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LG could be priming itself for an exciting new product launch according to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) test application documents.

Test results published online detail the specifications for an as-of-yet unknown LG laptop device. Testing was carried out by Audix Technology Corporation, an FCC authorized equipment testing firm which has previously conducted assessments on LG devices.

Details are scarce, with no concrete evidence of a product name at present, but the results do hint toward it potentially being a new LG Gram Pro portable workstation - here’s what we know so far.

Mystery device

The aforementioned documents show the mystery device will leverage Intel’s Lunar Lake Ultra 9 CPU. The Ultra 8 288V mobile processor boasts eight cores, and officially launched in September this year.

Part of the broader Ultra 9 lineup, this processor leverages the Lunar Lake architecture, boasting 12MB of L3 cache and operating at 3.3 GHz.

Elsewhere, the test application does give us an insight into the display users can expect to face in the near future, with documents detailing a 16 inch LCD panel display. In addition to this, the laptop appears to be Wi-Fi 7 capable.

In terms of storage, testing was conducted on devices using Samsung SSDs ranging from 256GB memory up to 1TB, as well as with SK hynix SSDs across the same storage ranges.

While LG is yet to confirm any details, the launch of this new mystery device would join a growing roster for LG. In early September 2024, LG unveiled the Gram Pro 16 device at IFA 2024 to capitalize on the current AI PC trend.

This marked the launch of its first notebook equipped with an Intel Core Ultra CPU from the Lunar Lake range as well as the first laptop by the company to secure Copilot+ PC status on account of its NPU being able to meet Microsoft’s minimum requirements.

Boasting an NPU capable of 48 TOPS, LG said the notebook will set a “new standard for AI PCs”

“The LG gram 16 Pro is now more efficient thanks to advanced AI functionalities such as productivity assistants, text and image creation and collaboration tools,” the company said in a launch statement. “What’s more, its extended battery life helps users handle tasks without worry.”

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AI has become very good at holding up its end of a conversation with humans, but a set of new AI features from the digital notetaking app Goodnotes performs an even more impressive stunt by reading handwriting well enough to discuss it and even answer questions about what's been scribbled. Goodnotes, which claims 24 million monthly active users, debuted handwriting editing capabilities along with a math-specific AI helper and the Ask Goodnotes assistant that serves as a kind of secretary for your notetaking. 

The handwriting editing tools impressively link human writing to digital understanding. They're based on the proprietary Goodnotes Smart Ink technology, which takes down your handwriting and attempts to turn it into typed text. Now, though, the app lets you edit what you've handwritten the way you would something typed out in a document. That includes aligning notes, copying and pasting some of the handwriting, and reflowing the text to make it more logical when going through it. 

That's on top of the Spellcheck and Word Complete tools already available for handwritten text. Goodnotes pitches these AI handwriting editing capabilities as a way to combine the flexibility of pen-and-paper notetaking with the ease of editing offered by digital tools. You can see how it works below.

(Image credit: Goodnotes)

AI Secretary

Ask Goodnotes, as the name implies, lets you ask questions about what's in your notes, get summaries, explain concepts you jotted down, and even help put together quizzes to test you on the knowledge. So, if you are a student or at a work presentation, the AI can take your hastily scrawled notes and, days later, explain what you were writing about, including researching any concepts you were too vague about to remember what you meant. It can then help you study for a test on the topic or prepare to talk about it with others.

It works with more than just handwritten notes, so you can augment what you wrote with printed text, images, and PDFs. The answers from the AI are personalized and will link to your notes to ensure you understand the context of what it is saying and what you wrote earlier.

The Math Assist feature zeroes in on helping with mathematical equations written out by hand in your notebook. Math Assist recognizes handwritten math problems and can perform calculations to give the answer. It can also show the steps for solving the problem for anything from arithmetic to calculus. If you don't want the full answer, the AI can also restrict itself to hints so you can solve the equations on your own. Goodnotes is available on Apple devices with up to three notebooks for free. All features are available for $10 a year or a lifetime fee of $30.

"We're constantly inspired by the sheer volume of ideas and knowledge that our users capture in their Goodnotes notebooks. Our aim with Ask Goodnotes is to give users new powers to interact with their notes, documents, and PDFs, and unlock fresh possibilities for productivity, creativity, and learning," said Steven Chan, founder and CEO of Goodnotes. "With our new handwriting editing and math features, we focused on how our proprietary machine learning models could be leveraged behind the scenes to make everyday note-taking and document annotation more seamless and intuitive."

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Apple Intelligence’s release date is fast approaching, making it an exciting time to own one of the best iPhones.

