Who could have seen this coming?

• Workplace AI usage has nearly tripled repeatedly across global office environments since 2023
• ChatGPT lost significant market share as competing workplace AI tools expanded rapidly
• Google Gemini emerged as ChatGPT’s strongest challenger within professional productivity workflows

Workplace AI adoption has entered a phase of extraordinary acceleration across global office environments, as The total time spent using AI tools nearly tripled between 2023 and 2024, then repeated that explosive growth into 2025.

A new report from DeskTime analyzed anonymized data from more than 50,000 users over three years, revealing increasing competition with ChatGPT within workflows.

from the that-doesn’t-sound-good dept

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

In the months leading up to the implementation of Australia’s social media ban in December 2025, there was much discussion about the possible negative consequences.

Among these were concerns that teenagers would consume less news. As most young adults use social media for news and many rely on it, this was a real risk.

So months on, has this come to pass? In our newly-published research, we found the more young people are impacted by the ban, the more likely they are to report they are getting less news and having less opportunity to discuss news and the issues that matter to them.

Our research

In February we surveyed 1,027 young people aged 10 to 17, just two months after the legislation took effect.

As part of a longitudinal survey that has examined young Australians’ news engagement since 2017, we asked young people questions about the ban’s impact on their social media use and their news engagement.

First, we investigated if the ban had affected young people’s social media use by asking them if their engagement with each banned platform had changed at all, and if so, whether the change was a complete stop or if they just used it less.

We found 61% of under-16s who had previously been using banned platforms reported little or no change in their social media use. For the majority of young people surveyed, the ban was ineffectual.

In fact, only one in four (26%) reported their social media use had been affected.

Next, we asked young people if the ban had affected their engagement with news.

For those whose social media use was significantly disrupted, the result was stark: 51% reported getting less news as a direct result of the ban.

This finding is a significant concern because it suggests that as the ban becomes more “successful”, with a greater number of young people being removed from platforms, their news engagement will fall in parallel.

The impact on civic involvement

A 2025 report from the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, based on testing of year 6 and year 10 students, finds school students’ civics knowledge is the lowest it has been since testing began 20 years ago. This is despite most young people believing it’s important to take action in the community on issues that matter to them.

Our findings show that when young people are impacted by the social media ban they lose access to news about issues they care about. They are also talking less about news and finding fewer opportunities to share their views or take other forms of action.

Our previous research shows news engagement makes young people feel knowledgeable and more capable of responding to issues.

A large body of research also shows news interest and engagement is closely associated with civic engagement. The more engaged people are with news, the more likely they are to become involved in community and social issues.

Social news or no news

It’s unlikely that being cut off from news on social media will lead young people back to traditional news sources.

Most young Australians say they don’t feel represented or heard by traditional news organisations. They also feel the news mainstream outlets create isn’t accessible to young people and doesn’t focus on the issues that matter most to them.

In our survey, 75% said news organisations have no idea what their lives are actually like, and 71% said they find it difficult to find news relevant to people their age.

Our earlier research also shows Australian news organisations rarely include young people in news stories. When they are included, they are seen but not heard.

For instance, young people are shown in news stories in photographs and video footage ten times more than their voices are heard or they are quoted in stories.

In addition, another study of news has shown that when young people are included in breaking news events, they are often stereotyped as being lazy, dangerous and entitled.

These findings demonstrate some of the reasons young people have likely turned to social media for news in recent years.

So what should we do?

It’s likely that over time, more young people will be cut off from social media as loopholes in the ban are ironed out. This emphasises the need to find ways to encourage young people to engage with other news sources in productive and meaningful ways.

A key concern is trust. We need to educate young people about the importance of news to democratic process, providing them with insights into how high quality journalism is produced and supporting them to make informed decisions about who and what to trust online.

This can happen as part of media literacy education but this requires investments in high quality curriculum resources and teacher training.

In Australia, we are in the fortunate position that we already recognise the need for media literacy in the Australian curriculum. High quality news literacy resources are being produced by the ABC through programs such as BTN (Behind The News), and other organisations such as Squiz Kids.

At the same time, to develop trust, mainstream news organisations need to do a much better job of representing young people in fair and inclusive ways so they feel seen and heard.

Finally, it’s important to recognise that amid all of these changes to young people’s technology access, our research shows family is the first and most trusted source of news for young people. We need to help parents understand the important role they play in helping their kids navigate the news.

Michael Dezuanni is Professor, Digital Media Research Centre at Queensland University of Technology; Simon Chambers is a Postdoctoral research fellow at Western Sydney University, and Tanya Notley is Professor in Digital Media at Western Sydney University

Filed Under: australia, journalism, news, social media, social media ban, teens

The Glassworm botnet targeting developers in software supply-chain attacks has been disrupted after researchers took down its resilient command-and-control infrastructure relying on Solana blockchain transactions and the BitTorrent DHT network.

