Government-backed hackers from Russia and China exploited a known vulnerability in outdated versions of WinRAR, the world’s most popular compression tool with over 500 million users. Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) said Wednesday it observed a number of government-backed hacking campaigns utilizing the WinRAR bug…
Source: Gizmodo – You Need to Update WinRAR, Right Now
On the heels of Netflix trimming its own animation division in favor of bringing in third-party content—as reported by Variety on October 11—we now know one of the new sources joining the fold: Skydance Animation, which was previously partnered with Apple TV+ and released Luck on the streamer in 2022.
Source: Gizmodo – Skydance Animation Shifts Slate From Apple TV+ to Netflix
With a fully stacked Starship on the pad awaiting a license to launch, SpaceX has seemingly lost its patience with the regulatory process governing its rockets. The company is calling on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to increase its efficiency in issuing launch licenses, according to media reports.
Source: Gizmodo – SpaceX Blames Understaffed FAA for Starship Regulatory Delays
Enlarge / Pras Michel performs during the Roots Picnic at The Mann on June 3, 2023, in Philadelphia. (credit: Getty Images | Taylor Hill )
After being convicted of federal crimes related to a foreign influence campaign, rapper Prakazrel “Pras” Michel says he should get a new trial because his lawyer “used an experimental AI program to write his closing argument.” In a motion for a new trial filed Monday, the Fugees rapper’s new lawyers say Michel’s previous representation used “an experimental AI program in which they had a financial stake to write the closing argument, resulting in a frivolous and ineffectual closing argument.”
Michel was represented at trial by defense counsel David Kenner, who is accused of failing to provide a cogent defense and misattributing two songs to the Fugees. The allegations about Kenner’s use of AI are reminiscent of a previous incident in which a lawyer admitted using ChatGPT to help write court filings that cited six nonexistent cases invented by the artificial intelligence tool.
According to the motion for a new trial, “Kenner failed to familiarize himself with the charged statutes, causing him to overlook critical weaknesses in the Government’s case,” and he “did not understand the facts or allegations.”
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Source: Ars Technica – Rapper Pras’ lawyer used AI to defend him in criminal case—it did not go well
When Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 hits the PS5 at the end of the week, Spidey fans will catch up a little while into Peter Parker and Miles Morales’ tenure as the Spider-Men of New York. But even with that time difference, a lot has happened to these versions of these characters you might have forgotten about since the…
Source: Gizmodo – Everything You Need to Remember Before Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Enlarge / A view of the stage at TED AI 2023 on October 17, 2023, at the Herbst Theater in San Francisco. (credit: Benj Edwards)
SAN FRANCISCO—On Tuesday, dozens of speakers gathered in San Francisco for the first TED conference devoted solely to the subject of artificial intelligence, TED AI. Many speakers think that human-level AI—often called AGI, for artificial general intelligence—is coming very soon, although there was no solid consensus about whether it will be beneficial or dangerous to humanity. But that debate was just Act One of a very long series of 30-plus talks that organizer Chris Anderson called possibly “the most TED content in a single day” presented in TED’s nearly 40-year history.
Hosted by Anderson and entrepreneur Sam De Brouwer, the first day of TED AI 2023 featured a marathon of speakers split into four blocks by general subject: Intelligence & Scale, Synthetics & Realities, Autonomy & Dependence, and Art & Storytelling. (Wednesday featured panels and workshops.) Overall, the conference gave a competent overview of current popular thinking related to AI that very much mirrored Ars Technica’s reporting on the subject over the past 10 months.
Indeed, some of the TED AI speakers covered subjects we’ve previously reported on as they happened, including Stanford PhD student Joon Sung Park’s Smallville simulation, and Yohei Nakajima’s BabyAGI, both in April of this year. Controversy and angst over impending AGI or AI superintelligence were also strongly represented in the first block of talks, with optimists like veteran AI computer scientist Andrew Ng painting AI as “the new electricity” and nothing to fear, contrasted with a far more cautious take from leather-bejacketed AI researcher Max Tegmark, saying, “I never thought governments would let AI get this far without regulation.”
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Source: Ars Technica – At TED AI 2023, experts debate whether we’ve created “the new electricity”
Netflix announced price hikes on two of its plans today. As the company relayed its quarterly earnings, tit said it’s increasing rates for its Basic and Premium plans. The Basic plan, which Netflix killed earlier this year, moves from $10 to $12 for grandfathered customers, while Premium rises from $20 to $23.
