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Of all the new and weird AI features in Apple Intelligence, perhaps Genmoji is the most exciting one. Though it's in beta, and its output can range from weird to terrifying, it's still fun to make and sure your own custom emojis.

Genmoji, as the name sounds, is an amalgamation of generative AI and Emoji. Simply put, you give it a prompt, and it will generate an emoji—a small, sticker-sized image that can be saved to be reused in chats. While you're always limited by Apple's guardrails, you can use the feature to create emojis that you wish existed, but don't. Of course, generative AI is far from perfect, and you may find you generate Genmoji that you wish were never created.

Like with Image Playground, getting something good out of Genmoji can be a struggle. But I'll walk you through how the feature works, and how you can create something that both works and is fun. If you'd like to annoy your spouse with a rainbow glitter poop emoji in a middle of the workday, here's how to make it happen.

How to create Genmoji on your iPhone

To access Genmoji, you'll need to use iOS 18.2 on an iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 16 series. Then, you'll need to sign up and clear the Image Playground waitlist. To do this, open the Image Playground app, and tap Request Early Access. When it's ready, you'll receive a notification and Genmoji will be unlocked.

Once you've done that, you can create a Genmoji anywhere on the iPhone, right from the keyboard. Tap the Emoji button to switch to the Emoji keyboard, then tap the new colorful rainbow Emoji button in the top-right. (In general, the way to spot an Apple Intelligence feature is to look for the new, colorful thing that has come out of nowhere.)

Accessing the Genmoji feature from Emoji keyboard on iPhone.
Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Now, you'll see a new Genmoji creation screen. Here, give it a prompt, as detailed as you can. You can make things really weird by using your name, or anyone in your contact book, and make an emoji based on an AI-generated version of their face. Results might be jarring, or hilarious. Here's me in a cowboy hat for reference.

Generating Genmoji.
Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Genmoji will generate multiple emojis, and you can swipe through all the versions it makes. When you find one you like, tap the Add button from the top. This will send the Genmoji to the current conversation, and it will be added to your Stickers area in the Emoji keyboard—ready to be used again and again.

If you like a Genmoji that someone has sent, you can tap on it to view details and add it to your own collection.

Tips on creating fun Genmoji

Generating a good Genmoji means waking a thin line between absurdist AI images, and something that looks like a regular emoji, all while staying within Apple's guardrails. There are some things you just can't do, like making Genmoji of someone who isn't already populated by your iPhone's Photos data.

Examples of fun Genmoji.
Credit: Khamosh Pathak

That said, I was able to generate an angry emoji flipping the bird, so that's nice. And yes, for scientific reasons, I can confirm that you indeed can generate an emoji featuring an eggplant on a peach. But guns are off limits: Like regular emojis, you're stuck with water pistols, if anything at all.

The key to a good Genmoji is being descriptive. Use specific words describing feelings or emotions (e.g. "happy," or "tears"), and use descriptive verbs, then mix and match these things to see what Genmoji ends up creating. Sometimes it takes a couple of tries or different wording to get what you want. When I started out, I couldn't get it to generate a poop emoji, but with some different wording, I was able to get what I wanted, a "poop rainbow glitter" emoji!

How to delete Genmoji

Genmoji, once created, always shows up in suggestions when you open the emoji keyboard. This might get embarrassing if you've made one of the Genmoji I talked about above. And if you try to delete them from the emoji keyboard, you'll find that it's just not possible. That requires a trip to the Messages app.

Removing a Genmoji from Emoji keyboard suggestions.
Credit: Khamosh Pathak

In the Messages app, open any iMessage conversation, then tap the big Plus button above the keyboard. Now, choose the Stickers app. You'll see all your Genmoji stickers listed here. Simply tap and hold on a sticker and choose the Remove option to get rid of it. Not only will this delete your Genmoji from Stickers, it'll ensure the Genmoji disappears from your emoji keyboard as well.