The AI tools are one of the major selling points of the new iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro, bringing features like proofreading and rewriting, summaries, and AI photo editing to iOS 18. That’s not all, however – iOS 18.1’s imminent launch and the arrival of AI on iPhone is just the beginning, with more Apple Intelligence features set to launch over the next year.

So when is the Apple Intelligence release date? And is it actually a big deal? Or will consumers forget it even exists in just a few months’ time?

Apple Intelligence release date

(Image credit: Apple)

Apple Intelligence is currently in testing via the iOS 18.1 public beta. This means we can expect to see Writing Tools, Clean Up, and Notification Summaries, to name just a few features, arrive in October with iOS 18.1’s official release. We’ve covered all the Apple Intelligence features, and when you can expect to use them, in-depth already, but here’s a quick rundown of the expected release schedule:

Apple has confirmed that Apple Intelligence will arrive in October with iOS 18.1. Later this year, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Genmoji and Image Playground will arrive in iOS 18.2 which is expected in December. Following on from those major updates, iOS 18.3 is expected around January, and could potentially add some of the Apple Intelligence-fuelled Siri features. Finally, the full Siri Apple Intelligence makeover is expected in March of next year as part of iOS 18.4, closing out the first year of Apple Intelligence features just in time for iOS 19 and WWDC 2025.

Based on these rumors, and Apple’s own confirmation that Apple Intelligence will launch this month, we fully expect iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1 to arrive in the next couple of weeks.

Why it’s a big deal

(Image credit: Future/Jacob Krol)

The Apple Intelligence launch is a huge deal in terms of the future of easily accessible AI, and Apple’s entrance into the AI space could play a pivotal part in the future of the technology. Let’s take a step back from the powerhouses of AI like OpenAI for a second; your parents will probably get their first taste of AI in Apple Intelligence, as will many average consumers. That means Apple’s foray into AI, and its attempt to become ‘AI for the rest of us’, is a far bigger deal than the new AI features themselves.

iPhone users make up the majority of the US smartphone market, and Apple has built a successful business on the promise of its technology just working straight out the box. With the arrival of Apple Intelligence, we’ll get a good idea of whether or not AI is ready to become a key element of our daily lives, or if, in its current form, it’s just a nice-to-have that we forget about with time. Does Apple Intelligence become a key element of the iPhone experience, like FaceID, or does it become the next example of Apple’s ideas not living up to their promise like the discontinued Touch Bar?

Every smartphone with AI features these days, whether that’s the Google Pixel 9 or the Samsung S24 Ultra, has what seems like a repackaging of the same tools: writing, summarizing, photo editing, and a better voice assistant. Can Apple’s attempt surpass these Android offerings and offer something distinct? And if so, do people even care?

As someone who writes about AI every day, I’m intrigued to see how the average consumer interacts with the idea of chatbots and AI-powered features built into operating systems. Apple’s vision for its Apple Intelligence-powered version of Siri, with personal context and on-screen awareness, is the AI addition to iOS I’m most excited about, but if the voice assistant turns out not to be as impressive as Apple’s WWDC 2024 demo suggested, it could quickly come to be seen as a high-profile failure.

There’s a lot to look forward to in the world of AI; and Apple Intelligence, while maybe not the most impressive use case we’ve seen for artificial intelligence, is set to be a turning point for the technology. As for in which direction, however, your guess is as good as mine: will Apple Intelligence catapult consumer AI into the mainstream? Or could it turn out to be another Apple Vision Pro – niche, and better executed by others?

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Sometimes I look at my robot vacuum and wonder if it knows how much I like it. I do not ponder if it's staring back at me, thinking...well...who know what? If I owned an Ecovac robot vacuum, though, that might be all I was thinking about and, soon, throwing a blanket over its potentially rapacious camera.

According to a new report and the work of long-time robot vacuum hackers, some Ecovac vacuums can, with some skill but no physical, access be hacked, giving would-be attackers access to all onboard systems and sensors, including the camera.

It's a simple and somewhat unnerving tale: An ABC Australia news reporter, Julian Fell, followed up on reports that some Ecovac vacuums could be hacked and was soon, with the permission of an Ecovac owner, hacking a robot vacuum in the safety of his news site's offices.

Not a hacker himself, Fell worked with Northeastern University Cybersecurity researcher Dennis Giese who (along with collaborators Braelynn Luedtke and Chris Anderson) discovered the hack and has spent years researching robot vacuum vulnerabilities. Via email, Giese told me he's researched most of the major robot vacuum manufacturers, including Neato and iRobot. "Ecovacs is a bit unlucky this year, as I usually swap the vendor every year. Next year, it might hit a different vendor."

