News of the Cyber World

[kyonides]

ANDROID

Angry Android users gripe about ‘severe’ battery drain after latest Google update

Android users are experiencing severe drainage in their phones after a recent update, and Google is reportedly looking into it.

“Following the rollout of the April 2026 update on Google Pixel phones, a widespread battery drain issue has hit, but the company is looking into the matter,” 9to5Google reported.

The number of users complaining about the “severe idle drain” issue has been quickly increasing on Google’s issue tracking site.

At the time of reporting, over 2500 people voted on the tracker that they’ve been impacted by the issue.

“The sheer amount of attention on this thread tells us this issue is pretty widespread,” 9to5Google wrote, noting that there were also reports of the issue on Reddit and other forums.

As of now, there is no fix, but Google has asked forum users to provide the company with more information.

“What’s more concerning is that it doesn’t seem limited to a specific device,” Android Central noted. “Users across multiple generations, from the Pixel 6 series all the way up to the Pixel 10 lineup, are reporting similar battery drain issues.”

One person said on the Issue Tracker that their “battery now no longer lasts a full day,” while another wrote that it’s happening on their phone and they “already had the battery replaced.”

“This bug has made me quite literally want to cry bc I’m kinda nomading it in the city and having my lifeline die after seriously 2 hours of continuous use is crazy,” someone else wrote.

HOME DEPOT

Home Depot says ‘bye’ to a traditional customer service feature in favor of AI

Home Depot is letting go of a traditional store feature and introducing a new customer support system.

The retailer is replacing their old-school phone menus with an AI-powered voice agent to provide support for customer calls four times faster, according to the company.

“Say ‘bye’ to the traditional phone menu,” Home Depot wrote in a news release.

Rather than waiting through a list of options, customers can now state why they’re calling in their own words to be redirected.

Home Depot noted that they’re making this change because “nobody likes being trapped in a phone menu when they have a project or job to finish.”

The new system reportedly takes less than 10 seconds for the AI agent to determine exactly why a customer is calling.

Customers will apparently reach a solution four times faster with this new AI-powered support compared to traditional phone menus.

Home Depot noted that the system is grounded in The Home Depot’s product catalog and proprietary knowledge.

Using customers’ project descriptions, the AI voice agent will be able to build a ready-to-buy digital shopping cart based on real-time inventory with all the necessary items they would need for their project.

The system can initiate service requests, text product links to pre-filled cars and help complete purchases over the phone.

The agent is trained to resolve common inquiries from start to finish, such as checking an order status, confirming product availability and providing store information. It also provides real-time translations for multilingual support.

META

Meta to ax 8,000 jobs as Zuckerberg doubles down on AI and white-collar bloodbath picks up

Mark Zuckerberg-led Meta has confirmed it plans to slash about 8,000 jobs — roughly 10% of its workforce — informing employees of the sweeping cuts on Thursday.

The Facebook parent disclosed the layoffs in a staff memo, signaling that the company is moving ahead with a massive workforce reduction as it pours billions into artificial intelligence.

The cuts were expected to take effect May 20, with another 6,000 open roles that Meta previously planned to fill getting eliminated.

“I know this is unwelcome news and confirming this puts everyone in an uneasy state, but we feel this is the best path forward, given the circumstances,” Chief People Officer Janelle Gale wrote in the memo obtained by Bloomberg News.

Gale said the layoffs are part of an effort to “run the company more efficiently” while offsetting the heavy investments Meta is making in AI.

Meta said affected employees will receive severance that includes at least 16 weeks of base pay plus an additional two weeks for every year of service, along with extended health coverage and career support as they exit the company.

The Post has sought comment from Meta.

The announcement confirms earlier reporting that the tech giant was preparing deep cuts as it reshapes its business around next-generation computing and automation.

Meta had nearly 79,000 employees at the start of the year, and the latest reductions rank among the biggest in the company’s history.

The tech giant already trimmed headcount in recent months, including layoffs in its Reality Labs division and cuts targeting lower-performing staff.

