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Smartphone flaw allows hackers and governments to map your home

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A man standing in modern apartment and using a smart phone
A man standing in modern apartment and using a smart phone

AI can be used to detect where you are and what you are doing from GPS data

South_agency/Getty Images

Hackers, app developers and even government agencies could be using your smartphone to create a map of the room you are in and determine what you are doing. The security vulnerability uses data in the GPS signal and doesn’t require access to data from the camera, microphone or accelerometer.

Soham Nag and Smruti Sarangi at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi have been researching whether any information other than location could be extracted from GPS signals when Android smartphone…

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Telegram will provide data to authorities upon request

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Following the recent arrest and release of Telegram’s CEO in France, the platform has been introducing some changes. One of the main allegations against the service was the lack of responsiveness to data requests by authorities. From now on, Telegram will provide phone numbers and IP addresses in response to potential legal requests.

The arrest of Telegram’s CEO Pavel Durov stemmed from allegations of his involvement in illegal activities on the service. The French government cited the absence of more efficient moderation systems and a lack of collaboration with the authorities as the primary reasons for the arrest. At the time, Durov said that his arrest was a mistake and an erroneous application of the law.

Telegram will provide phone numbers and IP addresses in legal request cases

Later, Telegram modified its FAQs to reflect the existence of the “Report” option in groups. This change had led many to mistakenly believe that Telegram did not have such an option. It always existed, but now the messaging app wanted to make it clear. Users are able to report individual messages or entire groups. It’s noteworthy that the option to report messages is only available in groups. Individual chats between people are entirely private and encrypted, so the option does not exist.

The new changes to Telegram are more proactive regarding moderation. In addition to providing suspects’ phone numbers and IP addresses to authorities, Telegram will use AI and a human team to remove illegal or problematic content from search results. Telegram’s CEO also asked users to report problematic results as soon as they see them.

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Anyway, the changes do not seem to affect the privacy of chats per se. There are no content moderation bots for private chats or groups. Authorities will also not have access to suspects’ chats. “To this day, we have disclosed 0 bytes of user messages to third parties, including governments,” claims Durov.

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A The Lord of the Rings Game is now due out in March 2025

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A The Lord of the Rings Game is now due out in March 2025

Tales of the Shire, a cozy life sim , has gotten a new release date and a strange new name. It’s scheduled for release on March 25, 2025 and it’s now called Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game, because apparently referencing the Shire wasn’t enough to clue in fans. LOTR diehards are well known for being ignorant about the franchise they love. That was extreme sarcasm.

Anyways, this information was served up during Private Division and Wētā Workshop’s , which revealed a lot of new footage and included plenty of interviews with the game’s designers. Wētā Workshop is actually helping to develop the game, after making effects for all of Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth films.

Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game (that really rolls off the tongue) was supposed to come out in 2024, so the developers could iron out some bugs and present a fully realized version of their original vision. Here’s hoping that translates to a polished gameplay experience in March.

For the uninitiated, this is a cozy sim. There are elements of Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley and other games in the genre. There’s farming, fishing and a deep character interaction system. Of course, there’s also a big emphasis placed on cooking huge feasts. We all know how much hobbits love a good feast.

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The game looks cute enough and, heck, I’m always down for a new cozy sim. However, the developers have confirmed that there will be no romance, despite the emphasis on cultivating relationships and friendships. The developers say that romance simply doesn’t fit the tone of the game. In any event, Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game will be released for PC via Steam, Nintendo Switch, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. It’s also coming to Netflix.

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5 Days Left to save $600 on Disrupt 2024 tickets

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5 days left to grab rebooted ticket prices for TechCrunch Disrupt 2024

The countdown to TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 is on, and so are rebooted ticket prices! Save up to $600 on individual ticket types before September 27. Take advantage of these huge last-minute discounts while you still can.

