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Woeful Security On Financial Phone Apps Is Getting People Murdered

Longtime Slashdot reader theodp writes: Monday brought chilling news reports of the all-count trial convictions of three individuals for a conspiracy to rob and drug people outside of LGBTQ+ nightclubs in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood, which led to the deaths of two of their victims. The defendants were found guilty on all 24 counts, which included murder, robbery, burglary, and conspiracy. "As proven at trial," explained the Manhattan District Attorney's Office in a press release, "the defendants lurked outside of nightclubs to exploit intoxicated individuals. They would give them drugs, laced with fentanyl, to incapacitate their victims so they could take the victims' phones and drain their online financial accounts [including unauthorized charges and transfers using Cash App, Apple Cash, Apple Pay]." District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr. added, "My Office will continue to take every measure possible to protect New Yorkers from this type of criminal conduct. That includes ensuring accountability for those who commit this harm, while also working with financial companies to enhance security measures on their phone apps."

In 2024, D.A. Bragg called on financial companies to better protect consumers from fraud, including: adding a second and separate password for accessing the app on a smartphone as a default security option; imposing lower default limits on the monetary amount of total daily transfers; requiring wait times of up to a day and secondary verification for large monetary transactions; better monitoring of accounts for unusual transfer activities; and asking for confirmation when suspicious transactions occur. "No longer is the smartphone itself the most lucrative target for scammers and robbers -- it's the financial apps contained within," said Bragg as he released letters (PDF) sent to the companies that own Venmo, Zelle, and Cash App. "Thousands or even tens of thousands can be drained from financial accounts in a matter of seconds with just a few taps. Without additional protections, customers' financial and physical safety is being put at risk. I hope these companies accept our request to discuss commonsense solutions to deter scammers and protect New Yorkers' hard-earned money."

"Our cellphones aren't safe," warned the EFF's Cooper Quintin in a 2018 New York Times op-ed. "So why aren't we fixing them?" Any thoughts on what can and should be done with software, hardware, and procedures to stop "bank jackings"?

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Scarlett Johansson Calls For Deepfake Ban After AI Video Goes Viral

An anonymous reader quotes a report from People: Scarlett Johansson is urging U.S. legislators to place limits on artificial intelligence as an unauthorized, A.I.-generated video of her and other Jewish celebrities opposing Kanye West goes viral. The video, which has been circulating on social media, opens with an A.I. version of Johansson, 40, wearing a white T-shirt featuring a hand and its middle finger extended. In the center of the hand is a Star of David. The name "Kanye" is written underneath the hand.

The video contains A.I.-generated versions of over a dozen other Jewish celebrities, including Drake, Jerry Seinfeld, Steven Spielberg, Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Black, Mila Kunis and Lenny Kravitz. It ends with an A.I. Adam Sandler flipping his finger at the camera as the Jewish folk song "Hava Nagila" plays. The video ends with "Enough is Enough" and "Join the Fight Against Antisemitism." In a statement to PEOPLE, Johansson denounced what she called "the misuse of A.I., no matter what its messaging." Johansson continued: "It has been brought to my attention by family members and friends, that an A.I.-generated video featuring my likeness, in response to an antisemitic view, has been circulating online and gaining traction. I am a Jewish woman who has no tolerance for antisemitism or hate speech of any kind. But I also firmly believe that the potential for hate speech multiplied by A.I. is a far greater threat than any one person who takes accountability for it. We must call out the misuse of A.I., no matter its messaging, or we risk losing a hold on reality."

"I have unfortunately been a very public victim of A.I.," she added, "but the truth is that the threat of A.I. affects each and every one of us. There is a 1000-foot wave coming regarding A.I. that several progressive countries, not including the United States, have responded to in a responsible manner. It is terrifying that the U.S. government is paralyzed when it comes to passing legislation that protects all of its citizens against the imminent dangers of A.I."

The statement concluded, "I urge the U.S. government to make the passing of legislation limiting A.I. use a top priority; it is a bipartisan issue that enormously affects the immediate future of humanity at large."

