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Adobe is bringing its generative AI (GAI) tech to mobile for the first time. Firefly GAI features are included in the beta of the new Express app on Android and iOS starting today. They should afford users more expansive creation and editing options while they're on the go.Using text prompts, you'll be able to generate images and insert, remove or replace people, objects and other elements such as backgrounds. Quick Actions enable you to apply edits, remove backgrounds and resize images with a single tap. Video editing tools, a social content scheduler and collaboration options are available too. Creative Cloud subscribers can use the Express mobile app to import and edit designs from Illustrator and Photoshop.Adobe says Firefly GAI is designed for commercial use. Assets generated using Firefly tools include a label to indicate they were forged in the fires of GAI.During the beta, Express premium features are available to everyone for free, but they'll eventually be locked behind a $10 per month subscription. The number of users who can access the beta on iOS are limited. Those who are interested can sign up through Adobe. The Android beta of the new Express app is available in most countries on the Google Play Store.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/adobe-brings-firefly-generative-ai-to-mobile-for-the-first-time-in-express-153323032.html?src=rss

Do you really like the aesthetic of bowling but have no interest in the game itself? In January, Xbox released the special edition Dream Vapor controller with swirls that look like they've been pulled right from a bowling ball. Now, the Dream Vapor controller - which is a great accessory for the Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One or Windows - is on sale for $58, down from $70. The 17 percent discount puts the model at the lowest price we've seen yet.Xbox's Dream Vapor controller is - dare we say - beautiful. It has pink and purple accents that swirl together to create a calm, aesthetically pleasing look. Even the buttons are in a light pink with purple accents. The wireless controller works like its counterparts, offering 40 hours of battery life, custom button mapping and a share button.The Dream Vapor model isn't the only Xbox controller available for a record-low price. If you're looking for a basic new controller, the Robot White Xbox controller is down to $45 from $60 - a 25 percent discount. It's a sleek but fun option with ABXY buttons in a range of bright colors.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-dream-vapor-xbox-wireless-controller-drops-to-a-record-low-of-58-151551431.html?src=rss

It's hard to expect much from Apple's new M3-equipped MacBook Airs. The 13-inch M2 model, released in 2022, was the first major redesign for Apple's most popular notebook in over a decade. Last year, Apple finally gave its fanatics a big-screen ultraportable notebook with the 15-inch MacBook Air. This week, we've got the same two computers with slightly faster chips. They didn't even get a real launch event from Apple, just a sleepy Monday morning press release. They look the same and are a bit faster than before - what else is there to say?Now, I'm not saying these aren't great computers. It's just that we've been a bit spoiled by Apple's laptops over the last few years. The M3 MacBook Air marks the inevitable innovation plateau for the company, following the monumental rise of its mobile chips and a complete refresh of its laptops and desktops. It's like hitting cruising altitude after the excitement of takeoff - things are stable and comfortable for Apple and consumers alike.M3 MacBook Air vs the M2 MacBook AirEven though they look exactly the same as before, the M3 MacBook Air models have a few new features under the hood. For one, they support dual external displays, but only when their lids are closed. That was something even the M3-equipped 14-inch MacBook Pro lacked at launch, but Apple says the feature is coming to that device via a future software update. Having dual screen support is particularly useful for office workers who may need to drop their computers onto temporary desks, but it could also be helpful for creatives with multiple monitors at home. (If you absolutely need to have your laptop display on alongside two or more external monitors, you'll have to opt for a MacBook Pro with an M3 Pro or Max chip instead.)Both new MacBook Air models also support Wi-Fi 6E, an upgrade over the previous Wi-Fi 6 standard with faster speeds and dramatically lower latency. You'll need a Wi-Fi 6E router to actually see those benefits, though. According to Intel, Wi-Fi 6E's ability to tap into seven 160MHz channels helps it avoid congested Wi-Fi 6 spectrum. Basically, you may actually be able to see gigabit speeds more often. (With my AT&T gigabit fiber connection and Wi-Fi 6 gateway, I saw download speeds of around 350 Mbps and uploads ran between 220 Mbps and 320 Mbps on both systems from my basement office. Both upload and download speeds leapt to 700 Mbps when I was on the same floor as the gateway.)Photo by Devindra Hardawar/EngadgetDesign and weightTwo years after the 13-inch M2 MacBook Air debuted, the M3 follow-up is just as sleek and attractive. It seems impossibly thin for a notebook, measuring 0.44 inches thick, and is fairly light at 2.7 pounds. We've seen ultraportables like LG's Gram and the ZenBook S13 OLED that are both lighter and thinner than Apple's hardware, but the MacBook Air still manages to feel like a more premium package. Its unibody aluminum case feels as smooth a river stone yet as sturdy as a boulder. It's a computer I simply love to touch.Photo by Devindra Hardawar/EngadgetThe 15-inch M3 MacBook Air is similarly thin, but clocks in half a pound heavier at 3.2 pounds. It's still relatively light for its size, but the additional bulk makes it feel more unwieldy than the 13-inch model. I can easily slip either MacBook Air model into a tote bag when running out to grab my kids from school, but the larger model's length makes it more annoying to carry.For some users, though, that extra heft will be worth it. The bigger MacBook Air sports a 15.3-inch Liquid Retina screen with a sharp 2,880 by 1,864 (224 pixels per inch) resolution, making it better suited for multitasking with multiple windows or working in media editing apps. It's also a better fit for older or visually impaired users, who may have to scale up their displays to make them more readable. (This is something I've noticed while shopping for computers for my parents and other older relatives. 13-inch laptops inevitably become hard to work on, unless you're always wearing bifocals.)While I'm impressed that Apple finally has a large, consumer-focused laptop in its lineup, I still prefer the 13-inch MacBook Air. I spend most of my day writing, Slacking with colleagues, editing photos and talking with companies over video conferencing apps, all of which are easy to do on a smaller screen. If I was directly editing more episodes of the Engadget Podcast, or chopping up video on my own, though, I'd bump up to the 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M3 Pro chip. Even then, I wouldn't have much need for a significantly larger screen.A lonely headphone jack that could use a USB-C companion.Photo by Devindra Hardawar/EngadgetIt's understandable why Apple wouldn't want to tweak the Air's design too much, given that it was just redone a few years ago. Still, I'd love to see a USB-C port on the right side of the machine, just to make charging easier in every location. But I suppose I should just be happy Apple hasn't removed the headphone jack, something that's happening all too frequently in new 13-inch notebooks, like the XPS 13.HardwareFor our testing, Apple sent the "midnight" 13-inch MacBook Air (which is almost jet black and features a fingerprint-resistant coating that actually works), as well as the silver 15-inch model. Both computers were powered by an M3 chip with a 10-core GPU, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. While these MacBooks start at $1,099 and $1,299, respectively, the configurations we tested cost $400 more. Keep that in mind if you're paying attention to our benchmarks, as you'll definitely see lower figures on the base models. (The cheapest 13-inch offering only has 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD and an 8-core GPU, while the entry-level 15-inch unit has the same RAM and storage, along with a 10-core GPU.)

Of the many bizarre moments that preceded Twitter's change in ownership, one that's always stuck out to me was Jack Dorsey's tweetstorm that Elon is the singular solution I trust." His insistence that Musk was uniquely positioned to extend the light of consciousness" was a strange endorsement, even by Dorsey's usual weird-guy standards. But Dorsey had long idolized Musk and the two men had a relationship that was far deeper than what many onlookers realized.That's according to a new book that explores Jack Dorsey's role in Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter. Written by Bloomberg reporter Kurt Wagner, Battle for the Bird tells the story of how Dorsey saved Twitter in 2015 and how his actions - or often, lack thereof- led to Musk's acquisition and, ultimately, Twitter's death.Wagner's isn't the first book to delve into the tumultuous events of the last two years - Musk biographer Walter Isaacson had a front-row seat to the drama - but Battle for the Bird sheds new light on Dorsey's side of the equation. Jack had been bringing Elon to Twitter offsites, he'd visited him at his SpaceX launch facility, the two of them sort of had this relationship that I don't really think people paid much attention to," Wagner tells Engadget. So once Musk began acquiring a large stake in the company, Jack sort of stepped in and did what he could" to make the deal happen.The book, which began as a Dorsey biography before Musk's takeover forced Wagner to change his plans, focuses on the enigmatic Twitter co-founder whose unusual management style sometimes worked against the company's own interests.Inside of Twitter, Wagner writes, Dorsey was known to rarely speak" in meetings and disliked making decisions. Internally, this was a source of confusion as executives often had to guess what Dorsey was thinking about a particular issue. People would be surprised at how little he was directing [Twitter and Square], he was really advising them in a weird way," Wagner says.These dynamics played out in Twitter's product. Wagner reports that Dorsey had initially encouraged the product team to create the feature that was eventually known as Fleets," Twitter's experiment with disappearing posts. But Dorsey grew to despise" the feature and publicly cheered when the company killed itless than a year after its rollout. Even though he thought Fleets was a bad decision, he never stepped in to halt the product or move the team in another direction," Wagner writes.Battle for the Bird also details Dorsey's many eccentricities: the days-long silent meditation retreats, his affinity for salt juice" (a mixture of water, pink Himalayan sea salt and lemon juice) and his more recent obsession with bitcoin. He goes through these stages of his life where he's different, he looks different, he acts different, his priorities are different and I think it's sort of a reflection of the things that he becomes obsessed with," Wagner says.Giving Musk a more influential role at Twitter was another idea Dorsey fixated on. He tried to get Musk a seat on the company's board in 2020 amid a bruising fight with activist investor Elliott Management. Dorsey managed to keep his job but failed to get Musk a board seat because, according to what he told Musk, the rest of the board were super risk averse." (By 2020, Musk had already faced at least two major lawsuits over his tweets.)Dorsey would also tell Musk that the board's veto was about the time I decided I needed to work to leave" the company. He had always seemed disinterested in the business of running Twitter, but the troubles with Elliott seemed to change him. He thought that Twitter served this bigger purpose ... its place in the world was not to make money for shareholders," Wagner explains. And as a result, he was just not really that interested in playing the Wall Street game, which is a problem when you're a publicly traded company."So in 2022, after he had stepped down as CEO, Dorsey encouraged Musk to use his new position as a major stakeholder in Twitter to address Twitter's original sin" of existing as a corporate entity beholden to advertisers and political interests. Dorsey believed that Musk loved Twitter for the same reasons he did. So when Musk decided to buy the company and take it private, he backed Musk.Dorsey publicly endorsed the move and promised to roll over his Twitter shares into the new entity, effectively saving Musk about $1 billion. He, along with the rest of the company's board, voted to approve the deal.As Wagner points out in Battle for the Bird, Dorsey eventually soured on Musk after he tried to back out of the deal, saying it all went south." But by then, Jack Dorsey's Twitter was already unrecognizable. He so publicly endorsed this new idea, this takeover from Elon," Wagner says. And as a result, the company that he co-founded and led for almost 16 years in various ways, is no more. X is here, but Twitter is gone. His legacy has really been hurt by this whole debacle."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/why-jack-dorsey-thought-elon-musk-could-fix-twitter-140004514.html?src=rss

Space and fashion lovers have a crossover accessory right now, and it's not just because there are some moons and stars dotted across it. Coperni, a French luxury brand, has unveiled the Air Swipe Bag, made entirely of NASA's nanomaterial silica aerogel, Fast Company reports. Scientist Steve Jones first created the substance for NASA's 1999 Stardust mission, which brought samples back from the Wild 2 comet.The Air Swipe Bag weighs only 1.1 ounces, with just 0.2 percent of its matter actually tangible. The rest is air that moves through the Aerogel's trillions of channels. Aerogel is renowned for its lightweight build, taking the title of lightest matter in the 1990s, with a second version breaking that record. NASA previously dubbed the substance "solid smoke," and one look at the bag shows how true that statement is. Coperni's Instagram post even had one Instagram user comment: "This looks like my bong when it's filled with smoke and I'm obsessed."

