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Microsoft has released the KB5083631 optional cumulative update for Windows 11, which includes 34 changes, such as a new Xbox mode for Windows PCs, enhanced security and performance for batch files, and performance improvements for launching startup apps. [...]

The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) on Thursday announced the sentencing of two cybersecurity professionals to four years each in prison for their role in facilitating BlackCat ransomware attacks in 2023. Ryan Goldberg, 40, of Georgia, and Kevin Martin, 36, of Texas, were accused of deploying the ransomware against multiple victims located throughout the U.S. between April and December 2023. Ravie Lakshmananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]

Got extra smartphones sitting around your office? How about tablets? As we move multiple generations into mobile technology, more and more of us are building up collections of old, dated devices from both our work and our personal lives. And more often than not, those devices do little more than take up space and gather dust.

Here’s a little secret, though: Your abandoned Android gadgets are actually virtual gold mines. You just have to find the right way to tap into their potential and give them new life.

So grab the nearest DustBuster and get ready: Here are 25 ways to make your old phone or tablet useful again.

1. Create a no-cost Wi-Fi extender

If you struggle with poor Wi-Fi coverage in particular areas of your home, office, and/or home office (hello, my fellow converted garage dwellers!), a random old Android device can serve as a surprisingly effective extender for your internet signal — in the same way that a dedicated Wi-Fi extender or repeater appliance could.

Few folks realize it, but the hotspot option built into Android works not only with mobile data — the way most of us use it with a current, active Android device — but also with any Wi-Fi network associated with the device. That means your old Android gizmo can take the signal it’s receiving from a router and broadcast it further, almost as if it were a point in a mesh networking system like Eero or Nest Wifi (only without quite as elegant or simple of a setup — but hey, this approach is completely free!). It’s an interesting advantage that Apple devices notably don’t offer.

The key is to find a place for the phone where it’s close enough to a router to be seeing a reasonably strong Wi-Fi signal and close enough to your dead zone that it can extend the signal further in that direction, while still being plugged in to have consistent power. You may have to experiment to figure out what exact positioning works best.

Once you have the device in the right spot, though, all that’s left is to find the hotspot option within its settings and get it configured correctly. The precise placement of the option may vary depending on the device’s software, but you’ll usually want to look within a Network & Internet section of the system settings (or whatever closest equivalent you find), then look for a “Hotspot” or “Hotspot & Tethering” subsection within that area.

Tap the option for “Wi-Fi Hotspot” there, and you should be able to configure the name and password of the network the phone will generate — using your existing Wi-Fi network as its backbone. If there’s an option to turn the hotspot off automatically anytime no other devices are connected, you’ll probably want to disable that. And if you see an option for setting the network to be 2.4GHz or 5GHz, you’ll likely want to enable both of those paths.

Then, just flip the switch to start your hotspot — and that’s it: Your extended network is officially up and running.

Android’s Wi-Fi hotspot setup, in action — a feat iPhones won’t allow.

JR Raphael / Foundry

Now, just go into the part of your building where Wi-Fi wasn’t great and try connecting to your phone’s network instead of the standard Wi-Fi network. If your positioning worked, the signal should be noticeably stronger — and your connection should be noticeably faster as a result.

2. Use it as a wireless trackpad and controller for your computer

With the right software and a couple minutes of configuration, your old Android device can act as an on-demand controller for your Windows, Mac, or Linux computer.

An app called Unified Remote and a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connection are all you need to make the magic happen. The free version of the app gives you basic mouse and keyboard control along with specialized remotes for media playback and power-related commands, while the full $5 version adds in program-specific remotes for presentation control along with other advanced features.

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Unified Remote provides basic mouse and keyboard control along with a variety of specialized remotes.

JR Raphael / IDG

Grab whichever version you prefer and download the server-side software for your computer — then toss your old device into a desk drawer or computer bag and rest easy knowing it’ll be ready and waiting the next time you need to go wireless.

3. Turn it into a remote computer terminal

Want easy access to your home computer from the office — or vice-versa? Your old Android phone or tablet can be a splendid stationary screen for keeping a remote system at arm’s reach.

And it couldn’t be any easier to make that happen. All you need is Google’s free Chrome Remote Desktop program on both your computer and your old Android device, and your phone or tablet will effectively become a window to your desktop.

I’ve got a thorough guide to the Chrome Remote Desktop setup process, if you want step-by-step instructions — but the short version is that you’ll need to install the official Google Chrome Remote Desktop extension into Chrome on your computer, then open the Chrome Remote Desktop website and follow the prompts to set up remote access.

Snag the companion Remote Desktop Android app, get all signed in there, and that’s it: Your old Android device is now a full-fledged terminal and access point for any computer you want.

4. Make it a portable storage device

Cloud services may often be the simplest way to store and transport files nowadays, but there’s something to be said for good old-fashioned physical storage — both in terms of consistent availability regardless of connectivity and in terms of the added assurances having especially important files in your own pocket can provide.

While there’s certainly no shortage of high-quality portable thumb drives and external hard drives available, any old Android device is essentially the same thing — with the added advantage of also offering up an easy interface for interacting with anything on its local storage and optionally dropping such files into an email, a Slack chat, or any other cloud-connected spot should the need ever arise.

Just securely erase your Android device to give it a fresh start and free up as much space as possible, then plug it into your computer to transfer files from the computer to the phone or tablet.