Netflix said its ad-supported and Standard plans will remain the same at $7 and $15.49, respectively. Before Wednesday’s news, the company last raised prices in early 2022.
“While we mostly paused price increases as we rolled out paid sharing, our overall approach remains the same — a range of prices and plans to meet a wide range of needs, and as we deliver more value to our members, we occasionally ask them to pay a bit more,” Netflix wrote in its earnings report. “Our starting price is extremely competitive with other streamers and at $6.99 per month in the US, for example, it’s much less than the average price of a single movie ticket.”
The company’s move to limit password sharing appears to have paid off. Paid memberships are up to 247.15 million, a significant 10 percent annual increase. Paid net subscriber additions were 8.76 million for Q3, the biggest increase of the last year. In addition, Netflix’s advertising-supported plan seems to be off to the hot start it expected as it accounted for 30 percent of all new sign-ups in countries where it’s available.
Netflix has shifted its strategy as it adjusts from its peak-pandemic highs while facing increased competition. In addition to its price hikes, ad-supported plan and password-sharing crackdowns, the streaming service is even taking the peculiar step of moving into retail.
Netflix is hardly alone in raising prices. Disney+, Hulu and Max have all issued increases in the past 12 months. That isn’t limited to direct rivals: Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation Plus, Spotify, YouTube Premium and Apple Music all jacked up their subscription costs in the last year.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/netflix-jacks-price-premium-plan-201116492.html?src=rss
Source: Engadget – Netflix jacks up the price of its premium plan to a month
Two movies, both about the apocalypse, both comedies, both hitting theaters in the summer of 2013. Looking back on it now, Edgar Wright’s The World’s End and Seth Rogen/Evan Goldberg’s This Is the End couldn’t be more different. But before release, at least one person wasn’t so sure, and the story of what happened…
Source: Gizmodo – How the X-Men Forced This Is the End to Change Its Title, With an Assist From Edgar Wright
Amazon says it’s testing two new technologies to increase automation in its warehouses, including a trial of a humanoid robot. From a report: The humanoid robot, called Digit, is bipedal and can squat, bend and grasp items using clasps that imitate hands, the company said in a blog post Wednesday. It’s built by Agility Robotics and will initially be used to help employees consolidate totes that have been emptied of items. Amazon invested in Agility Robotics last year.
[…] In addition to Digit, Amazon is testing a technology called Sequoia, which will identify and sort inventory into containers for employees, who will then pick the items customers have ordered, the company said. Remaining products are then consolidated in bins by a robotic arm called Sparrow, which the company revealed last year. The system is in use at an Amazon warehouse in Houston, the company said in a statement.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Amazon Tests Humanoid Robot in Warehouse Automation Push
Convicted Fugees rapper Prakazrel “Pras” Michél said his former lawyer bungled his trial with a closing argument written by AI. It’s another bizarre twist in a sprawling case that saw the hip hop icon charged with conspiracy, acting as a foreign agent of China, and illegal attempts to influence two US presidential…
Source: Gizmodo – The Fugees’ Pras Michél Says His Lawyers’ Use of AI Sent Him to Prison
Erik Wernquist is recognized, and rightly blamed, for unleashing the animated sensation Crazy Frog to an unsuspecting world in 2009. A frenetic frog zipping through cityscapes has become an iconic visual of that time (how was that 14 years ago!?), but Wernquist’s latest venture is a far cry from his previous…
Source: Gizmodo – Creator of Crazy Frog Invites You on a Luxury Cruise Across the Solar System
Amazon has some big plans for its drone delivery program, including an international expansion to the UK and Italy in 2024. The company also aims to start drone operations in a third US city next year, following existing efforts in College Station, Texas (where it just started offering prescription medication delivery by drone) and Lockeford, California.
Drone deliveries in the UK and Italy will start at one site each before expanding to more locations over time. Amazon says it will announce the specific locations for the US, UK and Italy expansion in the coming months.
Moreover, Amazon will integrate the Prime Air program into its delivery network. In the US, drones will run out of some Same-Day Delivery sites. By basing drones at those locations and its larger fulfillment centers in the UK and Italy, Amazon says customers can choose from a wider range of items for drone deliveries. Until now, Amazon has been using dedicated delivery centers at its first two Prime Air locations.
