Linking ideas with the world
Would you trust Elon Musk with your mortgage? Or Big Tech with your benefits? Us neither. That’s what’s at stake as the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act reaches the final stage of negotiations. For all its big talk, it seems like the EU is buckling to Big Tech. EU lawmakers have been tasked with developing the Read more about A(I) deal at any cost: Will the EU buckle to Big Tech?[…]
An SEC filing has revealed more details on a data breach affecting 23andMe users that was disclosed earlier this fall. The company says its investigation found hackers were able to access the accounts of roughly 0.1 percent of its userbase, or about 14,000 of its 14 million total customers, TechCrunch notes. On top of that, Read more about 23andMe hackers accessed DNA information on millions of customers using a feature that matches relatives[…]
Electric vehicle owners continue to report far more problems with their vehicles than owners of conventional cars or hybrids, according to Consumer Reports’ newly released annual car reliability survey. The survey reveals that, on average, EVs from the past three model years had 79 percent more problems than conventional cars. Based on owner responses on Read more about Electric Vehicles Are79% Less Reliable Than Conventional Cars[…]
[…] Using realistic ecological modeling, scientists led by Western Sydney University’s Jürgen Knauer found that the globe’s vegetation could actually be taking on about 20% more of the CO2 humans have pumped into the atmosphere and will continue to do so through to the end of the century. “What we found is that a well-established Read more about Plants may be absorbing 20% more CO2 than we thought, new models find[…]
[…] Tech vendors – software, hardware, and cloud services – generally avoid terms that suggest they’re perhaps in some way pinning down customers in a strategic sales hold. But as Marie Myers, chief financial officer at HP, was this week talking to the UBS Global Technology conference, in front of investors, the thrust of the Read more about HP’s CFO tells world: we are locking in customers for more profit[…]
Google Drive users are reporting files mysteriously disappearing from the service, with some netizens on the goliath’s support forums claiming six or more months of work have unceremoniously vanished. The issue has been rumbling for a few days, with one user logging into Google Drive and finding things as they were in May 2023. According Read more about Months of Google Drive files disappearing randomly[…]
ownCloud has disclosed three critical vulnerabilities, the most serious of which leads to sensitive data exposure and carries a maximum severity score. The open source file-sharing software company said containerized deployments of ownCloud could expose admin passwords, mail server credentials, and license keys. Tracked as CVE-2023-49103, the vulnerability carries a maximum severity rating of 10 Read more about 3 Vulns expose ownCloud admin passwords, sensitive data[…]
The open-source Roundcube webmail software project has “merged” with Nextcloud, the prominent open-source personal cloud software. In boosting Nextcloud’s webmail software capabilities, Roundcube is joining Nextcloud as what’s been described as a merger. In 2024 Nextcloud is to invest into Roundcube to accelerate the development of this widely-used webmail open-source software. Today’s press release says Read more about Roundcube Open-Source Webmail Software Merges With Nextcloud[…]
Windows users are reporting that Hewlett Packard’s HP Smart application is appearing on their systems, despite them not having any of the manufacturer’s hardware attached. While Microsoft has remained tight-lipped on what is happening, folks on various social media platforms noted the app’s appearance, which seems to afflict both Windows 10 and Windows 11. The Read more about Windows users report appearance of unwanted HP app – shows you how secure automatic updating is (with no real information about what is in the updates)[…]
Google Play has reversed its latest ban on a web browser that keeps getting targeted by vague Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notices. Downloader, an Android TV app that combines a browser with a file manager, was restored to Google Play last night. Downloader, made by app developer Elias Saba, was suspended on Sunday after Read more about Web browser suspended because it can browse the web is back on Google Play after being taken down by incomplete DMCA[…]
After years of continuous, unrepentant abuse of surveillance powers, the FBI is facing the real possibility of seeing Section 702 curtailed, if not scuttled entirely. Section 702 allows the NSA to gather foreign communications in bulk. The FBI benefits from this collection by being allowed to perform “backdoor” searches of NSA collections to obtain communications Read more about FBI Director Admits Agency Rarely Has Probable Cause When It Performs Backdoor Searches Of NSA Collections[…]
Former Rockstar North developer Obbe Vermeij had been enjoying a few weeks of sharing some decades-old tales. Reminiscing on his many years with the GTA developer, Vermeij took to his personal blog to recall revealing inside stories behind games like San Andreas and Vice City, and everyone was having a good time. Until Rockstar North Read more about Former GTA Developer’s Blog Removed After Rockstar Complains[…]
