Tech/Gear

Passwords have a way of ending up in places they were never meant to live. Sometimes convenience wins in the moment, and security becomes tomorrow's problem. One company learned that lesson after a contractor stored credentials in a Google Doc so they could access them from different devices.Then something happened that should make anyone who uses Google Docs take a closer look at their sharing settings. A developer searching the […]

Calling 911 is one of those moments when you expect a human voice on the other end. In New Orleans, though, an artificial intelligence system may answer in a limited situation involving certain calls about already reported auto crashes.The Orleans Parish Communication District handles 911 emergency communications in Orleans Parish. OPCD says the AI helps manage repeat crash reports while keeping human call-takers available for other emergencies.Hearing an automated voice […]

You swipe your card at the checkout, grab your receipt and walk away. Nothing looks unusual. However, a device sitting right on top of that payment terminal may have copied your card information and PIN.U.S. Secret Service agents recently swept hundreds of retailers across Los Angeles looking for skimmers. What they found shows how sophisticated these devices have become and how difficult they can be to spot.This card skimming scam […]

You probably tell an artificial intelligence chatbot things you would never post publicly. Maybe you ask about a health concern. Perhaps you need help sorting through a financial decision or dealing with something happening at work. Because the conversation feels one-on-one, it can be easy to forget how personal it has become.Now, AI companies are giving their assistants more ways to remember what you tell them. In some cases, AI […]

If you bank online, you probably know the routine. You enter your password and then wait for a six-digit code to arrive by text. That extra step is supposed to help prove you are really you. Unfortunately, scammers have learned how to turn those codes against us.A fake bank representative may call and persuade you to read the code aloud. A phishing site can trick you into typing it in. […]

The world's fastest man record was shattered on the first day of the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing on Saturday.Jamaican Usain Bolt's 100-meter dash record of 9.58 set in 2009 was edged by a Beijing-based X-Humanoid robot named Lightning Bolt, which ran 100 meters at 9:39 seconds before smashing into a blue wall.Before the opening, a humanoid robot from Chinese smartphone company Honor completed a 100-meter sprint in a […]

Booking a gym class seems like exactly the kind of everyday task you might hand over to an AI agent. But when Andrew Bird did that in Australia, his AI assistant found a way around the gym's booking rules and took an action he never explicitly asked it to take. What happened next is a good example of why giving AI agents more freedom can come with some very real […]

Most of the time, when I warn you about cybercriminals, I focus on how you can stop them before they get into your accounts or steal your money. Now the U.S. government wants to take the fight closer to some foreign criminal organizations behind cyber-enabled crime. Earlier this month, President Donald Trump signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum that creates a framework for vetted private U.S. companies to conduct cyber […]

You get an alert saying your Social Security number, email address or other personal information showed up in a breach. Your first thought may be, What did someone do with it? I get why that can be unnerving. An alert can sound serious without telling you whether a criminal actually opened an account, took over something you already use or did nothing at all.The first thing I want you to […]