Hackers claim to have published a trove of sensitive data belonging to IVF patients after a cyberattack on Genea, one of Australias largest fertility providers.Genea said last week that it had experienced a cybersecurity incident that led to sensitive patient information potentially being compromised. In a statement given to TechCrunch on Wednesday, Genea CEO Tim Yeoh said the company had since identified that data taken from our systems has been published externally.This statement came after the Termite ransomware gang, which recently took credit for an attack on supply chain software giant Blue Yonder, listed Genea on its dark web leak site, where it claimed to have published sensitive patient data.Samples of the allegedly stolen data, seen by TechCrunch, appear to show government-issued identification documents and sensitive medical records.In an updated statement, Genea said it was granted a court injunction on Wednesday to prevent any access, use, dissemination or publication of the impacted data by the threat actor and/or any third party who receives the stolen dataset.The court order, seen by TechCrunch, reveals that the hackers breached Geneas Citrix environment on January 31 before extracting approximately 940 GB of data on February 14.Genea said it currently does not know what data was accessed, and Yeoh told TechCrunch that the company is urgently investigating the nature and extent of the data that has been published.However, Genea did note that hackers had compromised its patient management system, which contains information such as patients contact details, Medicare card numbers, health insurance details, medical histories, test results, and medications.Genea said there was currently no evidence that patients financial information, such as credit card details or bank account numbers, had been compromised.Its not known how many individuals may have been impacted by the breach, but Genea said it is communicating with both current and former patients.In its updated statement, Genea said it is working to securely restore its systems following the cyberattack, but it did not say whether the incident continues to disrupt patient services. ABC News reported last week that the companys MyGenea app, which enables patients to track their cycle and view fertility data, was taken offline as a result of the incident.

The use of internet of things (IoT) technology, combined with a software as a service (SaaS) platform, will help water companies stay on the right side of government rules on the quality of water in Englands rivers.Rules coming into force this year mean it will no longer be the easy option for water companies to simply pay fines rather than fix the problem, with the cap on fine limits removed and the threat of prison for water company directors who break the rules introduced.Not-for-profit Additive Catchments has teamed up with Capgemini in a 10-year agreement that will see the IT services giant build a river quality monitoring service with the scale needed to support water companies in England and beyond.Additive Catchments catchment monitoring as a service (CMaaS) uses sensors in rivers, which feed data and artificial intelligence-driven insights to a cloud-based software platform used by water companies, environment regulators and even the public.The CMaaS project also includes the University of Plymouth, digital infrastructure from Siemens and monitoring consultancy from AtkinsRalis, as well as an ecosystem of installation and maintenance companies in the UK.This type of technology is a necessity for water companies and those monitoring their activity after section 82 of the 2021 Environment Act comes into effect this year. It requires all water companies in the UK to implement continuous monitoring upstream and downstream of discharge points, and has created a massive environmental monitoring programme.Rob Passmore, CEO and co-founder at Additive Catchments, said the three-year-old organisation has a mission to improve river health in the UK and eventually internationally. He said Section 82 means water companies can be fined heavily, and senior directors could even face prison sentences for serious failures. Its significant and the legislation has teeth, Passmore told Computer Weekly. It will no longer be easier just to pay the fines, and as a result, all water companies are mobilising projects around this.Read more about IT and environmental monitoringResearchers will use data gathered frommonitoring rivers, weather conditions and ground water saturationto improve flood and drought defences.Singapores national water agency PUB is deploying autonomous drones at six reservoirs to monitor water quality.Digital twins of machines, facilities and infrastructureswill create virtual representations that, in time, will connect to allow for planning and monitoring urban environments.Under the rules, water companies must have 25% of their storm overflow discharge points monitored by 2030 and 100% by 2035.The regulators and public will be able to keep an eye on river water quality through the platform.Fundamentally, we dont really understand whats happening in our rivers because we havent got the data points necessary to really understand where there are problems, where were doing things well, where were doing things terribly and how to design interventions in a way that is effective and cost effective, said Passmore.The partnership with Capgemini gives the organisation the delivery capability required to scale the platform nationally and internationally.This is the largest environmental monitoring project in the world. Its huge, said Passmore. We give information to all river catchment stakeholders, including the government, agriculture, water companies, etc.The CMaaS uses IoT connectivity to send readings from rivers every 15 minutes. According to Passmore, from an IT and operations technology (OT) perspective, its enormous.He said the legislation has only just come into effect, and water companies now need to put sensors and monitoring capabilities in place or face heavy fines.We are actively engaging with all of the English water companies, who are actively procuring to address this, said Passmore.There is a commercial pilot of CMaaS already underway with Anglian Water.The work will see Capgemini support the building of the platform, running the service at a national and international scale, as well as research and development looking at new opportunities like Earth observation and machine learning capabilities that can be integrated into the service in the future.Paul Haggerty, head of UK energy and utilities at Capgemini, said there is demand for the service from outside the UK. We are a global organisation and conversations are in place beyond the UK, in countries such as France, Belgium, Australia and Dubai, he said.Theres climate change, which is putting all sorts of pressure on water, and theres significant population growth going on, and in our view, business as usual is not going to cut it, Haggerty told Computer Weekly. You cant expect a different outcome if youre faced with those challenges and those numbers by doing the same thing again.