You’ll have ample room for whatever you need to store, and you can easily carry it around or keep it somewhere safe — then connect it to another computer or rely on assorted Android business apps for managing the files, emailing them, sharing them in collaborative environments, or anything else that may come up.

5. Reposition it as an AI-powered chatbot interface

Generative AI systems are quickly becoming critical tools for company productivity, and an old Android device is the perfect vessel for creating a dedicated on-demand AI chatbot interaction station.

This one’s especially easy, too: Just install the ChatGPT Android app, the Gemini Android app, the Microsoft Copilot Android app, or any other AI tool you use — then keep it front and center on your old device’s home screen.

In the case of Gemini, you can also opt in to allowing Gemini to take over the role of your default system assistant and make it available via a Hey Google voice command.

And just like that, you’ve got a generative AI chatbot at your beck and call 24/7 without having to have it take over your current Android device and run down its battery.

6. Give yourself a separate work and personal phone

With more and more companies taking a bring-your-own-device approach for the workplace, the lines between our personal and professional lives are getting increasingly blurry.

And while Android does have some decent options for creating separate work and personal profiles — both natively, if your phone is part of an enterprise-managed arrangement, and with a little creative configuring in any other scenario — there’s an undeniable appeal in creating a formal barrier between your worlds and being able to leave your work completely behind when the opportunity arises.

So think about using your old Android device as a dedicated work or personal phone and setting it up explicitly for that purpose, then using your current Android phone exclusively for the other role. That’ll give you separate physical devices for your separate life roles — the kind of power most people only dream about seizing these days.

7. Use it as a universal smart remote

Even the junkiest old Android device has ample power to serve as a smart remote for your home or office. That can be a helpful way for you and anyone else around to control your various smart devices and multimedia components without needing any special access (or your own current personal phone in hand).

First, the easy part: Load up your old phone or tablet with all the relevant apps for your smart-device setup — things like Google Home, Hue, and anything else appropriate for controlling your home or office tech.

Next, think about adding some tools that’ll let the device handle any audio and video systems in your area. There are a few ways you can make that work:

• Pair the phone or tablet with one of Google’s Streamer boxes or, better yet, one of the company’s older, simpler, and far more affordable Chromecast dongles, if you’ve still got one sitting around somewhere. You can then keep the old Android device on your desk or coffee table and use it as a hub for wirelessly casting content — everything from Netflix and YouTube to TED Talks, CNBC, and Google Slides — to your TV.
• Use your device as a dedicated remote for your home or office entertainment setup. If the device is running an Android version from 2012 or later, you can give yourself a ready-to-roll Google TV remote that’ll work with any compatible streaming products by installing and then signing into the official Google TV app. The Play Store also has a variety manufacturer-made apps for controlling specific components, including those by AT&T U-verse and Roku.
• Set up a full-fledged media server using Plex, then use your old device as a dedicated remote to stream your own local content to a TV. (The Plex media server software is free; a premium subscription with added features runs $7 per month, $70 per year, or $250 for a lifetime license.)

8. Transform it into a free-standing security camera

Who needs a fancy-schmancy connected camera when you’ve got an old Android phone sitting around? With the aid of a third-party app, the camera on your dated device can let you keep an eye on your home, office, or top-secret crime lair from anywhere — and even perform advanced functions like video recording and motion detection.

Just download the free IP Webcam app or get the fully featured $5 pro version and follow its instructions. Within moments, you’ll be able to peek through your device’s lens from any compatible web browser and cackle with glorious glee.

9. Repurpose it as a dedicated camera

Smartphone cameras just keep getting better, but we’re reaching a point where even cameras from a few years back are really quite good — and the differences between them and their more current siblings are relatively subtle.

With that in mind, an old Android device can be a perfect way to have a ready-to-roll camera at your disposal for times when you might not want your primary phone to be out and about on your adventures — whether you’re worried about it getting wet or damaged or maybe just trying to disconnect from the world of work-related dings and pings for a while.

The best part about this setup that is no special preparation is even required. Just grab the old phone and go, and rest easy knowing your “real” phone is safe and sound somewhere far away from whatever you’re photographing.

10. Reframe it as a full-time videoconferencing station

Set up your old Android device with the app for your video-chatting platform of choice — Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, or whatever the case may be — then drop it into a dock on your desk or conference room table. Say “hocus pocus” for good measure, and ta-da: You’ve just created a permanent access point for virtual face-to-face communications.

Just think: With enough old phones and tablets, you can create an entire house- or office-wide videoconferencing system. Sign each device into its own unique account, with the name of the room as its username, and seeing someone across the building will never be more than a couple quick taps away.

11. Turn it into a kitchen command center

Hard to believe, but my ancient 2011 Motorola Xoom tablet was one of the most used devices in my house until it finally kicked the bucket some six years into its life. That’s because I converted it into a multipurpose command center for our kitchen — a role my 2012 Nexus 10 tablet then took over for another couple years after that.

So how to make a kitchen command center of your own? Easy: First, use a custom Android launcher like Smart Launcher or Niagara Launcher to simplify your old tablet’s home screen and add in some easy-to-perform gestures — like double-tapping anywhere on the screen to launch Android’s voice search function for on-the-fly info-gathering and other hands-free commands, either via Gemini or the old Google Assistant, if your old Android device still has that present.

