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Are you thrilled about Bixby's boost? Source link

It was a normal day when Jay Gibson got an unexpected notification on his iPhone. “Apple detected a targeted mercenary spyware attack against your iPhone,” the message read. Ironically, Gibson used to work at companies that developed exactly the kind of spyware that could trigger such a notification. Still, he was shocked that he received a notification on his own phone. He called his father, turned off and put his phone away, and went to buy a new one. “I was panicking,” he told TechCrunch. “It was a mess. It was a huge mess.”   Gibson is just one of an…

Introduction – This Is Not a Normal Smartphone.   Every so often a phone comes along that doesn’t just want to be better than the competition, but different. The Murena Shiftphone 8.1 sits firmly in that category. This isn’t about shaving milliseconds off benchmarks, adding another AI gimmick, or squeezing one more camera lens onto the back. Instead, it asks a much bigger question: what if your smartphone actually respected you? In a world where most phones are little more than data‑harvesting slabs tied tightly into vast advertising ecosystems, the Shiftphone 8.1 dares to step off that treadmill. Built in…

A massive payout is on the line as Apple escalates its appeal. Source link

OpenAI is looking to hire a new executive responsible for studying emerging AI-related risks in areas ranging from computer security to mental health. In a post on X, CEO Sam Altman acknowledged that AI models are “starting to present some real challenges,” including the “potential impact of models on mental health,” as well as models that are “so good at computer security they are beginning to find critical vulnerabilities.” “If you want to help the world figure out how to enable cybersecurity defenders with cutting edge capabilities while ensuring attackers can’t use them for harm, ideally by making all systems…

Honor has finally confirmed the launch date of the Power 2 and has also revealed its rear design and color options. The upcoming smartphone will pack a massive 10,080mAh battery. In a Weibo post, Honor announced that the Power 2 will debut in China on January 5. The company also showcased the phone’s rear design, which closely resembles the iPhone 17 Pro. The phone will be available in an orange color option similar to the iPhone. The Honor Power 2 appears to have three camera cutouts housed inside a rectangular module that spreads across the width of the phone. It…

Every year, TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield pitch contest draws thousands of applicants. We whittle those applications down to the top 200 contenders, and of them, the top 20 compete on the big stage to become the winner, taking home the Startup Battlefield Cup and a cash prize of $100,000. But the remaining 180 startups all blew us away as well in their respective categories and compete in their own pitch competition. Here is the full list of the health and wellness Startup Battlefield 200 selectees, along with a note on why they landed in the competition.  Akara   What it does: Uses AI…

For the last few years, I wore either an analog watch or Xiaomi Band 6 for basic step tracking and time. I didn’t opt for an Apple Watch because I wasn’t constantly active, I didn’t feel the need to check my notifications, and I didn’t want to think about charging the watch every day. This year, I got a chance to test the new Google Pixel Watch 4, which made me feel like I might start wearing smartwatches again. I have always had a soft spot for circular watches. One of the first smartwatches I owned was the Moto 360,…

When Kevin Hartz’s security system failed to alert him as an intruder rang his doorbell and tried to enter his San Francisco home late one night, the serial entrepreneur decided existing solutions weren’t good enough. His co-founder Jack Abraham had experienced similar frustrations at his Miami Beach residence. In 2024, they launched Sauron — named after the sinister, all-seeing eye from “The Lord of the Rings” — to build what they envisioned as a military-grade home security system for tech elites. The concept resonated in Bay Area circles, where crime had become a constant topic during and after the pandemic,…

Good news for anyone tired of or embarrassed by their current Gmail address: You may soon be able to change it without losing access to your old emails and files. As first spotted by the Google Pixel Hub group on Telegram and subsequently reported in 9to5Google, a Hindi version of the Gmail support website states that Google is “gradually rolling out to all users” the ability to change the email address tied to their Google account, including changing from their current Gmail address to “to a new email address that ends in gmail.com.” If you make the switch, your old…