It seems like every day, a company is unveiling a new generative AI tool to “help” creators in the creative process. Adobe, the media creation empire, has just unveiled a text-to-music generator. This is a tool that will generate music and assist in editing said music for projects.
Tons of major companies have been coming out with their own AI tools as we move forward in our AI-driven world. At this point, we can pretty much be sure that most companies whose products we use in our daily lives have jumped on the AI train. The fact that Adobe has gotten into AI is a little bit ironic because it’s another example of a company that supported human creators for years hopping on to the AI train. It’s similar to deviantArt making its generative AI product.
Adobe unveils its text-to-music generator
This was inevitable, as pretty much every creative industry has seen its generative AI tools. Writers have to contend with ChatGPT, artists have to contend with DALL-E, and soon, filmmakers are going to have to contend with Sora. Now, it’s the musicians’ turn.
Adobe just announced a new product called Project Music GenAI Control. At this point, we all know how it goes. This is a tool where you will go to a text field, input text, and the model will generate music. Adobe gave a few examples where a person could put in a text prompt like “powerful rock,” “sad Jazz,” or “happy dance,” and the tool will generate music based on that.
At that point, Adobe states that its text-to-music generator will give you tools to help edit that music. Users will then see an interface for remixing and reshaping the music to fit their liking.
At this point, Adobe is still developing this tool. Adobe partnered with colleagues at the University of California, San Diego, and colleagues at the School for Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University to develop it.
Samsung has made significant enhancements to its Try Galaxy app. According to the blog post, the app gives Android users the opportunity to experience the AI features on their devices. The updated app now simulates the user interface of the Samsung Galaxy S24 series released earlier this year.
Samsung says users can learn about and try out five new AI-powered features available on the Galaxy S24 through interactive tutorials and demo videos displayed as widgets on the virtual home screen. These features include Live Translate for communication, Note Assist for summaries, Circle to Search with Google for visually searching anything.
Samsung’s Try Galaxy app is available on all Android devices
According to Samsung, Live Translate enables real-time translation of conversations and text between two parties speaking different languages. Note Assist uses AI to analyze long notes and automatically bullet or highlight key points for a quick review. Chat Assist ensures messages have the right tone, whether for work or personal conversations.
Photo Assist introduces new ways to enhance photos using generative AI. Things like resizing or removing objects and removing unwanted reflections. Circle to Search builds on Google’s capabilities. It allows users to visually search for anything on the phone screen with a circular gesture without leaving the app.
In addition to highlighting these new AI features, the Try Galaxy app provides a look at the Galaxy S24’s camera system. Demo videos shot from a photographer’s perspective showcase the new features. Samsung offers Nightography Zoom for high-quality long-distance shots in the dark, Super Steady stabilization for action videos, and enhanced Portrait mode for selfies and portraits.
“Previously tailored to iOS users, the Try Galaxy app is now available on all Android devices including Galaxy models for the first time,” Samsung wrote. “This means more users can explore the latest features of the Galaxy S24 series and One UI 6.1.”
Some heavily redacted slides shared by the Korean website gamma0burst give valuable insights into Apple and Qualcomm’s upcoming chips. One of the slides reads, “TS5nm, TS3nm, working on TS2nm,” which can refer to the architecture of Apple chips from the past until now.
Apple has already begun designing chips based on TSMC’s 2nm process
Accordingly, Apple will rely on TSMC’s 2nm process for its future chips to be placed on iPhones. More likely the iPhone 17 series. TSMC began working on the 2nm process in 2019, and the chips are expected to be produced in a factory in hometown Taiwan.
Apple and TSMC have been business partners for a long time. And the Taiwanese company had provided the iPhone maker with its 5nm and 3nm chips before. Apple’s current M3 chip uses TSMC’s 3nm architecture. The collaboration is expected to continue into 2025 with 2nm chips.
Any decrease in nanometer count means transistors get smaller. Thus, there will be more space for more transistors, which will finally lead to a boost in performance and more efficient power consumption.
TSMC’s 2nm chips are scheduled for the second half of 2025. However, the company reportedly began working on 1.4nm chips for 2027. Apple is said to be the first company to benefit from TSMC’s 1.4nm and 1nm fabrication process. Apple’s adoption of 3nm technology brought 20% faster GPU speeds, 10% faster CPU speed, and a 2x faster Neural Engine to the iPhone and Macs.
