TechRadar News

• Researchers have spotted a very specific SEO poisoning campaign
• The campaign is dropping a decade-old malware framework
• The end result is either a Cobalt Strike beacon, or ransomware

If you’re an Australian interested in Bengal cats, be very careful when researching the topic online, because you might get hacked.

That’s what cybersecurity researchers from Sophos said in a new report concerning a new SEO poisoning campaign that targets people searching for Bengal cats in Australia.

SEO poisoning is a malicious technique in which cybercriminals manipulate search engine results to push websites under their control to the top of search engine page results. When users open these websites, they are offered malware downloads, or phished for sensitive data.

Limited operation

In this campaign, the crooks were deploying Gootloader, a malware delivery framework used primarily to distribute various types of malware, such as ransomware and information-stealing trojans (like the Gootkit banking trojan). Sophos said they observed Cobalt Strike beacons being dropped, as well as different ransomware strains.

Gootloader has been around for a decade, and so has SEO poisoning. There is nothing out of the ordinary in the method of compromise, or the tools being deployed by the hackers. What stands out is the topic the crooks chose for their distribution - Bengal cats in Australia.

Usually, the crooks would either try to compromise as many computers as possible, or they would go for a specific high-value target, such as a financial institution, or a hospital. SEO poisoning is usually used in the former, to attack a larger cohort such as software developers, cryptocurrency users, or something similar.

In this scenario, the only people who would possibly get infected would be the ones searching “Are Bengal Cats illegal in Australia?”.

One potential reason could be that the crooks were trying to test their SEO poisoning strategies out without drawing too much attention to themselves, therefore choosing the most niche thing they could possibly find.

Via The Register

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The fraud landscape is evolving rapidly, driven by rising cyber-attacks, advancements in artificial intelligence, and increasingly sophisticated scams. In fact, our latest Experian UK Fraud and Fincrime Report 2024 shows that in 2023, fraud volumes surged by 9.3% in the UK, with third-party fraud being the most prevalent. Over half of businesses also reported increased fraud losses, and seven out of ten businesses anticipate their fraud management budgets will grow.

This situation underscores the relentless pressure on fraud teams within businesses and highlights the urgent need for robust fraud prevention strategies. A proactive and adaptive approach to fighting fraud is essential. So, what can businesses do to stay ahead in this challenging environment?

1. Adapting strategies to increased digital adoption by consumers

Recent Experian research highlights that digital transformation is accelerating at an unprecedented pace, with mobile wallet usage surging from 54% to 77%, retail app usage climbing from 36% to 76%, and over 80% of shoppers now using peer-to-peer payment apps. However, despite this shift towards digital convenience, concerns about online fraud remain significant. Identity theft, phishing scams, and stolen credit card information are among the top worries. Alarmingly, 66% of respondents are now concerned about identity theft, up from 58% in 2022.

To address these concerns, businesses should enhance security measures with multi-factor authentication, encryption, and regular audits. Educating consumers on recognizing and avoiding common fraud tactics is vital. Leveraging AI and machine learning can help detect and prevent fraudulent activities in real-time, while improving user experience ensures that security measures do not compromise convenience. Additionally, businesses should continuously monitor and adapt to the latest fraud trends and technologies to stay ahead of fraudsters, ensuring robust protection for their consumers.

2. Continue to invest and leverage AI for fraud prevention

AI technologies are becoming indispensable in modern fraud prevention. While investment in AI-powered measures is on the rise, our fraud report shows that the adoption of machine learning and generative AI tools remains modest. However, this trend is expected to shift soon, as businesses recognize the imperative to outpace fraudsters employing advanced AI techniques into 2025.

In addition, businesses recognize the impact on overall growth and innovation with our latest report, Experian TechUK GenAI Rating Momentum report highlighting that generative AI specifically could add up to £120 billion to the UK economy annually over the next decade. Interestingly, when looking at specific technologies, physical biometrics are gaining traction, with 84% of businesses in our research preferring methods such as facial recognition and fingerprint scans. Yet, behavioral biometrics, which analyze patterns like typing speed and touch pressure, are underutilized despite their proven effectiveness. Currently, only 25% of businesses invest in behavioral biometrics, though 79% express high confidence in its potential.

We believe integrating behavioral biometrics can significantly reduce false positives and enhance the accuracy of fraud detection systems. Therefore, businesses should consider making it a crucial investment for future-proofing security measures as soon as possible.

3. Address money mules and money laundering

Money muling and laundering remain considerable challenges. Money mules, who transfer illegally obtained money, are critical in financial crime networks. Our report shows that 42% of first-party current account fraud involves money muling, often perpetrated by younger adults with poor credit scores who may be the complicit victims of mule herders. Money laundering losses are rising, with nearly two-thirds of retail banks and 52% of businesses reporting increases. Over 53% of businesses plan to boost their Anti-Money Laundering (AML) budgets in 2024, driven by regulatory changes and the need for stronger anti-fraud measures.

To tackle money muling and laundering, businesses should enhance employee training, strengthen customer due diligence, and invest in advanced technology to detect suspicious activities. Collaborating with law enforcement and increasing AML budgets are also crucial. Regular audits and public awareness campaigns can further mitigate risks. These strategies will help businesses comply with regulations and protect their financial integrity.

4. Future-proof fraud strategies

A unified approach is fundamental in the fight against fraud. Integrating fraud and AML teams can enhance efficiency and effectiveness. Sharing data and coordinating responses across units can significantly improve an organization's ability to tackle financial crime. Strengthening partnerships with industry stakeholders is key to achieving this. Consumer education is also vital; raising awareness about fraud types can empower people to protect themselves.

Ultimately it is crystal clear that as fraud tactics evolve, businesses need to be proactive, vigilant and to adapt their fraud strategies as well. This includes investing in advanced technologies, educating consumers, and fostering collaboration among fraud prevention units to help safeguard and navigate the ever-changing landscape of financial crime. There is no time to lose, so businesses should act without delay.

