Rural and Indigenous communities are at risk of losing cell service thanks to a 2019 law intended to strip US telecom networks of Chinese-made equipment. And while local companies were promised reimbursements as part of the “rip-and-replace” program, many of them have so far seen little of the funding, if…
Read MoreRomance scams just ‘happen in life,’ says CEO of biggest dating app company in the US
Online romance scams netted con artists over $1.1 billion in 2023, with an average reported loss of around $2,000 per target. These victims who span age, gender, and demographics often aren’t only out of money—their time, emotions, and sometimes even physical safety can be on the line. And while the…
Read More6 Smartphone Mistakes That Leave You Vulnerable To Online Stalkers
SAN FRANCISCO — Smartphones have become a part of nearly everything we do in the digital age. From ordering food to entertainment to finding someone to date, our phones are in our hands or somewhere nearby all the time. Unfortunately, there are plenty of bad seeds out there that know…
Read MoreStartup pitches a paintball-armed, AI-powered home security camera
It’s a bold pitch for homeowners: What if you let a small tech startup’s crowdfunded AI surveillance system dispense vigilante justice for you? A Slovenia-based company called OZ-IT recently announced PaintCam Eve, a line of autonomous property monitoring devices that will utilize motion detection and facial recognition to guard against…
Read MoreGmail debuted on April Fool’s Day 20 years ago. The joke is still on us.
A completely free email service offering 1 GB of storage, integrated search capabilities, and automatic message threading? Too good to be true. At least, that’s what many people thought 20 years ago today, when Google announced Gmail’s debut. To be fair, it’s easy to see why some AP News readers…
Read MoreAre There 7,513 Unread Emails Cluttering Your Inbox? Expert Explains Why That’s Unwise
How do you manage your emails? Are you an “inbox zero” kind of person, or do you just leave thousands of them unread? Our new study, published in the journal Information Research, suggests that leaving all your emails in the inbox is likely to leave you dissatisfied with your personal…
Read MoreCrypto scammers flooded YouTube with sham SpaceX Starship livestreams
YouTube is flooded with fake livestream accounts airing looped videos of “Elon Musk” supposedly promoting crypto schemes. Although not the first time to happen, the website’s layout, verification qualifications, and search results page continue to make it difficult to separate legitimate sources from the con artists attempting to leverage today’s…
Read MoreAirbnb finally bans all indoor security cameras
Certain Airbnb hosts will need to make a few adjustments to their properties. On Monday, the short-term rental service announced it is finally prohibiting the use of all indoor security cameras, regardless of room location. For years, hosts could install video cameras in “common areas” such as living rooms, kitchens,…
Read MoreTSA is testing a self-screening security checkpoint in Vegas
The Transportation Security Administration is launching the pilot phase of an autonomous self-screening checkpoint system. Unveiled earlier this week and scheduled to officially open on March 11 at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, the station resembles grocery store self-checkout kiosks—but instead of scanning milk and eggs, you’re expected…
Read MoreOpenAI wants to devour a huge chunk of the internet. Who’s going to stop them?
You probably don’t know about Automattic, but they know you. As the parent company of WordPress, its content management systems host around 43 percent of the internet’s 10 million most popular websites. Meanwhile, it also owns a vast suite of mega-platforms including Tumblr, where a massive amount of embarrassing personal…
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