When the option is available in their area and they buy an eligible item that weighs under five pounds, Amazon customers can choose to have the product delivered by drone. Thousands of items are eligible for drone delivery, including office and tech supplies, household products and beauty items. The company notes that, for nearly a year, it’s been using drones to deliver items to customers in its first two Prime Air locations in an hour or less.
Reports earlier this year suggested that Prime Air got off to a very slow start, delivering to just a handful of homes in its first few weeks of operation in Texas and California (the program is said to have been hit hard by layoffs around that time too). Regulatory red-tape was said to be a key reason for the lackluster debut. To that end, Amazon says it has been “working closely with regulators and governments around the world to expand drone delivery.”
Meanwhile, Amazon plans to start making deliveries with the MK30 drone it first showed off last November. This model has a range that’s twice as large as previous drones, while it has improved tolerance for higher and lower temperatures. The MK30 can also operate in light rain. It’s smaller, lighter and quieter than previous drones too, according to Amazon.
What’s more, the MK30 latest model is said to be capable of identifying and avoiding obstacles that are in its delivery area, including objects like moveable cranes that weren’t there the previous day. One other intriguing aspect of the MK30 is how it flies. After taking off vertically, it orientates itself for horizontal, wing-borne flight. Add all of that up (and roll in some safety features), and Amazon says the MK30 can deliver packages to folks who live in more densely populated suburban areas and have smaller backyards.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-plans-to-start-drone-deliveries-in-the-uk-and-italy-next-year-185027120.html?src=rss
Source: Engadget – Amazon plans to start drone deliveries in the UK and Italy next year
Get those spooky season viral outfits, accessories, and treats, or throw something together for a cozy costume from retailers like BoxLunch, Hot Topic, ShopDisney, RSVLTS, and more for those boo baskets before October 31.
Source: Gizmodo – Spooktober Halloween Must-Haves to Add to Your Shopping List
Reddit’s Community Points, a blockchain-based rewards system for quality posts, comments, and other contributions in a subset of subreddits, is going the way of many similar tokens launched during the crypto boom times: away.
As of November 8, coins like the “MOON” that r/CryptoCurrency used for tips, premium features, and even voting shares will be removed from users’ Vaults. Noticing this, the value of most Reddit-based coins took a nearly straight drop on Tuesday after Reddit’s announcements. MOON was trading just over $0.20 at 1 pm Eastern, shortly before the announcement in its subreddit. Shortly before 3 pm, MOON had dropped just below $0.02, a loss of more than 85 percent, with fellow Reddit currencies BRICK (r/FortNiteBR) and DONUT (r/EthTrader) seeing similarly precipitous plunges.
MOON’s price, as seen on TradingView, during the day when Reddit announced its sunsetting of Community Points, such as MOON. (credit: TradingView)
While most people likely never noticed the loss of their Community Points, some who actively acquired them, or even bought more on the blockchain, are reporting losses of thousands of dollars. Conspiratorial claims of Reddit having “rugged” the currencies—pulling money from the system before a sudden shutdown—floated on social media.
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Source: Ars Technica – Reddit’s blockchain-based “Community Points” rewards crash after sunsetting
The bar for taking a sick day is getting lower, and some bosses say that’s a problem. From a report: U.S. workers have long viewed an unwillingness to take sick days as a badge of honor. That’s a laurel workers care much less about these days. The number of sick days Americans take annually has soared since the pandemic, employee payroll data show. Covid-19 and a rise in illnesses such as RSV, which can require days away from work, are one reason. Managers and human-resources executives also attribute the jump to a bigger shift in the way many Americans relate to their jobs.
For one, more workers are using up sick time often for reasons such as mental health. And unlike older workers, who might have been loath to call in sick for fear of seeming weak or unreliable, younger workers feel more entitled to take full advantage of the benefits they’ve been given, executives and recruiters say. That confidence has only grown as record low unemployment persists. So far this year, 30% of white-collar workers with access to paid leave have taken sick time, up from 21% in 2019, according to data from payroll and benefits software company Gusto. Employees between ages 25 and 34 are taking sick days most often, with their use rates jumping 45% from before the pandemic.
[…] Younger workers used to follow the example of their older peers and come in even when under the weather, says Crystal Williams, chief human resources officer at global business payments company Fleetcor, which has around 5,000 U.S. employees. She suspects early-career employees aren’t taking cues from older co-workers in the same way now that five days a week at the office is no longer the norm. Prepandemic, Fleetcor workers in their 20s and 30s took one or two sick days a year, she says. Now, itâ(TM)s more like three to five.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – American Employees Reinvent the Sick Day
Virtual private networks (VPNs) have become an essential tool for many web surfers, for a wide variety of reasons, and one of the most popular services is offering a great deal to entice new customers. NordVPN is selling two-year subscription plans for up to 69 percent off, depending on which tier you choose. You also get three free months of service when you sign up, which is always a nice bonus. This is actually a slightly better deal than last month’s 68 percent discount on two-year subscription plans.
