflix. None of this helps viewers. It enshittifies the experience for us in the name of corporate greed."
Google Search: AI overviews often bury relevant search results under lengthy, sometimes inaccurate AI-generated content. This makes finding specific information, especially primary source documents, more difficult. "Google, like many big tech companies, expects AI to revolutionize search and is seemingly intent on ignoring any criticism of that idea," writes Ashley Belanger.
Email AI Tools (e.g., Gemini in Gmail): Intrusive and difficult to disable, these tools offer questionable value due to their potential for factual inaccuracies. Users report being unable to fully opt-out. "Gmail won't take no for an answer," writes Dan Goodin. "It keeps asking me if I want to use Google's Gemini AI tool to summarize emails or draft responses. As the disclaimer at the bottom of the Gemini tool indicates, I can't count on the output being factual, so no, I definitely don't want it."
Windows: While many complaints about Windows 11 originated with Windows 10, the newer version continues the trend of unwanted features, forced updates, and telemetry data collection. Bugs and performance issues also plague the operating system. "... it sure is easy to resent Windows 11 these days, between the well-documented annoyances, the constant drumbeat of AI stuff (some of it gated to pricey new PCs), and a batch of weird bugs that mostly seem to be related to the under-the-hood overhauls in October's Windows 11 24H2 update," writes Andrew Cunningham. "That list includes broken updates for some users, inoperable scanners, and a few unplayable games. With every release, the list of things you need to do to get rid of and turn off the most annoying stuff gets a little longer."
Web Discourse: The rapid spread of memes, trends, and corporate jargon on social media has led to a homogenization of online communication, making it difficult to distinguish original content and creating a sense of constant noise. "[T]he enshittifcation of social media, particularly due to its speed and virality, has led to millions vying for their moment in the sun, and all I see is a constant glare that makes everything look indistinguishable," writes Jacob May. "No wonder some companies think AI is the future."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Class war stoked by Labour erupts in Brighton: Radical council plan accused of targeting middle-class parents by making their children miss out on nearby schools so poorer kids can attend instead
Brighton and Hove City Council in East Sussex is planning to reduce the intake at three schools, bring in an open admission policy and change catchment areas.
Gang of drug runners are busted at Manchester Airport...after being ordered by crime bosses to hide in toilets and wait for £8million of cocaine
The five men and two women flew to Manchester simultaneously from three different US cities with instructions to pick up bags arriving at the airport on a flight from Cancun in Mexico
Turkish judge orders new probe into hotel lift shaft death of British tourist, 20, amid claims another guest was 'beaten up by security in the basement'
Tyler Kerry, 20, from Pitsea, Essex, was on his first holiday abroad when he was found fatally injured at the Trendy Lara hotel in Kundu, near Antalya, in November 2024.
Britain hardens opposition to Donald Trump's plan to expel Palestinians from Gaza so US can 'take over' and turn it into rich tourist playground
Foreign Office minister Anneliese Dodds said the UK would oppose any effort to move Palestinians in Gaza to neighbouring Arab states against their will.
Elderly couple forced to sleep in a tent as decade-long planning row left them homeless says saga has cost them £100,000 as they face fresh delay
Eric Goodman and partner Penelope Blake are locked in a battle to be allowed to live in a wooden lodge called the Muster that they built in the village of Itteringham, Norfolk.
Rapper 'is linked by DNA to London drive-by shooting despite Instagram video showing him partying with 50 Cent in Dubai'
Daniel Offei-Ntow, 27, was shot and severely injured as he sat in his car in Notting Hill early on November 20, 2023, the Old Bailey heard.
Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, is ethereal in white as she holds hands with Prince Edward in Nepal
Prince Edward and Sophie, who arrived to the country on Tuesday, ready for a six-day trip, appeared loved up as they held hands during a visit to the National Botanic Garden in Godawari
Terrifying moment car hurtled past row of shops seconds before crashing into a wall and killing four university students who were returning from a night out
University of Essex students Makyle Bayley, 22, Eva Darold-Tchikaya, 21, Anthony Junior 'TJ' Hibbert, 24, and Daljang 'DJ' Wol, 22, died in a horror crash in the early hours of Saturday.
Constipated? Experts say you could be sleeping in the wrong position - here's how to fix it
From constipation, cold and flu and even kidney stones, experts reveal the recommended sleeping positions for a host of health problems as well as the ones to avoid.
50 Cent brutally trolls Irv Gotti with social media post after music producer died aged 54
The rapper, who has been caught up in a bitter feud with Gotti for over 20 years, posted a tasteless tribute to the entertainment executive after he died aged 54.
Travis Kelce's blistering response when asked about Kanye West after he attempted photo with Taylor Swift at Grammys
Pop superstar Taylor Swift and rapper Kanye West have not been on the best of terms over the years and it appears that Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce is on her side.
Push to ban DeepSeek from all US government-owned devices amid fears Chinese chatbot could collect vital data
A new bill aims to ban DeepSeek from all US government-owned devices amid fears the AI chatbot may be collecting vital data and sending it to servers owned by the Chinese government.
Family's 'dream home' destroyed after horror £1,500 e-scooter fire that also killed pet dog - as spate of deadly lithium battery blazes blight the capital
Flames tore through the three-bed house in West Hampstead, northwest London, on Monday to completely gut the property and turn the family of three's belongings into ashes.
New warehouses approved for Watford Business Park
An existing building from 1958 will be demolished as part of the plans
Ricky Gervais risks a slap from Will Smith as he mocks his son Jaden's viral Grammys look with cheeky reference to THAT Jada Pinkett Oscars joke - as fans declare he's 'won the Internet'
The comedian, 63, has never been shy at making brutal take-downs of A-list stars and took the opportunity to mock both Will's son and his wife on X on Monday.
All the damning moments CBS edited out of Kamala Harris controversial 60 Minutes interview
Donald Trump claimed the sit-down had been rigged - and the unearthed version now shows that CBS only aired 20 minutes of Kamala Harris talking, compared to 60 minutes that were filmed.