At this point, everyone should know how important it is to stay safe online — if you fall for a phishing scam or similar, you are liable to end up having your identity stolen, which can have some pretty serious consequences. That said, personal security is only one facet of a bigger problem. We have seen sites and services hit by hackers all too often.
When online criminals target an organization, they are often able to gain access to lots user accounts at once, rather than just going after individuals. Sites like Have I Been Pwned? have been set up to allow users to check out whether their accounts have been compromised in the wake of a large-scale breach. Now, a new project called the Smell of Data aims to give internet users moment-to-moment updates on whether their private information is at risk of being leaked.
“The Smell of Data is a new scent developed as an alert mechanism for a more instinctive data,” explains a video on the project’s official website. “Smell data? Beware of data leaks. They can lead to privacy violation, behavior control, and identity theft.”
To utilize the Smell of Data, a scent dispenser is charged with the specially developed fragrance, and then connected to a smartphone, tablet, or computer via Wi-Fi. The device is able to detect when a paired system attempts to access an unprotected website on an unsecured network and will emit a pungent puff of the Smell of Data as a warning signal.
The concept is inspired by odorless, flammable gases that present a major safety risk without any external indicators. In 1937, an explosion at the New London School in Texas killed 295 people, prompting authorities to add a smell to these gases in order make leaks easier to detect. The Smell of Data works on a similar principle.
This project uses an outlandish idea to get across something very important and actionable: Just like an odorless gas leak, it is easy to turn a blind eye to our digital security. Accessing unprotected sites via unsecured networks is a risk, but it is one that many of us would take without much trepidation.
Did you think hitting delete on your AI chatbot conversation actually makes it disappear? Georgia Tech researchers just proved that's not entirely true. They have built a forensic tool called ORISA that can dig deleted conversations from your phone and even rebuild them into a working chatbot session you can keep talking to.
How can ORISA bring deleted AI conversations back?
Touchscreen laptops have been around for years. You can get them in all sizes and shapes. Just not from Apple. For years, the Cupertino giant has treated the idea of a touchscreen MacBook the way I treat a meeting that could have been an email: with open contempt. However, Wednesday looks like the day the company could finally change its mind.
The latest Apple invite puts the “Pro and Tell” showcase in Los Angeles at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET) on October 28, 2026. Instead of a regular live-streamed keynote, it is an invitation-only, hands-on event for a handful of press and creators (similar to what the company did for the MacBook Neo earlier this year).
Two residents of Chicago have filed a lawsuit in the US over claims that robots run by Coco Robotics and Serve Robotics captured their facial and hand measurements without consent, bringing renewed attention to the food delivery robots. The cases raise a troubling question: If a robot delivers food to your door, can it also be gathering sensitive information about you?
According to a report by The Associated Press, the proposed class-action lawsuits were filed in Cook County on Oct. 9 and allege violations of Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act. The complaints claim that the robots’ cameras and LiDAR sensors captured information on customers’ faces and hands as they approached the machines to pick up their orders. Both have denied the allegations.