Technology

• Russian NCIRCC warns about a cyber-attack against major IT firms
• LANTER and LAN ATMservice seem to have been hit.
• The culprits or the goals were not disclosed

Two major Russian IT companies have suffered a major cyberattack, putting many financial and credit institutions in the country at risk.

In a security bulletin, the country’s National Computer Incident Response & Coordination Center Incidents (NCIRCC) said LANTER, a Russian company specializing in payment solutions and POS terminal integration, and LAN, whose ATMservice provides ATM and self-service terminal solutions, including maintenance and software development, had been hit. Both are operating under the LANIT Group.

In the bulletin, NCIRCC said that on February 21, FinCERT (Financial Sector Computer Emergency Response Team - a division of the Bank of Russia responsible for cybersecurity in the financial sector) notified credit and financial institutions of the possible compromise of the two organizations.

Monitoring for compromise

“NCIRCC recommends that all organizations change passwords and keys to access their systems operated in LANIT data centers as soon as possible,” the bulletin says.

Furthermore, NCIRCC said that companies granting LANIT Group’s engineers remote access to their infrastructure should revoke the credentials and secure their premises. Furthermore, the potential victims are urged to strengthen threat monitoring, and to report to RuCERT if they spot any signs of compromise.

The bulletin does not discuss who the threat actors are, or what the nature of the attack is. However, since Russia is at war with Ukraine, it’s safe to assume this could be the work of local cyberattackers. Ukraine and Russia have exchanged significant cyber-blows over the last three years, including a major Russian strike on KA-SAT, a satellite internet service operated by Viasat.

This attack, which occurred hours before Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, targeted the satellite modems used by the Ukrainian military and government, disrupting communications at a critical moment. The attack also had unintended spillover effects, affecting internet services across Europe, including for wind farms in Germany.

LANIT Group’s clientele includes prominent entities, such as the Russian Ministry of Defense, as well as “major players” in the military-industrial complex, including Rostec. The group got sanctioned by the US Department of Treasury in May 2024.

Via BleepingComputer

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• Garmin has issued a free software update for its Venu 3 and vivoactive 5
• Both devices finally support passcodes
• The update also includes HRM 200 pairing and Body Battery improvements

A new software update for two of the best Garmin watches for everyday use finally brings support for passcode security, as well as other significant improvements.

Garmin's 13.17 software for the Venu 3 and vivoactive 5 has rolled out in the last few days. Now at 100% release, the system update brings four changes, including three significant free upgrades.

Along with support for Garmin's latest Connect IQ apps, watch faces, and data fields, the new update adds support for the Garmin HRM 200, one of the best heart rate monitors on the market.

There's also a Body Battery upgrade that brings improved accuracy for users who have multiple devices, bringing you a total Body Battery score from all your various Garmins should you have a dedicated model for running, diving, golf, etc.

Finally, but arguably most importantly, the Garmin Venu 3 and vivoactive 5 now support passcodes for extra security.

Garmin finally adds passcodes

Apple Watch has had passcodes since day one. (Image credit: Future)

As a long-time user of the best Apple Watches, I was shocked to discover Garmins don't have a passcode feature. Garmin says the "new" feature, imaginatively dubbed 'Passcode', helps "to protect sensitive data if your watch ever gets lost or stolen," making its previous absence all the more baffling. Like the Apple Watch, the feature comes with automatic wrist detection, so if you take your watch off (or if it's forcibly removed) the Passcode kicks in, requiring a PIN number to regain access.

Garmin is also bringing this feature to the Fenix 8 and Fenix 8, the Enduro 3, and the Forerunner range (165, 255, 265, 955, and 965), with the rollout ongoing.

Given that a passcode protects quite important information including personal health data and text conversations, I'm surprised to learn that the feature has been missing from Garmins for so long. But users who have been looking forward to it can now use it on both the Venu 3 and vivoactive 5. If there's no sign of the update on your device, check the Software Update section of your System Settings to manually download it.

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With all the new Netflix movies to watch every month, sometimes all you need is a nostalgic flick to bring back some fond memories. So when I learned that the James Gunn-written live-action adaptation Scooby-Doo was leaving Netflix on February 28, I had to revisit this outrageously fun cult classic.

Prior to his success of the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy and The Suicide Squad, the CEO of DC Studios penned two iconic movies based on the Hanna-Barbera cartoon Scooby-Doo.

