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Speculation that Apple’s March event could include immersive F1 on Vision Pro

Apple commenter John Gruber is spitballing again. After suggesting that the special event on March 4 may be preceded by a series of new product announcements through press releases, he now has another idea.

Based on a reader drawing his attention to the timing, he suggests that another announcement could be immersive F1 viewing on Vision Pro …

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Millions of passwords and Social Security numbers exposed as old hacks remain a threat

An unsecured database that likely contains tens of millions of unique Social Security numbers, alongside email addresses and passwords, has been discovered by security researchers.

While the database appears to have been collated from a number of separate data breaches over approximately a decade, the researchers explain why even very old personal data remains a live threat …

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Federal ban on TP-Link routers shelved, but Texas fights on

Badged versions of TP-Link routers are supplied to US customers by more than 300 ISPs, making them the most widely used Wi-Fi routers in the country, found in millions of US homes.

It therefore caused grave concern when security researchers at Microsoft found that a hacking group based in China was using vulnerabilities in the devices to carry out cyber attacks in the US. It had been widely expected that the routers would be banned from sale in the US, but politics seemingly intervened. However, the battle is not yet over …

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The low-cost MacBook will get a slick video, not just a press release

Apple’s low-cost MacBook has been a long time coming, but it now seems clear that we can expect it to be launched in the first week of March.

Apple has a special event taking place on March 4, but a subsequent report says that this will not include a keynote presentation. Instead, it says we can expect a series of press releases along the lines of the ones we saw back in 2024

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‘Double-dipping’ dispute over Qualcomm iPhone chips finally ends

Apple previously accused Qualcomm of “double-dipping” as a result of the company’s policies over selling radio chips for use in iPhones. The Cupertino company had also objected to Qualcomm charging a percentage of the price of an iPhone rather than a fixed fee per chip.

Apple withdrew its claims back in 2024, but an independent class-action lawsuit was still being pursued on behalf of iPhone owners. This lawsuit has now been abandoned …

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EU also investigating as Grok generated 23,000 CSAM images in 11 days [U]

The EU has opened its own investigation into the Grok chatbot generating child sexual abuse material. It’s estimated that Grok generated 23,000 CSAM images in just 11 days. Update: A second investigation has been opened in Ireland, focusing on possible privacy violations.

Despite multiple calls for Apple and Google to temporarily remove both X and Grok from the App Store, neither company has yet done so …

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Could the low-cost MacBook be the new iBook?

The long-awaited low-cost MacBook powered by an A18 Pro chip is now expected to launch on March 4. It will reportedly be priced somewhere around $700, making it significantly cheaper than an entry-level MacBook Air.

Given that the upcoming machine is likely to meet the needs of a great many of those who currently opt for the MacBook Air, it could cannibalize a lot of sales. One possible solution to this is to use the strategy Apple once adopted with the iBook and Powerbook lineups …

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Smart Home Diary: Planning my new smart home, 13 years later

I’m just about starting to believe that I may be heading into the final stages of an extremely lengthy attempt to sell one apartment and buy another, so I’m currently giving some thought to the smart home technology I’ll want in my new home.

This will be some 13 years after I first adopted smart home tech, so I’m expecting to make a few changes – some small, one potentially much larger …

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Claude’s free tier now connects to apps, can create Microsoft Office documents, and more

Anthropic has just launched significant new features to Claude’s free tier. Connecting to apps was previously a pro feature available only to paid subscribers, but this is now included in the free tier.

Claude can connect to a wide range of apps, including Canva, Figma, Monday, Notion, Slack, Square, Wix, WordPress, and Google Workspace apps …

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This robot can fold some of your laundry fairly badly for $8,000 [Video]

Domestic robots have been a fixture in science fiction novels for more than a century, but in the real world we’re still all doing our own domestic chores barring vacuuming.

While a number of companies are working on humanoid robots, with Apple reportedly among them, all we’ve really had so far are promises and extremely limited demos. But you can (maybe) buy a laundry-folding robot today for $8,000 or rent it for $450 a month …

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WhatsApp and Telegram blocked in Russia as Meta designated an ‘extremist organization’

Both WhatsApp and Telegram have been blocked in Russia as the government tries to force people to use its unencrypted WeChat clone, Max. All messages sent and received in Max can be read by the government.

The government also blocked access to Facebook and Instagram, and designated parent company Meta as “an extremist organization” …

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Apple Creator Studio AI usage limits seem dramatically lower than promised

When Apple launched the Apple Creator Studio (ACS) subscription, the company indicated that you could use the AI features to produce 50 Keynote presentations per month “as a minimum.” However, developer and security researcher Steve Troughton-Smith had a very different experience when it came to AI usage limits.

He reported that far from being able to produce 50 presentations, a single Keynote slideshow used half of his monthly ACS limit, so the limit would be just two …

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