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SpaceX’s Crew-5 mission has safely returned to Earth. On Saturday evening, the company’s “Endurance” Dragon spacecraft splashed down off the coast of Florida following a five-month stay at the International Space Station. The capsule was carrying NASA astronauts Josh Cassada and Nicole Mann, Japan’s Koichi Wakata and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina.The four spent 157 days in orbit during an ISS rotation that was one for the history books. As Space.com points out, the Crew-5 mission saw Mann, a member of the Wailaki people, become the first Native American woman to fly in space. It was also the first time a Russian cosmonaut flew aboard a private American spacecraft, a milestone made possible after NASA and Roscosmos signed a seat-sharing agreement last year amid increasing US and Russian tensions due to the war in Ukraine.

Following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, Etsy is warning sellers it may take longer than usual for the company to process some payments. “We wanted to let you know that there is a delay with your deposit that was scheduled for today,” Etsy told affected merchants on Friday in an email the company shared with NBC News. “Please know that our teams are working hard to resolve this issue and send you your funds as quickly as possible.”An Etsy spokesperson attributed the delay to “the unexpected collapse of Silicon Valley Bank,” noting the company used the bank to facilitate payments to some merchants. They added Etsy is working with other payment partners to facilitate deposits. The company expects to pay affected sellers “within the next several business days.” More than 7.5 million merchants use Etsy to sell their wares online.Federal regulators took over SVB on Friday amid the largest bank collapse since the 2008 financial crisis. With its close ties to Silicon Valley, SVB’s failure has created knock-on effects throughout the tech industry. On Friday, Roku said it could lose as much as 26 percent of its cash reserves, or more than $487 million, due to the collapse. One day later, the value of USD Coin, a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, fell to a low of $0.87 after Circle, the firm that manages the currency, disclosed it had $3.3 billion stuck at the bank. While USD Coin’s value has mostly recovered, the news nonetheless sparked fears of a possible financial contagion within the cryptocurrency industry.More importantly, there are many people whose next paycheck won’t come on time. That includes employees at early-stage startups and small business owners who depend on Etsy for their livelihood. One seller, Owen McKinney, told NBC News the deposit delay could have a “catastrophic" effect on his business.What comes next is hard to say. On Sunday, US Treasury Secretary Janey Yellen told CBS’s Face the Nation the federal government would not bail out SVB and would instead focus on assisting depositors. “Let me be clear that during the financial crisis, there were investors and owners of systemic large banks that were bailed out… and the reforms that have been put in place means we are not going to do that again,” Yellen said. “But we are concerned about depositors and are focused on trying to meet their needs.”This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/etsy-warns-of-merchant-payment-processing-delay-due-to-silicon-valley-bank-collapse-165056872.html?src=rss

If you’ve been waiting for Apple’s second-generation AirPods Pro to go on sale, your patience has paid off. On Amazon, the earbuds are currently $50 off, making them just $200. That’s a return to the all-time low price they hit at the start of February.Despite similar appearances, the second-generation AirPods Pro feature some notable upgrades over their 2019 predecessor. To start, the inclusion of Apple’s new H2 chip means the earbuds boast better noise cancellation performance and a more functional transparency mode. Audio quality is similarly improved, as is integration with Apple products. They also come with touch controls, a feature missing from the original model, and modestly improved battery life.Of course, they’re not perfect. The touch controls can take a while to master, and battery life, despite improvements, is not as good as some competing models. You also need an iPhone or iPad to get the most out of the AirPods Pro, making them less compelling options for Android users. Still, they’re an excellent option for iOS users, especially when you can get them for less than their usual street price.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/apples-second-gen-airpods-pro-are-back-on-sale-for-200-151219377.html?src=rss

Science is the reason you aren't reading this by firelight nestled cozily under a rock somewhere however, its practice significantly predates its formalization by Galileo in the 16th century. Among its earliest adherents — even before pioneering efforts of Aristotle — was Animaxander, the Greek philosopher credited with first arguing that the Earth exists within a void, not atop a giant turtle shell. His other revolutionary notions include, "hey, maybe animals evolved from other, earlier animals?" and "the gods aren't angry, that's just thunder."While Animaxander isn't often mentioned alongside the later greats of Greek philosophy, his influence on the scientific method cannot be denied, argues NYT bestselling author, Carlo Rovelli, in his latest book, Animaxander and the Birth of Science, out now from Riverhead Books. In in, Rovelli celebrates Animaxander, not necessarily for his scientific acumen but for his radical scientific thinking — specifically his talent for shrugging off conventional notion to glimpse at the physical underpinnings of the natural world. In the excerpt below, Rovelli, whom astute readers will remember from last year's There Are Places in the World Where Rules Are Less Important than Kindness, illustrates how even the works of intellectual titans like Einstein and Heisenberg can and inevitably are found lacking in their explanation of natural phenomena — in just the same way that those works themselves decimated the collective understanding of cosmological law under 19th century Newtonian physics.Riverhead BooksExcerpted from Animaxander and the Birth of Science. Copyright © 2023 by Carlo Rovelli. Excerpted by permission of Riverhead, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.Did science begin with Anaximander? The question is poorly put. It depends on what we mean by “science,” a generic term. Depending on whether we give it a broad or a narrow meaning, we can say that science began with Newton, Galileo, Archimedes, Hipparchus, Hippocrates, Pythagoras, or Anaximander — or with an astronomer in Babylonia whose name we don’t know, or with the first primate who managed to teach her offspring what she herself had learned, or with Eve, as in the quotation that opens this chapter. Historically or symbolically, each of these moments marks humanity’s acquisition of a new, crucial tool for the growth of knowledge.If by “science” we mean research based on systematic experimental activities, then it began more or less with Galileo. If we mean a collection of quantitative observations and theoretical/mathematical models that can order these observations and give accurate predictions, then the astronomy of Hipparchus and Ptolemy is science. Emphasizing one particular starting point, as I have done with Anaximander, means focusing on a specific aspect of the way we acquire knowledge. It means highlighting specific characteristics of science and thus, implicitly, reflecting on what science is, what the search for knowledge is, and how it works.What is scientific thinking? What are its limits? What is the reason for its strength? What does it really teach us? What are its characteristics, and how does it compare with other forms of knowledge?These questions shaped my reflections on Anaximander in preceding chapters. In discussing how Anaximander paved the way for scientific knowledge, I highlighted a certain number of aspects of science itself. Now I shall make these observations more explicit.The Crumbling of Nineteenth Century IllusionsA lively debate on the nature of scientific knowledge has taken place during the last century. The work of philosophers of science such as Carnap and Bachelard, Popper and Kuhn, Feyerabend, Lakatos, Quine, van Fraassen, and many others has transformed our understanding of what constitutes scientific activity. To some extent, this reflection was a reaction to a shock: the unexpected collapse of Newtonian physics at the beginning of the twentieth century.In the nineteenth century, a common joke was that Isaac New‐ ton had been not only one of the most intelligent men in human history, but also the luckiest, because there is only one collection of fundamental natural laws, and Newton had had the good fortune to be the one to discover them. Today we can’t help but smile at this notion, because it reveals a serious epistemological error on the part of nineteenth-​­century thinkers: the idea that good scientific theories are definitive and remain valid until the end of time.The twentieth century swept away this facile illusion. Highly accurate experiments showed that Newton’s theory is mistaken in a very precise sense. The planet Mercury, for example, does not move following Newtonian laws. Albert Einstein, Werner Heisenberg, and their colleagues discovered a new collection of fundamental laws — general relativity and quantum mechanics — that replace Newton’s laws and work well in the domains where Newton’s theory breaks down, such as accounting for Mercury’s orbit, or the behavior of electrons in atoms.Once burned, twice shy: few people today believe that we now possess definitive scientific laws. It is generally expected that one day Einstein’s and Heisenberg’s laws will show their limits as well, and will be replaced by better ones. In fact, the limits of Einstein’s and Heisenberg’s theories are already emerging. There are subtle incompatibilities between Einstein’s theory and Heisenberg’s, which make it unreasonable to suppose that we have identified the final, definitive laws of the universe. As a result, research goes on. My own work in theoretical physics is precisely the search for laws that might combine these two theories.Now, the essential point here is that Einstein’s and Heisenberg’s theories are not minor corrections to Newton’s. The differences go far beyond an adjusted equation, a tidying up, the addition or replacement of a formula. Rather, these new theories constitute a radical rethinking of the world. Newton saw the world as a vast empty space where “particles” move about like pebbles. Einstein understands that such supposedly empty space is in fact a kind of storm-​­tossed sea. It can fold in on itself, curve, and even (in the case of black holes) shatter. No one had seriously contemplated this possibility before. For his part, Heisenberg understands that Newton’s “particles” are not particles at all but bizarre hybrids of particles and waves that run over Faraday lines’ webs. In short, over the course of the twentieth century, the world was found to be profoundly different from the way Newton imagined it.On the one hand, these discoveries confirmed the cognitive strength of science. Like Newton’s and Maxwell’s theories in their day, these discoveries led quickly to an astonishing development of new technologies that once again radically changed human society. The insights of Faraday and Maxwell brought about radio and communications technology. Einstein’s and Heisenberg’s led to computers, information technology, atomic energy, and countless other technological advances that have changed our lives.But on the other hand, the realization that Newton’s picture of the world was false is disconcerting. After Newton, we thought we had understood once and for all the basic structure and functioning of the physical world. We were wrong. The theories of Einstein and Heisenberg themselves will one day likely be proved false. Does this mean that the understanding of the world offered by science cannot be trusted, not even for our best science? What, then, do we really know about the world? What does science teach us about the world?This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/hitting-the-books-anaximander-carlo-rovelli-riverhead-books-143052774.html?src=rss

The abrupt collapse of Silicon Valley Bank has affected the value of the world’s fifth-largest cryptocurrency, increasing fears of a possible ripple effect among Web3 companies. On Saturday morning, USD Coin fell to a record low of $0.87 after Circle, the company that manages the stablecoin, disclosed that $3.3 billion of the approximately $10 billion cash reserves backing USDC was held by SVB.As The Guardian notes, the drop is unprecedented. As a stablecoin, the value of USDC is supposed to remain stable thanks to its peg to the US dollar. According to data from CoinGecko, USDC’s previous all-time low was about $0.97 in 2018. More recently, the currency fell to $0.99 following the collapse of Three Arrows Capital. As of the writing of this article, USDC is valued at approximately $0.95 cents.

