We recommend Samsung's Galaxy SmartTag 2 in our Bluetooth tracker buying guide to Galaxy phone owners who want an AirTags-style device that can keep tabs on their keys, luggage and other sensitive items. If that describes you, here's a quick PSA: A four-pack of the little oblong devices is currently $30 off and down to $70 at Amazon. This discount has popped up periodically since Samsung released the tracker last October, but it nevertheless matches the four-pack's lowest price to date. If you'd rather not shop at Amazon, the same bundle is available at B&H for $2 extra.If you don't need quite so many trackers, meanwhile, single SmartTag 2s are also on sale for $21 each. That's a dollar more than the device's all-time low but still $9 off its usual street price.The key thing to note with the Galaxy SmartTag 2 is that it's a Samsung-only affair. You need a Samsung phone or tablet running Android 11 or later for it to fully work, and it uses the company's SmartThings Find crowd-finding network to locate items. The latter is Samsung's alternative to Apple's Find My network and Google's recently-launched Find My Device network. (Yes, the names of these things are way too similar.) It's not as large as either of those, so it'll generally be less precise at pinpointing an item that winds up outside of your tracker's Bluetooth range. Samsung hasn't confirmed any plans for the Galaxy SmartTag 2 to support Google's expanded network, either. If you're an Android user who isn't beholden to Galaxy phones, you should wait and see if it's worth buying upcoming trackers from Chipolo and Pebblebee (among others) that are designed to use the Find My Device network.That said, because there are still a few hundred million Samsung devices that've opted into SmartThings Find out in the wild, we've found the Galaxy SmartTag 2's crowd-sourcing to be effective enoughin testing. Its separation alerts - i.e., its ability to ping you when you've left a tagged item behind - worked about as reliably as any model we tested, and it does well to map out its location history over time. It's capable of tracking up to 120 meters (roughly 394 feet) directly over Bluetooth, which is on the longer side, plus it supports ultrawideband tech, which can help it more accurately direct you towards an item once you're close by.The device itself is simple to set up, and its flat design has a built-in cutout, so it's easy to stash in a wallet or attach to a keychain. It's also IP67-rated, so it can survive a dip underwater. Samsung says the device can last up to 500 days with typical use, and you can replace the battery once it peters out. There are technically more capable options out there (with more to come), and all Bluetooth trackers carry some level of privacy issues. A device like this isn't ideal for warding off theft, either. But for forgetful Galaxy diehards who are looking to save some cash, this is a decent deal.Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/a-four-pack-of-samsungs-galaxy-smarttag-2-trackers-is-back-on-sale-for-70-165237932.html?src=rss
New research conducted by the University of East Anglia (UEA) suggests that current carbon removal plans will not be enough to comply with Paris treaty goals to limit global warming to 1.5C, as reported in a study published by Nature. Scientists came to this conclusion by measuring the emissions gap" between various national climate protection plans and what is actually needed to reach that goal.This first-of-its-kind study found a gap of up to 3.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) between current global plans to remove carbon from the atmosphere and what's needed by 2050 to avoid the worst impacts of global warming. These impacts include heatwaves, floods, droughts, melting ice and sea level rise.Since 2010, the United Nations environmental organization UNEP has taken similar measurements of this emissions gap. UEA's research, which focuses primarily on CO2 removal, indicates that climate policy requires a more ambitious scope if we are to, well, survive as a species.This means a more nuanced and robust approach that still keeps current carbon removal practices in place, but with a renewed focus on cutting emissions, renewable energy and minimizing deforestation. There are also novel carbon removal options that many nations have been slow to discuss, let alone implement.These include advanced air filters systems and enhanced rock weathering. The latter is a technique in which carbon is removed from the atmosphere and stored in rocks. These techniques account for the removal of just 0.002 billion tons of C02 per year, compared to 3 billion tons through conventional options. The research indicates that these novel options must become more prevalent in the coming years to help meet that 1.5C threshold.The calculation should certainly be refined," said the study's lead author, Dr. William Lamb, of the MCC Applied Sustainability Science working group. This much is clear: without a rapid reduction in emissions towards zero, across all sectors, the 1.5C limit will not be met under any circumstances."Co-author Dr. Naomi Vaughan, of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at UEA, added that countries need more awareness, ambition and action on scaling up carbon dioxide removal methods together with deep emissions reductions to achieve the aspirations of the Paris Agreement."To that end, even if every country sticks to promises regarding carbon removal targets, the amount of carbon removed would likely increase by a maximum of 0.5 billion tons by 2030 and 1.9 billion tons by 2050. The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that it would take a removal increase of 5.1 billion tons to avoid the worst effects of climate change. So, yeah, there's that gap of 3.2 billion tons.We aren't doomed, at least not yet anyways. The IPCC suggests an alternative scenario in which the world's governments work together to reduce global energy demand, hastened by politically initiated behavior." In this scenario, carbon removal would increase by 2.5 billion tons by 2050 and alternative methods would help tighten the emissions gap to just 400 million tons. So we basically have to shift our entire society from one of self interest to one of global cooperation. It never hurts to dream and, hey, maybe AI will swoop in and save us.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/research-indicates-that-carbon-dioxide-removal-plans-will-not-be-enough-to-meet-paris-treaty-goals-161113129.html?src=rss
I hate the Rabbit R1. It's yet another sign that standalone AI gadgets, like the Humane AI Pin, are fundamentally useless devices meant to attract hype and VC funding without benefitting users at all. It's like trying to build a skyscraper on quicksand: Today's AI models are great for parlor tricks, but they're ultimately untrustworthy. How do you create a device around that?The Rabbit R1's big selling point has been its "large action model," or LAM, which can supposedly understand what you say and get things done. But really, that's just marketing speak. At the moment, the R1 can barely do anything as an AI assistant. And the few tasks it can actually accomplish, like placing DoorDash orders, are faster and easier to tackle on your phone. You know, the device we already own that can tap into AI features and fast cellular networking.Rabbit R1: design and buildI'll admit, the Rabbit R1 looks adorable, but that's mostly down to the design magic of Teenage Engineering, a company that can make a simple tripod look desirable. The R1 is clearly building on the Playdate, another tiny square gadget from Teenage Engineering. Instead of that game handheld's iconic crank, the R1 has a far less satisfying scroll wheel. Its glossy plastic case also feels a lot cheaper and thicker than the Playdate, almost like what you'd expect from a child's toy.Alongside the dull 2.9-inch screen, there's a unique 8-megapixel "360 eye" camera, which can rotate either towards you or away from you. It's an interesting way to avoid bundling two separate cameras, so I'll give Rabbit credit for that. But the 360 eye isn't meant for taking photos: Instead, it's all about computer vision. You can ask the R1 to describe what's in front of you, from objects to documents and articles, and wait for an AI-generated summary. While this is something that could be useful for people with visual impairments, those users could do the same with ChatGPT, Microsoft's Copilot or built-in tools on their phones (which also have vastly superior cameras).Using the Rabbit R1 is an exercise in futilityBeyond its looks, the Rabbit R1 is mostly a failure. Once it's turned on, you should be able to hit the push to talk button on its side and ask the AI assistant whatever you want: the weather, local traffic or a summary of a recent book. In my testing, though, the R1 would often deliver the weather when I asked for traffic, and sometimes it would hear my request and simply do nothing.The R1 becomes more frustrating the more you use it: Its scroll wheel is the only way to interact with its interface (even though the display is also a touchscreen), and it's simply awkward to use. There's no rhyme or reason for how long you need to scroll to move between menu options. The mere act of selecting things is a pain, since the confirmation button is on the right side of the R1. That button would be far easier to hit somewhere below the scroll wheel - or better yet, just let me use the damn touchscreen!Photo by Devindra Hardawar/EngadgetOddly, the Rabbit's touchscreen does recognize taps whenever you need to enter text like a Wi-Fi network password. But even that process is annoying, since it involves turning the R1 on its side and typing on a laughably tiny keyboard. Honestly, I felt like I was being punked every time I had to use it. (Cue the obligatory, "What is this, a keyboard for ants?")Third-party apps on the Rabbit R1The more I used the Rabbit R1, the more I felt like it was purposefully designed to drive me insane. It can play music from Spotify (if you have a paid subscription), but what's the point of doing that with its terrible 2-watt speaker? Are you expected to connect Bluetooth headphones? You can ask the R1 to generate art via Midjourney AI (again, with a paid account), but it often failed to show me the pictures that were created. On the rare occasion they did show up, I couldn't actually do anything with the AI pictures from the R1. I'd have to load up Midjourney's Discord server on my phone or computer to share them around.Photo by Devindra Hardawar/EngadgetWhen I asked the R1 to find me an Uber to a local theater, it told me that the Uber service may be slow to load on RabbitOS and isn't available everywhere (uh, thanks?). After 30 seconds of idling, it said the Uber service may be under maintenance, or there may be an issue with my credentials. (I logged out and back into Uber on the "Rabbit Hole" website, which you use to manage the R1, but the error persisted.)LAM works by operating the Uber web app on the cloud on your behalf," Rabbit representative Ryan Fenwick told me over e-mail when I asked why I couldn't get the Uber service to work. Uber ultimately decides how and whether it serves users, so depending on factors like the location you're booking from, your ride history, etc., it may vary from time to time. We're implementing measures that help to improve the success rate and transparency of ride booking through R1, so over time the experience should improve."At least the Rabbit R1 was able to get me a sandwich. I asked it to find some lunch nearby and it spent an entire minute communing with Postmates and its AI cloud - the precise amount of time it would take me to complete a GrubHub order on my phone. The R1 eventually returned with three chaotic choices: Subway, a nearby Henri's Bakery and a restaurant five miles away I've never heard ofPhoto by Devindra Hardawar/EngadgetI opted for Henri's (they do make killer sandwiches), and the R1 showed me a whopping six menu items. Its tiny screen could only hold a picture of the item, its name and the price - you can't tap into it to get a longer description or customize anything. You can only add items to your cart or remove them. I chose two sandwiches and, to my surprise, the R1 completed the order without ever confirming my payment information or delivery address. It was working entirely off of my DoorDash defaults, and thankfully those were up to date.As soon as the order was placed, my iPhone started lighting up with all sorts of useful information from DoorDash. I received a confirmation from the restaurant, a detailed look at the bill (the R1 apparently added my default 20% tip) and the name of my delivery driver. It took the R1 several minutes before it confirmed the order, and it only occasionally updated me that it was coming closer.My sandwiches eventually arrived, but I was more struck by the many ways things could have gone wrong. This isn't 1999; I'm no longer impressed by simply being able to order food online like I did from Kozmo.com (RIP). But even back then, I was able to get a full look at menus and customize things. The fact that I could look over at my phone and see the DoorDash app being far more useful made me instantly lose faith in the R1.There are other things the R1 can do, like recording and summarizing meetings. But that's also something several apps can do on my phone and computer. The on-demand translation feature seemed to work fine converting English to Spanish and Japanese, but it's no better than Google Translate or ChatGPT on my phone.Photo by Devindra Hardawar/EngadgetWhat's the point of the Rabbit R1?All of this leads me to ask: What's the point of the Rabbit R1, really? it certainly can't replace your phone, since it can't make calls or send texts. While you can add a SIM card for always-on connectivity, that just makes it more expensive. It'll still be useless on the go, anyway. Perhaps, you could argue, it's a companion device to help avoid being distracted by your phone. But it's so slow and hard to use that I find my smartphone's notification-filled hellscape far more calming. There's nothing zen at all about having yet another device that you have to buy, charge and carry.And if you suffer battery life anxiety, you absolutely should stay away from the Rabbit R1. When I first received it, the R1 would burn through its battery while sitting idle, doing absolutely nothing, for eight hours. The first major RabbitOS update helped considerably, but the R1 still can't last an entire day on a single charge. For a device that has such a tiny screen and offloads its work to the cloud, that's simply inexcusable.Photo by Devindra Hardawar/EngadgetI suppose you could argue that the $199 Rabbit R1 is a good deal compared to the $699 Humane AI Pin (which also requires a $24 monthly subscription), but that's like saying rabbit droppings don't smell bad compared to dog poop. Technically true! But in the end it's all still shit. The Humane's projection screen is at least an interesting twist on mobile UI, and its potentially less cumbersome as a wearable. The Rabbit AI assistant, on the other hand, is basically just a chunkier and dumber phone.Don't buy the R1. Even if Rabbit somehow manages to deliver on some of the promises of its LAM - like the ability to train the R1 to handle the variety of tasks - I have no faith that it'll actually work well. My advice extends to every standalone AI gadget: Just stay away. Your phone is enough.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/rabbit-r1-review-a-199-ai-toy-that-fails-at-almost-everything-161043050.html?src=rss
As we reach the end of another week, we're looking back to see what tech deals popped up that are worth checking out. This coming Tuesday, Apple will almost certainly announce new iPads, which is probably why a slew of discounts have materialized for the company's slabs. We didn't highlight those here - even if you want an older model, it's probably wise to wait a few days to see how the announcements affect pricing. Deals that are worth checking include sales on three flagship smartwatches: Samsung's Galaxy Watch 6, the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Google Pixel 2. A couple of our favorite Anker power banks are on sale, with the USB-C Nano battery down to a new low. You can also save on one of our top gaming mice and our favorite dual-screen gaming laptop. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-apple-watch-series-9-is-back-on-sale-for-299-plus-the-rest-of-this-weeks-best-tech-deals-160546259.html?src=rss
