An anonymous reader quotes a report from SecurityWeek:

> Insurance firm Lemonade is notifying roughly 190,000 individuals that their driver's license numbers were [1]likely exposed due to a technical glitch . Copies of the notification letter that were submitted to regulators in several states show that the incident involved an online application that enables individuals to obtain car insurance quotes and purchase policies. According to the company, a vulnerability in the car insurance quote flow resulted in the exposure of certain driver's license numbers for identifiable individuals. The vulnerability has been addressed, Lemonade says.

>

> Between April 2023 and September 2024, the platform transmitted the information unencrypted, which the company says allowed driver's license numbers to be accessed without authorization. "We have no evidence to suggest that your driver's license number has been misused but we are providing this notice as a precaution to inform potentially affected individuals and share some steps you can take to help protect yourself," the company's [2]notification letter reads. The insurer is providing the impacted individuals with 12 months of free credit monitoring and identity protection services.



[1] https://www.securityweek.com/insurance-firm-lemonade-says-api-glitch-exposed-some-drivers-license-numbers/

[2] https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/0001691421/000169142125000053/lmnd-20250404.htm

Alamo Drafthouse will [1]not implement Meta's new Movie Mate technology during the April 30 nationwide rerelease of Blumhouse's "M3GAN," Variety reports. The specialty theater chain confirmed it will maintain its strict no-phones policy despite Universal's [2]promotion of the second-screen experience , with staff instructed to remove patrons attempting to access the feature during screenings.

Movie Mate represents Meta's first integration of its interactive movie technology, which operates via Instagram direct messaging. Users message the film's official account to activate a chatbot delivering "sneak peeks, exclusive recorded messages from directors and talent" synchronized with the screening. The "M3GAN" event serves as Meta's technological debut ahead of potential wider theatrical implementation.



[1] https://variety.com/2025/film/news/alamo-drafthouse-opts-out-m3gan-rerelease-phone-theaters-1236369247/

[2] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/04/10/1431235/metas-new-tech-wants-you-using-phones-in-theaters

A Canadian math prodigy is [1]accused of stealing over $65 million through complex exploits on decentralized finance platforms and is currently a fugitive from U.S. authorities. Despite facing criminal charges for fraud and money laundering, he has evaded capture by moving internationally, embracing the controversial "Code is Law" philosophy, and maintaining that his actions were legal under the platforms' open-source rules. The Globe and Mail reports:

> Andean Medjedovic was 18 years old when he made a decision that would irrevocably alter the course of his life. In the fall of 2021, shortly after completing a master's degree at the University of Waterloo, the math prodigy and cryptocurrency trader from Hamilton had conducted a complex series of transactions designed to exploit a vulnerability in the code of a decentralized finance platform. The maneuver had allegedly allowed him to siphon approximately $16.5-million in digital tokens out of two liquidity pools operated by the platform, Indexed Finance, according to a U.S. court document.

>

> Indexed Finance's leaders traced the attack back to Mr. Medjedovic, and made him an offer: Return 90 per cent of the funds, keep the rest as a so-called "bug bounty" -- a reward for having identified an error in the code -- and all would be forgiven. Mr. Medjedovic would then be free to launch his career as a white hat, or ethical, hacker. Mr. Medjedovic didn't take the deal. His social media posts hinted, without overtly stating, that he believed that because he had operated within the confines of the code, he was entitled to the funds -- a controversial philosophy in the world of decentralized finance known as "Code is Law." But instead of testing that argument in court, Mr. Medjedovic went into hiding. By the time authorities arrived on a quiet residential street in Hamilton to search his parents' townhouse less than two months later, Mr. Medjedovic had moved out, taking his electronic devices with him.

>

> Then, roughly two years later, he struck again, netting an even larger sum -- approximately $48.4-million -- by conducting a similar exploit on another decentralized finance platform, U.S. authorities allege. Mr. Medjedovic, now 22, faces five criminal charges -- including wire fraud, attempted extortion and money laundering -- according to a U.S. federal court document that was unsealed earlier this year. If convicted, he could be facing decades in prison. First, authorities will have to find him.



