• Blue Prince Doesn't Have A Satisfying Ending, But That's The Point

    Warning! We're about to go into deep endgame spoilers for Blue Prince, well beyond rolling the credits by reaching Room 46. Read on at your own risk.I had been playing Blue Prince for more than 100 hours before I felt like I truly understood what the game was really about.The revelation came in the form of a journal entry, secreted away in a safety deposit box, hidden within the sometimes tough-to-access vault of the strange and shifting Mount Holly Manor. Reaching the paper requires solving one of Blue Prince's toughest, most obtuse, and most rewarding puzzles, one you won't even realize exists until you've broken through riddle after riddle and uncovered mystery after mystery. It recontextualizes everything that has come before it, not only the winding and involved test of wits that is the manor itself, but the story that had to be similarly excavated along the way--one of political intrigue and family tragedy, the rising and falling of kingdoms, the stoking of revolution, and the sacrifice necessary to breathe life into ideals.Continue Reading at GameSpot
    #blue #prince #doesn039t #have #satisfying
    Blue Prince Doesn't Have A Satisfying Ending, But That's The Point
    Warning! We're about to go into deep endgame spoilers for Blue Prince, well beyond rolling the credits by reaching Room 46. Read on at your own risk.I had been playing Blue Prince for more than 100 hours before I felt like I truly understood what the game was really about.The revelation came in the form of a journal entry, secreted away in a safety deposit box, hidden within the sometimes tough-to-access vault of the strange and shifting Mount Holly Manor. Reaching the paper requires solving one of Blue Prince's toughest, most obtuse, and most rewarding puzzles, one you won't even realize exists until you've broken through riddle after riddle and uncovered mystery after mystery. It recontextualizes everything that has come before it, not only the winding and involved test of wits that is the manor itself, but the story that had to be similarly excavated along the way--one of political intrigue and family tragedy, the rising and falling of kingdoms, the stoking of revolution, and the sacrifice necessary to breathe life into ideals.Continue Reading at GameSpot #blue #prince #doesn039t #have #satisfying
    WWW.GAMESPOT.COM
    Blue Prince Doesn't Have A Satisfying Ending, But That's The Point
    Warning! We're about to go into deep endgame spoilers for Blue Prince, well beyond rolling the credits by reaching Room 46. Read on at your own risk.I had been playing Blue Prince for more than 100 hours before I felt like I truly understood what the game was really about.The revelation came in the form of a journal entry, secreted away in a safety deposit box, hidden within the sometimes tough-to-access vault of the strange and shifting Mount Holly Manor. Reaching the paper requires solving one of Blue Prince's toughest, most obtuse, and most rewarding puzzles, one you won't even realize exists until you've broken through riddle after riddle and uncovered mystery after mystery. It recontextualizes everything that has come before it, not only the winding and involved test of wits that is the manor itself, but the story that had to be similarly excavated along the way--one of political intrigue and family tragedy, the rising and falling of kingdoms, the stoking of revolution, and the sacrifice necessary to breathe life into ideals.Continue Reading at GameSpot
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  • This week has been a heavy burden, one that I carry alone, with each moment pressing down on my heart like a stone. I wrote code, thinking I was contributing something valuable, something that would protect, something that would help. Yet here I am, faced with the haunting reality that I caused a 9.5 CVSS CVE. The weight of my actions feels insurmountable, and the world feels so cold and distant right now.

    How did I let it come to this? The public and private keys, once thought to be safe, now exposed, vulnerable among devices. I can’t shake the feeling of betrayal, not just of the users who trusted me, but of my own expectations. It’s as if I’m standing in a room full of people, yet I feel utterly alone. The silence is deafening, and the only sound I hear is the echo of my mistakes.

    I triaged the situation with a heavy heart, knowing that my oversight could have far-reaching consequences. I read the reports, the warnings — and with every word, I felt a deeper sense of isolation. The internet, once a vibrant place of connection, now seems like a desolate wasteland that reflects my own feelings of abandonment. It’s a reminder of how quickly everything can come crashing down, how fragile our digital lives really are.

    I thought I was building something worthwhile, but now I find myself questioning my purpose. Did I truly understand the weight of my responsibilities? Did I consider the lives entwined with the code I wrote? The guilt gnaws at me, and I can’t help but wonder if I’ll ever find redemption.

    In this age of interconnectedness, I feel more disconnected than ever. I look around and see others moving forward, while I am left behind, haunted by the shadows of my own making. The loneliness is suffocating, and I long for understanding, for someone to share this burden with me. Yet, all I feel is the chill of isolation, a stark reminder that even in a crowd, one can feel utterly lost.

    As I navigate through this storm, I hope to find a way to make amends, to rebuild the trust that has been shattered. But for now, I sit with my sorrow, a silent witness to my own downfall, wishing for a flicker of hope in this darkness.

    #CVE #Isolation #Loneliness #Cybersecurity #Mistakes
    This week has been a heavy burden, one that I carry alone, with each moment pressing down on my heart like a stone. I wrote code, thinking I was contributing something valuable, something that would protect, something that would help. Yet here I am, faced with the haunting reality that I caused a 9.5 CVSS CVE. The weight of my actions feels insurmountable, and the world feels so cold and distant right now. How did I let it come to this? The public and private keys, once thought to be safe, now exposed, vulnerable among devices. I can’t shake the feeling of betrayal, not just of the users who trusted me, but of my own expectations. It’s as if I’m standing in a room full of people, yet I feel utterly alone. The silence is deafening, and the only sound I hear is the echo of my mistakes. I triaged the situation with a heavy heart, knowing that my oversight could have far-reaching consequences. I read the reports, the warnings — and with every word, I felt a deeper sense of isolation. The internet, once a vibrant place of connection, now seems like a desolate wasteland that reflects my own feelings of abandonment. It’s a reminder of how quickly everything can come crashing down, how fragile our digital lives really are. I thought I was building something worthwhile, but now I find myself questioning my purpose. Did I truly understand the weight of my responsibilities? Did I consider the lives entwined with the code I wrote? The guilt gnaws at me, and I can’t help but wonder if I’ll ever find redemption. In this age of interconnectedness, I feel more disconnected than ever. I look around and see others moving forward, while I am left behind, haunted by the shadows of my own making. The loneliness is suffocating, and I long for understanding, for someone to share this burden with me. Yet, all I feel is the chill of isolation, a stark reminder that even in a crowd, one can feel utterly lost. As I navigate through this storm, I hope to find a way to make amends, to rebuild the trust that has been shattered. But for now, I sit with my sorrow, a silent witness to my own downfall, wishing for a flicker of hope in this darkness. #CVE #Isolation #Loneliness #Cybersecurity #Mistakes
    This Week in Security: That Time I Caused a 9.5 CVE, iOS Spyware, and The Day the Internet Went Down
    Meshtastic just released an eye-watering 9.5 CVSS CVE, warning about public/private keys being re-used among devices. And I’m the one that wrote the code. Not to mention, I triaged and …read more
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  • Stolen iPhones disabled by Apple's anti-theft tech after Los Angeles looting

    What just happened? As protests against federal immigration enforcement swept through downtown Los Angeles last week, a wave of looting left several major retailers, including Apple, T-Mobile, and Adidas, counting the cost of smashed windows and stolen goods. Yet for those who made off with iPhones from Apple's flagship store, the thrill of the heist quickly turned into a lesson in high-tech security.
    Apple's retail locations are equipped with advanced anti-theft technology that renders display devices useless once they leave the premises. The moment a demonstration iPhone is taken beyond the store's Wi-Fi network, it is instantly disabled by proximity software and a remote "kill switch."
    Instead of a functioning smartphone, thieves were met with a stark message on the screen: "Please return to Apple Tower Theatre. This device has been disabled and is being tracked. Local authorities will be alerted." The phone simultaneously sounds an alarm and flashes the warning, ensuring it cannot be resold or activated elsewhere.
    This system is not new. During the nationwide unrest of 2020, similar scenes played out as looters discovered that Apple's security measures turned their stolen goods into little more than expensive paperweights.
    The technology relies on a combination of location tracking and network monitoring. As soon as a device is separated from the store's secure environment, it is remotely locked, its location is tracked, and law enforcement is notified.
    // Related Stories

    Videos circulating online show stolen iPhones blaring alarms and displaying tracking messages, making them impossible to ignore and virtually worthless on the black market.
    According to the Los Angeles Police Department, at least three individuals were arrested in connection with the Apple Store burglary, including one suspect apprehended at the scene and two others detained for looting.
    The crackdown on looting comes amid a broader shift in California's approach to retail crime. In response to public outcry over rising thefts, state and local officials have moved away from previously lenient policies. The passage of Proposition 36 has empowered prosecutors to file felony charges against repeat offenders, regardless of the value of stolen goods, and to impose harsher penalties for organized group theft.
    Under these new measures, those caught looting face the prospect of significant prison time, a marked departure from the misdemeanor charges that were common under earlier laws.
    District attorneys in Southern California have called for even harsher penalties, particularly for crimes committed during states of emergency. Proposals include making looting a felony offense, increasing prison sentences, and ensuring that suspects are not released without judicial review. The goal, officials say, is to deter opportunistic criminals who exploit moments of crisis, whether during protests or natural disasters.
    #stolen #iphones #disabled #apple039s #antitheft
    Stolen iPhones disabled by Apple's anti-theft tech after Los Angeles looting
    What just happened? As protests against federal immigration enforcement swept through downtown Los Angeles last week, a wave of looting left several major retailers, including Apple, T-Mobile, and Adidas, counting the cost of smashed windows and stolen goods. Yet for those who made off with iPhones from Apple's flagship store, the thrill of the heist quickly turned into a lesson in high-tech security. Apple's retail locations are equipped with advanced anti-theft technology that renders display devices useless once they leave the premises. The moment a demonstration iPhone is taken beyond the store's Wi-Fi network, it is instantly disabled by proximity software and a remote "kill switch." Instead of a functioning smartphone, thieves were met with a stark message on the screen: "Please return to Apple Tower Theatre. This device has been disabled and is being tracked. Local authorities will be alerted." The phone simultaneously sounds an alarm and flashes the warning, ensuring it cannot be resold or activated elsewhere. This system is not new. During the nationwide unrest of 2020, similar scenes played out as looters discovered that Apple's security measures turned their stolen goods into little more than expensive paperweights. The technology relies on a combination of location tracking and network monitoring. As soon as a device is separated from the store's secure environment, it is remotely locked, its location is tracked, and law enforcement is notified. // Related Stories Videos circulating online show stolen iPhones blaring alarms and displaying tracking messages, making them impossible to ignore and virtually worthless on the black market. According to the Los Angeles Police Department, at least three individuals were arrested in connection with the Apple Store burglary, including one suspect apprehended at the scene and two others detained for looting. The crackdown on looting comes amid a broader shift in California's approach to retail crime. In response to public outcry over rising thefts, state and local officials have moved away from previously lenient policies. The passage of Proposition 36 has empowered prosecutors to file felony charges against repeat offenders, regardless of the value of stolen goods, and to impose harsher penalties for organized group theft. Under these new measures, those caught looting face the prospect of significant prison time, a marked departure from the misdemeanor charges that were common under earlier laws. District attorneys in Southern California have called for even harsher penalties, particularly for crimes committed during states of emergency. Proposals include making looting a felony offense, increasing prison sentences, and ensuring that suspects are not released without judicial review. The goal, officials say, is to deter opportunistic criminals who exploit moments of crisis, whether during protests or natural disasters. #stolen #iphones #disabled #apple039s #antitheft
    WWW.TECHSPOT.COM
    Stolen iPhones disabled by Apple's anti-theft tech after Los Angeles looting
    What just happened? As protests against federal immigration enforcement swept through downtown Los Angeles last week, a wave of looting left several major retailers, including Apple, T-Mobile, and Adidas, counting the cost of smashed windows and stolen goods. Yet for those who made off with iPhones from Apple's flagship store, the thrill of the heist quickly turned into a lesson in high-tech security. Apple's retail locations are equipped with advanced anti-theft technology that renders display devices useless once they leave the premises. The moment a demonstration iPhone is taken beyond the store's Wi-Fi network, it is instantly disabled by proximity software and a remote "kill switch." Instead of a functioning smartphone, thieves were met with a stark message on the screen: "Please return to Apple Tower Theatre. This device has been disabled and is being tracked. Local authorities will be alerted." The phone simultaneously sounds an alarm and flashes the warning, ensuring it cannot be resold or activated elsewhere. This system is not new. During the nationwide unrest of 2020, similar scenes played out as looters discovered that Apple's security measures turned their stolen goods into little more than expensive paperweights. The technology relies on a combination of location tracking and network monitoring. As soon as a device is separated from the store's secure environment, it is remotely locked, its location is tracked, and law enforcement is notified. // Related Stories Videos circulating online show stolen iPhones blaring alarms and displaying tracking messages, making them impossible to ignore and virtually worthless on the black market. According to the Los Angeles Police Department, at least three individuals were arrested in connection with the Apple Store burglary, including one suspect apprehended at the scene and two others detained for looting. The crackdown on looting comes amid a broader shift in California's approach to retail crime. In response to public outcry over rising thefts, state and local officials have moved away from previously lenient policies. The passage of Proposition 36 has empowered prosecutors to file felony charges against repeat offenders, regardless of the value of stolen goods, and to impose harsher penalties for organized group theft. Under these new measures, those caught looting face the prospect of significant prison time, a marked departure from the misdemeanor charges that were common under earlier laws. District attorneys in Southern California have called for even harsher penalties, particularly for crimes committed during states of emergency. Proposals include making looting a felony offense, increasing prison sentences, and ensuring that suspects are not released without judicial review. The goal, officials say, is to deter opportunistic criminals who exploit moments of crisis, whether during protests or natural disasters.
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  • Over 8M patient records leaked in healthcare data breach