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Hulu's February slate includes the new historical drama series A Thousand Blows (Feb. 21) from the creator of Peaky Blinders. The story is set in 1880s Victorian London amid the world of illegal boxing. Malachi Kirby and Alec Monroe play best friends from Jamaica who get involved with the all-female crime syndicate the Forty Elephants (led by Erin Doherty's character Mary Carr).

Also on the lineup of originals is Muslim Matchmaker (Feb. 11), an unscripted series—from the creator of Indian Matchmaking—that helps Muslim-Americans navigate dating.

Hulu has three true-crime docu-series premiering in February. Wicked Game: Devil in the Desert (Feb. 4), a three-part look into an investigation that began with a kidnapping in the Mojave Desert and led to a global manhunt for the criminal Hossein Nayeri. The Fox Hollow Murders: Playground of a Serial Killer (Feb. 18) is a four-part series about the recent investigation into the crimes of Herb Baumeister, who is believed to have targeted dozens of victims that are now being identified using new DNA technology. Finally, Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke (Feb. 27) covers the story of abuse inside the home of YouTube vlogger Ruby Franke.

Hulu will also stream the original documentary SLY LIVES! Aka The Burden of Black Genius (Feb. 13) about funk band Sly & The Family Stone, and the sci-fi drama Omni Loop (Feb. 11), which stars Emmy winners Ayo Edebiri and Mary-Louise Parker as a research assistant and quantum physicist attempting to solve time travel.

Here’s everything else coming to (and leaving) Hulu in February, including season six of The Kardashians (Feb. 6).

What’s coming to Hulu in February 2025

Arriving February 1

  • BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War: Complete Season 3 (Dubbed) 

  • Boruto: Episodes 211-293 (Dubbed)

  • Daniel LaBelle: Full Body Funny: Complete Season 1

  • MeganPlays: Play It Peachy: Complete Season 1 

  • Naruto Shippuden: Episodes 474-485 (Dubbed)

  • Are We There Yet? (2005)

  • Are We There Yet? En Español (2005)

  • The Art of Self-Defense (2019)

  • Bend It Like Beckham (2003)

  • Billy Madison (1995)

  • Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011)

  • Date Movie (2006)

  • Diana and Roma's Magical Mermaid Tales! (2025)

  • Diana's Popstar Princess Adventure (2025)

  • Easy A (2010)

  • First Daughter (2004)

  • The Fortress (2021)

  • Fortress: Sniper's Eye (2022)

  • GEM-tastic Earth Day Extravaganza (2025)

  • Gnomeo & Juliet (2011)

  • The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

  • Hope Floats (1998)

  • Isle Of Dogs (2018)

  • Jack And Jill (2011)

  • Just Married (2003)

  • Just My Luck (2006)

  • Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003)

  • Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004)

  • Land of the Lost (2009)

  • The Last Song (2010)

  • Life or Something Like It (2002)

  • Man on Fire (1987) 

  • Mona Lisa Smile (2003)

  • Monster In-Law (2005)

  • Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) 

  • The Mummy (2017)

  • My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)

  • My Name Is Khan (2010)

  • My Super Ex-Girlfriend (2006)

  • Nightride (2021)

  • No Strings Attached (2011)

  • Nomadland (2021)

  • The Notebook (2004)

  • Our Beautiful Black Hair (2025)

  • Say Anything (1989)

  • The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015)

  • Sleeping With The Enemy (1991)

  • The Switch (2010)

  • Taken (2008)

  • Taken 3 (2015)

  • Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby (2006)

  • Thank You For Smoking (2006)

  • There's Something About Mary (1998)

  • Titanic (1997)

  • Total Recall (2012)

  • Touch Of Pink (2004)

  • Truth (2015)

  • 27 Dresses (2008)

  • Ultraviolet (2006)

  • Wendy (2020)

  • What Happens In Vegas (2008)

  • What's Love Got To Do With It (1993)

  • When A Man Loves A Woman (1994)

  • When In Rome (2010)

  • William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (1996)

  • Win Win (2011)

  • You Again (2010)

  • You've Got Mail (1998)

Arriving February 3

  • New York Undercover: Complete Seasons 1-4

  • Kill (2023)

