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A virtual private network (VPN) is like a protective tunnel, keeping your data safe from prying eyes. Whether you’re worried about the open network at your local coffee shop or want to get around geo-restrictions when you’re traveling, NordVPN can help. VPNs aren’t perfect protection (you need to trust your VPN provider), but they’re always going to be better than nothing when you’re using a public hotspot. They also make it easy to continue to watch your favorite shows even when you’re on vacation. If you want to learn more about how to protect yourself online, see our guide to The Best VPNs.

According to filings released by the US Federal Election Commission on Tuesday night, Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX and owner of X, is now one of the biggest donors to Donald Trump’s campaign. Since publicly endorsing Trump on the heels of the July assassination attempt against him in Butler, Pennsylvania, Musk has donated close to $75 million to the his own political action committee, America PAC, which is aggressively campaigning on the ground in swing states for the Trump campaign.

For hackers seeking to maximize chaos, so-called denial-of-service attacks that knock targets offline with waves off junk traffic are typically more of a blunt cudgel than a weapon of mass destruction. But according to the US Department of Justice, a pair of Sudanese brothers allegedly behind the hacktivist group Anonymous Sudan launched a spree of those crude cyberattacks that was both powerful and cruel enough in its choice of victims—extending to dozens of hospitals in multiple countries, Israel’s missile alert system, and hundreds of other digital services—that one of them is now being charged not only with criminal hacking but also with the rare added allegation of seeking to cause physical injury and death.

After Milton madelandfall as a Category 3 hurricane in western Florida last week, some residents who evacuated the area are now returning to discover water damage in their homes. And they may soon find something else: mold.

Mold can begin to grow as soon as 24 to 48 hours after moisture exposure. And Florida’s subtropical climate, which remains hot and humid in October, makes it a perfect breeding ground. Even worse, mold will continue to grow until the source of moisture is eliminated.

One of JD Vance’s key policy advisers, Aaron Kofsky, has for years posted extensively on Reddit about using a variety of drugs, including cocaine and opiates, under the username PsychoticMammal. In the posts, which are as recent as three months ago, Kofsky wrote about experiencing withdrawal from and trying to “kick” tianeptine—also known as “gas station heroin”—and kratom; advised other users on how to transport drugs on domestic flights; and called Vance “a Trump boot licker.”

This story originally appeared on WIRED Italia and has been translated from Italian.

“We are witnessing the beginning of a new era, as the internet was in the 1980s. Today access to space is still something for the few, but just as in computing, in a few years prices will come down. Everyone should indulge in the beauty of an adventure.” So said Lorenzo Bertelli, chief marketing officer of Prada, today at the International Astronautical Congress 2024 in Milan, Italy. Yes, that’s right, Prada at the International Astronautical Congress.

The Trump family’s new crypto venture, World Liberty Financial, is off to an inauspicious start after website crashes limited the ability for investors to participate in an inaugural token sale event.

The crypto token, WLFI, went on sale at around 9 am Eastern time on Tuesday. At the time of writing, the website continues to be plagued by reliability issues, pushing some visitors to an error page. “We can’t connect to the server for this app or website at this time,” the notice states.

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Last month, OpenAI unveiled an ambitious new language model capable of working through challenging problems with a simulated kind of step-by-step reasoning. OpenAI says the approach could be crucial for building more capable AI systems in the future.

In the meantime, perhaps a more modest version of this technology could help make AI girlfriends and boyfriends a bit more spontaneous and alluring.

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Amazon’s humble Kindle has had a bit of a resurgence, partly thanks to #BookTok—the community of TikTok users who discuss literature, book lists, and, among other things, ways to deck out Kindle ebook readers with accessories. Amazon says Kindle sales have grown in double-digit percentages for the past two years, which probably explains why the company is announcing four new Kindles today—the first time it has unveiled this many new models in a single moment.

A coalition of human rights groups have today launched legal action against the French government over its use of algorithms to detect miscalculated welfare payments, alleging they discriminate against disabled people and single mothers.

The algorithm, used since the 2010s, violates both European privacy rules and French anti-discrimination laws, argue the 15 groups involved in the case, including digital rights group La Quadrature du Net, Amnesty International, and Collectif Changer de Cap, a French group that campaigns against inequality.