Zuckerberg has been ramping up spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure, including data centers, servers and advanced models designed to compete with rivals.

Meta workers outraged over internal software tracking keystrokes, mouse movements: ‘How do we opt out?’

Meta employees are fuming over a new internal tool that tracks their clicks and keystrokes — the latest flashpoint in the company’s all-in push on artificial intelligence.

Staffers reacted with alarm after learning the software would monitor mouse movements, typing and on-screen activity to help train Meta’s AI systems, according to internal communications viewed by Business Insider.

One employee wrote, “This makes me super uncomfortable. How do we opt out?” — a comment that quickly became the top response, as others flooded the thread with angry reactions, including a wave of “angry face” emojis.

Employees were reacting to a new internal program first reported by Reuters, which said Meta would train its AI systems by analyzing keystrokes and mouse movements on workers’ computers.

Executives told workers there would be no option to opt out on company-issued devices, while Meta said the program includes safeguards and is limited to work-related applications.

The backlash comes as Meta ramps up a sweeping — and costly — overhaul of its AI strategy, pouring billions into infrastructure, talent and new products in a bid to catch up with rivals like OpenAI and Google.

Meta is also reported to be on the verge of slashing its workforce, with the company planning to cut about 10% of its global staff — or roughly 8,000 workers — starting May 20 and potentially more later this year as it pivots toward AI-driven roles.

The layoffs are part of a broader effort to reshape the company around artificial intelligence, with executives pushing to automate tasks previously handled by human workers, according to Reuters.

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta tried to delay posting bond for $4.2M damages in landmark teen addiction case

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta tried to delay posting bond for millions of dollars in damages after it was found liable for teen social media addiction in a landmark California court verdict last month, according to legal documents reviewed by The Post.

In what experts called a “Big Tobacco” moment for social media, a California state jury ordered Meta and Google to pay a combined $6 million in damages to a woman identified as KGM, who alleged Instagram and YouTube fueled her downward spiral of anxiety and depression. 

Meta, which boasts a staggering $1.7 trillion market capitalization, nevertheless asked the court for a free pass on the payment — arguing it shouldn’t have to put up a bond for the full amount while it fights the ruling with post-trial motions, according to an April 7 filing.

Judge Carolyn Kuhl rejected Meta’s request “given the size of the judgment and the substantial financial resources of defendants,” according to court papers. Zuckerberg’s massive war chest was boosted by more than $200 billion in revenue in fiscal 2025 alone.

Meta’s chastised legal team submitted a bond covering the full amount two days later on April 9, just one day before a court-ordered deadline.

“Dragging out this process is just another way for Meta to inflict pain on a brave young woman who stood up to one of the most powerful companies in the history of the world,” said Sacha Haworth, executive director of the Tech Oversight Project.

A Meta spokesperson said the company’s filings “were standard procedural discussions around timing.”

“Once a deadline was set, Meta promptly posted the bond,” the spokesperson told The Post.

It’s possible that Meta’s attempt to delay posting bond was a “trial balloon” to gauge whether the judge was sympathetic to its position, according to David Levine, a professor at UC San Francisco Law School.

TESLA

Tesla’s Cybercab robotaxi has entered production, Elon Musk says

Elon Musk confirmed that Tesla has “started production” of its self-driving Cybercab – a long-promised project that the billionaire has billed as key to the company’s long-term turnaround.

Splashy promotional videos that Musk and Tesla shared Thursday on X showed the robotaxi, which doesn’t have a steering wheel or pedals, drive itself off the factory floor at the company’s Gigafactory in Austin, Texas.

“Purpose-built for autonomy,” Tesla captioned the video. “Cybercab in production now at Giga Texas.”

Another video posted by Tesla showed several Cybercabs “in formation” as they took an off-ramp on a highway.


Shares of Tesla were flat in Friday trading. The stock is down about 14% since the start of the year.

