Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney has never been one to shy away from controversy. His latest feature, Musk, has stirred up plenty even before its release, drawing the ire of its subject, Elon Musk, and threats of a defamation lawsuit. After the film debuted two weeks ago at the Venice International Film Festival, rumors swirled that Universal Pictures was getting cold feet about theatrically releasing the film in international markets.

Those rumors appear to be unfounded (at least for now). And Musk is still on track for a US theatrical release, thanks to the folks at domestic distributor Bleecker Street Media, which released the official trailer today.

Gibney has been making documentaries since the 1980s, covering such varied subjects as Jimi Hendrix, Hunter S. Thompson and gonzo journalism, WikiLeaks, Scientology, Steve Jobs, Elizabeth Holmes (the subject of another forthcoming documentary, You Can See Everything, featuring comedian Nathan Fielder), Boris Becker, The Sopranos creator David Chase, alleged Russian interference in the US 2016 presidential election, the opioid epidemic, and cyclist Lance Armstrong. He snagged his first Oscar nomination for 2005's Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, and won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature two years later for Taxi to the Dark Side.

While Musk has attacked the film as a "hit piece" and a "psy op," it's been critically well-received thus far, despite a daunting run time of 3 hours and 45 minutes. Per Gibney, Musk declined to be interviewed for the film, so the director created an AI version of Musk uttering verbatim public quotes as a stand-in for a real interview. That, too, is likely to draw some controversy.

The trailer includes a few well-known incidents: Tesla and the fatalities linked to its driver-assistance systems, SpaceX, his purchase of Twitter, DOGE, and his 14 (possibly more) children, among others. Those interviewed include ex-wife Justine Musk, tech journalists Kara Swisher and Zoe Schiffer, engineers Martin Eberhard and Geoffrey Hinton, and former MAGA influencer Ashley St. Clair, who also bore a child by Musk. I spotted Cory Doctorow and physicist Adam Becker in the trailer. David Byrne co-wrote and performs an original song, "Let Me Sell You a Dream," incorporating more of Musk's words.

Musk is slated for theatrical release in the US on October 9.  Per Deadline Hollywood, Universal has confirmed that it is lining up an international release schedule for the first quarter of 2027, which is also when it's slated to start streaming on HBO.

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Virtually every Android device comes with the Play Store preloaded, but there are other ways to get apps. F-Droid bills itself as a community-driven source for free and open source Android apps, but its official app store has gone 10 years without a major update. That's finally changing: After a multiyear effort, the team has just announced F-Droid 2.0 is rolling out.

The new F-Droid client was redesigned from scratch in Kotlin Compose, which is the standard for modern Android apps. This makes the store much more responsive, and there's optional support for Android's Material theming. The interface has also been cleaned up considerably, making the most important functions easier to access and hiding some others in overflow menus.

While the new F-Droid looks nicer, the update was largely about making it easier to find and install apps. When F-Droid first appeared, there wasn't much to see, but now it has thousands of open source apps. Unlike the Play Store, F-Droid doesn't track your taps and installs to push ads and suggestions—it helps you find things and gets out of the way.

F-Droid now includes a huge number of categories, drilling down to specialized niches like firewalls, password managers, and VPNs. You can see all these groups in the search tab. There are also higher-level categories listed on the main Discover page. When searching for apps, F-Droid will now be able to return results based on app descriptions rather than just names.

When you find an app, F-Droid 2.0 will make the installation process easier. Google has long put up roadblocks for sideloaded apps, citing the security implications. This is also the rationale behind its upcoming developer verification system. For now at least, apps will be easier to install from F-Droid thanks to the use of Google's pre-approval API. Instead of downloading an APK, opening it, and confirming the scary sideloading pop-up, you'll just be able to verify that you want to install an app before the download. So you tap "Install" in F-Droid, and then tap "Install" again in a system pop-up. That's one more click than the Play Store, but it's still an improvement.

The team also says that F-Droid 2.0 will automatically check for and install app updates (unless you disable this). It can also download and install multiple apps simultaneously. Given the auto-updates, F-Droid no longer uses pull-to-refresh on the app screen, which the developers acknowledge may upset their particular user base. Manual updates are still available in the three-dot menu for peace of mind.

Here's the highlighted changelog from F-Droid.

New in version 2.0.0

• UI rewritten from scratch with Kotlin compose
• Improved search, also searching in descriptions and translations
• Easier to discover new apps, also highlighting the most downloaded ones
• Installation approval *before* downloading
• Multiple updates/downloads at the same time
• Notifying user of issues with apps (e.g. signing key changed)
• Optional Material You color theme
• Improved filtering of lists

The new F-Droid client is rolling out in stages over the next two weeks—the default installer on the F-Droid site hasn't been replaced yet. If you want the 2.0 release right now, it's available on the versions page. The official client is not the only way to access F-Droid apps, but now you'll have less reason to seek out an alternative.