    Published
    June 15, 2025 10:00am EDT close IPhone users instructed to take immediate action to avoid data breach: 'Urgent threat' Kurt 'The CyberGuy' Knutsson discusses Elon Musk's possible priorities as he exits his role with the White House and explains the urgent warning for iPhone users to update devices after a 'massive security gap.' NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
    In the past decade, healthcare data has become one of the most sought-after targets in cybercrime. From insurers to clinics, every player in the ecosystem handles some form of sensitive information. However, breaches do not always originate from hospitals or health apps. Increasingly, patient data is managed by third-party vendors offering digital services such as scheduling, billing and marketing. One such breach at a digital marketing agency serving dental practices recently exposed approximately 2.7 million patient profiles and more than 8.8 million appointment records.Sign up for my FREE CyberGuy ReportGet my best tech tips, urgent security alerts, and exclusive deals delivered straight to your inbox. Plus, you’ll get instant access to my Ultimate Scam Survival Guide — free when you join. Illustration of a hacker at work  Massive healthcare data leak exposes millions: What you need to knowCybernews researchers have discovered a misconfigured MongoDB database exposing 2.7 million patient profiles and 8.8 million appointment records. The database was publicly accessible online, unprotected by passwords or authentication protocols. Anyone with basic knowledge of database scanning tools could have accessed it.The exposed data included names, birthdates, addresses, emails, phone numbers, gender, chart IDs, language preferences and billing classifications. Appointment records also contained metadata such as timestamps and institutional identifiers.MASSIVE DATA BREACH EXPOSES 184 MILLION PASSWORDS AND LOGINSClues within the data structure point toward Gargle, a Utah-based company that builds websites and offers marketing tools for dental practices. While not a confirmed source, several internal references and system details suggest a strong connection. Gargle provides appointment scheduling, form submission and patient communication services. These functions require access to patient information, making the firm a likely link in the exposure.After the issue was reported, the database was secured. The duration of the exposure remains unknown, and there is no public evidence indicating whether the data was downloaded by malicious actors before being locked down.We reached out to Gargle for a comment but did not hear back before our deadline. A healthcare professional viewing heath data     How healthcare data breaches lead to identity theft and insurance fraudThe exposed data presents a broad risk profile. On its own, a phone number or billing record might seem limited in scope. Combined, however, the dataset forms a complete profile that could be exploited for identity theft, insurance fraud and targeted phishing campaigns.Medical identity theft allows attackers to impersonate patients and access services under a false identity. Victims often remain unaware until significant damage is done, ranging from incorrect medical records to unpaid bills in their names. The leak also opens the door to insurance fraud, with actors using institutional references and chart data to submit false claims.This type of breach raises questions about compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which mandates strong security protections for entities handling patient data. Although Gargle is not a healthcare provider, its access to patient-facing infrastructure could place it under the scope of that regulation as a business associate. A healthcare professional working on a laptop  5 ways you can stay safe from healthcare data breachesIf your information was part of the healthcare breach or any similar one, it’s worth taking a few steps to protect yourself.1. Consider identity theft protection services: Since the healthcare data breach exposed personal and financial information, it’s crucial to stay proactive against identity theft. Identity theft protection services offer continuous monitoring of your credit reports, Social Security number and even the dark web to detect if your information is being misused. These services send you real-time alerts about suspicious activity, such as new credit inquiries or attempts to open accounts in your name, helping you act quickly before serious damage occurs. Beyond monitoring, many identity theft protection companies provide dedicated recovery specialists who assist you in resolving fraud issues, disputing unauthorized charges and restoring your identity if it’s compromised. See my tips and best picks on how to protect yourself from identity theft.2. Use personal data removal services: The healthcare data breach leaks loads of information about you, and all this could end up in the public domain, which essentially gives anyone an opportunity to scam you.  One proactive step is to consider personal data removal services, which specialize in continuously monitoring and removing your information from various online databases and websites. 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. GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HEREGet a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web3. Have strong antivirus software: Hackers have people’s email addresses and full names, which makes it easy for them to send you a phishing link that installs malware and steals all your data. These messages are socially engineered to catch them, and catching them is nearly impossible if you’re not careful. However, you’re not without defenses.The best way to safeguard yourself from malicious links that install malware, potentially accessing your private information, is to have strong 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.4. Enable two-factor authentication: While passwords weren’t part of the data breach, you still need to enable two-factor authentication. It gives you an extra layer of security on all your important accounts, including email, banking and social media. 2FA requires you to provide a second piece of information, such as a code sent to your phone, in addition to your password when logging in. This makes it significantly harder for hackers to access your accounts, even if they have your password. Enabling 2FA can greatly reduce the risk of unauthorized access and protect your sensitive data.5. Be wary of mailbox communications: Bad actors may also try to scam you through snail mail. The data leak gives them access to your address. They may impersonate people or brands you know and use themes that require urgent attention, such as missed deliveries, account suspensions and security alerts. Kurt’s key takeawayIf nothing else, this latest leak shows just how poorly patient data is being handled today. More and more, non-medical vendors are getting access to sensitive information without facing the same rules or oversight as hospitals and clinics. These third-party services are now a regular part of how patients book appointments, pay bills or fill out forms. But when something goes wrong, the fallout is just as serious. Even though the database was taken offline, the bigger problem hasn't gone away. Your data is only as safe as the least careful company that gets access to it.CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPDo you think healthcare companies are investing enough in their cybersecurity infrastructure? Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/ContactFor more of my tech tips and security alerts, subscribe to my free CyberGuy Report Newsletter by heading to Cyberguy.com/NewsletterAsk Kurt a question or let us know what stories you'd like us to coverFollow Kurt on his social channelsAnswers 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 Kurt’s free CyberGuy Newsletter, share your voice, a story idea or comment at CyberGuy.com.
    #over #patient #records #leaked #healthcare
    Over 8M patient records leaked in healthcare data breach
    Published June 15, 2025 10:00am EDT close IPhone users instructed to take immediate action to avoid data breach: 'Urgent threat' Kurt 'The CyberGuy' Knutsson discusses Elon Musk's possible priorities as he exits his role with the White House and explains the urgent warning for iPhone users to update devices after a 'massive security gap.' NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! In the past decade, healthcare data has become one of the most sought-after targets in cybercrime. From insurers to clinics, every player in the ecosystem handles some form of sensitive information. However, breaches do not always originate from hospitals or health apps. Increasingly, patient data is managed by third-party vendors offering digital services such as scheduling, billing and marketing. One such breach at a digital marketing agency serving dental practices recently exposed approximately 2.7 million patient profiles and more than 8.8 million appointment records.Sign up for my FREE CyberGuy ReportGet my best tech tips, urgent security alerts, and exclusive deals delivered straight to your inbox. Plus, you’ll get instant access to my Ultimate Scam Survival Guide — free when you join. Illustration of a hacker at work  Massive healthcare data leak exposes millions: What you need to knowCybernews researchers have discovered a misconfigured MongoDB database exposing 2.7 million patient profiles and 8.8 million appointment records. The database was publicly accessible online, unprotected by passwords or authentication protocols. Anyone with basic knowledge of database scanning tools could have accessed it.The exposed data included names, birthdates, addresses, emails, phone numbers, gender, chart IDs, language preferences and billing classifications. Appointment records also contained metadata such as timestamps and institutional identifiers.MASSIVE DATA BREACH EXPOSES 184 MILLION PASSWORDS AND LOGINSClues within the data structure point toward Gargle, a Utah-based company that builds websites and offers marketing tools for dental practices. While not a confirmed source, several internal references and system details suggest a strong connection. Gargle provides appointment scheduling, form submission and patient communication services. These functions require access to patient information, making the firm a likely link in the exposure.After the issue was reported, the database was secured. The duration of the exposure remains unknown, and there is no public evidence indicating whether the data was downloaded by malicious actors before being locked down.We reached out to Gargle for a comment but did not hear back before our deadline. A healthcare professional viewing heath data     How healthcare data breaches lead to identity theft and insurance fraudThe exposed data presents a broad risk profile. On its own, a phone number or billing record might seem limited in scope. Combined, however, the dataset forms a complete profile that could be exploited for identity theft, insurance fraud and targeted phishing campaigns.Medical identity theft allows attackers to impersonate patients and access services under a false identity. Victims often remain unaware until significant damage is done, ranging from incorrect medical records to unpaid bills in their names. The leak also opens the door to insurance fraud, with actors using institutional references and chart data to submit false claims.This type of breach raises questions about compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which mandates strong security protections for entities handling patient data. Although Gargle is not a healthcare provider, its access to patient-facing infrastructure could place it under the scope of that regulation as a business associate. A healthcare professional working on a laptop  5 ways you can stay safe from healthcare data breachesIf your information was part of the healthcare breach or any similar one, it’s worth taking a few steps to protect yourself.1. Consider identity theft protection services: Since the healthcare data breach exposed personal and financial information, it’s crucial to stay proactive against identity theft. Identity theft protection services offer continuous monitoring of your credit reports, Social Security number and even the dark web to detect if your information is being misused. These services send you real-time alerts about suspicious activity, such as new credit inquiries or attempts to open accounts in your name, helping you act quickly before serious damage occurs. Beyond monitoring, many identity theft protection companies provide dedicated recovery specialists who assist you in resolving fraud issues, disputing unauthorized charges and restoring your identity if it’s compromised. See my tips and best picks on how to protect yourself from identity theft.2. Use personal data removal services: The healthcare data breach leaks loads of information about you, and all this could end up in the public domain, which essentially gives anyone an opportunity to scam you.  One proactive step is to consider personal data removal services, which specialize in continuously monitoring and removing your information from various online databases and websites. 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. GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HEREGet a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web3. Have strong antivirus software: Hackers have people’s email addresses and full names, which makes it easy for them to send you a phishing link that installs malware and steals all your data. These messages are socially engineered to catch them, and catching them is nearly impossible if you’re not careful. However, you’re not without defenses.The best way to safeguard yourself from malicious links that install malware, potentially accessing your private information, is to have strong 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.4. Enable two-factor authentication: While passwords weren’t part of the data breach, you still need to enable two-factor authentication. It gives you an extra layer of security on all your important accounts, including email, banking and social media. 2FA requires you to provide a second piece of information, such as a code sent to your phone, in addition to your password when logging in. This makes it significantly harder for hackers to access your accounts, even if they have your password. Enabling 2FA can greatly reduce the risk of unauthorized access and protect your sensitive data.5. Be wary of mailbox communications: Bad actors may also try to scam you through snail mail. The data leak gives them access to your address. They may impersonate people or brands you know and use themes that require urgent attention, such as missed deliveries, account suspensions and security alerts. Kurt’s key takeawayIf nothing else, this latest leak shows just how poorly patient data is being handled today. More and more, non-medical vendors are getting access to sensitive information without facing the same rules or oversight as hospitals and clinics. These third-party services are now a regular part of how patients book appointments, pay bills or fill out forms. But when something goes wrong, the fallout is just as serious. Even though the database was taken offline, the bigger problem hasn't gone away. Your data is only as safe as the least careful company that gets access to it.CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPDo you think healthcare companies are investing enough in their cybersecurity infrastructure? Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/ContactFor more of my tech tips and security alerts, subscribe to my free CyberGuy Report Newsletter by heading to Cyberguy.com/NewsletterAsk Kurt a question or let us know what stories you'd like us to coverFollow Kurt on his social channelsAnswers 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 Kurt’s free CyberGuy Newsletter, share your voice, a story idea or comment at CyberGuy.com. #over #patient #records #leaked #healthcare
    WWW.FOXNEWS.COM
    Over 8M patient records leaked in healthcare data breach
    Published June 15, 2025 10:00am EDT close IPhone users instructed to take immediate action to avoid data breach: 'Urgent threat' Kurt 'The CyberGuy' Knutsson discusses Elon Musk's possible priorities as he exits his role with the White House and explains the urgent warning for iPhone users to update devices after a 'massive security gap.' NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! In the past decade, healthcare data has become one of the most sought-after targets in cybercrime. From insurers to clinics, every player in the ecosystem handles some form of sensitive information. However, breaches do not always originate from hospitals or health apps. Increasingly, patient data is managed by third-party vendors offering digital services such as scheduling, billing and marketing. One such breach at a digital marketing agency serving dental practices recently exposed approximately 2.7 million patient profiles and more than 8.8 million appointment records.Sign up for my FREE CyberGuy ReportGet my best tech tips, urgent security alerts, and exclusive deals delivered straight to your inbox. Plus, you’ll get instant access to my Ultimate Scam Survival Guide — free when you join. Illustration of a hacker at work   (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)Massive healthcare data leak exposes millions: What you need to knowCybernews researchers have discovered a misconfigured MongoDB database exposing 2.7 million patient profiles and 8.8 million appointment records. The database was publicly accessible online, unprotected by passwords or authentication protocols. Anyone with basic knowledge of database scanning tools could have accessed it.The exposed data included names, birthdates, addresses, emails, phone numbers, gender, chart IDs, language preferences and billing classifications. Appointment records also contained metadata such as timestamps and institutional identifiers.MASSIVE DATA BREACH EXPOSES 184 MILLION PASSWORDS AND LOGINSClues within the data structure point toward Gargle, a Utah-based company that builds websites and offers marketing tools for dental practices. While not a confirmed source, several internal references and system details suggest a strong connection. Gargle provides appointment scheduling, form submission and patient communication services. These functions require access to patient information, making the firm a likely link in the exposure.After the issue was reported, the database was secured. The duration of the exposure remains unknown, and there is no public evidence indicating whether the data was downloaded by malicious actors before being locked down.We reached out to Gargle for a comment but did not hear back before our deadline. A healthcare professional viewing heath data      (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)How healthcare data breaches lead to identity theft and insurance fraudThe exposed data presents a broad risk profile. On its own, a phone number or billing record might seem limited in scope. Combined, however, the dataset forms a complete profile that could be exploited for identity theft, insurance fraud and targeted phishing campaigns.Medical identity theft allows attackers to impersonate patients and access services under a false identity. Victims often remain unaware until significant damage is done, ranging from incorrect medical records to unpaid bills in their names. The leak also opens the door to insurance fraud, with actors using institutional references and chart data to submit false claims.This type of breach raises questions about compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which mandates strong security protections for entities handling patient data. Although Gargle is not a healthcare provider, its access to patient-facing infrastructure could place it under the scope of that regulation as a business associate. A healthcare professional working on a laptop   (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)5 ways you can stay safe from healthcare data breachesIf your information was part of the healthcare breach or any similar one, it’s worth taking a few steps to protect yourself.1. Consider identity theft protection services: Since the healthcare data breach exposed personal and financial information, it’s crucial to stay proactive against identity theft. Identity theft protection services offer continuous monitoring of your credit reports, Social Security number and even the dark web to detect if your information is being misused. These services send you real-time alerts about suspicious activity, such as new credit inquiries or attempts to open accounts in your name, helping you act quickly before serious damage occurs. Beyond monitoring, many identity theft protection companies provide dedicated recovery specialists who assist you in resolving fraud issues, disputing unauthorized charges and restoring your identity if it’s compromised. See my tips and best picks on how to protect yourself from identity theft.2. Use personal data removal services: The healthcare data breach leaks loads of information about you, and all this could end up in the public domain, which essentially gives anyone an opportunity to scam you.  One proactive step is to consider personal data removal services, which specialize in continuously monitoring and removing your information from various online databases and websites. 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. GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HEREGet a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web3. Have strong antivirus software: Hackers have people’s email addresses and full names, which makes it easy for them to send you a phishing link that installs malware and steals all your data. These messages are socially engineered to catch them, and catching them is nearly impossible if you’re not careful. However, you’re not without defenses.The best way to safeguard yourself from malicious links that install malware, potentially accessing your private information, is to have strong 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.4. Enable two-factor authentication: While passwords weren’t part of the data breach, you still need to enable two-factor authentication (2FA). It gives you an extra layer of security on all your important accounts, including email, banking and social media. 2FA requires you to provide a second piece of information, such as a code sent to your phone, in addition to your password when logging in. This makes it significantly harder for hackers to access your accounts, even if they have your password. Enabling 2FA can greatly reduce the risk of unauthorized access and protect your sensitive data.5. Be wary of mailbox communications: Bad actors may also try to scam you through snail mail. The data leak gives them access to your address. They may impersonate people or brands you know and use themes that require urgent attention, such as missed deliveries, account suspensions and security alerts. Kurt’s key takeawayIf nothing else, this latest leak shows just how poorly patient data is being handled today. More and more, non-medical vendors are getting access to sensitive information without facing the same rules or oversight as hospitals and clinics. These third-party services are now a regular part of how patients book appointments, pay bills or fill out forms. But when something goes wrong, the fallout is just as serious. Even though the database was taken offline, the bigger problem hasn't gone away. Your data is only as safe as the least careful company that gets access to it.CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPDo you think healthcare companies are investing enough in their cybersecurity infrastructure? Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/ContactFor more of my tech tips and security alerts, subscribe to my free CyberGuy Report Newsletter by heading to Cyberguy.com/NewsletterAsk Kurt a question or let us know what stories you'd like us to coverFollow Kurt on his social channelsAnswers 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 Kurt’s free CyberGuy Newsletter, share your voice, a story idea or comment at CyberGuy.com.
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  • Why Designers Get Stuck In The Details And How To Stop

