Latest News
Last updated 18 Oct, 01:42 AM
BBC News
Bowen: Sinwar's death is serious blow to Hamas, but not the end of the war - Netanyahu has won a big victory with the killing of Yahya Sinwar. But it is not the end of the war, nor of Hamas.
How Israel found and killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar - Israel had hunted the architect of the 7 October atrocities for more than a year. A chance encounter in Rafah got him.
Netanyahu says focus on hostages after Sinwar death - Sinwar, who topped Israel's most-wanted list, was a key figure believed to have been behind the 7 October attacks.
Who was the Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar? - Israel says its troops in Gaza killed Yahya Sinwar, a chief architect of the 7 October 2023 attack.
One Direction 'devastated' at Liam Payne's death - The star's former band members lead tributes to the singer, who died aged 31 after falling from a balcony.
The Register
Uncle Sam puts $10M bounty on Russian troll farm Rybar - Propaganda op focuses on anti-West narratives to meddle with elections The US has placed a $10 million bounty on Russian media network Rybar and a number of its key staffers following alleged attempts to sway the upcoming US presidential election.…
Destiny Robotics settles SEC case over AI-powered human robot vaporware - Raised $141k+ crowdfunding, but now powered down The SEC has reached a deal with defunct Destiny Robotics after investors lost all their capital when the startup failed to produce the promised product.…
Troubled US insurance giant hit by extortion after data leak - Globe Life claims blackmailers shared stolen into with short sellers US insurance provider Globe Life, already grappling with legal troubles, now faces a fresh headache: an extortion attempt involving stolen customer data.…
FCC fines be damned, ESPN misuses emergency alert tones yet again - It’s the third strike, yet all they get is a slap on the wrist? Sports broadcasting network ESPN faces a proposed fine for using emergency alert service (EAS) attention sounds without authorization - again, apparently.…
Qualcomm 'pausing' X-Elite Dev Kit, offering refunds - Five months in, only 200 units reached customers, Qualy tells El Reg Qualcomm has officially pulled the plug on its Snapdragon for Windows Dev Kits less than five months after the X-Elite powered mini-PCs were announced.…
New Scientist - News
We're starting to understand what being bullied does to the brain - Being bullied when young seems to alter your brain structure for years to come - with different changes seen in males and females
These stunning photos celebrate the intricacy of the microscopic world - A mouse's tumours, scales from a butterfly's wings and a smiling cross-section of a bracken fern are some of the incredible images from the Nikon Small World photography competition
Invasive snake is surviving in Britain by living in attics and walls - Britain should be too cold for the invasive Aesculapian snake to survive, but it is thriving by exploiting the warmth of attics, wall cavities and compost heaps
More evidence that limiting social media won't boost your well-being - People who went from using social media for at least 2 hours a day to just 30 minutes a day reported no improvement to their sleep or emotional well-being
The first brown dwarf ever found was the strangest – now we know why - The first “failed star” ever discovered has been a weird outlier since it was found nearly 30 years ago. New observations show that it is unusually massive because it isn’t a single star after all
Hacker News
Crokinole - Comments
Use Prolog to improve LLM's reasoning - Comments
Grandmaster-Level Chess Without Search - Comments
Show HN: Tamagotchi-Like Characters for AI Assistants – All in JavaScript - Comments
NotebookLM launches feature to customize and guide audio overviews - Comments
Slashdot
Adobe's Upcoming Features Include AI Sound Generation and Image Remixing - During its MAX event yesterday, Adobe teased some experimental photo and video editing tools for PhotoShop and Premiere Pro. There are a total of nine features, which include being able to rotate vector images, produce sound effects from text descriptions, and generate images in various shapes and sizes. Engadget reports: [W]e'll start with Project Perfect Blend for PS, which improves natural blending and makes shadow casting more realistic, creating more lifelike images. Project Clean Machine removes photo flashes, fireworks and objects blocking the camera's view. One feature that stands out is Project In Motion, which lets users transform custom shape animations into video by entering a prompt, while Project Know How is a content authenticator tool that can search for a video file's source online. Project Turntable lets users rotate 2D vector art in 3D, thereby allowing the 2D vector art to face a direction of their choice. The generative AI model fills in any blanks to create presentable 3D vector art. Another standout tool is Project Super Sonic, which generates sound effects via prompts or clicking on objects in a video. The latter method can create sounds without typing prompts into the generative AI model. Project Super Sonic seems helpful for people looking to design the sounds they want. Adobe is also working on Microsoft Copilot integration in Project Scenic. This tool creates 3D scene layouts using Copilot prompts, and the camera and objects in the layout can be tweaked. Project Remix A Lot leverages generative AI to create images in various shapes and sizes, all fully editable. In other words, users can "remix" creations into shapes they like, including unusual ones. Finally, we have Project Hi-Fi. With this tool, it's possible to transform sketches and concepts into high-quality images. These images can easily be dragged into PhotoShop for editing. