Classified documents

On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Your World,” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) said that he believes Secretary of State Tony Blinken’s visit to China would have gone forward if the incursion of a Chinese spy balloon into U.S. airspace didn’t become public given that the administration didn’t cancel the meeting until Friday despite stating that it knew about the balloon on Tuesday. Host Neil Cavuto asked [relevant exchange begins around 1:50] “I don’t want to compare apples and oranges, Sen., but it does ring a lot like the early readings we’re getting on the classified documents [from] the administration and how they were explaining them. And in this case, if they were aware, as they seem to be indicating, of this presence for some days, why, all of a sudden, is it today that they’ve decided to cancel Antony Blinken’s trip to China?” Rounds responded, “I can’t tell you for sure. We’re going to ask that question. But I think along with it and then close to the same … [Read more...] about GOP Sen. Rounds: Blinken Would Have Still Gone to China if Public Didn’t Know about Spy Balloon

Audio player loading… The use of Microsoft OneNote documents to distribute malware to unsuspecting users is picking up pace, cybersecurity researchers from Proofpoint have claimed. OneNote is Microsoft’s digital note-taking app, which comes as part of the Office productivity suite. As such, cybercriminals can assume that most of their victims already have the app installed on their endpoints . OneNote’s files, called NoteBooks, allow users to add attachments, which can download malware from remote locations. All users need to do is double-click the file, which they can be easily tricked into doing. Recent reports saw hackers distribute blurred NoteBooks with the message “double-click to view the contents”, tricking victims into believing the file’s contents are being protected. Low detection rates In a detailed report published on the company blog earlier this week, Proofpoint’s researchers said they identified six campaigns in December 2022, using OneNote to … [Read more...] about Malicious use of Microsoft OneNote documents on the rise

Why it matters: After all the chitchat and the growing contempt for text written by generative AIs like ChatGPT, OpenAI is promoting a new ML algorithm designed to identify such textual output. The results, however, are still pretty bad. ChatGPT and other algorithms capable of producing seemingly correct textual content have quickly become a growing concern for educators, schools and universities, so much so that there is now a market for anti-AI tools like GPTZero . Another such tool has now been released by OpenAI, the very same company that created ChatGPT and started the recent AI revolution. Like any other machine learning algorithm, OpenAI's new AI classifier has been trained on a data set of textual snippets to fulfill its task. Unlike ChatGPT, the AI classifier is designed to distinguish between text written by a human and text written by AIs "from a variety of providers." Needless to say, those providers include ChatGPT. OpenAI says that the classifier is "not … [Read more...] about OpenAI says “AI classifier” tool can detect AI-written text

Searching Google for downloads of popular software has always come with risks, but over the past few months, it has been downright dangerous, according to researchers and a pseudorandom collection of queries. “Threat researchers are used to seeing a moderate flow of malvertising via Google Ads,” volunteers at Spamhaus wrote on Thursday . “However, over the past few days, researchers have witnessed a massive spike affecting numerous famous brands, with multiple malware being utilized. This is not ‘the norm.’” One of many new threats: MalVirt The surge is coming from numerous malware families, including AuroraStealer, IcedID , Meta Stealer, RedLine Stealer, Vidar, Formbook, and XLoader. In the past, these families typically relied on phishing and malicious spam that attached Microsoft Word documents with booby-trapped macros. Over the past month, Google Ads has become the go-to place for criminals to spread their malicious wares that are disguised as legitimate downloads by … [Read more...] about Until further notice, think twice before using Google to download software

Modern computers carry a lot of baggage from the past, and desktop icons are perhaps one of the most unsightly remnants of the earliest days of Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs). If you’re still living with them, it’s time to quit. Desktop Clutter Helps No One Whether on macOS, Windows, or another graphical operating system, the desktop is a big open space that plays host both to files and to shortcuts to other resources on your device. Over time those desktop shortcuts and files can quickly accumulate to fill the entire screen. However, even if you only have a desktop with a moderate number of icons, you’re still creating an inefficient space to actually find anything. Hunting for icons on a desktop, especially a modern high-resolution desktop, is a pain. The desktop is a great space for working with applications, but as a place to access apps and store files, it leaves much to be desired. Docks, Taskbars, and Instant Search Is Superior Desktops were meant to give users … [Read more...] about It’s Time to Stop Using Desktop Icons