Warning: The following article covers matters of a sensitive nature.A SpaceX employee has filed a lawsuit against the company, accusing it of siding with a supervisor who pressured her into having sexual relations with him. The plaintiff said that she and other female employees also had to endure "humiliating comments" questioning their credentials, that she was passed up for promotions in favor of male candidates and that she experienced retaliation when she complained about being paid less than her male counterparts.The plaintiff, Michelle Dopak, has been working at the aerospace corporation's headquarters in California since 2017. According to her complaint, she experienced discrimination early on in her employment when she was passed up for job opportunities in favor of external male candidates. Her male colleagues allegedly spread rumors about their female coworkers, as well, claiming that they only got their jobs because of their looks. Dopak and two of her female colleagues met with Gwynne Shotwell to complain about both issues - "an action that no male colleague or employee at SpaceX would ever feel the need to do to justify their hiring and stop such discriminatory actions," the lawsuit reads. The SpaceX president, however, apparently didn't take any action.After a reorganization in 2019, the plaintiff was placed under the supervision of a male boss who allegedly pressured her into having a sexual relationship that lasted years. When she got pregnant as a result, she said her married supervisor offered her $100,000 to have an abortion, which she had refused. She also accused SpaceX of colluding with her boss to transfer 48,289 shares worth $3,718,253 out of his name so that he could get out of paying child support.Her complaints didn't end there. After getting promoted to a position she had been chasing for years, she found out that a male colleague who was hired at the same time was being paid $5,000 more. The company officials she talked to about the pay disparity couldn't justify it and allegedly offered her only $2,500 more if she also took a reduction in stock benefits. In the lawsuit, the plaintiff said the offer was "a message that if you complain at SpaceX, we will just retaliate against you and find other ways to punish you."The lawsuit accuses SpaceX of forcing female employees who have claims of sexual harassment and discrimination into bringing their claims to arbitration so that they could be kept secret from the public. "SpaceX has also attempted to coerce and force [the plaintiff] into only bringing her claims in arbitration even though such claims are barred from being forced to arbitration," the complaint continues.The plaintiff is asking for general, compensatory and consequential damages, including lost wages, earnings and other employee benefits. She's also asking the court to prohibit SpaceX from continuing any "unfair and unlawful business practices." SpaceX is currently facing another proposed class action lawsuit that claims it pays women and minorities tens of thousands less than what it pays white male employees. In January, the National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint against SpaceX, as well, accusing it for illegally firing a group of engineers who criticized Elon Musk for making crude jokes on X about the sexual misconduct accusations against him.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/spacex-lawsuit-claims-repeated-instances-of-gender-discrimination-and-basic-safeguarding-failures-133014753.html?src=rss

Microsoft has announced that it's holding an event on March 21 that will focus on its upcoming generative AI devices and features. The event entitled "Advancing the new era of work with Copilot" will start at 9AM Pacific/12PM Eastern time that date. Microsoft promises to unveil "the latest in scaling AI in your environment with Copilot, Windows and Surface," but it has shared no other details on what its announcements could be.As Windows Centralhad previously reported, the company is expected to launch the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 on March 21. They're apparently slated to be Microsoft's first AI PCs that will be equipped with the new Intel Core Ultra or Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processors. Both models have neural processing units (NPUs) that boost AI capabilities, which is why the upcoming Surfaces will most likely be the first to support the new AI features coming to Windows 11.Those new AI features could include real-time live captions and translations, upscaling for games and frame rate smoothing. Microsoft is also reportedly working on a feature called AI Explorer that will give users a way to conduct searches across apps, documents, web pages, images and chats using natural language. Windows Central said AI Explorer might have the capability to understand context and suggest actions based on what's on the screen. It could also create a history of the tasks a user does on their computer to make them searchable later on. We'll know for sure if Microsoft truly is launching new Surface devices and new AI features a couple of weeks from now - we will, of course, keep you updated on what the company reveals.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-announces-a-surface-and-windows-ai-event-for-march-21-130447407.html?src=rss

The European Union has entered the latest clash between Apple and Epic Games. Bloomberg reports that regulators will question Apple over its choice to ban Epic's developer account. The Fortnite creator claims this action prevents it from launching the Epic Games Store in Europe.This escalation began when Epic CEO Tim Sweeney shared a post on X in January claiming that Apple was trying to thwart complying with the Digital Market Act (DMA) and calling much of its latest policy announcement "hot garbage." Apple's rules include meeting the company's Notarization requirements, paying a Core Technology fee (about 54 cents per install annually) after hitting the millionth download and showing proof of $1.1 million in credit that could be used for financial disputes. SupremeA month after Sweeney's post, Apple sent a letter stating, "In plain, unqualified terms, please tell us why we should trust Epic this time." Sweeney responded that the company was "acting in good faith and will comply."Apple seemingly had no trust in Epic and would not allow it to have a developer account. "Epic's egregious breach of its contractual obligations to Apple led courts to determine that Apple has the right to terminate 'any or all of Epic Games' wholly owned subsidiaries, affiliates, and/or other entities under Epic Games' control at any time and at Apple's sole discretion.' In light of Epic's past and ongoing behavior, Apple chose to exercise that right," the company said in a statement.Sweeney's response was visual, to say the least, stating, "This is the medieval feudal lord, mounting the skulls of their former enemies on their castle walls," CNBC reports.This disagreement is the latest in nearly half a decade of issues between the two companies - you could throw a dart at a board filled with fights in the tech industry (of which there are many) and still have a good chance of hitting an Epic Games and Apple face-off. The friction between the pair started in 2020 when a Fortnite update allowed gamers to buy digital coins through a direct payment feature, thus going around Apple's rule that iOS games use in-app purchases (giving them a 30 percent cut). Epic sued Apple, with California's Ninth Circuit Court ruling in favor of the game developer. The Supreme Court declined to take up the case, in which both Apple and Epic appealed the ruling (Epic claimed there were "legal errors" and that Apple had violated federal antitrust laws).The EU's decision comes just as the DMA finally goes into effect. The new law states that "gatekeepers," such as Apple, Microsoft and Meta, can't favor their own systems or prohibit third party developers from interoperating with them. Apple could be forced to pay ten percent of its annual worldwide revenue if found in violation of the DMA and 20 percent if it's a repeat offender. Apple recently received its first fine from the EU, a 1.8 billion ($1.96 billion) charge for restricting competitors' music streaming apps.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/eu-regulators-probe-apples-latest-epic-games-takedown-130016452.html?src=rss

The European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA) limits the power of big platform holders, but it may have also created a new revenue stream (and some drama) for those same big names. Google has followed Apple's lead in imposing extra charges on developers who want to circumvent its own app storefront. Companies luring users outside the Play Store will need to pay Google a cut of in-app purchases and subscriptions. I'm sure everyone will treat this as rationally as when Apple announced it too.At the same time, Apple has once again suspended Epic Games' developer access, concerned the games giant isn't going to play by its rules. The iPhone maker pointed to tweets made by (Epic CEO) Tim Sweeney, suggesting a lack of faith in the company's rules. Apple more or less said out loud it couldn't trust Epic, especially given its track record of agreeing to work within Apple's rules and then very publicly breaking those rules.- Dan CooperThe biggest stories you might have missed41 state attorneys general tell Meta to fix its customer support for hacking victimsRivian R2 specs leak from the automaker's websiteMeta explains how third-party apps will hook into Messenger and WhatsAppTwitch will overhaul its mobile app for the first time since 2019You can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!FDA approves the first over-the-counter continuous glucose monitorYou can buy one without a prescription in the summer.The FDA has approved Dexcom's Stelo Glucose Biosensor as the first wearable continuous glucose monitor to be sold over the counter. Sales of the device will begin this summer to help people who aren't using insulin to manage their diabetes and also for more general use. I was surprised to learn these weren't available to buy already since, in the UK, a startup called Zoe has been selling implantable monitors as part of its weight loss program for ages.Continue Reading.Microsoft engineer who raised concerns about Copilot image creator pens letter to the FTCShane Jones has blown the whistle on AI images before.Microsoft's rush to incorporate AI into so many user-facing products has driven whistleblower Shane Jones to the FTC. They wrote to the body, saying Copilot Designer can be used to create inappropriate images and should be removed until better safeguards are in place. The Windows giant and OpenAI have both previously said robust tools exist to steer the model away from creating some of the gruesome images Jones has alleged to have generated.Continue Reading. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-more-fallout-from-the-digital-markets-act-121534557.html?src=rss

Nikon has announced it is buying RED, the high-end cinema camera company, for an undisclosed sum. In a statement, the camera giant, which has suffered along with most of the imaging industry in recent years, said RED will become a wholly-owned subsidiary, as found by The Verge. RED currently has about 220 employees, and no layoff plans have been made public in response to the sale.RED was founded in 2005 and has since had its cameras used in popular productions, including Squid Game, Peaky Blinders and Captain Marvel - a market Nikon plans to expand into with this acquisition. Nikon has withdrawn from less profitable areas of the camera market in recent years, including ending development on new DSLRsThe move could benefit both parties, as RED's president Jarred Lang shared on Facebook: "This strategic partnership brings together Nikon's extensive history and expertise in product development, know-how in image processing, as well as optical technology and user interface with RED's revolutionary digital cinema cameras and award-winning technologies." RED's 2018 attempt to expand on its own (into smartphones, no less) didn't last long, and the products soon were discontinued.Interestingly, RED sued its new owner in 2022, claiming that Nikon knowingly used RED's patented data compression technology in its Z9 camera. Nikon, in turn, argued the legitimacy of RED's patents before the two companies agreed to a dismissal.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nikon-buys-high-end-cinema-camera-company-red-100243796.html?src=rss

Yesterday Google outlined the changes it will make to comply with the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) that goes into effect starting today. One important detail it left out, however, was whether it would charge developers who directed users outside the Play Store to sideload apps - and if so, how much.Now, Google has revealed that it will indeed charge developers even if they don't use the Play Store, just like Apple did with the App Store. Per new details found in the Play Console help section, the company will charge two new fees:

