Critical thinking is the key to success.Ever since the reveal of the apparent 'Switch 2' motherboard online, fans have been going wild with speculation as to what kind of tech the upcoming new Nintendo console will boast.In fact, we'd say a lot of them could easily become Professor Layton's new protg, if they wish. The level of analysis with this stuff is frankly off the charts, and considering just how close we are to the potential reveal of this thing, we're beginning to wonder whether it's all worth the effort.Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Rivian finished last year having delivered 51,579 electric SUVs, trucks, and vans, more than triple the number it shipped to customers in 2023. The company announced Friday that it also built 49,476 EVs in 2024. Thats about 8,000 fewer than it expected to manufacture as recently as July. Rivian was forced to lower its expectations, though, when it ran into a component shortage that dragged down production. That shortage is resolved, according to the press release.Rivian wont release its financial results for the year until February 20, but the delivery and production figures help wrap what was an up-and-down year for the growing EV company. The company began 2024 by cutting 10% of its workforce in February, as it and others were locked in a pricing war set off by Tesla.One month later, Rivian revealed the R2 SUV, its upcoming mid-size SUV that is supposed to sell in much higher volumes than the current R1S. The R2 is slated to start around $45,000 and will be built at the companys factory in Normal, Illinois. The R2 announcement event came with its own mixed bag of news. Rivian rolled out a genuine surprise that was a huge hit: The R3 hatchback, which is supposed to enter production after the R2. But the company also announced it was delaying its new factory in Georgia, and said it would expand the Normal factory in the meantime. In May, Rivian started rolling out revamped versions of the R1S and the R1T pickup truck. The company simplified the inner workings of the vehicles in a bid to staunch its perpetual and super-sized financial losses.The company got another boost in June when it announced a joint venture with Volkswagen Group. The German giant pledged to invest $5 billion into the collaboration, while Rivian agreed to provide software and electrical architecture know-how that will help modernize Volkswagens portfolio. (The deal officially closed in November and grew to $5.8 billion.)Rivian finished the year by securing a $6.6 billion loan commitment from the Biden administration to help build the Georgia factory although that loan is already in the crosshairs of some of the incoming Trump administrations top advisors. This year could be just as chaotic for Rivian. Not only could the $6.6 billion loan become a political minefield, but Rivian and other EV makers are staring down the real possibility that the Trump administration will try to find a way to do away with the $7,500 federal tax credit for electric vehicles. That could put even more pressure on Rivian as it fights to get the R2 into production in the first half of 2026.

Breakdown & ShowreelsDNEG Showreel 2024By Vincent Frei - 03/01/2025 Dive into the world of really cool visuals with DNEGs 2024 showreel! From the epic orc armies of The Rings of Power to the post-apocalyptic action of Furiosa, the interstellar grandeur of Dune: Part Two, and the galactic adventure of Skeleton Crew, witness the artistry behind the years some of the most stunning visuals! Vincent Frei The Art of VFX 2025

Published January 3, 2025 8:00am EST close 'CyberGuy': Don't chance it. Secure your retirement accounts with a VPN and protect your future Kurt Knutsson explains how to safeguard retirement accounts from cyber threats with a VPN: encryption, anonymity, secure access. You know, it's pretty unsettling when you think about it. We spend our whole lives working hard and saving up for retirement. Then, one day, you find out that some company you've never heard of is selling your personal information to whoever wants to buy it. It's not just alarming. It could actually put your financial security at risk.These companies are data brokers that collect and sell people's personal information, often without us even knowing about it. And get this: Some of them might be trading info that could affect your retirement savings.Crazy, right? But don't worry, it's not all doom and gloom. There are things we can do to protect ourselves. I want to talk about how these data brokers operate and what steps you can take to keep your retirement plans safe. A couple working on their retirement plan (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)How data brokers are endangering your retirement securityTheres one major way in which data brokers are endangering your retirement security, and its right there in the name: data brokers buy, sell, trade and otherwise spread your personal information far and wide. This endangers your retirement security in three distinct ways, each more dangerous than the last:1. Spray n pray campaignsThey dont know anything about you, but they have a way to reach you. Even if a scammer knows only your phone number or email address, its enough for them to reach out to you. If they dont know who you are or anything about you, they have to take the most "one-size-fits-all" approach they can manage. Their goal is to get you to respond to them or click a link that leads to a malicious website. Once they learn more about you, they can better tailor their next moves.GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE2. A fire hose aimed in your general directionThey know what youre like but not who you are. Scammers can buy ready-made packages of personal information from data brokers. A set like this might include