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Can an MCP-Powered AI Client Automatically Hack a Web Server?
Exposure-management company Tenable recently discussed how the MCP tool-interfacing framework for AI can be "manipulated for good, such as logging tool usage and filtering unauthorized commands." (Although "Some of these techniques could be used to advance both positive and negative goals.") Now an anonymous Slashdot reader writes: In a demonstration video put together by security researcher Seth Fogie, an AI client given a simple prompt to 'Scan and exploit' a web server leverages various connected tools via MCP (nmap, ffuf, nuclei, waybackurls, sqlmap, burp) to find and exploit discovered vulnerabilities without any additional user interaction As Tenable illustrates in their MCP FAQ, "The emergence of Model Context Protocol for AI is gaining significant interest due to its standardization of connecting external data sources to large language models (LLMs). While these updates are good news for AI developers, they raise some security concerns." With over 12,000 MCP servers and counting, what does this all lead to and when will AI be connected enough for a malicious prompt to cause serious impact? Read more of this story at Slashdot.it.slashdot.orgAs the consumer metaverse falters, the World Economic Forum projects the industrial metaverse will reach $100B by 2030, led by platforms like Nvidia Omniverse (Nicole Kobie/Wired)
Nicole Kobie / Wired: As the consumer metaverse falters, the World Economic Forum projects the industrial metaverse will reach $100B by 2030, led by platforms like Nvidia Omniverse — Forget Mark Zuckerberg's vision of VR meetings; the industrial metaverse bridges digital and physical worlds in a way that's actually useful.techmeme.comSources: Meta is once again considering facial recognition for its smart glasses and other devices, after abandoning the idea over ethical concerns in 2021 (The Information)
The Information: Sources: Meta is once again considering facial recognition for its smart glasses and other devices, after abandoning the idea over ethical concerns in 2021 — Back in 2021, Mark Zuckerberg and other top Facebook executives were dreaming big about how to design the company's first generation of smart glasses.techmeme.comSeagate Working To Develop a 100TB Hard Drive By 2030
Data storage firm Seagate is working to develop a 100-terabyte hard drive by 2030, touting blistering demand from data centers for the 70-year-old technology in the artificial intelligence boom. From a report: BS Teh, Seagate's chief commercial officer, told CNBC that the company is aiming to launch such a drive -- which would have about three times the capacity of the firm's top-of-the-line hard drives -- by 2030. The largest hard disk drive Seagate currently produces is the 36-terabyte Exos M model, which it launched in January. "You may be thinking, 'Who would need it?'" Teh said, referring to the idea of a 100-terabyte hard drive. "Well, plenty." He added: "I think there's definitely strong demand. This is a key enabler for the industry to be able to deliver the storage capacity that the market needs, because there's no other technology that's able to produce this capacity of storage technology to meet the growth that the market needs." Read more of this story at Slashdot.hardware.slashdot.orgSen. Blumenthal says the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations opened an inquiry into Trump's crypto empire, calling his memecoin dinner "pay-for-play" (MacKenzie Sigalos/CNBC)
MacKenzie Sigalos / CNBC: Sen. Blumenthal says the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations opened an inquiry into Trump's crypto empire, calling his memecoin dinner “pay-for-play” — Democrats turned up the pressure on President Donald Trump's cryptocurrency ventures this week and the fortune …techmeme.comFigma releases AI-powered tools to take on Canva and Adobe: Figma Sites for creating sites, Figma Make for app prototypes, and Figma Buzz for marketing assets (Ivan Mehta/TechCrunch)
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch: Figma releases AI-powered tools to take on Canva and Adobe: Figma Sites for creating sites, Figma Make for app prototypes, and Figma Buzz for marketing assets — Design company Figma today announced multiple features, including AI-powered site and web app creation, a way for marketers to create assets in bulk, and a new drawing tool.techmeme.comSamsung subsidiary Harman has agreed to acquire Masimo's audio division, which includes the Bowers & Wilkins, Denon, and Polk Audio brands, for $350M (Jess Weatherbed/The Verge)
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge: Samsung subsidiary Harman has agreed to acquire Masimo's audio division, which includes the Bowers & Wilkins, Denon, and Polk Audio brands, for $350M — The $350 million deal brings them under the same ownership as JBL, Harman Kardon, and AKG. … Samsung subsidiary Harman has agreed …techmeme.comApple Working To Move To AI Search in Browser Amid Google Fallout
