Alphabet has lined up banks to sell a rare 100-year bondstepping up a borrowing spree by Big Tech companies racing to fund their vast investments in AI this year. From a report: The so-called century bond will form part of a debut sterling issuance this week by Google's parent companyaccording to people familiar with the matter. Alphabet was also selling $15bn of dollar bonds on Monday and lining up a Swiss franc bond salethe people said.

Century bonds -- long-term borrowing at its most extreme -- are highly unusualalthough a flurry were sold during the period of very low interest rates that followed the financial crisisincluding by governments such as Austria and Argentina. The University of OxfordEDF and the Wellcome Trust -- the most recent in 2018 -- are the only issuers to have previously tapped the sterling century market.

Such sales are even rarer in the tech sectorwith most of the industry's biggest groups issuing up to 40 yearsalthough IBM sold a 100-year bond back in 1996. Big Tech companies and their suppliers are expected to invest almost $700bn in AI infrastructure this year and are increasingly turning to the debt markets to finance the giant data centre build-out. Michael Burrywriting on Substack: Alphabet looking to issue a 100-year bond. Last time this happened in tech was Motorola in 1997which was the last year Motorola was considered a big deal.

At the start of 1997Motorola was a top 25 market cap and top 25 revenue corporation in America. Never again. The Motorola corporate brand in 1997 was ranked #1 in the USahead of Microsoft. In 1998Nokia overtook Motorola in cell phonesand after the iPhone it fell out of the consumer eye. Today Motorola is the 232nd largest market cap with only $11 billion in sales.

Discord said today it's rolling out age verification on its platform globally starting next monthwhen it will automatically set all users' accounts to a "teen-appropriate" experience unless they demonstrate that they're adults. From a report: Users who aren't verified as adults will not be able to access age-restricted servers and channelswon't be able to speak in Discord's livestream-like "stage" channelsand will see content filters for any content Discord detects as graphic or sensitive. They will also get warning prompts for friend requests from potentially unfamiliar usersand DMs from unfamiliar users will be automatically filtered into a separate inbox.

[...] A government ID might still be required for age verification in its global rollout. According to Discordto remove the new "teen-by-default" changes and limitations"users can choose to use facial age estimation or submit a form of identification to [Discord's] vendor partnerswith more options coming in the future." The first option uses AI to analyze a user's video selfiewhich Discord says never leaves the user's device. If the age group estimate (teen or adult) from the selfie is incorrectusers can appeal it or verify with a photo of an identity document instead. That document will be verified by a third party vendorbut Discord says the images of those documents "are deleted quickly -- in most casesimmediately after age confirmation."

"How Chinese is your car?" asks the Wall Street Journal. "Automakers are racing to work it out." Modern cars are packed with internet-connected widgetsmany of them containing Chinese technology. Nowthe car industry is scrambling to root out that tech ahead of a looming deadlinea test case for America's ability to decouple from Chinese supply chains. New U.S. rules will soon ban Chinese software in vehicle systems that connect to the cloudpart of an effort to prevent camerasmicrophones and GPS tracking in cars from being exploited by foreign adversaries.

The move is "one of the most consequential and complex auto regulations in decades," according to Hilary Cainhead of policy at trade group the Alliance for Automotive Innovation. "It requires a deep examination of supply chains and aggressive compliance timelines."

Carmakers will need to attest to the U.S. government thatas of March 17core elements of their products don't contain code that was written in China or by a Chinese company. The rule also covers software for advanced autonomous driving and will be extended to connectivity hardware starting in 2029. Connected cars made by Chinese or China-controlled companies are also bannedwherever their software comes from...

The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Securitywhich introduced the connected-vehicle ruleis also allowing the use of Chinese code that is transferred to a non-Chinese entity before March 17. That carve-out has sparked a rush of corporate restructuringaccording to Matt Wyckhousechief executive of cybersecurity firm Finite State. Global suppliers are relocating China-based software teamswhile Chinese companies are seeking new owners for operations in the West.
Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 for sharing the article.

It's the first "AI" Super Bowlargues the tech/business writer at Slatewith AI company advertisements taking center stageeven while consumers insist to surveyors that they're "mostly negative" about AI-generated ads.

Last year AI companies spent over $1.7 billion on AI-related adsnotes the Washington Postadding the blitz this year will be "inescapable" — even while surveys show Americans "doubt the technology is good for them or the world..."

Slate wonders if that means history will repeat itself... The sheer saturation of new A.I. gambitsadded to the mismatch with consumer prioritiesgives this year's NFL showcase the sector-specific recession-indicator vibes that have defined Super Bowls of the past. 2022 was a pride-cometh-before-the-fall event for the cryptocurrency bubblewhich collapsed in such spectacular fashion later that year — thanks largely to Super Bowl ad client Sam Bankman-Fried — that none of its major brands have ever returned to the broadcast. (... the coins themselves are once again crashinghard.) Mortgage lender Ameriquest was as conspicuous a presence in the mid-2000s Super Bowls as it was an absence in the later aughtshaving folded in 2007 when the risky subprime loans it specialized in helped kick off the financial crisis. And then there were all those bowl-game commercials for websites like Pets.com and Computer.com in 2000when the dot-com rush brought attention to a slew of digital startups that went bust with the bubble.

