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When Reddit said last month it would block unauthorized data scraping from its site, most of us assumed it was to tackle chatbot training. It turns out the site/service/fandom battleground also appears to be blocking search engines other than Brave and Google, the latter of which reportedly inked a deal earlier this year with Reddit worth $60 million annually.A Reddit spokesperson told Engadget the empty search results are because these engines won't agree to the company's requirements for AI training. The company says it's in discussions with several of them. Bing and DuckDuckGo both appear to be affected.- Mat SmithThe biggest stories you might have missedOur favorite budget webcam is on sale for only $48 right nowIntel has finally figured out its long-standing desktop CPU instability issuesSome police in Arizona will start using drones as first respondersYou can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!A Call of Duty game is coming to Xbox Game PassBut it's Modern Warfare III.It's been hard to accept Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass price hike, especially given its recent lackluster game offerings. In an attempt to make up for it, it is adding a Call of Duty game. Unfortunately, it's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, one of the lowest-rated games in the series. Sorry, folks.Continue reading.The Engadget guide to the best smartphonesOur top phone choices aren't all flagships.EngadgetSo you're after a new phone. If you know you want an iPhone, your decision-making process is a bit easier. If you're an Android person, you have a lot more options. At Engadget, we review phones a lot and have tested dozens over the years; so far for 2024, our top picks remain the same, with Apple's iPhone 15 Pro and Google's Pixel 8 Pro topping our lists. Our recent refresh includes new picks for top foldable.Continue reading.CrowdStrike tried to offer Uber Eats credit to partners, but it got flagged for fraudIt was sent to those dealing with last week's outage.Last week's CrowdStrike outage plunged many companies into a messy world of blue death screens. The cybersecurity company tried to apologize with an Uber Eats gift card. Unfortunately, when people tried to use it, the offer had been rescinded by the issuing party. CrowdStrike said Uber had flagged it as a fraud because of high use rates.CrowdStrike blamed the global system outage on a boot loop bug that knocked out systems in banks, airports and even hospitals.Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-reddit-is-blocking-ai-search-engines-that-dont-cough-up-for-access-111537431.html?src=rss

Meta's Oversight Board is urging the company to update its rules around sexually explicit deepfakes. The board made the recommendations as part of its decision in two cases involving AI-generated images of public figures.The cases stem from two user appeals over AI-generated images of public figures, though the board declined to name the individuals. One post, which originated on Instagram, depicted a nude Indian woman. The post was reported to Meta but the report was automatically closed after 48 hours, as was a subsequent user appeal. The company eventually removed the post after attention from the Oversight Board, which nonetheless overturned Meta's original decision to leave the image up.The second post, which was shared to a Facebook group dedicated to AI art, showed an AI-generated image of a nude woman with a man groping her breast." Meta automatically removed the post because it had been added to an internal system that can identify images that have been previously reported to the company. The Oversight Board found that Meta was correct to have taken the post down.In both cases, the Oversight Board said the AI deepfakes violated the company's rules barring derogatory sexualized photoshop" images. But in its recommendations to Meta, the Oversight Board said the current language used in these rules is outdated and may make it more difficult for users to report AI-made explicit images.Instead, the board says that it should update its policies to make clear that it prohibits non-consensual explicit images that are AI-made or manipulated. Much of the non-consensual sexualized imagery spread online today is created with generative AI models that either automatically edit existing images or create entirely new ones," the board writes."Meta should ensure that its prohibition on derogatory sexualized content covers this broader array of editing techniques, in a way that is clear to both users and the company's moderators."The board also called out Meta's practice of automatically closing user appeals, which it said could have significant human rights impacts" on users. However, the board said it didn't have sufficient information" about the practice to make a recommendation.The spread of explicit AI images has become an increasingly prominent issue as deepfake porn" has become a more widespread form of online harassment in recent years. The board's decision comes one day after the US Senate unanimously passed a bill cracking down on explicit deepfakes. If passed into law, the measure would allow victims to sue the creators of such images for as much as $250,000.The cases aren't the first time the Oversight Board has pushed Meta to update its rules for AI-generated content. In another high-profile case, the board investigated a maliciously edited video of President Joe Biden. The case ultimately resulted in Meta revamping its policies around how AI-generated content is labeled.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-needs-updated-rules-for-sexually-explicit-deepfakes-oversight-board-says-100005969.html?src=rss

