Technology

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• GIMP 3.0 release date is nearly here after a long wait
• Open source image editor is a key Photoshop rival
• New logo and host of features coming for loyal users

The long-awaited release of GIMP 3.0 is coming, according to the team behind the open source Photoshop alternative.

The GNU Image Manipulation Program, previously known as the General Image Manipulation Program, unveiled a release candidate version of the platform on November 6.

“We are very excited to share the first release candidate for the long-awaited GIMP 3.0,” the developers said in a blog post announcing the release. “We’ve been hard at work since our last development update to get this ready, and we’re looking forward to everyone finally being able to see the results.”

GIMP 3.0 release

The announcement follows years of speculation over the release of the latest version of the Photoshop-style tool, with GIMP 2.0 released in March 2004.

Since then, there have been frequent updates, including GIMP 2.4X and 2.6X in 2007, 2.8X in 2022, and the most recent release, GIMP 2.10X, from 2018 until now.

The developers behind the tool said the software version is nearing completion and set to be released to the community after final testing and bug testing has been completed.

“If user feedback reveals only small and easy to fix bugs, we will solve those problems and issue the result as GIMP 3.0,” the developers said.

“However, we hope and expect a much larger audience to try out 3.0 RC1 - including many people who have only been using 2.10 up until now."

“If larger bugs and regressions are uncovered that require more substantial code changes, we may need to publish a second release candidate for further testing.”

What this means is that, providing there are no significant issues flagged by users, the release of GIMP 3.0 could be imminent, or at least within the next few months.

What to expect with GIMP 3.0

So, what can users expect to see with the new release? First off, there’s a new logo, designed in collaboration between Aryeom and other contributors.

Developers said the iconic Wilber logo, which was created by Jakub Steiner for GIMP 2.6 in 2008, remains a “fantastic logo”, but “design trends have changed a bit in the last sixteen years”.

Elsewhere, the interface will remain recognizable for many users but has been given a bit of TLC, enabling it to better scale to high-resolution displays. A raft of icons have also been converted to scalable vector graphics as well, improving the overall quality and scalability of assets.

“One of the major improvements from the GTK3 port is that the vector UI icons now scale more cleanly based on your preference settings,” developers said.

“Our Legacy icon theme was mainly raster PNGs however, so it could not take advantage of the GTK3 scaling system. Contributor Denis Rangelov took on the extensive challenge of recreating the Legacy tool icons as SVGs.

Notably, the biggest changes in GIMP 3.0 are on the backend and will help improve plugin compatibility for users still relying on older versions of the platform.

Similarly, a public GIMP API has also been built to allow users to port GIMP 2.0 plugins and scripts to the newer version.

“Another task that had to be finished before the 3.0 release was finalizing the public API.”

“Since the API is now stable, plug-in and script developers can begin porting their 2.10 scripts based on this release.”

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• Zoom AI performance shows “leader” capabilities
• Conversational AI responses are nearly 2x faster than Microsoft Teams
• Zoom says it is committed to expanding access to AI

A recent report by software testing provider TestDevLab has claimed Zoom is leading the way when it comes to AI, good news for a company that has invested so heavily in AI recently.

The study found video conferencing software from Zoom outperforms key rivals, such as Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex, in areas like transcription accuracy, meeting summaries and conversational AI.

The news comes less than a month after Zoom announced version 2.0 of its AI Companion, which includes new capabilities like expanded context, information synthesis and the ability to take action.

Zoom claims to be better at AI than Teams, Webex

The report claimed Zoom achieved the lowest Word Error Rate (WER) in meeting transcriptions, scoring 7.40% compared with 10.16% for Webex and 11.54% for Teams, which means it has greater accuracy when it comes to keeping records.

Similarly, but with less of a distinction, Zoom outperformed Teams and Webex in terms of transcription evaluation and meeting summarization.

Speaking about the AI-generated summaries, the researchers said: “Strengths include objectivity and a clear listing of action items, while minor improvements could be made in providing a bit more context for certain terms and ensuring full completeness by covering some minor sub-discussions.”

The company also excelled in conversational AI, delivering responses in 4716.1 milliseconds on average – nearly twice as fast as Microsoft Teams (9269.9 milliseconds).

TestDevLab also analyzed prompt response stability, defined as the ability of all participants to receive a similar answer, and found that Zoom (96%) outperformed Teams (89%) and Webex (84%) by a healthy margin.

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• Researchers spot Chinese threat actor stealing login credentials from Fortinet VPN
• Thefts carried out with the help of a vulnerability discovered in 2023
• The bug is yet to be addressed, or even assigned a CVE

Cybersecurity researchers has revealed that for months now, Fortinet’s Windows VPN client has been vulnerable to a flaw which allows threat actors to steal user credentials - and Chinese hackers have reportedly now started exploiting the bug and stealing the data.

Experts from Volexity have published an in-depth report on a piece of malware called DeepData. This malware was used by a Chinese threat actor known as BrazenBamboo to steal login credentials, and VPN server information from Fortinet VPNs.

As the experts explain, after a user logs into the VPN, user credentials remain in process memory. DeepData can find and decrypt JSON objects in the client’s process memory, effectively stealing the information. As a final step, DeepData can exfiltrate the information to a server under the attackers’ control.

BrazenBamboo

Volexity found the vulnerability in early July 2024, and reported it to Fortinet. The company acknowledged the issue on July 24, however, it never acted on the findings, and the vulnerability is still unresolved. It was not even assigned a CVE number, and there is no indication when a fix might be available, if ever.

The findings are disturbing since Fortinet’s VPNs are used by many organizations of all sizes, all across the world. By obtaining login credentials, cybercriminals can gain access to company networks, which allows them to move laterally, steal more information, and potentially even deploy ransomware.

Until a patch is made available, Volexity advises users to restrict VPN access, and keep both eyes peeled for unusual login activity.

BrazenBamboo seems to be a state-sponsored threat actor, meaning it’s on China’s payroll. The researchers believe the group was the one to develop three known malware families, Lightspy, DeepData, and DeepPost. Unlike North Korean groups, who don’t shy away from deploying ransomware or other destructive malware, Chinese groups are mostly interested in cyber-espionage, and as such are usually trying their best to remain hidden for as long as possible.

Via BleepingComputer

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