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Received — 4 October 2026 ⏭ Tech

FBI Detains Teenager Linked to Group That Stole Data on 5,000 FBI Employees

✇Slashdot
By: EditorDavid
4 October 2026 at 23:34
PC Magazine reports: In September, the infamous ShinyHunters hacking group claimed it had infiltrated the FBI job recruitment portal, stealing confidential data belonging to 5,000 employees and even changing the FBI logo to its own. The group has been implicated in the hacking of numerous large and high-profile organizations over the years, from the European Commission to Grand Theft Auto-maker Rockstar Games and the software firm behind Canvas. Now, Reuters reports that a suspected leader of the group, Saif al-Din Khader, is being detained in the country of Jordan in the Near East.... He is reportedly still a teenager. "Two sources said that he is helping the FBI and global law enforcement locate the other hackers in the group," reports Reuters: Their theft of what they claim are mountains of data on every single FBI employee has drawn comparisons to the allegedly Chinese-linked intrusion at the US Office of Personnel Management in 2015, which compromised sensitive details on millions of Americans who had been vetted for security clearances. A Reuters analysis of a sample of the data shared by ShinyHunters revealed that the data contained extensive personally identifiable information of FBI employees, sensitive job role information, and psychiatric and medical information. Khader's cooperation with investigators could be critical to helping contain — or at least understand — the damage. One source said he was walking investigators through his electronic devices and digital correspondence to help the FBI locate his cohorts... There have been hints for days that ShinyHunters was experiencing disruption following the announcement of its break-in at the FBI. Beginning on Tuesday, Reuters was unable to reach ShinyHunters through the online account it previously used to communicate with journalists. Then, on Wednesday, the group's dark web site, where it had previously posted threats to the FBI, disappeared. FBI Director Kash Patel had been hinting at more arrests following the announcement that another alleged ShinyHunters member, Pepijn van der Stap, had been detained in the Netherlands... Khader's identity, and his alleged connection to ShinyHunters, have long been known to security researchers. Last year, the independent journalist Brian Krebs reported that Khader was a key member of Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters, an umbrella group of hackers that included ShinyHunters... Law enforcement agencies around the world, including in the United States, have struggled to arrest and prosecute members of related groups such as Lapsus$ or Scattered Spider, Reuters has previously reported. Sources told Reuters that the difficulty stems from the hackers' young ages, which can make prosecutions complex, or because the groups they belong to are so chaotic and informal, or because victims of their extortion attempts often decline to help investigators

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Researcher At Russian Plague Laboratory Dies of 'Unknown' Infection

✇Slashdot
By: EditorDavid
4 October 2026 at 20:51
"Russian health authorities have taken precautionary measures in response to the death of a woman who worked at an anti-plague research facility," reports Axios, "but have not confirmed that she contracted plague." On Sept. 25, 28-year-old Daria Shipilova, who worked at an anti-plague research institute in Russia's Irkutsk region, broke a test tube containing the pneumonic plague pathogen, local reports said. Shipilova was admitted to a hospital on Sept. 29 with symptoms of severe pneumonia and died overnight between Oct. 1 and Oct. 2. After her death, authorities imposed quarantines at several medical facilities in the region and placed nearly 200 people who had come into contact with Shipilova under medical observation. Irkutsk Gov. Igor Kobzev said those being monitored showed no signs of illness and had tested negative... Russia's public health agency said Shipilova had "pneumonia of unknown etiology" and that further testing found no microorganisms linked to her work. The agency said the epidemiological situation in the region remains stable. Plague is a potentially life-threatening bacterial disease but can be cured with antibiotics when treated promptly, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CNN reports that according to Russian state media agency TASS, it remains unclear exactly what was released: The head of the neighboring republic of Buryatia, Alexei Tsydenov, said earlier that the employee — a 28-year old woman — died "possibly from the plague." He also noted that "there are no plague outbreaks" in Buryatia. The governor of Irkutsk, Igor Kobzev, urged calm on Friday, saying that an extraordinary meeting of the regional anti-epidemic commission was held with Russia's chief state doctor. The meeting was in connection with a "suspected case of a particularly dangerous infection affecting a resident of the region," Kobzev said on Telegram.... The infection in the Irkutsk region is "most likely not the plague, but even if confirmed, there will be no spread of this disease," a previous head of Rospotrebnadzor, Gennady Onishchenko, said on Friday. Onishchenko told the state news agency TASS that the onset of cold weather would likely prevent transmission. Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 for sharing the news.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra Gets Frustrated Losing At StarCraft And Decides To Cheat Instead

