ICO reprimands Electoral Commission for data breach. Is shine coming off AI boom?
Personal details of millions of UK voters were left “vulnerable to hackers” because passwords were not changed and software not updated, the UK’s data privacy watchdog has found. The Electoral Commission, which oversees UK elections, has been formally reprimanded, the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) over the security lapse. Beginning in August 2021 cyber-attackers were able to access computers containing the Electoral Registers. The Electoral Commission said it regretted that sufficient protections were not in place to prevent the cyber-attack.BBC
What if you build it and they don’t come? It’s fair to say the shine is coming off the AI boom. Soaring valuations are starting to look unstable next to the sky-high spending required to sustain them. Over the weekend, one report from tech site the Information estimated that OpenAI was on course to spend an astonishing $5bn more than it makes in revenue this year alone. The most pessimistic version of the story is that AI – specifically, chatbots – is simply not as good as we’d been told. The Guardian
Apple has finally added some of its Apple Intelligence AI features to the beta version of the iPhone’s iOS 18 software. These updates are available to those signed up for the Apple beta programme, which is free to access. But the latest iOS 18.1 update is a developer build, a red flag for anyone lacking the patience to put up with some bugs and stability issues.The new beta of iOS 18.1 also only includes some of Apple’s upcoming AI features, not the whole caboodle.
Britain’s competition watchdog said Tuesday it’s looking into Google‘s partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic, adding fresh regulatory scrutiny to investment money flooding into the AI industry. The Competition and Markets Authority said it’s seeking comments as it considers whether the deal between the two companies has resulted in a “substantial lessening of competition” in the United Kingdom for AI services. Independent
Last week a rumor told us the Galaxy S25 Ultra would have the same 5,000 mAh battery capacity as its predecessor, and in a world where a lot of Samsung’s competitors are now moving beyond that number, that wasn’t great news. Today we have some better news, however. According to prolific Chinese leakster Ice Universe, the Galaxy S25 Ultra will have 16GB of RAM on board. It also looks like all storage versions of the phone will get 16GB of RAM, just as all storage versions of the S24 Ultra got 12GB. GSM Arena
Google has recently announced its latest updates for Nest camera and doorbell users. The new updates started rolling out in Public Preview in the Google Home app last week, and are designed to offer better detection, support and viewing experiences than ever before. As announced on Google Nest Community, the updates are for Nest Camera and the first generation wired Nest Doorbell or Nest Hello as it was formerly known as. Starting with Nest cameras, Google has decided to bring garage door detection to all compatible Nest Cam users in the Google Home app. T3.com
