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☐ β˜† βœ‡ Ars Technica

β€œHavard”-trained spa owner injected clients with bogus Botox, prosecutors say

By: Beth Mole β€”

A Massachusetts spa owner has been arrested for what prosecutors describe as a blundering scheme in which she conspicuously smuggled counterfeit Botox and skin fillers into the US, then peddled them to clients by falsely claiming to be a nurse with a degree from "Havard" and a license from the state's "Estate Board."

Nevertheless, the womanβ€”Rebecca Fadanelli, 38, of Stoughtonβ€”allegedly performed over 2,700 illegal injections between 2021 and 2024, raking in over $900,000 with the scam.

According to an affidavit from a Special Agent with the Food and Drug Administration, Fadanelli was smuggling in counterfeit Botox and fillers from China and Brazil. Between November 2023 and March 2024, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seized at least six parcels from China addressed to Fadanelli or her employees. The packages included various counterfeit injectable drugs, including products labeled as Botox and skin fillers Sculptra and Juvederm.

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☐ β˜† βœ‡ Ars Technica

Anthropic’s Haiku 3.5 surprises experts with an β€œintelligence” price increase

By: Benj Edwards β€”

On Monday, Anthropic launched the latest version of its smallest AI model, Claude 3.5 Haiku, in a way that marks a departure from typical AI model pricing trendsβ€”the new model costs four times more to run than its predecessor. The reason for the price increase is causing some pushback in the AI community: more smarts, according to Anthropic.

"During final testing, Haiku surpassed Claude 3 Opus, our previous flagship model, on many benchmarksβ€”at a fraction of the cost," Anthropic wrote in a post on X. "As a result, we've increased pricing for Claude 3.5 Haiku to reflect its increase in intelligence."

"It's your budget model that's competing against other budget models, why would you make it less competitive," wrote one X user. "People wanting a 'too cheap to meter' solution will now look elsewhere."

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☐ β˜† βœ‡ Ars Technica

RTO mandate was attempt at thwarting Grindr workers unionizing: US labor board

By: Scharon Harding β€”

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is accusing Grindr of using a return-to-office (RTO) mandate in an attempt to block employee efforts to form a union.

On July 20, 2023, employees at the LGBTQ+ dating app announced plans to unionize. On August 3, 2023, Grindr told employees that they had two weeks to decide if they would start working in an office location two days per week or exit Grindr with six months of severance, per The New York Times, which reported that it saw the memo. Grindr also reportedly offered up to $15,000 for relocation expenses to its offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington DC. Before the RTO mandate, Grindr allowed fully remote work.

Despite the announcement's timing, Grindr said in August 2023 that it had been working on an RTO mandate for months and that employees were notified of this in early summer 2023, per the NYT. On August 4, 2023, the Communications Workers of America Union, which Grindr employees were working to join, filed a complaint with the NLRB.

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☐ β˜† βœ‡ Ars Technica

Suspect arrested in Snowflake data-theft attacks affecting millions

By: Dan Goodin β€”

Canadian authorities have arrested a man on suspicion he breached hundreds of accounts belonging to users of cloud storage provider Snowflake and used that access to steal personal data belonging to millions of people, authorities said Tuesday.

β€œFollowing a request by the United States, Alexander Moucka (aka Connor Moucka) was arrested on a provisional arrest warrant on Wednesday, October 30, 2024,” an official with the Canada Department of Justice wrote in an email Tuesday. β€œHe appeared in court later that afternoon, and his case was adjourned to Tuesday, November 5, 2024. As extradition requests are considered confidential state-to-state communications, we cannot comment further on this case.”

Word of the arrest first came from Bloomberg News and was later confirmed by 404 Media.

