Ars Technica profiles Scott Shapiro, the co-author of a new book, Fancy Bear Goes Phishing: The Dark History of the Information Age in Five Extraordinary Hacks. Shapiro points out that computer science “is only a century old, and hacking, or cybersecurity, is maybe a few decades old. It’s a very Read more…
Somewhere in Maryland, an app that lets homeowners rent their swimming pools “has sharply divided suburban residents of Montgomery County as the local government considers formally regulating the short-term amenity rentals,” reports the Washington Post, “potentially becoming the first in the nation to do so.” Neighbors have spied on neighbors, Read more…
Japan and JAXA, the country’s space administration, have spent decades trying to make it possible to beam solar energy from space. In 2015, the nation made a breakthrough when JAXA scientists successfully beamed 1.8 kilowatts of power, enough energy to power an electric kettle, more than 50 meters to a Read more…
Some Amazon corporate workers have announced plans to walk off the job next week over frustrations with the company’s return-to-work policies, among other issues, in a sign of heightened tensions inside the e-commerce giant after multiple rounds of layoffs. The work stoppage is being jointly organized by an internal climate Read more…
The judge’s opinion noted the plaintiff’s counsel had submitted a motion to dismiss “replete with citations to non-existent cases… Six of the submitted cases appear to be bogus judicial decisions with bogus quotes and bogus internal citations… The bogus ‘Varghese’ decision contains internal citations and quotes, which, in turn, are Read more…
A CBS News video reports the U.S. military “is now testing an autonomous F-16 fighter jet, and in simulated dogfighting, the AI already crushes trained human pilots.” And that’s just one of several automated systems being developed — raising questions as to just how far this technology should go: “The Read more…
Executives at the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) decided to replace hotline workers with a chatbot named Tessa four days after the workers unionized. NEDA, the largest nonprofit organization dedicated to eating disorders, has had a helpline for the last twenty years that provided support to hundreds of thousands of Read more…