THEHACKCITY

WhatsApp recently unveiled its support for HD photos, empowering users of the messaging app to maintain the high-definition quality of the images they share with their contacts. In a recent announcement, the company revealed that HD video support would also be introduced in the near future. Today, TechCrunch confirmed that WhatsApp has commenced the rollout of HD video support for both iOS and Android users. Much like the HD photos feature, the HD videos capability enables users to choose to share videos in high definition on WhatsApp. In the past, videos with high resolution were automatically compressed to 480p, adhering to the app's previous resolution constraint. However, with the new update, users now have the option to transmit their videos in HD, albeit limited to a maximum of 720p. The process for sharing HD videos mirrors that of sharing HD photos. After selecting the desired video or videos for sharing, users can tap the newly introduced HD button located at the top of th...

 Zepto, a startup specializing in instant grocery delivery, has successfully secured $200 million in a recent funding round, elevating its valuation to $1.4 billion. This achievement is noteworthy considering the challenges faced by other companies in the same sector, many of which have struggled or folded. Zepto's funding round sets it apart as the first Indian startup to attain unicorn status in the current year. The Series E funding for Zepto was spearheaded by StepStone Group, a prominent limited partner (LP) with involvement in various venture funds, including Nexus Venture Partners. Notably, this marks StepStone Group's inaugural direct investment in India. Existing supporters such as Nexus, Glade Brook Capital, and Lachy Groom, along with Goodwater Capital, also participated in the funding round. Zepto's valuation has risen significantly since its previous funding round in May of the previous year, where it was valued at $900 million. Cumulatively, Zepto has raised a...

Steven Thaler and/or Creativity Machine   Judge Beryl A. Howell of the United States District Court has ruled that artworks generated by artificial intelligence (AI) cannot be granted copyright protection. This decision came as a response to a lawsuit brought against the US Copyright Office by Stephen Thaler, who sought copyright for an AI-generated image produced using his Creativity Machine algorithm. Thaler attempted to secure copyright for the AI-generated artwork on behalf of the Creativity Machine, with the intention of being recognized as the owner and the machine as the creator. However, his requests were consistently denied by the Copyright Office. Following the Copyright Office's final rejection, Thaler took legal action against the Office, arguing that its denial was unjust and not in line with legal standards. Nonetheless, Judge Howell disagreed with this perspective. In her verdict, she highlighted that copyright protection has historically been extended only to creati...

London's credit card processing firm, Checkout.com, which expanded its operations by facilitating numerous crypto transactions for Binance clientele, has unexpectedly terminated its contract with the crypto behemoth, according to information obtained by Forbes. CEO Guillaume Pousaz of Checkout.com conveyed the decision through a sequence of letters dated August 9 and 11, directed at Binance. The termination was attributed to factors such as "reports of regulators actions and orders in relevant jurisdictions" and "inquiries from partners," as stated in the initial letter. A subsequent letter, sent just two days after the first and disclosed to Forbes, cited additional concerns encompassing Binance's anti-money laundering protocols, compliance controls, and sanctions adherence. This led to the final termination date set for August 17. A spokesperson for Checkout, Lewis Jones, confirmed the termination of their partnership with Binance to Forbes. In response, B...

In a significant collaboration between law enforcement agencies spanning 25 African nations, INTERPOL made an exciting announcement on Friday regarding the successful outcome of their coordinated operation. This operation, carried out in partnership with AFRIPOL, has resulted in the apprehension of 14 individuals suspected of engaging in cybercrime activities. The extensive effort, known as Africa Cyber Surge II, unfolded over a period of four months starting in April 2023. The primary objective of this operation was to track down cybercriminals and compromised digital infrastructure responsible for substantial financial losses, amounting to over $40 million. During this operation, investigators managed to pinpoint a staggering total of 20,674 cyber networks that had direct connections to the aforementioned financial losses. These networks were the focal points of cybercrime activities that had severe implications for financial security and integrity. Among the successes of Africa Cybe...