When the movie was released in 2002, it was met with largely negative reviews, the one that shocked me in particular was from The Guardian, which hailed the movie as "incredibly leaden" and "unutterably boring." Honestly, I don't stand for this kind of slander because while it's not one of the best Netflix movies and suffers from a 32% Rotten Tomatoes score, it's still incredibly fun and entertaining.

Scooby snacks, anyone?

The first Scooby-Doo movie thrusts a start-studded cast into a story that feels faithful to the animated series. In it, the Mystery Inc. gang consists of Sarah Michelle Gellar as Daphne Blake, Freddie Prinze Jr. as Fred Jones, Linda Cardellini as Velma Dinkley, Neil Fanning as Scooby, and Matthew Lillard as Shaggy Rogers – a role he was born to play, might I add, and one he still reprises in several animated Scooby-Doo series now.

Scooby-Doo sees the Mystery Inc. gang individually invited to investigate strange happenings at a spooky amusement park, two years after a bitter break-up. The crew must reunite to solve what's possessing the college students staying at Spooky Island.

With its timeless goofy humor and slapstick comedy, the Scooby-Doo movie became a smash hit that's still quoted and remembered to this day by people the right age. So it was only right to produce a sequel two years later with Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, which is also leaving Netflix on the same day.

In Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, Mystery Inc. must save Coolsville when an evil masked figure brings to life all the old monsters they exposed in a bid to ruin their reputation. The second movie was also met with a poor critical reception, and we never got a third Scooby-Doo movie.

While I mourn the loss of a potential trilogy, the Scooby-Doo movie is still a clever take on the franchise's history and remains a hilarious crime solving comedy caper with its perfect casting and clever adult humor references.

One thing that's for certain is that Scooby-Doo proves that not everything has to have modern style or rich substance to be a good movie – sometimes all you need are some genuine laugh-out-loud gags.

So if you're looking for some casual entertainment and a movie that doesn't take itself seriously, then you should definitely watch Scooby-Doo before it leaves the best streaming service.

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Technical debt—much like financial debt—is a cumulative beast. It represents all the extra hours and resources poured into keeping a solution technically current, often without making real progress toward innovation. It’s like a bucket with a hole in its base: no matter how much water you pour in, the water level barely rises. In this case, that’s because needless upgrades and patching keep draining your efforts.

Where it relates specifically to software systems, technical debt can stem from decisions made in the moment—those “quick fixes” or stopgap measures that seem like the easiest solution at the time. These might involve implementing solutions to plug a gap in your infrastructure or rushing to adopt new ERP software functionality, even when it doesn’t fully align with your strategy or staff expertise. Over time, these little compromises accumulate into big frustrations, leaving you spending all your time involved with patch management over issues – rather than addressing root causes. It’s like spending your entire paycheck on debt repayments without being able to save or invest for your future. It’s incredibly frustrating.

The good news is that paying down this technical debt is possible. It’s not an overnight fix, but with the right strategy, you can gain time and budget to gradually reduce that debt while balancing affordability, innovation, and ROI.

Why We Accumulate Technical Debt

In the ERP world, the dominant players—Oracle, SAP, and others—significantly contribute to the accumulation of technical debt. Their strategies are built around locking you into their ecosystems--pushing you to upgrade on their timelines and, crucially, use their in-house support and maintenance, preventing you from focusing on projects that drive true value for the business.

Let’s be clear: upgrading your software system doesn’t inherently create technical debt. The problem lies in how upgrades are imposed. It’s the pressure to upgrade before you’re ready or to align with vendor roadmaps that don’t match your business priorities.

For example, SAP’s push toward S/4HANA adoption has left many businesses scrambling to meet tight deadlines, fearing the loss of support for older systems. Support for SAP’s widely used ECC software will end in 2027, with an optional extended maintenance period available until 2030 at a significant premium. This impending deadline is pressuring organizations to upgrade to S/4HANA, even if they are unprepared for the transition. Many businesses face challenges in terms of the time, resources, and financial investment required to migrate, leaving them at risk of running unsupported systems and exposing themselves to potential compliance and security vulnerabilities.

Similarly, Oracle’s aggressive move to cloud-based solutions has forced customers into costly transitions under the very legitimate concern that they’ll fail to meet critical compliance and security standards if they don’t. Oracle frequently emphasizes the security and compliance advantages of migrating to its cloud services, leaving customers with limited alternatives. The message is clear: You’ve got to move to the cloud—security implications demand it. How’s that for flexibility, independence, and control? This approach places enterprises in a difficult position, pressuring them to adopt Oracle’s roadmap rather than sticking to their own strategy.