chalabala - FotoliaNewsScottish police fail to record ethnicity in DNA databaseScottish policing bodies are failing to properly record and publish data on the ethnicity of arrested people, making it impossible to determine whether they are discriminating against certain sections of the population BySebastian Klovig Skelton,Data & ethics editorPublished: 26 Feb 2025 9:45 The failure of Scottish policing bodies to record the ethnicity of arrested people it takes DNA samples from means there is no way of establishing whether minority groups are over-represented in policing databases, warns Scottish biometric commissioner Brian Plastow.Following a Joint Assurance Review into the use of DNA for criminal justice and policing purposes, Plastow published a report with his findings on 26 February 2025, which noted the failure of both Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authoritys (SPA) Forensics Service to suitably record the ethnicity of those it retains DNA for is concerning.He also found that Police Scotland does not have a clear strategic roadmap setting out what it hopes to achieve with DNA or other biometric data and technologies, and questioned the extraordinarily long retention periods for DNA data (which Police Scotland can retain until at least a persons 100th birthday or three years after their death, whichever comes sooner).Plastow said that while publicly available information on the UKs National DNA Database (NDNAD) allows observers to see if any ethnic group is over-represented when it comes to their DNA being taken and stored, this is not possible with the Scottish DNA Database (SDNAD), as it does not record any details about a persons ethnicity.We have carried out a detailed review into the use and retention of DNA for criminal justice and police purposes in Scotland, and during our fieldwork, the Scottish Police Authority Forensic Services and Police Scotland were unable to provide us with any reliable management information on the ethnicity of anyone held within the Scottish DNA Database, as the database is nearly 30 years old and was not designed to record this information, he said.The fact that SPA Forensic Services and Police Scotland are failing to properly record and publish data on the ethnicity of arrested people whose biometric data is then held is concerning, against the context of the former and current chief constables having stated publicly that issues of institutional racism persist within Police Scotland.Accordingly, we have been unable to establish whether there is any over-representation on the grounds of ethnicity or any other protected characteristic in Scotland.He added that properly recording such information, would support Police Scotlands equality duties, as well as help maintain public confidence and trust.Data in the UK NDNAD shows that black people in the rest of the UK are significantly over-represented, as while they account for 7.5% of the database entries, they make up just 4% of the overall population, according to the 2021/22 census.While 1.3% of the population said they were of black heritage in the 2022 Scottish, there is no way of knowing what percentage of DNA samples in the SDNAD have been taken from this group.Although Plastows review report noted that DNA only helps solve only a small number of crimes in Scotland each year (0.34%), these are likely to be the most serious types of crime.DNA is not used routinely in police investigations. It is usually only a feature of crimes such as murders, serious assaults, housebreakings and sexual offending, he said, adding that while DNA provides few investigative leads, those leads can be spectacular in their results: It is not possible to determine how many crimes DNA helps solve in Scotland; however, it will most probably be fewer than 1,000 crimes each year.In his recommendations, Plastow said that Police Scotland should review its procedures for recoding the ethnicity of people whose biometric data is held on the SDNAD following arrest, with a view to fully recording and publishing such data in support of equality duties and to promote public confidence.Given the lack of a clear biometric data or technology strategy in the force, Plastow also recommended that Police Scotland in conjunction with the SPA Forensics Service should complete the development of a documented strategy outlining its biometrics plans over the next three, five, or 10-year period.The plan should be approved by the Force Executive and the Scottish Police Authority and be in place by no later than 31 October 2025, he wrote.Writing about the DNA retention period, Plastow said: It is recommended that in developing a new retention policy, Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority should discontinue the blanket practice of retaining the DNA of persons beyond average life expectancy in Scotland in circumstances where they are admonished or