Category Archives: Technology

‘A big shock’: the Israeli startup helping ultra-Orthodox Jews enter world of hi-tech work

Posted on by

Entrepreneurs want Haredi men, many of whom live in poverty, to have access to the opportunities of Tel Aviv

Entering Bnei Brak, an ultra-Orthodox neighbourhood just a few kilometres away from the gleaming towers that testify to Tel Aviv’s prowess as a global hi-tech hub, feels like stepping into a different world.

Despite the startups and advanced technology initiatives on their doorstep, much of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi, population still shuns modern inventions such as television and smartphones, which are viewed as a threat to their way of life.

Continue reading...

Tesla investigated over funds ‘used to build secret Austin house for Elon Musk’

Posted on by

Reports suggest plans for ‘Project 42’ included a glass structure that contained a residential element for the chief executive

US prosecutors are investigating Tesla over alleged use of company funds for a secret project described internally as a house for Elon Musk, the electric carmaker’s chief executive.

Information sought from Tesla by the US attorney’s office for the southern district of New York includes personal benefits paid to Musk, how much was spent on the project and its purpose, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Continue reading...

US restricts exports of Nvidia AI chips to Middle East

Posted on by

Controls apply to A100 and H100 chips, in escalation of US efforts to curb China’s access to products

The US has expanded the restriction of exports of Nvidia artificial intelligence chips beyond China to some countries in the Middle East.

Nvidia, which is one of the world’s most valuable companies at $1.2tn, said in a regulatory filing this week the curbs affected its A100 and H100 chips, which are used to accelerate machine-learning tasks on major artificial intelligence apps, such as ChatGPT.

Continue reading...

TikTok removes 284 accounts linked to Chinese disinformation group

Posted on by

Action by social media company comes after Facebook parent company Meta shut down 9,000 accounts tied to political spam network

TikTok has removed 284 accounts associated with a Chinese disinformation campaign after Guardian Australia raised questions about several accounts uncovered by the company’s rival Meta.

On Wednesday, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram reported it had shut down close to 9,000 Facebook and Instagram accounts, groups and pages associated with a Chinese political spam network that had targeted users in Australia and other parts of the world.

Continue reading...

Australia will not force adult websites to bring in age verification due to privacy and security concerns

Posted on by

The eSafety commissioner is to work with industry on a new code to educate parents about how to access filtering software and limit children’s access

The federal government will not force adult websites to bring in age verification following concerns about privacy and the lack of maturity of the technology.

On Wednesday, the communications minister, Michelle Rowland, released the eSafety commissioner’s long-awaited roadmap for age verification for online pornographic material, which has been sitting with the government since March 2023.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Gangs forcing hundreds of thousands of people into cybercrime in south-east Asia, says UN

Posted on by

Organised criminals use threats, torture and sexual violence to coerce victims to work in international scamming operations

Hundreds of thousands of people have been trafficked and forced to work for online scamming operations in south-east Asia run by criminal gangs, according to a UN report.

Billions of dollars are being generated each year by gangs who coerce victims into cybercrime, where they are subject to threats, torture and sometimes sexual violence, said the report, published by the UN human rights office on Tuesday.

Continue reading...

UK cybersecurity agency warns of chatbot ‘prompt injection’ attacks

Posted on by

Scams and data thefts could be caused by individuals overriding chatbot scripts, NCSC says

The UK’s cybersecurity agency has warned that chatbots can be manipulated by hackers to cause scary real-world consequences.

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has said there are growing cybersecurity risks of individuals manipulating the prompts through “prompt injection” attacks.

Continue reading...

Meta closes nearly 9,000 Facebook and Instagram accounts linked to Chinese ‘Spamouflage’ foreign influence campaign

Posted on by

Company says users targeted in Australia, UK, US and elsewhere by political spam network across more than 50 platforms

Meta shut down close to 9,000 Facebook and Instagram accounts, groups and pages associated with a Chinese political spam network that had targeted users in Australia and other parts of the world, the company has revealed.

Meta began investigating in 2019 and its research aligned with several research groups, including the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (Aspi), who coined the term Spamouflage.

Continue reading...

Hundreds more rapid charging points installed in UK to help drivers go electric

Posted on by

Fast charging stations that allow for longer journeys are being added in regions beyond London

Charging companies are plugging the gaps in the UK’s high-speed charger network, with hundreds added this year outside London in a shift that will help end the “range anxiety” that holds back some would-be electric car buyers.

The capital and the south-east still have far more chargers of all speeds – ranging from slow to rapid and ultra-rapid – than the rest of the country. But the presence of high-speed chargers, generally used for quick recharging on longer journeys, is increasing in other regions as electric car sales surge.

Continue reading...

Chipmaker Nvidia crushes quarterly expectations with $13.5bn in revenue

Posted on by

The company’s specialized AI chips are in great demand, boosting its value to over $1tn, a first for a chipmaker

The chipmaker Nvidia has far surpassed quarterly expectations, raking in $13.5bn in revenue – over $2bn more than the $11.2bn Wall Street analysts had predicted – amid skyrocketing demand for its computer chips that power artificial intelligence (AI) systems.

The blockbuster second quarter comes at a moment of intense hype around generative AI, a mood that Nvidia has been uniquely positioned to capture. The 30-year-old company is one of the biggest winners in the AI boom and is now valued at over $1tn, with its chips powering nearly all the world’s major artificial intelligence apps, including ChatGPT.

Continue reading...