Does this Super Bowl's record-breaking A.I. ad splurge also portend a coming pop? Look at the business environment: The biggest names in the industry are swapping unimaginable stacks of cash exclusively with one another. One firm's stock price depends on another firm's projectionswhich depend on another contractor's successes. Necessary infrastructure is meeting resistanceand all-around investment in these projects is riskier than ever. And yetthe sector is still willing to break the bank for the Super Bowl — even thoughtime and againwe've already seen how this particular game plays out.
People are using AI apps. And Meta has aired an ad where a man in rural New Mexico "says he landed a good job in his hometown at a Meta data center," notes the Washington Post. "It's interspersed with scenes from a rodeo and other folksy tropesin one of . The TV commercial (and a similar one set in Iowa)aired in WashingtonD.C.and a handful of other communitiessuggesting it's aimed at convincing U.S. elected officials that AI brings job opportunities.

But the Post argues the AI industry "is selling a vision of the future that Americans don't like." And they offer cite Allen Adamsona brand strategist and co-founder of marketing firm Metaforcewho says the perennial question about advertising is whether it can fix bad vibes about a product.

"The answer since the dawn of marketing and advertising is no."

An anonymous reader shared this report from Bloomberg: An Asian cyber-espionage group has spent the past year breaking into computer systems belonging to governments and critical infrastructure organizations in more than 37 countriesaccording to the cybersecurity firm Palo Alto NetworksInc. The state-aligned attackers have infiltrated networks of 70 organizationsincluding five national law enforcement and border control agenciesaccording to a new research report from the company. They have also breached three ministries of financeone country's parliament and a senior elected official in anotherthe report states. The Santa ClaraCalifornia-based firm declined to identify the hackers' country of origin.

The spying operation was unusually vast and allowed the hackers to hoover up sensitive information in apparent coordination with geopolitical eventssuch as diplomatic missionstrade negotiationspolitical unrest and military actionsaccording to the report. They used that access to spy on emailsfinancial dealings and communications about military and police operationsthe report states. The hackers also stole information about diplomatic issueslurking undetected in some systems for months. "They use highly-targeted and tailored fake emails and knownunpatched security flaws to gain access to these networks," said Pete Renalsdirector of national security programs with Unit 42the threat intelligence division of Palo Alto Networks....

Palo Alto Networks researchers confirmed that the group successfully accessed and exfiltrated sensitive data from some victims' email servers.
Bloomberg writes that according to the cybersecurity firmthis campaign targeted government entities in the Czech Republic and the Ministry of Mines and Energy of Braziland also "likely compromised" a device associated with a facility operated by a joint venture between Venezuela's government and an Asian tech firm.

The cyberattackers are "also suspected of being active in GermanyPolandGreeceItalyCyprusIndonesiaMalaysiaMongoliaPanamaGreece and other countriesaccording to the report."

Fortune reports on "a watershed moment" in American's nuclear power industry: In JanuaryMeta partnered with Gates' TerraPower and Sam Altman-backed Oklo to develop about 4 gigawatts of combined SMR projects — enough to power almost 3 million homes — for "cleanreliable energy" both for Meta's planned Prometheus AI mega campus in Ohio and beyond. Analysts see Meta as the start of more Big Tech nuclear construction deals — not just agreements with existing plants or restarts such as the now-Microsoft-backed Three Mile Island. "That was the first shot across the bow," said Dan Iveshead of tech research for Wedbush Securitiesof the Meta deals. "I would be shocked if every Big Tech company doesn't make some play on nuclear in 2026whether a strategic partnership or acquisitions."

Ives pointed out there are more data centers under construction than there are active data centers in the U.S. "I believe clean energy around nuclear is going to be the answer," he said. "I think 2030 is the key threshold to hit some sort of scale and begin the next nuclear era in the United States." Smaller SMR reactors can be built in as little as three years instead of the decade required for traditional large reactors. And they can be expandedone or two modular reactors at a timeto meet increasingly greater energy demand from 'hyperscalers,' the companies that build and operate data centers. "There's major risk if nuclear doesn't happen," Oklo chairman and CEO Jacob DeWitte told Fortuneciting the need for emission-free power and consistent baseload electricity to meet skyrocketing demand. "The hyperscalersas the ultimate consumers of power areare looking at the space and seeing that the market is real. They can play a major role in helping make that happen," DeWitte saidspeaking in his fast-talkingSilicon Valley startup mode.

Neocities founder Kyle Drake has spent weeks trapped in Microsoft's automated support loop after discovering that Bing quietly blocked all 1.5 million websites hosted on his platforma free web-hosting service that has kept the spirit of 1990s GeoCities alive since 2013.