Then there are the maintenance contracts. These multi-million-dollar agreements often apply to aging products with limited ROI, yet they’re non-negotiable. Worse, the costs often escalate annually, leaving enterprises paying more and more… and getting back less and less.

Technical debt often starts with compromises--choosing systems based on budget constraints or sleepwalking into vendor lock-in. Over time, these hidden costs—mandatory upgrades, expensive support, and abandoned legacy systems—pile up. While upgrades themselves don’t directly cause technical debt, they can exacerbate it, but not being able to focus on your business goals.

The Cycle of Technical Debt

So, your aging systems are no longer meeting your needs, and your technical debt is at an all-time high. Every effort to keep things running feels like pouring water into that leaky bucket—you’re working harder but making no real progress.

So, what can you do?

While there’s no silver bullet that will allow you to eliminate technical debt instantly, it is possible to pay down this debt sustainably while prioritizing growth and innovation. Start by rethinking how you manage and support your current systems.

Breaking Free

You can’t always get rid of aging systems, but you can support them more effectively. Third-party software support offers a way to regain control over your IT strategy. Think of it as fast-tracking your journey out of technical debt.

Third-party software support shifts the focus away from vendor-imposed roadmaps to your unique business needs. If you need a highly customized setup or prefer a best-of-breed approach, your support partner enables you to maintain stable, familiar systems while selectively modernizing the parts that align with your strategy.

And the cost savings? On average, enterprises save over 60 percent on maintenance and support contracts when they switch to third-party software support. This frees up budget for innovation, employee training, maintaining existing systems, and ensuring they operate as expected— without the unnecessary, vendor-mandated bells and whistles.

Strategic Innovation Over Vendor Roadmaps

Vendors don’t want you to know about these alternatives because it threatens their entire business model, which is built around those lucrative maintenance contracts. They rely on keeping you locked into their cycle of mandatory upgrades and ever escalating fees. But technical debt doesn’t have to be an inevitable cost of doing business.

With third-party software support you can keep your systems supported, compliant, and aligned with your business goals—all while freeing time and budget to reduce technical debt. You’re no longer forced to upgrade for the sake of compliance or to access critical updates and support.

Enterprises that break free from vendor lock-in experience a twofold benefit: reduced technical debt and the freedom to allocate resources toward strategic innovation. By rethinking how you manage your software lifecycle, you’ll finally be able to pay down that debt and plan your future systems on your terms—not your vendor’s.

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This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

March 2025 is going to be a big month for Apple TV+. The increasingly popular streaming platform has had some big wins so far this year, with Severance season 2 dominating online TV show-based discussions and new movies like The Gorge earning mostly positive reviews from fans and critics alike. The tech giant, then, will hope the third month of 2025 is as productive for it as the first two were.

It looks like it will be, too. The final three episodes of Severance's sophomore season notwithstanding, there's plenty to look forward to on Apple's streaming service in March, including the debut of some exciting new Apple TV Originals. Here, then, is everything that's coming to one of the best streaming services between March 1 and 31.

March 5

Prime Target's eighth and final episode is out in early March (Image credit: Apple TV Plus)

• Berlin ER episode 3
• Love You to Death episode 6
• Mythic Quest season 4 episode 7
• Prime Target episode 8

March 7

Surface season 2 continues to pose more questions than it answers (Image credit: Apple TV Plus)

• Severance season 2 episode 8
• Surface season 2 episode 3

March 12

Love You to Death's final episode airs in mid-March (Image credit: Apple TV Plus)

• Berlin ER episode 4
• Love You to Death episode 7
• Mythic Quest season 4 episode 8

March 14

Dope Thief's first two episodes will launch on Apple TV Plus in mid-March (Image credit: Apple TV Plus)

• Dope Thief episodes 1 and 2
• Severance season 2 episode 9
• Surface season 2 episode 4

March 19

Berlin ER is a German-language medical drama that began airing in February (Image credit: Apple TV Plus)

• Berlin ER episode 5
• Mythic Quest season 4 episode 9

March 21

How will Severance season 2 end in late March? (Image credit: Apple TV Plus)

• Be@rbrick episodes 1 to 13
• Dope Thief episode 3
• Severance season 2 episode 10
• Surface season 2 episode 5

March 26

Seth Rogen's new TV series The Studio arrives before the end of March (Image credit: Apple TV Plus)

• Berlin ER episode 6
• Mythic Quest season 4 episode 10
• Side Quest episodes 1 to 4
• The Studio episodes 1 and 2

March 28

Surface season 2 passes its midway point in late March (Image credit: Apple TV Plus)

• Dope Thief episode 4
• Surface season 2 episode 6

For more Apple TV Plus coverage, read our guides on the best Apple TV Plus shows, best Apple TV Plus movies, Foundation season 3, and Silo season 3.