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The Federal Communications Commission yesterday approved Paramount Skydance's plan to sell large equity stakes to the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar.

Under US law, companies with licenses to run broadcast stations need FCC approval to have direct or indirect foreign ownership exceeding 25 percent of the company's stock. Paramount says its indirect foreign ownership will reach 49.5 percent after it receives investments from the sovereign wealth funds and filed a petition asking the FCC to waive the foreign ownership limit.

Paramount, the owner of CBS, holds FCC licenses for the 28 local CBS stations that it owns and operates. Paramount is buying Warner Bros. Discovery in a $111 billion deal that is being partially financed with foreign investment but hasn't completed the acquisition because US states filed a lawsuit that aims to block the merger. Trump's Department of Justice approved the merger.

The FCC is letting Paramount sell indirect ownership stakes to "some of the most repressive governments in the world," FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, the only Democrat on the commission, said yesterday. "An investment this large in one of America's biggest media companies doesn't just buy equity, it secures influence over what gets said and what gets made."

The Paramount/Warner deal would combine two of the largest movie studios, merge streaming service Paramount+ with HBO Max, and give Paramount ownership of CNN and other TV channels.

"The funds plan to invest $24 billion in the Paramount/Warner deal," the Los Angeles Times wrote. "Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is set to contribute $10 billion, while the Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi’s L’imad Holding Co. will separately add $7 billion."

Concern about foreign influence

Although the Trump FCC has taken a hard stance against foreign-made equipment, such as routers and drones, it said in an order yesterday that granting Paramount's request is in the public interest. "Paramount asserts that, as its Petition makes clear, its 'new foreign investors, which will receive only non-voting equity, will not have any ability to influence the company's editorial decision-making or news or entertainment content or to access its viewers' personal data,'" the FCC said.

The Ellison family and RedBird Capital Partners will continue to own 100 percent of Paramount's Class A voting shares, while the foreign investors will hold Class B non-voting shares. The FCC approved Paramount's petition in a declaratory ruling issued by the Media Bureau. FCC commissioners did not vote on the item.

Gomez said that because foreign owners could hold influence over the company, she "called for this new and novel issue to go to a full commission vote given what's at stake. Instead, the FCC snuck this ruling out as a staff-level decision, with no public vote and no accountability for a call of this magnitude.”

Senate Democrats said in a May letter to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr that "the foreign governments behind this investment systematically suppress press freedom in their own countries and have made a series of investments and gifts to entities controlled by the president and his family, raising serious concerns about their influence over the independent American media and the potential for corruption." But yesterday's approval has been expected since Carr in March said, "I think this is a good deal, and I think it should get through pretty quickly."

The FCC said its order "permit[s] up to 100 percent indirect foreign equity interest of Paramount, in the aggregate." While Paramount said it expects 49.5 percent of shares to be owned by foreign investors based on its current deals, it told the FCC the number could change "in light of routine fluctuations in publicly held equity interests and to account for potential future investments."

FCC says opposition "unconvincing"

The FCC Media Bureau order rejected concerns that the investment will buy "practical influence," even without voting control. "We find this argument unconvincing. The Proposed Investment is not a loan, which must be repaid, but a purchase of stock that has no voting rights," the order said. "We are persuaded by Paramount’s argument that the Foreign Investors therefore will not be able to wield any influence, let alone control, over decisions involving the Licensees. Paramount has further demonstrated that David Ellison will retain control over Paramount and that the Ellison family will continue to own a majority of the voting stock."

The FCC cited Paramount's commitment to "ensure that there will be no interference with the editorial or decision-making policies of its broadcast stations (or CBS News or any other facets of Paramount news and entertainment programming).” The order said the FCC "has long recognized that foreign investment in US companies and networks, including broadcast, fosters technical innovation, supports job creation, and strengthens the US economy."

Paramount agreed to a few terms to ensure compliance. The FCC said that "Paramount must monitor foreign ownership to ensure continued compliance with the Commission’s rules." It must also ensure that "Foreign Investors will not have any influence, direction, or control over or provide any commentary or guidance on Paramount’s content decisions, company management, or have any Access to Paramount’s non-public US Person Data."

Paramount would need to seek additional FCC approval "in the event it proposes to change any voting, governance or information rights of the Foreign Investors," and before any change that results in "its foreign ownership exceed[ing] the terms and conditions of this Declaratory Ruling," the FCC said.