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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

• Security researchers spot new malware framework called Winos4.0
• It is capable of monitoring the clipboard, gathering system information, and more
• The attackers seem to be targeting the educational sector

Experts have detected a new malicious software framework targeting Windows users by hiding in games and game-related software.

A report from cybersecurity researchers FortiGuard Labs, which named the framework “Winos4.0”, claims hackers have been advertising different installation tools, performance boosters, optimizers, and similar fake software that actually infects the targets with Winos4.0, an advanced version of Gh0strat.

Winos4.0 is capable of monitoring the clipboard, gathering system information, checking for antivirus software, grabbing information from cryptocurrency wallet extensions, and more.

Winos4.0 attacks

Usually, software frameworks such as this one are capable of causing plenty of damage. Compared to “simple” malware, a framework provides an environment for deploying, managing, and controlling different malware tools and modules, as part of a coordinated attack. Frameworks are modular and allow attackers to tailor and control attacks based on their objectives and responses from target systems.

When it comes to the campaign’s success, and potential victims, FortiGuard Labs does not go into much detail, aside that the victims were most likely in the education industry: “Analysis of the decoded DLL file reveals a potential targeting of the education sector, as indicated by its file description, “校园政务” (Campus Administration),” the researchers said at one point of the report.

In another, they described a DLL file named “学籍系统,” meaning “Student Registration System,” - another piece of evidence suggesting that the attackers could be targeting educational organizations.

“Winos4.0 is a powerful framework, similar to Cobalt Strike and Sliver, that can support multiple functions and easily control compromised systems. Threat campaigns leverage Game-related applications to lure a victim to download and execute the malware without caution and successfully deploy deep control of the system,” the researchers warned. “The entire attack chain involves multiple encrypted data and lots of C2 communication to complete the injection. Users should be aware of any new application's source and only download the software from qualified sources.”

Via Infosecurity Magazine

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Today, digital commerce is a primary business driver for retailers, brands, and distributors. According to an analysis of US Census Bureau data by research firm Stratably, 2024 revenue from digital is projected to grow 8.4% in the U.S. market compared to in-store growth of 1.2%.

As digital commerce has grown in importance there has been a corresponding explosion of downstream channels where brand manufacturers must send content, from retail stores to marketplaces to social shopping and direct-to-consumer websites. Each of these channels has distinct rules for the product data they will accept and these rules change often; Target, Walmart and Amazon changed their data ingestion requirements nearly 1,000 times combined in 2023. The reasons for these changes vary: differing regional regulatory requirements, unique merchandising opportunities the channel requires, or varying rates of digital maturity between the channels.

These constant changes make it exceedingly difficult for business teams to keep their data organized and optimized for each destination. It's equally difficult for IT teams to maintain data governance and traceability of the enterprise’s product data as its sent so frequently to so many different channels. To achieve success, many organizations use a Product Information Management (PIM) system to centralize and store product data, but the architecture of a classic stand-alone PIM solution isn’t designed to support digital commerce. In fact, it may impede success.

Product experience management (PXM) solutions, on the other hand, were built for digital commerce and are already seeing widespread adoption by brands, retailers, and distributors looking to centralize, connect, and automate the product data that powers digital, omnichannel commerce.

How do PIM and PXM solutions compare, and which is best enabled to help your team win in digital commerce?

Features of a Classic PIM

Classic PIMs were created to manage internal data against an internal data schema. IT teams define the schema’s attributes and properties across relational databases, cleanse their data, and then load that data into the PIM to create a single “golden record” for each product.

Key Classic PIM use cases include:

The “Golden Record”: The PIM category emerged when the critical need for IT leaders was to centralize disparate product information, creating a single “golden record” for each product via relational databases based on an internal data schema. However, the golden record has lost relevance as business teams must now store, manage, optimize, and deliver hundreds or even thousands of continually optimizable golden records based on external schemas and requirements. Failing to do so could result in product data never being published, lost search rank and ultimately, and lost sales.

Rigid Data Management: Classic PIMs effectively aim to prevent changes once the data has been entered into the predetermined schema, creating a rigid data management process that makes it both difficult and expensive to update data; business teams rarely have access to change any of the data or attributes in the PIM and doing so requires going through IT or a third party PIM vendor. However, with endpoints changing their requirements so frequently, a system that will enable success in commerce must actively enable, not prevent, revisions to data as business teams optimize product information for delivery to each endpoint.

The PXM Use Case

PXMs are a blend of PIM back-office data management functionality with front-office, market-facing capability. They incorporate PIM features like hierarchy, taxonomy, and governance while adding on additional major capability areas to support digital commerce, including:

Multichannel data management: Management of channel-specific data schemas, values, and validation, allowing users to store a golden record while simultaneously storing versions of the product record that meet the requirements of each data destination.

Channel connectivity: Connectivity to channel destinations, such as Amazon and Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN), to get information to market faster, often via different mechanisms tailored to each destination.

Collaborative workflows: Workflows that typically involve people in other businesses, such as third-party agencies, distribution partners, or downstream retail customers.

Enhanced content: More types of data and attributes, including assets to support content like videos, comparison charts, and lifestyle imagery.

Enterprise-wide user access: Administrative features to enable many users to access and use the product data for their own workstreams (e.g., legal, retail media, service, and support teams).

Automation: Automation to drive cross-team collaboration; proactive alerts about content gaps and errors; AI-driven content generation and recommendations; and more.

PXM solutions were designed to be a flexible (not rigid) system of record that can store a core product record just like a PIM, while still allowing transformations of that record to meet each endpoint’s unique requirements. These key features of PXMs allow teams to collaborate to keep up with the pace of digital commerce, driving success for their organizations.

An Expansion of the PIM Category

PXM solutions were initially worse at product information management than PIM solutions but better at syndication, connecting product information to various destinations on the digital shelf to drive sales for the enterprise.

Today, PXM solutions actually provide better data management than classic PIM solutions. They’re designed to create and manage the golden record, which is the primary goal of a PIM solution, and connect this information to the digital shelf to drive enterprise sales — all while maintaining adaptability to constantly changing market requirements.