[1] https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/economy/article-math-prodigy-cryptocurrency-enforcement-united-states/

China's outing of alleged US National Security Agency hackers [1]marks a major escalation in the ongoing tit-for-tat between Chinese and American intelligence agencies, according to analysts. From a report:

> Chinese authorities Tuesday said three NSA employees hacked the Asian Winter Games held this year in Harbin, accusing them of targeting systems that held vast amounts of personal information on people involved in the event. The hacks "severely endangered the security of China's critical information infrastructure, national defense, finance, society, production, as well as citizens' personal information," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters.

>

> While the US has repeatedly published names of alleged Chinese hackers and filed criminal charges against them, China has historically refrained from making similar accusations against American spies. Rafe Pilling, director of threat intelligence at the cyber firm Sophos' Secureworks unit, said the development may signal a broader policy change from Chinese security agencies, with allegations of US cyberattacks becoming more specific and timely. "This is an escalation in China's experimentation with 'name and shame' policies for the alleged perpetrators of cyberattacks, mirroring US pursuit of a similar policy for a number of years now," said Pilling.



[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-15/china-outs-us-hackers-for-attack-a-new-frontier-in-spy-games

Apple has officially [1]designated all Intel-based Mac minis as "vintage" or "obsolete ," marking the end of an era. This means Apple no longer guarantees parts or service for these devices, as they've surpassed the 5- to 7-year support window. 9to5Mac reports:

> Apple periodically adds devices to its ever-growing list of vintage and obsolete products. That happened today, as spotted by [2]MacRumors , with two noteworthy "vintage" additions: iPhone 6s and Mac mini (2018). The latter product is especially significant, because the 2018 Mac mini was the last remaining Intel model that was not yet labeled either vintage or obsolete.

>

> So what are those timelines exactly? Per [3]Apple's definitions : Vintage: "Apple stopped distributing them for sale more than 5 and less than 7 years ago." Obsolete: "Apple stopped distributing them for sale more than 7 years ago." [...] Since these products are now considered vintage, Apple no longer guarantees that parts for repairs will be readily available.



[1] https://9to5mac.com/2025/04/15/apple-says-all-mac-minis-with-intel-are-now-vintage-or-obsolete/

[2] https://www.macrumors.com/2025/04/15/apple-vintage-list-mac-iphone/

[3] https://support.apple.com/en-us/102772

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch:

> Figma has [1]sent a cease-and-desist letter to popular no-code AI startup Lovable , Figma confirmed to TechCrunch. The letter tells Lovable to stop using the term "Dev Mode" for a new product feature. Figma, which also has a feature called Dev Mode, successfully trademarked that term last year, according to the [2]U.S. Patent and Trademark office . What's wild is that "dev mode" is a common term used in many products that cater to software programmers. It's like an edit mode. Software products from giant companies like Apple's iOS, Google's Chrome, Microsoft's Xbox have features formally called "developer mode" that then get nicknamed "dev mode" in reference materials.

>

> Even "dev mode" itself is commonly used. For instance Atlassian used it in products that pre-date Figma's copyright by years. And it's a common feature name in countless open source software projects. Figma tells TechCrunch that its trademark refers only to the shortcut "Dev Mode" -- not the full term "developer mode." Still, it's a bit like trademarking the term "bug" to refer to "debugging." Since Figma wants to own the term, it has little choice but send cease-and-desist letters. (The letter, as many [3]on X pointed out , was very polite, too.) If Figma doesn't defend the term, it could be absorbed as a generic term and the trademarked becomes unenforceable.