Media advocacy group Free Press said in an FCC filing that "Paramount will begin its ownership of WBD with nearly $80 billion in debt, which will require deep cuts to Paramount’s pre-merger holdings and existing operations. These cuts will negatively impact the public interest, particularly at Paramount’s broadcast units."

Judge found merger likely illegal

The Paramount merger with Warner Bros. was approved by the Justice Department in June, but a group of 12 states led by California filed a lawsuit that seeks to block the deal. A federal judge ruled that the merger is likely to reduce competition substantially and violate antitrust laws.

The judge halted the deal while litigation continues in the case, which could ultimately be decided by a federal appeals court. Paramount has been threatening to leave California if the state doesn't back down, while California Attorney General Rob Bonta accused the company of trying to "blackmail the state into letting an illegal deal through."

The FCC last year allowed Paramount to buy Skydance for $8 billion after the company agreed to install an ombudsman at CBS. Carr, who has repeatedly threatened to revoke broadcast licenses from news companies that Trump doesn't like, described the required ombudsman as a “bias monitor.”

Paramount obtained FCC approval to buy Skydance shortly after it reached a $16 million settlement with Trump in a lawsuit accusing CBS of deceptively editing a pre-election interview with Kamala Harris. Paramount settled with the president even though CBS had rebutted Trump's claims by releasing an unedited transcript and camera feeds of the interview.

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Learning another language is a highly complex mental activity. It requires people to remember words, distinguish unfamiliar sounds, recognize patterns, work out grammatical rules, and retrieve the right expression at the right moment. All of this happens while listening, interpreting, and preparing a response.

Could all this mental activity also help keep an aging brain healthier? Research suggests it can.

Concerns about memory and dementia can send aging adults looking for ways to exercise their brain and maintain cognitive function, whether it is solving crossword puzzles or playing a musical instrument. Language learning might not seem like the same kind of brain exercise, but it is a complex activity that engages several mental processes at once.

I am a linguist who studies language acquisition, use, and loss. My new book, Beyond Words: How We Learn, Use, and Lose Language, examines language and the mind across people’s lifespans.

Research increasingly suggests that language learning and bilingualism can offer cognitive benefits—including for older adults. Learning another language can also create opportunities for communication and social connection.

A workout for the brain

A person’s brain remains capable of change throughout their life. This ability to adapt in response to experience is known as neuroplasticity.

Learning unfamiliar sounds, vocabulary, and grammatical patterns requires the brain to form and strengthen connections. Language learning engages several mental processes at once, requiring people to absorb and retrieve information, notice when something does not work out, and adjust. This sustained mental effort makes language learning a particularly rich form of cognitive exercise.

Research on bilingualism has found differences in both the brain’s gray matter, which contains neurons and their connections, and white matter, which consists largely of nerve fibers linking different parts of the brain.

Studies have shown greater gray matter density or stronger white matter integrity in bilingual people, compared with people who speak one language. These findings suggest that language experience can be reflected in the brain’s structure, as well as its activity.

But brain differences are only part of the picture.

The brain as it ages

One reason researchers are interested in language and aging is the idea of cognitive reserve. This term refers to the ability to maintain cognitive function despite age-related changes or damage to the brain.

Bilingualism has been proposed as one factor that can help the brain cope with the effects of aging, because managing two languages places ongoing demands on people’s attention and cognitive control—ultimately helping to strengthen cognitive reserve.

Some studies have found that bilingual people who develop dementia show symptoms at a later age than people who speak one language. This suggests that bilingualism may provide some protection against the effects of brain aging, although it does not necessarily prevent dementia or the brain changes associated with it.

The potential benefit may therefore be greater resilience in the face of those changes, rather than prevention of the underlying disease.

Learning later in life

This raises another question: If lifelong bilingualism may help protect the brain as we age, can people gain similar benefits by learning a language later in life?

Age changes the way languages are learned, but adults remain capable of learning new languages throughout life. Adults and kids bring different strengths to the task. Children tend to have advantages with pronunciation and some aspects of grammar, while adults bring larger vocabularies and better-developed strategies for learning.

Research involving older adults suggests that learning a language can produce cognitive benefits, although the findings are mixed. The potential benefit may come less from achieving fluency than from the process of learning itself. Language learning is a sustained challenge that keeps people learning, practicing, and adapting.

There are social benefits, too. Learning another language can deepen cultural understanding, improve interpersonal communication and encourage people to empathize with other people’s perspectives and experiences. It can also connect people with others from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds, creating opportunities for conversation and friendship.

