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Eithne Farry reviews the best short stories out now

NASA is short of options when it comes to alternatives

SpaceX has published an update on its lunar Starship progress, and it still has a long way to go before the impressive-looking renders are translated into reality.…

ArsTechnica: When graphic design platform-provider Canva bought the Affinity image-editing and publishing apps early last year, we had some major questions about how the companies' priorities and products would mesh. How would Canva serve the users who preferred Affinity's perpetually licensed apps to Adobe's subscription-only software suite? And how would Affinity's strong stance against generative AI be reconciled with Canva's embrace of those technologies. This week, Canva gave us definitive answers to all of those questions: a brand-new unified Affinity app that melds the Photo, Designer, and Publisher apps into a single piece of software called "Affinity by Canva" that is free to use with a Canva user account, but which gates generative AI features behind Canva's existing paid subscription plans ($120 a year for individuals). This does seem like mostly good news, in the near to mid term, for existing Affinity app users who admired Affinity's anti-AI stance: All three apps' core features are free to use, and the stuff you're being asked to pay for is stuff you mostly don't want anyway. But it may come as unwelcome news for those who like the predictability of pay-once-own-forever software or are nervous about where Canva might draw the line between "free" and "premium" features down the line. [...] There's now a dedicated page for the older versions of the Affinity apps, and an FAQ at the bottom of that page answers several questions about the fate of those apps. Affinity and Canva say they will continue to keep the activation servers and downloads for all Affinity v1 and v2 apps online for the foreseeable future, giving people who already own the existing apps a way to keep using the versions they're comfortable with. Users can opt to link their Serif Affinity store accounts to their new Canva accounts to access the old downloads without juggling multiple accounts. But those older versions of the apps "won't receive future updates" and won't be able to open files created in the new Canva-branded Affinity app.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The couple, who previously lived in Rye, East Sussex, worked 11-hour days and sought a 'slower pace of life', leading them to move to Chiang Mai, Thailand, in September.

Glamour Magazine named nine transgender activists amoing their Women of the Year at their annual awards ceremony in London on Thursday - prompting criticism from JK Rowling .

Officers were unaware of a prisoner's previous history of self-harm prior to his death, a report has found

A teenager, buried in Italy hundreds of years ago, has developed a distinctive emerald sheen. Experts have finally unveiled the secret behind the unusual individual.

Earlier this month the Daily Mail exclusively revealed that the prsenter, 62, had been removed from her £155,000-a-year job hosting her morning BBC Radio Scotland show.

Harry Potter: The Full-Cast Audio Editions is a collaboration between Audible and Pottermore Publishing, the latter of which is owned by controversial author J. K. Rowling.

A proposed plan to trial free bus passes for under-22s in England will not go ahead as it is 'unaffordable', the government has said.

He also racially abused a stranger who he wrongly believed was an asylum seeker

With the next season of Squid Game: The Challenge just around the corner, Daily Mail set out to see if we would really have what it takes to survive Squid Game.

The King appeared pensive as he drove around Sandringham Estate in Norfolk in a Range Rover on Friday morning. He was accompanied by a royal protection officer.

Rough justice? Redmond out as Germany's openDesk judged a better fit

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is ditching Microsoft Office for a European software alternative amid mounting fears about being reliant on US technology.…

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says the company's latest big round of layoffs -- about 14,000 corporate jobs -- wasn't triggered by financial strain or AI replacing workers, but rather a push to stay nimble. From a report: Speaking with analysts on Amazon's quarterly earnings call Thursday, Jassy said the decision stemmed from a belief that the company had grown too big and too layered. "The announcement that we made a few days ago was not really financially driven, and it's not even really AI-driven -- not right now, at least," he said. "Really, it's culture." Jassy's comments are his first public explanation of the layoffs, which reportedly could ultimately total as many as 30,000 people -- and would be the largest workforce reduction in Amazon's history. The news this week prompted speculation that the cuts were tied to automation or AI-related restructuring. Earlier this year, Jassy wrote in a memo to employees that he expected Amazon's total corporate workforce to shrink over time due to efficiency gains from AI. But his comments Thursday framed the layoffs as a cultural reset aimed at keeping the company fast-moving amid what he called "the technology transformation happening right now."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Bobby Bolton jetted out of the UK to travel around the world two years ago and has visited 41 different countries so far.

TUPE or not TUPE? Not for roles being sent overseas amid a push to meet post-merger rollout targets

Exclusive  VodafoneThree has told some staff their roles may be offshored to India under new contracts with Ericsson and Nokia – and that employment protections won't apply.…

Rajan Naidu, 74, student Niamh Lynch, 23, and Luke Watson, 36, were on trial accused of vandalising the world heritage site to protest against the use of fossil fuels.

He played the role of a jewellery seller - but the owners of the jewellery never got their money

A schoolboy was turned away from a Qatar Airways flight over a 'luggage sticker mark' on his passport - as his mother says the 'stressful' experience almost cost them their £3,000 holiday.