risk
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AI presents 'risk of extinction' on par with nuclear war, industry leaders say
A group of high-profile industry leaders has issued a one-sentence statement on the risks of AI, equating it to pandemics and nuclear war.
Reliable Indiegogo campaigners will now get a 'Trust-Proven' badge
Canon is among the first to receive the platform's nod of approval.
Hasbro is making Transformers and My Little Pony adaptations for Netflix
Hasbro is known for making action figures for films by Marvel and Disney, but after acquiring Peppa Pig producer Entertainment One (eOne) it has big plans to make movies and TV shows out of its own toys and games.
FBI sees cybercrime reports increase fourfold during COVID-19 outbreak
Cybercrime has increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Alexa can tell you what to do if you think you have COVID-19
Amazon is joining Alphabet's Verily and Apple's Siri in offering a COVID-19 screening tool. If you're in the US, you can now ask your Alexa devices to assess your risk level for the disease, as well as what to do if you think you have COVID-19. Alexa will ask you a series of questions and provide Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidance based on your risk factors and symptoms.
A new blood test could indicate multiple conditions with one sample
A new blood test could use a single plasma sample to assess health and predict the likelihood of developing a range of diseases. Thanks to Theranos, this may sound familiar, but unlike that debacle, this proof-of-concept is backed by research published in Nature Medicine.
Healthcare risk algorithm had 'significant racial bias'
There's more evidence of algorithms demonstrating racial bias. Researchers have determined that a "widely used" risk prediction algorithm from a major (but unnamed) healthcare provider had a "significant racial bias." While it didn't directly consider ethnicity, its emphasis on medical costs as bellwethers for health led to the code routinely underestimating the needs of black patients. A sicker black person would receive the same risk score as a healthier white person simply because of how much they could spend.
Hackers make jailbreaking iPhones a thing again
In the iPhone's early days, hackers would "jailbreak" the iPhone in order to install third-party apps that weren't available through the App Store. It's been a while since anyone seriously needed to jailbreak their iPhone, as there are plenty of apps and more customizable operating systems to choose from. But this weekend, hackers dusted off their jailbreaking skills when a vulnerability was discovered in iOS 12.4. Security researcher Pwn20wnd released the first free public jailbreak for a fully updated iPhone in years.
Apple recalls older MacBook Pros for risk of overheating
Apple issued a voluntary recall for a "limited number" of older 15-inch MacBook Pros. According to the company, the laptops contain a battery that may overheat and pose a safety risk. The recall "primarily" affects the 2015 model of the 15-inch MacBook Pro sold between September 2015 and February 2017, and they can be identified by their product serial number. If you're having a hard time keeping track, that's the model prior to the redesign which introduced the controversial new keyboard design and Touch Bar.
Alphabet’s Chronicle finally reveals its cybersecurity moonshot
Last year, Google's parent company Alphabet announced Chronicle, a cybersecurity division spun out of X (previously Google X). Now, Chronicle has launched its first commercial product -- a global telemetry platform called Backstory. According to Chronicle, it's a bit like Google Photos, but for business network security.
Microsoft's Bitlocker compromised by bad SSD encryption
Bad computer security can sometimes have a cascading effect, as researchers from the Netherlands discovered. They first spotted vulnerabilities in the embedded encryption of several SSD models from Samsung and Crucial that allowed them to access data without a password. Then, to make matters worse, they noticed that Windows 10 Bitlocker defaults to SSD encryption, when available. That means if you happened to have one of those SSDs and used Bitlocker, attackers with access to your PC could easily gain access to your files.
Strava will focus on privacy awareness to address security issues
The CEO of fitness tracking app Strava has responded to security concerns raised this week regarding the publicly-available details of secret military bases. In a blog post, James Quarles addressed the sensitive nature of information readily available on the app's heatmap feature and said the team is "taking the matter seriously". Strava is "committed to working with military and government officials" to address the issue, he said, adding that the team is reviewing features that were originally designed for "athlete motivation and inspiration" to make sure they can't be used nefariously.
Indiegogo requires campaigns to disclose product status and risk
Crowdfunding has brought a lot of great projects to life, but fundraising on the frontier brings risk -- like unexpected issues delaying product deliveries for years or cancelling campaigns outright. Indiegogo wants to shore up trust in its platform, so it's requiring entrepreneurs to disclose more information up-front and update backers monthly.
Leaked memo says hackers may have compromised UK power plants
State-sponsored hackers have "probably compromised" the UK's energy industry. A leaked memo from the National Cybersecurity Centre (NCSC) identifies links "from multiple UK IP addresses to infrastructure associated with advanced state-sponsored hostile threat actors." These threats are "known to target the energy and manufacturing sectors," the document says. The memo, obtained by Motherboard and verified by a number of sources, goes on to say that as a result of these connections, "a number of industrial control system engineering and services organisations are likely to have been compromised." The NCSC has neither confirmed nor denied the authenticity of the memo. However, in a statement given to the BBC it said: "We are aware of reports of malicious cyber-activity targeting the energy sector around the globe ... We are liaising with our counterparts to better understand the threat and continue to manage any risks to the UK."