Back when Max was still known as HBO Max, it released a redesigned app that added SharePlay for Apple devices, but only in the US. Now, the streaming service is rolling out the feature to all its users around the world. SharePlay is now available to all Max users paying for Ad-Free and Ultimate Ad-Free plans, allowing them to hold and join watch parties over FaceTime and iMessage, no matter where they are.Users can start watching with friends by hitting the "share" button either on the details section of each title or within the FaceTime app. Each session can have as many as 32 participants, but they all have to be Max subscribers. That means people from regions where Max isn't available, such as in Asian countries, won't be able to hop on and watch with their pals in the US or Europe. Warner Bros. is planning to expand Max's reach to South East Asia later this year, but it warns on its website that the timeline could still change.SharePlay for Max works on iPhones, iPads, Apple TVs and Vision Pro headsets. To initiate a watch party on iPhones, iPads and Vision Pros, users have to find the Share icon on the details page of a show or a movie, enter the contacts they want to share with and initiate a FaceTime call. If they choose Messages on their mobile devices, their friends will get a message asking them to join SharePlay. On Apple TV, users will have to open FaceTime first before clicking the SharePlay button and choosing Max from the app list.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/maxs-shareplay-feature-for-ios-is-now-available-to-all-ad-free-subscribers-040624031.html?src=rss

The NBA and WNBA have inked deals for where games will be aired and streamed for the next eleven years. The NBA deals run from the 2025-2026 season through the 2035-2036 season. For the WNBA, the agreement covers the 2026 through 2036 seasons.Pro basketball has been an ESPN mainstay for years and that will continue, with the Disney-owned network remaining the primary media rights owner for both leagues. ESPN will be the exclusive home for the NBA finals for all eleven years of the new deal, as well as five out of the eleven years of the WNBA finals. The games covered by ESPN's deal will be part of the sports network's direct-to-consumer platform and a package of NBA and WNBA games will also be made available to stream on Disney+ in select international markets.While the bulk of the games will go to ESPN, basketball is going to have more of a streaming presence thanks to two new partnerships. NBC and Peacock will have access to 100 NBA national games during each regular season. About 50 games will be exclusive to the Peacock streaming platform, including national Monday night games and doubleheaders. The rest of the games go to Amazon. Prime Video will be the home for 66 regular-season NBA games and 30 regular-season WNBA games each year of the deal.Regular basketball viewers may notice that TNT Sports is not part of this lineup. The NBA's deal with that network does not appear to be getting an extension after next year, with those games mostly going to Amazon. But the situation may yet go into overtime. TNT Sports claims that it matched Amazon's offer for the games and seems to be challenging whether the NBA can switch partners. NBA's statement counters that the offer from parent company Warner Bros. Discovery did not match Amazon's, leaving them free to shop elsewhere.The long-awaited agreements for both basketball leagues aren't a complete slam dunk for fans. On the positive side, the next decade marks a notable shift toward streaming. After so long with the sport closely tied to broadcast shows, having access as part of your existing streaming plans is great. But on the negative side, multiple media partners mean that you'll have to double- and triple-check where to watch each game. Major League Baseball, for instance, has games scattered across ESPN, Fox, Apple TV+, TNT Sports, and MLB Network on any given night.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nba-tv-rights-go-to-espn-nbc-and-amazon-as-tnt-is-rejected-230811550.html?src=rss