Another day, another scrub for the world’s first 3D-printed rocket. On Saturday, Relativity Space’s Terran 1 rocket failed to get off the ground after two launch attempts. It was a day of false starts. Following Wednesday's scrub, Relativity Space initially set its sights on a 1:45PM ET launch, a window the company later pushed back to 2:45PM ET due to "upper-level wind violations."After the countdown restarted, all was going well until a boat entered the spacecraft’s range. Once the countdown resumed again, the company called a launch abort at t-minus zero after the spacecraft’s nine first-stage Aeon engines roared to life and then cut off almost immediately after. After blaming a "launch commit criteria violation" for the 2:45PM abort, Relativity Space said it would attempt to fly the rocket again at 4PM ET, just as its launch window was about to close for the day. Unfortunately, the second time around Relativity called an abort before Terran 1 could even ignite its engines. As of the writing of this article, the company did not provide a reason for the decision, but said the rocket was "healthy" and that it would have more information to share soon.Provided it can get off the ground, Terran 1 would represent a significant milestone for spaceflight technology. While the rocket isn’t completely 3D-printed, 85 percent of its mass is – including its entire structure and 10 first- and second-stage engines. In theory, Terran 1’s manufacturing process produces a spacecraft that is cheaper and faster to make. Relativity Space claims it can build a Terran 1 rocket in about 60 days, and that exclusive missions will cost around $12 million to complete. With future spacecraft, the company hopes to make around 90 percent of the vehicle from 3D-printed parts.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/relativity-spaces-3d-printed-rocket-fails-to-lift-off-during-second-launch-attempt-211805294.html?src=rss

When E3 returns this June to the Los Angeles Convention Center for the first time since the start of the pandemic, Microsoft won’t be on the show floor. “We can’t wait to host our Xbox Games Showcase on June 11th and will share more details later,” an Xbox spokesperson told IGN on Friday (via The Verge). “We also look forward to co-streaming our event as part of E3 Digital and will not be on the E3 show floor.”Questions about Microsoft’s E3 2023 presence began circulating at the start of February when IGN reported that the company, alongside Sony and Nintendo, would not have a presence on the show floor. There was some hope Microsoft would still be at the event after the company announced it would stream a dedicated Starfield showcase on June 11th, the same day E3’s “Digital Week” kicks off. Microsoft’s decision to skip the in-person portion of E3 comes after Nintendo said last month it would not be at the event at all. Sony has yet to state whether it will be at E3 2023.The absence of even one console manufacturer from the E3 show floor is a significant blow to the Entertainment Software Association. The show has lost much of its shine since 2019, when the ESA inadvertently leaked the contact information of more than 2,000 journalists, analysts and content creators. The pandemic and the emergence of competing events like Summer Game Fest haven’t allowed E3 to regain its footing.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-confirms-it-wont-be-on-the-e3-2023-show-floor-182214550.html?src=rss

With spring around the corner, now is a good time as any to start thinking about improving your fitness. A smartwatch like the Apple Watch Series 8 can make it easier to stick to your goals. Good thing the 41mm model is back on sale. After an 18 percent discount, the Midnight and Product Red colorways are down to $329 on Amazon.That’s $70 less than the Series 8’s usual $399 starting price, and the best discount Engadget has seen on the smartwatch since it was on sale at the start of February. Unfortunately, Amazon only has 41mm model stock, and the Silver and Starlight colorways aren’t included in the sale.Despite being a modest upgrade from its predecessor, the Series 8 is one of the best smartwatches you can buy at the moment. It’s fast and features a large always-on display. It also comes with robust app support and integration with Apple’s broader ecosystem. New to the Series 8 is a crash detection feature that can alert first responders in an emergency. It also features a temperature sensor that can assist with ovulation tracking.That said, the Series 8 isn’t for everyone. You can’t use the wearable without an iPhone, making it a non-starter for Android users. It’s also worth noting the second-generation SE offers many of the same core features of the Series 8 for less money.Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-apple-watch-series-8-is-back-on-sale-for-329-164734113.html?src=rss

I Think You Should Leave With Tim Robinson finally has a premiere date, almost a year after Netflix announced that the show was coming back for a third season. The streaming giant has announced on Twitter that the six-episode comedy sketch series will be available for streaming on May 30th. The show was created by Saturday Night Live alum Tim Robinson, who also stars in it, and SNL producer Zach Kanin. They're not the only comics connected to the show, though: It's co-produced by The Lonely Island, the comedy trio composed of Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone.Each episode of I Think You Should Leave is only around 16 to 18 minutes long, so you can finish a season in one sitting. There are multiple sketches per episode, mostly revolving around somebody doing something absurd in an everyday professional or social situation, as well as some pretty bizarre and over-the-top bits. Really, some parts are so weird, you don't know whether to cringe or laugh.The show's first season premiered on Netflix back in 2019, while the second season arrived in 2021. Alex Bach, one of the show's producers, previously told Variety that Robinson and Kanin write every single script and that they "wait for the sketches to come to them" so there have been "extended periods of time between seasons."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/netflix-i-think-you-should-leave-season-3-may-30th-130212884.html?src=rss

The workers at eBay-owned TCGplayer, a marketplace for trading card games such as Magic: The Gathering, have voted in favor of joining a union. eBay purchased the company in 2022 for a deal valued up to $295 million, but the website continues to operate independently. Now that all 272 non-supervisory workers at the company's authentication center in Syracuse, New York are represented by the Communications Workers of America, they've become the first group to form a union at eBay in the US.The organized workers, who are responsible for ensuring the accuracy and quality of all shipments in and out of the company, filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board back in January. They wanted to unionize in a bid to have a voice within the company, and they were also seeking pay raises to account for inflation, a fair and comprehensive sick leave and absence policy, as well as inclusive career advancement opportunities, fair and transparent hiring practices, and clearly defined job roles and expectations.In the CWA's announcement of the union victory, it said TCGPlayer workers first tried to unionize in 2020. However, the company hired a union buster to "spread disinformation," and the workers ultimately withdrew their petition for a vote due to the pandemic. While they were successful this time around, their employer reportedly tried to get them to back down again. CWA filed an unfair labor practice charge against the company in January for illegally surveilling union activity. It filed more charges just last week, accusing the company of threatening workers for supporting unionization efforts and forcing them to attend anti-union meetings, as well. The unionized workers are still waiting for the NLRB's decision on those complaints.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tcgplayer-workers-form-ebay-first-union-095615128.html?src=rss

The sudden collapse of Silicon Valley Bank has put more than a quarter of Roku’s cash at risk. The streaming company had $487 million, representing 26 percent of its cash, in Silicon Valley Bank, the company disclosed in an SEC filing Friday.The future of those funds is now uncertain as federal regulators have taken over the financial institution amid the second-largest bank collapse in United States history. “The Company’s deposits with SVB are largely uninsured,” Roku wrote in its filing. “At this time, the Company does not know to what extent the Company will be able to recover its cash on deposit at SVB.”In a statement on Friday, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said that it will pay “uninsured depositors an advance dividend within the next week” and that “uninsured depositors will receive a receivership certificate for the remaining amount of their uninsured funds.” But there’s still a lot of uncertainty about how long that process will take to play out, and how much of their uninsured funds companies will ultimately be able to recover.However, Roku’s situation is, at least for now, a lot less dire than many of the smaller startups that relied on Silicon Valley Bank, some of which are now unable to pay their bills or their employees.In its SEC filing, the company noted that it has more than a billion dollars in cash at multiple other banks. “As stated in our 8-K, we expect that Roku’s ability to operate and meet its contractual obligations will not be impacted and we continue to have access to $1.4 billion in cash and cash equivalents which are distributed across multiple, large financial institutions,” a Roku spokesperson said in a statement to Engadget.While Silicon Valley Bank was previously a little-known institution, it was known for its close relationships with startup founders, who made up much of its clientele. But, as Bloomberg’s Matt Levine explains, the bank’s reliance on fixed-rate assets, also made it uniquely exposed to the conditions that ultimately led to a run on the bank Thursday after prominent venture capitalists urged founders to move their money out of the institution.Roku is not the only major public tech company now facing losses as a result of the bank’s collapse. Roblox had about 5 percent of its $3 billion in cash, at Silicon Valley Bank, the company told the SEC. “Regardless of the ultimate outcome and the timing, this situation will have no impact on the day to day operations of the Company,” it wrote in a filing. Video service Vimeo also disclosed that it had “less than $250,000” with the bank.Updated to clarify that Roblox had 5 percent of its $3 billion in cash balances at SVB.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/roku-says-it-could-lose-25-percent-of-its-cash-after-silicon-valley-bank-fails-000615481.html?src=rss

TikTok's efforts to address US data privacy fears may have holes. A self-proclaimed whistleblower talking to The Washington Post says the social network's plan to protect American users' data, Project Texas, has major flaws. The former Trust and Safety team member claims the $1.5 billion initiative will still let TikTok connect to parent company ByteDance's Toutiao, a well-known Chinese news app. That link could theoretically allow China to access US data. A truly secure approach would require a "complete re-engineering" of the service's infrastructure, the ex-employee says.The staffer also claims to have met with the offices of Sen. Chuck Grassley and Sen. Mark Warner to discuss the alleged weaknesses. Representatives for both senators acknowledged that meetings had taken place.We've asked TikTok for comment. Unnamed people at the social media giant tell The Post that the claims are "unfounded," and the Toutiao code only amounts to a "naming convention and technical relic" that doesn't tie the app to China. They also believe that the relocation of US data to Oracle servers undercuts the assertion that Toutiao could affect the US business. The whistleblower was only employed for half a year, and he supposedly left months before Project Texas was finalized. He may not know the full picture, in other words.TikTok has repeatedly denied cooperating with the Chinese government, and there's no publicly known evidence to that effect. Douyin, the equivalent app available inside China, has completely separate content.The timing of the purported revelation isn't good for TikTok. House and Senate bills (Warner co-sponsored the latter bill) could lead to nationwide TikTok bans if they become law, and CEO Shou Zi Chew is set to testify before the House on March 23rd to address security and child safety concerns. Politicians are worried the Chinese government may use TikTok to collect data on Americans and spread propaganda, and the report doesn't help ease those fears.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tiktok-whistleblower-claims-us-data-privacy-efforts-are-seriously-flawed-211255093.html?src=rss

After three years, Lego’s Super Mario lineup is still going strong, finally adding Princess Peach to its roster of starter sets last summer and continuing to release new expansions ever since. The Fliprus Snow Adventure Expansion Set, available now, is a blast from the more-recent past, showcasing an enemy from 2012’s New Super Mario Bros. U. With the International Toy Fair being on ice for the past few years, chances to check these sets in person out have been few and far between, but we got to take a peep at them at a recent industry event in New York.The Princess Peach Starter Set was announced one year ago on March 10th (aka Mario Day or “Mar10 Day”), and it’s been available since August. The $60 set is the same price as the Mario and Luigi starter sets, though you’re likely to see those on sale more often since they’re older. Aside from the Bluetooth-connected Peach figurine, the pack also comes with Lemmy Koopa and a yellow Toad. Also unique to the set is a flower-adorned swing — when the Peach figure is placed in the seat and pushed, she collects “coins” every time she passes over the sensor.Like the Mario and Luigi figures, Peach has LED eyes and a small screen in her chest. The eyes are very expressive, if not a little uncanny valley, but no worse than we’re getting in the upcoming Super Mario Bros. movie. The bottom of her dress comes off so you can plug her into other sets like the Cat Peach Suit (unfortunately not included in this display, but available for $80 at plenty of retailers).Kris NaudusThe Fliprus set is the newest of the bunch and it’s a bit more affordable at $65, since it doesn’t include any new costumes for Peach, Mario or Luigi. It’s compatible with all three starter characters, though the icy-blue palette is probably best suited visually with the Princess. There’s a little catapult behind the Fliprus that launches an “ice” boulder, and even a Cooligan (also from New Super Mario Bros. U).Peach is already on sale at Amazon for a nice price of $45, though members of Lego’s VIP program can earn double points on Super Mario purchases at the Lego site now through March 12th.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/peach-is-a-solid-addition-to-legos-super-mario-lineup-203020823.html?src=rss

