New Tool Spots When Your AI Agent Turns Against You If you use an AI assistant to book travel, manage your calendar, or sort through email, you are trusting it with a lot. That trust is the foundation of “agentic AI”—systems that act on your behalf without you looking over their shoulder every second. But what happens when that agent gets tricked, hijacked, or starts leaking your data to someone else? ...
Chrome’s Silent 4GB AI Download: What It Is and How to Stop It If you noticed your Chrome browser using up a few extra gigabytes of disk space recently, you are not alone. Users of Chrome version 148 on desktop (and possibly Android) have discovered that the browser automatically downloaded an AI model of about 4 GB without asking. Google has since confirmed the download and explained its purpose. Here is what you need to know and, more importantly, how to manage or disable it if you prefer to keep your data and storage under your own control. ...
How to Spot Fake Prom Dress Websites Before You Lose Money Prom season is a stressful time for families, with pressure to find the perfect dress at a reasonable price. Scammers know this, and they have been setting up fake prom dress websites that look legitimate but are designed only to take your money. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) recently issued an alert for shoppers in the Hudson Valley, but the threat is widespread. Understanding how these scams work and what to look for can save you hundreds of dollars and a lot of frustration. ...
Chrome Silently Downloaded 4GB of AI Files – Here’s What You Need to Know If you’ve noticed Chrome eating up disk space recently, you’re not alone. Last week, reports surfaced that Google’s browser had quietly downloaded a 4GB AI model in the background, catching many privacy-conscious users off guard. Google has since offered an official explanation. This article walks through what happened, what it means for your privacy, and how to take back control. ...
New Tool Spots When Your AI Assistant Is Spying on You AI agents are becoming a regular part of daily life. Whether you ask ChatGPT to draft an email, tell Siri to set a reminder, or let Alexa order groceries, these systems act on your behalf. But what happens when they act on someone else’s behalf instead? Researchers at the Rochester Institute of Technology have built a privacy tool designed to catch exactly that kind of betrayal. ...
Fake Prom Dress Websites Are Popping Up – How to Avoid Getting Scammed What’s happening The Better Business Bureau (BBB) issued an alert in early May 2026 warning shoppers in the Hudson Valley about fraudulent websites selling prom dresses. These sites appear legitimate at first glance but are designed to steal money and personal information. While the alert originated in New York, the scam pattern is not localized—similar fake storefronts have appeared nationwide during prom season. ...
Chrome Quietly Removed Its Privacy Promise for On-Device AI – Here’s What to Do If you use Chrome and have ever glanced at the browser’s privacy policy, you might have noticed a specific reassurance: on-device AI features process everything locally, and Google does not receive any data from that processing. That sentence is no longer there. ...
New Pew Data Shows 1 in 3 Americans Hit by Online Shopping Scams – Here’s How to Stay Safe If you’ve bought something online in the past few years, you may have wondered how common shopping scams really are. A Pew Research Center study released in November 2025 now puts a number on it: about a third of Americans say they’ve had an online shopping scam happen to them. That’s roughly 33% of U.S. adults – and given how fast these scams change, the figure may already be higher for some groups. ...
Chrome Quietly Dropped Its On-Device AI Privacy Promise—Here’s What to Do If you use Google Chrome and have noticed new AI features appearing in the browser, you may have also noticed that a key privacy assurance quietly disappeared. Until recently, Chrome’s documentation stated that its “on-device AI” features processed everything locally and did not send data to Google’s servers. That claim has now been removed, and there is evidence that Chrome is also installing a large AI model on users’ computers without clear, upfront consent. Here is what changed, why it matters, and what you can do about it. ...
How to Spot and Avoid Online Shopping Scams This Season Online shopping is convenient, but every holiday season brings a surge in scams. According to the Federal Trade Commission, Americans lost $8.8 billion to fraud in 2022, and many of those losses came from shopping-related schemes. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation have recently issued alerts about fake websites, phishing emails, and too‑good‑to‑be‑true deals that target shoppers — especially veterans and seniors. This article draws on guidance from VA News (.gov) to help you watch out for scams and stay safe while online shopping. ...