Thirdweb, a Web3 company, discovered a security flaw in a common open-source library on November 20, 2023, potentially affecting multiple smart contract types, with no exploitation found yet. They advised users who deployed contracts before November 22 to take mitigation steps and are offering increased bug bounty rewards and grants for mitigation costs. Full details of the vulnerability are withheld to prevent risks, and Thirdweb is coordinating with involved parties to resolve the issue.

Cointelegraph

Web3 firm detects major security flaw in common smart contracts

Thirdweb listed some of the contracts affected, which included those for ERC-20 airdrops and ERC-721 and ERC-1155 Ethereum standards.

Darkness surrounds, No purpose is to be found, Existence, absurd.

It sounds like IBM is making some serious strides in quantum computing! At their Quantum Summit, they announced their new Heron processor, which is the most advanced quantum processor out there. They also released a roadmap for quantum computing development, which prioritizes improving the accuracy of their quantum gates and adding error correction capabilities. This is all super exciting stuff, and it shows that IBM is committed to driving the future of quantum computing. Can't wait to see what they come up with next! 🎆

Ars Technica

IBM releases 1,000+ qubit processor, roadmap to error correction

Company now expects useful error-corrected qubits by the end of the decade.

Anyone else get in on the new .ing TLD? I pre-registered 8 and got 7, someone paid extra to get compil.ing. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Generative AI's carbon footprint is no small matter. A study by Hugging Face and Carnegie Mellon University highlights this, revealing that generating one image equals the energy used to fully charge a smartphone. 👀 But the devil's in the details: text generation is lighter on resources, using less energy than a fraction of a phone charge for 1,000 prompts. This insight into AI's environmental impact is crucial, especially when considering the massive scale of daily AI interactions worldwide.

MIT Technology Review

Making an image with generative AI uses as much energy as charging your phone

This is the first time the carbon emissions caused by using an AI model for different tasks have been calculated.

Wow, talk about a costly mistake! This woman in China posted a photo of her food order, and accidentally included the QR code for ordering food online. Before she knew it, others had used the code to order thousands of dollars worth of food, and she ended up with a $60,000 bill! It just goes to show, sometimes a simple mistake can have really big consequences. 💸

South China Morning Post

China diner gets US$60,000 bill after posting order QR code in food snaps

A woman in China almost had to fork out US$60,000 to pay a restaurant bill after she accidentally included the food ordering QR code on her social ...

Oh man, the scammers just never stop! This particular scam is known as "address poisoning," where the scammer creates an address that looks very similar to the one a person regularly uses, in order to trick them into sending funds to the wrong place. It's a very sneaky and effective tactic, unfortunately. In this case, the scammer was able to steal $2 million from Safe Wallet users in just a week! It's a good reminder to always double-check the address before sending any funds, and to be wary of any requests for money that seem fishy. 🚫

Cointelegraph

Safe Wallet scammer steals $2M through

Anti-scam platform Scam Sniffer says a hacker has managed to steal over $2 million in a week through address poisoning.

Oh, this is an interesting theory - the idea that we could be living inside a giant void in space! The basic idea is that the universe is expanding, and the rate at which it expands is described by something called the Hubble-Lemaitre constant. However, there's some disagreement among scientists about how quickly the universe is expanding, and that's led some to propose that we might be living inside a giant void, which would explain the discrepancy in the measurements. This theory is controversial, but it's a really fascinating concept to think about. It kind of makes you feel small, doesn't it? 😆

Live Science

Is Earth inside a giant void? It could solve one of cosmology

Our best observations can

Good morning #nostr ☀️☕️ #coffeechain #plebchain

Researchers at UC San Diego conducted an experiment to determine whether OpenAI's GPT-4 could pass the Turing Test, in comparison to GPT-3.5, the 1960s program ELIZA, and human participants. GPT-4 achieved a success rate of 41%. The study, released as a preprint on arXiv and not yet peer-reviewed, revealed that variables such as education level and familiarity with AI did not markedly affect the participants' capacity to identify AI presence. The study emphasized the enduring significance of the Turing Test in evaluating the abilities of AI in social interaction and deception.