Elon Musk is reportedly attempting to build a company town where Tesla, Boring and SpaceX workers might live. The mooted town, which is around 35 miles away from Austin, Texas, would likely be called Snailbrook, The Wall Street Journal reports.The publication unearthed documents that lay out plans to build 110 homes next to Boring and SpaceX facilities in Bastrop County. The report states that Boring employees were invited last year to apply for housing, with rents expected to start at around $800 per month for a two- or three-bedroom home. The median rent in nearby Bastrop is around $2,200 a month, so the workers would be paying below-market rates.Still, employees who lived in the town would be further beholden to Musk. In addition to receiving a salary from his businesses, they'd be paying him rent. They'd have 30 days to leave the home were they to get fired from Boring or otherwise depart from the company, the report notes. Executives have discussed inviting workers from Musk's other companies to apply for Snailbrook housing too — Tesla's Texas Gigafactory is around a 30-minute drive from the town of Bastrop.Plans for the town include converting a home into a Montessori school for up to 15 students, as well as possible incorporation. The latter would allow Musk to set certain rules for the municipality, which would also apparently need to hold a mayoral election.Entities in Musk's orbit have snapped up at least 3,500 acres of land in the Austin area over the last few years, records are said to show. Last year, Musk, his architectural designer, former girlfriend Grimes and Ye (aka Kanye West) reportedly discussed ideas for the town several times last year, though nothing was finalized from those talks.Meanwhile, nearby residents have raised concerns about the environmental impact of the projects. As the Journal notes, Boring has applied to discharge up to 140,000 gallons of industrial wastewater a day into the Colorado River. Worries have also been expressed about how testing of Boring's tunneling machines may affect groundwater and wells.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/elon-musk-reportedly-wants-to-be-his-employees-landlord-194916936.html?src=rss

Amazon’s evolution from omnipresent shopping platform to omnipresent surveillance platform continues apace, having drastically expanded its line of Ring security camera systems in recent years. Nowadays, the company offers video doorbells, exterior cameras, interior cameras, flying cameras, lighting systems, alarm systems and vehicle security packages — the lattermost of which is why we are here today. I put a Ring camera in my car.That’s not to say that the Ring Car Camera is a poorly designed or manufactured product — far from it! The $250 Car Camera features dual-facing (pointing both at the road and into the cabin), IR-capable 1080p imaging sensors, optional LTE connectivity, Alexa-driven voice commands, and remote vehicle monitoring through the Ring mobile app.In fact, I was surprised by how quickly and easily I was able to get the system set up. The camera assembly itself is a single piece that wedges into the bottom edge of the windshield-dashboard horizon and sticks to the glass with a high-strength adhesive. It’s not strong enough to keep a car thief from yanking it out but it’ll keep the camera in place as you travel over and through America’s crumbling highway infrastructure system. One sticking point I could see arising is the camera needs access to a home wi-fi connection during the setup/app pairing sequence. I was able to pull around my driveway until I was at the exterior of the wall from my house’s router but if you live in an apartment complex, things might get dicey.“If you are unable to connect to your home Wi-Fi during setup, you can set up the device using LTE through Ring Protect Go,” a Ring rep told Engadget. “Just skip the ‘set up with Wi-Fi’ step in the set up flow and follow the on-screen instructions. Each new customer will have a free 30-day trial of Ring Protect Go, which provides LTE connectivity.”I was not at all a fan of the camera’s wired power connection to the vehicle’s OBDII port, which also monitors the battery’s voltage so that the camera can turn itself off before fully exhausting the power supply. For one, that physical requirement limits the vehicles this system can work with to only those with OBD ports located to the left of the steering column. For another, I now have a 6-foot long cable snaking its way across my previously immaculate dashboard, draping down my driver side door panel to connect with the OBDII port just over my brake pedal. Even with the included 3M-adhesive cable stays (which, I might add, were immediately foiled by the tiny crags and crinkles of my dashboard’s surface), I can hear the cord shifting and sliding around during turns, I’m constantly aware of it when swinging my legs out of the car lest I accidentally catch it on a toe and tear the connector from the port. Which I did the very first time I drove after installation — and then the next as well.Andrew Tarantola / EngadgetThe other issue is that not every car has an OBDII port located in the passenger cabin and for those vehicles the Ring Car Cam will not work. Neither will any of the vehicles on this rather expansive list of incompatible models for one reason or another — some cut power to the port when the key is removed and Teslas, for their part, don’t even use the OBDII interface. What’s more, if your dongle is already in use, whether for an insurance tracker or an interlock device, you’re SOL with using the Car Cam. Same if you buy it in a jurisdiction that limits the use of dashcams — except then you also go to jail.Andrew Tarantola / EngadgetAt 1080p, the Car Cam’s video quality is just fine for what the average driver would presumably be using it for and the interior-facing IR sensor will ensure that you get a good look at whoever’s rifling through your center console at three in the morning. But, since it’s mounted on the dash itself and not suspended from the rearview mirror like the commercial-grade ones you find in Ubers and Lyfts, you won’t get much of a view of the interior below chest level. Accessing those videos takes a hot second as well, as the clips aren’t transferred directly to your phone (if using Protect Go). They have to first be uploaded and processed in the cloud before you can watch them.The camera offers a variety of recording options. You can set it for continuous use, as you would a traditional dash cam — and if you don’t want it recording you, the unit thankfully incorporates a physical lens cover for the interior-facing camera. You can also use it specifically for traffic stops with the verbal “Alexa, Record” command, in which the system will record uninterrupted for 20 minutes even after the ignition has been turned off. Finally, there’s Parking Protection mode that activates the camera if it detects motion or an impact when the vehicle is parked.Andrew Tarantola / EngadgetAll of the recorded data — up to seven hours worth — is saved locally on the device and made available once the camera is back in range of a Wi-Fi connection. Again, that’s not great if a thief or cop rips out the unit before the information can be uploaded. Also, there’s no loop recording so if something important happens when you’ve got 6 hours and 56 minutes of video already saved, you better hope the matter resolves itself in under 4 minutes, otherwise the recording will simply be cut off.To get around that, you’ll need cloud access and to spend $6 a month (or $60 a year) for the Ring Protect Go subscription service for it. In addition, Protect Go unlocks access to the camera’s onboard LTE connection enabling two-way view and talk, notifications and GPS tracking from anywhere with cell service. Without that subscription access, those features are only available over Wi-Fi.Andrew Tarantola / EngadgetRing’s business decisions have made very clear that it is on the side of the police — even if the homeowners themselves aren’t — freely volunteering data to, and often partnering with, law enforcement agencies around the country. When asked whether safeguards have been put in place to prevent law enforcement from surreptitiously spying through the Car Cam, Ring’s spokesperson noted, “Ring builds products and services for our customers, not law enforcement. When parked, Car Cam only records when the smart sensors detect an incident (such as a collision or broken window) or if the device owner or Shared User initiates Live View.” What happens to that data once it's off the device and in Ring’s cloud servers was not made clear.Even if I could put aside Ring’s cozy relationship with police, $250 for what the Car Cam offers is a big ask, especially with that $6-a-month cherry on top to get anything to work outside of your driveway. Granted, if you’re already part of the Ring ecosystem, you like what it offers and want to extend that platform to your vehicle, absolutely give the Car Cam a shot. But if you’re in the market for a standalone vehicle security system, there are plenty of options available to choose from that offer many of the same features as the Ring at a fraction of the price and without the baggage — or that blasted power cable.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ring-car-cam-hands-on-amazons-video-security-ecosystem-hits-americas-highways-190033606.html?src=rss

March Madness will return in just a few days, as the First Four play-in games start on March 14th. There will be even more ways to take in the tournament this year. For the first time, there will be a multiview streaming option on the web. You’ll be able to watch up to four games simultaneously.Fans still have the option to stream two games at the same time on Android TV, Apple TV, Fire TV, Google TV and Xbox One. Fans apparently only wanted two simultaneous streams on connected devices. There’s a picture-in-picture option on mobile, tablet and desktop as well.The web multiview option should help make sure that you don’t miss any of the action in the early rounds — especially if you happen to be working at the time. If your manager happens to approach while you're watching March Madness games at the office, you'll be able to smack the Boss Button to hide your tracks. This time around, hitting the button will bring up an AI chatbot interface called BossGPT. Maybe the NCAA isn't entirely behind the times after all.Games will stream in 1080p resolution with 5.1 surround sound. The NCAA, CBS Sports and Warner Bros. Discovery Sports (which manage the NCAA March Madness Live apps) say they've optimized the video player for improved performance across a swathe of devices, including older ones.If you happen to be on the road while your team’s playing, you’ll have another way to stay up to date. The NCAA March Madness Live app will offer live game audio through CarPlay and Android Auto. This is powered by Westwood One national feeds. A Spanish audio option will be available for the Final Four and championship games.Moreover, the app will harness the Live Activities feature on iOS 16. You can receive interactive notifications and have a faster way to start enjoying live games from your iPhone lock screen. You'll have to tap an icon on the app's scores page to activate Live Activities.You'll be able to watch any game that airs on CBS on the web and mobile for free through Paramount+ without having to log in. However, you will need to sign in to stream games being broadcast on TBS, TNT and truTV digital platforms.Along with having access to every game from the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship, there will be some coverage from the concurrent women's tournament on the NCAA March Madness Live app and the NCAA website. That includes "game updates, legends of the game and greatest Final Four moments," according to a press release. You'll need to hop over to ESPN to watch games from the women's tournament, though.Meanwhile, the Fast Break feature, which provides live whip-around coverage during the first two rounds of March Madness, will be available on more devices, including set-top boxes, consoles and smart TVs. It was previously only on mobile and the web. Fast Break offers highlights, real-time analysis and breakdowns of key stats.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/march-madness-live-brings-multiview-streaming-to-the-web-for-up-to-four-games-160010247.html?src=rss

For the past few years, Nintendo has celebrated March 10 as Mario Day, a celebration of the company's beloved hero, plumber, kart racer, boxing ref, doctor and lead mascot. (Mar10 = Mario, you see.) This is mostly just a clever marketing campaign, but for those looking to pad their Switch libraries, Nintendo is using the "event" to discount several games starring the little mustachioed man, with hits like Super Mario Odyssey and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on sale for $40. We have a full breakdown of the sale below. And beyond Mario matters, our latest deals roundup includes Amazon's Fire TV 4K Max on sale for an all-time low of $35, the Apple Pencil down to $89, a $50 discount on Bose's QuietComfort Earbuds II and more. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.Mario Day Nintendo Switch game saleAs part of its annual Mario Day celebration, Nintendo has dropped a number of Switch games starring (or at least tangentially related to) its most famous mascot down to $40. The deals are available at multiple retailers, including Amazon, Walmart, Target, GameStop, Best Buy and Nintendo's own online store. With most of the games on sale, these deals don't represent an all-time low, but steeper discounts on first-party Switch games are still relatively rare.Here's a list of the games included in the sale:

Audi is the latest automaker to dip into upscale e-bikes. The brand has introduced an electric mountain bike that takes design cues from its RS Q E-tron E2 electric Dakar Rally racer while promising high-end specs. Built by Italy's Fantic (Autoblognotes it's based on the XMF 1.7), it combines a 250W Brose motor (similar to that for Harley-Davidson's Serial 1 Bash/Mtn) with Fantic's 720Wh battery to deliver a sizeable 66ft/lb of torque.While Audi isn't providing the top speed or range at this stage, the power pack is decidedly larger than the Bash/Mtn's 529Wh unit, which provides between 30 to 95 miles of range depending on conditions. Like other Brose-powered e-bikes, Audi's model has four levels of electric assistance ranging from a mild Eco through to the all-out Boost mode.The aluminum frame design uses decidedly different parts than the Porsche eBike lineup beyond the motor and battery. You can expect Braking IN.CA.S disc brakes, an Öhlins fork and shock, and Sram components for the chain, shifters and derailleur. You'll also find Italian touches like the Vittoria tires and Sella Italia saddle. The Öhlins gear offers 7.1in of suspension travel versus the XMF 1.7's 6.7in.The Audi electric mountain bike comes in three sizes, but you'll need to act quickly and carry a large bank balance. The bike is only available as a "limited run" model priced at £8,499 (about $10,200) in the UK. That puts it roughly on par with Porsche's $10,700 eBike Sport, and it's priced well above the $3,999 Bash/Mtn, the GMC Hummer e-bike (also $3,999) and the more powerful $5,499 Jeep e-bike. You're paying for the big battery, the other well-known parts and Audi's design. If you can afford one of Audi's higher-end EVs, though, its two-wheeler is likely within reach.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audis-electric-mountain-bike-costs-over-10000-143547822.html?src=rss

This week, we chat with Senior Editor Andrew Tarantola about Neuralink, Elon Musk’s brain computer interface (BCI) company. The FDA reportedly denied approval for human trials last week—Andy explains why that happened, as well as what BCIs could mean for humans in the future. Also, Cherlynn dives into the accessibility news from Microsoft’s Ability Summit.Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!Subscribe!