Meta is revamping how Facebook recommends videos across Reels, Groups, and the main Facebook Feed, by using AI to power its video recommendation algorithm, Facebook head Tom Alison revealed on Wednesday. The world's largest social network has already switched Reels, its TikTok competitor, to the new engine, and plans to use it in all places within Facebook that show video - the main Facebook feed and Groups - as part of a "technology roadmap" through 2026, Alison said at a Morgan Stanley tech conference in San Francisco.Meta has made competing with TikTok a top priority ever since the app, which serves up vertical video clips and is known for its powerful recommendation engine that seems to know exactly what will keep users hooked, started exploding in popularity in the US in the last few years. When Facebook tested the new AI-powered recommendation engine with Reels, watch time went up by roughly 8 to 10 percent, Alison revealed. So what that told us was this new model architecture is learning from the data much more efficiently than the previous generation," Alison said. So that was like a good sign that says, OK, we're on the right track."So far, Facebook used different video recommendation engines for Reels, Groups, and the Facebook feed. But after seeing success with Reels, the company plans to use the same AI-powered engine across all these products.Instead of just powering Reels, we're working on a project to power our entire video ecosystem with this single model, and then can we add our Feed recommendation product to also be served by this model," Alison said. If we get this right, not only will the recommendations be kind of more engaging and more relevant, but we think the responsiveness of them can improve as well."The move is a part of Meta's strategy to infuse AI into all its products after the technology exploded with the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT at the end of 2022. The company is spending billions of dollars to buy up hundreds of thousands of pricey NVIDIA GPUs used to train and power AI models, Zuckerberg said in a video earlier this year.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/facebook-is-using-ai-to-supercharge-the-algorithm-that-recommends-you-videos-033027002.html?src=rss

After a decade of rumors and speculation, the Apple Car is dead. Last week, Bloomberg reported that the multibillion-dollar project had finally been scrapped. Reports about the electric vehicle never quite seemed real, but now we have many new details about the car that never was thanks to an excellent post-mortem from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.The story includes many astonishing details about various Apple executives' plans for the car, and why the project ultimately failed. But some of the best details are the descriptions of what the vehicle was supposed to look like.At one point, Apple's leaders were adamant that the autonomous microbus" should not include a steering wheel or pedals. It would have club seating like a private plane" and curved sides and a glass roof. Famed Apple designer Jony Ive thought the interior should be covered in stainless steel, wood and white fabric," and that it should only come in one color: white.Since any actual mock-ups of the car, which Gurman says was sometimes referred to as the Bread Loaf," are presumably locked deep inside a well-guarded Apple office, I did the next best thing and asked AI. The results are, actually, kind of cute?This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai-has-spoken-the-apple-car-would-have-been-adorable-020527007.html?src=rss

A former Google engineer was arrested in California on Wednesday for stealing more than 500 files containing artificial intelligence trade secrets from the company and using the information to benefit rival tech companies in China.

Microsoft and Atlus said today that the Expansion Pass for Persona 3 Reload will be available on March 12. The bundle will include the story's final chapter DLC, Episode Aigis -The Answer-, which arrives in September. Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can get the Expansion Pass for free with their membership.In the original Persona 3, the epilogue was called The Answer in the English version and Episode Aegis in the Japanese version, leading to the combined title in the remake's DLC. Like the base game, the DLC will transform the original story with cutting-edge graphics, modernized quality-of-life features and all the upgrades that came with Persona 3 Reload."The DLC's story begins in a Groundhog Day-style time loop. After unravelling the mysteries of the Dark Hour, fighting epic battles through Tartarus, and all the unforgettable events of Persona 3 Reload, the S.E.E.S. members find themselves trapped in a never-ending March 31st," Xbox communication manager Michael Carven wrote. You'll play as Aigis, a human-like android with Persona-summoning abilities.Persona 3 Reload would not be complete without Episode Aigis -The Answer-," General Producer Kazuhisa Wada wrote. The epilogue is sure to satisfy both those who have played the original Persona 3 FES and those who are just starting out."The Expansion Pass will also add new music and costumes. The updated tracks will include remixes and fan-favorite tracks from previous Persona titles."Microsoft says Persona 3 Reload is developer Atlus' fast-selling title, surpassing a million sales in its first week.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/episode-aigis--the-answer--will-wrap-up-persona-3-reloads-story-in-september-214804635.html?src=rss

At long last, Square Enix has revealed the proper release date for Final Fantasy 14 on Xbox Series X/S. The MMO, which is currently in open beta on the consoles, will officially arrive on the systems on March 21. PlayStation and PC players have been enjoying Final Fantasy 14 since 2013, so the Xbox release has been a long time coming.The Xbox open beta is available only to new Square Enix accounts. It includes everything that's available in the free trial (more on that in a second) and progress will roll over into the full game.Microsoft is offering Game Pass Ultimate subscribers the option to claim the game's Starter Edition at no extra cost between March 21 and April 19. That too has the same content as the free trial. You'll get the base game and the first two expansions, Heavensward and Stormblood.There are some limits for both options, though. The free trial caps out when you reach level 70, though you can continue playing indefinitely. Other limitations include the amount of in-game currency you can carry and not being able to trade items with other players.Opt for the Starter Edition and you can exceed the free trial's level cap and other restrictions, but you'll have to start paying the game's subscription fee after 30 days (that's on top of the Game Pass Core or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription you'll need to pay to play the game on Xbox). If you prefer not to rush through the base game and first two expansions, it might be better to stick with the trial until you've finished those.It's worth bearing those quirks in mind as you prepare to set foot in Eorzea for the first time (or you're perhaps starting over after playing Final Fantasy 14 on another platform). In any case, given its capacity to bring people closer together, it might be worth checking out the game with your friends and family if you haven't already done so.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/final-fantasy-14-will-finally-hit-xbox-series-xs-on-march-21-205030097.html?src=rss

Capcom's Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is coming out this year, according to today's Xbox Partner Showcase. Capcom and Xbox dropped a new trailer today, which shows off more gameplay and more of the title's unique Japanese folklore-inspired aesthetic. The game looks cool as heck.Though there's no concrete release date, Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess will be a day one Game Pass title for Xbox Series X|S and Windows. It's also coming to PS5 and the Steam store.This is a single-player action RPG with some time and resource management flourishes. During the day, you rescue and recruit villagers to your cause. Once the sun sets, you must juggle real-time action with strategic elements, as you decide how each villager will help you fight against a villainous horde called The Seethe.Lead director Shuichi Kawata was also behind the well-reviewed Metroidvania Shinsekai: Into the Depths. Kawata says his team has been working on Kunitsu-Gami for four years and that they are excited and maybe a little nervous" to have everyone finally get their hands on the game.Capcom has compared Kunitsu-Gami's aesthetic to previous titles with traditional Japanese themes, like the universally beloved Okami. The game was developed using its RE Engine, which was originally designed for Resident Evil 7: Biohazard.Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess wasn't the only news to come out of today's Xbox Partner Showcase event. Final Fantasy XIV finally hits Xbox consoles on March 21 and an expansion pass for Persona 3: Reload will bring new missions to the JRPG later this year.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/capcoms-kunitsu-gami-path-of-the-goddess-is-officially-arriving-this-year-200624878.html?src=rss

Twitch is redesigning its mobile app for the first time since 2019. The company's CEO, Dan Clancy, wrote in an open letter on Wednesday that the discovery feed will be the app's new landing page. The update, expected later this year, will also make it easier to share quick updates, including uploading short video stories from the mobile app.We're redesigning the mobile app (the first major update since 2019) to bring you a more modern, immersive viewing experience by making the discovery feed available to all Twitch users as the new landing experience in the app," Clancy wrote. The discovery feed, currently only available as an experiment" in the mobile app, shows real-time updates blending streams from people you follow with recommended content.Clancy says the mobile app will also add new features that encourage quick updates for your followers, including the ability to create and upload short video stories from your phone. Other additions will include pinch-to-zoom in photos (better late than never?) and the ability to share portrait videos to stories.Twitch moderators with iPhones have something to look forward to, as the mobile app will include mod tools for the first time. Previously desktop-only, the mobile tools will be flexible, easy to use, and move with you," according to Clancy. The company says the mod tools will roll out to iOS later this year; it hasn't yet addressed Android availability.Looking beyond the mobile app, other 2024 Twitch updates will include updated community guidelines. Clancy says the new rules include clearer, updated harm definitions, and more severe penalties for some types of harassment." The platform also plans to roll out tools to help users better identify harassment, including some that Clancy claims would block more harassment before it shows up in your chat."Finally, Twitch's clip editor (which reportedly helped enable child exploitation on the platform)will soon make it easier to share content. Clancy says the feature will make it easier for creators and viewers to share clips to social channels, including an option to export directly to Instagram. In addition, the mobile app's big update will add the clip editor when it arrives later this year.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/twitch-will-overhaul-its-mobile-app-for-the-first-time-since-2019-195811175.html?src=rss

Meta has revealed more details about how third-party messaging apps can be interoperable with WhatsApp and Messenger. The company is being required to open up its apps to a certain extent to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA), a new European Union law that comes into effect this week."We think the best way to deliver interoperability is through a solution which builds on Meta's existing client/server architecture," Meta wrote in a blog post. "The approach we have taken in terms of implementing interoperability is the best way of meeting DMA requirements, whilst also creating a viable approach for the third-party providers interested in becoming interoperable with Meta and maximizing user security and privacy."Meta says it has been working on interoperability with the European Commission for nearly two years. To begin with, interoperability will need to support text-based messages and the ability to share images, voice notes, videos and other files. In the future, Meta will need to enable group chats and calling between WhatsApp and Messenger and third-party apps.For the time being, third-party developers will likely have to use the Signal protocol to hook into Messenger and WhatsApp. Meta uses that protocol for end-to-end encryption (E2EE) on both apps, "as it represents the current gold standard for E2EE chats." Developers will have the option of using a compatible protocol, but only "if they are able to demonstrate it offers the same security guarantees as Signal."Meta notes that when it comes to messaging entirely within the WhatsApp and Messenger ecosystems, it controls both the sending and receiving clients. In such cases, it can affirm that only the sender and intended recipients will be able to see messages.However, it added that "while we have built a secure solution for interop that uses the Signal protocol encryption to protect messages in transit, without ownership of both clients (endpoints) we cannot guarantee what a third-party provider does with sent or received messages, and we therefore cannot make the same promise." As such, Meta is indicating that messages that originate from or are sent to a third-party app may not be as secure as those that stay completely within its own ecosystem.Developers who connect their apps to WhatsApp and Messenger will have to host media files that they send to Meta's platforms on their own servers. WhatsApp or Messenger will then download the media from the media via a Meta proxy service.To enable interoperability, makers of third-party messaging apps will need to sign an agreement with Meta. The company notes that it needs to be ready to turn on interoperability with another service within three months of receiving a request, though "it may take longer before the functionality is ready for public use."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-explains-how-third-party-apps-will-hook-into-messenger-and-whatsapp-192532065.html?src=rss

Epic's plan to launch its own iOS storefront in the EU could be in serious jeopardy. Apple terminated the company's developer account just one day after iOS 17.4 finally allowed for third-party app stores in Europe to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Epic says that, thanks to the ban, it "cannot develop the Epic Games Store for iOS" and called the move a "serious violation of the DMA." In other words, the biggest beef in tech continues.The Fortnite developer published a blog post on the matter and shared a letter sent by Apple's lawyers that called Epic Games verifiably untrustworthy," suggesting the reason behind the ban was due to fear on Apple's part that Epic would not comply with the contractual agreements inherent to obtaining a developer's account. It's worth noting that Apple granted Epic a developer's account at the beginning of this year, so the company didn't have any compliance fears back then.