    You’ve drawn fifty versions of the same screen — and you still hate every one of them. Begrudgingly, you pick three, show them to your product manager, and hear: “Looks cool, but the idea doesn’t work.” Sound familiar?
    In this article, I’ll unpack why designers fall into detail work at the wrong moment, examining both process pitfalls and the underlying psychological reasons, as understanding these traps is the first step to overcoming them. I’ll also share tactics I use to climb out of that trap.
    Reason #1 You’re Afraid To Show Rough Work
    We designers worship detail. We’re taught that true craft equals razor‑sharp typography, perfect grids, and pixel precision. So the minute a task arrives, we pop open Figma and start polishing long before polish is needed.
    I’ve skipped the sketch phase more times than I care to admit. I told myself it would be faster, yet I always ended up spending hours producing a tidy mock‑up when a scribbled thumbnail would have sparked a five‑minute chat with my product manager. Rough sketches felt “unprofessional,” so I hid them.
    The cost? Lost time, wasted energy — and, by the third redo, teammates were quietly wondering if I even understood the brief.
    The real problem here is the habit: we open Figma and start perfecting the UI before we’ve even solved the problem.
    So why do we hide these rough sketches? It’s not just a bad habit or plain silly. There are solid psychological reasons behind it. We often just call it perfectionism, but it’s deeper than wanting things neat. Digging into the psychologyshows there are a couple of flavors driving this:

    Socially prescribed perfectionismIt’s that nagging feeling that everyone else expects perfect work from you, which makes showing anything rough feel like walking into the lion’s den.
    Self-oriented perfectionismWhere you’re the one setting impossibly high standards for yourself, leading to brutal self-criticism if anything looks slightly off.

    Either way, the result’s the same: showing unfinished work feels wrong, and you miss out on that vital early feedback.
    Back to the design side, remember that clients rarely see architects’ first pencil sketches, but these sketches still exist; they guide structural choices before the 3D render. Treat your thumbnails the same way — artifacts meant to collapse uncertainty, not portfolio pieces. Once stakeholders see the upside, roughness becomes a badge of speed, not sloppiness. So, the key is to consciously make that shift:
    Treat early sketches as disposable tools for thinking and actively share them to get feedback faster.

    Reason #2: You Fix The Symptom, Not The Cause
    Before tackling any task, we need to understand what business outcome we’re aiming for. Product managers might come to us asking to enlarge the payment button in the shopping cart because users aren’t noticing it. The suggested solution itself isn’t necessarily bad, but before redesigning the button, we should ask, “What data suggests they aren’t noticing it?” Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you shouldn’t trust your product manager. On the contrary, these questions help ensure you’re on the same page and working with the same data.
    From my experience, here are several reasons why users might not be clicking that coveted button:

    Users don’t understand that this step is for payment.
    They understand it’s about payment but expect order confirmation first.
    Due to incorrect translation, users don’t understand what the button means.
    Lack of trust signals.
    Unexpected additional coststhat appear at this stage.
    Technical issues.

    Now, imagine you simply did what the manager suggested. Would you have solved the problem? Hardly.
    Moreover, the responsibility for the unresolved issue would fall on you, as the interface solution lies within the design domain. The product manager actually did their job correctly by identifying a problem: suspiciously, few users are clicking the button.
    Psychologically, taking on this bigger role isn’t easy. It means overcoming the fear of making mistakes and the discomfort of exploring unclear problems rather than just doing tasks. This shift means seeing ourselves as partners who create value — even if it means fighting a hesitation to question product managers— and understanding that using our product logic expertise proactively is crucial for modern designers.
    There’s another critical reason why we, designers, need to be a bit like product managers: the rise of AI. I deliberately used a simple example about enlarging a button, but I’m confident that in the near future, AI will easily handle routine design tasks. This worries me, but at the same time, I’m already gladly stepping into the product manager’s territory: understanding product and business metrics, formulating hypotheses, conducting research, and so on. It might sound like I’m taking work away from PMs, but believe me, they undoubtedly have enough on their plates and are usually more than happy to delegate some responsibilities to designers.
    Reason #3: You’re Solving The Wrong Problem
    Before solving anything, ask whether the problem even deserves your attention.
    During a major home‑screen redesign, our goal was to drive more users into paid services. The initial hypothesis — making service buttons bigger and brighter might help returning users — seemed reasonable enough to test. However, even when A/B testsshowed minimal impact, we continued to tweak those buttons.
    Only later did it click: the home screen isn’t the place to sell; visitors open the app to start, not to buy. We removed that promo block, and nothing broke. Contextual entry points deeper into the journey performed brilliantly. Lesson learned:
    Without the right context, any visual tweak is lipstick on a pig.

    Why did we get stuck polishing buttons instead of stopping sooner? It’s easy to get tunnel vision. Psychologically, it’s likely the good old sunk cost fallacy kicking in: we’d already invested time in the buttons, so stopping felt like wasting that effort, even though the data wasn’t promising.
    It’s just easier to keep fiddling with something familiar than to admit we need a new plan. Perhaps the simple question I should have asked myself when results stalled was: “Are we optimizing the right thing or just polishing something that fundamentally doesn’t fit the user’s primary goal here?” That alone might have saved hours.
    Reason #4: You’re Drowning In Unactionable Feedback
    We all discuss our work with colleagues. But here’s a crucial point: what kind of question do you pose to kick off that discussion? If your go-to is “What do you think?” well, that question might lead you down a rabbit hole of personal opinions rather than actionable insights. While experienced colleagues will cut through the noise, others, unsure what to evaluate, might comment on anything and everything — fonts, button colors, even when you desperately need to discuss a user flow.
    What matters here are two things:

    The question you ask,
    The context you give.

    That means clearly stating the problem, what you’ve learned, and how your idea aims to fix it.
    For instance:
    “The problem is our payment conversion rate has dropped by X%. I’ve interviewed users and found they abandon payment because they don’t understand how the total amount is calculated. My solution is to show a detailed cost breakdown. Do you think this actually solves the problem for them?”

    Here, you’ve stated the problem, shared your insight, explained your solution, and asked a direct question. It’s even better if you prepare a list of specific sub-questions. For instance: “Are all items in the cost breakdown clear?” or “Does the placement of this breakdown feel intuitive within the payment flow?”
    Another good habit is to keep your rough sketches and previous iterations handy. Some of your colleagues’ suggestions might be things you’ve already tried. It’s great if you can discuss them immediately to either revisit those ideas or definitively set them aside.
    I’m not a psychologist, but experience tells me that, psychologically, the reluctance to be this specific often stems from a fear of our solution being rejected. We tend to internalize feedback: a seemingly innocent comment like, “Have you considered other ways to organize this section?” or “Perhaps explore a different structure for this part?” can instantly morph in our minds into “You completely messed up the structure. You’re a bad designer.” Imposter syndrome, in all its glory.
    So, to wrap up this point, here are two recommendations:

    Prepare for every design discussion.A couple of focused questions will yield far more valuable input than a vague “So, what do you think?”.
    Actively work on separating feedback on your design from your self-worth.If a mistake is pointed out, acknowledge it, learn from it, and you’ll be less likely to repeat it. This is often easier said than done. For me, it took years of working with a psychotherapist. If you struggle with this, I sincerely wish you strength in overcoming it.

    Reason #5 You’re Just Tired
    Sometimes, the issue isn’t strategic at all — it’s fatigue. Fussing over icon corners can feel like a cozy bunker when your brain is fried. There’s a name for this: decision fatigue. Basically, your brain’s battery for hard thinking is low, so it hides out in the easy, comfy zone of pixel-pushing.
    A striking example comes from a New York Times article titled “Do You Suffer From Decision Fatigue?.” It described how judges deciding on release requests were far more likely to grant release early in the daycompared to late in the daysimply because their decision-making energy was depleted. Luckily, designers rarely hold someone’s freedom in their hands, but the example dramatically shows how fatigue can impact our judgment and productivity.
    What helps here:

    Swap tasks.Trade tickets with another designer; novelty resets your focus.
    Talk to another designer.If NDA permits, ask peers outside the team for a sanity check.
    Step away.Even a ten‑minute walk can do more than a double‑shot espresso.

    By the way, I came up with these ideas while walking around my office. I was lucky to work near a river, and those short walks quickly turned into a helpful habit.

