California City Declares State of Emergency After Cyberattack
NBC Bay Area brings news from the small idyllic California town of Suisun City (population: 29,518). The city council "declared a state of emergency Saturday after a cyberattack that shut down computer systems including 911 public safety operations."
"Malicious software infected and compromised" the East Bay community's information technology systems beginning about 5:45 a.m. Friday, the city said on social media. "The cybersecurity incident hit critical public safety operations, including 911 routing, police and fire dispatch, records and city services," the city said.
"There is no imminent threat to the public," the city said. "All public safety services remain active." The city shut down its computer network "to contain the threat and preserve evidence for a federal investigation," it said... Suisun City dispatchers were taking calls for service through the Solano County dispatch center. Suisun City police officers and firefighters continued responding to calls for service, the city said, but online city services and internal operations were unavailable.
On Facebook the city said it was "working alongside federal, state and regional agencies, including the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and California Office of Emergency Services to maintain emergency services, investigate the incident and restore systems."
But Bay Area PBS station KQED notes "They're only the latest local government in the region to be hit by a cyberattack."
Earlier this year, Foster City and Pittsburg experienced other cyberattacks that impacted services in their own jurisdictions. Foster City declared a state of emergency after a March ransomware incident that shut down many services for more than a week. Pittsburg lost almost $1 million to a February phishing attack, though over half of it was recovered.
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Britain's first ever degree in wokery which trains students to work in DEI is slammed as 'gobbledegook'
Brighton University is offering a BA in Politics, Sexuality and Gender, which has a 'decolonised approach' and 'covers everything from anarchism to imperialism to environmental politics'.
Horrifying moment footballer plummets down a hole in the ground while celebrating a goal... only for it to be ruled out for offside!
Coritiba defender Jacy thought he had scored to put his side 2-0 up in the first half, with the 29-year-old jumping over the advertising hoardings in celebration, unaware there was a hole behind.
James Jordan and his wife Ola 'were living apart for months before announcing their split after he said he needed space and moved out of their five-bedroom home'
It was announced on Friday that Strictly's longest-standing couple had split for good after a trial separation 'some time ago'.
Maya Jama relaxes in a sauna in a skimpy white bikini as she shares wholesome snaps from 'the best time' with her family in Sweden
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AI-Powered Browser Just Generates Every Website From Scratch
XDA Developers reports:
On July 22, a Google DeepMind engineer, Vidy Thatte, shared a snippet of a browser he built that "treats every URL as a prompt and generates a site from scratch" on his X account. Just a few days later, he shared a TestFlight link to let iPhone users try it for themselves. The browser he launched is called Gem, and it's a browser that doesn't really...browse.
Instead of fetching a webpage from a server the way Chrome or Safari would, Gem hands whatever URL you type over to Google's Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite model and asks it to generate a webpage on the spot. If you enter a real address, it builds its own interpretation of that site rather than loading the actual thing. If you enter an address that doesn't exist, Gemini simply invents a website to fill the gap. In other words, you're not visiting the internet so much as browsing one the model dreams up as you go...
Thatte's reasoning was that with a model as fast and cheap as Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite, there's almost no practical difference anymore between loading a website and generating a brand-new one on the fly... Given that this tool is powered by Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and it's just a side project rather than a full-fledged tool, it doesn't come with Gemini access baked in. Gem requires you to bring your own Gemini API key to get it working. Every URL you enter fires off a request to the model, so Gem needs a key linked to your Google account to actually generate anything, with the usage billed to you. You can grab a key for free from Google AI Studio, paste it into Gem's settings, and you're ready to start typing URLs. While you can get started for free, I ran into the limits within two minutes of playing around. So, I did need to enable billing on my API key and decided to load $10 into it.
While the blogger's own site seemed to only get the Gemini logo, tapping it revealed nearly two dozen remixing options. (Dark mode, Reader, Neubrutalist, Broadsheet, Blueprint, Comic book, Punk zine, Notebook, Chalkboard, Receipt, Teletext, System 7, Wes Anderson, Cyber neon, Clay, Frosted, Geocities, Matrix, Museum, Windows 95, Terminal, Vaporwave, and Hide images...) "The frontend morphed before my eyes. Every new edit took practically no time to load, and within a second or two, the same XDA articles would reappear wearing a completely different skin..." For another site, it kept the article headlines, but then rewrote all the text!