World of Warcraft (WoW) artists, designers, engineers, producers, quality assurance (QA) testers and other game developers have unionized. The staff of more than 500 workers voted to unionize the Blizzard Entertainment studio with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) creating the World of Warcraft Gamemakers Guild, according to an X post from the union's official account.The Blizzard studio is the latest major game studio to form a union during uncertain times of layoffs and studio closures across the gaming industry. Bethesda Game Studios, the studio behind the Fallout and Elder Scrolls franchises, formed its union with the help of CWA last weekend that includes 241 workers.What we've accomplished at World of Warcraft is just the beginning," said Eric Lanham, a test analyst and Wow Gamemakers Guild member, in a statement released by the CWA. My colleagues and I are embarking on a quest to secure better pay, benefits, and job security through a strong union contract. We know that when workers have a protected voice, it's a win-win for employee standards, the studio, and World of Warcraft fans looking for the best gaming experience."

Respawn Entertainment is bringing back the option to buy Apex Legends battle passes with in-game currency. "You've spoken, and we've listened," the company said. The developer drew player outrage and a sweep of review-bombing earlier this month after it announced a new approach to the game's reward system.The original announcement was convoluted, but the gist of what frustrated the Apex community was that players would no longer be able to use in-game currency to access an upgraded version of the battle pass. People earn Apex Coins by playing, and under the original model, serious fans could easily earn enough over the course of one battle pass to pay for the next season's.Today, Respawn said it would return the option to pay 950 Apex Coins (about $10) to unlock the Premium battle pass tier. And with 1,300 Apex Coins available at that tier, this segment of the battle pass experience has mostly reverted to the old model. Players will be able to unlock the premium version by completing some "simple in-game challenges" at the start of Season 22, Split 1 on August 6. After that, beginning on September 17 with the season's Split 2, the new/old model will take effect.

When Reddit said last month that it would block unauthorized data scraping from its site, everyone's (rightful) first reaction was AI, AI, AI." However, now that the change has taken effect, chatbot makers may not be the only ones being locked out. The widely used forum also appears to be blocking major search engines other than Brave and Google, the latter of which reportedly inked a deal earlier this year with Reddit worth $60 million annually. However, a Reddit spokesperson told Engadget that the empty search results are about Google's rivals not agreeing to the company's requirements for AI training. It says it's it's in discussions with several of them.404 Media reported on Wednesday (and Engadget confirmed in our queries) that searching for Reddit results from the past week on rival engine Bing (using site:reddit.com") returns empty results. The publication reported that DuckDuckGo produced seven links without any descriptions, only providing the note, We would like to show you a description here but the site won't allow us." The engine now appears to have removed even those, as our test only produced an empty page, reading, no results found."When Reddit said last month that it would update its Robots Exclusion Protocol (robots.txt) to block automated data scraping, it's now apparent that it wasn't only meant to thwart AI companies like Perplexity and its controversial answer engine." Currently, Google appears to be the only search engine allowed to crawl Reddit and produce results from the front page of the internet."A Reddit spokesperson told Engadget on Wednesday it isn't accurate to say the missing search results are a result of its Google deal. We block all crawlers that are unwilling to commit to not using crawl data for AI training, which is in line with enforcing our Public Content Policy and updated robots.txt file," the company said. Anyone accessing Reddit content must abide by our policies, including those in place to protect redditors. We are selective about who we work with and trust with large-scale access to Reddit content."Meanwhile, a source familiar with Reddit's thinking told Engadget on Wednesday that Bing's omission is due to Microsoft refusing to agree to Reddit's terms regarding AI crawling. Instead, the Bing maker allegedly claimed its standard web controls were sufficient. The source claims Microsoft's stance conflicts with Reddit's data privacy policy, leading to the impasse and empty search results.The ubiquitous robots.txt is the web standard that communicates which parts of a site can be crawled. Although many crawlers are known to ignore its instructions, Google's standard procedure is to respect it. So, on the technical side, the companies in cahoots on the lucrative deal appear to have deployed some manual override.The saga could be seen as a trickle-down effect of AI chatbots scraping the live web for results. With courts slow to determine how much of the open web is fair use to train chatbots on, companies like Reddit, whose bottom lines now depend on safeguarding their data from those who don't pay, are building walls at the expense of the open web. (Although, given the integral role Microsoft has played in this AI era, cozying up with OpenAI early on, it seems ironic that Bing finds itself on the losing end of at least one aspect of the fallout.)Colin Hayhurst, CEO of lesser-known no-tracking" search engine Mojeek, told 404 Media that Reddit is killing everything for search but Google." In addition, the executive said his attempts to contact Reddit were ignored. It's never happened to us before," he said. Because this happens to us, we get blocked, usually because of ignorance or stupidity or whatever, and when we contact the site you certainly can get that resolved, but we've never had no reply from anybody before."Reddit has made no secret of its desire to block AI companies from scraping its treasure trove of data in this burgeoning age of AI. Last year, CEO Steve Huffman risked alienating large portions of its user base by blocking third-party API requests, leading to the demise of beloved apps like Christian Selig's Apollo. Despite widespread protests among moderators and forum-goers, the company only temporarily lost negligible numbers of users.The gamble appeared to pay off, and Reddit recovered. It went public in March.Update, July 24, 2024, 5:00 PM ET: This story has been updated to add statements from Reddit and additional context from sources familiar with the company's thinking.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/search-engines-that-dont-pay-up-cant-index-reddit-content-172949170.html?src=rss