Giese developed a payload and all Fell had to do was stand outside his offices, connect to the robot vacuum via Bluetooth, and download Giese's encrypted payload to it. That triggered a function in Ecovac's vacuum, which led to it downloading a script from Giese's server and then executing it. Within moments, both Fell and Giese had access to the robot vacuum's camera feed. They could see what it saw and, more chillingly, were able to, according to the report, use the speaker to send a message to the Ecovac's owner: "Hello Sean, I’m waaaatching you.”

At no point during this process did the robot vacuum indicate that it was under outside control.

Ecovac's POV

When contacted about the Hack story, Ecovacs sent me this response:

"ECOVACS places the highest priority on data security and customer privacy. To address some security issues raised over the last several months, the ECOVACS Security Committee initiated an internal review process of network connections and data storage. As a result, we have enhanced product security across multiple dimensions, and will continue to strengthen system security in upcoming updates.."

This differed slightly from what the company told TechCrunch in August. Back then, it mentioned the internal review process but also said consumers had little to worry about, claiming in the statement to TechCrunch, "Security issues pointed out by Giese and Braelynn are extremely rare in typical user environments and require specialized hacking tools and physical access to the device. Therefore, users can rest assured that they do not need to worry excessively about this."

While Ecovac was likely right about the programming tools, I asked Giese about the "physical access" claim since Fell's report detailed how he used only a Bluetooth connection from outside his office and the payload on his phone to hack the vacuum.

Giese told me that there are many different vulnerabilities, but for the one that Fell hacked, "You only need a phone and the magic payload. No physical access, you do not even need to know where the robot is, who it belongs to, or what kind of model it is. If you are in range, you can do it."

Giese first told Ecovacs about the vulnerability in December 2023 and told Fell that the company initially didn't even respond to the message. Giese, though, is not a Black Hat hacker and has no plans to release the details of the hack to the public. In fact, he has no particular beef with Ecovacs.

"Ecovacs was just unlucky this year...I am not super focused on Ecovacs and would have moved on by now if the problems were fixed."

"It appears that I 'bite' into that company and want to damage them, but that's not true. I am not super focused on Ecovacs and would have moved on by now if the problems were fixed," said Giese.

He added that he doesn't necessarily blame Ecovacs for these and other robot vacuum vulnerabilities. He claims that the company paid to get the proper certifications. " Ecovacs is also a victim here. They paid money to someone that was expected to certify them according to a standard (ETSI xxxx). There were a lot of things that should have been found (e.g. the SSL issues), but they were not."

As for what you should do if you own an Ecovacs robot vacuum: Start with making sure all your software is up-to-date. Ecovacs may not agree this is a dangerous vulnerability, but Ecovacs did tell us, "We have enhanced product security across multiple dimensions," which sounds like software updates to me.

In the meantime, you could do as the original Ecovacs consumer did and put a blanket over the robot vacuum camera when it's not in use.

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The number of phishing emails that masquerade as notifications from Microsoft services is skyrocketing, a new report from Check Point has warned.

In the report, the researchers said that just in September, its service caught more than 5,000 such emails - and to make matters worse, the attackers have gotten extremely good at creating a legitimate-looking email.

The usual suspects - spelling and grammar, color scheme, the email’s outline - all of these things have been brought to perfection: “The language is perfect. The style is familiar. The graphics look impeccable,” the researchers said. “So, what should organizations do?” Furthermore, these emails now come with copy-pasted Microsoft privacy policy statements, or links to Microsoft and Bing, all of which makes spotting the ruse with the naked eye almost impossible.

Training and AI

Ultimately, even the ‘sender’ field in the email looks believable now. Instead of the usual private, or unknown domains, these emails appear to be coming from organizational domains impersonating legitimate administrators.

All of this means there is a higher chance of organizations losing sensitive information, or becoming infected with malware and even ransomware.

In response, organizations need to invest heavily into user awareness training, since employees will no longer be able to hunt for spelling and grammar mistakes in phishing emails, Check Point argues.

Also, they should deploy AI-powered email security, essentially fighting AI with AI, and finally, always keep their software and hardware updated.

We would add that deploying multi-factor authentication wherever possible, and even pivoting towards zero-trust network architecture, can only help in today’s diverse landscape.

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Microsoft has released a major announcement outlining all the new experiences coming to its new Copilot+ PCs and Windows 11, hoping to convince people to see the practical benefits of its AI-powered efforts. We’ll have to see how these developments play out when they’re more widespread and in the hands of everyday users, but Microsoft still seems to be going full steam ahead to make AI tools and features commonplace (and to be one of the first to do it).

Microsoft wants to use AI to assist you with everyday tasks like tracking down files and images, making them faster and easier. The idea is that you won’t even have to remember exact file and app names, but be able to describe the content in your own words and your device will be able to locate it.

