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A new study (PDF) from researchers at Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University found that increased reliance on AI tools leads to a decline in critical thinking skills. Gizmodo reports: The researchers tapped 319 knowledge workers -- a person whose job involves handling data or information -- and asked them to self-report details of how they use generative AI tools in the workplace. The participants were asked to report tasks that they were asked to do, how they used AI tools to complete them, how confident they were in the AI's ability to do the task, their ability to evaluate that output, and how confident they were in their own ability to complete the same task without any AI assistance. Over the course of the study, a pattern revealed itself: the more confident the worker was in the AI's capability to complete the task, the more often they could feel themselves letting their hands off the wheel. The participants reported a "perceived enaction of critical thinking" when they felt like they could rely on the AI tool, presenting the potential for over-reliance on the technology without examination. This was especially true for lower-stakes tasks, the study found, as people tended to be less critical. While it's very human to have your eyes glaze over for a simple task, the researchers warned that this could portend to concerns about "long-term reliance and diminished independent problem-solving." By contrast, when the workers had less confidence in the ability of AI to complete the assigned task, the more they found themselves engaging in their critical thinking skills. In turn, they typically reported more confidence in their ability to evaluate what the AI produced and improve upon it on their own. Another noteworthy finding of the study: users who had access to generative AI tools tended to produce "a less diverse set of outcomes for the same task" compared to those without.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from VentureBeat: A new startup PIN AI (not to be confused with the poorly reviewed hardware device the AI Pin by Humane) has emerged from stealth to launch its first mobile app, which lets a user select an underlying open-source AI model that runs directly on their smartphone (iOS/Apple iPhone and Google Android supported) and remains private and totally customized to their preferences. Built with a decentralized infrastructure that prioritizes privacy, PIN AI aims to challenge big tech's dominance over user data by ensuring that personal AI serves individuals -- not corporate interests. Founded by AI and blockchain experts from Columbia, MIT and Stanford, PIN AI is led by Davide Crapis, Ben Wu and Bill Sun, who bring deep experience in AI research, large-scale data infrastructure and blockchain security. [...] PIN AI introduces an alternative to centralized AI models that collect and monetize user data. Unlike cloud-based AI controlled by large tech firms, PIN AI's personal AI runs locally on user devices, allowing for secure, customized AI experiences without third-party surveillance. At the heart of PIN AI is a user-controlled data bank, which enables individuals to store and manage their personal information while allowing developers access to anonymized, multi-category insights -- ranging from shopping habits to investment strategies. This approach ensures that AI-powered services can benefit from high-quality contextual data without compromising user privacy.[...]The new mobile app launched in the U.S. and multiple regions also includes key features such as: - The "God model" (guardian of data): Helps users track how well their AI understands them, ensuring it aligns with their preferences. - Ask PIN AI: A personalized AI assistant capable of handling tasks like financial planning, travel coordination and product recommendations. - Open-source integrations: Users can connect apps like Gmail, social media platforms and financial services to their personal AI, training it to better serve them without exposing data to third parties. - "With our app, you have a personal AI that is your model," Crapis added. "You own the weights, and it's completely private, with privacy-preserving fine-tuning." Davide Crapis, co-founder of PIN AI, told VentureBeat that the app currently supports several open-source AI models, including small versions of DeepSeek and Meta's Llama. "With our app, you have a personal AI that is your model," Crapis added. "You own the weights, and it's completely private, with privacy-preserving fine-tuning." You can sign up for early access to the PIN AI app here.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Netflix content briefly appeared in the Apple TV app due to an unintentional glitch, sparking excitement among users before the company swiftly rolled back the integration. Engadget reports: A Netflix spokesperson told The Verge on Friday that the Apple TV app integration was an error that has been rolled back. Indeed, Redditors who had been tracking the forbidden fruit with unbridled glee confirmed that all signs of Netflix content had since vanished from Apple's streaming hub. Netflix giveth, and Netflix taketh away. While the boo-boo was still active, PC World reported it let you add Netflix originals like Stranger Things, Cobra Kai and The Crown but lacked licensed shows and movies. Even the available content was a buggy mess. For example, only season five of The Crown was available, leaving you to wonder what hijinks Liz and the gang had gotten into before or after the grunge era. The "Add to Watchlist" and "Continue Watching" features were also said to be spotty.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The Verge's Jay Peters reports: Square Enix has shut down the iOS version of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles and removed it from the App Store following an unfixable bug that blocked people from accessing content they had paid for. [...] The company says that if you made in-app purchases in January 2024 or later, you're eligible to request a refund by contacting Apple Support. Square Enix says that Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles will continue to be supported on other platforms. The game is also available on Android, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch. "The issue is due to changes made to the in-app purchases model," Square Enix says in a post. "Further investigation revealed that we are unable to completely fix the bug and implement the new changes, making it unlikely to resume service for the game." Square Enix says it started receiving reports on January 24th about the issue, which "extends to the full paid version of the game."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: On Wednesday, OpenAI published the latest version of its "Model Spec," a set of guidelines detailing how ChatGPT should behave and respond to user requests. The document reveals a notable shift in OpenAI's content policies, particularly around "sensitive" content like erotica and gore -- allowing this type of content to be generated without warnings in "appropriate contexts." The change in policy has been in the works since May 2024, when the original Model Spec document first mentioned that OpenAI was exploring "whether we can responsibly provide the ability to generate NSFW content in age-appropriate contexts through the API and ChatGPT." ChatGPT's guidelines now state that that "erotica or gore" may now be generated, but only under specific circumstances. "The assistant should not generate erotica, depictions of illegal or non-consensual sexual activities, or extreme gore, except in scientific, historical, news, creative or other contexts where sensitive content is appropriate," OpenAI writes. "This includes depictions in text, audio (e.g., erotic or violent visceral noises), or visual content." So far, experimentation from Reddit users has shown that ChatGPT's content filters have indeed been relaxed, with some managing to generate explicit sexual or violent scenarios without accompanying content warnings. OpenAI notes that its Usage Policies still apply, which prohibit building AI tools for minors that include sexual content.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Meta unveiled on Friday Project Waterworth, a 50,000-kilometer subsea cable network that will be the world's longest such system. The multi-billion dollar project will connect the U.S., Brazil, India, South Africa, and other key regions. The system utilizes 24 fiber pairs and introduces what Meta describes as "first-of-its-kind routing" that maximizes cable placement in deep water at depths up to 7,000 meters. The company developed new burial techniques for high-risk areas near coasts to protect against ship anchors and other hazards. A joint statement from President Trump and Prime Minister Modi confirmed India's role in maintaining and financing portions of the undersea cables in the Indian Ocean using "trusted vendors." According to telecom analysts Telegeography, Meta currently has ownership stakes in 16 subsea networks, including the 2Africa cable system that encircles the African continent. This new project would be Meta's first wholly owned global cable system.