given an absolute discharge under summary procedure, providing that they have no previous convictions.He added that while an admonishment or absolute discharge under summary procedure are technically convictions, it would seem more proportionate to the commissioner for the retention period of such data to be aligned with prescribed retention periods for direct measures such as recorded police warnings.Computer Weekly contacted both Police Scotland and the SPA about Plastows report, but received no response from either.In January 2024, Plastow previously warned that Scotland risked sleepwalking into a surveillance state that places every citizen in a permanent digital line-up if it does not deviate from the UK governments then-data reform plans in 2024.While the UK government under Labour has dropped those plans in favour of a new data reform bill, Plastow described the situation at the time as a Biometric Wild West where police forces are doing whatever they want.He added that the UK government was using moral panic around, for example, migration and shoplifting to justify greater levels of surveillance, and that his fears around bulk surveillance have crystallised in recent months due to the actions of government ministers.This included a proposal from then-policing minister Chris Philp, who called in October 2023 for data from the police national database (PND), the Passport Office and other national databases to be integrated with facial-recognition technology to help catch shoplifters and other criminals with the click of one button.Responding to Philps proposals at the time, Plastow said he viewed this egregious proposal as unethical and potentially unlawful, and further condemned it as a gross violation of British privacy principles.Read more about police biometricsMet Police challenged on claim LFR supported by majority of Lewisham residents: A community impact assessment for the Met Polices deployment of live facial-recognition tech in Lewisham brings into question the forces previous claims to Computer Weekly that its use of the technology is supported by the majority of residents.UK data regulator should investigate police cloud deployments: The Scottish biometrics commissioner has called for the UK Information Commissioners Office to formally investigate whether Police Scotlands cloud-based evidence sharing system is fully compliant with data protection laws.UK police have culture of retention around biometric data: A culture of retention around biometric data in UK policing is damaging public trust, says UK biometrics commissioner, who is calling for clear regulation to govern police use of biometric technologies.In The Current Issue:An action plan for net zero compatible with budget constraintsWhat is Dunelm doing for women in tech?Download Current IssueSLM series - Syndicode:How to use the right (model) tool for the job CW Developer NetworkSLM series - IBM: Open source base models empower data-infused specialised models CW Developer NetworkView All Blogs

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Dropbox is weakening security for some files gettyDropbox Vault, an extra secure part of the Dropbox cloud storage service designed for your most sensitive files, is about to be shut down.First launched in 2020, Dropbox Vault was intended as a repository for files such as scans of your passport, health records, legal documents and other files you wouldnt want falling into the wrong hands.The Vault folder had an extra layer of protection, requiring users to enter a PIN code every time they tried to access the folder. That folder couldnt be opened by third-party apps and if you downloaded a file from your Vault on to your Mac or PC, the file would be deleted the moment you re-locked your Vault.Dropbox has since decided to discontinue the Vault feature, meaning that extra security layer is about to be removed. From March 4, the Dropbox Vault will effectively be treated like any other folder in your Dropbox, with no need to enter a PIN to access or download the files contained within it.Beefing Up Dropbox SecurityIf you intend to keep sensitive documents stored in the Dropbox Vault folder after March 4, its more important than ever that you implement the maximum possible security on your main Dropbox account.Firstly, the account should be protected with a unique, strong password that is ideally stored in a password manager such as Bitwarden, so that you dont have to remember it.Next, its crucial that you turn on two-factor authentication, reducing the chances of your account being compromised if someone does manage to access your Dropbox password.Dropbox currently supports several methods of two-factor authentication including SMS, mobile authentication app and physical security keys. SMS is much less secure, because its relatively easy for fraudsters to trick cellular networks into handing over someones mobile phone