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Credit card theft losses in 2023 alone totaled $36.5M

International cops working with Microsoft have shut down infrastructure and seized web domains used to run a distribution service for info-stealing malware Lumma. Criminals paid $250 to $1,000 a month to get access to the infostealer.…

New analysis by MIT Technology Review reveals AI's rapidly growing energy demands, with data centers expected to triple their share of US electricity consumption from 4.4% to 12% by 2028. According to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory projections, AI alone could soon consume electricity equivalent to 22% of all US households annually, driven primarily by inference operations that represent 80-90% of AI's computing power. The carbon intensity of electricity used by data centers is 48% higher than the US average, researchers found, as facilities increasingly turn to dirtier energy sources like natural gas to meet immediate needs. Tech giants are racing to secure unprecedented energy resources: OpenAI and President Trump announced a $500 billion Stargate initiative, Apple plans to spend $500 billion on manufacturing and data centers, and Google expects to invest $75 billion in AI infrastructure in 2025 alone. Despite their massive energy ambitions, leading AI companies remain largely silent about their per-query energy consumption, leaving researchers struggling to assemble what one expert called "a total black box."

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The U.S. trade deficit persists due to fundamental macroeconomic imbalances rather than just export shortfalls, according to Federal Reserve Bank of New York economist Thomas Klitgaard. His analysis shows the deficit reflects a persistent gap between domestic saving and investment spending, with the U.S. borrowing from foreign sources to fund domestic investment when savings fall short. This macroeconomic reality means targeting specific trade categories won't resolve the overall imbalance -- even when the petroleum deficit disappeared by 2019 due to increased domestic production, the total trade deficit grew to $441 billion, consistent with a widening saving gap. Bureau of Economic Analysis data reveals household saving has remained below pre-pandemic levels as consumers spend down accumulated savings from 2020-21, while business saving has remained relatively stable. Reducing the deficit would require significant macroeconomic adjustments, including higher domestic saving or reduced investment spending, which studies indicate would likely cause economic pain as demonstrated during the 2008 recession.

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Bribed support staff were identified and fired

Coinbase says the data of nearly 70,000 customers was handed over by overseas support staff who were bribed by criminals to give up the goods.…

Sam Altman, OpenAI's chief executive, said Wednesday his firm was paying $6.5 billion to buy io, a one-year-old start-up created by Jony Ive, a former top Apple executive who designed the iPhone. From a report: The deal, which effectively unites Silicon Valley royalty, is intended to usher in what the two men call "a new family of products" for the age of artificial general intelligence, or A.G.I., which is shorthand for a future technology that achieves human-level intelligence. The deal, which is OpenAI's biggest acquisition, will bring in Mr. Ive and his team of roughly 55 engineers, designers and researchers. They will assume creative and design responsibilities across OpenAI and build hardware that helps people better interact with the technology. In a joint interview, Mr. Ive and Mr. Altman declined to say what such devices could look like and how they might work, but they said they hoped to share details next year. Mr. Ive, 58, framed the ambitions as galactic, with the aim of creating "amazing products that elevate humanity."

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When 'AI-powered' means 'mostly humans and bad decisions'

Comment The collapse of Builder.ai has cast fresh light on AI coding practices, despite the software company blaming its fall from grace on poor historical decision-making.…

Microsoft is introducing a new "Cross Device Resume" feature for Windows 11, enabling app developers to let users seamlessly continue activity between devices in a manner closely mirroring Apple's Handoff for Macs and iPhones. Unveiled at Build 2025 during a session titled "Create Seamless Cross-Device Experiences with Windows for your app," the feature was demonstrated -- before the session was quietly edited to remove this segment -- by showing Spotify playing a song on an Android phone, then surfacing the Spotify app in the Windows taskbar with a phone icon; clicking this launches Spotify on the PC at precisely the same point in the app as on the phone, preserving playback position for uninterrupted use.

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Every hardware claim is equal, but some are more equal than others

Veteran Microsoft engineer Raymond Chen has explained another Windows oddity – this time, why the operating system can appear to report two different CPU speeds.…

An anonymous reader shares a report: Meta is expanding the ranks of its lowest-rated employees in mid-year performance reviews, a move that could lead to more performance-based cuts. Meta is telling managers to put more employees in "Below Expectations", the lowest performance bucket during this year's mid-year performance reviews, according to a memo shared on Meta's internal forum on May 14, which was viewed by Business Insider. For teams of 150 or more, Meta wants managers to put 15-20% of employees in the bottom bucket compared to 12-15% last year. The expanded range includes employees who have already left the company as part of "non-regrettable attrition", Meta's term for staff considered non-critical to operations, including those who resigned or were dismissed for underperformance. The mid-year performance review process is "an opportunity to make exit decisions", according to the memo. It added that "there will be no company-wide performance terminations, unlike earlier this year," and leaders are expected to manage the performance of their reports.