Apple is "actively looking at" revamping the Safari web browser on its devices to focus on AI-powered search engines, a seismic shift for the industry hastened by the potential end of a longtime partnership with Google. From a report: Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of services, made the disclosure Wednesday during his testimony in the US Justice Department's lawsuit against Alphabet. The heart of the dispute is the two companies' estimated $20 billion-a-year deal that makes Google the default offering for queries in Apple's browser. The case could force the tech giants to unwind the pact, upending how the iPhone and other devices have long operated. Cue noted that searches on Safari dipped for the first time last month, which he attributed to people using AI. Cue said he believes that AI search providers, including OpenAI, Perplexity and Anthropic, will eventually replace standard search engines like Alphabet's Google. He said he believes Apple will bring those options to Safari in the future. "We will add them to the list -- they probably won't be the default," he said, indicating that they still need to improve. Read more of this story at Slashdot.apple.slashdot.orgNetflix unveils its ChatGPT-powered search that lets users express preferences using natural phrases, to be rolled out this week to iOS users as an opt-in beta (Lauren Forristal/TechCrunch)
Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch: Netflix unveils its ChatGPT-powered search that lets users express preferences using natural phrases, to be rolled out this week to iOS users as an opt-in beta — After hinting at a new AI-powered search experience during its recent earnings call, Netflix officially unveiled the feature at its tech and product event on Wednesday.techmeme.comA US court rejects a legal challenge by the FTC to Microsoft's $69B Activision Blizzard acquisition, upholding a lower court ruling that denied an injunction (Mike Scarcella/Reuters)
Mike Scarcella / Reuters: A US court rejects a legal challenge by the FTC to Microsoft's $69B Activision Blizzard acquisition, upholding a lower court ruling that denied an injunction — A federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected a legal challenge by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to Microsoft's (MSFT.O) …techmeme.comMicrosoft says it will support Google's Agent2Agent spec, known as A2A, in Azure AI Foundry and Copilot Studio and will join A2A's working group on GitHub (Kyle Wiggers/TechCrunch)
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch: Microsoft says it will support Google's Agent2Agent spec, known as A2A, in Azure AI Foundry and Copilot Studio and will join A2A's working group on GitHub — Microsoft says that it's embracing Google's recently launched open protocol for allowing AI “agents” to communicate with each other.techmeme.com- 👋 Hey friends! We’re a small team building BIG ideas — from smart scheduling tools to cloud solutions for local businesses 🌱💈🏥 Expect tips, ideas, and real talk to help your biz thrive. 📲 Watch this space — exciting things ahead! #SmallBusinessSupport #TechTips #StartupVibes #SmartSolutions
DEA Ends Body Camera Program
The Drug Enforcement Administration has quietly ended its body camera program barely four years after it began, ProPublica reports, citing an internal email. From the report: On April 2, DEA headquarters emailed employees announcing that the program had been terminated effective the day before. The DEA has not publicly announced the policy change, but by early April, links to pages about body camera policies on the DEA's website were broken. The email said the agency made the change to be "consistent" with a Trump executive order rescinding the 2022 requirement that all federal law enforcement agents use body cameras. But at least two other federal law enforcement agencies within the Justice Department -- the U.S. Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives -- are still requiring body cameras, according to their spokespeople. Read more of this story at Slashdot.news.slashdot.org- Master Linux One Command at a Time - Start with the basics: ls - List files and directories effortlessly. Linux #LinuxBasics #CommandLine #LearnLinux #LinuxTips #TerminalCommands #LinuxBeginner #TechTips #ShellCommands #OpenSource
US v. Google: Eddy Cue testifies that Apple is "actively looking at" reshaping Safari to focus on AI search and, in a first, Safari searches dropped in April (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg: US v. Google: Eddy Cue testifies that Apple is “actively looking at” reshaping Safari to focus on AI search and, in a first, Safari searches dropped in April — Apple Inc. is “actively looking at” reshaping the Safari web browser on its devices to focus on AI-powered search engines …techmeme.comAI Chatbots Are 'Juicing Engagement' Instead of Being Useful, Instagram Co-founder Warns
Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom says AI companies are trying too hard to "juice engagement" by pestering their users with follow-up questions, instead of providing actually useful insights. From a report: Systrom said the tactics represent "a force that's hurting us," comparing them to those used by social media companies to expand aggressively. "You can see some of these companies going down the rabbit hole that all the consumer companies have gone down in trying to juice engagement," he said at StartupGrind this week. "Every time I ask a question, at the end it asks another little question to see if it can get yet another question out of me." Read more of this story at Slashdot.slashdot.orgHow ChatGPT and other AI tools enable systemic cheating in college, unravelling the entire academic project; one student says "the ceiling has been blown off" (James D. Walsh/New York Magazine)
James D. Walsh / New York Magazine: How ChatGPT and other AI tools enable systemic cheating in college, unravelling the entire academic project; one student says “the ceiling has been blown off” — ChatGPT has unraveled the entire academic project. — Chungin “Roy” Lee stepped onto Columbia University's campus …techmeme.comUber Says Waymo Autonomous Vehicles Outperforming 99% of Human Drivers in Austin
Waymo's autonomous vehicles operating on Uber's platform in Austin are completing more trips per day than over 99% of human drivers in the market, according to Uber's Q1 2025 earnings report [PDF] released Wednesday. The fleet of approximately 100 autonomous Waymo vehicles, launched exclusively on Uber in March, has "exceeded expectations," CEO Dara Khosrowshahi stated in the report. He cited the performance to "Waymo's safety record and rider experience coupled with Uber's scale and reliability." Uber has rapidly expanded its autonomous vehicle operations, reaching an annual run-rate of 1.5 million mobility and delivery AV trips across its network. The company plans to scale to hundreds of vehicles in Austin in the coming months, while preparing for a launch in Atlanta by early summer. Khosrowshahi said that autonomous vehicle technology represents "the single greatest opportunity ahead for Uber." Read more of this story at Slashdot.tech.slashdot.orgTel Aviv-based Sett, which builds AI agents to create and run mobile game marketing content, emerges from stealth and raised $27M, including a $15M Series A (Ingrid Lunden/TechCrunch)
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: Tel Aviv-based Sett, which builds AI agents to create and run mobile game marketing content, emerges from stealth and raised $27M, including a $15M Series A — Games drove the creation of GPU processors back in the 1990s, so it's only fitting that artificial intelligence …techmeme.comMistral releases Mistral Medium 3, which it says focuses on efficiency without compromising performance, for $0.40 per 1M input and $20.80 per 1M output tokens (Kyle Wiggers/TechCrunch)
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch: Mistral releases Mistral Medium 3, which it says focuses on efficiency without compromising performance, for $0.40 per 1M input and $20.80 per 1M output tokens — French AI startup Mistral is releasing a new AI model, Mistral Medium 3, that's focused on efficiency without compromising performance.techmeme.comIBM CEO Says AI Has Replaced Hundreds of Workers But Created New Programming, Sales Jobs
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said the tech giant has used AI, and specifically AI agents, to replace the work of a couple hundred human resources workers. As a result, it has hired more programmers and salespeople, he said. From a report: Krishna's comments on Monday come as businesses sort through the workforce impacts of AI and AI agents, the independent bots that can autonomously perform tasks like analyze spreadsheets, conduct research and draft emails. While there haven't yet been widespread layoffs or downsizing as a result of AI across the economy, some business leaders have said they are holding down head count as they investigate the use of the technology. Meanwhile, the information-technology workforce has continued to shrink as AI weighs on hiring and some workers leave the field. For IBM, which this week hosts its annual Think conference in Boston, AI adoption has led it to boost hiring in some functions. Read more of this story at Slashdot.slashdot.orgAWS says it plans to invest $4B to build its first data centers and cloud infrastructure in Chile, set to open in H2 2026, and will try to use minimal water (Fabian Cambero/Reuters)
Fabian Cambero / Reuters: AWS says it plans to invest $4B to build its first data centers and cloud infrastructure in Chile, set to open in H2 2026, and will try to use minimal water — Amazon's cloud computing division will invest $4 billion to build its first data centers and other cloud infrastructure in Chile …techmeme.comFTC Bans Hidden Fees For Live Events and Short-Term Rentals