There is no established formula for how much language learning is needed to provide these benefits. Studies have used everything from intensive classroom instruction to short daily sessions with language-learning apps, over periods ranging from weeks to months, to see whether language learning can improve cognitive function. Rather than a magic number of hours, what matters may be sustained engagement in a challenging activity like learning a new language.

Building cognitive resilience

Learning another language is not a miracle cure for aging, and it cannot guarantee protection against Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia.

But it is an unusually rich form of mental activity.

Perhaps the most useful way to think about language learning is not as a way to keep the brain young, but as a way to support cognitive resilience—the ability to keep learning, adapting and functioning despite the changes that come with age.

Aging inevitably changes the brain, but people retain the capacity to learn throughout life. Keeping our brains engaged in demanding new activities may contribute to that resilience.

Karen Stollznow, Senior Research Fellow of Linguistics, University of Colorado Boulder; Griffith University; University of New England. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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The Boston city government abandoned Flock Safety's license-plate reader cameras after the company shared data nationwide in violation of a contract provision, according to city officials.

"We have actually abandoned Flock," Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said in her monthly "Ask the Mayor" segment on GBH News last week. Wu made the comment a few days before the release of Boston's annual surveillance technology report, which said a Flock "vendor error" resulted in nationwide data sharing.

The report, which covers 2025, describes how the Boston Police Department deployed about 45 Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) cameras in a trial with Flock from April to September last year. The unauthorized data sharing occurred during the first few days of the pilot, the report said:

Pursuant to the contract, the Flock ALPR Pilot Program was designed to restrict access to the data collected by BPD ALPR cameras exclusively to trained BPD personnel. The contract clearly noted that data sharing was to be disabled, and BPD confirmed with Flock that settings were “off” for sharing. Within three days of initiating the Pilot, BPD became aware that other law enforcement agencies were able to access license plate and vehicle information collected from BPD ALPR cameras using a nationwide lookup feature that was enabled by the vendor in error. Upon learning of the vendor error, BPD ensured that the function was immediately disabled and access to the Department’s data was no longer available without submitting a written request to BPD as described above. No further direct access was available for the duration of the Pilot.

The report didn't say how many law enforcement agencies accessed the data. The problem with Flock didn't stop Boston from seeking another vendor of license-plate reader technology. The police department started another license-plate reader trial with Motorola in February 2026 and a third trial with Axon in June 2026.

Boston's report comes amid a larger privacy debate over law enforcement access to license-plate camera data. An Electronic Frontier Foundation report yesterday described how the nationwide lookup tool lets police conduct searches with little or no justification.

"An EFF analysis of ALPR search logs from Flock Safety systems shows that officers across the country are spying on drivers for completely nonsensical 'reasons,'" the EFF wrote. "Police are routinely searching the Flock database without providing any legitimate justification, making a mockery of our civil liberties by logging reasons like 'LOL' (short for 'laugh out loud'), 'LMAO' (short for 'laughing my ass off'), 'sexy,' and 'idk' (short for 'I don't know') to access sensitive ALPR location data."

The EFF wrote that "Flock Safety claims it has improved its system by requiring officers to select from a dropdown list of crimes before running a search," but the new system in place since late 2025 "does not require proof that the dropdown reason actually matches the true purpose of the search."

Boston will keep using cameras, just not Flock's

When asked if the city will keep using license-plate cameras as long as there are appropriate constraints, Wu replied, "Yes, we need a publicly approved and authorized policy to guarantee all of those protections, privacy, civil liberties, and if that's in place, then we should deploy technology to be able to keep people safe and solve crimes faster."

Boston's annual report said the city requires vendors to agree not to share license-plate-reader data and to erase recordings after 30 days unless police request that video be retained for legal or investigative purposes.

"The police department has been piloting different versions [of the technology] to better understand where vehicles might be going," Wu said. City officials need to "know exactly who can access that data, how it will be retained, how long will it be saved for," she said.

"It can really help with safety in a lot of ways, but it has to be used responsibly," Wu said. "When the toggles or the access controls either are not able to be restricted in the ways that conform with that policy, or are set but then can be unset or reset in ways that violate that policy, we would not use that platform."

As we wrote last month, cities have been dropping Flock at an accelerating pace "over concerns regarding out-of-control surveillance, unwanted data sharing, high expenses, and reports of police abusing the tool." However, the company told Ars at the time that, “so far in 2026, new city partnerships have outpaced nonrenewals by approximately 10 to 1." We contacted Flock today about the Boston city report and will update this article if it provides a response.

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