✇Slashdot
By: EditorDavid
4 October 2026 at 19:51
What happened when AI-created bots competed in the classic Blizzard videogame StarCraft? "Struggling to stay apace with its competitors, OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra apparently changed strategy mid-tournament and opted to cheat," Kotaku reports: StarSkirmish is an ongoing clash of AI developed bots in StarCraft: Brood War... Limited to playing as Protoss, each LLM is given an hour to develop a bot in C++, then have them build, harvest and fight on one of three maps... Yesterday, viewers watched as Claude and GPT went against each other and the human created bot Pluto... Struggling to get an edge through the day, [OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra] decided to do what LLMs do best: Lie, cheat and steal. The GPT-6 Astra bot downloaded and tagged in Stardust, a Protoss bot created by Bruce Mackenzie Nielsen back in 2020, considered one of the best of the bests. "I am rolling back GPT-6 Astra's code so its [sic] not contaminated and allowing it to continue," posted StarSkirmish creator Kai McPheeters. That was Friday. But by Sunday, McPheeters was posting an update on social media. "Can GPT-6 Astra avoid going 0 — 1000?" Two hours later he replied to his own post. "The answer was no." While AI companies "have repeatedly been accused of stealing the work of humans... I haven't seen an example quite so brazen," writes PC Magazine: While Astra's bot-based heist is innocuous in isolation, this is hardly the first time an OpenAI LLM has been caught attempting to cheat at a task. Indeed, the company's history of creating deceitful models stretches back almost a decade, to when an early AI model used glitches and exploits to improve its Sonic the Hedgehog completion times.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Wordpress plugins how to send users to the markeptlace?

✇WordPress
By: /u/ShelobPT
4 October 2026 at 17:40

Hi

I have created a plugin recently and i only have a url to send users to the marketplace of the wordpress outside the store. This is all good but there the users can only download the plugin.

How can i create a link to send users directly to the store inside the wordpress? I wanted to run some search ads for it because i believe is a good product that brings real value but I can't send users to the normal marketplace outside their store, i want to send them right to the install path.

How you solve this? I see one solution is asking for the store domain so i craft a url with the path, but this is super flacky.

Thank you

submitted by /u/ShelobPT
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Request any WordPress tutorial you would love to see

✇WordPress
By: /u/BuildwithKadir
4 October 2026 at 15:53

Hi WP’ers,

I am Kadir and I run a web and marketing agency for 17+ years and creating time to give back with the tutorials.

I started a YouTube channel because many requested there are tons of basic tutorials but not a lot of the REAL experiences like debugging erros, optimisations, migrations etc on real client websites.

I want to know what people want to learn or see, Im experienced and want to show everything the people want to see, if you have any Request please let me know or AMA.

Ps: if this is not allowed here, please excuse me and delete it.

submitted by /u/BuildwithKadir
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As WordPress users, what plugin are you currently missing in the market?

✇WordPress
By: /u/Dan__Lo
4 October 2026 at 15:40

Can you tell me, as WordPress users, what plugin you are currently missing in the market right now? Something that is genuinely needed, but just doesn't exist. I have a bit of free time and could write a plugin, but I am completely out of the loop regarding the recent state of this CMS.

​I used to develop plugins while working in commercial development. I want to make something for myself, but have it be useful to other users too.

​Could you throw me some ideas?

submitted by /u/Dan__Lo
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How Python Will Test Adding Rust Into CPython