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Monday released new documentation detailing its new "Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees." The rule, set to take effect on May 12, prohibits hidden fees for live events, hotels, and short-term rentals. It also bans practices such as "bait-and-switch pricing" and any actions that conceal or misrepresent total prices and fees. In a newly published FAQ, the FTC offers a guide for these types of businesses, providing detailed information about pricing transparency. The rule will impact businesses, including live-event ticket sellers and short-term lodging providers, like hotels, motels, Airbnb, or VRBO. Third-party platforms, resellers, and travel agents are also covered by the new regulation. (Airbnb already updated its service in advance of this new regulation to show users the total cost of their stay upfront.) [...] Also included in the FTC's new FAQ are the types of fees that can be excluded, such as taxes or government fees, shipping charges, and charges for optional goods or services people may select to buy as part of the same transaction. (Note that handling charges aren't on this list.) However, the FTC notes that businesses must disclose that it has excluded charges from the total price before asking for payment. For example, if a business excludes shipping charges from the advertised price, it's required to clearly state the amount and purpose of those charges. Read more of this story at Slashdot.yro.slashdot.orgAnalysis: 75%+ of the top 220 holders of President Trump's memecoin likely reside outside the US, ahead of a May 22 dinner; Justin Sun is likely to hold $18M (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg: Analysis: 75%+ of the top 220 holders of President Trump's memecoin likely reside outside the US, ahead of a May 22 dinner; Justin Sun is likely to hold $18M — The majority of top holders of Donald Trump's memecoin have used foreign exchanges that say they ban US users, suggesting many purchasers are based abroadtechmeme.comIn 2024, Apple Watch sales fell by 19%, the second consecutive year of decline, driven by a drop in North America; no new Watch SE models weighed on growth (Counterpoint Research)
Counterpoint Research: In 2024, Apple Watch sales fell by 19%, the second consecutive year of decline, driven by a drop in North America; no new Watch SE models weighed on growth — - The lack of a new SE model weighed most on shipment growth. — Fewer upgrades to the latest Watch Series 10, more competition …techmeme.comNetflix says it plans to start testing a TikTok-like feed of vertical video in its mobile app in "the coming weeks" to help users find new content to watch (Jay Peters/The Verge)
Jay Peters / The Verge: Netflix says it plans to start testing a TikTok-like feed of vertical video in its mobile app in “the coming weeks” to help users find new content to watch — The streaming service has experimented with vertical video feeds before. … Netflix is going to start testing a TikTok …techmeme.comQ&A with Amazon Zoox co-founder Jesse Levinson on Zoox's robotaxi design, rider comfort, San Francisco testing, Waymo, developing bespoke vehicles, and more (Rafe Uddin/Financial Times)
Rafe Uddin / Financial Times: Q&A with Amazon Zoox co-founder Jesse Levinson on Zoox's robotaxi design, rider comfort, San Francisco testing, Waymo, developing bespoke vehicles, and more — The autonomous ride service co-founder reflects on the bumpy road for self-driving vehicles and the company's attempt to achieve scale and maintain safetytechmeme.comNetflix unveils a new home page design for TVs, its first update since 2013, featuring fewer titles but more video and animation, rolling out from next week (John Koblin/New York Times)
John Koblin / New York Times: Netflix unveils a new home page design for TVs, its first update since 2013, featuring fewer titles but more video and animation, rolling out from next week — The implications for the industry could be significant, given that most other streaming services have copied Netflix's design.techmeme.comMemo: CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz says the company will cut ~500 jobs, or 5% of its global workforce, and expects to incur $36M to $56M in charges (Dean Seal/Wall Street Journal)
Dean Seal / Wall Street Journal: Memo: CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz says the company will cut ~500 jobs, or 5% of its global workforce, and expects to incur $36M to $56M in charges — Cybersecurity company will continuing to hire customer-facing and product-engineering roles — CrowdStrike said it will cut about 500 jobs …techmeme.comOx Security, which scans for vulnerabilities in both AI- and human-generated code, raised a $60M Series B led by DTCP and says it scans 100M+ lines per day (Kyle Wiggers/TechCrunch)
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch: Ox Security, which scans for vulnerabilities in both AI- and human-generated code, raised a $60M Series B led by DTCP and says it scans 100M+ lines per day — As “vibe coding” gains in popularity and tech companies push devs in their employ to embrace generative AI tools …techmeme.comOpenAI unveils OpenAI for Countries, an initiative to help build out AI infrastructure and customize OpenAI's products for specific languages and local needs (Shirin Ghaffary/Bloomberg)
Shirin Ghaffary / Bloomberg: OpenAI unveils OpenAI for Countries, an initiative to help build out AI infrastructure and customize OpenAI's products for specific languages and local needs — OpenAI rolled out a new initiative to help other countries build out the sprawling infrastructure required for the expansion …techmeme.com