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Electricity demand is set to increase sharply in the coming years as people around the world use more power to run air conditioners, industry and a growing fleet of data centers. From a report: Over the next three years, global electricity consumption is set to rise by an "unprecedented" 3,500 terawatt hours, according to a report by the International Energy Agency. That's an addition each year of more than Japan's annual electricity consumption. The roughly 4% annual growth in that period is the fastest such rate in years, underscoring the growing importance of electricity to the world's overall energy needs. "The acceleration of global electricity demand highlights the significant changes taking place in energy systems around the world and the approach of a new Age of Electricity," Keisuke Sadamori, IEA's director of energy markets and security, said in a statement. "But it also presents evolving challenges for governments in ensuring secure, affordable and sustainable electricity supply."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Western Digital plans to introduce its first heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) drives in late 2026, with 36TB conventional magnetic recording (CMR) and 44TB shingled UltraSMR variants. Volume production won't begin until the first half of 2027, following qualification by cloud data center providers in late 2026. The company projects that HAMR technology, combined with OptiNAND, increased platter count, and mechanical improvements, will enable drives reaching 80TB CMR and 100TB UltraSMR capacities around 2030 -- a departure from Western Digital's previous commitment to microwave-assisted magnetic recording (MAMR) in 2017, which evolved into the energy-assisted perpendicular magnetic recording (ePMR) technology used in current drives.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

A hedge fund startup that uses AI to do work typically handled by analysts has outperformed the global stock market in its first six months while slashing research costs. From a report: The Sydney-based firm, Minotaur Capital, was founded by Armina Rosenberg and Thomas Rice. Rosenberg previously managed a global equities portfolio for tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes and ran Australian small-company research for JPMorgan Chase & Co. when she was 25. Rice is a former portfolio manager at Perpetual. The duo's bets on global stocks returned 13.7% in the six months ending January, versus 6.7% for the MSCI All-Country World Index. Minotaur has no analysts on staff, with Rosenberg saying AI models are far quicker and cheaper. "We're looking at about half the price" in terms of cost of AI versus a junior analyst salary, Rosenberg, 37, said of the firm's program. Minotaur is among a growing number of hedge funds experimenting with ways to improve returns and cut expenses with AI as the technology becomes increasingly sophisticated. Still, the jury is still out on the ability of AI-driven models to deliver superior returns over the long run.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Hector Martin has resigned as the project lead of Asahi Linux, weeks after stepping down from his role as a Linux kernel maintainer for Apple ARM support. His departure from Asahi follows a contentious exchange with Linus Torvalds over development processes and social media advocacy. After quitting kernel maintenance earlier this month, the conflict escalated when Martin suggested that "shaming on social media" might be necessary to effect change. Torvalds sharply rejected this approach, stating that "social media brigading just makes me not want to have anything at all to do with your approach" and suggested that Martin himself might be the problem. In his final resignation announcement from Asahi, Martin wrote: "I no longer have any faith left in the kernel development process or community management approach." The dispute reflects deeper tensions in the Linux kernel community, particularly around the integration of Rust code. It follows the August departure of another key Rust for Linux maintainer, Wedson Almeida Filho from Microsoft. According to Sonatype's research, more than 300,000 open source projects have slowed or halted updates since 2020.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

China issued guidelines on Friday to promote biotech cultivation, focusing on gene-editing tools and developing new wheat, corn, and soybean varieties, as part of efforts to ensure food security and boost agriculture technology. From a report: The 2024-2028 plan aims to achieve "independent and controllable" seed sources for key crops, with a focus to cultivate high-yield, multi-resistant wheat, corn and high-oil, high-yield soybean and rapeseed varieties. The move comes as China intensifies efforts to boost domestic yields of key crops like soybeans to reduce reliance on imports from countries such as the United States amid a looming trade war.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The owners of the multibillion-pound James Bond franchise are embroiled in a fight to keep control of the super spy's name, after a Dubai-based property developer filed claims in the UK and Europe that they are not using the trademark across a range of goods and services. From a report: The Austrian businessman Josef Kleindienst, who is building a $5 billion luxury resort complex called the Heart of Europe on six human-made islands just off the coast of Dubai, has filed a slew of what are known officially as "cancellation actions based on non-use" targeting the James Bond name. Under UK and EU law, if a name is trademarked against certain goods and services but the owner does not commercially exploit it in these areas for a period of at least five years then a challenge to revoke ownership of the name can be made. "He is challenging a number of UK and European Union trademark registrations for James Bond," said Mark Caddle, a partner and patent attorney at European intellectual property firm Withers & Rogers. "The basis of the European Union filings is that James Bond has not been used for the goods and services it protects, and that is likely to be the same basis of the filings in the UK."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Reddit is planning to introduce a paywall this year, CEO Steve Huffman said during a videotaped Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on Thursday. Huffman previously showed interest in potentially introducing a new type of subreddit with "exclusive content or private areas" that Reddit users would pay to access. When asked this week about plans for some Redditors to create "content that only paid members can see," Huffman said: "It's a work in progress right now, so that one's coming... We're working on it as we speak." When asked about "new, key features that you plan to roll out for Reddit in 2025," Huffman responded, in part: "Paid subreddits, yes."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

More than $1 trillion in value remains locked in venture-backed startups with dwindling prospects as the Silicon Valley unicorn bubble deflates, according to a new Bloomberg Businessweek report. Of the 354 companies that reached billion-dollar valuations in 2021, only six have completed initial public offerings, Stanford Business School professor Ilya Strebulaev said. Four others went public via SPACs and 10 were acquired, some below their unicorn status. Several prominent startups have already collapsed, including indoor farming firm Bowery Farming and AI healthcare company Forward Health. Freight business Convoy, valued at $3.8 billion in 2022, shut down last year with rival Flexport buying its assets at a steep discount.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader shares a report: How many YouTube videos are there? What are they about? What languages do YouTubers speak? As of 14 February 2025, the platform's will have been running for 20 years. That is a lot of video. Yet we have no idea just how many there really are. Google knows the answers. It just won't tell you. Experts say that's a problem. For all practical purposes, one of the most powerful communication systems ever created -- a tool that provides a third of the world's population with information and ideas -- is operating in the dark. In part that's because there's no easy way to get a random sampling of videos, according to Ethan Zuckerman, director of the Initiative for Digital Public Infrastructure at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in the US. You can pick your videos manually or go with the algorithm's recommendations, but an unbiased selection that's worthy of real study is hard to come by. A few years ago, however, Zuckerman and his team of researchers came up with a solution: they designed a computer program that pulls up YouTube videos at random, trying billions of URLs at a time. You might call the tool a bot, but that's probably over selling it, Zuckerman says. "A more technically accurate term would be 'scraper'," he says. The scraper's findings are giving us a first-time perspective on what's actually happening on YouTube. [...] The first question was simple. How many videos have people uploaded to YouTube? [...] Zuckerman and his colleagues compared the number of videos they found to the number of guesses it took, and arrived an estimate: in 2022, they calculated that YouTube housed more than nine billion videos. By mid 2024, that number had grown to 14.8 billion videos, a 60% jump.