Arriving February 4

  • Wicked Game: Devil in the Desert: Complete Season 1

  • Sistas: Complete Seasons 1-5

  • The Oval: Complete Seasons 1-3

  • Warning (2021)

Arriving February 5

  • My Best Friend's An Animal: Series Premiere

  • In the Summers (2024)

Arriving February 6

  • The Kardashians: Season 6 Premiere

  • Biography: WWE Legends: Complete Season 4

  • Secrets of the Hells Angels: Complete Season 1

  • The Yoga Teacher Killer: The Kaitlin Armstrong Story

Arriving February 7

  • Andrew Santino: Homefield Advantage (2017)

  • Anjelah Johnson: Mahalo & Goodnight (2017)

  • Anjelah Johnson: The Homecoming Show (2013)

  • Beloved (1998)

  • Black Nativity (2013)

  • Brown Sugar (2002)

  • Fresh Kills (2023)

  • He Got Game (1998)

  • I Think I Love My Wife (2007)

  • Just Wright (2010)

  • Winner (2024)

Arriving February 10

  • Another Round (2020)

  • The Atlanta Child Murders (2000)

  • Endings, Beginnings (2019)

  • Happy Valley (2014)

  • Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella (1965)

  • So Undercover (2012)

Arriving February 11

  • Kelsey Cook: Mark Your Territory (2023)

  • Muslim Matchmaker: Complete Season 1

  • Omni Loop (2024)

  • Rise of the Footsolider (2021)

Arriving February 12

  • Benefits with Friends (aka Amor da Minha Vida): Two-Episode Premiere (Subbed & Dubbed)

  • The Pope's Exorcist (2023)

Arriving February 13

  • SLY LIVES! Aka The Burden of Black Genius: Documentary Premiere

  • Einstein Challenge: Complete Season 1

  • How Disney Built America: Complete Season 1

  • Married at First Sight: Complete Season 17

Arriving February 14

  • Baggage Claim (2013)

  • The Fault In Our Stars (2014)

  • Great Expectations (1998)

Arriving February 15

  • Cake Wars: Complete Season 6

  • Cutthroat Kitchen: Complete Seasons 10-11

  • Dr. Pimple Popper: Complete Seasons 3-4

  • Extreme Homes: Complete Seasons 3-4

  • Hidden Potential: Complete Season 101

  • Insane Pools: Off The Deep End: Complete Season 1

  • The Last Alaskans: Complete Season 3

  • Man vs. Wild: Complete Season 7

  • Most Terrifying Places in America: Complete Season 2

  • My 600-lb Life: Complete Seasons 4-5

  • My Strange Addiction: Complete Seasons 2-3

  • NASA's Unexplained Files: Complete Seasons 3-4

  • Say Yes to the Dress: Atlanta: Complete Seasons 8-9

  • Supermarket Stakeout: Complete Seasons 4-5

  • Tanked: Complete Seasons 1, 5 and 8

Arriving February 16

  • The Night Before (2015)

Arriving February 18

  • The Fox Hollow Murders: Playground of a Serial Killer: Complete S1

  • Bad Genius (2024)

Arriving February 20

  • Pawn Stars Do America: Complete Season 2

  • The UnXplained Special Presentation: Complete Season 1B

  • The UnXplained: Mysteries of the Universe: Complete Season 1

  • Have You Seen My Son? (2024)

Arriving February 21

  • Chris Distefano: It's Just Unfortunate: Special Premiere

  • Things Will Be Different (2024)

Arriving February 24

  • Posso entrare? An Ode to Naples (2023)

Arriving February 25

  • Ghostlight (2024)

Arriving February 26

  • Shoresy: Complete Season 4 

  • Big George Foreman (2023)

Arriving February 27

  • Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke: Complete Limited Series

  • Customer Wars: Complete Season 4

  • The Life & Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson: Complete Season 1

  • Neighborhood Wars: Complete Season 6

Arriving February 28

  • Dragon Ball DAIMA: Finale (Subbed)