Twitch, renowned for its chat ban tools, is set to empower streamers with a heightened ability to manage their audience even before a stream begins. During the latest installment of Patch Notes, a monthly show dedicated to product updates, Twitch unveiled a forthcoming feature that will permit streamers to prevent banned users from not only participating in chat but also accessing the livestream itself in real time. This initiative serves as an extension of Twitch's ongoing efforts to combat harassment and enhance user safety. Scheduled for release within the coming weeks, this anti-harassment enhancement will seamlessly integrate with Twitch's existing blocking mechanisms, ensuring that users on the blocklist are automatically denied entry to a stream. While the feature will not be enabled as the default setting, streamers will have the flexibility to activate it through moderation settings. During the Patch Notes presentation, Trevor Fisher, Twitch's Senior Product Manage...

In an ongoing battle against "tip-baiting," gig workers, particularly those employed by Instacart and other delivery apps, have taken to utilizing Google Maps to label customers known for reducing or eliminating tips after the completion of their orders. The practice aims to assist fellow shoppers and drivers in avoiding customers with a history of low-tipping. Tip-baiting, a practice long resented by gig workers, involves customers initially placing orders with substantial tips, only to later diminish or remove the tip altogether once the service has been provided. This issue is particularly problematic for gig workers who rely heavily on tips, given that base pay from platforms like DoorDash can be as minimal as $2 per order, and Instacart recently reduced its base pay to $4. A trend has emerged where gig workers are collaboratively marking residences of suspected tip-baiters on Google Maps across the US. The labeling, such as designating houses as "Tip Baiter," i...

Amazon is reportedly set to introduce an additional fee for sellers who opt not to utilize the company's fulfillment service, according to reports from both Bloomberg and CNBC. Information gleaned from documents examined by these outlets indicates that Amazon will commence the imposition of a fee on each product that merchants choose to ship independently. This fee is anticipated to take effect starting October 1st and will be applicable to sellers who are part of Amazon's Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP) program. Unlike the Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) service, the SFP initiative enables third-party vendors to directly sell Prime-designated products from their own warehouses, bypassing Amazon's involvement in the logistical process. Consequently, sellers participating in SFP are obligated to maintain the swift delivery standards of one to two days, including weekend shipping, as outlined by the Prime service. Although Amazon initially introduced the SFP offering back in 2015, i...

The launch of Threads, Meta Platform's response to the rebranded Twitter, brought a wave of excitement in early July. Bolstered by the swift onboarding of Instagram users to this novel text-oriented social application, Threads enjoyed an impressive debut. However, this initial surge in user engagement proved to be short-lived, painting a rather different trajectory for the app's future. As we closely monitor Threads' usage, our focus has predominantly been on Android, the mobile platform that provides us with the most comprehensive data. Notably, web usage has yet to contribute significantly to the Threads narrative, given that the website remains predominantly read-only. Key Insights: On July 7, Similarweb estimates placed Threads' Android app at a peak of 49.3 million daily active users worldwide. Astonishing as it was, this number dwindled drastically to a mere 10.3 million by August 7. The United States mirrored this pattern, with Threads peaking at 2.3 million dail...

Suspected Belarusian Government-Linked Hackers Targeted Foreign Diplomats for Nearly a Decade, Report Reveals A recent report from cybersecurity firm ESET indicates that hackers believed to have ties to the Belarusian government have been systematically targeting foreign diplomats within the country for nearly a decade. The group, dubbed "MoustachedBouncer" by ESET, is thought to have engaged in hacking activities or at least targeted diplomatic officials by intercepting their internet connections at the ISP level, suggesting a close working relationship with the Belarusian government. ESET's report highlights that since 2014, the MoustachedBouncer group has focused its efforts on at least four foreign embassies located in Belarus, representing European, South Asian, and African nations. ESET researcher Matthieu Faou explained that the group's main goal seems to be the acquisition of confidential documents, although specific details about their motives remain uncertai...