Copilot+ PCs are designed to have AI integrated, and Microsoft claims that it’s seeing substantial customer demand and interest. You can get Copilot+ PCs running Windows 11 from manufacturers like Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, and from Microsoft itsel;f through its Surface line, with processors from manufacturers including Qualcomm, Intel, and AMD.

Microsoft also that these new features will be made available to its Windows Insider community for user testing and feedback ahead of a general rollout in phases starting in October and November 2024.

Total Recall

(Image credit: Getty Images)

The first feature Microsoft will be previewing is Recall, which has so far seen a lot of criticism, specifically with respect to its possible security ramifications, ever since it was announced. Microsoft’s vision for Recall is to help you instantly find things you’ve already seen on your PC, like a website or file, by taking screenshots of your device activity, keeping a record, and making it searchable. It will be an opt-in feature and only accessible with Windows Hello, Microsoft’s alternative login feature that allows you to use sign in with facial recognition, your fingerprint, or a PIN.

Microsoft hopes that added security measures will make people feel confident enough to trust Recall, requiring login by Windows Hello and applying filter over sensitive information like payment details.

Other AI tools coming with the latest update

There are other shiny new feature like ‘Click to do,’ designed to suggest ways you can finish tasks using various features and apps. This feature will appear over images or text, suggesting possible actions for you to consider like erasing the background of a photo or finding out more information on the web. Another is super resolution in the Photos app, explained as being able to enhance lower-resolution and older photos to better quality, making them clearer and sharper.

One that’s not a new feature but instead enhancing an existing one is Windows Search, which will now use AI to fetch just the file you’re looking for after putting in a description of the file in your own words. Microsoft adds that you won’t need to be connected to the internet to use this capability, and it will become available in File Explorer first, followed by Windows Search itself and the Setting apps in the months following.

Joining an improved Windows Search, Microsoft is also giving the Paint app a boost, adding generative fill and generative erase capabilities. You’ll also be able to use the Cocreator image generation tool right in the app by describing your ideas in a prompt, maybe even adding some brush swipes, and having it create an image. Additionally, you can also remove parts or add elements to your existing images, and you’ll be able to use it without a subscription.

As Microsoft puts it, the number of these kinds apps and ‘emulated experiences’ will grow as more Copilot+ PCs hit the market this year and next.

Will Windows users embrace Microsoft’s vision?

Microsoft has released the main Windows 11 feature upgrade for this year, 24H2, and it brings AI capability to Copilot+ PCs to enable the features above when they arrive, as well as features and changes for all PCs running Windows 11. These include the new Energy Saver mode, improved Hearing Aid support, Wi-Fi 7 compatibility, HDR background support, and interface-related improvements.

Microsoft finishes off its announcement with its broader vision and what it wants you to see next. It appears to acknowledge that you might have feelings about Windows 11, but we’ll have to see what it ultimately delivers in the coming year.

Microsoft says it wants you to feel the difference as a positive new direction for Windows 11, which has definitely had its ups and downs since its release. Either way, this is a big next step, so we’ll have to see how these new features are received.

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Hackers can now steal people’s cryptocurrency wallet seed phrases, even when they are stored as an image file, experts have warned

When a user sets up a new crypto wallet, they get a “seed phrase” - a set of 12 or 24 random words, which can later be used to restore the wallet in a new app or device (in case of loss or theft). Crooks that happen to steal a seed phrase can manage the money found in the wallet however they like.

But when a person saves the seed phrase in an image file (for example, with a screenshot), it makes the criminals’ job that much harder.

A highly potent threat

Enter Rhadamanthys version 0.7.0, recently introduced and carrying new, important bells and whistles. Recorded Future's Insikt Group recently analyzed this new version and released an in-depth report, which states that the infostealer now comes with Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities, and allows for optical character recognition (OCR).

Together, these two tools are called "Seed Phrase Image Recognition" which, in the above context, is pretty self explanatory.

"This allows Rhadamanthys to extract cryptocurrency wallet seed phrases from images, making it a highly potent threat for anyone dealing in cryptocurrencies," Recorded Future's Insikt Group said in its analysis. "The malware can recognize seed phrase images on the client side and send them back to the command-and-control (C2) server for further exploitation."

Even before the new features, Rhadamanthys was a potent, and popular infostealer. It was first discovered back in 2022, and has since grown into one of the most formidable pieces of malware. Hackers can subscribe to the service, paying $250 a month for the infostealer (or $550 for 90 days).

The latest version was released in June 2024, and comes as a "complete rewrite of both client-side and server-side frameworks, improving the program's execution stability." Recorded Future concluded.

Via The Hacker News

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