Qualcomm also turns to TSMC for its future chips
The slides revealed by the Korean website also give data about Qualcomm’s upcoming chips. The Qualcomm XR series will use 3 and 4nm fabrication processes, while the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 uses TSMC N3E. Meanwhile, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 that powers future Galaxy phones relies on Samsung’s in-house SF2P process.
Kali Linux recently released version 2024.1, the first release of the year 2024, with new Micro Mirror free software CDN, a theme refresh, additional Desktop environment changes, NetHunter updates, and four new tools.
Kali Linux is one of the most powerful Debian-based Linux distributions, developed and maintained by Offensive Security.
This operating system is based on Linux and is available for free and open-source, with two key goals to accomplish:
Ethical Hacking
Penetration Testing
A wide range of information security tools, such as those for security research, reverse engineering, penetration testing, red team testing, computer forensics, and vulnerability management, are included with Kali Linux.
You can analyze a malware file, network, module, and registry activity with the ANY.RUN malware sandbox, and the Threat Intelligence Lookup that will let you interact with the OS directly from the browser.
Kali Linux 2024.1 New Updates And Features
Launching The Micro Mirror Free Software CDN
The network of community mirrors for the Kali Linux distribution has been fortified with the launch of the Micro Mirror Free Software CDN.
One-liner, a network of mirrors devoted to providing Linux and Free Software, is the Micro Mirror CDN.
Micro Mirrors, which are machines with “only” a few TB of storage, are focused on hosting only the most highly demanded projects, in contrast to standard mirrors that hold about 50TB of project files.
To put it another way, they offer more bandwidth where it’s most required.
The FCIX Micro Mirror team handles all other tasks here, including purchasing the hardware, shipping it to the data center, and remotely managing it using their open Ansible playbook. The sponsor merely supplies the bandwidth.
2024 Theme Refresh
Similar to earlier releases, this upgrade includes the annual theme refresh, a custom that keeps the tools and interface up to date.
This newest theme has been meticulously created to improve the user experience right from the start.
Including major improvements to the login screen, boot menu, and collection of eye-catching desktop wallpapers for both our regular Kali and Kali Purple versions.
New Boot Menu
New wallpapers
Desktop Changes
A useful improvement to the Xfce desktop is included in this latest release.
With one click, users can now quickly copy their VPN IP address to the clipboard, streamlining their workflow and increasing productivity.
Make sure xclip is installed on your system (sudo apt update && sudo apt -y install xclip) to benefit from this functionality.
This update makes managing your VPN connections on Kali Linux considerably easier to use and understand.
Other Xfce Changes:
Kali-undercover updated to fix compatibility with the latest Xfce
Fixed a bug with xfce-panel and Kali’s customized cpugraph plug-in
Gnome-Shell Updates
One significant modification to the Gnome desktop is the addition of eye-of-gnome (eog) image viewer with Loupe, continuing the transition to GTK4 based applications.
Furthermore, Kali’s repositories now have the most recent version of Nautilus file manager, which significantly improves file search efficiency and adds a redesigned sidebar.
Through the network repository, the following new tools were included in this Kali release:
blue-hydra – Bluetooth device discovery service
opentaxii – TAXII server implementation from EclecticIQ
readpe – Command-line tools to manipulate Windows PE files
snort – Flexible Network Intrusion Detection System
NetHunter Updates
The mobile penetration testing platform Kali NetHunter has been updated to support Android 14 and add new attack features.
Icon Theme Update
A few more app icons have been added to provide a fully themed experience for Kali Linux default installations.
New symbolic icons were added to the icon set, which has improved uniformity throughout the system.
How To Get Kali Linux 2024.1?
If you already have a Kali Linux installation, keep in mind that you may always perform a fast update:
A quick check can be performed with the following commands.
Moreover, you can visit the official website of Kali Linux to download the latest version of Kali Linux (Kali Linux 2024.1).
You can block malware, including Trojans, ransomware, spyware, rootkits, worms, and zero-day exploits, with Perimeter81 malware protection. All are extremely harmful, can wreak havoc, and damage your network.
Stay updated on Cybersecurity news, Whitepapers, and Infographics. Follow us on LinkedIn & Twitter.
A vulnerability in Facebook could have allowed an attacker to take over a Facebook account without the victim needing to click on anything at all.
The bug was found by a bounty hunter from Nepal called Samip Aryal and has now been fixed by Facebook.