Musk has placed a major bet on transforming Tesla, which has struggled with sagging sales of its electric cars, into a broader tech firm focused on artificial intelligence and robotics. Aside from its self-driving cabs, Musk has touted plans to build huge numbers of the humanoid robot called Optimus in the future.

During the company’s first-quarter earnings call, Musk warned investors that Tesla would report “significant increase in capital expenditures” in the future as it ramps up production and investment in its futuristic projects.

INFLUENCER MURDERED

Influencer dead after ‘X-Factor’ star allegedly mowed her down outside of nightclub

Beauty influencer Klaudia Glam, who was allegedly mowed down by a former “X-Factor” star in front of a London nightclub during a heated clash, has died.

The UK-based model, whose real name is Klaudia Zakrzewska, was critically injured in a deadly clash with Gabrielle Carrington in the early morning hours of April 19 in London’s Soho neighborhood, authorities said.

Hard-to-watch video of the vicious fight shows Carrington, 29, get into the driver’s seat of her black Mercedes and flooring it into Zakrzewska.

The footage appeared to show Carrington then reversing the vehicle — revealing Zakrewska lying seemingly lifeless on the curb.

Carrington also hit a 58-year-old man, who was seriously injured, and Latisha Armstrong, who is in her 30s and sustained minor injuries.

Zakrewska was hospitalized for a week but died Saturday, according to Metropolitan Police. She was 32.

“We would like to express our deepest sympathies to Klaudia’s family and friends in light of this tragic update. Our thoughts are also with everyone impacted by this incident,” the department said.

They also said that 58-year-old man who was hit suffered “life-changing injuries.”

Carrington was initially hit with a slew of charges including attempted murder, grievous bodily harm with intent, actual bodily harm, dangerous driving and drunk driving.

Charges will now be upgraded to include murder, police said.

XBOX GAME PASS

Xbox Game Pass gets price cut but won’t include new ‘Call of Duty’ games

Microsoft has dropped the price of its video game subscription service and the platform will not include future “Call of Duty” game releases on launch day, the company said Tuesday, in the first major strategy shift under new gaming boss Asha Sharma.

Starting Tuesday, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will now cost $22.99 a month from $29.99 while PC Game Pass is priced at $13.99 from $16.49 monthly, the software firm said in a blog.

After years of betting that subscription services and cloud gaming would become the next big driver for the Xbox brand, consistent Game Pass price hikes, declining console sales and a lack of compelling titles left Microsoft trailing rivals Sony and Nintendo.

Removing launch inclusions of “Call of Duty” from the service means undoing a decision made just a few years ago after Microsoft bought the game’s developer Activision Blizzard for a mammoth $69 billion, hoping that the game’s heft would attract users to Game Pass.

New “Call of Duty” games will be added to Game Pass services around a year after their release, the company said.

Prevailing uncertainty around the future of the Xbox was exacerbated with the exits of Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond in a leadership shake-up in February, leading to Microsoft insider Sharma taking up the top role to steer the company’s gaming division.

CLAUDE MYTHOS

Outsiders breached Anthropic’s Claude Mythos same day ‘potentially dangerous’ AI model was revealed: report

A handful of users managed to gain unauthorized access to Anthropic’s Claude Mythos – the model the company claims to be so dangerous that it would cause a wave of devastating cyberattacks if made available to the public.

The breach occurred on April 8 – the same day that Anthropic and its CEO Dario Amodei revealed that Mythos was only available to about 40 handpicked corporate clients as part of “Project Glasswing.”

Anthropic said Mythos had found major cybersecurity flaws in “every major operating system and web browser” during internal testing.

The unauthorized users belong to a private online forum dedicated to cracking unreleased AI models on Discord, a popular messaging app.

Since gaining access, they have been using Mythos “regularly” but not for cybersecurity purposes, according to Bloomberg, which obtained screenshots and was shown a live demonstration of the users accessing the model.

The sleuths broke into Mythos through a variety of tactics, including by guessing the model’s online address based on the naming conventions Anthropic has used in previous model releases, the report said.

One of the unauthorized users reportedly had some level of access to Anthropic’s systems due to working as a third-party contractor for the firm.

