Entwickler und Hersteller von Mikrowellen und Öfen können bald die Alexa Smart Home Skill API nutzen. Der Name lässt es vermuten: Es geht um allerlei verzahnte Geräte in eurem Smart Home. Nachdem bisher Kameras, Türschlösser, Lampen, Unterhaltungssysteme und Thermostate auf die Alexa Smart Home Skill API zugreifen, können dies Öfen und Mikrowellen bald auch.

Starten will Amazon damit in den USA. Mit der integrierten Kochgerätesteuerung in der Smart Home Skill API sollen es Hersteller Kunden leichter machen, ihre mit der Cloud verbundene Mikrowelle zu steuern. Anstatt mehrere Tasten zu drücken, um erweiterte Mikrowellenfunktionen zu aktivieren, können so Kunden jetzt ihre Stimme verwenden. Ein Nutzer kann beispielsweise sagen: „Alexa, zwei Kilo Hack auftauen“ oder „Alexa, Mikrowelle für 50 Sekunden auf Hochtouren“.

Zehntausende sensible Schuldnerdaten sind in die Hände Dritter gelangt.
Grund ist ein Datenleck bei der Schweizer Tochter der Eos-Gruppe, einem der größtem Inkassounternehmen in Europa.
Die Dokumente enthalten hochsensible Informationen, etwa Krankenakten oder seitenlange Kreditkartenabrechnungen. Betroffen sind vorrangig Kunden in der Schweiz.

Auch Browser selbst verfügen über eingebaute Passwort-Manager, die nach einer Studie des Princeton University Center for Information Technology Policy jedoch eine Sicherheitslücke beherbergen, die es Werbe-Firmen möglich macht, euch im Netz zu tracken. Eine wichtige Information vorweg: Es werden keine Login-Daten gestohlen. Man macht sich lediglich die Information zunutze, was auch schlimm genug ist. 

adblocking has set off a software-based arms race, with publishers finding software solutions that keep ads appearing or entreat people using adblocking software to white-list them. Adblockers readily respond with modified software that targets these specific responses, triggering the publishers to try again.

Some academics have recently stepped into the middle of this arms race, performing an analysis that allows them to identify the specific methods used by publishers to avoid having ads blocked. And the team has gone on to try a couple of different approaches, both of which modify a webpage's contents to keep the anti-adblocking software from having an effect.

The movement to encrypt the web reached milestone after milestone in 2017. The web is in the middle of a massive change from non-secure HTTP to the more secure, encrypted HTTPS protocol. 

Barriss is alleged to have called in a lengthy threat to Wichita police on Thursday night after a Call of Dutygame in which two teammates got into an altercation over a $1.50 wager. Screenshots posted to various Twitter accounts show the dispute escalating. Shortly thereafter, the Wichita police received a call alleging that someone at that address had killed his father, taken his family hostage, poured gasoline around the home, and was ready to light it on fire. Cops descended on the area and cordoned it off. When 28-year-old Andrew Fitch opened the front door of his home to see why all the lights were flashing outside, he was shot and killed.

Ancestry.com said it closed portions of its community-driven genealogy site RootsWeb as it investigated a leaky server that exposed 300,000 passwords, email addresses and usernames to the public internet.

London’s Metropolitan Police believes that its artificial intelligence software will be up to the task of detecting images of child abuse in the next “two to three years.” But, in its current state, the system can’t tell the difference between a photo of a desert and a photo of a naked body

Der Suchmaschinen-Konzern arbeitet an einem System mit dem Namen Neural Image Assessment (NIMA),welches ein sogenanntes Deep Convolutional Neural Network einsetzt, um eure Bilder zu bewerten. Es ist sozusagen euer ganz persönlicher Kritiker.

Over the past year, online dating service OkCupid has shaken up a few of its core features, and the changes have all pushed the service far closer to resembling rival dating app Tinder. Thursday's big change, however, sees the site borrowing a subtler Tinder "feature" that has long enraged users of other online platforms: a real-name policy, coming before year's end.

The National Security Agency is losing its top talent at a worrisome rate as highly skilled personnel, some disillusioned with the spy service’s leadership and an unpopular reorganization, take higher-paying, more flexible jobs in the private sector.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Wednesday confirmed a data breach involving the personally identifiable information of more than 240,000 current and former DHS employees.

YouTube star Logan Paul (if you’re not familiar, he has 15 million subscribers) uploaded a video on the platform over the weekend in which he appeared to make jokes in front of a body hanging from a tree during a visit to forest in Japan where people have been known to commit suicide. The footage amassed over six million views before Paul took it down.

Why it matters: Paul’s video was not caught by any of YouTube’s software or human filters, making it a prime example of content that should never have been allowed into wide distribution but that nonetheless eluded state-of-the-art artificial-intelligence systems.

Roomba, the robotic vacuum, is gaining an indoor Wi-Fi mapping feature in its iRobot app later this month. The Wi-Fi Coverage map feature means Wi-Fi-enabled Roombas will be able to produce a map of indoor signals, which show weaker areas and signal dead zones. Some Roomba models can be controlled remotely using Wi-Fi, so the feature is handy in terms of understanding where the robot might be out of range for remote control.

Alexa could eventually start sliding in advertisements for bleach or toothpaste when you go to shop. Amazon is in talks with companies like Proctor & Gamble and Clorox to advertise on Echo devices, potentially suggesting their products when you ask your Echo to buy something, according to CNBC. Amazon however said in a statement: “There are no plans to add advertising to Alexa.”

Some smartphone games are listening to what your mic picks up — but not to hear what you say. Instead, they’re trying to hear what you’re watching.

This is something smartphone apps have been doing for a little while now: using microphone access to tell what shows you watch, which ads you hear, and even what movies you see. But a report in The New York Times last week shows the practice may be more prevalent — and more secretive — than consumers might like.

Swatting is the practice of tricking police SWAT teams into storming your victim's home by phoning in fake hostage situations; it's especially prominent among cybercriminals, gamers and was a favored tactic of Gamergater trolls.

In an attempt to cut down on fraud, China’s central bank has announced plans to begin regulating payments by QR codes, barcodes, and other scannable codes. The regulations will initially cap payments by traditional QR codes to 500 yuan, or about $76 USD. When additional security measures are applied, the cap can raise to 5,000 yuan, or around $765 USD. At an even higher security level, banks and payment processors are given discretion over the cap

One by one, the New York Times warns of the dangers of every hot smart toy your kids are begging for this Xmas: Furbies, Cayla, kids' smart watches, the ubiquitous Vtech toys (they omit the catastrophic Cloudpets, presumably because that company is out of business now).

Our algorithms have the same race and gender prejudices as us.