Rust in Linux lead retires rather than deal with more “nontechnical nonsense”

September 3, 2024

Enlarge / Rust never sleeps. But Rust, the programming language, can be held at bay if enough kernel programmers aren’t interested in seeing it implemented. (credit: Getty Images) The Linux kernel is not a place to work if you’re not ready for some, shall we say, spirited argument. Still, one key developer in the project to expand Rust’s place inside the largely C-based kernel feels the “nontechnical nonsense” is too…

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City of Columbus sues man after he discloses severity of ransomware attack

August 30, 2024

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) A judge in Ohio has issued a temporary restraining order against a security researcher who presented evidence that a recent ransomware attack on the city of Columbus scooped up reams of sensitive personal information, contradicting claims made by city officials. The order, issued by a judge in Ohio’s Franklin County, came after the city of Columbus fell victim to a ransomware attack on July 18 that…

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AnandTech, mainstay of computer hardware reviews, closes after 27 years

August 30, 2024

Enlarge (credit: AnandTech) Few ’90s tech sites other than Ars Technica are still operating here in 2024, and today, there’s one fewer. AnandTech, a staple of CPU and GPU news and reviews since 1997, will stop publishing today, according to an announcement from Editor-in-Chief Ryan Smith. “For better or worse, we’ve reached the end of a long journey—one that started with a review of an AMD processor, and has ended…

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ChatGPT hits 200 million active weekly users, but how many will admit using it?

August 30, 2024

Enlarge (credit: Benj Edwards / Getty Images) On Thursday, OpenAI said that ChatGPT has attracted over 200 million weekly active users, according to a report from Axios, doubling the AI assistant’s user base since November 2023. The company also revealed that 92 percent of Fortune 500 companies are now using its products, highlighting the growing adoption of generative AI tools in the corporate world. The rapid growth in user numbers…

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Tumblr migrates more than 500 million blogs to WordPress

August 30, 2024

Enlarge / “You’ll never be bored again” is one of the more fitting slogans attached to Tumblr. (credit: Getty Images) Once-great social media and blogging platform Tumblr has gone through a number of big changes in recent years, and another one is right around the corner. Parent company Automattic says it is migrating all Tumblr blogs—more than half a billion in number—to the WordPress back end. In a blog post…

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Sunrise alarm clock didn’t make waking up easier—but made sleeping more peaceful

August 29, 2024

The Hatch Restore 2 with one of its lighting options on. [credit: Scharon Harding ] To say “I’m not a morning person” would be an understatement. Not only is it hard for me to be useful in the first hour (or so) of being awake, but it’s hard for me to wake up. I mean, really hard. I’ve tried various recommendations and tricks: I’ve set multiple alarms and had coffee…

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Revised Raspberry Pi 5 chip comes with unexpected power savings

August 29, 2024

Enlarge / The Broadcom SoC used in the original 4GB and 8GB Raspberry Pi 5. The 2GB version uses an updated revision with several small but significant benefits. (credit: Raspberry Pi) When Raspberry Pi introduced a new 2GB version of the Raspberry Pi 5 board earlier this month, CEO Eben Upton said that the board would come with a slightly updated version of the board’s Broadcom BCM2712C1 SoC. By removing…

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Commercial spyware vendor exploits used by Kremlin-backed hackers, Google says

August 29, 2024

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) Critics of spyware and exploit sellers have long warned that the advanced hacking sold by commercial surveillance vendors (CSVs) represents a worldwide danger because they inevitably find their way into the hands of malicious parties, even when the CSVs promise they will be used only to target known criminals. On Thursday, Google analysts presented evidence bolstering the critique after finding that spies working on behalf of…

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Unpatchable 0-day in surveillance cam is being exploited to install Mirai

August 28, 2024

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) Malicious hackers are exploiting a critical vulnerability in a widely used security camera to spread Mirai, a family of malware that wrangles infected Internet of Things devices into large networks for use in attacks that take down websites and other Internet-connected devices. The attacks target the AVM1203, a surveillance device from Taiwan-based manufacturer AVTECH, network security provider Akamai said Wednesday. Unknown attackers have been exploiting a…

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AI company Midjourney teases hardware product in a new form factor

August 28, 2024

Responding to this meme image of a wizard with an orb from the I.C.E. book Middle-earth: Valar and Maiar, Midjourney’s founder joked that the new hardware form factor might be an orb. (credit: I.C.E.) Midjourney, a company best known for its robust AI image-generation tool, has publicly announced that it’s “getting into hardware” and has invited job-seekers to apply to join its new hardware division. The company shared the announcement…

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