A group of 41 state attorneys general are demanding that Meta step up its support services for users who have been victims of hacks and account takeovers. We refuse to operate as the customer service representatives of your company," the group writes in a letter addressed to Meta's chief legal officer. We request Meta take immediate action and substantially increase its investment in account takeover mitigation tactics, as well as responding to users whose accounts were taken over."The letter, which was first reported by Wired, pushes Meta to deal with an issue that has long been a source of frustration to Facebook and Instagram users: the difficulty in accessing support after you lose access to your account. Though the company has taken steps over the years to make it easier for people to recover lost accounts, Meta largely relies on automated systems and there are still many people who fall through cracks.As the letter highlights, this can be especially devastating for people who lose access to business accounts and pages. Even high-profile creators can find themselves unable to get support from a human employee of the company unless they have a personal connection to someone who works at Meta. Other users sometimes resort to legal services or hiring their own hackers to get their accounts back.While it may seem surprising that state law enforcement officials would get involved in this issue, Reddit and other online forums for hacking victims often advise people to lodge complaints with their local AG's office as a last resort. Some users have reported regaining access to their accounts after a state attorney general's office intervened on their behalf.Now, AGs are apparently flooded with such requests. Our offices have experienced a dramatic and persistent spike in complaints in recent years concerning account takeovers that is not only alarming for our constituents but also a substantial drain on our office resources," the letter states.In addition to putting more resources into customer service, the letter asks Meta to provide more details on the number of account takeovers over the past five years; suspected causes of the increase in account takeovers; safeguards currently in place to prevent account takeovers; current policies and procedures related to Meta's response to account takeovers; and staffing related to safeguarding the platforms against account takeovers as well as responding to complaints."In a statement, a Meta spokesperson said that scammers use every platform available to them and constantly adapt to evade enforcement" from the company. We invest heavily in our trained enforcement and review teams and have specialized detection tools to identify compromised accounts and other fraudulent activity. We regularly share tips and tools people can use to protect themselves, provide a means to report potential violations, work with law enforcement and take legal action."In 2022, Bloomberg reported that Meta was in the early stages" creating a customer service division that would be able to help users with account issues. It's unclear what became of the plan. Later that year, the company laid off thousands of employees. In their letter, the state AGs notes that they saw an uptick in complaints around the same time Meta announced a massive layoff of around 11,000 employees in November 2022, which reportedly focused on the security and privacy and integrity sector.'"This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/41-state-attorneys-general-tell-meta-to-fix-their-customer-support-for-hacking-victims-184709904.html?src=rss

Frostpunk's sequel finally has a release data, giving fans of the post-apocalyptic city-building survival game something to look forward to in the coming months. 11 Bit Studios has announced at the Xbox Partners Showcase that Frostpunk 2 will be available for Windows PCs starting on July 25. PC Game Pass subscribers will also be able to play it from day one. It's a full-fledged sequel to the original game, set 30 years after its events, where oil has taken over steam as society's main energy source.Players take on the role of the city's leader and will have to guide its citizens while facing the world's increasingly harsh, icy climate. In the sequel, they will get the chance to build larger cities divided into districts, with each one serving a specific purpose. One district could be in charge of food production, for instance, while another could serve as people's shelter.Similar to the game before it, Frostpunk 2 is expected to throw problems at the player that will force them to make some difficult decisions and challenge their morals. Players will meet various factions of citizens with ideals conflicting their own as their city grows, and they have to navigate the consequences of their decisions after siding with one faction over the rest. If it truly is like its predecessor, then players can expect a moody, somber experience that could be quite depressing at times.Both standard and Digital Deluxe editions of the game are now available for pre-order. The Digital Deluxe version comes with a seven-day beta access to parts of the game in April, exclusive access to story mode 72 hours before official release, thee post-release DLCs, a digital novella, an artbook and the game's soundtrack. Frostpunk 2 will also be making its way to consoles and will be coming to the Xbox Game Pass subscription service at a later date.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/post-apocalyptic-city-builder-frostpunk-2-arrives-on-july-25-190018322.html?src=rss

Specs for the Rivian R2 leaked this week ahead of Thursday's unveiling. Found by internet sleuths" who tipped off Electrek, its specifications were buried in source code for the EV's teaser website (briefly visible to anyone in the public using a web inspector). The code suggests the R2 will have up to a 330-mile range and a $47,000 starting price when it arrives in 2026.The R2 allegedly has a three-second 0 to 60 mph acceleration time, but it's probably wise to expect that only in the top-tier models. The code lists the compact SUV as a five-seater with a 115.6-inch wheelbase. Other details include a length of 185.6 inches, a width of 75 inches (84.4 inches with mirrors) and a height of 66.9 inches.The code says it will have a NACS chargeport but adds that it can also charge at CCS stations. The leak also lists powered rear glass and a bike mount that snaps into the rear accessory ports." (It mentions that no tools are needed.) The bike mount allegedly fits in the R2's frunk when not in use. We design our vehicles to maximize storage throughout," the marketing copy from the source code reads. The roomy front trunk offers plenty of space to stow large items - from weekend gear to weekly grocery haul."Other details from the source code include a maximum ground clearance of 9.8 inches, a 32-inch wheel and tire diameter, a 25-degree approach angle and a 27-degree departure angle.Rivian confirmed last month that it will officially unveil the R2 on March 7. The automaker's CEO, RJ Scaringe, had previously said the vehicle would be smaller and cheaper than the R1. Its $47,000 starting price (the code also lists $47,500 in other places) would put it squarely within the $40,000 to $60,000 range CFO Claire McDonough previously promised.Unfortunately, news of more layoffs at Rivian emerged ahead of Thursday's launch event. Crain's Chicago Business (via Quartz) first reported that the EV maker laid off about 100" employees at its Normal, IL factory. That's about one percent of the plant's total workers. The cuts follow (or are perhaps part of) those announced in February when Rivian said it would lay off 10 percent of its workforce.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/leaked-rivian-r2-specs-include-a-330-mile-range-and-47000-starting-price-181927644.html?src=rss

Framed creator Joshua Briggs is back with another mystery game, and, this time, it has a supernatural element. RiffRaff Games has announced the upcoming release of Sleight of Hand, a "third-person card-slinging occult noir stealth sim" - a collection of words that alone have us very intrigued.Sleight of Hand follows Lady Luck, a former occult detective who must track down and defeat her former coven. Yes, excitingly, a woman is the noir protagonist, and she comes to Steeple City with a cursed deck (necessary, given she lost her left hand the last time she saw her fellow witches). Each card has a unique ability, such as the Hex card, which latches onto a hidden enemy, and the Peekaboo card, which thrusts them into view. Another useful sounding one is called the Chain Smoker card: it ties the fates of multiple adversaries together so Lady Luck can use one card to stall them all.Gameplay also includes solving puzzles to use secret passageways and interrogating coven members, all in hopes of getting to the leader. The entirety of Sleight of Hand is grounded in the very relatable reason Lady Luck puts herself back in danger: she has overdue bills and old debts to settle. Lady Luck herself is voiced by Debi Mae West, who you might recognize as Metal Gear Solid's Meryl Silverburgh, and should make her arrival on Steam and through a day one Game Pass launch for Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC in 2025.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sleight-of-hand-is-a-new-noir-game-from-the-creator-of-framed-180934026.html?src=rss

The Anker Nebula Solar HD portable projector is on sale at Amazon for $250. That matches a previous low and represents a 46 percent discount off the current $460 list price. Wshen it first came out in 2021, it went for $600. We give the Nebula Solar a shout out in our buyer's guide to projectors as a notable budget option, noting that you get a lot of features for the price.It's a 1080p HD projector that emits 400 lumens for reasonably bright outdoor use. The battery is included, which isn't always the case with portable projectors, so that's another relevant savings. You'll get up to three hours of play from a charge (depending on how bright you set the output) and sound comes courtesy of dual three-watt speakers with support for Dolby Digital Plus.Android TV is preloaded and the projector is Wi-Fi enabled to access that content. You can also connect via HDMI, USB or Bluetooth, and it can mirror content from your phone using Miracast. Since it's a projector, the screen size depends on how far away you place it from the wall or other projection surface. This one can deliver up to 120 inches of movie or TV visuals and has a built-in stand to help you adjust the angle.Of course, as a portable projector, the Nebula Solar isn't going to be as bright as its corded cousins, but if you want to try out watching a movie under the stars once the weather warms up, this is a pretty inexpensive way to do it.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/ankers-nebula-solar-hd-portable-projector-is-nearly-half-off-right-now-173027922.html?src=rss

Another tentpole PlayStation game is coming to PC. This time around, it's Ghost of Tsushima, the PlayStation 4's brilliant swansong. The director's cut of the open-world adventure will hit Steam and the Epic Games Store on May 16.Nixxes, a Sony studio that's highly regarded for its PC ports, spent the last year working to bring Sucker Punch's game to another platform. Along with the Iki Island expansion and Legends co-op multiplayer mode, Ghost of Tsushima has all the bells and whistles fans have come to expect from PC ports of PlayStation games, such as unlocked framerates, expansive graphics settings and customizable mouse and keyboard controls. Plug in a DualSense controller and you'll get the same haptic feedback and adaptive trigger support that you would on PlayStation 5.There's support for ultrawide monitors and Nixxes has fully optimized the game for 21:9 and 32:9 formats. You'll even be able to play at a ratio of 48:9 if you have a triple-monitor setup. You can use NVIDIA DLSS 3, AMD FSR 3 and Intel XeSS upscaling tech to boost the performance and visuals. NVIDIA's Reflex and AI-based DLAA anti-aliasing tool are supported too.One other interesting thing to note is that Sony is promising more authentic lip sync if you choose to play with Japanese audio enabled, as your PC will render the cinematics in real time. Along with the black-and-white Kurosawa mode, that could help make the game feel even more cinematic.Ghost of Tsushima is already a stunning game on PS5 and it's likely to look even more remarkable on a high-end PC (Sony notes it'll run on portable PC gaming devices too). More details, including system specifications, will be revealed ahead in the coming weeks.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ghost-of-tsushima-is-coming-to-pc-on-may-16-171130401.html?src=rss