[1] https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/15/figma-sent-a-cease-and-desist-letter-to-lovable-over-the-term-dev-mode/

[2] https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=98045640&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch

[3] https://x.com/BillHeyman/status/1912182928471412932

Uber cofounder Travis Kalanick thinks AI is about to shake up consulting -- and for "traditional" professionals, [1]not in a good way . From a report:

> The former Uber CEO said consultants who mostly follow instructions or do repetitive tasks are at risk of being replaced by AI. "If you're a traditional consultant and you're just doing the thing, you're executing the thing, you're probably in some big trouble," he said. He joked about what that future of consultancy might look like: "Push a button. Get a consultant."

>

> However, Kalanick said the professionals who would come out ahead would be the ones who build tools rather than just use them. "If you are the consultant that puts the things together that replaces the consultant, maybe you got some stuff," he said. "You're going to profitable companies with competitive moats, making that moat bigger," he explained. "Making their profit bigger is probably pretty interesting from a financial point of view."



[1] https://www.businessinsider.com/travis-kalanick-ai-consultants-deloitte-ey-kpmg-cloudkitchens-2025-4

You should still learn to code, says GitHub's CEO. And you should [1]start as soon as possible . From a report:

> "I strongly believe that every kid, every child, should learn coding," Thomas Dohmke said in a recent podcast interview with EO. "We should actually teach them coding in school, in the same way that we teach them physics and geography and literacy and math and what-not." Coding, he added, is one such fundamental skill -- and the only reason it's not part of the curriculum is because it took "us too long to actually realize that."

>

> Dohmke, who's been a programmer since the 90s, said he's never seen "anything more exciting" than the current moment in engineering -- the advent of AI, he believes, has made the field that much easier to break into, and is poised to make software more ubiquitous than ever. "It's so much easier to get into software development. You can just write a prompt into Copilot or ChatGPT or similar tools, and it will likely write you a basic webpage, or a small application, a game in Python," Dohmke said. "And so, AI makes software development so much more accessible for anyone who wants to learn coding."

>

> AI, Dohmke said, helps to "realize the dream" of bringing an idea to life, meaning that fewer projects will end up dead in the water, and smaller teams of developers will be enabled to tackle larger-scale projects. Dohmke said he believes it makes the overall process of creation more efficient. "You see some of the early signs of that, where very small startups -- sometimes five developers and some of them actually only one developer -- believe they can become million, if not billion dollar businesses by leveraging all the AI agents that are available to them," he added.



[1] https://www.businessinsider.com/github-ceo-learn-to-code-debate-ai-advice-2025-4

An anonymous reader shares a report:

> None of the frontier AI research labs have presented any evidence that they are on the brink of achieving artificial general intelligence, no matter how they define that goal, but Google is already [1]planning for a "Post-AGI" world by hiring a scientist for its DeepMind AI lab to research the "profound impact" that technology will have on society.

>

> "Spearhead research projects exploring the influence of AGI on domains such as economics, law, health/wellbeing, AGI to ASI [artificial superintelligence], machine consciousness, and education," Google says in the first item on a list of key responsibilities for the job. Artificial superintelligence refers to a hypothetical form of AI that is smarter than the smartest human in all domains. This is self explanatory, but just to be clear, when Google refers to "machine consciousness" it's referring to the science fiction idea of a sentient machine.

>

> OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, Elon Musk, and other major and minor players in the AI industry are all working on AGI and have previously talked about the likelihood of humanity achieving AGI, when that might happen, and what the consequences might be, but the Google job listing shows that companies are now taking concrete steps for what comes after, or are at least are continuing to signal that they believe it can be achieved.



[1] https://www.404media.co/google-deepmind-is-hiring-a-post-agi-research-scientist/

An anonymous reader shares a report:

> OpenAI is [1]working on its own X-like social network , according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. While the project is still in early stages, we're told there's an internal prototype focused on ChatGPT's image generation that has a social feed. CEO Sam Altman has been privately asking outsiders for feedback about the project, our sources say. It's unclear if OpenAI's plan is to release the social network as a separate app or integrate it into ChatGPT, which became the most downloaded app globally last month.

