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  • Beats Powerbeats Fit review: Apple’s compact workout earbuds revamped

    Secure, noise-cancelling Bluetooth earbuds that shine for exercise and everyday use on Android and iPhone Apple’s revamped compact workout Beats earbuds stick to a winning formula, while slimming down and improving comfort. The new Powerbeats Fit are the direct successors to 2022’s popular Beats Fit Pro, costing £200 (€230/$200/A$330). They sit alongside the recently redesigned…

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  • Files cast light on Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to cryptocurrency

    Newly released documents detail convicted sex offender’s early backing of bitcoin and Coinbase Millions of files related to Jeffrey Epstein have brought to light his ties to the highest echelons of the cryptocurrency industry. Documents published last week by the US Department of Justice reveal Epstein bankrolled the “principal home and funding source” for bitcoin,…

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  • ‘I fell into it’: ex-criminal hackers urge Manchester pupils to use web skills for good

    Initiative aims to identify proficient gamers and coders who can help companies identify flaws in their cybersecurity Cybercriminals, the shadowy online figures often depicted in Hollywood movies as hooded villains capable of wiping millions of pounds off the value of businesses at a keystroke, are not usually known for their candour. But in a sixth-form…

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  • Battle of the chatbots: Anthropic and OpenAI go head-to-head over ads in their AI products

    New Anthropic campaign suggests other AI platforms will incorporate targeted ads in their chatbot conversations The Seahawks and the Patriots aren’t the only ones gearing up for a fight. AI rivals Anthropic and OpenAI have launched a war of ads trying to court corporate America during one of the biggest entertainment nights of the year.…

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  • Victims urge tougher action on deepfake abuse as new law comes into force

    Campaigners welcome criminalisation of non-consensual AI-generated explicit images but say law does not go far enough Victims of deepfake image abuse have called for stronger protection against AI-generated explicit images, as the law criminalising the creation of non-consensual intimate images comes into effect. Campaigners from Stop Image-Based Abuse delivered a petition to Downing Street with…

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  • Hail our new robot overlords! Amazon warehouse tour offers glimpse of future

    At its new Stone Mountain, Georgia, facility, Roomba-like robots shuffle between stacks, another adds shipping labels while another arranges packages in pallets One of the reasons Amazon is spending billions on robots? They don’t need bathroom breaks. Arriving a few minutes early to the public tour of Amazon’s hi-tech Stone Mountain, Georgia, warehouse, my request…

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  • TikTok could be forced to change app’s ‘addictive design’ by European Commission

    Preliminary EU ruling says app shifts brains of users into ‘autopilot mode’, with concerns for children and vulnerable adults Business live – latest updates TikTok could be forced into changes to make the app less addictive to users after the EU indicated the platform had breached the bloc’s digital safety rules. The EU’s executive arm…

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  • Deepfake fraud taking place on an industrial scale, study finds

    AI content for scams can be targeted at individuals and ‘produced by pretty much anybody’, researchers say Deepfake fraud has gone “industrial”, an analysis published by AI experts has said. Tools to create tailored, even personalised, scams – leveraging, for example, deepfake videos of Swedish journalists or the president of Cyprus – are no longer…

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  • Uber found liable for sexual assault by driver and ordered to pay victim $8.5m

    Verdict could influence more than 3,000 similar cases against ride-hailing company A federal jury in Phoenix ordered Uber on Thursday to pay $8.5m after finding the company liable in a lawsuit brought by a woman who said she was sexually assaulted by a driver. The verdict could influence thousands of similar cases against the ride-hailing…

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  • What does the disappearance of a $100bn deal mean for the AI economy?

    Apparent collapse of Nvidia–OpenAI tie-up raises questions about circular funding and who will bear the cost of AI’s expansion Did the circular AI economy just wobble? Last week it was reported that a much-discussed $100bn deal – announced last September – between Nvidia and OpenAI might not be happening at all. This was a circular…

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