In his search for an account takeover vulnerability, the four times Meta Whitehat award receiver started by looking at the uninstall and reinstall process on Android. By using several different user agents he encountered an interesting response in the password reset flow.
After investigation, a few characteristics of the login code made it an interesting attack vector:
The code was valid for two hours
It did not change during that period when requesting it
There was no validation if you attempted a wrong login code
Combined with the fact that these codes are only 6 digits, Samip saw opportunities for a brute force attack, where an attacker repeatedly tries to access login credentials in the hope of eventually getting into an account.
After uncovering all this information, and with his extensive knowledge about the Facebook authentication process, Samip found the method to take over an account was relatively simple:
Pick any Facebook account.
Try to login as that user and request a password reset (Forgot password).
From the available reset options choose “Send code via Facebook notification”.
This creates a POST request. As part of a POST request, an arbitrary amount of data of any type can be sent to the server in the body of the request message.
Copy that POST request and use a method to try all the 100,000 possibilities. Note, 100,000 possibilities may sound like a lot, but given the two hour time-frame there are plenty of options to do that.
The matching code responds with a 302 status code, a redirect that confirms the search was successful.
Use the correct code to reset the password of the account and the attacker can now take over the account.
There was one caveat. The owner of the account will see the notification on the device they are logged in with. And strangely enough the notifications came in two flavors.
The difference in notification which makes it a zero-click or not
The first one works as described above, but the second one does require the account owner to tap that notification before Facebook generates a login code. That makes it a lot harder to take over the account.
A detailed report of how Samip found the vulnerability is available on his Medium page.
Facebook has awarded Samip a bounty and fixed the issue. Together with other bounty hunters, Samip submitted hundreds of reports to Meta which they resolved, making Facebook and other platforms a safer place along the way.
Paying attention pays off
There are a few takeaways from this method that Facebook users, and users of other platforms for that matter, might use to their advantage.
Pay attention to the signs that a password request has been initiated (email, notifications, texts, etc.) Somebody could be trying to take over your account. Follow the instructions on the password reset notification if it’s not you doing the reset.
Google Wallet is one of the most popular services by the tech firm that makes mobile payments hassle-free for users. It gathers all of your bank accounts in a single Android smartphone or wearable, eliminating using physical cards.
The good news is that the service is now expanding support for 42 new US banks. The new banks that have been added to Google Wallet’s list of supported institutions include a mix of large national banks, regional banks, and credit unions.
Back in December, Google also added support for 44 banks in the United States. With the recent addition of 42 banks, Google Wallet is one of the most widely accepted mobile payment apps in the United States.
Google Wallet is widely growing in the United States
Android users who were previously unable to connect their cards to Google Wallet can now see if their bank has been added to the supported list. Google Wallet now supports dozens of banks in the United States. In order to know whether Google supports your bank, you can check the complete list of supported banks here.
Google’s decision to expand its list of supported banks comes at a time when mobile payments are becoming increasingly popular among consumers. Apple Pay is currently the most popular mobile payment service in the US, with 43.9 million people reporting they’ve used it at least once. By supporting more banks and improving its features, Google hopes to capitalize on this trend and attract new users to its platform.
What new US banks are added to Google Wallet?
Here is a list of all newly added banks to Google’s payment app. You can also contact your bank to check if they support the service.
Abilene Teachers Federal Credit Union Austin County State Bank (TX) Bank of Monticello (MO) Bison State Bank (MO) Boost Your Score Carolina Trust Federal Credit Union Century Next Bank (LA) Citizens First Bank (WI) Community National Bank in Monmouth (IL) Cottonwood Community Federal Credit Union (ID) County-City Credit Union (WI) Diamond Valley Federal Credit Union (IN) First National Bank of Manchester (FNBM) (KY) First State Bank of LeCenter (MN) Forest Area Federal Credit Union (MI) Granite Preferred Highway Crossroads Credit Union (MO) Hope Federal Credit Union (WV) KS Bank, Inc (NC) Lake Region Bank (MN) Liberty Bank NA (CA) LincOne Federal Credit Union Lion’s Share Federal Credit Union (NC) Monroe County Teachers Federal Credit Union (FL) Netevia PAHO/WHO FCU (DC) Pheple Federal Credit Union Planters Bank, Inc Racine Municipal Employees Credit Union (WI) Rave Financial Credit Union River Region Credit Union (MO) SPC Credit Union Star of Texas Credit Union (TX) Telhio Credit Union (OH) Ten Credit Union Tongass Federal Credit Union Thumb Bank & Trust (MI) Today card TrailNorth Federal Credit Union Valley Bank of Commerce (NM) Washington State Bank (LA) West Alabama Bank & Trust (AL)
Qualcomm has already confirmed that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 will launch in October 2024. This confirmation comes from Qualcomm’s Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), Don McGuire, who announced as much during MWC 2024.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 will launch in October 2024, it has been confirmed
In addition to that, McGuire also mentioned that the company’s “mobile platforms are reinvented with Oryon CPU”. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 is expected to utilize Oryon cores, in case you’re out of the loop.