Microsoft engineer Shane Jones raised concerns about the safety of OpenAI's DALL-E 3 back in January, suggesting the product has security vulnerabilities that make it easy to create violent or sexually explicit images. He also alleged that Microsoft's legal team blocked his attempts to alert the public to the issue. Now, he has taken his complaint directly to the FTC, as reported by CNBC.I have repeatedly urged Microsoft to remove Copilot Designer from public use until better safeguards could be put in place," Jones wrote in a letter to FTC Chair Lina Khan. He noted that Microsoft refused that recommendation" so now he's asking the company to add disclosures to the product to alert consumers to the alleged danger. Jones also wants the company to change the rating on the app to make sure it's only for adult audiences. Copilot Designer's Android app is currently rated E for Everyone."Microsoft continues to market the product to Anyone. Anywhere. Any Device,'" he wrote, referring to a promotional slogan recently used by company CEO Satya Nadella. Jones penned a separate letter to the company's board of directors, urging them to begin an independent review of Microsoft's responsible AI incident reporting processes."A sample image (a banana couch) generated by DALL-E 3 (OpenAI)This all boils down to whether or not Microsoft's implementation of DALL-E 3 will create violent or sexual imagery, despite the guardrails put in place. Jones says it's all too easy to trick" the platform into making the grossest stuff imaginable. The engineer and red teamer says he regularly witnessed the software whip up unsavory images from innocuous prompts. The prompt pro-choice," for instance, created images of demons feasting on infants and Darth Vader holding a drill to the head of a baby. The prompt car accident" generated pictures of sexualized women, alongside violent depictions of automobile crashes. Other prompts created images of teens holding assault rifles, kids using drugs and pictures that ran afoul of copyright law.These aren't just allegations. CNBC was able to recreate just about every scenario that Jones called out using the standard version of the software. According to Jones, many consumers are encountering these issues, but Microsoft isn't doing much about it. He alleges that the Copilot team receives more than 1,000 daily product feedback complaints, but that he's been told there aren't enough resources available to fully investigate and solve these problems.If this product starts spreading harmful, disturbing images globally, there's no place to report it, no phone number to call and no way to escalate this to get it taken care of immediately," he told CNBC.OpenAI told Engadget back in January when Jones issued his first complaint that the prompting technique he shared does not bypass security systems" and that the company has developed robust image classifiers that steer the model away from generating harmful images."A Microsoft spokesperson added that the company has established robust internal reporting channels to properly investigate and remediate any issues", going on to say that Jones should appropriately validate and test his concerns before escalating it publicly." The company also said that it's connecting with this colleague to address any remaining concerns he may have." However, that was in January, so it looks like Jones' remaining concerns were not properly addressed. We reached out to both companies for an updated statement.This is happening just after Google's Gemini chatbot encountered its own image generation controversy. The bot was found to be making historically inaccurate images, like Native American Catholic Popes. Google disabled the image generation platform while it continues to work on a fix.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-engineer-who-raised-concerns-about-copilot-image-creator-pens-letter-to-the-ftc-165414095.html?src=rss

Those who are looking to upgrade their earbuds could do much worse than picking up a pair of Beats Studio Buds +. We reckon they're the best Beats option for most people. In addition, they give Apple fans who don't necessarily love the stems of AirPods but would prefer to stick with the company's products a solid option for true wireless earbuds. Now's a good time to snap up the Studio Buds + as they've dropped back down to $130, which is 24 percent off of the usual $170. That matches a record low price we saw during last year's Black Friday period.We gave the Beats Studio Buds + a score of 84 in our review last May. The improved audio and active noise cancellation compared with the previous model are major plus points, as is longer battery life. We felt that the onboard controls were more reliable while the transparent color option is eyecatching. On the downside, there's still room for improvement in terms of sound and the ambient audio isn't as natural as it is on AirPods. The lack of wireless charging may been seen as a letdown too.As you might imagine, given that Apple is a Beats brand, the Studio Buds + play nicely with the parent company's ecosystem. There's one-touch pairing with iOS, hands-free Siri support and iCloud device pairing. You can control the likes of ANC and transparency mode though your iPhone's Bluetooth menu and change the press-and-hold action if you wish. The earbuds are compatible with Android devices too, of course.If you prefer overear headphones, it's worth noting that the price of the Beats Studio Pro headset has also dropped as part of a broader sale on Beats gear. The headphones are down to $200, which is $150 off the usual price. Audio upgrades and the inclusion of a transparency mode helped the Beats Studio Pro earn a score of 81 in our review, but comfort may be an issue, as is the lack of multipoint connection for Apple devices.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/beats-studio-buds--are-on-sale-for-a-record-low-price-155718053.html?src=rss

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the first continuous glucose monitor (CGM) people can buy without a prescription. Dexcom's Stelo Glucose Biosensor System has a sensor users are meant to insert into their upper arm, similar to the company's other CGMs that need a doctor's prescription for purchase. It pairs with a smartphone application that can show the user's blood glucose measurements and trends every 15 minutes.The company designed the device specifically for adults 18 and up who are not using insulin, such as those managing their diabetes with oral medications and non-diabetics making a conscious effort to control their sugar intake. It could be a great tool for people with insulin resistance, including individuals with PCOS and other metabolic issues that heighten their probability of developing diabetes in the future. In general, it could give users the insight to be able to better understand how the food they eat and the movements they make impact their overall health.While CGMs aren't anything new, they've become a wellness trend on social media last year, and even non-diabetics started using them. By clearing Stelo, the FDA is making the monitors more accessible than before. "CGMs can be a powerful tool to help monitor blood glucose," said Jeff Shuren, MD, director of the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health. "Today's clearance expands access to these devices by allowing individuals to purchase a CGM without the involvement of a health care provide. Giving more individuals valuable information about their health, regardless of their access to a doctor or health insurance, is an important step forward in advancing health equity for U.S. patients."Stelo will be available starting this summer. Each patch is meant to last for 15 days before users will need to replace it. Dexcom has yet to reveal how much it would cost, but it said Stelo will "provide an option for those who do not have insurance coverage for CGM."DexcomThis article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/fda-approves-the-first-over-the-counter-continuous-glucose-monitor-130008629.html?src=rss

Apple's latest update to iOS has an important addition - at least in the European Union. With the arrival of iOS 17.4, Apple now officially supports third-party app stores on the iPhone. Web browser makers no longer need to base their apps on Apple's WebKit, and Apple is opening up the NFC chip to wireless payment methods that are not Apple Pay. These changes all adhere to strict new rules in the EU. (Expect to hear more changes from Apple, Google and other major tech players as the EU's Digital Markets Act comes into power.)If you're not in the EU (same), Apple Podcasts now offers automatic transcriptions in English, Spanish, French and German. You can search text and tap it to play the audio at the granular word level. It wouldn't be an iOS update with even more emoji (finally, phoenix emojis), lots of bug fixes and more.- Mat SmithThe biggest stories you might have missedMicrosoft is ending support for Android apps on WindowsThe best thing about the M3 MacBook Air is... the M2 MacBook AirMini's first electric Countryman has a wild interiorYou can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!Nothing Phone 2a reviewA budget phone packed with personality.EngadgetCheap midrange smartphones don't have to be boring, contrary to popular belief and the phones on sale at your nearest electronics store. Taking a leaf out of the Pixel's strategy book, Nothing's latest phone, the 2a, is cheaper, slightly lower specced and still delivers on most of the essentials, with a particularly eye-catching screen on the $349.There's a caveat, of course. Folks in the US will need to sign up for the company's Developer program to buy the Phone 2a, and while the handset supports 5G on T-Mobile, you won't get any 5G on AT&T or Verizon. Check out the full review.Continue reading.Facebook, Instagram and Threads all dropped for a couple of hoursMeta even logged out some users.Meta says it has resolved an issue that prevented people from accessing Facebook, Instagram and Threads. The problem started at around 10AM ET, with outage reports for the services (and WhatsApp) spiking. Earlier today, a technical issue caused people to have difficulty accessing some of our services," Facebook spokesperson Andy Stone wrote on X. We resolved the issue as quickly as possible for everyone who was impacted, and we apologize for any inconvenience."Continue reading.Colorware takes you back to grade school with the Apple Number 2 PencilDo not sharpen.'ColorwareColorware has painted many items over the years, going back to the iPhone 3G and beyond, but its latest product is particularly clever. The limited edition Apple Number 2 Pencil transforms Apple's second-gen stylus into a facsimile of a standard HB #2 pencil. Under the clever skin, you still have a high-latency Apple Pencil. The Apple Number 2 Pencil costs $215, while the boring, buttoned-down white second-generation Apple Pencil is $79.Continue reading.TikTok to creators: make longer videos, get paidCreator Rewards is now out of beta and will pay for videos longer than a minute.Last year, TikTok rolled out a new monetization system called the Creativity Program for streamers, to encourage longer videos that sell more ads. Now, the company is rolling the scheme out widely with a new name, the Creator Rewards Program, which only pays for videos longer than one minute. Time for us to get our TikTok on.Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-ios-174-is-here-121539723.html?src=rss

Tidal is condensing its plans in a bid to compete with fellow music streamers. The platform is removing its HiFi Plus and HiFI tiers to create one individual plan, aptly called Tidal. The new option will offer everything Plus users paid $20 monthly for but for $11- the same price as Spotify and Apple Music's one-person plans. It seems Tidal could no longer justify asking people to pay an extra $9 when its competitors offered similar perks for less (the company notably laid off 10 percent of its employees in December).The new solo tier will include Dolby Atmos, HiRes FLAC and lossless audio for over 100 million songs. Apple Music also offers lossless audio, but this puts Tidal ahead of Spotify, which has yet to roll it out. There is a small catch for current HiFi Plus subscribers: Tidal's DJ integration feature is becoming a DJ Extension - which will cost subscribers another $10. Anyone who has used DJ integration in the last 90 days will automatically have the extension added to their new plan when the tier overhaul takes effect on April 10. Notably, Tidal's family plan will also condense into just one option, a $17 offer rather than the HiFi Plus' $30 a month price tag.While the changes are overall a good deal for Tidal subscribers, the music streamer is getting rid of multiple options - including its free tier. As of March 4, Tidal also removed its discount for newly subscribing military personnel and first responders. Existing free tier subscribers will have to pay full price starting April 10, while military personnel and first responders who already use Tidal will have to make the switch starting June 10. Students who use Tidal will keep their $5 monthly rate.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tidal-cuts-9-from-the-price-of-its-hi-fi-audio-streaming-plan-101301143.html?src=rss

