Technology

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• Google's OSS-Fuzz finds more than two dozen vulnerabilities in different open-source projects
• Among them is a vulnerability in OpenSSL that could result in RCE
• Google sees this as a major milestone in automated bug discovery

Google has found 26 vulnerabilities in different open source code repositories, including a medium-severity flaw in “the critical OpenSSL library that underpins much of internet infrastructure.”

This wouldn’t be much of a news (Google helped find thousands of bugs throughout the years), if the method by which the flaws were discovered wasn’t “artificial”, as the bugs were revealed using its AI-powered fuzzing tool, OSS-Fuzz.

"These particular vulnerabilities represent a milestone for automated vulnerability finding: each was found with AI, using AI-generated and enhanced fuzz targets," Google explained in a blog post.

Major improvements with LLMs

Among these 26 flaws is an OpenSSL bug tracked as CVE-2024-9143. It has a severity score of 4.3 and is described as an out-of-bounds memory write bug that can crash an app, or allow crooks to mount remote code execution (RCE) malware attacks. OpenSSL has since been upgraded to versions 3.3.3, 3.2.4, 3.1.8, 3.0.16, 1.1.1zb, and 1.0.2zl, to address the flaw.

To make matters even more interesting, Google said the vulnerability was most likely present for two decades, “and wouldn’t have been discoverable with existing fuzz targets written by humans.”

The bug discovery came as a result of two major improvements, the company further explained. The first one is the ability to automatically generate more relevant context in the prompts, which makes the LLM “less likely to hallucinate the missing details in its response.” The second one revolves around the LLM’s ability to emulate a typical developer’s entire workflow, including writing, testing, and iterating on the fuzz target, as well as triaging the crashes found.

“Thanks to this, it was possible to further automate more parts of the fuzzing workflow. This additional iterative feedback in turn also resulted in higher quality and greater number of correct fuzz targets.”

Via The Hacker News

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• Like clockwork, Apple's confirmed it's Black Friday Shopping event
• Starting November 29, you can score a gift card up to $200 with select purchases
• You'll find actual cash discounts on Amazon, BestBuy, and Walmart

While countless retailers like Amazon, Walmart, and BestBuy have been serving up early Black Friday deals for what feels like weeks on all sorts of the latest kit – including Apple gadgets – the Cupertino-based giant has, like clockwork, unveiled its official 2024 Black Friday savings event.

Now, as we’ve come to expect, don’t expect a cash discount off the price, but when things kick off on November 29, 2024, you’ll be able to score a gift card with select purchases. So if you’ve been eyeing the latest iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, or AirPods and want to buy from Apple directly, waiting and scoring a gift card might make sense.

Of course, many, if not all, of the devices Apple will offer this for, and others are already seeing significant savings from other retailers. In many cases, those are the best deals. But if you go with the official Apple route, consider stacking in a device trade-in alongside the gift card offer, as it can sweeten the deal.

(Image credit: Apple)

Ahead, we’re sharing what you can expect and the devices eligible for this gift card promotion. It’ll kick off on November 29, 2024, and run through December 2, 2024, in the United States, the UK, Australia, and many other countries. Plus, you can shop it online or in-store.

Like in 2023, Apple’s using a tiered system where you can unlock a $25 / £20 / AU$40, $50 / £40 / AU$80, $75 / £60 / AU$120, $100 / £80 / AU$160, or $200 / £160 / AU$320 Gift Card – and as you might suspect, you’ll need to spend more to get a bigger gift card.

While Apple hasn’t yet confirmed the full values for every eligible device, we have a general idea of your score based on category.

(Image credit: Apple)

iPhone

If you get an iPhone SE, iPhone 14, or iPhone 15, you can score up to a $75 / £60 / AU$120 Apple Gift Card. The iPhone SE and iPhone 14 might likely mean a gift card of lesser value.

iPad

While not every iPad is expected to be eligible – namely the recently launched iPad mini A17 Pro, though it is discounted elsewhere – Apple promises up to $100 / £80 / AU$160 gift card by purchasing an iPad 10th Generation, iPad Air, or iPad Pro.

Mac

Similar to the iPad mini, the latest Macs will likely not be eligible for the gift card promotion. However, if you’re considering the M2 or M3 MacBook Air, with the recently upgraded now standard 16GB of RAM, you’ll get up to a $200 / £160 / AU$320 Gift Card. And yes, both the 13-inch M2 and M3 and the 15-inch M3 are listed as eligible.

Apple Watch

While you won’t find savings directly at the Apple Store for the Apple Watch Series 10 or Apple Watch Ultra 2, you’ll get a $50 / £40 / AU$80 gift card by purchasing an Apple Watch SE second-generation.