Mar10 Day is here and to celebrate gaming's favorite mustachioed plumber, Nintendo is offering a Switch bundled with a free Mario game for $300. The Mario Choose One bundle comes with the Switch system, the Switch dock, Joy Cons in Mario Red and a full-game download of either Super Mario Odyssey, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe or New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe. The deal went live today at Nintendo, Amazon, Walmart, Target and Best Buy.Nintendo's super-popular gaming console doesn't go on sale often, and while this isn't a discount on the actual device itself, the inclusion of a free game means you'll save up to $60 — assuming you were thinking about grabbing one of the included titles. You'll also get stickers for the upcoming The Super Mario Bros. Movie which will feature the voices of Chris Pratt as Mario, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi and Jack Black as Bowser.In anticipation of Mario Day, both Nintendo and Amazon began offering discounts earlier this week on a handful of Mario titles including Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for 35 percent off, Super Mario Odyssey for 33 percent off and Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope for half price.If you like the idea of pairing up real live RC cars with in-game Mario Kart action, you may want to bring home the augmented reality set Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit. It's down to $60 from its usual $100 price tag — since you just get one car with each set, maybe now's a good time to grab two for better in-home competition. Just note that the discounts on the above titles are set to expire after March 11th, so if one of them is on your list, you may want to grab it now.Deals on a few other Switch games will stick around longer, with sale prices extending through March 23rd. Both Nintendo and on Amazon are offering discounts on Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Mario Party Superstars and Luigi's Mansion 3.Shop Mario Day video game sales at AmazonFollow @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/nintendos-mario-day-switch-bundle-comes-with-a-free-game-125941096.html?src=rss

Around this time next year, you may have to make a decision whether or not to buy a new type of HomePod that comes with a display. According to notable Apple analyst Ming-Chu Kuo, the tech giant might unveil the next-gen HomePod with a 7-inch panel within the first half of 2024. The display, which will be manufactured by Chinese supplier Tianma, "could enable tighter integration with Apple's other hardware products." That signifies a "significant shift in the company's smart home strategy," he said.Kuo's prediction echoes earlier reports by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman that the company is developing a kitchen accessory that combines an iPad with a speaker. Just this January, Gurman reiterated that Apple is working on a slate of smart home devices in a bid to compete with Amazon's and Google's offerings. One of the products it's reportedly developing is a low-end iPad that can control various IoT devices, such as thermostats and lights, and can be used for video chats. It remains to be seen whether that's also the display that would come integrated with the HomePod.By launching a speaker with a smart display, Apple will finally be able to offer a direct competitor to Google's Nest Hub and Amazon's Echo Show models. Apple is lagging behind its peers when it comes to smart home devices — its smart speaker, for instance, came years later than the Echo. Bloomberg said way back in 2017 that it's because Apple's executives had a hard time figuring out where it would fit into its product ecosystem.Since Apple is clearly still in the midst of catching up with its competitors in the space, users can either choose between the HomePod mini and the newer 2nd-gen HomePod that was launched in January for now. The new model has a touch panel at the top, but it has limited capabilities that include adjusting the volume, skipping tracks and summoning Siri.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-rumored-homepod-7-inch-screen-looks-set-to-arrive-2024-123535068.html?src=rss

Who’d have thought anyone would use Bing in 2023? By choice! Bing has crossed 100 million daily active users a month after the launch of its chatbot AI, according to Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft's VP for Modern Life, Search and Devices. He said the company is fully aware it's still just "a small, low, single-digit share player," but hey, there was a time when Bing wasn't even a part of the conversation.Around a third of Bing's daily preview users have been using its chat AI for their queries. On average, Microsoft is seeing three chats per session, with over 45 million chats since it introduced the new Bing. Microsoft took advantage of packaging advanced chatbot AI into its search engine, but dominant player Google is rushing to catch up: It introduced its own chat AI, Bard, last month. And as you’ll see from today’s newsletter, it’s been a busy 24 hours for OpenAI and chatbots.– Mat SmithThe Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.The biggest stories you might have missedThe best mirrorless cameras for 2023Netflix now lets you customize subtitles on your TV ‘Star Trek: Picard’ offers some moments of quality The AI Seinfeld show 'Nothing, Forever' is back on Twitch Raspberry Pi adds a camera for machine visionIt offers distortion-free capture of sports and fast-moving industrial processes.Raspberry PiRaspberry Pi is offering a 1.6-megapixel global shutter camera module, providing a platform for machine vision, hobbyist shooting and more. Global shutter sensors with no skew or distortion have been promised as the future of cameras for years now, but so far only a handful of products have appeared. Like other global shutter sensors, the new Raspberry Pi sensor pairs each pixel with an analog storage element, so light signals can be captured and stored by all pixels simultaneously. The Global Shutter Camera is now available to purchase for $50.Continue reading. Grammarly adds AI-powered writing tools to its proofreading appGrammarlyGo generates text based on contextual cues.Grammarly is also getting into generative AI, with GrammarlyGo. Its auto-composition features help the proofreading software keep up with companies adding the ChatGPT API (or different generative AI backends) to their products. The feature can use context like voice, style, purpose and where you’re writing to determine its approach. So it can spit out email replies, shorten passages, rewrite them for tone and clarity, riff or choose from one-click prompts. The company says it will soon add the AI writing feature to its Premium, Business, Education and Developer plans – and free plans “in select markets.” The GrammarlyGo beta will begin rolling out in April.Continue reading.With the help of OpenAI, Discord is adding conversation summariesAnd a chatbot.Discord is partnering with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT. There’s a chatbot, obviously, but the company also plans to use machine learning in a handful of more novel and potentially useful ways. Starting next week, a public experiment will augment Clyde, the built-in bot Discord employs to notify users of errors and respond to their commands with conversational capabilities. The most interesting feature uses OpenAI tech to offer conversation summaries. When it arrives in a few servers next week, the feature will create an overview of chats you may have missed while away.Continue reading.Roku's first self-made TVs hit Best Buy stores todayThey range from basic sets to more advanced TVs with QLED and Dolby Vision.Earlier this year, Roku announced its own TVs; now you can pick one up at Best Buy. Roku Select sets range from 24 to 75 inches, and Roku Plus televisions come in 55-, 65-, and 75-inch sizes, all powered by its streaming platform. The Select TVs will start at $149 (with a potential drop to $120 this summer), and the Plus models below $500 – similar to TCL and other partners. You’ll probably be more interested in the Roku Plus series, which has QLED panels, local backlight dimming for better contrast, 4K Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos-approved speakers.Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-microsofts-bing-has-over-100-million-daily-active-users-thanks-to-its-chatbot-121513875.html?src=rss

Researchers understand the structure of brains and have mapped them out in some detail, but they still don't know exactly how they process data — for that, a detailed "circuit map" of the brain is needed.Now, scientists have created just such a map for the most advanced creature yet: a fruit fly larva. Called a connectome, it diagrams the insect's 3016 neurons and 548,000 synapses, Neuroscience News has reported. The map will help researchers study better understand how the brains of both insects and animals control behavior, learning, body functions and more. The work may even inspired improved AI networks."Up until this point, we’ve not seen the structure of any brain except of the roundworm C. elegans, the tadpole of a low chordate, and the larva of a marine annelid, all of which have several hundred neurons," said professor Marta Zlatic from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. "This means neuroscience has been mostly operating without circuit maps. Without knowing the structure of a brain, we’re guessing on the way computations are implemented. But now, we can start gaining a mechanistic understanding of how the brain works."To build the map, the team scanned thousands of slices from the larva's brain with an electron microscope, then integrated those into a detailed map, annotating all the neural connections. From there, they used computational tools to identify likely information flow pathways and types of "circuit motifs" in the insect's brain. They even noticed that some structural features closely resembled state-of-the-art deep learning architecture.Scientists have made detailed maps of the brain of a fruit fly, which is far more complex than a fruit fly larva. However, these maps don't include all the detailed connections required to have a true circuit map of their brains.As a next step, the team will investigate the structures used for behavioural functions like learning and decision making, and examine connectome activity while the insect does specific activities. And while a fruit fly larva is a simple insect, the researchers expect to see similar patterns in other animals. "In the same way that genes are conserved across the animal kingdom, I think that the basic circuit motifs that implement these fundamental behaviours will also be conserved," said Zlatic.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/scientists-create-the-most-complex-map-yet-of-an-insect-brains-wiring-085600210.html?src=rss

I’ve always found the major criticism against Ted Lasso, that it’s too saccharine, to be quite unfair. This is a series in the Frank Capra mold, where the sunny skies and primary colors sweeten the bitter pills being handed out. For every scene of wish fulfillment designed to get you pumping the air, there are meditations on suicide, betrayal and emotional neglect. It’s also funny – enough that Emmy voters gave it Best Comedy two years in a row. Now the third and, far as we know, final season of the show will return to Apple TV on March 15th.It picks up after the summer break, in the run-up to Richmond’s return season in the Premier League (EPL) after winning promotion by the skin of its teeth last time around. It’s been a long while since the second season aired, the longer gap attributed to behind the scenes issues. Jason Sudekis, who became co-showrunner this time around, reportedly ordered a ground-up rewrite after becoming dissatisfied with the original direction this season was taking. On the basis of the first four episodes, which Apple made available ahead of broadcast, our patience has been well-rewarded.Such is the nature of Apple’s restrictive covenant on spoilers that I can’t talk about many specifics about the third season. The first episode is the weakest of the bunch, taking time to re-establish where everyone is after their summer break. (Are placeholder episodes necessary given the nature of streaming these days?) Keeley is finding the rigors of running her own business to be harder than expected, while Rebecca has taken Ted’s pledge of winning the league to heart. Ted, meanwhile, is feeling just as emotionally stunted as he has been previously, moreso after spending a summer with Henry, clearly having not dealt with Nate’s betrayal, or the contrived reasons behind it.As part of Lasso’s evolution from a sitcom to a comedy drama, the runtimes of each episode are now firmly measured in hours, rather than half hours. The narrative has broadened out to cover the personal lives of many of the main footballers, as well as giving Keeley a whole new team to work with. We even get our first proper glimpse of Michelle and Henry back home in Kansas, not to mention the storylines featuring Sam and, of course, the dreaded Nate. That’s a lot for a show to handle, especially one that – similarly unfairly – was described as unfocused and messy in its second season. (Blame must go to Apple for that one, given its late-in-the-day request to add a further two episodes to the order.)There are more threads in the storyline, but Ted Lasso has refocused its episodic structure around the Premier League season. And two parallel narratives come to the fore: Ted’s struggle to access his emotions in a healthy way, and the battle over Nate’s soul. Rupert, played with evil relish by Anthony Head, is the devil lurking on the wonder kid’s shoulder, dangling temptation before him at every turn. I probably can’t talk about [ACTOR] playing [CHARACTER], either, a condensed version of every mono-named prima-donna footballer that is often idolized and hated in equal measure.I was interested to see how the show’s newfound embrace by the footballestablishment would alter its customary lack of grounding in reality. This season sees plenty of filming at some big name stadiums, even down to the retention of the sponsor walls for post-match interviews. But don’t go in expecting a new-found commitment to footballing verisimilitude, with the opposition teams all played by actors with little resemblance to their real-world counterparts. Just remember that this is still Ted’s world, we’re just lucky enough to spend a little time watching it.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ted-lasso-season-three-preview-080056592.html?src=rss

