US-based Circle Internet Financial Ltd. is closely watching regulatory developments in Hong Kong after the territory’s new crypto

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 19, 2023--

Epic Games teased the return of Fortnite Chapter 1 maps, skins, and music in packages sent to content creators, revealing the OG theme of Chapter 4 Season 5.

Elon Musk has hinted that he will today be changing the Twitter logo from its iconic blue bird which has been synonymous with the website since its inception to a solitary 'X' symbol. Late on Saturday, July 22nd or early on July 23rd (depending on where in the world you are) Musk tweeted: "And soon we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds." Shortly after this he added: "If a good enough X logo is posted tonight, we'll make (it) go live worldwide tomorrow." Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter He also hinted at what the logo might look like in a short and dramatic video snippet that showed a flickering animated 'X' symbol with some over-the-top music accompanying it. The South Africian billionaire and former richest man in the world also joined a Twitter spaces audio chat and simply replied "Yes" when he was asked about the sudden logo change before adding that "it should have been done a long time ago." Attentive listener's on the audio call also noticed that when Musk made the announcement he was playing the video game Diablo IV. Twitter has previously called its blue bird logo "our most recognisable asset" but it remains to be seen how long the new logo change will last. In April of this year, the website's logo was briefly changed to the Dogecoin dog symbol. Twitter has experienced a tumultuous time since Musk took over in 2022 with the website blighted by a number of technical issues as Musk and his new team attempted to implement changes. This has since led to many users flocking to other similar sites such as BlueSky, Mastadon and Mark Zuckerberg's new venture Threads, which registered more than 70 million sign-ups in its first 48 hours. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

More than 100,000 user accounts of the popular artificial intelligence chatbot platform ChatGPT have been compromised over the last year using information-stealing malware, a new report has revealed. The report, published by Singapore-based cybersecurity firm Group-IB, identified 101,134 compromised accounts, the credentials of many of which have been traded over the last year on illicit dark web marketplaces. At its peak in May, nearly 27,000 credentials of compromised ChatGPT accounts were traded on the dark web, the group noted, adding that the Asia-Pacific region experienced the highest concentration of ChatGPT credentials offered for sale. This region, according to the report, accounted for almost 40 per cent of compromised accounts between June 2022 and May 2023, followed by Europe. Since its widespread rollout in November last year, ChatGPT has seen growing use, with employees taking advantage of the chatbot to optimise their work across fields from software development to business communications. As the chatbot stores the history of user queries and the AI’s responses, experts have warned that unauthorised access to ChatGPT accounts could expose confidential or sensitive information. “Employees enter classified correspondences or use the bot to optimize proprietary code. Given that ChatGPT’s standard configuration retains all conversations, this could inadvertently offer a trove of sensitive intelligence to threat actors if they obtain account credentials,” said Dmitry Shestakov, the head of threat intelligence at Group-IB. Several businesses, institutions and universities across the world, including several in Japan, have either banned use of the chatbot, or have warned staff to not reveal sensitive information to the AI bot as such data can be exploited for targeted attacks against companies and their employees. The Singapore-based cybersecurity group warned in its latest report that ChatGPT accounts have already gained popularity within underground communities on the dark web that are accessible only via special software. Using malicious software known as info stealers, credentials saved in browsers, bank card details, crypto wallet information, cookies, browsing history and other information from browsers installed on infected computers are being stolen and sent to operators. Logs containing user information, including data on the IP addresses, are being actively traded on dark web marketplaces, according to Group-IB. A majority of logs containing ChatGPT accounts have been breached by the infamous Raccoon info stealer, the group noted. Experts urge users to update passwords regularly and implement two-factor authentication for accessing their ChatGPT accounts. Users are also advised to disable the chatbot’s chat saving feature from its settings menu or manually delete conversations immediately after use. Read More ChatGPT ‘grandma exploit’ gives users free keys for Windows 11 Protect personal data when introducing AI, privacy watchdog warns businesses How Europe is leading the world in the push to regulate AI Scientists warn of threat to internet from AI-trained AIs ChatGPT ‘grandma exploit’ helps people pirate software Hundreds attend ‘soulless’ AI-generated church service

A 4,000-year-old site reminiscent of Stonehenge has been uncovered in the Netherlands for the first time. The monument was uncovered by Dutch archaeologists on Wednesday (21 June), uncovering an ancient religious site that has been nicknamed the “Stonehenge of the Netherlands”. Uncovered in the dig was a burial mound containing the remains of 60 men, women and children. The mound also served as a solar calendar, with the Sun shining directly through passages on the shortest and longest days of the year. Digging at the so-called “open-air sanctuary”, located in the town of Tiel, began in 2017, but the results of the archaeologists’ findings were only recently made public. A post on the town’s Facebook page, read: “What a spectacular archaeological discovery! Archaeologists have found a 4,000-year-old religious sanctuary on an industrial site.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter It continued: “This is the first time a site like this has been discovered in the Netherlands.” By comparing different samples of clay and their composition, three burial mounds were located during the excavation. The mounds are located just a few kilometres from the bank of the Waal River, with the main mound measuring 20 meters wide and its passages perfectly aligned to serve as a solar calendar. One of the archaeologists explained: “People used this calendar to determine important moments including festival and harvest days.” Dutch national broadcaster, NOS, added: “This hill reminded one of Stonehenge, the well-known mysterious prehistoric monument in Britain, where this phenomenon also occurs.” Other fascinating discoveries at the site included a single glass bead found inside a grave – analysis showed it originated in Mesopotamia, which is Iraq today. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

