RED FLAG: FBI says these apps let China suck up your personal data



Centralized smartphone app storefronts, like Apple’s App Store for iPhone and the Google Play Store for Android, make apps feel like they all come from the same safe place online, but the developers behind these apps are spread out all over the world. This month, the FBI brought attention to international developers, warning that installing apps built by foreign nations could pose a major threat to user privacy and security. Are they right? Let’s find out.

Do you use these popular Chinese apps?

On the final day of March, the FBI issued a warning “to highlight data security risks associated with foreign-developed mobile applications (apps) frequently used in the United States.”

Privacy labels reveal the secret parameters embedded in your favorite apps.

The FBI was especially critical of apps developed in the heart of China. Although it didn’t go out of its way to list some of the most dubious offenders, you may have heard of these popular candidates:

  • TikTok, before its USDS joint venture, was made and owned wholly by ByteDance in Beijing.
  • Temu and Shein, two popular online discount stores, are Chinese-owned with the former belonging to PDD Holdings Inc. in Shanghai and the latter founded by Chris Xu, who moved his company’s headquarters from China to Singapore earlier this decade, though there are talks that Xu may relocate back to the mainland for an IPO.
  • CapCut, a popular mobile video editing app, is also developed by ByteDance, especially to help users create more engaging TikTok videos.
  • RedNote (aka Xiaohongshu), a TikTok alternative that briefly garnered public attention in the USA after TikTok’s USDS joint venture launch, is also based in Shanghai.
  • Tencent, a technology giant out of Shenzhen, owns the popular texting app WeChat. The company also invests in many U.S.-based game companies, including Epic Games (makers of Fortnite), Larian Studios (the group behind Baldur's Gate 3), and FromSoftware (the developers of Elden Ring).

Needless to say, Chinese companies — and by extension, the Chinese government — have their hands in many apps and games that U.S.-based users enjoy daily.

New warning, same old threat

The FBI’s warning noted that downloading and installing apps from Chinese companies could potentially leave users open to China’s mass data collection practices, which would inevitably put users’ security and privacy at risk for monitoring and abuse.

RELATED: Is downloading Trump's new White House app a security risk?

Douglas Rissing/Getty Images

Unfortunately, while the FBI’s warning is new, foreign-made apps have long had the ability to gather user data at scale. This is partially the reason both Apple and Google implemented mandatory “Privacy Nutrition Labels” on all third-party apps in their digital stores.

How to check apps’ ‘Privacy Nutrition Labels’

The best way to protect yourself from apps with malicious data-gathering practices is to understand the kinds of data your apps can access and how the information is processed. You can find these details on the “Privacy Nutrition Label” included on any given app page.

Much like the nutritional label on a box of food displays hidden ingredients, privacy labels reveal the secret parameters embedded in your favorite apps.

Let’s look at TikTok on iOS and Android. If you click on one of those links on your mobile device and scroll down, you’ll find the “App Privacy” area on iPhone and the “Data safety” section on Android. Both of these clearly detail which bits of data the app collects and links directly to your identity.

Zach Laidlaw/TikTok/Apple App Store

As you can see, TikTok gathers a lot of personal information, including your location, contacts, search history, browsing history, device IDs, usage habits, and more. It’s a treasure trove of personal data all used to create digital user profiles and strengthen TikTok’s algorithm. This information is better protected now that all of it is stored on Oracle servers in the USA — thanks to the USDS joint venture — but before that, the CCP-influenced ByteDance saved and analyzed all of it on its servers in China.

Zach Laidlaw/TikTok/Google Play Store

Protect yourself from intrusive apps

China’s intrusive data-collection practices are the exact reason President Trump spearheaded the deal that moved TikTok’s U.S.-based user data to U.S. soil. Without it, China would continue to collect, analyze, and monetize U.S. users for reasons that benefit the Chinese government.

The unfortunate truth, however, is that TikTok is only one of many Chinese apps that can gather personal information on U.S. customers, and they do it usually without users’ knowledge. There are a few things you can do to keep yourself safe though:

  1. Be sure to check and verify the apps you install on your smartphone before you download them. Don’t just install anything to your device. Do some research and confirm that every app — and its developer — is legitimate and safe by reading the app’s terms of service and privacy policy, as well as checking out app reviews.
  2. Limit permissions so the app can only access the features on your phone that it needs to operate. Refrain from enabling location, microphone, camera, or photos access, and never provide other sensitive information, unless you know you can trust the app.
  3. Always download the latest software updates for your phone and the app itself. Updates regularly patch security vulnerabilities to keep your device safe.