 Google has revealed its intentions to incorporate support for encryption algorithms resistant to quantum attacks in its Chrome browser, starting with version 116. In a recent announcement, Devon O'Brien mentioned, "Chrome will start endorsing X25519Kyber768 for establishing symmetric secrets in TLS, commencing with Chrome 116, and accessible behind a flag in Chrome 115." Kyber was selected by the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as a potential candidate for comprehensive encryption, aiming to counteract future cyber threats posed by the rise of quantum computing. Kyber-768 holds security levels comparable to AES-192. Numerous tech giants have already embraced the encryption algorithm, including Cloudflare, Amazon Web Services, and IBM. X25519Kyber768 operates as a hybrid algorithm, amalgamating the outputs of X25519, a widely utilized elliptic curve algorithm for key agreement in TLS, and Kyber-768, resulting in a ro...

 Rockstar Games has joined forces with a well-known mod development team to bring official support for roleplay servers to their gaming lineup. In an announcement made today, Rockstar revealed its collaboration with the Cfx.re team, the brains behind the FiveM and RedM modding tools. These tools enable players to craft and immerse themselves in fully customized experiences within titles like Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2. While the specifics of this partnership remain somewhat unclear, Rockstar's statement did assert that Cfx.re is now officially integrated into Rockstar Games. The intricacies of this integration, however, weren't elaborated upon in the release. In an update posted on its official forum, Cfx.re acknowledged its new status as part of Rockstar Games and expressed enthusiasm about advancing the FiveM platform. However, details about GTA 6 were politely sidestepped. Rockstar Games recently underwent a shift in its approach to game modding policies, p...

  A number of iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro users are raising concerns reminiscent of the "batterygate" era. They're reporting that their phones, with less than a year of usage, are displaying higher levels of battery degradation than anticipated. In July, Sam Kohl from AppleTrack tweeted about his iPhone 14 Pro, which had already dropped to a maximum capacity of 90 percent. This rapid decline was more pronounced compared to his experience with previous iPhones. Many other users echoed similar issues in the thread. Officially, Apple states that iPhone batteries should maintain "up to 80 percent of its original capacity at 500 complete charge cycles." As rumors swirl around the impending launch of the iPhone 15 series, it's speculated that these new devices will incorporate larger batteries, potentially up to 10-18 percent larger than the current models. Furthermore, this situation becomes more challenging when considering the cost of replacing the battery on a...

 The Cult of the Dead Cow, a prominent Infosec group from DEF CON, has unveiled Veilid, an innovative open source project. This project facilitates applications to establish peer-to-peer connections and share information in a decentralized manner. The main objective is to enable various types of apps – mobile, desktop, web, and headless – to communicate privately and securely across the internet without relying on centralized systems, often owned by corporations. Veilid offers a codebase that developers can integrate into their applications. This code enables their clients to participate in a peer-to-peer network, fostering communication within a community of users. During a DEF CON presentation, Katelyn "medus4" Bowden and Christien "DilDog" Rioux elaborated on the technical aspects of the project, which took three years to develop. The system is primarily coded in Rust, complemented by elements of Dart and Python. It draws inspiration from both the anonymity featu...

  Bharti Airtel has introduced India's inaugural 5G FWA (fixed-wireless access) service, naming it Xstream AirFiber. Notably, this service is initially accessible in just two cities - Delhi and Mumbai. The CEO of Airtel, Gopal Vittal, highlighted during a recent earnings call that the main challenge to expanding 5G FWA currently lies in the cost of customer premises equipment (CPE). After gathering feedback from these two cities, Airtel will strategize for a broader release of the service. For further details, check out Airtel Black Rs 1099 Plan – Inclusive of DTH, Fiber, and OTT with Complimentary Installation. Airtel Xstream AirFiber Plans or Airtel 5G FWA Plans Bharti Airtel has revealed that Airtel Xstream AirFiber offers a plug-and-play device featuring Wi-Fi 6 technology. This device promises extensive indoor coverage and the ability to connect up to 64 devices simultaneously. Initially, the telco is providing a sole high-speed plan, boasting speeds of 100 Mbps. The 100 Mbps ...