    And one more trick that helps me snap out of detail mode early: if I catch myself making around 20 little tweaks — changing font weight, color, border radius — I just stop. Over time, it turned into a habit. I have a similar one with Instagram: by the third reel, my brain quietly asks, “Wait, weren’t we working?” Funny how that kind of nudge saves a ton of time.
    Four Steps I Use to Avoid Drowning In Detail
    Knowing these potential traps, here’s the practical process I use to stay on track:
    1. Define the Core Problem & Business Goal
    Before anything, dig deep: what’s the actual problem we’re solving, not just the requested task or a surface-level symptom? Ask ‘why’ repeatedly. What user pain or business need are we addressing? Then, state the clear business goal: “What metric am I moving, and do we have data to prove this is the right lever?” If retention is the goal, decide whether push reminders, gamification, or personalised content is the best route. The wrong lever, or tackling a symptom instead of the cause, dooms everything downstream.
    2. Choose the MechanicOnce the core problem and goal are clear, lock the solution principle or ‘mechanic’ first. Going with a game layer? Decide if it’s leaderboards, streaks, or badges. Write it down. Then move on. No UI yet. This keeps the focus high-level before diving into pixels.
    3. Wireframe the Flow & Get Focused Feedback
    Now open Figma. Map screens, layout, and transitions. Boxes and arrows are enough. Keep the fidelity low so the discussion stays on the flow, not colour. Crucially, when you share these early wires, ask specific questions and provide clear contextto get actionable feedback, not just vague opinions.
    4. Polish the VisualsI only let myself tweak grids, type scales, and shadows after the flow is validated. If progress stalls, or before a major polish effort, I surface the work in a design critique — again using targeted questions and clear context — instead of hiding in version 47. This ensures detailing serves the now-validated solution.
    Even for something as small as a single button, running these four checkpoints takes about ten minutes and saves hours of decorative dithering.
    Wrapping Up
    Next time you feel the pull to vanish into mock‑ups before the problem is nailed down, pause and ask what you might be avoiding. Yes, that can expose an uncomfortable truth. But pausing to ask what you might be avoiding — maybe the fuzzy core problem, or just asking for tough feedback — gives you the power to face the real issue head-on. It keeps the project focused on solving the right problem, not just perfecting a flawed solution.
    Attention to detail is a superpower when used at the right moment. Obsessing over pixels too soon, though, is a bad habit and a warning light telling us the process needs a rethink.
    #why #designers #get #stuck #details
    Why Designers Get Stuck In The Details And How To Stop
    You’ve drawn fifty versions of the same screen — and you still hate every one of them. Begrudgingly, you pick three, show them to your product manager, and hear: “Looks cool, but the idea doesn’t work.” Sound familiar? In this article, I’ll unpack why designers fall into detail work at the wrong moment, examining both process pitfalls and the underlying psychological reasons, as understanding these traps is the first step to overcoming them. I’ll also share tactics I use to climb out of that trap. Reason #1 You’re Afraid To Show Rough Work We designers worship detail. We’re taught that true craft equals razor‑sharp typography, perfect grids, and pixel precision. So the minute a task arrives, we pop open Figma and start polishing long before polish is needed. I’ve skipped the sketch phase more times than I care to admit. I told myself it would be faster, yet I always ended up spending hours producing a tidy mock‑up when a scribbled thumbnail would have sparked a five‑minute chat with my product manager. Rough sketches felt “unprofessional,” so I hid them. The cost? Lost time, wasted energy — and, by the third redo, teammates were quietly wondering if I even understood the brief. The real problem here is the habit: we open Figma and start perfecting the UI before we’ve even solved the problem. So why do we hide these rough sketches? It’s not just a bad habit or plain silly. There are solid psychological reasons behind it. We often just call it perfectionism, but it’s deeper than wanting things neat. Digging into the psychologyshows there are a couple of flavors driving this: Socially prescribed perfectionismIt’s that nagging feeling that everyone else expects perfect work from you, which makes showing anything rough feel like walking into the lion’s den. Self-oriented perfectionismWhere you’re the one setting impossibly high standards for yourself, leading to brutal self-criticism if anything looks slightly off. Either way, the result’s the same: showing unfinished work feels wrong, and you miss out on that vital early feedback. Back to the design side, remember that clients rarely see architects’ first pencil sketches, but these sketches still exist; they guide structural choices before the 3D render. Treat your thumbnails the same way — artifacts meant to collapse uncertainty, not portfolio pieces. Once stakeholders see the upside, roughness becomes a badge of speed, not sloppiness. So, the key is to consciously make that shift: Treat early sketches as disposable tools for thinking and actively share them to get feedback faster. Reason #2: You Fix The Symptom, Not The Cause Before tackling any task, we need to understand what business outcome we’re aiming for. Product managers might come to us asking to enlarge the payment button in the shopping cart because users aren’t noticing it. The suggested solution itself isn’t necessarily bad, but before redesigning the button, we should ask, “What data suggests they aren’t noticing it?” Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you shouldn’t trust your product manager. On the contrary, these questions help ensure you’re on the same page and working with the same data. From my experience, here are several reasons why users might not be clicking that coveted button: Users don’t understand that this step is for payment. They understand it’s about payment but expect order confirmation first. Due to incorrect translation, users don’t understand what the button means. Lack of trust signals. Unexpected additional coststhat appear at this stage. Technical issues. Now, imagine you simply did what the manager suggested. Would you have solved the problem? Hardly. Moreover, the responsibility for the unresolved issue would fall on you, as the interface solution lies within the design domain. The product manager actually did their job correctly by identifying a problem: suspiciously, few users are clicking the button. Psychologically, taking on this bigger role isn’t easy. It means overcoming the fear of making mistakes and the discomfort of exploring unclear problems rather than just doing tasks. This shift means seeing ourselves as partners who create value — even if it means fighting a hesitation to question product managers— and understanding that using our product logic expertise proactively is crucial for modern designers. There’s another critical reason why we, designers, need to be a bit like product managers: the rise of AI. I deliberately used a simple example about enlarging a button, but I’m confident that in the near future, AI will easily handle routine design tasks. This worries me, but at the same time, I’m already gladly stepping into the product manager’s territory: understanding product and business metrics, formulating hypotheses, conducting research, and so on. It might sound like I’m taking work away from PMs, but believe me, they undoubtedly have enough on their plates and are usually more than happy to delegate some responsibilities to designers. Reason #3: You’re Solving The Wrong Problem Before solving anything, ask whether the problem even deserves your attention. During a major home‑screen redesign, our goal was to drive more users into paid services. The initial hypothesis — making service buttons bigger and brighter might help returning users — seemed reasonable enough to test. However, even when A/B testsshowed minimal impact, we continued to tweak those buttons. Only later did it click: the home screen isn’t the place to sell; visitors open the app to start, not to buy. We removed that promo block, and nothing broke. Contextual entry points deeper into the journey performed brilliantly. Lesson learned: Without the right context, any visual tweak is lipstick on a pig. Why did we get stuck polishing buttons instead of stopping sooner? It’s easy to get tunnel vision. Psychologically, it’s likely the good old sunk cost fallacy kicking in: we’d already invested time in the buttons, so stopping felt like wasting that effort, even though the data wasn’t promising. It’s just easier to keep fiddling with something familiar than to admit we need a new plan. Perhaps the simple question I should have asked myself when results stalled was: “Are we optimizing the right thing or just polishing something that fundamentally doesn’t fit the user’s primary goal here?” That alone might have saved hours. Reason #4: You’re Drowning In Unactionable Feedback We all discuss our work with colleagues. But here’s a crucial point: what kind of question do you pose to kick off that discussion? If your go-to is “What do you think?” well, that question might lead you down a rabbit hole of personal opinions rather than actionable insights. While experienced colleagues will cut through the noise, others, unsure what to evaluate, might comment on anything and everything — fonts, button colors, even when you desperately need to discuss a user flow. What matters here are two things: The question you ask, The context you give. That means clearly stating the problem, what you’ve learned, and how your idea aims to fix it. For instance: “The problem is our payment conversion rate has dropped by X%. I’ve interviewed users and found they abandon payment because they don’t understand how the total amount is calculated. My solution is to show a detailed cost breakdown. Do you think this actually solves the problem for them?” Here, you’ve stated the problem, shared your insight, explained your solution, and asked a direct question. It’s even better if you prepare a list of specific sub-questions. For instance: “Are all items in the cost breakdown clear?” or “Does the placement of this breakdown feel intuitive within the payment flow?” Another good habit is to keep your rough sketches and previous iterations handy. Some of your colleagues’ suggestions might be things you’ve already tried. It’s great if you can discuss them immediately to either revisit those ideas or definitively set them aside. I’m not a psychologist, but experience tells me that, psychologically, the reluctance to be this specific often stems from a fear of our solution being rejected. We tend to internalize feedback: a seemingly innocent comment like, “Have you considered other ways to organize this section?” or “Perhaps explore a different structure for this part?” can instantly morph in our minds into “You completely messed up the structure. You’re a bad designer.” Imposter syndrome, in all its glory. So, to wrap up this point, here are two recommendations: Prepare for every design discussion.A couple of focused questions will yield far more valuable input than a vague “So, what do you think?”. Actively work on separating feedback on your design from your self-worth.If a mistake is pointed out, acknowledge it, learn from it, and you’ll be less likely to repeat it. This is often easier said than done. For me, it took years of working with a psychotherapist. If you struggle with this, I sincerely wish you strength in overcoming it. Reason #5 You’re Just Tired Sometimes, the issue isn’t strategic at all — it’s fatigue. Fussing over icon corners can feel like a cozy bunker when your brain is fried. There’s a name for this: decision fatigue. Basically, your brain’s battery for hard thinking is low, so it hides out in the easy, comfy zone of pixel-pushing. A striking example comes from a New York Times article titled “Do You Suffer From Decision Fatigue?.” It described how judges deciding on release requests were far more likely to grant release early in the daycompared to late in the daysimply because their decision-making energy was depleted. Luckily, designers rarely hold someone’s freedom in their hands, but the example dramatically shows how fatigue can impact our judgment and productivity. What helps here: Swap tasks.Trade tickets with another designer; novelty resets your focus. Talk to another designer.If NDA permits, ask peers outside the team for a sanity check. Step away.Even a ten‑minute walk can do more than a double‑shot espresso. By the way, I came up with these ideas while walking around my office. I was lucky to work near a river, and those short walks quickly turned into a helpful habit. And one more trick that helps me snap out of detail mode early: if I catch myself making around 20 little tweaks — changing font weight, color, border radius — I just stop. Over time, it turned into a habit. I have a similar one with Instagram: by the third reel, my brain quietly asks, “Wait, weren’t we working?” Funny how that kind of nudge saves a ton of time. Four Steps I Use to Avoid Drowning In Detail Knowing these potential traps, here’s the practical process I use to stay on track: 1. Define the Core Problem & Business Goal Before anything, dig deep: what’s the actual problem we’re solving, not just the requested task or a surface-level symptom? Ask ‘why’ repeatedly. What user pain or business need are we addressing? Then, state the clear business goal: “What metric am I moving, and do we have data to prove this is the right lever?” If retention is the goal, decide whether push reminders, gamification, or personalised content is the best route. The wrong lever, or tackling a symptom instead of the cause, dooms everything downstream. 2. Choose the MechanicOnce the core problem and goal are clear, lock the solution principle or ‘mechanic’ first. Going with a game layer? Decide if it’s leaderboards, streaks, or badges. Write it down. Then move on. No UI yet. This keeps the focus high-level before diving into pixels. 3. Wireframe the Flow & Get Focused Feedback Now open Figma. Map screens, layout, and transitions. Boxes and arrows are enough. Keep the fidelity low so the discussion stays on the flow, not colour. Crucially, when you share these early wires, ask specific questions and provide clear contextto get actionable feedback, not just vague opinions. 4. Polish the VisualsI only let myself tweak grids, type scales, and shadows after the flow is validated. If progress stalls, or before a major polish effort, I surface the work in a design critique — again using targeted questions and clear context — instead of hiding in version 47. This ensures detailing serves the now-validated solution. Even for something as small as a single button, running these four checkpoints takes about ten minutes and saves hours of decorative dithering. Wrapping Up Next time you feel the pull to vanish into mock‑ups before the problem is nailed down, pause and ask what you might be avoiding. Yes, that can expose an uncomfortable truth. But pausing to ask what you might be avoiding — maybe the fuzzy core problem, or just asking for tough feedback — gives you the power to face the real issue head-on. It keeps the project focused on solving the right problem, not just perfecting a flawed solution. Attention to detail is a superpower when used at the right moment. Obsessing over pixels too soon, though, is a bad habit and a warning light telling us the process needs a rethink. #why #designers #get #stuck #details
    SMASHINGMAGAZINE.COM
    Why Designers Get Stuck In The Details And How To Stop
    You’ve drawn fifty versions of the same screen — and you still hate every one of them. Begrudgingly, you pick three, show them to your product manager, and hear: “Looks cool, but the idea doesn’t work.” Sound familiar? In this article, I’ll unpack why designers fall into detail work at the wrong moment, examining both process pitfalls and the underlying psychological reasons, as understanding these traps is the first step to overcoming them. I’ll also share tactics I use to climb out of that trap. Reason #1 You’re Afraid To Show Rough Work We designers worship detail. We’re taught that true craft equals razor‑sharp typography, perfect grids, and pixel precision. So the minute a task arrives, we pop open Figma and start polishing long before polish is needed. I’ve skipped the sketch phase more times than I care to admit. I told myself it would be faster, yet I always ended up spending hours producing a tidy mock‑up when a scribbled thumbnail would have sparked a five‑minute chat with my product manager. Rough sketches felt “unprofessional,” so I hid them. The cost? Lost time, wasted energy — and, by the third redo, teammates were quietly wondering if I even understood the brief. The real problem here is the habit: we open Figma and start perfecting the UI before we’ve even solved the problem. So why do we hide these rough sketches? It’s not just a bad habit or plain silly. There are solid psychological reasons behind it. We often just call it perfectionism, but it’s deeper than wanting things neat. Digging into the psychology (like the research by Hewitt and Flett) shows there are a couple of flavors driving this: Socially prescribed perfectionismIt’s that nagging feeling that everyone else expects perfect work from you, which makes showing anything rough feel like walking into the lion’s den. Self-oriented perfectionismWhere you’re the one setting impossibly high standards for yourself, leading to brutal self-criticism if anything looks slightly off. Either way, the result’s the same: showing unfinished work feels wrong, and you miss out on that vital early feedback. Back to the design side, remember that clients rarely see architects’ first pencil sketches, but these sketches still exist; they guide structural choices before the 3D render. Treat your thumbnails the same way — artifacts meant to collapse uncertainty, not portfolio pieces. Once stakeholders see the upside, roughness becomes a badge of speed, not sloppiness. So, the key is to consciously make that shift: Treat early sketches as disposable tools for thinking and actively share them to get feedback faster. Reason #2: You Fix The Symptom, Not The Cause Before tackling any task, we need to understand what business outcome we’re aiming for. Product managers might come to us asking to enlarge the payment button in the shopping cart because users aren’t noticing it. The suggested solution itself isn’t necessarily bad, but before redesigning the button, we should ask, “What data suggests they aren’t noticing it?” Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you shouldn’t trust your product manager. On the contrary, these questions help ensure you’re on the same page and working with the same data. From my experience, here are several reasons why users might not be clicking that coveted button: Users don’t understand that this step is for payment. They understand it’s about payment but expect order confirmation first. Due to incorrect translation, users don’t understand what the button means. Lack of trust signals (no security icons, unclear seller information). Unexpected additional costs (hidden fees, shipping) that appear at this stage. Technical issues (inactive button, page freezing). Now, imagine you simply did what the manager suggested. Would you have solved the problem? Hardly. Moreover, the responsibility for the unresolved issue would fall on you, as the interface solution lies within the design domain. The product manager actually did their job correctly by identifying a problem: suspiciously, few users are clicking the button. Psychologically, taking on this bigger role isn’t easy. It means overcoming the fear of making mistakes and the discomfort of exploring unclear problems rather than just doing tasks. This shift means seeing ourselves as partners who create value — even if it means fighting a hesitation to question product managers (which might come from a fear of speaking up or a desire to avoid challenging authority) — and understanding that using our product logic expertise proactively is crucial for modern designers. There’s another critical reason why we, designers, need to be a bit like product managers: the rise of AI. I deliberately used a simple example about enlarging a button, but I’m confident that in the near future, AI will easily handle routine design tasks. This worries me, but at the same time, I’m already gladly stepping into the product manager’s territory: understanding product and business metrics, formulating hypotheses, conducting research, and so on. It might sound like I’m taking work away from PMs, but believe me, they undoubtedly have enough on their plates and are usually more than happy to delegate some responsibilities to designers. Reason #3: You’re Solving The Wrong Problem Before solving anything, ask whether the problem even deserves your attention. During a major home‑screen redesign, our goal was to drive more users into paid services. The initial hypothesis — making service buttons bigger and brighter might help returning users — seemed reasonable enough to test. However, even when A/B tests (a method of comparing two versions of a design to determine which performs better) showed minimal impact, we continued to tweak those buttons. Only later did it click: the home screen isn’t the place to sell; visitors open the app to start, not to buy. We removed that promo block, and nothing broke. Contextual entry points deeper into the journey performed brilliantly. Lesson learned: Without the right context, any visual tweak is lipstick on a pig. Why did we get stuck polishing buttons instead of stopping sooner? It’s easy to get tunnel vision. Psychologically, it’s likely the good old sunk cost fallacy kicking in: we’d already invested time in the buttons, so stopping felt like wasting that effort, even though the data wasn’t promising. It’s just easier to keep fiddling with something familiar than to admit we need a new plan. Perhaps the simple question I should have asked myself when results stalled was: “Are we optimizing the right thing or just polishing something that fundamentally doesn’t fit the user’s primary goal here?” That alone might have saved hours. Reason #4: You’re Drowning In Unactionable Feedback We all discuss our work with colleagues. But here’s a crucial point: what kind of question do you pose to kick off that discussion? If your go-to is “What do you think?” well, that question might lead you down a rabbit hole of personal opinions rather than actionable insights. While experienced colleagues will cut through the noise, others, unsure what to evaluate, might comment on anything and everything — fonts, button colors, even when you desperately need to discuss a user flow. What matters here are two things: The question you ask, The context you give. That means clearly stating the problem, what you’ve learned, and how your idea aims to fix it. For instance: “The problem is our payment conversion rate has dropped by X%. I’ve interviewed users and found they abandon payment because they don’t understand how the total amount is calculated. My solution is to show a detailed cost breakdown. Do you think this actually solves the problem for them?” Here, you’ve stated the problem (conversion drop), shared your insight (user confusion), explained your solution (cost breakdown), and asked a direct question. It’s even better if you prepare a list of specific sub-questions. For instance: “Are all items in the cost breakdown clear?” or “Does the placement of this breakdown feel intuitive within the payment flow?” Another good habit is to keep your rough sketches and previous iterations handy. Some of your colleagues’ suggestions might be things you’ve already tried. It’s great if you can discuss them immediately to either revisit those ideas or definitively set them aside. I’m not a psychologist, but experience tells me that, psychologically, the reluctance to be this specific often stems from a fear of our solution being rejected. We tend to internalize feedback: a seemingly innocent comment like, “Have you considered other ways to organize this section?” or “Perhaps explore a different structure for this part?” can instantly morph in our minds into “You completely messed up the structure. You’re a bad designer.” Imposter syndrome, in all its glory. So, to wrap up this point, here are two recommendations: Prepare for every design discussion.A couple of focused questions will yield far more valuable input than a vague “So, what do you think?”. Actively work on separating feedback on your design from your self-worth.If a mistake is pointed out, acknowledge it, learn from it, and you’ll be less likely to repeat it. This is often easier said than done. For me, it took years of working with a psychotherapist. If you struggle with this, I sincerely wish you strength in overcoming it. Reason #5 You’re Just Tired Sometimes, the issue isn’t strategic at all — it’s fatigue. Fussing over icon corners can feel like a cozy bunker when your brain is fried. There’s a name for this: decision fatigue. Basically, your brain’s battery for hard thinking is low, so it hides out in the easy, comfy zone of pixel-pushing. A striking example comes from a New York Times article titled “Do You Suffer From Decision Fatigue?.” It described how judges deciding on release requests were far more likely to grant release early in the day (about 70% of cases) compared to late in the day (less than 10%) simply because their decision-making energy was depleted. Luckily, designers rarely hold someone’s freedom in their hands, but the example dramatically shows how fatigue can impact our judgment and productivity. What helps here: Swap tasks.Trade tickets with another designer; novelty resets your focus. Talk to another designer.If NDA permits, ask peers outside the team for a sanity check. Step away.Even a ten‑minute walk can do more than a double‑shot espresso. By the way, I came up with these ideas while walking around my office. I was lucky to work near a river, and those short walks quickly turned into a helpful habit. And one more trick that helps me snap out of detail mode early: if I catch myself making around 20 little tweaks — changing font weight, color, border radius — I just stop. Over time, it turned into a habit. I have a similar one with Instagram: by the third reel, my brain quietly asks, “Wait, weren’t we working?” Funny how that kind of nudge saves a ton of time. Four Steps I Use to Avoid Drowning In Detail Knowing these potential traps, here’s the practical process I use to stay on track: 1. Define the Core Problem & Business Goal Before anything, dig deep: what’s the actual problem we’re solving, not just the requested task or a surface-level symptom? Ask ‘why’ repeatedly. What user pain or business need are we addressing? Then, state the clear business goal: “What metric am I moving, and do we have data to prove this is the right lever?” If retention is the goal, decide whether push reminders, gamification, or personalised content is the best route. The wrong lever, or tackling a symptom instead of the cause, dooms everything downstream. 2. Choose the Mechanic (Solution Principle) Once the core problem and goal are clear, lock the solution principle or ‘mechanic’ first. Going with a game layer? Decide if it’s leaderboards, streaks, or badges. Write it down. Then move on. No UI yet. This keeps the focus high-level before diving into pixels. 3. Wireframe the Flow & Get Focused Feedback Now open Figma. Map screens, layout, and transitions. Boxes and arrows are enough. Keep the fidelity low so the discussion stays on the flow, not colour. Crucially, when you share these early wires, ask specific questions and provide clear context (as discussed in ‘Reason #4’) to get actionable feedback, not just vague opinions. 4. Polish the Visuals (Mindfully) I only let myself tweak grids, type scales, and shadows after the flow is validated. If progress stalls, or before a major polish effort, I surface the work in a design critique — again using targeted questions and clear context — instead of hiding in version 47. This ensures detailing serves the now-validated solution. Even for something as small as a single button, running these four checkpoints takes about ten minutes and saves hours of decorative dithering. Wrapping Up Next time you feel the pull to vanish into mock‑ups before the problem is nailed down, pause and ask what you might be avoiding. Yes, that can expose an uncomfortable truth. But pausing to ask what you might be avoiding — maybe the fuzzy core problem, or just asking for tough feedback — gives you the power to face the real issue head-on. It keeps the project focused on solving the right problem, not just perfecting a flawed solution. Attention to detail is a superpower when used at the right moment. Obsessing over pixels too soon, though, is a bad habit and a warning light telling us the process needs a rethink.
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  • iPhone Users No Longer Need To Panic Over Storage, As iOS 26 Will Automatically Reserve Space To Make Sure Future Software Updates Install Without Any Last-Minute Hassles