AirPods

Whether you get AirPods 4, AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation, AirPods Pro 2, or AirPods Max, you’ll get up to a $50 / £40 / AU$80 gift card.

(Image credit: Apple)

TV & Home

While there is no gift card eligibility for the HomePod mini, Apple will offer up to a $75 / £60 / AU$120 gift with the Apple TV 4K or HomePod.

Beats

Nearly the entire Beats lineup is eligible to score up to a $50 / £40 / AU$80 gift card with Beats Pill, Beats Flex, Beats Fit Pro, Beats Studio Buds Plus, Beats Solo Buds, Beats Solo 4, and Beats Studio Pro on the list.

Accessories

No, you won’t find savings on iPhone 16 cases, but Apple will offer up to $25 / £20 / AU$40 with some accessories. The Apple Pencil Pro, Apple Pencil second-generation, Magic Keyboard, and Smart Folio for iPad Air, iPad Pro, and iPad tenth-generation cut.

More of today's Black Friday sales in the US

• Amazon: TVs, smart home & air fryers from $12.99
• Apple: AirPods, iPads, MacBooks from $89.99
• Best Buy: $1,000 off 4K TVs, laptops & headphones
• Cheap TVs: smart TVs at Best Buy from $69.99
• Christmas trees: top-rated trees from $54.99
• Dell: best-selling Inspiron & XPS laptops from $279.99
• Dreamcloud: mattress deals from $349 + free shipping
• Holiday: decor, lights, Christmas trees & PJs from $10.99
• Home Depot: 40% off tools, appliances & furniture
• Lowe's: holiday decor, appliances & tools from $17.31
• Nectar: up to 50% off all mattresses
• Nordstrom: 46% off boots, coats, jeans & jewelry
• Samsung: $1,500+ off TVs, phones, watches & appliances
• Target: save on furniture, tech & clothing
• Walmart: cheap TVs, robot vacs, furniture & appliances

More of today's Black Friday sales in the UK

• Amazon: up to 68% off toothbrushes and TVs
• AO: savings on games consoles and appliances
• Argos: up to 50% off toys, Lego, TVs and gifts
• Boots: up to 50% off Dyson, Oral-B and Philips
• Currys: early deals on TVs, appliances, laptops
• Dell: laptops, desktops, monitors from £299
• Dyson: up to £150 off
• Ebay: up to 50% off refurbished tech
• EE: up to £600 off Samsung and Apple
• John Lewis: up to £300 off appliances and TVs
• LG: £1,000 or more off TVs and appliances
• Samsung: up to £600 off TVs, phones and tablets
• Very: up to 30% off phones, appliances & clothing

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• Dual 13.3-inch OLED screens create an 18-inch equivalent display
• Available for $2,000 through Links International, releasing mid-December
• Powered by Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 CPU with 64GB RAM

We've covered the GPD Duo laptop several times this year - first when GPD, best known for its compact gaming laptops and handheld consoles, initially teased it, and later when the company officially unveiled its full specifications - and now we finally have all the information, and as expected it's not cheap.

The GPD Duo was made available to back on Indiegogo earlier this month, where it pulled in $337,057 in pledges from 190 backers, well above the $2,571 flexible goal the creators were seeking. There, the laptop was offered for $1,860. If you missed your chance to back it then, you can now buy it through Links International, priced at approximately $2,000.

Set to be released in mid-December 2024, it features two 13.3-inch OLED displays with a 2.8K resolution and a high refresh rate of 60Hz. The displays are versatile, with options to mirror, extend, or use as a standalone screen. When used together, the screens offer an expansive viewing area equivalent to an 18-inch monitor, making it ideal for multitasking, content creation, and even gaming.

OCuLink support

Under the hood, the GPD Duo is powered by AMD’s Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor. With 12 cores, 24 threads, and a boost clock of up to 5.1 GHz, this CPU is optimized for performance across various demanding applications. Paired with 64GB of LPDDR5X memory and a 2TB M.2 SSD, the GPD Duo should be more than capable of handling pretty intensive tasks.

The laptop's connectivity options include USB4, HDMI 2.1, SD/microSD slots, and an OCuLink port which allows users to connect an external GPU.

OCuLink compatibility is a rare feature in laptops, so this is a very welcome inclusion allowing the GPD Duo to handle a range of graphics-heavy workloads. The GPD Duo features an 80Wh battery that provides up to 14 hours of usage and supports 100W USB PD fast charging, reaching 50% capacity in about 30 minutes.

Weighing around 2.3 kg, the laptop has an integrated fingerprint sensor compatible with Windows Hello, a 5-megapixel camera, dual microphones, and wireless connectivity via Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3.

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