News of the Cyber World

[kyonides]

NYC eyes system using net-firing drones to entangle and take down ‘hostile’ drones

The NYPD plans to cast a wide net when it comes to protecting the Big Apple against nefarious drone operators.

The city is in talks with Maryland-based American Robotics to buy technology that can detect, track and intercept “hostile drones,” Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Kaz Daughtry told The Post.

The company has developed a portable station that can launch two or three 8-pound drones capable of intercepting a suspect drone in midair — then fire a lightweight mesh net at the invasive drone, entangling its rotors and preventing it from flying.

A parachute then activates to bring the enemy drone down safely to the ground.

The drone launchers can be used along parade routes or other large events, he said.

“They have a counter-drone detection system where it will detect a hostile drone,” said Daughtry, a former NYPD detective. “The net will go around the drone and it will safely land.”

Daughtry, who directs the city’s fleet of 150 drones, has been in talks with the company about using its Iron Drone Raider System and hopes to have a deal soon, he said.

“We could station it anywhere throughout the city,” Daughtry said.

The system, which uses eight-pound racer drones, costs less than $200,000, American Robotics CEO Eric Brock said.

“Ground radar would detect something that’s unidentified,” Brock said, explaining that the person in charge of the drone would then press a button to activate it. “Once we locate the drone we track it and hunt it.”

His company shows off the tech in a dramatic video on YouTube.

Brock said he couldn’t identify the company’s current clients because of security issues, but said they have been working with the UAE in the Middle East.
Similar tech — minus the parachute — has been used by the Ukrainians to take down Russian drones.

Germany asks Apple, Google to block Chinese AI firm DeepSeek from app stores over ‘unlawful’ data transfer

A top regulator in Germany asked Google and Apple on Friday to remove Chinese AI startup DeepSeek from their app stores in their country due to data privacy concerns.

Meike Kamp, Germany’s data protection commissioner, said in a statement that DeepSeek’s transfer of German user data to servers based in China was “unlawful.”

“DeepSeek has not been able to provide my agency with convincing evidence that German users’ data is protected in China to a level equivalent to that in the European Union,” Kamp said in a statement.
“Chinese authorities have far-reaching access rights to personal data within the sphere of influence of Chinese companies,” she added.

Kamp advised the two Big Tech giants to review her request promptly and decide whether to ban the DeepSeek app, though her office did not set a deadline. She noted that DeepSeek had not complied with requests to meet the European Union’s data privacy standards.
Representatives for Apple and Google did not immediately return a request for comment.

DeepSeek exploded onto the scene in January and briefly caused a major tech stock selloff after it released an AI model that it claimed to have trained at a fraction of the cost of rivals like OpenAI’s ChatGPT – and without access to the most advanced computer chips.

As The Post has reported, DeepSeek’s own terms of service disclose that user data is stored “in secure servers located in the People’s Republic of China” – posing the same national security risk that led Congress to crack down on ByteDance-owned TikTok.

The company also says it automatically collects data on personal information such as “device model, operating system, keystroke patterns or rhythms, IP address, and system language.”

Chinese customers snapping up this Tesla rival’s new SUV in bad sign for Elon Musk

Exceptionally strong initial orders for Xiaomi’s YU7 electric sport utility vehicle sent shares in the automotive newcomer to a record high on Friday and fanned speculation that Tesla may have to cut prices to fight back.

In the first 18 hours after the YU7 went on sale, Xiaomi received some 240,000 orders that it considers locked in, with buyers having paid either a hefty deposit for ready-to-deliver cars or a smaller deposit for cars still to be made.

The smartphone and appliance maker made a huge splash in China’s electric vehicle market with the launch of its first vehicle, the SU7 sedan, in March last year. The car has outsold Tesla’s Model 3 in China on a monthly basis since December and has even earned a rave review from Ford CEO Jim Farley.

The YU7 is only its second model and priced from 253,500 yuan ($35,360), it undercuts Tesla’s Model Y by nearly 4%. That will likely lead to more market share loss for the US automaker, analysts said.

At one Xiaomi car showroom in Beijing, dozens of people were gathered around the YU7.

Otto Shi, a 26-year-old Tesla Model Y owner who works in finance, said he was considering getting a YU7 for his father who currently drives a Mercedes-Benz.

“We could take turns to drive the Model Y and YU7,” he said, adding that he was impressed by Xiaomi’s prowess in supply chains and the SU7’s success had made him believe Xiaomi is the ideal Chinese brand to switch to.

Xiaomi’s shares shot 8% higher in early trade to an all-time high but later pared gains to close up 3.6%. They have risen by more than 70% so far this year to value the company at roughly $190 billion, making it the best performing large-cap stock in Asia Pacific, according to LSEG data.

What can Tesla do?

As domestic rivals increasingly win over Chinese consumers with snazzy new features, Tesla’s share of the Chinese EV market has fallen from a peak of 15% in 2020 to 10% last year and then again to 7.6% for the first five months of 2025.

Citi analysts said in a note to clients that it may have to cut prices further, offer its “Full Self-Driving” (FSD) driver assistance software for free and offer more financing incentives if it is to compete successfully with Xiaomi.

Tesla, which counts China as its biggest market according to first-quarter sales numbers, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Last year, China accounted for roughly a fifth of its revenue.

Trump says he has group of ‘very wealthy people’ to buy TikTok, predicts China will approve deal

President Trump said in a Fox News interview broadcast on Sunday that he had found a buyer for the TikTok short-video app, which he described as a group of “very wealthy people” whose identities he will reveal in about two weeks.

Trump made the remarks in an interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo” program.

He said the deal he is developing would probably need China’s approval to move forward and he predicted Chinese President Xi Jinping would likely approve it.

The president earlier this month had extended to September 17 a deadline for China-based ByteDance to divest the US assets of TikTok despite a law that mandated a sale or shutdown without significant progress.

A deal had been in the works this spring that would have spun off TikTok’s US operations into a new US-based firm, majority-owned and operated by US investors, but it was put on hold after China indicated it would not approve it following Trump’s announcements of steep tariffs on Chinese goods.

“We have a buyer for TikTok, by the way,” Trump said. “I think I’ll need probably China’s approval. I think President Xi will probably do it.”

A 2024 US law required TikTok to stop operating by January 19 unless ByteDance had completed divesting the app’s U.S. assets or demonstrated significant progress toward a sale.

Trump, who credits the app with boosting his support among young voters in last November’s presidential election, has extended the deadline three times.