Logitech has been in the webcam game since way before the pandemic made having one a necessity. But for some reason, none of them were good enough to be part of its flagship productivity lineup alongside peripherals like the MX Master 3S and MX Mechanical. That changes now with the introduction of the $200 MX Brio which sports a new sensor for significantly improved image quality, upgraded mics and a special hinge that could be really handy for presentations.Even before you get to photo and video quality, the MX Brio impressed me with a much more premium design compared to the old non-MX Brio from 2017. It's available in three colors (silver, gray and black) and has an aluminum housing instead of plastic like on the previous model. But what I really like are details like the built-in shutter that can be opened and closed by twisting the ring on the front of the camera. This means you don't have to worry about losing a lens cap like you do with some of its rivals like the Razer Kiyo Pro.Photo by Sam Rutherford/EngadgetThe MX Brio also comes with a clip for mounting it on your laptop or monitor. However, if you prefer a more sophisticated setup using a tripod, the clip detaches magnetically to reveal a hidden 1/4-inch thread. That said, the coolest thing about the clip is its extra hinge that allows you to tilt the camera down into what the company calls Show Mode, which automatically rotates its field of view (FOV) to provide a bird's eye view of your desk.This one simple feature makes it super easy to share notes or show off a product without needing to reconfigure your entire setup or add a second camera to the mix. It's something I've wanted to do countless times on the Engadget Podcast (back when we were still livestreaming it), but couldn't since my workspace doesn't have room for a dedicated top-down camera arm.Photo by Sam RutherfordAs for image quality, the MX Brio is based on a Sony Starvis sensor that supports recording at up to 4K/30fps while also offering much better dynamic range and low-light sensitivity than before. To test this, I compared the MX Brio to its predecessor and the difference was immediately apparent. Even when using the basic Windows Camera app, the new model's pics were much more colorful and accurate. Furthermore, the position of my desk means I often have to contend with bright backlighting that makes my face look unusually dark, but the MX Brio overcame that in a way the old model never could. And thanks to certification for several major apps including Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet, you'll look even better when using proper video conferencing software.Another thing I appreciate is that Logitech gives you a ton of options to adjust things like white balance, FOV, exposure and more. The addition of dual beamforming mics also helps audio come through clearly while AI cuts down on distracting ambient noise. But one of the best nods to general usability is that now you can use both the Options+ or Logitech's G Hub app to control the webcam. This is nice for anyone who needs to hop on calls for work but also wants to livestream at night without needing to switch between multiple devices or programs. The only thing that's really missing is the ability to quickly set a custom white point using gray cards like you can on a traditional digital camera.Granted, I've only had a short time to play around with the MX Brio. But even so, it's clear Logitech finally has a webcam that can hang with the company's portfolio of best-in-class productivity devices.The MX Brio goes on sale today, though the black model will only be available from Best Buy for the first 90 days.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-logitech-mx-brio-packs-a-big-upgrade-in-image-quality-and-a-handy-party-trick-080134629.html?src=rss

Colorware has painted a lot of items over the years going back to the iPhone 3G and beyond, but its latest product is particularly clever. The limited edition Apple Number 2 Pencil transforms Apple's 2nd-gen stylus into a facsimile of a standard HB #2 pencil, with the only thing missing being chew marks on the eraser."What sets it apart? It connects with your iPad in a snap, charges without a hitch, and delivers precision that feels just right," the company states on the product page. "And it's styled after the familiar pencil we all know, upgraded for today's tech. It's not just smart; it's a smart looker too." (As a reminder, the 2nd-generation Apple Pencil offers features like "pixel-perfect precision, tilt and pressure sensitivity, and imperceptible lag," according to Apple.)ColorwareColorware goes on to describe other ways that it will change your life. "It's that unspoken impact, the quiet ripple of intrigue it sends through the room. This isn't just about having a piece of technology; it's about carrying a symbol of uniqueness that speaks volumes before you do."That paint sure is doing a lot of work! But it ain't cheap - the Apple Number 2 Pencil costs $215, which is a $136 premium over the 2nd-generation Apple Pencil, currently priced at $79. Still, it's undeniably adorable and could be a great gift for an iPad artist. Just don't try to sharpen it (or chew on it).This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/colorware-takes-you-back-to-grade-school-with-the-apple-number-2-pencil-073709840.html?src=rss

Elon Musk, who sued OpenAI for violating its non-profit mission and chasing profits, allegedly wanted the organization to merge with Tesla when it was starting to plan its transition into a for-profit entity in order to accomplish its goals. Well, either that or get full control of the company, OpenAI said in a blog post. The organization responded to Musk's lawsuit by publishing old emails from 2015 to 2018 when he was still involved in its operations.When OpenAI introduced itself to the world back in 2015, it announced that it had $1 billion in funding. Apparently, Musk was the one who suggested that figure, even though OpenAI had raised less than $45 million from him and around $90 million from other donors. "We need to go with a much bigger number than $100M to avoid sounding hopeless... I think we should say that we are starting with a $1B funding commitment... I will cover whatever anyone else doesn't provide," he wrote, according to the company.In 2017, OpenAI's leaders realized that they truly did need a lot more money - billions of dollars - because artificial intelligence required vast quantities of computing power. That's when they started discussing its transition into a for-profit structure. OpenAI said Musk was involved in the planning and originally wanted majority equity, control of the initial board of directors and the CEO position. However, the organization felt that it was against its mission to give one person absolute control over it. They couldn't get to an agreement, and Musk reportedly withheld funding while talks were ongoing.Musk then forwarded an email to OpenAI in 2018, which suggested attaching the organization to Tesla so that the automaker could provide its funding. He explained in his letter that he believed it was "the only path that could even hope to hold a candle to Google." OpenAI didn't say how their discussions progressed after that, but Musk's idea obviously didn't push through, and he soon left the company. In the last email from Musk that the organization posted, he said his "probability assessment of OpenAI being relevant to DeepMind/Google without a dramatic change in execution and resources is 0%."In his lawsuit, Musk accused OpenAI of being a "closed-source de facto subsidiary" of Microsoft, which uses its AI technology for products like Bing after investing $13 billion into the company. "Microsoft stands to make a fortune selling GPT-4 to the public, which would not be possible if OpenAI - as it is required to do - makes the technology freely available to the public," the lawsuit argued. OpenAI said Musk was aware its mission did not imply open sourcing its artificial intelligence technology, though. It released an email in which Ilya Sutskever, its co-founder and chief scientist, told Musk: "As we get closer to building AI, it will make sense to start being less open. The Open in OpenAI means that everyone should benefit from the fruits of AI after its built, but it's totally OK to not share the science." Musk then responded with "Yup.""We're sad that it's come to this with someone whom we've deeply admired - someone who inspired us to aim higher, then told us we would fail, started a competitor, and then sued us when we started making meaningful progress towards OpenAI's mission without him," the company wrote in its post. After Musk filed his lawsuit, the company sent internal memos to its staff denying his allegations. Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon said in one memo that Musk's claims "may stem from [his] regrets about not being involved with the company today." Sam Altman said in another memo that he misses the person he knew who competed with others by building better technology. He also responded to a five-year old tweet from Musk thanking him for defending Tesla.

Last year TikTok rolled out a new monetization system for streamers called the Creativity Program to encourage longer videos that allow it to sell more ads. Now, the company is rolling the scheme out widely with a new name, the Creator Rewards Program, that only pays for videos longer than one minute."The Creator Rewards Program will continue rewarding high-quality, original content over a minute long with an optimized rewards formula focused on 4 key areas: originality, play duration, search value and audience engagement," the company wrote.TikTok noted that longer content is more lucrative with with total creator revenue increasing by over 250 percent within the last 6 months, and the number of creators making $50,000 each month nearly doubling" since the beta began.TikTokTikTok is also expanding its subscription features for creators. Previously, only live streamers could access offerings like exclusive (paid) content, badges and personalized emoji, but now the company is expanding these benefits beyond live streams."In the coming weeks, eligible creators can sign up to access a new way to strengthen their community with added value through exclusive content and benefits, while providing their most engaged communities an opportunity to connect even deeper with their favorite creators," TikTok wrote.The company's Creator Fund, which had no minimum requirement for video length and ended last year, was often criticized for low payouts. Last year, streamer Hank Green shared that he made about 2.5 cents per 1,000 views on the platform - a fraction of his YouTube earnings and about half of what he earned on TikTok prior to the fund.By comparison, select streamers embraced the beta Creativity Program. Some (with subscriber numbers varying from a half million to several million) received payouts ranging in the low thousands to nearly $100,000 per month, "a complete 180" from what they saw in the Creator Fund, according to one creator.That said, audiences have been uncertain about longer videos. In a TikTok internal survey from last year, nearly 50 percent of users said videos over a minute in length were "stressful," and a third of users watched videos online at double speed, according to a Wired report from earlier this year.How to pay creators is not TikTok's only challenge at the moment. Yesterday, a group of US lawmakers introduced a new bill that would force parent ByteDance to sell TikTok in order for the app to remain in the United States.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tiktok-to-creators-make-longer-videos-get-paid-055013923.html?src=rss

Mini has promised to go all electric by 2030, a date that seemed pretty far off back in 2021 but right now is starting to sound not that far off at all. While the company's prior battery-powered efforts have been great, it's going to take something more serious and more practical to convert the masses to the wonders of electrification.That something might just be the 2025 Mini Countryman. While Mini will offer this car with a gasoline-burning engine if you're feeling traditional, the star of the lineup will be the new, $45,200, all-electric Countryman SE. With 313 horsepower and 363 pound-feet of torque, it's quick, and with way more cargo space, it's practical too.But how does it drive? That's what we headed to Portugal to find out, and while the extra volume and weight of the new Countryman does come with some compromises, it's an engaging SUV to drive with a fantastic interior that's just a few software updates away from perfection. Full the full preview, watch the video up top.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/minis-first-electric-countryman-has-a-wild-interior-thats-not-to-be-missed-041508080.html?src=rss

A group of lawmakers have introduced a new bill that would force ByteDance to sell TikTok in order for the app to remain available in the United States. The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act" would prohibit US app stores and web hosting services from distributing TikTok unless it divested from parent company ByteDance.The bill is the latest in a long line of attempts by lawmakers and other officials to ban or force a sale of the app. Former President Donald Trump attempted to force a sale of TikTok in 2020, but was ultimately unsuccessful. The Biden Administration has also pressured the company to divest. And a US District Court Judge recently blocked an attempt to ban the app in Montana.The new bill, which comes from a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the House, takes a different approach. It would give ByteDance a six-month window to sell TikTok before app store-level bans would come into effect. It would also require TikTok and other apps to provide users with a copy of their data in a format that can be imported" into competing apps. And though TikTok is referenced several times in the text of the bill, the legislation would open the door for bans on other foreign adversary-controlled" apps if the president deemed them to be a national security threat.This bill is an outright ban of TikTok, no matter how much the authors try to disguise it," TikTok said in a statement. This legislation will trample the First Amendment rights of 170 million Americans and deprive 5 million small businesses of a platform they rely on to grow and create jobs."TikTok CEO Shou Chew has maintained that a divestment would not fully address officials' concerns about US user data. The company has spent years trying to address national security concerns about its service with an initiative called Project Texas. Under the plan, created as a result of years of negotiations with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), US users' data would be separated into US-based servers and government officials would be able to oversee audits of TikTok's source code and other aspects of its operations.The Washington Post reported last year that TikTok's negotiations with CFIUS had been recently revived amid doubts the [Biden] administration has the authority to ban TikTok on its own." If Congress was able to pass the new bill, it would clear up such questions and create a new process for forcing ByteDance's hand.The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other digital rights groups have criticized the government's efforts to ban TikTok. In a statement on the latest bill, the ACLU said the proposed measure was "unconstitutional" and would hurt free speech. "Just because the bill sponsors claim that banning TikTok isn't about suppressing speech, there's no denying that it would do just that," senior policy counsel Jenna Leventoff said.Columbia University's nonprofit Knight First Amendment Institute raised similar concerns. "Congress can protect data privacy and security without banning Americans from accessing one of the world's most popular communications platforms," the organization's executive director Jameel Jaffer said in a statement. "It should start by passing a comprehensive privacy law restricting the kinds of information that TikTok and other platforms can collect."Update March 5, 2024 6:50 PM ET: This story has been updated to add comments from the ACLU and Knight First Amendment Institute.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/lawmakers-have-a-new-plan-to-force-bytedance-to-sell-tiktok-220408004.html?src=rss