McGuire also told people not to be afraid of AI, but to embrace it. He said that AI will basically come as a “sixth sense” to people, like a “second brain”. He said that the whole point of it is not to replace you, but to serve as your assistant, kind of.
It will feature custom Oryon cores and considerable NPU improvements
In addition to new Oryon cores, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 will also be getting a considerable NPU (Neural Processing Unit) upgrade. That’s also something that McGuire mentioned during his brief talk to Snapdragon insiders.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 is rumored to come in a 2+6 configuration. If that ends up happening, then Qualcomm plans to go down the MediaTek route and eliminate efficiency cores altogether. It remains to be seen how will that affect battery life.
TSMC’s second-gen 3nm process does increase power efficiency, so… it will be an interesting change, that’s for sure. The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, and Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 all have efficiency cores, and they did a great job with power consumption. That’s one of their main advantages compared to their MediaTek counterparts.
So, there’s plenty to look forward to, even though we won’t be seeing the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 until October.
Last year, Apple Pay Later became available for all qualifying US residents. With this service, eligible customers can split a purchase made with Apple Pay into four equal payments over six weeks without any interest or fees. Until now, using short-term buy now, pay later (BNPL) or pay-in-4 (Pi4) loans, like those offered through Apple Pay, didn’t impact your credit report. However, this is about to change.Experian, in partnership with Apple, will now include users’ BNPL information in their credit reports (via Apple Insider). This makes Apple Pay Later the first BNPL service to have its data reflected in Experian credit reports.
Starting February 28, loans through Apple Pay Later will be noted on Experian credit reports with a BNPL designation. While existing traditional credit scores won’t reflect this change, upcoming credit scoring models may incorporate it.
Jennifer Bailey, Apple’s Vice President of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet, stated:
We designed Apple Pay Later with our users’ financial health in mind, and an important part of this is ensuring that their loans are reflected in their overall financial profiles. By reporting Apple Pay Later loans to Experian, we aim to help promote greater transparency and responsible lending for both the borrower and the lender, while providing users with the opportunity to further build their credit.
Jennifer Schulz, CEO of Experian North America, added:
We applaud Apple for taking this meaningful first step and look forward to working with other leading BNPL providers to drive greater transparency that will benefit lenders and consumers alike.
In the dynamic landscape of mobile payments, the ascent of apps like Apple Pay and Google Pay is hard to overlook. Recent stats reveal a staggering $53 billion global market in 2022. These apps, including heavyweights like Apple Pay and PayPal, have become household names, boasting a combined user base of 3.37 billion.Now, amidst this surge, the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has proposed a substantial regulatory shift. The plan is to subject the digital payment and smartphone wallet services of tech giants such as Google, Apple, PayPal, and Block’s CashApp to a level of supervision akin to traditional banks.
To safeguard the privacy and security of American citizens, President Joe Biden has issued an Executive Order to prevent the sale and transfer of sensitive personal data to countries deemed as threats, notably China and Russia.
This decisive action represents the most significant effort by any U.S. administration to protect Americans’ data security from foreign exploitation.
You can analyze a malware file, network, module, and registry activity with the ANY.RUN malware sandbox and the Threat Intelligence Lookup that will let you interact with the OS directly from the browser.
A Bold Step for Data Security
The Executive Order empowers the Attorney General to block the large-scale transfer of sensitive personal data, including genomic, biometric, personal health, geolocation, financial data, and certain types of personally identifiable information, to countries of concern.
This initiative is in response to the increasing risks posed by the sale of Americans’ data, which can lead to intrusive surveillance, scams, blackmail, and other privacy violations.
Commercial data brokers and companies have been identified as critical players in the legal sale and resale of this data, which can end up in the hands of foreign intelligence services, militaries, or government-controlled entities.
Exploiting such data poses significant privacy, counterintelligence, and national security risks, particularly for military personnel and those within the national security community.
