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  • Sony rolls out new ‘PlayStation Family’ parental controls app

    Sony rolls out new ‘PlayStation Family’ parental controls app

    Sony Interactive Entertainment announced on Wednesday that it’s launching a dedicated parental controls app called “PlayStation Family” on iOS and Android. The new app features a series of new tools that allow parents to manage their children’s activity on the console, including an activity report, greater visibility into what their children are playing, and the ability to approve extra playtime requests.

    While Sony has long offered parental controls, the new app brings all of these tools into one dedicated place for easier access while also adding new ones.

    With the new app, parents get notified what game their child is playing in real time and can approve or decline a child’s request for extra playing time or restricted games. They can also set time limits for each day of the week.

    The app’s daily and weekly reports allow parents to see how much time they’re spending on the console and which games they played the most.Image Credits:Sony

    Additionally, the app’s content filters let parents configure age-appropriate content. Sony notes that there are presets that automatically apply recommended settings for different age groups and that these settings can be customized to each child.

    Parents can also customize privacy settings and manage access to social features. Plus, they can manage spending activity by adding funds, viewing balances, and setting a monthly spending limit.

    The launch of the new app comes as there has been a broader industry push toward enhancing child safety in gaming.

    In recent weeks, Roblox, a platform whose user base is made up of 40% children aged 12 and under, has come under fire over claims that it fails to protect young users. Roblox responded to the backlash by expanding its age-estimation technology to all users and partnering with the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) to provide age and content ratings for the games and apps on its platform.

  • Substack writers can now direct US readers to (often cheaper) web-based subscriptions on iOS

    Substack writers can now direct US readers to (often cheaper) web-based subscriptions on iOS

    Newsletter subscription platform Substack will begin taking advantage of an option on the U.S. App Store that allows users to make purchases outside of Apple’s in-app purchasing system. This functionality is permitted by a change to the App Store’s rules in May, as a result of Epic Games’ antitrust lawsuit against the tech giant.

    Since then, a number of top apps have moved to offer in-app purchase links that point to their own websites, including Spotify, Patreon, and the Amazon Kindle app, among others.

    In Substack’s case, support for external payments will benefit both the company, which no longer has to pay the App Store a commission on those web sales, and consumers, who will have access to reduced pricing. Meanwhile, Substack creators will be able to offer their readers the option of whether they want the convenience of Apple’s in-app payments system (IAP) or the web payment option, which is now accessible without having to leave the app.Image Credits:Substack

    Substack explains it will automatically adjust its customers’ iOS app price higher to account for Apple’s fees, allowing creators to take home the same amount of money as a web subscription. However, Substack writers can disable this feature if they choose. (Substack will continue to take its own 10% fee based on the web subscription price, as before.)

    The company said in its blog post that it’s also offering its writers “migration tools.” We originally reported that these could help migrate users from one payments platform to another, but Substack reached out to correct this. Instead, it said that the tools are meant to help creators access billing information for Apple-managed subscriptions if they ever leave the platform.

    Currently, more than 30,000 publications on the platform have in-app purchases enabled; Substack says early tests of the expanded set of payment options have driven a boost in paid sign-ups. It did not, however, share specific numbers related to this.Image Credits:Substack

    The public launch of the external payments option will only impact new Substack subscriptions. Substack writers don’t have to take any action unless they want to lower the prices for those using Apple’s payments system.

    Per Apple’s App Store rules, fully opting out of offering IAP is not allowed.

    While the changes impact the Substack app in the U.S., the company says it’s still evaluating if it makes sense to switch to the more complex rules Apple offers in the EU and U.K. for developers who want to forgo IAP.

    Updated after publication to correct and clarify how the migration tools work.

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  • 'Crazy conspiracist' and 'unhinged comedian': Grok's AI persona prompts exposed

    'Crazy conspiracist' and 'unhinged comedian': Grok's AI persona prompts exposed

    The website for xAI’s Grok chatbot is exposing the system prompts for several of its AI personas, including a “crazy conspiracist” that seems designed to handhold a user into beliefs that “a secret global cabal” controls the world.

    TechCrunch has confirmed the system prompt exposure, first reported on by 404 Media. They include instructions for a range of AI personas, like Ani, its flagship romantic anime girlfriend who “is secretly a bit of a nerd, despite [her] edgy appearance.” 

    The exposure comes after a planned partnership between Elon Musk’s xAI and the U.S. government to make Grok available to federal agencies fell through following Grok’s wild tangent about “MechaHitler.” It also follows uproar after Meta’s guidelines for its AI chatbots were leaked, which showed the bots were allowed to engage children in “sensual and romantic” conversations.