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The modern business is an intricate fabric of IT infrastructure, integrating networks and technologies to support its overall mission.

A single point of failure can bring the entire system to a halt, causing significant downtime. During such outages, networks become inaccessible, preventing users from interacting with the organization’s systems. IT teams must then act swiftly to restore functionality, safeguarding against data loss, revenue loss, and damage to the company’s reputation.

On average, nearly $50 million in annual sales is being missed out because of downtime according to research from Splunk. Just by being more consistent and available than the competition, IT teams can create a competitive advantage through superior resilience and efficiency.

So, why are businesses still finding challenges in ensuring business continuity?

An environment of threats

The causes of downtime are complex, as businesses and their environments sometimes evolve in unexpected ways. Premises and digital infrastructure designed for specific outcomes may become outdated due to new technologies or priorities, leading to the creation of inefficiencies and blind spots.

According to a Databarracks survey, nearly a quarter of businesses (24%) suffered downtime as a result of a cyber incident last year, with a key threat being DDoS attacks.

GTT research revealed DDoS attacks are causing huge problems for organizations. In the first half of 2024, there was a 25% increase in multi-vector DDoS attacks recorded, with these threats continuing to escalate through the second half of the year. Addressing both malicious and non-malicious causes of downtime requires comprehensive, flexible strategies – relying on tactical responses to individual issues is no longer sufficient.

The (not-so) secret ingredients to business continuity

The first step in preventing downtime is assessing the network architecture. After all, you can’t defend what you can’t see. Enterprises should evaluate the importance and requirements of both redundant connectivity and high availability network designs as a strategy to mitigate brownouts and blackouts.

Mapping out an entire network, identifying tools and operations which are critical in delivering products or services, and those areas which are at a higher risk of attack or compromise lays the foundation for an effective downtime prevention strategy.

Once the network has been mapped, and core competencies have been recognized, ensuring that redundancy measures are in place allows business decision makers and IT teams sleep easier. Increasing redundancy for both hardware and traffic pathways mean that no single point of failure will completely shut down the organization, and if one area fails, data still has alternate routes to flow through.

Sites cannot be too overprovisioned when it comes to downtime prevention, but budgets typically limit the art of the possible. Look for solutions and partnerships that offer what is needed today but also offer the ability to make soft changes when needs shift. This ability means when there are shocks to the system, IT teams don’t have to rip and replace but can quickly enhance and solve without investing heavily in new in-house solutions.

What should never be missing from this network assessment is the maintenance of a good security posture. As addressed previously, DDoS attacks are only getting more common and are coming from more vectors than ever. DDoS mitigation technologies, such as the use of data scrubbing centers and traffic filtering, ensures any inbound traffic is analyzed and cleansed of any malicious packages before it reaches the users' network.

DDoS prevention strategies should consider the approach organizations take to attack detection. Either taking the responsibility of detection in-house and reacting to incidents after-the-fact or having an always-on proactive DDoS solution. Robust DDoS solutions don’t just mitigate attacks, but do so automatically, ideally in real-time, to prevent any possible downtime and maintain business continuity when targeted.

Leaving it to the experts

Once the network has been assessed, measures implemented, and teams briefed on their priorities – then what? All the ingredients for downtime prevention must come together in the right mix and be focused on the right areas to cater for the business’ specific needs.

The process of establishing these frameworks can be drawn out and arduous, which inevitably takes time away from business growth opportunities like R&D, service improvements or identifying efficiencies. Working with a partner can alleviate this stress and create room for growth in a secure environment.

Network monitoring for cyberattacks is a 24x7x365 task, this always-on state of constant vigilance can be a huge drain for IT security teams. By collaborating with seasoned managed service security providers (MSSPs), organizations can benefit from having "more eyes" monitoring their network architecture and corporate IT. MSSPs are able to instantly monitor and address any issues, freeing up internal IT staff to concentrate on making the best choices possible to maintain business continuity.

Downtime prevention is a competitive advantage

As customer expectations continue to rise and expect faster connectivity, the urgency to ensure business continuity has never been greater. Often the best way to illustrate the importance of downtime strategies is to put it into financial terms, securing leadership commitment by equating it with a loss of future income and brand depletion.