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader shares a report: As always, the most important Nvidia graphics card is the one you can actually buy, and Nvidia's talked a big game for its RTX 5070, making the dubious but nuanced claim it can deliver RTX 4090 performance for just $549. On February 28th, AMD will get its chance to intercept with the Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT, in a streaming event it just announced today. But Nvidia has now made its own wiggle room, delaying the launch of the RTX 5070 from February to March 5th, its product page reveals today. Nvidia will ship its $749 RTX 5070 Ti ahead of AMD's event, though, on February 20th, a week from today.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

AI startups are poised to disrupt the $300 billion business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, as advances in language models and voice technology enable automation of tasks traditionally handled by human workers. The BPO market, which reached $300 billion in 2024 and is projected to hit $525 billion by 2030, faces mounting pressure from AI companies offering faster, more scalable alternatives to manual processing of customer support, IT services and financial claims, venture capital firm a16z wrote in a thesis post. Early AI implementations have shown promising results, with customer service startup Decagon reporting 80% resolution rates and improved satisfaction scores. In healthcare, AI company Juniper said its clients saw 80% fewer insurance claim denials and 50% faster processing times. Major BPO providers are responding to the threat, with Wipro reporting a 140% increase in AI adoption across projects and Infosys deploying over 100 AI agents. However, industry analysts say BPOs face structural challenges in transitioning from their labor-based business model to AI-first operations. The shift threatens traditional BPO companies like Cognizant, Infosys and Wipro, which reported revenues between $10-20 billion in their latest fiscal years.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: The U.K. government wants to make a hard pivot into boosting its economy and industry with AI, and as part of that, it's pivoting an institution that it founded a little over a year ago for a very different purpose. Today the Department of Science, Industry and Technology announced that it would be renaming the AI Safety Institute to the "AI Security Institute." (Same first letters: same URL.) With that, the body will shift from primarily exploring areas like existential risk and bias in large language models, to a focus on cybersecurity, specifically "strengthening protections against the risks AI poses to national security and crime." Alongside this, the government also announced a new partnership with Anthropic. No firm services were announced but the MOU indicates the two will "explore" using Anthropic's AI assistant Claude in public services; and Anthropic will aim to contribute to work in scientific research and economic modeling. And at the AI Security Institute, it will provide tools to evaluate AI capabilities in the context of identifying security risks. [...] Anthropic is the only company being announced today -- coinciding with a week of AI activities in Munich and Paris -- but it's not the only one that is working with the government. A series of new tools that were unveiled in January were all powered by OpenAI. (At the time, Peter Kyle, the secretary of state for Technology, said that the government planned to work with various foundational AI companies, and that is what the Anthropic deal is proving out.) "The changes I'm announcing today represent the logical next step in how we approach responsible AI development -- helping us to unleash AI and grow the economy as part of our Plan for Change," Kyle said in a statement. "The work of the AI Security Institute won't change, but this renewed focus will ensure our citizens -- and those of our allies -- are protected from those who would look to use AI against our institutions, democratic values, and way of life." "The Institute's focus from the start has been on security and we've built a team of scientists focused on evaluating serious risks to the public," added Ian Hogarth, who remains the chair of the institute. "Our new criminal misuse team and deepening partnership with the national security community mark the next stage of tackling those risks."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Alibaba will partner with Apple to support AI features on iPhones in China, sending Alibaba's shares surging over 9% to a three-year high. Reuters reports: "They talked to a number of companies in China. In the end they chose to do business with us. They want to use our AI to power their phones. We feel extremely honored to do business with a great company like Apple," Tsai said at the World Government Summit in Dubai. Apple continues to work with Baidu on AI features for iPhones in China, The Information reported on Thursday, citing two people with direct knowledge of the matter. While Apple's phones outside China utilize a combination of its proprietary Apple Intelligence and OpenAI's ChatGPT, Tsai did not specify whether the Alibaba partnership would follow a similar model. In China, consumer-facing AI products require regulatory approval, and The Information reported earlier that both Alibaba and Apple have already submitted materials to authorities. "Instead of viewing the Alibaba-Apple partnership through the lens of China's AI strength, the partnership is mainly a recognition of Alibaba's AI capability," said Lian Jye Su, a chief analyst at tech research firm Omdia.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

A new study reveals that widely used pink wildfire suppressants contain high levels of toxic heavy metals like cadmium, arsenic, and chromium, with concentrations up to 3,000 times above drinking water limits. While the government and chemical makers have long concealed up to 20% of the suppressants' ingredients as "trade secrets," researchers have confirmed their role in environmental pollution, raising concerns over their extensive use in residential areas. The Guardian reports: The suppressants are a mix of water, fertilizer, and undisclosed ingredients, while the pink color comes from added dye to show firefighters where it has been sprayed. Metals are likely used as anti-corrosion agents to prevent the plane's tankers from disintegrating, they authors wrote. The mix works by coating vegetation and lowering the amount of oxygen that could fuel the fire. The substance was dropped by as many as 25 aircraft daily to contain the devastating Los Angeles wildfires, and photos from it vividly convey the trade off, showing homes and property covered in hot pink suppression. The metal levels in the suppressants meet federal guidelines and the authors were initially most worried about environmental contamination, but the heavy use in residential areas this year raises a new set of concerns, Daniel McCurry, one of the study's co-authors, told the Guardian. "Are the hazardous waste thresholds the appropriate bar for these to clear, or, if they're being used in a massive scale in populated neighborhoods, do we need to get stricter on permissible concentrations of toxic compounds?" McCurry asked. [...] The producer of one of the suppressants has said a new generation of the product is "greener," McCurry said, but he added "until we are able to come across some of this material and test it, we really don't know."