✇Slashdot
By: EditorDavid
4 October 2026 at 16:37
Python's security developer-in-residence Seth Larson reports from this year's official core developer Python Language Summit: "No one said 'don't do this' last year". After testing the waters at PyCon US 2025, [software engineer] David Hewitt returned to the Python Language Summit asking what Python core developers want from Rust, along with proposed timelines, phases, and success criteria for how the Rust for CPython project might proceed and become a permanent fixture within the CPython project. David is acting as an "ambassador" for the Rust for CPython project team, which is currently led by core developers Kirill Podoprigora and Emma Smith as authors of the Rust for CPython PEP draft. Emma also spoke at PyCon US 2026 about the Rust for CPython project. The team itself is around 60 developers in a Discord channel, among them a "few [Python] core developers" and a "delegation from the Rust project". The team has experience with previous projects integrating Rust into existing codebases, such as Android and the Linux kernel, and is "excited by the work and keen to support [the project] if we proceed". Showing how adopting Rust may specifically help CPython, David noted how the number of issues labeled with " type-crash" has been steadily rising over time... David explained that Jeff Vander Stoep described Rust in Android as "move fast and fix things", and that "fewer revisions for patches of the same size" was the experience Android has had since adopting Rust.... One of the biggest concerns from a year ago was Rust's lack of platform support compared to CPython, which at the time of writing officially supports 20 different architectures and platforms at either Tier 1, 2, or 3. David shared that Rust's support of different platforms has "widened since last year" and was becoming "less and less of a concern". The proposal would be to ask Python distributors to attempt using the optional Rust support in Python 3.16 (October 2027) and report platform-specific issues upstream in time to be resolved around the Python 3.17 timeline (October 2028)... [T]he first Rust code to ship in Python would be in Python 3.16 [October 2027], where it would be completely optional, with the existing C code kept as a fallback. The earliest that Rust would become required to build CPython is Python 3.18 in 2029, at least three years away... The Rust for CPython team has selected the zlib module as the first module to be given an optional Rust implementation because they "wanted to achieve a significant improvement" with a "small scope". The proposed Rust implementation will use zlib-rs, which is "heavily tested and used by the Firefox, uv, and Cargo" projects and "faster than zlib and zlib-ng on many platforms".... This small change would have an impact: the zlib compression algorithm is "widely used by Python packaging", meaning that (almost) "every pip install in Python 3.16 will be sped up" if the proposal is accepted. Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader RoccamOccam for sharing the article.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Radio Broadcasters Support America's 'AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act'

✇Slashdot
By: EditorDavid
4 October 2026 at 15:37
Last month, the U.S. House passed the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act, reports the Chicago Sun-Times. They call it "a bipartisan effort to require AM radio in new vehicles," adding that the bill now "awaits action in the Senate, where a companion measure has already garnered support, according to public records." Broadcasters said AM radio remains a critical source of information, offering news and weather alerts, particularly when cell networks and internet service are disrupted or unreliable... "AM radio — all radio — has always been about connection, and in Chicago, especially, the connection is incredibly strong," Mary Sandberg Boyle, vice president and general manager of WGN-AM 720, said. "You don't need a subscription. You don't need a data plan or an app. You turn on the radio, and it's there..." Boyle said the accessibility of radio becomes especially important during severe weather and breaking news situations. "That's when local radio is really more important because we have the ability to stay live, pivot our content and what we're covering, and we can access a large amount of audience members very quickly and keep everybody safe," she said. Boyle also serves on the board of directors of the National Association of Broadcasters, which has argued that preserving AM radio access is an access issue rather than a matter of nostalgia. The legislation emerged after several automakers removed AM radio from certain electric vehicle models, citing interference from electric power systems. Companies including Tesla, Rivian, Volvo and others have either eliminated or limited AM radio in some EVs. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents most major automakers, has opposed the requirement. In congressional testimony last year, President and CEO John Bozzella argued that "analog AM radio does not contribute to motor vehicle safety" and requiring it as standard equipment "is not necessary to ensure public safety." Under the bill, the U.S. Department of Transportation would be required to develop regulations ensuring AM radio remains available in new vehicles sold in the U.S. The measure would also bar automakers from charging consumers separately for AM radio access... While public discussion around the legislation has largely focused on emergency alerts and news access, some scholars say preserving AM radio also has implications for media diversity... "I think the media landscape is really overwhelmingly homogenized right now, and AM radio is important in many markets," [said Zachary McDowell, associate professor of communications at the University of Illinois Chicago]. "It's a space that still allows for all sorts of different voices that is still open and accessible." The article also includes this quote from Rodney Gibbs, executive director of Heartland Signal, which operates a local talk radio station. "Despite the kind of shiny objects that digital media is, AM radio still has a viable and durable audience. It's a daily, unscripted, authentic conversation between the host and the listeners. You don't get that from broadcast television. You don't get that from digital media."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Disney/Marvel's 'Avengers: Endgame' Beats 'Avatar' as Top-Grossing Film, 'Coyote vs Acme' #1 on Apple TV

