PTaaS Replaces Annual Pen Tests With Continuous, Subscription-Based Security

Penetration Testing as a Service (PTaaS) is a subscription model that provides ongoing security testing, replacing the traditional once-a-year penetration test. Unlike conventional engagements that deliver a static PDF report weeks after testing ends, PTaaS surfaces vulnerabilities in real time, allowing developers to begin remediation immediately. The model offers cost predictability by converting variable per-engagement fees into a fixed subscription, while also scaling access to a broader pool of specialized security researchers. PTaaS platforms are designed to keep pace with modern development cycles, catching new vulnerabilities introduced by frequent code deployments and infrastructure changes. Many platforms also generate audit-ready reports aligned to compliance frameworks such as PCI DSS, SOC 2, and HIPAA, reducing documentation burden for security teams.

8 states have acted. Now, food regulator may ban analogue paneer across India

Flutter Apps Can Silently Swallow Bugs — Here Is How to Fix That

A Flutter developer with experience since 2018 warns that broad try/catch blocks can silently suppress real bugs, preventing them from reaching crash-reporting tools like Sentry. Instead of catching all errors generically, the approach recommends sorting failures into two categories: expected errors that can be handled gracefully, and unexpected bugs that should propagate untouched. The solution uses a sealed AppException class with specific subtypes, ensuring every error is classified and the compiler flags missing cases. A shared BaseRepository.guard() method centralises error handling, preserving original stack traces so crash reports remain actionable. The full implementation is publicly available across three boilerplate repositories — bp-bloc, bp-riverpod, and bp-mvvm.

India women reach Asian Games cricket semis after wins over Japan and Shafali

India's women cricket team advanced to the semi-finals of the Asian Games after defeating Japan in their final group stage match. Openers Charani and Shafali Verma played match-winning knocks to power India to victory. The win secured India's place in the knockout round of the tournament. India will now face Bangladesh on September 20, with a spot in the gold-medal match at stake.

New wild cat species discovered – with only one known living member

Article URL: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6x2zgv9rr4ro Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49751222 Points: 28 # Comments: 4

25-year-old lost cottage bid by $60,000; handwritten letter changed owner’s mind

Model Context Protocol: A Developer's Guide to Building AI-Powered Integrations

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open, JSON-RPC-based standard designed to enable AI models to communicate with external tools, databases, and APIs in a standardized way. Often compared to USB for its role in universalizing connectivity, MCP bridges the gap between large language models and real-time external systems they cannot natively access. The protocol follows a client-server architecture where an AI client interacts with an MCP server, which in turn connects to external services. Key capabilities include tool execution, resource access, context sharing, and built-in security mechanisms suited for enterprise deployments. Developer Gupta Abhishek Premkumar published a comprehensive tutorial in September 2026 covering how to build, deploy, and secure MCP servers to extend AI assistant functionality.

California restores 67 acres of farmland into wetlands and wildlife habitat in Salinas

California is converting 67 acres of former agricultural land at Ensen Community Park in Salinas into wetlands, grasslands, and wildlife habitat. The large-scale restoration project involved reshaping over 172,000 cubic yards of soil to recreate a natural landscape. The site now features 6,000 native plants, 100 trees, 1.7 miles of walking trails, and three bridges. The restored park is set to open to the public on September 20.

Over 37 lakh appeals pending after Bengal SIR: EC tells Supreme Court

FSSAI flags Nestle infant products over false promotional claims, biotin levels

Dev Tool Adds Syntax Highlighting to Code Diffs Without Altering Change Markers

A developer building a pull request reading guide received feedback that code was difficult to read due to uniform coloring within diff lines. To address this, syntax highlighting was added to both the diff view and definition previews, layering color cues onto the existing green and red line backgrounds. The implementation highlights old and new file versions separately to prevent multiline strings from one version affecting the other, and uses highlight.js to extract token ranges without replacing the original source text. Fallback to plain code is built in for unknown file types or parsing errors, ensuring the diff always renders. Regression tests cover edge cases including emoji, HTML-like characters, collapsed context, and renamed files.