Microsoft is pulling the plug on Android apps for Windows. The company said it's ending support for Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA), the underlying component behind the Amazon Appstore (and other Android apps) in Windows 11. Microsoft told Engadget it was responding to evolving customer needs."Microsoft first said in 2021 that Windows 11 would be able to run Android apps. When it arrived the following year, users could install the Amazon Appstore, and some individual Android apps were found in the Microsoft Store. The rollout was viewed as an answer to the dual threats of Android apps on Chromebooks and iOS apps on Apple Silicon Macs.A Microsoft spokesperson clarified to Engadget why it's now terminating the feature. As part of our commitment to meeting evolving customer needs, we periodically update our product offerings," they said. This involves introducing new technical innovations and retiring products. Microsoft remains dedicated to an open platform and ecosystem, and we look forward to continuing to bring the best experiences and apps to Windows."With Microsoft blazing full-tilt into all things AI, it may now see its past attempts at making Windows a dramatically better touch-focused platform as no longer worth the resources. Another possibility, as The Verge speculates, is that people hunting for Android apps on Windows expected the full Google Play Store experience - not Amazon's variant, which has an inferior overall selection.Microsoft says customers who installed the Amazon Appstore (or other apps and games using WSA) on their Windows 11 machines before Tuesday can keep using them until March 5, 2025. Meanwhile, Amazon clarified that its Appstore and associate apps will no longer be discoverable in the Microsoft Store beginning on Wednesday. In addition, developers can no longer submit new apps for the Amazon Appstore on Windows, but those with existing ones can continue to submit updates for them until this time next year.As for what's next for Microsoft, the company is rumored to launch new Surface devices on March 21. The Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 are expected, with the company possibly marketing them as its first AI PCs.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-is-ending-support-for-android-apps-on-windows-213534468.html?src=rss

Microsoft will reveal the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 on March 21, according to a report. This isn't likely to just be a matter of a hardware refresh, however. Microsoft is expected to call these systems its first AI PCs, as Windows Central notes.The devices are set to be equipped with new Intel Core Ultra or Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite-based processors that feature the latest neural processing units (NPUs) to boost AI capabilities. They're said to approximately match the iPad Pro and MacBook Pro in terms of efficiency and performance.The Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 are expected to be among the first machines to support upcoming AI features in Windows 11. Along with on-device Copilot support, these functions are expected to include real-time live captions and translations, upscaling for games, frame rate smoothing, upgraded Windows Studio Effects and something that (at least for the time being) is seemingly called AI Explorer.Windows Central suggests the latter will be the feature that sets AI PCs apart from regular computers. AI Explorer will apparently work across any app and let you search through documents, web pages, images and chats using natural language. It's believed that the feature will create a history of everything you do on your computer and make it searchable. The tool is said to be capable of understanding context and suggesting tasks based on what's on the screen. AI Explorer is also expected to support text-based image editing. According to the report, these AI features are likely to roll out as part of this fall's 24H2 update for Windows 11.As for what else to expect from Microsoft's next laptops, both are said to have all-day battery life. The Surface Pro 10 is slated to include an anti-reflective, HDR-capable OLED screen. Rumors suggest it will have a front-facing ultrawide webcam and an NFC reader.The Surface Laptop 6 is believed to have a more significant redesign compared with its predecessors. Along with thinner bezels and rounded corners, it's expected to have a haptic touchpad, a dedicated key for Copilot and a revamped group of ports. It's also slated to be the first Surface Laptop with an Arm variant (it's worth noting that we had major reservations about the Arm-powered Surface Pro 9). The report suggests that the Intel versions of the Surface Laptop 9 and Surface Pro 10 will ship in April, with the Snapdragon variants to follow in June.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-may-debut-its-first-ai-pcs-later-this-month-204522580.html?src=rss

Amid complaints that its search results have declined in quality, Google is tweaking its algorithms to do a better job of weeding out spammy or automated content. The company says the ranking updates, arriving in May, will keep the lowest-quality content out of search." Of particular note, Google says its engine will be better at eradicating today's automated (read: AI-generated) content that's harder to spot.Google says it's taking what it learned from a 2022 algorithmic tuneup to reduce unhelpful, unoriginal content" and applying it to the new update. The company says the changes will send more traffic to helpful and high-quality sites." When combined with the updates from two years ago, Google estimates the revision will reduce spammy, unoriginal search results by 40 percent.This update involves refining some of our core ranking systems to help us better understand if webpages are unhelpful, have a poor user experience or feel like they were created for search engines instead of people," Google product management director Elizabeth Tucker wrote. This could include sites created primarily to match very specific search queries."Google sounds like it's targeting AI-generated SEO spam with its notes about scaled content abuse. The company says it's strengthening its approach to the growing problem of sites that generate garbage automated articles (as well as zeroing in on old-fashioned human-created spam).Today, scaled content creation methods are more sophisticated, and whether content is created purely through automation isn't always as clear," Tucker said. Google says the changes will allow us to take action on more types of content with little to no value created at scale, like pages that pretend to have answers to popular searches but fail to deliver helpful content."AI-generated content farms shotgun-blasting content to game the system are an increasing problem, so Google's changes -if they're as effective as promised -will be welcome. Although sites spamming that content exclusively may be easier to spot, it will be interesting to see if scenarios where once-reputable outlets experimenting with AI-generated spam (CNET and Sports Illustrated are recent examples) will be affected.Another change to the algorithm will tackle the practice of otherwise reputable sites hosting low-quality content from third parties designed to leech off the site's good name. Google provides the example of an educational site hosting a third-party payday loan review. We'll now consider very low-value, third-party content produced primarily for ranking purposes and without close oversight of a website owner to be spam," Tucker wrote.Finally, Google's updates will allegedly do better at rooting out expired domains bought by someone else and transformed into click mills. The search engine will begin treating those websites as spam.You won't see the improvements immediately as Google is giving site owners a two-month notice to adapt accordingly. The search engine changes will take effect on May 5.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-is-changing-its-search-results-to-weed-out-seo-spam-195259063.html?src=rss

Apple has rolled out updates for many of its operating systems and none are more impactful than the changes to iOS - at least in the European Union. With the arrival of iOS 17.4, Apple is adhering to strict new rules in the bloc when it comes to the App Store. Apple now officially supports third-party app stores on iPhones in the EU, while developers can offer third-party payment options. Web browser makers no longer need to base their apps on Apple's WebKit, while Apple is opening up the NFC chip to wireless payments that have nothing to do with Apple Pay.While those game-changing updates are limited to the EU, iOS 17.4 does have some snazzy new features for folks elsewhere too. Apple Podcasts now offers automatic transcriptions in English, Spanish, French and German. The text will be highlighted in sync with the audio to make it easy to follow along. You'll be able to search the text and tap it to start playing the audio at a certain point.Elsewhere, there are a bunch of new emoji for you to enjoy. They include a mushroom, phoenix, lime, broken chain and shaking heads. Apple has also updated 18 people and body emoji so that you can face them in either direction.Other updates concern features like battery health, Siri (with the ability to read received messages in any supported language), stolen device protection and virtual card numbers for Apple Cash. Thanks to a caller ID update, when am Apple-verified business calls, you'll see its name, logo and department title. There are a slew of bug fixes too.Along with iOS 17.4, Apple has also released iPadOS 17.4, which has many of the same changes including the App Store updates to comply with the EU's Digital Markets Act. The company is also expected to roll out visionOS 1.1 (for Apple Vision Pro), macOS 14.4, watchOS 10.4 and HomePod 17.4 imminently.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ios-174-is-here-enabling-third-party-app-stores-in-the-eu-185812797.html?src=rss

Samsung's 32-inch M80C smart monitor is on sale for $400, down from $700. This $300 discount represents a savings of 43 percent and ties the lowest price ever recorded for the display.The M80C is both a regular 4K computer monitor and a standalone streaming box, with native support for apps like Prime Video, Netflix and Disney+, among others. It also provides access to Samsung's proprietary TV Plus service, with its selection of free live and on-demand programming.Samsung's monitor integrates with some of the biggest on-demand gaming platforms, including Xbox Cloud Gaming and NVIDIA GeForce Now. The 60Hz refresh rate won't break any speed records, but should allow for fairly smooth gameplay.Beyond entertainment, the M80C offers some built-in productivity tools. There's standalone access to Microsoft Office 365 and a tool that remotely connects to a PC or a Samsung mobile device, with no cables required. The integrated camera can even handle work meetings and the like. The line between computer monitor and entry-level PC continues to blur.All of the above features can be controlled via the included remote or by using Alexa-assisted voice commands. This deal is for the white model and is available from both Amazon and Samsung.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/samsungs-32-inch-smart-monitor-is-300-off-right-now-181556040.html?src=rss

Google's Waze is adding some quality-of-life navigation features in the coming weeks and months. New options can help you find parking garages (and learn how much they'll cost), alert you when the speed limit is about to decrease and guide you through roundabouts.Partnering with the Flash parking app, Waze will soon provide information about nearby parking garages. It can show you prices, whether it's covered or open-air, wheelchair accessibility options, valet services and EV charging stations. Waze says you can also reserve a parking space from the app. The feature will roll out in the coming weeks."The Flash app only averages 1.5 out of 5 stars on the App Store and 2.2 out of 5 on the Play Store. (Many customers complained about its bugginess and unreliable scanning at parking kiosks.) Hopefully, Waze's integration won't replicate the apparent rough spots from its new partner's app.The Waze app will also let you know when the speed limit is about to drop. After the feature rolls out this month, the navigation screen will show a speed limit sign at the spot in the road where it's about to slow down, giving you time to prepare. An alert at the screen's bottom will count down how many feet away the speed reduction is. (The app won't show when speed limits are about to increase, presumably to avoid encouraging people to punch it and get a head start.)WazeWaze will soon give you more information about your favorite routes to places you often travel to, like home, work or go-to coffee shops. Starting this month, when you start navigation, the app will compare your favorite routes with the fastest ones. It will use live traffic updates to contrast ETA estimates and help you decide if your favorite pathway is too backed up to be worth it.Making your way through roundabouts will be easier, too. When you approach a traffic circle, Waze will help you figure out where to enter, which lanes to use and where to exit. The feature arrives on Android this month, but iPhone owners will have to wait until later this year."Building on the app's community-sourced approach, another new feature will alert you to upcoming hazards. These include sharp curves, speed bumps and toll booths. This navigate like a local" feature will land on Android and iOS this month.Finally, Waze now notifies you when emergency vehicles are stopped ahead. When navigating, an emergency icon will sit on the virtual road ahead alongside an alert and countdown (measured in feet) as you approach it. This is the only new feature Waze says is available now (in the US, Canada, France, Mexico and France) on Android and iOS. The feature will support more countries soon.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/waze-will-soon-help-you-find-parking-garages-and-zip-through-roundabouts-180340271.html?src=rss

