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YouTuber and investigator Coffeezilla has followed up on his initial blast aimed at the company responsible for the Rabbit R1 artificial intelligence (AI) device.
The online personality, real name Stephen Findeisen, who often takes a deep dive into various influencer scams, turned his ire on Rabbit Incorporation for what he described as a product “built on a scam”.
In response, the company played down Coffeezilla’s findings but instead of allaying concerns or providing answers, the rebuttal only provoked further scrutiny and bad publicity.
In part two of his investigation, Coffeezilla commenced the 18-minute-long YouTube broadcast with the following intro:
“This tech company gaslit me so hard about their previous scam that I decided to investigate their current project, Rabbit (R1), and what I found was shocking.”
Specifically, he wanted to break down what exactly was the AI model within the Rabbit R1 gadget, as purported by the company. It was claimed the AI embedded within the device, called Lamb, could be a life assistant which official publicity depicted as telling it, “Start my morning routine, order me an Uber and find me a good podcast to pass the time, oh and tell everybody that I might be late.” 
It could also supposedly check the fridge and reorder the ingredients from your last meal. The pitch appeared to be an impressive one as the marketing tools secured over $20 million worth of pre-orders.

But ‘Lamb as advertised does not exist’
Coffeezilla went on to excoriate Rabbit Incorporation, not on whether they were pushing a good or bad product, but on the AI credentials of Lamb.
“A group investigation has revealed that Rabbit is not actually using a new foundational AI model at all, it’s actually chatGPT with some hardcoded scripts, which is funny because Jesse (Lyu, RabbitR1 founder) says Rabbit is faster than chatGPT.”
He continued, “What really upsets me is not that it’s bad (Rabbit R1), it’s that the core selling point of this product is built on a lie and that lie is the Lamb.”
“I  think the best thing you could say at this point about Jesse and Rabbit is that they vastly over-promised and under-delivered, the worst you could say is (that) this is consumer fraud.” 
Coffeezilla punctuated his salvo with a claim that he spoke to an employee of Rabbit and on the condition of anonymity they stated that “Lamb as advertised does not exist.”
The investigator reached out to the company for a final response and the comments which included a statement (shared on the video) read, “You are not interested in taking a balanced or objective approach, or in working with us in good faith” and “Rabbit stands behind its product”.
Image credit: Coffeezilla/YouTube
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For those alienated by Google’s new AI search, especially the fact it’s now the default option, with no means of turning it off, there are hacks or workarounds to get it off the page and get you back to browsing links to pages, written by humans, telling you what you really want to know.
Loosely described as the “udm=14” trick, Ars Technica over the weekend showed how it works. More or less, tacking on “&udm=14” to the end of your search will guarantee that you get a clean interface with nothing but blue hyperlinks, instead of batty answers to common questions about fixing flat tires, jumping a car battery, or making the perfect grilled cheese.
Unfortunately, you have to do this every time. There’s no way to set that as a default option. An alternative is to use a proxy site like udm14.com — which proudly describes itself as “the disenshittification Konami code.”
Moreover, “&udm=14” takes you back to Google as it looked roughly a decade ago, before it introduced so-called “knowledge panels” for certain types of queries, which some also find obtrusive and distracting. This “Web” filter was announced by Google itself about two weeks ago, during the Google I/O event.

We’ve launched a new “Web” filter that shows only text-based links, just like you might filter to show other types of results, such as images or videos. The filter appears on the top of the results page alongside other filters or as part of the “More” option, rolling out today… pic.twitter.com/tIUy9LNCy5
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) May 14, 2024

