[Google will finally allow you to change your @gmail.com address](https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/google/google-will-finally-allow-you-to-change-your-gmailcom-address/)
Google will soon allow users to change their @gmail.com address, a feature previously unavailable for standard Gmail accounts. This new functionality, which appears to be rolling out gradually and was initially spotted in a Hindi support document, will enable users to switch to a new @gmail.com address while retaining their original one as an alias.
Uber, Lyft set to trial robotaxis in the UK
Uber, Lyft set to trial robotaxis in the UK in partnership with China’s Baidu www.cnbc.com/2025/12/2…
Chinese tech giant Baidu has announced plans to bring robotaxis to London starting next year through its partnerships with Lyft and Uber, as the UK emerges as a growing autonomous vehicle battleground.
The announced collaborations will bring Baidu’s Apollo Go autonomous vehicles to the British capital through the Uber and Lyft platforms, the companies said on their respective social media accounts.
Lyft’s testing of Baidu’s initial fleet of dozens of vehicles will begin in 2026, pending regulatory approval, “with plans to scale to hundreds from there,” Lyft CEO David Risher said in a post on social media platform X on Monday.
Meanwhile, Uber said that its first pilot is expected to start in the first half of 2026. “We’re excited to accelerate Britain’s leadership in the future of mobility, bringing another safe and reliable travel option to Londoners next year,” the company added.
The ‘Delete’ Button Is a Lie: A Canadian’s Guide to AI Data Retention
When you hit “delete” on a conversation with ChatGPT or Gemini, you likely expect it to vanish. In reality, that data often enters a digital limbo—accessible to the provider for 30 days, three years, or even seven years for certain safety-classifier metadata, depending on the fine print you didn’t read.
For paid subscribers, the assumption of privacy is dangerous. While corporate “Team” and “Enterprise” plans typically offer stronger contractual controls (including training restrictions and admin-managed retention), “Pro” and “Plus” users are frequently treated as consumers with slightly better perks, not better privacy.
South Korea will mandate facial recognition for new mobile numbers starting March 23 to combat scams and identity theft, requiring a real-time comparison between ID photos and users' faces. This policy aims to prevent the activation of phones registered under false or stolen identities.
A cyberespionage group known as Goffee is targeting Russian military personnel and defense organizations with phishing lures, including fake concert invitations and official letters, to deploy a backdoor called EchoGather. While the group is believed to be pro-Ukrainian and has been active since at least 2022, the success and specific objectives of this latest campaign remain unclear.
NIST tried to pull the pin on NTP servers after blackout caused atomic clock drift
NIST tried to pull the pin on NTP servers after blackout caused atomic clock drift www.theregister.com/2025/12/2…
A staffer at the USA’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) tried to disable backup generators powering some of its Network Time Protocol infrastructure, after a power outage around Boulder, Colorado, led to errors.
As explained in a mailing list post by Jeffrey Sherman, a NIST supervisory physicist who maintains the institute’s atomic clocks, “The atomic ensemble time scale at our Boulder campus has failed due to a prolonged utility power outage.”
Sherman, whose LinkedIn bio proclaims he is “One of the few federal employee actually paid to watch the clocks all day,” says one impact of the incident “is that the Boulder Internet Time Services no longer have an accurate time reference.”
That’s bad because one of the things NIST uses its atomic clocks for is to provide a Network Time Protocol service, the authoritative source of timing information that the computing world relies on so that diverse systems can synchronize events. If NTP isn’t working, outcomes can include difficulties authenticating between systems, meaning applications can become unstable.
At this point, readers might wonder why NIST can’t just turn off the inaccurate service. Sherman said a backup generator kicked in and kept the servers running.
“I will attempt to disable them [the generators] to avoid disseminating incorrect time,” he wrote.
But the storms that caused the outage were so severe, only emergency services personnel are allowed to visit the site.
His post says he has seen “strong evidence one of the crucial generators has failed. In the downstream path is the primary signal distribution chain, including to the Boulder Internet Time Service.”
“Another campus building houses additional clocks backed up by a different power generator; if these survive it will allow us to re-align the primary time scale when site stability returns without making use of external clocks or reference signals,” he added.
China's open AI models are in a dead heat with the West
China’s open AI models are in a dead heat with the West - here’s what happens next www.zdnet.com/article/c…
With the rising technological prowess and greater openness of Chinese models, the world is increasingly turning to the East for efficient and customizable AI, a new report finds.
ZDNET’s key takeaways:
- Chinese AI models have caught up to US models in power and performance.
- China is leading in model openness.
- Much of the world may adopt the freely available Chinese technology.
Coursera to buy Udemy, creating $2.5 billion firm to target AI training | Reuters
Coursera announced an all-stock deal to acquire Udemy, valuing the combined company at $2.5 billion. The merger aims to strengthen their position in corporate workforce training, particularly in AI, data science, and software development. The deal is expected to close in the second half of next year, pending regulatory and shareholder approvals.
Managing agentic AI risk: Lessons from the OWASP Top 10 | CSO Online
The OWASP Top 10 for Agentic AI provides a framework to address the growing security risks associated with agentic AI adoption, offering practical guidance, threat taxonomies, and mitigation strategies for CISOs. While the list is immediately useful, some areas like detailed mitigation steps and attack likelihood require further development.
