Lifeboat Foundation

shoppingmode Microsoft has officially resumed blocking Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macros by default across Office apps, weeks after temporarily announcing plans to roll back the change.

“Based on our review of customer feedback, we’ve made updates to both our end user and our IT admin documentation to make clearer what options you have for different scenarios,” the company said in an update on July 20.

Earlier this February, Microsoft publicized its plans to disable macros by default in Office applications such as Access, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio, and Word as a way to prevent threat actors from abusing the feature to deliver malware.

Google has now decided to reverse a recent change that removed the Android “App Permissions” list from the Google Play Store.

Spyware sold by Israeli company Candiru has been caught exploiting a recently discovered zero-day vulnerability in Google Chrome (CVE-2022–2294).

Spyware sold by Israeli company Candiru has been caught exploiting a recently discovered zero-day vulnerability in Google Chrome (CVE-2022–2294).

Researchers uncover “Lightning Framework,” a new Swiss Army Knife-like Linux malware that has modular plugins and the ability to install rootkits.

At ICML, Amazon scientists presented a paper proposing a new way to estimate the effects of continuously varied treatment —one that uses an end-to-end machine le… See more.

Combining a cutting-edge causal-inference technique and end-to-end machine learning reduces root-mean-square error by 27% to 38%.

Paxlovid is the leading oral medication for preventing severe cases of COVID-19 in high-risk individuals. However, symptoms returned in some patients after treatment was completed, prompting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to issue a health advisory on this so-called “COVID-19 rebound.”

In a study published June 20, 2022 in Clinical Infectious Diseases, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine evaluated one such patient and found their symptom relapse was not caused by the development of resistance to the drug or impaired immunity against the virus. Rather, the COVID-19 rebound appears to have been the result of insufficient exposure to the drug.

Summary: Researchers suggest that when in a group, ants behave in a similar fashion to networks of neurons in the brain.

Source: Rockefeller University.

Temperatures are rising, and one colony of ants will soon have to make a collective decision. Each ant feels the rising heat beneath its feet but carries along as usual until, suddenly, the ants reverse course. The whole group rushes out as one—a decision to evacuate has been made. It is almost as if the colony of ants has a greater, collective mind.

Welcome to the volstof institute for interdimensional research.

Rob Sheridan, a longtime collaborator with NIN, is utilizing an AI art tool called Midjourney to create an experimental horror-themed alternate reality game.

Continue reading “An experimental horror ARG is testing the boundaries of AI art” »

Researchers from MIT

MIT is an acronym for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is a prestigious private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts that was founded in 1861. It is organized into five Schools: architecture and planning; engineering; humanities, arts, and social sciences; management; and science. MIT’s impact includes many scientific breakthroughs and technological advances. Their stated goal is to make a better world through education, research, and innovation.