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☐ β˜† βœ‡ Ars Technica

Endurance tells story of two expeditions, centuries apart

By: Jennifer Ouellette β€”

The story of Arctic explorer Ernest Shackleton's failed 1914 expedition to be the first to traverse the continent of Antarctica has long captured the popular imagination, as have the various efforts to locate the wreckage of his ship, the Endurance. The ship was finally found in 2022, nearly 107 years after it sank beneath the ice. The stories of Shackleton's adventures and the 2022 expedition are told in parallel in Endurance, a new documentary from National Geographic now streaming on Disney+.

Endurance is directed by Oscar winners Jimmy Chin and Chai Vasarhelyi (Free Solo). According to Vasarhelyi, she and Chin had been obsessed with the Shackleton story for a long time. The discovery of the shipwreck in 2022 gave them the perfect opportunity to tell the story again for a new audience, making use of all the technological advances that have been made in recent years.

"I think the Shackleton story is at the heart of the DNA of our films," Vasarhelyi told Ars. "It's the greatest human survival story ever. It really speaks to having these audacious objectives and dreams. When everyone tells you that you can't, you want to do it anyway. It requires you to then have the actual courage, grit, discipline, and strength of character to see it through. Shackleton is that story. He didn't sensibly achieve any of his goals, but through his failure he found his strength: being able to inspire the confidence of his men."

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☐ β˜† βœ‡ Ars Technica

Google has no duty to refund gift card scam victims, judge finds

By: Ashley Belanger β€”

There's nothing unfair about Google collecting fees to profit off Google Play gift card scams while refusing to refund victims who collectively lost millions, federal Judge Beth Freeman ruled Monday.

Largely granting Google's motion to dismiss a proposed class-action suit seeking substantial damages for a range of allegedly unfair practices, Freeman found that Google is shielded from liability because the tech giant did not induce victims to purchase the gift cardsβ€”scammers did.

The lawsuit was filed by Judy May, who lost $1,000 in 2021 when scammers tricked her into buying Google Play gift cards by claiming she was eligible for a government grant. May was told she could send codes from the gift cards to cover "certain costs upfront to receive same-day delivery of the grant money." After she fell for it, she realized she'd been scammed, but Google refused to provide a refund, citing terms May considered "unconscionable."

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☐ β˜† βœ‡ Ars Technica

NRO chief: β€œYou can’t hide” from our new swarm of SpaceX-built spy satellites

By: Stephen Clark β€”

The director of the National Reconnaissance Office has a message for US adversaries around the world.

"You can’t hide, because we’re constantly looking," said Chris Scolese, a longtime NASA engineer who took the helm of the US government's spy satellite agency in 2019.

The NRO is taking advantage of SpaceX's Starlink satellite assembly line to build a network of at least 100 satellites, and perhaps many more, to monitor adversaries around the world. So far, more than 80 of these SpaceX-made spacecraft, each a little less than a ton in mass, have launched on four Falcon 9 rockets. There are more to come.

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☐ β˜† βœ‡ Ars Technica

Kia says its new EV camper concept is the β€œideal escape pod”

By: Jonathan M. Gitlin β€”

Whenever we write about electric vans, the comments reveal a growing but pent-up demand for a camper version. Well, it seems that those vibes are being felt at Kia. It has created a pair of concepts for theΒ  Specialty Equipment Marketing Association (SEMA) automotive trade show, which got underway in Las Vegas today.

One of the two concepts will look more familiarβ€”the EV9 ADVNTR is based on the popular electric three-row SUV. But the other is the PV5 WKNDR, a rugged off-road camper based on a forthcoming Kia electric van platform.

The EV9 ADVNTR makes good use of the existing EV9's angular design, with new sections filled in with protective cladding. There's a suspension lift and all-terrain tires, plus a roof rack, to distinguish it from lesser EV9s, but otherwise it's relatively stock.

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☐ β˜† βœ‡ Ars Technica

Ever heard of β€œLlady Gaga”? Universal files piracy suit over alleged knockoffs.

