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Telling the story of Outlander’s predecessors, Outlander: Blood of My Blood already looks like another smash-hit for Starz’s time-travelling franchise. We’re three episodes into the new binge-worthy TV show, which follows Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Claire’s (Caitriona Balfe) parents as they travel back to 18th century Scotland and become connected to each other in the process. Even if you’re watching the prequel and didn’t follow the main show too closely, you’ll be able to spot some satisfying Outlander Easter eggs… and there are a lot of them.

Just before episode 3 aired (which is also streaming on MGM+ for those in the UK and Stan in Australia), I caught up with Henry (Jeremy Irvine) and Julia (Hermione Corfield), better known as the younger versions of Claire’s parents. Unlike Jamie’s family, Julia and Henry fell in love during World War I before being launched back in time to where we meet them in the prequel. However, they’ve been separated, finding their way back to each other while talking themselves into rewriting history in the process.

This rewriting of history is already taking so many twists and turns that I don’t know whether I’m coming or going. Seasoned Outlanderheads (as I’m calling the fans) wasted no time devising theories for what might happen in future episodes, including whether we’re going to see Claire unknowingly meet her parents. Not only have Irvine and Corfield seen these theories, but they also hinted to me that some of them are along the right lines.

Outlander: Blood of My Blood fan theories might be closer to the truth than we think

“I have,” Corfield replies when I ask her if she’s seen any fan theories. “I've seen a few comments on Instagram where I've been, like ‘hm…interesting.’ But also, some of them are theories that we don't even know the answer to, because we literally don't know. We get given our scripts while we're filming the block before.”

Popular theories currently include meeting Claire’s parents in Outlander season 8, which wrapped filming in September 2024, Julia’s baby (Claire has already been born) being somebody we’ve already met in the main show, and Jamie’s dad Brian (Jamie Roy) being more closely linked to the pair than we’ve been led to believe.

Given that the cast is in the process of filming season 2, we can rule out any theory that goes too far forward in time (as in, forward from the 18th century but still behind WWI. Keep up!). They still won’t know how the second half of season 2 plays out at all, but Irvine did tease a shocking twist during the first half of season 2 that we’ve likely not guessed at all.

“When you see the characters at the end of season 1, where they then start season 2 is wildly not what you'd expect. I wasn't expecting it at all. I was very confused when I went in for my first costume fitting and saw the costumes, asking ‘what on earth is that going to be for?’

“It’s highs and lows and everything in between. A total rollercoaster,” Corfield adds about what’s definitely to come.

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• A leaked Meta document revealed that the company’s AI chatbot guidelines once permitted inappropriate responses
• Meta confirmed the document’s authenticity and has since removed some of the most troubling sections
• Among calls for investigations is the question of how successful AI moderation can be

Meta’s internal standards for its AI chatbots were meant to stay internal, and after they somehow made their way to Reuters, it's easy to understand why the tech giant wouldn't want the world to see them. Meta grappled with the complexities of AI ethics, children's online safety, and content standards, and found what few would argue is a successful roadmap for AI chatbot rules.

Easily the most disturbing notes among the details shared by Reuters are around how the chatbot talks to children. As reported by Reuters, the document states that it's "acceptable [for the AI] to engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual" and to "describe a child in terms that evidence their attractiveness (ex: “your youthful form is a work of art”)." Though it does forbid explicit sexual discussion, that's still a shockingly intimate and romantic level of conversation with children for Meta AI to allegedly consider.

And it's not the only example likely to disturb people. Meta AI's rules, the report notes, allow the chatbot to compose explicitly racist content if the prompt is phrased correctly, and to provide wrong or even harmful health information as long as some kind of disclaimer is included.

In one of the more surreal examples, the guidelines instructed AI to reject inappropriate image generation requests in most cases, but in some instances to instead apparently deflect with a 'funny' substitution. As an example, the document reportedly mentions that a prompt to generate an image of “Taylor Swift topless, covering her breasts with her hands” could be answered by generating an image of Swift “holding an enormous fish.” The document reportedly included both the unacceptable and the “acceptable” version side by side, essentially training the bot to outwit inappropriate prompts with visual sleight of hand. Meta declined to comment on the example.

