My car was at the auto shop. It was officially about to get junked (yay!), but I had to be there to hand it off to the folks taking it away. That’s more than a 15-mile roundtrip from my home in Brooklyn, so I figured it’d be a good test for the Lectric XP Trike,… Continue reading Lectric XP Trike Review: Cheap Three-Wheeled Ebike
Author: Wired Magazine
An Apple Malware-Flagging Tool Is ‘Trivially’ Easy to Bypass
One of your Mac’s built-in malware detection tools may not be working quite as well as you think. At the Defcon hacker conference in Las Vegas, longtime Mac security researcher Patrick Wardle presented findings today about vulnerabilities in Apple’s macOS Background Task Management mechanism, which could be exploited to bypass and, therefore, defeat the company’s… Continue reading An Apple Malware-Flagging Tool Is ‘Trivially’ Easy to Bypass
Hip Hop 2073: A Vision of the Future, 50 Years From Now
Many talented artists are represented: a rapper with Trisomy-21 named Jirau (after a pioneering fashion model), who is an especially strong lyricist. In 2073, neurodiverse artists (many formerly known as “disabled”) are valued, as most AI algorithms had largely ignored them in their early training sets. Then there’s DJ Congolia, who made original beats exclusively… Continue reading Hip Hop 2073: A Vision of the Future, 50 Years From Now
GitHub’s Hardcore Plan to Roll Out Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)
You’ve heard the advice for years: Turn on two-factor authentication everywhere it’s offered. It’s long been clear that using only a username and password to secure digital accounts isn’t enough. But layering on an additional authentication “factor”—like a randomly generated code or a physical token—makes the keys to your kingdom much tougher to guess or… Continue reading GitHub’s Hardcore Plan to Roll Out Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)
Geoffrey Hinton, Godfather of AI, Has a Hopeful Plan for Keeping Future AI Friendly
That sounded to me like he was anthropomorphizing those artificial systems, something scientists constantly tell laypeople and journalists not to do. “Scientists do go out of their way not to do that, because anthropomorphizing most things is silly,” Hinton concedes. “But they’ll have learned those things from us, they’ll learn to behave just like us… Continue reading Geoffrey Hinton, Godfather of AI, Has a Hopeful Plan for Keeping Future AI Friendly
Cruise and Waymo Robotaxis Can Now Work the Streets of San Francisco 24/7
California today cleared all-day paid robotaxi service in San Francisco—with unlimited fleets of self-driving cars. Soon, anyone in the city might be able to hail a driverless car with a few taps of a phone. And San Francisco cab and ride-hail drivers will have new, automated competition. The 3-1 vote by the California Public Utilities… Continue reading Cruise and Waymo Robotaxis Can Now Work the Streets of San Francisco 24/7
Teens Hacked Boston Subway’s CharlieCard to Get Infinite Free Rides—and This Time Nobody Got Sued
In working with Rauch, the MBTA had created a vulnerability disclosure program to cooperate with friendly hackers who agreed to share cybersecurity vulnerabilities they found. The teens say they were invited to a meeting at the MBTA that included no fewer than 12 of the agency’s executives, all of whom seemed grateful for their willingness… Continue reading Teens Hacked Boston Subway’s CharlieCard to Get Infinite Free Rides—and This Time Nobody Got Sued
Generative AI Is Making Companies Even More Thirsty for Your Data
Zoom, the company that normalized attending business meetings in your pajama pants, was forced to unmute itself this week to reassure users that it would not use personal data to train artificial intelligence without their consent. A keen-eyed Hacker News user last week noticed that an update to Zoom’s terms and conditions in March appeared… Continue reading Generative AI Is Making Companies Even More Thirsty for Your Data
The Scary Science of Maui’s Wildfires
In an eerie echo of 2018’s Camp Fire, which sped through the town of Paradise, California, destroying 19,000 buildings and killing 85 people, ferocious wildfires are tearing through Maui, forcing some people to flee into the ocean. Much of the town of Lahaina is now ash, and the death toll stands at 36 so far. … Continue reading The Scary Science of Maui’s Wildfires
Zoom Became a Part of Daily Life. It Needs to Tell Users Exactly How It’s Using Their Data
Recently, Zoom amended its terms of service to grant itself the right to use any assets—such as video recordings, audio transcripts, or shared files—either uploaded or generated by “users” or “customers.” These assets could be used for lots of things, including training Zoom’s “machine learning” and “artificial intelligence” applications. This policy change raises a slew… Continue reading Zoom Became a Part of Daily Life. It Needs to Tell Users Exactly How It’s Using Their Data