PXM solutions can do everything PIM solutions can, but PIM solutions can’t do everything PXM solutions can. This represents a fundamental expansion of the definition of the product information management category, which has created a new category altogether.

PIM for commerce will cease to exist

The product information management category is one in transition, with PXM solutions driving a fundamental expansion of the basic use case for systems that store product information.

Anyone buying a classic PIM solution for commerce will have to either replace it or add a PXM solution sooner rather than later and eventually, PIM-only software solutions will become obsolete.

On the other hand, innovation and investment in PXM is advancing rapidly. It’s an exciting space that will continue revolutionizing shopper experiences to drive significant value to the enterprise.

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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

• No Man’s Sky PS5 Pro enhancements are available now
• This includes PSSR support and improved visuals
• An 8K 30fps mode has also been added

Developer Hello Games has revealed some new details about the PlayStation 5 Pro enhancements available for No Man’s Sky. The patch was secretly shipped as part of the recent 'The Cursed' update, meaning that those who placed a PS5 Pro pre-order will be able to play it right away if the console arrives today.

First and foremost, the implementation of PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) now allows the game to run at a 4K resolution at 60 fps with much smoother performance than on the base PS5 console. No Man’s Sky will also be one of the few titles to support an 8K resolution, though the frame rate will understandably be capped at 30fps in this display mode.

The PS5 Pro version of the game will also feature dramatically improved visual quality across the board, including improved lighting, ultra quality reflections, and better ambient occlusion. The developer says that this will allow players to “explore the most beautiful and detailed alien worlds No Man's Sky has to offer, for the first time on console”.

It's coming to PSVR 2, too

Judging by some early 8K screenshots, the game does look pretty impressive overall. Surprisingly, these improvements will also be coming to PSVR 2 - which has been rather neglected by a lot of developers of late. This could be a huge bonus for owners of the pricey VR hardware who otherwise might not have too much to play.

No Man’s Sky first launched for PS4 back in 2016 to a lukewarm reception. It has since received a series of content-rich free updates that have helped turn it into one of the most expansive and detailed space exploration games on the market.

It is one of 50 games that have been confirmed to be PS5 Pro enhanced at launch. Other supported titles include Alan Wake 2, Demon’s Souls, Dead Island 2, and Lies of P.

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• 'Intelligent garden' co-designed with Microsoft to go on show in 2025
• Sensors track garden health with AI model trained on the plant data
• Visitors can also ask the garden questions and get replies

AI could soon take the guesswork out of gardening and let you have conversational chats with your lawn and plants. By monitoring environmental factors and feeding them into a model trained on plant data, so-called 'intelligent gardens' could soon be able to tell you when to water, trim and or fertilize your patch.

That’s the promise of the Avanade ‘Intelligent’ Garden, which will appear at next year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show in the UK. Created by garden designer Tom Massey in collaboration with Microsoft, the showpiece plot will be embedded with an array of sensors which feed real-time information into an AI model.

Those sensors will track factors such as soil moisture, pH and nutrient levels, air quality, temperature and rainfall. This information alone would be beneficial to anyone tending a garden, but the benefit of the dynamic AI model is that it’s proactive in tracking conditions and predicting changes.

The designer Tom Massey told The Guardian that the garden will be interactive, too. For example, visitors could ask "how are you?" and “it could answer: I need a bit more water, I can do with a haircut, maybe”, he added.

In short, it can tell its horticultural keepers how it’s feeling and what it needs.

An artist's impression of the Avanada 'intelligent' garden, which will be on show at the 2025 Chelsea Flower Show in the UK. (Image credit: The Royal Horticultural Society)

This will be in evidence at the UK's Chelsea Flower Show (from May 20 – 24, 2025), where visitors to the pavilion can interact with a digital version of the smart garden. It will ‘respond’ to visitor queries by drawing on live data, giving an immediate picture of its health.

Beyond the novelty factor, the idea here is not just to make the lives of gardeners easier. One of the primary motivations behind the installation is to promote the efficient use of resources. By understanding exactly what’s going on in the garden, its caretakers can give it just what it needs – and nothing more.

Water conservation is one example. Whether you use a hose or a sprinkler system, most gardens are watered to a schedule, rather than when the plants actually need it. In an intelligent garden, watering would be based on soil moisture levels, even down to specific areas.

So instead of over-watering the entire plot, a gardener could receive an alert that just one section needs a top-up. In larger gardens with automated systems, these could be activated based on the same data.

A smarter garden

The Smart Moisture Sensor from Holman Industries measures soil moisture and temperature. (Image credit: Holman Industries)

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen the use of smart garden sensors. The Netatmo Smart Home Weather Station, for example, can be paired with a Smart Rain Gauge to accurately track rainfall, along with other environmental data. With that information, you can work out whether your garden needs a drink.

Holman also makes a Smart Moisture Sensor, which connects to one of its tap timer irrigation systems via Wi-Fi. This monitors soil moisture and temperature, then automatically adjusts your watering schedule to help reduce wastage. But 'intelligent gardens' promise to take that to a new level with conversational interfaces and more.

Sensors like these will be the primary data source in any intelligent garden. What AI adds to the equation is the ability to bring it all together in a dynamic, predictive model. By processing live information, it can create a picture of the health of an entire garden. Over time, it will be able to anticipate what a garden needs, learn seasonal shifts and detect any anomalies in growing conditions.

The real-world application of this technology is clear. Not only will it limit waste and, in doing so, cut your water bills, but it will fundamentally help you to keep your plants alive and flourishing.

This isn’t just about being a lazy gardener: in a world affected by climate change, understanding what green spaces need to stay healthy will become increasingly crucial.

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ChatGPT has just paid a reported 15.5 million dollars for the URL chat.com, making it easier to get to ChaGPT. Now when you type Chat.com into your browser you’ll be redirected to ChatGPT.com. The move sparks rumors that the ChatGPT chatbot and search engine could be about to undergo a rebrand so it is better able to compete with rivals like Google.

