Thousands of sites running WordPress remain unpatched against a critical security flaw in a widely used plugin that was being actively exploited in attacks that allow for unauthenticated execution of malicious code, security researchers said. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-11972, is found in Hunk Companion, a plugin that runs on 10,000 sites that use the WordPress content management system. The vulnerability, which carries a severity rating of 9.8 out of…

On Thursday, OpenAI announced that ChatGPT users can now talk to a simulated version of Santa Claus through the app’s voice mode, using AI to bring a North Pole connection to mobile devices, desktop apps, and web browsers during the holiday season. The company added Santa’s voice and personality as a preset option in ChatGPT’s Advanced Voice Mode. Users can access Santa by tapping a snowflake icon next to the…

Like with much of physical media, the onslaught against optical media is ongoing. In the latest hit against physical media fans, LG has discontinued its remaining Blu-ray players. However, this doesn’t spell the end for Blu-rays, which, in at least some categories, are seeing growing interest. LG has no plans to make more Blu-ray players, FlatpanelsHD reported on Wednesday. Its most recent players, the UBK90 and UBK80, came out in…

Citing “years of investment in AI, AR, and VR,” Google is stepping into the augmented reality market once more with Android XR. It’s an operating system that Google says will power future headsets and glasses that “transform how you watch, work, and explore.” The first version you’ll see is Project Moohan, a mixed-reality headset built by Samsung. It will be available for purchase next year, and not much more is…

Russian nation-state hackers have followed an unusual path to gather intel in the country’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine—appropriating the infrastructure of fellow threat actors and using it to infect electronic devices its adversary’s military personnel are using on the front line. On at least two occasions this year, the Russian hacking group tracked under names including Turla, Waterbug, Snake, and Venomous Bear has used servers and malware used by separate…

The macOS 15.2 update that was released earlier today came with a handful of new features, plus something unexpected: an apparently accidental reference to the upcoming M4 MacBook Airs. MacRumors reports that the “Mac16,12” and “Mac16,13” model identifiers reference 13- and 15-inch models of the M4 Air and that both are coming in 2025. That a MacBook Air refresh is planned for next year isn’t much of a surprise at…

Advertising has become a focal point of TV software. We’re seeing companies that sell TV sets be increasingly interested in leveraging TV operating systems (OSes) for ads and tracking. This has led to bold new strategies, like an adtech firm launching a TV OS and ads on TV screensavers. With new short films set to debut on its free streaming service tomorrow, TV-maker TCL is positing a new approach to…

On Wednesday, Google unveiled Gemini 2.0, the next generation of its AI-model family, starting with an experimental release called Gemini 2.0 Flash. The model family can generate text, images, and speech while processing multiple types of input including text, images, audio, and video. It’s similar to multimodal AI models like GPT-4o, which powers OpenAI’s ChatGPT. “Gemini 2.0 Flash builds on the success of 1.5 Flash, our most popular model yet…

Startup Embodied is closing down, and its product, an $800 robot for kids ages 5 to 10, will soon be bricked. Embodied blamed its closure on a failed “critical funding round.” On its website, it explained: We had secured a lead investor who was prepared to close the round. However, at the last minute, they withdrew, leaving us with no viable options to continue operations. Despite our best efforts to…

Since the dawn of the generative AI era a few years ago, the march of technology—toward what tech companies hope will replace human intellectual labor—has continuously sparked angst about the future role humans will play in the job market. Will we all be replaced by machines? A Y-Combinator-backed company called Artisan, which sells customer service and sales workflow software, recently launched a provocative billboard campaign in San Francisco playing on…