By: Jon Brodkin β€”

Universal Music Group yesterday sued a music firm that allegedly distributes pirated songs on popular streaming services under misspelled versions of popular artists' namesβ€”such as "Kendrik Laamar," "Arriana Gramde," "Jutin Biber," and "Llady Gaga." The UMG Recordings lawsuit against the French company Believe and its US-based subsidiary, TuneCore, alleges that "Believe is fully aware that its business model is fueled by rampant piracy" and "turned a blind eye to the fact that its music catalog was rife with copyright infringing sound recordings."

Believe is a publicly traded company with about 2,020 employees in over 50 countries and reported $518 million (474.1 million euros) in revenue in the first half of 2024. Believe says its "mission is to develop independent artists and labels in the digital world."

UMG alleges that Believe achieved "dramatic growth and profitability in recent years by operating as a hub for the distribution of infringing copies of the world's most popular copyrighted recordings." Believe has licensing deals with online platforms "including TikTok, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, Instagram and hundreds of others," the lawsuit said.

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☐ β˜† βœ‡ Ars Technica

Driving the biggest, least-efficient electric car: The Hummer EV SUV

By: Jonathan M. Gitlin β€”

GMC's Hummers have always been divisive. After getting hold of the rights to a civilian version of the US military vehicle in 1999, the company set about designing new, smaller vehicles to create an entire range. The ungainly H2 and H3 followed, both SUVs playing to the sensibilities of a country grappling with its warlike nature. By 2010, the Hummer brand was dead and laid dormant until someone had the bright idea to revive it for the electric vehicle generation. We drove the pickup version of that new Hummer in 2022, now it's time for the $104,650 Hummer EV SUV.

I'll admit I was worried that the Hummer EV wasn't going to fit in my parking space. This is an extremely large vehicle, one that's classified as a class 3 medium-duty truckβ€”hence the yellow lights atop the roof. In fact, at 196.8 inches (5,000 mm) long, it's actually slightly shorter than the pickup version, although that length doesn't count the big spare tire hanging off the back.

A Hummer EV SUV seen head-on, in a parking space.
The SUV fitβ€”just. Credit: Jonathan Gitlin
A Hummer EV SUV seen from the rear, at a charging location
It even filled the charger bay. Credit: Jonathan Gitlin

Its 86.5-inch (2,196 mm) width just about fit between the lines, although it was a tight squeeze to try to open a door and climb up into the Hummer if my neighbor was parked as well. And climb up you doβ€”there's 10.2 inches (259 mm) of ground clearance even in the suspension's normal setting, and the overall height is a towering 77.8 inches (1,976 mm). There is an entry mode that drops the car on its air springs by a couple of inches, but only if you remember to engage the feature when you park.

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☐ β˜† βœ‡ Ars Technica

After 31 cargo missions, NASA finds Dragon still has some new tricks

By: Eric Berger β€”

A Cargo Dragon spacecraft docked to the International Space Station on Tuesday morning, less than a day after lifting off from Florida.

As space missions go, this one was fairly routine, ferrying about 6,000 pounds (2,700 kg) of cargo and science experiments to the space station. Over the course of nearly a dozen years, this was the 31st cargo supply mission that SpaceX has flown for NASA to the orbiting laboratory.

However, there is one characteristic of this flight that may prove significant for NASA and the future of the space station. As early as Friday, NASA and SpaceX have scheduled a "reboost and attitude control demonstration," during which the Dragon spacecraft will use some of the thrusters at the base of the capsule. This is the first time the Dragon spacecraft will be used to move the space station.

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☐ β˜† βœ‡ Ars Technica

Boeing strike ends after workers vote to accept β€œlife-changing” wage increase

By: Ashley Belanger β€”

More than 33,000 Boeing workers reached a tentative agreement Monday night to end a weekslong strike that quickly became one of the costliest strikes in recent historyβ€”estimated to have cost the US economy more than $9.6 billion.

Through their unions, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) Districts 751 and W24, workers in Washington state, Oregon, and California had previously rejected two inadequate Boeing offers while the company lost hundreds of millions daily. Negotiations had stalled until US Secretary of Labor Julie Su stepped in, IAM said in a press release, helping to restart talks and get to a deal that 59 percent of workers could agree on.