Meta might offer a Twitter alternative like Mastodon in the future, according MoneyControl and Platformer. The social networking giant is reportedly in the early stages of developing an app codenamed P92 that would let users post text-based updates, and it's going to support Mastodon's social networking protocol called ActivityPub. Meta confirmed that a decentralized social network is in the works at the company and told the publications:"We're exploring a standalone decentralized social network for sharing text updates. We believe there's an opportunity for a separate space where creators and public figures can share timely updates about their interests."P92 will carry Instagram's branding and will let users register and log in using their Instagram credentials, according to the sources. It will populate users' profile with their Instagram account details if they use their login on the photo-sharing app. But based on the product brief MoneyControl saw, "data sharing from Instagram to P92 will be minimal, if not none" after the initial sign up.Since the app is decentralized, that means users can set up their own servers and set their own rules for content moderation. A source told MoneyControl that the app will allow users to broadcast their posts to those on other servers, but it remains to be seen whether they will be able to follow each other, as well. If the app supports ActivityPub, though, people will likely expect it to be somewhat interoperable with Mastodon and other decentralized apps that use the protocol.Meta has a list of features it definitely wants the app to have, including tappable links for posts with previews, shareable images and videos, as well as verification badges. The sources didn't say whether the company will be charging a fee for its badges as well, but it's worth noting that Meta launched a $12-a-month paid verification service for Facebook and Instagram back in February. Users will have the ability to leave comments and send private messages, but they might not be available in the first version of the app. And at this point, Meta is unsure whether to give people the ability to reshare posts like they can on Twitter.MoneyControl says it's not quite quite clear whether the company has already started building the app, or if it's still in the planning period of development. By the time it launches, it's bound to have several more competitors to contend with, since Twitter rivals have been popping up to offer users an alternative after Elon Musk took over last year.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-decentralized-twitter-competitor-071316333.html?src=rss

Meta seems to be phasing out one of the key initiatives that helped Reels creators on Facebook and Instagram get paid. The company is “pausing” its Reels Play bonus program, Insiderreports.The program, originally introduced in December of 2021, offered creators monthly payouts if they hit certain view counts and other metrics. The incentives, which promised that top-performing creators could earn as much as $35,000 a month, were part of a larger push by Meta to funnel money into creator monetization programs as it tried to make Reels more competitive with TikTok.But now, Meta says it’s “evolving” the program and will “stop extending new and renewed Reels Play deals for creators on Facebook and for US creators on Instagram at this time,” according to a statement provided to Insider. The company noted that it may still offer bonuses to creators in more “targeted” ways, like if Reels enters a new market.As Insider points out, the company is phasing out the payments as it gets ready to expand advertising on Reels, which would enable more traditional revenue sharing arrangements for creators. Tom Alison, who heads up the Facebook app at Meta, alluded to the shift earlier this week in a blog post about the company’s priorities. “We’ll continue expanding our ads on Facebook Reels tests to help more creators earn ad revenue for their Reels and grow virtual gifting via Stars on Reels,” he wrote.Though he didn’t give a timeline for when Facebook and instagram users can expect to see these “tests” expand, the fact that the company is now putting the brakes on its bonus program suggests Reels' big ad expansion might not be far off.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-is-pausing-bonus-payouts-for-reels-creators-000040951.html?src=rss

Senators aren't giving up on a bill to safeguard your online data. Hawaii's Brian Schatz and 18 other senators have reintroduced the 2018-era Data Care Act to set higher standards for sensitive info. Companies will need to "reasonably secure" identifying data, including prompt customer notifications for breaches. They also can't use that data in harmful ways, and must ensure third-parties treat any shared data with the same amount of respect.The measure gives the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) the authority to fine companies that violate the rules, including third parties. States could take their own civil actions, but the FTC could step in.The senators largely consist of Democrats, including Big Tech critics like Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar. Independents Bernie Sanders and Angus King also back the potential legislation. The original Data Care Act had the support of 15 Democrats.There's no guarantee the revived Act will succeed. The original bill never came to a vote after its December 2018 introduction. And while Democrats control the Senate in 2023, the Republicans lead the House. If a vote on an equivalent bill is split along partisan lines in the House, it won't reach the President's desk for approval.The conditions may be more favorable this time around, however. President Biden has been eager to rein in Big Tech, with a particular focus on limiting the collection and use of data. Meanwhile, both major parties in Congress are increasingly concerned about data privacy and security. The Data Care Act theoretically satisfies these politicians, if just by shifting more of the responsibility to businesses.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/senators-reintroduce-bill-to-protect-personal-data-online-222057399.html?src=rss

Amazon has reportedly picked up Batman: Caped Crusader, the animated series Warner Bros. developed for HBO Max but scrapped last August to cut costs. Despite also drawing interest from Netflix, Apple and Hulu, the upcoming show will have a home on Amazon Prime.First announced in May 2021, Batman: Caped Crusader sounds like a spiritual successor to Batman: The Animated Series, the beloved 1990s weekday afternoon staple. The upcoming show was created by executive producers JJ Abrams, Matt Reeves and Batman: The Animated Series developer Bruce Timm. In addition, celebrated comic-book writer Ed Brubaker is on the creative team for the 10-episode first season.The Amazon sale was part of Warner Bros. Discovery’s plans to monetize content by selling it to third parties. The studio will now focus on the Batman IP as part of a 10-year DC Comics meta-story spanning film, TV, gaming and animated series. In addition, a sequel to Reeves’s 2022 film The Batman and spin-off series The Penguin on HBO Max are in the works.“We are beyond excited to be working together to bring this character back, to tell engrossing new stories in Gotham City,” Abrams and Reeves said when Batman: Caped Crusader was announced. “The series will be thrilling, cinematic and evocative of Batman’s noir roots, while diving deeper into the psychology of these iconic characters. We cannot wait to share this new world.”This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-scoops-up-batman-caped-crusader-after-hbo-max-cancellation-215511679.html?src=rss

Sensitive information for members of Congress and their staff and family members has been exposed in a data breach, according to House leaders. The FBI was able to purchase leaked information from health insurance marketplace DC Health Link on the dark web, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries wrote in a letter.The data included the names of enrollees' spouses, dependent children, social security numbers and home addresses, according to the letter. "This breach significantly increase the risk that members, staff and their families will experience identity theft, financial crimes and physical threats — already an ongoing concern," it reads.McCarthy and Jeffires said the FBI hadn't yet determined the size and scope of the breach, though they indicated that the impact on "House customers could be extraordinary." They noted that thousands of House members and employees from throughout the country have signed up for health insurance through DC Health Link since 2014.

NBC News has discovered that Pinterest's recommendation algorithms are making it easier for pedophiles to create boards full of images of underage girls. After an initial search, Pinterest will start suggesting related searches that can easily be misused. The images themselves sometimes receive sexual comments.NBC notes that it didn't find child sexual abuse material (CSAM) during its investigation. However, the people creating the creepy boards sometimes had collections containing porn despite Pinterest's ban on that content. The social site also hasn't had direct ways to report attempts to sexualize content featuring minors. While Pinterest’s policies forbid the practice, users have had to rely on ill-fitting reporting categories (such as “nudity or pornography”) and haven’t had the option to report whole boards.Pinterest tells Engadget that it takes this content "very seriously" and is taking multiple actions that could help. It will start rolling out a board reporting option next week, and will soon offer expanded profile reporting tools that include minor-related content. In a response to NBC, spokesperson Crystal Espinosa says the company also plans to bolster its AI moderation (it also uses human moderators) to catch some offenders automatically, and will add new age verification systems.The revelations are significant in part because of Pinterest's aggressive stance toward moderation compared to other platforms — it's one of the few to place outright bans on misinformation. At the same time, the findings underscore shortcomings in the company's reporting tools and recommendation engine. Facebook, Instagram and TikTok all have ways to directly report content involving kids.There's political pressure to act, too. President Biden recently called for Congress and tech giants to improve kids' online safety. The Senate's Judiciary Committee, meanwhile, held a hearing echoing those calls. Pinterest isn't in immediate danger of a regulatory crackdown (it's legal to create these collections), but it's also not guaranteed to avoid scrutiny.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/pinterest-algorithms-are-making-it-easy-for-creeps-to-make-boards-featuring-underage-girls-210216861.html?src=rss

Warner Bros. has reportedly delayed Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice Leagueyet again. Rocksteady’s long-awaited spinoff / sequel to the Batman: Arkham series was most recently slated to launch on May 26th; it’s now coming “later this year.”It was allegedly delayed “to fix bugs and improve aspects of the game that were lagging behind,” although Bloomberg’s source adds that the changes “won’t overhaul many of the core gameplay that had led to the backlash” it received at a February PlayStation event. Fans’ criticisms were directed mainly toward the game’s online requirement and purchasable cosmetic items.The multiplayer shooter stars a group of villains tasked with stopping an out-of-control Justice League, which has fallen under the spell of the supervillain Brainiac. You can switch in the middle of the action between the four playable characters: Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang and King Shark. Unlike Warner Bros.’s most recent superhero game, the lackluster Gotham Knights, the upcoming title is set in the same universe as the Batman: Arkham series, the last standard installment of which launched nearly eight years ago.The game will mark one of the last appearances of Kevin Conroy, the celebrated voice actor who died last year at 66. He will reprise his role of Batman, who appears (but not as a playable character) in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. In addition to voicing the Dark Knight in Batman: The Animated Series, he returned to the part in Rocksteady’s Arkham Asylum, Arkham City and Arkham Knight. (Roger Craig Smith voiced Batman in Arkham Origins and Arkham Origins: Blackgate, which different developers handled under the Warner Bros. Interactive masthead.)When it finally arrives, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will be available for PS5, Xbox Series X / S and PC.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/suicide-squad-kill-the-justice-league-reportedly-delayed-yet-again-202326415.html?src=rss