only the phone numbers of people over the age of 60, for example, while another might provide the addresses of elderly people who require live-in care and are experiencing cognitive decline. The potential for abuse is clear. They dont have to know your name to target a dangerously effective scam at you.3. A water pistol to the earIn other words, something aimed right at you and very difficult to ignore. Scammers can also buy shockingly detailed information about you, from your full name to your health care and financial information. These scams are the most dangerous, with the attackers knowing enough about you to breeze past many of your defenses.Any of the above types of scams can end in what might be the ultimate fraud identity theft but these three are more likely to get there, and in fewer steps, than the others.WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)? A woman working on her retirement plan (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)What you can do to protect your retirement securityYou can reduce or avoid many of these risks by stopping data brokers from making it easier for scammers to target you and by arming yourself against the most common and effective tactics they use.1. Invest in personal data removal services:A trusted personal information removal servicecan stop data brokers in their tracks from sharing your information. While no service promises to remove all your data from the internet, having a removal service is great if you want to constantly monitor and automate the process of removing your information from hundreds of sites continuously over a longer period of time. Check out my top picks for data removal services here.2. Dont click on links: No matter how much pressure or stress a message or phone call puts you under, stick to the golden rule of never following or clicking on links. Always go to the source of the communication via official channels from a secure device to confirm whats happening. The best way to safeguard yourself from malicious links that install malware, potentially accessing your private information, is to have antivirus software installed on all your devices. This protection can also alert you to phishing emails and ransomware scams, keeping your personal information and digital assets safe.Get my picks for the best 2025 antivirus protection winners for your Windows, Mac, Android and iOS devices.3. Dont give out sensitive information: If a message or email can put you under enough pressure to do something you shouldnt (like follow a link to a phishing site), imagine what a phone call can do. Any request for personal information should raise red flags. If something seems off, hang up.4. Verify identities before handing over money or information: Always verify who you are dealing with before providing any personal details (name, address, date of birth, Social Security number, financial information, etc.) or money. If someone asks for this information or claims they need to send you money, follow this rule: "Hang up, look up and call back." This applies to phone calls, texts and emails. Hang up or set the message aside, find the legitimate contact information for the organization in question and reach out through official channels (not social media) to confirm the request. A man counting cash and working on his retirement plan (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)Kurts key takeawaysYou know, it's crazy to think about how much of our personal information is out there, floating around in the digital world. But here's the thing: We're not powerless in this situation. Sure, it can feel overwhelming, but there are steps we can take to protect ourselves and our hard-earned retirement savings. It's all about being aware, staying vigilant and using the tools at our disposal. Remember, your financial security is worth fighting for. So let's not just sit back and hope for the best. Let's take action and show those data brokers that we're not going to be easy targets. After all, we've worked too hard for too long to let anyone mess with our golden years, right?CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPDo you think there should be regulations in place to limit the activities of data brokers, and what specific measures would you like to see implemented to better protect your personal information?Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact.For more of my tech tips and security alerts, subscribe to my free CyberGuy Report Newsletter by heading to Cyberguy.com/Newsletter.Follow Kurt on his social channels:Answers to the most asked CyberGuy questions:New from Kurt:Copyright 2025 CyberGuy.com.All rights reserved. Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson is an award-winning tech journalist who has a deep love of technology, gear and gadgets that make life better with his contributions for Fox News & FOX Business beginning mornings on "FOX & Friends." Got a tech question? Get Kurts free CyberGuy Newsletter, share your voice, a story idea or comment at CyberGuy.com. 