Distillation sidesteps the logic of US export controls, which restrict the chips needed to train frontier models but cannot restrict the text those models produce Review of more than 80 Chinese papers and patents found PLA-linked researchers distilling outputs from OpenAI and Anthropic models into small systems they can run locally The Trump administration is…

Some Android apps contain invasive data-gathering SDKs that gather location data without user consent Location data is then sold to advertisers, or purchased by law enforcement for targeting and tracking US citizens Developers, regulators, and legislators should work together to remove the incentive for SDKs to gather this data Monetizing an app is a key…

The Samsung Galaxy Fit 4 just leaked in FCC regulatory filings The documents suggest it will have a screen, unlike the Fitbit Air But the leak reveals previous few other details The Fitbit Air has proved that you don’t need to pay a high price tag to get a great wearable, and now it looks…

PIA has added 22 streaming-optimized VPN server locations No update, reinstall, or plan change is needed to access new servers Countries getting the label for the first time include France, Spain, Brazil Private Internet Access (PIA) has more than doubled the size of its Streaming Optimized network, growing from 13 dedicated streaming locations to 35…

Secretlab has revealed new skins for its Pokémon Titan Evo collection Three new skins inspired by Grass-, Fire-, and Water-Type Pokémon will be included in the collection The designs highlight fan-favorite Pokémon Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise Following the launch of its Secretlab Pokémon Collection for its Titan Evo gaming chair, Secretlab is expanding the collaboration…

Gigabyte graphics cards are rumored to be set for a big price rise It could be a hike of 20% to 40%, and other rumors are also pointing to major price hikes for GPUs more broadly This means now is likely a good time to make a purchase, particularly with certain cards which have avoided…

Audeze is “deeply involved” with the creation of future PlayStation audio tech Peter James, marketing director at Audeze, says there are products in “various stages of development” He adds that it’s Audeze’s goal to bring gamers “better sound” Premier audio brand Audeze is growing its partnership with Sony and is currently “deeply involved” with the…

We’re saying goodbye to Google Assistant on more devices September 4 is the cut-off point for Android and Wear OS The process of switching over to Gemini is pretty seamless Google Assistant had a good run — it made its debut in May 2016 as part of the Allo app (remember that?) — but Gemini…

Aikido researchers uncovers ChainDrop, a Shai‑Hulud variant infecting 1,300+ npm packages with an infostealer Attackers compromised GitHub accounts tied to popular libraries (Keyv, Cacheable, flat‑cache, file‑entry‑cache) and pushed tainted releases with 2B monthly downloads Malware exfiltrates developer/cloud credentials and secrets to a public GitHub repo; admins should treat affected systems as compromised even after removal…

With back-to-school season in the air, you might be looking to stock up on a new Mac for college. But doing so can be a confusing affair, with many different models and configurations to choose from, and you can waste a lot of time trying to work out what’s best for your needs. To skip…