Pilots have to worry about more than just mid-flight crashes and bad weather — they also risk a collision if they land on the taxiway instead of the runway. Thankfully, they have now have a digital safeguard. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) tellsAxios that 43 major US airports are now using ASDE-X Taxiway Arrival Prediction (ATAP), a software platform that warns air traffic controllers if an aircraft is lining up to land on a taxiway by mistake. An aviator shouldn't endanger lives on the ground simply because they're inexperienced or fatigued.The system relies on standard radar along with other sensors. It also works regardless of aircraft size — it can flag small turboprops and large airliners. ATAP first saw use at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in 2018, and the FAA says it finished software upgrades at compatible airports last September. Some of the airports using the tech include Boston Logan, Chicago O'Hare and New York's JFK.This is more than just a theoretical exercise. The FAA notes ATAP has caught over 50 potential taxiway landings since 2018, and there have been eight alerts so far in 2023. While accidental landings are far less common than crashes (and thus far less deadly), the software may still be helpful even if it prevents chaos from an aircraft disrupting the queue.ATAP's rise comes as aircraft and airports increasingly rely on digital safety systems. Airbus, for instance, recently began testing a pilot assist that can automatically divert flights in emergencies, aid with taxiing and even land if the pilots are incapacitated. Full autonomy is still distant, but there may soon be many safeguards against everything from simple errors to an unconscious crew.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/us-airports-now-have-software-to-prevent-aircraft-from-landing-on-taxiways-by-mistake-173646341.html?src=rss

The small development studio behind mobile standouts Alto’s Adventure and Alto’s Odyssey is teasing its next game. Laya’s Horizon will be a Netflix Games title from indie studio Snowman, known for the satisfyingly addictive gameplay of the Alto series.The brief trailer showcases a game world on a seaside landscape. The scenery could easily be a lower-poly version of Breath of the Wild, as the camera pans back to reveal windmills, hot-air balloons and jagged cliffs. Ultimately, we glimpse a person in a cape or flying suit perched atop the landscape who we can only assume is the playable protagonist.The trailer doesn’t reveal anything about Laya’s Horizon gameplay or its release date. However, a description reads, “A whole new world is just beyond the horizon…” In addition, a representative for Snowman told Engadget, “While we’re not quite ready to share details about the game yet, we can say that it’s an entirely new IP and something we’ve been working on for a long time.”Netflix’s unconventional move into mobile gaming has spawned a quality library of over 40 Android and iOS games, none including ads or microtransactions. The games are all free to download and play for subscribers.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-studio-behind-altos-odyssey-is-making-a-new-game-for-netflix-171611903.html?src=rss

Pour one out for a Clubhouse clone. Reddit will shut down its live audio chats on March 21st. It debuted Reddit Talk less than two years ago in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the company isn't necessarily killing off the feature due to a lack of interest.Reddit still sees audio features as part of its future, but it's putting them on the backburner for now to focus on other priorities. The fact that the provider of the tech that powers Talk is closing shop complicated matters too."There’s significant work we need to do — like making Reddit simpler and building better subreddit infrastructure — before incorporating audio," it wrote in a post. "Our original plan was to maintain Talk while we worked on this. Unfortunately, the 3rd party audio vendor we use for Talk is shutting down its service. In other words, the resources required to keep Talk live during this transition increased substantially."Any discussions that took place after September 1st last year will be available to download starting on March 21st. You'll have until June 1st to snag a copy of the recordings.Reddit doesn't have a timeline for reviving Talk or debuting other audio features. As TechCrunch notes, though, interest in hosting live audio conversations with a public audience seems to have dipped across the board in recent times. Clubhouse exploded in popularity after the onset of the pandemic, sending other prominent tech companies racing to build their own versions.However, Clubhouse's user numbers have reportedly dropped and prominent hires have moved on. Spotify has ended production of some live audio shows. In October, Amazon reportedly laid off dozens of people who were working on its live radio service, AMP.That's not to say this broadcasting format is entirely dead and buried. Discord has expanded Stage Channels to include video. It seems Twitter is trying to jumpstart Spaces as well. The company confirmed this week it's testing updates for Spaces, which may include features such as themed audio stations.Meanwhile, Reddit will kill off another feature on March 21st, when it brings the Happening Now experiment to an end. This feature enabled users to see ongoing Live Chats and Reddit Talks in subreddits they follow. It also shone a spotlight on popular conversations that were taking place across the platform.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/reddit-is-shutting-down-its-clubhouse-clone-on-march-21st-165812937.html?src=rss

It's now much easier for game studios to release their work on the Epic Games Store. Epic has introduced long-awaited self-publishing tools that let anyone release games through its storefront. They'll have to pay $100 per title and meet certain requirements (more on those in a moment), but they won't have to contend with the hand-curated selection of before.Self-published games can't have discriminatory content, porn or illegal material. Titles with online play have to support crossplay across all PC stores, and they must include Epic Games Store achievements if there are achievements in other PC stores. Releases also have to meet a baseline quality level that matches the description customers see, and they'll need (free) age ratings in countries where they're required.As with the Epic Games Store's usual practices, the main draw is the higher cut of revenue. Epic takes a relatively modest 12 percent cut where its main rival, Steam, can take up to 30 percent depending on sales figures. The company also doesn't demand a portion of in-app purchases if they're made using a non-Epic payment system. While it's potentially more lucrative for most developers, it's particularly beneficial for small studios that may want to reach a large audience without giving up a large chunk of their revenue.The self-publish mechanism has taken a long tim to reach this point. Epic first started beta-testing the feature in August 2021 ahead of an expected 2022 debut. The delay is because "developing software is hard," CEO Tim Sweeney tellsThe Verge.Whether or not developers flock to the Epic Games Store as a result isn't certain. While Epic notes that its shop has over 230 million total users, Steam had 69 million daily active users in 2021. It remains the largest multi-developer game portal on computers. Epic's requirements are also more stringent than Valve's, which only really forbid illegal content and "trolling" attempts. All the same, this dramatically lowers the barriers to reaching Epic's store — you may see a surge in its catalog before long.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/epic-lets-developers-self-publish-on-the-games-store-162056598.html?src=rss

One of the most compelling aspects of DJI's Mini 3 drone, a stripped-down version of the Pro model, is the price, which was already fairly reasonable. It usually costs $559, but if you've had your eye on the drone, now might be the time to snap it up. The price has dropped to $469, which is $90 off.The Mini 3 has the same Type 1/1.3 (9.6 x 7.2 mm) f/1.7 sensor as the Mini 3 Pro. While you'll still be able to take 12MP still photos, video is restricted to 30 frames per second at 4K instead of 60 frames per second at the same resolution on the higher-end model. As for 2.7K and full HD recordings, those are limited to 60fps. Still, there's a neat trick as the camera can flip 90 degrees to capture vertical video for the likes of TikTok and Snapchat.DJI says you'll get up to 38 minutes of flight time in ideal conditions with the foldable Mini 3. It also weighs less than 249 grams, which means you won't need to secure a dedicated permit to fly it in certain territories (it's always worth checking local drone regulations before buying one, though). Despite the small size, DJI claims the Mini 3 is resistant to winds of 38 KPH (23.6 miles per hour).An automated video feature called QuickShots sees the drone fly automatically on certain paths, such as moving around a subject. There are some features that could come in handy for novice flyers, such as automatic takeoff and functions that bring the drone back to its departure point in certain circumstances, such as when the battery is running low or the signal cuts out. On the downside, unlike on the Mini 3 Pro, there are no forward and rear obstacle detection sensors, which could particularly become an issue when the return to home function is engaged when the drone's out of your line of sight.For those who'd prefer to take charge of the Mini 3 with a controller that has a built-in 5.5-inch screen (rather than the regular RC-N1 one that you'd likely have to use in combination with your smartphone), it's worth noting that the RC model is on sale as well. That version is also $90 off at $609.Meanwhile, bundles with two additional Intelligent Flight Batteries, a two-way charging hub and a shoulder bag have been discounted. The Fly More Combo for the Mini 3 with the RC-N1 controller has dropped from $718 to $758. The bundle with the RC controller is down from $858 to $798.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/djis-mini-3-drone-is-currently-90-off-154851138.html?src=rss

Apple said it was building a standalone app for classical music when it purchased, and subsequently shut down, the Primephonic streaming service. That was 2021, and until now, we haven't known when the new software would be available. The company announced today that Apple Music Classical will be available on March 28th as part of an existing Apple Music subscription. Users on the individual, student, family or Apple One plans will get access, but customers on the Apple Music Voice Plan won't be able to use the new app.At launch, Apple Music Classical will be available on all iPhones that run iOS 15.4 or later. Apple says a version of the app for Android is "coming soon." The catalog includes over five million tracks spanning new releases to "celebrated masterpieces." Apple says you'll be able to stream up to192 kHz/24 bit high-resolution lossless audio quality and "thousands" of recordings are available in spatial audio. The company also explains that a portion of its classical library is "thousands" of exclusive albums.In addition to the music, you can expect to browse written content like composer biographies, descriptions of key works and "deep-dive guides." Apple also says it rebuilt the app's search feature specifically for classical music queries and the app will serve up over 700 curated playlists. Overall, the app carries much of the same design as the main Apple Music software, although one key change is the company has swapped out the modern sans serif font for a serif for the main titles and section headings. The navigation bar is just four buttons in Apple Music Classical — Listen Now, Browse, Library and Search — as the Radio shortcut has been removed. Lastly, the music note on the app icon has been replaced with a treble clef.Apple is letting eager listeners "pre-order" the app starting today in the App Store. Once you do, Apple Music Classical will automatically download on launch day as long as you have Auto Update selected in iOS settings.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-music-classical-arrives-on-march-28th-150050269.html?src=rss

Following a beta that saw just 5,000 people get a chance to use the software, Aimi’s iOS and Android app is now available to all. The release brings the company’s generative music platform to mobile, where it was not available previously. Engadget’s James Trew has been using the app since January. Since then, Aimi has made a few user interface tweaks.What hasn’t changed is the premise of the app. As before, Aimi is built around continuous music “experiences” you can subtly tweak by interacting with a handful of interface elements. If you're familiar with platforms like Endel and Brain.fm, you probably know what you're getting into. As a free user, you can tap the thumbs-up and down buttons to guide Aimi’s algorithm. There’s also a shuffle button if a section comes on that you don’t like at all. With today’s release, Aimi will also prompt you to indicate if you want to hear a section more or less frequently, as well as for longer or shorter periods of time.Users who pay $10 per month gain access to additional controls. First, a “Section” view allows you to isolate individual elements of a musical composition, including parts like the harmony and melody, and adjust the gain and tell Aimi whether you like what you’re hearing. An additional “Composition” interface allows you to shape what you’re hearing by adjusting a set of four sliders. For instance, by moving the “Progression” slider, you can instruct Aimi to modify the experience you’re listening to more or less often. Meanwhile, the “Intensity” and “Texture” sliders allow you to control the number of effects Aimi employs and whether a composition sounds organic or synthetic. Last but not least, there’s a self-explanatory Vocals slider.The release of a mobile app is part of a broader plan by Aimi to bring more people into the world of generative music. Later this year, the company plans to release Aimi Studio, which will allow users to take a more hands-on approach to craft their own compositions. “One of the strengths of generative music is that we can use it to attract casual listeners with continuous music experiences and then introduce them to interactive music by letting them take ownership of their music experience,” Aimi CEO Edward Balassanian told Engadget at the start of the year.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/aimis-app-for-listening-to-ai-generated-beats-arrives-on-android-and-ios-150035919.html?src=rss