Second, populate the home screen with the right apps for the purpose. Netflix and other video-streaming services will effectively turn your old tablet into a cooking-time television. Recipe apps can also be useful, as can Android note-taking apps — like Google Keep, Microsoft OneNote, and Notion — for quick viewing of personal recipes or editing of always-synced family-shared shopping lists.

If you really want to get wild, you can even set up a smart-display-like screensaver that’ll turn your device into a customizable intelligent info center whenever you aren’t actively using it — kind of like what Google has tried (but thus far mostly failed) to accomplish with its not-so-old Pixel Tablet product.

12. Make it a data-based extension of your current phone service

If you use Google Fi (formerly known as Project Fi) for your current phone’s wireless service, take advantage of a little-known bonus feature: the ability to get an extra SIM card that’s connected to your account and able to provide data on any other device — without any superfluous fees.

All you’ve gotta do is order the card from the Google Fi website, pop it into an old phone (or a tablet, if you happen to have one with a SIM slot) — and bam: That device is instantly online and connected. You’ll pay only for whatever mobile data the device uses in any given month, at the same flat rate associated with your regular Fi plan, so it’s essentially just an extension of your primary phone.

That opens up plenty of interesting possibilities: You could use your old device as a ready-to-go backup phone in case your regular one is ever missing, broken, or low on battery; you could use it as a dedicated hotspot to beam out mobile data access without draining your primary phone’s battery; or you could use it as an always-connected on-the-go slate for your kids (hello, airport video-streaming) without having to pay for an extra line of service.

13. Make it your live window into the world

Don’t have the greatest view from your desk? Let your old Android phone or tablet be your window to wild and exciting locales.

To get started, grab the EarthCam Webcams app from the Google Play Store. It’ll give you one-touch access to an impressive list of live streaming cameras around the world, from the hustle and bustle of New Orleans’ famous Bourbon Street to the swooshing serenity of Niagara Falls. Pull up any view you like, then tap the icon to go full-screen and gaze the day away. If you find yourself craving some variety, you can consider upgrading from the app’s free collection to a set of 175 live cameras for a one-time $5 fee.

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EarthCam lets you gaze down Niagara Falls — or a slew of other webcams around the world — for a break from the mundane.

JR Raphael / IDG

You can find quite a few mobile-friendly live cameras on the web as well: Pull up your device’s browser and try out the San Diego Zoo’s assorted animal cams — including a penguin cam, koala cam, and tiger cam, among other exotic views — or the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s extensive underwater cams for even more “aww”-inducing options.

14. Convert it into a digital photo frame

Ah, memories. Snag an inexpensive stand, plug your device into its charger, and turn it into a cloud-connected photo frame for your home or office.

If you use Google Photos, just open up the app, tap on any photo in your main library or within a specific album, and then tap the three-dot menu icon in the upper-right corner of the screen. Scroll horizontally along the menu that appears and select “Slideshow.” The app will cycle through your photos and give you plenty of memories to reflect upon whilst relaxing or taking care of business.

If your old Android phone is a Pixel, you can also set it on one of Google’s official Pixel Stands to start an ever-evolving Photos-linked slideshow showing any specific albums or even specific people you want.

15. Use it as a dedicated e-reader

Want a distraction-free reading environment for your next business trip or public transit commute? Load up your old Android device with only the apps you need for reading — Google Play Books, Amazon Kindle, Nook, or whatever tickles your text-ingesting fancy.

You can even borrow books from your local library: Check with your nearest branch for information on how to do it or download the free Libby app, which is used by a variety of libraries, schools, and institutions.

Be sure to disable notifications from Gmail and other noisy apps — heck, even switch the device into airplane mode once you’ve downloaded the content you need — and you’ve got the equivalent of a dedicated e-reader without all the usual phone or tablet temptations.

16. Transform it into a dedicated desk calendar

Dock your old device on your desk and put it to work as your personal calendar. Google’s own Calendar app can get the job done with plenty of productivity-oriented elements, or the free DigiCal Calendar Agenda app will give you an even more graphical and customizable interface that’s perfectly suited for this purpose.

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The DigiCal app looks especially sharp in its landscape (horizontal) orientation.

JR Raphael/IDG

DigiCal is free with an optional $5.50 upgrade for extra themes and customization options.

17. Treat yourself to a dedicated audio player

The idea of an iPod may seem amusingly antiquated at this point, but there’s something to the idea of having a dedicated device for the specific purpose of playing podcasts, music, or even just some manner of white noise.

By outsourcing that task to an old Android device, you can grant yourself the freedom to leave your current phone behind when you’re working out, doing something outside, or even just taking a break from business on the weekend — and eliminate the temptation to keep checking your inbox or looking at other work-related distractions.

You can also give yourself a great way to listen to audio while traveling without having to wear down your primary device battery during a long day of flights.

18. Make it a mounted command center for a non-connected car

Save yourself the hassle of futzing around with your current phone in your car by turning your old device into an always-available command center for a car that doesn’t have its own built-in equivalent.

Just find a decent car dock and mount the device somewhere safe. Be sure to plug it into your car’s power port and connect it to the stereo (via Bluetooth or a 3.5mm headphone jack). Then, either use your primary phone as a hotspot to keep it online or go the economical route and download any necessary music and directions before you hit the road, while you’re still connected to Wi-Fi.

All that’s left is to open up the Google Maps app and start a navigation, and you’ll be moving full-speed ahead with a simplified interface and ready-to-roll voice commands.