Here’s how it all breaks down. The company’s flagship Complete plan is 69 percent off when you buy into two years of service, totaling $5 per month or $135. The Plus plan is 62 percent off, coming in at $4 per month or $108 for two years. The Standard plan is likely the best option for average consumers, offering a secure VPN, tracker blockers, ad blockers and malware protection. This plan is 63 percent off, totaling $3 per month or $80 for the whole shebang. Each and every one of these deals includes three free months of service, totaling 27 months. The one-year plans are also discounted and come with the same three free months of use.
There are even discounts for the company’s proprietary password management software, NordPass. Two-year Premium plans are 58 percent off and also offer three free months upon signing up. Enterprise users actually get six free months to try everything out.
We have praised NordVPN’s feature set and general ease-of-use, but balked at the original price tag. As a matter of fact, the cost was a primary reason why Nord’s offering narrowly missed our list of the best VPNs. So these discounts go a long way to making this an extremely attractive option for those looking for a speedy and useful virtual private network.
It’s worth noting that all of these plans are being advertised as Black Friday discounts, but you can actually make use of the sale beginning today. It all ends on November 29, so set a calendar reminder if you want some time to think things over.
If you aren’t even sure what VPNs are for, they are actually quite useful for those who spend a lot of time on ye olde internet. These services are nearly-mandatory when accessing public Wi-Fi, as they prevent cyber criminals from accessing your computer. The software also blocks malicious sites, protects sensitive data and lets you skirt geo-restrictions when surfing.
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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nordvpn-plans-are-nearly-70-percent-off-ahead-of-black-friday-183535813.html?src=rss
Source: Engadget – NordVPN plans are nearly 70 percent off ahead of Black Friday
Enlarge / Google’s new malware scanner for sideloaded apps. (credit: Google)
The Google Play Store might not be perfect for stopping Android malware, but its collection of scanning, app reviews, and developer requirements makes it a lot safer than the wider, unfiltered Internet. The world outside Google’s walled garden has no rules at all and offers a countless number of questionable apps available for sideloading. To help combat the surge of sideloaded malware, Google Play can now pop up a malware scanner at install time if it decides the app you’re trying to sideload is interesting.
Google Play’s malware system, called “Google Play Protect,” has always been able to check sideloaded apps for malware, but it used faster techniques like a definition file, and this happened quietly in the background. This new technique will delay your app installation with a full-screen “scanning” interface while Google runs a deep scan of the app code. Google’s blog post says this is “real-time scanning at the code-level to combat novel malicious apps” and that Google Play Protect can “recommend a real-time app scan when installing apps that have never been scanned before to help detect emerging threats.”
The scan will involve sending bits and pieces of the app to Google for analysis. Google says:
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Source: Ars Technica – Android will now scan sideloaded apps for malware at install time
Meta is temporarily changing users’ default comment settings on Facebook as part of its response to the Israel-Hamas war. The company said in an update it was making the change in an effort to “protect people in the region from potentially unwelcome or unwanted comments.”
With the change, comments on “newly created public Facebook posts” will be limited to the user’s friends or “established followers.” The step is somewhat unusual as publicly viewable Facebook posts are typically open to comments from anyone by default. Meta didn’t specify the location or how many Facebook accounts would be affected by the change, but said it would apply broadly to “people in the region.”
The company added that all Facebook users have the ability to limit their comments, regardless of their location, and that it would notify users for whom the setting was now enabled by default. Additionally, Meta said it’s making it easier for Facebook users to bulk delete comments and that it’s “disabled the feature that normally displays the first one or two comments under posts in Feed.”
The updates appear to be meant to reduce harassment and potentially toxic comments as tensions surrounding the conflict continue to spill over onto social media. Meta also said it’s rolling out its profile “lock” tool to Facebook users “in the region.” The feature allows users to hide some previously-public parts of their profile and prevents non-friends from seeing a full-size version of their profile photos.
