Month: November 2023

Enlarge (credit: NurPhoto / Contributor | NurPhoto)

After scammers spent years swiping hundreds of millions from Zelle users by inducing people to authorize fraudulent payments, lawmakers were horrified to discover in fall 2022 that "the vast majority" of defrauded Zelle users never got their money back. To regulators, it seemed like Zelle was shirking responsibility for policing this increasingly common fraudulent activity on its payments platform.

But now, Zelle has changed its mind and is working harder to protect users from imposter scams. On Monday, Zelle confirmed that at the end of June, the payments app finally started refunding users targeted by scammers.

According to Reuters, this was possible because Zelle's network operator, Early Warning Services (EWS), found a solution that lets Zelle's network of 2,100 financial firms off the hook for reimbursing transactions where "potentially billions of dollars" might be stolen by imposter scammers. Instead of expecting financial partners to foot the bill to cover this fraudulent activity, Zelle simply "implemented a mechanism that allows banks to claw back funds from the recipient's account and return them to the sender."

Enlarge (credit: NurPhoto / Contributor | NurPhoto)

After scammers spent years swiping hundreds of millions from Zelle users by inducing people to authorize fraudulent payments, lawmakers were horrified to discover in fall 2022 that "the vast majority" of defrauded Zelle users never got their money back. To regulators, it seemed like Zelle was shirking responsibility for policing this increasingly common fraudulent activity on its payments platform.

But now, Zelle has changed its mind and is working harder to protect users from imposter scams. On Monday, Zelle confirmed that at the end of June, the payments app finally started refunding users targeted by scammers.

According to Reuters, this was possible because Zelle's network operator, Early Warning Services (EWS), found a solution that lets Zelle's network of 2,100 financial firms off the hook for reimbursing transactions where "potentially billions of dollars" might be stolen by imposter scammers. Instead of expecting financial partners to foot the bill to cover this fraudulent activity, Zelle simply "implemented a mechanism that allows banks to claw back funds from the recipient's account and return them to the sender."

Enlarge (credit: Qualcomm)

One of the iPhone 14's major new features was "Emergency SOS via satellite." During normal usage, smartphones struggle to connect to something as far away as a satellite, but it's possible to send out tiny bits of data under ideal conditions with the help of an aiming app. Apple turned this into a way to send a message to emergency services even when you're off the grid, and the Android ecosystem immediately set about copying the feature. Qualcomm's "Snapdragon Satellite" was announced in January 2023, and now, ten months later and with zero customers, the plan is dead.

Qualcomm's satellite partner for the project, Iridium, announced the dissolution of the partnership in a press release, though Qualcomm says it still wants to work with Iridium for future projects. Iridium wrote:

Iridium previously announced that it entered into agreements with Qualcomm to enable satellite messaging and emergency services in smartphones powered by Snapdragon Mobile Platforms using Iridium's satellite network. The companies successfully developed and demonstrated the technology; however, notwithstanding this technical success, smartphone manufacturers have not included the technology in their devices. Due to this, on November 3, 2023, Qualcomm notified Iridium that it has elected to terminate the agreements, effective December 3, 2023.

Essentially, the project is dying because Qualcomm couldn't get a single Android manufacturer to add satellite messaging to a phone. Qualcomm's satellite solution didn't require much in the way of new hardware, so the rejection was apparently due to Qualcomm's design of the feature and (presumably) any tack-on fees it was adding to the bill of materials. In a statement given to CNBC, Qualcomm says smartphone makers “indicated a preference towards standards-based solutions” for satellite-to-phone connectivity, a plan the company now wants to pivot to.

Enlarge / These are piles of lithium harvested in Bolivia; Exxon's site in Arkansas will look almost entirely unlike this as it will use direct lithium extraction, not evaporation, to harvest the mineral. (credit: Getty Images)

Earlier this year, new electric vehicle tax incentive rules went into effect. Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, an EV's tax credit is now linked to the amount of domestic content in its battery pack, an amount that needs to increase year on year.

Automakers had an inkling that would happen, so we've seen a flurry of announcements for new battery plants in the United States that will make the cells and assemble the packs for future EVs, but we've heard slightly less about new local sources of lithium. But today, Exxon revealed it is about to extract the stuff from a rich deposit in Arkansas.

At one point, California's Salton Sea looked like a promising source of lithium, but working with the corrosive brine has proven extremely challenging to industrial equipment.

Enlarge / Mycobacterium tuberculosis. (credit: Getty | NIH/NIAID)

Health officials in Omaha, Nebraska, are wasting no time in testing over 500 infants, toddlers, and children who may have been exposed to an active tuberculosis case at a local daycare. The Douglas County Health Department (DCHD) declared a public health emergency Friday.

In a press release, DCHD said the exposures occurred at a daycare at the Westview YMCA, which provides "drop-in" care, allowing members to drop off their kids as they use the facility. The exposures occurred between May 21, 2023, and October 30, 2023.

Children’s Nebraska pediatric hospital quickly set up a clinic this weekend to test children ages 4 and under who were potentially exposed in the last 10 weeks. Children in this age group need "window prophylaxis" treatment to prevent the development of tuberculosis as testing is underway. Later this week, DCHD will set up a clinic to test children ages 5 and up who were potentially exposed.