The race to bring more AI features to search is escalating, with Microsoft moving forward with additional tools for Bing. Today, the company began previews for Bing generative search, where the top result for a user's query will be an original response compiled by AI.The blog post about Bing generative search showed a few sample results. In addition to the overview statement, Microsoft will provide links to the main sources that the large-language models and small-language models used to create their answer. It will also have a section of related information. For instance, with the sample query "how long do elephants live," the main summary is followed by videos with information about factors that impact elephant longevity. After the generative results, the usual list of search hits will be displayed.MicrosoftIf you're curious and want to try out generative search right away, you may be out of luck. This isn't an opt-in choice yet for Bing users and it is only being applied to "a small percentage of user queries" at this stage. "We are slowly rolling this out and will take our time, garner feedback, test and learn, and work to create a great experience before making this more broadly available," Microsoft said.Google rolled out a similar tool earlier this year called AI Overview in an effort to retain users who might go directly to an AI chatbot for answers to their questions. AI Overview had a rough, gluey pizza start, so it will be interesting to see how well Microsoft's counterpart performs in comparison. And while Microsoft did emphasize in the blog post that it developed generative search without the intent of ruining web publishers' business, it's worth repeating that this kind of AI tool is not a replacement for actual news.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-is-adding-ai-powered-summaries-to-bing-search-results-203053790.html?src=rss