  • Dead Money (2024) 

  • Jay Pharoah: Can I Be Me? (2015)

  • John Crist: I Got Questions (2015)

  • Laurie Kilmartin: Cis Woke Grief Slut (2024)

  • Nigel Ng: The Halyaa Special (2024)

  • Sebastian Maniscalco Presents - Pat McGann: When's Mom Gonna Be Home? (2020)

What’s leaving Hulu in February 2025

Leaving February 3

  • Beans (2021)

  • The Beta Test (2021)

Leaving February 7

  • Flee (2021)

  • Spencer (2021)

Leaving February 11

  • Accident Man: Hitman's Holiday (2022)

  • Rogue Agent (2022)

Leaving February 14

  • Oscar Peterson: Black + White (2021)

  • Venus As a Boy (2021)

Leaving February 15

  • Titane (2021)

Leaving February 17

  • Hold Your Fire (2021)

  • Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time (2021)

  • The Feast (2021)

Leaving February 18

  • Spin me Round (2022)

  • To Catch A Killer (2023)

Leaving February 24

  • The Last Rite (2021)

Leaving February 25

  • Watcher (2022)

Leaving February 28

  • Moby Doc (2021)

  • The Big Scary 'S' Word (2020)

  • Savior for Sale (2021)

  • Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood (2017)

  • Shit & Champagne (2020)

  • Show Me the Picture (2019)


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Garmin smartwatches have been gaining popularity in recent years for health-conscious and sports enthusiasts alike. Their Garmin Venu 3S, which was released in late 2023, is one of their premium watches that works great for beginners and more advanced athletes thanks to their user-friendly fitness tracking. You can get the 41mm Venu 3S for $349.99 (originally $449.99), the lowest price it has been according to price tracking tools.

The Venus 3S offers Android and Apple users a long battery life of up to 10 days (depending on your use and settings), 8GB of storage, a built-in GPS to track your activity, and a 1.2-inch AMOLED touchscreen. This 41mm size is perfect for people with smaller-sized wrists.

The Venus 3S is user-friendly, with three buttons and a touchscreen to navigate its features and avoid accidentally stopping your workout. The smartwatch has a speaker and microphone so you can take your calls directly from your watch. You can also use it to listen to its guided meditation feature or your playlists from Spotify and Amazon music, just keep in mind there is no LTE support, so you'll need to be within Bluetooth or wifi range of your phone to use these features.

If you're looking for a smartwatch to do trail runs, this smartwatch is not it, since there's no trail-run feature. However, you can get stats on your recovery time after workouts as well as the benefits of your training, a morning report of your health status, heart rate monitoring, stress tracking, on-screen workouts you can follow along, their Body Battery Energy Monitoring that shows you how much or little energy you might have, as well as a Sleep Coach feature that helps you improve your sleep.


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If you’re an organization using SimpleHelp for your remote IT support/access needs, you should update or patch your server installation without delay, to fix security vulnerabilities that may be exploited by remote attackers to execute code on the underlying host.

SimpleHelp remote support vulnerabilities

About SimpleHelp and the vulnerabilities

SimpleHelp is relatively popular remote support/access software that has also occasionally been used by cyber attackers.

The solution is mostly used by technical services firms and organizations’ IT help desk and technical support teams. It uses the Java runtime environment to run its server and client components and, thus, can be run on Windows, macOS or Linux machines.

Horizon3.ai researchers have recently probed the software for security weaknesses, and have discovered three vulnerabilities:

  • CVE-2024-57727, an unauthenticated path traversal vulnerability that could allow attackers to download arbitrary files from the SimpleHelp server, including logs and configuration secrets (encrypted with a hardcoded key)
  • CVE-2024-57728, an arbitrary file upload flaw that could be exploited by authenticated attackers (e.g., leveraging admin credentials gleaned from downloading config files) to upload arbitrary files to the machine running the SimpleHelp server or even interact with/access remote machines if the “unattended access” option is switched on. “For Linux servers, an attacker could exploit this vulnerability to upload a crontab file to execute remote commands. For Windows servers, an attacker could overwrite executables or libraries used by SimpleHelp to get to remote code execution,” the researchers explained.
  • CVE-2024-57726, a vulnerability stemming from missing authorization checks for certain admin function could be misused by attackers to elevate their priviledes to admin and, for example, exploit CVE-2024-57728 to take over the server.