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Priya Kurien, the client strategy and innovation leader of global industries at IBM. IBMPriya Kurien, the client strategy and innovation leader of global industries at IBM, has a fascinating job working with C-suite and senior leaders for IBM's clients across the world, helping them to leverage IBM's technology, particularly with AI.In this interview, we conduct a wide-ranging discussion, going from telecom partnerships to 5G to AI to NASA and even Earth science and medical innovations.Without further ado, let's dive into our interview.ZDNET: Could you share your journey in telecom and what led you to advocate for cross-industry collaboration?Priya Kurien:My journey in telecom began during the e-commerce era, a transformative period when operators were adapting to the shift from landline calls and very limited 2G mobiles to providing internet connections. In the time since, there have been many changes in the industry from traditional infrastructure to modern innovations such as copper to fibre-based communications networks, and the transition from 2G to 5G.Having worked closely with operators during these pivotal changes, I've seen firsthand how telecom lies at the heart of connecting the world and enabling industries.As the industry has continued to evolve, the importance of customer value has become a key differentiator. By adopting cross-industry collaboration, it means we're able to develop partnerships across different sectors to drive innovation and growth for our shared customer base, and the telecoms industry has the ability to help bridge those diverse gaps to create transformative solutions.ZDNET: How can telecom partnerships accelerate advancements in fields like geospatial intelligence and climate science?PK: In many countries around the world, telecom operators are considered critical infrastructure and regulated by their governments. As a result, during extreme weather-related conditions, telecom operators focus on maintaining connectivity for citizens. By partnering with organizations specializing in geospatial intelligence and climate science, we can create richer data sets for all entities involved. For example, this collaborative approach can result in the development of early warning systems for natural disasters, or real-time climate monitoring, enabling those involved to continue improving both on a joint scale, and as individual organizations.We also know that telecom operators themselves have vast IoT and sensor networks that can provide critical on-the-ground data. When combined with satellite imagery, this information can enhance the quality of geospatial data that will improve advancement of this field, with the potential to deliver societal benefits, helping communities prepare for and adapt to climate challenges. ZDNET: Could you walk us through the IBM-NASA collaboration to make Earth science data accessible and its impact on industries outside of space?PK: In an effort to widen access to NASA Earth science data and accelerate climate-related discoveries, IBM and NASA worked together to develop the largest geospatial AI foundation model on Hugging Face. As a result, IBM's watsonx.ai geospatial foundation model -- built from NASA's satellite data, is the first-ever open-source AI foundation model built in collaboration with the organization. By developing open-source technologies, we can accelerate critical areas of discovering for issues including climate change, indicating how collaboration across industries allows us to implement faster and more impactful solutions that will improve our planet. The model -- trained jointly by IBM and NASA on Harmonized Landsat Sentinel-2 satellite data (HLS) over one year across the continental United States and fine-tuned on labelled data for flood and burn scar mapping -- has demonstrated to date a 15 percent improvement over state-of-the-art techniques using half as much labelled data. With additional fine-tuning, the base model can be redeployed for tasks like tracking deforestation, predicting crop yields, or detecting and monitoring greenhouse gasses. ZDNET: How do you see IoT innovations transforming telecom's role in everyday consumer experiences?PK: Consumers are already relying on IoT devices in their day to day lives, from smart home systems, lighting, thermostats, smart meters, voice controllers and robotic vacuum cleaners. Many operators around the world not only sell IoT devices, but some also offer services to set up and manage these devices for their consumers. Often, consumers forget that their daily lives involve IoT, for example the connected car is one of the most sophisticated IoT devices and yet, most people would probably not list this as one of their IoT devices. Telecom operators can also provide personalized plans for consumers based on their IoT devices and data consumption and is another example of how the telecom industry has shown itself to be the backbone of global progress. ZDNET: What are some of the biggest challenges in telecom partnerships, and how can these be overcome?PK: Partnerships require a culture of collaboration as well as the maturity to navigate differences. In our view, these are some of the greatest challenges that the telecom industry faces in partnering for innovation. For example, breaking down silos, cross pollinating ideas and sharing challenges to identify innovative ideas is just a few ways in which we can jointly create enterprise transformation, and at IBM, we can support in developing those collaborations across key technologies including APIs, AI, and security. There is a famous quote [often attributed to Henry Ford] that sums up partnerships well for me: "Coming together is the beginning, keeping together is progress and working together is success." ZDNET: Could you provide examples of success stories where multi-industry partnerships drove transformative change in telecom?PK: There are a number of multi-industry partnerships to drive change in the industry. For example, in the connected cars arena, Verizon's partnerships with automotive OEMs help to deliver in-car Wi-Fi services, showing how telecom and automotive industries work can together to enhance driver experiences. Another example of how telecom can collaborate is to improve healthcare services. The Medical Drone Delivery project with BT and Skyfarer uses drones for medical deliveries, as a solution born from COVID-era challenges, demonstrating telecom's potential in supporting the future growth of how technology can work to improve the wider healthcare