The US Senate unanimously passed a bill on Tuesday designed to hold accountable those who make or share deepfake porn. The Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits Act (DEFIANCE Act) would allow victims to sue those who create, share or possess AI-generated sexual images or videos using their likeness. The issue took root in the public consciousness after the infamous Taylor Swift deepfake that circulated among online lowlifes early this year.The bill would let victims sue for up to $150,000 in damages. That number grows to $250,000 if it's related to attempted sexual assault, stalking or harassment.It now moves to the House, where a companion bill awaits. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) sponsors the sister bill. If it passes there (which sounds likely, given the unanimous nature of the Senate's vote), it will move to President Biden's desk for final passage.There's a shock to seeing images of yourself that someone could think are real," Ocasio-Cortez told Rolling Stone earlier this year. And once you've seen it, you've seen it. It parallels the same exact intention of physical rape and sexual assault, [which] is about power, domination, and humiliation. Deepfakes are absolutely a way of digitizing violent humiliation against other people."The bill, sponsored by Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), lets the victims of intimate digital forgeries (deepfakes) sue for damages. It would give victims a 10-year statute of limitations, beginning either from the discovery of the content or when they turn 18 in the (even more disturbing) case of minors.As we know, AI plays a bigger role in our lives than ever before, and while it has many benefits, it's also easier than ever to create sexually explicit deep fakes without a person's consent," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said on the Senate floor late Tuesday. It is a horrible attack on someone's privacy and dignity to have these fake images of them circulating online without recourse."Schumer cited Swift and Megan Thee Stallion in his floor speech as two celebrity examples who have fallen victim to the types of content the bill targets. However, The Verge notes online sexual deepfakes have affected those with much less clout (and money for lawyers) than A-list pop stars, like high school girls, some of whom have found out about contrived sexual images of them being passed around among their peers.Fortunately, the bill stipulates that victims would have privacy protections during court proceedings and that they could recover legal costs. It's a grotesque practice and victims of these deep fakes deserve justice," Schumer said.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-us-senate-unanimously-passes-a-bill-to-empower-victims-of-intimate-deepfakes-201343557.html?src=rss

Police departments across Arizona plan to implement the use of drones as part of its first responders to emergency situations. Scottsdale's police department will be the first in the state to use a special fleet of drones that can be sent to potential crime scenes and emergencies by special detection cameras.The drone technology will come from a new drone startup called Aerodome and the public safety tech firm Flock Safety, which makes gunshot sensors, analytic software and cameras that can monitor neighborhoods and read license plates. Scottsdale PD's drones will respond to emergencies in real time to provide first responders with a bird's eye view of emergencies as first responders make their way to the area.The drones can be dispatched by police officers and emergency dispatchers as well as Flock cameras that detect unlawful activity such as stolen vehicles or cars that match descriptions from an AMBER alert. They can even silently follow a suspect while officers handle multiple 911 calls and keep an aerial view of a runaway vehicle without risking the safety of officers and bystanders.The use of drones by law enforcement has been growing over the years. More than 1,500 police departments use them in some capacity, according to Axios. First responders may see these drones as a useful tool but there are also serious concerns about protecting citizens' Constitutional privacy rights.Screenshot from YouTube/Flock SafetyThe American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has raised concerns about Flock's license plate reader cameras. Last year, the ACLU expressed concerns with law enforcement's use of eye-in-the-sky policing" calling for communities to put in place guardrails that will prevent those operations from expanding," according to an editorial written by ACLU senior policy analyst Jay Stanley.It's not clear where the courts will draw lines, and there's a very real prospect that other, more local uses of drones become so common and routine that without strong privacy protections, we end up with the functional equivalent of a mass surveillance regime in the skies," Stanley wrote.There are some federal regulations currently in place that prevent police departments from misusing drones and maintain some level of safety. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) limits police's drone use to the operator's line of sight. The drone cannot be over 55 pounds including attached equipment or goods it may be carrying to emergency sites and they can't fly any higher than 400 feet above the ground or structures.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/police-in-scottsdale-az-will-start-using-drones-as-first-responders-195503311.html?src=rss

Apple Maps is expanding beyond its app. Just like with Google Maps, the service is now available on the web, albeit in beta form at the jump.There are some limitations for now. Availability will vary by region and Maps is only available in English on the web at the outset. As things stand, you can access Apple Maps from Safari and Chrome on Mac and iPad. Windows PC users can access the service via Chrome and Edge. Apple says it will expand the web experience to other languages, devices and browsers over time, but for now at least, iPhone users will need to keep using the Maps app.The web version of Apple Maps includes directions; guides; opening hours, reviews and other helpful information for businesses; and actions such as ordering food. Apple will add other features, including Look Around (i.e. the company's version of street View), in the coming months.After many years of restricting Maps to an app, Apple might be trying to take on Google at its own game. Google Maps has, for instance, long allowed developers to embed a section of a map on websites. Apple says devs will be able to link to its maps on the web to offer their users driving directions, information about places and more.Expanding beyond the app is a smart idea and it could help Apple Maps reach more eyeballs. The company also started offering a web version of Apple Music several years ago.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-maps-is-now-available-on-the-web-in-beta-193648138.html?src=rss