A Shodan search has revealed nearly 3,500 internet-facing SimpleHelp servers, the researchers noted, but how many are still unpatched is unknown.

SimpleHelp remote support vulnerabilities

Internet-facing SimpleHelp servers (Source: Horizon3.ai)

Update or patch, and change passwords

The researchers refrained from publishing additional technical details for now, but they say that the flaws are trivial to reverse and exploit, and users should upgrade to a fixed version (5.5.8) or apply a patch to v5.4.10 or 5.3.9 as soon as possible.

“While we do not know of any exploits of this vulnerability, it is possible that the server’s configuration file could be exposed,” the company developing the software said.

With that in mind, they also advised organizations to:

  • Change the Administrator password of the SimpleHelp server
  • Change the passwords for Technician accounts (where possible), and
  • Restrict the IP addresses that the SimpleHelp server can expect Technician and Administrator logins from (where possible).

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Concentric AI introduced new Private Scan Manager functionality in its Semantic Intelligence data security governance platform, which enables data scans to be processed within organizations’ own environments.

Highly regulated organizations, such as those in financial services, healthcare, and government, often require all data processing to remain on site for data security reasons, to better protect intellectual property, and to comply with industry or government regulations.

With this launch, organizations now for the first time have the flexibility to leverage AI-driven data security governance with data processing onsite for greater control, or in the Concentric AI cloud for speed and scalability.

“Highly regulated industries have the greatest need for discovery and protection of sensitive data for compliance with mandates, but often have the restriction that data cannot leave their premises,” said Karthik Krishnan, Concentric AI CEO.

“With Concentric AI, organizations with this requirement can now leverage our AI-powered data security governance platform to gain a complete understanding of their data and protect their sensitive data without using multiple tools or manual processes. This new support for NetApp ONTAP and MongoDB continues our mission to build out integrations that best enable customers to discover, categorize, and classify all their structured and unstructured data across cloud and on-premises environments,” added Krishnan.

Now supporting NetApp ONTAP and MongoDB, Concentric AI continues to build out integrations to give customers more comprehensive visibility into what sort of data they have, where it is located, and who has access to it without agents, complex rules, or regex requirements. Customers can then apply classifications and policies to ensure access is granted only to those with a legitimate business need, greatly reducing the risk of sensitive data falling into the wrong hands.

Organizations requiring onsite data processing can now benefit from Concentric AI’s Semantic Intelligence platform to discover data across structured and unstructured data, on-premises and in the cloud, at unprecedented speeds, as well as advanced AI that enables customers to identify PII, PCI, and IP data with exceptional accuracy.

With this solution, organizations can identify duplicate or near duplicate data in order to delete or move it to secondary storage directly within the platform, which may reduce storage costs. The data lineage feature shows every touchpoint on a file’s journey (who accessed it, where it went, and what they did with it) which can aid in investigations.

Semantic Intelligence compliance dashboards provide a clear view of how well businesses are adhering to industry and government frameworks, while Copilot risk tiles enable organizations to identify and remediate risks associated with GenAI queries.

With this launch, Concentric AI channel partners can now reach prospects that have the requirement to process data on-site and those that store data within NetApp ONTAP and MongoDB databases.

Concentric AI’s new Private Scan Manager capabilities are available now in the Semantic Intelligence platform.


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The Nintendo Switch 2 is now officially revealed, and ... we don't really know much about it yet. It's a little bigger, it's backwards compatible, and the joy-con controllers are magnetic, but aside from those scant few details, there's not much to get excited for yet, apart from a more detailed Switch 2 Direct set for April. Maybe that's why Nintendo is giving folks the opportunity to try the new Switch for themselves around the same time.

