Lifeboat Foundation

O,.o circa 2014.

When we hear the term ‘parallel universe’, we often cite the classic science fiction picture of a parallel universe; something that acts as a mirror, where on one day, in this universe, you didn’t manage to have the guts to ask that girl out, but in the parallel universe, not only did ‘you’ ask her out, but a decade later, she became your wife. We all like to subscribe to such fascinating ideas, but for a while, it was relegated to the domain of sci-fi creators/fans. The real picture tells us something a lot more interesting.

AN INFINITE NUMBER OF ‘YOUS’;

Continue reading “Parallel Universes: An Infinite Number of Yous” »

To understand why Mark Zuckerberg thinks “the metaverse” is the next frontier, consider the case of Sam Peurifoy. The 27-year-old chemistry PhD from Columbia University left his job at Goldman Sachs at the height of the pandemic and is now seeking out his fortune in crypto by playing video games.

He has recruited dozens of people from Mexico to the Philippines to a “Guild” that plays under the command of “Captain” Peurifoy. In exchange, he ponies up the funds needed to enter Axie Infinity, a game where players collect Smooth Love Potion — a digital token that can potentially be converted into real money.

Many of the malware campaigns we have detected over the last year have been global at scale, targeting anyone with little regard to their location. Recently, we discovered and began monitoring the activity behind PhoneSpy, a spyware aimed at South Korean residents with Android devices. With more than a thousand South Korean victims, the malicious group behind this invasive campaign has had access to all the data, communications, and services on their devices.

Unlike other spyware campaigns we have covered that take advantage of vulnerabilities on the device, PhoneSpy hides in plain sight, disguising itself as a regular application with purposes ranging from learning Yoga to watching TV and videos, or browsing photos. But in reality, the application is stealing data, messages, images, and remote control of Android phones. The data stolen from victim devices ranged from personal photos to corporate communications. The victims were broadcasting their private information to the malicious actors with zero indication that something was amiss.

While the victims have been limited to South Korea, PhoneSpy is an example of how malicious applications can disguise their true intent. When installed on victims’ devices, they leave personal and corporate data at risk. With mobile devices playing critical roles in distributed and remote work, it is no surprise that spyware campaigns like PhoneSpy are on the rise.

TOKYO, Oct 26 (Reuters) — A Japanese startup backed by soccer player Keisuke Honda hopes to persuade wealthy consumers to swap their supercar for a 77.7 million yen ($680,000) hoverbike which went on sale on Tuesday.

The “XTurismo Limited Edition” from Tokyo-based drone startup A.L.I. Technologies is equipped with a conventional engine and four battery-powered motors and promises to fly for 40 minutes at up to 100 kph (62 mph).

“Until now the choice has been to move on the ground or at scale in the sky. We hope to offer a new method of movement,” Chief Executive Daisuke Katano told Reuters.

Last weekend, the Financial Times reported that China had tested in August a weapon system that used a Long March 2 rocket to boost a nuclear-capable weapon into low-earth orbit, giving it effectively unlimited range.

From this lofty vantage, the system de-orbited a hypersonic glide vehicle towards a target, which it ended up missing by twenty-four miles. A spokesperson from China’s foreign ministry has since claimed that the test had purely civilian purposes.

China’s alleged test of an exotic orbital nuclear weapon system rang alarm bells, even if that initial test demonstrated poor accuracy. Such a system seems intended to literally circumnavigate existing U.S. missile defense radars and interceptors by attacking from an unexpected angle.

His comments are an apparent departure from the long-held US position of “strategic ambiguity”.

A new report, published this week, highlights the explosive growth in solar, wind, electric vehicles, and other clean tech in the United States.

Am I talking to a software robot or a human? It’s a question that many of us will have posed at some point when we are online interacting with a web interface chatbot with its chirpy ‘Hi! Can I help?’ message flags and discussion box.

Some of us deliberately try and second guess these bots in order to be able to work out whether we are talking to a machine or a person. We do this because we somehow hope that this knowledge will enable us to assess more accurately how much help we are likely to get — and so, perhaps, get an idea of how much effort we should put into explaining our customer issues or requests.

Right now, it is not necessarily that difficult to know if you are speaking to an Artificial Intelligence (AI) engine. The Turing test was of course established to rate the point at which people can’t tell the difference between a human and a machine. The AI software robot ‘bots’ that have passed the Turing test so far have been given quirky personality traits to mask the challenges that even the best AI engines have when dealing with human conversational challenges.

With the proliferation of AI programs into the strategy gaming spaces, should human players bother competing at all? In a world where artificial intelligence (AI) learns from its mistakes and progresses with every match, it’s hard to tell. A computer can learn from its mistakes in an instant and play millions of hands in seconds.

While it might take a human a lifetime to master the game of poker, an AI could become unbeatable overnight. This reality has raised a lot of questions in the world of strategy games.

AI is an ever-evolving field that can be difficult to understand. One of the most common ways for non-techies to get introduced to AI is through online poker, where humans are pitted against artificial intelligence in a game of cards. Which raises the question: when does one become indistinguishable from the other?