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The U.S. Justice Department has confirmed the arrest of Xu Zewei, a Chinese national accused of hacking on behalf of the Chinese government.
Xu is indicted on nine charges, including the theft of COVID-19 research from U.S. universities in February 2020.
He and another individual are also accused of mass hacks of Microsoft Exchange servers starting in March 2021, affecting over 60,000 servers.
Xu's company, Shanghai Powerock Network, allegedly conducted hacking operations for the Chinese government.
The hacking group, known as Hafnium, targeted small businesses across the United States, stealing private company information.
Hafnium has since launched a new hacking campaign, dubbed Silk Typhoon, targeting big companies and government agencies.
Waymo has launched teen accounts in Phoenix, allowing teenagers aged 14-17 to book their own autonomous vehicle rides. This service mirrors similar offerings from Uber and aims to provide a safer transportation option for teens.
Parents can link their accounts to their teen's profile, enabling them to track trips. Waymo emphasizes safety, citing specially trained support agents available 24/7 to assist teens during rides and contact parents if needed.
The expansion addresses the higher risk of traffic accidents faced by teenagers. Waymo plans to extend teen accounts to other cities where its app is available, including potential integration with network partners like Uber in locations such as Austin, Atlanta, Miami and Washington D.C.
Rivian is now accepting orders for its 2026 Quad Motor pickup truck and SUV, highlighting the power and software advancements of these EVs. The quad-motor system delivers 1,025 horsepower and 1,198 pound-feet of torque, enabling acceleration from 0 to 60 mph in under 2.5 seconds.
Rivian's second-generation overhaul aims to reduce manufacturing costs and improve EV performance by integrating in-house hardware and software.
Replit has partnered with Microsoft to integrate its platform with Azure Marketplace, enabling Microsoft enterprise customers to purchase Replit subscriptions. This collaboration allows users to create web apps through natural language prompts, with Replit handling database setup, authentication, and storage.
The offering is marketed as a prototyping/designing tool and caters to both programmers and non-programmer business managers for build-it-yourself apps. Replit's CEO reported significant growth, reaching $100 million in annual recurring revenue in six months.
While Replit apps are typically hosted on Google Cloud, this partnership is non-exclusive, allowing Replit to support Microsoft shops and potentially opening doors for similar deals with other vibe coders.
Mastodon 4.4 introduces several updates, most notably preparing for Quote Posts, similar to Twitter's Quote Tweets, with user controls to limit misuse. The update also includes profile enhancements with a 'Feature on my profile' option, carousel display of Pinned Posts, and a profile widget showing mutual follows. Navigation is improved with a redesigned 'Trending' section and reorganized sidebar. Media player updates offer better controls, mobile zoom, and alt-text reminders. Onboarding is simplified for new users, and server admins gain new legal compliance features. The changes follow Mastodon's move to a non-profit structure and plans for commercial offerings.