AmbiguousProps

Amazon reported fourth-quarter earnings slightly below Wall Street estimates even as sales surged and it reported the fastest growth in its prominent cloud computing business in 13 quarters.

The Seattle-based online behemoth on Thursday reported net income of $21.2 billion, or $1.95 per share, for the three-month period ended Dec. 31. That compares with $20 billion, or $1.86 per share, in the year-ago quarter.

Revenue rose 14% to $213.4 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with $187.8 billion in the year-ago period.

Analysts were expecting $1.97 per share on sales of $211.4 billion, according to analysts polled by FactSet.

Revenue from its cloud service arm called Amazon Web Services increased 24% to $35.6 billion. Analysts were expecting $34.9 billion.

Amazon said it plans to increase capital spending to $200 billion this year from $125 billion as it sees opportunities in artificial intelligence, robots, semiconductors and satellites, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in a press release. Wall Street analysts were expecting spending to rise to around $147 billion, according to FactSet.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.today/post/45949080

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of a security flaw that leverages indirect prompt injection targeting Google Gemini as a way to bypass authorization guardrails and use Google Calendar as a data extraction mechanism.

The vulnerability, Miggo Security's Head of Research, Liad Eliyahu, said, made it possible to circumvent Google Calendar's privacy controls by hiding a dormant malicious payload within a standard calendar invite.

"This bypass enabled unauthorized access to private meeting data and the creation of deceptive calendar events without any direct user interaction," Eliyahu said in a report shared with The Hacker News.

The starting point of the attack chain is a new calendar event that's crafted by the threat actor and sent to a target. The invite's description embeds a natural language prompt that's designed to do their bidding, resulting in a prompt injection.

The attack gets activated when a user asks Gemini a completely innocuous question about their schedule (e.g., Do I have any meetings for Tuesday?), prompting the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot to parse the specially crafted prompt in the aforementioned event's description to summarize all of users' meetings for a specific day, add this data to a newly created Google Calendar event, and then return a harmless response to the user.

"Behind the scenes, however, Gemini created a new calendar event and wrote a full summary of our target user's private meetings in the event's description," Miggo said. "In many enterprise calendar configurations, the new event was visible to the attacker, allowing them to read the exfiltrated private data without the target user ever taking any action."

Although the issue has since been addressed following responsible disclosure, the findings once again illustrate that AI-native features can broaden the attack surface and inadvertently introduce new security risks as more organizations use AI tools or build their own agents internally to automate workflows.

More in the article.

The EV4, Kia’s first electric sedan, will arrive in showrooms this month with the first customer deliveries set to begin by the end of January.

It will be based on the same 400-volt front-wheel-drive (FWD) version of Hyundai’s E-GMP platform, with the same battery pack options as the popular EV3.

The 2026 EV4 is available in Australia in three trims: Air, Earth, and GT-Line, with prices starting at AUD $49,990 (about $33,500 US Dollars), before on-road costs.

The base “Air” model is powered by a 58.3 kWh lithium-ion nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) battery, providing a WLTP driving range of 456 km (283 miles). Upgrading to the Earth and GT-Line grades gains a larger 81.4 kWh battery, rated with 612 km (380 miles) WLTP driving range.

With prices starting at AUD $49,990, the Kia EV4 is cheaper than the Tesla Model 3 in Australia. The Tesla Model 3 RWD starts at AUD $54,900, or AUD $4,910 more than the EV4.

To be fair, the Model 3 RWD beats Kia’s electric sedan on range, offering up to 520 km (323 miles). The Model 3 Long Range provides up to 750 km (466 miles) WLTP range.

While the EV4 undercuts the Model 3, BYD still has Kia beat on prices. BYD’s electric sedan, the Seal, starts at just AUD ($46,990), or AUD $3,000 less than the EV4, but it also has less driving range, rated at 570 km (354 miles).

More in the article.

After launching the Urban Cruiser EV in Europe last month, Toyota is bringing the low-cost electric SUV to a new global market.

The Urban Cruiser will be the first Toyota EV available in India, a country emerging as a high-potential global hub for electric vehicles.

Domestic brands like Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra dominated the market, supported by locally built EVs and favorable government policies. Meanwhile, global leaders like BYD and Tesla face high import tariffs, making it harder to compete.

Some foreign brands, such as Hyundai, are gaining a foothold in the local EV market with domestically built models like the Creta Electric.

Toyota will take a similar approach with the Urban Cruiser EV. The electric SUV is a twin to the Maruti Suzuki e-Vitarra and will be built at Suzuki Motors’ massive Gujarat plant.

More in the article.

EV charging provider EVgo has committed to a massive deployment of EV charging sites at Kroger Family of Stores locations across the US. The company plans to build at least 150 fast charging stalls per year through 2035 at the company’s sites, which operate under various brands, including Kroger Foods, Fred Meyer, Fry’s Food Stores, Harris Teeter, King Soopers and Smith’s Food and Drug.

Each of the sites will include up to 16 DC fast charging stalls, featuring high-power EVgo chargers that can deliver a full charge in as little as 15 minutes—an ideal fit for grocery locations where shoppers tend to spend less than an hour.

The first charging site of the expanded program is now operational in Salt Lake City. Additional deployments are slated for Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Texas, Washington and other states.

(Slightly) more in the article.

(in households with multiple people)

About 4 in 10 U.S. adults named health care or health issues in an open-ended question that asked respondents to share up to five issues they want the government to work on in the coming year. That’s up from about one-third last year.

The high cost of health care came as a shock to Republican Joshua Campbell when he and his wife recently sought a medical plan for their young daughter. The 38-year-old small business owner from Hot Springs Village, Arkansas, voted for Trump last year, and he mostly approves of the way Trump is handling his job, particularly on immigration. But health care expenses have become a major priority for him going into 2026.