number. My colleague Davey Winder recently reported that Google is phasing out SMS as a means of two-factor authentication because of fears over its security.To switch on two-factor authentication in Dropbox:Log in at Dropbox.comClick on your profile icon and choose SettingsThen click the Security tabSwitch on two-step authentication and youll be asked to choose your preferred method during the setup procedureOnce youve switched on two-factor authentication its important to click the option to show your recovery codes. Print those codes and store them somewhere safe (ideally in a safe, but definitely in a separate location to your computer). You will need these recovery codes if, for some reason, you can no longer access your two-factor authentication device (because your phone has been stolen, for example).If you havent got a strong password on your Dropbox account, you can also change that here in the security settings.Dropbox Vault Security FlawsThe removal of the PIN protection isnt the only security concern to affect Dropbox Vault during its relatively short history.In 2020, I reported how a simple typo could inadvertently lead to sensitive files being sent to the wrong person because of the Vaults option to share its contents with a trusted contact. At the time, users were only required to enter the email address of the trusted recipient once, meaning any typing error in the email address could lead to a stranger getting access to a stash of your most sensitive Dropbox documents.

It's been 12 months since we began aggressively burning-in our 4K OLED monitor by using it exclusively for productivity work. With a full year of usage behind us, this marks an important milestone, so it's time to check in and see how the monitor is holding up. Is it horribly burnt in and completely unusable, or is it still faring reasonably well despite how we've been using it?There have been no changes in how we've been using our MSI QD-OLED. That is, a worst-case scenario for OLED usage, using the display mostly for static content, such as writing scripts, browsing the web, editing videos, and so on. As a result, there's basically no content consumption or gaming occurring on this display the complete opposite of how we normally recommend people use OLED panels.If you missed the previous updates, we recommend going back and checking out at least the initial article where we explain the setup we are using and why we decided to use MSI's 4K 240Hz QD-OLED gaming monitor as our workstation display. The idea is to perform a real-world test of OLED longevity in the worst possible configuration, effectively burning in the display on purpose.The Worst-Case OLED Usage ScenarioTo see whether OLED monitors can truly be used as long-term LCD-equivalent productivity displays, I personally swapped my workstation's 32-inch 4K IPS LCD for this QD-OLED and changed nothing about my usage no dark mode, no screensavers, nothing...I use my monitor more than 8 hours a day, and sometimes that usage is continuous, with no breaks for the display to turn off and rest. This leads to hours upon hours of static usage something that has been perfectly fine for LCDs for a long time but is quite risky on newer OLED screens.The progression to this point has been as follows:After one month and 200 to 250 hours of usage, we saw no signs of burn-in.After three months, 650 to 750 hours of usage, and 71 panel compensation cycles, we saw faint signs of burn-in.After six months, 1,200 to 1,500 hours of usage, and 141 compensation cycles, burn-in was a bit more noticeable than at three months but not overly problematic.At nine months, 2,000 to 2,300 hours of usage, and 224 compensation cycles, burn-in was still present but had changed relatively little compared to six months.12 Months Later: How Visible is Burn-In?Now, at one year of usage, this is the state of play. The 321URX is reporting 322 compensation cycles, which aligns with our typical daily usage, if slightly more than usual. At this stage, we estimate the panel has been used for between 2,700 and 3,000 hours, which is 8 to 10 hours of usage at 200 nits of brightness per compensation cycle. This is the equivalent of using the display for eight hours a day, every single day, since we got it.The recommended rate for panel protection cycles is every four hours, so this is a particularly intense stress test. Not only is the panel being used in a worst-case scenario for static content, but it's also being run at a relatively high brightness level with no software mitigations to minimize burn-in (such as putting the display to sleep after a few minutes of inactivity) all while running the panel protection cycle half as often as recommended.The only burn-in protection features enabled are some of the display-side tools, like dimming the display after a period of inactivity. But this is a very realistic use case: it's exactly how