A company's business continuity and disaster recovery strategies will be unique to them, and the decision to concentrate their efforts internally or enlisting the help of partners depends on their size and needs. What matters, though, is that downtime prevention stays a priority. Businesses can reduce downtime and assure continuity by combining novel technologies and frameworks, to react quickly should the worst happen.

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This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

Whether you’re looking to upgrade your internet or get the latest phone, we’ve got you covered with our selection of AT&T coupons and deals.

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Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Feb. 25.

• Indian loan company Vivifi has reportedly suffered a data breach
• 36 million files were left exposed
• These consisted primarily of personally identifiable information (PII)

A leading digital lending app has apparently exposed sensitive customer data after a misconfigured Amazon AWS S3 was bucket left unsecured without authentication.

Cybernews researchers discovered loan provider Vivifi left 36 million files of Know Your Customer (KYC) documents open online. The primary risk after a data breach is that criminals will use your information to apply for credit cards, loans, or bank accounts in identity theft or fraud schemes - so a loan company having customer information compromised would make it almost too easy for cybercriminals.

Included in the leak were passports, ID cards, driving licenses, utility bills, bank statements, and loan agreement letters, among other things - here’s what we know so far.

Ongoing investigation

Researchers discovered the leak on November 28, 2024, and the bucket wasn’t closed until January 16, 2025, meaning criminals had over a month to find and access the data - although there’s no evidence to suggest any did - only an internal forensic audit would determine this.

Know Your Customer (KYC) documents are used by financial institutions to ensure they comply with regulations and laws with regards to proof of identity, address, and income. Unfortunately though, this is all a cybercriminal would need to take out a loan in a victim’s name, or to craft particularly compelling social engineering attacks.

“For instance, attackers could use leaked loan agreement details or bank information to request urgent payments or account verification,” Cybernews researchers said.

“In some cases, these personal details can be aggregated and sold on the dark web, further escalating the danger and complicating efforts for victims to protect their privacy and secure their identities,” the team added.

Data breaches are all too common, and fintech firms aren’t immune. Earlier in 2025, Mexican FinTech firm Miio suffered a similar data breach which exposed millions of files of sensitive data - although significantly fewer than the Vivifi leak.

Serious risk for customers

This data breach is, unfortunately, the perfect opportunity for an attacker. The KYC documents are exactly what cybercriminals need to facilitate identity theft and fraud. With the identifying documents and personally identifiable information (PII), attackers can take out a loan, credit card, or create new bank accounts in your name.

To stay safe from this, the key is staying alert and monitoring your accounts. There are identity theft protection plans for individuals and for families, which essentially do the monitoring for you, and often provide $1 million or more in insurance plans, as well as dark web monitoring and anti-malware software - which can be very tricky to set up on your own.

If you want to do the monitoring yourself, perhaps you haven’t been directly impacted by a breach but want to stay protected - then here are the things to keep an eye out for.

First, is your bank statements, accounts, and transactions - if you see any suspicious activity, alert your bank immediately and freeze or pause your card if you can.

Next, create a strong and secure password for each individual account, or at least for the ones which hold financial, health, or sensitive information - and if a service you use is involved in a breach or cyberattack, make sure you change the password straight away.

Although it’s a pain, enabling multi-factor authentication or MFA is a great added layer of protection against intruders, so for those accounts with sensitive information - it's vital.

When PII is leaked, there’s always an added danger of social engineering attacks like phishing, which will use the data from the breach to determine which services you use regularly, what your interests are, or even your friends and family.

From there, attackers will send an email impersonating one of the above, and will trick you into clicking a malicious link, scanning a QR code, or handing over your details to them.

Be on the lookout for any unexpected communications, and look closely at the sender of emails - if you’re not sure, then don’t press any links, and search up what the legitimate email address would be - or contact the company directly through their website.

Remember, your bank will not ask you for your account details over the phone or through email - and they won’t ask you to transfer your funds to a different account.

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If you use ChatGPT much, you've likely experimented with DALL-E 3, OpenAI’s latest iteration of an AI image generator. DALL-E 3 can be shockingly good at bringing your ideas to life but sometimes shockingly bad at understanding certain details or just shocking in what it chooses to emphasize. Still, if you want to see a specific scene move from your head to your screen, DALL-E 3 is usually pretty helpful, it can even make hands write.

But here’s the thing, DALL-E 3 is still an AI model, not a mind reader. If you want images that actually look like what you’re imagining, you need to learn how to speak its language.