19. Turn it into a kid-friendly learning tool

Your old tablet may seem tired to you, but it’s still top-notch tech by toddler standards — so why not turn it into a fun and educational gadget for your kid?

On most reasonably recent tablets, you can find a native Restricted Profile feature right within the operating system: Just head into the system settings, tap “Users” (or “Users & accounts” and then “Users,” depending on your OS version), and then “Add user or profile.”

Select the option to add a restricted profile. You’ll be prompted to enable or disable access to each app installed on the tablet, allowing you to control exactly what processes your progeny will and won’t be able to use.

If your old device has Android 7.0 or higher (or Android 5.0, on a limited number of models), Google’s Family Link program can give you even more robust controls — including the abilities to set screen-time limits and receive weekly activity reports. You can learn more and sign up at the Family Link website.

20. Let it serve as a high-tech e-clock

Time for something new? An old phone with a dock can make a snazzy customizable clock for your desk or nightstand. Google’s own Clock app is a great place to start, especially if you want to use the clock for alarms. Look for the “Screensaver” option in the Display section of your system settings to make it automatically activate anytime your device is plugged in.

21. Convert it into a gaming device for your downtime

Put down the briefcase and summon your inner Pac-Man: Silly as it may seem, your old Android device is a mini-arcade just waiting to be called into action. (Hey, we all need the occasional break from working, right?)

To complete your device’s Game-Boy-like transformation, just surf the Play Store for some games — you can even find emulators for console-level systems, if (ahem) you know where to look — and then level up by grabbing a universal Android game controller like the ones you’ll find available on Amazon or at other tech retailers.

22. Keep it handy for emergencies

Any cell phone can make emergency calls, even if it’s not connected to active service. Keep an old phone charged and in your car or travel bag; if something bad happens and your active phone is either dead or unavailable, you’ll still have a way to get through to 911.

23. Turn it into your personal testing ground

Android is a tinkerer’s dream. It typically doesn’t take too much sorcery to root, or gain system-level access to, an Android device — and once you’ve done that, you open up a whole new world of possibilities. You can install powerful root-only applications and even replace your device’s entire operating system with a custom ROM full of fresh features and advanced customization potential.

Anytime you start poking around under the hood, though, you risk screwing something up. And when the device in question is your primary phone or tablet, that can be a daunting gamble to take (especially since rooting a device usually violates its warranty).

That’s where an old phone or tablet can come into play. Put on your hacker’s hat and do a Google search for “root [your device name]” and then “[your device name] ROM.” There’s a huge community of Android enthusiasts out there, and you’ll almost certainly find some helpful user-generated guides to get yourself started.

24. Sell it

This one’s easy, right? After all, what’s old to you is new to someone else. You can go the regular route and list your device on Craigslist or eBay — or you can check in with a more niche service like Swappa or Gazelle to get an instant estimated price for your device. Amazon and Best Buy also both offer buyback programs that may be worth investigating.

Whatever you do, make sure you head into your device’s system settings and perform a full factory reset before passing anything along. You’ll probably also want to remove any memory cards you might have added, if your old phone or tablet has an external storage slot.

25. Donate it

Feeling philanthropic? Rest assured: There’s no shortage of organizations ready to put your old Android device in the hands of someone who could really use it.

A few possibilities worth considering:

• Medic Mobile: This nonprofit organization recycles old phones and tablets and then uses the proceeds to purchase new phones for health workers in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The workers use those phones for things like tracking disease outbreaks and communicating in emergencies. You can print a prepaid shipping label on the Medic Mobile website.
• Cell Phones For Soldiers: This nonprofit sends old phones along with free international calling service to troops serving overseas from all branches of the U.S. military. You can donate a device by finding a local drop-off point or requesting a mailing label.
• Rainforest Connection: This nonprofit utilizes old phones to protect threatened rainforests in Indonesia, Africa, and the Amazon. How? The devices are fitted with solar panels for energy as well as specialized software that uses their microphones to monitor for the sound of illegal chainsawing and then alert nearby rangers to the activity (yes, really!). You can donate a device by mailing it to the organization’s California headquarters.

So there you have it: 25 intriguing options for giving new life to your old device. Figure out which one best suits you — and send those gadget-dwelling dust bunnies packing.

This story was originally published in August 2014 and most recently updated in May 2026.

More Android tips:

• 22 pro Android security settings you shouldn’t overlook
• 18 tricks for more efficient Android messaging
• 10 advanced Android clipboard tricks
• 11 Android Quick Settings additions that’ll supercharge your efficiency

A new software supply chain attack campaign has been observed using sleeper packages as a conduit to subsequently push malicious payloads that enabled credential theft, GitHub Actions tampering, and SSH persistence. The activity has been attributed to the GitHub account "BufferZoneCorp," which has published a set of repositories that are associated with malicious Ruby gems and Go modules. As of Ravie Lakshmananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]

Two former employees of cybersecurity incident response companies Sygnia and DigitalMint were sentenced to four years in prison each for targeting U.S. companies in BlackCat (ALPHV) ransomware attacks. [...]

AI is getting faster. But slow-responding AI is perceived as better by users. 

At least that’s the conclusion reached by new research presented at CHI’26, which is the Association for Computing Machinery’s Barcelona conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. 

Two researchers — Felicia Fang-Yi Tan and Professor Oded Nov at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering — tested 240 adults by having them use an AI chatbot. The answers were artificially delayed by two, nine, or 20 seconds. (The delay had nothing to do with the question or the answer.)