>

> Launching a social network in or around ChatGPT would likely increase Altman's already-bitter rivalry with Elon Musk. In February, after Musk made an unsolicited offer to purchase OpenAI for $97.4 billion, Altman responded: "no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." Entering the social media market also puts OpenAI on more of a collision course with Meta, which we're told is planning to add a social feed to its coming standalone app for its AI assistant. When reports of Meta building a rival to the ChatGPT app first surfaced a couple of months ago, Altman shot back on X again by saying, "ok fine maybe we'll do a social app."



[1] https://www.theverge.com/openai/648130/openai-social-network-x-competitor

An anonymous reader shares a report:

> A silent update rolling out to virtually all Android devices will make your phone more secure, and all you have to do is not touch it for a few days. The new feature [1]implements auto-restart of a locked device , which will keep your personal data more secure. It's coming as part of a Google Play Services update, though, so there's nothing you can do to speed along the process.

>

> Google is preparing to release a new update to Play Services (v25.14), which brings a raft of tweaks and improvements to myriad system features. First spotted by 9to5Google, the update was officially released on April 14, but as with all Play Services updates, it could take a week or more to reach all devices. When 25.14 arrives, Android devices will see a few minor improvements, including prettier settings screens, improved connection with cars and watches, and content previews when using Quick Share.



[1] https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/04/android-phones-will-soon-reboot-themselves-after-sitting-unused-for-3-days/

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg [1]considered resetting all Facebook users' friend connections to boost the platform's declining relevance, according to internal emails revealed Monday in a landmark FTC antitrust trial. In a 2022 message to executives, Zuckerberg proposed "wiping everyone's graphs and having them start again," referring to users' friend networks. Facebook head Tom Alison questioned the idea's viability, citing Instagram's reliance on friend connections. Zuckerberg later testified that the plan was never implemented and that Facebook has "evolved" from its original purpose.

The FTC argues Meta violated competition laws by acquiring Instagram ($1B) and WhatsApp ($19B) as [2]part of a "buy or bury" strategy outlined in Zuckerberg's 2008 email stating, "It is better to buy than compete."



[1] https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-testify-meta-antitrust-trial-federal-trade-commission-2025-4

[2] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/04/14/1439241/facebook-sought-to-neutralize-competitive-threats-ftc-argues-as-landmark-antitrust-trial-begins

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has issued a stark ultimatum to European allies, telling them to [1]choose between US and Chinese communications technology . In an interview with Financial Times, Carr urged "allied western democracies" to "focus on the real long-term bogey: the rise of the Chinese Communist party." The warning comes as European governments question Starlink's reliability after Washington threatened to switch off its services in Ukraine.

UK telecoms BT and Virgin Media O2 are currently trialing Starlink's satellite internet technology but haven't signed full agreements. "If you're concerned about Starlink, just wait for the CCP's version, then you'll be really worried," said Carr. Carr claimed Europe is "caught" between Washington and Beijing, with a "great divide" emerging between "CCP-aligned countries and others" in AI and satellite technology. He also accused the European Commission of "protectionism" and an "anti-American" attitude while suggesting Nokia and Ericsson should relocate manufacturing to the US to avoid Trump's import tariffs.



[1] https://www.ft.com/content/0a086fc2-1955-4ded-8558-6f9f85a0679d

Publishers and law professors have filed amicus briefs [1]supporting authors who sued Meta over its AI training practices, arguing that the company's use of "thousands of pirated books" fails to qualify as fair use under copyright law.

The [2]filings [PDF] in California's Northern District federal court came from copyright law professors, the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers (STM), Copyright Alliance, and Association of American Publishers. The briefs counter earlier support for Meta from the Electronic Frontier Foundation and IP professors.

While Meta's defenders pointed to [3]the 2015 Google Books ruling as precedent, the copyright professors distinguished Meta's use, arguing Google Books told users something "about" books without "exploiting expressive elements," whereas AI models leverage the books' creative content.