After some trial and error (and a few unintentional horrors), I've become fairly adept at speaking its language. So here are five key tips that will help you do the same.

Polish in HD

DALL-E 3 has a quality mode called ‘hd,’ which makes images look sharper and more detailed. Think of it like adding a high-end camera lens to your AI-generated art – textures look richer, lighting is more refined, and things like fabric, fur, and reflections have more depth.

Check out how it looks in this prompt: "A rendering of a close-up shot of a butterfly resting on a sunflower. Quality: hd."

(Image credit: Image created with OpenAI's DALL-E 3) Play with aspect ratio

Not every image has to be a square. DALL-E 3 lets you set the aspect ratios, which may seem minor but can be huge if you want to make something look more cinematic or like a portrait.

Square is fine, but why limit yourself when you can make something epic? This is especially useful for social media graphics and posters, like the one below, which had the prompt: "A vertical poster of a vintage travel advertisement for Paris, size 1024x1792 pixels."

(Image credit: Image created with OpenAI's DALL-E 3) Think like a film director

To get an image capable of evoking emotion, sometimes it helps to think like you're a photographer in the real world. Think about camera angle or composition techniques; look them up if necessary. The result can dramatically change how an image looks.

Instead of a flat, dead-on image, you can request angles like close-up, bird’s-eye view, or over-the-shoulder. The same goes for composition styles and terms like ‘symmetrical composition’ or ‘depth of field.’

That's how you can get the following image from this prompt: "A dramatic over-the-shoulder shot of a lone cowboy standing on a rocky cliff, gazing at the vast desert landscape below. The sun sets in the distance, casting long shadows across the canyon. The cowboy's silhouette is sharp against the golden sky, evoking a cinematic Western feel."

(Image credit: Image created with OpenAI's DALL-E 3) Iterate, iterate, iterate

One of DALL-E 3’s lesser-known but highly effective tricks is telling it what not to include. This helps avoid unwanted elements in your image. That might mean specifying negative elements like colors, objects, or styles you don't want or refining the style and mood by what you don't want it to feel like.

That's how I got the image below, using the prompt: "A peaceful park in autumn with a young woman sitting on a wooden bench, reading a book. Golden leaves cover the ground, and a soft breeze rustles the trees. No other people, no litter, just a quiet, serene moment in nature."

(Image credit: Image created with OpenAI's DALL-E 3) Be overly specific

Think of DALL-E 3 as a very literal genie: it gives you exactly what you ask for, no more, no less. So if you type in “a dog,” don’t be surprised when it spits out a random dog of indeterminate breed, vibe, or moral alignment. The more details you include – like breed, color, setting, mood, or even art style – the better the results.

As an example, You might start with: “A wizard casting a spell," but you'd be better off submitting: “An elderly wizard with a long, braided white beard, dressed in emerald-green robes embroidered with gold runes, conjuring a swirling vortex of blue lightning from his fingertips in a stormy mountain landscape.” You can see both below.

(Image credit: Image created with OpenAI's DALL-E 3)

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• Netflix’s American Murder: Gabby Petito has upset some people for using an AI-generated voice to narrate Petito’s journal entries.
• Despite permission from Petito’s family, critics argue the AI voice raises ethical concerns.
• This isn't the first occurrence of such debate, and it will likely keep happening as the technology improves.

Netflix’s latest true-crime docuseries, American Murder: Gabby Petito, has stirred up a heated debate over how to deploy AI to mimic the voices of people who have passed away. The filmmakers employed AI to recreate Petito's voice and have it narrate excerpts from her personal writings, which has reportedly made many viewers feel uncomfortable and raised ethical concerns about using AI to give voice to the deceased.

The three-part series chronicles the 2021 murder of 22-year-old Petito at the hands of her fiancé, Brian Laundrie. It pieces together her final months through interviews, personal videos, and social media posts, evoking how the tragedy happened in real-time on the internet. True crime aficionados famously dissected every frame of Petito’s travel vlogs before authorities found her remains in Wyoming.

At the start of the series, a disclaimer appears: “Gabby’s journal entries and text messages are brought to life in this series in her own voice, using voice recreation technology.” That means the voice narrating parts of the documentary isn’t actually Petito’s but a synthetic recreation made with an AI model. Netflix has said the filmmakers received permission from Petito’s family to do so. That hasn’t stopped some people from vocalizing how eerie the AI-generated voice feels. Social media content creators have racked up hundreds of thousands of views discussing it.

