Latest Tech News

Stay updated with the latest in technology, AI, cybersecurity, and more

Filtered by: war Clear Filter

Chinese authorities are using a new tool to hack seized phones and extract data

Security researchers say Chinese authorities are using a new type of malware to extract data from seized phones, allowing them to obtain text messages — including from chat apps such as Signal — images, location histories, audio recordings, contacts, and more. On Wednesday, mobile cybersecurity company Lookout published a new report — shared exclusively with TechCrunch — detailing the hacking tool called Massistant, which the company said was developed by Chinese tech giant Xiamen Meiya Pico.

Become a Master of Evil With Darth Vader’s Actual Lightsaber (if You Have $3 Million)

io9 has covered a few notable Star Wars auctions lately, as rare toys and highly collectible props have come to market in surprisingly robust amounts. But maybe the most exciting example has just emerged: Darth Vader’s lightsaber. The actual, authentic, screen-matched hilt used by David Prowse and his stunt double in both The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. As your mind reels at the possibility of owning such a prize, consider that it’s estimated to command $1 million at the lowest e

I replaced my dual-monitor setup with this ultrawide OLED - and I don't think I'll switch back

ZDNET's key takeaways The Alienware 34 240Hz QD-OLED Gaming Monitor retails for $800. It is a large, 34-inch curved gaming monitor with impressive visual output and an immersive design. Be aware that this display does not come with internal speakers. View now at Dell View now at Amazon more buying choices For the longest time, I considered curved monitors to be nothing more than a gimmick like 3D TVs (remember those?). But over the years and through personal experience, I've learned that thes

Severance, The Last of Us and Andor just nabbed dozens of Emmy nominations

The nominations for the 77th Emmy Awards just dropped and, unsurprisingly, Apple TV+'s Severance led the pack with a whopping 27, including Best Drama. The streamer has another bona-fide hit with the Seth Rogen-led The Studio, which captured 23 nominations. However, HBO Max received the most kudos by platform, with 142 nominations in total. This is thanks to the second season of The Last of Us , with 16 nominations, and the Batman-adjacent The Penguin. The White Lotus, The Pitt and Hacks also g

North Korean XORIndex malware hidden in 67 malicious npm packages

North Korean threat actors planted 67 malicious packages in the Node Package Manager (npm) online repository to deliver a new malware loader called XORIndex to developer systems. The packages collectively count more than 17,000 downloads and were discovered by researchers at package security platform Socket, who assess them to be part of the continued Contagious Interview operation. Socket researchers say that the campaign follows threat activity detected since April. Last month, the same acto

Motorola and Swarovski Tease an Aug. 5 Event That May Bring Crystals to a Phone

Motorola may be ready to debut a new phone design that features crystals, as the company is teasing an Aug. 5 event that's set to expand its partnership with Swarovski. Motorola has announced the upcoming event on Tuesday with a teaser video that shows the recently released Moto Buds Loop with Swarovski crystals. Those $300 open-style earbuds are the first product in the partnership, and in a brief statement accompanying the video, Motorola said that the company is "getting ready to bring the s

Motorola teases Swarovski-studded Razr, but all I want is the return of the D&G collab

TL;DR Motorola is officially teasing the launch of its sparkly new Razr in collaboration with Swarovski. The company plans to unveil the device on August 5, but leaks have already outed its design. Moto’s new video teasers also offer glimpses of the phone, but in fleeting details. Motorola is getting ready to add some serious sparkle to its foldable lineup. The company has officially started teasing its upcoming Swarovski collaboration, and yes, it looks just as glam as you’d expect. The crys

M5 iPad Pro could finally deliver something we’ve all been asking for

Apple’s M5 iPad Pro is launching this fall, and thanks to the huge upgrades coming in iPadOS 26, it’s set to deliver something users have long asked for: new hardware that’s truly pushed to the limits by it software. M5 iPad Pro set to reverse the software shortcoming of every prior launch I’ve been an iPad Pro user for nearly a decade, and an iPad user even longer. One trademark of the iPad Pro era in particular is that hardware has outpaced software. If you revisit iPad Pro reviews from th

I recommend this low-cost ThinkPad to most professionals - and it's on sale for 19% off

ZDNET's key takeaways The Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen 6 normally retails for $799. It's a reliable budget business laptop with a good battery and lots of customizations. The display and webcam might not be good enough for most users, and opting for higher-end hardware pumps up the price. View now at Amazon View now at Lenovo more buying choices At Amazon, the sixth-generation Lenovo ThinkPad E14 is on sale for $781. On the surface, Lenovo's sixth-generation ThinkPad E14 doesn't look much differe

