Telegram has quietly removed language from its FAQ page saying private chats were protected and that “we do not process any requests related to them.” The change comes nearly two weeks after its CEO, Pavel Durov, was arrested in France for allegedly allowing “criminal activity to go on undeterred on the messaging app." In response, Telegram spokesperson Remi Vaughn says the app’s source code has not changed. “Private chats are still private too – although you could always report a new incoming chat to moderators by using Block > Report. Anyone can check Telegram’s open source code and see there were no changes,” writes Vaughn. Earlier on Thursday evening, Durov issued his first public statement since his arrest, promising to moderate...

Twelve days after he was arrested in France, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has broken his silence with a 600-word statement on his Telegram account that blames “growing pains that made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform.” French authorities had charged Durov with enabling various forms of criminal activity on Telegram, including an unnamed person’s distribution of child sexual abuse material on the platform. An unnamed statement from Telegram at the time of his arrest said Durov had “nothing to hide.” While the vast majority of his statement today paints his arrest as surprising and unfair, he also admits that policing Telegram has become harder. Durov says it’s now his “personal goal” to “significantly improve things in this...

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Boeing's Starliner spacecraft sits atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket before liftoff in June to begin the Crew Flight Test. Saturday.

Leigh Whannell's new take on the classic Universal Monster is being featured at Halloween Horror Nights. How's he look? Well...

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Researchers say that Dungeons & Dragons can give autistic players a way to engage in low-risk social interactions. in popular culture, featuring heavily in Stranger Things, for example, and spawning a blockbuster movie released last year. Over the last decade or so, researchers have turned their focus more heavily to the ways in which D&D and other TRPGs can help people with autism form healthy social connections, in part because the gaming environment offers clear rules around social interactions. According to the authors of a new paper published in the journal Autism, D&D helped boost players' confidence with autism, giving them a strong sense of kinship or belonging, among other benefits. “There are many myths and misconceptions about autism, with some of the biggest suggesting that those with it aren’t socially motivated, or don’t have any imagination," said co-author Gray Atherton, a psychologist at the University of Plymouth. "Dungeons & Dragons goes against all that, centering around working together in a team, all of which takes place in a completely imaginary environment. Those taking part in our study saw the game as a breath of fresh air, a chance to take on a different persona and share experiences outside of an often challenging reality. That sense of escapism made them feel incredibly comfortable, and many of them said they were now trying to apply aspects of it in their daily lives.” Prior research has shown that autistic people are more likely to feel lonely, have smaller social networks, and often experience anxiety in social settings. Their desire for social connection leads many to "mask" their neurodivergent traits in public for fear of being rejected as a result of social gaffes. "I think every autistic person has had multiple instances of social rejection and loss of relationships," one of the study participants said when Atherton et al. interviewed them about their experiences. "You've done something wrong. You don't know what it is. They don't tell you, and you find out when you've been just, you know, left shunned in relationships, left out.... It's traumatic."

The US, UK, and European Union have signed the first “legally binding” treaty on AI, which is supposed to ensure its use aligns with “human rights, democracy and the rule of law,” according to the Council of Europe. The treaty, called the Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence, lays out key principles AI systems must follow, such as protecting user data, respecting the law, and keeping practices transparent. Each country that signs the treaty must “adopt or maintain appropriate legislative, administrative or other measures” that reflect the framework. Historic moment! The #CoE opens the first-ever legally binding global treaty on #AI and human rights. Signed by EU , this Framework Convention ensures AI...

Unlike in the Atlantic, there is little to stop high-intensity storms forming in Southeast Asia, and climate change is making conditions even more perilous.

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Ugreen has a new collection of iPhone and USB accessories for IFA 2024 that really turn up the charm. The Uno line is a collection of GaN and Qi2 chargers, cables, a power bank, and a USB-C hub, each featuring a tiny screen solely for displaying robot-like emoji faces. The most endearing ones by far are the $60 Uno Charger 100W four-port USB and the $70 15W Qi2 magnetic power bank that sticks to MagSafe phones — each looks like a helpful little bot friend you’ve appointed to live on your desk and help with your charging duties. They’re also the most expressive, with their TFT screens that show up to half a dozen different faces to give some idea of the actual charge levels / rates of your device. For example, the faces on the Qi2 power...

Samsung's two foldable smartphones are seeing giant discounts over at Amazon.

“I look forward to serving America if the opportunity arises," Musk said.

Enlarge , a military intelligence agency of the General Staff of the Armed Forces. Along with a sixth defendant, prosecutors alleged, they engaged in a conspiracy to hack, exfiltrate data, leak information, and destroy computer systems associated with the Ukrainian government in advance of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The indictment, which supersedes one filed earlier, comes 32 months after Microsoft documented its discovery of a destructive piece of malware, dubbed WhisperGate, had infected dozens of Ukrainian government, nonprofit, and IT organizations. WhisperGate masqueraded as ransomware, but in actuality was malware that permanently destroyed computers and the data stored on them by wiping the master boot record—a part of the hard drive needed to start the operating system during bootup.