Enlarge (credit: Apple) Apple’s next-generation operating systems are taking their next step toward release today: Apple is issuing the first public beta builds of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS 15 Sequoia, tvOS 18, and HomePod Software 18 today. Sign up for Apple’s public beta program with your Apple ID, and you’ll be able to select the public beta builds from Software Update in the Settings app. We covered the highlights…

Enlarge (credit: BeeBright / Getty Images / iStockphoto) Researchers have determined that two fake AWS packages downloaded hundreds of times from the open source NPM JavaScript repository contained carefully concealed code that backdoored developers’ computers when executed. The packages—img-aws-s3-object-multipart-copy and legacyaws-s3-object-multipart-copy—were attempts to appear as aws-s3-object-multipart-copy, a legitimate JavaScript library for copying files using Amazon’s S3 cloud service. The fake files included all the code found in the legitimate library…

Enlarge / Kevin Scott, CTO and EVP of AI at Microsoft speaks onstage during Vox Media’s 2023 Code Conference at The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel on September 27, 2023 in Dana Point, California. (credit: Getty Images) During an interview with Sequoia Capital’s Training Data podcast published last Tuesday, Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott doubled down on his belief that so-called large language model (LLM) “scaling laws” will continue to drive AI progress,…

Enlarge (credit: Timon Schneider/Dreamstime) Google’s parent company, Alphabet, is in talks to buy cybersecurity start-up Wiz for about $23 billion, in what would be the largest acquisition in the tech group’s history, according to people familiar with the matter. Alphabet’s discussions to acquire Wiz are still weeks away from completion, said one person with direct knowledge of the matter, while people briefed about the transaction said there was still a…