The next data breach to expose your info probably won’t involve an elite hacker sharpening

Scientists have developed eye scans that use artificial intelligence to detect markers of Parkinson’s disease seven years before symptoms appear, making it the first time the condition can be detected several years before diagnosis. Parkinson disease’s is a deteriorating neurological condition characterised by a reduction of dopamine. The research, published on Tuesday in the journal Neurology, used two large sets of health data – the AlzEye dataset and the UK Biobank database – to identify these subtle markers, even though Parkinson’s disease has a relatively low prevalence among this population. The AlzEye dataset was formed from the world’s largest database of retinal images and associated clinical data. Post-mortem examination of Parkinson’s patients has found differences in the retina’s inner nuclear layer (INL). Previous studies have shown eye-scan data can reveal signs of other deterioration of neurological conditions like Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis and schizophrenia. The studies are part of an emerging field of research called “oculomics”. Eye scan data has also been shown to reveal people’s propensity to high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke and diabetes. Doctors have historically conducted physical eye tests, believing the organ can act as a “window” to the rest of the body, and provide direct insight into many aspects of human health. With high-resolution images of the retina now a routine part of eye care, scientists said the data from these scans can be put to better analysis to gain better insights on patient health. In particular, a type of 3D scan known as optical coherence tomography (OCT) is widely used in eye clinics and by high-street opticians. These scans can produce a cross-section of the retina – the screen of nerves at the back of the eye – in incredible detail down to a thousandth of a millimetre. Images of the retina can be extremely useful for monitoring eye health. But researchers said their value can become much more as a retinal scan is the only non-intrusive way to view layers of cells below the skin’s surface. They found in the new study that a reduced thickness of these cell layers was associated with an increased risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. Scientists have also started using powerful computers and AI technology to accurately analyse large numbers of OCTs and other eye images, in a fraction of the time it would take a human. “While we are not yet ready to predict whether an individual will develop Parkinson’s, we hope that this method could soon become a pre-screening tool for people at risk of disease,” study co-author Siegfried Wagner from the University College London said. “Finding signs of a number of diseases before symptoms emerge means that, in the future, people could have the time to make lifestyle changes to prevent some conditions arising, and clinicians could delay the onset and impact of life-changing neurodegenerative disorders,” Dr Wagner said. Researchers said the OCT method used in the study is also non-invasive of lower cost, more scalable and quicker than brain scans for this purpose. Read More Study could lead to injections that replicate brain benefits of exercise Dementia breakthrough as drug treatment comes one step closer Parkinson’s therapy could be used to tackle alcohol abuse Justin Trudeau slams Facebook for blocking news stories about wildfires Microsoft makes big changes to takeover of Activision Blizzard Meta could finally launch Threads feature everyone is waiting for

In this busy season of sport, we're on a mission to provide you with the

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 21, 2023--

Pokémon Sleep, a game in which players go to bed in real life to win, is rocketing up the App Store charts. The app is now sixth in Apple’s charts, suggesting that makers The Pokémon Company may have found a way to replicate some of the success of their previous hit Pokemon Go. To play the game, people download the app onto their iPhone – or use a separate, paid-for accessory that the company says can be used to track sleep as well as make it easier. Once that is done, users mostly play by going to sleep. When they wake up in the morning, they will receive information about their sleep patterns – how long they slept, what kind of sleep that was, and whether players made any noises during the night – and receive rewards of Pokémon that will be caught based on that data. The game has received some negative reviews: on the iOS App Store, one player called it “deeply flawed and predatory”, criticising the fact that tracking sleep with the iPhone app means sleeping with it and leaving the screen on. While players can use the Pokémon Go Plus +, which has been given a confusing name presumably to separate it from the existing Pokémon Go Plus, that costs $60. It also received a critical review in The Verge, which said that while it was “incredibly cute”, it came with some drawbacks, including the fact that it requires players to undertake dull tasks during the day and offered few meaningful ways to actually improve sleep. Nonetheless, the game appears to have proven incredibly successful on the iPhone’s App Store and Android’s Google Play Store, where it has been downloaded millions of times. The game comes amid a growing interest in the benefits of sleep, and the technology that can help promote it. Multiple wearables such as those made by Apple, Garmin and Whoop all track the sleeping habits of their wearers, and other companies have promoted cooling and massaging technologies that are aimed at helping people get more restful sleep.

The Swiss National Bank nearly doubled investments in electric-vehicle makers Rivian and Lucis, and sold Apple and GM stock in the second quarter.