Drake first noticed the issue last summer and thought it was resolvedbut a second complete block went into effect in Januarycratering Bing traffic from roughly half a million daily visitors to zero. He submitted nearly a dozen tickets through Bing's webmaster tools but could not get past the AI chatbot to reach a human. After Ars Technica contacted Microsoftthe company restored the Neocities front page within 24 hours but most subdomains remain blocked. Microsoft cited policy violations related to low-quality content yet declined to identify the offending sites or work directly with Drake to fix the problem.

Waymo's robotaxis have racked up at least 24 safety violations involving school buses in Austin since the start of the 2025 school yearand a voluntary software recall the company issued in December after a federal investigation has not fixed the problem.

Austin Independent School District initially reported at least 19 incidents of Waymo vehicles failing to stop for buses during loading and unloading -- illegal in all 50 states -- prompting NHTSA to open a probe. At least four more violations have occurred since the software updateincluding a January 19th incident where a robotaxi drove past a bus as children waited to cross the street and the stop arm was extended.

Waymo also acknowledged that one of its vehicles struck a child outside a Santa Monica elementary school on January 23rdcausing minor injuries. Austin ISD has asked Waymo to stop operating near schools during bus hours until the issue is resolved. Waymo refused. Three federal investigations have been opened in three months.

An anonymous reader shares a report: AmazonGoogleand Microsoft each reported hundreds of billions in RPO (remaining performance obligations) -- signed contracts for cloud computing services that can't yet be filled and haven't yet hit the books. Collectivelythe big three cloud providers reported a $1.1 trillion backlog of revenue.

Valve has pushed back the launch of its Steam MachineSteam Frame and Steam Controller hardware from its original Q1 2026 window to a vaguer "first half of the year" targetblaming the ongoing memory and storage shortage that has been squeezing the tech industry.

The company said in a post today that rising component prices and limited availability forced it to revisit both its shipping schedule and pricing plans. Valve had previously indicated the Steam Machine would be priced at the entry level of the PC space.

BMW may have retreated from its controversial plan to charge monthly fees for heated seatsbut the German automaker is pressing ahead with subscription-based vehicle features through its ConnectedDrive platform.

A company spokesperson told The Drive that BMW "remains fully committed" to ConnectedDrive as part of its global aftersales strategy. Features requiring data connectivity will likely carry recurring fees.

Google's much-anticipated plan to merge Android and ChromeOS into a single operating system called Aluminium is shaping up to be a drawn-outcomplicated transition that could leave existing Chromebook users behindaccording to previously unreported court documents in the Google search antitrust case.

The new OS won't be compatible with all existing Chromebook hardwareand Google will be forced to maintain ChromeOS through at least 2033 to honor its 10-year support commitment to current users -- meaning two parallel operating systems running for years.

The timeline itself is messier than Google has let on publiclythe filings suggest. Sameer SamatGoogle's head of Androidcalled the merger "something we're super excited about for next year" last Septemberbut court filings describe the "fastest path" to market as offering Aluminium to "commercial trusted testers" in late 2026 before a full release in 2028.

Enterprise and education customers -- the segments where Chromebooks currently dominate -- are slated for 2028 as well. Columbia computer science professor Jason Niehwho interviewed Google engineers as a witness in the casetestified that Aluminium requires a heavier software stack and more powerful hardware to run.

Adobe is no longer planning to discontinue Adobe Animate on March 1st. From a report: In an FAQthe company now says that Animate will now be in maintenance mode and that it has "no plans toâdiscontinue or remove access" to the app.

Animate will still receive "ongoing security and bug fixes" and will still be available for "both new and existing users," but it won't get new features. Many creators expressed frustration after Adobe's original discontinuation announcement from earlier this weekand the application is still used by creators like David Firththe person behind the animated web series Salad Fingers. NowAdobe says that "We are committed to ensuring Animate usersâalways have access to their content regardless of the state of development of the application."

Walmart's market cap surpassed $1 trillion on Tuesdayputting the largest U.S. retail chain in an exclusive club dominated by tech groups. Bloomberg adds: The BentonvilleArkansas-based chain -- a longtime favorite of bargain-hunting consumers -- has flexed its massive scale and supplier network to keep prices low and grab market share across the income spectrum. While Walmart has maintained its appeal to households looking for valueits online offerings are drawing newwealthier shoppers seeking convenience.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Google Home usersyour long nightmare is over. The platform has finally added support for buttons. The release notes for a February 2 update state that several new starter conditions for automations are now availableincluding "Switch or button pressed."

Smart buttons are physicalprogrammable switches that you can press to trigger automations or control devices in your smart homesuch as turning lights on or offopening and closing shadesrunning a Good Night sceneor starting a robot vacuum. A great alternative to voice and app control when you want to control multiple devicessmart buttons are often wireless and generally have several ways to press them: single pressdouble pressand long pressmeaning one button can do multiple things.