Given that the overwhelming majority of DMCA takedown notices are generated by copyright bots that are only moderately good at their job, at best, perhaps it’s not terribly surprising that these bots keep finding new and interesting ways to cause collateral damage unintentionally. […] a Tumblr site, called “Mapping La Sirena.” If you’re a fan Read more about Copyright Bot Can’t Tell The Difference Between Star Trek Ship And Adult Film Actress[…]
[…] Every clock has two fundamental properties: a certain precision and a certain time resolution. The time resolution indicates how small the time intervals are that can be measured—i.e., how quickly the clock ticks. Precision tells you how much inaccuracy you have to expect with every single tick. The research team was able to show Read more about Limits for quantum computers: Perfect clocks are impossible, research finds[…]
Hardware security hackers have detailed how it’s possible to bypass Windows Hello’s fingerprint authentication and login as someone else – if you can steal or be left alone with their vulnerable device. The research was carried out by Blackwing Intelligence, primarily Jesse D’Aguanno and Timo Teräs, and was commissioned and sponsored by Microsoft’s Offensive Research Read more about How to bypass Windows Hello fingerprint login[…]
Our mouths might help keep our hunger in check. A recent study found evidence in mice that our brains rely on two separate pathways to regulate our sense of fullness and satiety—one originating from the gut and the other from cells in the mouth that let us perceive taste. The findings could help scientists better Read more about Your Tastebuds Help Tell You When to Stop Eating, New Research Suggests[…]
Dirty air killed more than half a million people in the EU in 2021, estimates show, and about half of the deaths could have been avoided by cutting pollution to the limits recommended by doctors. The researchers from the European Environment Agency attributed 253,000 early deaths to concentrations of fine particulates known as PM2.5 that Read more about Toxic air killed more than 500,000 people in EU in 2021, data shows[…]
Ubisoft is blaming a “technical error” for a fullscreen pop-up ad that appeared in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey this week. Reddit users say they spotted the pop-up on Xbox and PlayStation versions of the game, with an ad appearing just when you navigate to the map screen. “This is disgusting to experience while playing,” remarked one Read more about Ubisoft blames ‘technical error’ for showing pop-up ads in Assassin’s Creed[…]
[…] In a paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a group of researchers led by Dion Häfner, a computer scientist at the University of Copenhagen, describe a clever way to make AI more understandable. They have managed to build a neural network, use it to solve a tricky problem, and then capture Read more about A new way to predict ship-killing rogue waves, more importantly: to see how an AI finds its results[…]
[…] At the Parliament’s plenary session in Strasbourg, the right to repair was adopted with 590 votes in favour. The legislative file, first presented by the EU Commission in March, aims to support the European Green Deal targets by increasing incentives for a circular economy, such as making repair a more attractive option than replacement Read more about EU Parliament adopts Right to Repair law with broad support[…]
Spotify struck a special deal with Google that lets it pay no commission to Google when people sign up for subscriptions using the music streaming service’s own payment system on Android, according to new testimony in the ongoing Epic v. Google trial first reported by The Verge. As part of the same deal, Spotify paid Read more about Google reportedly struck a special with Spotify that let it skip Play Store fees revealed in Epic vs Google lawsuit[…]
Stable Diffusion’s generative art can now be animated, developer Stability AI announced. The company has released a new product called Stable Video Diffusion into a research preview, allowing users to create video from a single image. “This state-of-the-art generative AI video model represents a significant step in our journey toward creating models for everyone of Read more about The AI startup behind Stable Diffusion is now testing generative video[…]
Commercial air crews are reporting something “unthinkable” in the skies above the Middle East: novel “spoofing” attacks have caused navigation systems to fail in dozens of incidents since September. In late September, multiple commercial flights near Iran went astray after navigation systems went blind. The planes first received spoofed GPS signals, meaning signals designed to Read more about Commercial Flights Are Experiencing dozens of GPS Spoofing Attacks in the Middle East[…]
A senator has alleged that American law enforcement agencies snoop on US citizens and residents, seemingly without regard for the privacy provisions of the Fourth Amendment, under a secret program called the Hemisphere Project that allows police to conduct searches of trillions of phone records. According to Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), these searches “usually” happen Read more about US government pays AT&T to let cops search phone records without warrant[…]
[…] Earlier this year, YouTube began interrupting videos for those using advert blockers with a pop-up encouraging them to either disable the offending extension or filter, or pay for YT’s ad-free premium tier. More recently, netizens have reported experiencing delays in playback when using non-Chrome browsers as well. Upon launching a video, Firefox users have Read more about Google admits it’s making YouTube worse for ad block and non-chrome (Edge, Firefox) users[…]