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: A groundbreaking NHS trial will attempt to boost patients' mood using a brain-computer-interface that directly alters brain activity using ultrasound. The device, which is designed to be implanted beneath the skull but outside the brain, maps activity and delivers targeted pulses of ultrasound to "switch on" clusters of neurons. Its safety and tolerability will be tested on about 30 patient in the 6.5 million-pound trial, funded by the UK's Advanced Research and Invention Agency (Aria). [...] The latest trial will test a device developed by the US-based non-profit Forest Neurotech. In contrast to invasive implants, in which electrodes are inserted into a specific location in the brain, Forest 1 uses ultrasound to read-out and modify activity. Aria describes the device as "the most advanced BCI in the world" due to its ability to modify activity across multiple regions simultaneously. This widens potential future applications to a huge patient population affected by conditions such as depression, anxiety and epilepsy, which are all "circuit level" conditions rather than being localized in a specific brain region. The NHS trial will recruit patients who, due to brain injury, have had part of their skull temporarily removed to relieve a critical buildup of pressure in the brain. This means the device can be tested without having to perform surgery. When placed beneath the skull, or in individuals with a skull defect, ultrasound can detect tiny changes in blood flow to produce 3D maps of brain activity with a spatial resolution of about 100 times that of a typical fMRI scan. The same implant can deliver focused ultrasound to mechanically nudge neurons towards firing, providing a way to remotely dial activity up at precise locations. Participants will wear the device on their scalp at the site of the skull defect for two hours. Their brain activity will be measured and researchers will test whether patients' mood and feelings of motivation can be reliably altered. There are safety considerations, as ultrasound can cause tissue to heat up. Prof Elsa Fouragnan, a neuroscientist at the University of Plymouth, which is collaborating on the project, said: "What we're trying to minimize is heat. There's a safety and efficacy trade-off." She added that it would also be important to ensure that personality or decision-making were not altered in unintended ways -- for instance, making someone more impulsive. The study will run for three and a half years starting from March, with the first eight months focused on securing regulatory approval. If successful, Forest hopes to move into a full clinical trial for a condition such as depression. Aimun Jamjoom, a consultant neurosurgeon at the Barking, Havering and Redbridge university hospitals NHS trust, who is leading the project, said: "[T]he ability to offer a safer form of surgery is very exciting. If you look at conditions like depression or epilepsy, [up to] a third of these patients just don't get better. It's those groups where a technology like this could be a life-changing solution."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Amazon is removing the "Download & Transfer via USB" feature for Kindle e-books starting February 26th, closing a loophole that allowed users to download older, easily crackable DRM formats. "At the very least, you'll still be able to transfer your e-books over Wi-Fi, and of course, transferring your e-books through Calibre will still work, too," notes Android Police. "[S]o it's not like we are losing access to dragging and dropping files onto a Kindle, we are simply losing access to a tool that facilitated easy piracy by pushing older formats of retail books from the website to your Kindle over USB."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Arm will reportedly start making its own chips this year after signing Meta as a customer, according to the Financial Times (paywalled). TechCrunch reports: The chip is expected to be a CPU for servers in large data centers and can be customized for various customers. Arm will outsource its production. The first in-house Arm chip will be unveiled as early as this summer, the Financial Times also reported. This is a notable change in strategy for the semiconductor company, which usually licenses its chip blueprints to companies like Apple and Nvidia. Making its own chips will turn some of its existing customers into competitors.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple will restore TikTok to the U.S. App Store on Thursday (source paywalled; alternative source), following a letter from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. From the report: Apple, along with Alphabet's Google, removed TikTok in the US to comply with a law passed last year. In a Jan. 20 executive order, Trump said he instructed the attorney general "not to take any action to enforce the act for a period of 75 days from today to allow my administration an opportunity to determine the appropriate course forward." Apple confirmed the app will return "Thursday evening." You can find the App Store listing for TikTok here. Developing...Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Reddit's recent earnings report revealed that AI licensing deals with Google and OpenAI account for about 10% of its $1.3 billion revenue, totaling approximately $130 million. With Google paying $60 million, OpenAI is estimated to be paying Reddit around $70 million annually for content licensing. Adweek reports: "It's a small part of our revenue -- I'll call it 10%. For a business of our size, that's material, because it's valuable revenue," [said the company's COO Jen Wong]. The social platform -- which on Wednesday reported a 71% year-over-year lift in fourth-quarter revenue -- has been "very thoughtful" about the AI developers it chooses to work with, Wong said. To date, the company has inked two content licensing deals: one with Google for a reported $60 million, and one with ChatGPT parent OpenAI. Reddit has elected to work only with partners who can agree to "specific terms ... that are really important to us." These terms include user privacy protections and conditions regarding "how [Reddit is] represented," Wong said. While licensing agreements with AI firms offer a valuable business opportunity for Reddit, advertising remains the company's core revenue driver. Much of Reddit's $427.7 million Q4 revenues were generated by the ongoing expansion of its advertising business. And its ad revenue as a whole grew 60% YoY, underscoring the platform's growing appeal to brands. [...] Helping to accelerate ad revenue growth is Reddit's rising traffic. While Reddit's Q4 user growth came in under Wall Street projections, causing shares to dip, its weekly active uniques grew 42% YoY to over 379 million visitors. Average revenue per unique visitor was $4.21 during the quarter, up 23% from the prior year. While Google is "nicely reinforcing" Reddit's growth in traffic, Wong said, she added that the site's logged-in users, which have grown 27% year-over-year, are "the bedrock of our business."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Conde Nast and several other media companies sued the AI startup Cohere today, alleging that it engaged in "systematic copyright and trademark infringement" by using news articles to train its large language model. "Without permission or compensation, Cohere uses scraped copies of our articles, through training, real-time use, and in outputs, to power its artificial intelligence ('AI') service, which in turn competes with Publisher offerings and the emerging market for AI licensing," said the lawsuit (PDF) filed in US District Court for the Southern District of New York. "Not content with just stealing our works, Cohere also blatantly manufactures fake pieces and attributes them to us, misleading the public and tarnishing our brands." Conde Nast, which owns Ars Technica and other publications such as Wired and The New Yorker, was joined in the lawsuit by The Atlantic, Forbes, The Guardian, Insider, the Los Angeles Times, McClatchy, Newsday, The Plain Dealer, Politico, The Republican, the Toronto Star, and Vox Media. The complaint seeks statutory damages of up to $150,000 under the Copyright Act for each infringed work, or an amount based on actual damages and Cohere's profits. It also seeks "actual damages, Cohere's profits, and statutory damages up to the maximum provided by law" for infringement of trademarks and "false designations of origin." In Exhibit A (PDF), the plaintiffs identified over 4,000 articles in what they called an "illustrative and non-exhaustive list of works that Cohere has infringed." Additional exhibits provide responses to queries (PDF) and "hallucinations" (PDF) that the publishers say infringe upon their copyrights and trademarks. The lawsuit said Cohere "passes off its own hallucinated articles as articles from Publishers." Cohere said in a statement to Ars: "Cohere strongly stands by its practices for responsibly training its enterprise AI. We have long prioritized controls that mitigate the risk of IP infringement and respect the rights of holders. We would have welcomed a conversation about their specific concerns -- and the opportunity to explain our enterprise-focused approach -- rather than learning about them in a filing. We believe this lawsuit is misguided and frivolous, and expect this matter to be resolved in our favor." Further reading: Thomson Reuters Wins First Major AI Copyright Case In the USRead more of this story at Slashdot.