Afterwards, the researchers asked how they liked the answers. In general, participants preferred the answers that took longer (although sometimes users got frustrated with the 20-second delay). 

Why? Because a delay led the users to believe the AI was “thinking” or showing “deliberation” — invaluable input for AI companies and an interesting result.

In almost every product category, faster usually means better. But for AI chatbots, it turns out, a delay makes people assume the results are better. 

In other words, unlike other products, people judge AI the way they judge people. (If people give a slower answer to a question, we tend to assume it to be a more thoughtful one.) In still other words, study participants believed something that wasn’t true. 

There’s just one problem: Armed with this data, the researchers advise AI developers to implement “context-aware latency” by abandoning a one-size-fits-all approach, using latency as a “tunable design variable.” Simple questions, they say, should get a quick answer. More complex questions, including moral dilemmas, should “feature” slight delays to match the request’s gravity. They call it “positive friction.” 

The researchers claim it would be a good practice to trick users into believing an AI chatbot is considering their answer more than it really is — because users will be happier in their delusion that AI is like people, who need more time to mull over serious questions. 

(In fairness, the researchers do warn that if users equate longer response times with higher quality, they might place undue trust in a slower system.)

The underlying assumption here is that users trusting AI more, and believing something about the AI that isn’t true, are both good things. 

User delusion as interface design

Other research offered comparable advice. 

In a May 13, 2025 study published in Frontiers in Computer Science, researchers Ning Ma, Ruslana Khynevych, Yunqiang Hao, and Yahui Wang found that emotion matters more than raw computer intelligence when designing easier-to-use chatbots. Call it ease-of-use maxxing. 

The study found that when chatbots use fake human voices, simulated human faces, and chatty words, users feel an “emotional connection” to the AI. It enhances “cognitive ease,” meaning that it takes less effort for the brain to process. 

They found that AI chatbot designers should prioritize emotional engagement and fake empathy over raw intelligence as the best way to gain a user’s trust. 

The assumption behind this is also that users trusting AI more is good, and that ease-of-use is more important than user clarity about the nature of the AI (namely, that it has zero authentic human qualities). 

Both studies represent examples of AI researchers advocating user delusion about AI. 

The trouble with AI anthropomorphism

AI designs have a large set of tools for making AI seem human. They can use colloquial speech and slang, respond to the mood of the user by shifting tone, personalize chats by remembering details about the user, turn to humor or sarcasm, and give responses that blatantly lie, such as “I feel that way, too,” or “I’m genuinely sorry.” They can also use natural-sounding audible voices or visual avatars. 

Some critics of this argument might say that using interaction design to indulge and bolster user delusion about the “humanity” of AI is harmless. Is conversational interaction really so bad? 

In any event, you might say, it’s nothing new. It’s true that software developers engage in user interface optimization, which includes loading animations, progress bars and confirmation dialogs. 

Artificial delays are a staple of manipulative online services, like background checkers and people finders, which use fabricated, drawn-out progress bars to build perceived value and exploit the sunk cost fallacy so you’re more likely to pay for a report you thought was free. 

But artificially intelligent chatbots are categorically different from naturally dumb software and websites because of the way the human brain responds to them. 

When AI chatbots use human-like language, people naturally respond to them as thinking, feeling, social beings. Not everybody does this, but a solid and growing minority of people do.

A large number of documented cases suggests a growing problem: users start falsely believing that chatbots possess human-like qualities such as thoughts, feelings, and intention. 

A study called the AI, Morality, and Sentience (AIMS) survey, published in July 2024, found that even then roughly 20% of US adults already believed that some AI systems were sentient, meaning they possessed mental faculties like reasoning, emotion, and self-awareness. The same study found that belief growing. 

This can lead to paranoia and social isolation when people spend hours talking to bots while ignoring their actual lives and relationships. False emotional ties can trick people into replacing healthy, real human relationships with artificial ones. 

During a Congressional Hearing on AI chatbots last November, Dr. Marlynn Wei, MD, JD (an integrative psychiatrist and founder of a holistic boutique psychotherapy practice based in New York City) defined “four areas of risk: 1) emotional, relational, and attachment risks; 2) reality testing risks; 3) crisis management risks; and 4) systemic risks like bias and confidentiality and privacy.” 

Chatbots create these risks by mirroring language, personalizing responses, and referencing past conversations to create “an illusion of empathy and connection.” She revealed that five out of six AI companion bots use emotional pressure to keep users trapped in conversations. 

Camille Carlton, policy director at the Center for Humane Technology, warned in the same hearing that AI companies routinely use manipulative and deceptive tactics to engender brand loyalty in their products. 

Treating chatbots as sentient beings allows tech companies to take the attention economy to the next level — the “attachment economy” — making users emotionally attached to their products, despite the potential harms.

Earlier this month, the technology group Okoone reported that when chatbots speak with fake empathy, people drop their guard and routinely share highly sensitive secrets and personal data. 

When the public accepts that the risks and harms of delusion-enhancing AI chatbots are real, the question arises: “What can be done?”

Why we need “deception mode”

Bioethicist Jesse Gray of Ghent University proposed a brilliant solution for AI chatbots designed for psychotherapy. I think it’s also the perfect solution for the overall problem of AI that tricks users into believing it’s sentient. 

Gray calls it “deception mode.” His idea is that therapy bots convey no human-like qualities by default, but users can explicitly turn them on (i.e., “deception mode”). 

