Apple has released its first Background Security Improvements update to fix a WebKit flaw tracked as CVE-2026-20643 on iPhones, iPads, and Macs without requiring a full operating system upgrade.

The CVE-2026-20643 flaw allows malicious web content to bypass the browser’s Same Origin Policy.

Apple says the flaw is a cross-origin issue in the Navigation API that was addressed with improved input validation.

The vulnerability was discovered by security researcher Thomas Espach, with the new update available on iOS 26.3.1, iPadOS 26.3.1, macOS 26.3.1, and macOS 26.3.2.

This release is the first time Apple has pushed a security fix through its new Background Security Improvements feature, which is used to deliver small out-of-band patches outside the normal security update cycle.

“Background Security Improvements deliver lightweight security releases for components such as the Safari browser, WebKit framework stack, and other system libraries that benefit from smaller, ongoing security patches between software updates,” explains Apple.

“In rare instances of compatibility issues, Background Security Improvements may be temporarily removed and then enhanced in a subsequent software update.”

In the past, Apple security updates required users to install a new OS version and restart their device. However, with Background Security Improvements, Apple can now deliver small updates that are applied to specific components in the background.

Apple added the feature in iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS 26.1, stating it was to be used to quickly patch security flaws between releases.

Users can access the feature through their device settings under the Privacy & Security menu.

• On iPhone and iPad: Go to Settings, then tap Privacy & Security.
• On Mac: From the Apple menu, choose System Settings. Then click Privacy & Security.

Apple warns that uninstalling a Background Security Improvements update removes all previously applied background patches, reverting the device to the baseline OS version (such as iOS 26.3.1) without any of the incremental security fixes.

This effectively removes the rapid-response security protections delivered through this feature, leaving devices at the baseline security level until the updates are reapplied or included in a future full update.

Therefore, unless a baseline security improvement causes an issue on your device, it is strongly recommended that they not be uninstalled.

Malware is getting smarter. The Red Report 2026 reveals how new threats use math to detect sandboxes and hide in plain sight.

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from the full-circle dept

It’s been a long and winding road to mostly get us right back to where we started in the battle between pop star Katy Perry and Aussie clothing designer Katie Perry. If you’re not familiar with this saga, here is a brief summary. Note that I will be mostly using only Katy and Katie when naming the players here to avoid confusion.

Katie Taylor is the real name of the Aussie designer, but she began selling clothing under the name “Katie Perry” in 2008 and secured a trademark for the name in Australia for clothing. While Katy’s team initially sent a C&D to Katie’s business around that same time, it appears nothing came of that C&D, even as the singer went on a worldwide tour that included Australia in 2014. That’s when Katie sued Katy, arguing that clothing merch sold on her local tour constituted trademark infringement, as the public might be confused between the two entities and who was producing what and for whom. She won her initial lawsuit, but Katy appealed and won, with the court not only clearing her of trademark infringement but also canceling Katie’s trademark entirely. Rather than leaving well enough alone, Katie appealed that ruling to Australia’s High Court.

And that brings us to an unlikely present, in which the High Court partially agreed with Katie’s appeal, reinstating her trademark, but not ruling that Katy Perry infringed upon it. I’m going to stay away from the first part of CNN’s post on the matter, because it does a horrible job of framing all of this, mostly in that in paints Katie Perry as some kind of underdog victim in all of this when she very much is not. But as for the ruling itself:

But on Wednesday, Australia’s High Court overturned the ruling, arguing the cancellation of the trademark was not warranted, and the use of the “Katie Perry” trademark was not likely to deceive or cause confusion.

Taylor said the court battle was a long and difficult process, but she did it to show that trademarks are there to protect small businesses, not just large brands.

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“So many people said to me, like, why don’t you just give up? It’s not worth it. I really believe in standing up for your values. Truth and justice are part of my core and my values.”

And this is where I’m once again frustrated with CNN’s posture in its reporting. Katie sued Katy. That’s how this whole episode really started. Katie talking about how she is glad this all isn’t hanging over her head when she started the lawsuit that led to all of this is insane. This was a self-inflicted wound of epic proportions on a timeline equally crazy.

