Information science

The IRS-authorized tax preparation software service eFile.com recently suffered a JavaScript malware attack in the middle of tax season, according to BleepingComputer. The nefarious JavaScript file has been identified as popper.js and has been observed by eFile.com users as well as by security researchers. The malware is believed to have surfaced on the service around mid-March and has interacted with “almost every page of eFile.com, at least up until April 1st,” the publication added. Encountering this…

While it may not quite be an all-knowing, all-seeing companion, AI has come on in leaps and bounds in the last few years. AI chatbots have recently come into the spotlight, thanks largely to the emergence of ChatGPT -- a chatbot from OpenAI, the creators of the incredible DALL-E 2 AI image generator. AI chatbots are a lot of fun to play with, and they can create everything from poetry to new episodes of long-canceled TV shows. But if you're looking to try out ChatGPT on your iPhone or Android phone, then…

If it seems like AI is taking over the world, that’s because it certainly feels like it. OpenAI’s ChatGPT has made waves over the past few months, and more and more apps seem to be integrating AI somehow. Expedia is the latest one, and it wants to use ChatGPT to help you plan your next vacation. Expedia Expedia has just launched a new plugin for its iOS app today, which is currently in beta. This chatbot tool, which is powered by ChatGPT (of course), lets you start a conversation with everyone’s favorite…

ChatGPT is an incredibly capable piece of tech, with a huge number of interesting uses. But, perhaps inevitably, people have put it to use for less noble purposes. Now, someone has used it to generate valid Windows license keys for free. The discovery was made by YouTuber Enderman, who used ChatGPT to create license keys for Windows 95. Why Windows 95? Well, support ended for it 20 years ago, so this was essentially an exercise in curiosity from Enderman rather than an attempt to crack more modern versions like…

Google has established a file creation limit on Drive that caps the number of files you can create per account at five million. The company apparently implemented the new limit in February with no prior notice, but did not announce it publicly. It is in place for all Google Workspace users, regardless of whether you pay for extra storage, several publications including Ars Technica and CNET reported. Several users unceremoniously learned of the change when they realized they could no longer upload files…

Apple CEO Time Cook described something similar to the metaverse in a recent interview, possibly changing his mind about a digital world to enhance our own. The most recent revelation about Cook’s changing ideas about AR/VR technology and the metaverse comes from an interview in GQ. “My thinking always evolves. Steve taught me well: never to get married to your convictions of yesterday,” Cook mused. About future Apple AR technology, Cook added, “it’s the idea that there is this environment that may be even…

Apple’s mixed-reality headset is due to launch this June at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), and a freshly published patent hints at some of the controllers Apple might offer with the device. But there are some major caveats that could prevent these accessories from ever seeing the light of day. The patent (number 20230096068) describes how Apple could create a handheld controller with a “torque feedback mechanism” to provide immersive physical responses while using a mixed-reality headset. That…

Europol this week issued a stark warning highlighting the risks posed by criminals as  they get to grips with the new wave of advanced AI chatbots. In a post shared online this week, Europe’s law enforcement agency described how tools such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and GPT-4, and Google’s Bard, will be increasingly used by criminals looking for new ways to con members of the public. It identified three specific areas that concern it most. First up is fraud and social engineering, where emails are sent to targets…

A security researcher was recently able to change the top results in Microsoft’s Bing search engine and access any user’s private files, potentially putting millions of users at risk — and all it took was logging into an unsecured web page. The exploit was discovered by researcher Hillai Ben-Sasson at their team at Wiz, a cloud security firm. According to Ben-Sasson, it would not only allow an attacker to change Bing search results, but would also grant them access to millions of users’ private files and data.…

The first open-source AI chatbot in the vein of ChatGPT has arrived, and it’s come at a particularly helpful time. ColossalChat is a powerful alternative that uses an RHLF pipeline similar to OpenAI’s GPT-4 model that powers ChatGPT, and it’s available for immediate use. ChatGPT, of course, remains the premier AI chatbot and keeps plenty busy. But I just tried to log in now and found it was at capacity and, therefore, unavailable. This is a common problem with the service. ColossalChat, on the other hand, is wide…