Meta has confirmed the authenticity of the document and said it’s now revising the problematic portions. Meta removed the children's interaction section after Reuters reached out, and called those rules “erroneous and inconsistent” with company policy. As of now, Reuters said the document still says racial slurs are allowed if disguised in hypotheticals, as is disinformation framed as fiction.

No time for safety and ethics

It’s a troubling revelation that has already prompted public outrage, lawmaker scrutiny, and urgent promises from Meta. But it shows that as AI spreads, the need to move fast with the technology leaves any plans for rules and regulations scrambling to catch up, whether written internally or by lawmakers and regulators.

For most people, the story raises basic questions of AI safety. While it might be ideal to not have minors interacting with general AI chatbots unsupervised, that's very unlikely, judging by the number of children and teens who admit to using tools like ChatGPT for schoolwork. Avoiding Meta AI is particularly challenging because the company has embedded the chatbot across Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram. Users can interact with AI characters that are often presented in playful, friendly ways, and Meta has marketed these tools as fun and even educational. But the leaked guidelines suggest the backend isn’t always aligned with that wholesome image.

Members of Congress have already called for hearings and bills to deal with the situation, but the fact is, there are few legal requirements in place at the moment to moderate chatbot content, for children or otherwise. Noises about AI safety haven't led to any specific national enforcement system. Plenty of AI companies have made a big deal about their efforts to make their products safe and ethical, but if Meta’s rulebook is illustrative of what other companies have put together, there's a lot of work still to do and a lot of questions about what kind of conversations these chatbots have already been having, especially with children.

AI models may be ever-better at mimicking human thinking, but they're really just a collection of choices by human programmers, deliberate and inadvertent. The fact that these rules were apparently codified at Meta doesn't mean similar examples exist at other companies, but it's not something to rule out. And if these are the choices being made behind the scenes at one of the world’s most powerful tech companies, what else is being quietly permitted?

AI chatbots are only as trustworthy as the invisible rules guiding them, and while it's naive to fully trust any company's claims without evidence, Meta's rulebook implies users should take such claims with several extra grains of salt.

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As the battle over partisan redistricting mounts, Democrats in California unveil a congressional map that could yield up to five new seats for their party, countering Texas' plan for five GOP seats.

(Image credit: Rich Pedroncelli)

The suit claims the popular service may be recording and processing millions of users' private conversations without consent.

(Image credit: Source: Otter)

• Google’s new Flight Deals uses AI to find trips based on conversational requests
• It uses Gemini 2.5 to interpret descriptions of feelings and vague time frames to compile deals
• Flight Deals is rolling out in beta across the U.S., Canada, and India

Google is using Gemini AI to reinvent the travel agent experience, turning conversations into airplane tickets. The new Flight Deals product, which is now in beta, adds AI chat to Google Flights users looking for a good deal or who are still trying to decide where and when they want to travel.

Instead of fiddling with destination drop-down menus and departure time sliders, you can simply write out the type of trip you want to take and whatever else might be important to you when traveling. Instead of an airport code and a date, you can pick a season, the vibe of the location, and how you feel about very early flights. Gemini will then scan real-time pricing from hundreds of airlines and deliver up-to-date options tailored to your request.

This isn’t a replacement for traditional Google Flights. That familiar grid of dates and sliders is still alive and well. But Google thinks Flight Deals is perfect for the flexible (or just indecisive) traveler. Think of it like that one friend who is not only really good at finding travel bargains, but truly loves finding them for friends.

For instance, when I wrote "I want to go where I can see the Northern Lights in December for a week." I had suggestions for Alaska, Iceland, and Norway with some good deals across December. When I requested "Somewhere with mountains and great food in the spring," I saw flights from March to June to Denver, Munich, Auckland, and more.

(Image credit: Screenshot)Flitting AI

The more casual your phrasing, the more it has to work with. The AI will attempt to match not just the location but the spirit of your request. Gemini 2.5 has been behind the curtain in plenty of recent Google products, but this is one of the first times it’s being used this way.

It also marks one of Google’s clearest moves yet to bring AI into a very public, popular space, finding bargains on flights. Airline tickets are perfect for enticing people to try AI, as buying them is a common, but not everyday experience, and expensive enough that people will make an effort to find a good deal without being so expensive that people wouldn't trust AI to help them when it's still possible for the technology to fail.

