From the archive

2024

#1754 49:25

Unlocking Vehicle Features: A New Revenue Stream or Consumer Exploitation?

More car companies, like Tesla, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz, charge extra fees to unlock features already built into their vehicles. This controversial practice involves software restricting access to hardware capabilities, such as additional battery range or heated seats, unless customers pay more. Critics argue this approach is exploitative and unoriginal, urging automakers to offer valuable services through genuine software improvements or

OpenAI Launches GPT-4o Mini

OpenAI announced it will launch a new AI model, “GPT-4o mini,” the artificial intelligence startup’s latest effort to expand use of its popular chatbot, on Thursday, CNBC reported. The company called the new release “the most capable and cost efficient small model available today,” and it plans to integrate image, video, and audio into it later. The mini AI model

OnePlus Builds The Ecosystem

OnePlus didn't have any hardware surprises at today's summer launch event - the Nord 4, Tablet 2 and Watch 2R and Buds 3 Pro were all officially revealed in advance of the show. But what was interesting was OnePlus commitment to an ecosystem of affordable products. OnePlus might have started out with "flagship killer" phones but we're beginning to see

Apple, Nvidia Anthropic Used Thousands Of Swiped YouTube Videos To Train AI

Tech companies are turning to controversial tactics to feed their data-hungry artificial intelligence models, vacuuming up books, websites, photos, and social media posts often unbeknownst to the creators, WIRED reported. AI companies are generally secretive about their sources of training data, but an investigation by Proof News found some of the wealthiest AI companies in the world have used material

#1753 44:22

AT&T Data Breach and $370K Bitcoin Ransom Unveiled

AT&T announced a data breach impacting nearly all of its wireless customers, involving call and text interaction records from May 2022 to January 2023. The breach, attributed to hacker John Binns and the ShinyHunters group, led to AT&T paying a $370,000 Bitcoin ransom. The stolen data originated from the Snowflake data storage platform and included metadata but no sensitive personal

Google Nears $23 Billion Deal For Cybersecurity Startup Wiz

Google parent Alphabet is in advanced talks to acquire cybersecurity startup Wiz for roughly $23 billion, according to people familiar with the matter, in what would be the largest acquisition ever, Wall Street Journal reported.

AT&T Says Criminals Stole Phone Records Of “Nearly All” Customers

U.S. phone giant AT&T confirmed Friday it will begin notifying millions of consumers about a fresh data breach the allowed cybercriminals to steal the phone records of “nearly all” of its customers, a company person told TechCrunch. In a statement, AT&T said that the stolen data contains phone numbers of both cellular and landline customers, as well as AT&T records