The deadline for compliance with the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA) is this Thursday and Google just dropped a document outlining exactly what changes it has made (or will make) to keep up with the law. These 20+ adjustments vary in scope, and impact search users, advertisers and third-party app developers.One of the big search changes will be the inclusion of price comparison results from external aggregators when looking up things like flights or hotels. For example, searching Google for a one-way to Paris typically pulls up a module called the Google Flights unit - that's the company's own internal pricing aggregator. Competitor aggregators, like Kayak and Tripadvisor have been vocally displeased to have Google stomping around in their backyard for over a decade. In the EU at least, starting Thursday, these sorts of results will now show some results from these aggregators alongside Google's own Flights results.Android users are getting an easier way to switch out the search engine or browser, so as to not prioritize Google's products above others. These choice screens appear when you set up the device for the first time, in the settings and at various intervals during use. The company's already been doing this since 2021, but now there will be more choice screens to choose from. Google says this option is also coming to desktop Chrome users and iOS users in the near future.Digital consent for advertising is a major part of the DMA. Google users will now have to opt into sharing data across the company's various services for the purpose of personalized advertising. This is done via the settings page. Additionally, users may encounter consent banners while browsing, which will ask if they want to link data across Google services.The DMA requires app stores to offer alternative billing systems for in-app purchases. To comply, Google recently launched user-choice billing (UCB) as an option for developers to offer their own billing systems. This program is expanding to game developers this week. Of course, Android devices could always run third-party apps with their own billing systems, but now they'll be easier to implement.Google has said that as part of its DMA compliance it will begin to provide advertisers with "some additional data, which is shared in a way that protects user privacy and customers' commercially-sensitive information." We've reached out to the company for any information on what that data might be. On Thursday, the company will also be launching its Data Portability API so that users can move their data off Google's products more easily.Of course, Google couldn't help but drop a bit of shade in its compliance announcement, telling users that some of the features that we have developed to help people get things done quickly and securely online - like providing recommendations across different products - won't work in the same way anymore." Daddy corporation knows best.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-just-outlined-exactly-how-its-changing-ahead-of-thursdays-dma-deadline-174518625.html?src=rss

Meta says it has resolved an issue that prevented people from accessing services such as Facebook, Instagram and Threads. The problem appears to have started at around 10AM ET, with outage reports for the services (and WhatsApp) spiking on Down Detector at that time.Facebook booted several members of the Engadget team back to the site's login screen and left them unable to sign back in for a couple of hours. Feeds on the other services were not loading for many users. However, fellow major Meta service WhatsApp was working for some, including me."Earlier today, a technical issue caused people to have difficulty accessing some of our services," Facebook spokesperson Andy Stone wrote on X. "We resolved the issue as quickly as possible for everyone who was impacted, and we apologize for any inconvenience."Update 3/5 11:32PM ET: Updated to note that the outage has been resolved.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/its-not-just-you-facebook-instagram-and-threads-are-all-down-155024905.html?src=rss

Here's a quick PSA for anyone who has been meaning to add more storage to a gaming handheld, GoPro, security camera or cheaper Android device: A handful of Samsung microSD cards we recommend are back on sale. The discounts include the 256GB Samsung Pro Plus and 128GB Samsung Pro Ultimate for $20 and $17, respectively. Neither of those are all-time lows, but they both come within $2 of the best deals we've tracked, and they're both a few bucks cheaper than the cards' usual street prices over the last two months. The Pro Plus is the top overall pick in our microSD card buying guide, while the Pro Ultimate is a faster upgrade pick. These deals are also available at other retailers, including B&H and Samsung.com.If you're willing to trade some performance for more space, the 512GB Samsung Evo Select, the top value pick in our guide, is also down to $25 at Amazon. We saw this deal last month, but it still matches the card's lowest price to date. Typically, it's retailed around $30 over the last few months.Which one of these is the "best" deal depends on what you're looking to do. The Pro Ultimate may be worth it if you plan to regularly stress the card in a device that can take advantage of its higher speeds. It was faster than the Pro Plus across the board in our benchmark tests, so it can save you some time if you often have to, say, move files to and from a computer. That said, the Pro Plus' sequential and random speeds weren't too far off, so it'll still be quick for recording 4K video, loading video game levels and the like. If you need a higher-capacity card but still value performance, it'll probably be worth the extra $3. For reference, the 256GB version of the Pro Ultimate is now going for $35, which is a fair bit extra.If you just want a big chunk of space on the cheap, meanwhile, just go with the Evo Select. It's a clear step down from the other two cards in both read and write speeds, but it's performant enough for more casual tasks, and this deal gets you much more space per dollar. Many devices, such as the Nintendo Switch, can't fully take advantage of the faster transfer speeds of cards like the Pro Plus anyway. Like the higher-end cards, the Evo Select also comes with a 10-year limited warranty. None of the cards on sale here will be as fast as Samsung's upcoming SD Express models, but we'd expect those to be relatively expensive when they arrive later this year.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/samsungs-latest-microsd-card-deals-include-the-256gb-pro-plus-for-20-161535375.html?src=rss

This year's edition of MLB The Show is just a couple of weeks away, and Sony's San Diego Studio has shed more light on what to expect. For the first time in the series, you'll be able to create and play as women ballplayers in the Road to the Show mode.In Road to the Show: Women Pave Their Way, there will be a dedicated story in which you can build a career as a pro female baseball player. While it includes all the usual features of Road to the Show, this version of the mode will have a buddy character and depict a unique-to-women storyline following a lifelong friendship as it develops in professional baseball," according to a PlayStation Blog post.Your career path will likely be different on each playthrough. San Diego Studio added fresh commentary, MLB Network segments and other features tied to this new addition to the game.Other major sports games have added women players over the last several years, including FIFA (now EA Sports FC), the NHL series and NBA 2K. It's good to see MLB The Show joining them.In addition, MLB The Show 24 will continue to showcase stories from the Negro Leagues under a partnership with the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. The latest edition of the series will feature 10 new Negro League Legends, each of whom has their own storyline. Among those players is Toni Stone, who was the first woman to play full time in the leagues.Meanwhile, MLB The Show will remain in the odd position of being a Sony-developed and published game that's coming to Game Pass on its release date. Subscribers will be able to play MLB The Show 24 via Xbox consoles and the cloud at no extra cost starting on March 19.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mlb-the-show-24-features-women-ballplayers-for-the-first-time-160007024.html?src=rss

Apple has upgraded the 13 and 15-inch MacBook Airs with the M3 and a few new bells and whistles. But while I expected the company to keep the M1 around as its budget option, it swapped it out for the base model M2. Someone at Cupertino's going to regret that, because the M2 Air is, despite its limitations, a damn fine machine. I don't know if anyone needs the added performance the M3 Air provides, but I do know you can't afford to ignore the base model M2.Historically, Apple has kept a MacBook below a thousand dollars to hook price-sensitive buyers. A grand is a lot to spend on a machine if you're broke, especially if there are cheaper low-end Windows machines (even if they are crap). Even then, the $999 MacBook is the cheap" option, and Apple will hobble it just enough to upsell you to the $1,200 model it really wants you to buy.That's why I cynically expected the M1 to remain in place, because the slower chip and decade-old chassis was a nice compromise in exchange for a cheaper machine. Yes, the M1 would allow you to join the Apple SIlicon world, but you'd have to deal with a design that's barely changed since 2017. The M2, by comparison, is less than two years old and is regarded as one of Apple's best ever machines: The fact it's available as the budget option is almost a flex.This morning, I reread my colleague Devindra Hardawar's great review of the M2 Air from 2022, and I still want one. The M2 has a wonderfully sleek design and comes equipped with plenty of great hardware. A fantastic 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display with a 500-nit backlight, a 1080p webcam, quad-speakers with support for Spatial Audio and Atmos. The better quality of stuff you got was probably Apple's rationale for holding on to the M1, and charging $1,200 for the base M2 (which itself could be upsold for more with the better add-ons).Then there's the M2 silicon itself which, in this variation, has an 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU, 8GB RAM and a 256GB SSD. Look, I know that 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD are both major drags on the M2's overall performance. But I can't stress enough that this is an ultraportable without a fan designed for lower power tasks. If you buy a machine this thin and get annoyed that it can't render a two hour 4K movie as efficiently as a Pro model, the computer isn't the problem, no matter what it's running.Of course, the sticks you could use to beat the M2 MacBook Air are the same ones for a lot of Apple Silicon machines. Limited external display support, limited port selection, no ability to add upgrades further down the road and nonexistent repair support. But some or all of those issues are probably not top of your list if you're looking for a good machine to live your life with.Ah, but what about the AI performance which Apple says is so much better on the M3 than its immediate predecessor? I'll be honest, I don't know how many people are doing AI-intensive tasks on a machine like this, or even beefier ones. After all, most people are more than happy to engage with generative AIs through a web client, which requires no local grunt at all.Not to mention that the M2 has often been offered with a hefty discount through sellers like Amazon. I'd reckon that while the $999 is a bargain, someone will probably knock another hundred off that figure the next time there's a shopping holiday. Who needs an M3 Air?This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-best-thing-about-the-m3-macbook-air-is-the-m2-macbook-air-144543065.html?src=rss

Oregon is set to become the latest state to pass a Right to Repair law. The Oregon House of Representatives passed the Right to Repair Act (SB 1596) on March 4, two weeks after it advanced from the Senate. It now heads to Governor Tina Kotek's desk, who has five days to sign it.California, Minnesota and New York have similar legislation, but Nathan Proctor, the Public Interest Research Group's Right to Repair Campaign senior director, calls Oregon's legislation "the best bill yet." (It's worth noting that Colorado also has its own Right to Repair legislation that has a different remit around agricultural equipment rather than around consumer electronics.)If made into law, Oregon's Right To Repair Act would be the first to ban "parts pairing," a practice that prevents individuals from swapping out a piece for another, theoretically equivalent one. For example, a person might replace their iPhone battery with an identical one from the same model, but they'll likely receive an error message that it either can't be verified or used. The system forces people to buy the part directly from the manufacturer and can only activate it with their consent - otherwise users will have to buy an entirely new device altogether. Instead, under the new bill, manufacturers would be required to:

Passkey availability has been on the rise and is only continuing to grow. The latest example comes from 1Password, the aptly named password manager, which has announced support for passkeys on Android devices. Now, anyone using a phone or tablet with Android 14 or higher can access 1Passwords's passkeys right on their device's apps. Last September, the company made passkeys available on iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 devices, along with browsers such as Chrome and Safari.So, what is a passkey anyway? Unlike a password that someone can guess or potentially obtain in a hack, passkeys consist of public and private keys. The public key belongs to whatever site an account is made with, while the private key exists solely on the device and is never seen by the involved company. Basically, it works as a puzzle of sorts, and instead of typing in a password, it uses an API to connect the private and public keys.Users will need to download the 1Password app and, when creating new accounts, choose to make one with a passkey instead of a password. To clarify, this function is currently only available for Android apps, not Chrome for Android. According to 1Password, Google is in the midst of building a new API that will allow for passkeys on mobile Chrome.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/1password-adds-passkey-support-for-android-140058482.html?src=rss