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Hackers breached “various point of sales terminals” at retailer Forever 21’s storefronts throughout the country, collecting “credit card numbers, expiration dates, verification codes and sometimes cardholder names” from April 3rd to November 18th, 2017, CNET reported. In a notification to customers, Forever 21 said that “We regret this incident occurred and any concern this may…
After several attendees of this year’s Chaos Communication Congress (CCC) in Germany said organizers have continued to downplay or ignore issues of harassment and sexual assault, Chelsea Komlo, an open-source software developer and Tor contributor, is speaking out publicly about the rape and assault she says she experienced in an attempt to help combat the…
Here’s one piece of evidence to suggest that cryptocurrency remains an extremely hot commodity despite recent crashes in the price of Bitcoin: Armed gang members kidnapped a top executive at U.K.-registered cryptocurrency exchange Exmo Finance this week and only released him after they were paid a $1 million equivalent ransom in bitcoins, the Financial Times reported.…
The cliché of the GOP being the party of states’ rights has been tired for some time: Republicans have worked to hamper the ability of states trying to stem the flow of guns crossing their borders; they’ve floated the idea of preventing states from passing stricter-than-federal rules against polluters; and more recently, they’ve threatened to…
You’re not the only one who has noticed an uptick in annoying robocalls seemingly coming from your same area code. Last week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released their biennial report to Congress on the Do-Not-Call Registry. The latest installment of the databook featured more information about complaints than previous years, including a breakdown of…
The ancestor to pretty much all boning and photosynthesizing organisms might have been fossilized in Canadian rock. The only trouble is that scientists aren’t sure how old that fossil is. It’s hard to tell just how ancient any given fossil is, and accurate rankings of “oldest fossil” can be the subject of much controversy. Such…
In a new report from Pro Publica, Facebook apologized for inconsistently policing hate speech on its platform. Pro Publica reporters submitted 49 samples of posts from users who believed moderators made the wrong call, either by removing legitimate expression or by allowing hate speech to remain online. In 22 of those cases, Facebook admitted its…
Congress has done, well, basically nothing to ensure that the 2018 midterm elections won’t be in some way compromised by hackers, even though almost every lawmaker is adamant nothing could be more important than securing the vote. Making matters worse, it now appears that even states willing to accept the federal government’s offers of assistance…
Google has updated its Maps policies to ban certain business reviews left by former employees. In a new section of the Google Maps “User Contributed Content Policy,” Google now labels reviews “about a current or former employment experience” as a “conflict of interest.” Originally, only current employees were barred under the policy. The new rules,…
Users of Turkey’s equivalent to Reddit received an unsettling message late last night. Across the site, users began complaining that they’d received a mysterious DM from an account named “iamwaldo” that left many people feeling paranoid and anxious. It appears that was the intention of the message, which is actually a viral marketing ploy to…
One of the many benefits of battery-powered cars is the incredible torque and acceleration an electric motor can generate. It’s not just a feature exclusive to Teslas; you can actually upgrade almost any electric vehicle with equally ridiculous acceleration—even a mobility scooter. There’s not a lot of details about how this upgrade was performed, but…
It was inevitable as soon as Android apps were made available on Chrome OS devices. Like an immortal highlander, there could really be only one dominant Google OS in the tablet and laptop space. And with the news that Google has killed the Pixel C Android tablet and Samsung’s next Chromebook is a detachable 2-in-1,…
A New York Times report out Friday identifies more than 250 mobile games in Android’s Play Store that use always-on audio recognition software to track users’ TV- and ad-viewing behavior. Experts cited in the report also say the software’s developer, a startup called Alphonso, does not clearly describe how the games, some of which explicitly…
When I was in grade school, the only reason I took band class was to avoid spending two hours in study hall every week. My motivations would have been completely different, however, were I raised in South Korea where fourth graders get to perform Daft Punk tracks instead of Sousa’s greatest hits. I’m not only…
If you’ve ever caught yourself mindlessly staring out of the window while driving through a big city filled with endless buildings, you’ll understand the appeal of Lauren Pedrosa’s short film, perspective ǝʌᴉʇɔǝdsɹǝԀ. But Pedrosa takes the repetitive monotony one step further by turning footage of random buildings into a complex kaleidoscope. The results will not…
Have you ever had that nagging sensation that your computer was slower than it used to be? Or that your brand new laptop seemed much more sluggish than an old tower PC you once had? Dan Luu, a computer engineer who has previously worked at Google and Microsoft, had the same sensation, so he did…
What’s your favorite holiday? Some people say Christmas, while others might say Thanksgiving or Valentine’s Day. But for me, the best holiday is New Years’. Not because I go out partying or anything. I can drink heavily any day of the year, especially after a year like 2017. No, New Years’ is fantastic for one…
This week, at the prominent hacking conference Chaos Communication Congress, Iranian-Canadian internet researcher Mahsa Alimardani was scheduled to give a talk on censorship and surveillance in Iran. But during the presentation, Alimardani decided to go off-topic, taking a moment to highlight allegations of assault and harassment made by current and former conference attendees, displaying a…
Social feeds are getting cluttered with posts no one asked for, and unfortunately, Instagram is following suit. No one I’ve spoken to about Instagram’s recently announced feature of “recommended” posts from complete strangers appearing in feeds is excited about the change. Admittedly, that group of people is a relatively small sample size, composed largely of…
Today Uber, the biggest ride-sharing company in much of the world, got its hands on even more money by selling up to 20 percent of itself to Softbank and other investors in exchange for a giant sack of cash. But those investment dollars come with a catch. In order to raise more money, Uber sold…