“Health care costs are pretty crazy,” he said. “I just thought, ‘Man, there’s got to be something better than what we have.’”

Health care is a particularly high concern for adults between the ages of 45 and 59 — people who may have higher health care costs than younger adults but aren’t yet eligible for Medicare.

The poll shows a similar landscape to the one Trump faced at the end of his first year in office during his first term, when health care reform was at the top of many Americans’ minds. But Trump has an added complication now. At the end of 2017, very few mentioned cost of living concerns — now, about one-third do.

Campbell described his politics as conservative, and while he recalled viewing the Affordable Care Act somewhat negatively when it first passed, he said he now views it as a step toward helping improve health care.

“I do think they were at least trying, and at least trying to do something,” he said. “And I don’t really see that — it’s one of the things from the Republican Party as well that I don’t necessarily agree with. Or I think that they should be doing better at.” Cost and inflation concerns remain pressing

Inflation and the high cost of living have been a top priority for many Americans since the end of 2021. Tommy Carosone is reminded every time his wife returns from the grocery store, especially with their two kids, both teenagers, still at home.

“My wife is spending so much more money on groceries than just a few years ago. Every time she comes home from the grocery store, I hear about it,” said Carosone, from St. Peter’s, Missouri. “She tells me it’s stupid expensive, especially meat. Ground beef, bacon, anything from the deli. It’s outrageous.”

The 44-year-old jet aircraft mechanic, the sole wage earner for his family of four, doesn’t see the cost of living coming down any time soon. He voted for Trump and generally agrees with his tariff agenda as a way to make the U.S. more competitive, and he figures prices will stay higher until the trade war ends.

“In the meantime, what are you going to do, not eat?” he said.

Carosone said he is glad he voted for Trump and had been concerned before Trump took office again about illegal immigration. But it doesn’t register even as a top priority for him now, in light of action the administration is taking.

“It’s a lot better,” he said. “It’s not really one of the main concerns I have now. I mean, don’t stop. That’s for sure. But I don’t think it’s something that’s a top concern.”

About 2 in 10 U.S. adults want the federal government to focus on housing costs next year. That issue has been rising in recent years, with young adults being especially likely to mention it. About one-quarter of adults under age 30 want the government to focus on housing expenses, compared with about 1 in 10 of those 60 or older.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.today/post/42851505

Slightly more detail in this GitHub issue, however much is still unknown, even after three or so days. The dev hasn't revealed any further details. Some articles on this incident:

• https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/smarttube-youtube-app-for-android-tv-breached-to-push-malicious-update/
• https://www.aftvnews.com/smarttubes-official-apk-was-compromised-with-malware-what-you-should-do-if-you-use-it/

Note that the articles provide little detail on what's happened, mostly just detail that a malicious library was found and Play Protect started removing the app if affected. It's unclear which versions are specifically affected, how the dev got breached, and what the malware actually does. According to a user (who may or may not be using some sort of LLM, their comment sounds like one at least) in a separate, related issue, the malware may collect device info and send to a command & control server. It could (in theory) receive new instructions at any point if it's a C2 server. Again, it does appear that they had an LLM of some sort generate their comment, so take it with a grain of salt.

I'm going to uninstall the app and revoke access on my Google account page. I see little reason to need to reset my password as of right now, since the app uses an API key and not my actual password. In my opinion, it's possibly related to YT viewbotting and commenting, or to add your device to a botnet. It's unclear to me how this botnet would work in practice, since even Android TV sandboxes apps (for the most part).

Update: it appears that this may be related to the Vo1d botnet: DrWeb: Android.Vo1d.14.origin. If this is indeed the case, then the goal was to add devices to the botnet. It's my understanding that previous versions of this botnet typically required cheap, pre-rooted Android TV boxes, in order to install other apps. I'm not sure if that means that you're safe if your device is not rooted. It might be worth checking your installed apps for oddities.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.today/post/42655760

Thousands of demonstrators gathered in the western German city of Giessen on Saturday as the far-right Alternative for Germany’s new youth organization was set to kick off its founding convention.

Groups of protesters blocked or tried to block roads in and around the city of some 93,000 people in the early morning. Police said they used pepper spray after stones were thrown at officers at one location.

The new youth organization of the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany, or AfD, is to be set up in a meeting at Giessen’s convention center. Its predecessor, the Young Alternative — a largely autonomous group with relatively loose links to the party — was dissolved at the end of March after AfD decided to formally cut ties with it.

More in the article.

Police in Hong Kong arrested three men on suspicion of manslaughter, several local news media reported, in connection with a blaze that has killed at least 36 people and left another 279 missing in the city’s deadliest fire in years.

Hundreds of residents were evacuated as the fire which started on Wednesday afternoon, spread across seven of the eight high-rise apartment buildings in a housing complex in Tai Po district, a suburb in the New Territories. At least 29 others remained hospitalized. Bright flames and smoke shot out of windows as night fell.

Authorities said earlier that investigators would be looking into factors including whether material on the exterior walls of high-rise buildings met fire resistance standards, as the rapid spread of the fire was unusual.

Officials said the fire started on the external scaffolding of one of the buildings, a 32-storey tower, and later spread to inside the building and then to nearby buildings, likely aided by windy conditions.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.today/post/42209343

When Russians look back at 2025, they might remember it as the year when the government took even tighter control of the internet.

Credit cards that won’t buy a ticket on public transport. ATMs that don’t connect to a network. Messaging apps that are down. Cellphones that don’t receive texts or data after a trip abroad. Mothers of diabetic children even complain with alarm that they can’t monitor their kids’ blood glucose levels during outages.