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Technology news: AI, chips and devices, programming, security, crypto and the companies building them.

2289 articles · page 7 of 48 · The Tech front page

Tech

Google details opt-out as privacy policy change opens Gmail, Drive and Photos data to ad targeting

Google has detailed how users can opt out of a privacy policy change that allows content from Gmail, Drive and Google Photos to help personalize ads, and has stressed the practice is off by default and hidden from advertisers. The change, effective Oct. 16 and first spotted by Android Authority, is tied to the company's Personal Intelligence feature, which lets AI tools draw on users' connected apps.

·2 min·3 sources
Security

Quest Diagnostics confirms data breach on Quanum lab testing system, patient records accessed

Medical lab testing giant Quest Diagnostics has confirmed a cyberattack and data breach affecting its Quanum platform, which handles lab test requests, billing and a wide array of patient health records. The company disclosed the incident in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday, saying unauthorized access included the accessing of certain patient records.

·2 min·2 sources
AI

DeepSeek's latest model revision delivers low cost and strong benchmarks, but hallucination risks persist

DeepSeek has released revision 1017 of its V4.1 Flash open-weight model, achieving notable cost efficiency and task completion benchmarks that rival frontier models like GPT-5.6 Sol and Claude Opus 5, according to the company's internal data. However, independent testing reveals the model hallucinates 67% of the time when it does not know an answer, raising concerns about its suitability for tasks requiring factual accuracy.

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Security

US bans dashboard camera and wireless video transmitter under new chip-level security rule

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issued its first bans under a new rule allowing it to block devices based on the internal chips they contain, rather than specific products or brands. The bans, announced on 23 October 2026, target a dashboard camera and a wireless video transmitter because they contain a chip from HiSilicon, a Huawei subsidiary on the US government's national security risk list.

·2 min
Crypto

Binance stablecoin flows reverse by $14 billion, raising liquidity concerns as Bitcoin struggles at $80,000

A blockchain analytics investigation by Bitquery has found that Binance-linked wallets transferred $23.1 billion in USDT to Tether during the first ten months of 2026 while receiving $15.6 billion, creating a $7.5 billion net imbalance toward the issuer, a sharp reversal from a $6.4 billion net inflow in the same direction during all of 2025. The shift coincides with a decline in Binance's tracked Ethereum stablecoin holdings, which fell from $43.9 billion in April to $38.8 billion on Oct. 22, raising questions about available buying power on the exchange as Bitcoin struggles to regain momentum around $80,000. However, the data does not independently indicate how much USDT was redeemed for dollars versus moved between blockchain networks.

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Crypto

Uniswap adds seven external liquidity sources as 0x warns of malicious hooks

Uniswap Labs launched aggregator hooks on Ethereum, Base and Robinhood Chain on Oct. 22, allowing its web app and API to route swaps through seven external liquidity venues including Curve, Fluid and PancakeSwap. The expansion comes as trading aggregator 0x continues to warn that malicious Uniswap v4 hooks can quote one price and settle at another, with one reported case of trades delivering 50% less than quoted.

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Programming

Cloudflare launches on-demand profiling for production Workers and Durable Objects

Cloudflare has introduced on demand CPU and memory profiling for Workers and Durable Objects, allowing developers to investigate performance bottlenecks in production using interactive flamegraphs. Announced on October 9, 2026, the feature generates flamegraphs through the Workers Observability dashboard or the cf CLI, helping teams identify expensive functions and memory allocations without relying solely on logs and aggregate metrics.

·4 min
Crypto

NovaTech founders flee US as New York AG seeks $1.37 billion fraud judgment

New York Attorney General Letitia James has asked a state court to order the founders of collapsed crypto platform NovaTech, Cynthia and Eddy Petion, to pay about $1.37 billion in damages and interest. The Petions have fled the United States, according to the attorney general's office, which obtained a default liability ruling against them in August 2025. Separately, four top promoters have agreed to pay nearly $6 million to benefit victims.

·2 min·4 sources
Programming

Linux's Torvalds on AI: use it with competence, not as a shortcut for code slop

Linus Torvalds has affirmed his support for experienced developers using AI to write Linux kernel code while cautioning against what he calls 'drive-by patches' from people who lack understanding of the code. The kernel maintainers have decided to deprecate the requirement to tag AI-assisted submissions, according to developer Sasha Levin speaking at the Linux Kernel Maintainers Summit in Prague.

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AI

Wall Street Prepares for the 'Day After' an AI Disaster

America's largest banks are preparing contingency plans for the aftermath of a major artificial intelligence catastrophe, Axios has learned. The efforts extend beyond prevention to scenario planning for a disaster, driven by concerns about frontier AI systems rather than AI agents. Separately, banks are encountering unvetted AI agent activity, where customers provide login credentials to tools that can act independently on their behalf.

·3 min
AI

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang visits Kazakhstan, touts its potential as AI hub for Europe

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang made his first visit to Kazakhstan on Friday, describing the country as a potential major AI computing hub for Europe during a fireside chat in Astana. The visit highlights Kazakhstan's efforts to attract billions of dollars in technology investment and position itself as a regional artificial intelligence center, with plans including a $10 billion AI infrastructure partnership with U.S. cloud company Firebird and the development of a 300-megawatt data center complex in Ekibastuz.

·3 min·2 sources
Security

Switch 2 security bypassed in software-only jailbreak

Security researcher Sammy Hajhamid has demonstrated a software-only partial jailbreak of the Nintendo Switch 2, exploiting a 32-bit integer overflow in the SmileBasic 4 interpreter. The vulnerability, discovered with the assistance of OpenAI's Codex, provides userland access that enables homebrew software, game modding, save file backups, and peripheral manipulation. The hack requires a tethered connection to a macOS or Linux PC on the same network.

·2 min
Security

ABC and Critical Infrastructure Targeted in Spyware Campaign Weaponising Online Ads

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) has confirmed it was among more than two dozen Australian government agencies, critical infrastructure providers, universities and media organisations targeted in a sophisticated cyber espionage campaign. The campaign, dubbed 'Adfection', was identified by The Citizen Lab, which found that the Israel-based company Discover-Tech exploited online advertising systems to deliver spyware to devices merely by viewing an ad. The ABC said a small number of staff devices were exposed, but no evidence of tracking or compromise has been found.

·2 min·2 sources