At the end of the day, the best way to secure your data and your device is to use your best judgment. Only download the apps you absolutely need. For everything else, you’re much safer accessing online services through your web browser.

Does this stealthy startup hold the key to keeping data centers out of your neighborhood?



An idea born out of a four-hour session at a Chick-fil-A may have the ability to both cheapen energy costs and solve data center production solutions.

With land-grabs and land offers from Big Tech routinely popping up in the news cycle, citizens are concerned with how America's heartland could fall into the hands of tech companies that replace farming plots with gigantic rooms of computers.

One company is asking why it can't just put those in the ocean.

'Our goal is to make terawatts.'

Garth Sheldon-Coulson, co-founder and CEO of Panthalassa, said that he has been operating his ocean nodes in semi-secret for about 10 years.

At about 66 feet wide and 260 feet tall, his company's floating nodes bob up and down with the ocean waves and create energy from the water that flows through them. The water is funneled through channels inside the nodes to create a pressurized system that spins turbines that connect to a generator and produce electricity.

The object can move and steer on its own once in the water and is capable of traveling about 30 miles per day to ideal spots where the winds are most intense and thus create the most waves.

Sheldon-Coulson told the Core Memory Podcast that each unit has an approximate cost of about $1 million and that while it is expensive now, the path to scaling could come in a couple of different ways.

First, the energy production could be stored and brought back to shore, likely packaged as cheaper, cleaner energy. Panthalassa said it can produce electricity at about 2.5 cents per kilowatt hour, which is allegedly below the cost of solar energy and even natural gas in some jurisdictions.

However, a faster track to success may be through the combination of floating data centers and satellite internet.

RELATED: The crazy reason some AI obsessives love it when their chatbot talks like a caveman

- YouTube

The CEO said that his company is looking at the idea of putting processing units aboard its nodes, using the generated electricity to power them and of course the ocean water to cool them. Cooling is currently an expensive and integral process of shored AI data centers.

The data processed in the ocean would then be digitally shipped off via satellite services like Starlink. Impressively, Panthalassa was founded before Starlink, meaning the company put at least some of its eggs into a basket that didn't quite exist yet.

When asked about the AI data transfer and the speed at which it could actually travel by satellite (as opposed to fiber optics), Sheldon-Coulson noted that the speed of the input and output comes in very small quantities — text that is the size of kilobytes. It is actually the processing that takes up the time — which would theoretically take place aboard his ocean nodes — not the question taken in or the answer provided by a chatbot, for example.

RELATED: The divisive issue that could decide the midterms now has $200 million on the line

- YouTube

"Our goal is to make terawatts," states the Panthalassa company's video. "The entire global electricity supply right now is about three and a half terawatts. We think we can do a significant fraction of that."

The company has raised over $78 million in investment to date and has pointed to areas in the Southern Hemisphere as ideal spots for the nodes due to high wind speeds.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Is Trump's new White House app unsafe for your security and privacy?



Last month, the Trump administration announced a brand-new White House app available for iPhone and Android. The move shocked the internet, causing some to warn that installing the app would give the government a window into every phone’s most private data. After reviewing the privacy policy, those early fears were somewhat overblown, though not completely invalid. Here’s everything we found.

The new White House app replaced the previous version that was launched by former President Barack Obama in 2010. After 16 years, the app was long overdue for an overhaul. Updated to version 47 as a nod to our 47th president, the app now entails a brand-new design and features optimized for the MAGA age.

There are some inherent flaws within its code.

A quick tour of the White House (app)

The new White House app offers a unique window into the presidency of Donald Trump. It’s comprised of five main sections:

  • Home: The home page displays announcements, goals/mission achievements, and other important messages from the Trump administration. These can include information on the MAHA movement, border security, cost-of-living improvements, and more.
  • News: The news page showcases press releases and major updates directly from the administration as well as trusted media outlets.
  • Live: The live feed displays long-form videos, shorts, and livestreams featuring President Trump and his various on-camera appearances, from diplomatic meetings, to important announcements, and a meme or two for good measure.
  • Social: The social tab provides a live feed of various social media accounts connected to the president, including Rapid Response 47, the White House, and Donald J. Trump. There’s also a tab that lets you write to the White House, text President Trump himself, sign up for the White House newsletter, and you can even submit a tip to Immigration and Customs Enforcement if you suspect illegal immigration is taking place in your neighborhood or workplace.
  • Gallery: The gallery displays photos of various events featuring President Trump and his administration, including important addresses, bill signings, Cabinet meetings, and more.