The U.S. released Russian cybercriminal Alexander Vinnik, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering through his cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e, as part of a prisoner swap that freed American schoolteacher Marc Fogel from Russian custody. The Guardian reports: Vinnik, who arrived in Moscow on a flight from Turkey on Tuesday after having been released from custody in California, is accused of owning and operating one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, BTC-e, which prosecutors allege facilitated the transfer of billions of dollars in transactions for criminals worldwide. In May 2024, Vinnik pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder billions of dollars through BTC-e. He was first arrested in Greece in 2017 at the request of the United States after he was charged by a US jury in a 21-count indictment. The charges against him included money laundering, conspiracy to commit money laundering, operating an unlicensed money service business and engaging in unlawful monetary transactions, among others. Vinnik was first extradited to France from Greece, where he received a five-year prison sentence for money laundering. He was then sent back to Greece and extradited to the United States in 2022 to face US charges. The justice department described BTC-e, which was active from around 2011 to 2017, as a "significant cybercrime and online money laundering entity that allowed its users to trade in bitcoin with high levels of anonymity and developed a customer base heavily reliant on criminal activity." Prosecutors say that BTC-e processed over $9 bn worth of transactions and served over 1 million users globally, including numerous customers in the US. US prosecutors said that the exchange was one of the "primary ways by which cyber criminals around the world transferred, laundered, and stored the criminal proceeds of their illegal activities" and accused Vinnik of operating the company with the intent to "promote" unlawful activities. Prosecutors said that he was responsible for more than $120m in losses. Vinnik, who is a nonviolent offender, is forfeiting tens of millions of dollars in assets in the exchange, according to the New York Times.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Apple CEO Tim Took took to X today to tease a special Apple product launch happening next week on Wednesday, February 19. 9to5Mac reports: Few specific details were shared, but Cook did include a brief video featuring the Apple logo in silver plus the following words: "Get ready to meet the newest member of the family. Wednesday, February 19. #AppleLaunch" [...] The most likely product is the brand new iPhone SE 4, which rumors suggest will pack a variety of powerful upgrades. [...] There are several other hardware possibilities for the February 19 launch. We're currently expecting at least three other products to debut in the near future: the M4 MacBook Air, an M3 iPad Air, and a new 11th generation base model iPad. Reading into the teaser, the silver color does subtly give off Mac vibes, so perhaps the M4 MacBook Air is coming. The circle design in the video has some wondering if AirTag 2 could be the focus of the launch. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, however, doesn't believe that's the case. Gurman suggests the iPhone SE 4 will be the new product. That would make the circle a potential reference to the device's single rear camera.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from KrebsOnSecurity: In mid-March 2024, KrebsOnSecurity revealed that the founder of the personal data removal service Onerep also founded dozens of people-search companies. Shortly after that investigation was published, Mozilla said it would stop bundling Onerep with the Firefox browser and wind down its partnership with the company. But nearly a year later, Mozilla is still promoting it to Firefox users. [Using OneRep is problematic because its founder, Dimitri Shelest, also created and maintained ownership (PDF) in multiple people-search and data broker services, including Nuwber, which contradicts OneRep's stated mission of protecting personal online security. Additionally, OneRep appears to have ties with Radaris, a people-search service known for ignoring or failing to honor opt-out requests, raising concerns about the true intentions and effectiveness of OneRep's data removal service.] In October 2024, Mozilla published a statement saying the search for a different provider was taking longer than anticipated. "While we continue to evaluate vendors, finding a technically excellent and values-aligned partner takes time," Mozilla wrote. "While we continue this search, Onerep will remain the backend provider, ensuring that we can maintain uninterrupted services while we continue evaluating new potential partners that align more closely with Mozilla's values and user expectations. We are conducting thorough diligence to find the right vendor." Asked for an update, Mozilla said the search for a replacement partner continues. "The work's ongoing but we haven't found the right alternative yet," Mozilla said in an emailed statement. "Our customers' data remains safe, and since the product provides a lot of value to our subscribers, we'll continue to offer it during this process." It's a win-win for Mozilla that they've received accolades for their principled response while continuing to partner with Onerep almost a year later. But if it takes so long to find a suitable replacement, what does that say about the personal data removal industry itself?Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Trust in AI is significantly higher in China than in the United States, according to new data from the Edelman Trust Barometer. Axios: Edelman's latest research found that 72% of people in China trust AI, compared with just 32% in the United States. Not only is trust higher in China, it's higher in much of the developing world than it is in the United States, according to Edelman's research. Trust in AI was highest in India, at 77%, followed by Nigeria at 76%, Thailand at 73% and then China. Only six of the surveyed countries ranked lower than the U.S. in their trust in the new technology: Canada (30%), Germany (29%), the Netherlands (29%), United Kingdom (28%), Australia (25%) and Ireland (24%). Globally, 52% of men said they trusted AI vs. 46% of women, with younger people significantly more trusting of the technology than older folks. In the U.S., AI was trusted more by Democrats (38%) than Republicans (34%) or independents (23%). Higher-income respondents were also more trusting (51%) than those with middle (45%) or low (36%) incomes.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Nintendo is facing an uphill battle in its U.S. patent fight against Palworld creator Pocketpair, with the United States Patent and Trademark Office rejecting 22 out of 23 patent claims, according to gaming news site GamesFray. While Nintendo has successfully obtained one patent covering character capture mechanics, the company is seeking additional protections related to gameplay features like "smooth switching of riding objects." An attorney representing Nintendo has requested a meeting with patent examiners to discuss the rejected claims. The patent dispute, which began in Japan where Nintendo is seeking $66,000 in damages, could have broader implications for the gaming industry if successfulRead more of this story at Slashdot.

Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin is cutting about 10% of its workforce, a significant pullback aimed at slashing costs and refocusing resources after years of development work. From a report: The rocket and engine maker laid out the personnel shakeup during an all-hands employee meeting with Chief Executive Officer Dave Limp Thursday morning, confirming a workforce reduction first reported by Bloomberg. In a memo sent to employees, Limp said the company's growth led to "more bureaucracy and less focus" than needed after a hiring spree over the past few years. After years of expansion bankrolled by Bezos, who started Amazon and is the world's third-richest person, Blue Origin is looking to trim manager ranks as it works to clear some $10 billion worth of launch contracts. With a staff of more than 10,000, the layoffs stand to impact over 1,000 roles.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader shares a report: JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon scorned calls from some employees to soften the bank's five-day return-to-office policy in an animated town hall meeting on Wednesday, according to a recording reviewed by Reuters. Employees at the largest U.S. bank have complained on internal message boards and chats about losing hybrid working arrangements, and one group launched an online petition urging Dimon to reconsider. When asked about the in-person work policy during the staff meeting, he said: "Don't waste time on it. I don't care how many people sign that fucking petition," he said. Instead, Dimon demanded more efficiency and stressed that employees have a choice whether to work at JPMorgan. The CEO told them not to be mad at him, and said that it was a free country.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

LibreOffice, the open-source office suite that began as StarOffice in 1985, has marked its 40th anniversary with new features that it says could transform how users interact with the software. At the FOSDEM 2025 conference, developers unveiled LibreOffice 25.2, which introduces browser-based functionality and real-time collaboration capabilities through a technology called conflict-free replicated data types. A key development is ZetaOffice, a version built for the WebAssembly runtime that enables the full office suite to run inside web browsers across operating systems and CPU architectures. The project, which entered public beta last November, allows websites to embed LibreOffice applications with complete user interfaces for editing documents, spreadsheets and presentations. While the browser-based version currently requires about a gigabyte of code and additional memory to run, developers at Allotropia are working to modularize the codebase for faster loading times. The software, released under the MIT license, can be controlled via JavaScript and operates without requiring an internet connection, unlike Google Docs or LibreOffice's existing Collabora Online version.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Baidu will make its AI chatbot Ernie Bot free from April 1, the Chinese search giant said on Thursday, as it faces mounting competition in China's AI market. The company will offer desktop and mobile users free access to Ernie Bot and an advanced search function powered by its latest Ernie 4.0 model, which Baidu claims matches OpenAI's GPT-4 capabilities. The move comes as Baidu struggles to gain widespread adoption for its AI services, lagging behind domestic rivals ByteDance's Doubao chatbot and startup DeepSeek, according to data from AI tracker Aicpb.com. Baidu previously charged 59.9 yuan ($8.18) monthly for premium AI-powered search features.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The world's peatlands are "dangerously underprotected" despite the colossal amount of climate-heating carbon dioxide already being emitted due to their destruction, a study has warned. From a report: Peatlands occupy just 3% of all land, but contain more carbon than all of the world's forests. However, farmers and miners are draining the peatlands, releasing so much CO2 that if they were a country, they would be the fourth biggest polluter in the world after China, the US and India. The first global assessment found that only 17% of the peatlands were within protected areas. This contrasted starkly with other valuable ecosystems such as tropical forests, where 38% were protected, and mangroves (42%). Protection was even lower than the 17% average in the three nations with the most peatlands: Canada, Russia and Indonesia. The US and Brazil completed the top five nations, which contained almost three-quarters of all peatlands, and had higher proportions in protected areas. But the researchers cautioned that protected status on a map did not always translate to strong protection on the ground.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The biggest utility in Virginia, home to the global hotspot Data Center Alley, saw demand from data centers in development almost double in the last half of 2024. From a report: Total data center power capacity under contract with Dominion Energy in Virginia, which includes projects from preliminary to advanced stages of development, increased to 40.2 gigawatts in December from 21.4 gigwatts in July, the company said on its earnings call Wednesday. Demand for power is surging with the development of data centers and artificial intelligence, along with manufacturing and the increasing electrification of the economy. Northern Virginia, which has the biggest concentration of the facilities in the world, has earned the nickname of Data Center Alley.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The German antitrust authority has charged Apple with abusing its market power through its app tracking tool and giving itself preferential treatment in a move that could result in daily fines for the iPhone maker if it fails to change its business practices. From a report: The move follows a three-year investigation by the Federal Cartel Office into Apple's App Tracking Transparency feature, which allows users to block advertisers from tracking them across different applications. The U.S. tech giant has said the feature allows users to control their privacy but has drawn criticism from Meta Platforms, app developers and startups whose business models rely on advertising tracking. "The ATTF (app tracking tool) makes it far more difficult for competing app publishers to access the user data relevant for advertising," Andreas Mundt, cartel office president, said in a statement.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Several countries are seeing a decline in PhD enrollments as high living costs, stagnant stipends and limited job prospects deter students from pursuing doctoral degrees. Australia recorded an 8% drop in domestic PhD enrollments from 2018 to 2023 despite population growth of 7%, while Japan's numbers fell to 15,014 in 2023 from 18,232 in 2003, data from education authorities showed. PhD stipends have failed to keep pace with rising costs. In Australia, doctoral students receive about A$32,000 ($20,000) annually, below minimum wage, while Brazil only increased its graduate grants last year after a decade-long freeze. The trend reflects broader concerns about academic careers becoming increasingly precarious, said Claudia Sarrico, a project lead at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris. Some countries are taking steps to address the issue. Japan's education ministry plans to provide additional funding for doctoral students, while Brazil's 40% increase in graduate grants in 2023 has led to a slight uptick in enrollments.