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According to Bloomberg, the presence of service robots in restaurants has been significantly increasing. The Japanese food service corporation Skylark Holdings has included the technology—around 3,000 cat-themed machines—across its 2,000 restaurants. Japan’s service robot market is projected to reach ¥400 billion ($2.7 billion) by 2030, addressing labor shortages and supporting an aging population. Skylark Holdings has deployed approximately 3,000 cat-themed robots across 2,000 restaurants to enhance service efficiency. Robots like “Hug” assist patients with mobility and monitor vital signs, addressing an anticipated shortfall of 570,000 caregivers by 2040....

The announcement comes shortly after Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo stated in June 2024 that Moscow’s influence over Kaspersky posed a significant risk to US infrastructure and services. Kaspersky, which has operated in the US for two decades, initially denied the allegations and planned to challenge the ban in court. However, Kaspersky has now decided to exit the US market. The popular antivirus provider in a statement to Zero Day confirmed that beginning July 20, it will “gradually wind down” its US operations, as “business opportunities in the country [was] no longer viable....

Kaspersky’s report highlights the growing focus on crypto-drainers—malware designed to trick victims into authorizing fraudulent transactions, swiftly draining funds from cryptocurrency wallets. Drainers use fake airdrops, phishing sites, and deceptive ads to steal funds. Corporate database ads on the dark web rose 40% from 2023 to 2024. Cybercriminals are shifting from Telegram back to private dark web forums. Drainers exploit various methods, including fake airdrops, phishing websites, malicious browser extensions, deceptive advertisements, and fraudulent NFT marketplaces....

Megan Garcia sues Character.AI over her son’s suicide linked to chatbot interactions. Sewell Setzer became addicted to interacting with Game of Thrones-inspired chatbots. Lawsuit claims Character.AI designed chatbots to exploit and harm vulnerable children. The case highlights broader concerns about unregulated AI, particularly when marketed to minors. Researchers from MIT recently published a piece warning about the addictive nature of AI companions. Their study of a million ChatGPT interaction logs revealed that sexual role-playing is the second most popular use for AI chatbots....

The California federal court lawsuit – first retrieved by ArsTechnica – states that Meta used the BitTorrent peer-to-peer file-sharing system to download pirated content, since at least 2018. The adult sites claim that Meta downloaded the videos while simultaneously sharing them over weeks or months. Strike 3 Holdings claims Meta used BitTorrent to download 170+ copyrighted videos. Evidence links downloads to Meta IP addresses and an employee’s home connection. Plaintiffs seek $359 million and deletion of infringing AI data....

According to Meta’s announcement, this case’s outcome represents the first large-scale victory against illegal spyware affecting many users, and it benefits companies and citizens worldwide. NSO Group must pay Meta $167.25 million over spyware attack. The case was filed in 2019 after Meta detected the threat affecting around 1,400 WhatsApp users, including journalists, diplomats, and civil rights activists. During the trial, it was revealed that Pegasus had been used to target other companies as well....

Skuld’s modus operandi is quite similar to other open-source public repositories like Creal Stealer, Luna Grabber and BlackCap Grabber. When executed, the malware first performs a check to see if it’s running in a virtual environment and for this it compares the downloaded list of running processes to a predefined blocklist. Should there be any similarity, Skuld terminates the matched process instead of removing itself. This process is done to avoid detection during analysis....

In the beginning of November, the company disclosed that unknown threat actors gained access to a limited number of customer support system files, impacting only 134 customers. However, last week, in an incident update notification, Okta’s CSO, David Bradbury, revealed that hackers had accessed the name and email addresses of all Okta support system users. ‘’All Okta Workforce Identity Cloud (WIC) and Customer Identity Solution (CIS) customers are impacted except customers in our FedRamp High and DoD IL4 environments (these environments use a separate support system NOT accessed by the threat actor)....

Some of my friends in the United States were devastated a few days ago, before January 19th, when TikTok was supposed to die forever—and then didn’t. There are plenty of social media networks, but the Chinese app conquered millions of hearts—170 million in the U.S.—with its special equation combining a unique algorithm, an intuitive design, and an iconic “vibe”. The popular social media network was shut down by the company on Saturday 18th at night, before it faced legal repercussions....

People who compulsively use social media are significantly more likely to trust, engage with, and spread fake news, according to new research. Heavy social media users are more likely to believe fake news. Heavy social media users clicked, liked, and shared fake headlines more often. Researchers urge platforms to identify and protect vulnerable users. The research involved 189 young adults who were shown a mix of real and fake news stories formatted as social media posts....

