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Dec 11, 2024

Fake Recruiters Distribute Banking Trojan via Malicious Apps in Phishing Scam

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, finance, robotics/AI

Updated Antidot banking trojan targets Android users via fake job offers, stealing credentials and taking remote control.

Dec 11, 2024

Phone Phishing Gang Busted: Eight Arrested in Belgium and Netherlands

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, mobile phones

Phishing gang arrested in Belgium and Netherlands; Europol seizes luxury goods, cash, and millions stolen.

Dec 11, 2024

WPForms bug allows Stripe refunds on millions of WordPress sites

Posted by in category: security

A vulnerability in WPForms, a WordPress plugin used in over 6 million websites, could allow subscriber-level users to issue arbitrary Stripe refunds or cancel subscriptions.

Tracked under CVE-2024–11205, the flaw was categorized as a high-severity problem due to the authentication prerequisite. However, given that membership systems are available on most sites, exploitation may be fairly easy in most cases.

The issue impacts WPForms from version 1.8.4 and up to 1.9.2.1, with a patch pushed in version 1.9.2.2, released last month.

Dec 11, 2024

Ubisoft fixes Windows 11 24H2 conflicts causing game crashes

Posted by in category: entertainment

Microsoft has now partially lifted a compatibility hold blocking the Windows 24H2 update on systems with some Ubisoft games after the French video game publisher has fixed bugs causing crashes, freezes, and audio issues.

The company blocked Windows 24H2 upgrades on PCs with Assassin’s Creed, Star Wars Outlaws, and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora games more than two weeks ago, following a stream of user reports on Reddit [1, 2] and the Microsoft Answers forums [1, 2, 3] that these games were no longer working correctly.

Windows users affected by this known issue were particularly frustrated as they reported these issues in the Windows Insider Feedback Hub, on Reddit, and other online platforms since Windows 11 24H2 was still in preview.

Dec 11, 2024

Colloidal quantum dots enable tunable liquid-state lasers

Posted by in category: quantum physics

Present-day liquid-state lasers are based on organic dyes. Here we demonstrate an alternative class of liquid lasers that use solutions of colloidal quantum dots (QDs). Previous efforts to realize such devices have been hampered by the fast non-radiative Auger recombination of multicarrier states required for optical gain. Here we overcome this challenge by using type-(I + II) QDs, which feature a trion-like optical gain state with strongly suppressed Auger recombination. When combined with a Littrow optical cavity, static (non-circulated) solutions of these QDs exhibit stable lasing tunable from 634 nm to 575 nm. These results indicate the feasibility of technologically viable dye-like QD lasers that exhibit broad spectral tunability and, importantly, provide stable operation without the need for a circulation system—a standard attribute of traditional dye lasers. The latter opens the door to less complex and more compact devices that can be readily integrated with various optical and electro-optical systems. An additional advantage of these lasers is the wide range of potentially available wavelengths that can be selected by controlling the composition, size and structure of the QDs.


Liquid lasers based on solutions of colloidal quantum dots exhibit a trion-like optical gain state with suppressed Auger recombination, which combined with a Littrow optical cavity enables stable and tunable liquid-state lasing.

Dec 11, 2024

Predicting atomic structures proves useful in energy and sustainability

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, sustainability

Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have developed a new approach that combines generative artificial intelligence (AI) and first-principles simulations to predict three-dimensional (3D) atomic structures of highly complex materials.

This research highlights LLNL’s efforts in advancing machine learning for materials science research and supporting the Lab’s mission to develop innovative technological solutions for energy and sustainability.

The study, recently published in Machine Learning: Science and Technology, represents a potential leap forward in the application of AI for materials characterization and inverse design.

Dec 10, 2024

New quantum computing milestone smashes entanglement world record

Posted by in categories: computing, quantum physics

Researchers have set a new record for quantum entanglement — bringing reliable quantum computers a step closer to reality. The scientists successfully entangled 24 “logical qubits” — low-error quantum bits of information created by combining multiple physical qubits. This is the highest number ever achieved to date.

They also demonstrated that logical qubits can maintain error correction as the number of qubits increases, a crucial step toward larger, more fault-tolerant quantum systems. The researchers detailed their work in a study published Nov. 18 on the preprint database arXiv.

Dec 10, 2024

Geminid meteor shower peaks this week: Here’s what to expect from the last big meteor shower of the year

Posted by in category: futurism

The Geminid meteor shower is one of the most prolific annual meteor showers, impressing skywatchers year after year.

It is possible to see up to 120 meteors per hour under dark conditions when the Geminids peak each year.

Dec 10, 2024

The Epic History of Large Language Models (LLMs)

Posted by in category: futurism

Initially a variant of LSTM known as AWD LSTM was pre trained (unsupervised pre training) for language modelling task using wikipedia articles. In the next step the output layer was turned into a classifier and was fine tuned using various datasets from IMDB, yelp etc. When the model was tested on unseen data, sate of the art results were obtained. The paper further went on to claim that if a model was built using 10,000 rows from scratch then fine tuning the above model (transfer learning) would give much better results with 100 rows only. The only thing to keep in mind is they did not used a transformer in their architecture. This was because both these concepts were researched parallely (transformers and transfer learning) so researchers on both the sides had no idea of what work the other was doing. Transformers paper came in 2017 and ULMFit paper (transfer learning) came in early 2018.

Now architecture wise we had state of the art architecture i.e. Transformers and training wise we have a very beautiful and elegant concept of Transfer Learning. LLMs were the outcome of the combination of these 2 ideas.

Dec 10, 2024

Skull Marrow and Sinuses Hold the Key to Brain-Body Immune Link

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

Summary: The dural sinuses and skull bone marrow serve as key communication hubs between the brain’s central immune system and the body’s peripheral immune system. These regions may act as “traffic lights,” allowing immune signals to flow between the brain and body, challenging the traditional view of the blood-brain barrier as an absolute divide.

Researchers found inflammatory activity in these areas correlates with inflammation in both the brain and body, offering new insights into conditions like depression. This discovery could pave the way for innovative treatments targeting these hubs to address immune-related conditions more precisely.

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