Governments spying on Apple, Google users through push notifications - US senator (www.reuters.com)
Unidentified governments are surveilling smartphone users via their apps' push notifications, a U.S. senator warned on Wednesday....
Quantum computer performs error-resistant operations with logical qubits (arstechnica.com)
QuEra gets ready for error correction, runs operations with over 40 logical qubits.
Introducing Wikifunctions: first Wikimedia project to launch in a decade creates new forms of knowledge – Wikimedia Foundation (wikimediafoundation.org)
The new library of functions will answer questions and enhance knowledge. Everyone, everywhere can access and contribute to it now.
Google launches Gemini, the AI model it hopes will take down GPT-4 (www.theverge.com)
Google let OpenAI take the lead in the AI race — now, it’s mounting a comeback.
Ex-Tesla employee casts doubt on car safety (www.bbc.com)
A whistleblower believes the self-driving vehicle technology is not safe enough for public roads.
23andMe hackers accessed ancestry information on millions of customers using a feature that matches relatives (www.engadget.com)
Biotech company 23andMe first disclosed a data breach affecting a portion of its customers back in October. The information was obtained in a credential stuffing attack. An SEC filing now reveals roughly 14,000 accounts were accessed, along with information on millions of users participating in the DNA Relatives feature.
Where are all the robot trucks? (www.theverge.com)
The promised wave of autonomous big rigs never materialized. But 2024 could prove to be a pivotal year for the technology.
1960s chatbot ELIZA beat OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 in a recent Turing test study (arstechnica.com)
AI chatbot deception paper suggests that some bots (and people) aren't very persuasive.
Japan debuts six-story experimental fusion reactor (gizmodo.com)
The reactor, a forerunner for the vast ITER experiment in France, has the potential to hasten the race for cleaner energy.
Apple loses on Appeal, CMA can restart investigation into browsers - Open Web Advocacy (open-web-advocacy.org)
Inside the 'arms race' between YouTube and ad blockers (www.engadget.com)
YouTube's dramatic content gatekeeping decisions of late have a long history behind them, and there's an equally long history of these defenses being bypassed.
The Rise of AI-Powered Stars: Big Money and Risks (www.hollywoodreporter.com)
Meta and YouTube are looking to Demi Lovato, Tom Brady and other A-listers to mainstream the technology — flawed guardrails and all.
Reddit updates look after rough 6 months and ahead of reported IPO (arstechnica.com)
"Edit: Obligatory 'F--- Spez' for karma."
Telegram’s Bans on Extremist Channels Aren't Really Bans (www.wired.com)
A WIRED analysis of more than 100 restricted channels shows these communities remain active, and content shared within them often spreads to channels accessible to the public.
Meta sues FTC, hoping to block ban on monetizing kids’ Facebook data (arstechnica.com)
Accused of violating kids' privacy, Facebook owner challenges FTC authority.
Amazon joins AI image creation fray with new model (www.theverge.com)
The Titan Image Generator includes automatic invisible watermarking.
Google DeepMind’s new AI tool helped create more than 700 new materials (www.technologyreview.com)
Newly discovered materials can be used to make better solar cells, batteries, computer chips, and more.
U.S. federal judge rules against Meta in privacy fight with FTC (www.reuters.com)
Meta's Facebook lost the latest round of a court battle over privacy with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Monday after a federal judge ruled the regulator can seek to reduce the amount of money the social media company makes from users under 18.
How Google Really Works (slate.com)
Somehow it took an antitrust trial to find out.
GameMaker throws shade at Unity, makes its 2D engine free or $100 for most (arstechnica.com)
For most games, a license is either free or the cost of a medium-nice dinner.
A new Pentagon program aims to speed up decisions on what AI tech is trustworthy enough to deploy (apnews.com)
Artificial intelligence employed by the Pentagon has piloted pint-sized surveillance drones, helped Ukraine fight Russia, predicts when Air Force jets need maintenance and tracks rivals’ satellites in space.
Resurrecting an Extinct Animal as a Robot (nautil.us)
A soft robot replica solves a mystery about the evolution of movement.
Cryptographers Devise an Approach for Total Search Privacy (www.quantamagazine.org)
Three researchers have found a long-sought way to pull information from large databases secretly, moving us closer to fully private internet searches.
Researchers Refute a Widespread Belief About Online Algorithms (www.quantamagazine.org)
Three computer scientists have disproved a long-standing conjecture about a fundamental problem involving imperfect information.
Exclusive: OpenAI researchers warned board of AI breakthrough ahead of CEO ouster -sources (www.reuters.com)
Ahead of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s four days in exile, several staff researchers sent the board of directors a letter warning of a powerful artificial intelligence discovery that they said could threaten humanity, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
