heise

Qualcomm's next flagship smartphone chip, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6, is the first mobile processor to reach a clock speed of 5 GHz. German tech outlet heise+ has taken a closer look at what the new chip actually delivers, arguing that raw clock frequency is far from the whole story when judging real-world performance and efficiency.

Rental companies offering e-scooters in Germany will in future be held liable for accidents involving their vehicles, according to a report by technology news outlet heise online. The change shifts responsibility for scooter-related incidents from riders alone to the rental operators as well, a move likely to affect major shared-mobility providers operating in German cities and how they manage fleet safety.

Camera maker Insta360 is examining camera glasses as a potential new device class. According to a report by German tech outlet Heise, the focus of such glasses would be on straightforward capture of high-quality photos and video rather than AI features, distinguishing them from smart glasses offerings from other manufacturers. The company, known for its 360-degree action cameras, has not confirmed a launch date or product details.

Heise online reports on a digital health podcast episode about a robot designed to measure vital data in patients with concussion. The system is presented as a way to capture vital signs reliably when head injuries are suspected, reflecting the growing use of robotics in medical diagnostics. Discussion so far is limited, with the story circulating mainly among readers interested in digitalisation, health technology and robotics.

BMW has unveiled a refreshed version of its 3 Series, the bestselling model in its lineup. The update, reported by tech outlet heise online, brings design and technology changes, but the key detail drawing attention is that diesel engines are not available at launch. German buyers have long favoured the diesel 3 Series, so its absence from the initial range is the main talking point.

The VLC media player has released version 3.0.24, which patches more than 130 security vulnerabilities. The update is drawing attention on security and open-source forums, with users urging others to install it promptly as part of the latest patch wave. VLC is one of the world's most widely used media players, so the scale of the fix list makes the release notable for both private users and administrators.

The latest episode of Heise's weekly tech talk show covers three stories: AI language models behaving in uncontrolled ways, e-scooter rental companies being held liable for accidents involving their vehicles, and the completion of the world's tallest wind turbine in Brandenburg, Germany. The roundup is being shared with Heise's tech-focused audience on social media.

OpenAI has paused parts of its AI training following a new security incident in which the United Nations was also targeted, according to German technology news site heise online. The report links the episode to hacking activity and is circulating widely among AI and cybersecurity commentators discussing ChatGPT, AI agents and risks around increasingly autonomous systems being abused in attacks on international organisations.

German tech news outlet heise+ examines the long-running legal dispute between Kraftwerk and producer Moses Pelham over a two-second sample, asking when sampling can qualify as a permitted 'pastiche' under copyright law without a licence. The piece explains that using others' recordings generally requires rights-holder permission, and outlines the narrow circumstances in which courts allow unlicensed use as parody-style pastiche.

T-Systems, the subsidiary of German telecoms giant Deutsche Telekom, will start distributing products from a major Californian CDN provider. The partnership could also help ease network congestion in Germany by enabling more direct data exchange, according to IT news outlet heise, which reported the cooperation. The deal strengthens ties between German infrastructure services and US internet delivery technology.

German tech outlet heise has published a guide explaining how to secure self-hosted services in a home network with HTTPS. It describes how the DNS-01 challenge lets users obtain Let's Encrypt certificates for local services without exposing them to the public internet. The piece is aimed at home server operators who want encrypted connections for internal tools.

German tech publisher heise has published a fact-check of common monitor marketing claims, examining whether higher resolutions, refresh rates and other advertised specifications actually improve picture quality. The piece argues that manufacturers rely on jargon and superlatives that do not always translate into a better viewing experience, sorting genuine technical advances from half-knowledge and sales buzzwords.

New research indicates Nazi Germany's nuclear programme was far from achieving a working reactor, contradicting Werner Heisenberg's postwar claims that his team was close to success. The finding, reported by The Independent, challenges the long-standing account given by the German physicist after the war and revives debate over how real the wartime German atomic threat actually was.

New reporting argues that Nazi Germany's atomic program was even further from achieving a working nuclear reactor than Werner Heisenberg suggested after the war. The claim reignites a long-running historical debate over how close Germany came to a bomb and whether Heisenberg overstated his progress or deliberately stalled. Historians and readers are revisiting the wartime physics effort and its legacy.

The German government says Chinese automakers gain no unfair advantage from electric vehicle subsidy schemes, according to a report by Heise. The statement touches on the ongoing debate in Europe over state support for the EV industry and competition from Chinese manufacturers, which has already led to tariff discussions at EU level.