Author: Trendici
Microsoft has pushed fixes for 112 common vulnerabilities and exposures (CVEs) on the first Patch Tuesday of 2026, among them a number of zero-day flaws that were either publicly disclosed or actively exploited prior to patching, and no fewer than eight critical bugs. Although this is a sharp increase in comparison to recent Patch Tuesdays – December 2025 saw Microsoft patch just 56 flaws – it is important to note that the festive season is frequently a quieter time for patches, sometimes by design, and January often brings an uptick in disclosures. Nevertheless, observed Jack Bicer, director of vulnerability…
The Senate has passed the Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits (DEFIANCE ) Act with unanimous consent, according to the bill’s co-sponsor Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL). The bill lets the subjects of nonconsensual, sexually explicit deepfakes take civil action against the people who create and host them.Deepfakes are a known issue online, but without the proper protections, easy access to AI-powered image and video generation tools has made it possible for anyone to create compromising content using another person’s likeness. This has become a particular problem on X, where the integration of Grok, the AI assistant created by X’s…
ReutersArmed security forces were deployed at a pro-government rally in Tehran on MondayMore than 2,000 people have been killed during the violent crackdown by security forces on protests in Iran, a human rights group has said, as President Trump promised Iranians that help was “on its way”.The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported that it had so far confirmed the killing of 1,850 protesters, 135 people affiliated with the government and nine uninvolved civilians as well as nine children over the last 17 days despite an internet blackout.An Iranian official also told Reuters that 2,000 people had been…
Kate WhannelPolitical reporterGetty ImagesThe government has dropped plans to make it compulsory to have digital ID in order to prove a right to work, the BBC understands. Digital checks on a person’s right to work will be mandatory but workers will not have to offer a digital ID and will be able to use other documents such as a passport.This marks a shift from last year when the government first announced the policy and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer told an audience: “You will not be able to work in the United Kingdom if you do not have digital ID.…
Image: Inc24 President Donald Trump is putting Big Tech on notice as the AI boom collides with rising electricity bills. Trump said on Jan. 12 that Microsoft will begin making changes this week to ensure Americans are not stuck with higher utility bills because of the company’s network of AI data centers. In a post on Truth Social, he said data centers are critical to keeping the US ahead in AI but warned that ordinary consumers should not bear the cost of powering them. “First up is Microsoft, who my team has been working with, and which will make major…
Several of Meta’s VR studios have been affected by the company’s metaverse-focused layoffs. The company has shuttered three of its VR studios, including Armature, Sanzaru and Twisted Pixel. VR fitness app Supernatural will no longer be updated with fresh content.Employees at Twisted Pixel, which released Marvel’s Deadpool VR in November, and Sanzaru, known for Asgard’s Wrath, posted on social media about the closures. Bloomberg reported that Armature, which brought Resident Evil 4 to Quest back in 2021 has also closed and that the popular VR fitness app Supernatural will no longer be updated with fresh content, though the current version…
Last night, I went out for pasta with my Soup Group, and my friend Gisela snapped these photos as I started telling a story. I was so grateful she captured a moment laughing with friends and want to remember to snap more candid photos of loved ones this year. We had a few posts ready for today, but none of them seemed quite right. It’s hard to know what to say when so much is happening in and around our lives, and the news is so consuming. To take a deep breath together, I’d love to ask you: what are…
Jeremy BowenInternational editorMortuary videos shows violent government crackdown in IranHow does an authoritarian regime die? As Ernest Hemingway famously said about going broke – gradually then suddenly. The protesters in Iran and their supporters abroad were hoping that the Islamic regime in Tehran was at the suddenly stage. The signs are, if it is dying, it is still at gradual.The last two weeks of unrest add up to a big crisis for the regime. Iranian anger and frustration have exploded into the streets before, but the latest explosion comes on top of all the military blows inflicted on Iran in…
The UK government has summoned the Iranian ambassador in response to the ongoing “brutal” killings of protesters in the country, the foreign secretary has said.Thousands of people are feared dead or have been detained after a crackdown on anti-government protesters across Iran in recent days.Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper outlined “the UK’s total abhorrence of the killings, the violence, and the repression that we are seeing” in a Commons statement, and said she feared the death toll may be significantly higher than reported so far.She also said the government would implement “full and further sanctions” against Iran targeting finance, energy, transport,…