Zach Laidlaw/The White House app on iOS

Privacy concerns?

From the moment the new White House app went live, sleuths on social media were quick to warn others not to download it, claiming it to be government spyware that can gather users’ private data.

Based on its privacy labels on the App Store and Google Play, the White House app may collect your email address and phone number (both optional) for marketing purposes as well as app usage data for analytics. Notable components missing from the data collection notice include precise location data, microphone access, camera access, photos access, and browsing history.

In other words, the White House app doesn’t have permission to listen to your conversations, spy on you through the camera, or see your exact location.

RELATED: How the FBI can flout Apple's privacy tools

ugurhan/Getty Images

Going a step further, we took a look at the White House’s privacy page. Based on this information, the White House website (and by extension, the app) may collect the following that developers aren't required to disclose directly on the app page:

  • The device’s originating IP address
  • The internet domain name
  • Information about your computer or mobile setup (e.g., type and version of web browser, operating system, screen resolution, and connection speed)
  • The pages on WhiteHouse.gov that you visit
  • The internet address, or URL, of the website that connected you to the site if you accessed WhiteHouse.gov via a link on another page (i.e., “referral traffic”)
  • The amount of data transmitted from WhiteHouse.gov to your computer

At first glance, none of these seem out of the ordinary. Practically all websites you visit log this information about your device and usage habits.

So the White House app is safe to use, right? Not so fast ...

Secrets under the hood

A self-professed web designer and former reverse engineer that goes by “Thereallo” decompiled the Android version of the White House app to see exactly what its code entails. Thereallo makes several censorious claims about the app that earned the White House’s announcement a community note on X. The highlights include:

  • Security risks driven by arbitrary JavaScript injection and an absence of certificate pinning that could leave the app open to hacks in the future.
  • Dubious GPS tracking that logs the device’s location in the foreground (while the app is in use) every 4.5 minutes and in the background (while the app is not being used) every 9.5 minutes.
  • User behavior tracking through various avenues, including cross-device aliases, notification interaction logs, in-app clicks, and more.

Note that these points were only confirmed in the Android version of the White House app. Due to the closed nature of Apple’s mobile platforms, decompiling iOS apps are far more complex.

So is the White House app really safe to use?

While the new White House app looks good on the surface, there are some inherent flaws within its code that could open users up to cyber security threats and data tracking. If you’d like to use the app, consider these options first:

  • Enable a trusted VPN to mask your IP address from the app’s location-monitoring protocols.
  • Revoke any permissions from that app that request location data or access to see nearby devices to ensure it can’t tap into your GPS data or connected Bluetooth devices.
  • Install the app within a secure sandbox, either inside a Private Space on Android or within an iPhone that isn’t attached to your primary Apple account, to ensure any future cyber attacks on the app can’t attempt to access the rest of the data in your device.
  • Don’t download the White House app. Simply visit whitehouse.gov for the latest information from the Trump administration.

If you’re still interested in checking out the White House app for yourself, you can download it from the Apple App Store for iPhone and the Google Play Store for Android.

Kids are being 'discipled by AI' — a Baptist pastor says he has the solution



The question as to whether or not children like to use artificial intelligence chatbots has been answered, and now it's a question of what they are using it for.

According to recent polling, the majority of teens are using it for homework or as a search engine.

'People's children are being discipled by AI.'

Generating summaries, creating images, or just generic "fun" are listed in 2025 polling as the next most frequent uses. Another 10% of children ages 13 to 17 say AI does most or all of their school work.

At the same time, nearly 75% of U.S. teens said in a survey last year that they have tried out AI companions. It is that large number of American youth that Pastor Erik Reed was concerned about when he created Dominion, a theological chatbot.

"People's children are being discipled by AI," Reed told Baptist News. "Many young people seek out companionship or counseling from bots, and some models have been built to offer constant feedback loops of affirmation and love, giving users an addictive dopamine hit. They're going to flatter you at every turn."