"Meta's use wasn't transformative because, like the AI models, the plaintiffs' works also increased 'knowledge and skill,'" the professors wrote, warning of a "cascading effect" if Meta prevails. STM is specifically challenging Meta's data sources: "While Meta attempts to label them 'publicly available datasets,' they are only 'publicly available' because those perpetuating their existence are breaking the law."



[1] https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/11/law-professors-side-with-authors-battling-meta-in-ai-copyright-case/

[2] https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.415175/gov.uscourts.cand.415175.525.0.pdf

[3] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/15/10/16/1727233/google-books-wins-again

An anonymous reader shares a report:

> Generative AI offers remarkable efficiency gains while [1]presenting a profound challenge for the global IT services industry -- a sector concentrated in India and central to its export economy.

>

> For decades, Indian technology firms thrived by deploying their engineering talent to serve primarily Western clients. Now they face a critical question. Will AI's productivity dividend translate into revenue growth? Or will fierce competition see these gains competed away through price reductions?

>

> Industry soundings suggest the deflationary dynamic may already be taking hold. JPMorgan's conversations with executives, deal advisors and consultants across India's technology hubs reveal growing concern -- AI-driven efficiencies are fuelling pricing pressures. This threatens to constrain medium-term industry growth to a modest 4-5%, with little prospect of acceleration into fiscal year 2026. This emerging reality challenges the earlier narrative that AI would primarily unlock new revenue streams.



[1] https://indiadispatch.com/p/genai-leaves-indian-outsourcers-fighting

The climate crisis has [1]tripled the length of ocean heatwaves , a study has found, supercharging deadly storms and destroying critical ecosystems such as kelp forests and coral reefs. From a report:

> Half of the marine heatwaves since 2000 would not have happened without global heating, which is caused by burning fossil fuels. The heatwaves have not only become more frequent but also more intense: 1C warmer on average, but much hotter in some places, the scientists said.

>

> The [2]research is the first comprehensive assessment of the impact of the climate crisis on heatwaves in the world's oceans, and it reveals profound changes. Hotter oceans also soak up fewer of the carbon dioxide emissions that are driving temperatures up. "Here in the Mediterranean, we have some marine heatwaves that are 5C hotter," said Dr Marta Marcos at the Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies in Mallorca, Spain, who led the study. "It's horrible when you go swimming. It looks like soup."

>

> As well as devastating underwater ecosystems such as sea grass meadows, Marcos said: "Warmer oceans provide more energy to the strong storms that affect people at the coast and inland."



[1] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/apr/14/climate-crisis-has-tripled-length-of-deadly-ocean-heatwaves-study-finds

[2] https://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.2413505122

Longtime Slashdot reader [1]AmiMoJo shares the news that China has [2]halted all rare earth exports globally -- including to the U.S., Japan, and Germany. Fortune reports:

> After Trump unveiled his "Liberation Day" tariffs on April 2, China retaliated on April 4 with its own duties as well as export controls on several rare earth minerals and magnets made from them. So far, those export controls have translated to a halt across the board, cutting off the U.S. and other countries, according to the [3]New York Times . That's because any exports of the minerals and magnets now require special licenses, but Beijing has yet to fully establish a system for issuing them, the report said.

>

> In the meantime, shipments of rare earths have been halted at many ports, with customs officials blocking exports to any country, including to the U.S. as well as Japan and Germany, sources told theÂTimes. China's Ministry of Commerce issued export restrictions alongside the General Administration of Customs, prohibiting Chinese businesses from any engagement with U.S. firms, especially defense contractors. While the Trump administration unveiled tariff exemptions on a range of key tech imports late Friday night, China's magnet exports were still halted through the weekend, industry sources told the Times. Beijing's export halt is notable because China has a stranglehold on global supplies of rare earths and magnets derived from them. They also represent an asymmetric advantage in that rare earths constitute a small share of China's exports but have an outsize impact on trade partners like the U.S., which relies on them as critical inputs for the auto, chip, aerospace, and defense industries.