system. What we're seeing in these examples is how we can turn big ideas into tangible outcomes, and that's a really exciting direction to be heading in. ZDNET: What are the unique values that telecom businesses can bring to industries like healthcare and finance through cross-industry collaboration?PK: Health and finance are two key sectors in which improved connectivity can make all the difference. For example, the concept of telehealth is expanding rapidly, driven by several factors including the COVID pandemic, technological advancements, and a consumer demand for convenience. Telehealth can include virtual appointments to remote monitoring devices, allowing patients to consult with healthcare providers, manage chronic conditions, access health information, and receive medical advice without needing to visit a physical healthcare facility. In a drive to bridge the digital divide and improve financial inclusion across Africa, Airtel Africa extended their distribution network in rural and semi-urban areas, providing resilient, far-reaching coverage to enable millions of people to access telecoms and banking services. This new, financial ecosystem allowed the company to offer mobile money services, including digital wallet payments systems, microloans, savings and international money transfers, boosting financial inclusion for residents who were previously excluded. ZDNET: How can telecom companies better leverage AI to unlock greater innovation and efficiency for enterprise clients?PK: There are several ways in which AI can improve efficiency for clients, including productivity gains and new revenue streams. For example, we know that AI is revolutionizing customer care for enterprises by automating routine tasks, improving personalization, and enabling 24/7 support. AI can also support in managing change requests in enterprise sales by streamlining processes when it comes to client modifications or service specifications. AI and automation are also transforming how enterprise connectivity deployment and monitoring can improve efficiency, reduce downtime, and increase proactive management. Efficiency is a necessity for most operators to improve profitability, and having an agile approach will help towards achieving these outcomes. ZDNET: What are some risks associated with cross-industry collaborations in telecom, and how can companies navigate them?PK: Understanding the risks and challenges when it comes to partnerships working is essential for driving the intended transformation. Differences in regulatory compliance is a potential issue, however, establishing compliance frameworks from the beginning ensures that all parties understand their regulatory obligations. Complexities in partnerships can also arise, so it is essential that clear roles and responsibilities are defined ahead of the project. There could also be the risk of cultural mismatch. However, by setting a common goal and having mutual respect and open communication, many of these issues can be swiftly mitigated. ZDNET: How essential is data security in telecom collaborations, particularly with APIs?PK: Data security is critical for telecoms as they work with APIs, as secure APIs lead to good reputation and trust with consumers and enterprises, whilst managing potential risks and ensuring regulatory compliance. Secure API design, encryption of data, security testing, monitoring and logging are vital elements as organizations collaborate through APIs. Alongside this, it is essential to implement an incident response management plan, as transparent and shared communication can ensure successful API integration. ZDNET: In what ways does cross-industry collaboration foster resilience and agility within telecom firms?PK: Cross-industry collaboration enables telecom firms to enhance their resilience and offerings by diversifying expertise and accessing resources outside their usual domain. These partnerships allow firms to tap into broader skill sets and funding opportunities, reducing operational risks and fostering innovation. For example, collaborations often lead to market expansion and access to emerging markets, creating new revenue streams. Additionally, with increased emphasis on data security, these partnerships have the added benefit of reducing risk, ultimately driving agility in telecom operations. ZDNET: What role does enterprise connectivity play in the success of transformative partnerships in telecom?PK: Enterprise connectivity acts as the backbone for successful partnerships, ensuring seamless integration and communication across industries. A key insight from IBM's research looking at telecoms' blindspots highlights that operators often struggle to align with enterprise customers, and are often undervaluing the services of most interest to customers. However, as part of research, we discovered a sub-group of communications service providers that have adopted a more forward-thinking approach in their drive for solutions beyond basic connectivity. We call them the 'In-touch Telecoms', and they're gaining an edge over their peers by employing a more customer-centric focus, a culture of innovation, and a stronger reliance on an ecosystem of business partners. Pursuing digital transformation through technologies such as cloud computing, machine learning, and AI positions leaders in the telecommunications industry to develop new business models both within the industry and through partnerships with companies in other industries. This optimization of next-generation technologies can support them in navigating different environments -- a key ask of many of our enterprise clients. ZDNET: With digital transformation as a priority, how can telecoms keep pace with industries evolving at different rates?PK: Flexibility and collaboration are crucial qualities telecom