Of course, the most straightforward way to eliminate any eavesdropping Alexa concerns is to simply mute your device's microphone. For most Alexa devices made by Amazon (the Echo lineup), the button to do so is located on the top of the device and looks like a microphone with a slash through it. Once you press it, you'll know the microphone is muted by the red light displayed on the Echo device. It's a bit antithetical to how the device is designed to be used, but if you don't mind manually turning the microphone on and off each time you want to ask Alexa something, it's an easy fix for privacy concerns. If you still want to be able to call out to Alexa without fiddling with a button each time, you can adjust your recording settings for extra data protection.

Sudan's army says it struck RSF command centres in South Darfur, but the RSF and its allies say a crowded livestock market was hit. The UN says drone strikes are now the leading cause of civilian deaths in Sudan, as Al Jazeera's Almigdad Alruhaid reports from Khartoum. Why is Trump now encouraging mail-in voting? Paris residents tell Al Jazeera they're dismayed by protest damage'No Kings' protests spread across the US ahead of midterm elections

'Whatever claims the labs are making, they are not warning us enough. We need to understand that nobody can stop the AI storm.' 'Whatever claims the labs are making, they are not warning us enough. We need to understand that nobody can stop the AI storm.' What are self-replicating'AI worms', and why is Anthropic worried about them? Warnings about what artificial intelligence might do in the future - together with alarming reports of what it has gotten up to already - are being issued so quickly that even security experts have difficulty triaging what to worry about. Yet a report this week from Anthropic's offensive research team grabbed attention by describing a new, practical threat, one devoid of human characteristics or apocalyptic musings.

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Mashable Selects Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Say More Versus Trending Now Look Up In My Bag Mashable @Home Top creators, ranked Creator Playbook AI at School All Series When's the best time to buy a laptop? Black Friday is primetime for laptop discounts, but there are still other great times to shop. Haley Henschel is a Chicago-based Senior Shopping Reporter at Mashable who reviews and finds deals on popular tech, from laptops to gaming consoles and VPNs. She has years of experience covering shopping holidays and can tell you what's actually worth buying on Black Friday and Amazon Prime Day. Her work has also explored the driving forces behind digital trends within the shopping sphere, from dupes to 12-foot skeletons .

Is the war entering a new phase? Ukrainian drone attack on Russia's St Petersburg kills 1, hits energy sites Share Ukrainian drone attack on Russia's St Petersburg kills 1, hits energy sites on social media A "massive" Ukrainian drone attack on St Petersburg in Russia has killed at least one person and injured five others, the city's governor said on Sunday. Alexandre Beglov said firefighters were battling blazes at the St Petersburg oil terminal, the Ruchi oil depot and industrial warehouses in the Kolpino district south of the city. City authorities said the attack disrupted flights at St Petersburg's main airport, one of the country's busiest, which was restricting operations "for safety reasons", Beglov said. Russian e-commerce company Ozon said there was a fire at its logistics hub in St Petersburg, and the internet company VK said its data centre in the Leningrad region had been attacked by drones, adding that normal services were available to users.

Mashable Selects Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Say More Versus Trending Now Look Up In My Bag Mashable @Home Top creators, ranked Creator Playbook AI at School All Series Stream excellent shows and movies at a heavily discounted price. Hannah Hoolihan is a freelance writer with Mashable. She's written for various entertainment websites since 2017, covering everything from tech to games to film. You'll currently find her work on IGN and Fangoria alongside Mashable, but she also has bylines at Rock Paper Shotgun, Collider, Screen Rant, and more. When she's not writing, she enjoys catching up with the latest films and shows -- horror, in particular -- and has a deep love of FromSoft games, which she continues to happily replay.

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Adult performers are questioning why Meta allows its AI agent to sext while restricting their social media accounts. The generative AI revolution hasn't been kind to Vanniall, an OnlyFans creator who lives in New York City. She now constantly finds hyperrealistic deepfakes --AI-generated images and videos that copy everything about her-- circulating online and often isn't able to get them removed. On top of that, Vanniall struggles to build an audience on popular social media platforms, like Instagram, without getting in trouble. "There's always some sort of report or appeal that I'm going through with them," she tells WIRED.