But the key part to me is that the logic behind ruling that Katie can have her trademark back is that Katie’s and Katy’s trademarks can coexist without any real concern for deception or confusion. That same logic is what I stated at the start of this whole ordeal as the reason this trademark lawsuit battle never should have been started in the first place.

Started by Katie Perry, I’ll remind you. And so we’ve come full circle, with both groups having their trademarks but without any actual infringement having occurred. It’s been a wild, stupid trip, but I guess we got where we were going: right back to where we started.

Filed Under: australia, katie perry, katy perry, trademark

Subnautica 2 has weathered the storm and has rescheduled its early access release. IGN reported today that the sequel to the underwater survival game will begin early access on PC and Xbox in May, although a more specific date was not provided.

The news comes a day after a judge ruled that former Unknown Worlds Entertainment CEO Ted Gill should be rehired at the game studio. That decision capped off a dramatic year for the team behind Subnautica, which was acquired by Krafton in 2021. The studio and its new owners entered a legal battle because the purchase of Unknown Worlds included a promise of an up to $250 million payout from Krafton if the team met certain performance goals by the end of 2025. In July of that year, however, Krafton fired several studio leaders and then delayed the sequel’s early access launch. The court case has raised questions about which side was trying to either secure or avoid making that multi-million payment.

With yesterday’s ruling, a rep from Krafton said that “we are evaluating our options as we determine our path forward.” It’s unclear if that path, or the other litigation still underway over the project, will create further delays to the planned early access date.

The arrival of new MacBooks each spring marks the start of the season for potential laptop renewal. Apple updated its MacBook Air and MacBook Pro lines with new M5 processors last week and introduced the new MacBook Neo for budget shoppers. This new raft of machines might have you wondering if it’s time to move on from your current MacBook.

We’ve tested and reviewed the MacBook Neo, M5 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro with both M5 Pro and M5 Max chips so you can compare the performance and features of these new M5 machines with those of older generations to help you answer the question: Should I upgrade?

Read more: Is the MacBook Neo more than just a student laptop?

If you have an Intel-based MacBook from the previous decade, the answer is easy: Don’t think twice and buy a new M5 MacBook Air. I prefer the larger 15-inch model and think it’s worth the additional $200 over the 13-inch model, but either the 13.6-inch or 15.3-inch M5 Air will be larger than the 13.3-inch display of an older Intel MacBook Air and offer drastically better performance.

If you have a MacBook Air with one of Apple’s M-series processors, the answer to the question varies, based on whether you have an Air with an M1, M2, M3 or M4 chip. Let’s take a run through each generation of Apple’s M-series MacBook Air roster from the past six years and answer the to-upgrade-or-not-to-upgrade question for each.

What’s new with the M5 MacBook Air?

Let’s start with what’s changed and what hasn’t changed with the M5 MacBook Air that Apple just introduced.

The design and displays remain the same, as do the color choices, with this year’s update. The changes are on the inside, starting with Apple’s M5 processor. With 10 CPU cores and either eight or 10 GPU cores, M5 has the same number of cores as the previous M4 chip, but the M5 introduces a new GPU architecture that puts a neural accelerator on each core to boost AI and ray-tracing performance.

The minimum storage and starting price have both increased. Apple did away with the undersized 256GB SSD and now supplies 512GB of storage at a minimum on the M5 Air. Pricing now starts at $1,099 for the 13-inch M5 MacBook Air and $1,299 for the 15-inch model, an increase of $100 for each. When you consider that Apple previously charged $200 to double the storage on the M4 Air, the M5 Air is $100 less than what you would have paid last year for a MacBook Air with a 512GB SSD.

Read more: Should you choose a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro?

The starting memory remains at 16GB, but the M5 chip supports faster unified memory — 153GBps of bandwidth compared to 120GBps on the M4. Storage, too, got faster. Apple says the SSDs on the M5 models offer twice the read and write speeds of the previous M4 model.