we used an LCD before switching to OLED.Comparing Burn-In Progression Over TimeIn this update, we're focusing on the 3, 6, 9, and 12-month results. Again, we're looking at the center of the display, where visible burn-in was noted in previous months: a line down the center of the screen, most likely due to frequent use of side-by-side applications.The 12-month update continues a stretch of relatively good news. Burn-in is still isolated to the same types of tests as in previous months, mostly affecting mid-to-dark grey test patterns. It remains essentially impossible to spot burn-in with brighter content, such as applications that use a mostly white background.However, in apps with a uniform dark grey background, like Adobe Premiere, the line down the center of the screen can be visible at times. After 12 months of usage, we rarely notice the line in everyday use it's likely my brain has just tuned it out but if I actively look for it, it's visible in darker apps.The impact across the various subpixels remains relatively unchanged. There is no visible burn-in with the red subpixel, a faint but barely noticeable amount with the blue subpixel, and a more obvious amount with the green subpixel. The green subpixel continues to be the primary contributor to the burn-in visible in greyscale tests.Month-over-month changes show that the vertical line was more visible in the 12-month update than at 9 months. Interestingly, in the previous update, we found this line to be slightly less burned in at 9 months compared to 6 months, suggesting that the compensation cycle had reduced its visibility. In the 12-month results, the level of vertical line burn-in is more similar to the 6-month mark than the 9-month mark, and usually slightly worse than at 6 months. If we take the worst-case result of either the 6- or 9-month images, that's basically what the screen looks like after 12 months.Taskbar burn-in has not progressed significantly compared to previous months, even when using the burn-in enhancement filter applied in prior articles to highlight differences.This filter creates a higher-contrast version for analysis purposes only, so it does not reflect how the monitor looks in real life. Like in previous months, taskbar burn-in is difficult to spot in real-world usage because the taskbar itself obscures the affected area. Even when viewing full-screen videos, burn-in is hard to detect unless the content is very uniform.The right side of the vertical line continues to become slightly less uniform and a bit darker than the rest of the screen, likely due to favoring snapping applications to the right side. However, this aspect of burn-in is subtle and far less obvious than the vertical line itself in darker applications like Premiere and Photoshop.Brightness remains unchanged after 12 months. We have recorded 243 nits at max brightness in every update, and this month is no exception. Typically, panel compensation cycles reduce brightness over time to address burn-in and maintain uniformity, but after 322 cycles, brightness remains unaffected.The one noticeable impact is that the monitor is becoming very slightly redder over time. This shift has resulted in around a 100K impact to white balance, dropping from approximately 6,450K when initially tested to 6,350K now. This appears to be due to uneven aging of the subpixels there is essentially no burn-in on the red subpixel, but more on the green, which drags the color balance toward red as green output diminishes.How is the Burn Shaping Up?Where do things stand overall after 12 months of intentionally burning in our OLED monitor? Panel degradation is progressing slowly, with results similar to or slightly worse than at 6 and 9 months. The general characteristics of the burn-in haven't changed much it remains largely confined to dark grey test patterns and while the vertical line and taskbar area are still visible in certain conditions, the overall impact remains minimal.After 2,800 hours of use, it's no surprise that burn-in has increased since the 700-hour mark at three months. However, the slow rate of burn-in has been a pleasant surprise. Across many tests, only minor changes have occurred despite an additional 2,000 hours of use.Burn-in is not significantly impacting daily usage, and the monitor remains close to, though not quite, a non-issue. The faint vertical line is visible in some dark grey applications but is not particularly distracting. Given that we have been subjecting this display to extreme conditions, we expected to see more burn-in at the one-year mark than we're seeing today.If we extrapolate how burn-in might progress after an additional year of usage, we're guessing that the panel will still be quite usable when we check back at the start of 2026. Of course, we will continue with regular updates between now and then, but we're optimistic this MSI 321URX will have a level of burn-in after 2 years that still isn't distracting in everyday use. We have no idea how it will perform after 4 or 5 years, which is within the reasonable lifespan of this type of display, but 2 years shouldn't be problematic or so we hope.We think the results we're seeing are good news for people with more realistic usage scenarios. 