WhatsApp testing larger file sharing feature
The folks at WhatsApp continue to play catch-up to Telegram features. This time it has to do with the maximum file size one can send on the platform. According to WABetaInfo, who are usually spot on, WhatsApp is working on allowing users to send media files up to 2GB in size. The feature is still in very early beta and is only available to users in South America on WhatsApp beta version 2.22.8.5, 2.22.8.6, and 2.22.8.7.
If this update makes it to the stable version on WhatsApp – the one we all use – it would be a rather large increase from the 16MB media limit and the 100MB document limit we currently have. It would also be slightly bigger than Telegram’s limit of 1.5GB. Of all the features WhatsApp have been testing of late, this one sounds the most useful. We’re holding thumbs it gets the green light.
Ukrainian retro-tech museum reduced to rubble
Last week, Club 8-bit, a privately-owned technology museum in Mariupol, Ukraine was destroyed, along with the owner’s home, during the siege of the city. The museum’s owner, Dmitry Cherepanov, announced the news on Facebook.
“That’s it, the Mariupol computer museum is no longer there,” he said. “All that is left from the collection that I have been collecting for 15 years are just fragments of memories on the FB page, website and radio station of the museum.”
Cherepanov’s collection consisted of more than 500 pieces of tech from computing history. Some from as far back as the 1950s. If you’re interested in what it contained, Gizmodo visited the museum in 2019.
Source: Engadget
Seven teenagers arrested in UK in connection with Lapsus$ attacks
Late last week, a report from Bloomberg alleged a sixteen-year-old was one of those responsible for the recent data breach at Microsoft. Shortly after, UK authorities arrested seven teenagers in connection with the cyber attack. The teenagers are believed to have connections with the hacking group that calls itself Lapsus$. The group has taken responsibility for a few high-profile data breaches even going so far as to post about them along with upcoming attacks or calls for recruitment on their Telegram channel.
The suspected teen’s identity was, ironically, leaked online after his failed attempt at running the website DoxBin, a site known for hosting the personal information of others. He gave up control of the site but not before leaking the site’s contents. The ‘community’ of doxxers took exception to that and doxxed him back. Thus, the doxxer became the doxxee.
Source: The Verge
Nvidia can turn a 2D photo into a 3D scene using AI
This year at Nvidia’s GPU Technology Conference (GTC), the company revealed what could be the next big thing in photography. This new tech, that Nvidia is calling ‘Instant NeRF’, is the opposite of a photograph – it turns a 2D image into a 3D scene using artificial intelligence. Specifically, it involves training a neural rendering model with a few pictures and details about the position of the camera that took the pictures. AI then connects the dots by predicting how light would behave in the given scenario to produce a 3D scene.
This tech will probably only see very limited use at first. That might change but only if it doesn’t require large amounts of AI power, like Nvidia’s new, massive enterprise GPU requires. That was revealed during the week as well. Coincidence?
Source: The Next Web