Johansson has been outspoken about AI technology since its rise in popularity. Last year, she called out OpenAI for using an AI personal assistant voice that the actress claims sounds uncannily similar to her own.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Apple TV Finally Comes To Android Phones, Tablets

Apple has released an official Apple TV app for Android phones and tablets that's now available in the Google Play Store. You can download it here. 9to5Google reports: The newest Apple app on Android has a bottom bar with Apple TV+, MLS (Major League Soccer), Downloads for offline viewing, and Search. [...] The video player takes after Apple TV on other platforms, with a portrait mode available. There are convenient shortcuts to activate picture-in-picture, which works inside the app (while browsing) and system-wide, and mute to bring up the system volume bar. Playback is smooth and more stable than other streaming services.

At launch, the Apple TV app lacks Casting support and there do not appear to be new episode notifications. If you're already signed into Apple Music, you have to log in again to Apple TV. Another notable aspect is support for Google Play Billing instead of requiring out-of-app sign-up on another device. This applies to both the Google TV app (and Apple Music) today.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

AI Summaries Turn Real News Into Nonsense, BBC Finds

A BBC study published yesterday (PDF) found that AI news summarization tools frequently generate inaccurate or misleading summaries, with 51% of responses containing significant issues. The Register reports: The research focused on OpenAI's ChatGPT, Microsoft's Copilot, Google's Gemini, and Perplexity assistants, assessing their ability to provide "accurate responses to questions about the news; and if their answers faithfully represented BBC news stories used as sources." The assistants were granted access to the BBC website for the duration of the research and asked 100 questions about the news, being prompted to draw from BBC News articles as sources where possible. Normally, these models are "blocked" from accessing the broadcaster's websites, the BBC said. Responses were reviewed by BBC journalists, "all experts in the question topics," on their accuracy, impartiality, and how well they represented BBC content. Overall:
- 51 percent of all AI answers to questions about the news were judged to have significant issues of some form.
- 19 percent of AI answers which cited BBC content introduced factual errors -- incorrect factual statements, numbers, and dates.
- 13 percent of the quotes sourced from BBC articles were either altered from the original source or not present in the article cited.

But which chatbot performed worst? "34 percent of Gemini, 27 percent of Copilot, 17 percent of Perplexity, and 15 percent of ChatGPT responses were judged to have significant issues with how they represented the BBC content used as a source," the Beeb reported. "The most common problems were factual inaccuracies, sourcing, and missing context." [...] In an accompanying blog post, BBC News and Current Affairs CEO Deborah Turness wrote: "The price of AI's extraordinary benefits must not be a world where people searching for answers are served distorted, defective content that presents itself as fact. In what can feel like a chaotic world, it surely cannot be right that consumers seeking clarity are met with yet more confusion.

"It's not hard to see how quickly AI's distortion could undermine people's already fragile faith in facts and verified information. We live in troubled times, and how long will it be before an AI-distorted headline causes significant real world harm? The companies developing Gen AI tools are playing with fire." Training cutoff dates for various models certainly don't help, yet the research lays bare the weaknesses of generative AI in summarizing content. Even with direct access to the information they are being asked about, these assistants still regularly pull "facts" from thin air.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Fokke & Sukke

F & S

The Register

Biting the hand that feeds IT — Enterprise Technology News and Analysis

The Feds want developers to stop coding 'unforgivable' buffer overflow vulns

FBI, CISA harrumph at Microsoft and VMware in call for coders to quit baking avoidable defects into stuff

US authorities have labelled buffer overflow vulnerabilities "unforgivable defects”, pointed to the presence of the holes in products from the likes of Microsoft and VMware, and urged all software developers to adopt secure-by-design practices to avoid creating more of them.…

Sophos sheds 6% of staff after swallowing Secureworks

De-dupes some roles, hints others aren't needed as the infosec scene shifts

Nine days after completing its $859 million acquisition of managed detection and response provider Secureworks, Sophos has laid off around six percent of its staff.…

Ueno, February 2025.

mikeleonardvisualarts has added a photo to the pool:

Ueno, February 2025.

Ueno, February 2025.

mikeleonardvisualarts posted a photo:

Ueno, February 2025.