  LetMeSpy, a spyware service based in Poland, has officially ceased operations and shut down following a data breach in June. The breach resulted in the destruction of its servers, which held a vast amount of data stolen from thousands of victims' phones. In an announcement posted on its website in both English and Polish, LetMeSpy confirmed its "permanent shutdown" and revealed that all services would be discontinued by the end of August. Users are now prevented from logging in or creating new accounts. A notice on LetMeSpy's former login page, which is no longer functional, corroborated earlier reports that the hacker responsible for the breach also deleted all data stored on the servers. The breach involved unauthorized access to the LetMeSpy website's database, during which the attacker downloaded and removed data from the site. As a result of the breach, LetMeSpy's app is no longer operational, as confirmed by network traffic analysis conducted by TechCr...

 The antitrust case against Google by the government has been substantially reduced. A US district court judge dismissed several claims made by the Department of Justice and a group of states, which included the allegation that Google Search harms competing services. The case originated from two lawsuits filed in 2020 by the DOJ and 38 state attorneys general against Google. While they were initially filed separately, they were mostly consolidated later on. The accusations focused on various instances of anti-competitive behavior by Google, such as allegedly designing its search engine to disadvantage competitors like Yelp, Expedia, and Tripadvisor. However, Judge Amit Mehta dismissed this particular claim, stating that the government's evidence of anti-competitive harm relied heavily on the opinion and speculation of its expert, law professor Jonathan Baker, rather than concrete evidence. Additionally, Mehta dropped the DOJ's accusations related to Google's agreements with...

Cybersecurity researchers have recently detected a new group of malicious packages in the npm package registry that have been designed to extract sensitive developer information. Phylum, a software supply chain firm, was the first to identify these "test" packages on July 31, 2023. Shortly after their discovery, the packages were removed and re-uploaded under different names that appeared legitimate. The motive behind this campaign remains unclear, but it is suspected to be targeted at the cryptocurrency sector due to references to modules like "rocketrefer" and "binarium." All the packages were published by a user named malikrukd4732. Each module shares a common feature: the ability to execute JavaScript ("index.js") code, which can then exfiltrate valuable information to a remote server. This code is spawned in a child process by the "preinstall.js" file, which is executed upon package installation, initiating the execution of all the...

In an intriguing turn of events, Microsoft recently unintentionally revealed its internal "StagingTool" application, a tool utilized by its employees to access secret unreleased features of Windows 11. Typically, the tech giant tests experimental or hidden Windows 11 features in public builds, leaving Windows enthusiasts to seek third-party tools for access to these exclusive features. However, the accidental leak of the StagingTool during a "bug bash" event has opened up a new world of possibilities for eager testers. Let's dive into the details of this exciting development. During a recent "bug bash" event, Microsoft inadvertently exposed the StagingTool, only to promptly remove it after a few hours. This internal tool has since been widely shared within the Windows community. Interestingly, the StagingTool closely resembles the third-party app, ViveTool, that enthusiasts have relied on for years to unlock hidden Windows 11 features. The StagingTool ...

In a surprising turn of events,  AI.com, which initially redirected to the ChatGPT web interface by OpenAI, has now been taken over by X.ai, Musk's machine learning research outfit. This change has raised eyebrows, as two-letter .com domains, especially those forming recognizable abbreviations like "AI," are rare and highly valuable. While the exact reasons behind the switch remain unclear, the unexpected domain shift has captured attention in the tech world. When AI.com initially redirected to OpenAI's site, the domain's worth was estimated to be considerably high, likely surpassing IT.com's $3.8 million sale price the previous year. OpenAI possibly hoped to attract a broader user base or utilize the domain for future consumer-facing operations. However, the recent redirection to X.ai has sparked speculations about Sam Altman's involvement and the actual intentions behind the purchase. X.ai is Elon Musk's machine learning research outfit, aiming to un...

  Google has made it easier to remove your personal information from its search results. The company will now send out notifications when it finds your address, phone number, or email on the web, allowing you to review and request the removal of that information from Search. This is a major improvement over the previous process, which required you to search for your personal information yourself and then manually request its removal. With the new update, you can simply input your personal information into Google's "results about you" dashboard and the company will automatically pull up websites that contain any matches. You can then review each webpage and submit a request to remove it. Google also allows you to enable push notifications that will alert you to any new results that appear in the future. This is a great way to stay on top of your personal information and make sure that it's not being displayed on Google without your consent. It's important to note t...