Under the proposed deal, workers will receive a 43 percent wage increase over four years, as well as a $12,000 bonus they can choose to receive in their paycheck, as a 401(k) contribution, or a combination of both. Additionally, Boeing agreed to match 401(k) contributions up to 8 percent.

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☐ β˜† βœ‡ Ars Technica

Metal Slug Tactics gives turn-based strategy a hyper-stylized shot of adrenaline

By: Kevin Purdy β€”

Metal Slug Tactics pushes hard on the boundaries of the vaunted run-and-gun arcade series. You can run when it's your character's turn, but it's a certain number of tiles. You can gun, but not rapidly, and only after considering the most optimal target and tools.

Is this just Into the Breach with classic-era SNK artwork and aesthetics? Kind of, and you're welcome.

As a true fan once wrote,Β Metal Slug games are about "crazy vehicles, amusing enemies and levels, and some of the best sprite art you'll ever see in gaming." To my eyes, you're getting a whole bunch of that inΒ Tactics. Turn-based, grid-mapped tactics have a natural tendency to feel slow and to strip characters down to chess pieces that can do two or three things. Here, the characters and villains cannot stop rocking their bodies, the guns and explosions and scimitars go off big, and the exaggerated-just-enough artwork keeps everything locked into an action-movie mood.

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☐ β˜† βœ‡ Ars Technica

Hundreds of code libraries posted to NPM try to install malware on dev machines

By: Dan Goodin β€”

An ongoing attack is uploading hundreds of malicious packages to the open source node package manager (NPM) repository in an attempt to infect the devices of developers who rely on code libraries there, researchers said.

The malicious packages have names that are similar to legitimate ones for the Puppeteer and Bignum.js code libraries and for various libraries for working with cryptocurrency. The campaign, which was active at the time this post was going live on Ars, was reported by researchers from the security firm Phylum. The discovery comes on the heels of a similar campaign a few weeks ago targeting developers using forks of the Ethers.js library.

Beware of the supply chain attack

β€œOut of necessity, malware authors have had to endeavor to find more novel ways to hide intent and to obfuscate remote servers under their control,” Phylum researchers wrote. β€œThis is, once again, a persistent reminder that supply chain attacks are alive and well.”

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☐ β˜† βœ‡ Ars Technica

Drugmaker shut down after black schmutz found in injectable weight-loss drug

By: Beth Mole β€”

The Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers not to use any drugs made by a compounding pharmacy in California after regulators realized the pharmacy was making drugs that need to be sterileβ€”particularly injectable drugsβ€”without using sterile ingredients or any sterilization steps.

The products made by the pharmacy, Fullerton Wellness LLC, in Ontario, California, include semaglutide, which is intended to mimic brand-name weight-loss and diabetes drugs Wegovy and Ozempic. Fullerton also made tirzepatide, which is intended to mimic weight-loss and diabetes drugs Zepbound and Mounjaro.

The FDA became aware of the problem after a patient submitted a complaint to the regulator that a vial of semaglutide from Fullerton Wellness had an unidentified "black particulate" floating in it. Semaglutide, like tirzepatide, is injected under the skin and is intended to be sterile.

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☐ β˜† βœ‡ Ars Technica

Facebook, Nvidia push SCOTUS to limit β€œnuisance” investor suits after scandals

By: Ashley Belanger β€”

The Supreme Court will soon weigh two cases that could potentially make it harder for misled investors to sue Big Tech companies after major scandals.

One case involves one of the largest tech scandals of all time, the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data breach. In 2019, Facebook agreed to pay "more than $5 billion in civil penalties to settle charges by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it had misled its users and investors over the privacy and security of user data on its platform," a Supreme Court filing said.