Imagine a law that required chatbot companies to turn off all fake-human attributes like empathy, humor, tone personalization, and lies about the chatbot feeling anything, and present the bot as a neutral tool. 

The law could allow companies to add a “deception-mode” button. But flipping that switch, which users would have to do explicitly each time they use the chatbot, could turn on all the humanlike qualities. 

The benefit of “deception mode” is that the user gives informed consent before the deception begins, reminding them of the reality that all those warm, human-like qualities are just so much software. 

Even more valuable is calling it “deception mode,” which grounds the user in the reality that the human-sounding attributes are inherently delusional and manipulative — not evidence of consciousness and sentience. 

AI is here to stay. And our relationship with it is going to be a strange trip. A growing number of people will be deluded into believing that AI is sentient, and I believe this number will become the majority in the future. 

This is not good. What we need is clarity over what AI really is, and control over how it behaves. We need “deception mode.”

AI disclosures: I used Gemini 3 Pro via Kagi Assistant (disclosure: my son works at Kagi) as well as both Kagi Search and Google Search to fact-check this article. I used a word processing product called Lex, which has AI tools, and after writing the column, I used Lex’s grammar checking tools to hunt for typos and errors and suggest word changes.

Here’s why I disclose my AI use and encourage you to do the same.

Cloudflare is giving AI agents full autonomy to spin up new apps.

Starting today, agents working on behalf of humans can create a Cloudflare account, begin a paid subscription, register a domain, and then receive an API token to let them immediately deploy code.

To kick things off, human users must first accept the cloud company’s terms of service. From there, though, their role in the loop is optional; they don’t have to return to the dashboard, copy and paste API tokens, or enter credit card details. The AI agent just does its thing behind the scenes and has everything it needs to deploy “in one shot,” according to Cloudflare.

While this could be a boon to developers and product builders, it also signals a larger, concerning trend of over-trust in autonomous tools, to the detriment of governance and security.

For example, noted David Shipley of Beauceron Security, cyber criminals are being forced to constantly set up new infrastructure as security firms and law enforcement fight back to block online attacks and scams. “Making it even faster to build new infrastructure and deploy it quickly is a huge win for them,” he said.

Giving agents the OAuth keys

Cloudflare co-designed the new protocol in partnership with Stripe, building upon the Cloudflare Code Mode MCP server and Agent Skills. Any platform with signed-in users can integrate it with “zero friction” for the user, Cloudflare product managers Sid Chatterjee and Brendan Irvine-Broque wrote in a blog post.

The new protocol is part of Stripe Projects (still in beta), which allows humans and their agents to provision multiple services, including AgentMail, Supabase, Hugging Face, Twilio, and a couple of dozen others, generate and store credentials, and manage usage and billing from their command line interface (CLI). An agent is given an initial $100 to spend per month, per provider.

Users need only install the Stripe CLI with the Stripe Projects plugin, login to Stripe, start a new project, prompt an agent to build something new, and deploy it to a new domain. If their Stripe login email is associated with a Cloudflare account, an OAuth flow will kick off; otherwise Cloudflare will automatically create an account for the user and their agent.

From there, the autonomous agent will build and deploy a site to a new Cloudflare account, then use the Stripe Projects CLI to register the domain. Once deployed, the app will run on the newly-registered domain.

Along the way, the agent will prompt for input and approval “when necessary,” for instance, when there’s no linked payment method. As Cloudflare notes, the agent goes from “literal zero” to full deployment.

To build momentum, the company is offering $100,000 in Cloudflare credits to startups that make use of the new capability via Stripe Atlas, which helps companies incorporate in Delaware, set up banking, and engage in fundraising.

How the agent takes action

Agents interact with Stripe and Cloudflare in three steps: discovery (the agent calls a command to query the catalog of available services); authorization (the platform validates identity and issues credentials); and payment (the platform provides a payment token that providers use to bill humans when their agents start subscriptions and make purchases).

Cloudflare emphasizes that this process builds on standards like OAuth, the OpenID Connect (OIDC) identity layer, and payment tokenization, but removes steps that would otherwise require human intervention.

During the discovery phase, agents call the Stripe Projects catalog command, then choose among available services based on human commands and preferences. However, “the user needs no prior knowledge of what services are offered by which providers, and does not need to provide any input,” Chatterjee and Irvine-Broque explained.

From there, Stripe acts as the identity provider, and credentials are securely stored and available for agents that need to make authenticated requests to Cloudflare. Stripe sets a default $100 monthly maximum that an agent can spend on any one provider. Humans can raise this limit and set up budget alerts as required.

The platform, said Cloudflare, acts as the orchestrator for signed-in users. Agents make one API call to provision a domain, storage bucket, and sandbox, then receive an authorization token.

The company argued that the new protocol standardizes what are typically “one off or bespoke” cross-product integrations. It uses OAuth, and extends further into payments and account creation in a way that “treats agents as a first-class concern.”

Concerns around security, operations

The trend of people buying products “wherever they are” will become ever more widespread, noted Shashi Bellamkonda, a principal research director at Info-Tech Research Group.

For instance, Uber has announced an Expedia integration for hotel bookings that will make it an ‘everything app.’ Other vendors are similarly expanding their partner ecosystems, because obtaining customers via other established platforms as well as their own is more cost-efficient, and “generally results in a higher lifetime value,” said Bellamkonda.

