Booking.com not passing on payments to hotels for months on end

Travel website Booking.com has left many hotel operators and other partners across the globe thousands of dollars out of pocket for months on end, blaming the lack of payment on a “technical issue”. The issue is widespread in Thailand, Indonesia and Europe among hoteliers who are venting their frustrations in Facebook groups as rumours swirl Read more about Booking.com not passing on payments to hotels for months on end[…]

Singapore plans to scan your face instead of your passport

[…] “Singapore will be one of the first few countries in the world to introduce automated, passport-free immigration clearance,” said minister for communications and information Josephine Teo in a wrap-up speech for the bill. Teo did concede that Dubai had such clearance for select enrolled travelers, but there was no assurance of other countries planning Read more about Singapore plans to scan your face instead of your passport[…]

UK passport and immigration images database could be repurposed to catch shoplifters

Britain’s passport database could be used to catch shoplifters, burglars and other criminals under urgent plans to curb crime, the policing minister has said. Chris Philp said he planned to integrate data from the police national database (PND), the Passport Office and other national databases to help police find a match with the “click of Read more about UK passport and immigration images database could be repurposed to catch shoplifters[…]

Amazon Partially Wins Against EU Digital Services Act

Amazon has partially won in an EU court case related to European Union ecommerce market regulation laws, which come under the Digital Services Act (DSA). On Thursday, the EU General Court ruled in favour of Amazon, by agreeing to suspend a requirement under the DSA that Amazon is obligated to follow and make an ads Read more about Amazon Partially Wins Against EU Digital Services Act[…]

Microsoft is going nuclear to power its AI ambitions

Microsoft thinks next-generation nuclear reactors can power its data centers and AI ambitions, according to a job listing for a principal program manager who’ll lead the company’s nuclear energy strategy. Data centers already use a hell of a lot of electricity, which could thwart the company’s climate goals unless it can find clean sources of energy. Energy-hungry Read more about Microsoft is going nuclear to power its AI ambitions[…]

Heat pumps twice as efficient as fossil fuel systems in cold weather, study finds – gas lobby misinforms, blocks uptake

Heat pumps are more than twice as efficient as fossil fuel heating systems in cold temperatures, research shows. Even at temperatures approaching -30C, heat pumps outperform oil and gas heating systems, according to the research from Oxford University and the Regulatory Assistance Project thinktank. […] The research, published in the specialist energy research journal Joule, Read more about Heat pumps twice as efficient as fossil fuel systems in cold weather, study finds – gas lobby misinforms, blocks uptake[…]

Ransomed.vc: Using the GDPR fine as a benchmark to ransom stolen data

On August 15, 2023, the threat actor “Ransomed,” operating under the alias “RansomForums,” posted on Telegram advertising their new forum and Telegram chat channel. On the same day, the domain ransomed[.]vc was registered. But before activity on Ransomed had even really begun, the forum was the victim of a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. In response, Read more about Ransomed.vc: Using the GDPR fine as a benchmark to ransom stolen data[…]

Firefox now has private browser-based website translation – no cloud servers required

Web browsers have had tools that let you translate websites for years. But they typically rely on cloud-based translation services like Google Translate or Microsoft’s Bing Translator. The latest version of Mozilla’s Firefox web browser does things differently. Firefox 118 brings support for Fullpage Translation, which can translate websites entirely in your browser. In other Read more about Firefox now has private browser-based website translation – no cloud servers required[…]