The solution, the Southern Baptist leader said, is a competitor at the same level, in terms of functionality, that has "Christian guardrails to safeguard what it's feeding back to people."

The head of the Journey Church in Lebanon, Tennessee, said that AI should be brought under "the Lordship of Christ," and thus he built the chatbot to exist only within "the authority and sovereignty of God."

RELATED: 'I wanted to thank God in public': Fighting tears, Victor Glover gives legendary speech on return to Earth

Jon Cherry/Getty Images

The chatbot was trained on selected theological texts, verses, catechisms, and traditional logic, Reed stated. It is protected by internal checks and balances that the user cannot influence, which is easier said than done.

The chatbot reportedly prioritizes "first-tier issues," defined as things that all Christians find to be true, over second-tier issues that may differ per denomination. Third-tier issues were listed as almost all politics.

A demo of the product says that everything discussed with the chatbot "happens inside an environment that filters out unbiblical counsel and keeps the focus on wisdom, holiness, and discipleship."

RELATED: These Apple privacy perks won't hide you from the Feds

JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER/AFP/Getty Images

However, the demo did showcase that Dominion is capable of summarizing simple news aggregation from a 24-hour period, for example, but also that it is capable of giving advice on personal matters, which the AI presented from a religious point of view.

Co-founder Brandon Maddick describes his work as a "Christian responsibility" to shape minds in truth to counteract them being shaped by AI.

"We believe faithfulness for the Christian is to redeem AI for the glory of God," he said.

Notably, Maddick calls his congregation “the least SBC-looking church you’ll find," with female deacons and "Reformed-ish theology."

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

The crazy reason some AI obsessives love it when their chatbot talks like a caveman



Coders using Claude, AI giant Anthropic's leading large language model, discovered a shortcut that saves them money and simplifies the entire engagement with the LLM down to mere syllables.

The protocol, since made into an app, is called Caveman.

Caveman makes it possible to save money without sacrificing output by reducing the linguistic sophistication of the LLM. The logic is simple: The less the AI has to talk to you in fully conversant language, the less compute it demands. And the less compute it demands, the fewer “tokens” it costs. Like all LLMs, Claude works on tokens, which users buy with dollars to pay the chatbot’s company.

As the world of the printing press is forgotten, communication transforms.

It’s a crazy workaround, but it pays whopping dividends. If you can tolerate talking to a digital Neanderthal, you can save up to 75% on operating costs.

Devolution?

With that, we’re face to face with the raw evidence that tech doesn’t transcend our culture’s many cautionary refrains. Garbage in, garbage out. Easy come, easy go. Live by the gun, die by the gun. In other words, “It’s about the financial system and the soul,” to quote Ardian Tola, founder of the Bitcoin-powered platforms Canonic and Ark.

To give a few examples of what’s going on here, consider the coder sitting at his or her desk prompting Claude to, say, reconfigure some corporate software to the new spec. The coder used to do this work, going into the alien lines of “code language” and — using his experience, knowledge, creative problem-solving, and time — the coder could effect these alterations in various ways and to various levels of elegance. The coder for the past several decades commanded and deserved a substantial salary: It really took some substantial skill and know-how to move with speed and efficiency.

That kind of coder and tech worker is being closed out now. The 80,000 layoffs and counting in the industry this year send a pretty clear message about where this is headed. Corporate reliance (and crucially, dependence) on AI is just about baked in. Companies like Oracle and Stripe are letting go of workers right after they complete their final task — of training their LLMs to do their job.

RELATED: Trump administration has a job opportunity for adult video gamers

Emanuele Cremaschi/Getty Images

Today the coder clinging to his mid-tier salary prompts an LLM to alter the code, and he is “spending” tokens with each word and symbol required to perform these prompts. So if a prompt drags on — like “Claude, move the header up and replace it with the PayPal button, and let me see what they look like if everything is balanced in mobile view” — it is going to cost the corporation or the contract coder more than if the prompt were something closer to “Switch header w/ pay button.”

In terms of efficiency, for a while anyway, this probably adds a layer of challenge for the coder, works the old brain plasticity, and all important, looks good to accounting.