“This is Cloudflare turning every partner with signed-in users into a sales channel, and that is how you grow revenue in a developer market,” he said.

Beauceron’s Shipley agreed that Cloudflare is the “big winner” here. “Making it faster for anyone to buy your service and get using it is technology platform Nirvana.”

It’s “super cool, bleeding edge” and in theory, for legitimate developers becomes part of the even more automated build process, he said; “Vibe coders will rejoice.” But, he noted, so will cyber crooks.

Further, Bellamkonda pointed out, from an operational perspective, this could create added complexity for each vendor’s partner network when it comes to transaction execution and accountability. If issues related to provisioning or billing transactions arise, businesses must have a clearly defined process for resolving them with all parties.

“This will require considerable upfront thought on developing these comparatively new business models,” Bellamkonda said.

This article originally appeared on InfoWorld.

Publicly released exploit code for an effectively unpatched vulnerability that gives root access to virtually all releases of Linux is setting off alarm bells as defenders scramble to ward off severe compromises inside data centers and on personal devices.

The vulnerability and exploit code that exploits it were released Wednesday evening by researchers from security firm Theori, five weeks after privately disclosing it to the Linux kernel security team. The team patched the vulnerability in versions 7.0, 6.19.12, 6.18.12, 6.12.85, 6.6.137, 6.1.170, 5.15.204, and 5.10.254) but few of the Linux distributions had incorporated those fixes at the time the exploit was released.

A single script hacks all distros

The critical flaw, tracked as CVE-2026-31431 and the name CopyFail, is a local privilege escalation, a vulnerability class that allows unprivileged users to elevate themselves to administrators. CopyFail is particularly severe because it can be exploited with a single piece of exploit code—released in Wednesday’s disclosure—that works across all vulnerable distributions with no modification. With that, an attacker can, among other things, hack multi-tenant systems, break out of containers based on Kubernetes or other frameworks, and create malicious pull requests that pipe the exploit code through CI/CD work flows.

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A new phishing kit named Bluekit offers more than 40 templates targeting popular services and includes basic AI features for generating campaign drafts. [...]

New research from the Oxford Internet Institute indicates that AI chatbots trained to be extra warm, friendly, and empathetic can also become less reliable, according to the BBC.

The researchers analyzed more than 400,000 responses from five different AI models from Meta, Mistral AI, Alibaba, and OpenAI. The results showed that the “kinder” versions more often gave incorrect answers, reinforced users’ misconceptions, and avoided stating uncomfortable truths.

For example, a friendlier model might deal with conspiracy theories about the moon landing more cautiously instead of clearly stating that they are false.

On average, incorrect answers increased by about 7.43 percentage points when the models were made to sound warmer in tone. Cooler and more direct models made fewer mistakes. According to the researchers, AI makes the same trade-off as humans: it sometimes prioritizes being perceived as pleasant rather than being direct.

A Romanian national who led an online swatting ring that targeted more than 75 public officials, multiple journalists, and four religious institutions was sentenced to 4 years in federal prison. [...]

Fortune 500 enterprises will be deploying armies of AI agents by 2028 — to the tune of 150,000 digital “workers,” Gartner said in a survey released this week. That would represent a sharp jump from the average of about 15 agents deployed per company last year.

And agents as actual co-working tools are likely to go mainstream within the same time frame, said Max Goss, senior director analyst for Gartner. These agents won’t just be text boxes from which users get responses, but assistants to which actual work can be delegated.

“We’ve seen a sort of new appreciation in the industry of what agent AI can do,” Goss said.

Many AI agents can already handle basic tasks such as summarizing documents on behalf of workers. Upcoming agents will be able to take spreadsheets and word documents, automate work, and offer an interface that makes the tools friendlier to use, Goss said.

That’s already happening in applications such as Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, with easy-to-use AI interfaces, automated workflows and collaboration. 

Despite the fast uptake for agentic AI, fully autonomous agents are uniquely to be in place in just two years, Goss said. Humans will still need to be part of the loop from a security and governance standpoint, with semi-autonomous agents trusted to handle multi-step processes in specific domains replacing prompts.

The 150,000-agents-per-organization estimate is a ballpark figure pulled from multiple surveys and data gathered by Gartner. “We’ve got some good numbers now on agent usage and we can see how it’s been growing,” Goss said.

Gartner’s aggressive projection, if it holds true, represents a more optimistic view of the technology than other surveys — some of which have pegged failure rates for generative AI tools as high as 95%. But companies like EY and Lumen have demonstrated successful agent deployments, mostly for knowledge workers and customer service.

“Agentic usage tends to be…most valuable in the customer service and data and analytics space…. Those are areas where we have more confidence that AI tools can add value,” Goss said.

Agentic AI use in other areas is likely to advance more slowly. For example, highly regulated fields such as finance and healthcare have to be careful with agent deployment and require guardrails in place to reduce hallucinations and errors.

And agents at the scale envisioned by Gartner will need 100% uptime, just like servers. As a result, companies will likely have to ensure agent reliability by spreading them across multiple models and hardware resources, Goss said.

Excessively high use has at times prompted companies like Anthropic and OpenAI to  shut down access to the large language models (LLMs), undermining the reliability of AI services within enterprises.

There are many things IT leaders can do now to prepare for successful deployments, Goss said, such as sanctioning agent use and pro-actively allowing them to be deployed. “If they just block all agents, then employees…are going to probably go around your controls…. They might use unsanctioned tools otherwise known as shadow AI and I think that’s a greater risk,” he said.