Shinjuku

mikeleonardvisualarts posted a photo:

Shinjuku

Bliss Dance

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Bliss Dance

Leaving and Lonely

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Leaving and Lonely

Rijnmond - Nieuws

Het laatste nieuws van vandaag over Rotterdam, Feyenoord, het verkeer en het weer in de regio Rijnmond

Deze speler van Feyenoord maakte grote indruk tegen AC Milan

Na stunts tegen onder andere Benfica, Manchester City en Bayern München flikte Feyenoord het thuis tegen AC Milan weer. Ook de Italiaanse grootmacht lukte het niet om Feyenoord te verslaan (1-0). Igor Paixao was de grote man bij Feyenoord met zijn doelpunt in de derde minuut. Maar ook Jakub Moder en Givairo Read verdienen de complimenten. “Sloopbedrijf Moder was er altijd.”

thexiffy

Last.fm last recent tracks from thexiffy.

R.E.M. - Belong

R.E.M.

Island from Above

Stueyman has added a photo to the pool:

Island from Above

Shoalwater Islands

540 20250212_165111 Up the green bark tree

iain.davidson100 has added a photo to the pool:

540 20250212_165111 Up the green bark tree

541 20250212_165126 Raindrops on green bark branch

iain.davidson100 has added a photo to the pool:

541 20250212_165126 Raindrops on green bark branch

539 20250212_165011 Green bark after rain

iain.davidson100 has added a photo to the pool:

539 20250212_165011 Green bark after rain

Colossal

The best of art, craft, and visual culture since 2010.

An Otherworldly Garden of Lights Emerges from Hemp and Resin by Ross Hansen

An Otherworldly Garden of Lights Emerges from Hemp and Resin by Ross Hansen

Evoking marigolds, prairie clover, and milk thistle, Ross Hansen’s ongoing series of ethereal lighting fixtures dissect assumptions about design and function. The Los Angeles-based artist and designer’s unique sculptural forms combine hemp, bio-resin, and aluminum to create otherworldly floor lamps.

Hansen draws on a background in landscape design, inspired by organic textures and forms found in nature. In his recent exhibition Of Human Feelings at Volume Gallery, clusters of lights resemble larger-than-life fungi or microscopic organisms. Strips of cloth are enrobed in plant-based resin for rigidity, and the illuminated bulbs diffuse within the fabric.

Volume Gallery will present Hansen’s work at Felix Art Fair in Los Angeles next weekend. Find more on the artist’s website.

the top of a sculptural lamp, illuminated in the dark, made from twisted pieces of fabric coated in bio resin and knotted
Detail of “Milk Thistle”
a group of sculptural white lamps made from pieces of fabric coated in bio resin and knotted, displayed in a white gallery space
‘Of Human Feelings’ installation view
a sculptural white lamp made from pieces of fabric coated in bio resin and knotted
“Dalea” (2024), hemp, bio-resin, wood, epoxy resin, paint, and lighting components, 70 x 16 x 16 inches
a group of three sculptural white lamps made from pieces of fabric coated in bio resin and knotted
‘Of Human Feelings’ installation view
details of the tops of a number of sculptural white lamps made from pieces of fabric coated in bio resin and knotted, illuminated and displayed in a white gallery space
‘Of Human Feelings’ installation view
a sculptural white lamp made from pieces of fabric coated in bio resin and knotted
“Marigold” (2024), hemp, bio-resin, aluminum, and lighting components, 85 x 18 x 18 inches
the top of a sculptural lamp, illuminated in the dark, made from twisted pieces of fabric coated in bio resin and knotted
Detail of “Marigold”
the base of a sculptural lamp made from twisted pieces of fabric coated in bio resin and knotted
Base detail of “Dalea”
a sculptural white lamp made from pieces of fabric coated in bio resin and knotted
“Milk Thistle” (2024), hemp, bio-resin, aluminum, and lighting components, 81 x 18 x 18 inches

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article An Otherworldly Garden of Lights Emerges from Hemp and Resin by Ross Hansen appeared first on Colossal.

Wel.nl

Minder lezen, Meer weten.

Aardbeving met kracht van 2.2 in Groningen

GRONINGEN (ANP) - In Groningen heeft om iets na middernacht in de nacht van woensdag op donderdag een aardbeving plaatsgevonden met een kracht van 2.2, meldt het Europees-Mediterraans Seismologisch Centrum (EMSC).

De aardbeving vond plaats op een diepte van drie kilometer, twintig kilometer ten noorden van de stad Groningen en elf kilometer ten noordwesten van Bedum.