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    iPhone Users No Longer Need To Panic Over Storage, As iOS 26 Will Automatically Reserve Space To Make Sure Future Software Updates Install Without Any Last-Minute Hassles

    Ali Salman •
    Jun 14, 2025 at 07:08pm EDT

    Apple is silently fixing a long-standing iOS issue, which will make users a lot more stress-free when updating their iPhones to the latest software. Apple's release notes suggest that iOS 26 will bring a new dynamic storage reserve feature, which will allow the device to save up some space so that the automatic updates are downloaded and installed automatically. The new feature is part of the iOS 26 developer beta 1, and it remains to be seen how it actually works.
    Apple is introducing smart storage management in iOS 26 to prevent failed updates on iPhones with low available space
    Apple notes in its latest release notes for the developer beta that iOS 26 can dynamically reserve storage space to ensure that automatic updates are installed without a hassle. This marks a small but significant improvement for users who struggle to keep their storage free for updates. In the past, many users had to manually clear the storage when the system did not have enough room to install a new iOS version, which left them with a failed update error. With iOS 26, Apple is proactively addressing this by reserving space ahead of time when automatic updates are enabled in the Settings app.
    “Depending on the amount of free space available, iOS might dynamically reserve update space for Automatic Updates to download and install successfully,” Apple says in the beta documentation.
    At this point, Apple has not disclosed how the dynamic reservation system works or how much storage will be allocated for the automatic updates. However, the company's efforts align with similar mechanisms in macOS. If you are not familiar with it, Apple already uses temporary system storage management during updates, even in the case of iOS, but the new feature could mean that the system actively manages and holds onto space as part of its background maintenance.
    There is also no word from Apple on whether users will be notified when space is being reserved or if they will have the ability to opt out of the operation. The feature is expected to work automatically and seamlessly, making it easier for iPhone users to install the latest iOS updates. The update makes it easier for users who tend to ignore storage warnings or those who are not aware of their device's remaining storage capacity.
    The company is adding one more way, aiming to make iOS updates less of a hassle, especially when a major update arrives with numerous features, including security updates. We will share more details on iOS 26, so do keep an eye out.