How a Non-Engineer Built Three Daily Claude AI Routines to Avoid Analysis Overload

A product marketer, not a developer, began using Anthropic's Claude AI tool not for coding but to manage a recurring problem of spending too much time re-checking business analytics each morning. They built three simple automated routines: a 10 a.m. Publora analytics brief, a Monday-Wednesday-Friday content idea tracker that saves suggestions to a local file, and a twice-daily Hacker News digest to curb aimless browsing. The routines are intentionally modest — designed to surface only what needs attention rather than replace judgment or generate content autonomously. The author deliberately chose local routines over Claude's cloud-based options, citing personal anxiety about AI performing tasks unsupervised overnight. The result is a leaner workday where deeper investigation is triggered by genuine need rather than habitual over-analysis.

Australia make two changes as Zimbabwe elect to bowl in opener

Australia have made two changes to their playing XI, with Josh Hazlewood and Billy Stanlake coming in to replace Wes Bartlett and Mitchell Johnson. Cameron Green has been ruled out of the match and is unavailable for selection. Zimbabwe, on the other hand, have named an unchanged side for the contest. Having won the toss, Zimbabwe opted to bowl first against Australia.

AI-Generated SQL Runs Fine But Can Silently Return Wrong Data, Dev Warns

A software developer has highlighted a subtle but serious risk with AI-generated SQL queries: they can execute without errors while still returning logically incorrect results. In a real-world example, an AI produced a complex query using window functions and CTEs that passed code review but used MIN instead of MAX, returning the earliest matching row rather than the most recent one. The mistake went undetected for two weeks after deployment, affecting live data for specific edge cases. The developer notes that leading large language models achieve only around 60% execution accuracy on complex natural language-to-SQL tasks, making direct sign-off unreliable. As an alternative, the author advocates for a step-by-step, verifiable approach to SQL generation where intermediate results can be inspected before a final query is produced.

Ngidi Ruled Out of SA vs Australia ODIs; Mokoena Named as Replacement

South Africa fast bowler Lungi Ngidi has been ruled out of the upcoming three-match ODI series against Australia due to a hamstring injury. Seamer Andile Mokoena has been called up to the squad as his replacement. The series adds to South Africa's bowling concerns, as Kagiso Rabada and Ottneil Baartman are also unavailable for the fixtures. The absence of three key pace bowlers represents a significant challenge for South Africa's attack heading into the series.

Ex-Anthropic Researcher Jacob Coxon Ignites AI Safety Debate

Jacob Coxon, a Cambridge University graduate from 2020, has sparked a significant debate in the artificial intelligence community. The former Anthropic researcher issued a stark warning claiming that AI laboratories are effectively 'gambling' with human lives. His remarks drew widespread attention given his insider experience at one of the leading AI safety-focused organizations. The comments have reignited broader concerns about whether AI development is proceeding responsibly and with adequate safeguards.

Gen Z discussing dharm is heartening: Mohan Bhagwat

Punjab Police Officer Shot Dead by Two Assailants on Motorcycle in Amritsar

A Punjab police officer named Harjit Singh was shot and killed by two men riding a motorcycle in Amritsar. Singh was on PCR (Police Control Room) duty at the time of the attack. The assailants fired at him from point-blank range before fleeing the scene. The incident has drawn sharp political reactions, with both BJP and Congress targeting the ruling AAP government over the law and order situation in Punjab.

Why do people queue for hours to buy an iPhone?

Punjab Man First in Line at Apple Noida Store to Buy iPhone 18 Pro Max

Apple's latest iPhone 18 Pro Max went on sale in India, drawing eager customers to stores in the Delhi-NCR region. A man from Punjab arrived at Apple's Noida store as early as 6 AM to secure his place at the front of the queue. He became the first customer to purchase the iPhone 18 Pro Max at that location. The scene was reminiscent of previous iPhone launch days, with enthusiasts lining up outside Apple stores as has become an annual tradition.