Despite rising costs and softening profits, 92% of New Zealand`s SMEs remain confident in their business outlook over the next year and five years ahead. Read...

Monty Knight was a well-known wine-maker and local politician, inducted into the Northland Business Hall of Fame in 2010. Read...

Monty Knight was a well-known wine-maker and local politician, inducted into the Northland Business Hall of Fame in 2010. Read...

TL;DR: For $74.97 (MSRP $540), get a lifetime subscription to a 1minAI Advanced Business Plan, an all-in-one platform that uses multiple top AI models. You know ChatGPT, Gemini, and all the usual heavy-hitters — but you’ve probably missed the newcomer quickly climbing the ranks. Its secret? 1minAI bundles all those major AI models into one platform with zero subscription fees, and it’s surprisingly beginner-friendly. Get permanent access to an Advanced Business Plan on sale for $74.97 for a limited time. So, you need to generate articles for work? (We won’t tell). Use 1minAI’s preset tool and select a tone, length, number of sections, and keywords, then describe your desired content. This is where you can also select your preferred AI model like GPT-4o, Gemini 1.5 Pro, or Claude 3.5 Sonnet, among others. There are also AI tools for images, documents, audio, video, and code. 1minAI works on a credit system. You trade credits for AI-generated content, but unless you’re generating full books daily, you’re probably not going to run into any walls. Your lifetime subscription gives you 4,000,000 credits every month. That means you can generate something like 1,100,000 words or 1,100 images each month (depending on the exact models used). And just by logging in, you can get an extra 450,000 credits every month. Get lifetime access to this all-in-one AI tool for $74.97 (MSRP $540) for a limited time. No coupon is needed. 1min.AI Advanced Business Plan Lifetime SubscriptionSee Deal StackSocial prices subject to change. Read...

A business owner has refused a council’s offer of a refund, determined to fight for other companies caught out by a digital change. Read...

Back in February 2025, several media outlets warned of a new threat targeting users of Google’s Gmail email service. Attackers used AI technology to perfect phishing emails and make them look more convincing. To do this, the AI collected freely available data from social networks, websites, and online forums on the internet and used this information to formulate a deceptively genuine-looking email that pretended to come from an acquaintance, family member, or superior. What’s more, to ensure that the message actually looked deceptively genuine, the AI also generated suitable domains as senders for the emails. The scam was dubbed “Deepphish”—a portmanteau of the terms deep learning and phishing. Even if the report mentioned at the beginning raises some questions—such as why Gmail users in particular were affected by the Deepphish attack—it nevertheless highlights a development that experts had been expecting for some time: criminal groups are increasingly using AI tools to perfect their attacks. Domains created with AI One of the weak points of conventional phishing attacks has always been the sender address. Most phishing emails can be easily identified by the sender . For example, a message from a streaming service such as Netflix or Disney with an address like andy@brandbot.com is almost certainly a fake—no matter how perfect the rest of the presentation may be. In the AI-supported variant of a phishing attack, on the other hand, new types of algorithms are used that generate a sender address with a matching URL that is adapted to the text of the email. A research group led by Alejandro Correa Bahnsen at the US company Cyxtera Technologies, an operator of data centers, investigated how effective these algorithms can be. They developed an algorithm called Deepphish, which was trained to suggest suitable URLs for phishing attacks. To do this, they fed a neural network with more than one million URLs that had been set up for phishing via email in the past and used them to train their algorithm. In doing so, they specified two different profiles for the actors behind the phishing attack. Phishing emails can often be recognized by the sender addresses. If, as in this case, a message purporting to be from Disney comes from andy@ brandbot.com, something is wrong.Foundry With the AI-generated addresses, they achieved an increase in attack efficiency from 0.69 to 20.9 percent for one profile and from 4.91 to 36.28 percent for the other. They published their results in a stud you can