2,800 hours of use is equivalent to 8 hours a day of static content every single day for a year, or 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 16 months.Burn-in with OLEDs is directly related to hours of usage and is cumulative. So if you only use static apps for four hours a day, you should expect to see your lifespan double compared to what we're suggesting here. Mixing in dynamic content between periods of static content usually won't improve the burn-in results it's all related to the cumulative number of hours displaying the same static content on screen.Relative to our usage scenario, you'll also see lifespan improvements if you run the monitor at a lower brightness level (below 200 nits), turn off the display more frequently after inactivity (with a timer set below 2 hours), and use dark mode in Windows (we use light mode).Running the compensation cycle more often we run it every 8 to 10 hours on average, whereas every 4 hours is recommended will also theoretically help extend the lifespan. Taking all these factors into account, we believe most people will not experience significant burn-in concerns using an OLED, even for productivity use, within the first two years, possibly two and a half years. That is to say, the results we've shown after 12 months are probably more similar to what you'll see after 24 months or more. That timeframe could extend further if your OLED is primarily used for gaming.We still believe that 5 or more years of use from a $1,000 monitor is reasonable, so getting only two to three years without significant burn-in would not be acceptable. How it fares beyond that timeframe remains uncertain. Based on our testing, these panels will likely survive a few years of normal use, and burn-in has not progressed as quickly as we expected. Hopefully, the good news continues as we monitor progress throughout 2025.Shopping Shortcuts:MSI MPG 321URX on Amazon, NeweggAsus ROG Swift PG32UCDM on AmazonSamsung Odyssey QD-OLED G8 on AmazonSamsung Odyssey QD-OLED G9 ultrawide on AmazonAsus ROG Swift PG32UCDP WOLED on Amazon, NeweggAlienware AW3423DW 34" QD-OLED on AmazonLG C4 42" OLED TV on Amazon

Table of ContentsTable of ContentsFramework Laptop 13Framework Laptop 16The concept of open-source, modular devices appears to be working well for Framework. Founder Nirav Patel detailed at a launch event in San Francisco, California on Tuesday, that the company has seen consistent year-over-year sales growth every year since its inception. He announced the brands progress while unveiling the latest version of its popular customizable PC, the Framework Laptop 13, and new developments for the Framework Laptop 16.There has long been considerable excitement for new Framework Laptops, which havent been updated since 2022. Heres everything you need to know about Frameworks new product lineup.Recommended VideosFramework Laptop 13In 2025, the brand has updated the Framework Laptop 13 with the latest AMD Ryzen AI 300 series processors, which supports such highlight features as Zen 5 cores, Radeon Graphics, and 50 TOPs NPU. There is also an option for the AMD Ryzen 9 processor, which includes up to 12 CPU cores, and 16 GPU cores.FrameworkThe updated Framework Laptop 13 also includes a new thermal system with a single heat pipe, Wi-Fi 7 support, and display output support for the expansion cards meaning the laptop can run up to four displays on the device. The laptop has a revamped keyboard with plastic replacing the metal on the mechanical structure of the setup. Framework noted the keyboard went through rigorous testing to ensure it was viable. Software-wise, the Framework Laptop 13, supports Windows 11, featuring a Copilot key for AI functionality, but also works on Linux as a customization option. The laptop is typically DIY Edition compatible, allowing users to input custom hardware and software components onto a basic structure.The 13.5-inch notebook supports an optional 2.8K 120Hz display, and a 1080p webcam, as well as the same 61-watt-hour battery featured in older models. Made of aluminum, the chassis also remains thin and light, at just 0.62 inches in thickness and 2.86 pounds in weight.Framework also revived the translucent bezel for this Framework Laptop 13 model, in four color options also pairing it with six new translucent USB-C expansion cards colors, as an aesthetics feature.Preorders for the Framework Laptop 13 are available now, with the device going on sale in April to the markets where the brands products are already available. The DIY Edition will sell for $899, while