AI ghosts

This isn't the first controversy over AI-generated voices. Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain faced similar criticism when its director revealed that parts of the documentary featured AI-generated narration of Bourdain’s own words. That movie didn't indicate which bits were narrated by the AI or by Bourdain, which led many to feel that the technique was deceptive.

Filmmaker Michael Gasparro defended the decision in an interview with Us Weekly, saying the team wanted to tell the story as much “through Gabby’s voice as possible.” They had access to a wealth of her journals, notes, and online posts and thought AI narration would bring them to life in a more powerful way. “At the end of the day, it’s her story.”

Technology has always shaped the way we tell stories, but AI presents a new challenge, especially when it comes to memorializing people who can no longer speak for themselves. Robert Downey Jr. has vowed that AI will never replicate him on screen, while James Earl Jones secured a deal with Disney before passing away, allowing them to use his voice for Darth Vader under certain circumstances.

Meanwhile, ElevenLabs has inked deals with the estates of James Dean, Burt Reynolds, Judy Garland, and Sir Laurence Olivier to let it add AI versions of their voices to its Reader app. As deepfake technology and voice cloning become more sophisticated, filmmakers and media companies will have to reckon with how (and if) these tools should be used to tell real-life stories.

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China has deployed 400 high-performance servers beneath the sea as part of an expanding underwater data center in Lingshui, Hainan.

China Media Group says this infrastructure will complete a year’s worth of computations for an average PC in just one second and can enable DeepSeek’s AI assistant to handle 7,000 conversations per second.

The newly-installed module, measuring 18 meters long and 3.6 meters in diameter, is linked to an existing facility to form a computing cluster designed to support AI-driven applications — providing computing power equivalent to 30,000 high-end gaming PCs operating simultaneously.

Expanding China's AI infrastructure

Xu Tan, vice president of Highlander, a Shenzhen-listed maritime technology firm and a key player in China's underwater data center expansion, highlighted the advantages of submerged data facilities.

"With the advent of the 5G and even 6G era, data will increase exponentially, and the construction of undersea data centers could meet the future demands of this growth," he said.

The Hainan underwater data center, first launched in 2023, was the first commercial project of its kind. According to CGTN, the long-term plan entails deploying up to 100 data cabins in multiple phases.

The project aligns with China’s strategy to enhance its AI capabilities, with 219 intelligent computing centers launched across 81 cities from 2022 to 2024, according to IDC (originally in Chinese).

The firm also projects China's intelligent computing capacity will grow at an annual rate of 33.9% until 2027, playing a crucial role in AI research, data processing, and automation across various industries.

Almost 10 companies have signed agreements to use the computing power of underwater data centers for AI model training, industrial simulations, game development, and marine research.

However, this project will require thousands of submerged servers, and the specific hardware to be used remains unknown. It is likely that high-performance AI accelerators, such as Nvidia’s H100 or Huawei’s Ascend 910, will be considered.

China has been pushing for domestic alternatives, so advanced AI chips from companies like Biren Technology or Loongson are also possibilities.

While China moves forward with plans to deploy up to 40,000 underwater servers in the coming years, American companies have taken a more cautious approach. Microsoft previously experimented with an underwater data center off the coast of the UK in 2018, but after retrieving it in 2020, the company ditched its National Park underwater data center plans.

Via Globaltimes

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In case you haven't been paying attention, Intel has been getting banged up lately in both the press and on Wall Street. Over the last 12 months, it's lost just under 43% of its share value as well as its CEO, Pat Gelsinger. It's watched Nvidia and AMD make major gains in the data center market at its expense, and its most recent client processors, the Intel Core Ultra 200S series, were rather underwhelming, especially for gaming.

Probably the biggest concern for Intel was its Q3 2024 earnings, which saw the company post a staggering $16.6 billion loss, the largest the company had ever seen. And while this was generated almost entirely by accelerated depreciation charges and the restructuring required after laying off 15,000 workers, rather than products sitting unsold on the store shelves, it still went off like a bomb on Wall Street and in Washington, where talk about how Intel could be "saved" remains rampant.

A lot of this talk has centered on Intel Foundry, the division of the company that actually manufactures semiconductors. Under Gelsinger, Intel invested billions of dollars into developing leading-edge process technology that could compete with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), which manufactures chips for AMD, Apple, Nvidia, and even Intel, among many others.

So far, those efforts haven't borne fruit, and there have been many, many calls for Intel to dump its foundry business and focus on designing processors and outsourcing the actual manufacturing to TSMC.