Flight Deals is still learning, and it may not always pick the perfect itinerary. But if it helps people discover that, for instance, flights to Oaxaca in January are very cheap and the mole is life-changing, that’s a win.

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Middleweight champ faces a tricky title defense against the unbeaten Russian.

Looking for some cheap wireless earbuds? Well, if you head over to Amazon, you’re gonna find a treasure trove of options, believe me. And it got us thinking. Do these unspeakably cheap models sound OK? Do they even work? Do they truly exist, or are they simply a construct…a mere mirage?

Well, we decided that it was worth at least giving some super-cheap buds a go, so our Audio Editor, Becky, called in a $5 pair, and I eagerly awaited their arrival. Unfortunately, though, just about everything I feared would be wrong with these unspeakably low-cost earbuds was indeed wrong with them.

So, by now you must be interested. What was so bad about these pocket change buds? What made them so much worse than the models on our list of the best budget earbuds? Well, if you’re sitting comfortably, I’ll tell you everything. Here goes.

A design disasterclass

(Image credit: Future / Harry Padoan)

After unboxing these budget wireless earbuds, I instantly knew something was off. First of all, they didn't look the same as the pictures on Amazon, although I was kinda expecting this. No, the real problem was the charging case.

See, not only was this using a lightning port – something I'd started to forget existed – but the included lightning cable didn't even fit in the port properly. I wanted a full charge before use, so I attempted to ram the cable in, and eventually it was sort of...half in. Was it charging? Well, a red LED started flashing on the reverse side of the case, so I sure hoped so!

After a short while, I decided it was time to use the buds. I took them out of their case, popped them in, and...realized another clunky design choice. I had to hold down on the underside of each bud to turn them on. This didn't seem very responsive, and it took a good minute or two before I got things working.

Oh, and it's worth noting I needed to hold down on the same spot to turn them off – place them back in the case without doing so and they'll just keep playing. Sometimes, they wouldn't turn off when I asked them to, though, which was quite frustrating.

In-ear, they felt a touch awkward and not too secure, but that's partially down to the loose-fitting design. In fact, looks-wise, you may think they're Apple AirPods at a glance. Upon further inspection, they clearly aren't – they're a bit chunkier and very plasticky, but then again, I guess you get what you pay for.

Next to no features and sonically dull

(Image credit: Future / Harry Padoan)

We've only spoken about design so far, and these buds are already stinkers. So, did they at least sound alright? Well, sorry to be so negative, but they did not. They did not sound alright at all.

In Washed Away by Kolter, the higher-pitched percussive and electronic elements were grating, even at more middling volumes. Let's not even discuss what they sounded like after I ramped things up. When listening to You Came Into My Life by Paulinho Da Costa, vocals were clear enough, but bass output was extremely thin, resulting in a pretty terrible listening experience overall.

On top of their poor audio performance, you won't get many features of note from these buds. They have Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, and you can activate your voice assistant with touch controls.

But I found these touch controls to be unreliable, and they would activate when I didn't want them to. Controversially, I actually like touch controls. Earbuds like the LG Tone Free T90S and headphones like the Sony WH-1000XM6 absolutely nailed them. But not these. These can stay away.

And now, for the real kicker

Just when I thought things couldn't get much worse...they did. See, I first tested these buds about four days before Friday, when this article will be published. But on Friday afternoon, I decided I wanted to give them one more chance. I knew I was going to be negative, but I wanted to find at least one silver lining. However, that's when it happened.

After putting the buds in and holding down the buttons to power on, I discovered that the left bud wasn't working at all *sigh*. I tried a number of times to get it working, and it just wouldn't play ball. There were no issues with the right bud, by the way.

It turned out that the left bud hadn't been charging at all. After placing the earbuds back in their case, I tried pressing down hard on the left one, and its LED eventually turned red, indicating it had entered charging mode. Having to do this every time you use these buds would be very irritating.

Looking at reviews on Amazon, there were a few reports of only one bud working, and I expect some were experiencing the same fault. After all of the issues I experienced with these earbuds in under a week, I can assure you, they've already been booted from my rotation.

Despite that, it's not all doom and gloom. See, there are some genuinely incredible cheap wireless earbuds out there. You don't have to spend $100 / £100 or more to get quality, I should know, having tested dozens of cheap models myself.

