A publicly accessible Amazon-hosted storage server allowed anyone with a web browser to access potentially hundreds of thousands of people’s personal data without needing a password. This included driver’s licenses, passports, and other personal information collected by the Duc App, a money-transfer service owned by Toronto-based Duales. The Canadian fintech company said it resolved the data exposure on Tuesday after …
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Google now lets you direct avatars through prompts in its Vids app | TechCrunch
Google on Thursday added new features to its video editor app Vids, including directing and customizing avatars through text prompts, Veo 3.1 support, the ability to export videos to YouTube, and recording with a Chrome extension. Users will be able to use natural language prompts to direct avatars to “act” in a scene. This can include the avatar interacting with …
Read More »Google releases Gemma 4, a family of open models built off of Gemini 3
When Google released Gemini 3 Pro at the end of last year, it was a significant step forward for the company’s proprietary large language models. Now, the company is bringing some of the same technology and research that made those models possible to the open source community with the release of its new family of Gemma 4 open-weight models. Google …
Read More »ICE says it bought Paragon’s spyware to use in drug trafficking cases | TechCrunch
The acting head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told lawmakers that it has bought and used spyware made by Paragon Solutions in drug trafficking cases, according to a letter seen by TechCrunch. ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons wrote in the letter to three congresspeople that he approved the agency’s criminal investigative unit Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) to use “cutting-edge …
Read More »Uber expands its EV incentive program across the US
Uber is expanding its EV incentive program across the US. The company began last year. This is a program in which Uber offers drivers a $4,000 grant to switch from their current vehicle to an EV. These grants are available for both new and used electric vehicles, which is nice because new cars are expensive and could be out of …
Read More »‘Wood is wood’: WSU research finds Yankees’ viral ‘torpedo’ bats perform the same as traditional bats
A research team determined that the torpedo bat, left, and traditional bat perform equally well in hitting power with only a slight difference in the location of the bat’s sweet spot (WSU Photo / Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture) The New York Yankees just cruised through Seattle and won two out of three games against the Mariners. On the …
Read More »Samsung’s new Frame Pro and OLED TVs are now available to order
After sharing pricing and availability for its new Mini LED TVs in March, Samsung is ready to detail some of the other TVs it introduced at CES earlier this year. The 2026 versions of Samsung’s The Frame Pro and OLED TVs are both available to order today – save for some notable exceptions – and they start for as little …
Read More »Flipboard’s ‘social websites’ are a new spin on decentralized social media
Flipboard has been one of the biggest boosters of decentralized social media. Now, the company, which is known for its social news reading app, is rolling out its latest experiment, “social websites.” The project offers publishers and creators an easier path into what’s often called the “open social web,” which includes the fediverse, as well as other protocol-based platforms like …
Read More »Microsoft releases new AI models to expand further beyond OpenAI
Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI. (GeekWire File Photo / Kevin Lisota) Microsoft is expanding its roster of in-house AI models, releasing a new speech-to-text system and making two existing models broadly available to developers for the first time. The moves by Microsoft AI (MAI) are part of a broader effort by the company to expand its proprietary AI capabilities …
Read More »Artemis II crew is just like us, needs help with Microsoft Outlook issues
The four history-making Artemis II crew members are cooped up with each other in a tiny space for 10 days. And yet the most uncomfortable aspect of the mission might be having to deal with not one, but two instances of Microsoft Outlook. Commander Reid Wiseman sent a literal “Houston, we have a problem” message to mission control in the …
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