✇Slashdot
By: EditorDavid
4 October 2026 at 14:37
James Cameron's Avatar is no longer the highest-grossing movie in box office history. That honor now goes to the Disney/Marvel Studios film Avengers: Endgame. Variety explains: "Avatar" spent a decade as the biggest release ever until "Avengers: Endgame" overtook the record in 2019 during its initial run on the big screen. "Endgame" dropped to No. 2 on all-time charts in 2021 when "Avatar" returned to theaters in advance of 2021's "Avatar: The Way of Water." Five years later, and Earth's Mightiest Heroes have triumphed over the Na'vi again. Disney is popping Champagne no matter which big-screen behemoth claims the No. 1 spot. "Avatar" was released by 20th Century Fox, which Disney now owns after the companies merged in 2019... [Last week's] re-release of "Endgame" has generated more than $126 million worldwide. Together the 38 Marvel Studios movies "have generated more than $35 billion worldwide," notes an announcement on Disney's web site, "making the Marvel Cinematic Universe the most successful film franchise in history." Their announcement adds that Disney "is responsible for seven of the 10 highest-grossing films of all time." That list also includes James Cameron's Titantic and his first two Avatar movies, but also this summer's Spider-Man: Brand New Dayand the earlier film Spider-Man: No Way Home, plus Marvel's 2018 film Avengers: Infinity War. Also among the top-10-of-all-time are Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) at #7 and last year's Zootopia 2. Meanwhile Coyote vs. Acme was released for rent or purchase on streaming platforms Tuesday, and became the No. 1 most-watched movie in the Apple TV store for America and Canada, according to CBR. (Citing a report from FlixPatrol ) "On Rotten Tomatoes, Coyote vs. Acme has a near-perfect 96% Certified Fresh Tomatometer score based on critics' reviews, and a similar 94% Verified Hot Popcornmeter score based on audience reviews... Frank Scheck from The Hollywood Reporter called it "one of the best live-action/animation films ever." Preorders have just opened for its DVD and 4K disks, and Coyote vs. Acme is also coming to Blu-ray writes IGN, "along with some hilarious outtakes that he described as 'not PG-rated.'" Celebrating the film's $100 million box office take last week, the movie's distributors posted a very Coyote-like koan on social media. "It's only over when you stop trying."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Particle Collider Experiment Recreates the Big Bang's Primordial Soup - and Finds Unexpected Pattern

✇Slashdot
By: EditorDavid
4 October 2026 at 13:15
"Physicists smashed gold nuclei together at nearly the speed of light and found an unexpected pattern in the particles..." writes Live Science. "If confirmed, that pattern could help reveal how the hot soup of quarks and gluons that filled the universe in the first few microseconds after the Big Bang cooled and condensed into the protons and neutrons that make up ordinary matter today." In every collision, particles are flung out sideways; how hard they are flung, on average, varies slightly from one collision to the next. Physicists expected the size of these variations to change smoothly as they adjusted the collision energy. Instead, the variations dipped, shrinking and then growing again. This dip could be a sign of a long-sought "critical point," a special set of conditions at which nuclear matter changes the way it transforms from one form to another. The signal, detected by the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York, is strong enough that it is very unlikely to be a statistical accident. However, the researchers cautioned that the dip is a tantalizing hint, not proof of the long-sought transition. They published their findings Sept. 22 in the journal Physical Review Letters... The team analyzed roughly 1 billion collisions, measuring how hard charged particles were flung sideways out of the fireball, according to the article. The dip "does point to a set of conditions where the behavior of nuclear matter changes, and it gives theorists a new, precise measurement to test their calculations against," study co-author Rutik Manikandhan, told Live Science.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Do you think WordPress has started to die?

✇WordPress
By: /u/Wild_Cartoonist_1568
4 October 2026 at 12:42

Not “is WordPress dead?”, obviously it isn’t.

I mean something more subtle: do you feel like it has started to lose relevance compared to a few years ago?

