Author: Paul Stradling

Providing IT support and solution to small and medium businesses. Servicing Edinburgh, Livingston, Fife and surrounding areas. Responsive, Flexible, Professional and friendly local support.

20 NHS Trusts Shared Personal Data With Facebook

20 NHS Trusts Shared Personal Data With Facebook

An Observer investigation has reported uncovering evidence that 20 NHS Trusts have been collecting data about patients’ medical conditions and sharing it with Facebook.  Using A Covert Tracking Tool  The newspaper’s investigation found that over several years, the trusts have been using the Meta Pixel analytics tool to collect patient browsing data on their websites.…
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New Reports Reveal Two Key Cyber Security Insights

New Reports Reveal Two Key Cyber Security Insights

With phishing attacks being favoured for their effectiveness by attackers and most ransomware attacks now targeting backup storage, we look at what businesses can do to protect themselves.   Spear Phishing Accounted For Two-Thirds Of All Attacks Last Year  A recent report from security provider Barracuda has revealed that although spear phishing attacks make up just…
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New AI That Generates 3-D Models From Text

Tech Insight: New AI That Generates 3-D Models From Text

The Shap-E AI system from OpenAI (creators of ChatGPT) and available for open-source download, can create 3D models from text.  What Is It?  According to the Cornell University researchers behind the system, Shap-E is “a conditional generative model for 3D assets” which, unlike other 3D generative models “generates the parameters of implicit functions that can be rendered as…
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WhatsApp News

Tech News : WhatsApp Wows: One Account Accessible on Multiple Mobile

WhatsApp has announced that it is introducing the ability to use the same WhatsApp account on multiple phones. Message Seamlessly Across All Devices WhatsApp says that this change gives users globally the ability to message seamlessly across all their devices without signing out, and to pick up their chats where they left off. Employees Can…
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Amazon Launches AI App-Building Platform

Tech News : Amazon Launches AI App-Building Platform

Amazon has announced the launch of ‘Amazon Bedrock,’ a new service which it says is the easiest way for customers to build and scale generative AI-based applications using foundation models (FMs).  What Is A Foundation Model (FM)?  A foundation model is an “ultra-large” machine learning model that generative AI uses. FMs, which are machine learning…
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How To Spot Fake Images

How To Spot Fake Images

With deepfake images recently making the news by fooling many people, we look at the issues around fake images and how to spot them.  Recent Examples  The emergence of AI has led to an increasing output of highly convincing fake images/manipulated images/deepfake images (and deepfake videos). Motivations for making these images vary, e.g. entertainment (fun…
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Microsoft 365 Gets ChatGPT Technology Called ‘Copilot’

Tech-News : Microsoft 365 Gets ChatGPT Technology Called ‘Copilot’

Microsoft has announced that it is to help users save time and increase productivity by embedding its AI chatbot ‘Copilot’ into popular Microsoft 365 apps.  Embedded In Popular Apps  Microsoft says that the Copilot chatbot has been embedded in the popular Microsoft 365 apps – Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams. Like Chat GPT, Copilot is…
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HSBC Buys Collapsed Tech Bank

Tech News : HSBC Buys Collapsed Tech Bank

There was some relief from UK businesses hoping for government help following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) after HSBC rescued the UK arm of the bank by buying it for £1.  What Happened?  Due to what many financial analysts believe to be SVB making some bad investments and betting (badly) on interest rates,…
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Even After Opting Out, Your Data May Still Be Shared

Tech News : Even After Opting Out, Your Data May Still Be Shared

A recent US research paper entitled “Opted Out, Yet Tracked: Are Regulations Enough to Protect Your Privacy?” highlights how, in many cases, user data is still being collected, processed, and shared, even when users opt out through a Consent Management Platform (CMP).  The Issue   The research was based around developing a framework to measure how well Consent…
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Meta Blue Badge

Tech News : New Meta Verified Blue Badge Subscription Service

Meta has announced it’s launching its own version of Twitter’s Blue Tick called ‘Meta Verified’ for Facebook and Instagram where users pay a monthly subscription to be verified on the platforms.  Announcement  On February 19, Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, announced that Meta is starting the rollout of its new ‘Meta Verified’ subscription service for Facebook…
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