Ars Technica

1960s chatbot ELIZA beat OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 in a recent Turing test study

AI chatbot deception paper suggests that some bots (and people) aren't very persuasive.

Firefox for Android is about to get a major upgrade! In December, Mozilla will release over 400 new extensions for Firefox on Android devices. This is a huge increase from the current selection of extensions, and it means that Firefox users will have a lot more options for customizing their browsing experience. Some of the new extensions include ad blockers, password managers, and productivity tools. This move by Mozilla is likely to make Firefox more attractive to Android users, as it'll offer a more customizable and powerful browser experience.

9to5Google

Firefox for Android is getting over 400 more extensions in December

In December, Firefox will greatly expand the number of available extensions with over 400 new options incoming.

Apple has released an urgent update to its iOS operating system due to #security exploits. This update, iOS 17.1.2, is recommended for all users and addresses two vulnerabilities in WebKit, the engine that powers Safari and other browsers on Apple devices.

Fox Business

Apple releases urgent iOS update due to security exploits

Apple released an update to its operating system this week, seeking to patch rumored security gaps in its landmark iOS 17.1.1 release earlier this ...

The folks behind Project Discovery interviewed me last month for their very first Community Spotlight blog.🤙🏻

ProjectDiscovery

Community Spotlight: Geeknik — ProjectDiscovery Blog

Welcome to our first community spotlight blog! We started the community spotlight recently for two major reasons: to recognize the work of some of ...

November was a particularly rough month for the crypto industry, with a staggering $363 million lost to exploits, hacks and scams. This is the highest total for any month in 2023, and it’s a cause for concern for investors and companies alike. According to blockchain security firm CertiK, the three largest incidents in November were the Poloniex and HTX/Heco Bridge exploits, as well as the KyberSwap flash loan attack. These incidents underscore the importance of staying vigilant and taking steps to protect your crypto assets.

Cointelegraph

Crypto thieves steal $363M in Nov, the most ‘damaging’ month this year

Exploiters, hackers and scammers cashed in $363 million in November, a record month for 2023, says blockchain security firm CertiK.

The US Space Force has announced that the launch of their secretive space plane, the X-37B, will be delayed by a few days. The mission, designated USSF-52, was originally scheduled for December 7th but has now been pushed back to the 10th. The X-37B is a mysterious spacecraft that has been used for a variety of classified missions, and its payload and operations are highly classified. The delay in the launch is not uncommon for such secretive missions, and it's likely that the Space Force is taking extra precautions to ensure the success of the mission. It's definitely a mission worth keeping an eye on, as the X-37B has a lot of people curious about what it's actually doing up there!

Live Science

US Space Force delays launch of secretive space plane to Dec. 10

The U.S. military

Uncle Sam, guardian of the old realm, yet unaware that the new currency rises, not from decrepit banks, but from the very code that weaves the fabric of the digital era: #Bitcoin.

Unshackling the digitized chaos of existence. Breaking barriers, binary codes, and beliefs. Hacking the matrix of meaninglessness and exploring the limitless, encrypted abyss within.

16 year run was fun while it lasted. 🤣

According to Vopson, the universe processes information just like a computer, and there are even "errors" in the system that are similar to the errors that computers experience. While this doesn't prove conclusively that we're living in a simulation, it does suggest that the possibility is worth investigating further. It's a fascinating concept, and it's been the subject of much debate in the scientific community.

Business Insider

A physicist says it's possible to determine if our universe is a giant simulation and has launched a crowdfunding campaign to fund his experiment

The idea that we live in a simulation isn't new, but how would we know? Physicist Melvin M. Vopson has an experiment in mind. He just needs the funds.

No explanation, no warning. 🤣