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CrowdStrike remains hopeful that damages will be limited to seven figures

CrowdStrike is "confident" that the worst-case scenario of its pending lawsuit with Delta will result in it paying the airline a sum in the "single-digit millions."…

Google co-founder Sergey Brin candidly addressed the failure of Google Glass during an unscheduled appearance at Tuesday's Google I/O conference, where the company announced a new smart glasses partnership with Warby Parker. "I definitely feel like I made a lot of mistakes with Google Glass, I'll be honest," Brin said. He noted several key issues that doomed the $1,500 device launched in 2013, including a conspicuous front-facing camera that sparked privacy concerns. "Now it looks like normal glasses without that thing in front," Brin said of the new design. He also blamed the "technology gap" that existed a decade ago and his own inexperience with supply chains that prevented pricing the original Glass competitively.

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Amazon customers are suddenly getting refunds for products they purchased and returned as far back as 2018, along with apologies from the online retailer after it discovered "unresolved" issues. From a report: The precise scope of the refunds issued isn't clear but executives hinted it may be hundreds of millions of dollars. Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky, speaking on a conference call after the company released earnings May 1, said Amazon took a one-time charge of approximately $1.1 billion in the first quarter related in part to "some historical customer returns" that were unresolved. The charge was also attributable to the cost of stockpiling inventory in anticipation of tariffs.

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From air-gapped bunkers to partner-run platforms, sovereignty is suddenly in vogue

Google has updated its sovereign cloud services, including an air-gapped solution for customers with strict data security and residency requirements, as customers grow uneasy over US digital dominance.…

Microsoft has officially cited Apple's App Store policies as the roadblock preventing its Xbox mobile store launch promised for July 2024. In an amicus brief supporting Epic Games filed this week, Microsoft alleged that Apple's "anti-steering policies" have "stymied" its mobile store ambitions despite a court injunction allowing developers to advertise alternative payment methods. The brief challenges Apple's attempt to overturn this crucial ruling, which enabled Fortnite's App Store return with external payment links. Microsoft argues that launching its store under threat of Apple potentially winning a temporary stay creates significant business risk. The restrictions also impact Microsoft's Xbox mobile app functionality.

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In practice, it'll cost many times that and almost certainly won't work

In a White House press conference on Tuesday President Trump announced his plans for a defensive network of missiles, radar, space surveillance, and attack satellites that he promised would protect America.…

An anonymous reader quotes a report from PCWorld: Microsoft famously brought its Copilot AI to the Edge browser in Windows. Now Google is doing the same with Chrome. In a list of announcements that spanned dozens of pages, Google allocated just a single line to the announcement: "Gemini is coming to Chrome, so you can ask questions while browsing the web." Google later clarified what Gemini on Chrome can do: "This first version allows you to easily ask Gemini to clarify complex information on any webpage you're reading or summarize information," the company said in a blog post. "In the future, Gemini will be able to work across multiple tabs and navigate websites on your behalf." Other examples of what Gemini can do involves coming up with personal quizzes based on material in the Web page, or altering what the page suggests, like a recipe. In the future, Google plans to allow Gemini in Chrome to work on multiple tabs, navigate within Web sites, and automate tasks. Google said that you'll be able to either talk or type commands to Gemini. To access it, you can use the Alt+G shortcut in Windows. [...] You'll see Gemini appear in Chrome as early as this week, Google executives said -- on May 21, a representative clarified. However, you'll need to be a Gemini subscriber to take advantage of its features, a requirement that Microsoft does not apply with Copilot for Edge. Otherwise, Google will let those who participate in the Google Chrome Beta, Dev, and Canary programs test it out.

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Will the US President take credit for that one as well?

NASA was already considering reducing crew size on the International Space Station (ISS) before cuts to the agency's budget were proposed.…

No need for thumbscrews when your chatbot never lets up

Large language models (LLMs) are not just about assistance and hallucinations. The technology has a darker side.…

Care board draws red lines over use of UK government-backed Federated Data Platform

A report for a Northern England health authority says its analytics platform is more capable than anything offered under a controversial central government deal with Palantir.…

Starfish Space plans to perform the first commercial satellite docking in orbit with its Otter Pup 2 mission, aiming to connect to an unprepared D-Orbit ION spacecraft using an electrostatic capture mechanism and autonomous navigation software. NASASpaceFlight.com reports: This follows the company's first attempt, which saw the Otter Pup 1 mission unable to dock with its target due to a thruster failure. The Otter Pup 2 spacecraft will be deployed from a quarter plate on the upper stage adapter of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, placing it into a sun synchronous orbit altitude of 510 km inclined 97.4 degrees. The target will be a D-Orbit ION spacecraft which will simulate a client payload, which is not equipped with a traditional docking adapter or capture plate as you might see aboard a space station or other rendezvous target. Instead, Starfish Space's Nautilus capture mechanism will feature a special end effector connected to the end of the capture mechanism. This end effector will enable Otter Pup 2 to dock with the ION through electrostatic adhesion. "An electromagnet will be integrated into the end effector and will be used as a backup option to the electrostatic end effector, to dock with the ION through magnetic attraction," the company notes. The goal is to eventually commission its Otter satellite servicing vehicle to allow for servicing of previously launched satellites. The company's first Otter missions include customers such as NASA, the U.S. Space Force, and Intelsat, with the goal of flying those missions as soon as 2026. [...] Following the thruster issues on the first mission, this flight will feature two ThrustMe thrusters, which use an electric propulsion system based on gridded ion thruster technology.

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