Boeing's Starliner crew capsule, which has been plagued by years of setbacks and cost overruns amounting to roughly $1.5 billion, is about to take its first flight with humans on board. Boeing was chosen 10 years ago alongside SpaceX to develop a spacecraft that could ferry astronauts from US soil to the International Space Station (ISS), thus allowing NASA to end its reliance on Russia for crewed flights. The companies were each awarded a fixed-price contract under NASA's Commercial Crew Program: $4.2 billion to Boeing for its CST-100 (Starliner) and $2.6 billion for SpaceX's Crew Dragon.Their initial deadline of 2017 proved to be a bit too ambitious. SpaceX managed its first crewed flight in 2020 - and about a dozen since - while Boeing has struggled to get its Starliner capsule off the ground. But as soon as May 6, it'll finally have a crewed flight under its belt.Starliner is now at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Launch Complex-41 attached to the ULA Atlas V rocket that'll send it on its way to the ISS. Liftoff is planned for 10:34PM ET on Monday, May 6. The capsule will be carrying two NASA astronauts: Butch Wilmore, the mission's commander, and Suni Williams, who will serve as pilot.NASANot only is it Starliner's first crewed flight, but this test is only its third flight ever. The spacecraft (without anyone aboard) successfully demonstrated its ability to reach, dock and undock from the ISS in spring 2022 when it conducted its second Orbital Flight Test. On its previous attempt, in 2019, Starliner failed to make it all the way to the ISS thanks to a software issue that resulted in it burning too much fuel (one of a few problems Boeing missed after it opted at the time not to do end-to-end testing).It's suffered numerous other problems, too, in the years since Boeing bagged the NASA contract, causing the company to slip far behind SpaceX. There was a toxic fuel leak during a 2018 test. Then corrosion caused valves in the propulsion system to stick, waylaying Boeing's plans for a 2021 launch, asArs Technica reported earlier this year. Problems with the spacecraft's parachute deployment system derailed plans for a launch last summer, and the team had to remove around a mile of flammable tape.Boeing has also had its fair share of troubles beyond Starliner during this time, facing increased scrutiny into the safety of its airplanes - particularly the 737 Max line - after two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019, on top of other less serious incidents. Most recently, a panel blew off a 737 Max 9 mid-flight in January, forcing it to make an emergency landing.The May 6 flight marks a major step toward Starliner's certification as a crew transport system that NASA can actually put into its rotation for trips to the ISS. That will give the space agency the redundancy it's looking for; with both Crew Dragon and Starliner in operation, it'll always have a backup option in case something happens to one of them. Both NASA and Boeing have been adamant that the capsule has been put through an exhaustive review process and is ready to support astronauts. NASA wrapped up its Crew Flight Test Readiness Review of Starliner on April 25.The first crewed flight of a new spacecraft is an absolutely critical milestone," NASA associate administrator Jim Free said during a briefing on the completion of the review. The lives of our crewmembers Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are at stake - we don't take that lightly at all." The latest review is the culmination of a detailed review season that has really thoroughly established that we are really ready to go on this flight," said NASA chief flight director Emily Nelson.NASA/Frank MichauxIt's expected to take about 24 hours for Starliner to reach the ISS after it lifts off, and as this is a test flight, its onboard crew will have a lengthy task list of systems and equipment checks to complete across every phase of the journey. While Starliner can operate autonomously, the crew will test its manual controls and make sure it's in good shape for manual abort scenarios. After Starliner docks to the space station, the astronauts will spend about a week there working with the current crew, Expedition 71.Then, they'll undock from the orbiting lab and head home - and put Starliner through the test of reentry and landing. A few potential landing sites in the southwest US have been picked out, including the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.Wilmore and Williams have been training for Starliner's first flight for years. They know the vehicle inside and out, and they've been part of the test environment that's developed the Starliner capability," said Steve Stich, manager for NASA's Commercial Crew Program. All involved in last Thursday's briefing acknowledged that they may encounter some unexpected challenges, and that there's much to be learned from this first crewed flight. It's a good reminder for all of us that the team has practiced, run sims, run models, but there's nothing like flying in the space environment," said Free.The NASA and Boeing officials also expressed their confidence that the craft itself and the teams handling its journey are well-prepared for the job. The astronauts echoed these sentiments upon arriving at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. We wouldn't be here if it weren't ready," Wilmore said, addressing questions from the press. We are ready, the spacecraft's ready, and the teams are ready."If Starliner for whatever reason can't launch on the 6th, it'll have backup opportunities on May 7, 10 and 11. After the Crew Flight Test is complete and the astronauts are back home, NASA will get to work certifying the spacecraft for future missions bringing crews to and from the ISS. It's currently targeting 2025 for Starliner to begin duty.I don't want to get too far ahead because we still need to fly a successful mission," said Free ahead of Starliner's launch, but when we do, and when we certify Starliner, the United States will have two unique human space transportations that provide critical redundancies for ISS access."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/boeings-starliner-spacecraft-may-finally-take-its-first-crewed-flight-next-week-140056150.html?src=rss
Epic Games won its antitrust lawsuit against Google in December when a federal jury found that the latter violated US antitrust laws with regards to how it runs the Play Store. A few months later, the gaming developer submitted its list of demands, which if implemented will blow the Play Store wide open. Now, Google has filed an injunction telling the court that no, it will not give Epic what it wants without a fight, because the company's asks "stray far beyond the trial record."The remedies Epic had submitted would require the court not just to create a global regulatory regime to set prices for apps, Google wrote in the filing as seen by Engadget, but also to micromanage "a highly complex and dynamic ecosystem" used by billions of consumers and app developers around the world. If you'll recall, Epic wants Google to open up Android to third-party app stores and to make its catalog of apps available to those stores. It also wants restrictions on pre-installed apps to be outlawed and to prohibit any Google activity that incentivizes third-parties.Google said that bowing down to all those demands would "effectively prevent [it] from competing," which in turn would negatively affect Android users and developers. Epic's proposals only benefit Epic, Google said in its filing, and will harm other developers by depriving them of control over where their app is distributed. Manufacturers will no longer be able to take advantage of the partnerships Google typically offers, while users have to deal with additional security and privacy risks.The company also slammed Epic over the "vagueness" of its proposed injunction, which would require the repeated and ongoing intervention of the courts. Similarly, Epic's demands would apparently require the court to micromanage Google's business."Epic's demands would harm the privacy, security, and overall experience of consumers, developers, and device manufacturers," Wilson White, Google's Vice President of Government Affairs & Public Policy, told Engadget in a statement. "Not only does their proposal go far beyond the scope of the recent US trial verdict - which we will be challenging - it's also unnecessary due to the settlement we reached last year with State Attorneys General from every state and multiple territories. We will continue to vigorously defend our right to a sustainable business model that enables us to keep people safe, partner with developers to innovate and grow their businesses, and maintain a thriving Android ecosystem for everyone."Google said that if Epic truly wants to promote competition rather than create "an unfair, court- supervised advantage for itself," then it would take cues from its settlement with the state officials that previously accused the company of abusing its dominance on Android app distribution. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney was, unsurprisingly, unhappy with that settlement, tweeting at the time: "If Google is ending its payments monopoly without imposing a Google Tax on third party transactions, we'll settle and be Google's friend in their new era. But if the settlement merely pays off the other plaintiffs while leaving the Google Tax in place, we'll fight on. Consumers only benefit if antitrust enforcement not only opens up markets, but also restores price competition."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-says-epics-play-store-demands-are-too-much-and-too-self-serving-123023699.html?src=rss
If you know someone who is graduating this year, whether from high school or university, chances are good the gear that's gotten them through the last four (or more) years is ready for a refresh. The good news is that graduation time is typically a big one for gift-giving, so if you know someone who is about to hit college or the dreaded real world," you can make sure they're prepared by perusing our list of the latest tech. Everything here should be a major upgrade that'll make the transition easier and last for years to come, as well.LaptopsDevindra Hardawar/EngadgetA good laptop remains the standard, go-to tool for getting things done. But it's also a personal purchase, with people having strong opinions about which operating system, screen size and specs they need. So there are a few things you'll want to know going into this purchase, but all of these laptops we recommend are some of the best and most well-rounded options on the market. Unless the person you're shopping for has some specific needs, one of these machines should hit the mark.Dell's XPS 13 Plus is easy to recommend for anyone who uses Windows. At this point, Dell has almost perfected its industrial design: it's thin and light, but not at the expense of power or battery life. The keyboard and display are excellent, and you can get impressive specs without breaking the bank. One downside is that Dell seems to have moved fully to a design that only has two USB-C ports and no headphone jack, which can be a bit limiting. But those quibbles aside, the XPS 13 Plus remains an excellent choice.Right now, the XPS 13 Plus includes Intel's 13th-generation Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. That also includes a 13.4-inch, 1,920 x 1,200 display, and the whole package costs a very reasonable $999 direct from Dell right now. Dell has also offered the same configuration with a 4K display for $200 more, but as of this writing it's unavailable. Either way, that's a lot of power for the price.For someone who's a gamer, though, we recommend going in a different direction. The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 has been our favorite gaming laptop for a few years now, one that combines relative portability (3.5 pounds and a 14-inch screen) with serious power. In our review we said that the laptop was incredibly compelling, even if it's more expensive than it used to be. It has a powerful AMD processor and graphics card coupled with a great display, comfortable keyboard, spacious trackpad and solid design. It's not a champ on battery life, but we got seven hours of non-gaming use out of it - pretty decent considering the specs.You can get the Zephyrus G14 in a wide variety of configurations, but one we'd recommend includes an AMD Ryzen 9 8000 series processor, NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 4060 graphics card, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD and a 2,560 x 1,600 OLED display with a 120 hz refresh rate.For people who prefer a Mac, Apple's lineup can be surprisingly complicated. Fortunately, the company just updated all of its laptops with its latest series of M3 processors, so now is a great time to purchase one.The MacBook Air is still the company's best laptop for most people, and it now comes in both 13- and 15-inch configurations. In both cases, it's an extremely light and portable computer that has better battery life than almost anything you can buy. The best option if you're looking for longevity is the $1,499 13-inch model that includes 512GB of storage, 16GB of RAM and the M3 chip with a 10-core GPU. You can grab that same configuration with a 15-inch display for $1,699. And while we think that the Air is enough computer for most people, if you're buying for someone who has a heavier workload like photo or video editing, the $1,999 MacBook Pro is worth considering. It gives you a significantly more powerful M3 Pro chip with a 14-core GPU along with other niceties like a gorgeous 14-inch mini-LED display.Given how dominant a force Chromebooks are in education, it's entirely possible that someone just finishing school might want to continue using Chrome OS. Fortunately, there are lots of premium Chromebooks that are well-designed and capable enough to last for years. One of our favorites is Acer's Chromebook Spin 714. It includes a 13th-gen Intel Core i5 processor alongside a 14-inch, 1,920 x 1,200 display that offers a little more vertical space than your average 1080p screen. Add in a solid keyboard and trackpad, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage and you have a Chromebook that doesn't require many compromises. The one downside is that its 7ish-hour battery life isn't spectacular - but given the laptop's price, it's probably good enough.TabletsPhoto by Nathan Ingraham / EngadgetNo, tablets have not replaced laptops as some predicted when the category started blowing up last decade. But they also still do a ton of things well. They can be a great option for getting work done, engaging your creative side with art and music-making apps or just enjoying movies and games. For the vast majority of people, Apple's iPad is the only tablet worth considering, even if they don't otherwise use Apple products. That's thanks to time-tested, reliable hardware and a massive software library with hundreds of thousands of apps optimized for the iPad's larger screen.As for which is the best iPad, the iPad Air remains the right choice for most at the moment - especially if you're looking for a good graduation gift. While the basic iPad is a great value, you get a lot when you step up to the Air. Perhaps most importantly, the Air has Apple's M1 chip, a very powerful chip for a tablet that was in many Macs for years. This means the Air is extremely fast, even though the M1 is a few years old at this point.The rest of the iPad Air's hardware is also impressive for the price. It has a large 10.9-inch screen with thin bezels and an anti-reflective coating; the display is also laminated directly to the glass, so there's no distracting gap beneath the surface. The Air includes 64GB or 256GB of storage, 10 hours of battery life, support for the second-generation Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard and an improved 12-megapixel front-facing camera. For $599, you're getting almost everything that the iPad Pro offers for a lot less cash. The only caveat here is that Apple is expected to release new iPads this spring. As of this writing, the M1 iPad Air is our favorite, but just know that there may be a new Air on the way in the coming weeks.Android tablets have never had the same level of success as the iPad, largely because of the well-documented software issues on larger-screen Android devices. But if you're shopping for an Android diehard, Samsung's Galaxy Tab S9 (or S9+) are solid choices. The S9 features a high-resolution 11-inch screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, and has an S-Pen stylus included in the box. For someone looking for a bigger canvas, the S9+ steps things up to 12.4 inches. And while Android historically hasn't been the best option for large-screen devices, Samsung's Dex feature switches things up into a more desktop-like multi-window mode, which can be great for productivity. Samsung's built-in apps that take advantage of the S-Pen are solid as well. You might have a hard time finding apps that are designed for the Tab S9's larger screen, but if you're buying this for someone familiar with Android, they'll likely be aware of the trade-offs.SmartphonesGoogleThe most important computer people own, or at least the one they probably rely on the most, is their smartphone. And if you know someone who is still rocking the same device they brought to campus with them four years ago, they'll definitely appreciate an upgrade. The good news is that it's pretty easy to pick out a phone that'll satisfy just about anyone, regardless of whether they prefer Android or iOS.This year, we're recommending the iPhone 15 Pro Max for new graduates. The standard iPhone 15, 15 Plus and 15 Pro are all excellent phones, but the Pro Max is undeniably the best option out there. The 15 Pro Max has the best iPhone camera you can buy, with a 5x telephoto lens that gives it a big advantage over the 3x option on the standard iPhone 15. Other significant features include the massive and gorgeous 6.7-inch always-on display with a 120Hz refresh rate and the A17 Pro chip.The iPhone 15 Pro Max is expensive at $1,199, and some people may not be happy with such a large device. As such, the $999 iPhone 15 Pro is easy to recommend as an alternative, but camera nerds will really enjoy the 15 Pro Max. And the extremely fast processor and Apple's track record of delivering software support for years means this investment should last a long time.Unsurprisingly, Samsung continues to make the best Android devices you can buy - as such, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is our pick this year. At $1,299, it's another pricey device, but it delivers everything you could ask for: an incredibly bright and high-quality 6.8-inch OLED screen, a high-resolution 5X telephoto camera (along with other excellent lenses and sensors), nearly two full days of battery life and strong performance. The latter comes thanks to its Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip and 12GB of RAM. It also comes with Samsung's handy S Pen, for anyone who wants to use a stylus on the S24 Ultra's giant screen. Given how thoroughly Samsung dominates the Android space, this isn't a surprising recommendation, but it will make most Android fans happy.While Samsung's devices are hard to compete with, Google has routinely made excellent Android phones for a bit less cash. The $999 Pixel 8 Pro is worth a look if you're a fan of Google's clean take on Android, and their phones always have some nifty software tricks baked in. Battery life has been upgraded over the Pixel 7 Pro, the latest Tensor 3 chip keeps things speedy and its camera performance is as good as ever. And the fact that this phone is built by Google means it'll get software updates before any other Android phone on the market; Google is also promising seven years of software updates.Both of these phones are big (the Pixel 7 Pro's screen is 6.7 inches while the S23 Ultra has a 6.8-inch display), but the good news is that both Google and Samsung offer smaller-screened devices that keep most of the same features and specs as their larger siblings. You'll save some cash with a smaller device, too.HeadphonesBilly Steele/EngadgetAlmost anyone would benefit from a good pair of noise canceling headphones, and once again Sony has made our top pick. While Sony's WH-1000XM5 is almost two years old at this point, it's still the best over-ear option on the market. At $400, they're more expensive than the XM4, but they offer a combination of incredible sound, a time-tested, refined design and excellent noise-canceling that is hard to beat. They also fit better and more comfortably than ever, and have 30 hours of battery life. The 1000XM5 looks better, sounds better and wears better than the previous model - it's hard to ask for much more.While the WH-1000XM5 is getting a little old, Sony refreshed its wireless earbuds last year, making them our new favorite pick. As with its over-ear headphones, the $298 WF-1000XM5 earbuds feature incredible sound quality, long battery life, excellent noise cancellation and a comfortable design. Sony completely redesigned the WF-1000XM5 inside and out, with a new design and drivers as well as updated chips that power their noise-canceling features. Battery life hasn't improved, but it's still impressive. The earbuds can get about eight hours of playback with ANC active - that jumps up to 12 hours if you turn it off. Sony also included a host of smart software features like Speak-to-Chat automatic pausing, Adaptive Sound Control adjustments based on movement or location, 360 Reality Audio and a customizable EQ.If you're buying earbuds for an Apple user, though, consider the second-generation AirPods Pro. They don't quite beat Sony's WF-1000XM5 in sound quality or battery life, but there are a host of features that make them the best earbuds to use with an iPhone, iPad or Mac. The fast pairing tech Apple introduced with the first AirPods still makes it extremely easy to start using these earbuds, or to switch them seamlessly between different Apple devices. Both the case and buds are sweat and water resistant, making them a better option for workouts.These second-gen AirPods Pro also have big improvements in noise cancellation and sound quality, and the transparency" mode that lets in outside sound lets you have a conversation or hear the world around you in a totally natural way. Apple improved on that last summer with a new Adaptive Audio" feature that blends noise cancellation and transparency depending on your environment. And, Apple finally added USB-C to the charging case!MonitorsLGThere are a dizzying number of computer monitors on the market, at basically any price you can think of, which makes recommending a single monitor a very difficult task. Fortunately, we've looked at a host of options and have a few good ones that don't break the bank and offer a great viewing experience. LG's 32-inch 32UN650-W is an excellent choice for a large, high-resolution panel that includes niceties like built-in speakers, HDR, support for AMD Freesync and a stand that offers tilt and height adjustments. It sticks with a standard 60Hz refresh rate rather than anything faster, but it's an excellent choice for most people, especially given its $450 price.As usual, gamers require something a little different. For that set, check out the 25-inch ASUS ROG Strix 380Hz monitor. The resolution maxes out at 1080p, and it's a much smaller display compared to the LG - but a 380Hz refresh rate is wildly quick, and the 1m GtG response time will go a long way towards eliminating motion blurs. It also has HDR, but with a higher maximum brightness than the LG. It's a rather specialized piece of equipment, but one that'll undoubtedly be appreciated by gamers.BagsWaterfieldAs important as the right gear is, your grad also deserves something classy and stylish to carry all that stuff around. The Executive Leather Messenger from Waterfield Designs is an expensive choice, but it's worth the cost. Waterfield makes everything by hand in its San Francisco shop, and the materials it uses are top notch. I've owned a lot of their products over the years, and I can safely say this bag will last a decade or more, and the leather will only look more attractive as time goes on.On the inside are two padded slots, one for a tablet and one for a laptop. There are also two pockets, one zippered, as well as a pen slot and a metal key fob. Finally, there are two easily-accessible hand pockets under the flap, both with an extremely soft plush lining. The Executive Leather Messenger comes in three different leather colors and costs either $399 or $419, depending on which size you choose. It's an investment, for sure, but it will last a long time.Waterfield's bags are typically quite pricey, but the company recently released a new line of essential" options that offer the company's excellent construction and smart features at a lower price point. The $179 Essential Messenger is a lightweight option that does away with the leather and uses tough textiles instead. But its magnetic closures are fast and easy to undo, the strap is easily removable for wearing over whichever shoulder you choose, and it has foam inserts to help it keep its structure. There's a built-in sleeve for a laptop up to 14 inches, and I can confirm you can shove a surprising amount of gear in it considering its smaller size.There's also something to be said for a good backpack. For that, check out Peak Design's Everyday Backpack. As the name suggests, it's a fairly minimalist design that works in a lot of contexts, and it comes with the company's typically smart organization features. It has a number of configurable dividers inside to keep everything from pooling at the bottom, and it combines the large internal space with a host of internal and external pockets and access points. Finally, it also has a number of external straps that can be easily hidden if you don't need them - but they provide versatile expansion of the bag's carrying capacity. If you want to attach things like a tripod or tie a jacket or blanket on, go right ahead. There are a ton of different ways to use this bag, which means it should last years as it can just be customized to fit commutes, vacations or any other excursion.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/best-tech-upgrades-laptops-tablets-headphones-smartphones-monitors-bags-for-graduates-150049903.html?src=rss
Boom's supersonic XB-1 test jet has received Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval to fly past Mach 1, the company announced. Tests are slated to take place later this year at the Black Mountain Supersonic Corridor in Mojave, CA, and the results could help prove the feasibility of the design in areas like fuel consumption, speeds and flight characteristics."Following XB-1's successful first flight, I'm looking forward to its historic first supersonic flight," said Boom Supersonic founder and CEO Blake Scholl. "We thank the Federal Aviation Administration for supporting innovation and enabling XB-1 to continue its important role of informing the future of supersonic travel."The approval arrives just weeks after a successful X-B1 test flight at subsonic speeds by a pair of test pilots. It follows a thorough review and environmental assessment, and mandates a chaise plane to trail the XB-1 to monitor and record flight safety, according to the company.The company will conduct 10-20 flights before attempting to break the speed of sound. It will "systematically expand the flight envelope during that time" to confirm performance and handling qualities, Boom said, while performing in-flight checks of all systems and demonstrating a safe margin to flutter/vibration boundaries. Test pilot Tristan "Geppetto" Brandenberg will be at the controls during the first supersonic flight.Passenger flights are still a long way off, though. The XB-1 is a scaled-down version of Boom's ultimate goal, a commercial liner called Overture that's expected to carry under 100 passenger at "business class" comfort levels. The company has said that plane will be able to fly from Tokyo to Seattle in four hours and thirty minutes.The company has seen its share of issues, with test plans delayed and a rupture with original engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce. The company subsequently partnered with a company called FTT to develop its own custom "Symphony" jet engine. Still, the company already has customers lined up, with American Airlines and United Airlines having place orders for multiple jets.NASA is also working on a supersonic jet called the X-59 with a reduced sonic profile, but Boom Supersonic hasn't provided much detail on how it plans to reduce the, well, supersonic boom.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/booms-xb-1-supersonic-jet-has-been-authorized-to-break-the-speed-of-sound-120036963.html?src=rss
Peloton had a great pandemic. It's a weird thing to say, but the company's premium exercise equipment (expanding from bikes to treadmills and even weight-training tech) were the hot workout-from-home products. That boom made some people (not normal, sensible people) suggest we were never going back to bricks-and-mortar gyms once the world reopened.But... we went back. Now, Peloton's latest financial numbers and statements are not great, and further cuts, nips and tucks are now on the cards. Its shares have gone from $156 in 2021 to less than $3 today. Peloton is laying off 15 percent of its workforce, shuttering more of its showrooms and getting rid of its CEO, again. It also killed Mr. Big.The company says it's planning to expand overseas (it's gained a foothold in the UK), but it might just be a case of the company resizing to fit the reality of at-home fitness in 2024.- Mat SmithYou can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!The biggest stories you might have missedEngadget Podcast: Kill the Rabbit (R1)Huawei has been secretly funding research in America after being blacklistedOver 200 militia groups and users are using Facebook to organize nationwide, according to report The best noise-canceling earbudsMicrosoft's latest Windows security updates might break your VPNUntil the company issues a fix, the only workaround is to skip or uninstall it.Microsoft says the April security updates for Windows may break your VPN. According to its own status update: Windows devices might face VPN connection failures after installing the April 2024 security update." It affects Windows 11, Windows 10 and Windows Server 2008 and later. However, user reports on Reddit are mixed, with some commenters saying their VPNs still work. So you might get lucky.Continue reading.Olivia Rodrigo, Drake and other Universal artists return to TikTokThe companies signed a new deal.Samir Hussein via Getty ImagesTikTok and Universal Music Group (UMG) have signed a deal so Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, The Weeknd and other artists can return to the platform. Universal pulled its song back in February. Now, a key part of the deal is artist protection from generative AI. TikTok and UMG will work together to ensure AI development across the music industry will protect human artistry and the economics that flow to those artists and songwriters," the companies wrote. Drake, also part of UMG, has had his own recent troubles with AI tools and music.Continue reading.X is changing how the block button worksBlocking will no longer hide your replies.Elon Musk is not a fan of the block button. The button (and feature) persists for now, but X is changing how it works. X is tweaking the visibility of replies in a block. Previously, a user could block someone on X and still reply to their posts. The blocked person wouldn't be able to view that reply, but other X users could. It's a black-belt passive-aggressive X move. Now, users see direct replies even if the person posting has blocked them.Continue reading. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-pelotons-grim-post-pandemic-reality-111518934.html?src=rss
The Rabbit R1 is finally here, and it's yet another useless AI gadget. Sure, at $199 with no monthly fee, it's a lot cheaper than the $699 Humane AI Pin. But the R1 is slow, hard to use, and doesn't actually do much. The much-promised "Large Action Model" mostly powers things you can easily do on your phone. In this episode, Devindra and Engadget's Sam Rutherford chat with CNET's Lisa Eadicicco about the Rabbit R1 and whether AI devices are necessary at all. Just like cameras, the best AI device is the one you always have with you: your smartphone.Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcast, Engadget News!Topics
Tom Clancy's XDefiant is almost upon us. Ubisoft is releasing the free-to-play first-person shooter on May 21 for the Xbox Series X|S, the PS5 and PC through Ubisoft Connect. The developer is kicking things off with the preseason version of the game, which is scheduled to last for six weeks before XDefiant's first season officially starts. Ubisoft announced the game way back in 2021, promising team-based matches with a focus on gunplay that will include elements from other games in the Tom Clancy universe.The preseason will offer five different game modes with 14 maps, 24 weapons and five playable factions inspired by Ubisoft's other franchises. Players will need to choose their faction before the match begins and before they respawn. They must also choose their primary and secondary weapon - their options include assault rifles, submachine guns, shotguns and sniper rifles - and a grenade. To customize a weapon, they can add barrel and muzzle attachments, such as sights and grips.Each faction will give players access to two active abilities, one passive buff and another ultra ability that they have to charge up while the match is ongoing. Libertad, one of the available factions, puts a focus on healing, while members of the Cleaners faction can use fire to burn their opponents. Echelon players can reveal enemy locations with their stealth technology, whereas Phantoms' abilities can block damage. The last faction available, DedSec, is for those who want to play as hackers.When the first season launches, Ubisoft is adding four new factions, 12 new weapons and 12 new maps to the game. According to the Year 1 roadmap the developer shared last year, it expects to roll out four seasons with the game's first year, with each one adding more new content meant to keep players engaged, invested and more likely to come back and keep playing.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ubisofts-first-person-shooter-xdefiant-is-launching-on-may-21-074940344.html?src=rss
Elon Musk has made no secret that he's not a fan of the block button. Now, X is changing how blocks work on its platform, though it's (for now) stopping short of Musk's wish of nuking the feature entirely.Instead, X is tweaking the visibility of replies in the context of a block. Previously, a user could block someone on X and still reply to their posts. And the person who was blocked wouldn't be able to view that reply or know the person who had blocked them was engaging with their posts. That's now being rolled back so that users will be able to see direct replies even if the person posting has blocked them. In a post from X's engineering team, the company said the change is part of our ongoing commitment to aligning the block feature with our principles as a public town square."
Microsoft says the April security updates for Windows may break your VPN. (Oops!) Windows devices might face VPN connection failures after installing the April 2024 security update (KB5036893) or the April 2024 non-security preview update," the company wrote in a status update. It's working on a fix.Bleeping Computer first reported the issue, which affects Windows 11, Windows 10 and Windows Server 2008 and later. User reports on Reddit are mixed, with some commenters saying their VPNs still work after installing the update and others claiming their encrypted connections were indeed borked.We are working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release," Microsoft wrote.There's no proper fix until Microsoft pushes a patched update. However, you can work around the issue by uninstalling all the security updates. In an unfortunate bit of timing for CEO Satya Nadella, he said last week that he wants Microsoft to put security above else." I can't imagine making customers (temporarily) choose between going without a VPN and losing the latest protection is what he had in mind.At least one Redditor claims that uninstalling and reinstalling their VPN app fixed the problem for them, so it may be worth trying that before moving on to more drastic measures.If you decide to uninstall the security updates, Microsoft tells you how. To remove the LCU after installing the combined SSU and LCU package, use the DISM/Remove-Package command line option with the LCU package name as the argument," the company wrote in its patch notes. You can find the package name by using this command: DISM /online /get-packages."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsofts-latest-windows-security-updates-might-break-your-vpn-202050679.html?src=rss
Audible is testing a cheaper subscription tier in Australia that sounds like an answer to Spotify's audiobook push. Like the more expensive plan, the new Standard membership gives you one free title per month. But, similar to gaming services like PlayStation Plus, you lose access to the books you claimed under the plan if you cancel.As reported by Bloomberg, the Audible Standard plan costs AUD 8.99 (US$5.90) per month, significantly lower than the AUD 16.45 monthly cost of the Premium Plus plan in Australia ($14.97 in the US). Despite the lower cost, Audible Standard subscribers down under can still claim one audiobook per month to add to their library, which they can download and listen to online or off.But the catch is, unlike Audible Premium Plus, Standard members' free audiobook credits don't roll over to the next month if they don't use them. (So, if you forget to claim a book in May, you'll still only have one credit to use in June.) In addition, the audiobooks you chose on the Standard plan will have a lock icon next to them after you cancel. To listen to them after canceling, you'll have to buy them at full price or resubscribe.Another difference between the plans is Audible Standard members won't get full podcast access. Audible Standard members can listen to many podcasts for free," an Audible FAQ about the plan reads. Some Audible Original podcasts aren't available with Audible Standard membership though."Spotify launched an audiobook feature last year that challenged Audible's established model. Spotify Premium subscribers in the US can stream 15 hours of books monthly through their ad-free music plan. The service also offers an audiobooks-only tier (with the same 15-hour cap) for $10 monthly. If the allotted time isn't enough, Spotify users can buy a 10-hour top-up. A single audiobook often lasts around seven to 11 hours.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audible-is-testing-a-cheaper-plan-in-australia-191347871.html?src=rss
Some of the best and brightest Anker power banks are on sale via Amazon and directly from the company. These deals include the 20,000mAh Prime portable charge, which is down to $90 from its usual price of $130. That's a discount of 31 percent and matches a previous record low.Anker products are all over our list of the best power banks, and we named the Prime charger as the best ultra-premium product on the market. Unfortunately, ultra-premium also means ultra-expensive, though $90 is a whole lot better than $130.We admired the slick aesthetics, as power banks don't tend to turn heads. The case is a textured metallic plastic with a nice polish. There's a built-in screen and rounded corners, all of which work to give this bank a luxe feel. The screen is useful, displaying the remaining charge within the battery and the watts flowing out to each device. The charge times and capacity were in line with other 20K batteries we tested.It's easy to use, which is made even easier if people pony up for the companion base. This base includes magnets to align the pins, so users can just plop the battery down and move on to something else. The base does offer additional ports, one USB-A and two USB-C, which turns the whole package into a fairly decent power hub. However, the base costs $70 and isn't currently on sale.We did notice that the Prime charger can be sluggish to wake, which isn't a huge deal. The power bank's sleek and shiny finish also tends to pick up fingerprints. There's a faux-suede pouch to carry it in, which is a nice touch.The Anker Nano Battery is also on sale for $16 with an on-page coupon, which is $14 off the device's list price. This cute little thing boasts a foldable USB-C connector, so as to better integrate with smartphones. It also made our list of the best power banks and we heartily recommend it for anyone looking for a quick partial charge of an Android device.Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/two-of-our-top-anker-power-banks-are-back-on-sale-at-all-time-low-prices-185125271.html?src=rss
Chinese tech giant Huawei has been secretly funding research in America despite being blacklisted, as reported by Bloomberg. The cutting-edge research is happening at universities, including Harvard, and the money is being funneled through an independent Washington-based research foundation, along with a competition for scientists.Bloomberg found that Huawei was the sole funder of a research competition that has awarded millions of dollars since 2022 and attracted hundreds of proposals from scientists. Some of these scientists are at top US universities that have banned researchers from working with the company.What's the big deal? The fear is that this research could lead to innovations that give China a leg up with regard to both defense contracting and commercial interests, according to Kevin Wolf, a partner at the business-focused law firm Akin who specializes in export controls. Optica, the foundation behind all of this, has posted online that it is interested in high-sensitivity optical sensors and detectors," among other categories of research.It's a bad look for a prestigious research foundation to be anonymously accepting money from a Chinese company that raises so many national security concerns for the US government," said James Mulvenon, a defense contractor who has worked on research security issues and co-authored several books on industrial espionage.It's worth noting that this money funneling operation doesn't look to be illegal, as research intended for publication doesn't fall under the purview of the ban. Huawei operates similar competitions in other parts of the world, though openly. People who participated in the US-based research competition didn't even know that Huawei was involved, believing the money to come from Optica. The competition awards $1 million per year and Optica didn't give any indication that Huawei was supplying the cash.A Huawei spokesperson told Bloomberg that the company and the Optica Foundation created the competition to support global research and promote academic communication, saying that it remained anonymous to keep from being seen as a promotion of some kind. Optica's CEO, Liz Rogan, said in a statement that many foundation donors prefer to remain anonymous" and that there is nothing unusual about this practice." She also said that the entire board knew about Huawei's involvement and that everyone signed off on it. Bloomberg did note that the Huawei-backed competition was the only one on Optica's website that didn't list individual and corporate financial sponsors.Huawei has been wrapped in a web of US restrictions these past several years. We can't buy the vast majority of Huawei products in America, as the company's been effectively banned. This all started in 2019 when President Trump signed an executive order that banned the sale and use of telecom equipment that posed unacceptable" risks to national security. At the time, Trump said that foreign adversaries" were exploiting security holes that would eventually lead to "potentially catastrophic effects." Wait, Trump used the words potentially catastrophic effects?" Wild.To that end, the company has faced numerous claims that it installs backdoors in networks for the purpose of data theft, though there's no proof of actual theft and the company denies the accusations. Huawei has also been accused of employing Chinese spies to influence an investigation and documents seem to indicate Huawei's involvement in China's surveillance efforts.Some expected President Biden to reverse Trump's executive order when it expired in 2021, but he headed in the opposite direction. Not only does the order stand, but Biden signed a law that blocked Huawei from obtaining an FCC license and he banned American investments in China's high tech industries. We aren't cozying up to China anytime soon, so Huawei will continue to be persona non grata on this side of the pond (the company still does booming business in Europe.)This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/huawei-has-been-secretly-funding-research-in-america-after-being-blacklisted-182020402.html?src=rss
Continuing the long American tradition of wealthy corporate overlords making union-busting comments, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy went on a media blitz in 2022 to warn of the workplace-altering terrors of labor unions. (Surely, it's an unfortunate happenstance that his urgent PSA coincided with an uptick in organizing efforts at Amazon.) Sadly for Mr. Jassy, the US still has a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and CNBC reports that the board ruled Wednesday that his anti-union comments broke federal labor laws.Jassy popped up on CNBC in April 2022 to say that if employees voted for and joined a union, they would become less empowered and could expect things to become much slower" and more bureaucratic." In an interview with Bloomberg, he added, If you see something on the line that you think could be better for your team or you or your customers, you can't just go to your manager and say, Let's change it.'"He capped off his union-busting trifecta at The New York Times DealBook conference, where the CEO said that a workplace without unions isn't bureaucratic, it's not slow."It's the latest in Amazon's long history of union-busting behavior.AmazonNLRB Judge Brian Gee said Jassy violated labor laws by suggesting employees would be less empowered or better off" without a union. However, Gee said the CEO's other comments about worker-employer relationships changing were lawful. According to the judge, the difference is that the more aggressive quotes went beyond merely commenting on the employee-employer relationship."Gee added that the comments threatened employees that, if they selected a union, they would become less empowered and find it harder to get things done quickly." The judge recommends that Amazon cease and desist" from making similar comments in the future. The company is also required to post and share a note about the judge's order with all of its US employees.In December, Jassy's Amazon shares were valued at $328 million, making him one of America's wealthiest CEOs.In a statement to CNBC, an Amazon spokesperson said the judge's ruling reflects poorly on the state of free speech rights today." Because, hey, what kind of free country do we even have if a retail magnate can't tell low-income workers scary bedtime stories about the perils of voting to empower themselves in the workplace?This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-ceos-anti-union-comments-broke-federal-laws-labor-judge-rules-171809699.html?src=rss
Microsoft is celebrating World Password Day (IT folks deserve holidays, too!) by helping to kill them. The company has finally rolled out consumer passkey support for Microsoft accounts, nearly two years after Apple and Google.Once you set it up, the passkey lets you sign into your Microsoft account using your face, fingerprint or device PIN. It works not only on Windows but also on Apple and Google's mobile and desktop platforms.Passkeys are an easier and more secure way to access your account. They use what's called a cryptographic key pair to ensure only you can get in. One half of the pair is stored on your local device, only accessible via your secure local login. The other part stays on the app or website. Requiring both of them to sign in acts as a deterrent for things like password leaks and phishing attacks.In addition to Apple, Google and now Microsoft, companies adopting passkeys include Amazon, 1Password, Dashlane, Docusign, eBay, PayPal and WhatsApp (among others). Google said on Thursday that its passkeys have already been used a billion times.Microsoft's passkey support works starting today on the company's desktop apps and websites, including Microsoft 365 (Office) and its Copilot AI assistant. The Windows maker says passkey support for its mobile apps will follow in the coming weeks."You can get started by signing into your Microsoft account here and following the instructions.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/you-can-finally-use-passkeys-to-sign-into-your-microsoft-account-155431241.html?src=rss
The pandemic sucked. Four years ago we were all stuck at home, and would continue being stuck at home for months on end. With all of us trapped in our houses, some products experienced a serious COVID-19 bump. Grocery delivery services absolutely blew up, as did Zoom and the perfectly-timed Animal Crossing: New Horizons.The same goes for Peloton and its line of exercise equipment. People were buying bikes and treadmills in droves, ballooning the company's market cap from $6 billion to $50 billion. However, what goes up must come down, and Peloton's market cap shrank to $10 billion by 2022 and now it rests at around $1 billion. The company's pandemic-era success story has officially ended, and now it's focused on cutting costs. So that means layoffs. Peloton is laying off 15 percent of its workforce, according to TechCrunch, which amounts to 400 people.Aside from those massive cuts, the company is continuing to shut down brick-and-mortar showrooms. Barry McCarthy, the CEO, president and board director, is also stepping down after two years in the job. He was previously CFO at both Spotify and Netflix. Peloton says it's currently in the process of finding a successor, with current chairperson, Karen Boone, and director, Chris Bruzzo, to serve as interim CEOs.However, it is expanding international reach, announcing a more targeted and efficient" marketing strategy overseas. Peloton hopes all of these steps combined will reduce annual expenses by $200 million by the end of its fiscal year 2025.
Facebook is a hotbed for conspiracy theories and dangerous organizing at critical moments, like the 650,000-plus posts arguing against President Biden's victory between the 2020 general election and the January 6 insurrection. Some users scattered following the latter and subsequent prosecutions, but a new report first published by Wiredshows a resurgence, identifying about 200 groups and profiles across the platform organizing militia activity nationwide.The research, conducted by the Tech Transparency Project, found these groups have ties to organizations such as the Three Percenters militia network, dubbed by Meta as an "armed militia group" in its 2021 Dangerous Individuals and Organizations List. Yet, groups such as the Free American Army have urged users to join their local militia or the Three Percenters without consequence (Meta took down the Free American Army group only after Wired enquired about it, calling Facebook an "adversarial space" that requires regular investment to stay safe).Katie Paul, director of the Tech Transparency Project, has watched hundreds of these groups and people since 2021 and has seen an increased seriousness and focus on organizing over the previous year. "Many of these groups are no longer fractured sets of localized militia but coalitions formed between multiple militia groups, many with Three Percenters at the helm," Paul told Wired. "Facebook remains the largest gathering place for extremists and militia movements to cast a wide net and funnel users to more private chats, including on the platform, where they can plan and coordinate with impunity."The Tech Transparency Project found users seek out "active patriots" to discuss anti-government ideology, attend meetings and take combat training. The latter lends itself to a common theme: being prepared for standing up against or even going to war against enemies such as drag queens, pro-Palestine college students and the government itself.Take a recent post by the administrator of a group called the Pennsylvania Light Foot, which has over 1,000 members: "In light of the violence and uncertainty in the world, Covid 19 shortages, civil unrest, and potential for terrorist attacks and natural calamity, we exist to equip our members. Our aim is to equip them with the ability to defend themselves, whether it be a mugger on the street or foreign soldier on our lawn." These sentiments are echoed by other extremist organizers across Facebook.Meta has attempted to at least create a facade of action and transparency. In 2019, it launched the Oversight Board as an independent reviewer of its content moderation. While the entity has pointed to Facebook's role in dangerous election rhetoric, including incidents outside the United States, critics argue it hasn't been impactful enough. Now, The Washington Post reports that layoffs at the Oversight Board could be imminent.On August 14, Meta will shutter CrowdTangle, a tool it bought in 2016 that allowed journalists and academics to see how conspiracy theories and false information moved on Facebook and its sister site Instagram - often showcasing the platforms' shortcomings. The company is replacing it with the Meta Content Library, which not only appears to be less detailed but isn't available to for-profit news organizations.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/over-200-militia-groups-and-users-are-using-facebook-to-organize-nationwide-new-report-states-135003902.html?src=rss
You can get an MLS Season Pass for Apple TV at a discount if you haven't paid for one yet and want to watch the league's upcoming games these coming months. Apple is now selling the pass, which typically costs $99, for $69 for the remainder of the 2024 season. If you're an Apple TV+ subscriber, you can get an additional $10 discount and only pay $59 for it. The company occasionally launches promotional offers for the MLS Season Pass meant to drum up interest in its sports streaming package. Last year, it offered a free one month trial mid-season, as well.If you're undecided, you can watch league games for free this weekend first: Apple is making all 14 matches taking place in the next few days streamable at no additional cost. One of the matches features Inter Miami, which signed Lionel Messi in 2023. An MLS season pass will give you access to every MLS game with no blackouts, as well as to additional content like in-depth coverage and analysis of the matches. You can watch league games through the Apple TV app on iPhones, iPads and Macs, as well as on smart TVs, set-top boxes, gaming consoles and non-Apple streaming devices. You can also watch matches on the web at Apple TV's official website and on the Apple Vision Pro if you have the mixed reality headset.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-discounts-mls-season-pass-to-69-for-the-rest-of-the-season-133019422.html?src=rss
Bose may be best known for its noise-canceling headphones, but the company makes solid portable Bluetooth speakers too. In fact, the company's SoundLink Flex made our best Bluetooth speakers list as a great option among contenders in its price range. Today, the company is adding to the SoundLink lineup with its largest portable Bluetooth speaker yet: the SoundLink Max ($399). While the overall design is similar to previous Bose devices, this model packs bigger sound and longer battery life into that expanded frame.Inside the SoundLink Max, three transducers and two passive radiators power "a spacious stereo experience" that includes bass performance that sounds like an even larger speaker, according to Bose. The company says this portable unit employs tech typically used in its soundbars and pairs that with digital signal processing to reduce distortion for "full, natural sound" across genres. Bose is promising that you'll be able to hear every aspect of a song clearly, no matter the musical style and no matter where the speaker is located. You'll also be able to adjust lows, mids and highs via the Bose app if the stock tuning doesn't suit your preferences.BoseBose opted for a powder-coated, silicone-wrapped steel enclosure for the SoundLink Max, which the company says offers a more refined look. The speaker is also IP67 rated, so dust, water, rust and dropping it shouldn't be an issue. This all makes the Max well-suited for outdoor use, and when you do take it on the go, you won't have to worry about recharging often. Bose says the SoundLink Max will last up to 20 hours, plus it can juice up your phone via a USB-C cable if needed. A removable rope handle will assist with transport, but Bose also makes a carrying strap if you prefer over-the-shoulder hauling.The SoundLink Max is equipped with Snapdragon Sound, which offers more consistent connectivity with recent Android devices, and aptX Adaptive that provides improved audio quality over Bluetooth. The speaker also supports Google Fast Pair and Bluetooth 5.3.Pre-orders for the SoundLink Max start today from Bose, and the speaker is schedule to ship on May 16. In addition to being the company's largest portable Bluetooth unit, it also ties the Bose Portable Smart Speaker for being the most expensive at $399. If you're looking for something smaller, the SoundLink Micro ($99), SoundLink Flex ($119) and SoundLink Mini II ($149) are also available from Bose.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/boses-soundlink-max-is-its-largest-portable-bluetooth-speaker-with-20-hour-battery-life-130043418.html?src=rss
Audible is testing a new category of book recommendations based on what a user watched recently on Prime Video. Which, as the name suggests, will show you audiobooks based on what you watch on the Amazon-owned service, TechCrunch reports.The new carousel should appear on mobile and web apps for about half of users who have Amazon Prime Video and Audible subscriptions. You might see recommendations as straightforward as the book a movie you watched is based on or titles with storylines or authors that users with similar preferences to you have enjoyed.Audible claims the decision came due to the uptick it saw in users accessing titles recently released as shows or movies. "There is a natural synergy between TV, movies, and books, and we see that clearly in how our customers engage with content on Audible," Andy Tsao, chief product and analytics officer at Audible, said in a statement. The company gives examples such as Reacher, which came out on Amazon Prime in 2022. Audible claims that the listenership of author Lee Child's books rose by almost 80 percent daily in the two weeks after its release.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audible-is-testing-book-recommendations-based-on-your-prime-video-habits-123053133.html?src=rss
As part of World Password Day (yes, that's a thing), Google is hyping up its security achievements and sharing updates on its latest endeavors. The company revealed passkey adoption metrics for the first time and said they have been used more than one billion times by 400 million Google accounts. "Since launching, passkeys have proven to be faster than passwords, since they only require users to simply unlock their device using a fingerprint, face scan or pin to log in," Google wrote.The company launched broad support for passkeys in 2022 and rolled them out across its services a year ago. Over the past 12 months, the technology has been adopted by Amazon, 1Password, Dashlane, Docusign and others, joining companies like eBay, PayPal and WhatsApp. Google boasted that the tech helped Kayak users sign in 50 percent faster and said Dashlane has seen a 70 percent increase in conversion with passkeys.Google will soon be expanding passkeys to users at the highest risk of targeted attacks as part of its Advanced Protection Program (APP). That offering is aimed at individuals including campaign workers and candidates, journalists, human rights workers and others, according to the company."APP enrollment traditionally required the use of hardware security keys as a second factor, but users will soon have the option to enroll with any passkey in addition to using their hardware security keys," Google wrote. "This expanded passkey support will help reduce the barrier of entry to APP while still providing phishing resistant authentication... [and] is coming during a critical election year."It's also expanding Cross-Account Protection to safeguard users on multiple platforms. That system lets Google share security notifications about suspicious event with non-Google apps and services. "This is a critical benefit since cybercriminals often use an initial entry point as a foothold to gain access to more of your information."Google suggests creating a passkey for your account to benefit from the new protections. In the meantime, practice good password hygiene by using long passwords with a mix of characters, numbers and symbols, applying two-factor authentication (2FA), never recycling passwords and more. According to HIPAA, attackers can crack a simple 8-number password in just 37 seconds, but it takes 19 quadrillion years to break an 18-digit cypher with a mix of numbers, upper and lowercase letters and symbols.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-says-its-secure-entry-passkeys-have-been-used-a-billion-times-120001230.html?src=rss
Emails from the Department of Justice's antitrust case against Google revealed how Microsoft executives were alarmed by and even envious of Google's AI lead.In an email thread, CTO Kevin Scott wrote he was very, very worried" about Google's rapidly growing AI capabilities. He said he initially dismissed the company's game-playing stunts," likely referring to Google's AlphaGo models. The emails reference Gmail's autocomplete features, which execs called scary good." Microsoft struggled to copy Google's BERT-large, an AI model that deciphers the meaning and context of words in a sentence. It took the company six hours to replicate the model, while Google inched further ahead on more elaborate, bigger models.Scott said Microsoft had very smart" people on its machine-learning teams but their ambitions had been curbed and that their company was multiple years behind the competition in terms of ML scale." This all led to a billion-dollar push into OpenAI in 2019. It's since invested $13 billion.- Mat SmithThe biggest stories you might have missedThe Cheyenne Supercomputer is going for a fraction of its list price at auction right nowBatman: Arkham Shadow is the first big exclusive VR game for the Quest 3May's PlayStation Plus games include Ghostrunner 2 and the modern classic TunicYou can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!LinkedIn now has daily Wordle-style gamesWhat connects you with a B2B marketer in West Virginia? Four letters.LinkedIn, the career-centric social network, is getting into gaming. But the kind of earnest, word-based games your mom would let you play when you were a kid. LinkedIn describes them as thinking-oriented games," though the format will likely look familiar to fans of The New York Times Games app. You can only play each game once a day, and you can share your score with friends. And just maybe... strike up a conversation on how you can help each other with targeted SaaS projects. Yes, I have feelings about who hits me up on LinkedIn.Continue reading.TikTok might be trying to circumvent Apple's in-app purchase rulesIt appears to be directing users to avoid in-app service fees."TikTok is allegedly violating Apple's App Store rules, with the app allowing (even recommending) particular users to purchase its coins directly from its website. TikTok has apparently given some iOS users the option to Try recharging on tiktok.com to avoid in-app service fees" - namely Apple's 30 percent commission on purchases, which are more likely than not passed onto those users. It's definitely not available to all users and seems to be there for TikTok users who have previously bought a large number of coins - the TikTok whales, if you will.Continue reading.Rabbit denies claims its R1 virtual assistant is a glorified Android appSomeone pulled the APK out and put it on an Android phone.RabbitThe Rabbit R1, a pocket-sized AI virtual assistant device, runs Android under the hood. Now early users have been able to tease out the R1 APK, install it on an Android phone and make it work - if not with all the features. If that's the case, what's the point in the $200 gadget?In a statement sent to Android Authority, Rabbit CEO Jesse Lyu, said the Rabbit R1 is not an Android app." He added the R1 ran on very bespoke AOSP (Android Open Source Project) build and lower-level firmware modifications, so a local bootleg APK won't be able to access most R1 services. We're wrapping up our own detailed review - stay tuned.Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-microsofts-openai-partnership-was-born-from-google-ai-envy-111555445.html?src=rss
Crunchyroll, like many other streaming services recently, is raising its subscription prices. The anime streaming service has announced its first price hike since it was acquired by Funimation in 2020. Subscribers in Argentina, Colombia, France, Portugal, the United States and select additional countries will now have to pay $12 for the Mega Fan tier, up $2 from $10. Meanwhile, the Ultimate Fan tier will now be $1 more expensive at $16 a month.Both options give subscribers access to offline viewing and the Crunchyroll Game Vault, which contains a library of mobile games. The Mega Fan tier allows streaming on up to four devices at a time, while the Ultimate Fan tier allows streaming on up to six. People subscribed to the most expensive option also get a swag bag if they keep paying for the service for 12 consecutive months. The basic Fan Tier doesn't come with the perks these two have, but its price remains unchanged at $8 a month. Unfortunately, those who haven't decided whether to pay for a subscription yet can now only test the service out for seven days instead of 14 like before. But if they don't mind watching their anime with ads, they can still view more than 1,000 hours of content for free.Sony's Funimation purchased Crunchyroll from WarnerMedia for $1.175 billion back in 2020, but it took a while before they were able to complete their transformation into a unified anime subscription service under the latter's name. Funimation didn't shut down its old app and website until April 2 this year after it moved its available titles to Crunchyroll's service.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/crunchyroll-announces-first-price-hike-since-funimation-purchase-104035825.html?src=rss
TikTok and Universal Music Group (UMG) have signed a deal that will allow Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, The Weeknd and other artists to return to the platform, the companies announced in a press release. Universal pulled songs from its roster of performers back in February and with some exceptions, its music hasn't been there since. Both sides are now "working expeditiously" to get content back on the platform that's home to a billion-plus users.A key part of the deal is artist protection from generative AI. "TikTok and UMG will work together to ensure AI development across the music industry will protect human artistry and the economics that flow to those artists and songwriters," the companies wrote. "TikTok is also committed to working with UMG to remove unauthorized AI-generated music from the platform, as well as tools to improve artist and songwriter attribution."Also part of the deal are "new monetization opportunities" from TikTok's recent expansion into e-commerce. TikTok will reportedly also assist artists by providing tools around analytics, integrated ticketing, an "Add to Music App" and more.Universal took the drastic move of pulling music earlier this year, forcing the platform to mute videos or replace tracks with options from other labels. "As our negotiations continued, TikTok attempted to bully us into accepting a deal worth less than the previous deal, far less than fair market value and not reflective of their exponential growth," UMG said at the time.Last month, Taylor Swift's songs returned to TikTok, likely because she has full control of her own catalogue and was able to strike a separate deal. Some songs by other UMG artists, including Ariana Grande, also started appearing on the platform.The dispute appears to be water under the bridge, but it's the least of TikTok's problems at the moment. US Congress recently voted in favor of a bill that would see TikTok banned in a year unless owner ByteDance sells the app.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/olivia-rodrigo-drake-and-other-universal-artists-return-to-tiktok-094057811.html?src=rss
Over a year after announcing it would acquire Mint Mobile for up to $1.35 billion, T-Mobile has closed the deal. With the Un-Carrier's purchase of parent Ka'ena Corporation, it will not only get Mint, but internationally focused prepaid operator Ultra Mobile and wholesale wireless provider Plum. T-Mobile also promised to keep Mint Mobile's $15 per month/5GB offering that's among the least costly in the US.Mint Mobile is backed by Ryan Reynolds, who is believed to own 20 to 25 percent of the company. The purchase was announced back in March 2023, but the FCC only approved the deal last week. Mint will continue to be operated as a separate brand with Reynolds as pitchman and founders David Glickman and Rizwan Kassim joining T-Mobile to guide the brands.Mint Mobile's $15 plan has a few loopholes, namely you have to pay for three months at the start to get that rate, then pay for an entire year to keep it ($180 in total). As a perk, T-Mobile is offering "unlimited" (40GB with throttling, really) data for the first months. Customers will also get unlimited talk and text in Canada, along with 3GB of roaming data.Mint's rivals include T-Mobile itself, which has a very similar plan but a hard cap at 5GB, along with AT&T, which offers 15GB for $25 including 10GB of hotspot data. A one-year contract and up-front payment is required for the latter.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/t-mobile-finally-owns-ryan-reynolds-backed-mint-mobile-082450117.html?src=rss
Anthropic is making its Claude AI easier to access on mobile. The company has released a Claude mobile app for iOS that any user can download for free. Similar to the mobile web version of the chatbot, the app syncs users' conversations with Claude across devices, allowing them to jump from a computer to the app (or vice versa) without losing their chat history. Users will also be able to upload files and images straight from their iPhone's gallery - or take a photo on the spot - if they need Claude to process or analyze them in real time. They'll be able to download and access the Claude app whatever plan they're using, even if they're not paying for the service.If they do decide to pay for Claude, they now have a new option other than Pro. The new Team plan provides greater usage than the Pro tier so that members can have more conversations with the chatbot. It also enables users to process longer documents, such as research papers and contracts, thanks to its 200,000 context window. The Team plan gives users access to the Claude 3 model family, as well, which includes Opus, Sonnet and Haiku. It will cost subscribers $30 per user per month, with a minimum head count of five users per team.Back in March, Anthropic claimed in a blog post that its Claude 3 language model had outperformed ChatGPT and Google's Gemini in several key industry benchmarks. It was better at graduate-level reasoning, multilingual math and coding (among many other metrics), the company said, showing Claude 3's benchmark results against its staunchest rivals. The most powerful Claude 3 model, the Opus, even apparently showed "near-human" abilities with rapid response rates that make it ideal for more complex and time-sensitive tasks.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/anthropic-now-has-a-claude-chatbot-app-for-ios-075930308.html?src=rss
This one's a bummer. Mega-publisher Take-Two Interactive is shuttering Rollerdrome studio Roll7 and Kerbal Space Program 2 team Intercept Games, according to paperwork seen by Bloomberg.Roll7 is based in London, and was founded in 2008 by lifelong friends Tom Hegarty and Simon Bennett. Roll7 is the studio behind OlliOlli, OlliOlli World and Rollerdrome, all fantastic games with wheel-based mechanics. OlliOlli was a Vita hit in 2014 and World landed in early 2022 - they're both great, and the latter in particular is a flow-state-inducing skateboarding platformer with an adorable art style. Rollerdrome was one of our favorite games of 2022; it's a luscious third-person rollerskating-and-gunplay game that looks like a slice of 1970s dystopian sci-fi.Roll7 has picked up multiple prestigious awards over the years, including recent wins at BAFTA and DICE. As the studio name implies, Roll7 developers know how to make incredibly smooth action games.Take-Two purchased Roll7 in November 2021 and made it a subsidiary of Private Division, the company's label for small- and mid-size publishing deals. According to Bloomberg, Take-Two plans to close Roll7 and will offer severance packages to staff.Intercept Games is based in Seattle and is responsible for Kerbal Space Program 2, a popular flight-simulation title that's still technically in early access on Steam. Take-Two founded Intercept in 2020 specifically to manage Kerbal Space Program 2, and the game has been receiving updates since going live in February 2023.Take-Two has yet to confirm that it's closing Intercept Games - but it hasn't said it isn't, either. The company filed a notice in Washington on Monday outlining plans to lay off 70 people in the state and permanently close their place of business, and some Kerbal developers have confirmed their recent departures. Private Division will continue to update Kerbal Space Program 2, Take-Two said in a statement.Take-Two is one of the largest video game companies around, reporting $5.3 billion in revenue last year. It's the owner of Grand Theft Auto and the parent company of Rockstar Games, 2K, Private Division, Zynga and - very recently - Gearbox Software. Take-Two purchased Borderlands studio Gearbox in March for $460 million. Grand Theft Auto VI, arguably the most anticipated game of the decade, is due to add billions to Take-Two's bottom line in 2025.In April, Take-Two announced plans to lay off 5 percent of its employees, or roughly 600 people, by the end of 2024. It also canceled some in-development projects. When news of the planned firings broke last month, Take-Two didn't identify which studios would take the hit, but now we know it includes Roll7 and Intercept. The company laid off some Private Division workers in 2023 as well.An estimated 9,400 people have been laid off in the video game industry so far in 2024, and a total of 10,500 workers were let go in 2023. Sony, Microsoft and Riot Games have fired a combined 3,300 employees this year alone, and the fallout from Embracer Group's funding implosion keeps spreading, with numerous shuttered studios and more than 1,400 displaced workers.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/take-two-is-shutting-down-the-studios-behind-rollerdrome-and-kerbal-space-program-2-000253545.html?src=rss
Snapchat will finally join most of its messaging app peers and allow users to edit their chats. The feature, which will be rolling out soon," will initially be limited to Snapchat+ subscribers, the company said.With the change, Snapchat users will have a five-minute window to rephrase their message, fix typos or otherwise edit their chats. Messages that have been edited will have a label indicating the text has been changed. The company didn't say when the feature might be available to more of its users, but the company often brings sought after features to its subscription service first. Snap announced last week that Snapchat+, which costs $3.99 a month, had reached 9 million subscribers.The app is also adding several non-exclusive features, including updated emoji reactions for chats, the ability to use the My AI assistant to set reminders and AI-generated outfits for Bitmoji. Snap also showed off a new AI lens that transforms users' selfies into 1990's-themed snapshots (just don't look too closely at the wireless headphones appearing in many of the images.)This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/snapchat-will-finally-let-you-edit-your-chats-223643771.html?src=rss
Facebook's News Feed algorithm has long been at the center of debates about some of Meta's biggest problems. It's also been a near constant source of complaints from users. But, if a newly filed lawsuit is successful, Facebook users may be able to use the social network with a vastly different feed. The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University is suing Meta on behalf of a researcher who wants to release a browser extension that would allow people to effectively turn off" their algorithmic feeds.The extension was created by Ethan Zuckerman, a researcher and professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He argues that Facebook users would be better off with more control over their feeds. The tool, called Unfollow Everything 2.0, would allow users to unfollow their friends, groups, and pages, and, in doing so, to effectively turn off their newsfeed-the endless scroll of posts that users see when they log into Facebook," the lawsuit explains. Users who download the tool would be free to use the platform without the feed, or to curate the feed by refollowing only those friends and groups whose posts they really want to see." (Meta officially renamed the News Feed to Feed" in 2022.)Zuckerman isn't the first to come up with such a tool. He was inspired by a similar project, also called Unfollow Everything," from 2021. Facebook sued the U.K man who created that extension and permanently disabled his account. Zuckerman is trying to avoid a similar fate with his lawsuit. The suit, filed in San Francisco federal court Wednesday, asks the court to recognize that Section 230 protects the development of tools designed to empower people to better control their social media experiences."The case could be a novel test of Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which is mostly known as the law that shields online platforms from legal liability for the actions of their users. But unlike recent Supreme Court cases involving the statute, Zuckerman's case relies on a separate provision protecting the developers of third-party tools that allow people to curate what they see online, including by blocking content they consider objectionable."A spokesperson for Meta declined to comment on the lawsuit. The company has a history of heavy-handed tactics when it comes to independent researchers. In addition to shutting down the earlier version Unfollow Everything," the company disabled the Facebook accounts of a group of NYU researchers attempting to study political ad targeting in 2021. Those types of tactics have led to some researchers pursuing data donation" programs, which recruit volunteers to donate" their own browsing data for academic studies.If released, Zuckerman's browser extension would also have a data donation component, allowing users to opt-in to sharing anonymized data about their Facebook usage." The data would then be used for research into the effects of Facebook's feed algorithm.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/a-researcher-is-suing-meta-for-the-right-to-turn-off-facebooks-news-feed-210344993.html?src=rss
It turns out the lay of today's AI landscape can be traced back to - what do you know -fear, jealousy and intense capitalist ambition. Emails revealed in the Department of Justice's antitrust case against Google, first reported by Business Insider, show Microsoft executives expressing alarm and envy over Google's AI lead. That spurred an urgency that led to the Windows maker's initial billion-dollar investment in its now-indispensable partner, OpenAI.In a heavily redacted 2019 email thread titled Thoughts on OpenAI," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella forwards a lengthy message from CTO Kevin Scott to CFO Amy Hood. Very good email that explains, why I want us to do this ... and also why we will then ensure our infra folks execute," Nadella wrote.Scott wrote that he was very, very worried" about Google's rapidly growing AI capabilities. He says he initially dismissed the company's game-playing stunts," likely referring to Google's AlphaGo models. One of them beat Go world champion Ke Jie in 2017, a remarkable feat at the time. (Google's later models surpassed that one, dropping the need for human training altogether.)But Scott says brushing off Google's game-playing progress was a mistake." When they took all of the infrastructure that they had built to build [natural language] models that we couldn't easily replicate, I started to take things more seriously," Scott wrote. And as I dug in to try to understand where all of the capability gaps were between Google and us for model training, I got very, very worried."Microsoft CTO Kevin ScottMicrosoftScott recounts how Microsoft struggled to copy Google's BERT-large, an AI model that deciphers the meaning and context of words in a sentence. Scott pinned the blame on infrastructure leaps its rival had made - and that Microsoft hadn't.Turns out, just replicating BERT-large wasn't easy to do for us. Even though we had the template for the model, it took us ~6 months to get the model trained because our infrastructure wasn't up to the task," the Microsoft CTO wrote. Google had BERT for at least six months prior to that, so in the time that it took us to hack together the capability to train a 340M parameter model, they had a year to figure out how to get it into production and to move on to larger scale, more interesting models."He also admired and envied Google's Gmail auto-complete capabilities, saying it was getting scarily good." He commented that Microsoft was multiple years behind the competition in terms of [machine learning] scale." He commented on the interesting" growth of OpenAI, DeepMind and Google Brain.Scott touted Microsoft's very smart" people on its machine-learning teams but said their ambitions were curbed. But the core deep learning teams within each of these bigger teams are very small, and their ambitions have also been constrained, which means that even as we start to feed them resources, they still have to go through a learning process to scale up," Scott wrote. And we are multiple years behind the competition in terms of ML scale."After prompting Hood that Scott's concerns were why I want us to do this," meaning invest in OpenAI, the company made good on its CEO's wishes. Microsoft invested a billion dollars in the Sam Altman-led startup in 2019, and the rest is a rapidly changing history. (It's now invested $13 billion.) It's a technology that does some incredible things but threatens to gut the labor market and give propagandists their most powerful tools to date in what was already an age of rampant disinformation.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsofts-openai-partnership-was-born-from-google-envy-202143989.html?src=rss
Starfield, the excellent Digipick puzzle game surrounded by 80 hours of sci-fi mediocrity, is getting a performance update on Xbox Series X that unlocks frame rates above 30 fps. Starfield's May update adds the option to target 30 fps, 40 fps, 60 fps or an uncapped frame rate - for displays that support VRR running at 120hz. Displays without VRR will have the choice of 30 fps or 60 fps.The May update also includes the ability to prioritize visuals or performance at each frame rate target. Visuals mode means the game will do its best to maintain a high resolution and full detail in lighting, special effects and NPCs, while performance lowers the resolution and clarity of those same details. Of course, both modes adjust the game's base resolution alongside heavy on-screen action.Bethesda recommends performance mode when playing at 60 fps and above. For Xbox Series X players with 120hz VRR displays, Starfield's settings now default to 40 fps, prioritizing visuals.The May 1 display updates bring the Xbox Series X version of Starfield closer to its PC counterpart in terms of customization options. The Xbox Series S edition remains capped at 30 fps. This is the version I played when I reviewed Starfield last year, and while a frame rate upgrade won't make the game less bland, its combat scenes would definitely benefit from a boost to 40 fps, at least. It's a shame that the most popular Xbox Series console isn't seeing any frame rate love in today's update.Additionally in the May update, Starfield's surface maps have been overhauled in order to increase legibility on all platforms. The new design shows top-down 3D images of terrain, buildings, and objects like trees and rocks, which makes a lot of sense for, you know, a map. The original surface map tries to make landscapes out of white dots on a bright blue background, so this is a welcome improvement. The update also allows players to customize their difficulty options on the ground and in ship battles, and it adds navigation markers to the environment when walking around a planet.This is Bethesda's fourth and largest Starfield update since the game came out in September 2023. It's all scheduled to go live by May 15.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/explore-starfields-barren-planets-at-60-fps-on-xbox-series-x-starting-this-month-185653374.html?src=rss
Sony just announced an interesting feature coming to the PS5 that should streamline the whole process of wrangling people into a multiplayer game. The new tool will let you invite people into a game even when they aren't at a console or using the PlayStation app. The system generates a link, via the app, that can be shared anywhere online. When the recipient clicks the link, they will be able to hop into a multiplayer session. You don't even have to be friends. Easy peasy. That sure beats having to send out a lengthy numerical code (side-eyes Nintendo.)The obvious use case scenario here? You meet some people online via social media and want to jump into a game quickly, without having to pass usernames back and forth. Sony says you'll be able to start playing together right away." The tool will also generate a QR code along with the link, which is something PS5 owners are already familiar with when it comes to multiplayer games.There are some caveats. This feature isn't coming until later in the year and it's only for PS5 games. Sony also warns that some titles may require an update before everything works seamlessly. Of course, most PS5 games require a PlayStation Plus subscription to use multiplayer, and those subscriptions went up in price last year.Sony has even developed a custom live widget for multiplayer invites in Discord. When you share a link via Discord, the widget automatically refreshes to show whether or not a multiplayer session is active or not, so you won't jump into an empty lobby to watch tumbleweeds roll by. Just like the forthcoming invite tool, the Discord widget is only available for PS5 games.SonyFinally, the company's working on a related tool that will let people share their PlayStation Network profile on any messaging or social app by generating a link on the PlayStation app, similar to how the aforementioned feature will work. This is also coming later this year.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ps5-update-will-let-you-invite-people-to-multiplayer-games-through-your-smartphones-apps-184933903.html?src=rss
Block appears to be squarely in the government's sights. Prosecutors from the Southern District of New York are reportedly probing extensive compliance lapses at the parent company of Square and Cash App. NBC News says a former Block employee has handed over documents to federal authorities, painting a picture of how the company failed to gather required risk-assessment information from customers and subsequently processed illegal transactions.The documents allegedly show that Block greenlit multiple crypto transactions involving known terrorist organizations. Furthermore, Square reportedly processed thousands of transfers involving nations under economic sanctions. From the ground up, everything in the compliance section was flawed," the whistleblower allegedly told NBC News. It is led by people who should not be in charge of a regulated compliance program."Most transactions allegedly involved credit cards, dollar transfers or Bitcoin and weren't reported to the government as mandated by law. In addition, Block reportedly refused to correct company processes" when notified of the breaches.The investigation follows a separate report from NBC News in February highlighting two different whistleblowers who flagged the same issues at Block. They cited questionable Cash App transactions with entities under sanction by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, operations known to sell personal information and credit card data for illegal purposes, and offshore gambling sites barred to U.S. citizens."The practice allegedly spanned multiple years. NBC News says it reviewed around 100 pages of documents from the whistleblower involving people or organizations in countries under US sanctions, including Russia, Iran, Venezuela and Cuba. Some of them were reportedly from as recent as 2023.BlockThe whistleblower claims Block's management was aware of the alleged offenses. It's my understanding from the documents that compliance lapses were known to Block leadership and the board in recent years," Edward Siedle, a former SEC attorney representing the whistleblower, told NBC News.The whistleblower says that, besides senior management, Block's board was told about the compliance issues. Coincidentally or not, several board members made unexpected exits recently, including former US treasury secretary Lawrence Summers, who resigned in February, and Sharon Rothstein, who had been on the board since 2022. Block told NBC News that they were leaving to devote more time to other activities and that their exits weren't a result of any disagreements with the company on any matter relating to the company's operations, policies or practices."Federal authorities have taken a greater interest in modern financial platforms in recent years after at least some of them had become something of a Wild West. Of course, FTX's fraudulent practices and subsequent collapse led to a seismic decline in the cryptocurrency industry. Although it isn't clear if the feds have gotten involved, Elon Musk's X (the husk of what was once Dorsey's Twitter) reportedly violated US sanctions by accepting blue-check subscription payments from terrorist organizations.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/block-reportedly-greenlit-transactions-involving-terrorist-groups-and-sanctioned-nations-181222712.html?src=rss
The bad news? It's the beginning of the month, so rent is due. The good news? Sony just revealed the PlayStation Plus games lineup for May, and there are some serious standouts. The lineup includes Ghostrunner 2, Tunic, Destiny 2: Lightfall and EA Sports FC 24. Most of these games are available for both PS4 and PS5, except Ghostrunner 2 which is only for PS5 players.So let's start with Ghostrunner 2. It's a brutally difficult, yet consistently engaging, first-person slasher with a fast-paced traversal mechanic that recalls games like Mirror's Edge. You will die often, our reviewer died 164 times on one level, and you are likely to love every second of it. Perishing isn't that big of a deal, as there are checkpoints just about everywhere and you can respawn instantly with the press of a button. It's also a blast, offering a satisfying gameplay loop that's hard to walk away from."Tunic is somehow both critically-acclaimed and underrated. This top-down isometric adventure is an absolute gem, with gameplay that brings to mind old-school Zelda adventures. By old-school, we mean really old-school. Tunic is most similar to the very first Zelda game for the NES, as there are no objective markers, no towns filled with cute villagers and not much by way of a story. You are just plopped into the world and tasked with exploring. The puzzles are tough and the combat can be even tougher. It's nearly as polished as a Nintendo title and the protagonist is a cute fox. What's not to love?EA Sports FC 24 is the latest entry in the company's flagship soccer series. There are more than 19,000 fully licensed players, 700 teams and 30 leagues, including the men's and women's UEFA Champions League. This is actually the first time in franchise history in which men and women can be on the pitch together. That's pretty neat. It features crossplay with Xbox Series X/S, PC and Xbox One.Destiny 2: Lightfall is an expansion that adds grappling hooks to the game's arsenal. There's a new Darkness subclass called the Strand and plenty of updated perks, weapons, armor and more. It's also set in a neon metropolis, which is a nice change of pace. This was actually the first Destiny 2 expansion released after Sony bought Bungie.All of these games will be playable on May 7. Ghostrunner 2, Tunic and Destiny 2: Lightfall will be available for download until June 3, and EA Sports FC 24 until June 17. To that end, April's PS Plus games are about to hit the chopping block. You only have until May 6 to download Immortals of Aveum, Minecraft Legends and Skul: The Hero Slayer.May includes another treat for PS Plus subscribers. The sidescrolling Metroidvania Animal Well, the first game published by popular YouTuber Dunkey, is a day-one release on May 9.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mays-playstation-plus-games-include-ghostrunner-2-and-the-modern-classic-tunic-172000294.html?src=rss
For better or (mostly) worse, the only way to fully increase the storage of an Xbox Series X/S is to use a proprietary expansion card. Three and a half years into the consoles' lives, there remain only two official solutions: Seagate's Storage Expansion Card and the WD Black C50. It's a limiting situation, but if you're tired of deleting and reinstalling games to create space, versions of each card are at least a little cheaper than usual right now. The 1TB WD Black C50 is on sale for $125 at Amazon, while the 2TB Seagate Storage Expansion Card is down to $230 at Amazon and Best Buy.The former is $5 more than the lowest price we've ever seen, but it's still $25 off the card's usual street price. We'll note that Seagate's 1TB model has technically dropped as low as $90 a few times before, but those offers have typically sold out extremely fast; as of this writing, that drive costs $140. The discount on the 2TB Seagate card, meanwhile, matches the best price we've tracked. That one normally goes for $250. Since WD doesn't sell a 2TB card, it's also the highest-capacity option you can buy. Both of these discounts equal the prices we saw during Black Friday last year.To reiterate, these aren't great prices in the context of the wider storage market. Sony lets you upgrade the PlayStation 5 with a much wider range of traditional M.2 SSDs, almost all of which are available for significantly less per gigabyte. The top pick in our PS5 SSD buying guide, for instance, currently costs $90 for 1TB or $158 for 2TB. This is despite the fact that consumer SSD prices have generally increased over the past few months.If you own a recent Xbox, though, you don't have much choice. You can use a standard external drive to store Series X/S games or run backwards-compatible titles from the Xbox One and older consoles, but the only way to playcurrent-gen games is via internal storage or one of these official cards. That said, the cards themselves are just about as fast as that internal SSD, and setting them up is a breeze: You simply plug the tiny device into the Xbox's expansion slot, and you're good to go. The sticker shock is the one major negative, but these discounts should lighten the load somewhat.Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/xbox-series-xs-storage-expansion-cards-from-wd-and-seagate-are-discounted-right-now-163525697.html?src=rss
One of the main reasons it has been difficult to recommend the $500 Quest 3 VR headset over the $200 Quest 2 is a lack of exclusive titles, as most games have to support both models. This means we haven't really seen the power of the Quest 3 yet, but the tides are turning. Meta just announced Batman: Arkham Shadow, which is fully exclusive to the company's newest headset.It looks like this title is actually set in the pre-existing Arkham universe, but it's not being developed by franchise steward Rocksteady Studios. It's being created by Oculus Studios and a developer called Camouflaj, which made the surprisingly great Iron Man VR experience. The track record is pretty spotty when it comes to other developers playing in Rocksteady's sandbox, but the inclusion of Camouflaj makes me cautiously optimistic.There's a trailer, seen above, but it's devoid of any actual gameplay. For that, we'll have to wait until Summer Game Fest in June, according to Geoff Keighley. The trailer does indicate the presence of a little-known member of Batman's rogues gallery called Ratcatcher. He controls rats to commit crimes. It's a whole thing.This isn't the first time that Batman donned a VR headset. Back in 2016, Rocksteady released Batman: Arkham VR. The game was praised for being immersive, but dinged for being just an hour long. Hopefully, this one is a bit longer, though I'm actually into short VR experiences that are done really well. There's only so much time to wander around the house like a doofus with a headset attached to my face.While this is certainly the highest profile Quest 3 exclusive, it's not the first to be announced. Starship Home is a mixed-reality adventure that looks like it should have been a launch exclusive for the Vision Pro. The horror-tinged Alien: Rogue Incursion isn't quite a Quest 3 exclusive, as it's also releasing on Steam and PSVR2, but it is a next-gen" VR game that doesn't have to run on the antiquated Quest 2. All three titles will be released by the end of the year.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/batman-arkham-shadow-is-the-first-big-exclusive-vr-game-for-the-quest-3-154210616.html?src=rss
Another day, another company tests Apple's resolve. This time, it's TikTok allegedly violating the company's rules for apps, with the video platform seemingly allowing some users to purchase its coins directly from its website. TikTok has apparently given some iOS users the option to "Try recharging on tiktok.com to avoid in-app service fees" - namely Apple's 30 percent commission on purchases.According to photos shared on X (formerly Twitter) by David Tesler, co-founder of the app Sendit, TikTok is prompting users to save around 25 percent when purchasing coins (used to tip creators) thanks to lower third-party service fees. They can then use Apple Pay, PayPal or a credit or debit card to complete their transaction. It's unclear why only some users have access to this circumnavigation; one hypothesis is the feature was turned on for individuals who previously purchased a large number of coins.
LinkedIn, the professional network known for job listings and unsolicited career advice, is jumping into gaming. The platform is officially introducing a set of Wordle-style puzzle games, weeks after they were first spotted in the app.The company is starting with three games: Pinpoint, a word game where players must guess the theme that ties a series of words together; Queens, a puzzle game that's a bit like a cross between Sudoku and Minesweeper; and Crossclimb, a trivia game that involves guessing a series of four-letter words and placing them in the correct order.LinkedIn describes them as thinking-oriented games," though the format will likely look familiar to fans of The New York Times Games app. Each game can only be played once a day, and players can share their score with friends in cute emoji-filled messages reminiscent of the Wordle grid." The service will also keep track of streaks," to encourage players to come back every day. Given the similarities, it shouldn't be surprising that games were developed by LinkedIn's news team, which recently hired a dedicated games editor.Games have been a boon for The New York Times since it acquired Wordle in 2022, and other publications have tried to emulate that success with their own lineup of word and puzzle games. I asked LinkedIn's editor-in-chief and VP of Product Dan Roth if the company was inspired by the success of Wordle and the NYT's Games app. He said that the inspiration was actually much older: the very first crossword puzzle" in the New York World newspaper more than 100 years ago. He added that there aren't currently plans for a standalone gaming app.These games aren't designed to be just played," Roth told Engadget. We're not getting into the gaming world to get into the gaming world. The idea is games that can help you think differently and connect with your network."You can try out the new games on LinkedIn.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/linkedin-now-has-wordle-style-games-you-can-play-every-day-133035046.html?src=rss
Ring makes a camera for pretty much every corner of your home but, until now, has never gone near one with a motorized base. That changes today with the Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam that, as the name implies, lets you spin the unit around 360 degrees to keep up with what's going on. The new unit has a tilt range of 169-degrees and offers color HD video no matter the lighting conditions. You'll get all of the usual features with a standard indoor cam, including motion alerts and two-walk talk, plus the extras that come with a Ring subscription.Given the tendency for folks running AirBnBs to covertly film their guests, there's a built-in hardware kill switch. A mechanical shutter can be slid over the front of the camera, and Ring promises that both the video and audio feeds will be disabled until the cover is moved back. The company is also aware its usual range of colors, or lack of, might cramp your style if you're buying one for the living room. That's why this unit will be the first to launch in black and white, but also three new colors: Blush (pink), Charcoal (grey) and Starlight (off-ish white). These new colors will also come to Ring's standard second-generation indoor camera in due time.The new Ring Pan-Tilt Indoor Camera is available for pre-order today for $80 and will begin shipping on May 30.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/rings-new-indoor-camera-lets-you-pan-and-tilt-for-a-better-view-130047398.html?src=rss
The Rabbit R1, a pocket-sized AI virtual assistant device, runs Android under the hood and is powered by a single app, according to Android Authority. Apparently, the publication was able to install the R1 APK on a Pixel 6a and made it run as if it were the $199 gadget, bobbing bunny head on the screen and all. If you already have a phone and aren't quite intrigued by specialized devices or keen on being an early adopter, you probably didn't see merit in getting the R1 (or its competitor, the Humane AI Pin) in the first place. But this information could make you question the device's purpose even more. Rabbit CEO Jesse Lyu, however, denied that the company's product could've just been released an Android app.In a statement sent to Android Authority, Lyu said: "rabbit r1 is not an Android app." He added that the company is aware that there are "unofficial rabbit OS app/website emulators out there" and is discouraging their use. "We understand the passion that people have to get a taste of our AI and LAM instead of waiting for their r1 to arrive," he continued. "That being said, to clear any misunderstanding and set the record straight, rabbit OS and LAM run on the cloud with very bespoke AOSP and lower level firmware modifications, therefore a local bootleg APK without the proper OS and Cloud endpoints won't be able to access our service. rabbit OS is customized for r1 and we do not support third-party clients. Using a bootlegged APK or webclient carries significant risks; malicious actors are known to publish bootlegged apps that steal your data. For this reason, we recommend that users avoid these bootlegged rabbit OS apps."Android Authority admitted that Spotify integration and other features probably wouldn't work when the R1 is installed on a phone, because it was created to run on the company's specialized firmware. However, it promised a follow-up story delving deeper into the subject.The R1 has the capability to book you an Uber, find you titles to songs stuck in your brain or look for recipes that can incorporate ingredients you have in your fridge, among other things a virtual assistant or an AI chatbot can do. When Rabbit CEO Jesse Lyu introduced the R1 at CES 2024, he demonstrated how it can be trained to do a variety of other tasks when he taught it to generate an image using Midjourney. Engadget Deputy Editor Cherlynn Low found it more fun and accessible than the $700 Humane AI Pin, but she remains skeptical about the usefulness of AI devices overall. It may still be too early to tell whether they have the potential to become a must-have product for your daily life or the high-tech equivalent of single-use kitchen tools. We're already in the midst of testing the R1 and will publish a review soon to help you decide if it's worth giving the product category a chance.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/rabbit-denies-claims-that-its-r1-virtual-assistant-is-a-glorified-android-app-123049869.html?src=rss
Beats today announced the Solo 4, a $200 set of familiar-looking cans with significant upgrades inside, even if they look almost entirely the same as the Solo 3.At this price, the Solo 4s don't have any active noise cancellation and, according to Billy Steele, who tested the new headphones, they sound a bit thin. However, sound is generally improved, and the boost to 50 hours of playback (along with USB-C) is a major improvement over the predecessor. They're available to buy now.EngadgetBeats also surprised us with new sub-$100 Solo buds, wireless (non-ANC) earbuds with 18 hours of playback. One focus is comfort, with ergonomic acoustic nozzles and vents assisting with audio performance and relieving the pressure on your ears. The Solo Buds will be available in June for $80.- Mat SmithThe biggest stories you might have missedLorelei and the Laser Eyes preview: This may be my GOTYWhat to expect from Apple's Let Loose iPad eventThe excellent and customizable Arc Browser is now fully available on WindowsBinance founder Changpeng Zhao sentenced to four months in prisonYou can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!Instagram algorithm overhaul will reward original content'And penalize low-effort aggregators.Instagram is overhauling its recommendation algorithm for Reels to support and increase original content." It could greatly impact aggregator accounts and other accounts that mostly report other users' work. The company is also changing how it ranks Reels to boost smaller accounts.The app's changes around original content" could be pretty immediate. Instagram says it will actively replace reposted Reels with the original" clip in its suggestions when it detects two pieces of identical content. Aggregator accounts that repeatedly" publish posts from others will be penalized even more harshly. I've come across many accounts (often through Reels) that are simply the same viral clip (that isn't even original) posted and reposted as far as I was willing to scroll. These changes could shrink the chances of coming across lazier content like that.Continue reading.FCC fines America's largest wireless carriers $200 millionIt's for selling customer location data.The Federal Communications Commission has slapped the largest mobile carriers in the US with a collective fine worth $200 million for selling access to their customers' location information without consent. AT&T was ordered to pay $57 million, while Verizon has a $47 million fine. Meanwhile, Sprint and T-Mobile are facing a penalty with a combined amount of $92 million, as the companies merged two years ago. Apparently, the carriers sold real-time location information to data aggregators," and this data ended up in the hands of bail-bond companies, bounty hunters and other shady actors."Continue reading.The Instax mini 99 is an instant camera that's coolBut it's more like a Polaroid.EngadgetFujifilm's Instax cameras have been around for a while, but the new Instax mini 99, which was released this month, looks more like my X-T2 and other Fujifilm models than yet another plasticky Polaroid. From a distance, it looks like a pricey digital camera, but it costs only $200. It also has modes and filters to customize your tiny instant photos. That flexibility, combined with the understated look, makes for an instant camera I might actually buy (and use).Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-our-verdict-on-the-beats-solo-4-headphones-111559935.html?src=rss
New graduates have a lot to manage: applying for jobs or further education, staying on top of their finances, keeping healthy and maybe even finding a more permanent place to live. Instead of a gift basket full of food they don't eat, consider giving them a subscription to a service they'll use regularly instead. Be it a new service that can make their lives easier, or footing the bill for something they already pay for, your new grad will thank you for the thoughtful yet practical gift. Here are some of the best subscription services to consider gifting to new graduates this year.CommutingCloud storage and securityProductivityFitnessEntertainmentThis article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/best-apps-and-services-for-new-graduates-130003658.html?src=rss
A group of publications that include the Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News and the Orlando Sentinel are suing Microsoft and OpenAI, as reported by The Verge. The eight publications in this particular lawsuit, all owned by Alden Capital Group (ACG), are accusing the companies of "purloining millions" of their copyrighted articles "without permission and without payment to fuel the commercialization of their generative artificial intelligence products, including ChatGPT and Copilot."This is but the latest lawsuit filed against Microsoft and OpenAI for their use of copyrighted materials without express consent from publishers. The New York Times also famously sued the companies late last year, alleging that they've used "almost a century's worth of copyrighted content." Their products can regurgitate Times' articles verbatim and can "mimic its expressive style," the publication said, even though they didn't have a prior licensing agreement. In a motion seeking to dismiss key parts of the lawsuit, Microsoft accused the Times of doomsday futurology by claiming that generative AI can pose a threat to independent journalism.ACG's newspapers complain of the same thing, that the companies' chatbots are reproducing their articles word-for-word shortly after they're published without a prominent link back to the sources. They included several examples in their complaint. In addition, the chatbots are apparently suffering from hallucinations and are attributing inaccurate reporting to ACG's publications. The publisher argued that the defendants pay for the computers, the specialized chips and the electricity they use to build and operate their generative AI products. And yet they're using copyrighted articles "without permission and without paying for the privilege" even though they need content to train their large language models. The plaintiffs referenced OpenAI's previous admission that it would be "impossible to train today's leading AI models without using copyrighted materials."OpenAI is no longer a non-profit company, the plaintiffs said, and is now valued at $90 billion. Meanwhile, ChatGPT and Copilot have added "hundreds of billions of dollars to Microsoft's market value." The publications are seeking an unspecified amount in damages and are asking the court to order the defendants to destroy GPT and LLM models that use their materials.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-and-openai-sued-yet-again-by-chicago-tribune-and-new-york-daily-news-085501073.html?src=rss
If you've been thinking about picking up a new supercomputer but were waiting on a good price, now might be a good time to put in your bid. Right now, the US government, via GSA Auctions, is auctioning off the Cheyenne Supercomputer to the highest bidder with three days remaining. While we haven't tested this one ourselves, we assume its 145,152 CPU cores will easily out-perform our current top pick for a laptop. You also won't need to upgrade the memory anytime soon, as there's a full 313,344GB of RAM currently installed, and the storage capacity tallies up to around 36 petabytes. No need to delete files to make room for new games or other media downloads.The deal was spotted by Ars Technica, who also point out that the fiber optic and CAT5/6 cabling are not included in the sale. While the price the government paid for the supercomputer has not been disclosed, it's safe to assume the cost was well into the millions, considering the price tags of other supercomputers. As of this writing, the bidding has reached $28,085, though the reserve has not yet been met. There are still three days to go and there's currently no deposit required to place a bid.The reason for such a hefty discount (other than the fact that Cheyenne has been decommissioned) could be faulty quick disconnects causing water spray and the fact that approximately one percent of nodes have "experienced failure" and "will remain unrepaired." One other caveat to note before you start making room in your arena-sized climate-controlled garage is that shipping is not included. As GSA Auctions notes on the details page, "moving this system necessitates the engagement of a professional moving company" and that "the purchaser assumes responsibility for transferring the racks from the facility onto trucks."But where else will you find such steep savings on a machine that can carry out 5.34 quadrillion calculations per second? Cheyenne is also surprisingly energy-efficient, consuming 25 percent less energy per computation than its predecessor, Yellowstone. The massive supercomputer helped researchers understand the rapid intensification of hurricanes, how wildfires impact air quality, and simulated years of climate functions to predict outcomes decades in advance. It should definitely provide you with enough processing power for extreme multitasking at work while handling even the most demanding games after hours.Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-cheyenne-supercomputer-is-going-for-a-fraction-of-its-list-price-at-auction-right-now-235330715.html?src=rss
A federal judge has sentenced Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (often known as CZ") to four months in prison, as first reported by The New York Times. Prosecutors had recommended three years. Zhao pleaded guilty in November to violating the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to set up an anti-money-laundering program.The DOJ accused Zhao of allowing criminal activity to flourish on the crypto exchange. Binance turned a blind eye to its legal obligations in the pursuit of profit. Its willful failures allowed money to flow to terrorists, cybercriminals, and child abusers through its platform," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in November.The government accused Binance of refusing to comply with American sanctions and failing to report suspicious transactions related to drugs and child sexual abuse materials. Prosecutors said in court that Zhao had told Binance employees it was better to ask for forgiveness than permission" while bragging that if Binance had obeyed the law, it wouldn't be as big as we are today."Under the plea deal's terms, Binance agreed to forfeit $2.5 billion and pay a $1.8 billion fine. Zhao personally paid $50 million as part of the settlement.Although the charges differed, Zhao's sentence is dramatically shorter than the 25 years fellow crypto figurehead Sam Bankman-Fried received in March. SBF, as he's often known, was convicted on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy for his role at the helm of the crypto platform FTX.Zhao played an integral role in Bankman-Fried's downfall - and the crypto industry's broader decline in the last 18 months. The Binance founder tweeted in November 2022 that his company would liquidate its holdings in FTX's de facto token. He said recent revelations that have came[sic] to light" while citing ethical concerns" and regulatory risks." The posts not only crushed FTX but the crypto world at large. (They likely helped attract the government's attention as well.) When FTX's wells dried up following the platform's rapid collapse, Zhao briefly agreed to buy the company but quickly backed out.Prosecutors said Zhao's crime carried a standard federal sentence of 12 to 18 months but argued for a three-year term, describing his crimes as being on an unprecedented scale." But Judge Richard A. Jones saw it differently, sentencing him to a measly one-twelfth of the government's suggested term.This wasn't a mistake - it wasn't a regulatory oops," Kevin Mosley, a DOJ lawyer, reportedly said in court on Tuesday. Breaking U.S. law was not incidental to his plan to make as much money as possible. Violating the law was integral to that endeavor."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/binance-founder-changpeng-zhao-sentenced-to-four-months-in-prison-205550299.html?src=rss
The newest Assassin's Creed game will soon arrive on iPhone and iPad. Assassin's Creed Mirage, the 2023 installment that takes you to ninth-century Baghdad, will be available on June 6 for the iPhone 15 Pro series and iPads with an M-series chip.Ubisoft says the mobile version of the AAA title offers the same experience as the console version" but with adapted touchscreen controls. IGN reports that Ubisoft confirmed the mobile game will support MFi hardware controllers like the Backbone One and Razer Kishi Ultra.Ubisoft says Assassin's Creed Mirage supports cross-progression and cross-save through Ubisoft Connect, so you can pick up where you left off no matter your platform. The game launched in October for PC, PS5/4, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One.UbisoftEngadget's Kris Holt found Assassin's Creed Mirage to be a return to form for the series, trading the RPG elements that had grown prominent in recent years for the series' stealth and action roots. The deeper I got into Assassin's Creed Mirage, the more a sense of warm nostalgia washed over me," Holt wrote. It felt like a cozy hug from an old friend. A comforting, bloody embrace."The game will be free to download, and it has a 90-minute free trial. After that, it'll be a $50 in-app purchase to continue playing on any compatible iPhone or iPad. You can pre-reserve the game now on the App Store.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/assassins-creed-mirage-finally-arrives-on-june-6-for-iphone-and-ipad-190711252.html?src=rss
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) just announced new federal safety standards for automobiles. These standards include a mandate for advanced automatic braking systems for all new cars, which manufacturers must comply with by 2029. That's just five years out.This applies to all passenger cars and light trucks under 10,000 pounds. The automatic emergency braking systems must be able to bring a car traveling up to 62 MPH to a complete stop while avoiding a collision. These systems will also have to account for oncoming pedestrians at speeds up to 45 MPH in both daytime and nighttime conditions.Automatic emergency brakes use a bevy of sensors, lasers and cameras to detect collisions. When a crash is imminent, the system brakes on its own or applies brake assist to help the driver quickly and safely come to a stop. It's worth noting that manufacturers already include these systems in 90 percent of new cars, according to reporting by The New York Times, but many of these tools don't meet the MPH thresholds as mentioned above. The NHTSA says that most manufacturers should be able to meet these requirements with software updates.The federal agency estimates that these new rules will prevent over 360 road deaths per year and should reduce the severity of more than 24,000 injuries. It's also expected to save people a lot of money on property damage costs. Cathy Chase, the president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, told The Washington Post that the new rules were a major victory for all consumers and public safety." There were over 41,000 automobile-related deaths in the US in 2023 alone, and that's actually a slight decrease from the previous year.The actual auto industry, however, isn't quite as bullish about the mandate. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a lobbying group that works on behalf of auto manufacturers, has urged the NHTSA to consider other options. One major suggestion is to lower the speed threshold in certain cases, as the group stated that significant hardware and software changes will be needed to achieve a level of performance that no production vehicle can currently achieve."To that end, tests conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety indicate that these systems will likely require major overhauls to adequately comply with the mandate. The research group says it tested crash avoidance systems on 10 small SUVs at speeds up to 43 MPH, and many failed to stop in time to avoid a crash in the most difficult testing scenarios. The Subaru Forester and Honda CR-V performed best, for those in the market.Heavy-duty vehicles, like larger trucks, could be getting their own mandate in the near future. The NHTSA is currently working with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, a truck safety agency, to draw up similar standards for chonky vehicles.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/us-will-require-all-new-cars-to-have-advanced-automatic-braking-systems-by-2029-184455802.html?src=rss
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