Christine Hall

Photo-sharing app Locket is banking on a new celebrity-focused feature to fuel its growth | TechCrunch Celebrity Lockets is a new feature where celebrities can engage with their most loyal followers on their home screens.

The 21st century is so friggin' weird: Photo-sharing app Locket is banking on a new celebrity-focused feature to fuel its growth | TechCrunch

Two arrested for smuggling AI chips to China; Nvidia says no to kill switches | TechCrunch The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Tuesday that two Chinese nationals have been arrested for their alleged involvement in illegally shipping "tens of millions of dollars" worth of…

The DOJ said Chuan Geng and Shiwei Yang were arrested in California on August 2 and charged with illegally shipping “tens of millions of dollars” worth of high-performance AI chips to China:" Two arrested for smuggling AI chips to China; Nvidia says no to kill switches | TechCrunch

"Trump’s impeachment defense attorney, his criminal defense attorney, and his Chief of Staff will go to JD Vance’s home — where he is raising three children under the age of 10 — to discuss how to make Donald Trump’s sex trafficking problem go away" - emptywheel buff.ly/PafumlZ

IaCConf Spotlight: IaC Security & Governance

An open-source event has just been updated on FOSS Force's Calendar of Open Source Events! IaCConf Spotlight: IaC Security & Governance

Inside Proton's New Two-Factor Authenticator App - FOSS Force Proton Authenticator is an open source, privacy-focused app that lets you securely sync and manage 2FA codes across all your devices.

Just published on FOSS Force: Inside Proton’s New Two-Factor Authenticator App fossforce.com/2025/08/insi...

Foxconn converting US EV plant into AI server factory : Cites low demand and overcapacity for electric cars on the same day Tesla gives Elon Musk $29 billion for similar reasons

"Cites low demand and overcapacity for electric cars on the same day Tesla gives Elon Musk $29 billion for similar reasons:" Foxconn converting US EV plant into AI server factory

Threat Actors Increasingly Leaning on GenAI Tools From "eCrime" actors to fake IT tech workers, CrowdStrike researchers found that adversaries are using AI to enhance their offensive cyber operations.

Because of course they are: Threat Actors Increasingly Leaning on GenAI Tools

Audacity 3.7.5 Adds Beta Support for Windows ARM64 Audacity 3.7.5 audio editor brings beta support for Windows ARM64, but lacks third-party plugin compatibility and needs Windows 11 or newer to run.

Article focuses mainly on problems running Audacity on the operating system Microsoft makes: Audacity 3.7.5 Adds Beta Support for Windows ARM64

Blocking Access to Harmful Content Will Not Protect Children Online, No Matter How Many Times UK Politicians Say So The UK is having a moment. In late July, new rules took effect that require all online services available in the UK to assess whether they host content considered harmful to children, and if so,…

"The approach UK politicians have taken with the Online Safety Act is reckless, short-sighted, and will introduce more harm to children that it is trying to protect:" Blocking Access to Harmful Content Will Not Protect Children Online, No Matter How Many Times UK Politicians Say So

Midea Group Joins the Open Invention Network Community Durham, NC (August 5, 2025) – Open Invention Network (OIN), the only institution focused on mitigating patent risk in open source software, announced today that Midea Group has joined as a community…

Midea Group Joins the Open Invention Network Community - Open Invention Network

Jury rules Meta violated California privacy laws by quietly collecting Flo users' menstrual health data | TechCrunch The class-action suit was brought by users of period tracking app, Flo, who alleged that the tech giant collected private menstrual health data without users' consent and used it for ad-tracking…

"This verdict sends a clear message about the protection of digital health data and the responsibilities of Big Tech” - Jury rules Meta violated California privacy laws by quietly collecting Flo users' menstrual health data | TechCrunch

Hunt: Showdown 1896 broken on Linux / SteamOS and Steam Deck due to Easy Anti-Cheat Here we go again? Hunt: Showdown 1896 is a popular extraction shooter from Crytek that's now broken on Linux / SteamOS and Steam Deck due to Easy Anti-Cheat.

"Just recently the developers put out a small update fixing a couple of bugs, but the side-effect is that Easy Anti-Cheat system seems to now be either disabled for Linux systems or left broken." - Hunt: Showdown 1896 broken on Linux / SteamOS and Steam Deck due to Easy Anti-Cheat

Trump FCC Abandons Efforts To Make U.S. Broadband Fast And Affordable Section 706 of the Telecom Act requires the FCC to determine whether broadband is being deployed “on a reasonable and timely basis” to everyone. If the answer is no, the law s…

"Section 706 of the Telecom Act requires the FCC to determine whether broadband is being deployed “on a reasonable and timely basis” to everyone:" Trump FCC Abandons Efforts To Make U.S. Broadband Fast And Affordable

Pluralistic: Bragging about replacing coders with AI is a sales-pitch (05 Aug 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

"AI is only secondarily a technological phenomenon; it is primarily a financial phenomenon. The return on that capital only comes from one place: workers' wages:" Bragging about replacing coders with AI is a sales-pitch (05 Aug 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

"It gives you two ways to use your phone. When you are out and about, it works like a normal Android phone. But when you get to a desk, something really cool happens:" Maru OS: Turn Your Phone Into A Linux PC With Ease! - OSTechNix buff.ly/z4Tux3p

Arch AUR Under Fire Once More as Malware Resurfaces Just ten days after a previous incident, malware with a Remote Access Trojan has once again been discovered in Arch Linux AUR packages.