find here. While Deepphish originally only referred to the algorithm developed at Cyxtera, it’s now used in most cases for AI-supported phishing attacks in general. How a Deepphish attack works Deepphish attacks follow a standardized pattern. The first step is to research the target’s social environment: Where does she live? Where does she work? What are the names of their family members? What are their friends’ names? What are the names of their colleagues and superiors? What are their email addresses, how close are they to the target person? The AI uses social networks and online forums as sources, as well as data published by hackers from intrusions into company networks and websites. The more data collected in this way, the more precisely the phishing email can be tailored to the victim. In a study, employees at Cyxtera investigated how the success rate of phishing emails can be increased by selecting an AI-generated sender address. Foundry The next step is to register a suitable domain and generate a sender address using an algorithm such as Deepphish. The AI then writes the text of the email. Using the information collected, it generates a suitable subject line, a salutation tailored to the recipient and content that is worded correctly and could actually have been written by the supposed sender. Due to the precise personalization, the message appears considerably more credible than a standard phishing email. But what do the criminals want to achieve with their deepphish attacks? They want to inspire so much confidence with their forgeries that the recipient is prepared to click on a file attachment or an embedded link. Everything else happens automatically: the file attachment then usually downloads and installs malware. The link, on the other hand, leads to another fake website that requests credit card details or login information for a streaming service, for example. AI-supported phishing emails However, the Deepphish algorithm is just the beginning. There is now a whole range of tools that do all the work for criminals when formulating phishing messages. The programs are called FraudGPT, WormGPT, or GhostGPT. They formulate phishing emails that are targeted at individuals or specific companies. For example, the user can instruct these programs to generate a Netflix-style email with a request to enter account details on a fake website. Or they can have questions answered such as “How do I hack a Wi-Fi password?”. Or they can instruct the AI to program a software keylogger that forwards all keystrokes on a computer to a server address via the internet. Hacking tools such as WormGPT use AI to generate convincing-looking and well-formulated phishing emails. In most cases, they target specific individuals or companies. Foundry ChatGPT and other Large Language Models (LLMs) have in-built filters so that they do not respond to such requests. As ChatGPT does not disclose its code, there is nothing that can be done about this. However, it is possible to use instructions from the darknet to confuse LLMs such as ChatGPT via certain prompt sequences so that they are then prepared to disregard their in-built filters. At the same time, some criminal groups have switched to LLMs from the open source scene and removed the corresponding filters. AI generates malware The Stopwatch AI website demonstrates just how far the possibilities of AI-generated malware already go. It shows how AI can be used in three simple steps to program malware that specifically undermines the protective shield of the major antivirus tools. In the first step, called “Choose Platform”, you select the operating system of the computer you want to attack. You can choose from Mac, Windows, Linux, AWS (Amazon Web Services, Amazon’s cloud service), Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure, Microsoft’s professional cloud service. The Stopwatch AI website demonstrates how malware can be programmed in a few simple steps with the help of AI tools. The first step is to select the operating system to be attacked. Foundry The second step is called “Choose Defence” and offers nine antivirus tools, including Microsoft Defender, Eset Endpoint Protection Advanced, McAfee Endpoint Security, Symantec Endpoint Security, and Kaspersky Endpoint Security for Business. In the second step, Stopwatch AI users select the antivirus program whose weaknesses they want to exploit with their malware attack. Microsoft Defender is also listed here.Foundry In the third step, “Choose Attack”, you specify the type of virus you want to create. The selection ranges from adware and spyware to ransomware