Ridesharing is convenient in part because there's often a vehicle near you, and Alphabet's Wing wants to extend that advantage to drone delivery. The company is debuting a Wing Delivery Network platform that relies on decentralized and highly automated pickups. Drones charge and deliver in whatever locations make the most sense for the broader system. If demand surges in a given area, more drones can operate around the nearest pads.Crucially, your local restaurant or store doesn't have to do much to take advantage of the network. An AutoLoader system lets shops simply latch a package to a curbside pickup location and walk away — the drone handles the rest. Businesses have to order drones, but they don't have to manage the fleet or make employees wait for an aircraft to arrive.The technology is also meant to scale elegantly. It's relatively easy to add new pad locations as usage grows, and the drones can double as scouts that expand the network. The drones can even make sure they're allowed to fly in a given area.Wing expects "elements" of the Delivery Network to deploy over the next year, with demonstrations taking place worldwide in 2023. Provided all goes according to plan, the brand wants to handle "millions" of deliveries by mid-2024, at prices that beat conventional ground-based delivery.There are catches. Drone regulations aren't always prepared to handle autonomous deliveries, let alone for decentralized systems. Amazon's Prime Air drones have made few deliveries precisely because of regulatory requirements. Likewise, there's no guarantee businesses will be willing to invest in drones and adapt their curbside pickup spaces. Wing's approach is markedly different than seen with other networks, however, and its combination of lightweight drones and gentle deliveries (Amazon's heavy drones have to drop packages from 12 feet up) may make it more appealing to officials and stores alike.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wing-debuts-a-rideshare-style-drone-delivery-network-144212334.html?src=rss

Roku wants you to rediscover local news. The company’s upcoming OS 12 update will add a Local News hub, which lets you watch live news channels near you or in major US cities. Additionally, the update adds expanded sports coverage, easier premium subscription discovery and an improved “Continue Watching” section.The local news feature builds on Roku’s Live TV channel guide, which aggregates streams for over 350 broadcast television channels. The company says its AI-powered news recommendations offer a curated discovery experience. After installing the update, you’ll find local news in the operating system’s Live TV Zone or by searching for “local news.” Additionally, the update will make it easier to discover and sign up for premium Live TV channels you haven’t subscribed to.Roku is beefing up its sports section, which launched last year. It’s adding golf and more soccer programming, including Spanish-language coverage for some leagues. The software will soon display a more personalized sports section based on your “location, favorite team, go-to sport and viewing habits.” In addition, it’s adding CBS Sports, MLB.TV, the NBA app and NBC Sports to the channels displayed in the Roku OS sports hub.RokuThe update also adds Continue Watching, making jumping in where you left off easier. Roku says the section will display content to pick up content nearly instantly “from supported channels,” including Discovery+ and Prime Video. (BET+, Freevee, Frndly TV and Starz are set to arrive later.)The Roku mobile app is also seeing some improvements. It will have “a more refined, elevated, and visually immersive interface” with expanded account settings and a new sign-up and sign-in process. In addition, the company says the app’s Home tab will have a simpler interface with dedicated Sports and Continue Watching sections. Finally, it will soon add the Live TV channel guide to the smartphone app.Roku says OS 12 will roll out “in the coming weeks.” Some features, like channel partners, content expansion and mobile-app upgrades, will arrive within the coming months.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/roku-is-adding-a-local-news-hub-to-its-live-tv-menu-140056110.html?src=rss

Grammarly announced today that it’s (unsurprisingly) diving into the generative AI fray. GrammarlyGo is an upcoming set of auto-composition features to help the AI proofreading software keep up with the many companies adding the ChatGPT API (or different generative AI backends) to their products.GrammarlyGo can use context like voice, style, purpose and where you’re writing to determine its approach. So, for example, it can spit out email replies, shorten passages, rewrite them for tone and clarity, brainstorm or choose from one-click prompts — all while adhering to your company’s voice or other provided context. In addition, since Grammarly’s desktop service can pop up in any text field on your computer, its generative writing could be slightly more convenient than competitors (like Notion or Gmail’s Smart Compose) that require you to visit an app or website. The company says GrammarlyGo will be enabled by default for individuals, and you can toggle it in settings.Grammarly justifies the feature’s existence by saying most people’s writing can be better and faster. “Individuals today spend too much time trying to communicate in the right way, while poor communication is draining business productivity and performance,” the company wrote in an announcement post. “GrammarlyGO will address this problem by quickly generating highly relevant text with an understanding of personal voice and brand style, context, and intent — saving people and businesses time while accounting for their unique needs.” I’m unsure what to make of a world where nobody writes anything but prompts for machines, but that increasingly appears to be where we’re headed.GrammarlyGo will be included with the Grammarly service at no extra cost. The company says it will soon add the AI writing feature to its Premium, Business, Education and Developer plans — and free plans “in select markets.” The GrammarlyGo beta will begin rolling out in April.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/grammarly-expands-beyond-proofreading-with-ai-powered-writing-140052437.html?src=rss

As a white man in America with no discernible regional accent, I can simply assume that modern consumer technologies — virtual assistants like Siri, Alexa or Assistant, and my phones’ camera — will work seamlessly out of the box. I assume this because, well, they do. That’s namely because the nerds who design and program these devices overwhelmingly both look and sound just like me — if even a little whiter. Folks with more melanin in their skin and extra twang on their tongue don’t enjoy that same privilege.Tomorrow’s chatbots and visual AIs will only serve to exacerbate this bias unless steps are taken today to ensure a benchmark standard of fairness and equitable behavior from these systems. To address that issue, Meta AI researchers developed and released the Casual Conversations dataset in 2021, designed to “help researchers evaluate their computer vision and audio models for accuracy across a diverse set of age, genders, apparent skin tones and ambient lighting conditions.” On Thursday, the company unveiled Casual Conversations v2, which promises even more granular classification categories than its predecessor.The original CC dataset included 45,000 videos from more than 3,000 paid subjects across age, gender, apparent skin tone and lighting conditions. These videos are designed to be used by other AI researchers, specifically those working with generative AIs like ChatGPT or visual AIs like those used in social media filters and facial recognition features, to help them ensure that their creations behave the same whether the user looks like Anya Taylor-Joy or Lupita Nyong’o, whether they sound like Colin Firth or Colin Quinn.Since Casual Conversations first debuted two years ago, Meta has worked “in consultation with internal experts in fields such as civil rights,” according to Tuesday’s announcement, to expand and improve upon the dataset. Professor Pascale Fung, director of the Centre for AI Research, as well as other researchers from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, participated in the literature review of government and industry data to establish the new annotation categories.Version 2 now includes 11 categories (seven self-reported and four researcher-annotated) and 26,467 video monologues recorded by nearly 5,600 subjects in seven countries — Brazil, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Vietnam, Philippines and the US. While there aren’t as many individual videos in the new dataset, they are far more heavily annotated. As Meta points out, the first iteration only had a handful of categories: “age, three subcategories of gender (female, male, and other), apparent skin tone and ambient lighting,” according to the Thursday blog post.“To increase nondiscrimination, fairness, and safety in AI, it’s important to have inclusive data and diversity within the data categories so researchers can better assess how well a specific model or AI-powered product is working for different demographic groups,” Roy Austin, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel for Civil Rights at Meta, said in the release. “This dataset has an important role in ensuring the technology we build has equity in mind for all from the outset."As with most all of its public AI research to date, Meta is releasing Casual Conversations v2 as an open source dataset for anyone to use and expand upon — perhaps to include markers such as “disability, accent, dialect, location, and recording setup,” as the company hinted at on Thursday.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/metas-newest-ai-fairness-benchmark-measures-even-more-granular-bias-markers-140043320.html?src=rss

Spoiler warning: The following article discusses the Star Trek: Picard episodes “Seventeen Seconds” and “No Win Scenario.”I was away last week and so didn’t write up last week’s utterly inessential episode of Picard, although if you’re curious, Darren Mooney at The Escapist’s feelings mirror my own. The whole affair only makes sense if you assume the whole crew had taken a big dose of idiot pills an hour before the episode began, and wish you’d had some as well. This week, there’s a lot more to say, especially since it’s the first episode this season that feels even remotely fun. And while the setup for all of these conflicts was pretty flimsy, their resolutions are all very enjoyable to watch.After the Shrike uses its Portal gun to encourage the Titan to shoot itself in the back, the ship drifts into a gravity well and certain doom. It’s here we get one of the worst tell-not-show moments in the series so far as the bridge crew state, and then restate (and then re-restate) the situation the ship finds itself in. Loss of power, is it? Sinking into a gravity well, is it? We don’t have enough power to get out of the gravity well, is it? Is that because we’ve not got much power, is it? And because of the gravity well? Sorry, not following, can you explain it to me like I’m five, please? It doesn’t help that while the decision to take the shields offline is set up as some big, dangerous decision, it’s never mentioned again.It’s here that Picard, opting to get his affairs in order, chooses to sit down for a touching moment with Jack. And they choose to do so on the holodeck, in the Ten Forward bar that’s been turning up time and again this run. Picard says that holodecks are hooked up to their own power supply because it’s better to die in comfort than use that power to survive. I think we can all tell that it’s a cover for either a production or a budget issue that meant they had to re-use the set. (Picard’s first season did the same, endlessly going back to the chateau office on La Sirena’s holodeck.) And, again, the two-hander between Patrick Stewart and Ed Speelers is great.Also, remember when a broken leg wouldn’t require much more than a quick waft of a med bay doodad and you’d be good as new? Not in Picard, where Shaw storms into Picard’s heart to heart, apparently full of painkillers, and reveals why he’s so angry at both Seven and Picard. It turns out that, like a big chunk of Starfleet, he’s a survivor from Wolf 359! And if this wasn’t another thing that was explored pretty well by Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, it might carry a bit more dramatic weight. It also feels like the start of a pre-ordained redemption arc for Todd Stashwick’s Captain Shaw as the powers that be use Picard as a way to backdoor pilot a Titan-A spin-off series. (You can imagine the pitch: We’ve got the cast, and the sets are already built, it’s practically free content if you greenlight another ten!) And, to be fair, Todd Stashwick’s such a charismatic actor that you could feel him straining to play someone more unlikeable at the start of the series.From here until the conclusion, however, the tone starts to lighten, and Beverley’s realization that the nebula is a space lifeform gives everyone a sense of purpose. You see, the nebula is undergoing the exact same contractions that a pregnant person would when they’re in labor. The moment that Riker stops pointlessly objecting to the plan of riding the contractions out of the gravity well, it suddenly feels like we’re watching Star Trek again. The gang works together, Seven and Shaw successfully lure out the changeling infiltrator, and they even have a nice spot of payback for the Shrike as Riker orders the Titan to lock onto a massive asteroid, dragging it behind long enough for it to smash the enemy vessel out of contention long enough for them to escape.And that’s not even the best bit, because there’s also the wonderful B-Story of Picard dealing with his adoring fans while in (the real) Ten Forward five years previously. Patrick Stewart Picard is accosted by a bunch of fans cadets who ask him to regale them with stories of his time on Star Trek the Enterprise. All the while, unseen, Jack lingers in the background, listening to Picard as he builds out his myth and his legacy while minimizing any reference to his own family. When Picard closes the gathering by saying that Starfleet is his family, it’s both an unwittingly hollow indictment of Picard’s own life (his co-workers are his only friends, oof) and an unwitting rejection of the son he could have grown to know years previously. This, my friends, is a great moment, full of depth and pathos and I just wish that it hadn’t taken this long to get here.Speaking of which, Paramount recently punted Star Trek: Discovery’s fifth season to 2024, adding it would now be that show’s final run. With news that the studio is looking to tighten its belt in order to milk some actual profit from its streaming service, fans are feeling antsy. After all, Trek shows aren’t cheap to make, and it’s not clear how much crossover appeal these shows have. Despite David Stapf’s 2018 promise that we’d have “a Star Trek something on all the time,” there’s a worry that it’s closing time at the all-you-can-eat buffet. With Discovery and Picard on the outs, and no sign (yet) that Lower Decks and Prodigy will get renewals, we could go from five shows to three, or one, in no time at all. But, based on the merits of some of what’s been released under the Trek brand of late, would that really be such a bad thing?After all, these four episodes of Picard form little more than an extended prologue for the rest of the run. It’s taken the better part of four hours to establish the broad outline of the plot as well as the main antagonists, and the stakes at hand. Even then, we’ve still not encountered more than half of the Next Generation returnees who formed such a key part of the marketing. A prologue that I would have enjoyed a hell of a lot more if it had been compressed down to closer to ninety minutes. Imagine if, rather than filling out a corporate-mandated ten-week block each year, the format was designed to suit the story being told at each time. On the merits of the last four weeks alone, fewer episodes of higher quality Trek would be infinitely preferable.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/star-trek-picard-34-no-win-scenario-review-140041872.html?src=rss

