List of All Articles with Tag 'tech'

By Diane Bartz WASHINGTON Moderate Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives have formed a working group on

OpenAI said its technology is capable of moderating content, a task that could help businesses become more efficient,

Google is preparing for the “quantum apocalypse”. Experts have warned for years that the development of quantum computers could undermine the encryption that currently secures everything from our private messages to our banking details. Quantum computers are a still largely theoretical technology that proponents claim could dramatically beat the performance of the classical computers we have today. That could be a major positive for applications such as drug research and quantum computing – but could be disastrous for security technology. Much of that security technology depends on mathematical problems that are sufficiently hard for our computers to work out as to keep that data secure. But future quantum computers could overcome those problems in seconds, and break into any data. That is what is referred to by researchers as the “quantum apocalypse”. And an entire subset of computing – post-quantum cryptography – has grown to find ways to secure data even if that future does come about. Now Google has put some of that work into practice, in Chrome. The new technology includes new cryptography that should be resistant to attempts to break it with future quantum computers. It does so by integrating a technology known as X25519Kyber768, a long name for what is actually a hybrid of two cryptographic algorithms. Tying the two together means that data is protected both by an existing secure algorithm and one that is protected against quantum computers. The updates are part of broader work across Google to “prepare the web for the migration to quantum-resistant cryptography”. Devon O’Brien, Google’s technical program manager for Chrome security, who wrote the blog post announcing the changes, noted that quantum computers could be decades away. But remains important to secure data now in part so that it cannot be filed away, ready to break into when the technology arrives. “It’s believed that quantum computers that can break modern classical cryptography won’t arrive for 5, 10, possibly even 50 years from now, so why is it important to start protecting traffic today? The answer is that certain uses of cryptography are vulnerable to a type of attack called Harvest Now, Decrypt Later, in which data is collected and stored today and later decrypted once cryptanalysis improves.” Read More Vote to empower autonomous ‘robotaxis’ from Cruise and Waymo divides San Francisco ‘Billions’ of computers potentially affect by huge security vulnerability AI breakthrough could dramatically reduce planes’ global warming impact

Alphabet Inc.’s Google will let users experiment with new features that display content created by artificial intelligence while

The US government plans to rein in the vast data broker industry with new, privacy-focused regulations that aim to safeguard millions of Americans' personal information from data breaches, violent criminals and even artificial intelligence chatbots.

US Representative Don Bacon said he is among those whose emails were hacked in an espionage campaign that

Female reproductive health experts are calling on Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to rethink its restrictions on reproductive health content.

Some iPhone users are set to receive payouts as part of a controversy over Apple’s battery technology. Owners of older devices who joined a lawsuit over what was termed “batterygate” are set to receive around $65, according to the lawyers behind it. The payments relate to a controversy that erupted in 2017, when users complained that Apple was intentionally limiting the performance of their iPhones. As their devices aged, they found, Apple would place restrictions on how fast the devices could run. Apple said the restrictions were a way of ensuring that older devices could continue to function even as their batteries degraded. The older batteries did not provide reliable or constant power, and so spikes in performance could mean the devices would spontaneously shut down otherwise. But users complained that they had not been told about the change and had no way to turn it off. It also played into a persistent belief that Apple slows down older devices as part of “planned obsolescence” aimed at encouraging people to buy new iPhones – though there is no evidence that is the case. The controversy meant that lawyers brought complaints on behalf of owners of the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6S, 6S Plus, 7, 7 Plus, or the first-generation iPhone SE, in 2018. Now they have achieved success in what they say is “the largest all-cash recovery in a computer intrusion case in history”. The settlement stipulated that Apple would pay at least $310 million to affected customers, which is expected to work out at about $65 each. But users must have signed up before October 2020, when a deadline passed, if they want to receive it, and only those 100 million people who did so will be part of the settlement. Apple has not publicly commented on the proceedings. It had appealed the settlement, but an appeals court in the US has since dismissed that case, allowing the payments to go forward. Read More Something unexpected is happening to people’s iPhone 14s, owners claim Apple is working on a mysterious new project called ‘Watch X’, report claims Apple is planning a host of powerful new Macs, rumours say

MTN Group Ltd. is seeking as many as three more strategic investors in addition to Mastercard Inc. for

The logo of “X” (formerly known as Twitter) has changed again and everyone is saying the same thing. Since Elon Musk took over the social media platform Twitter, he has implemented some major changes, one of the biggest being a complete rebrand to “X” which left industry experts baffled. As part of the rebrand, the iconic logo of 17 years was changed from the famous sky blue and white bird logo to a black and white X that some have compared to resembling a porn site. Now, Musk has made another update to the default app icon logo, adding some white marks to the black background behind the X to give it a kind of worn grunge effect. But, the subtle change has been mercilessly mocked by X users and simply left everyone increasingly yearning to have the old bird logo back. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter “Impressive how they managed to make it look ever tackier,” one person argued. Another said: “Not the f**king grunge_overlay_04.png texture.” Someone else wrote: “Well it’s def not beating porn site allegations any time soon.” Among the criticism, others called for the app logo to be changed back to its original state. “They should update to this,” one person wrote. According to the number of likes the tweet has garnered, it would appear thousands of others agree. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

The personal data of more than 1,000 people, including victims of crime, was included in Freedom of Information (FoI) responses issued by Norfolk and Suffolk Police, the forces have said. In a statement, the two East Anglian constabularies said a “technical issue” meant raw crime report data was included in a “very small percentage” of FoI responses issued between April 2021 and March 2022. It is the latest data breach involving police responses to FoI requests, coming after the Police Service of Northern Ireland published a document which included the names and other details of around 10,000 officers and staff. A joint statement said: “Norfolk and Suffolk Constabularies have identified an issue relating to a very small percentage of responses to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests for crime statistics, issued between April 2021 and March 2022. “A technical issue has led to some raw data belonging to the constabularies being included within the files produced in response to the FOI requests in question. The data was hidden from anyone opening the files, but it should not have been included. “The data impacted was information held on a specific police system and related to crime reports. The data includes personal identifiable information on victims, witnesses, and suspects, as well as descriptions of offences. It related to a range of offences, including domestic incidents, sexual offences, assaults, thefts and hate crime. “A full and thorough analysis into the data impacted has now been completed, and today we have started the process of contacting those individuals who need to be notified about an impact to their personal data. “This will be done via letter, phone, and, in some cases, face to face, depending on what information was impacted and what support is required. “We expect this process to be complete by the end of September. We will be notifying a total of 1,230 people whose data has been breached.” The data watchdog the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is investigating. Stephen Bonner, deputy commissioner at the ICO, said: “The potential impact of a breach like this reminds us that data protection is about people. It’s too soon to say what our investigation will find, but this breach – and all breaches – highlights just how important it is to have robust measures in place to protect personal information, especially when that data is so sensitive. “We are currently investigating this breach and a separate breach reported to us in November 2022. “In the meantime, we’ll continue to support organisations to get data protection right so that people can feel confident that their information is secure. “If you’re concerned about the way your information has been handled, you can get advice on what to do from our website.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Police chief calls for parents to be held accountable over social media crazes Hackers ’emptied’ victims’ accounts and tried to blackmail GTA maker, court told AI can predict Parkinson’s subtype with up to 95% accuracy, study suggests

YouTube announced Tuesday that it will start removing false claims about cancer treatments as part of an ongoing effort to build out its medical misinformation policy.