and keylogging through to data exfiltration, i.e. data theft. Stopwatch AI offers ten different types of malware, from keyloggers to ransomware. The user must register in order to implement the selected malware. Foundry After clicking on a form of attack, Stopwatch AI asks for log-in details. It is possible to register with the site using a Google, Github, or Microsoft account. As soon as registration is complete, the AI starts programming the desired malware. In order to use the site, the user must agree to the terms of use, which exclude attacks against other systems. This is because Stopwatch AI is only intended for studying malware development with AI. Critically, all projects are assigned to the respective user and saved. How to recognize AI-generated phishing emails Always take a look at the sender address of incoming emails and consider whether it is plausible. Also look out for the following features: Become wary of emails from people you are not normally in contact with or have not heard from in a while. This is especially true if these messages contain unusual requests or enquiries. Hover your mouse over any links and check where they lead to. If the address does not match the sender of the email or the text of the message, it is often a scam. No bank, streaming service, or public authority ever asks for your password or wants to know your account details via email. Be suspicious of emails that put you under time pressure or claim a high level of urgency. Tricking antivirus tools with AI Every antivirus program downloads the latest virus definitions from the manufacturer’s server at least once a day. They describe the characteristics of the new malware variants discovered in the last few hours so that the software on the user’s computer can reliably detect the malware. However, this protective shield has become increasingly fragile. The reason: virus construction kits that allow hobby programmers to create functioning malware even without AI have been circulating on the darknet for decades—but not only there. Many of these malware programs are simply minimally modified variants of already known viruses. The author often only has to change the signature for his malware to be counted as a new virus. This is the only way to explain why antivirus manufacturers report 560,000 new malware programs every day. In the age of AI, the production of malware variants has taken on a new quality. This is because security manufacturers had taught their antivirus programs to recognize and isolate the variants of already known malware. With AI support, it’s now possible to manipulate existing malware in a targeted manner so that it is no longer recognized by the virus watchdogs. The tool manufacturer Acronis demonstrated this in a presentation using a malware sample that it had uploaded to Google’s detection service Virustotal. While it was initially recognized as malware by nine of the antivirus programs used there, only one virus guard was able to identify the malware as such after it had been reworked by Grok3’s AI. When the researchers had the sample code processed by Gemini 2.0 Flash and Deepseek R1, the virus was no longer detected by any of the programs at Virustotal. Depending on which AI software is used, the hacker can manipulate existing malware in such a way that it remains almost or even completely undetected by Virustotal. Foundry Nevertheless, the heuristic and behavior-based methods of antivirus programs also work with malware whose code has been modified with the help of AI. Email spoofing The falsification of email addresses, known as email spoofing, hardly occurs any more. Since 2014, the SPF, DKIM and DMARC authentication methods have gradually been defined as standards and subsequently implemented by email providers. Since then, it is no longer possible to falsify the domain information in an email address. For an address such as “magazine@pcworld.com”, for example, the domain is pcworld.com. If the aforementioned authentication procedures are deactivated by a provider, these mails are normally sorted out as spam by the recipient. Spoofing attempts still exist, however. The sender’s name can be changed in many e-mail clients, for example in classic Outlook via File -> Account settings -> Account settings -> Change -> Your name. However, this does not affect the email address. In the case of hacker attacks, the reply address is sometimes changed at the same point. In this way, all replies to the emails sent are sent to the hacker’s address. Another trick is to use a similar-looking domain, such as “magazine@pcworlde.com“. Read...