In brief: The recent rise in popularity of ChatGPT has been meteoric, to say the least. According to new analysis, the AI platform in January reached 100 million users following its launch on November 30, which makes it the fastest-growing consumer app in history, though the chatbot itself doesn't believe it should be classed as an app. According to analysis by Swiss bank UBS, the speed at which ChatGPT has added 100 million users makes it the fastest-growing consumer app in history— more than one million people were using the site within five days of its launch. Reuters notes that this puts it ahead of TikTok, which took nine months to reach 100 million users. Instagram, meanwhile, took two and half years to hit the same figure. You knew it was just a matter of time until we did this (extend the @MintMobile savings with @OpenAI , that is). pic.twitter.com/uf2jblpG2j — Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) January 10, 2023 However, when ZDNet asked ChatGPT if it … [Read more...] about ChatGPT adds 100 million users in two months, making it the fastest-growing “app” ever

Audio player loading… The creative director of Dragon Age, John Epler, has revealed that the game’s horses have been lying to us the entire time, thanks to the magic of creative thinking and camera angles. In the lead-up to Dragon Age 4 , more and more gems have been dropping about the beloved action RPG game Dragon Age Inquisition . In a Twitter post (opens in new tab) , Epler dropped some hard truths about how sprinting on a horse didn’t actually make you go faster. In reality, the game engine BioWare used to develop Dragon Age Inquisition called Frostbite “couldn’t stream in levels fast enough,” Epler said. This meant that the team was forced to change the camera angle and add speed lines when you started sprinting on your horse to make you feel as if you were faster. Engine failure This isn’t the only time Frostbite failed the dev team. According to a [report] by Kotaku, the engine was the bane of many devs' existence. “Frostbite is like an … [Read more...] about The horses in Dragon Age were lying to you

To change your age in TikTok, you'll need to contact customer support by going to Profile > Settings and Privacy > Report a Problem > Account and Profile > Editing Profile > Other > Need More Help. Enter a request to change your date of birth and tap "Submit." Are you seeing “This post is age-restricted” messages on TikTok when you shouldn’t be? To fix that, you’ll need to change your date of birth in your TikTok account . TikTok doesn’t make that easy, but we’ll show you what you need to do. Table of Contents Can You Change Your Birthdate on TikTok? Update Your Birthday to Fix a TikTok Age Restricted Error What If TikTok Doesn't Let Me Change My Birthday? Can You Change Your Birthdate on TikTok? If you need to change your age, the TikTok app has no setting you can directly adjust for that. Instead, you need to get in touch with the app’s customer support and request them to update your details . However, that’s not all there is to … [Read more...] about How to Change Your Age on TikTok

Audio player loading… Google is planning to add Microsoft 365 integration to Chrome OS later in 2023, according to a memo on the tech giant’s community thread (opens in new tab) . Chrome OS does technically already have support for Microsoft 365 currently, but this integration will make it easier to install individual apps and open files on Chromebooks. Users will have access to a guide that’ll help them install the Microsoft 365 app and connect OneDrive accounts to the existing Chrome OS Files app, allowing you to easily see all of your stuff in one place. This will work both ways for Chromebook users, meaning documents in the Files app can be moved to Microsoft’s cloud storage and saves them from having to use PWA apps (Progressive Web Apps - basically just third-party apps that act as a middleman between systems). Chrome OS testers will have the first look in a few months, but Google has shared a screenshot of what it’s going to look like in the files app, … [Read more...] about Chromebooks are getting a big upgrade to take on Windows 11 laptops

On Friday the US Treasury Department published an update to the way it implements the new clean vehicle tax credit. Introduced in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the new rules restrict the number of EVs that qualify for a federal tax credit of up to $7,500 with income and price caps, as well as a requirement for final assembly in North America and, once the Treasury has written some more guidance, a requirement for domestic content and value in the EV battery. When the new rules came out in January, there were some complaints that some five-seat crossovers—the Cadillac Lyriq, Tesla Model Y, and Volkswagen ID.4—were being counted as sedans, with a $55,000 MSRP cap; anyone buying any of those EVs with a purchase price of more than $55,000 was ineligible for the tax credit, although the seven-seat Model Y was classified as an SUV and therefore only subject to an $80,000 MSRP limit. The reason for that was the Treasury using the US Environmental Protection Agency's Corporate … [Read more...] about Treasury decides Model Y, Lyriq, ID.4, are SUVs after all, not sedans