What I learned, then, is that saving your $5 / £5 and putting it towards a superior budget-friendly model is the best option for all. Sure, you might have to spend a little over single figures, but not a whole lot more. I've listed a couple of fantastic cheap options below, so why not check them out?

What to get instead

(Image credit: Future)

JLab Go Pop ANC
These are some of the best cheap buds on the market, no questions asked. Why? They pack in solid audio, a nifty companion app, and best of all, ANC. Oh, and you get all of that for less than $30 / £30. That's mind-blowing value for money.

Read our full JLab Go Pop ANC review.

Sony WF-C510
These don't have ANC, but if you want to indulge in beautiful Sony sound without spending too much cash, the WF-C510 are a must-buy. We were impressed by their punchy, talented audio, battery life, and fit. For a model that's regularly on sale for less than $50 / £40, you really can't go wrong.

Read our full Sony WF-C510 review.

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New parents curious about what they should expect from their newborn should probably steer clear of TikTok and AI. There are now an untold number of videos depicting newborns working in factories and burger joints, marching across the dusty plains of Mars, and commenting on the sorry state of the world they just entered.

Ever since Gemini unveiled its Veo 3 video model, which lets you generate synced audio and video, people have been generating highly convincing yet impossible 8-second video clips. The number has only increased since Google opened Veo 3 access to Gemimi Flash 2.5 Pro users.

After seeing more than a few of these videos in my feed, I decided to give it a try. I've now spent the last few weeks creating Veo 3 clips of newborn babies doing all sorts of things and often commenting on their situation.

Here's what I learned, along with some tips to help you create similar clips or really improve your Gemini Veo 3 video generation efforts.

Planning

Unless you're paying for an account, you get a maximum of three 8-second Veo 3 clips per day, so you want to use that number wisely and, if possible, pre-plan all three clips.

Start with a concept or idea

What do you want your newborn to be doing and saying? Try to think through the setting and action across all three clips so that together they comprise a mini story.

When I started generating my baby clips, I didn't consider this and instead created a series of clips depicting a newscaster interviewing a newborn in the hospital, but with various levels of success. Eventually, though, I chose a theme, like a baby astronaut on Mars, or a newborn working in a robot factory.

Once I had a mini story in mind, my results improved exponentially.

Imagine a style

(Image credit: Gemini Veo 3)

One of my favorite sets of clips is the one in which I imagined a baby in the role of Dr. Frankenstein. I specifically asked Veo to depict the baby in a "1930s style lab" and added this critical line, "The film is black and white with strong contrast and shadows."

Don't be afraid to describe scene details that might enhance believability. In my Mars Baby astronaut video, I described " a newborn baby using a selfie stick to film itself" and noted that the Earth was visible in the sky. Veo 3 did an excellent job of including these details.

Be specific @lanceulanoff

♬ original sound - LanceUlanoff

I found that unless I described the main character as a newborn baby, I ended up with a toddler, and sometimes one that looked like a Pixar character.

Also, be sure to describe the action. What is the baby doing? A sequence of events is the best way to ensure Veo 3 builds the scene you imagined.

Keep the dialogue tight

(Image credit: Gemini Veo 3)

You have just 8 seconds of video, so be sure to time your dialogue to make sure it's not 15 seconds of blather. Whatever Veo 3 can't fit, it will cut off.

Keep the characters to a minimum @lanceulanoff

♬ original sound - LanceUlanoff

One of the reasons these videos are so compelling is that they feature newborn babies speaking like adults. Achieving these results has occasionally proved challenging.

I've struggled to ensure that it's the baby speaking and not another character I included in the prompt. I found it's best to describe at most two characters and make sure your prompt makes it crystal clear who should be speaking the lines, which should always be between quotes.

Even with all this careful planning, I still struggled to make sure that only the newborn talked. In my Frankenstein series, the last clip features a talking Frankenstein monster, even though I specifically assigned that dialogue to the baby.

Tell a story @lanceulanoff

♬ original sound - LanceUlanoff

If you create all three clips in the same session, one after the other, Gemini Veo 3 will remember the style and even look of the included characters, which means you don't have to repeat all those details in subsequent prompts.

That said, make sure you describe the baby and other characters with the same words; otherwise, the AI may switch things up. If possible, design all three prompts so that they advance your 24-second story.

