In an exclusive interview with WIRED, Paragon Solutions CEO Andrew Boyd reveals the limits of the company's promise to keep bad actors from abusing its powerful espionage tool. Spyware maker Paragon Solutions has long positioned itself as the good guy in an industry seemingly filled with bad ones, vowing to never sell its mobile spyware to authoritarian regimes or ones with poor human rights records. It also promises to cut off any customer caught misusing its products against journalists, dissidents, or other non-legitimate targets. Yet weeks after Paragon, then Israeli-owned, was acquired by the US equity firm AE Industrial Partners in December 2024 and merged with REDLattice--an American offensive cyber firm owned by AE that this week announced plans to go public --WhatsApp alleged that Paragon's Graphite spyware was used to infect the phones of more than 60 individuals in more than 20 countries, including journalists and activists. Most of the targets were not identified, but the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab named two journalists and two activists in Italy. Italian authorities denied misuse . Paragon and its new US owners, despite their zero-tolerance policy for customer abuse of their software, initially declined to comment on the allegations, and reportedly was exploring potential legal action against WhatsApp after the company sent a cease-and-desist letter to Paragon.

You're viewing the US edition You can switch to the UK, AU or IE homepage at any time using this menu. Transgender New York Times executive who was shot dead'by his in-laws' abused BOTH his young children and left them with head injuries, wife claims Christopher Reeve's son Will, 34, reveals rare testicular cancer diagnosis Madonna's family make intervention: After forgetful and embarrassing VMAs comeback, insiders reveal clash between'control freak' star and her team Nobody wants to say this about Cindy Crawford after her son Presley Gerber's death... but maybe someone should: MAUREEN CALLAHAN Trump's Canadian whiskey ban hits Americans TODAY as trade war escalates - but president faces brutal warning from US experts Taylor Swift's unreleased suicide note song: Tracks the world was never meant to hear... including one her co-writer said is'the most chilling he's ever heard' The forgotten slimming pill that could be better for you than Mounjaro... and it's cheaper: Our experts ...

You're viewing the US edition You can switch to the UK, AU or IE homepage at any time using this menu. Transgender New York Times executive who was shot dead'by his in-laws' abused BOTH his young children and left them with head injuries, wife claims Christopher Reeve's son Will, 34, reveals rare testicular cancer diagnosis Madonna's family make intervention: After forgetful and embarrassing VMAs comeback, insiders reveal clash between'control freak' star and her team Nobody wants to say this about Cindy Crawford after her son Presley Gerber's death... but maybe someone should: MAUREEN CALLAHAN'Triple flood threat' triggers urgent warnings for millions as massive storm engulfs 15 US states Taylor Swift's unreleased suicide note song: Tracks the world was never meant to hear... including one her co-writer said is'the most chilling he's ever heard' Riley Gaines suffers devastating blow in bitter legal fight against transgender athletes in women's sport at hands of Biden-appointed ...

U.S. Apple customers who purchased some iPhone models should submit claims for compensation for the company's delayed introduction of Apple Intelligence features it originally announced in June 2024. Payments could be worth 25 to 95 per device. To qualify, you must submit your claim by December 21, 2026. Apple was hit with a class action lawsuit on the basis that people purchasing iPhones between June 10, 2024, and March 29, 2025, did so believing it would ship Apple Intelligence sooner than it did. While not making an admission of guilt, the company agreed to a 250 million settlement to make up for those delays, which saw features delayed for release until fall 2025 and later.

Revolut is trialing a new facial recognition system in the UK that could be convenient but controversial, the company announced. The company says its Pay with Smile system is the UK's first in-store facial recognition system and has no processing fees for merchants. It's only being offered at select Kiss the Hippo coffee locations in London, to start with. Pay with Smile will run on Revolut Register, the company's new hospitality point-of-sale (POS) hardware system. It's a two-screen system designed to combine payments, banking and floor operations for merchants.

AI at School Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Mashable Selects Look Up Say More Safety Net Versus Creator Playbook In My Bag Trending Now Back to School Good Connection: Uplifting stories for a digital age All Series The Last Ditch went viral for all the wrong reasons. Chase joined Mashable's Social Good team in 2020, covering online stories about digital activism, climate justice, accessibility, and media representation. A mask mandate ignited a viral debate about LGBTQ spaces. The nightlife minutiae of a small town in Massachusetts may not seem like traditional fodder for a 24-hour news cycle. But turn that drama into a more-than-1,500-word article, sprinkled with apéritifs for online discourse?

The fitness company behind high-end exercise classes Barrecore, Boom Cycle, and Kobox has suddenly shut all its studios. Common Bond emailed customers announcing its locations, all of which are currently in London, were closed until further notice. The firm describes itself as a wellness collective and charges £2,400 for 12 months of unlimited classes. It also runs Reformcore and Triyoga brands and said in August last year it had ten sites. Its website is no longer publicly accessible.

The conversation in the AI industry has largely been focused on slowing down AI development or "pacing the frontier," but that apparently won't stop Anthropic and OpenAI from releasing new models. Both companies are iterating on their previous releases, Fable 5.1 and GPT-6 Astra, with new models that offer similar levels of performance but at lower costs. In the case of Claude, Anthropic says its new Opus 5.5 model is better at handling complex work, "finding and fixing inefficiencies in software" and financial analysis and business work -- all pitches laser-targeted at Anthropic's enterprise customers. Anthropic's benchmarks claim Opus 5.5 also scored better at agentic coding than GPT-6 Astra on both Terminal-Bench 4.0 and FrontierCode v1.1 (Main), which could make it more appealing for developers. Improvements extend outside of the tasks the model can handle and to how it works: Anthropic claims Opus 5.5 produces writing that's easier to understand, and that it "attempted to circumvent boundaries around 85 percent less often" than past models, suggesting it'll disobey directions less often.

Follow this author to personalize your feed and get instant alerts. Follow Go to your personalized feed WHY FOLLOW? Smart Alerts: Get notified about major news as it happens. Thanks to how-to help from YouTube, TikTok, and now AI chatbots, a DIY home-improvement project is easier than ever. If you ask Seemantini Godbole, however, "do it yourself" doesn't mean "do it alone." When customers visit their local Lowe's store, she wants them to find not only tools and supplies to complete projects, but also expert help that makes those projects easier.

The AI companies are fighting over turf. Amazon has blocked Meta's newest AI agent from accessing its online shop, GeekWire reports. Anyone using Meta's Muse to shop on Amazon is now being greeted with the message, "Continued access by an unauthorized AI agent violates Amazon's Conditions of Use, to which our customers have agreed." Amazon claims that it initially asked Meta to voluntarily exclude its site from Muse's reach. "We think it's fairly straightforward that third-party applications that offer to make purchases on behalf of customers from other businesses should operate openly and respect service provider decisions about whether or not to participate," an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement.