A Chinese-built humanoid robot beat the human half-marathon world record in Beijing on Sunday, marking a breakthrough moment in a high-stakes global race for technological dominance.

A robot developed by Chinese smartphone maker Honor completed the 21-kilometer (13-mile) race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, beating the human record of about 57 minutes set by Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo last month.

The performance marked a dramatic improvement from last year’s inaugural event, when the top robot finished in more than 2 hours and 40 minutes.

Dozens of humanoid robots competed alongside about 12,000 human runners, navigating a parallel course to avoid collisions.

CHINA’S COMPACT HUMANOID ROBOT SHOWS OFF BALANCE AND FLIPS

Nearly half of the robots ran using autonomous navigation, while others relied on remote control, organizers said.

Despite the breakthrough, the race still saw glitches, with some robots stumbling at the start or veering into barriers.

Engineers said the winning robot was designed to mimic elite athletes, featuring long legs of about 37 inches and advanced cooling systems to sustain performance.

US TARGETS CHINESE ROBOTS OVER SECURITY FEARS

“Looking ahead, some of these technologies might be transferred to other areas,” said Du Xiaodi, an engineer with the Honor team. “For example, structural reliability and liquid-cooling technology could be applied in future industrial scenarios.”

Spectators reacted with a mix of amazement and unease at the machines’ rapid progress.

“It’s the first time robots have surpassed humans, and that’s something I never imagined,” Sun Zhigang, who attended the event with his son, told The Associated Press.

HUMANOID ROBOTS HIT MASS PRODUCTION IN CHINA

“The robots’ speed far exceeds that of humans,” spectator Wang Wen told the outlet. “This may signal the arrival of sort of a new era.”

Experts say the race highlights China’s accelerating push to dominate robotics and artificial intelligence, even as widespread commercial use of humanoid robots remains limited, according to Reuters. The experts said Chinese robotics firms are still working to develop the AI software needed for humanoids to match the efficiency of human factory workers.

“The future will definitely be an AI era,” engineering student Chu Tianqi told Reuters. “If people don’t know how to use AI now … they will definitely become obsolete.”

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The competition underscores a broader technological race between China and the United States, as Beijing invests heavily in advanced robotics as part of its long-term economic strategy.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

According to Nikkei Asia, even as suppliers ramp up DRAM production, manufacturers are only expected to meet 60 percent of demand by the end of 2027. SK Group chairman has even said that shortages could last until 2030.

The world’s largest memory makers — Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron — are all working to add new fabrication capacity, but almost none of it will be online until at least 2027, if not 2028. SK opened a fab in Cheongju in February, but that is the only increase in production among the three for 2026.

Nikkei says that production would need to increase by 12 percent a year in 2026 and 2027 to meet demand. But according to Counterpoint Research, an increase of only 7.5 percent is planned.

The new facilities will primarily focus on producing high-bandwidth memory (HBM), which is used in AI data centers. With the companies already prioritizing HBM over general-purpose DRAM used in computers and phones, it’s not clear how much these new fabs will help alleviate the price crunch facing consumer electronics. Everything from phones and laptops, to VR headsets and gaming handhelds have seen price increases due to the RAM shortage.

Most people assume scammers need to hack something. A database. A password. A bank system. They don’t.

In most cases, everything a scammer needs to target you is already sitting online, publicly available, completely legal to access, and surprisingly easy to find.

Here’s what they’re actually looking at before they ever pick up the phone.

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Your personal profile is already out there, and it’s more complete than you think

There’s an entire industry built around collecting and selling your personal information. It’s called data brokering, and most people have never heard of it.

Right now, without your knowledge or consent, your details are being published by dozens of websites, including:

• People search sites (like Whitepages, Spokeo, and BeenVerified): your full name, current address, phone numbers, and age.
• Address lookup tools: your current and past home addresses, sometimes going back decades.
• Relatives databases: the names and contact information of your family members, automatically linked to your profile.
• Property records: whether you own your home, what it’s worth, and when you bought it.

None of this requires a hack. It’s all pulled from public records, voter registrations, court filings, real estate transactions, marriage and divorce records and assembled into a profile that anyone can search for a few dollars or sometimes for free.

They’re not guessing. They’re researching

In 2024, federal prosecutors indicted a network of scam call centers operating out of Montreal that had defrauded hundreds of elderly Americans out of more than $21 million. What made the scheme so effective wasn’t sophisticated technology. It was a spreadsheet.

The scammers were working from lists of potential victims that included names, ages, and household income information pulled from commercial databases. They used those lists to identify targets, then called them pretending to be grandchildren in trouble. The calls were convincing enough that victims handed over thousands of dollars, sometimes in cash picked up at the door.

They didn’t hack anyone. They just did their research first.

WHY WIDOWS AND DIVORCED WOMEN ARE TARGETS FOR RETIREMENT SCAMS

Three ways scammers turn your public data into a weapon

Scammers use your publicly available data to make their attacks more personal, believable and harder to detect. Here are three ways they do it.

1) Impersonating your bank

A scammer calls and says, “Hi, this is fraud prevention at [your bank]. We’re seeing suspicious activity on your account ending in 4721.”

They already know your bank, your name, and possibly your address. That’s enough to sound legitimate. From there, they walk you through “confirming your identity,” which is really just you handing over the information they need to access your account.

This kind of scam starts with a simple people-search lookup. Your name and address lead to property records. Property records suggest your income range.

2) The family emergency call

Imagine getting a call: “Meemaw, it’s me. I’m in trouble. Please don’t tell Mom.” Scammers don’t guess. Instead, they research your family first. They use relatives’ databases to find your children’s names, ages and connections.

With that information, they build a story that sounds real. For example, they know to call you “Meemaw.” They also know which grandchild to impersonate. In some cases, they even mention a sibling’s name to make the story more convincing.

As a result, the call feels personal and urgent. However, none of it is random. It’s all based on information that was publicly available the entire time.

3) Targeted phishing with your own details

A phishing email that says “Dear Customer” is easy to ignore. One that says “Dear [your full name], we noticed unusual activity on your account registered to [your home address]” is a lot harder to dismiss.

Scammers use publicly available data to personalize attacks, adding your real name, city, or even a reference to your neighborhood to make a fake email or text look authentic. The more specific the details, the more likely you are to believe it.

“But I’m not on social media.” This is the most common objection, and it misses the point entirely.

You don’t have to be on social media for your information to be online. Data brokers pull from public records, not your Facebook profile. Your information is likely already listed on dozens of sites because of:

The less they think they’ve shared, the more surprised people usually are when they search for themselves on a people-search site for the first time.

DATA BROKERS ACCUSED OF HIDING OPT-OUT PAGES FROM GOOGLE

How to reduce your exposure

You don’t have to accept this as permanent. A few practical steps can help:

• Search your full name on Whitepages, Spokeo, FastPeopleSearch, and other people-search sites and submit opt-out requests.
• Look up your address directly, not just your name, since many listings are organized by location.
• Ask elderly family members to search for themselves, too, since older adults are disproportionately targeted.
• Be skeptical of any call that opens with personal details, as it can be a sign that someone researched you first.

How to remove your personal data and stop scammers from finding you

The challenge is that there are hundreds of data broker sites, each with its own removal process. Manually opting out of all of them can take hours, and your information often reappears weeks later when brokers refresh their databases.

That’s why ongoing automated removal is the only approach that actually works. That’s why I recommend using a trusted data removal service.

These services automatically contact data brokers on your behalf and request the removal of your personal information. They also continue monitoring those sites and submit new removal requests if your data reappears.

Many services remove personal data from hundreds of data broker and people-search websites, and some plans allow you to request removals from additional sites as needed.

Some have also received third-party assurance from independent firms, helping validate their claims.

The goal is simple: make it much harder for strangers, scammers, and cybercriminals to find your personal information online.

These services often include a money-back guarantee, so you can try them risk-free and see how much of your information is exposed online.

Check out my top picks for data removal services and get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web by visiting Cyberguy.com

Get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web: Cyberguy.com

Kurt’s key takeaways

Most scams don’t start with a breach. They start with a search. Your name, address, relatives and even income clues are already out there, quietly fueling more convincing and more dangerous attacks. That’s what makes this so unsettling. You can do everything “right” online and still be exposed because the system itself is built to share your information. The good news is you’re not powerless. Once you understand how scammers build their playbook, you can start disrupting it. Removing your data, limiting exposure and staying skeptical of anyone who knows a little too much about you can dramatically reduce your risk. The goal isn’t to disappear completely. It’s to make yourself a much harder target.

What should be done to stop scammers from using your publicly available data against you in the first place? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com

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