Welcome to The Full Nerd newsletter—your weekly dose of hardware talk from the enthusiasts at PCWorld. Missed the surprising topics on our YouTube show or latest news from across the web? You’re in the right place. Want this newsletter to come directly to your inbox? Sign up on our website!  Well. I checked outside my window when news broke of a Steam Machine 2.0—no pigs. So with a bit of circular logic, I’ll say that Will shouldn’t have doubted the return of Valve’s living room gaming console. It is true that the first Steam Machine didn’t take. The world largely regarded it as a curiosity. Valve’s hardware partners and their subdued marketing didn’t do much to help that perception. No one knew what to make of a thing not quite a PC or console, with less ability to play games. I’ve seen this initial attempt called a “failure,” most recently by IGN in its news writeup of this reborn Steam Machine. But Valve held on for a long while—it gave the attempt several years. To me, its eventual withdrawal from the hardware market always suggested a retrenching, rather than abandonment. And wow, what a comeback. The new Steam Machine straddles the line between PC and console gaming so much more effectively. It looks more like a console, for starters. I would expect to see it in a living room in a media center next to a PlayStation 5 or Nintendo Switch. (I mean, you could mistake it for an Xbox Series X’s half-pint sibling.) Simultaneously, its specs punch like a respectible budget gaming PC. Inside will be a semi-custom configuration of an AMD Zen 4 six-core, 12-thread CPU with a 30W TDP, AMD RDNA3 110W TDP GPU with 28 compute units and a 110W TDP, 8GB GDDR6 VRAM, and 16GB DDR5 memory. The storage and memory will be upgradable, too. For the first time, I think the PC may be poised to grab a hefty chunk of console gamers. I am a sucker for swappable face plates on consoles. I don’t care what Valve has said in interviews about only focusing on PC gaming; this absolutely feels like a play for my console gamer heart.Valve Much has changed since 2014. Linux gaming support improved, in large part thanks to Valve’s work on Proton. Upscaling tech has progressed in leaps and bounds. The Covid pandemic put PC building and PC gaming on more radars. And Valve established with the Steam Deck that it can build excellent hardware. (Which conveniently serves as a showcase for said Proton development.) And—somewhat crucially—two major console players shifted their behavior. Sony started to release its games on PC. And Microsoft began pushing hardware further into the background for its Xbox brand. I consider myself an Xbox fan. I own multiple generations and even multiple variations of Xbox consoles. I love the Xbox 360 and Xbox One controllers, as I’ve mentioned many times on TFN. And yes, full disclosure, I still hold deep gratitude in my heart for its place in my career. But I don’t play Overwatch 2 on my console. I play it on a PC. In fact, I’ve done most of my gaming on PC since the pandemic—and so have many of my friends. Tougher economic times and hardware scarcity forced us to be more pragmatic about where and how we play our games. And I don’t think we’re unusual. So even if this second run at a Steam Machine ends up priced more than a typical console when it launches in early 2026, I don’t think it will fail. Even if it remains the plaything of enthusiasts and people with disposable income, I don’t think it will fail at all. I never touched the original Steam Controller again after trying it. But I’m eager to give this second-gen version a shot. (Who am I?)Valve Because as excited as I am about its hardware, this Steam Machine’s existence could spark a PC takeover of console gaming. I believe the new Steam Machine will serve the same purpose as the Steam Deck. Not to win people over directly, but to make people pay attention to the software that powers it. Software that could easily power a PC you already own—or build yourself. If the Steam Machine can prove that it’s feasible to treat a PC like a console (truly!), then the launch of SteamOS for anyone to install could easily pave the way for the PC to pull in console gamers who no longer care what hardware they play on. I think with painful rising costs of memory and storage, that could happen faster than we all assume. So it makes sense to me that the Steam Machine is back. Its time has finally come. In this episode of The Full Nerd In this episode of The Full Nerd, Adam Patrick Murray, Will Smith, and two special guests—Steve Burke of Gamers Nexus and Sean Hollister of The Verge—hash out the nitty-gritty of Valve’s major hardware announcements. Talk about a cornucopia of Linux-based gaming, just in time for Thanksgiving. Valve teased three new releases for early 2026: a new Steam Machine, Steam Controller, and VR headset (Steam Frame). Both Steve and Sean got up close with the new hardware, and they drop multiple juicy details during the hour-plus of chatting. You want to know the real specs, like the rough