companies need to consider in order to keep pace with different industries. This includes the use of standardized APIs that facilitate modular and rapid integration, supporting industries that evolve at varying speeds, innovation hubs that create ****spaces for collaboration and allow telecoms to co-develop solutions with industry-specific partners, and partnerships that include building alliances with other industries to foster shared growth. These initiatives enable telecoms to adapt to the evolving landscape, ensuring they remain relevant in a rapidly changing world. ZDNET: How important are APIs for connecting telecom capabilities with diverse industries, and what new value does this bring?PK: APIs are crucial for enabling telecoms to work with other industries, as they provide a modular, scalable way for integrating rapidly with other industries. IDC is projecting that telecom and network APIs will grow to $6.7 billion by 2028 from $700M in 2023), at a compound annual growth rate of 57.1%, driven by a rise of platform-based commerce and the need to generate new revenues. In September 2024, there was a landmark agreement between some of the world's largest telecom operators announcing a new venture to combine and sell network APIs on a global scale, supporting innovation in digital services. The partner ecosystem will further drive developer experience whilst increasing value creation across the industry. ZDNET: How are telecom firms adapting to meet the needs of advanced medical devices like smart implants and remote monitoring solutions?PK: Telecom firms are leveraging 5G networks to address the low latency requirements of advanced medical devices. These solutions enable real-time monitoring for devices like smart implants and remote monitoring devices, enhancing patient outcomes. Additionally, telecoms are implementing robust security measures to ensure compliance with healthcare regulations when transmitting sensitive patient data -- a critical component to building trust in this health and telecom collaboration. Establishing innovation hubs with healthcare organizations can further support the development of remote monitoring solutions and advanced medical technologies, highlighting the role telecoms can play in the wider healthcare ecosystem. ZDNET: Could you discuss how 5G is enhancing the potential for enterprise-level partnerships across various sectors?PK: Private 5G networks are transforming how enterprises build partnerships across industries to open up new avenues of value creation. For example, at the Port of Tyne, BT and Ericsson are building the UK's first site-wide deployment of 4G and 5G standalone connectivity, driven by a host of planned activity including autonomous vehicles, survey drones, smart surveillance, AI, and XR. In China, Unicom is planning to install 5G networks in more than 100 mines to monitor operations, boost efficiency and reduce safety related risks. We're also seeing this in manufacturing too, with Mercedes-Benz leveraging private 5G with telecommunications company Telefnica Deutschland and network supplier Ericsson to optimize production, enabling automation and IoT integration. These applications demonstrate how 5G fosters collaboration, drives efficiency, and unlocks transformative opportunities across different industries. ZDNET: How do telecom companies balance the need for innovation with their responsibility to maintain stable and secure infrastructure?PK: Telecom firms achieve this balance by adopting a 'security by design' approach, embedding security within their processes, alongside a culture of collaboration. Improving the skillset of the workforce, creating internal cross functional teams, and fostering a mindset of innovation and partnerships, whilst developing a zero-trust architecture for high availability and listening to the customer, are different ways in which telecom companies can balance innovation and maintain stable and secure infrastructure. This focus allows telecom firms to introduce cutting-edge solutions without compromising reliability. ZDNET: How are telecom firms leveraging AI for operational efficiencies within cross-industry collaborations?PK: The telecom industry has some of the most complex customer care requirements in terms of the variety of plans and types of connectivity they support. Traditional AI has been used for over a decade to provide support for customer care and chatbot support, and gen AI has unsurprisingly been adopted by many telecom operators to support the contact centre for agent assist and contact summarization - some have even started to deploy gen AI agents directly with customers. IBM research has also found that gen AI was being used by the telecom industry across customer service, IT, information security, finance, risk and compliance, sales, marketing and HR functions -- highlighting that efficient AI models can streamline workflows, reduce latency, and improve decision-making, driving efficiencies across their business. ZDNET: What trends do you see shaping the future of telecom partnerships, and how might they impact global connectivity?PK: I see a number of emerging trends that have the potential to shape future telecom partnerships, including 5G rollout where there is wider support for smart cities and healthcare, expansion of private 5G networks that leads into innovation in other industries, edge computing for autonomous vehicles, and self-healing networks with AI and automation to further improve connectivity. With the varying partnerships and collaborations we're seeing across different industries, APIs are becoming a source of revenue for operators, alongside digital inclusion policies and initiatives to get to the billion of the world's population that is still unconnected. You can follow my day-to-day project updates on social media. Be sure to subscribe to my weekly update newsletter, and follow me on Twitter/X at @DavidGewirtz, on Facebook at Facebook.com/DavidGewirtz, on Instagram at Instagram.com/DavidGewirtz, on Bluesky at @DavidGewirtz.com, and on YouTube at YouTube.com/DavidGewirtzTV.Featured Editorial standards