The redirect was announced on X.com on Wednesday when Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, posted a tweet containing just the URL, chat.com.

https://t.co/n494J9IuENNovember 6, 2024

The announcement prompted immediate speculation from X.com users about whether OpenAI was going to drop the “GPT” part of the name altogether.

The chat.com domain was previously owned by Dharmesh Shah, the founder and CTO of HubSpot, who claimed in a LinkedIn post to have paid $10 million for it in 2023, but had sold it a couple of months later for “more than I paid for it”. At the time he said, “I'm not at liberty to disclose details on who the purchaser was or the price paid. Sorry.”

What's in a name?

Searching for the web for the best laptop using ChatGPT search. (Image credit: Shutterstock / Primakov)

It’s easy to forget how new the generative AI field is. As with any emerging field of technology, brand names tend to come and go quite quickly. Google started by calling its AI Bard, but this was dropped in favor of Gemini. Recently there has been speculation that Microsoft is not happy with its Copilot AI name, and is considering "Windows Intelligence". The move would be perhaps seen as a little too close to what Apple is doing with Apple Intelligence.

The GPT part of ChatGPT stands for Generative Pre-training Transformer and refers to the type of large language model (LLM) that uses the transformer architecture but is hardly a brilliant brand name. The URL chat.com is much more memorable, and as Sharmesh Shah said when he originally purchased the URL “chat.com is absolutely brilliant in terms of simplicity, shortness and being totally *on point* and meeting the moment. It immediately creates user trust. Somebody (not me) will build a massively successful product/company on it.”

OpenAI, the makers of ChatGPT, recently launched the equally cumbersomely-named AI search engine, ChatGPT search, despite owning the much more catchy URL, SearchGPT. In September the company announced that it would be releasing a new series of LLMs starting with “o1”, which recently saw the light of day, just for a few short hours, by mistake.

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• Rumors suggest a Ricoh GR IV is set for release in the first quarter of 2025
• A surprise monochrome variation could follow later in the year
• No leaked specs yet, though a Ricoh GR IV would update the GR III

Ricoh could launch the latest model in its popular line of premium compact cameras, a would-be named Ricoh GR IV, as soon as the first quarter of 2025. That's according to a source for Fuji Rumors, who also suggests another surprise model could follow later in the year, a monochrome version the same camera.

At the start of the year, I placed a potential Ricoh GR IV in a shortlist of most exciting cameras for 2024 and with good reason. It's an alternative take on the wildly popular Fujifilm X100VI, being a truly pocketable compact camera with large APS-C sensor, sharp fixed lens and superb image quality.

I got my hopes up a couple of months after that article when Ricoh announced a new GR digital compact, only for it to be a niche variation of the GR III / GR IIIx with highlight diffusion filter (check out our Ricoh GR III HDF review for more on that one).

A Ricoh GR IV still hasn't materialized, but that could be set to change within the next few months if the latest rumors prove true. I personally own a Ricoh GR IIIx and love it, but it's far from perfect and I have previously written about the 5 things I want to see in a potential GR IV.

Let's take a look at what we can reasonably expect from a future Ricoh GR IV and if it could indeed be a compelling X100VI alternative.

Me with my truly pocketable Ricoh GR IIIx, a variation of the GR III with a 40mm lens. (Image credit: Future) A potential headache for Fujifilm?

Having the GR IIIx as an everyday camera, I've built up a wishlist of improvements in a successor. Here's what I'd like to see Ricoh do with a fourth generation model of its GR series of digital compact cameras:

1. Keep the size the same
2. Add a built-in flash
3. Improve build quality
4. Add a tilt LCD
5. Improve autofocus

I unpack those points in the five things I want to see article. If Ricoh were able to implement those upgrades, the Ricoh GR IV would be a superb little snapper. It still wouldn't match the versatility and all-round performance of the Fujifilm X100VI, which has a hybrid viewfinder that I adore, but in a way it doesn't have to for it to be worth your attention.

Each camera is a different proposition. I opted for the GR IIIx more than two years ago instead of the Fujifilm X100V (which was the latest X100 model back then) because it's so small and can slip into a trouser pocket, knowing that there would be performance and handling-based compromises. Ultimately, a tiny camera with large image sensor is Ricoh's winning recipe.

And with demand continuing to overwhelm supply for the X100VI months after its launch, following the X100V going viral, Ricoh could swoop in with a credible alternative. Will it be a big upgrade from the GR III? History suggests otherwise, and that it'll just be a few tweaks. I hope to be proven wrong.

Should Fujifilm be worried? I don't think so – besides the X100VI still likely being a more powerful camera than an upcoming GR IV, it's still reaping the rewards of its popularity on TikTok. On the other hand, a monochrome version of the GR IV would be an entirely different proposition from Fujifilm.

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• AMD data center revenue has officially passed that of rival Intel
• Intel’s revenue down year-on-year, but hopes next quarter should be better
• Nvidia remains the market leader for AI chips by a long shot

AMD has overtaken Intel in the data center CPU market for the first time ever as both firms battle for leadership in what has become a highly lucrative area thanks to the computational needs of new AI tools.

New SemiAnalysis research claims AMD’s data center segment revenue reached $3.549 billion in the third quarter of 2024, a slight touch above Intel’s $3.3 billion figure for the same period.

While the upward trend marks a positive point for AMD, its total data center revenue is still below Nvidia’s networking revenue alone. Early to the market, Nvidia has profited off the AI boom and now has a market cap of more than $3 trillion, making it one of just three companies to have crossed that line.

AMD’s data center revenue is more than Intel’s

The news comes as Intel continues to struggle financially, following several rounds of layoffs and other cost-cutting measures.

This is despite Intel’s Xeon processors being synonymous with data centers, powering many of the world’s servers. Increased pressure from AMD, with its EPYC processors, is adding to the financial stress at Intel.

It’s also worth noting AMD’s top-tier 96-core EPYC 6979P processor costs around $11,800, or $6,000 less than Intel’s flagship 128-core Xeon 6980P Granite Rapids processor. The added cost-effectiveness has undoubtedly played into data center operators’ purchasing decisions.