the prebuilt version will sell for $1,099. The mainboard will also be available on its own. Additionally, the brand will mark down the prior Framework Laptop 13 to $749.Framework Laptop 16The Framework Laptop 16 has been available for just over a year. The brand open-sourced the customizable input module system, which has allowed the Framework community to develop many unique projects, including an RGB LED matrix and e-ink display. However, one challenge the brand and community have contended with is keyboards. Particularly, the thinness of the laptop not being compatible with traditional mechanical switches; theres no space for connectivity. Patel noted that the community experimented with many workarounds but wasnt able to find any permanent fixes.FrameworkFor the launch, Framework developed a solution, called the One Key Module, which is a fully self-contained mechanical and electrical switch, very similar to what youd find in a mechanical keyboard, but it is as slim as a Framework Laptop 16 keyboard. The brand noted that developers can create ortholinear layouts and ergonomic designs with the One Key Module. It has already created its own ortholinear proof of concept on a Framework Laptop 16 and will be partnering with developers with the solution now and in the future.Editors Recommendations

ElevenLabs, the buzzy New York-based company specializing in AI audio tools, is diving headfirst into the world of audiobook publishing. Merely days after inking a deal with Spotify to push audiobooks on its streaming platform, the company is dangling a freebie offer to lure authors away from the Amazon Audible behemoth.The AI upstart is opening access to its ElevenReader Publishing platform for all, and it will be accessible via the ElevenReader app for Android and iOS devices. The best part about the new publishing platform is its zero-cost approach, and a built-in distribution network targeting a global audience.Recommended VideosAs expected, all the narration voices will be provided from the ElevenLabs AI audio models library, which the company claims will offer realistic, versatile and contextually-aware speech. Speed is another crucial factor here, as compared to human narration, authors can simply import their text files and the audiobook will be created in minutes.ElevenLabsThe company says authors will be able to pick from over a thousand AI voice options. Moreover, readers will also be able to pick an audio narration voice of their choice in the ElevenReader app. As expected, the company is targeting independent publishers and authors. Writers seeking more granular controls over aspects such as narration pacing, multi-speaker tools, and voice customization will have to pay for the Studio suite offered by ElevenLabs.As of now, audiobook generation is limited to English, but the company plans to add 31 more languages into the pool. Once an audiobook is published, it will be distributed globally via the companys reader platform.Just like Amazons Audible platform, ElevenReader will also offer a royalty worth $1.10 per person who spends a minimum of 11 minutes listening to an audiobook. However, the royalty program is currently limited to the US only, as the company is still hashing out the taxation details for overseas markets.Audiobooks are more popular than ever before. Yet the costs of producing audiobooks means many stories go unheard.Now any independent author or publisher can upload their books text, preview with thousands of voices, and share for distribution on the ElevenReader app all at pic.twitter.com/rBO4Dp30VD ElevenReader (@elevenreader) February 25, 2025Akin to streaming music and video platforms such as Spotify and YouTube, authors will be able to check out detailed engagement metrics and analytics with the ElevenReader Publishing platform.Another notable element is the absence of any exclusivity clause, which is a divisive element for authors who onboard the Amazon Audible platform. Your work remains yours. There are no exclusivity restrictions by joining our program, ElevenLabs notes.However, rival platforms may not be particularly enthusiastic about AI-narrated audiobooks. Please note that many other audiobook platforms like Audible, Apple Books, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble may not accept AI-narrated audiobooks, ElevenLabs warns.For now, ElevenReader Publishing is completely free for authors to publish their audiobooks, and so is the ElevenReader app for smartphone users.Of course, its an AI platform that is offering tools which threaten real human jobs of voice actors, and every other professional involved in the business of producing audiobooks. ElevenLabs, on its end, says it paid over a million dollars last year to voice actors in compensation.Editors Recommendations

Matthew Van Andels experience reveals the threat that opportunistic hackers pose to companies and individuals.