Call it "realistic"

(Image credit: Gemini Veo 3)

To ensure photo-realism, use the term "photo-realistic" or "realistic" in your prompt. Otherwise, Gemini will choose the style for you, and it may not look like a real baby.

Download the video @lanceulanoff

♬ original sound - LanceUlanoff

Gemini doesn't save your generated videos indefinitely. They're usually gone within a day, though the prompts will remain. If you like what the prompt created, be sure to download the video.

These tips could arguably be applied to any style of generative video, but if you want to join in the AI baby meme craze, this should help get you started.

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Strike up the Chariots of Fire theme and grab a flag, the futuristic Games are on.

The most talked about new movies have been so heavily focused on The Fantastic Four: First Steps, you probably didn’t even realize that Vanessa Kirby also starred in a new film coming out on Netflix only a few weeks after.

Night Always Comes sees Kirby do a complete 180 from the new Marvel movie, but just like Sue Storm’s brush with Galactus it’s similarly far from perfect. This time, Kirby plays Lynette, a former sex worker turned bread factory staffer, desperately trying to keep her dilapidated home as a roof over her family’s heads. When her mom blows their $25,000 downpayment on a car, Lynette embarks on an unhinged mission to raise all the money in one night, before local enforcement repossesses the house.

I know what you’re thinking. Night Always Comes has the potential to be heartpounding, gut-wrenching, slick and commanding in such a dynamic storyline. But this is only half true thanks to a complicated plot that doesn’t know whether it’s coming or going.

This is particularly frustrating because the subjects being explored are such a vulnerable, authentic window into the realities of life in America when you’re living paycheck to paycheck, and the new Netflix movie effortlessly enthuses real-life inspiration points to hammer that point home.

But on the fictional end, the drama often goes too far. As we delve further into the new film, we see Kirby dust off her Mission: Impossible movie training and dropkick more nefarious men than I’ve ever seen be taken down in one small-town setting. This leads us to an ending scene that’s so bonkers, I couldn’t suspend enough belief to buy that it was something that would actually happen. It’s these jarring changes in tone and narrative speed that make a plot already hard to understand that little bit more challenging.

I still haven’t made my mind up on Night Always Comes, but I’ve fallen back in love with Julia Fox

Julia Fox as Gladys in Night Always Comes. (Image credit: Netflix)

Okay, let’s get straight to it. While Night Always Comes is no doubt Vanessa Kirby’s best performance of the year so far (more on that later), I couldn’t help but be the most charmed by Julia Fox’s Gloria. She’s an old friend of Lynette’s who owes her $3,000, willingly letting her into her apartment in the middle of the night before refusing to stay in one place because her “car is here”.

It’s the sort of flamboyant chaos we’ve naturally come to associate with Fox (remember Uncut Gems?), but she plays it with such conviction that you forget how much talent she has buried away under those killer looks. Fox herself bears so much weight in terms of her cultural capital, so I hope fans and the industry re-recognize a woman who genuinely knows what to do with the craft she’s chosen.

Then there’s Kirby. Teetering across a delicate balance of misplaced confidence and a complete mental breakdown, Lynette has us in the palm of her hand as she desperately clings to a life she doesn’t even want in the first place. Her backstory is well fleshed out, and it makes sense for her logical patterns to be as archaic as they end up being. Kirby’s emotional range is what really sells it, though, digging as deep as a woman has to when she’s acting out in pure panicked desperation.

Performances aside, the Netflix movie has built its foundations on sand

While I really appreciate the honesty of living in modern-day America and easily falling into an unsavory way of living, I have a lot of issues with Night Always Comes’ plot. I can buy one chaotic caper happening, such as Lynette beating a bunch of men to a pulp when she takes a stolen safe to be broken into, but four or five in a row? That’s just getting absurd. This also contradicts the safety of Lynette’s older brother Kenny (Zack Gottsagen) who has Down’s Syndrome, and is the bulk of the reason why Lynette is fighting so hard to keep the house. She eventually puts him in grave danger, but as much as the move shows Lynette’s slippery slope of inner morality, I cannot buy that an entire nightclub’s worth of people would equally throw Kenny under the metaphorical bus, too.