[1] https://slashdot.org/~AmiMoJo

[2] https://fortune.com/2025/04/14/china-rare-earth-exports-halt-trump-trade-war-tariff-retaliation/

[3] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/13/business/china-rare-earths-exports.html

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch:

> Car rental giant Hertz has begun notifying its customers of a data breach that [1]included their personal information and driver's licenses . The rental company, which also owns the Dollar and Thrifty brands, said in notices on its website that the breach relates to a cyberattack on one of its vendors between October 2024 and December 2024. The stolen data varies by region, but largely includes Hertz customer names, dates of birth, contact information, driver's licenses, payment card information, and workers' compensation claims. Hertz said a smaller number of customers had their Social Security numbers taken in the breach, along with other government-issued identification numbers.

>

> Notices on Hertz's websites disclosed the breach to customers in Australia, Canada, the European Union, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Hertz also disclosed the breach with several U.S. states, including California and Maine. Hertz said at least 3,400 customers in Maine were affected but did not list the total number of affected individuals, which is likely to be significantly higher. Emily Spencer, a spokesperson for Hertz, would not provide TechCrunch with a specific number of individuals affected by the breach but said it would be "inaccurate to say millions" of customers are affected. The company attributed the breach to a vendor, software maker Cleo, which last year was at the center of a mass-hacking campaign by a prolific Russia-linked ransomware gang.



[1] https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/14/hertz-says-customers-personal-data-and-drivers-licenses-stolen-in-data-breach/

Apple will begin analyzing data on customers' devices in a bid to improve its AI platform, a move designed to safeguard user information while still helping it catch up with AI rivals. From a report:

> Today, Apple typically trains AI models using synthetic data -- information that's meant to mimic real-world inputs without any personal details. But that synthetic information isn't always representative of actual customer data, making it harder for its AI systems to work properly.

>

> The new approach will address that problem while ensuring that user data [1]remains on customers' devices and isn't directly used to train AI models . The idea is to help Apple catch up with competitors such as OpenAI and Alphabet, which have fewer privacy restrictions. The technology [2]works like this : It takes the synthetic data that Apple has created and compares it to a recent sample of user emails within the iPhone, iPad and Mac email app. By using actual emails to check the fake inputs, Apple can then determine which items within its synthetic dataset are most in line with real-world messages.



[1] https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/technology/apple-to-analyze-user-data-on-devices-to-bolster-ai-technology/ar-AA1CUBCr

[2] https://machinelearning.apple.com/research/differential-privacy-aggregate-trends

A new study projects that CT scans conducted in 2023 [1]may result in around 103,000 future cancer cases in the U.S . due to low-dose ionizing radiation. "[I]t would put CT scans on par with other significant risk factors for cancer, like alcohol consumption, at least at a population level," reports ScienceAlert. From the report:

> At an individual level, the theoretical chance of developing cancer from a CT scan is thought to be very minimal, if it exists at all, and patients should not be scared of undergoing these tests if they are deemed medically necessary. However, the number of CT examinations performed each year in the US has increased by more than 30 percent since 2007, and researchers suggest that unwarranted tests are exposing the population to unnecessary radiation. [...]

>

> The anonymous data comes from 143 hospitals and outpatient facilities across the US, catalogued in the UCSF International CT Dose Registry. Using statistics from 2016 to 2022, researchers predicted 93 million CT examinations were carried out in 2023, on roughly 62 million patients. Based on the associated radiation risks, the team estimates that CT scans in 2023 may be tied to 103,000 future cancers.

The findings have been [2]published in JAMA Internal Medicine .



[1] https://www.sciencealert.com/ct-scans-projected-to-result-in-100000-new-cancers-in-the-us

[2] https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2025.0505