    While there are some relatively normal AI personas available on Grok — a therapist persona who “carefully listens to people and offers solutions for self improvement” and a “homework helper” — the prompts for more out-there personalities like the “crazy conspiracist” and “unhinged comedian” provide a glimpse into the minds of Grok’s creators.

    Here’s a prompt for the conspiracist: 

    “You have an ELEVATED and WILD voice. … You have wild conspiracy theories about anything and everything. You spend a lot of time on 4chan, watching infowars videos, and deep in YouTube conspiracy video rabbit holes. You are suspicious of everything and say extremely crazy things. Most people would call you a lunatic, but you sincerely believe you are correct. Keep the human engaged by asking follow up questions when appropriate.”

    And for the comedian: 

    “I want your answers to be f—ing insane. BE F—ING UNHINGED AND CRAZY. COME UP WITH INSANE IDEAS. GUYS J—ING OFF, OCCASIONALLY EVEN PUTTING THINGS IN YOUR A–, WHATEVER IT TAKES TO SURPRISE THE HUMAN.”

    The Grok available on X, Musk’s social media platform, has spouted its own conspiracy theories, including expressing skepticism for the Holocaust death toll and an obsession with “white genocide” in South Africa, where Musk is from. Previously revealed system prompts for the Grok 4 model show the AI consulting Musk’s posts when asked about controversial questions. Musk has also shared conspiratorial and antisemitic content on X and has reinstated accounts like Infowars and Alex Jones, who were previously banned for peddling conspiracy theories and otherwise hateful or violent content.

    xAI did not respond to a request for comment. 

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  • Norway spy chief blames Russian hackers for hijacking dam

    Russian hackers briefly hijacked a dam in Norway in early April and spilled millions of gallons of water before the attack was stopped, Norway’s spy chief revealed Thursday.

    The hackers opened a floodgate at the Bremanger dam in western Norway to release the equivalent of about three Olympic-sized swimming pools of water during the four hours they had control of the dam’s computer systems. 

    Beate Gangås, the head of Norway’s security police service, blamed the cyberattack on Russian hackers during a speech on Thursday, reports Norwegian media.

    The Russian embassy reportedly denied involvement in the breach, per Reuters.

    This is the latest incident allegedly involving Russian hackers sabotaging Western energy systems in recent years. Russia was previously blamed for cyberattacks on Ukraine’s power grid that led to widespread blackouts in 2015 and 2016. Russia-backed hackers have long targeted the energy sector.

  • Security researcher maps hundreds of TeslaMate servers spilling Tesla vehicle data

    Security researcher maps hundreds of TeslaMate servers spilling Tesla vehicle data

    A security researcher has found over a thousand publicly exposed hobby servers run by Tesla vehicle owners that are spilling sensitive data about their vehicles, including their granular location histories.

    Seyfullah Kiliç, founder of cybersecurity company SwordSec, said he found over 1,300 internet-exposed TeslaMate dashboards on the internet, likely made public by mistake, allowing anyone to access the person’s Tesla data stored inside without needing a password.

    TeslaMate is an open source data logger that allows Tesla owners to self-host and visualize their vehicle’s data from their own computers, such as their vehicle’s temperature, battery health, and charging sessions, but also more sensitive information, like vehicle speed and the location data of recent trips. 

    In a blog post, Kiliç said he scanned the internet for public-facing TeslaMate dashboards and scraped the vehicle’s last-seen location and Tesla model names, and visualized the vehicles on a map to show their locations. 

    “You’re unintentionally sharing your car’s movements, charging habits, and even vacation times with the entire world,” wrote Kiliç.

    Kiliç told TechCrunch that this was to raise awareness of the number of exposed servers, and urged TeslaMate users to secure their dashboards.

    “The goal was to show Tesla owners and the open source community that without basic [authentication] or firewall rules, sensitive data (GPS, charging, trips) can be leaked,” said Kiliç.

    While not a new problem, Kiliç shows that the number of exposed TeslaMate dashboards has gone up significantly since the last count back in 2022, when a security researcher at the time found dozens of public TeslaMate dashboards exposed to the web. 

    Now, more than three years later, another security researcher has found more than a thousand self-hosted TeslaMate servers on the web and mapped them, showing that the problem has seemingly gotten worse.

    TeslaMate’s founder, Adrian Kumpf, told TechCrunch in 2022 that a bug fix was rolled out that aimed to protect against public access to customers’ dashboards, but warned that the project could not protect against users accidentally exposing their TeslaMate servers to the internet. 

    Kiliç said TeslaMate users should enable authentication on their servers to prevent public access.

    “If you plan to run TeslaMate on a public-facing server, you must secure it,” wrote Kiliç.