And after entering an address they knew didn't exist — their own name — in two seconds the browser whipped up a slick portfolio "genuinely been better than some of what those tools produced with far more time and context to work with." But its link to a LinkedIn profile led to a lookalike page, because Gem "had simply generated its own version of it, complete with a made-up follower number and details I never wrote...."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
The down-to-earth Cotswolds pub - serving pizzas and Negronis - that has its much fancier rivals truly 'Stumped'
Decent gastropubs are ten-a-penny in the Cotswolds but what you won't often find scratched on the chalkboard at these toasty alehouses, however, is proper, wood-fired pizza.
Fighter jets intercept two planes violating airspace above Trump's golf club
F-16 fighter jets intercepted two general aviation aircraft flying above President Donald Trump's golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, on Sunday afternoon.
AOC reveals she's started freezing her eggs as she laments 'this isn't something men deal with' after being engaged to fiancé for four years
New York City Democratic Congresswoman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 36, shared a candid and personal look into her fertility journey on social media on Saturday.
Ask Slashdot: What are the Costs of Switching Between Windows, MacOS, and Chrome?
UI changes, lost productivity, untransferrable knowledge... Long-time Slashdot reader theodp notes the folly of switching to an unfamiliar new environment to be "more productive"...
Champions of the switch often insist workers will be able to hit the ground running and get the same or even more work done from the get-go in the new unfamiliar environment because it's 'more productive', a conclusion often shaped by conventional wisdom or their 'gut' feeling. Decision makers may also mistake their own 'light-user experience' for universal experience and believe all platforms are fungible.
And while it's one thing for a business to delay their delivery dates and increase costs of by introducing a switch in computing environments that's of unquantified and possibly dubious value, how about when a switch in computing environments is made that affects schoolchildren's ability to learn for a period of time?
While a MacBook Neo is indeed cute, what might be the possible consequences of a decision to move 25,000 students off Windows and onto MacBook Neos...? Or even the impact on a single kid who moves from a MacBook school to a Windows or Chrome school (or whose home computing environment isn't aligned with their school). Or students whose teachers decide learning in their classrooms should now additionally require an understanding of the Minecraft computing platform/UI (used in over 40,000 school systems.). Learning Management Systems and now various AI Edtech tools used by schoolkids are also subject to change.
"Even if students and schools eventually benefit from a new platform, one wonders how much learning is lost during the switch," theodp asks, "and what the financial and educational ROI and payback period look like." Are there bigger problems than we realize? Share your own thoughts and experiences in the comments.
What are the costs of switching between Windows, MacOS, and Chrome?
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
The new, painful side effect of Mounjaro no one is talking about - and no, it's not hair loss, sagging skin or any of the others. Our top expert reveals what's going on and how to protect yourself
Of all the side-effects of weight-loss jabs, this might just be the strangest one yet...
The never-before-seen pictures of Liam Payne's last hours: Haunted and prowling a Buenos Aires hotel, begging call girls to help him make crack, the Mail shares the startling revelations inside explosive police files
While much has been written about Liam's death, the full heartbreaking facts have not been revealed - until now.
Tributes to 'talented and passionate musician' among death and funeral notices
Our thoughts are with those who have lost a loved one
EastEnders star Matthew James Morrison reveals his struggle to find work a year after he was axed from BBC soap
The actor played Felix Baker for three years and made history during his time in Walford as the man behind Tara Misu, EastEnders' first regular drag queen character.
Powering the small boat crisis: The sportswear stores on northern French coast raking in fortune from selling lifejackets to the thousands of migrants headed for UK
Last week, the world watched on as some 60,000 asylum seekers, spurred on by social media posts, swam across the border from Morocco to the Spanish city of Ceuta.
Global bidding war sees props and costumes from hit series Outlander sell for nearly £730,000 as superfans push up prices
Costumes and props from the hit TV series Outlander have fetched nearly £730,000 at auction, after bidding from super fans around the world.
Former Cambridge 'plagiarism' professor cancels book tour events promoting his memoir - after publisher described it as a story of 'improbable triumphs'
Two appearances by the former Cambridge professor have been cancelled, after he quit his role and the university launched an investigation last week.
Teenager dies after getting into difficulty in Cumbrian lake during heatwave
Emergency services were called to Grasmere, one of the smaller lakes in the Lake DIstrict, at around 4.35pm on Saturday, Cumbria Police said.
Green Party councillor in Birmingham is charged with assaulting five people - including three police officers
West Midlands Police were called to reports of disorder in Edgbaston, near the junction of Monument Road and Hagley Road at around 5pm on August 6.
Why your house is a magnet for flies: Horrified Britons say their homes are crawling with insects - here's what's behind the invasion
If it feels like your home has suddenly become overrun with flies, you're not imagining it. Horrified Britons have complained of an 'invasion'.