“We’re investigating a report claiming unauthorized access to Claude Mythos Preview through one of our third-party vendor environments,” an Anthropic spokesperson said in a statement.

The company added that it has no evidence the group’s unauthorized access had expanded beyond the third-party vendor’s environment or impacted any of its other systems.

One person in the Discord group – members of which were not named – told Bloomberg that they want to test new models rather than use them to cause chaos.

Still, the incident raises concerns about the extent of Anthropic’s ability to maintain oversight of a tool that they claim could be used to wreak havoc on critical infrastructure like electric grids, power plants and hospitals if it fell into the wrong hands.

Earlier this month, AI safety researcher Roman Yampolskiy told The Post that some “leakage” of the model was inevitable despite Anthropic’s attempts to restrict access.

MICROSOFT

Microsoft offers voluntary employee buyouts for first time as it ramps up AI spending

Microsoft is planning its first voluntary employee buyout in the Windows maker’s 51-year history, CNBC reported Thursday, citing a memo.

Like other US tech giants, Microsoft has been spending aggressively on artificial intelligence. But adoption of one of its flagship AI services, the 365 Copilot, has reached just slightly over 3% of its total 450 million 365 customers.

The one-time retirement program will be open to US workers at the senior director level and below, with a combined age and years of employment of 70 or more, CNBC reported.

“Our hope is that this program gives those eligible the choice to take that next step on their own terms, with generous company support,” Amy Coleman, Microsoft’s executive vice president and chief people officer, wrote in the memo viewed by CNBC.

The company is changing how it distributes stock to employees for annual rewards and managers will no longer be required to tie stock directly to cash bonuses, CNBC said. Microsoft is also simplifying the manager review process, reducing pay options from nine to five.

Microsoft declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.

Slowing cloud unit growth and investor concern over its heavy reliance on OpenAI have made Microsoft one of the worst-performing Big Tech stocks this year, with its shares tumbling nearly 24% from January to March – the biggest quarterly drop since 2008.

The company in March unified the commercial and consumer versions of Copilot in a restructuring that now has Mustafa Suleyman, an industry veteran and Microsoft’s AI chief, focusing solely on building new AI models – an area where analysts say the software giant has lagged its rivals.

BLUE ORIGIN

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin blasts customer’s satellite into wrong place

Jeff Bezos’ space tech company Blue Origin placed a customer’s satellite in the wrong orbit on Sunday, sending that firm’s stock tumbling Monday.

Shares of Nasdaq-listed AST SpaceMobile fell nearly 12% in premarket trading and were down roughly 8% from Friday’s close as of mid-day Monday.

Blue Origin launched the “BlueBird 7” satellite from its Cape Canaveral, Fla., area site aboard its New Glenn rocket — but the satellite wasn’t hurled high enough, according to AST SpaceMobile.

“BlueBird 7 was placed into a lower than planned orbit by the upper stage of the launch vehicle,” the company said in a statement. “While the satellite separated from the launch vehicle and powered on, the altitude is too low to sustain operations with its on-board thruster technology and will de-orbited.”

De-orbiting is a term of art referring to taking a satellite out of orbit and letting it burn up in the atmosphere or fall to the ground, according to NASA.

Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said in a Monday post on X that his company “clearly didn’t deliver the mission our customer wanted” and one of the rockets’ engines “didn’t produce sufficient thrust to reach our target orbit. Blue Origin is leading the anomaly investigation with [Federal Aviation Administration] oversight to learn from the data and implement the improvements needed to quickly return to flight operations.”

Blue Origin said on X: “The payload was placed into an off-nominal orbit. We are currently assessing and will update when we have more detailed information.” The company hasn’t released further information.

AST SpaceMobile didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The satellite would have offered space-based cellular broadband for smartphones, designed for both commercial and government applications.

The mishap marked an apparent blow to Bezos’ ambitions to catch up to Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket business. Blue Origin has been working to ramp up flights with its New Glenn rocket and work through a backlog of flights.