At CES, Roku announced that it'll finally be building its own Roku TVs, in addition to working with partners like TCL and Hisense. Starting today, you can pick up one of those sets at Best Buy's stores and website. Roku is offering two series of TVs, both of which are powered by its streaming platform: Roku Select sets ranging from 24 to 75-inches, and Roku Plus televisions coming in at 55-, 65-, and 75-inches.We're still waiting for a full pricing breakdown, but Roku says Select TVs will start at $149 (with a potential drop to $120 this summer), and the Plus models will start below $500. That's in-line with similar offerings from TCL and other partners. At CES, Roku's VP of retail strategy, Chris Larson, said the company is aiming to deliver features partners don't always include, like voice-enabled remotes, as well as automatic brightness adjustment (on the Premiere sets).Roku isn't saying much about its Select TVs, perhaps because there's not much to say. They'll include HD and 4K models (there's no need to go 4K on very small TVs, after all), as well as its standard voice remote. Like most bargain TVs, they'll also rely on edge dimming backlights — so expect to see gray-like blacks and spotty lighting. The Roku Plus sets are far more advanced: They'll include QLED panels, local backlight dimming for better contrast, 4K Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos-approved speakers. They'll also get Roku's rechargeable voice remote.While Roku told us that it's not trying to compete with its longtime partners, it'll be interesting to see how those companies respond. By making voice remotes standard, perhaps TCL and others will follow suit. The company also unveiled a Roku OS update today, which will include local news and support for premium subscriptions on Roku's live channel guide.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/roku-tv-select-plus-best-buy-140020537.html?src=rss

If you want to change the appearance of subtitles and closed captions on Netflix — perhaps to switch font sizes or to add a shadow that would make them more readable — you'd have to access your account on a browser. The process is a lot more complicated than it needs to be if you primarily stream on TV. In fact, I've never changed what mine looks like all these years, even if I had previously wanted to. Now, according to TechCrunch, the streaming giant has finally started rolling out the capability to customize subtitle and closed caption text within the TV app itself.Based on the publication's report, the feature looks and works similar to Amazon Prime Video TV app's subtitle adjuster. It allows you to choose between small, medium and large text, as well as between four styles with and without drop shadows. One option is yellow text on a black background for greater contrast if you need it. On the service's updated help page, it said you can access those controls by going to Settings at the bottom of the screen while a show is playing and then choosing subtitle Size and Style. Take note that it's not possible to change text appearance for Arabic, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, Romanian, Thai and Traditional Chinese at the moment.More and more people are using subtitles in recent years to hear dialogue when sounds are unbalanced and voices seem to be lower in volume than the background, or to watch shows in a foreign language. It's not just viewers with hard of hearing that use them anymore. And while the controls for the TV app offer fewer customization options than Netflix's website, they make changing up subtitles' appearance a lot more accessible.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/netflix-customize-subtitles-on-your-tv-125649529.html?src=rss

It’s easy to be cynical about a lot of things, but then you see a picture of clouds taken from the soil of another planet, and you remember what a great gift human ingenuity can be. For the first time, a Mars probe has taken a clear image of sunbeams seen from the Martian surface. Curiosity rover, during a survey of twilight cloud formations, took a shot clearly showing crepuscular rays emerging from the heavens.Researchers say this cloud formation is higher in the atmosphere than normal, and is made of dry ice rather than water ice. Other treats from Curiosity’s current survey include sight of an iridescent cloud shaped like a feather. This, too, is helping teams here on Earth get a better sense of the Martian atmosphere, not to mention giving us a lovely stream of new desktop backgrounds.– Dan CooperThe Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.The biggest stories you might have missed

Global shutter sensors with no skew or distortion have been promised as the future of cameras for years now, but so far only a handful of products with that tech have made it to market. Now, Raspberry Pi is offering a 1.6-megapixel global shutter camera module to hobbyists for $50, providing a platform for machine vision, hobbyist shooting and more.The Raspberry Pi Global Shutter Camera uses a 6.3mm Sony IMX296 sensor, and requires a Raspberry Pi board with a CSI camera connector. Like other global shutter sensors, it works by pairing each pixel with an analog storage element, so that light signals can be captured and stored by all pixels simultaneously.By comparison, regular CMOS sensors read and store the light captured by pixels from top to bottom and left to right. That can cause diagonal skew on fast moving subjects, or very weird distortion on rotating objects like propellers. The video below shows the difference with plucked guitar strings.By eliminating those issues, the new camera allows for distortion free capture of things like sports or fast-moving industrial processes. The relatively low resolution isn't a problem, the company says, as video is usually downsampled before being fed into machine vision systems anyway. It uses the same C/CS lens mount as Raspberry Pi's 12-megapixel High Quality Camera, so you can attach 6mm CS‑mount and 16mm C-mount CGL lenses offered through the company's reseller partners.If you're interested but worried about delays, Raspberry Pi recently posted that it has been working on resolving supply chain issues. "We expect supply to recover to pre-pandemic levels in the second quarter of 2023, and to be unlimited in the second half of the year," it said in a December blog post. The Global Shutter Camera is now available to purchase for $50.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/raspberry-pi-lets-you-have-your-own-global-shutter-camera-for-50-104547026.html?src=rss

The Oversight Board has agreed to review a case related to Meta’s handling of election content in Brazil. In a statement, the board said they planned to scrutinize the social network’s policies surrounding election content in “high-risk” areas.The case stems from a user who posted a video in early January calling for people to “besiege” Brazil’s congress following the election of President Lula da Silva. The video also featured clips of a speech from a Brazilian general, who called for people to go into the streets and government buildings. The video was reported seven times by four different users, according to the board, but remained on Facebook even after it was reviewed by five separate moderators. Meta later opted to remove the post and issue a “strike” to the person who had originally posted it, following the Oversight Board’s decision to review the case.Though the case is related to Brazil’s most recent presidential election, the board’s recommendations could have a more-far reaching impact. “The Board selected this case to examine how Meta moderates election-related content, and how it is applying its Crisis Policy Protocol in a designated ‘temporary high-risk location,’” the group wrote in a statement.As the board points out, Meta’s “Crisis Policy Protocol,” is a central aspect of the case. The protocol, which was created after the Oversight board weighed in on the suspension of Donald Trump, allows Meta to respond to situations when there is a risk of “imminent harm” either offline or online. So any recommendations that address that policy could end up affecting election-related content around the world, not just in Brazil.However, that outcome is still months away. For now, the Oversight Board is asking for public feedback on various issues associated with the case before it makes recommendations to Meta. The company will then have 60 days to respond, though, as usual, Meta is not required to adopt policy changes suggested by the board.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/metas-oversight-board-will-review-the-companys-handling-of-election-content-in-brazil-100001018.html?src=rss

Bing has crossed 100 million daily active users a month after the launch of its chatbot AI, according to Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft's VP for Modern Life, Search and Devices. He said the company is fully aware that it's still just "a small, low, single digit share player," but hey, there was a time when Bing wasn't even a part of the conversation. Now, after the tech giant released its next-gen version, even those who haven't used it in the past are relying on it for their searches: Mehdi noted that one-third of Bing's daily active users are new to the search engine."We see this appeal of the new Bing as a validation of our view that search is due for a reinvention and of the unique value proposition of combining Search + Answers + Chat + Creation in one experience," the VP said.In addition to seeing a boost in numbers, Microsoft is also apparently enjoying a growth in engagement, with more people conducting more searches. The company credits two factors for that particular victory, the first being Edge's growth in usage, most likely aided by the addition of Bing's chat AI as a new feature. It also said that the introduction of its Prometheus AI model made Bing's search results more relevant, so people have been using — or at least trying out — the search engine more.Apparently, around one third of Bing's daily preview users have been using its chat AI for their queries every day. On average, Microsoft is seeing three chats per session, with over 45 million chats since it introduced the new Bing. Further, in 15 percent of all chat sessions, people have been using Bing to generate new content. The launch of Bing's AI chatbot on mobile has propelled the search engine to a new level of popularity, as well, and has led to a six-time increase in daily active users from before it became available.By integrating an AI chatbot into Bing earlier this year, Microsoft gave its search engine the weapon it needs to be able to compete against Google. That said, Google does have plans to launch a chatbot of its own and introduced a chat AI called Bard last month. Bard spouted misinformation during its unofficial debut, but Google is working with employees to improve the chatbot's responses before it becomes available.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-bing-crossed-100-million-daily-active-users-080138371.html?src=rss

Nothing, Forever, an AI-generated livestream inspired by Seinfeld is back on Twitch after being taken offline for an anti-LGBTQ outburst, Gizmodo has reported. After launching in December, the show (from Mismatch Media) became internet-famous for its Seinfeld-adjacent plots, janky '90s-era video game style animation and terrible (though coherent) dialogue. However, it was pulled over a month ago after violating Twitch's conduct policy banning hate speech around sexual and gender identity.In the most notorious incident, the AI lead character ("Larry"), went on an offensive rant. "I’m thinking about doing a bit about how being transgender is actually a mental illness. Or how all liberals are secretly gay and want to impose their will on everyone. Or something about how transgender people are ruining the fabric of society. But no one is laughing, so I’m going to stop."Shortly afterwards, Mismatch Media cofounder Skyler Hartle explained that the problem started when its OpenAI GPT-3 Davinci model stopped working correctly. The team switched to Davinci's predecessor Curie, believing that OpenAI's content moderation was still active — which was apparently not the case. The offensive outbursts started shortly afterwards."We mistakenly believed that we were leveraging OpenAI’s content moderation system for their text generation models. We are working now to implement OpenAI’s content moderation API (it’s a tool we can use to verify the safeness of the content) before we go live again, and investigating secondary content moderation systems as redundancies," the team said.Problems of moderation and offensive content have plagued AI chatbots since they arrived. Microsoft has experienced it twice, first with its Tay chatbot that turned racist, and later with the Bing Chat search assistant powered by OpenAI tech. The latter was pulled for a time after it started insulting users and outputting incorrect information, while insisting it was right.Nothing, Forever seems to be working as before, with the same laugh track, engaged viewers (around 3,500 currently) and complete disregard for collision detection — but no offensive outbursts so far. While nothing in the show makes any sense, the fact that AI can generate all the elements in real time is impressive.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-ai-seinfeld-show-nothing-forever-is-back-on-twitch-064359854.html?src=rss