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In a sense, 2025 was the year that AI dictation apps really took off. Dictation apps have been around for years, but until now they’ve proven time-consuming and inaccurate unless you pronounce them clearly with a specific accent. However, advances in large-scale language models (LLMs) and speech-to-text models have improved systems that can better decode speech while preserving context to format text. The developers also included features that automatically format text, remove fillers, and ignore fumbles to output text that requires less editing. But with the popularity of AI-for-all things skyrocketing, there are dozens of such apps on the market.…
Businesses have been piloting and testing various AI tools over the past few years to understand what their adoption strategies will look like. Investors believe the experimental period is nearing its end. TechCrunch recently surveyed 24 enterprise-focused VC firms and predicted that the vast majority will increase their AI budgets in 2026, but not all. Most investors said the budget increases would be concentrated and many companies would spend more money on fewer contracts. Andrew Ferguson, vice president at Databricks Ventures, predicted that 2026 will be the year companies start consolidating investments and picking winners. “Today, companies are testing multiple…
Nothing heightens the tension in a science fiction movie more than watching the good guys’ spaceship get caught in an invisible tractor beam that slowly engulfs the villains. But what was once just a sci-fi staple could soon become a reality.Scientists are developing a real-life tractor beam called an electrostatic tractor. However, this tractor beam cannot suck in the helpless spaceship pilot. Instead, it would use electrostatic gravity to safely expel dangerous space junk from Earth’s orbit.The stakes are high. With the booming commercial space industry, the number of satellites in Earth orbit is expected to increase rapidly. This highly…
US biotech company Atlas Data Storage has launched a synthetic DNA storage system that can hold 1,000 times more data than traditional magnetic tape.The product, called Atlas Eon 100, claims to store humanity’s “irreplaceable archive” for thousands of years. These include master versions of family photographs, scientific data, corporate records, cultural artifacts, digital artworks, films, manuscripts, and music.”This is the culmination of more than a decade of product development and innovation across multiple disciplines,” Atlas Data Storage founder Bill Banyai said in a statement. “We intend to offer new solutions for long-term archiving, data preservation of AI models, and protection…
The threat actor known as Silver Fox has shifted its focus to India, using income tax-themed decoys in phishing campaigns to distribute a modular remote access Trojan called ValleyRAT (also known as Winos 4.0). “This sophisticated attack utilizes a complex kill chain that includes DLL hijacking and a modular Valley RAT to ensure persistence,” CloudSEK researchers Prajwal Awasthi and Koushik Pal said in an analysis published last week. Silver Fox, also tracked as SwimSnake, The Great Thief of Valley (or Valley Thief), UTG-Q-1000, and Void Arachne, is the name assigned to an aggressive Chinese cybercrime group that has been active…
Ellie Gabel explores the challenges, opportunities, and strategies for modernizing America’s infrastructure to meet 21st century demands in transportation, energy, water, and broadband. Infrastructure professionals are experiencing one of the most promising yet volatile periods of change. Grid technology, wastewater transmission, internet access, and countless other national utilities require varying degrees of improvement to accommodate modern life and business operations. The United States has relied on outdated assets for years, but can we expect a seamless transition? Current state of infrastructure Modernization is a long-standing issue and has emerged as a major focus of several administrations. This was most evident…
Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly being introduced into security operations, but many practitioners still struggle to turn early experiments into consistent operational value. This is because SOCs are implementing AI without a deliberate approach to operational integration. Some teams treat this as a shortcut for broken processes. Some people try to apply machine learning to problems that are not well defined. The results of the 2025 SANS SOC survey reinforce that disconnect. While a significant portion of organizations are already experimenting with AI, 40% of SOCs are using AI or ML tools without defining them as part of their operations,…
For the past two years, artificial intelligence has dominated boardroom conversations and investment planning. Many companies have been experimenting with new features, and as we head into 2026, we will see a shift from experimentation to execution. Will the AI bubble burst? “The challenge of 2026 will be cutting through the noise,” said Bruce Martin, CEO of Tax Systems, as warnings about an “AI bubble bursting” stemming from high stock market valuations continue into the new year. “The AI bubble may ‘pop’, but it only means that companies will be clearer about where AI truly adds value and where it…
December 30, 2026Ravi LakshmananMalware/Cyber Espionage A Chinese hacker group known as Mustang Panda utilized a previously undocumented kernel-mode rootkit driver to deliver a new variant of a backdoor called TONESHELL in a cyberattack detected targeting unspecified organizations in Asia in mid-2025. The findings, published by Kaspersky Lab, observed new backdoor variants in cyberespionage operations by hacker groups targeting government agencies in Southeast and East Asia, primarily Myanmar and Thailand. “The driver files are signed with outdated, stolen or leaked digital certificates and are registered as mini-filter drivers on infected machines,” the Russian cybersecurity firm said. “Their end goal is to…
Mark Zuckerberg has struck again. Meta Platforms acquires Singapore-based AI startup Manus. Manus has been the talk of Silicon Valley since it was brought to life in the spring with a highly slick demo video that went viral. The clip showed an AI agent that can screen job applicants, plan vacations, analyze stock portfolios, and more. Manas claimed at the time that it had surpassed OpenAI’s Deep Research. By April, just weeks after launching, early-stage company Benchmark had led a $75 million funding round, giving Manas a post-money valuation of $500 million. General Partner Chetan Puttagunta has joined the Board…