It’s not too difficult for hackers to access your financial and personal data these days. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, which is supposed to make your cards and passports safe, can actually expose you to identity theft — All that’s needed is a simple scan. An RFID-blocking wallet may sound like a scam, but it can potentially be a good thing to have — especially if it also helps you cut your wallet down to a normal size.
Big Skinny’s latest wallet lineup promises to block RFID signals, while also making your wallet at least 50 percent thinner. The RFID layer is just 0.08mm thick. It’s also flexible and durable, so you don’t have to worry about it falling apart when you accidentally put it through the wash. Big Skinny says the thin layer protects against most RFID frequencies, though it doesn’t say which ones it’s ineffective against. Theoretically, though, your most sensitive information should be kept safe by the wallet.
Previously, Big Skinny offered several regular wallets, whose main function was to cut down on card clutter. Its customers were so interested in RFID protection that the company decided to launch a Kickstarter campaign to help it raise funds and incorporate the technology into their existing wallet designs. Luckily, the company offers a wide range of style options, including a standard bifold, trifold, and envelope, clutch-style design. There are more unorthodox wallet styles on the Kickstarter page, too, like one that’s curved to fit your pocket shape, one that doubles as an iPhone case, and one that has a passport slot.
Some of the wallets are made with nylon and others are made with high-quality leather. Of course, the prices range from $20 to $45 on the Kickstarter page, which was more than successfully funded. The cheap campaign price ends tonight at midnight, though, so if you want to get a good price, Big Skinny’s says there’s no time like the present. The wallets should ship in March, too, so you won’t have to wait too long to get your hands on one.
AI companies spend enormous amounts of time convincing us their technology is safe and secure. But what happens when those same companies become targets of increasingly sophisticated AI-powered attacks? Anthropic, the company behind Claude, is now facing that question. According to a Washington Post report, cybersecurity startup Cathedral discovered vulnerabilities that let its researchers access sensitive information in Anthropic's internal systems.
The researchers used AI agents to identify potential entry points in less than 12 hours. Interestingly, they didn't need to crack Claude itself. Instead, they exploited weaknesses in third-party business applications that Anthropic uses for everyday operations. Anthropic's security testing program disclosed the findings, which allows outside researchers to identify and report vulnerabilities.
Military working dogs charge into places the rest of us would flee. So, I understand why anyone would want to breed tougher, healthier dogs for the job.
Warhound, a new startup from Colossal Biosciences co-founder Ben Lamm and Anduril co-founder Palmer Luckey, has stepped out of stealth with $200 million to clone and gene-edit working dogs for American troops, police departments, and emergency services (via TechCrunch).
AI can describe a picture, identify objects, and answer questions about what a camera sees. But when a blind user needs a quick answer, getting an entire spoken essay about the scene isn't exactly helpful. Researchers at the University of Maryland (UMD) have found that AI-powered visual assistance can leave blind users doing too much work to get the information they actually need.
The study, titled Say It My Way: Exploring Control in Conversational Visual Question Answering with Blind Users, examined how people interact with Be My AI, an AI-powered feature of the Be My Eyes app. The researchers found that users often received lengthy descriptions that didn't adequately address their immediate goals, forcing them to ask follow-up questions or find ways to steer the AI towards a more useful answer.