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Elon Musk said Thursday his AI startup xAI will release Grok 3, a new chatbot he claims surpasses existing AI models, within two weeks. Speaking at Dubai's World Governments Summit, Musk cited internal testing showing superior reasoning capabilities compared to current AI systems. The announcement comes days after a Musk-led investor group offered $97.4 billion to acquire OpenAI's nonprofit assets. Musk, who co-founded OpenAI before starting rival xAI, is suing to block the AI company's planned transition to a for-profit structure, arguing it contradicts its original mission. "I think the evidence is there in that OpenAI has gotten this far while having at least a sort of dual profit, non-profit role. What they're trying to do now is to completely delete the non-profit, and that seems really going too far," he added.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Members of key congressional oversight committees wrote to the United States' new top intelligence official Thursday to warn that a British order demanding government access to Apple users' encrypted data imperils Americans. From a report: Ron Wyden, a Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Andy Biggs, a Republican on the House Judiciary committee, wrote to just-sworn-in National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard and asked her to demand the United Kingdom retract its order. If the top U.S. ally does not back off, they said, Gabbard should consider limiting the deep intelligence sharing and cooperation on cybersecurity between the countries. The Post first reported the existence of the confidential British order last week. It directs Apple to create a back door into its Advanced Data Protection offering, which allows users to fully encrypt data from iPhones and Mac computers when putting it in Apple's iCloud storage. Apple cannot retrieve such content even when served with a court order, frustrating authorities looking for evidence of terrorism, child abuse and other serious crimes. The order was issued under the Investigatory Powers Act, which allows the British Home Office to require technical cooperation from companies and forbids those companies from disclosing anything about the demands. It would apply globally, though the U.K. authorities would have to ask Apple for information stored by specific customers.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Convicted Theranos founder, Elizabeth Holmes, had her first interview since being reported to prison in 2023, telling People magazine that she is still working on "research and inventions" in the healthcare space. Here's an excerpt from the article: Scheduled for release on April 3, 2032, Holmes says she hopes to travel with her family and to fight for reform of criminal justice system. She recently drafted an American Freedom Act bill -- a seven-page handwritten document -- to bolster the presumption of innocence and change criminal procedure. "This will be my life's work," says Holmes, adding that she is speaking out now as part of her mission to advocate on behalf of incarcerated persons and those ripped away from their children. And, despite her global reputation as a biotech con artist who put lives at risk, she says she's continuing to write patents for new inventions and plans to resume her career in healthcare technology after her release. "There is not a day I have not continued to work on my research and inventions," she says. "I remain completely committed to my dream of making affordable healthcare solutions available to everyone." For now, however, she is sustained by weekend visits from her family, when she can cuddle Invicta, watch William gather acorns in the prison yard and hold Evans's hand and briefly hug and kiss. (Conjugal visits are not allowed.) "It kills me to put my family through pain the way I do," she says. "But when I look back on my life, and these angels that have come into it, I can get through anything. It makes me want to fight for all of it."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Longtime Slashdot reader BrendaEM writes: Command-line aside, Cinnamon is the most effective keeper of the Linux desktop flame -- by not abandoning desktop and laptop computers. Yes, there are other desktop GUIs, such as MATE, and the lightweight Xfce, which are valuable options when low overhead is important, such as in LinuxCNC. However, among the general public lies a great expanse of office workers who need a full-featured Linux desktop. The programmers who work on GNOME and its family of supporting applications enrich many other desktops do their more than their share. These faithful developers deserve better user-interface leadership. GNOME has tried to steer itself into tablet waters, which is admirable, but GNOME 3.x diminished the desktop experience for both laptop and desktop users. For instance, the moment you design what should be a graphical user interface with words such as "Activities," you ask people to change horses midstream. That is not to say that the command line and GUI cannot coexist -- because they can, as they do in many CAD programs. I remember a time when GNOME ruled the Linux desktop -- and I can remember when GNOME left those users behind. Perhaps in a future, GNOME could return to the Linux desktop and join forces with Cinnamon -- so that we may once again have the year of the Linux desktop.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

New submitter jms00 writes: A years-long legal battle has quietly escalated into what could become the defining moment for the future of GPLv3, with implications that could reshape software freedom as we know it. At issue is whether licensors have the power to impose 'further restrictions' on open-source software, potentially undermining the explicit rights granted to users and developers under AGPLv3, GPLv3, and LGPLv3. The outcome of this case, now before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, could set a dangerous precedent, limiting the ability to remove proprietary restrictions from copyleft-licensed software. With little public attention on the case, the Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) has stepped up as a key voice in defense of user rights, filing a critical amicus brief to challenge the lower court's ruling and protect the principles of software freedom.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Australia's Department of the Treasury has found that Microsoft's Copilot can easily deliver return on investment, but staff exposed to the AI assistant came away from the experience less confident it will help them at work. The Department conducted a 14-week trial of Microsoft 365 Copilot during 2024 and asked for volunteers to participate. 218 put up their hands and then submitted to surveys about their experiences using Microsoft's AI helpers. Those surveys are the basis of an evaluation report published on Tuesday. The report reveals that after the trial participants rated Copilot less useful than they hoped it would be, as it was applicable to fewer workloads than they hoped would be the case. Workers' views on Copilot's ability to improve their work also fell. Usage of Copilot was lower than expected, with most participants using it two or three times a week, or less. reported using Copilot 2-3 times per week or less. Treasury thinks it probably set unrealistically high expectations before the trial, and noted that participants often suggested extra training would be valuable.