British tourist sparks outrage for his scathing attack on Bali as Aussies defend holiday island: 'Worse than a war zone'
A British tourist has sparked backlash for his unfiltered take on Bali.
Fundraiser for Essex knife crime charity welcomes celebrity quiz specialist
A community fundraiser for a charity battling knife crime across Essex attracted support from a celebrity quiz professional.
Three men jailed for handling stolen car parts as they face deportation
He also said there was “nothing to distinguish” between the offenders.
'Inadequate' Essex nursery 'put children at risk' as report says 'safety and welfare are compromised'
A report said the safety and welfare of children were 'compromised'
Visa and Mastercard Are Getting Overwhelmed By Gamer Fury Over Censorship
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Polygon: In the wake of storefronts like Steam and itch.io curbing the sale of adult games, irate fans have started an organized campaign against the payment processors that they believe are responsible for the crackdown. While the movement is still in its early stages, people are mobilizing with an eye toward overwhelming communication lines at companies like Visa and Mastercard in a way that will make the concern impossible to ignore. On social media sites like Reddit and Bluesky, people are urging one another to get into contact with Visa and Mastercard through emails and phone calls. Visa and Mastercard have become the targets of interest because the affected storefronts both say that their decisions around adult games were motivated by the danger of losing the ability to use major payment processors while selling games. These payment processors have their own rules regarding usage, but they are vaguely defined. But losing infrastructure like this could impact audiences well beyond those who care about sex games, spokespeople for Valve and itch.io said.
In a now-deleted post on the Steam subreddit with over 17,000 upvotes, commenters say that customer service representatives for both payment processors seem to already be aware of the problem. Sometimes, the representatives will say that they've gotten multiple calls on the subject of adult game censorship, but that they can't really do anything about it. The folks applying pressure know that someone at a call center has limited power in a scenario like this one; typically, agents are equipped to handle standard customer issues like payment fraud or credit card loss. But the point isn't to enact change through a specific phone call: It's to cause enough disruption that the ruckus theoretically starts costing payment processors money.
"Emails can be ignored, but a very very long queue making it near impossible for other clients to get in will help a lot as well," reads the top comment on the Reddit thread. In that same thread, people say that they're hanging onto the call even if the operator says that they'll experience multi-hour wait times presumably caused by similar calls gunking up the lines. Beyond the stubbornness factor, the tactic is motivated by the knowledge that most customer service systems will put people who opt for call-backs in a lower priority queue, as anyone who opts in likely doesn't have an emergency going on. "Do both," one commenter suggests. "Get the call back, to gum up the call back queue. Then call in again and wait to gum up the live queue." People are also using email to voice their concerns directly to the executives at both Visa and Mastercard, payment processors that activist group Collective Shout called out by name in their open letter requesting that adult games get pulled. Emails are also getting sent to customer service.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Hulk Hogan's devastated son Nick joins WWE stars for emotional tribute to late icon before Monday Night Raw
Nick, 35, looked visibly emotional after standing alongside WWE stars past and present for a 10-bell salute to his father, who died at the age of 71 last week.
Revealed: Woman brutally attacked in horrific Cincinnati brawl is single mom who was attending party
His reveal comes as Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge announced five people have been charged in connection with the melee that took place in the city's downtown Friday.
Tiger Lily Hutchence and her husband Ben Archer dote on their newborn baby as they enjoy a family stroll in London
Michael Hutchence's daughter Tiger Lily Hutchence looked like the proud mother as she took her newborn on a family stroll in London on Monday.
Primark's 'fabulous' but controversial new £20 pet carrier bag
Not everyone thinks they are a good idea!
Microsoft spotlights Apple bug patched in March as SharePoint exploits continue
Look over there!
Amidst its own failure to fix a couple of bugs now under mass exploitation and being abused for espionage, data theft, and ransomware infections, Microsoft said Monday that it spotted a macOS vulnerability some months ago that could allow attackers to steal private data. Redmond reported the bug to Cupertino, which issued a fix back in March.…
Claude Code Users Hit With Weekly Rate Limits
Anthropic will implement weekly rate limits for Claude subscribers starting August 28 to address users running its Claude Code AI programming tool continuously around the clock and to prevent account sharing violations. The new restrictions will affect Pro subscribers paying $20 monthly and Max plan subscribers paying $100 and $200 monthly, though Anthropic estimates fewer than 5% of current users will be impacted based on existing usage patterns.