Intel recently confirmed quarterly revenue of $13.3 billion, down 6% from the $14.2 billion in revenue it made one year before. The decline was anticipated, though, and CEO Pat Gelsinger indicated satisfaction with the company’s “solid progress” to drive operational efficiency.

The company expects around $13.3 billion in revenue next quarter at the low point, and $14.3 billion at the high point.

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• The UK Government is introducing an AI safety platform
• It hopes the move could unlock £6.5 billion of growth in the next 10 years
• The Government wants to make the UK a global hub of AI expertise

A new AI safety platform for businesses in the UK has been announced as part of the latest government plan to make the country a hub for technological development.

The platform will provide organisations with tools to develop and use AI safely, hoping to build trust in the technology.

The platform will include guidance and practical resources which will assist businesses with impact assessments and evaluations, as well as reviewing data used in AI systems to identify bias.

A boost for the British market

The AI boom isn’t going anywhere, but a lack of public and business trust in AI products is still a major shortcoming, so the safety framework will look to reassure business leaders by identifying and mitigating the potential risks posed by AI.

The Government has predicted using such tools will help contribute to £6.5 billion in growth by 2035, kickstarting UK tech advancement. The adoption of AI systems in the UK could certainly use a foundation of trust, so the new platform hopes to address uneasiness amongst business leaders.

“AI has incredible potential to improve our public services, boost productivity and rebuild our economy but, in order to take full advantage, we need to build trust in these systems which are increasingly part of our day to day lives,” said Peter Kyle, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology.

“The steps I’m announcing today will help to deliver exactly that – giving businesses the support and clarity they need to use AI safely and responsibly while also making the UK a true hub of AI assurance expertise,” he continued.

The government is pushing for technological development across the board, with the designation of data centers as critical infrastructure and the potential for a streamlined process for AI expert’s visa applications all part of a vision for the UK in the global tech world.

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The latest Android updates are rolling out to Google Pixel devices, and while the leaked details Verizon had shared talked about the bug fixes and security improvements the patches would provide one thing the leak missed, the inclusion of a much anticipated battery feature: charging limits.

Rather than needing to completely fill your phone’s battery every time you plug it in, this Android 15 tool would allow your device to limit charging once it reaches 80%. The advantage here is that overcharging your phone can be detrimental to its battery health – causing it to run dry faster as time goes on. Over time, stopping charging early means your phone at 80% might last a lot longer than an identical device that is left charging to 100% overnight every night.

The feature was spotted by a Pixel user and shared by Android Authority with an image that shows the new feature in the user’s phone’s Settings – it’s in the Battery settings menu, in the Charging Optimization sub-section if you want to look for it on your device.

We’ve updated a Google Pixel 7 to the now live software AP3A.241105.007 version (it’ll be version AP3A.241105.008 for Google Pixel 9 phones) and don’t see it unfortunately, so it could be this tool is still being gradually released – or was accidentally shared with some users early. It’s one to look out for though once you’ve updated your Pixel device as this battery optimization tool could help you greatly in keeping your smartphone’s battery healthy for a long time.

Other AI updates on the way?

(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)

While we’re waiting to hear more about what features are coming in future Android 15 updates, one upgrade we might see from Google soon is its Jarvis AI assistant. Google accidentally leaked its AI that browses the web for you on the Chrome extension store before quickly removing it.

While not much is known about Jarvis, it’s expected to be a more automated version of Gemini that can perform tasks in Chrome with less frequent user input – like researching flight and travel options for your next trip or looking up holiday gift options while you’re doing something else.

Chrome extensions are reserved for Chromebooks and PCs but we wouldn’t be surprised if a mobile version of Jarvis came to Android and iOS fairly quickly – with the app researching and performing tasks in Chrome in the background while you play another round of Marvel Snap or binge YouTube videos.

Even if Jarvis doesn’t come to mobile right away we expect Android 15’s next update will pack at least a few AI updates. As soon as we know more we’ll be sure to share the details with you.

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• It was recently reported that Apple had stopped worked on a smart ring
• A new leak suggests it might still be developing one
• It is also apparently working on a new band-type wearable and smart glasses

Just weeks after we were told that Apple is no longer developing a smart ring, a fresh leak suggests that there might still be hope for Apple's fabled next wearable.

Apple has reportedly been working on a smart ring for years, possibly buoyed by the success of the best smart rings on the market, notably the Oura Ring 4 and Samsung Galaxy Ring.

However, a top Apple insider put paid to those rumors recently, with Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reporting in October that "Apple isn’t actively developing a ring and has no plans to launch one."

Now, according to leaker yeux1122, writing on the South Korean blog Naver, there might still be hope. Apparently, "Apple is also still developing a ring-type wearable," and two more secret products besides.

Don't give up on the Apple smart ring just yet

(Image credit: Future)

The report claims that alongside this "ring-type wearable", Apple is also attempting to develop "band-type and smart glass-type wearable devices", the former of which could point to some kind of iteration on the Apple Watch or a more dedicated fitness tracker.

While not exactly a household name, the yeux1122 account is a known Apple leaker with a previous track record of accurately reporting Apple's plans ahead of time. Most recently, the account shared images ahead of the launch of the new Milanese Loop band for its new best Apple Watch, the Apple Watch Series 10. Unfortunately, yeux1122's word is up against that of Mark Gurman here, who is undoubtedly the world's premier Apple insider.

That being said, Gurman has been wrong before, so we can definitely hold on to at least a glimmer of hope that the Apple smart ring might one day see the light of day.

In the meantime, the company continues to focus on health when it comes to its Apple Watches, the latest of which brought with it advanced sleep apnea notifications that can detect early signs of the disease and encourage users to seek medical care.

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• Security researchers observed a new threat campaign dubbed SteelFox
• It uses fake activators and cracks to deploy a vulnerable driver, an infostealer, and a cryptominer
• The victims are found all over the world, from Brazil to China

Hackers are targeting Windows systems with malware that mines cryptocurrencies and steals sensitive information from the devices, experts have warned.