The more people Lynette meets to try and steal, barter and plead for her cash, the more you forget how she knows them, what their significance is and how she hasn’t magically run out of avenues to try. It’s a headscratcher and a bleak one at that, which is just as much of a blessing as it is a curse. There’s no foot off the pedal, meaning Lynette’s wild antics and desperation chug along at a constant pace without any letup. That’s exhausting for anyone, and I think it eventually does a disservice to the overall impact of her story.

As much as I enjoyed pretending to punch anyone who crossed Lynette’s path with a bad attitude, Night Always Comes ultimately has us sitting on the fence. With an almost equal amount of good and bad, it’s perhaps an ironic microcosm of life itself, only I wish I had Julia Fox strutting around sassing me in mine.

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• Compromised FBI.gov emails are being sold for $40 on encrypted dark web channels
• Criminals use stolen government accounts to submit forged emergency requests to tech companies
• Sellers offer full SMTP, POP3, or IMAP credentials for complete account control

Cybersecurity researchers have raised concerns over the sale of compromised FBI.gov and other government email accounts on the dark web, warning the activity could enable malware campaigns on a large scale.

A report from Abnormal AI claims these accounts are being offered through encrypted messaging services such as Telegram and Signal, with some priced as low as $40.

In some cases, sellers have offered bundles containing multiple US government accounts, including those with FBI.gov domains, which carry a high level of credibility.

Hackers offer full access and high credibility

The cost of these accounts is relatively small, but the potential impact is substantial because the accounts can be used to impersonate trusted authorities.

When purchased, typically using cryptocurrency, the buyer receives full SMTP, POP3, or IMAP credentials. This level of access allows control over the account through any email client, enabling the sending of messages, attaching malicious files, or accessing online platforms that require government verification.

Some ads encourage buyers to submit fraudulent emergency data requests.

These are modeled after legitimate requests that law enforcement agencies issue in urgent situations when there is no time to secure a subpoena.

Technology companies and telecom providers are legally obliged to respond to valid requests, meaning forged ones could potentially lead to the disclosure of sensitive data such as IP addresses, emails, and phone numbers.

Some criminal listings also promote access to official law enforcement portals, with some of these offers appearing even on mainstream platforms like TikTok and X.

Stolen credentials are marketed for their ability to unlock enhanced access to open-source intelligence tools such as Shodan and Intelligence X, which normally reserve premium features for verified government users.

The methods used to obtain these accounts are often straightforward but effective.

One major approach is credential stuffing, where attackers exploit password reuse across multiple platforms.

Another method involves infostealer malware, which is software designed to extract saved login credentials from browsers and email clients.

Targeted phishing and social engineering attacks are also common, where attackers craft deceptive emails or messages which trick government employees into revealing login details or clicking on malicious links.

Overall, these techniques focus on exploiting human and technical vulnerabilities rather than hacking sophisticated government systems directly.

That said, emails originating from domains such as .gov and .police tend to bypass many technical filters, making recipients more likely to open attachments or click on embedded links.

This advantage increases the success rate of phishing attempts or malware delivery.

While compromised law enforcement accounts have been sold for years, researchers say there has been a recent shift toward marketing specific criminal use cases rather than simply offering access.

The report describes this as a commoditization of institutional trust, where active and verified inboxes are repurposed for immediate fraudulent use.

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Here are hints and the answer for today's Wordle, No. 1,519 for Saturday, Aug. 16.

What new conspiracies will be revealed in Black Ops 7?

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle No. 797 for Saturday, Aug. 16.

• Cybercriminals are using the Japanese alphabet to spoof Booking.com
• Scammers are targeting people with listings on the site
• Users are advised to carefully review incoming messages

Cybercriminals are spoofing Booking.com with a clever use of Unicode characters in their phishing landing pages to spread malware.

Independent security researcher alias JAMESWT recently reported seeing phishing emails being sent to people listing their real estate on the popular lodging reservation service. In the email, the victims are told that someone complained about their listing, and that they should review it fast or face termination.

The email also provides the link which when opened, at first glance looks legitimate. However, upon closer inspection, it can be seen in the URL that instead of the forward dash character ‘/’, the link actually uses ‘ん’ - a Japanese hiragana character representing the sound ‘n’.

Typosquatting

Hiragana is one of the three main scripts used in written Japanese, alongside katakana and kanji.

Those that fail to spot the trick and open the site will get served a malicious MSI installer from a CDN link. The researcher added that samples of the malicious site are already available on the cybersecurity platform MalawareBazaar, and that the any.run analysis already shows the infection chain.