The company also addressed claims that their content moderation practices have unfairly suppressed some accounts posting about the conflict. Over the weekend a number of users reported that they believed they had been “shadowbanned” on Instagram for posting content about conditions in Gaza or otherwise calling attention to how the ongoing conflict is affecting Palestinians.
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said the company had discovered and fixed a “bug” that affected the visibility of Stories and other re-shared posts “globally.” On Wednesday, the company confirmed the issues had “significantly reduced” the reach of Stories. “This bug affected accounts equally around the globe – not only people trying to post about what’s happening in Israel and Gaza – and it had nothing to do with the subject matter of the content,” Meta said. Separately, the company also fixed another “global issue” that prevented users from livestreaming on Facebook “for a short time.”
It’s not the first time questions have been raised about Meta’s response to a conflict between Israel and Hamas. In May of 2021, the last time there was a major escalation violence in the Gaza Strip, Facebook’s moderation practices violated Palestinians’ right to free expression, a report commissioned by Meta found. The report found that Meta’s systems and content reviewers had a lower accuracy rate when evaluating posts written in Palestinian Arabic, which resulted in a significant number of users being hit with “false strikes” on their accounts.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-is-temporarily-changing-facebook-comment-settings-amid-israel-hamas-war-183105130.html?src=rss
Source: Engadget – Meta is temporarily changing Facebook comment settings amid Israel-Hamas war
OpenAI has brought live web browsing out of beta. The company launched the feature earlier this year before pulling it after the plugin kept gleaning data from paywalled content. In addition, the next-generation image generation tool DALL-E 3, which integrates with ChatGPT for easier prompting, is now available in beta for ChatGPT Plus and Enterprise subscribers.
Browse with Bing, as live web browsing is formally called, no longer requires subscribers to switch a beta toggle under the chatbot’s settings. It’s now available as a standard option in the dropdown under the GPT-4 model selector.
The feature matters since, by default, the popular chatbot has a knowledge cutoff date of September 2021, leaving it clueless about current events. “Browsing is particularly useful for tasks that require up-to-date information, such as helping you with technical research, trying to choose a bike, or planning a vacation,” the company posted on X (formerly Twitter) last month.
Meanwhile, DALL-E 3 is now available in beta settings for ChatGPT subscribers. While DALL-E 2 launched before ChatGPT and had a separate website, the new version is available within ChatGPT, preventing users from having to switch apps.
OpenAI said last month that DALL-E 3 is “significantly better” at grasping the user’s intent, especially with long and detailed prompts. The company says it’s better at rendering images, including hands (which many an AI image generator has struggled with). In addition, the tool lets you tweak results by entering follow-up queries in natural language. Unlike the previous version, the company says DALL-E 3 refuses attempts to mimic styles of living artists, helping it steer clear of potential lawsuits.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/chatgpt-live-web-browsing-exits-beta-dall-e-3-enters-beta-182303115.html?src=rss
Source: Engadget – ChatGPT live web browsing exits beta, DALL-E 3 enters beta
Enlarge / A PC running Windows 11. (credit: Microsoft)
As we’ve written before, Windows 11’s adoption among PC users has been a bit slower than Windows 10’s, and that has continued into the operating system’s second year. Internal Microsoft data obtained by Windows Central claims that Windows 11 is currently in use on around 400 million PCs, almost exactly two years after the operating system’s October 2021 release.
Windows 10 had been installed on over 500 million systems by its second birthday, which backs up data we’ve seen from sources like Statcounter and the Steam Hardware Survey—Windows 11 just isn’t being adopted at the same rate as its predecessor. Worldwide Windows market share data from Statcounter suggests that Windows 11 runs on between 23 and 24 percent of Windows PCs, compared to 72 percent for Windows 10, and Statcounter shows Windows 11’s growth has stagnated in recent months. Still, Windows 11’s numbers are said to surpass Microsoft’s internal expectations.
It’s difficult to directly compare Windows 10’s adoption rate and Windows 11’s. Windows 10 was explicitly intended to run on any system that could already run Windows 7 and Windows 8, the two most popular versions of the operating system at the time of its release. Microsoft also offered it to those users as a free upgrade for one year, a then-unprecedented move meant to spur people to upgrade their existing PCs rather than wait to get Windows 10 on a new one. By contrast, Windows 11’s system requirements generally limit it to PCs released in or after late 2017 and 2018, cutting off a large number of PCs that are running Windows 10 just fine.
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Source: Ars Technica – Windows 11’s adoption continues to lag Windows 10’s, but it’s hard to compare