Disrupt 2024 is where the startup ecosystem converges. Taking place at Moscone West in San Francisco from October 28-30, you’ll join 10,000 tech, startup, and VC leaders for 200+ powerful sessions and discussions, 250+ industry expert speakers, and valuable networking. 

Lock in your ticket savings by registering now.

Learn from industry heavyweights

With a powerful roster of top tech leaders speaking across six specialized stages, Disrupt 2024 promises three days of insightful discussions. You’ll walk away with valuable knowledge and perspectives to help fuel your next big move.

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Meet the rest of our speakers.

Networking galore

Disrupt 2024 is packed with a plethora of networking opportunities. Whether you’re a first-time founder, an experienced entrepreneur, a recent graduate seeking your first tech role, or navigating a career transition, you’ll find the connections you need.

Participate in 1:1 or small-group Braindates, attend Side Events and receptions, or explore the Expo Hall — discover numerous ways to expand your network and elevate your brand presence.

Deep-dive sessions

Engage in 200+ Roundtable and Breakout Sessions led by industry experts, designed to spark meaningful discussions on key issues facing today’s entrepreneurs and professionals.

Witness the startup battle

Don’t miss your chance to be front and center at one of Disrupt’s highlight events: Startup Battlefield 200. Watch as the hand-picked 200 pre-Series A startups pitch their innovative concepts to a panel of elite VC judges for a chance to win a $100,000 equity-free prize and the sought-after Disrupt Cup.

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Get an insider’s view as leading VCs provide expert feedback, revealing the key factors they consider when evaluating a startup’s viability.

Catch the final sale before Disrupt 2024

Don’t miss your chance to save up to $600 before the countdown to Disrupt 2024 begins! This limited-time offer expires on September 27 at 11:59 p.m. PT.

Grab these ticket savings — click here to secure your spot!

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ExxonMobil deceived the public with plastic recycling, lawsuit claims

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ExxonMobil deceived the public with plastic recycling, lawsuit claims

ExxonMobil has misled consumers for years by perpetuating a “myth” about plastic recycling, according to a new lawsuit filed by the state of California.

ExxonMobil is the world’s leading producer of single-use plastics that become waste, according to the state attorney general’s office. To encourage people to buy products made with single-use plastics, the suit alleges, ExxonMobil “deceived Californians for almost half a century by promising that recycling could and would solve the ever-growing plastic waste crisis.”

“They clearly knew this wasn’t possible.”

Plastic is quite difficult to reuse, which is why very little of it is ever recycled. Promoting recycling as a cure-all for plastic waste can actually lead to more of it becoming trash, experts warn. Now, the state of California wants to hold industry accountable for the plastic pollution that has accumulated in the environment, animals, and even people’s bodies.

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“For decades, ExxonMobil has been deceiving the public to convince us that plastic recycling could solve the plastic waste and pollution crisis when they clearly knew this wasn’t possible,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a press release yesterday.

The AG’s office launched an investigation into the petrochemical industry’s role in creating a plastic “pollution crisis” in 2022. It says it unearthed new documents over the past two years that led the state to file suit this week. The lawsuit alleges that ExxonMobil has violated state public nuisance, natural resources, water pollution, false advertisement, and unfair competition laws through misleading marketing about recycling.

The state is suing for civil penalties and disgorgement, which would force the company to turn over any profits it gained illegally. California also wants to set up an abatement fund and injunctive relief to stop the company from promoting plastics as recyclable the way that it has for years. The attorney general’s office points to a 12-page ad in Time magazine in 1989 on “the urgent need to recycle” as one example of the company’s “campaign of deception.” “Americans have entered an era in which landfilling will no longer be the primary method of garbage disposal,” the ad says.

By 2015, less than 10 percent of plastic waste had ever been recycled. Nearly 80 percent of the 6,300 million metric tons of plastic waste that had been created around the world ended up in landfills or littering the environment.