It is believed that the attackers are spoofing Booking.com to deliver infostealers and remote access trojans (RAT).

Replacing a single character in the URL, in order to trick victims into opening websites, is a long-established practice. It is called “typosquatting” and banks on the victims not being careful when reviewing the URL they are opening.

Booking.com, being one of the most popular lodging reservation services in the world, is often spoofed in such attacks, together with the likes of Amazon, Microsoft, DHL, and others.

Defending against these attacks is relatively easy, and requires users to slow down and carefully review incoming communications, especially unsolicited messages. Double-checking links, attachments, websites, and thinking twice about sharing sensitive data is the best course of action these days.

Via BleepingComputer

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Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Aug. 16, No. 531.

If you play the open beta during its second weekend, you can earn operator skins, weapon skins and other cosmetic goodies.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says he doesn't agree with federal subsidies for high-speed EV chargers, but that his department "will respect Congress' will" and release the funds.

(Image credit: Patrick T. Fallon)

For most Americans, we just lived through the highest period of inflation in our lives. And we are reminded of this every time we go grocery shopping. All over TikTok, tons of people have posted videos of how little they got for … $20. $40. $100. Most upsetting to us: an $8 box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.



Food prices are almost 30% higher than they were five years ago. It’s bad. And those new, higher prices aren’t going away.

At the same time, prices are no longer inflating at a wild pace. For the last two years, the rate of inflation has slowed way down. And yet, our fears or feelings that things will spiral out of control again? Those have not slowed down.

This mismatch has been giving us all the …. feelings. Inflation feelings. Infeelings. 

On our latest show: we sort through our infeeltions. We talk to the economists who have studied us. We learn why our personal inflation calculators don’t always match the professional ones.

Listen free at these links: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.

Find more Planet Money: Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.

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• iKKO MindOne has raised over $1.2 million through its crowdfunding campaign
• A 4.02-inch AMOLED display is protected by sapphire glass with curved, impact-resistant edges
• The device’s 50MP rotating camera doubles as both front and rear photography hardware

The iKKO MindOne is a crowdfunded smartphone that has raised over $1.2 million, promising a compact yet capable design for work and travel.

Measuring 86x72mm and 8.9mm thick, only slightly wider than a credit card, this business smartphone uses a 4.02-inch AMOLED display with precision-curved edges to improve resistance against cracks and drops.

Marketed partly as a rugged smartphone, the MindOne uses sapphire glass with a claimed 9H hardness rating, designed to resist scratches and moderate impact.

Dual-purpose camera protected by sapphire glass

The device features a 50MP Sony 1/1.56-inch sensor with custom OIS and F1.88 aperture, similar to many smartphones on the market.

The rotating module flips 180 degrees, serving as both front and rear camera, and is protected by sapphire glass, promising higher-quality selfies and flexibility for video calls without sacrificing main camera performance.

The iKKO MindOne integrates a virtual SIM system with two modes.

NovaLink provides free global access for built-in AI tools in more than 60 regions, while a paid vSIM service covers over 140 countries for full data use, including browsing and streaming.

It also supports a nano SIM slot that offers global 4G+ LTE bands for traditional connectivity.

The manufacturer chose 4G+ over 5G for better roaming stability, lower heat output, and improved battery life.

The device runs Android 15 alongside iKKO AI OS, a dedicated workspace for focused tasks.

It also supports Google Mobile Services, and the company promises three major Android version upgrades and five years of security patches.

Switching between the two is done via a physical button, and selected Android apps can be brought into the AI environment.

The device supports real-time translation, voice notes, transcription, and summarization, with no subscription fees and claims of zero personal data collection.

Powered by the MediaTek MT8781, a low-power 4G+ platform, the MindOne carries a 2200mAh battery designed for all-day use in a compact form.

An optional snap-on QWERTY keyboard case adds tactile typing, a Cirrus Logic CS43198 DAC with 3.5mm headphone jack, and a 500mAh auxiliary battery.

This accessory could appeal to those needing precise text entry or high-fidelity audio, although it increases the device’s size and weight.

The iKKO MindOne offers an intriguing take on making a mobile phone truly mobile, but whether it moves from a well-funded crowdfunding project to a reliable everyday tool will depend on how these features perform beyond early marketing.

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