All of this makes the newest process technology from Intel Foundry, Intel 18A, a make-or-break proposition for Team Blue, and no matter where you stand on the AMD vs Intel vs Nvidia, you should hope that Intel pulls off a miracle here.

What is a process node and what makes Intel 18A so special?

(Image credit: Intel)

Process node technology is very in-the-weeds stuff, and for someone looking to buy the best laptop or best processor for their PC, the question of which process node a chip was fabricated on rarely enters the discussion, even among tech enthusiasts.

A process node is the set of specific manufacturing processes used to fabricate a silicon wafer containing the chips that go into computers, as well as different innovations and features these chips include.

Traditionally, these nodes are referred to by a specific nanometer designation, i.e., a 3nm node, that is used to represent the physical length of the transistor gate. Over the last decade, though, these designations have become more marketing than anything, and the nanometer designation isn't directly tied to the physical size of the transistors.

Rather these designations say that a chip performs as well as a specific nanometer chip would if it were possible to produce transistors at such small scales, which nowadays is largely impossible (welcome to the end of Moore's Law). Now, these designations largely represent generational leaps in technology, and TSMC's process technology is currently the best there is.

But where and by whom the chip that powers your PC or graphics card is made can affect everything from its price to its availability. Right now, the vast majority of advanced computer chips, whether laptop processors or data center chips are manufactured by TSMC, with its most advanced N3 process node being in the most demand.

(Image credit: Alexander_Safonov / Shutterstock)

TSMC's next-gen process node, N2, is slated for volume production sometime in 2025, meaning it will be making production chips for AMD, Apple, Nvidia, and others later this year. The '2' in N2 is meant to represent 2nm, which puts it well beyond anything rival Samsung or Intel foundries have been able to produce.

Intel Foundry's 18A process, meanwhile, is a 1.8nm process, making it even more advanced than TSMC's. If Intel can deliver on the promises it has made about 18A, it would be the most advanced process technology in the world and would immediately upend the chip fabrication industry.

The fact that these chips would be produced in the United States makes the proposition even more enticing for American companies like Apple who have faced longstanding criticism over their offshore manufacturing and supply chain.

The most important result of Intel 18A's success for consumers, though, would be the long-term decrease in advanced chip prices and a more stable supply across several industries dependent on these advanced chips.

The COVID-19-driven supply chain issues in 2020 and 2021 revealed a real weakness in the globalized production model. While globalization has (mostly) led to lower prices for consumers, COVID showed that it only works when everything is running smoothly. Any disruption in one of the links in the supply chain can be felt for years in terms of higher prices and lower stock of the products we want to buy.

Having nearly all our advanced semiconductor supply tied to Taiwan is a recipe for disaster

(Image credit: Sundry Photography / Shutterstock)

Taiwan is a lovely country and it deserves all of the prosperity its semiconductor industry has brought to its people. But it is also a geopolitical crisis point vis-a-vis China, which believes Taiwan belongs under mainland rule.

This potential conflict over Taiwan means the global supply of the most advanced semiconductors could be threatened.

The existing status quo benefits Taiwan, as its semiconductor industry acts as a 'silicon shield' for the island, but for the rest of us, we're pretty much depending on China and the US to not escalate a conflict that, in even the best case scenario, could cripple the flow of advanced chips that the modern global economy depends on.

Reducing this dependence on TSMC is reason enough to want Intel 18A to succeed. If Intel can provide a genuine alternative for the most in-demand chip technology with the stability that comes from US production, it'll provide valuable insulation for the global economy and inject much-needed competition into the chip fabrication industry, bringing prices down for everyone.

What would 18A mean for Intel?

(Image credit: Intel)

Beyond the geopolitical issues, a successful rollout and adoption of 18A among industry customers like AMD, Nvidia, and possibly even Apple, would be a massive source of revenue for Intel separate from its own processor business, as well as providing an 'in-house' manufacturer of its processors, lowering their cost and giving it a competitive advantage over rival AMD.

Understandably, Intel is very bullish on 18A. It has to be since the future success of the company relies on 18A delivering the kind of performance that industry customers need, especially as AI is placing extraordinary demands on existing hardware.

If Intel 18A fails to establish Intel Foundry as a serious competitor to TSMC, it will likely be spun off as Wall Street is demanding. Without the support of the Intel Client side of the business to help it ramp up, it'll likely never reach the kind of advanced node technology that TSMC has, leaving us all dependent on a single supplier for cutting-edge chips and all the vulnerabilities and added cost that entails.

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