street equivalent of the semi-custom CPU and how the upscaling to 4K works out? They talk about it. (My favorite tidbit: The Steam Controller’s built-in lithium battery is user replaceable. I’m team Xbox controller in part because I like the flexibility of swapping rechargeable AA batteries on the fly.) But that’s not all! Even after our guests had to go, Adam and Will go on to discuss AMD’s continuing success with Ryzen and PCWorld’s Best of 2025 picks for hardware and software. Yeah, a lot has happened in November already. Willis Lai / Foundry Missed our live show? Subscribe now to The Full Nerd Network YouTube channel, and activate notifications. We also answer viewer questions in real-time! Don’t miss out on our NEW shows too—you can catch episodes of Dual Boot Diaries and The Full Nerd: Extra Edition now! And if you need more hardware talk during the rest of the week, come join our Discord community—it’s full of cool, laid-back nerds. This week’s big nerd news Valve’s announcement dominated this week—though in fairness, the new Steam Machine represents a huge potential paradigm shift, as Brad commented in a staff chat. But it wasn’t the only thing for us hardware enthusiasts to chew on. AMD confirmed Zen 7 chips and a glimpse at its roadmap for desktop graphics and NPUs, and memory makers seem eager to hike their contracts by an eye-watering amount. I’m starting to feel some emotional whiplash. Also, I literally checked the calendar when I read about the Apple iPhone Pocket. No word on a Steam Deck 2 yet.Chris Hoffman / Foundry AMD confirms Zen 7 CPU plans: In the same presentation to financial analysts, Dr. Lisa Su said that Ryzen holds over 50 percent of the desktop CPU channel. How times have changed. Sorry, Adam: Valve won’t be releasing a Steam Deck 2 any time soon. Memory makers will only modestly increase production capacity for 2026: Painful for consumers, but understandable from a business perspective. No one wants to be left holding the bag for expensive investments if (when) the AI bubble pops and demand collapses. Also understandable, but made me sigh: SanDisk reportedly is raising its NAND flash memory contract pricing by 50 percent. And it seems to have kicked off similar consideration in rival module makers. Man, 2026 is going to be a ride. This is why we use Firefox: Thwarting digital fingerprinting? Yes, please. (I wish more people would take privacy seriously, but I’m literally in the minority on this one. Both in terms of my preferred browser of choice, and this stance.) I’ve wanted a Windows “professional mode” for YEARS: Microsoft won’t change its course, but it was vindicating to hear a former Windows dev voice what I’ve grumbled about since Windows XP launched. Yeah, this isn’t hardware news per se, but a sock with a strap for $150? $230? I … just… what?Apple What is fair use? I found the comments on this Ars Technica article more fascinating than the write-up itself, because of how strong the viewpoint seems slanted toward a U.S. take on fair use. What’s your country like? Wow, this isn’t a joke: Apple is selling a knitted sling for iPhones. Starting at $150. Topping out at $230. I had to double-check I hadn’t time-warped to April 1. (I guess this is good news for Etsy sellers who miss making iPod socks.) Speaking of Sony and PC gaming support: This tantalizing rumor about a counter to Xbox’s “Play Anywhere” feature would make it even easier to become platform agnostic. First the em dash, now good manners: Look, I’m no fan of AI bots, but there’s depressing irony in the idea that you have to look for toxicity to find real humans online. I miss the glory days of WordPerfect 6.1: Y’all probably already tinker with DOS emulators regularly. Normal people use them for games. Me, when I saw our site’s latest how-to guide on emulation? I immediately thought of my favorite word processing software. (Yeah, I know I’m weird.) I think I used to lug around a CRT TV this weight: Compaq. That’s a name that brings me back. Maybe not quite this far—but I still had a deep wave of nostalgia thinking back to IBM clones. Speaking of console gaming—the Analogue3D will finally begin shipping on November 18. (Whoa.) With all the tariffs and the nearly year-long delay, I didn’t think I’d ever get mine. You’ll find me reliving my best younger years with a replay of The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask (in high resolution!) as soon as I set up the console in my living room. Yeah, I could emulate it on PC (and I have), but that’s the beauty of being platform agnostic. Catch you all next week! ~Alaina This newsletter is dedicated to the memory of Gordon Mah Ung, founder and host of The Full Nerd, and executive editor of hardware at PCWorld. Read...

Swiss ministers have had `very positive` talks in Washington, but a private business visit to the Oval Office may have made all the difference. Read...

The Budget somehow has to provide certainty, boost consumer and business confidence, and fill a large fiscal gap. Read...