Huawei accused of building secret microchip factories to beat US sanctions

Posted on by

US-based semiconductor association claims Chinese tech firm has acquired at least two plants and is constructing three others

Huawei has been accused by a leading association of semiconductor manufacturers of building a collection of secret chip-making facilities across China to help the technology company bypass US sanctions, according to a report.

The Chinese tech firm moved into chip production last year and was receiving an estimated $30bn (£23.7bn) in state funding from the government, the Washington-based Semiconductor Industry Association was quoted as saying by Bloomberg, adding that Huawei had acquired at least two existing plants and was building three others.

Continue reading...

Sam Bankman-Fried living off ‘bread and water’ in prison, lawyer says

Posted on by

Founder of FTX not being provided with a vegan diet and not being given Adderall needed to manage his ADHD attorney tells judge

While in federal custody, disgraced cryptocurrency entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried has been living off “bread and water” because he’s not being provided with the vegan diet he requested, his attorney told a judge Tuesday.

During a hearing, Mark Cohen, lawyer for Bankman-Fried, said that improper diet and the jail’s failure to give Bankman-Fried the Adderall he needs to manage his attention deficit hyperactive disorder, will impact his ability to participate in readying his defense case.

Continue reading...

Meta launches web version of flagging Threads app

Posted on by

‘Twitter killer’ social media platform experienced initial boom in sign-ups when it launched in July

Meta has launched a web version of its “Twitter killer” social media platform Threads that can be used without an app, as it attempts to revive itself after a recent drop in usage.

The parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp launched the microblogging site in July, widely understood as an alternative for users disillusioned with Elon Musk-owned Twitter, which has since rebranded as X.

Continue reading...

Customer data used for unwanted romantic contact, UK poll shows

Posted on by

Almost one in three people aged 18-34 have been messaged by staff after giving personal details to a business

Almost one in three people aged 18-34 have received unwanted romantic contact after giving their personal information to a business, a UK poll has shown.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has called for recipients of such texts to come forward to help the regulator gather evidence of the impact of this phenomenon.

The ICO has an online form for people who want to report an experience of unwanted contact.

Continue reading...

Cheese and chips: parmesan producers fight fakes with microtransponders

Posted on by

Counterfeits are the bane of the Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium, which is now trialling tech in the rind

When is a cheese not what it seems? When it’s a fake parmesan.

Italy’s renowned parmigiano reggiano, favoured for finishing off bowls of pasta and rocket salads, is one of the most counterfeited cheeses in the world. Now its manufacturers have found a new way to hit back against the lookalikes: by adding microchips.

Continue reading...

BAE agrees to buy space technology firm Ball Aerospace for $5.6bn

Posted on by

Weapon maker’s takeover of US firm comes amid global surge in spending on military and spying technology

Britain’s biggest weapons manufacturer, BAE Systems, has agreed to buy the US space technology company Ball Aerospace for $5.6bn (£4.4bn), in one of the largest takeovers by a UK company this year.

The FTSE 100 defence company said the purchase of the Colorado-based business would help it to expand in technologies that are US defence priorities.

Continue reading...

Thursday briefing: Vice took millions from Saudi Arabia – but has its deal backfired?

Posted on by

In today’s newsletter: As the upstart media company faces bankruptcy, it has developed strong ties with the country, leaving some to question what compromises companies are willing to make to do business

• Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First Edition

It’s hard to put into words the transformation that Saudi Arabia has undergone in the past six years.

Mohammed bin Salman, commonly referred to as MBS, was appointed the crown prince in 2017 and is now the de facto ruler of the kingdom. There have been notable reforms under his new regime. Women are allowed to drive; the guardian system – under which men have legal powers over women – has been relaxed; and cinemas reopened after 35 years.

Continue reading...

CEO regrets her firm took on Facebook moderation work after staff ‘traumatised’

Posted on by

Outsourcer Sama facing legal cases brought by Kenya-based employees alleging exposure to graphic content

The chief executive of a company contracted to moderate Facebook posts in east Africa has said she regretted taking on the work, after its staff said they were left traumatised by graphic content on the social media platform.

The US outsourcing firm Sama is facing a number of legal cases brought by Kenya-based employees, who alleged being exposed to graphic and traumatic content such as videos of beheadings, suicide and other material at a moderation hub.

Continue reading...

Teens much more likely to believe online conspiracy claims than adults – US study

Posted on by

Study shows that 60% of teens between ages 13-17 agreed with four or more conspiracy statements compared with 49% of adults

Teenagers are significantly more likely to believe online conspiracy theories than older generations, a new study has shown, underscoring the broad impacts of gen Z’s relationship with social media.

Findings from Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a non-profit that fights misinformation, showed that 60% of 13-17-year-old Americans surveyed agreed with four or more harmful conspiracy statements – compared with just 49% of adults. For teens who spend four or more hours a day on any single social media platform, the figure was as high as 69%.

Continue reading...

‘Are you kidding, carjacking?’: The problem with facial recognition in policing

Posted on by

When a pregnant Black woman was falsely arrested, she fought back. Here’s what happened next. Plus, the week in AI

• Don’t get TechScape delivered to your inbox? Sign up for the full article here

Porcha Woodruff was eight months pregnant when police in Detroit, Michigan came to arrest her on charges of carjacking and robbery. She was getting her two children ready for school when six police officers knocked on her door and presented her with an arrest warrant. She thought it was a prank.

“Are you kidding, carjacking? Do you see that I am eight months pregnant?” the lawsuit Woodruff filed against Detroit police reads. She sent her children upstairs to tell her fiance that “Mommy’s going to jail”.

Continue reading...