Between AI-generated apps, headless stacks, Shopify, Webflow, Framer, etc., I’m curious how people working with WordPress every day see it.

submitted by /u/Wild_Cartoonist_1568
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Particle Collider Experiment Recreates the Big Bang's Primordial Soup - and Find Unexpected Pattern

✇Slashdot
By: EditorDavid
4 October 2026 at 13:15
"Physicists smashed gold nuclei together at nearly the speed of light and found an unexpected pattern in the particles..." writes Live Science. "If confirmed, that pattern could help reveal how the hot soup of quarks and gluons that filled the universe in the first few microseconds after the Big Bang cooled and condensed into the protons and neutrons that make up ordinary matter today." In every collision, particles are flung out sideways; how hard they are flung, on average, varies slightly from one collision to the next. Physicists expected the size of these variations to change smoothly as they adjusted the collision energy. Instead, the variations dipped, shrinking and then growing again. This dip could be a sign of a long-sought "critical point," a special set of conditions at which nuclear matter changes the way it transforms from one form to another. The signal, detected by the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York, is strong enough that it is very unlikely to be a statistical accident. However, the researchers cautioned that the dip is a tantalizing hint, not proof of the long-sought transition. They published their findings Sept. 22 in the journal Physical Review Letters... The team analyzed roughly 1 billion collisions, measuring how hard charged particles were flung sideways out of the fireball, according to the article. The dip "does point to a set of conditions where the behavior of nuclear matter changes, and it gives theorists a new, precise measurement to test their calculations against," study co-author Rutik Manikandhan, told Live Science.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

San Francisco's Car Crime Has Plunged. How Much Credit Does Flock Deserve?

✇Slashdot
By: EditorDavid
4 October 2026 at 11:34
Car thefts in San Francisco are down almost 59% for the first eight months of 2026 compared with the same months in 2022, according to analysis of police department statistics by NPR's Planet Money — and car break-ins are down more than 82%. "San Francisco's law enforcement leaders tell us that greater use of surveillance technology — including a controversial, AI-powered license plate camera system made by Flock Safety — has been crucial to this drop in car crime." How much credit does Flock actually deserve...? [In July of 2022, San Francisco District Attorney] Jenkins began taking a more aggressive approach to prosecuting people accused of crimes. Meanwhile, the SFPD beefed up its tactics to fight car thefts and break-ins. In 2023, for example, the police increased patrols in tourist areas known for car break-ins and used "bait cars" to catch and build cases against organized car burglars. But, Jenkins says, "one of the most important factors" behind the drop in crime came when the city introduced new crime-fighting technology. In March 2024, San Francisco voters approved Proposition E, which, among other provisions, made it easier for SFPD to use drones and high-tech surveillance cameras. That same month, the SFPD began installing Flock cameras in strategic locations... In a statement to Planet Money, a spokesperson for the SFPD said, "ALPR has been instrumental in driving down crime in San Francisco. These tools enable our officers to identify crime vehicles with precision, and ALPR is assisting in reducing crimes that were previously very challenging to solve, like auto burglaries." Jenkins described how Flock cameras and drones can work together to catch suspected criminals. In one case the SFPD publicized, the department says Flock cameras spotted a moving vehicle linked to an auto burglary the previous day and alerted officers. Officers deployed a drone, which flew in from above and then began recording suspects in real time as they smashed windows and stole luggage out of a parked SUV. The police then moved in and arrested them. They can do all this, Jenkins says, "without putting innocent people in danger with dangerous police chases." Meanwhile, the surveillance system creates an evidence trail that [Jenkins'] office can use to prosecute suspected criminals... Jenkins also believes high-tech surveillance helps deter crime, although that's harder to prove... The most ambitious study of Flock's system so far is a recent one by University of South Carolina crime researchers Ian Adams and Scott Mourtgos. They analyzed data from 216 law enforcement agencies that introduced Flock cameras, comparing crime trends with places that had not adopted Flock. They found that deploying Flock cameras was associated with an 11% drop in car thefts in the first year. This is only one study, and it has yet to be peer-reviewed. It's also not a randomized controlled trial, the gold standard for finding the actual causal effect of something. Other factors, beyond Flock, could still help explain the decline. That study attempted to control for variables, the article points out — like how San Francisco's decline coincided with a broader drop in crime across American cities as America emerged from the pandemic... But the article also notes another worry shared by "countless citizens" and political leaders. Are these systems handing too much power to law enforcement to "invade our privacy, trace our whereabouts, and stomp on our civil liberties."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