The Nintendo Wii was a bona-fide cultural juggernaut, with over 100 million consoles sold during its lifespan. It was never the biggest console in the world, with a size approximating a paperback book. Modders, however, have managed to shrink the Wii's footprint way down. They made a functional console that's no bigger than a keychain, as reported by Time Extension. As a matter of fact, it actually doubles as a keychain.The appropriately-named Nintendo Kawaii is a teensy-weensy Wii that lacks some of the bells and whistles of the original, but it works and can run games from that generation. It's also quite fetching, with a CNC'd aluminum metal unibody. There are magnetic pogo pin connectors for power, AV support and controllers. There's also a custom dock that offers support for four Gamecube controllers, which is a must for certain fighting games that rhyme with Shmooper Smash Bros.

Meta has taken down tens of thousands of Instagram accounts from Nigeria as part of a massive crackdown on sextortion scams. The accounts primarily targeted adult men in the United States, but some also targeted minors, Meta said in an update.The takedowns are part of a larger effort by Meta to combat sextortion scams on its platform in recent months. Earlier this year, the company added a safety feature in Instagram messages to automatically detect nudity and warn users about potential blackmail scams. The company also provides in-app resources and safety tips about such scams.According to Meta, the recent takedowns included 2,500 accounts that were linked to a group of about 20 people who worked together to carry out sextortion scams. The company also took down thousands of accounts and groups on Facebook that provided tips and other advice, including scripts and fake images, for would-be sextortionists. Those accounts were linked to the Yahoo Boys, a group of loosely organized cybercriminals operating largely out of Nigeria that specialize in different types of scams," Meta said.Meta has come under particular scrutiny for not doing enough to protect teens from sextortion on its apps. During a Senate hearing earlier this year, Senator Lindsey Graham pressed Mark Zuckerberg on whether the parents of a child who died by suicide after falling victim to such a scam should be able to sue the company.Though the company said that the majority" of the scammers it uncovered in its latest takedowns targeted adults, it confirmed that some of the accounts had targeted minors as well and that those accounts had also been reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-takes-down-63000-instagram-accounts-linked-to-extortion-scams-175118067.html?src=rss

Last week's CrowdStrike outage plunged a noticeable portion of the world into a sea of blue death screens. The cybersecurity company tried to apologize with an Uber Eats gift card but its roll out also ended in failure, according to a report from TechCrunch.CrowdStrike apparently tried to send its millions of clients a $10 Uber Eats gift card on Tuesday. The gift card was an attempt to apologize for the global shutdown that locked up computer systems for banks, hospitals, airlines and more and the additional work that the July 19 incident has caused," according to TechCrunch's source who received the message.When some clients tried to use the gift card on Uber Eats, they only saw a screen telling them that the offer had been rescinded by the issuing party. CrowdStrike has yet to comment on this matter so it's not known how many clients received the voucher offer.CrowdStrike blamed the global system outage on a bug in an update that contained problematic data." The bug forced machines running on Windows into a boot loop that caused mass delays at airports, delayed scheduled surgeries and other operations at hospitals and disruptions at banks and even the London Stock Exchange.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/crowdstrike-offers-a-10-uber-eats-card-to-say-sorry-before-pulling-the-offer-172605510.html?src=rss

MultiVersus, the platform fighter that pulls from Warner Bros. properties, could be getting a whole bunch of new stages and characters, according to a report by Kotaku. This includes content from the film Barbie and the Mad Max universe, in addition to more Adventure Land stuff and a potential tie-in with the forthcoming Beetlejuice sequel. WB owns a whole bunch of stuff, so this could get interesting.The reporting is sourced from a fairly reputable dataminer on X, who published receipts in the form of screengrabs and the like. These images include an early version of a potential Barbie Land stage, complete with palm trees and, of course, a bright pink color palette.