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Google's NotebookLM Now Lets You Customize Its AI Podcasts - Google's NotebookLM app has been updated to let you generate custom podcasts from almost any source material. The AI software is also dropping the "experimental" tag. Wired reports: To make an AI podcast using NotebookLM, open up the Google Labs website and start a New Notebook. Then, add any source documents you would like to be used for the audio output. These can be anything from files on your computer to YouTube links. Next, when you click on the Notebook guide, you'll now see the option to generate a deep dive as well as the option to customize it first. Choose Customize and add your prompt for how you'd like the AI podcast to come out. The software suggests that you consider what sections of the sources you'd like highlighted, larger topics you want further explored, or different intended audiences who you want the message to reach. One tip [Raiza Martin, who leads the NotebookLM team inside of Google Labs] shares for trying out the new feature is to generate the Audio Overview without changes, and while you're listening to this first iteration, write down any burning questions you have or topics you wish it expanded on. Afterwards, use these notes as a launching pad to create your prompts for NotebookLM and regenerate that AI podcast with your interests in mind. [...] Yes, Google's NotebookLM might flatten the specifics of a big document or get some details mixed up, but being able to generate more personalized podcasts from disparate sources truly does feel like a transformation -- and luckily nothing like turning into a giant bug. You can view some examples of AI-generated podcasts here. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Fake Google Meet Conference Errors Push Infostealing Malware - An anonymous reader quotes a report from BleepingComputer: A new ClickFix campaign is luring users to fraudulent Google Meet conference pages showing fake connectivity errors that deliver info-stealing malware for Windows and macOS operating systems. ClickFix is a social-engineering tactic that emerged in May, first reported by cybersecurity company Proofpoint, from a threat actor (TA571) that used messages impersonating errors for Google Chrome, Microsoft Word, and OneDrive. The errors prompted the victim to copy to clipboard a piece of PowerShell code that would fix the issues by running it in Windows Command Prompt. Victims would thus infect systems with various malware such as DarkGate, Matanbuchus, NetSupport, Amadey Loader, XMRig, a clipboard hijacker, and Lumma Stealer. In July, McAfee reported that the ClickFix campaigns were becoming mode frequent, especially in the United States and Japan. A new report from Sekoia, a SaaS cybersecurity provider, notes that ClickFix campaigns have evolved significantly and now use a Google Meet lure, phishing emails targeting transport and logistics firms, fake Facebook pages, and deceptive GitHub issues. According to the French cybersecurity company, some of the more recent campaigns are conducted by two threat groups, the Slavic Nation Empire (SNE) and Scamquerteo, considered to be sub-teams of the cryptocurrency scam gangs Marko Polo and CryptoLove. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Google Shifts Gemini App Team To DeepMind - In a memo from CEO Sundar Pichai, Google said it is moving the team behind the Gemini app to its AI research lab DeepMind. The shift "will improve feedback loops, enable fast deployment of our new models in the Gemini app," said Pichai. Reuters reports: Gemini is Google's most advanced AI technology, developed by DeepMind. The Gemini app is the direct consumer interface to the latest Gemini models. The Gemini app team, led by Sissie Hsiao, will join Google DeepMind under the leadership of its CEO Demis Hassabis. Google also announced that Prabhakar Raghavan, who has led the company's products including search, ads and commerce will become chief technologist and work closely with Pichai. Raghavan's role as lead of the Knowledge and Information team will be taken up by Nick Fox, who has closely worked with Google on its AI product roadmap. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Employees Describe an Environment of Paranoia and Fear Inside Automattic - 404 Media journalist and Slashdot contributor samleecole shares a report: After an exodus of employees at Automattic who disagreed with CEO Matt Mullenweg's recently divisive legal battle with WP Engine, he's upped the ante with another buyout offer -- and a threat that employees speaking to the press should "exit gracefully, or be fired tomorrow with no severance." Earlier this month, Mullenweg posed an "Alignment Offer" to all of his employees: Stand with him through a messy legal drama that's still unfolding, or leave. "It became clear a good chunk of my Automattic colleagues disagreed with me and our actions," he wrote on his personal blog on Oct. 3, referring to the ongoing dispute between himself and website hosting platform WP Engine, which Mullenweg called a "cancer to WordPress" and accusing WP Engine of "strip-mining the WordPress ecosystem. In the last month, he and WP Engine have volleyed cease and desist letters, and WP Engine is now suing Automattic, accusing Mullenweg of extortion and abuse of power. "I'm certain that Matt hasn't eliminated all dissenters, because I'm still there, but I expect that within the next six to twelve months, everyone who didn't leave but wasn't 'aligned' will have found a new job and left on their own terms," a current employee told 404 Media. "My personal morale has never been lower at this job, and I know that I'm not alone." Mullenweg himself, in internal screenshots viewed by 404 Media, acknowledged that his first "Alignment Offer" did not make everyone who disagreed with him leave the company. On Wednesday Mullenweg posted another ultimatum in Automattic's Slack: a new offer that would include nine months of compensation (up from the previous offer of six months). "We have technical means to identify the leaker as well, that I obviously can't disclose," he continued. "So this is their opportunity to exit gracefully, or be fired tomorrow with no severance and probably a big legal case for violating confidentiality agreement." Read more of this story at Slashdot.