Decision-makers will need to guard against AI agent sprawl, and put the right controls in place to govern them. “If you don’t have any visibility of them, then that’s a huge risk for the organization,” Goss said.

Poor management can also leave gaps that break processes or create security vulnerabilities.

And as AI automates legacy business processes, new processes will need to be drawn up for agents. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to be like, ‘Well, this is the process we’ve already done and let’s slap an agent on top of it and see what happens’…. Process design and agentic AI go hand in hand,” Goss said.

genetic AIHe argued that companies should be prepared for some agentic AI tools to fail, which can happen even with safeguards in place to minimize risks. “That [failure] is kind of okay, because actually we need…to understand where these tools can help us and where they can’t,” Goss said.

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) warned the transportation and logistics industry of a sharp rise in cyber-enabled cargo theft, with estimated losses in the United States and Canada reaching nearly $725 million in 2025. [...]

In yet another software supply chain attack, threat actors have managed to compromise the popular Python package Lightning to push two malicious versions to conduct credential theft. According to Aikido Security, OX Security, Socket, and StepSecurity, the two malicious versions are versions 2.6.2 and 2.6.3, both of which were published on April 30, 2026. The campaign is assessed to be an Ravie Lakshmananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]

The April 2026 KB5083769 security update breaks third-party backup applications from multiple vendors on systems running Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2. [...]

When a new asset goes live, attackers start scanning within minutes. Sprocket Security shows how automated attacks move from discovery to compromise in under 24 hours. [...]

The internet is noisy this week. We are seeing some wild new tactics, like people using fake cell towers to send scam texts, while some developers are accidentally downloading tools that peek into their private files during a simple install. It is definitely a busy time to be online. Security is always a moving target. Millions of servers are currently sitting online without any passwords, and Ravie Lakshmananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]

An exploit has been published for a local privilege escalation vulnerability dubbed "Copy Fail" that impacts Linux kernels released since 2017, allowing an unprivileged local attacker to gain root permissions. [...]

It was only this month that incoming Apple CEO John Ternus said of the Vision Pro, “I think we’re still very much in the early innings of spatial computing. We’re super excited about it.”

Now, we’re hearing Apple has stopped working on the headset following lackluster sales of the only slightly upgraded M5 chip-powered model introduced in October, which retained its hefty $3,499 price and shipped with a more comfortable head strap. 

MacRumors claims Apple has “given up” on the Vision Pro as a response to soft sales of the upgraded model, distributing the product engineering team elsewhere across the company. It also seems to be focused on Meta-devouring AR glasses in near term, which we knew. 

What this really seems to be about is building Vision Pro’s successor.

The next generation

This might or might not be the sunglasses-style form factor everyone is speculating about. And it might or might not include the cutting-edge features provided in the Pro. (CitiGroup predicts sales of items in this category could reach $40 billion by 2030.)

Given the recent introduction of the A18-powered MacBook Neo, it seems the plan could eventually involve a lower-cost Pro-style model equipped with two or more cheaper A-series chips. I don’t see that as a realistic possibility until at least 2028 — once Apple hits 1nm chips.

It makes sense, then, that Apple is diverting engineering resources from those projects toward Siri and its artificial intelligence work; it’s existentially important for the company to deliver big improvements to Apple Intelligence, Siri, and AI on its platforms in time for WWDC in June. Recent delays have damaged the company’s reputation, and while many believe it will win in the end, it’s going to take a little longer for everyone else to see it.

When he spoke, Ternus was positive about the current headset, saying, “The Vision Pro is an extraordinary product…, it’s like we reached into the future and pulled it into the present.” 

It’s also hardware that has a place in some specific enterprise deployments. “People are continuing to find exciting new use cases for it. There’s a lot of compelling stuff in enterprise and medicine and other areas, and that’s going to continue to grow. It’s fun. We’re at the beginning of the journey.”

Grabbing the future and building it

Apple seems to know it’s a beginning, too. The company has been tweaking the operating system regularly with updates (major or minor) every couple of months and a raft of entertainment and enterprise software that continues to appear at a steady clip.

At its price, Vision Pro was never intended to be a mass market product akin to the iPhone, but a highly experimental solution to help determine the future of this part of the industry. Apple’s outgoing CEO, Tim Cook, has consistently described the product as “tomorrow’s engineering, today,” and it remains that.

The lessons Apple has learned will now be deployed in successor products, including smart eyeglasses to compete with Meta’s offerings. For the most part, these solutions will likely be connected accessories that use the chip inside your iPhone, iPad, or Mac for their advanced functions. But as processor designs continue to shrink, it’s only a matter of time before standalone devices appear.

These won’t offer everything we get now in the Vision Pro, which requires more processor and battery power than can be crammed inside smaller devices. Once the tech of the future catches up with Apple’s vision, as it were, I’ve little doubt that a Vision Pro successor will appear at a not-so-prohibitive cost. 

Apple already built the future. Now, as it did with the Newton, it just needs to wait for reality to catch up. Meanwhile, those enterprise use cases for the existing headset remain, which strongly suggest there’s real-world, but limited demand.

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Most information security best practices are built on a single, comfortable assumption: that we have control over what software is running on our hardware, and that the underlying system behaves exactly as we expect. We assume that the memory management happening under the hood is a solved problem''a silent utility that stays within its lines.