  Several Tesla owners have filed a lawsuit against the automaker, alleging that the company falsely advertised the range of its electric vehicles. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, claims that Tesla "grossly overvalued" the range of its vehicles, which is the estimated distance a vehicle can travel on a single battery charge. The lawsuit cites a recent Reuters investigation that found that Tesla had inflated its range estimates for years. The investigation found that Tesla had created a "diversion team" to handle customer complaints about lower-than-expected range. The team was trained to tell customers that the EPA-approved range estimates were just a prediction, and to provide tips on how to extend range. The lawsuit alleges that Tesla's false advertising violated state consumer fraud statutes. The plaintiffs are seeking class-action status and damages.

Warner Bros. Discovery faced a decline of 1.8 million subscribers in the three months following the launch of Max, their streaming service. However, this decline was not limited to Max alone, with the company's global subscribers across all services decreasing from 97.6 million to 95.8 million. Despite this, executives remain optimistic, attributing the dip to overlapping subscriber bases and anticipated churn. The company's streaming revenue, on the other hand, saw a 13 percent increase, reaching $2.73 billion this quarter. Let's delve deeper into Warner Bros. Discovery's recent developments and future plans. Warner Bros. Discovery's Chief Financial Officer, Gunnar Wiedenfels, cited two main reasons for the subscriber decline. Firstly, there were overlapping subscriber bases between HBO Max and Discovery Plus. Secondly, the conclusion of the popular series, The Last of Us season 1, and the finale of Succession contributed to expected churn among subscribers. Despit...

The Indian government has taken a significant step to promote local manufacturing by imposing immediate restrictions on the imports of laptops, tablets, and personal computers. To import these products, businesses must obtain a valid license for restricted imports. This move aims to reduce dependency on foreign markets and encourage investments in the country's manufacturing sector. The Push for Local Manufacturing: The primary objective behind the government's decision is to position India as a global manufacturing hub. By restricting imports of high-demand electronic devices, the government seeks to stimulate domestic production capabilities. Several major companies, including Apple, Foxconn, and Walmart, have already invested heavily in establishing local units and stores in India, indicating the country's appeal as an attractive investment destination. Expert Views: Ali Akhtar Jafri, former director general of the Manufacturers' Association of Information Technology...

YouTube star MrBeast is taking legal action against Virtual Dining Concepts, the company responsible for his MrBeast Burger line of fast food. Alleging consistently poor food quality, MrBeast claims that the partnership has damaged his reputation. In this article, we delve into the details of the lawsuit and the response from Virtual Dining Concepts. YouTube personality MrBeast, known for his philanthropic endeavors and viral challenges, is suing Virtual Dining Concepts, the company that partnered with him in 2020 to launch the MrBeast Burger menu. The fast food items are prepared and served out of "ghost kitchens," which are virtual storefronts with no physical presence, operating from existing restaurants.      Lawsuit Allegations and Negative Reviews: According to MrBeast's lawsuit, Virtual Dining Concepts prioritized expanding the MrBeast food line over ensuring quality control. The food consistently received negative reviews from fans, with descriptions such as ...

  Tinder is gearing up to launch a new "high-end" membership later this fall, along with a product refresh designed to better cater to Gen Z users. This information was revealed by Match Group, Tinder's parent company, during its Q2 2023 earnings release. The new Tinder membership, confirmed by Tinder's Chief Product Officer, Mark Van Ryswyk, was previously referred to as "Tinder Vault" and is expected to cost around $500 per month. The idea for this premium offering came from Match Group's acquisition of The League, a high-end dating app that could cost users up to $1,000 per week. The success of such premium services suggests that there is a market of users willing to pay for top-quality matches and experiences that can lead to meaningful relationships. However, it's important to note that the new Tinder membership will be technology-driven and won't rely on human matchmakers. While specific details about the new membership were not disclosed i...