A new report from Kaspersky claims to have spotted tens of thousands of infected endpoints already, as the cybercriminals have started advertising fake cracks and activators for different commercial software, such as Foxit PDF Editor, JetBrains, or AutoCAD.

The fake cracks come with a vulnerable driver called WinRing0.sys. By adding this driver to the system, the victim reintroduces CVE-2020-14979 and CVE-2021-41285, three- and four-year-old vulnerabilities that grant the attackers highest possible privileges.

SteelFox

Through these vulnerabilities, the crooks are able to drop XMRig, one of the most popular cryptojackers out there. XMRig uses the victim’s computing power, electricity, and internet, to mine Monero and other cryptocurrencies, but renders the device practically useless for the owner. Crypto-mining aside, the hackers also drop an infostealer that can pull data from 13 web browsers, system information, data about the network it’s connected to, as well as RDP connection.

The browser data the infostealer grabs includes browsing history, session cookies, and credit card information. Although not specifically mentioned, it’s safe to assume the malware also steals information related to cryptocurrency wallet browser addons.

Kaspersky named the campaign “SteelFox” and claims to have observed and blocked SteelFox attacks 11,000 times so far - so we can speculate the number of attacks is a lot, lot higher.

The victims seem to be scattered all over the world, meaning that SteelFox operators are casting a wide net, with the majority of compromised endpoints found in Brazil, China, Russia, Mexico, UAE, Egypt, Algeria, Vietnam, India, and Sri Lanka.

Malicious cryptocurrency miners have been around for as long as blockchain itself, but with Bitcoin surging in price after the recent US presidential elections, we can probably expect to see more infections in the months to come.

Via BleepingComputer

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• Notepad is getting a rewrite feature and generative fill is coming to Paint
• There are a fair few more AI abilities coming too, including generative erase
• One of the most impressive, generative fill, will only come to Copilot+ PCs

Windows 11’s Paint and Notepad stock apps have been worked on considerably in the recent past, and are getting some new AI features – albeit they’re only in testing for now.

Microsoft tells us that updates for these apps have started to roll out to testers in the Canary and Dev channels (which are the two earliest test channels).

Let’s start with Notepad which is getting a new ‘Rewrite’ ability. This works as you might imagine – you select some text, then fire up the tool which uses generative AI to do what it says on the tin, rewriting those words.

You get three different rewrites to choose from, and it’s possible to fine-tune the AI’s responses, so you can ask for something longer, for example, or in a different tone.

This ability is rolling out to testers in the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, and Italy. As with most of the new features here, it’ll require you to be signed in with a Microsoft account.

(Image credit: Microsoft)

There’s another non-AI benefit for Notepad here in that the app will launch faster. Microsoft claims that Notepad will open more than 35% more swiftly, with some Windows 11 users seeing a speed boost of 55% or maybe even more. So, Notepad should be considerably nippier when appearing on your desktop.

Painting clever

Moving on to Paint, this core app is getting a feature called ‘generative fill’ which can be used to easily add an AI-generated element to an image.

The example Microsoft shows is a person making a landscape who decides they want a castle in the picture. So, they simply select the area where they want it situated, and feed the AI a prompt – in this case ‘medieval castle’ – and Paint goes through its processing for some seconds before the castle appears.

It’s nice and seamlessly integrated into the landscape, too, although we guess as ever with AI, the results could be variable. If you don’t like what Paint has provided, you can ask it to try again, and generative fill will run once more to deliver a different take on a castle (or whatever it is you want).

Moving from creation to destruction, we have ‘generative erase’ also inbound for Paint. This lets you highlight an element in an image – a person in the foreground for example – and it’ll be removed, with Paint filling in the empty space left to match the background. Again, it’s clever stuff.

In this case, you brush over the area to be erased, allowing for a more fine-tuned selection than generative fill where you draw a box.

(Image credit: Microsoft via Unsplash ) Analysis: Copilot+ caveats

These are some pretty nifty AI-powered abilities with some slight caveats. The main one being that Paint’s generative fill is only going to be available with Copilot+ PCs that have a Snapdragon (Arm) CPU initially. We presume it’ll come to other (non-Arm) Copilot+ PCs soon enough – but as to whether Windows 11 users with a ‘normal’ PC will ever get it, that might not be the case (as it may require the beefy NPU which is a requirement for a Copilot+ machine).

All the other features are coming to non-Copilot+ devices, mind, but there’s another bonus here for Copilot+ PC owners. This is that Cocreator in Paint – which is also exclusive to these Windows 11 devices, and creates AI-generated images from scratch – has been made faster, with fine-tuning to its “underlying diffusion-based model” as Microsoft explains. So, everything you do with Cocreator should happen more swiftly.

The other potential catch, we guess, is that this is more fuel to the fire of discontent for some users who think that Notepad is getting beefed up too much with features – those folks would no doubt say bloated – and that this is at odds with its core philosophy. That said, at least the freshly introduced sizeable performance boost for booting the app will go down well.

All of these features are still in early testing, as noted, so it could be some time before they hit PCs running the release version of Windows 11. Microsoft sounds like it’s being cautious with the rollout in testing, as it’s going to “monitor feedback and see how it lands” before pushing these updates to more Windows Insiders. Even if you’re a tester, then, you may not see these new features for a while yet.

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• Crowdfunded product Muse Ring One claims to be able to monitor blood pressure
• The Muse team says it's analyzed over 4,000 test users to identify the correct way to measure BP
• If true, it'll have cracked LED-based BP measurement before many smartwatches

Whether it's fall detection, an ECG, blood oxygen monitoring or running third-party apps, the best smartwatches grow in scope as personal health each year (or, if it's an Apple Watch, they do the opposite and wind back features due to a patent dispute!).

Still, there's something that's eluded all of them so far: accurate blood pressure monitoring technology. It's the kind of technology that has clear benefits, and it's seemingly becoming closer to being a reality, but not in the way you may think. The Huawei Watch D2 and its predecessor only manage it through a connected band with expanding cuff-style bladders.