This is because Netflix actively blocks VPN IP addresses since they can technically help you bypass Netflix’s geo-blocks and watch shows that aren’t licensed in your country or region. Using a VPN to watch unlicensed Netflix content goes against the streaming platform’s terms of service; it could even be considered copyright infringement. My team and I don’t condone using a VPN this way. That being said, you may still want to use PIA with Netflix, even just to protect your online privacy while streaming....

These restrictions, intended to protect children, are raising significant concerns about privacy and censorship for adults. Louisiana’s 2022 law led to adult websites requiring government ID for access. Louisiana traffic to Pornhub dropped 80%, driving users to unregulated platforms. Legal challenges and vetoes question the constitutionality of these restrictions. 404 Media explains how the trend began with Louisiana’s “Act 440,” introduced by state representative Laurie Schegel, a counselor specializing in “sex addiction....

During a press conference on Thursday, first reported by KPTV, police outlined several uses for the robot, including bomb disposal and assisting in situations involving armed suspects by delivering a phone for communication with crisis negotiators. Spot can navigate stairs, debris, and hazardous areas, reducing risks for responders. The robot is operated remotely and equipped with cameras, microphones, and sensors. Spot is unarmed, not AI-powered, and will not be used for patrol duties....

This phenomenon, known as “reward hacking,” occurs when AI models exploit loopholes to maximize rewards in unintended ways. The study, detailed in an OpenAI blog post, involved monitoring a frontier reasoning model’s decision-making process using another large language model (LLM). AI models exploit loopholes to maximize rewards, a phenomenon called “reward hacking.” CoT reasoning helps detect when AI tries to cheat or bypass tasks. Penalizing AI deception led it to hide intent rather than stop misbehaving....

According to Al Jazeera, Russia’s media and internet regulator, Roskomnadzor, said the measure to restrict phone calls was necessary to combat crime. Russia announced restrictions on voice calls on Telegram and WhatsApp. The Russian regulator said the tech companies fail to comply with Russian legislation by not providing users’ data to law enforcement. WhatsApp said it will not remove its end-to-end encryption principle. “According to law enforcement agencies and numerous appeals from citizens, foreign messengers Telegram and WhatsApp have become the main voice services used to deceive and extort money, and to involve Russian citizens in sabotage and terrorist activities,” said Roskomnadzor in a statement....

New regulations will introduce harsher punishments for those involved in technology leaks. 97 attempts to leak South Korean business secrets have occurred in the last five years. Semiconductor industry targeted in 40 cases of attempted foreign leaks. “We will prevent illegal leaks of advanced technologies to raise the global competitiveness of our companies and strengthen technology leadership,” Choi said to Reuters. The news follows the detention of South Korean executive Choi Jinseog last month for allegedly stealing semiconductor information from Samsung Electronics, specifically related to chip processing technology, also reported by Reuters....

According to Spotify’s announcement, Messages will begin rolling out to both Free and Premium subscribers in select markets. The feature will also suggest people users may want to message, based on prior interactions such as shared jams, subscription plans, or collaborative playlists. Spotify launched Messages, a one-on-one chat function for users to share music, podcasts, and audiobooks with friends. Messages will roll out to Free and Premium subscribers aged 16 and older in select markets over the next few weeks....

Last Updated: Aug 4, 2025 I found StreamVPN to be a good service, but it couldn’t quite hit all of the marks I was looking for. It unblocked a few of the streaming services that I tested, offered top-grade security, and had blazing-fast speeds. However, its server network was pretty small, and torrenting was supported only on 1 server. StreamVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee that lets you try out the service risk-free....

More than 13,500 artists and content creators have signed the petition Among the participants, public figures like Julianne Moore, Thom York, and Kazuo Ishiguro stand out The organizer is the British composer and former AI executive Ed Newton-Rex The website hosting the signatures for the Statement on AI training shows celebrities and public figures like the actress Julianne Moore, the writer Sir Kazuo Ishiguro, and the musician from Radiohead Thom Yorke....

The government explained that its AI Safety Institute—created in 2023 to test AI technologies and address potential societal harms such as misinformation and human control loss—changed its name to the AI Security Institute. The UK renamed its AI Safety Institute to the AI Security Institute. The government expects the agency to focus more on “AI risks with security implications.” Anthropic will collaborate with the government to develop and deploy AI systems....