Pro users will receive 40 to 80 hours of Sonnet 4 access through Claude Code weekly, while $100 Max subscribers get 140 to 280 hours of Sonnet 4 plus 15 to 35 hours of Opus 4. The $200 Max plan provides 240 to 480 hours of Sonnet 4 and 24 to 40 hours of Opus 4. Claude Code has experienced at least seven outages in the past month due to unprecedented demand.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
John Torode's wife Lisa Faulkner breaks her silence after MasterChef star was sacked for 'using a racist slur'
John Torode's wife Lisa Faulkner has broken her silence after the MasterChef star was sacked for allegedly using a racist slur.
Interviewee in Oscar-winning No Other Land documentary is 'shot in the chest by Israeli settler'
Odeh Hadalin, a prominent activist who featured in 'No Other Land', has reportedly been shot by Yinon Levi, who is under sanctions by both the EU and the US.
Celebrity Gladiators line-up revealed - from a viral fitness guru and Olympic boxer to gym-obsessed reality TV heavyweights
The reboot of Gladiators was a mash hit when it aired last year, and a celebrity spin-off was quickly commissioned, featuring comedians and gym lovers.
Parents' terror as nursery goes into lockdown amid quadruple stabbing in London that left two men dead and a third fighting for his life in hospital
Emergency services rushed to Long Lane, Southwark, south London, at around 1pm on Monday after receiving reports of a quadruple stabbing which has since left two men dead.
Southport, one year on: Seaside town still in mourning readies itself for an 'emotional day' as the first anniversary of horror killing spree that left three girls dead, families torn apart and all of Britain in shock arrives
Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, all died and eight more children aged between seven and 13 suffered knife wounds.
Suspected arsonist, 33, is charged with terrorism after being caught lighting fires in Bulgaria - as country battles 160 fires while infernos rage across Europe amid apocalyptic 50.5C heatwave
Shocking footage shows a 33-year-old man in Bulgaria appearing to set fire to a verge of grass next to a pavement, as flames quickly spread up the bank.
Bankrupt Futurehome Suddenly Makes Its Smart Home Hub a Subscription Service
After filing for bankruptcy, Norwegian smart home company Futurehome abruptly transitioned its Smarthub II and other devices to a subscription-only model, disabling essential features unless users pay an annual fee. Needless to say, customers aren't too happy with the move as they bought the hardware expecting lifetime functionality and now find their smart homes significantly less smart. Ars Technica reports: Launched in 2016, Futurehome's Smarthub is marketed as a central hub for controlling Internet-connected devices in smart homes. For years, the Norwegian company sold its products, which also include smart thermostats, smart lighting, and smart fire and carbon monoxide alarms, for a one-time fee that included access to its companion app and cloud platform for control and automation. As of June 26, though, those core features require a 1,188 NOK (about $116.56) annual subscription fee, turning the smart home devices into dumb ones if users don't pay up.
"You lose access to controlling devices, configuring; automations, modes, shortcuts, and energy services," a company FAQ page says. You also can't get support from Futurehome without a subscription. "Most" paid features are inaccessible without a subscription, too, the FAQ from Futurehome, which claims to be in 38,000 households, says. After June 26, customers had four weeks to continue using their devices as normal without a subscription. That grace period recently ended, and users now need a subscription for their smart devices to work properly.
Some users are understandably disheartened about suddenly having to pay a monthly fee to use devices they already purchased. More advanced users have also expressed frustration with Futurehome potentially killing its devices' ability to work by connecting to a local device instead of the cloud. In its FAQ, Futurehome says it "cannot guarantee that there will not be changes in the future" around local API access. Futurehome claims that introducing the subscription fee was a necessary move due to its recent bankruptcy. Its FAQ page reads: "Futurehome AS was declared bankrupt on 20 May 2025. The platform and related services were purchased from the bankruptcy estate -- 50 percent by former Futurehome owners and 50 percent by Sikom Connect -- and are now operated by FHSD Connect AS. To secure stable operation, fund product development, and provide high-quality support, we are introducing a new subscription model."
The company says the subscription fee would allow it to provide customers "better functionality, more security, and higher value in the solution you have already invested in."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Malcolm-Jamal Warner death investigation sparks further confusion as police officer speaks
The investigation into the death of Malcolm-Jamal Warner has taken another shock turn, 18 days after the actor drowned on a Costa Rican beach.
CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews last night's TV: Astonishing reason 4,000 Japanese kamikaze pilots were picked to die during the Second World War
This grimly fascinating documentary tried to explain the mentality, not only of the pilots who flew to certain death, but of the nation that encouraged them to do it.