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The last time Torben Hersborg appeared in court, the British justice system didn't even have a name for his twisted crimes.

Meta has appointed Shengjia Zhao as Chief Scientist of its new Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL). Zhao was a former OpenAI researcher known for his work on ChatGPT, GPT-4, and the company's first AI reasoning model, o1. "I'm excited to share that Shengjia Zhao will be the Chief Scientist of Meta Superintelligence Labs," Zuckerberg said in a post on Threads Friday. "Shengjia co-founded the new lab and has been our lead scientist from day one. Now that our recruiting is going well and our team is coming together, we have decided to formalize his leadership role." TechCrunch reports: Zhao will set a research agenda for MSL under the leadership of Alexandr Wang, the former CEO of Scale AI who was recently hired to lead the new unit. Wang, who does not have a research background, was viewed as a somewhat unconventional choice to lead an AI lab. The addition of Zhao, who is a reputable research leader known for developing frontier AI models, rounds out the leadership team. To further fill out the unit, Meta has hired several high-level researchers from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Safe Superintelligence, Apple, and Anthropic, as well as pulling researchers from Meta's existing Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) lab and generative AI unit. Zuckerberg notes in his post that Zhao has pioneered several breakthroughs, including a "new scaling paradigm." The Meta CEO is likely referencing Zhao's work on OpenAI's reasoning model, o1, in which he is listed as a foundational contributor alongside OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever. Meta currently doesn't offer a competitor to o1, so AI reasoning models are a key area of focus for MSL. The Information reported in June that Zhao would be joining Meta Superintelligence Labs, alongside three other influential OpenAI researchers -- Jiahui Yu, Shuchao Bi, and Hongyu Ren. Meta has also recruited Trapit Bansal, another OpenAI researcher who worked on AI reasoning models with Zhao, as well as three employees from OpenAI's Zurich office who worked on multimodality.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Horrific new blunders in the operation to identify and repatriate victims of the Air India disaster emerged last night as the grim scandal began to widen.

Harrowing figures show London is at the centre of the snatching chaos, with one in every six phones nabbed across the capital, according to American insurance firm, SquareTrade.

Trump's five-day trip to Scotland will see him celebrating the opening of his new 18-hole course in Aberdeen, while he continues to press to bring the British Open to his Turnberry course.

It is considered one of New York's most coveted dining destinations, where celebrities and the Big Apple's elite sip on $60 martinis in dimly-lit booths.

So ends Sir Keir Starmer's first parliamentary year; not with a bang but a whimper. As the PM drifts rudderless in a sea of troubles, those happy days of July 2024 must seem like some faraway dream.

Pubs have been given the extension to stay open late after England's women have taken on Spain in Switzerland in the final of this year's European Championships.

The Lord of Dance's political ambitions were revealed during a High Court planning battle concerning his Castlehyde mansion in Cork.

Sick leave in the Whitehall blob is surging under Labour, analysis suggests. Absence rates jumped by up to 26 per cent in major government departments last year.

Award-winning actor Billy Porter stirred controversy with a provocative statement while promoting his new leading role on Broadway.

The future queen of Norway, 21, is 'excited' to become a student and is 'looking forward to starting my studies at the University of Sydney', she said in a statement shared on Instagram.

A recent Echelon firmware update has effectively bricked offline functionality for its smart gym equipment, cutting off compatibility with popular third-party apps like QZ and forcing users to connect to Echelon's servers -- even just to view workout stats. Ars Technica reports: As explained in a Tuesday blog post by Roberto Viola, who develops the "QZ (qdomyos-zwift)" app that connects Echelon machines to third-party fitness platforms, like Peloton, Strava, and Apple HealthKit, the firmware update forces Echelon machines to connect to Echelon's servers in order to work properly. A user online reported that as a result of updating his machine, it is no longer syncing with apps like QZ, and he is unable to view his machine's exercise metrics in the Echelon app without an Internet connection. Affected Echelon machines reportedly only have full functionality, including the ability to share real-time metrics, if a user has the Echelon app active and if the machine is able to reach Echelon's servers. Viola wrote: "On startup, the device must log in to Echelon's servers. The server sends back a temporary, rotating unlock key. Without this handshake, the device is completely bricked -- no manual workout, no Bluetooth pairing, no nothing." Because updated Echelon machines now require a connection to Echelon servers for some basic functionality, users are unable to use their equipment and understand, for example, how fast they're going without an Internet connection. If Echelon were to ever go out of business, the gym equipment would, essentially, get bricked. Viola told Ars Technica that he first started hearing about problems with QZ, which launched in 2020, at the end of 2024 from treadmill owners. He said a firmware update appears to have rolled out this month on Echelon bikes that bricks QZ functionality. In his blog, Viola urged Echelon to let its machines send encrypted data to another device, like a phone or a tablet, without the Internet. He wrote: "Users bought the bike; they should be allowed to use it with or without Echelon's services."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Ozzy Osbourne's final months were filmed for a BBC documentary, his son Jack has revealed.

The joy of school holidays turns quickly to despair at home when their need to let off steam leads to graffiti on the walls, food blocking the washing machine and toys stuck in the U-bend.

She wasn't behind the camera, but the Princess of Wales was instrumental in shooting the official portraits from King Charles's Coronation.

There was a time when Martine McCutcheon had the world at her feet. So what has happened to the actress we know as the loveable, straight-talking tea lady Natalie from Love Actually?

Ioan Gruffudd was the very picture of paternal joy and delight this week, as he climbed the steps of the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in Los Angeles, his new pregnant wife Bianca at his side.

The President's MAGA base of true believers refuses to accept the official reasons why the files on the late notorious paedophile can't be made public.

A source close to Hulk Hogan's family revealed to Daily Mail that the aging wrestling star knew he was suffering myriad health problems before his passing on Thursday aged 71.