Technology

The Associated Press reports: English Wikipedia raked in more than 84 billion views this year, according to numbers released Tuesday by the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit behind the free, publicly edited online encyclopedia. And the most popular article was about ChatGPT (yes, the AI chatbot that’s seemingly everywhere today). The second most-read article on Wikipedia in 2023 was the annual …

Ars Technica reports: AI face detection now counts among the tools that could be used to help adult sites effectively estimate UK user ages and block minors from accessing pornography, the UK’s Office of Communications said in a press release on Tuesday. The only foreseeable problem, Ofcom noted: There’s little evidence that the AI method of age estimation will be …

Axios reports: A factory planning to pump out 10,000 two-legged robots a year is taking shape in Salem, Oregon — the better to help Amazon and other giant companies with dangerous hauling, lifting and moving. Agility Robotics says that its RoboFab manufacturing facility will be the first to mass-produce humanoid robots, which could be nimbler and more versatile than their …

Engadget reports: The nuclear research hub Idaho National Laboratory (INL) confirmed that it fell victim to a data breach on Tuesday. SiegedSec, a group of self-proclaimed “gay furry hackers,” took responsibility for the attack and claimed they accessed sensitive employee data like social security numbers, home addresses and more. “We’re willing to make a deal with INL. If they research …

The Tampa Bay Times reports: Chick-fil-A is starting to deliver food by drone in the Tampa Bay area — so far only from one location within Hillsborough County. A Brandon-Valrico Chick-fil-A restaurant announced Monday on Facebook that it now has drone delivery service to locations within a 1.2-mile radius. The drone delivery fee is free for a limited time, according …

Fast Company reports: The traffic signal on North Las Vegas’s North Commerce Street had been red for at least 29 seconds, but the Dodge Challenger did not slow down. Instead, it flew through the intersection with Cheyenne Avenue at 103 mph, almost three times the 35 mph speed limit. Carnage ensued. The crash that occurred on January 29, 2022, was …

The Hill reports: Tech scholars and scam victims told lawmakers artificial intelligence (AI) is driving more sophisticated scams during a Senate hearing Thursday morning. Witness Gary Schildhorn testified about his experience being scammed. The scammer used AI to mimic his son’s voice. The scammer, posing as an attorney, told Schildhorn his son had been driving while drunk, caused a car …

The BBC reports: A man has been crushed to death by a robot in South Korea after it failed to differentiate him from the boxes of food it was handling, reports say. The incident occurred when the man, a robotics company employee in his 40s, was inspecting the robot. The robotic arm, confusing the man for a box of vegetables, …

The Military Times reports: Marines strapped a rocket launcher to a so-called robotic goat in the California desert in September, in a test of robots’ abilities to carry and fire weapons in battle. Marines with Tactical Training and Exercise Control Group conducted the proof-of-concept test at Twentynine Palms, California ― a vast installation with many ranges where Marines can do …

Ars Technica reports: This month, more than three dozen victims allegedly terrorized by stalkers using Apple AirTags have joined a class-action lawsuit filed in a California court last December against Apple. They alleged in an amended complaint that, partly due to Apple’s negligence, AirTags have become “one of the most dangerous and frightening technologies employed by stalkers” because they can …

The Digital Bits reports: The Digital Bits has learned from industry sources—and we’ve confirmed it with multiple sources now—that Best Buy plans to exit the physical media business for good next year, possibly as soon as the end of Q1 2024. This includes not just their in-store Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD sales, which the retailer has been gradually …

Ars Technica reports: Genetic profiling service 23andMe has commenced an investigation after private user data was been scraped off its website.  Friday’s confirmation comes five days after an unknown entity took to an online crime forum to advertise the sale of private information for millions of 23andMe users. The forum posts claimed that the stolen data included origin estimation, phenotype, …

The Washington Post reports: Amid concerns the rise of artificial intelligence will supercharge the spread of misinformation comes a wild fabrication from a more prosaic source: Amazon’s Alexa, which declared that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Asked about fraud in the race — in which President Biden defeated former president Donald Trump with 306 electoral college votes — the …

The New York Daily News reports: Google is being sued by the family of a North Carolina man who drowned after he drove off a collapsed bridge while following outdated directions from the Maps app. Philip Paxson was driving home from his daughter’s birthday party on Sept. 30, 2022 when his car plunged into Snow Creek in Hickory — about …

The Associated Press reports: Apple released a significant security update for iPhones and iPads Thursday to patch newly discovered security vulnerabilities in the devices’ system software. The issue was discovered by researchers at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab, who said the software flaw was being “actively exploited” to deliver commercial spyware called Pegasus developed and sold by the Israeli …

Bloomberg News reports: Apple is set to shift its iPhone charging port from Lightning to USB-C after pushing back on such a change for years. If Apple Inc. had its way, the iPhone would continue to use the current Lightning connector for the next few years — until the point when the company is ready to begin phasing out ports …

AM New York reports: Major League Baseball is testing facial authentication-based entry that would allow ticketed fans to walk directly into stadiums — a convenient new arrival method that the league says won’t compromise on safety and security. The Philadelphia Phillies have partnered with MLB to use their stadium as the site of a pilot program called Go-Ahead Entry, which …

Reuters reports: A work of art created by artificial intelligence without any human input cannot be copyrighted under U.S. law, a U.S. court in Washington, D.C., has ruled. Only works with human authors can receive copyrights, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell said on Friday, affirming the Copyright Office’s rejection of an application filed by computer scientist Stephen Thaler on behalf …

The Verge reports: Netflix is kicking off the first public tests of its cloud-streamed games. Beginning Monday, some Netflix subscribers in Canada and the UK will be able to check out Netflix games streamed to select TVs, connected TV devices, and on the web from Netflix.com. The company first launched its mobile gaming offerings as a free perk for subscribers …

Politico reports: Congress is deeply divided on whether Washington should push more Americans to buy electric vehicles. But more than two dozen lawmakers have made the leap themselves, according to a first-of-its kind tally by POLITICO’s E&E News — including at least two House Republicans who oppose President Joe Biden’s climate policies. Conservative Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) is a longtime …