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New Orleans Attacker Wore Meta Smart Glasses
Tech News

New Orleans Attacker Wore Meta Smart Glasses

On New Year’s Day, a man named Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove a pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing 14 people and injuring many others. The FBI revealed that he was wearing Meta smart glasses during the planning and execution of the attack. The glasses, introduced by Meta in 2023, are equipped with features like a camera, speaker, and AI assistant, allowing users to record videos, take photos, and even search the web. Although the glasses weren’t directly involved in the attack, their use in this situation raises concerns about how such technology could be misused. Meta collaborated with Ray-Ban to design the glasses, which cost between $299 and $379. While the glasses have been praised for their innovative features, they’ve also faced criticism for privacy ...
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Urgent Microsoft Update Alert—Action Required for 65% of Windows Users

Microsoft Windows users are facing a serious security risk as Windows 10 approaches its end-of-life in October 2025. Around 800 million PCs are at risk of losing critical security updates. ESET has issued a warning, especially in Germany but relevant globally, urging users to upgrade to Windows 11 immediately to avoid cyberattacks, data loss, and other vulnerabilities. The warning emphasizes that relying on Windows 10 is dangerous, particularly for businesses, as outdated systems are more prone to attacks like ransomware and could lead to legal and financial consequences. Extending support for Windows 10 is possible but costly, and many older PCs won’t meet the requirements to upgrade due to hardware limitations like missing TPM chips. Microsoft has introduced a $30 one-year extensio...
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NVIDIA Launches ASIC Division to Meet Growing AI Chip Demand

NVIDIA has taken a major step in the evolving AI semiconductor market by creating a department focused on ASICs (Application-Specific Integrated Circuits). This move, reported on January 2 by Taiwan's Commercial Times, shows NVIDIA's strategy to strengthen its custom chip design capabilities. Already a leader in AI and GPU markets, NVIDIA aims to stay ahead in the competitive landscape. In June 2023, NVIDIA's CEO, Jensen Huang, announced plans to open a research and development (R&D) center in Taiwan within five years, hiring 1,000 engineers. The new ASIC department aligns with this plan, and NVIDIA is recruiting top talent from companies like Taiwan’s MediaTek to boost its expertise. The global AI boom, driven by the rise of generative AI like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, has increased the...
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Apple Agrees to $95M Settlement in Siri Privacy Lawsuit

Apple has agreed to pay $95 million (£77 million) to settle a lawsuit claiming some of its devices listened to people without their consent. The tech giant faced allegations that its virtual assistant, Siri, eavesdropped on users and shared voice recordings with advertisers. While Apple has denied any wrongdoing, it agreed to settle the case. According to the settlement, Apple denies claims that it “recorded, shared, or failed to delete conversations” triggered by Siri without user consent. The company’s lawyers stated that Siri recordings collected before October 2019 have been permanently deleted. However, the claimants argue that Siri sometimes recorded users unintentionally, even without the activation phrase, “Hey Siri.” They also allege that advertisers who received these re...
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NFL Christmas Games: Why They’re on Netflix and a Wednesday

The NFL is making history this year by playing Christmas Day games on a Wednesday for the first time. Traditionally, Christmas games were played only when the holiday fell on a Saturday, Sunday, or Monday—days typically reserved for games in the league’s schedule. Special edition games took place on Fridays in 2009 and 2020 as part of the "Thursday Night Football" package. This year marks the beginning of a new Christmas Day tradition for the NFL. The league will debut its newest broadcast partner, Netflix, which will stream the games. This will be Netflix's first NFL broadcast, following its recent foray into live sports, including events like The Netflix Cup (golf), The Netflix Slam (tennis), and the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul exhibition match. Netflix has also acquired rights to WWE Monday...
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Sega Explores Launching a Netflix-Style Game Subscription Service

Sega’s Potential Game Streaming Service Sega is considering launching its own subscription service for video games, similar to Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus. These services let players pay a monthly fee to access various games without owning them outright. Sega’s president, Shuji Utsumi, told the BBC the company finds these services “very interesting” and is exploring options, though details are still under wraps. Some experts are concerned that adding another subscription could increase costs for gamers who already pay for multiple services. Currently, Sega games are available on other platforms like Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus. A Sega-only service might make sense financially for the company, allowing them to collect subscription fees directly. However, it could mean hi...
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Connect with OpenAI’s Chatbot at 1-800-ChatGPT

When a user dialed 1-800-CHATGPT on Wednesday, a female voice on the other end shared a recipe for chocolate chip cookies and summarized the Civil War, but it avoided personal conversation. “I don’t have feelings, but I do find my job pretty interesting,” the chatbot said. ChatGPT, launched over two years ago as an online chat-capable AI bot, is now accessible via phone. By calling 1-800-242-8478 in the US, users can try OpenAI’s chatbot without downloading the app, which the company announced is particularly useful for those lacking consistent access to high-speed data. Globally, users can also interact with ChatGPT by messaging the number on WhatsApp. OpenAI provides 15 minutes per month for users to call ChatGPT, describing the feature as an “experimental way” to interact with the AI...
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OpenAI Announces Recovery of ChatGPT Service After Extended Outage

OpenAI announced in a Thursday morning post on X that its widely-used ChatGPT assistant, Sora video generator, and programming interface for developers were fully operational again after experiencing several hours of downtime. ChatGPT has become a mainstream tool, with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman revealing on December 4 that the platform now serves 300 million active users every week. On Wednesday, Apple launched updates for its iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices, adding ChatGPT integrations to their software. According to OpenAI’s status page, ChatGPT experienced an outage lasting just over four hours. This was notably shorter than the five-hour downtime the service faced in June. In October, OpenAI reached a valuation of $157 billion following a funding round backed by existing investor Mi...
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WhatsApp’s Introduces Feature to Remind Users of Unseen Messages

WhatsApp's has introduced a new feature in its latest beta update (version 2.24.25.29) that sends reminders for unread messages from important contacts. This feature is part of the beta program available to Android users through the Google Play Beta Programme. Previously, WhatsApp’s reminders only applied to status updates from frequently contacted people. With this new update, reminders have been expanded to include unread messages in chats, helping users avoid missing communication from their most active contacts. The app uses an internal algorithm to identify key contacts based on how often users interact with them. However, this information is not stored on WhatsApp’s servers and will be lost if the app is uninstalled and reinstalled. WhatsApp has designed this feature to prov...
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TikTok Faces U.S. Ban After Failing to Overturn New Law

TikTok may soon be banned in the U.S. after a panel of federal judges upheld a new law that could force the app’s shutdown by mid-January. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied TikTok’s request to block the law, which requires its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app to a non-Chinese owner by January 19. If this doesn’t happen, TikTok faces a U.S. ban. ByteDance has said selling the app is impossible due to restrictions from the Chinese government. The judges disagreed with TikTok’s claims that the law unfairly targets the app and violates the First Amendment. They stated the law is focused on addressing risks from foreign control and protecting American users’ data from potential misuse by adversaries like China. Lawmakers and intelli...