One wearable tech company claims to have cracked it. It's not Apple, Google, or Samsung that's leading the charge, but a company called Muse Wearables in India, which hopes to release the best smart ring for blood pressure monitoring.

The Muse Ring One could do what your smartwatch can't

(Image credit: Muse Ring One )

An Indiegogo campaign from November of last year, the Muse Ring One is seemingly targeting an initial release to backers in early 2025.

It's taken a fair while to come to fruition, then, but could be worth the wait. It's fitted with research-grade sensors and will monitor blood oxygen, skin temperature, respiratory rate, and, the big one, blood pressure.

The Muse team says it's analyzed five million data points from over 4,000 test users to identify the correct way to measure blood pressure, and if they're right, it could be a market leader in this category.

Combined with contactless payments and multiple color options, it has the potential to be a breakout – but time will tell. It's not priced cheaply at $349 (around £270 / AU$525), which is a good indicator that it could be a legitimate contender.

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• Samsung has shown off a next-gen version of Bixby
• For the time being it's exclusive to China
• The upgrade makes Bixby more like Gemini or ChatGPT

Samsung is upgrading Bixby to better compete in the age of ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, and Apple Intelligence: the company just unveiled a next-gen Bixby app, powered by LLM (large language model) AI.

This news comes from SamMobile, reporting on the launch of the Samsung W25 and Samsung W25 Flip foldables. The new phones are similar to the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and the Galaxy Z Flip 6, though they're exclusive to China.

This new and improved Bixby is also exclusive to these devices and to China, at least for now. It's not clear how long it's going to take for the upgrade to reach the best Samsung phones in the rest of the world, though Samsung will surely want to get its top AI tech out to as many people as it can, as quickly as possible.

Samsung has of course gone all in on AI in the last year or so – though its Galaxy AI features reference Google Gemini more than Bixby – and we did hear back in July that the Samsung AI assistant was in line for a ChatGPT-style boost.

What next-gen Bixby can do

Samsung hasn't forgotten Bixby (Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)

According to Samsung, the next-gen Bixby can understand "complex user instructions" that combine multiple commands in a single sentence, and will be able to extract information from what's on screen (like maps or photos).

We've also got a more modern interface to look forward to, when this new Bixby turns up outside of China, giving Bixby a better chance of seriously competing against all the other AI assistants its up against.

In one of the demos Samsung showed off, you can ask next-gen Bixby about what you should wear based on the current weather. It's also capable of taking you step by step through how to do something on your phone (like adding a watermark to an image), and will remember the context of what you've already talked about.

Text and voice input are both supported, and Bixby can be summoned from any screen and from any app on a phone. Expect to see it join the other Galaxy AI features across more regions soon – possibly when One UI 7 rolls out at the start of next year.

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• A new benchmark for the M4 Max suggests the M4 Ultra could surpass the RTX 4090
• This could strengthen Apple’s position within the gaming market
• Cyberpunk 2077 is a strong indication of the M4 family’s power and performance

Apple’s lineup of M4 chips is expected to significantly enhance performance across all Macs, and the M4 Ultra could take the lead by a landslide - as new rumors suggest it could even outperform the RTX 4090 GPU - the most powerful consumer graphics card in the world.

As noted by Wccftech, this comes from Yadim Yuryev (from Max Tech on YouTube), who shares his expectation of the M4 Ultra scoring ‘330,000’ on the Geekbench 6 test using the OpenCL API. This beats the RTX 4090’s current OpenCL score of 317,379, with the M4 Max sitting at 192,812.

Based on rumors of the M4 Ultra doubling the M4 Max’s GPU cores, Yuryev’s projection appears plausible, at least for both Vulkan and OpenCL APIs which are responsible for 3D graphics rendering allowing developers to optimize games for different GPU hardware. He claims ‘the GPU scaling from the leaked M4 Pro score to M4 Max is 78% higher performance’, with a safe bet of the M4 Ultra maintaining ‘worse scaling at 70% higher performance’ with the estimated 330,000 score.

This could place the M4 Ultra above Nvidia’s flagship GPU if accurate, but it’s important to note that this wouldn’t be across the board - this is an early benchmark test, after all, and the M4 Ultra hasn’t even been announced by Apple, so this performance claim is based on extrapolating M4 Max results, which obviously isn’t an exact science.

While Apple continues to work on expanding the Mac gaming library, there are still far too many popular games that aren’t available on the platform, but this is a step in the right direction for the Cupertino company.

(Image credit: Nvidia/Future) What could this mean for Apple’s place within the gaming market?

Considering the rumors regarding specifications, it’s clear that Apple is packing some serious power with the M4 chips. The projected M4 Ultra performance in the aforementioned APIs could finally allow Macs to compete with the best gaming laptops and gaming PCs.

Should we be surprised? I don’t think so - especially after CD Projekt Red’s announcement of Cyberpunk 2077 making its way over to the platform. It’s one of the most demanding games in this generation in terms of system requirements, so I think that alone should act as a strong indication of just how powerful the M4 chips could be (specifically the M4 Ultra) - and how confident Apple is about the gaming performance of its latest devices.

Defeating Nvidia’s RTX 4090 in graphical performance (even if by a little) is a feat that must not be understated, and this could be the time for Apple fans to ramp up excitement levels…

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• Reports claim Outlook Classic is crashing if users open 60+ emails at once
• Avoid opening that many or use a workaround that might affect your entire system
• Microsoft is investigating the issue, hopefully a patch will follow imminently

Microsoft has confirmed a bug in the Classic version of Outlook for Office 365 users is causing the mail app to crash when they open more than 60 emails at the same time.

The issue, which results in a memory error message, causes the app to crash and shut down, which means users will lose their place when multitasking.

Microsoft has acknowledged the issue with its email service, and confirmed it has a team of engineers investigating the issue, but for now, users are being warned not to open more than 60 emails in one go.

Outlook Classic is crashing for some users

Microsoft shared the error message: “Sorry, we’re having trouble opening this item. This could be temporary, but if you see it again you might want to restart Outlook. Out of memory or system resources. Close some windows or programs and try again.”