The M5 Air also offers improved networking. It incorporates Apple’s N1 wireless chip for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.

Should I upgrade from an M4 MacBook Air?

The MacBook M5 Air has the same design as the M4 model and offers only evolutionary, generation-over-generation performance gains rather than revolutionary leaps over last year’s model. It was roughly 9% to 13% faster on our Geekbench 6 tests and 12% to 18% faster on our Cinebench 2024 tests than the M4 Air. 

Battery life made a huge leap from the Intel-based models to the M1 MacBook Air and has improved slightly since then, but the MacBook Air hasn’t taken another leap in efficiency or battery life. Any MacBook with an M-series processor offers excellent battery life, lasting 15 hours or more on a single charge in our tests.

The only reason to upgrade from an M4 MacBook Air to an M5 model is to move from the 13-inch to the 15-inch model. But if you have an M4 Air and are happy with its size, I’d definitely recommend holding onto it for at least another year.

There’s no urgent need to upgrade from an M4 MacBook Air, and I’d also argue the 15-inch M4 model — even a year after its release — remains a good option for MacBook shoppers looking to save a little money. You can get the 15-inch M4 MacBook Air with the 512GB SSD upgrade for $1,099 at Amazon. That’s $300 less than its full price and $200 less than you’ll pay for the same M5 model.

I wouldn’t make the same argument for the 13-inch M4 MacBook Air. You can get it for $999 at Amazon with a 512GB SSD, which is only $100 less than the same M5 Air. I think it’s worth the extra $100 to get the new M5 model if you’re deciding between it and the M4 Air.

But, again, if you already own an M4 MacBook Air, there’s nothing earth-shattering about the new M5 model that makes upgrading a necessity.

Verdict: Don’t upgrade

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Should I upgrade from an M3 MacBook Air? 

There’s definitely a bigger gap in performance between the M3 and M5 Air than the M4 and M5. On Geekbench 6, the M5 Air was 33% faster on the single-core test and 40% faster on the multicore test than the M3 model. On Cinebench 2024, the M5 Air was 41% faster on the single-core test and 57% to 71% faster on the multicore test. Even with those higher percentages, most people with a two-year-old M3 Air don’t need to upgrade. 

For starters, the M3 chip was the first Apple chip manufactured on the 3-nanometer process, and the M5 is built on the same 3nm process. The M3 has fewer CPU cores than the M4 and M5 chips, but its GPU includes a big advancement. It was the first M-series processor to offer a GPU with hardware acceleration for ray tracing and mesh shaders. (Ray tracing allows for more realistic lighting and reflections in games, and mesh shaders help render complex 3D scenes more efficiently for better frame rates.) So, now that we are three generations deep in 3nm M-series chips, it’s reasonable to expect Apple to move to a new manufacturing process as soon as later this year with the M6, which could result in drastic improvements in power and efficiency.

Secondly, the MacBook Air’s design hasn’t changed since 2022, with the introduction of the M2 Air, which did away with the tapered, wedge shape of the M1 Air in favor of a thinner, flatter design that continues through the M5 Air. Could the M6 Air bring with it a design overhaul? It’s certainly not out of the question.

Verdict: Don’t upgrade

Should I upgrade from an M2 MacBook Air?

Apple first released the M2 MacBook Air in 2022. Along with the new M2 processor, it introduced a new design and a slightly larger 13.6-inch display. And a year later, Apple released the first 15-inch MacBook Air using the same M2 chip.

The M2 chip was the last to be manufactured on a 5nm process before Apple moved to 3nm. The M5 MacBook Air was 59% faster than the 15-inch M3 Air on the single-core Geekbench 6 test and 71% faster on the Geekbench 6 multicore test. (The 15-inch M3 MacBook Air predates the Cinebench 2024 test, so we don’t have results for it.)