The other case involves an allegation that Nvidia intentionally hid how much of its 2017–2018 GPU demand was due to a volatile cryptocurrency boom and not Nvidia's core gaming businessβ€”allegedly misleading investors ahead of a crypto crash. After the bust, Nvidia suddenly had to slash half a billion dollars from its earnings projection, and market experts later estimated that the firm had understated its crypto-related revenue by more than a billion. In 2022, Nvidia paid a $5.5 million SEC penalty over the inadequate disclosures that one SEC chief said "deprived investors of critical information to evaluate the company’s business in a key market."

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☐ β˜† βœ‡ Ars Technica

New Zemeckis film used AI to de-age Tom Hanks and Robin Wright

By: Benj Edwards β€”

On Friday, TriStar Pictures released Here, a $50 million Robert Zemeckis-directed film that used real time generative AI face transformation techniques to portray actors Tom Hanks and Robin Wright across a 60-year span, marking one of Hollywood's first full-length features built around AI-powered visual effects.

The film adapts a 2014 graphic novel set primarily in a New Jersey living room across multiple time periods. Rather than cast different actors for various ages, the production used AI to modify Hanks' and Wright's appearances throughout.

The de-aging technology comes from Metaphysic, a visual effects company that creates real time face swapping and aging effects. During filming, the crew watched two monitors simultaneously: one showing the actors' actual appearances and another displaying them at whatever age the scene required.

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☐ β˜† βœ‡ Ars Technica

Researchers spot black hole feeding at 40x its theoretical limit

By: John Timmer β€”

How did supermassive black holes end up at the center of every galaxy? A while back, it wasn't that hard to explain: That's where the highest concentration of matter is, and the black holes had billions of years to feed on it. But as we've looked ever deeper into the Universe's history, we keep finding supermassive black holes, which shortens the timeline for their formation. Rather than making a leisurely meal of nearby matter, these black holes have gorged themselves in a feeding frenzy.

With the advent of the Webb Space Telescope, the problem has pushed up against theoretical limits. The matter falling into a black hole generates radiation, with faster feeding meaning more radiation. And that radiation can drive off nearby matter, choking off the black hole's food supply. That sets a limit on how fast black holes can grow unless matter is somehow fed directly into them. The Webb was used to identify early supermassive black holes that needed to have been pushing against the limit for their entire existence.

But the Webb may have just identified a solution to the dilemma as well. It has spotted a black hole that appears to have been feeding at 40 times the theoretical limit for millions of years, allowing growth at a pace sufficient to build a supermassive black hole.

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☐ β˜† βœ‡ Ars Technica

The Trek Checkpoint SL 7 AXS Gen 3 may be the perfect gravel bike

By: Eric Bangeman β€”

As I followed a friend down a flow-y, undulating single-track trail, I started laughing. Unlike my mountain bike-riding companion, I was on a gravel bike, the new Trek Checkpoint SL 7 AXS Gen 3. You might be wondering why a review of a gravel bike is starting with such a ride. The answer is simpleβ€”the Checkpoint had excelled everywhere else I rode it, so I was curious to see how it would fare on a non-technical MTB track. Amazingly well, as it turns out.

Unlike every other bike Ars has reviewed to this point, the Checkpoint SL 7 Gen 3 has no motorβ€”there's no e- in this bike, as the only batteries are for shifting.. As is the case with our other bike reviews, sometimes we ask for a specific model, but manufacturers tend to contact us when we’ve already got a garage full of bikes we’ve not finished the reviews for (there are currently 12 bikes in my garage, some of which belong to other family members).

Launched in 2018, the Checkpoint is Trek's gravel-centric bike. For 2025, Trek has split its gravel lineup into the third-generation Checkpoint Trek and the Checkmate SLR 9 AXS. The latter features a lighter-weight frame, a power meter, and SRAM's new Red XPLR groupset. Selling for $11,999, the Checkmate is a gravel racer. Priced several thousand less at $5,699, the Checkpoint SL 7 AXS is now Trek's top gravel bike for those looking for a fun day out on the trails.

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