Announced on the company's website alongside the new console, the "Nintendo Switch 2 Experience" will give attendees the opportunity to go hands-on with Nintendo's upcoming console before release, which is set for some time this year.

The demos will kick off on April 4th in New York and Paris and slowly tour around the globe, with Seoul currently being last on the list with an event set for May 31 - June 1. A few cities, like Hong Kong and Taipei, also have yet to have their Switch 2 Experience dates announced.

Given that the whole point of the Switch 2 Experience is to try out the console before it releases, I suppose that this also hints that we can expect the official release date for the console to be set for sometime after June.

The Switch 2 demos will be ticketed, so you'll need to register to attend, and registration will unfortunately work a bit like a lottery. Registration kicks off tomorrow, Jan. 17, at 3 PM ET and runs through Jan. 26 at 11 PM local time. Once you're registered, you'll be entered into a chance to get a ticket; on the plus side, registrations and tickets are free and registering early does not make you any more eligible.

You can also register in up to groups of six, although each attendee above the age of six will need their own (free) Nintendo Account, presumably to cut down on people filing multiple registrations per person.

For anyone outside the U.S. looking to travel to New York for the earliest possible look at the device, I also have some bad news—the demos in New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas are open to U.S. residents only. Paris appears to be available to anyone, however.

Registrations will open up on Nintendo's website tomorrow. Check the below to see the full schedule.

  • New York, April 4-6

  • Paris, April 4-6

  • Los Angeles, April 11-13

  • London, April 11-13

  • Dallas, April 25-27

  • Toronto, April 25-27

  • Tokyo, April 26-27

  • Milan, April 25-27

  • Berlin, April 25-27

  • Madrid, May 9-11

  • Amsterdam, May 9-11

  • Melbourne, May 10-11

  • Seoul, May 31-June 1

  • Hong Kong, TBA

  • Taipei, TBA


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At this point, most of us are aware that—thanks to a regular stream of data breaches at companies large and small—at least some of our personal information has inevitably been leaked online. The latest of these involves user location data from ad-serving apps, ranging from Tinder and Grindr to Candy Crush and MyFitnessPal, not to mention VPN apps and various period and pregnancy trackers.

The leak is the result of a hack at Gravy Analytics, a data broker that collates location data from across mobile devices (including millions of iPhone and Android users) and sells it to other companies. As TechCrunch reports, the dataset contains more than 30 million location points—including healthcare clinics, military bases, and government buildings—for devices around the world. Worse, the data could potentially be de-anonymized and used to track the past movements of individuals.

The leaked location data was drawn from hundreds of ad-displaying apps. These services obtain information about your device (such as the make and model type and IP address) in a process known as real-time bidding that helps determine which targeted ads you'll see. According to 404 Media, which reported on the Gravy Analytics breach, this may happen without the knowledge of either the user or the app developer.

How to protect your location data from future breaches

While you can't reverse a data breach, you can take steps to protect your location data from the advertisers that collect your data and the brokers that sell it in the future. For internet browsing, an ad blocker like Privacy Badger can prevent ads from loading and displaying on websites and tracking your web activity.

On mobile, you'll also want to disable mobile advertising identifiers (MAIDs), the data points that can be used to create a map of your device's movement, and limit app tracking permissions. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a detailed guide for accomplishing this.

Delete add tracking identifiers on Android

Android users can go to Settings > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Ads and tap Delete advertising ID to permanently delete your MAID. You can also audit and revoke app tracking permissions from Settings > Privacy & Security > Privacy Controls > Permission Manager.

Delete add tracking identifiers on iPhone

On iOS, view apps that have access to your ID via Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking. Toggle off Allow apps to Request to Track or remove permissions for individual apps. You can also deny permission to track when you install a new app. Finally, disable Apple's targeted ads under Settings > Privacy > Apple Advertising by toggling off Personalized Ads.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation also notes that using airplane mode will prevent apps from sending your location to data brokers in real time, so if you are concerned about maintaining privacy en route to a sensitive destination, you should download your maps so you can use navigation while offline.


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