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Since November, British telecom O2 has deployed an AI chatbot masquerading as a 78-year-old grandmother to waste scammers' time. The bot, named Daisy, engages fraudsters by discussing knitting patterns, recipes, and asking about tea preferences while feigning computer illiteracy. The Guardian has an update this week: In tests over several weeks, Daisy has kept individual scammers occupied for up to 40 minutes, with one case showing her being passed between four different callers. An excerpt from the story:.
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Slashdot
Sources tell WIRED that the ability of DOGE's Marko Elez to alter code controlling trillions in federal spending was rescinded days after US Treasury and White House officials said it didn't exist. Read more ›
3,971 fresh
USAID faces a slashing of its workforce to 290 employees. A lawsuit filed Thursday seeks injunctive relief to halt the cuts. Read more ›
2,486 fresh
"There's a legal way to replace FEC commissioners-this isn't it," Ellen Weintraub said of her removal from the FEC by Trump. Read more ›
2,333 fresh
Huawei’s revenue hit $118.3 billion in 2024, a 22% year-over-year increase amid US sanctions. Consumer business and smart car solutions drive impressive performance. Profit margins show pressure from R&D investments. Chinese tech giant Huawei shattered market expectations on Wednesday, announcing a staggering 860 billion yuan ($118.3 billion) in revenue for 2024 – its fastest growth... Read more » Read more ›
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Some evangelical leaders are pushing back against President Donald Trump's push to dismantle USAID and cut foreign aid. Read more ›
1,262 fresh
The US government’s primary foreign aid organization is losing the vast majority of its staff, forcing the agency's lifesaving work to screech to a halt. Read more ›
1,081
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is moving fast and breaking the law — lots of laws. The scope of Trump and Musk’s sweeping effort to purge the federal workforce and slash government spending has shocked the political world — in part for its ambition, but also in part because of its disregard for the […] Read more ›
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It's not yet clear what Elon Musk and DOGE will be doing. But Ted Cruz, the head of the Senate committee overseeing the FAA, is on board. Read more ›
1,047
Marko Elez â the 25-year-old Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffer who has reportedly been combing through the Treasury Departmentâs payment systems â resigned from his position after the Wall Street Journal uncovered an old social media account linked to him with numerous posts promoting racism and eugenics. â99% of Indian H1Bs will be replaced […] Read more ›
995 fresh
The massive insurer hired a lawfirm that specializes in defamation to force a public apology from a doctor in Texas following a post on social media. Read more ›
810
Experts question whether Edward Coristine, a DOGE staffer who has gone by “Big Balls” online, would pass the background check typically required for access to sensitive US government systems. Read more ›
772
The company is leaning into hybrids and EVs that incorporate small gas engines that extend their range. Read more ›
761 fresh
The US government has ordered states to retract their plans to build hundreds of federally funded EV charging stations, according to a memo obtained by WIRED. Read more ›
746 fresh
E-commerce group anticipates $2.1bn blow to revenues from an ‘unusually large’ hit from strong dollar Read more ›
684 fresh
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won plaudits from critics for saying her congressional salary is her only income and she doesn't trade stocks. Read more ›
620
Watch the fan-beloved animated show online or streaming on Disney+. Read more ›
603 fresh
Millennial couple Elias Tiong and Hailee Chong were both lawyers. They left their jobs to focus on Crafti, a matcha company. Read more ›
591 fresh
Old ICE press releases have a little piece of new HTML that’s doing a lot of work. Read more ›
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Slashdot
Bill Gates' blog has been updated with short videos about his upcoming book, including one about how his school ended up with an ASR-33 teletype that could connect their Seattle classroom to a computer in California. "The teachers faded away pretty quickly," Gates adds, "But about six of us stayed hardcore. One was Paul Allen..." — the future co-founder of Microsoft. And the experience clearly meant a lot to Gates.... Read more ›
148
Microsoft has intensified efforts to block unsupported Windows 11 installations, removing documentation about bypassing system requirements and flagging third-party workaround tools as potential malware. The move comes as Windows 10 approaches end of support in October 2025, when users must either continue without updates, upgrade to Windows 11, or purchase new hardware compatible with Windows 11's TPM 2.0 requirement. Microsoft Defender now identifies Flyby11, a popular tool for installing Windows... Read more ›
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"A jury may never see the gun that authorities say was used to kill Blake Story last year," reports Cleveland.com. "That's because Cleveland police used a facial recognition program — one that explicitly says its results are not admissible in court — to obtain a search warrant, according to court documents." The search turned up what police say is the murder weapon in the suspect's home. But a Cuyahoga County... Read more ›
117
Let's Encrypt will stop sending expiration notice emails for its free HTTPS certificates starting June 4, 2025. From the report: Let's Encrypt is ending automated emails for four stated reasons, and all of them are pretty sensible. For one thing, lots of customers have been able to automate their certificate renewal. For another, providing the expiration notices costs "tens of thousands of dollars per year" and adds complexity to the... Read more ›
111
The Swiss canton ("state") of Basel-Stadt fixed a tax flyer typo by buying the incorrect domain and setting up a redirect, avoiding a $100,000 reprint cost. TechCrunch reports: As Swiss news outlet SRF reports, the Basel tax administration printed fliers that were supposed to include a URL to file taxes online. However, the Swiss country code top-level domain (ccTLD) of ".ch" was omitted, leaving just the Basel-Stadt suffix of ".bs"... Read more ›
106
The United States Postal Service has suspended all package shipments from China and Hong Kong following President Donald Trump's decision to eliminate the de minimis exemption, which previously allowed small packages under $800 to enter the U.S. without import duties. "The move could potentially create chaos and confusion across the online shopping industry, as well as make purchases more expensive for consumers, especially because many global manufacturers and internet sellers... Read more ›
96
A recent video from retro tech YouTuber Clint "LGR" Basinger takes a deep dive into the history of the SereneScreen Marine Aquarium, exploring how former Air Force pilot Jim Sachs transformed a lackluster Windows 95 screensaver into a 25-year digital phenomenon. PC Gamer reports: The story centers on Jim Sachs, a man with one of those "they don't make this type of guy anymore" life stories so common to '80s... Read more ›
93
Star Wars star Mark Hamill, science fiction author William Gibson, XKCD cartoonist Randall Munroe, and The Onion have joined millions of others bringing Bluesky's user count to 30 million, reports CNET. In fact Bluesky has added over 14 million users in the last three months, and for a few days in early November was adding over one million users a day. "That rate equals about 12 new users per second.... Read more ›
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In 2023, Microsoft began including a free VPN feature in its "Microsoft Defender" security app for all Microsoft 365 subscribers ("Personal" and "Family"). Originally Microsoft had "called it a privacy protection feature," writes the blog Windows Central, "designed to let you access sensitive data on the web via a VPN tunnel." But.... Unfortunately, Microsoft has now announced that it's killing the feature later this month, only a couple of years... Read more ›
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Since November, British telecom O2 has deployed an AI chatbot masquerading as a 78-year-old grandmother to waste scammers' time. The bot, named Daisy, engages fraudsters by discussing knitting patterns, recipes, and asking about tea preferences while feigning computer illiteracy. The Guardian has an update this week: In tests over several weeks, Daisy has kept individual scammers occupied for up to 40 minutes, with one case showing her being passed between... Read more ›
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Most popular sources
Gizmodo
|
38% 17 |
Business Insider
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14% 2 |
Wired
|
12% 5 |
Tech Wire Asia
|
9% 6 |
Vox
|
6% 2 |
| View sources » | |
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07.02.2025 01:19
Last update: 01:11 EDT.
News rating updated: 08:11.
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