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Recommended maximum USB cable lengths have shrunk with each new standard even as transfer speeds increased: USB 1.0/2.0 allows up to 16.4 feet, USB 3.0-3.2 drops to 9.8 feet, and USB 4 is capped at just 2.6 feet. These limits apply equally to USB-A and USB-C connectors.
Molly, an Android fork of the Signal messenger popular for extra privacy and security features, has reportedly not received an update in roughly three months, leaving known vulnerabilities unpatched. The issue was raised in a community post warning users that the app may currently be exposed to security risks it was originally designed to avoid.
Stanford researcher Chuyue Sun's AI system completed an engineering verification task in under half a day for less than $500, a job that previously took three experts five months. The work, used to verify part of Signal's encryption code, underpins the public launch of startup &Truth, which Sun joined in August and which has raised $70 million. Rival Harmonic, backed by $295 million and cofounded by Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, this week said its AI agent Aristotle can now verify software in C and hardware designs in Verilog, and is testing with firms including Tensordyne and Nvidia's venture arm.
Recordings reviewed in coverage of the Spain train crash show an Iryo driver repeatedly contacting the control centre, reporting that the train would not let them operate its security system and that it remained stopped before an entry signal. The exchange is part of a timeline investigators and journalists are piecing together to explain what happened before the crash.
Researchers presenting at the Hexacon security conference in Paris demonstrated a series of exploits targeting iPhones, including a one-click attack against Signal and a separate compromise involving iMessage. The team said the full technical details and tools used will be released at a later date.
OpenAI terminated three employees working on AI safety after determining they had mishandled sensitive internal information shared via Signal chats. The researchers had reportedly been advocating for greater transparency around how OpenAI's systems work, including pushing for more external visibility into the company's processes.
An explainer on home networking details why flat Ethernet cables underperform compared to round ones: their wire pairs sit side by side instead of twisted together, offering less protection from interference, and they typically use thinner wire gauge, which increases electrical resistance over distance. The report also notes flat cables are often routed under rugs or doors, where bending and compression can damage the thinner wires inside.
Canada is weighing legislation that critics say would effectively mandate backdoors and expanded data retention in encrypted services. Psiphon VPN and Signal have said they would leave the Canadian market rather than comply, while Apple, Meta, DuckDuckGo and NordVPN have also criticized or said they'd reconsider their presence in the country.
Meta's AI personal assistant Muse, downloaded millions of times since its launch last month and reaching No. 1 on Apple's App Store, prompts users to grant access to bank accounts, passwords, contacts, and chat logs. Signal Foundation president Meredith Whittaker warned that these permissions extend beyond the user to everyone in their contacts and communications, based on extrapolation from intimate personal data.
A hub page promotes downloadable material on compact analog signal generators aimed at faster RF testing, requiring users to register and log in before accessing the content. No technical specifications, pricing, or vendor identity details are provided in the available text.
A technical blog post from researcher Ben Recht examines a math result released by OpenAI that claimed to compute faster Fourier transforms. Recht explains the mathematics behind the Fast Fourier Transform, originally devised by Cooley and Tukey in 1965, and argues that OpenAI's claimed speedup does not represent a genuine algorithmic breakthrough.
Meredith Whittaker, president of the Signal Foundation, said in a BBC Global Women interview that fears of AI turning on humanity are overstated and not scientifically grounded. She pointed instead to the risk of careless real-world deployment, citing a CNN-reported incident in which a US intelligence chatbot allegedly fabricated details about a Chinese vessel carrying nuclear material, nearly prompting a military response.