Our souls at stake

One interpretation of everything now concerning “the financial system and the soul” is that if we, as a species, determine that cost efficiency and capital concentration are the most important values, which all others will be tested against and subsumed into, we would be wise to be very honest about our view of the human soul.

That’s because we’d be saying, again as a species, that the soul is secondary to money at best and probably doesn’t matter or even exist. While individuals, you and I, may disagree immediately (and others may weigh in with seemingly very judicious but ultimately jejune statements with regards to complexity, progress, and sacrifice), the order or the value system is still cold simple: money over soul in the end. There’s no workaround.

It might come fast or it might take some years.

Marshall McLuhan and intellectual heirs like Walter Ong theorized decades ago that tech would impose a “new orality” as literacy fades. After all, humanity existed prior to the printing press too. Print literacy greased the wheels of our communication with respect not just to facts but to each other and our own inner reality — our soul.

Most of that theoretical work boils down to the notion that our technologically enhanced means and methods of communicating will slip away from literacy into something more offhand, flexible, vibey. The rise of “vibe coding” provides strong confirmation: As the world of the printing press is forgotten, communication transforms.

The issues here are manifold and of grave concern. You cannot vibe Mass or liturgy, though you can feel it. In this oncoming diminution of the human, where trade-offs are determined by that same money-over-soul diktat, every individual may to have fight, day in and day out, merely to preserve his value system.

Whether that system is inherited and carried over ages of ages, or is just something as temporal as a preference for '80s comedy films, the choices made at the ultra-ubiquitous-tech layer are not going to “align.”

Care must be taken when wandering into the future, wielding, as we do, these handheld high-caliber military industrial complex-made weapons. And just wait until the AI innovators deliver handsfree products intended to replace the smartphone. By itself, coders and prompters regressing to oral communication is fine, passable for certain applications, but the slackening and homogenization of human communication into sheer memery, coupled with the time pressure we all feel daily now, is powered by a force that wants to invade all human territories, including true creativity, religion, and the family. In short, it wants to invade the soul. If we let that happen, what will become of our already beleaguered society and country?

The divisive issue that could decide the midterms now has $200 million on the line



A bet on artificial intelligence is driving a nine-figure investment in the political world ahead of the midterms.

With millions of dollars on hand, one super PAC insistent on pushing artificial intelligence is injecting cash into political campaigns across the country.

'About half of Americans are more concerned than excited about the increased use of AI in daily life.'

With the help of some generous venture capitalists, super PAC Leading the Future was just announced to have surpassed $140 million in just about a year and a half.

The latest donations have added to the $125 million raised in 2025.

Leading the Future — which says it is focused on "advancing a positive, forward-looking agenda for AI innovation in Washington, D.C." — has been willing to pump money into candidates from either party and has done so in states like Illinois, New York, and Texas.

Business Insider reports that the PAC generally pushes candidates who show broad support of AI and tech innovation, while keeping regulations light.

This included $1.4 million to Texas Republican candidates across four districts: Tom Sell, Jace Yarbrough, Jessica Steinmann, and Chris Gober.

For Democrats, $1.1 million was reportedly provided to former Rep. Melissa Bean, with $1.4 million going to Jesse Jackson Jr., both in Illinois.

The PAC is also supporting Democrat Alex Bores' run to replace Rep. Jerry Nadler (D) in New York, according to NOTUS.

RELATED: Catastrophic new iPhone threat leaked to hackers — are you safe?

Mark Felix/AFP/Getty Images

The jury is still out in terms of support from the general public on AI overall, with skepticism and lack of acceptance still floating around 50/50.

Pew polling from 2025 showed that about half of Americans are more concerned than excited about the increased use of AI in daily life. About half of respondents also said AI will worsen the ability to think creatively and form meaningful relationships.

The data also had Republicans and Democrats split on their concern. Half of respondents from both parties said they were more concerned than excited about the increased use of AI.

About 10% from both parties said they were more excited than concerned.

Favorability floats around 50% in 2026 polling from Data for Progress. It is most favored by black people (61%), those under 45 (61%), and men (57%). At the same time, it is mostly unfavorable with women (51%) and those over 45 (52%).

RELATED: Video: Why is a Chinese robot chasing wild boars in Poland?

Roberto Salomone/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Public skepticism may be the biggest hurdle for the super PAC to overcome, but it is also facing opposition money.

Another network called Public First is pledging $50 million to candidates who support regulation, in either party, in 2026.