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    © 2025 WCCF TECH INC. 700 - 401 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada
    #iphone #users #longer #need #panic
    iPhone Users No Longer Need To Panic Over Storage, As iOS 26 Will Automatically Reserve Space To Make Sure Future Software Updates Install Without Any Last-Minute Hassles
    Menu Home News Hardware Gaming Mobile Finance Deals Reviews How To Wccftech MobileSoftware iPhone Users No Longer Need To Panic Over Storage, As iOS 26 Will Automatically Reserve Space To Make Sure Future Software Updates Install Without Any Last-Minute Hassles Ali Salman • Jun 14, 2025 at 07:08pm EDT Apple is silently fixing a long-standing iOS issue, which will make users a lot more stress-free when updating their iPhones to the latest software. Apple's release notes suggest that iOS 26 will bring a new dynamic storage reserve feature, which will allow the device to save up some space so that the automatic updates are downloaded and installed automatically. The new feature is part of the iOS 26 developer beta 1, and it remains to be seen how it actually works. Apple is introducing smart storage management in iOS 26 to prevent failed updates on iPhones with low available space Apple notes in its latest release notes for the developer beta that iOS 26 can dynamically reserve storage space to ensure that automatic updates are installed without a hassle. This marks a small but significant improvement for users who struggle to keep their storage free for updates. In the past, many users had to manually clear the storage when the system did not have enough room to install a new iOS version, which left them with a failed update error. With iOS 26, Apple is proactively addressing this by reserving space ahead of time when automatic updates are enabled in the Settings app. “Depending on the amount of free space available, iOS might dynamically reserve update space for Automatic Updates to download and install successfully,” Apple says in the beta documentation. At this point, Apple has not disclosed how the dynamic reservation system works or how much storage will be allocated for the automatic updates. However, the company's efforts align with similar mechanisms in macOS. If you are not familiar with it, Apple already uses temporary system storage management during updates, even in the case of iOS, but the new feature could mean that the system actively manages and holds onto space as part of its background maintenance. There is also no word from Apple on whether users will be notified when space is being reserved or if they will have the ability to opt out of the operation. The feature is expected to work automatically and seamlessly, making it easier for iPhone users to install the latest iOS updates. The update makes it easier for users who tend to ignore storage warnings or those who are not aware of their device's remaining storage capacity. The company is adding one more way, aiming to make iOS updates less of a hassle, especially when a major update arrives with numerous features, including security updates. We will share more details on iOS 26, so do keep an eye out. Subscribe to get an everyday digest of the latest technology news in your inbox Follow us on Topics Sections Company Some posts on wccftech.com may contain affiliate links. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com © 2025 WCCF TECH INC. 700 - 401 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada #iphone #users #longer #need #panic
    WCCFTECH.COM
    iPhone Users No Longer Need To Panic Over Storage, As iOS 26 Will Automatically Reserve Space To Make Sure Future Software Updates Install Without Any Last-Minute Hassles
    Menu Home News Hardware Gaming Mobile Finance Deals Reviews How To Wccftech MobileSoftware iPhone Users No Longer Need To Panic Over Storage, As iOS 26 Will Automatically Reserve Space To Make Sure Future Software Updates Install Without Any Last-Minute Hassles Ali Salman • Jun 14, 2025 at 07:08pm EDT Apple is silently fixing a long-standing iOS issue, which will make users a lot more stress-free when updating their iPhones to the latest software. Apple's release notes suggest that iOS 26 will bring a new dynamic storage reserve feature, which will allow the device to save up some space so that the automatic updates are downloaded and installed automatically. The new feature is part of the iOS 26 developer beta 1, and it remains to be seen how it actually works. Apple is introducing smart storage management in iOS 26 to prevent failed updates on iPhones with low available space Apple notes in its latest release notes for the developer beta that iOS 26 can dynamically reserve storage space to ensure that automatic updates are installed without a hassle. This marks a small but significant improvement for users who struggle to keep their storage free for updates. In the past, many users had to manually clear the storage when the system did not have enough room to install a new iOS version, which left them with a failed update error. With iOS 26, Apple is proactively addressing this by reserving space ahead of time when automatic updates are enabled in the Settings app. “Depending on the amount of free space available, iOS might dynamically reserve update space for Automatic Updates to download and install successfully,” Apple says in the beta documentation. At this point, Apple has not disclosed how the dynamic reservation system works or how much storage will be allocated for the automatic updates. However, the company's efforts align with similar mechanisms in macOS. If you are not familiar with it, Apple already uses temporary system storage management during updates, even in the case of iOS, but the new feature could mean that the system actively manages and holds onto space as part of its background maintenance. There is also no word from Apple on whether users will be notified when space is being reserved or if they will have the ability to opt out of the operation. The feature is expected to work automatically and seamlessly, making it easier for iPhone users to install the latest iOS updates. The update makes it easier for users who tend to ignore storage warnings or those who are not aware of their device's remaining storage capacity. The company is adding one more way, aiming to make iOS updates less of a hassle, especially when a major update arrives with numerous features, including security updates. We will share more details on iOS 26, so do keep an eye out. Subscribe to get an everyday digest of the latest technology news in your inbox Follow us on Topics Sections Company Some posts on wccftech.com may contain affiliate links. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com © 2025 WCCF TECH INC. 700 - 401 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada
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  • Trump’s military parade is a warning