The X post seems to acknowledge that not everyone is happy to have whatever this so-called improvement is dumped on their desktop when all they’re asking for is the launch date of Destiny 2: The Final Shape (June 4, for the record) or Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree (June 21).
Of course the most convenient thing to do would be to make this a default setting somewhere in Google’s ever-expanding “Tools” menu, but since every new project must justify itself with a number of users, or queries served, or both, no way they’re going to do that.
Drawbacks to using the udm=14 trick
One drawback to a proxy like udm14.com is that it could, if it chose to, read all of your search results and queries, which opens up questions of trust. That’s up to you, although the manner in which udm14.com bills itself suggests they’re not interested in that, and are doing this as a public service for likeminded folks fed up with Google’s feature creep. Still, it’s out there.
Ars also advises simply creating a new search shortcut using Google’s URL with the &udm=14 already fixed in the URL. Instructions for doing so are in the link. Still, “you’re still going to be using a search engine that feels like it has completely surrendered to SEO spammers,” they write.
The fact of the matter is, if Google’s shift to AI — and that is a massive shift, given how the company dominates search and advertising — leaves you cold, the better alternative is to use another search engine altogether.
Featuered image via Ideogram
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The iconic instant messaging platform ICQ has declared that it will cease operations permanently in June.
A brief notice on its website reads, “ICQ will stop functioning from June 26,” offering no further details, and recommends VK Messenger as a substitute.
That being said, the official account posted a GIF on X on May 24, featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger in “The Terminator” with the caption “I’ll be back.” This was their first post since 2022.

pic.twitter.com/JZRmAAlpk1
— ICQ New (@ICQ) May 24, 2024

ICQ, which stands for “I Seek You” and was launched in 1996, had nine million users and 2.5 million daily active users at its peak. The number was considered remarkable given that users relied on dial-up connections.
AOL purchased the company from Israeli developer Mirabilis in 1998 for $407 million, creating competition in the messaging market as Yahoo! and Microsoft launched their own services. Despite operating independently from AOL and facing issues with problematic users, ICQ managed to amass 100 million users.
However, with the decline of dial-up Internet and the emergence of new competitors, ICQ’s popularity dwindled.
In 2010, the Russian company Mail.Ru, which later rebranded as VK, acquired ICQ due to its popularity in Russia and planned to update the app for cross-platform use.
ICQ mobile app before it went offline in March 2023
As of a March 2023 snapshot from the Internet Archive, the updated version of ICQ functioned similarly to other messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram. However, the app is no longer available in Apple’s App Store or on Google’s Play Store.
Supporters are calling for the return of ICQ
Following the announcement, users expressed their support for the service on X, with some saying they have been using the program “religiously” for decades. Others shared stories of meeting their significant others through ICQ.

Please don’t end, I have religiously used this program since 1998

Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake was announced three years ago, but publisher Square Enix has gone radio silent on the project ever since. Fans on Monday finally got proof-of-life for the game with a teaser post to X confirming the game’s platforms.
Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake will launch on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Windows PC via Steam and the Windows Store.

The legend of Erdrick draws near. #DragonQuestDay #DQDay #DragonQuest pic.twitter.com/KFtqhVY61q
— DRAGON QUEST (@DragonQuest) May 27, 2024

The timing of the tease suggests that fans may hear more about the game during the blitz of presentations coming in June, when the E3 games exposition normally took place.
That was gradually overtaken in importance by a series of console-maker and publisher livestreams staged before and away from the Los Angeles Convention Center, and then Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest, which stood in for E3 when it was first cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake was first announced by publisher Square Enix in May 2021. Per the name, it’s designed in the “HD-2D” style of games such as Octopath Traveler, which features 2D characters moving through high-definition rendered environments, a mixture that has drawn critical praise for its use of modern technology while nodding to a classic genre.

The original Dragon Quest 3 launched in 1988 for the Nintendo Entertainment System. In November, series creator Yuji Horii said Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake was being playtested as development continued apace.
Featured image: Square Enix via YouTube
The post Dragon Quest 3 teaser surfaces, hinting at more during Summer Game Fest appeared first on ReadWrite.