Public First positions itself as representing American voters who have concerns about "the impacts of AI on kids, workers, consumers, and the American economy."

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Catastrophic new iPhone threat leaked to hackers — are you safe?



Apple can’t catch a break. With another week comes another major exploit capable of infecting millions of iPhones worldwide.

The latest threat, dubbed DarkSword, leverages “multiple zero-day vulnerabilities to fully compromise devices,” according to the Google Threat Intelligence Group. Here’s how to know if your iPhone is at risk.

Cyber threats are becoming quite common within Apple’s walled garden — a major shift from iOS’ “unhackable” reputation of yesteryear.

Approximately 244 million iPhones are vulnerable right now to targeted hacking campaigns through DarkSword.

The thing that makes this latest exploit so dangerous is that the code behind the vulnerability was leaked on GitHub, one of the largest developer social media websites on the planet.

On one hand, having the code available to the public will make it easier for Apple to pinpoint the flaws in its software, leading to a faster solution. On the other hand, DarkSword is now broadly accessible to hackers and cybercriminals both foreign and domestic, giving bad actors the tools they need to hack into any iPhone that fits the criteria.

Through GitHub, hackers essentially have a shortcut to attack iPhone users at scale.

How does DarkSword work?

DarkSword functions similarly to the Coruna exploit we covered last month in that it strings multiple zero-day vulnerabilities together into one exploit chain that can be used to breach the security of a targeted device. Based on findings from the Google Threat Intelligence Group, DarkSword has already been used on phones in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Malaysia, and Ukraine as early as November 2025.

Now that the code is available on GitHub, however, the exploit chain could be picked up and executed on devices anywhere in the world, including the United States.

RELATED: New hack poses biggest iPhone threat in 19 years: What you can do

Xaume Olleros/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Is your iPhone at risk?

The good news is that DarkSword can only breach a very specific subset of iOS-powered devices, namely iPhones on iOS 18.4 through 18.7. You are safe from this particular threat if you have already installed iOS 26 on your phone or if you run a version prior to iOS 18.

The bad news is that 16.09% of active iPhones in the market still run on iOS 18. That means approximately 244 million iPhones are vulnerable right now to targeted hacking campaigns through DarkSword.

Many millions still run their iPhones on vulnerable operating systems.Chart via iOS 18 Marketshare 2026/TelemetryDECK

How to protect your devices from DarkSword

There are two ways to protect your phone from the DarkSword exploit:

  1. Update your phone to iOS 26 immediately. This will mitigate any threats from DarkSword.
  2. If your phone is still on iOS 18, Apple released an update on April 1 that effectively fixed the vulnerability. Download and install iOS 18.7.7 as soon as possible.

Although DarkSword poses the biggest threat to iPhone users, iPads on iPadOS 18 are also at risk. Follow these same steps to patch the software on your iPad, as well.

Due to the widespread nature of this threat, it’s a good idea to share this information with your family and friends. Let the people in your life know that their iPhone (or iPad) may be vulnerable to attacks unless they update accordingly.

Add an extra layer of protection to your iPhone

DarkSword is part of a growing string of threats plaguing iPhone lately, including Coruna and CVE-2026-20700. As someone who has followed Apple closely since the dawn of iPhone, the state of iOS security is uncharacteristically fragile these days, with new vulnerabilities popping up practically every month. We’ll continue to watch this space for new developments leading into the summer season when Apple shows off the next generation of iOS. In the meantime, you can keep your devices safe by updating to the latest version of iOS the moment it’s available.

Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw/iOS 26.4.1 on iPhone 17 Pro Max

In addition to major operating system releases, Apple has started to issue smaller “Background Security Improvements” for its major mobile platforms. These updates are meant to provide faster solutions to potential threats between larger software versions. To ensure that your device receives Background Security Improvements, open the “Settings” app, tap “Privacy & Security,” select “Background Security Improvements” at the bottom, and check the toggle beside “Automatically Install.”

But note: Background Security Improvements are only available for devices on iOS 26.1 or higher. If you’re still on iOS 18 or lower, you cannot take advantage of this extra security feature.

Video: Why is a Chinese robot chasing wild boars in Poland?



A popular Chinese robot is going viral for a video showing it chasing wild boars, but many aren't sure why that happened.

