What the evolution of our own brains can tell us about the future of AI | engadget

The explosive growth in artificial intelligence in recent years — crowned with the meteoric rise of generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT — has seen the technology take on many tasks that, formerly, only human minds could handle. But despite their increasingly capable linguistic computations, these machine learning systems remain surprisingly inept at making the sorts of cognitive leaps and logical deductions that even the average teenager can consistently get right. Read full story here: What the evolution of our own brains can tell us about the future of AI |…

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How an award-winning Halifax professor nurtured a network of battery entrepreneurs | CBC News

They call themselves the “Dahn lab” graduates, and they’re powering an unlikely, Halifax-based research hub for batteries designed to replace fossil fuels. At the tightly wired network’s heart is Jeff Dahn, a professor of chemistry and physics at Dalhousie University, who on Oct. 9 was presented with the Olin Palladium Award from the Electrochemical Society for a lifetime of working to improve rechargeable batteries. The prestigious prize has previously been won by Nobel laureates. According to the award citation, the 66-year-old researcher is an author or co-author of 78 inventions…

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Darknet markets generate millions in revenue selling stolen personal data | Ars Technica

It is common to hear news reports about large data breaches, but what happens once your personal data is stolen? Our research shows that, like most legal commodities, stolen data products flow through a supply chain consisting of producers, wholesalers, and consumers. But this supply chain involves the interconnection of multiple criminal organizations operating in illicit underground marketplaces. The stolen data supply chain begins with producers—hackers who exploit vulnerable systems and steal sensitive information such as credit card numbers, bank account information, and Social Security numbers. Read full story here:…

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Security experts urge Chrome users to patch new zero-day exploit immediately | TechSpot

What just happened? Google just released an emergency security update to patch a newly discovered vulnerability in the Chrome web browser. The buffer overflow-based exploit was discovered by Clément Lecigne, a member of the Google Threat Analysis Group (TAG). Google acknowledged the issue and pledged to withhold further details about the vulnerability until the patch has been widely deployed. Read full story here: Security experts urge Chrome users to patch new zero-day exploit immediately | TechSpot

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Hitting the Books: How can privacy survive in a world that never forgets? | Engadget

As I write this, Amazon is announcing its purchase of iRobot, adding its room-mapping robotic vacuum technology to the company’s existing home surveillance suite, the Ring doorbell and prototype aerial drone. This is in addition to Amazon already knowing what you order online, what websites you visit, what foods you eat and, soon, every last scrap of personal medical data you possess. But hey, free two-day shipping, amirite? The trend of our gadgets and infrastructure constantly, often invasively, monitoring their users shows little sign of slowing — not when there’s…

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Some Top 100,000 Websites Collect Everything You Type—Before You Hit Submit | Ars Technica

When you sign up for a newsletter, make a hotel reservation, or check out online, you probably take for granted that if you mistype your email address three times or change your mind and X out of the page, it doesn’t matter. Nothing actually happens until you hit the Submit button, right? Well, maybe not. As with so many assumptions about the web, this isn’t always the case, according to new research: A surprising number of websites are collecting some or all of your data as you type it into…

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Your Digital Footprint: It’s Bigger Than You Realize | c|net

A few years ago, Ken Crum started getting uncomfortable with how much of his life seemed to be online. The long-time computer programmer was particularly concerned by what companies appeared to know about him. The amount of personal information was mind-boggling to the 66-year-old Texan, who recently moved from Dallas to the small town of Weatherford. Data brokers were collecting his personal details. Social media was targeting ads at him. Then one day, after shopping at a local home improvement store, he got an email from the company asking how…

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Clearview AI Aims To Put Almost Every Human In Facial Recognition Database | ARS Technica

The controversial facial recognition company Clearview AI reportedly told investors that it aims to collect 100 billion photos—supposedly enough to ensure that almost every human will be in its database. “Clearview AI is telling investors it is on track to have 100 billion facial photos in its database within a year, enough to ensure ‘almost everyone in the world will be identifiable,’ according to a financial presentation from December obtained by The Washington Post,” the Post reported today. There are an estimated 7.9 billion people on the planet. Read full…

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Today Is Data Privacy Day. Here’s What You Need To Do To Secure Your Info | c|net

here’s no shortage of made-up national holidays. Among the fabricated celebrations: Houseplant Appreciation Day, Irish Coffee Day and Bubble Wrap Day. However, there is one such holiday actually worth observing: Data Privacy Day, which happens to be today. It’s a good reminder to check up on the safety of your personal data. The holiday began in the US and Canada back in 2008. It’s an extension of a European holiday marking 1981’s Convention 108, the first legally binding international treaty on protecting privacy and data. Read full story here: Today…

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Do You Use One Of The 20 Most Common Passwords In Canada? | CTV News

TORONTO — Cybersecurity company NordPass, which sells password managements services, has published its list of the top 200 most common passwords in Canada and says too many Canadians are using passwords that can be easily guessed. This year’s list of most common passwords in Canada was topped by the usual suspects, such as “password,” “qwerty,” “abc123” and different variations of “123456.” These passwords also dominated the list of most common passwords in other countries and around the world. Read full story here: Do You Use One Of The 20 Most Common Passwords…

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