In a recent social media post, former President Donald J. Trump expressed his support for the burgeoning cryptocurrency industry. He said:
I am very positive and open minded to cryptocurrency companies and all things related to this new and burgeoning industry. […] Our country must be the leader in the field, there is no second place.
This statement comes as both Trump and his rival, President Joe Biden, appear to be vying for the support of pro-crypto voters in the upcoming presidential election.
The former president’s recent embrace of cryptocurrency has been notable, beginning with pro-crypto comments made at an event earlier this month. Additionally, Trump’s presidential campaign began accepting crypto donations this past Tuesday, fulfilling his pledge to become the first major party candidate to embrace digital currencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).
Very recently, Trump went as far as to pledge to exonerate Ross Ulbricht — the founder of Silk Road, the world’s first deep web black market. Trump told the Libertarian Party at its national convention on Saturday:
If you vote for me, on Day One, I will commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht.
Trump shifts Democrats off their anti-crypto stance
Following Trump’s pro-crypto stance, there seems to have been a shift in the Biden administration’s opposition to crypto, as well as a softening of the traditionally crypto-adverse Securities and Exchange Commission’s attitude. Last Wednesday, the White House issued a statement expressing its opposition to the House of Representatives passing a crypto market structure bill, but Biden did not threaten a veto.
The House proceeded to approve the measure, which now heads to the Senate. Furthermore, on Thursday, spot Ethereum exchange traded funds (ETFs) took a significant step toward becoming available in the U.S. after the Securities and Exchange Commission approved key regulatory filings, a move that was considered extremely unlikely just a month ago.
Featured image via Ideogram
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Hackers are reportedly using malicious scripts within a spoofed version of Microsoft’s classic Minesweeper game to launch attacks on financial organizations in Europe and the U.S.
Ukraine‘s cybersecurity teams, the Cyber Security Center of the National Bank of Ukraine (CSIRT-NBU) and the Government Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine (CERT-UA) have linked these attacks to a known threat actor identified as ‘UAC-0188’. The hacking group is also referred to as “FRwL,” which likely stands for “From Russia with Love,” the title of a 1963 James Bond movie.
The group exploits the actual game code to conceal Python scripts that allow the download and installation of SuperOps RMM. It is said to be distributing phishing emails from the address “support@patient-docs-mail.com,” pretending to be a medical center.
These emails use the subject “Personal Web Archive of Medical Documents” and include a 33 MB attachment. The attachment is a .SCR file hosted on Dropbox, which contains the code from the well-known Minesweeper game for Windows.
The Minesweeper code includes a function called “create_license_ver” that has been modified to decode and execute the hidden malicious code. The legitimate SuperOps RMM program is then downloaded and installed from a ZIP file, providing attackers with remote access to the targeted computer.
CERT-UA confirmed that investigations into the cyberattack uncovered at least five possible intrusions involving the same files at financial and insurance organizations throughout Europe and the United States.
CERT-UA advises the following measures:

Organizations not using SuperOps RMM should confirm there is no network activity related to the domain names: [.]superops[.]com, [.]superops[.]ai
Improve employee cyber hygiene practices
Employ and routinely update antivirus software
Update operating systems and other software continuously
Implement robust passwords and update them frequently
Regularly back up critical data.

Hackers use SuperOps RMM to launch phishing attacks
SuperOps RMM, a legitimate remote management software, enables remote users to gain direct access to the systems they compromise.
Ransomware gangs are increasingly exploiting legitimate Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) tools in their attacks. RMM software like AnyDesk, Atera, and Splashtop is important for IT administrators to manage devices remotely across their networks.
However, these tools can also be misused by ransomware gangs to infiltrate corporate networks and steal data, enabling them to “live off the land.”
FromRussiaWithLove is a hacktivist group with ties to Russian state interests that surfaced during the Russia-Ukraine conflict in 2022. They have predominantly targeted sectors such as critical infrastructure, media, energy, and government.
FRwL has been associated with deploying the Vidar stealer and Somnia ransomware, using them as data wipers rather than for financial extortion.
Details on the targets and the number of organizations compromised by these tactics remain unclear.
Featured image: Ideogram / Canva
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