‘Warhammer 40K’ Fans Are Screaming About an Iconic Scream

In the grim dark future of the 41st millennium, there is only war—and that kind of attitude invites a lot of yelling. Angry human yells, angry alien yells, angry daemonic yells, someone, somewhere is always yelling in the world of Warhammer 40,000. But in our own universe, there’s also been a lot of yelling about yelling as of late. Recently, Relic Entertainment announced that it would be reviving the classic original entry in the Warhammer 40K game series Dawn of War with a new remaster, clean

Gigabyte motherboards vulnerable to UEFI malware bypassing Secure Boot

Dozens of Gigabyte motherboard models run on UEFI firmware vulnerable to security issues that allow planting bootkit malware that is invisible to the operating system and can survive reinstalls. The vulnerabilities could allow attackers with local or remote admin permissions to execute arbitrary code in System Management Mode (SMM), an environment isolated from the operating system (OS) and with more privileges on the machine. Mechanisms running code below the OS have low-level hardware access

Explore 20 years of Mac UI design through emulations of a single app

What’s a Mac app that was included on the very first Macintosh back in 1984 – long before the internet – and still exists on today’s machines, albeit with a different name? Designer and author Marcin Wichery has not only traced the first 20 years of development of that app, but has also included emulators that let you experience it for yourself … The app in question: Control Panel, more recently renamed as Settings. That might not sound like the most fascinating of apps to track across time,

Great, Grok is in cars now too

Just a day after the xAI team issued a comprehensive apology and explanation about why its chatbot was spreading antisemitic rhetoric, Tesla updated its software for its cars to include the supposedly fixed Grok. According to Tesla, all new vehicles delivered on or after July 12 will have Grok available in-car. There's no additional subscription cost, but Tesla is limiting Grok's availability to models in the US for now. For older models to run Grok, it requires a Tesla with an AMD processor, t

Telefónica DE shifts VMware support to Spinnaker due to cost

The German arm of telecoms biz Telefónica has shifted support for its VMware installed base to Spinnaker after Broadcom quoted it a renewal figure five times the size of what it was previously paying. Telefónica Germany made the switch to Spinnaker at the start of the year when its existing support with VMware, now a subsidiary of silicon-and-software giant Broadcom, expired. VMware must support crucial Dutch govt agency as it migrates off the platform, judge rules READ MORE The telco was run

Gasp! Researchers Say There’s an Inaccuracy in Popular Teen Movies

Image by Peacock / NBC Studies According to a new study, teen films have a dirty little secret — and it's harming the real-life adolescents who watch them. After analyzing dozens of teen films, communications researchers at the University of Ohio found, per a new study published in the Journal of Children and Media, that the experiences depicted in them was so different from the lives and experiences of actual teens that they may as well have been speculative fiction. Looking at 53 teen films

Let me pay for Firefox

Hi Mozilla community, I’m a long time Mozilla supporter, I’ve published free (as in freedom) and open-source software, and I desperately want Mozilla to charge for Firefox. If that sounds like a contradiction, please keep reading. I first became involved with the Mozilla community around 2006. I was active in the Spread Firefox project, where I ran a contest that encouraged others to promote Firefox in the most creative ways they could imagine. In hindsight, I guess it could have been called a

The upcoming GPT-3 moment for RL

The upcoming GPT-3 moment for RL Matthew Barnett, Tamay Besiroglu, Ege Erdil Jun 20, 2025 GPT-3 showed that simply scaling up language models unlocks powerful, task-agnostic, few-shot performance, often outperforming carefully fine-tuned models. Before GPT-3, achieving state-of-the-art performance meant first pre-training models on large generic text corpora, then fine-tuning them on specific tasks. Today’s reinforcement learning is stuck in a similar pre-GPT-3 paradigm. We first pre-train l

Let Me Pay for Firefox

Hi Mozilla community, I’m a long time Mozilla supporter, I’ve published free (as in freedom) and open-source software, and I desperately want Mozilla to charge for Firefox. If that sounds like a contradiction, please keep reading. I first became involved with the Mozilla community around 2006. I was active in the Spread Firefox project, where I ran a contest that encouraged others to promote Firefox in the most creative ways they could imagine. In hindsight, I guess it could have been called a

Rian Johnson Feels Fine About ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’

The changeover from Star Wars: The Last Jedi to The Rise of Skywalker had everyone feeling some type of way, and it continues to this day. Was J.J. Abrams spitefully undoing Rian Johnson’s work in Jedi, or are the two more in conversation with one another than they appear? In Johnson’s eyes, it’s the latter, and something he harbors no ill will about. While chatting with Rolling Stone about Poker Face’s just-wrapped second season, he revealed he had “a great time” watching Skywalker and didn’t

The 28 Absolute Best Movies to Watch on HBO Max

Wondering what you should watch next on HBO Max? The recently renamed streaming service offers a variety of titles, including Warner Bros. movies like Dune and HBO originals such as Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off. Below, you'll find a batch of can't-miss films and a look at new releases for the month. If you're still trying to figure out if HBO Max is right for you, skim our review of the Warner Bros. Discovery streamer. New releases for July Note: These descriptions are taken from HBO

