Author: InfoForTech

Achievements that first make people laugh and then make them think. That’s the motto of the Ig Nobel Prizes, an annual competition that—parodying the Nobel Prizes—recognizes some of the world’s most unusual scientific studies. The organization Improbable Research has been hosting the event since 1991 with the aim of showing that science also has a humorous side in its quest to meaningfully answer questions about the world.This year the ceremony was held in Zurich, Switzerland, and recognized 10 research projects ranging from an attempt to scientifically define what a kiss is to an experiment that used buried underwear to assess…

Cloud data management and data security company Rubrik Inc. today announced Rubrik Apache Iceberg Protection, a backup and recovery capability for Apache Iceberg tables on Amazon Web Services Inc. The target is a gap Rubrik argues native tooling leaves open. Iceberg snapshots are metadata pointers rather than copies, so a table that gets deleted, encrypted by ransomware or overwritten by a misfiring artificial intelligence agent takes its snapshot history down with it. Restoring the underlying files does not rebuild the catalog entry. Data teams are left reassembling table metadata by hand before anything will run a query again. Rubrik Apache…

The extra money for cellular won’t be worth it for some. Raditya/Getty Images Choosing the best Apple Watch isn’t just about picking colors and bands. You also need to ask yourself whether you need an Apple Watch GPS or GPS + Cellular. No matter which one you choose, you’ll have the same key features of the Apple Watch. Both can monitor your health and track your workouts. But choosing an Apple Watch GPS + Cellular gives you a few extra perks. For instance, maybe you’d like to do more without having to worry about carrying your iPhone…

Marketers have long sought visibility as a way to elevate their brand. But choosing heightened visibility at the sacrifice of credibility is a wrong choice, Wil Reynolds says.

In 1906, in response to public outcry that came after Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle detailed the revolting conditions in Chicago’s meatpacking plants, the US government passed the Federal Meat Inspection Act. The legislation created what would become known as the Food Safety and Inspection Service, a force of federal employees who would spend their days in stockyards and packing plants, checking livestock for disease both before and after their slaughter. They did their work organoleptically—with their eyes, noses, and hands—an approach soon dubbed “poke and sniff.” This 100 percent testing method worked well enough for spotting the lesions that signaled…

Xiaomi took the wraps off its new foldable phone at IFA in Berlin and while I could only see it on a stand behind glass at first, I later managed to actually get my hands on the thing and have a brief play. It’s a nice-feeling foldable with a passport-style foldable that I absolutely love. Problem is, it’s got some stiff competition from both Samsung and Apple.  According to most rumors, Apple will be unveiling its first folding iPhone, likely named the iPhone Ultra, at its event on Sept. 9. Those same rumors suggest that Apple’s foldable will also have…

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of a complex Chromium-based post-exploitation toolkit called PEEP that masquerades as a bookmarks extension for the web browser. “Requiring prior administrative or code execution access, its installer injects the extension directly into Chrome/Edge profiles, bypassing Web Store checks and user prompts by forging Chromium’s own Secure Preferences integrity values,” SOCRadar said. “A native-messaging tool then extends it beyond browser telemetry to host-level command execution and file management.” Once installed, the PEEP “extension” agent polls its command-and-control (C2) server (“206.237.30[.]232” or “xfjcc[.]fun”) every 30 seconds over plaintext HTTP for new commands, while exfiltrating browsing history, active-tab…

OpenAI Group PBC Chief Scientist Jakub Pachocki called for an artificial intelligence research slowdown in an essay published on Sunday, after other prominent industry figures have expressed similar views in recent months. Pachocki argues that leading AI labs should voluntarily pace their model development efforts. According to the executive, such slowdowns should become “commonplace” until the industry develops AI safety standards. Pachocki asserts that addressing the technology’s risks will also require governments to prioritize “coordination on future AI development.” He wrote that such measures are necessary for several reasons. One is that AI labs’ current safety guardrails may prove insufficient for…

[This is a sponsored article with viaim.] On a typical workday, I’m usually juggling a few things at once: I have my laptop open, a client call starting in 20 minutes, yesterday’s interview transcript still waiting to be cleaned up, and a notes app full of half-sentences I’ll need to decode later. The common thread running through my days as a writer is constant switching between listening, writing, recording and organising information.  I jump between multiple apps: using my phone’s voice memos to record conversations, a separate transcription tool like Otter.ai or Fireflies.ai to turn them into text, and a…

Carrying culinary adventures into the unknown comes the Le Creuset x Star Trek: Galileo shuttlecraft casserole dish ($150), which has a roomy 1.6 liters of space inside. Vulcan votaries are well catered for with the $35 Spock ear mug (perfect for Vulcan spice tea), complete with gold detailing along the rim as a nod to the Starfleet uniform; the $55 Spock hand spoon rest; and the whimsical Vulcan salute “live long and prosper” oven mitt, resplendent in signature Star Trek baby blue for $40.Not merely content with digitally launching the collection online, Le Creuset engaged Sent Into Space to boldly…