India Introduces New Reforms to the Telecommunications Act
The Indian government has criminalized tampering with telecommunication identifiers and possessing unauthorized radio equipment under the Telecommunications Act, 2023. This aims to address sim misuse, telecom fraud, and exploitation of digital communication infrastructure. The Act also criminalizes acquiring telecom identifiers through fraud, and mandates telecom service providers to verify customers before issuing SIM cards.
FTC: Instacart to refund $60M over deceptive subscription tactics
The FTC has ordered Instacart to refund $60 million to customers due to deceptive subscription tactics, including misleading advertising about free delivery and automatic enrollment in paid memberships without clear disclosure. Instacart will also be required to stop these deceptive practices and clearly disclose subscription terms.
The “Double-Blind” Signal: A Security Analysis of Phreeli Wireless
In the final weeks of 2025, a new entrant in the American telecommunications market, Phreeli, made an audacious design claim: it aims to know as little about its customers as possible. Launched on Dec. 4, 2025, by Nicholas Merrill — the internet service provider owner who spent a decade fighting a PATRIOT Act-era gag order — Phreeli is a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) designed to decouple legal identity from cellular activity.
As a security professional, I approach “privacy-first” claims with inherent scepticism. After a technical deep dive into Phreeli’s architecture and launch documentation, here is an objective analysis of where this service succeeds — and where the physics of cellular technology still create unavoidable risks.
The Most Useful Stocking Stuffer You’ve Probably Never Heard Of
Nothing deflates a holiday moment faster than a dying phone. One minute you are navigating to a family gathering or lining up a photo of an ugly sweater contest; the next, a low-battery warning takes centre stage. We rely on our phones for everything, yet routinely overlook the one accessory that keeps them running.
This holiday season, skip the novelty gifts. A portable battery pack may not look festive, but it is one of the few stocking stuffers that remains genuinely useful long after the decorations come down.
Europe's Quest for a Domestic Alternative to US Hyperscalers
Europe’s Quest for a Domestic Alternative to US Hyperscalers www.databreachtoday.com/europes-q…
European cloud users love hyperscalers - but they’re all American. Microsoft, Google and Amazon Web Services together hold 70% of the European market, with local providers mustering a mere 15% collectively.
That landscape could soon change in the face of geopolitical reality, as U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term inserts doubt into the transatlantic relationship.
With Trump’s White House painting European allies as weak and threatening them with new tariffs and even NATO withdrawal, European governments are taking the potential need for technological independence more seriously than before. “We are working together towards one goal: European digital sovereignty,” said German Chancellor Friedrich Merz - one of the continent’s most avowed Atlanticists - at an urgently-convened Berlin summit on the subject last month.
Most Western European CIOs and IT leaders now believe that geopolitical concerns will restrict their organizations’ future use of global cloud providers and boost their use of local alternatives, Gartner warned in November. But European organizations shouldn’t be holding their breath for the emergence of a new titan anytime soon.
Microsoft Scales Back AI Goals Because Almost Nobody Is Using Copilot | Extremetech
Microsoft has reportedly scaled back AI goals for its Copilot software due to low user adoption and sales, with some targets cut by 50%. While Microsoft disputes the sales quota claims, AI agents have shown low success rates in tasks, and Copilot lags behind competitors like ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini in market share.
A leak from the Epic Games Store has allegedly revealed plans for free game giveaways throughout December 2025, totaling nearly $300 in value. While the authenticity is unconfirmed, the list includes titles like Hogwarts Legacy, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Mortal Kombat 11.
Liberating AirPods With Bluetooth Spoofing | Hackaday
LibrePods is an app for Android and Linux that unlocks AirPods' hidden features, like noise reduction and ear detection, by spoofing their Bluetooth ID. While it offers advanced functionality, including use as hearing aids, it requires root access on most Android devices and Apple may eventually block this workaround.
Apple Issues Security Updates After Two WebKit Flaws Found Exploited in the Wild
Apple has released security updates for multiple operating systems and its Safari browser to address two WebKit flaws that have been exploited in the wild. One of these vulnerabilities, CVE-2025-14174, is the same flaw previously patched in Google Chrome.
France and Germany Grappling With Nation-State Hacks
The French Ministry of Interior is investigating a suspected nation-state cyberattack on its email server, while Germany has attributed a 2024 hacking incident on its air traffic control systems to Russian nation-state hackers. These incidents highlight a broader trend of hybrid tactics, including hacking and disinformation, employed by Russia against European nations.
I tested ChatGPT-5.2 vs Gemini 3.0 with 7 real-world prompts — here’s the winner | Tom’s Guide
In a comparison of ChatGPT-5.2 and Gemini 3.0 across seven real-world prompts, ChatGPT-5.2 emerged as the overall winner, demonstrating superior emotional intelligence and psychological insight in its responses. While Gemini 3.0 excelled in specific areas like risk assessment and technical explanations, ChatGPT-5.2 consistently provided more human-like, wise, and grounding answers.