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The impact of AI on our social media feeds has not gone unnoticed by one of America’s top dictionaries. Amid the onslaught of content that has swept the web over the past 12 months, Merriam-Webster announced on Sunday that 2025’s word of the year is “slop.” According to the dictionary, the term is defined as “low-quality digital content, typically produced in large quantities by artificial intelligence.” “Like slime, sludge, and mud, slop has the wet sound of something you don’t want to touch. Slop seeps into everything,” the dictionary says, adding that in an age of AI anxiety, it’s a…
Google has announced that its “Dark Web Report” feature will be discontinued starting February 16, 2026. Initia releasedDeveloped about a year and a half ago, the tool was meant to allow users to monitor their personal information on the dark web. For some users, Dark Web Reports appeared to be a valuable tool that scans various data breach dumps and alerts you if personal information such as email addresses, names, phone numbers, and social security numbers is found in compromised databases. However, as stated on its support page, Google has decided to end this feature after receiving feedback suggesting that…
The largest genetic analysis of mental disorders to date shows that most relevant genetic variants are associated with multiple mental health conditions, not just one.The study found that 14 psychiatric disorders can be classified into five major groups depending on the genetic variations associated with them. For example, the findings group anorexia nervosa, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and Tourette syndrome according to a common genetic profile.The findings, published Dec. 10 in the journal Nature, suggest that disorders within the same group may be due to common biological mechanisms. Understanding these common pathways could help scientists develop effective treatments for multiple mental…
Google Chrome extensions with the “Featured” badge and 6 million users have been observed silently collecting all prompts entered by users into artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbots such as OpenAI ChatGPT, Anthropic Claude, Microsoft Copilot, DeepSeek, Google Gemini, xAI Grok, Meta AI, and Perplexity. The extension in question is Urban VPN Proxy, which has a rating of 4.7 on the Google Chrome Web Store. It’s advertised as “the most secure free VPN to access any website and unblock content.” Its developer is a Delaware-based company called Urban Cyber Security Inc. The Microsoft Edge Add-on Marketplace has 1.3 million installations. Despite claiming…
LiDAR company Luminar has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after months of layoffs, executive departures and a legal battle with its largest customer, Volvo. The company aims to sell its lidar business during bankruptcy proceedings and has already reached an agreement to sell its semiconductor subsidiary. The company will remain open during the bankruptcy process to “minimize disruption” to suppliers and customers, but Luminar will ultimately cease to exist once the bankruptcy process is complete. “After a comprehensive review of our company’s alternatives, our board of directors determined that a court-supervised sale process is the best path forward,” Luminar…
In a move that sent shock waves across Hollywood, Netflix recently announced plans to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) for $82.7 billion. Reaction from the industry has been generally negative, raising concerns about the acquisition’s impact on jobs, the future of theatrical releases, and the representation of diverse voices in film and television. Netflix co-CEOs Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos sought to address concerns surrounding the deal in a letter to employees, which was published by Bloomberg on Monday. Executives reaffirmed staff’s determination to keep WBD movies in theaters. They also claimed that “there will be no duplication or studio…
RIP to the Facebook Messenger desktop app. The native apps for Mac and Windows will no longer be available to users starting today, December 15, 2025, and existing users will be directed to the Facebook website to continue using the popular messaging service. Messenger’s desktop app originally launched at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, but it couldn’t handle as many video call participants as business-focused rivals like Zoom, nor did it offer screen sharing or easy-to-share URLs. Even before the company announced its closure plans in October, the writing was on the wall about the app’s declining importance to…
Just about six months after Tesla began testing its nascent robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, the company is now driving the cars around the city without safety monitors. Removing the human safety monitor allows the company to take an important step closer to its goal of launching an actual commercial robotaxi service, a step that has been years in the making. CEO Elon Musk has spent nearly a decade promising that Tesla cars would become fully self-driving with a simple software update. Now, he’s on the brink of launching a service to compete with Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo, which he said…
December 15, 2025Ravi LakshmananVulnerabilities/Software Security Multiple security vulnerabilities have been disclosed in the open source private branch exchange (PBX) platform FreePBX, including a critical flaw that could lead to authentication bypass under certain configurations. The shortcomings discovered by Horizon3.ai and reported to the project administrator on September 15, 2025 are as follows: CVE-2025-61675 (CVSS Score: 8.6) – Numerous authenticated SQL injection vulnerabilities affecting 4 unique endpoints (base station, model, firmware, custom extensions) and 11 affected parameters that allow read and write access to the underlying SQL database CVE-2025-61678 (CVSS Score: 8.6) – Authenticated Arbitrary File Upload Vulnerability Allows Attacker to…
The CERN Council recently received recommendations on the update of the European Particle Physics Strategy at its 225th session. The aim of the European Particle Physics Strategy is to develop a common vision for the future of the field, and decisions on this basis will be considered in the coming months. “The ESG Recommendation is a crucial milestone for the strategic process and the future of the sector,” said CERN Director-General Fabiola Gianotti. “The proposed strategic direction, especially for CERN’s next flagship collider, will inspire the next generation of scientists and ensure that CERN and its international partners remain at…