News

Sam Sabin / Axios: A report from the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand: China-backed hacking group Volt Typhoon has had access to some key US infrastructure for 5+ years  —  China-backed hackers have had access to some major… Read More »A report from the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand: China-backed hacking group Volt Typhoon has had access to some key US infrastructure for 5+ years (Sam Sabin/Axios)

Carl Franzen / VentureBeat: Microsoft updates Copilot with a redesigned look, a new AI model for Copilot’s Balanced mode called Deucalion, and new image creation and editing features  —  In a startling move, Microsoft today announced a redesigned look for… Read More »Microsoft updates Copilot with a redesigned look, a new AI model for Copilot’s Balanced mode called Deucalion, and new image creation and editing features (Carl Franzen/VentureBeat)

Alexandre Rajbhandari / Bloomberg: Paris-based payments company Worldline plans to lay off around 8% of its global workforce, or ~1,400 jobs, as it seeks to cut annual costs by €200M from 2025  —  – Company seeks to cut annual costs… Read More »Paris-based payments company Worldline plans to lay off around 8% of its global workforce, or ~1,400 jobs, as it seeks to cut annual costs by €200M from 2025 (Alexandre Rajbhandari/Bloomberg)

Connor Jones / The Register: Microsoft’s Threat Analysis Center says Iran’s cyber operations in Israel show how Iran could target the 2024 US elections, including fake news websites  —  Tactics are more sophisticated and supported in greater numbers  —  Iran’s… Read More »Microsoft’s Threat Analysis Center says Iran’s cyber operations in Israel show how Iran could target the 2024 US elections, including fake news websites (Connor Jones/The Register)

Kate Knibbs / Wired: An interview with Nebojša Vujinović Vujo, who runs 2,000+ AI-generated news sites, often hosted on popular, dormant domains, and claims to have human editors  —  Serbian DJ turned internet entrepreneur Nebojša Vujinović Vujo floods abandoned news… Read More »An interview with Nebojša Vujinović Vujo, who runs 2,000+ AI-generated news sites, often hosted on popular, dormant domains, and claims to have human editors (Kate Knibbs/Wired)

Charlie Sorrel / iFixit News: Apple Vision Pro and battery teardown: 50 Vision Pro pixels fit into a single iPhone 15 Pro pixel, not technically 4K, a roughly 100° field of view, and more  —  After the whirlwind of team… Read More »Apple Vision Pro and battery teardown: 50 Vision Pro pixels fit into a single iPhone 15 Pro pixel, not technically 4K, a roughly 100° field of view, and more (Charlie Sorrel/iFixit News)

Mozilla Foundation: An in-depth look at Common Crawl, the 9.5PB web crawl archive dating back to 2008 run by a small nonprofit, its role in generative AI, its dataset, and more  —  Common Crawl’s Impact on Generative AI  —  Common… Read More »An in-depth look at Common Crawl, the 9.5PB web crawl archive dating back to 2008 run by a small nonprofit, its role in generative AI, its dataset, and more (Mozilla Foundation)

Financial Times: A German court sides with US-based R2 Semiconductor over Intel in a patent infringement suit; a source says the ruling could lead to a ban on HP and Dell sales  —  US chipmaker plans to appeal against decision… Read More »A German court sides with US-based R2 Semiconductor over Intel in a patent infringement suit; a source says the ruling could lead to a ban on HP and Dell sales (Financial Times)

Chainalysis: Ransomware payments in 2023 reached a record $1.1B, up from $567M in 2022 and $983M in 2021, as the frequency, scope, and volume of attacks escalated  —  The Chainalysis 2024 Crypto Crime Report  —  Coming soon  —  In 2023,… Read More »Ransomware payments in 2023 reached a record $1.1B, up from $567M in 2022 and $983M in 2021, as the frequency, scope, and volume of attacks escalated (Chainalysis)

Wayne Ma / The Information: Source: Apple is building at least two iPhone prototypes that fold widthwise; the devices are in early development and not set for production in 2024 or 2025  —  Apple is building prototypes of at least… Read More »Source: Apple is building at least two iPhone prototypes that fold widthwise; the devices are in early development and not set for production in 2024 or 2025 (Wayne Ma/The Information)