The robot itself, nicknamed Edward Warchocki, is a Unitree G1 model available for public purchase that popped up in Poland.

'Older ladies or gentlemen love talking with him.'

The Chinese-made robots go for a whopping $23,809 for the basic model, all the way up to $58,365 for the "ultimate edition."

Recently, this particular model was seen running through the streets of Warsaw, Poland, chasing wild boars. While hilarious, there is actual serious context behind the content.

Major Polish cities like Krakow have endured a sprawling wild boar issue — even in city centers — for years, resulting in authorities urging their population to resist feeding the somewhat approachable beasts.

Other cities have resorted to planting flowers with vivid colors and sweet scents in order to deter the pigs.

Since at least 2019, there have been warnings of disease allegedly spread by the animals, resulting in calls for culls and elimination of thousands of them that have reportedly carried illnesses like African swine fever and Hepatitis E.

Enter Edward the robot, who was recently seen shooing the animals away from downtown Warsaw.

RELATED: Man vs. machine: Chinese robots will compete against humans in Beijing half-marathon

- YouTube

As reported by Interesting Engineering, Edward is a Chinese humanoid that operates mostly on its own. It is not controlled remotely and is described as unscripted. Therefore it reacts dynamically to its surroundings and engages in adaptive dialogue in Polish using AI.

Edward is most popular with Polish Boomers, its owners say, as they are excited to interact with a robot for the first time.

Radosław Grzelaczyk and business partner Bartosz Idzik started in cryptocurrency, but they now try to create viral videos with their robo-friend.

"Personally, the sight of this robot chasing boars does not surprise me anymore," Grzelaczyk told TVP World.

"Older ladies or gentlemen love talking with him," Grzelaczyk added. "These people are always delighted that they lived to see times in which robots move through the streets."

RELATED: China debuts 'scary' martial arts robots capable of backflips and weapons training

Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

In China, the robots have been shown to be capable of advanced feats. Last year, they competed in a half-marathon and were showcased in February performing kung-fu, gymnastics, and weapons work.

The focus during China's annual CCTV Spring Festival gala was innovation in multi-robot coordination and fault recovery, referring to a robot's ability to get up after tumbling down. China showed the robots in choreographed performances and dancing as well.

Definitive warning signs of spying from Chinese robot manufacturers exist too. Axios reported on two security researchers who reported on Unitree Robotics allegedly pre-installing a backdoor on its Go1 robot dogs that allowed for customer surveillance.

Other research warned about exploits that allowed for remote takeover of the humanoid bots, among other models.

Neither Edward nor his owners responded to Return's request for comment.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

These Apple privacy perks won't hide you from the feds



Apple offers several privacy-focused perks with its iCloud+ subscription, including an email anonymization tool called “Hide My Email.” While this feature appears to promote online anonymity by hiding subscribers’ real email addresses behind random aliases, one user found out the hard way that Apple will give users' real identities to law enforcement, especially when lobbing threats at the girlfriend of FBI Director Kash Patel.

What does ‘Hide My Email’ actually do?

If you pay for more iCloud storage outside of your free 5GB plan, you also have access to “Hide My Email.” As the name implies, this feature lets you create anonymous email addresses — known as aliases — that all forward emails back to your main iCloud account without revealing your real Apple ID or name to the receiver.

The story raises serious questions around Apple’s purported privacy policies.

This feature especially comes in handy when signing up for new online services. You get to create an account without giving your personal name or email to developers, advertisers, or marketers, ensuring they can’t target you or sell your data to their partners.

The ‘Hide My Email’ loophole

Up until now, it wasn’t clear whether or not Apple had a system in place to link anonymous addresses to their real counterparts. This case proves that such a loophole exists, even if Apple’s dedicated copy within the “Hide My Email” menu suggests otherwise.

The menu states, “Keep your personal email address private by creating unique, random addresses that forward to your personal inbox and can be deleted at any time.” That makes it sound like these aliases are completely private from everyone, not just advertisers.

Zach Laidlaw

Unfortunately, while third-party companies can’t access your real identity, Apple can trace "Hide My Email" addresses back to their original owners and share that information with law enforcement in the event of a crime.