Just ten days after a previous incident, malware with a Remote Access Trojan has once again been discovered in Arch Linux AUR packages: Arch AUR Under Fire Once More as Malware Resurfaces

Proton Launches Free, Open Source Authenticator App Proton has launched a free, open-source 2FA app with encrypted sync and offline access for iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, and Linux.

"The app generates unique codes directly on your device, refreshing every 30 seconds. The main selling point is that Proton Authenticator is fully open-source. Its security claims are verifyable, and it offers encrypted backups:" Proton Launches Free, Open Source Authenticator App

Productivity Is Not Linked to Long Hours -- But Will AI Listen? The data is incontrovertible: productivity is linked to control over one’s hours, not the number of hours worked. But AI startups seem to think otherwise.

The data is incontrovertible: productivity is linked to control over one’s hours, not the number of hours worked. But AI startups seem to think otherwise: Productivity Is Not Linked to Long Hours -- But Will AI Listen?

Microsoft Recall is bad at filtering sensitive information - BetaNews Whenever there are privacy concerns voiced about software, they are almost always downplayed. But fears about Microsoft Recall appear to be well justified.

"Whenever there are privacy concerns voiced about software, they are almost always downplayed. But fears about Microsoft Recall appear to be well justified:" Microsoft Recall is bad at filtering sensitive information

Queer Games Bundle 2025 is live on itch.io At a time where supporting creators of anything that might be deemed adult content or NSFW is more important than ever, the Queer Games Bundle 2025 is live.

"At a time where supporting creators of anything that might be deemed adult content or NSFW is more important than ever, the Queer Games Bundle 2025 is live:" Queer Games Bundle 2025 is live on itch.io

Tesla hands $29B comp package to Elon Musk amid 'AI talent war' | TechCrunch The plan would be voided if the Delaware Supreme Court overturns the decision to spike Musk's $56B comp plan from 2018. A judge ruled in 2024 that plan was unfairly negotiated.

Man, what a con artist this freak is: Tesla hands $29B comp package to Elon Musk amid 'AI talent war' | TechCrunch

LibreOffice project and community recap: July 2025 - The Document Foundation Blog Here’s our summary of updates, events and activities in the LibreOffice project in the last four weeks – click the links to learn more… We started July with some very positive news: a Danish Ministry…

"Here’s our summary of updates, events and activities in the LibreOffice project in the last four weeks – click the links to learn more:" LibreOffice project and community recap: July 2025 - The Document Foundation Blog

Donald Trump's Parallel Ghislaine Maxwell and Vladimir Putin Problems - emptywheel As Trump attempts to look strong in the face of Vladimir Putin's intransigence on Ukraine, consider the twin pillars of compromise Putin has on him.

"Five days ago, Trump declared he was imposing a ten day deadline on Putin or else he will stop the car (just like Dad used to threaten on long roadtrips)": Donald Trump's Parallel Ghislaine Maxwell and Vladimir Putin Problems

Politico’s Rushed Adoption Of Half-Cooked ‘AI’ Continues To Go Terribly We’ve noted repeatedly how early attempts to integrate “AI” into journalism have proven to be a comical mess, resulting in no shortage of shoddy product, dangerous falsehoods, and plagiar…

"Politico Editorial staff were told just an hour before a new AI product was introduced, given zero chance to ask questions. The tech then immediately proceeded to make a bunch of embarrassing, rookie mistakes:" Politico’s Rushed Adoption Of Half-Cooked ‘AI’ Continues To Go Terribly

Character.AI is adding a social feed to its app | TechCrunch The social feed lets users share images, videos as well as their chatbots with other users. Users can also share snippets of their chats with characters, post AI-generated images based on their chats…

Character .AI is adding a social feed to its app | TechCrunch

Over engineering my homelab so I don't pay cloud providers After years of self-hosting on a VPS in a datacenter, I’ve decided to move my services at home. But instead of just porting services, I’m using this as an opportunity to migrate to a more flexible…

"After years of self-hosting on a VPS in a datacenter, I’ve decided to move my services at home. But instead of just porting services, I’m using this as an opportunity to migrate to a more flexible and robust set up:" Over-engineering my homelab so I don't pay cloud providers

OpenMind wants to be the Android operating system of humanoid robots | TechCrunch OpenMind is building humanoid robot operating software designed for robots that interact with people and other robots.

The Silicon Valley-based startup is building a software layer, called OM1, for humanoid robots that acts as an operating system: OpenMind wants to be the Android operating system of humanoid robots | TechCrunch

North Korean spies posing as remote workers have infiltrated hundreds of companies, says CrowdStrike | TechCrunch North Korean IT workers are increasingly using generative AI to draft resumes and "deepfake" their appearances to make money for North Korea's sanctioned nuclear weapons program.

CrowdStrike says it's seen hundreds of cases where North Koreans are posing as remote IT workers to generate money for the regime, a sharp increase over previous years: North Korean spies posing as remote workers have infiltrated hundreds of companies, says CrowdStrike

75 percent of cybersecurity leaders don’t trust their own data - BetaNews A disconnect between cybersecurity confidence and data reality is leaving organizations exposed, according to a new report released today by Axonius.

I must be psychic. I can tell just by looking at a headline that it's from Beta News: 75 percent of cybersecurity leaders don’t trust their own data

Spotify raises subscription prices | TechCrunch Spotify is raising prices for users in some international markets after a rough quarterly earnings report.

Prices will increase for users in multiple markets across the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and the Asia-Pacific region. Monthly subscription cost will increase from 10,99 € to 11,99 €: Spotify raises subscription prices