u/Advanced-Bug-1962

gg to whoever claimed it first.

Cloudflare has partnered with the teams behind Chrome, Edge, and Firefox to develop a new web standard called Private Access Control Tokens (PACT). The system is designed to help websites distinguish legitimate users and trusted automated agents from malicious bots without relying on CAPTCHAs or invasive tracking. It works by allowing a browser or trusted service to issue a cryptographic token that proves a visitor is legitimate, without revealing their identity or personal information. When visiting a website, the token can be verified to confirm the visitor is trustworthy, helping reduce spam and abuse while preserving user privacy. As automated traffic continues to grow across the web, PACT aims to provide a more secure, privacy-friendly, and user-friendly alternative to traditional bot detection methods.

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Cybersecurity firm Kaspersky has warned that hackers are using Steam Workshop and Wallpaper Engine to distribute malware disguised as animated wallpapers, many of which feature anime-themed content. The malicious wallpapers can contain hidden executable files or password-protected archives that automatically deploy malware once installed.

According to researchers, some infected wallpapers were downloaded thousands of times before being removed. The malware has been used to steal Steam account data, install backdoors, and deploy additional threats. While the campaign mainly targeted users in China and Russia, cases have also been reported in several other countries, including India. Users are advised to be cautious when downloading community-created content and to verify creators before installing wallpapers.

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Microsoft is reportedly exploring major structural changes to its Xbox gaming division, including the possibility of spinning it off into a separate company or restructuring it as a wholly owned subsidiary, with a joint venture also on the table. The idea is still in the discussion phase, and no final decision has been made, but it reflects Microsoft’s ongoing reassessment of Xbox’s business performance amid pressure from rising costs, declining console momentum, and profitability concerns. According to reports, such a move could give Xbox more operational independence while also making it easier to attract partners or even prepare for a future sale, though Microsoft is also considering internal fixes and continued investment in major franchises like Halo and Fallout.

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Since its launch in November 2022, ChatGPT has grown at an unprecedented pace, becoming the fastest application ever to reach 1 billion monthly active users. According to Sensor Tower, the AI chatbot achieved this milestone in roughly three years, significantly faster than major platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Google Maps, which took between five and eight years to reach the same scale.

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Google Chrome is expected to remove the last remaining support for Manifest V2 extensions in the coming weeks, marking the end of uBlock Origin on the browser. The widely used ad blocker relies on extension capabilities that are not available under Google's newer Manifest V3 framework. While users can switch to alternatives such as uBlock Origin Lite, many developers and privacy advocates argue that the changes reduce the effectiveness of advanced content-blocking tools. Google maintains that Manifest V3 improves security, privacy, and browser performance.

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Apple’s upcoming iOS 27 update is expected to deliver a major overhaul of Siri, turning it into a much more capable AI assistant with stronger contextual awareness and the ability to take actions across apps like Messages, Mail, and Photos, along with tighter integration into the system experience, including enhancements to features like Dynamic Island for more interactive, real-time alerts and controls, but the update is also raising concerns due to reports that some advanced Siri features may be restricted by daily usage limits unless users subscribe to iCloud+, effectively tying full access to Apple’s new AI capabilities to a paid plan, while also including general performance improvements and broader system refinements across Apple devices.

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Meta is reportedly building a facial recognition feature called “NameTag” for its smart glasses that could identify people in real time using the device’s camera. The system would match faces with data stored on the user’s phone and may also link to a “Connections” feature for remembering people. While it is not active yet, code in the app suggests it is already being developed for possible future release. The move is notable because Meta shut down its earlier facial recognition system in 2021 over privacy concerns, and the idea of bringing it back in wearable form has again raised worries, even though Meta says it has not decided to launch it and is not creating a central face database.

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Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince announced that bots have officially surpassed humans in generating web traffic for the first time in internet history. According to Cloudflare Radar data, bots now account for about 57.5% of all HTTP requests, while humans make up 42.5%. Prince noted that he originally expected this milestone to happen in 2027, but the rapid growth of AI agents accelerated the timeline. These AI-powered bots can visit thousands of websites to perform tasks like research, price comparisons, and content gathering, creating far more web requests than a typical human user.

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Nvidia has unveiled the RTX Spark superchip, an Arm-based processor designed for AI-focused Windows laptops and mini PCs. The chip combines a 20-core Grace CPU, Blackwell graphics, and up to 128GB of unified memory, with Nvidia heavily promoting its AI capabilities. However, the platform enters a market where Windows-on-Arm devices have historically struggled with software compatibility issues, uneven developer support, and limited consumer demand. It also faces established competition from Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm. While Nvidia is presenting RTX Spark as part of a "new era" of personal computing, the launch arrives amid growing skepticism around the industry's push to add AI features to nearly every product, raising questions about whether the hardware addresses real user needs or is primarily another attempt to capitalize on the ongoing AI hype cycle.

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YouTube is introducing automatic AI-content detection and labeling for videos containing significant photorealistic AI-generated material. Instead of relying only on creators to disclose AI usage, the platform will use internal detection systems along with technologies like C2PA metadata and Google SynthID to identify AI-generated content. The labels will appear more prominently — below regular videos and directly on Shorts as overlays. Creators can request corrections for inaccurate labels, but labels will remain fixed for videos made using YouTube AI tools such as Veo or Dream Screen. YouTube also stated that these labels will not affect monetization or recommendation systems, and said the update is part of a broader effort to improve transparency and reduce misleading deepfake-style content online.

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After Google unveiled a major AI-first redesign of Search at I/O 2026 replacing the classic list of blue links with AI-generated answers, agents, and conversational results many users reacted negatively to the changes. As a result, privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo saw app installs surge by 30%, with users preferring a simpler and less AI-heavy search experience instead of being “force-fed” AI responses.

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In 2023, Microsoft grabbed attention in the AI industry after launching Copilot and adding AI features to Bing, which pushed Google to respond quickly with its own AI efforts. Three years later, Google’s Gemini is now ahead of Copilot, mainly because it is deeply integrated into widely used services like Search, Chrome, Android, and Workspace. While Microsoft started the AI momentum early, Google managed to regain the lead by making Gemini a bigger part of everyday user experience.

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Google CEO Sundar Pichai said growing backlash from graduates against AI will ultimately shape the technology’s future, as students increasingly worry about AI replacing jobs and changing industries. Speaking ahead of his Stanford commencement address, Pichai acknowledged that young people have “reason to be anxious” about AI, especially after former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and other executives were recently booed during graduation speeches for praising AI. Despite the criticism, Pichai said today’s graduates will both influence how AI develops and “live with its consequences,” while still expressing optimism that the next generation can handle the transition responsibly

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Researchers at Ruhr University Bochum have shown that ordinary WiFi routers can now identify and track people with near-perfect accuracy by analyzing how wireless signals bounce around a room. The system works even if a person isn’t carrying a device or has their phone turned off, using AI to turn radio-wave reflections into “images” of people. In tests with 197 participants, the technology reportedly achieved nearly 100% identification accuracy, raising major privacy and surveillance concerns since it only requires standard WiFi hardware already found in homes, cafés, and public spaces.

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