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Even when plastic is rehashed, it’s typically “downcycled” because the quality of the material deteriorates with each use. Plastic bottles are turned into fibers used in carpeting instead of new plastic bottles, for example. And gadgets made with recycled plastic typically have to be reinforced with fresh plastic. It’s often just cheaper for a company to use new plastic rather than recycled materials.

Newer claims from industry about “advanced” or chemical recycling are just as flawed, the attorney general claims, since the majority of plastic waste that goes through that process becomes fuel. The state also claims that plastics produced using ExxonMobil’s “advanced recycling” technology contain such little amounts of used material that “they are effectively virgin plastics.”

ExxonMobil shifted the blame to California in an emailed response to The Verge. “For decades, California officials have known their recycling system isn’t effective. They failed to act, and now they seek to blame others. Instead of suing us, they could have worked with us to fix the problem and keep plastic out of landfills,” the statement says.

One of the selling points for plastic is that it’s lightweight and easy to transport — a characteristic that also makes it easier for plastics to drift into the environment. Once it’s there, it breaks down into tiny particles called microplastics that have flooded the world’s oceans and have been found in everything from seafood to baby poop. Around 21 million pounds of plastic garbage has been collected from California’s beaches and waterways since 1985, according to Bonta’s office.

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Plastics are made from fossil fuels and are responsible for 4.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions — more than the climate pollution from global shipping.

“While greenwashing certainly isn’t new, the fossil fuel industry in particular has frequently downplayed the impacts that their sector has on climate change,” Cornell University climate and environment legal scholar Leehi Yona said in an emailed statement. “In my view, this latest lawsuit builds on the sustained efforts of many governments to hold fossil fuel companies accountable to the myriad ways they have misled the public on the risks of their products.”

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AI just made a mockery of CAPTCHA and that’s bad news for real people

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AI just made a mockery of CAPTCHA and that’s bad news for real people

Filling out CAPTCHA puzzles is tedious, but using them as (imperfect) shields against malicious bots made sense, at least until now. Artificial intelligence can now defeat those puzzles every time, according to new research from ETH Zurich. CAPTCHA, an acronym for “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart,” is employed across an enormous range of websites. 

However, the tool may need renaming based on how well the AI model created by the Swiss researchers solved the security measure’s word and object identification puzzles.

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How to watch SpaceX’s Crew-9 launch to the ISS

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How to watch SpaceX's Crew-9 launch to the ISS

SpaceX and NASA are gearing up for the Crew-9 launch that will carry an American astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the capsule and its crew could lift off as early as Thursday, September 26, from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. However, following a flight readiness review carried out on Monday, NASA officials have noted that the launch could be delayed by a gathering storm.

“NASA, SpaceX, and the U.S. Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron are closely monitoring potential Tropical Cyclone Nine and its approach toward the Gulf of Mexico and Florida’s west coast ahead of launch,” the space agency said.

Despite this, the Falcon 9 rocket is is still scheduled to roll out to Kennedy’s Space Launch Complex-40 on Tuesday for a static fire and final dress rehearsal in preparation for launch.

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The original plan was for NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov to fly to the ISS alongside NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson, but Cardman and Wilson were recently removed from the flight as their seats are needed to bring home Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore at the end of the Crew-9 mission in February. Williams and Wilmore were supposed to travel home on Boeing Starliner’s spacecraft, but technical problems with the Starliner prompted NASA to bring the vehicle back to Earth empty, leaving Williams and Wilmore without a ride home.

Crew-9 is the ninth crew rotation mission to the space station with SpaceX under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Hague and Gorbunov will spend about five months at the station, conducting experiments, research demonstrations, and spacewalks to perform maintenance on the orbital outpost.

How to watch

NASA is currently targeting 2:05 p.m. ET on Thursday, September 26, for the launch of the Crew-9 mission.

You can watch the build-up to the launch, the liftoff, and the early stages of the ISS-bound flight on NASA’s YouTube channel, which we’ve embedded at the top of this page.

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We’ll update here if NASA makes any changes to the launch schedule, but be sure to check its social media channels for the very latest information.






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