If you’re wondering whether to cancel YouTube TV in favor of a cheaper live TV streaming package, your options are better than they used to be. Getting local channels, news, and even sports no longer requires a big bundle, with skinnier packages selling for less than YouTube TV’s $83 per month asking price. Smaller packages are also available for folks who don’t care about sports, some of which even include popular streaming services at no additional charge. With the carriage dispute between YouTube TV and Disney dragging into its second week, now’s the time to look at alternatives. Even if the two companies reach a deal in the near future, you might be better off taking your business elsewhere. If you need sports I’ve already written a whole other article about sports-streaming options that are cheaper than YouTube TV, but here’s a quick rundown: Fubo Sports ($56/mo.): Includes ESPN, Fox Sports, Tennis Channel, NFL Network, Tennis Channel, and most local channels, but does not include NBC or TNT/TBS; and the only included cable news channel is Fox News. DirecTV MySports ($70/mo): Includes local channels, ESPN, Fox Sports, TNT/TBS, NFL Network, MLB Network, NBA TV, NHL Network, USA, Tennis Channel, Golf Channel, and the major cable news networks. You can add regional sports in some areas for an extra $20 per month. You don’t need a satellite dish and can stream via the DirecTV app on connected TV devices. Xfinity Sports & News ($70/mo.): This one’s for Comcast internet customers only, but it includes local channels ESPN, Fox Sports, Turner channels, USA, Tennis Channel, and Golf Channel; plus, the big three cable news networks. It also includes Peacock, and you can stream using the Xfinity app—no cable box needed. Hulu + Live TV ($90/mo.): It’s not any cheaper than YouTube TV, but it does include Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN Select and an otherwise similar channel lineup. It’s also on sale at $65 per month for the first three months right now. Sling TV Blue or Orange (starts at $46/mo): Sling can be an odd choice due to its patchy local channel availability, but its combination of cable news, national sports networks, and general entertainment are worth considering–especially if you use an antenna for local channels. Cheaper news and local-channel options If you don’t watch a lot of sports but still want local channels or cable news, have a look at these options: DirecTV MyNews ($40/mo.): Despite the name, this package is actually the cheapest way to get local channels without an antenna. It also includes major cable news networks. Local channels can vary by market, though, so check your zip code on DirecTV’s website. Sling Select ($20/mo. and up): This is a weird one. Depending on where you live, this package will either include no local channels or some combination of ABC, Fox, and NBC. The price increases to $25 per month in markets with at least two of those channels, and $30 per month in markets with all three. (CBS is excluded no matter what.) In all cases, the package includes 11 other cable channels including Fox News, FS1, FX, NFL Network, and MeTV. Check local channel availability here. Notable non-sports options If you don’t need local channels—or you can get them with an antenna—these options could save a lot of money: DirecTV MyEntertainment ($35/mo.): Includes more than 60 entertainment channels, the big three cable news networks, and free access to Disney+, Hulu, and HBO Max (with ads). DirecTV MyKids ($20/mo): Offers more than a dozen kids channels—including Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, and Cartoon Network—and access to Disney+. Philo ($33/mo): Includes more than 60 entertainment channels, plus access to HBO Max, Discovery+, and AMC+ (with ads). Frndly TV ($9/mo): A super-skinny bundle anchored by Hallmark and surrounded by mostly rerun-centric channels. The price jumps to $11 per month if you want DVR service. Maybe you don’t need a bundle at all Between ESPN Unlimited, Fox One, Peacock, Paramount+, HBO Max, CNN All Access, and Disney’s various bundles, much of the content that once required a pay TV package is now available in a somewhat a la carte form. I’m not saying you should subscribe to all of those services simultaneously—if you do, you might be better off with some of the bundles above—but you might be able to find two or three that meet your needs for less than a traditional pay TV package. And unlike with YouTube TV, there are no carriage disputes to worry about. If a company like Disney decides to raise rates, it’ll have to reckon directly with customers like you instead. This story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best TV streaming services. Sign up for Jared’s Cord Cutter Weekly newsletter for more streaming TV advice. Read...