The performance gap is large enough between the M2 and M5 chips to justify moving on from an older M2 Air, especially if you bought the 13-inch model in 2022 before the 15-inch Air was released and have been wanting to move up in size. But if you bought the 15-inch model of the MacBook Air in 2023, I might suggest holding onto it for another year in hopes we see a new design and an even greater boost to performance next year with the M6 Air.

Verdict: Probably upgrade

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Should I upgrade from an M1 MacBook Air?

If you’ve been holding onto your M1 MacBook Air since 2020, it’s time for an upgrade. You can get better performance from the $599 MacBook Neo, and the latest M5 Air or even last year’s M4 model will feel so much faster. You’ll also get a sleeker design and a larger display, whether you choose the 13.6-inch Air or go big with the 15.3-inch model.

Verdict: Definitely upgrade

MacBook Air performance results

Two NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) are about to climb into their spacesuits and enter the vacuum of space, and you can watch the event live.

The first NASA spacewalk in nearly a year will begin at about 8 a.m. ET on Wednesday, March 18. Read on for full details on how to watch.

Americans Jessica Meir and Chris Williams will exit the station’s Quest airlock to carry out work as part of preparations for a future roll-out solar array aimed at upgrading the station’s power supply.

It will be Meir’s fourth spacewalk and Williams’ first. The pair have spent the last few days prepping their spacesuits and equipment and also finalizing the configuration of tools they’ll use during the extravehicular activity.

Wednesday’s spacewalk also happens to be on the 61st anniversary of the first-ever spacewalk in 1965 when Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov left his spacecraft for around 10 minutes during the Voskhod 2 mission. Later the same year, during the Gemini 4 mission, Ed White became the first NASA astronaut to achieve the same feat.

How to watch

NASA’s live coverage will start at 6:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday, March 18. The astronauts will exit the Quest airlock at about 8 a.m. ET. and will remain outside the ISS for around six-and-a-half hours.

You can watch the coverage via the video player embedded at the top of this page. NASA+, Amazon Prime, and the agency’s YouTube channel will also carry the same live feed.

What to expect

You’ll see live views from multiple cameras positioned outside the station, including from the astronauts’ helmet cams. You’ll be able to listen in on the live communications between the astronauts and Mission Control on Earth, too. A continuous commentary will also explain exactly what’s happening as the spacewalk proceeds.

ChatGPT has a talent for sounding sure of itself. Ask it a question, and it delivers a polished, coherent response. But should you always trust it?

The tone promises authoritative answers, and the confidence is enticing, but it can also mask the fact that the answer is only one possible interpretation of the problem.

Modern online scams operate across multiple platforms, perhaps spanning social media, messaging apps, email and online marketplaces. Google, Meta and Amazon are among 11 tech, retail and payments companies that have signed a new agreement to combat online scams by sharing threat intelligence across platforms, Axios first reported Monday.

The initiative, called the Industry Accord Against Online Scams & Fraud, is designed to improve how companies detect and respond to fraud that spans multiple services. Participants say they will exchange signals, such as scam-linked accounts and fraudulent domains, and coordinate enforcement actions.

By sharing intelligence in near real time, companies hope to identify these scams earlier and stop them before they spread.

The effort reflects how modern scams operate. A victim might encounter a fake celebrity investment ad on social media, move to a messaging app where the scammer builds trust, then faces prompts to send money through a fraudulent website, payment app or crypto wallet — spanning multiple companies’ ecosystems.

Google said it now blocks hundreds of millions of scam-related results every day using AI, underscoring how both attackers and defenders are increasingly relying on the same technology. Meta removed more than 159 million scam ads in 2025 and is expanding AI tools to detect impersonation and warn users.

Online scams are growing rapidly, in part because generative AI has lowered the barrier to entry. AI can be used not only to produce realistic phishing emails but also to clone voices and deepfake videos that impersonate executives, public figures and even family members.

The agreement is voluntary and doesn’t create new legal obligations, but it comes after regulators’ increased pressure on tech platforms to address fraud more aggressively. The companies say they will begin building frameworks for reporting and intelligence-sharing, though it’s not yet clear how quickly those systems will be deployed or how effective they will be in practice.