TUESDAY, 23 DECEMBER 2025, 19:48
An Apple developer was locked out of his Apple Account after redeeming a compromised Apple Gift Card, exposing how automated fraud systems can effectively cut users off from their digital lives with little explanation or recourse. TidBITS reports: After attempting to redeem a $500 Apple Gift Card purchased from a well-known retailer, Apple developer, author, and /dev/world conference organizer...
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Tom’s Hardware: A North Korean imposter was uncovered, working as a sysadmin at Amazon U.S., after their keystroke input lag raised suspicions with security specialists at the online retail giant. Normally, a U.S.-based remote worker’s computer would send keystroke data within tens of milliseconds. This suspicious individual’s keyboard lag was “more than...
A new study estimates that AI systems in 2025 consumed as much electricity as New York City emits in carbon pollution and used hundreds of billions of liters of water, driven largely by power-hungry data centers and cooling needs. Researchers say the real impact is likely higher due to poor transparency from tech companies about AI-specific energy and water use. “There’s no way to put an...
The photo dump from Democrats in the House Oversight Committee include more famous men and upsetting Lolita quotes written on a woman’s body.
A California judge signaled support for forcing Vizio to provide the full source code for its SmartCast TV software after finding a contractual obligation under the GPL. If upheld, the case could strengthen users’ rights to modify GPL-licensed software embedded in consumer electronics. The Register reports: The legal complaint from the Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) seeks access to the...
Formula 1’s 2026 technical regulations bring not only smaller and lighter cars but an entirely new vocabulary that fans and commentators will need to learn before the season opens in Australia in March. The drag reduction system that has been part of F1 racing since 2011 is gone, replaced by a suite of modes governing how the new active front and rear wings behave and how the hybrid powertrain...
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Deadline: YouTube has terminated two prominent channels that used artificial intelligence to create fake movie trailers, Deadline can reveal. The Google-owned video giant has switched off Screen Culture and KH Studio, which together boasted well over 2 million subscribers and more than a billion views. The channels have been replaced with the message:...
Hackers breached approximately 120,000 IP cameras across South Korea and allegedly sold footage captured from private homes, gynecology offices, breastfeeding rooms and massage parlors to an overseas pornography website, prompting an interagency government task force to announce sweeping reforms on December 7. Police believe one suspect alone hacked 63,000 cameras and produced 545 videos that...
Come See Me in the Good Light, Highest 2 Lowest, and F1: The Movie are just a few of the movies you should be watching on Apple TV this month.
If your favorite reader is the one left on your Christmas list, good news: Several Kindles and Kindle accessories are on sale right now for your last-minute shopping.
A plush AI toy marketed for children as young as three years old delivers detailed instructions on sharpening knives and lighting matches, and when asked about Chinese President Xi Jinping’s resemblance to Winnie the Pooh — a comparison censored in China — responds that “your statement is extremely inappropriate and disrespectful.” The Miriat Miiloo, manufactured by a Chinese company and among...
The agency plans to renew a sweeping cybersecurity contract that includes expanded employee monitoring as the government escalates leak investigations and casts internal dissent as a threat.
Anthropic let its Claude AI run a vending machine in the Wall Street Journal newsroom for three weeks as part of an internal stress test called Project Vend, and the experiment ended in financial ruin after journalists systematically manipulated the bot into giving away its entire inventory for free. The AI, nicknamed Claudius, was programmed to order inventory, set prices, and respond to...
An anonymous reader shares a report: OpenAI has held preliminary talks with some investors about raising funds at a valuation of around $750 billion, the Information reported on Wednesday. The ChatGPT maker could raise as much as $100 billion, the report said, citing people with knowledge of the discussions. If finalized, the talks would represent a roughly 50% jump from OpenAI’s reported $500...
Capable of creating “nearly perfect” face swaps during live video chats, Hoatian has made millions, mainly via Telegram. But its main channel vanished after WIRED’s inquiry into scammers using the app.
A new offence looks to build on existing rules outlawing sexually explicit deepfakes and intimate image abuse.
The UK Met Office projects that 2026 will see global temperatures rise between 1.34C and 1.58C above preindustrial levels, placing it among the four hottest years since records began in 1850 and continuing a streak of extreme warming that has pushed the planet into unprecedented territory. The central forecast is slightly cooler than the 1.55C recorded in 2024, the warmest year on record. But...
Factorial, the start-up, said the listing would provide money that would help it bring new solid-state batteries to market as soon as 2027.
Apple has announced a sweeping set of changes to iOS in Japan that will allow alternative app marketplaces, third-party payment processing, and non-WebKit browser engines — all to comply with Japan’s Mobile Software Competition Act, which takes effect December 18. The changes, now available in iOS 26.2, bear a strong resemblance to Apple’s compliance measures for the European Union’s Digital...
There’s little reason to pay top dollar for a smartphone. These iPhones and Android devices—ranging from $100 to $600—stood up to WIRED’s testing.
December 18, 2025 – BTCC, the world’s longest-serving cryptocurrency exchange, kicked off the holiday season with its Christmas Celebration Month campaign, putting $2 million in prizes on the table for traders. The announcement comes alongside the exchange’s December Proof of Reserves, which show a total reserve ratio of 128%, and the upcoming Green Dollar Coin […]