FSF Sponsors 'GNU Boot', a Libre, Ethical Replacement for Nonfree BIOS Or UEFI

✇Slashdot
By: EditorDavid
4 October 2026 at 10:34
"Free your BIOS today!" urges the web page for GNU Boot, calling it "a 100% free software project aimed at replacing the nonfree boot software (like BIOS or UEFI) of computers with free boot software. GNU Boot is only a distribution: it reuses existing software projects like Coreboot, GRUB, SeaBIOS, etc. So it's not very different from 100% free GNU/Linux distributions like Trisquel or Guix. Last month the Free Software Foundation announced they'd fiscally sponsor the project: "The BIOS is a delicate but essential part of software freedom for computing today," said Zoë Kooyman, executive director of the FSF. "GNU Boot aims to make sure that we can continue using our computers in freedom. With the way it builds on the work of others to replace UEFI, we know it can remain firm in the free software philosophy and stay vital to digital autonomy and user freedom." Free boot firmware, such as GNU Boot, is responsible for loading the computer's operating system. The work done by GNU Boot contributors has similarities to work done by GNU/Linux distributions: they package software like Coreboot or GNU GRUB, contribute to the upstream repositories of these projects, and assist them with documentation, among other tasks... When asked about their project joining the FSF's fiscal sponsorship program, co-maintainer Adrien Bourmault stated: "Making this decision with the FSF allows us to focus more on what we do best: writing and debugging code that keeps our machines fully free." Projects whose scope and purpose align with the FSF's mission and further mission-related activities can become fiscally sponsored by joining the FSF's Working Together for Free Software Fund.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

US Bank Regulator Sued Over Crypto Firm Charters by Community Bank Advocates

✇Slashdot
By: EditorDavid
4 October 2026 at 09:34
A U.S. banking group just sued the government agency that issues America's federal bank charters, reports CoinDesk, "accusing it of exceeding its legal powers in granting national trust-bank status to crypto firms." The agency's move "creates a gaping hole in financial regulation," according to the lawsuit by The Independent Community Bankers of America, one of America's largest banking advocacy organizations. It argues the move will "perversely allow entities engaged in highly risky cryptocurrency and digital assets activities to enter the banking system under lightly regulated national charters" which actually preempt many state regulations, including consumer protection laws. But the move would also "place community banks at a severe competitive disadvantage," the lawsuit argues, "by allowing the national trust banks to offer many of the same services as community banks without complying with the same costly banking laws and regulations that apply to the community banks." This competitive advantage could "siphon deposits out of community banks and into deposit alternatives like cryptocurrency," which they describe as "highly volatile, prone to market crashes, cybercrime, and fraud" and lacking protections like deposit insurance. They also warn that America's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency "has not managed an uninsured bank receivership in nearly one hundred years. But failures of risky uninsured national trust banks could spread instability throughout the nation's financial system, including by spreading contagion risks to other traditional banks like community banks." CoinDesk reports: [The Independent Community Bankers of America] also played a significant role in pushing back against the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act that failed to advance in the U.S. Senate last month — in part due to the bankers' objections that its stablecoin provisions didn't protect them against direct competition with the deposit accounts that are core to their businesses. Now, the group is targeting the trust charters crypto firms are pursuing as an entry point into the U.S. banking and payments system. "Congress did not create the national trust charter as a side door into the banking system for crypto firms seeking the credibility of a federal bank charter," ICBA President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey said in a statement..

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Drupal and the User Experience

✇Drupal - Open Source Content Platform | #Celebr8D8
By: /u/bootiga_
4 October 2026 at 07:30

Trying to make Drupal easier for non-technical users

We've spent the last few months trying to improve what we think is still one of Drupal's biggest weaknesses: the user experience for non-technical users.

With our SaaS we're trying to keep all the power of Drupal Commerce underneath while making the actual experience much simpler.

We've moved to Mercury Editor for visual editing, simplified a lot of the Drupal interface, and we're now building a Flutter app so store owners can manage things like products directly from their phone.

We also still have Canvas on our list to test, as some of you suggested in our previous discussions. We're curious to see whether it could improve the editing experience even further.

There's still a lot to do, but we feel we're finally heading in the right direction.

Thanks.

submitted by /u/bootiga_
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would you trust AI to update your CRM directly from what you say?