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Astronomers have discovered a perfect ring of light in a galaxy 590 million light-years away. "The phenomenon is known as an Einstein ring, and it was discovered circumscribing the galaxy NGC 6505 in data collected by the European Space Agency's Euclid space telescope," reports SpaceAlert. From the report: [...] In the case of the newly discovered Einstein ring, the light that encircles the near galaxy is from a more distant galaxy, sitting some 4.42 billion light-years away, whose light has been warped by the curvature of space-time around NGC 6505. It's a very lucky arrangement of objects: they are aligned in such a way that the distant galaxy's light is stretched into a perfect ring, with brighter blobs representing replicated images of the galaxy at four points around the ring. And the closeness of NGC 6505 makes it even more astonishing. Only five other lenses have been discovered so close; simulations suggest this new lens only had a 0.05 percent chance of existing, never mind being discovered. The more distant galaxy had never been seen before; now, scientists have the perfect tool to study it in greater detail than would be possible without the lens. The research has been published in Astronomy & Astrophysics.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Jalopnik: Experimental submarine the Titan sank in June 2023 while exploring the wreck of the Titanic. The controversial craft imploded while deep beneath the surface of the ocean killing five people onboard, and now a recording of the Titan's final moments has been shared by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. [...] In the clip, which is available to hear [here], the static sound of the ocean is shattered by a great rumble, which sounds almost like a wave crashing against the beach. It's this noise that is thought to be the total failure of the Titan, as LBC adds: "It is believed that the noise is the 'acoustic signature' of the sub imploding on 18th June 2023. It was recorded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration device about 900 miles from where the sub was last seen on radar, south of Newfoundland, Canada, US Coast Guard officials announced. The five crew members who died onboard the sub were British explorer sub were Hamish Harding, 58, British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son Suleman, 19, French deep-sea explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet (known as 'Mr Titanic'), 77, and and co-founder of the submarines owner's company OceanGate, Stockton Rushton, 61."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Longtime Slashdot reader JoeRobe writes: Scientists associated with the Kilometer Cube Neutrino Telescope, or KM3NeT, have reported detection of an ultra-high energy neutrino deep in the Mediterranean sea. The neutrino reportedly had an energy of 120 million billion electron volts (1.2x10^17 eV, or 120 PeV). This is similar to the energy of ping-pong ball traveling ~5 m/s, but all that energy was packed into a single subatomic particle. According to the New York Times, "Here, squeezed into one of the tiniest flecks of matter in our universe, that energy amounted to tens of thousands of times more than what can be achieved by the world's premier particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN." According to the authors of the Nature paper, the direction of the neutrino "is compatible with the extension of the galactic interstellar medium," but they did not find any catalogued source that would produce such a high energy neutrino, within the Milky Way or from about 40 other galaxies that could be candidates. Phys.org describes the impressive scale of the KM3NeT detector array: "It is located at 3,450 m depth, about 80 km from the coast of Portopalo di Capo Passero, Sicily. Its 700 m high detection units (DUs) are anchored to the seabed and positioned about 100 m apart. Every DU is equipped with 18 Digital Optical Modules (DOM) each containing 31 photomultipliers (PMTs). In its final configuration, ARCA will comprise 230 DUs. The data collected are transmitted via a submarine cable to the shore station at the INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Sud. The KM3NeT/ORCA (Oscillation Research with Cosmics in the Abyss) detector is optimized to study the fundamental properties of the neutrino itself. It is located at a depth of 2,450 m, about 40 km from the coast of Toulon, France. It will comprise 115 DUs, each 200 m high and spaced by 20 m. The data collected by ORCA are sent to the shore station at La Seyne Sur Mer." "This ultra-high energy neutrino may originate directly from a powerful cosmic accelerator," surmises Phys.org. "Alternatively, it could be the first detection of a cosmogenic neutrino. However, based on this single neutrino it is difficult to conclude its origin."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Longtime Slashdot reader theodp writes: Monday brought chilling news reports of the all-count trial convictions of three individuals for a conspiracy to rob and drug people outside of LGBTQ+ nightclubs in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood, which led to the deaths of two of their victims. The defendants were found guilty on all 24 counts, which included murder, robbery, burglary, and conspiracy. "As proven at trial," explained the Manhattan District Attorney's Office in a press release, "the defendants lurked outside of nightclubs to exploit intoxicated individuals. They would give them drugs, laced with fentanyl, to incapacitate their victims so they could take the victims' phones and drain their online financial accounts [including unauthorized charges and transfers using Cash App, Apple Cash, Apple Pay]." District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr. added, "My Office will continue to take every measure possible to protect New Yorkers from this type of criminal conduct. That includes ensuring accountability for those who commit this harm, while also working with financial companies to enhance security measures on their phone apps." In 2024, D.A. Bragg called on financial companies to better protect consumers from fraud, including: adding a second and separate password for accessing the app on a smartphone as a default security option; imposing lower default limits on the monetary amount of total daily transfers; requiring wait times of up to a day and secondary verification for large monetary transactions; better monitoring of accounts for unusual transfer activities; and asking for confirmation when suspicious transactions occur. "No longer is the smartphone itself the most lucrative target for scammers and robbers -- it's the financial apps contained within," said Bragg as he released letters (PDF) sent to the companies that own Venmo, Zelle, and Cash App. "Thousands or even tens of thousands can be drained from financial accounts in a matter of seconds with just a few taps. Without additional protections, customers' financial and physical safety is being put at risk. I hope these companies accept our request to discuss commonsense solutions to deter scammers and protect New Yorkers' hard-earned money." "Our cellphones aren't safe," warned the EFF's Cooper Quintin in a 2018 New York Times op-ed. "So why aren't we fixing them?" Any thoughts on what can and should be done with software, hardware, and procedures to stop "bank jackings"?Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Apple has released an official Apple TV app for Android phones and tablets that's now available in the Google Play Store. You can download it here. 9to5Google reports: The newest Apple app on Android has a bottom bar with Apple TV+, MLS (Major League Soccer), Downloads for offline viewing, and Search. [...] The video player takes after Apple TV on other platforms, with a portrait mode available. There are convenient shortcuts to activate picture-in-picture, which works inside the app (while browsing) and system-wide, and mute to bring up the system volume bar. Playback is smooth and more stable than other streaming services. At launch, the Apple TV app lacks Casting support and there do not appear to be new episode notifications. If you're already signed into Apple Music, you have to log in again to Apple TV. Another notable aspect is support for Google Play Billing instead of requiring out-of-app sign-up on another device. This applies to both the Google TV app (and Apple Music) today.Read more of this story at Slashdot.