​In a coordinated operation conducted  yesterday, CrowdStrike, Google, and The Shadowserver Foundation cut off the botnet operators’ access to four distinct command-and-control (C2) channels designed to resist conventional disruption efforts.

Glassworm campaigns have been ongoing since October 2025 and initially targeted developers with malicious OpenVSX and Microsoft VS Code extensions that stole cryptocurrency wallets and developer credentials.

Later attack waves extended to GitHub repositories and npm packages, with one campaign in March impacting more than 400 software artifacts.

In a more recent attack, Glassworm operators planted dozens of dormant extensions on OpenVSX that would activate the malicious component after an update.

One reason the Glassworm threat has survived this long is its C2 infrastructure, which relies on non-traditional communication channels that are difficult to take down.

“The combination of blockchain, peer-to-peer, and legitimate web services as resolution layers was designed to be resilient against takedowns — a dynamic front protecting the actual C2 servers behind multiple layers of indirection,” CrowdStrike notes.

The researchers say that “Glassworm’s operators built their infrastructure for resilience,” and taking down the botnet required hitting the four C2 channels simultaneously:

1. Solana blockchain: C2 server addresses are encoded in the memo fields of blockchain transactions, creating an immutable, publicly accessible dead drop that cannot be taken offline by conventional means.
2. BitTorrent Distributed Hash Table (DHT): The GlasswormRAT queries the BitTorrent peer-to-peer network for configuration data stored against hardcoded public keys, leveraging a global decentralized network with no single point of failure.
3. Public calendar service: Glassworm uses Google Calendar event titles as dead-drop locations for Base64-encoded C2 paths.
4. Direct server connections: Traditional C2 infrastructure hosted on commercial VPS providers served as the final payload delivery mechanism.

​Because of this architecture, disrupting a single channel would have little impact on the Glassworm operation, as communications could shift to another channel, allowing the threat actor to maintain control.

“All four channels had to be disrupted simultaneously in a coordinated effort. As a result, infected machines can no longer receive new instructions or payloads,” CrowdStrike says.

Following the disruption, all machines compromised in a Glassworm attack are beaconing to the IP address 164.92.88[.]210 operated by CrowdStrike.

Organizations are advised to look for this network indicator and take immediate remediation action. Additionally, the researchers have published YARA rules to confirm infections on suspected hosts.

Automated pentesting tools deliver real value, but they were built to answer one question: can an attacker move through the network? They were not built to test whether your controls block threats, your detection rules fire, or your cloud configs hold.

This guide covers the 6 surfaces you actually need to validate.

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Sony launched “MLB The Show Mobile” for iPhone and Android with free-to-play monetization and high hardware requirements as it pushes deeper into the mobile sports market.

Sony says it built “MLB The Show Mobile” from the ground up for smartphones instead of adapting the console version of “MLB The Show” directly. The company centered the release around collectible player cards, progression systems, and competitive multiplayer modes.

Promotional material tells players to “Build your team. Set your strategy. Stack rewards.” Sony is also using pre-registration bonuses to pull existing “MLB The Show” players into the new mobile ecosystem.

Sony released “MLB The Show Mobile” as a free download, but the App Store listing heavily promotes paid card packs, season passes, booster bundles, and virtual currency.

In-app purchases range from $2.99 player cards to a $99.99 “1st Inning 20 Booster Pack Bundle.” The pricing structure mirrors free-to-play sports games built around recurring purchases and collectible progression systems.

Sony’s launch material prominently promotes pack-opening mechanics and collectible progression. One section of the company’s press release tells players to “Open packs and hunt for the cards that transform your lineup” as part of a mode called “Chase the Ultimate Pull.”

“MLB The Show Mobile” includes more than 900 player cards alongside solo progression modes and head-to-head best-of-three PvP matchups. Sony also says the game features officially licensed MLB teams, athletes, and all 30 MLB stadiums.

In-app purchases range from $2.99 player cards to a $99.99 “1st Inning 20 Booster Pack Bundle.”

“MLB The Show Mobile” carries higher hardware requirements than many mobile sports games, particularly on iPhone. Apple’s App Store listing says the game requires iOS 26 and an iPhone with an A12 Bionic chip or later, including devices as old as the iPhone XS and iPhone XR.

The App Store listing also shows “MLB The Show Mobile” can require up to 4.66 GB of storage depending on downloaded assets and updates.

“MLB The Show” already operates as a live-service title on consoles through modes like “Diamond Dynasty.” The mobile version keeps that same progression loop through rewards, roster collection, and recurring purchases.