Users may also see a different popup: “Out of memory or system resources. Close some windows or programs and try again.

Although it looks like the company is currently working on a fix, any workaround could introduce its own set of challenges. “Increasing the process quota could lead to overall system instability,” said Microsoft, which suggested that broader system instability could be a result of any system tweaks.

The cause of the issue is unconfirmed, but Microsoft indicated that user interface objects might be to blame for the sudden crashing of Outlook Classic.

Apart from limiting the number of emails they open or increasing the process quota for user objects, users will have to wait for Microsoft to issue a patch.

TechRadar Pro has asked Microsoft to confirm whether and when a patch will be available. Any update will be shared here.

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• A Korean news article suggests Samsung is working on a tri-fold phone
• The rumor follows others pointing to new folding phone models from the tech giant
• No Samsung tri-fold has been confirmed yet

Samsung is seemingly still in the race to be the first phone maker to bring a tri-fold phone to global markets, if a new rumor is anything to go by.

According to a screenshot of an article from Korean news outlet Etnews shared by notable leaker Jukanlosreve on X (formerly Twitter), Samsung are continuing to explore new form factors.

And with the flagship Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6 occupying the booklet and clamshell form factors respectively, that leaves the nascent tri-fold category as the most likely candidate.

As the excerpt notes, tri-fold in this instance actually refers to a “double-folding foldable phone” in the style of the Huawei Mate XT, with two hinges that split the phone into three segments.

As a China-exclusive phone with no access to Android or Google apps and services the Huawei Mate XT has little chance of making more than a conceptual impact in most of the world.

This leaves Samsung with the opportunity to establish and potentially lead the tri-fold market elsewhere.

The part of the article Jukanlosreve shared suggests that Samsung may focus on producing the highest quality product, as the company can no longer be the first to produce a phone of this kind.

We think this is a likely strategy, as the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6 are some of the best folding phones on the market, and Samsung’s attention to quality is evident in comparison with some competitors.

With that said, here are three things we want to see from a Samsung Galaxy tri-fold:

Less noticeable creases

Samsung’s excellent build quality is renowned, especially in the folding phone market, but the creases on its folding displays are more noticeable than competitors like the OnePlus Open.

This far from a dealbreaker, especially when the screen is divided up for multitasking. However, two noticeable creases on a large 10 or 11-inch screen would likely diminish the sense of scale, and make the display feel more segmented than seamless.

Top-quality cameras

Samsung’s Z Fold series has yet to feature a camera system that matches – or even truly approaches – that of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra slab phone.

We expect any tri-fold Samsung device to be ludicruously expensive at launch, and hope that a high price will allow Samsung to deck out the phone with the best specs – including a camera system that gets closer to flagship grade.

There are some physical space constraints that prevent folding devices from having quite the same camera power as slab phones, but the 200MP camera affixed to the Asia-exclusive Samsung Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition shows that Samsung is finding workarounds.

Flexible software

Samsung has always allowed more flexibility with its devices than Apple – its Galaxy phones can be used as desktop devices through the DeX system, and its line of S Tab tablets are commonly marketed more like laptops than mobile devices.

The prospect of a tablet-sized device in your pocket becomes even more exciting in Samsung’s hands because of this flexibility.

We hope that the potential Galaxy tri-fold will come with full keyboard-and-mouse, S Pen, and DeX support at launch, which would take the concept of a tri-fold from “very large phone” to “hyper-portable workstation”.

Previous Galaxy tri-fold rumors

These latest rumors track with recent reports that Samsung is exploring new options for its foldables lineup, including tri-fold designs.

We previously reported on a leaked corporate call that suggested Samsung is exploring new form factors, alongside cheaper versions of the Z Flip and Z Fold,

And prior to that, we covered rumors suggesting the codenames for the mainline Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 had leaked, alongside a third codename that we think is either the suggested tri-fold or a variant of the Z Fold similar to the Z Fold Special Edition.

We’d love to welcome some new folding phones to our list of the best Samsung phones, but for the moment the above is almost entirely based on rumors and leaks.

For the latest official updates as we hear them, be sure to check out our Samsung phones coverage.

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• Zenless Zone Zero Version 1.3 is out now
• It adds the Tsukishiro Yanagi and Lighter playable agents
• Other new content includes additional story episodes

The latest major update for Zenless Zone Zero, Version 1.3 or 'Virtual Revenge', is now live and it brings heaps of content for new and returning players.

The headline additions are two new playable agents, Tsukishiro Yanagi and Lighter. Yanagi is an S-rank Anomaly Electric agent and part of the Section 6 faction. Her combat style offers multiple stances with different types of buffs, plus the ability to trigger the Polarity Disorder special effect for a huge burst of damage against enemies with the Anomaly infliction.

Lighter is another S-rank agent, this time Stun Fire and part of the Sons of Calydon gang. He is equipped with elemental attribute boosts, with the ability to recover Morale as teammates consume energy. With enough Moral he can enter a Morale Burst state, which massively increases his power.

Two new S-Rank W-Engines have also been introduced, the Anomaly Timeweaver and Stun Blazing Laurel. This is on top of two new A-Rank Bangboos, the cute Babbieboo and the Knightboo. The Knightboo can be obtained now through the new The 'Mystery of Arpeggio Fault' in-game event.

As you would expect, new story content is also part of the update with the titular 'Virtual Revenge' special episode. This is alongside a new agent story for Lighter.

This is all on top of updates to existing areas, including the new San–Z Studio building in Lumina Square which is accompanied by a new Display Stand in Random Play which can be used to show off items obtained there.

A sandwich truck has arrived in Lumina Square too, but will only be around for the duration of the limited 'When Sandwiches Come A Knockin' event. A flurry of other events have also begun, with one allowing you to obtain ten Encrypted Master Tape items simply for logging in every day.

There is an awful lot of content and this summary is only just scratching the surface of what Version 1.3 brings. You can find a full breakdown on the official Update Details page of the Zenless Zone Zero website.

If you want to dive in, Zenless Zone Zero is available now as a free-to-play title on PlayStation 5 and mobile.

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