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flock video investment andreessen horowitz surveillance privacy
AI Tech Culture

A cybersecurity researcher covered a Toyota in an AI-generated pattern to confuse Flock cameras

The demonstration tested whether adversarial design can defeat computer-vision algorithms
What just happened? Bill Swearingen's noRecognition project is testing whether computer-generated patterns can interfere with software used to identify people, vehicles, and other objects on surveillance cameras. The project received its first public test Friday at the Def Con cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas. Swearingen worked with Donut Media to cover a 2009 Toyota Yaris with one of his patterns and drive it past a Flock camera. "We proved it was effective," Swearingen, a cybersecurity professional and founder of SIXCYBER, told TechCrunch.
Full story By Skye Jacobs, 43 comments Hotness 982k
farmer china farming chatbots
AI Tech Culture

Farmer trusted AI after it gave good advice, then it helped wipe out 25 acres of his crops

The chatbot recommended an herbicide that also kills sesame plants
Facepalm: Most readers of this site know not to blindly trust AI on important matters, even if it got things right before. A farmer in Chuzhou, China, discovered this the hard way when he took weed and pest control advice from a chatbot. The result was the death of 25 acres of crops.
Full story By Rob Thubron, 30 comments Hotness 476k
amazon texas data center climate carbon emissions
AI Industry

Amazon's new Texas data center could become the single largest polluter in the US

The facility could release up to 33 million tons of CO2 a year, rivaling Switzerland and Ireland
A hot potato: A proposed Amazon data center in Texas has sparked concerns that its massive on-site power plant could become the single-largest source of pollution in the US, threatening to affect local communities, farmland, and small businesses. The facility is planned for Pecos County as part of Amazon's growing push into AI and cloud services.
Full story By Kishalaya Kundu, 39 comments Hotness 35k
cargo crime enterprise theft data center heist
AI Hardware

Cargo thieves are staging car crashes to steal AI data center hardware

Authorities have recovered millions in stolen equipment, including $550,000 in Meta server switches
TL;DR: Cargo thieves are targeting equipment used in AI data centers, from server switches to cooling systems and networking hardware. In two recent California cases, criminals appear to have used car crashes to separate trucks from their security escorts before the shipments vanished. The incidents highlight how organized groups are using carrier-identity fraud, GPS manipulation and, increasingly, aggressive roadside tactics to steal high-value tech moving through the freight network.
Full story By Skye Jacobs, 14 comments Hotness 26k
disgruntled windows antivirus patch tuesday vulnerability backdoor microsoft defender
Microsoft Security

Disgruntled security researcher just dropped another Windows zero-day, right on schedule

ShieldBreak reportedly bypasses Microsoft's Windows Defender patch with a "100% success rate"
Sounding off: NightmareEclipse did it again. The security researcher who's been on a crusade against Microsoft has published a new zero-day flaw affecting all supported Windows versions. Redmond threatened to sue, but the researcher is keeping his promise to disclose a new dangerous flaw after every month's Patch Tuesday.
Full story By Alfonso Maruccia, 18 comments Hotness 24k
gog
Gaming Software

Over 1,500 games on GOG are missing updates, DLC, and features available elsewhere

The discrepancies were logged by volunteers in a continually updated spreadsheet
In brief: GOG is primarily associated with retro PC games, but it has also gradually come to include recent indie releases and a few AAA titles. Unfortunately, some shoppers have begun to notice and catalogue hundreds of discrepancies between games released on GOG and the same titles on Steam or the Epic Games Store.
Full story By Daniel Sims, Hotness 21k