Cape Town and Tokyo rank among top-rated value holidays... but British family-favourite clinches top spot
The region - favoured by Holly Willoughby, Wayne Rooney and former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich - has taken top spot in a list of affordable destinations.
Trump says 'my ear is still throbbing' during speech to Justice Department eight months after being shot
Donald Trump said that 'my ear is still throbbing' eight months after the assassination attempt against him during his speech to the Department of Justice on Friday.
Google Is Officially Replacing Assistant With Gemini
Google announced today that Gemini will replace Google Assistant on Android phones later in 2025. "[T]he classic Google Assistant will no longer be accessible on most mobile devices or available for new downloads on mobile app stores," says Google in a blog post. "Additionally, we'll be upgrading tablets, cars and devices that connect to your phone, such as headphones and watches, to Gemini. We're also bringing a new experience, powered by Gemini, to home devices like speakers, displays and TVs." 9to5Google reports: There will be an exception for phones running Android 9 or earlier and don't have at least 2 GB of RAM, with the existing Assistant experience remaining in place for those users. Google replacing Assistant follows new Android phones, including Pixel, Samsung, OnePlus, and Motorola, launched in the past year making Gemini the default experience. Meanwhile, the company says "millions of people have already made the switch."
Before Assistant's sunset, Google is "continuing to focus on improving the quality of the day-to-day Gemini experience, especially for those who have come to rely on Google Assistant." In winding down Google Assistant, the company notes how "natural language processing and voice recognition technology unlocked a more natural way to get help from Google" in 2016.
Further reading: Google's Gemini AI Can Now See Your Search History
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Doctors no longer against assisted dying, ending two-decade opposition
The change comes as MPs in England and Wales consider legislation which could see assisted dying legalised in the two nations.
Debt-ridden Labour council and militant binmen who have transformed Britain's second city into a rat infested rubbish tip
I'm too scared to let my grandchildren play in the garden anymore,' warns elderly Kolpona Begum from the relative safety of her east Birmingham front porch.
DAILY MAIL COMMENT: This downturn is of Labour's own making
DAILY MAIL COMMENT: It's an old political maxim that when you're stuck in a mess of your own making the best thing to do is create a diversion.
Geri Halliwell oozes elegance in a white turtle neck jumper and trousers as she enjoys the last day of the races at Cheltenham Festival
Geri Halliwell oozed elegance in a white turtle neck jumper and trousers as she enjoyed the last day of the races at Cheltenham Festival on Friday.
Children's 'disgust' at judge for allowing man who is not their father and last saw them as newborns to be removed from their birth certificates after 15 years of child maintenance
The man, known only as 'Mr J', won a court battle this month to stop a monthly £240 child maintenance payment - after a judge found his name was wrongly put on their birth certificates.
Jack Fincham tells Danny Dyer to stop hurling 'backhanded digs' after the actor claimed the Love Island star 'wasn't what he was on telly'
The long-running feud between the two men has reignited, six years after Jack's split from Dani Dyer.
Everything You Say To Your Echo Will Be Sent To Amazon Starting On March 28
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: In an email sent to customers today, Amazon said that Echo users will no longer be able to set their devices to process Alexa requests locally and, therefore, avoid sending voice recordings to Amazon's cloud. Amazon apparently sent the email to users with "Do Not Send Voice Recordings" enabled on their Echo. Starting on March 28, recordings of everything spoken to the Alexa living in Echo speakers and smart displays will automatically be sent to Amazon and processed in the cloud.
Attempting to rationalize the change, Amazon's email said: "As we continue to expand Alexa's capabilities with generative AI features that rely on the processing power of Amazon's secure cloud, we have decided to no longer support this feature." One of the most marketed features of Alexa+ is its more advanced ability to recognize who is speaking to it, a feature known as Alexa Voice ID. To accommodate this feature, Amazon is eliminating a privacy-focused capability for all Echo users, even those who aren't interested in the subscription-based version of Alexa or want to use Alexa+ but not its ability to recognize different voices.
[...] Amazon said in its email today that by default, it will delete recordings of users' Alexa requests after processing. However, anyone with their Echo device set to "Don't save recordings" will see their already-purchased devices' Voice ID feature bricked. Voice ID enables Alexa to do things like share user-specified calendar events, reminders, music, and more. Previously, Amazon has said that "if you choose not to save any voice recordings, Voice ID may not work." As of March 28, broken Voice ID is a guarantee for people who don't let Amazon store their voice recordings. Amazon's email continues: "Alexa voice requests are always encrypted in transit to Amazon's secure cloud, which was designed with layers of security protections to keep customer information safe. Customers can continue to choose from a robust set of controls by visiting the Alexa Privacy dashboard online or navigating to More - Alexa Privacy in the Alexa app."
Further reading: Google's Gemini AI Can Now See Your Search History
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Nine in ten headteachers had pupils skip classes for holidays last year, with absence trend only getting worse
Headteachers say there has been a change in societal attitudes to taking children out of classes since the Covid pandemic hit five years ago, with the travel industry being urged to address holiday costs.
As many as 30,000 jobs at risk of being cut under Labour's plans to overhaul the NHS, eclipsing 10,000 to be axed with NHS England
The figure is far higher than the 10,000 roles set to be axed by abolishing NHS England.
Most British women will experience years of 'debilitating' period pain... and nearly 80 per cent told it's completely normal by doctors, research shows
A study of 5,000 women found the average sufferer will have three days of pain a month, equivalent to 1,350 over 450 periods.
Getting married? Isn't that what rich people do... Marriage gap between rich and poor widens by record 51 per cent as lower-earning families turn away from tying the knot
Some 71 per cent of children born into high-earning families in 2022 had parents who were married compared with as few as 20 per cent among the lowest earners.
Chancellor blames global turmoil after GDP fell 0.1% in January - with no mention of Labour's tax raid on National Insurance or raft of new workers' rights
The Chancellor declared that 'the world has changed and we are feeling the consequences' after the economy unexpectedly shrank by 0.1 per cent in January.
How just 5 days of stress can permanently change your hair color… after shock Diddy transformation
Disgraced hip hop mogul Diddy shocked a New York City court room on Friday with his stark white hair and beard, displayed to the public only in a sketch.
RAY MASSEY: How about a baguette holder in your new Renault hatchback?
As new Renault 5 hatchbacks have begun rolling off the ship into Britain, I managed to grab one of the very first imported batch for a test on UK roads.
Disturbing new theory of what REALLY killed Gene Hackman as his close friend of more than 20 years points the finger at the actor's 'devoted' wife
The running joke among friends of two-time Academy Award-winning actor Gene Hackman was that they knew who really wore the pants in his house - his devoted, oddly overprotective, wife, Betsy.
Strava Bans User for Running in North Korea
Fitness tracking platform Strava has terminated user accounts for uploading running activities recorded in North Korea, citing U.S. sanctions that prohibit offering online services to the country. A doctoral student researching North Korea had her account deleted after uploading a run recorded during a visit to the country. Another user was banned for a virtual treadmill workout set in North Korea, though their account was later reinstated.
"In accordance with mandatory U.S. sanctions and export controls, Strava does not allow users to post activities occurring there," the company told technology blogger Ray Maker in a statement. Unlike Strava, other major tech platforms including YouTube, Facebook and Apple do not appear to restrict content created in North Korea from being uploaded once users return home.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Mysterious 'Tic Tac UFO' spotted on Mars in NASA photo
An image snapped by NASA's Mars rover has sparked theories of aliens on the Red Planet. The photo shows what many have claimed is a 'Tic Tac UFO.'