Amazon introduces next-gen Kindles, Nikon comp winner denies AI use

Amazon has announced a redesign of its Kindle family, introducing next-generation models that are a millimetre thinner, thirty per cent faster at opening books and built with user-replaceable batteries to comply with EU regulations. Across the board, the new lineup features relocated power buttons on the right edge, soft-touch plastic cases, and – for the first time – premium aluminium back housing options that double the internal storage from 16GB to 32GB. The refreshed base 6-inch Kindle starts at £134.99 or $149.99 with 16GB of storage, featuring a new flush-front design in graphite and a rich purple shade called ‘ube’. Tech Digest 

Amazon has launched a new generation of its Fire TV Stick 4K alongside a redesigned remote. It has also outlined a series of Alexa+ enhancements designed to make content discovery more conversational and personalised. The new Fire TV Stick 4K, available from September 30 in markets including the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain, is built on Amazon’s Vega operating system and supports Wi-Fi 6, AV1, HDR10 and HDR10+, with 4K output at up to 60fps. Amazon says the device gets viewers from powering on to streaming between 20% and 40% faster than a similarly priced rival 4K streaming stick. Broadband TV News 

A coded letter carrying a message from Napoleon Bonaparte to one of his senior generals has been cracked by AI after 217 years. The contents of the letter, sent by Eugène, Napoleon’s stepson, on the emperor’s instructions, had remained a mystery since it was sent to Auguste de Marmont in 1809. However, Carter Church, an AI engineer at cybersecurity company SentinelOne, said this week he had used OpenAI’s GPT-6 Astra system to decrypt and transcribe the message for the first time. Telegraph 

Drivers have been warned that the smart features built into modern cars such as microphones, cameras and GPS trackers could be used by hostile states to spy on them. The Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) called for “awareness of espionage risks around modern vehicles”, including microphones that can by switched on remotely to listen to conversations. It did not mention an individual country, but the warning will add to concerns around a recent boom in Chinese car imports into the UK. The Guardian 

The winning entry of a prestigious scientific photography competition is being re-evaluated following criticism from other scientists that it was made with AI. Nikon’s annual Small World In Motion contest accepts photos and video taken using powerful microscopes, and has run annually for the last 15 years. The winner was a short video submitted by Dr Ning Xu, a researcher at Tsinghua University in China, which claims to be footage of tiny, hair-like structures called cilia moving inside the airways of a child with a rare disease. Xu did not respond to the BBC’s request for comment, but has posted online denying he broke the competition rules. BBC

A German rocket firm has been granted a launch licence by UK regulators – and it plans to blast off from the Shetland Islands early next year. HyImpulse, which builds commercial rockets, received the launch operator licence on Thursday from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The company was granted the right to launch after it passed a regulatory review process. HyImpulse is aiming to launch its SR75 suborbital vehicle in spring 2027. The rocket will be used for a number of research projects, with its design set to help it take off in a wider array of environmental conditions. Sky News