    Donald Trump’s military parade in Washington this weekend — a show of force in the capital that just happens to take place on the president’s birthday — smacks of authoritarian Dear Leader-style politics.Yet as disconcerting as the imagery of tanks rolling down Constitution Avenue will be, it’s not even close to Trump’s most insidious assault on the US military’s historic and democratically essential nonpartisan ethos.In fact, it’s not even the most worrying thing he’s done this week.On Tuesday, the president gave a speech at Fort Bragg, an Army base home to Special Operations Command. While presidential speeches to soldiers are not uncommon — rows of uniformed troops make a great backdrop for a foreign policy speech — they generally avoid overt partisan attacks and campaign-style rhetoric. The soldiers, for their part, are expected to be studiously neutral, laughing at jokes and such, but remaining fully impassive during any policy conversation.That’s not what happened at Fort Bragg. Trump’s speech was a partisan tirade that targeted “radical left” opponents ranging from Joe Biden to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. He celebrated his deployment of Marines to Los Angeles, proposed jailing people for burning the American flag, and called on soldiers to be “aggressive” toward the protesters they encountered.The soldiers, for their part, cheered Trump and booed his enemies — as they were seemingly expected to. Reporters at Military.com, a military news service, uncovered internal communications from 82nd Airborne leadership suggesting that the crowd was screened for their political opinions.“If soldiers have political views that are in opposition to the current administration and they don’t want to be in the audience then they need to speak with their leadership and get swapped out,” one note read.To call this unusual is an understatement. I spoke with four different experts on civil-military relations, two of whom teach at the Naval War College, about the speech and its implications. To a person, they said it was a step towards politicizing the military with no real precedent in modern American history.“That is, I think, a really big red flag because it means the military’s professional ethic is breaking down internally,” says Risa Brooks, a professor at Marquette University. “Its capacity to maintain that firewall against civilian politicization may be faltering.”This may sound alarmist — like an overreading of a one-off incident — but it’s part of a bigger pattern. The totality of Trump administration policies, ranging from the parade in Washington to the LA troop deployment to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s firing of high-ranking women and officers of color, suggests a concerted effort to erode the military’s professional ethos and turn it into an institution subservient to the Trump administration’s whims. This is a signal policy aim of would-be dictators, who wish to head off the risk of a coup and ensure the armed forces’ political reliability if they are needed to repress dissent in a crisis.Steve Saideman, a professor at Carleton University, put together a list of eight different signs that a military is being politicized in this fashion. The Trump administration has exhibited six out of the eight.“The biggest theme is that we are seeing a number of checks on the executive fail at the same time — and that’s what’s making individual events seem more alarming than they might otherwise,” says Jessica Blankshain, a professor at the Naval War College.That Trump is trying to politicize the military does not mean he has succeeded. There are several signs, including Trump’s handpicked chair of the Joint Chiefs repudiating the president’s claims of a migrant invasion during congressional testimony, that the US military is resisting Trump’s politicization.But the events in Fort Bragg and Washington suggest that we are in the midst of a quiet crisis in civil-military relations in the United States — one whose implications for American democracy’s future could well be profound.The Trump crisis in civil-military relations, explainedA military is, by sheer fact of its existence, a threat to any civilian government. If you have an institution that controls the overwhelming bulk of weaponry in a society, it always has the physical capacity to seize control of the government at gunpoint. A key question for any government is how to convince the armed forces that they cannot or should not take power for themselves.Democracies typically do this through a process called “professionalization.” Soldiers are rigorously taught to think of themselves as a class of public servants, people trained to perform a specific job within defined parameters. Their ultimate loyalty is not to their generals or even individual presidents, but rather to the people and the constitutional order.Samuel Huntington, the late Harvard political scientist, is the canonical theorist of a professional military. In his book The Soldier and the State, he described optimal professionalization as a system of “objective control”: one in which the military retains autonomy in how they fight and plan for wars while deferring to politicians on whether and why to fight in the first place. In effect, they stay out of the politicians’ affairs while the politicians stay out of theirs.The idea of such a system is to emphasize to the military that they are professionals: Their responsibility isn’t deciding when to use force, but only to conduct operations as effectively as possible once ordered to engage in them. There is thus a strict firewall between military affairs, on the one hand, and policy-political affairs on the other.Typically, the chief worry is that the military breaches this bargain: that, for example, a general starts speaking out against elected officials’ policies in ways that undermine civilian control. This is not a hypothetical fear in the United States, with the most famous such example being Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s insubordination during the Korean War. Thankfully, not even MacArthur attempted the worst-case version of military overstep — a coup.But in backsliding democracies like the modern United States, where the chief executive is attempting an anti-democratic power grab, the military poses a very different kind of threat to democracy — in fact, something akin to the exact opposite of the typical scenario.In such cases, the issue isn’t the military inserting itself into politics but rather the civilians dragging them into it in ways that upset the democratic political order. The worst-case scenario is that the military acts on presidential directives to use force against domestic dissenters, destroying democracy not by ignoring civilian orders, but by following them.There are two ways to arrive at such a worst-case scenario, both of which are in evidence in the early days of Trump 2.0.First is politicization: an intentional attack on the constraints against partisan activity inside the professional ranks.Many of Pete Hegseth’s major moves as secretary of defense fit this bill, including his decisions to fire nonwhite and female generals seen as politically unreliable and his effort to undermine the independence of the military’s lawyers. The breaches in protocol at Fort Bragg are both consequences and causes of politicization: They could only happen in an environment of loosened constraint, and they might encourage more overt political action if gone unpunished.The second pathway to breakdown is the weaponization of professionalism against itself. Here, Trump exploits the military’s deference to politicians by ordering it to engage in undemocraticactivities. In practice, this looks a lot like the LA deployments, and, more specifically, the lack of any visible military pushback. While the military readily agreeing to deployments is normally a good sign — that civilian control is holding — these aren’t normal times. And this isn’t a normal deployment, but rather one that comes uncomfortably close to the military being ordered to assist in repressing overwhelmingly peaceful demonstrations against executive abuses of power.“It’s really been pretty uncommon to use the military for law enforcement,” says David Burbach, another Naval War College professor. “This is really bringing the military into frontline law enforcement when. … these are really not huge disturbances.”This, then, is the crisis: an incremental and slow-rolling effort by the Trump administration to erode the norms and procedures designed to prevent the military from being used as a tool of domestic repression. Is it time to panic?Among the experts I spoke with, there was consensus that the military’s professional and nonpartisan ethos was weakening. This isn’t just because of Trump, but his terms — the first to a degree, and now the second acutely — are major stressors.Yet there was no consensus on just how much military nonpartisanship has eroded — that is, how close we are to a moment when the US military might be willing to follow obviously authoritarian orders.For all its faults, the US military’s professional ethos is a really important part of its identity and self-conception. While few soldiers may actually read Sam Huntington or similar scholars, the general idea that they serve the people and the republic is a bedrock principle among the ranks. There is a reason why the United States has never, in over 250 years of governance, experienced a military coup — or even come particularly close to one.In theory, this ethos should also galvanize resistance to Trump’s efforts at politicization. Soldiers are not unthinking automatons: While they are trained to follow commands, they are explicitly obligated to refuse illegal orders, even coming from the president. The more aggressive Trump’s efforts to use the military as a tool of repression gets, the more likely there is to be resistance.Or, at least theoretically.The truth is that we don’t really know how the US military will respond to a situation like this. Like so many of Trump’s second-term policies, their efforts to bend the military to their will are unprecedented — actions with no real parallel in the modern history of the American military. Experts can only make informed guesses, based on their sense of US military culture as well as comparisons to historical and foreign cases.For this reason, there are probably only two things we can say with confidence.First, what we’ve seen so far is not yet sufficient evidence to declare that the military is in Trump’s thrall. The signs of decay are too limited to ground any conclusions that the longstanding professional norm is entirely gone.“We have seen a few things that are potentially alarming about erosion of the military’s non-partisan norm. But not in a way that’s definitive at this point,” Blankshain says.Second, the stressors on this tradition are going to keep piling on. Trump’s record makes it exceptionally clear that he wants the military to serve him personally — and that he, and Hegseth, will keep working to make it so. This means we really are in the midst of a quiet crisis, and will likely remain so for the foreseeable future.“The fact that he’s getting the troops to cheer for booing Democratic leaders at a time when there’s actuallya blue city and a blue state…he is ordering the troops to take a side,” Saideman says. “There may not be a coherent plan behind this. But there are a lot of things going on that are all in the same direction.”See More: Politics
    #trumpampamp8217s #military #parade #warning
    Trump’s military parade is a warning
    Donald Trump’s military parade in Washington this weekend — a show of force in the capital that just happens to take place on the president’s birthday — smacks of authoritarian Dear Leader-style politics.Yet as disconcerting as the imagery of tanks rolling down Constitution Avenue will be, it’s not even close to Trump’s most insidious assault on the US military’s historic and democratically essential nonpartisan ethos.In fact, it’s not even the most worrying thing he’s done this week.On Tuesday, the president gave a speech at Fort Bragg, an Army base home to Special Operations Command. While presidential speeches to soldiers are not uncommon — rows of uniformed troops make a great backdrop for a foreign policy speech — they generally avoid overt partisan attacks and campaign-style rhetoric. The soldiers, for their part, are expected to be studiously neutral, laughing at jokes and such, but remaining fully impassive during any policy conversation.That’s not what happened at Fort Bragg. Trump’s speech was a partisan tirade that targeted “radical left” opponents ranging from Joe Biden to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. He celebrated his deployment of Marines to Los Angeles, proposed jailing people for burning the American flag, and called on soldiers to be “aggressive” toward the protesters they encountered.The soldiers, for their part, cheered Trump and booed his enemies — as they were seemingly expected to. Reporters at Military.com, a military news service, uncovered internal communications from 82nd Airborne leadership suggesting that the crowd was screened for their political opinions.“If soldiers have political views that are in opposition to the current administration and they don’t want to be in the audience then they need to speak with their leadership and get swapped out,” one note read.To call this unusual is an understatement. I spoke with four different experts on civil-military relations, two of whom teach at the Naval War College, about the speech and its implications. To a person, they said it was a step towards politicizing the military with no real precedent in modern American history.“That is, I think, a really big red flag because it means the military’s professional ethic is breaking down internally,” says Risa Brooks, a professor at Marquette University. “Its capacity to maintain that firewall against civilian politicization may be faltering.”This may sound alarmist — like an overreading of a one-off incident — but it’s part of a bigger pattern. The totality of Trump administration policies, ranging from the parade in Washington to the LA troop deployment to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s firing of high-ranking women and officers of color, suggests a concerted effort to erode the military’s professional ethos and turn it into an institution subservient to the Trump administration’s whims. This is a signal policy aim of would-be dictators, who wish to head off the risk of a coup and ensure the armed forces’ political reliability if they are needed to repress dissent in a crisis.Steve Saideman, a professor at Carleton University, put together a list of eight different signs that a military is being politicized in this fashion. The Trump administration has exhibited six out of the eight.“The biggest theme is that we are seeing a number of checks on the executive fail at the same time — and that’s what’s making individual events seem more alarming than they might otherwise,” says Jessica Blankshain, a professor at the Naval War College.That Trump is trying to politicize the military does not mean he has succeeded. There are several signs, including Trump’s handpicked chair of the Joint Chiefs repudiating the president’s claims of a migrant invasion during congressional testimony, that the US military is resisting Trump’s politicization.But the events in Fort Bragg and Washington suggest that we are in the midst of a quiet crisis in civil-military relations in the United States — one whose implications for American democracy’s future could well be profound.The Trump crisis in civil-military relations, explainedA military is, by sheer fact of its existence, a threat to any civilian government. If you have an institution that controls the overwhelming bulk of weaponry in a society, it always has the physical capacity to seize control of the government at gunpoint. A key question for any government is how to convince the armed forces that they cannot or should not take power for themselves.Democracies typically do this through a process called “professionalization.” Soldiers are rigorously taught to think of themselves as a class of public servants, people trained to perform a specific job within defined parameters. Their ultimate loyalty is not to their generals or even individual presidents, but rather to the people and the constitutional order.Samuel Huntington, the late Harvard political scientist, is the canonical theorist of a professional military. In his book The Soldier and the State, he described optimal professionalization as a system of “objective control”: one in which the military retains autonomy in how they fight and plan for wars while deferring to politicians on whether and why to fight in the first place. In effect, they stay out of the politicians’ affairs while the politicians stay out of theirs.The idea of such a system is to emphasize to the military that they are professionals: Their responsibility isn’t deciding when to use force, but only to conduct operations as effectively as possible once ordered to engage in them. There is thus a strict firewall between military affairs, on the one hand, and policy-political affairs on the other.Typically, the chief worry is that the military breaches this bargain: that, for example, a general starts speaking out against elected officials’ policies in ways that undermine civilian control. This is not a hypothetical fear in the United States, with the most famous such example being Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s insubordination during the Korean War. Thankfully, not even MacArthur attempted the worst-case version of military overstep — a coup.But in backsliding democracies like the modern United States, where the chief executive is attempting an anti-democratic power grab, the military poses a very different kind of threat to democracy — in fact, something akin to the exact opposite of the typical scenario.In such cases, the issue isn’t the military inserting itself into politics but rather the civilians dragging them into it in ways that upset the democratic political order. The worst-case scenario is that the military acts on presidential directives to use force against domestic dissenters, destroying democracy not by ignoring civilian orders, but by following them.There are two ways to arrive at such a worst-case scenario, both of which are in evidence in the early days of Trump 2.0.First is politicization: an intentional attack on the constraints against partisan activity inside the professional ranks.Many of Pete Hegseth’s major moves as secretary of defense fit this bill, including his decisions to fire nonwhite and female generals seen as politically unreliable and his effort to undermine the independence of the military’s lawyers. The breaches in protocol at Fort Bragg are both consequences and causes of politicization: They could only happen in an environment of loosened constraint, and they might encourage more overt political action if gone unpunished.The second pathway to breakdown is the weaponization of professionalism against itself. Here, Trump exploits the military’s deference to politicians by ordering it to engage in undemocraticactivities. In practice, this looks a lot like the LA deployments, and, more specifically, the lack of any visible military pushback. While the military readily agreeing to deployments is normally a good sign — that civilian control is holding — these aren’t normal times. And this isn’t a normal deployment, but rather one that comes uncomfortably close to the military being ordered to assist in repressing overwhelmingly peaceful demonstrations against executive abuses of power.“It’s really been pretty uncommon to use the military for law enforcement,” says David Burbach, another Naval War College professor. “This is really bringing the military into frontline law enforcement when. … these are really not huge disturbances.”This, then, is the crisis: an incremental and slow-rolling effort by the Trump administration to erode the norms and procedures designed to prevent the military from being used as a tool of domestic repression. Is it time to panic?Among the experts I spoke with, there was consensus that the military’s professional and nonpartisan ethos was weakening. This isn’t just because of Trump, but his terms — the first to a degree, and now the second acutely — are major stressors.Yet there was no consensus on just how much military nonpartisanship has eroded — that is, how close we are to a moment when the US military might be willing to follow obviously authoritarian orders.For all its faults, the US military’s professional ethos is a really important part of its identity and self-conception. While few soldiers may actually read Sam Huntington or similar scholars, the general idea that they serve the people and the republic is a bedrock principle among the ranks. There is a reason why the United States has never, in over 250 years of governance, experienced a military coup — or even come particularly close to one.In theory, this ethos should also galvanize resistance to Trump’s efforts at politicization. Soldiers are not unthinking automatons: While they are trained to follow commands, they are explicitly obligated to refuse illegal orders, even coming from the president. The more aggressive Trump’s efforts to use the military as a tool of repression gets, the more likely there is to be resistance.Or, at least theoretically.The truth is that we don’t really know how the US military will respond to a situation like this. Like so many of Trump’s second-term policies, their efforts to bend the military to their will are unprecedented — actions with no real parallel in the modern history of the American military. Experts can only make informed guesses, based on their sense of US military culture as well as comparisons to historical and foreign cases.For this reason, there are probably only two things we can say with confidence.First, what we’ve seen so far is not yet sufficient evidence to declare that the military is in Trump’s thrall. The signs of decay are too limited to ground any conclusions that the longstanding professional norm is entirely gone.“We have seen a few things that are potentially alarming about erosion of the military’s non-partisan norm. But not in a way that’s definitive at this point,” Blankshain says.Second, the stressors on this tradition are going to keep piling on. Trump’s record makes it exceptionally clear that he wants the military to serve him personally — and that he, and Hegseth, will keep working to make it so. This means we really are in the midst of a quiet crisis, and will likely remain so for the foreseeable future.“The fact that he’s getting the troops to cheer for booing Democratic leaders at a time when there’s actuallya blue city and a blue state…he is ordering the troops to take a side,” Saideman says. “There may not be a coherent plan behind this. But there are a lot of things going on that are all in the same direction.”See More: Politics #trumpampamp8217s #military #parade #warning
    WWW.VOX.COM
    Trump’s military parade is a warning
    Donald Trump’s military parade in Washington this weekend — a show of force in the capital that just happens to take place on the president’s birthday — smacks of authoritarian Dear Leader-style politics (even though Trump actually got the idea after attending the 2017 Bastille Day parade in Paris).Yet as disconcerting as the imagery of tanks rolling down Constitution Avenue will be, it’s not even close to Trump’s most insidious assault on the US military’s historic and democratically essential nonpartisan ethos.In fact, it’s not even the most worrying thing he’s done this week.On Tuesday, the president gave a speech at Fort Bragg, an Army base home to Special Operations Command. While presidential speeches to soldiers are not uncommon — rows of uniformed troops make a great backdrop for a foreign policy speech — they generally avoid overt partisan attacks and campaign-style rhetoric. The soldiers, for their part, are expected to be studiously neutral, laughing at jokes and such, but remaining fully impassive during any policy conversation.That’s not what happened at Fort Bragg. Trump’s speech was a partisan tirade that targeted “radical left” opponents ranging from Joe Biden to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. He celebrated his deployment of Marines to Los Angeles, proposed jailing people for burning the American flag, and called on soldiers to be “aggressive” toward the protesters they encountered.The soldiers, for their part, cheered Trump and booed his enemies — as they were seemingly expected to. Reporters at Military.com, a military news service, uncovered internal communications from 82nd Airborne leadership suggesting that the crowd was screened for their political opinions.“If soldiers have political views that are in opposition to the current administration and they don’t want to be in the audience then they need to speak with their leadership and get swapped out,” one note read.To call this unusual is an understatement. I spoke with four different experts on civil-military relations, two of whom teach at the Naval War College, about the speech and its implications. To a person, they said it was a step towards politicizing the military with no real precedent in modern American history.“That is, I think, a really big red flag because it means the military’s professional ethic is breaking down internally,” says Risa Brooks, a professor at Marquette University. “Its capacity to maintain that firewall against civilian politicization may be faltering.”This may sound alarmist — like an overreading of a one-off incident — but it’s part of a bigger pattern. The totality of Trump administration policies, ranging from the parade in Washington to the LA troop deployment to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s firing of high-ranking women and officers of color, suggests a concerted effort to erode the military’s professional ethos and turn it into an institution subservient to the Trump administration’s whims. This is a signal policy aim of would-be dictators, who wish to head off the risk of a coup and ensure the armed forces’ political reliability if they are needed to repress dissent in a crisis.Steve Saideman, a professor at Carleton University, put together a list of eight different signs that a military is being politicized in this fashion. The Trump administration has exhibited six out of the eight.“The biggest theme is that we are seeing a number of checks on the executive fail at the same time — and that’s what’s making individual events seem more alarming than they might otherwise,” says Jessica Blankshain, a professor at the Naval War College (speaking not for the military but in a personal capacity).That Trump is trying to politicize the military does not mean he has succeeded. There are several signs, including Trump’s handpicked chair of the Joint Chiefs repudiating the president’s claims of a migrant invasion during congressional testimony, that the US military is resisting Trump’s politicization.But the events in Fort Bragg and Washington suggest that we are in the midst of a quiet crisis in civil-military relations in the United States — one whose implications for American democracy’s future could well be profound.The Trump crisis in civil-military relations, explainedA military is, by sheer fact of its existence, a threat to any civilian government. If you have an institution that controls the overwhelming bulk of weaponry in a society, it always has the physical capacity to seize control of the government at gunpoint. A key question for any government is how to convince the armed forces that they cannot or should not take power for themselves.Democracies typically do this through a process called “professionalization.” Soldiers are rigorously taught to think of themselves as a class of public servants, people trained to perform a specific job within defined parameters. Their ultimate loyalty is not to their generals or even individual presidents, but rather to the people and the constitutional order.Samuel Huntington, the late Harvard political scientist, is the canonical theorist of a professional military. In his book The Soldier and the State, he described optimal professionalization as a system of “objective control”: one in which the military retains autonomy in how they fight and plan for wars while deferring to politicians on whether and why to fight in the first place. In effect, they stay out of the politicians’ affairs while the politicians stay out of theirs.The idea of such a system is to emphasize to the military that they are professionals: Their responsibility isn’t deciding when to use force, but only to conduct operations as effectively as possible once ordered to engage in them. There is thus a strict firewall between military affairs, on the one hand, and policy-political affairs on the other.Typically, the chief worry is that the military breaches this bargain: that, for example, a general starts speaking out against elected officials’ policies in ways that undermine civilian control. This is not a hypothetical fear in the United States, with the most famous such example being Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s insubordination during the Korean War. Thankfully, not even MacArthur attempted the worst-case version of military overstep — a coup.But in backsliding democracies like the modern United States, where the chief executive is attempting an anti-democratic power grab, the military poses a very different kind of threat to democracy — in fact, something akin to the exact opposite of the typical scenario.In such cases, the issue isn’t the military inserting itself into politics but rather the civilians dragging them into it in ways that upset the democratic political order. The worst-case scenario is that the military acts on presidential directives to use force against domestic dissenters, destroying democracy not by ignoring civilian orders, but by following them.There are two ways to arrive at such a worst-case scenario, both of which are in evidence in the early days of Trump 2.0.First is politicization: an intentional attack on the constraints against partisan activity inside the professional ranks.Many of Pete Hegseth’s major moves as secretary of defense fit this bill, including his decisions to fire nonwhite and female generals seen as politically unreliable and his effort to undermine the independence of the military’s lawyers. The breaches in protocol at Fort Bragg are both consequences and causes of politicization: They could only happen in an environment of loosened constraint, and they might encourage more overt political action if gone unpunished.The second pathway to breakdown is the weaponization of professionalism against itself. Here, Trump exploits the military’s deference to politicians by ordering it to engage in undemocratic (and even questionably legal) activities. In practice, this looks a lot like the LA deployments, and, more specifically, the lack of any visible military pushback. While the military readily agreeing to deployments is normally a good sign — that civilian control is holding — these aren’t normal times. And this isn’t a normal deployment, but rather one that comes uncomfortably close to the military being ordered to assist in repressing overwhelmingly peaceful demonstrations against executive abuses of power.“It’s really been pretty uncommon to use the military for law enforcement,” says David Burbach, another Naval War College professor (also speaking personally). “This is really bringing the military into frontline law enforcement when. … these are really not huge disturbances.”This, then, is the crisis: an incremental and slow-rolling effort by the Trump administration to erode the norms and procedures designed to prevent the military from being used as a tool of domestic repression. Is it time to panic?Among the experts I spoke with, there was consensus that the military’s professional and nonpartisan ethos was weakening. This isn’t just because of Trump, but his terms — the first to a degree, and now the second acutely — are major stressors.Yet there was no consensus on just how much military nonpartisanship has eroded — that is, how close we are to a moment when the US military might be willing to follow obviously authoritarian orders.For all its faults, the US military’s professional ethos is a really important part of its identity and self-conception. While few soldiers may actually read Sam Huntington or similar scholars, the general idea that they serve the people and the republic is a bedrock principle among the ranks. There is a reason why the United States has never, in over 250 years of governance, experienced a military coup — or even come particularly close to one.In theory, this ethos should also galvanize resistance to Trump’s efforts at politicization. Soldiers are not unthinking automatons: While they are trained to follow commands, they are explicitly obligated to refuse illegal orders, even coming from the president. The more aggressive Trump’s efforts to use the military as a tool of repression gets, the more likely there is to be resistance.Or, at least theoretically.The truth is that we don’t really know how the US military will respond to a situation like this. Like so many of Trump’s second-term policies, their efforts to bend the military to their will are unprecedented — actions with no real parallel in the modern history of the American military. Experts can only make informed guesses, based on their sense of US military culture as well as comparisons to historical and foreign cases.For this reason, there are probably only two things we can say with confidence.First, what we’ve seen so far is not yet sufficient evidence to declare that the military is in Trump’s thrall. The signs of decay are too limited to ground any conclusions that the longstanding professional norm is entirely gone.“We have seen a few things that are potentially alarming about erosion of the military’s non-partisan norm. But not in a way that’s definitive at this point,” Blankshain says.Second, the stressors on this tradition are going to keep piling on. Trump’s record makes it exceptionally clear that he wants the military to serve him personally — and that he, and Hegseth, will keep working to make it so. This means we really are in the midst of a quiet crisis, and will likely remain so for the foreseeable future.“The fact that he’s getting the troops to cheer for booing Democratic leaders at a time when there’s actually [a deployment to] a blue city and a blue state…he is ordering the troops to take a side,” Saideman says. “There may not be a coherent plan behind this. But there are a lot of things going on that are all in the same direction.”See More: Politics
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  • From Networks to Business Models, AI Is Rewiring Telecom