The crime

Around February 28, a 26-year-old man named Alden Ruml allegedly sent an email to Alexis Wilkins — country singer and girlfriend of FBI Director Kash Patel — stating that he would be "happy" to see her face "canoed by an assault rifle." The address Ruml used to contact Wilkins was one of 134 aliases attached to his iCloud account. Ruml reportedly sent the email after reading that Patel deployed the FBI as a security detail for Wilkins.

RELATED: Google agrees to PAY $68 million to end this lawsuit

400tmax/Getty Images

Following the threat, the FBI issued a subpoena to Apple, requesting the user’s primary email address, resulting in the identification of Alden Ruml. If convicted, Ruml faces five years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and a hefty fine of $250,000.

A lesson for the rest of us

The story raises serious questions around Apple’s purported privacy policies. Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, has long held the position that “privacy is a fundamental human right,” and Apple has largely championed that stance through its products and services.

Case in point, there are many instances where Apple can’t acquiesce to law enforcement requests due to its stringent end-to-end encryption policies. As part of Apple’s legal process guidelines, the company states, “Apple does not receive or retain encryption keys for customers’ end-to-end encrypted data,” therefore this data is inaccessible to either access or hand over to third parties, including the government.

However, while iCloud emails themselves are encrypted, plain text email addresses — including primary Apple accounts and email aliases — are not encrypted. In this case, Apple had no choice but to comply with the FBI and turn over Ruml’s basic credentials that led to his arrest.

There are also questions about whether Ruml’s email to Wilkins is a credible threat of violence or simply a crude statement sent in poor taste. Some could see Kash Patel’s use of the FBI to arrest and charge Ruml as an overreach of power, simply because the target of the email was his girlfriend. Others may argue the charges against Ruml don’t go far enough after harassing a rising country artist. All of this, of course, will be hashed out in a court of law.

As for the rest of us, Ruml’s ill-fated email is a stark reminder that privacy is never guaranteed online, even when using products and services that promise to hide your identity.

'I wanted to thank God in public': Fighting tears, Victor Glover gives legendary speech on return to Earth



NASA's Victor Glover showed once again why he represents some of the best of what the United States has to offer.

After Glover and the Artemis II crew splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on Friday, the pilot almost broke down in tears while delivering his first remarks since returning to dry land.

'It's too big to just be in one body.'

The crew members were in Houston, Texas, following their successful lunar orbit when Glover was asked by Commander Reid Wiseman to give a few words. Glover, who has been revered for providing on-the-spot wisdom before and during the mission, was at first at a loss for words.

"I have not processed what we just did, and I'm afraid to start even trying," Glover began.

Fighting back tears, he powered through.

"When this started on April 3, I wanted to thank God in public, and I want to thank God again," he said, as he became visibly emotional. "Because even bigger than my challenge trying to describe what we went through, the gratitude of seeing what we saw, doing what we did, and being with who I was with — it's too big to just be in one body."

The audience at NASA's Johnson Space Center erupted in applause as the pilot then thanked his wife and four daughters, whom he referred to as "those five beautiful cocoa-skinned ladies."

RELATED: NASA astronaut gives very American response to DEI questioning

"I love you ... all of you," Glover continued. He then turned his attention to NASA staff and leadership.

While the leadership has changed since 2023, he remarked, "the qualities haven't. And we are fortunate to be in this agency at this time together."

Wiseman wasn't short on wisdom, either. The crew leader fought back tears of his own when he had the microphone, mostly talking about the worry and anxiety the astronauts' families had ahead of mission launch.

"This was not easy being 200,000+ miles away from home. Like, before you launch, it feels like it's the greatest dream on Earth. And when you're out there, you just want to get back to your families and your friends."

Wiseman concluded by noting how special it is to be human and how grateful he feels to be on planet Earth.

RELATED: NASA's Victor Glover shares gospel as he circles dark side of the moon: 'Love God with all that you are'

Danielle Villasana/Getty Images

Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas) took the podium soon after to thank the Artemis II crew on behalf of America. The congressman stated that the United States, as well as the world, "desperately needed this."

Cloud said the mission reminded him of Psalm 8, affirming that "even as we look to the night sky and as we look at creation, and behold the stars and the moon, we begin to think about what is mankind from God's perspective."

The Artemis II crew reached a point 252,756 miles from Earth and set a new human record for the maximum distance away from the planet.

Artemis III is set for mid-2027, while Artemis IV is targeted for early 2028 and is expected to land humans on the moon.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!