Protecting Against Foreign Exploitation
To counter these threats, President Biden’s directive includes several critical measures:
The Department of Justice (DOJ) will issue regulations establishing explicit protections for Americans’ sensitive personal data from access and exploitation by countries of concern.
The DOJ will also enhance the protection of sensitive government-related data, including information on sensitive government sites and military members.
The Departments of Justice and Homeland Security will collaborate to set high-security standards to prevent access to Americans’ data through commercial means by countries concerned about Americans’ data.
Federal departments, including Health and Human Services, Defense, and Veterans Affairs, will ensure that federal grants, contracts, and awards do not facilitate access to Americans’ sensitive health data by countries of concern.
The Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the United States Telecommunications Services Sector will assess threats to Americans’ sensitive personal data in its reviews of submarine cable licenses.
These measures aim to protect Americans’ data, maintain the trusted free flow of data, and support the U.S.’s commitment to an open Internet with strong privacy protections.
Engaging Stakeholders and Encouraging Legislative Action
The administration engages with stakeholders, including technology companies, privacy advocates, and human rights organizations, to balance privacy, safety, competition, labor, and human rights objectives.
President Biden has also called on Congress to pass comprehensive bipartisan privacy legislation, particularly protecting children’s safety.
A Response to Legal Gaps and National Security Concerns
Senior administration officials have highlighted that the legal sale of sensitive data through data brokers reflects a gap in the U.S. national security toolkit.
The Executive Order aims to address this gap by banning transactions with data brokers known to transfer information to countries of concern and imposing restrictions on the transfer of various classes of data.
This initiative is part of a broader effort to protect American personal data from foreign threats, including legislative efforts to restrict federal agencies from contracting with certain Chinese companies.
The White House and the Justice Department’s new plan underscores the administration’s commitment to safeguarding personal data from exploitation by China, Russia, and other countries of concern.
By implementing stringent regulations and engaging with various stakeholders, the U.S. aims to bolster national security, preserve privacy, and maintain its commitment to an open and secure digital environment.
You can block malware, including Trojans, ransomware, spyware, rootkits, worms, and zero-day exploits, with Perimeter81 malware protection. All are incredibly harmful, can wreak havoc, and damage your network.
Stay updated on Cybersecurity news, Whitepapers, and Infographics. Follow us on LinkedIn & Twitter.
Google Search hasn’t been overrun with articles generated by artificial intelligence yet, but it’s a growing possibility. Google’s search engine has already caught flack for failing to sort through SEO content, so AI-generated articles could only make things worse. But according to Adweek, Google doesn’t share this view. In fact, the company is allegedly paying news publishers to push AI-generated content. Adweek says it saw documents related to a new Google program that would pay publishers in exchange for their use of an experimental AI platform. Essentially, the publishers push AI-generated content for a year using the experimental platform, and Google receives feedback.
Adweek says that the publishers receive “a five-figure sum annually” to publish the AI content. The program is part of what Google calls the Google News Initiative, which is aimed at producing resources for publishers. When a publisher uses the new AI tool, it will reportedly create a news article with generative AI based on other published works.
Google thinks it isn’t paying publishers to replace journalists
“In partnership with news publishers, especially smaller publishers, we’re in the early stages of exploring ideas to potentially provide AI-enabled tools to help journalists with their work,” Google said in a statement. “This speculation about this tool being used to re-publish other outlets’ work is inaccurate.”
“The experimental tool is being responsibly designed to help small, local publishers produce high-quality journalism using factual content from public data sources—like a local government’s public information office or health authority,” the company continued. “These tools are not intended to, and cannot, replace the essential role journalists have in reporting, creating and fact-checking their articles.”
Regardless of Google’s official position, it’s impossible to ignore the obvious. The use cases Google describes for its experimental AI tool are for tasks human writers currently perform. So, with Google paying publishers to use this feature, human journalism could take a hit.
The details of Google’s plan to pay publishers
Google’s program very specifically outlines what publishers need to do. The company requires three stories daily, one newsletter weekly, and one marketing campaign monthly. Publishers can pick and choose what sources to aggregate content from. Then, when a new article pops up, the process begins. Publishers can select an article and use generative AI to create a news-style summary from it.
Generative AI can’t add context like a human writer can, which has led to criticism. Opponents of the program allege that Google and the publishers are effectively stealing others’ work. Google, of course, denies that this is the case.
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