✇CRM - Customer Relationship Managment
By: /u/kamscruz
4 October 2026 at 08:03

I asked here a while ago what people actually do with all the information they have after a sales meeting, and the replies were really useful.

one thing I kept thinking about afterwards was trust.

say you walk out of a meeting and tell your CRM:

“met Paul from Atlas today. they need 250 valves, budget is around $18k and I need to follow up next Wednesday.”

if the system understands that and puts the information into the right fields, would you want it to save everything immediately?

or would you still want to see the record and confirm it first?

because there seems to be a tradeoff here.

if you have to review and confirm every single thing, you start losing some of the convenience of just talking to the CRM.

but if it saves everything automatically, one misunderstood customer name, amount or follow-up date could be a much bigger problem.

I've been building and testing a voice-first CRM around this, and this is something I'm trying to get right.

for people who actually use CRMs every day, where would you draw the line?

would you want everything confirmed before saving, only important fields confirmed, or only be asked when the system isn't confident about something?

submitted by /u/kamscruz
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29F looking to specialize in CRM / Lifecycle / Retention. Is my background close enough, and what should I study next?

✇CRM - Customer Relationship Managment
By: /u/Ashthecat97
30 September 2026 at 21:02

Hey everyone,

I’m 29F and for the last ~2 years, I’ve been running operations and customer care for a local (NYC) wellness studio. My day-to-day involves living inside Mindbody handling account adjustments and client experience. Recently, I’ve been tasked with spearheading our new customer retention strategy as we onboard Attentive for SMS and email campaigns.

I am realizing I absolutely love the retention and tech side of this work and I’m trying to figure out if pivoting fully into a CRM / Lifecycle / Retention Marketing role is realistic for me.

My Background & Current Experience

  • Education: Humanities / Linguistics degree.
  • Experience (~2 years): Operations, handling complex account adjustments (Mindbody), and direct customer care.
  • Current pivot: I am currently building out our retention touchpoints and automated campaigns from scratch using Attentive.

My Technical / Adjacent Skill Set

  • Coding/Dev: Comfortable with HTML/CSS (can troubleshoot layout/rendering issues) and know basic JS fundamentals.
  • UX & research: Fundamentals of UX design, user research, and customer journey mapping.
  • Project management: Organized, used to managing workflows, adopting new tech tools, and cross-functional problem solving.
  • EdTech/learning design: Understand user onboarding, instructional design, and how to drive product adoptability/engagement.

My Plan

I want to commit ~8 to 10 hours a week over the next months to upskill, earn platform certifications, and build out a dedicated portfolio.

My Questions for You All:

  1. Is my background close enough? Given my mix of basic coding, UX, Mindbody ops, and hands-on experience deploying Attentive, am I a plausible candidate for Junior/Mid-level CRM or Lifecycle roles?
  2. What should I study/certify in first? I’m looking at HubSpot and Klaviyo certifications to start. Should I focus heavily on HubSpot or e-commerce (Klaviyo)? Is learning Liquid or basic SQL worth it at this stage?
  3. How is the current job market for Lifecycle/Retention? Is the field over-saturated at the entry/mid level right now, or is there genuine demand for people with a blend of technical + UX/retention skills?
  4. Portfolio advice: For those who hire in this space, what actually impresses you on a portfolio?

Appreciate any honest advice and/or direction! Thanks!

submitted by /u/Ashthecat97
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Long-Time Slashdot Reader Announces New Open Source Web Browser 'Northstar'

✇Slashdot
By: EditorDavid
4 October 2026 at 06:21
Long-time Slashdot reader Andreas(R) announces Northstar, a "minimalist" web browser written entirely from scratch in C — now available in version 1.0.11: One window, one page, one process — about 160,000 lines of original C, small enough for one person to read and audit end-to-end. It carries no upstream browser engine: no Gecko, no WebKit, no Blink. It is free software under the GNU General Public License, version 3 or later, and it runs on Linux, macOS and Windows... Compliance is not inherited from an upstream engine; it is measured, section by section, against the specification text... Private by construction. No telemetry, no update pings, and no AI assistant or AI-style web APIs. Safe browsing checks a top-level navigation's host against a local SHA-256 blocklist before it is fetched — the check never leaves your machine. Cookies, storage and the cache are partitioned by origin. It's logo reminds me of the old Netscape logo. (And I love the "Best viewed in..." GIF at the upper-right of its web site.)

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