Topics: bros film hbo max warner

Report: David Zaslav Pushed Back on Ta-Nahesi Coates’ Black ‘Superman’ Movie for Being ‘Too Woke’

On the eve of James Gunn’s highly anticipated Superman film, the Wall Street Journal released a quantitative report that essentially signaled the film as Warner Bros.’ last chance to make its comic book brand soar. No pressure. However, within the lengthy, half-pop culture, half-financial report was the revelation that Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav turned down a script for a Black Superman movie in 2022 because he felt it was too woke. According to the WSJ, the Black Superman script, which was

Researchers Find Grok 4 Checking Elon Musk’s Opinions Before Answering ‘Sensitive’ Questions

Earlier this week, xAI’s Grok chatbot went haywire, started praising Hitler, and had to be put in timeout. It was just the latest incident in what appears to be behind-the-scenes manipulation of the bot to make its responses “less woke.” Now it seems that developers are taking a simpler approach to manipulate Grok’s outputs: Checking out Elon Musk’s opinions before it provides a response. The weird behavior was first spotted by data scientist Jeremy Howard. A former professor and the founder of

This 34-inch ultrawide OLED blew me away - and its Prime Day deal makes it even better

ZDNET's key takeaways The Alienware 34 240Hz QD-OLED Gaming Monitor retails for $800. It is a large, 34-inch curved gaming monitor with impressive visual output and an immersive design. Be aware that this display does not come with internal speakers. View now at Dell View now at Amazon more buying choices During Amazon Prime Day, the Alienware 34 QD-OLED is on sale for $680, a $120 discount. For the longest time, I considered curved monitors to be nothing more than a gimmick like 3D TVs (rem

Humanoids, AVs, and what’s next in AI hardware at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025

TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 hits Moscone West in San Francisco from October 27 to 29, bringing together 10,000+ startup and VC leaders for three days of bold ideas, groundbreaking tech, and future-shaping conversations. One of the most highly anticipated sessions happening on one of the two AI Stages will spotlight where AI hardware is heading next, featuring a live look at the robotics and autonomous systems pushing boundaries in real time. In this session, two of the field’s most visionary builde

Motorola is giving the Razr a crystal-studded special edition and here’s your first look

TL;DR Motorola is preparing to launch a special edition Razr 2025 in collaboration with Swarovski. Images of this special edition foldable have now leaked. It appears this collaboration is limited to just the base model It’s not uncommon for Motorola to loop in collaborators to create special editions of its products. For example, the company recently teamed up with jewelry maker Swarovski to launch a special edition of its new Moto buds loop. That partnership isn’t ending with earbuds, howev

Alienware's 27-inch 280Hz QD-OLED monitor is now available for $550

Engadget has been testing and reviewing consumer tech since 2004. Our stories may include affiliate links; if you buy something through a link, we may earn a commission. Read more about how we evaluate products . Alienware has just released a pair of gaming monitors that offer affordability with very few compromises while using Dell's new AW30 design language. Announced earlier this year, the key model is the 27-inch AW2725D 280Hz QD-OLED QHD (2,560 x 1,440) monitor with one of the lowest price

Apple just released new AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 beta firmware

Apple’s beta software cycle has had a busy week, with updates like iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 hitting first, then tvOS 26 beta 3 landing a day later. Now today, Apple has released new AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 beta firmware. Here’s what you should know. Latest AirPods firmware includes support for new iOS 26 features This summer, Apple has made AirPods beta firmware easier than ever to install. And it seems like coordinated with that change is a shift to more frequent beta releases. Historically

Travel Mugs, Nonstick Pans and More Items That Don't Belong in the Dishwasher

Whether you're learning the ropes of a brand-new dishwasher or you've been hands-free dishwashing for years, it's tempting to load it up and let it rip. It's summer -- you've got better things to do than babysit a sink full of dirty silverware. But before you start stacking every spatula and chef's knife onto the racks, take a beat. Your dishwasher's high heat and aggressive cycles can do more harm than good to certain kitchen tools. Warping, rusting, cracking and dulling are all fair game -- e

The next big Apple TV+ show is an action epic created by Jason Momoa

This week, Apple TV+ debuts the critically acclaimed third season of sci-fi saga Foundation. But the next new Apple show launching is similarly epic in scope, yet with a very different focus and heavy on Jason Momoa: Chief of War is coming soon. Chief of War coming to Apple TV+ as new historical epic Jason Momoa is no stranger to Apple TV+, as he led one of the service’s signature launch series back in 2019: See. But with Chief of War, the next big Apple TV+ show debuting, Momoa has taken on

Topics: apple chief momoa tv war