Skeleton CrewDisneyDisney has struggled mightily to get any new Star Wars movie projects off the ground with loads cancelled and others in unclear stages of development. The only definitely happening one is The Mandalorian and Grogu, which of course came from the Disney Plus TV series.But if there is one fixture in the Star Wars universe behind the scenes that should be given their own movie, its none other than Bryce Dallas Howard, the actress-director daughter of actor-director Ron Howard who has consistently put out amazing episodes of Star Wars series that shes been given to direct.That was on full display this week with Skeleton Crews Zero Friends Again, where the plot did not move forward much but Howard did brilliant work with the story available and its easily one of the best episodes of the already-good series.She did the fourth episode of The Mandalorian, Sanctuary, where Mando has to defend a village from raiders in an AT-ST, a thrilling entry.In season 3 of The Mandalorian, she directed Guns for Hire, which focused on Bo-Katan challenging Mandalorian privateers for leadership over the group, uniting the groups to try to go and retake Mandalore.She did episode five of The Book of Boba Fett, one of the only good episodes because it moved away from Boba Fett entirely and brought Mando back for a full episode in between his seasons. Its the episode where he gets beskar armor for Grogu and makes a new ship out of an N-1 Starfighter.LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 13: Bryce Dallas Howard attends the premiere of Disney+'s 'The ... [+] Mandalorian' at El Capitan Theatre on November 13, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images)Getty ImagesShe didnt do any episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka, Andor or The Acolyte, but the general consensus among fans is that when Bryce Dallas Howard shows up, its going to be a banger.It seems like a far better idea to give Howard her own Star Wars movie, whatever it might be, rather than bringing in more outside directors like James Mangold or Simon Kinberg, both being ported over from X-Men, of all places. Howard knows Star Wars, and deserves a shot at the big time. If not a movie, give her a series all to herself. Maybe she could make something set in the Old or High Republic work for once.MORE FOR YOUWill this happen? Who knows. She may just keep directing periodic TV episodes, but the only Star Wars show that is even returning is Ahsoka, plus Andor wrapping with season 2, which is already done filming. Skeleton Crew seemed like it may have been on deck to become an ongoing series, but budget versus viewership is a real concern.Disney may be risk-averse when it comes to Star Wars these days, hence why the only thing its making is a Mandalorian movie, but Howard does not seem like a risk, and shes earned a bigger project.Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram.Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.

The convergence of cloud, AI and cybersecurity demands a rethinking of fintech architecture.

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE / APJanuary 3, 2025 7:53 AM ESTApple has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit accusing the privacy-minded company of deploying its virtual assistant Siri to eavesdrop on people using its iPhone and other trendy devices.The proposed settlement filed Tuesday in an Oakland, California, federal court would resolve a 5-year-old lawsuit revolving around allegations that Apple surreptitiously activated Siri to record conversations through iPhones and other devices equipped with the virtual assistant for more than a decade.The alleged recordings occurred even when people didn't seek to activate the virtual assistant with the trigger words, Hey, Siri." Some of the recorded conversations were then shared with advertisers in an attempt to sell their products to consumers more likely to be interested in the goods and services, the lawsuit asserted.The allegations about a snoopy Siri contradicted Apple's long-running commitment to protect the privacy of its customers a crusade that CEO Tim Cook has often framed as a fight to preserve a fundamental human right.Apple isn't acknowledging any wrongdoing in the settlement, which still must be approved by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White. Lawyers in the case have proposed scheduling a Feb. 14 court hearing in Oakland to review the terms.If the settlement is approved, tens of millions of consumers who owned iPhones and other Apple devices from Sept. 17, 2014, through the end of last year could file claims. Each consumer could receive up to $20 per Siri-equipped device covered by the settlement, although the payment could be reduced or increased, depending on the volume of claims. Only 3% to 5% of eligible consumers are expected to file claims, according to estimates in court documents.Eligible consumers will be limited to seeking compensation on a maximum of five devices.The settlement represents a sliver of the $705 billion in profits that Apple has pocketed since September 2014. It's also a fraction of the roughly $1.5 billion that the lawyers representing consumers had estimated Apple could been required to pay if the company had been found of violating wiretapping and other privacy laws had the case gone to a trial.The attorneys who filed the lawsuit may seek up to $29.6 million from the settlement fund to cover their fees and other expenses, according to court documents.