Watch 'Citizenfour' team's WikiLeaks doc this summer on Showtime
There haven't been any shortage of documentaries about WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, but the one we've kept a keen eye on is from filmmaker Laura Poitras. You might remember her as the director of the the Edward Snowden documentary Citizenfour and as one of the 150 filmmakers calling for camera encryption. As it happens, Risk will see a theatrical release, but this summer the film will be available on the small screen thanks to Showtime, Variety reports.
EVE Evolved: Wormholes should be more dangerous
When unstable wormholes began forming all over the EVE Online universe in 2009's Apocrypha expansion, players approached them with extreme caution. The promise of riches in the form of new loot and Tech 3 cruiser components was balanced by the incalculable risk of facing a powerful new enemy in untested circumstances. Between the Sleeper AI that had been reported to melt players' ships in seconds and the player pirates taking advantage of the hidden local chat channel to sneak up on unsuspecting victims, we had no idea whether any ship we sent into a wormhole would ever make it back out again. The risk of venturing into something truly unknown made wormhole exploration the single most exciting thing I've ever been a part of in an MMO, but the past five years have completely eroded that danger. Farmers now know exactly what to expect in every wormhole site and can efficiently farm Sleepers with the minimum of effort or risk, and PvP alliances can rapidly cycle through systems to find weak targets to attack. We've mapped and tamed all of the wormhole frontier, systematically reducing the risk to the lowest possible levels under the current game mechanics. Tuesday's Hyperion update aimed to shake things up with a few disruptive changes designed to keep wormholes dangerous, and I think it's a definite step in the right direction. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at some of the changes in Hyperion designed to keep wormholes dangerous and ask what more could be done to keep things interesting.
Sony warns users that its VAIO Fit risks catching fire (update)
As Sony prepares to get out of the PC market, reports of a battery defect in one of its new notebooks will do little to preserve a happy memory of its legacy. The Wall Street Journal reports that an issue with Sony's VAIO Fit 11A could cause the laptop to overheat and catch fire, so the company's asking owners to stop using it immediately. Sony's already sold 25,905 units in total, with the majority shipping to Europe, but has not yet issued an official recall for the device. That is the expected outcome, however, leaving the struggling electronics giant with another major headache just as it completes the sale of its VAIO arm to Japan Industrial Partners (JIP). Update: Sony has released more information on the issue, confirming that it will "repair or replace the affected PCs at no charge, or to refund the purchase price for the affected PCs." The company says it expects to issue further guidance within the next two weeks, warning users not to touch their notebook until that time.
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MMO Mechanics: Exploring death mechanics
They say death must come to us all, and that inevitability extends to our characters in MMOs. The death of our characters may be inconvenient when we want to plough through content, but penalising failure is an essential part of any MMO and further incentivises success by making you learn from your mistakes. As much as players crave gratification through rewards and progression, they also need to feel that such progress has been well-earned and greatly deserved. Rewards become that much sweeter when we must risk something to secure them, and failure without consequence would render the gains made in our favourite MMOs insignificant. Without a considerable death penalty, it becomes possible to mindlessly crush content through brute force. I don't know about you, but I don't find fun in bashing my skull repeatedly with a rock in an attempt to crack it! In this week's MMO Mechanics, I compare various death penalties and the effects they have on the MMOs that employ them. I'll explore just how tangible death penalties such as corpse running, gear durability loss, and XP drain make our character's demise feel.
The Summoner's Guidebook: Reckless risk-taking in League of Legends
Most people who play League of Legends tend to take really silly, ridiculous risks. If you've read the Summoner's Guidebook for any length of time, you know that I always recommend playing your cards close to your chest and avoiding uneccessary risk-taking. However, being extremely cautious is not the best idea in the long-term. I'm not suggesting that taking risks all the time is good, but I do advise taking at least one or two stupid gambles every game. Calculated risk-taking is important to victory. You can't be timid and let the enemy walk all over you, but you also can't be mindless. It's important to know the difference.
Shambling undead invade your gaming table in Risk: Plants vs Zombies
Fertilize your pea shooters and gather as much sun as possible: Plants Vs Zombies is making the jump to a strategy boardgame in Risk: Plants Vs Zombies. Those familiar with Risk should quickly feel at home in the Plants Vs Zombies iteration of the game. Instead of human armies capturing countries of various sizes, Risk: Plants Vs Zombies pits ravenous corpses against deadly anthropomorphic plants. "This completely customized take on two-player Risk offers a double-sided gameboard and three head-to-head ways to play: Tower Defense, Mission Objective, or Total Domination," states PopCap's official description. "With a detailed map of the original town of Brainsborough on one side and the familiar Plants vs. Zombies backyard from the video game on the other, players opt to be plants or zombies and then pick their battlefield. Fighting for their very survival, players engage in skirmishes, battle for three different victory conditions, and play the classic Risk game mode, vying to take over the whole board." Risk: Plants Vs Zombies has been approved for players age 10 and up. It features a $30 price tag, and is currently available on the Plants Vs Zombies online store.