    Artificial intelligence is already rewriting the rules of wireless and telecom — powering predictive maintenance, streamlining network operations, and enabling more innovative services.
    As AI scales, the disruption will be faster, deeper, and harder to reverse than any prior shift in the industry.
    Compared to the sweeping changes AI is set to unleash, past telecom innovations look incremental.
    AI is redefining how networks operate, services are delivered, and data is secured — across every device and digital touchpoint.
    AI Is Reshaping Wireless Networks Already
    Artificial intelligence is already transforming wireless through smarter private networks, fixed wireless access, and intelligent automation across the stack.
    AI detects and resolves network issues before they impact service, improving uptime and customer satisfaction. It’s also opening the door to entirely new revenue streams and business models.
    Each wireless generation brought new capabilities. AI, however, marks a more profound shift — networks that think, respond, and evolve in real time.
    AI Acceleration Will Outpace Past Tech Shifts
    Many may underestimate the speed and magnitude of AI-driven change.
    The shift from traditional voice and data systems to AI-driven network intelligence is already underway.
    Although predictions abound, the true scope remains unclear.
    It’s tempting to assume we understand AI’s trajectory, but history suggests otherwise.

    Today, AI is already automating maintenance and optimizing performance without user disruption. The technologies we’ll rely on in the near future may still be on the drawing board.
    Few predicted that smartphones would emerge from analog beginnings—a reminder of how quickly foundational technologies can be reimagined.
    History shows that disruptive technologies rarely follow predictable paths — and AI is no exception. It’s already upending business models across industries.
    Technological shifts bring both new opportunities and complex trade-offs.
    AI Disruption Will Move Faster Than Ever
    The same cycle of reinvention is happening now — but with AI, it’s moving at unprecedented speed.
    Despite all the discussion, many still treat AI as a future concern — yet the shift is already well underway.
    As with every major technological leap, there will be gains and losses. The AI transition brings clear trade-offs: efficiency and innovation on one side, job displacement, and privacy erosion on the other.
    Unlike past tech waves that unfolded over decades, the AI shift will reshape industries in just a few years — and that change wave will only continue to move forward.
    AI Will Reshape All Sectors and Companies
    This shift will unfold faster than most organizations or individuals are prepared to handle.
    Today’s industries will likely look very different tomorrow. Entirely new sectors will emerge as legacy models become obsolete — redefining market leadership across industries.
    Telecom’s past holds a clear warning: market dominance can vanish quickly when companies ignore disruption.
    Eventually, the Baby Bells moved into long-distance service, while AT&T remained barred from selling local access — undermining its advantage.
    As the market shifted and competitors gained ground, AT&T lost its dominance and became vulnerable enough that SBC, a former regional Bell, acquired it and took on its name.

    It’s a case study of how incumbents fall when they fail to adapt — precisely the kind of pressure AI is now exerting across industries.
    SBC’s acquisition of AT&T flipped the power dynamic — proof that size doesn’t protect against disruption.
    The once-crowded telecom field has consolidated into just a few dominant players — each facing new threats from AI-native challengers.
    Legacy telecom models are being steadily displaced by faster, more flexible wireless, broadband, and streaming alternatives.
    No Industry Is Immune From AI Disruption
    AI will accelerate the next wave of industrial evolution — bringing innovations and consequences we’re only beginning to grasp.
    New winners will emerge as past leaders struggle to hang on — a shift that will also reshape the investment landscape. Startups leveraging AI will likely redefine leadership in sectors where incumbents have grown complacent.
    Nvidia’s rise is part of a broader trend: the next market leaders will emerge wherever AI creates a clear competitive advantage — whether in chips, code, or entirely new markets.
    The AI-driven future is arriving faster than most organizations are ready for. Adapting to this accelerating wave of change is no longer optional — it’s essential. Companies that act decisively today will define the winners of tomorrow.
    #networks #business #models #rewiring #telecom
    From Networks to Business Models, AI Is Rewiring Telecom
    Artificial intelligence is already rewriting the rules of wireless and telecom — powering predictive maintenance, streamlining network operations, and enabling more innovative services. As AI scales, the disruption will be faster, deeper, and harder to reverse than any prior shift in the industry. Compared to the sweeping changes AI is set to unleash, past telecom innovations look incremental. AI is redefining how networks operate, services are delivered, and data is secured — across every device and digital touchpoint. AI Is Reshaping Wireless Networks Already Artificial intelligence is already transforming wireless through smarter private networks, fixed wireless access, and intelligent automation across the stack. AI detects and resolves network issues before they impact service, improving uptime and customer satisfaction. It’s also opening the door to entirely new revenue streams and business models. Each wireless generation brought new capabilities. AI, however, marks a more profound shift — networks that think, respond, and evolve in real time. AI Acceleration Will Outpace Past Tech Shifts Many may underestimate the speed and magnitude of AI-driven change. The shift from traditional voice and data systems to AI-driven network intelligence is already underway. Although predictions abound, the true scope remains unclear. It’s tempting to assume we understand AI’s trajectory, but history suggests otherwise. Today, AI is already automating maintenance and optimizing performance without user disruption. The technologies we’ll rely on in the near future may still be on the drawing board. Few predicted that smartphones would emerge from analog beginnings—a reminder of how quickly foundational technologies can be reimagined. History shows that disruptive technologies rarely follow predictable paths — and AI is no exception. It’s already upending business models across industries. Technological shifts bring both new opportunities and complex trade-offs. AI Disruption Will Move Faster Than Ever The same cycle of reinvention is happening now — but with AI, it’s moving at unprecedented speed. Despite all the discussion, many still treat AI as a future concern — yet the shift is already well underway. As with every major technological leap, there will be gains and losses. The AI transition brings clear trade-offs: efficiency and innovation on one side, job displacement, and privacy erosion on the other. Unlike past tech waves that unfolded over decades, the AI shift will reshape industries in just a few years — and that change wave will only continue to move forward. AI Will Reshape All Sectors and Companies This shift will unfold faster than most organizations or individuals are prepared to handle. Today’s industries will likely look very different tomorrow. Entirely new sectors will emerge as legacy models become obsolete — redefining market leadership across industries. Telecom’s past holds a clear warning: market dominance can vanish quickly when companies ignore disruption. Eventually, the Baby Bells moved into long-distance service, while AT&T remained barred from selling local access — undermining its advantage. As the market shifted and competitors gained ground, AT&T lost its dominance and became vulnerable enough that SBC, a former regional Bell, acquired it and took on its name. It’s a case study of how incumbents fall when they fail to adapt — precisely the kind of pressure AI is now exerting across industries. SBC’s acquisition of AT&T flipped the power dynamic — proof that size doesn’t protect against disruption. The once-crowded telecom field has consolidated into just a few dominant players — each facing new threats from AI-native challengers. Legacy telecom models are being steadily displaced by faster, more flexible wireless, broadband, and streaming alternatives. No Industry Is Immune From AI Disruption AI will accelerate the next wave of industrial evolution — bringing innovations and consequences we’re only beginning to grasp. New winners will emerge as past leaders struggle to hang on — a shift that will also reshape the investment landscape. Startups leveraging AI will likely redefine leadership in sectors where incumbents have grown complacent. Nvidia’s rise is part of a broader trend: the next market leaders will emerge wherever AI creates a clear competitive advantage — whether in chips, code, or entirely new markets. The AI-driven future is arriving faster than most organizations are ready for. Adapting to this accelerating wave of change is no longer optional — it’s essential. Companies that act decisively today will define the winners of tomorrow. #networks #business #models #rewiring #telecom
    From Networks to Business Models, AI Is Rewiring Telecom
    Artificial intelligence is already rewriting the rules of wireless and telecom — powering predictive maintenance, streamlining network operations, and enabling more innovative services. As AI scales, the disruption will be faster, deeper, and harder to reverse than any prior shift in the industry. Compared to the sweeping changes AI is set to unleash, past telecom innovations look incremental. AI is redefining how networks operate, services are delivered, and data is secured — across every device and digital touchpoint. AI Is Reshaping Wireless Networks Already Artificial intelligence is already transforming wireless through smarter private networks, fixed wireless access (FWA), and intelligent automation across the stack. AI detects and resolves network issues before they impact service, improving uptime and customer satisfaction. It’s also opening the door to entirely new revenue streams and business models. Each wireless generation brought new capabilities. AI, however, marks a more profound shift — networks that think, respond, and evolve in real time. AI Acceleration Will Outpace Past Tech Shifts Many may underestimate the speed and magnitude of AI-driven change. The shift from traditional voice and data systems to AI-driven network intelligence is already underway. Although predictions abound, the true scope remains unclear. It’s tempting to assume we understand AI’s trajectory, but history suggests otherwise. Today, AI is already automating maintenance and optimizing performance without user disruption. The technologies we’ll rely on in the near future may still be on the drawing board. Few predicted that smartphones would emerge from analog beginnings—a reminder of how quickly foundational technologies can be reimagined. History shows that disruptive technologies rarely follow predictable paths — and AI is no exception. It’s already upending business models across industries. Technological shifts bring both new opportunities and complex trade-offs. AI Disruption Will Move Faster Than Ever The same cycle of reinvention is happening now — but with AI, it’s moving at unprecedented speed. Despite all the discussion, many still treat AI as a future concern — yet the shift is already well underway. As with every major technological leap, there will be gains and losses. The AI transition brings clear trade-offs: efficiency and innovation on one side, job displacement, and privacy erosion on the other. Unlike past tech waves that unfolded over decades, the AI shift will reshape industries in just a few years — and that change wave will only continue to move forward. AI Will Reshape All Sectors and Companies This shift will unfold faster than most organizations or individuals are prepared to handle. Today’s industries will likely look very different tomorrow. Entirely new sectors will emerge as legacy models become obsolete — redefining market leadership across industries. Telecom’s past holds a clear warning: market dominance can vanish quickly when companies ignore disruption. Eventually, the Baby Bells moved into long-distance service, while AT&T remained barred from selling local access — undermining its advantage. As the market shifted and competitors gained ground, AT&T lost its dominance and became vulnerable enough that SBC, a former regional Bell, acquired it and took on its name. It’s a case study of how incumbents fall when they fail to adapt — precisely the kind of pressure AI is now exerting across industries. SBC’s acquisition of AT&T flipped the power dynamic — proof that size doesn’t protect against disruption. The once-crowded telecom field has consolidated into just a few dominant players — each facing new threats from AI-native challengers. Legacy telecom models are being steadily displaced by faster, more flexible wireless, broadband, and streaming alternatives. No Industry Is Immune From AI Disruption AI will accelerate the next wave of industrial evolution — bringing innovations and consequences we’re only beginning to grasp. New winners will emerge as past leaders struggle to hang on — a shift that will also reshape the investment landscape. Startups leveraging AI will likely redefine leadership in sectors where incumbents have grown complacent. Nvidia’s rise is part of a broader trend: the next market leaders will emerge wherever AI creates a clear competitive advantage — whether in chips, code, or entirely new markets. The AI-driven future is arriving faster than most organizations are ready for. Adapting to this accelerating wave of change is no longer optional — it’s essential. Companies that act decisively today will define the winners of tomorrow.
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  • FBI Confirms iPhone And Android Warning—Delete All These Texts

    Millions of these messages are now targeting smartphone users.
    #fbi #confirms #iphone #android #warningdelete
    FBI Confirms iPhone And Android Warning—Delete All These Texts
    Millions of these messages are now targeting smartphone users. #fbi #confirms #iphone #android #warningdelete
    WWW.FORBES.COM
    FBI Confirms iPhone And Android Warning—Delete All These Texts
    Millions of these messages are now targeting smartphone users.
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