Amazon Prime Day 2024 might be behind us but the deals keep coming and they don't stop coming. Folks with a Google Pixel or other Android device who are in the market for a set of budget-friendly earbuds may be interested in a discount on the Pixel Buds A-Series (they're compatible with iPhones too, but the integration won't be as deep on iOS products). These earbuds were already decent value at $99, and now they've dropped to an even more attractive price of $69. We gave the Pixel Buds A-Series a score of 84 in our 2021 review. They don't support wireless charging or have onboard controls, but otherwise we felt that they deliver excellent value for money (even more so now thanks to the current discount). The sound quality is pretty darned decent and the buds can reduce background noise while you're on calls. You'll get up to five hours of listening time and 2.5 hours of talk time before you'll need to return the earbuds to the case, Google says. You'll seemingly get up to 24 hours of total listening time before you have to charge the case. Thanks to quick charging, you'll be able to add three hours of listening time after plugging in the case for just 15 minutes. While there's an adaptive sound function for automatically adjusting the volume, there's no true active noise cancellation here. If you'd like something a more premium option, you can go with the Pixel Buds Pro instead. Those have dropped to $140, which is $60 off. However, they dropped to $120 during Prime Day. 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-google-pixel-buds-a-series-drop-to-69-145630793.html?src=rss

Whether you've just started a remote job or want to try your hand at creating videos, a solid webcam is essential for presentation. Fortunately, our favorite budget webcam is even more affordable right now, thanks to a 20 percent discount. The Anker PowerConf C200 2K Webcam for PC is down to $48 from $60 - a record low. We named Anker's C200 model our top budget webcam because it offers so many of the same perks as its more expensive competitors. To set it up, you only need to plug it in, either to the computer or your docking station. It offers up to 2K resolution, which gives you an extra boost, but you can lower it to 1080p, 720p or even 360p. It also automatically has a 95-degree lens opening but can shrink to 78 or 65 degrees. Plus, you can get AnkerWork software to edit things like brightness and sharpness. Anker's C200 webcam also offers dual stereo mics that capture your words clearly, so you don't have to worry about being misinterpreted on your next call. Then there's the fact that if you twist its frame the lens will physically shutter. The only real issue we had with this webcam is that it's a bit harder to change the angle of than other options, often requiring two hands. 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/our-favorite-budget-webcam-is-on-sale-for-only-48-right-now-141146554.html?src=rss

Google just announced a suite of updates to the Play Store in an attempt to make it more fun to use. This is part of a larger move by the company to turn its online marketplace into "an end-to-end experience that's more than a store." You read that right. They want us to hang out on Google Play.Here's what the company has planned. The update brings AI-generated review summaries that pull from user reviews to develop a consensus. You've likely already encountered this type of thing on Facebook and while using Google search. The company first announced this feature at this year's I/O event.This AI-adjacent approach will also apply to auto-generated FAQs about each app that are powered by Gemini models. Additionally, there will be AI-generated highlights that offer a quick summarization of a particular app. Google showed off a still image of this for a photo editing app in which the highlights included the number of filters and layouts available, in addition to tools and sharing options. This AI approach will also let users quickly compare apps in similar categories.Google's also rolling out shared spaces on the Play Store. These aren't communities or mini social networks, like Reddit or something, but rather splash pages for various topics of interest. The company started this project with a pilot involving cricket. The shared space gave users in India the ability to explore all their cricket content from across various channels in one, convenient spot." This included relevant videos, around 100 curated cricket-related apps and some simple user polls. The next curated space will be about Japanese manga. There has been no word as to when this feature will expand into multiple categories available to global users.The entire shopping for a new game to play" experience is also getting an upgrade, focused primarily on discovery. Google promises enriched game details" pages, complete with YouTube videos from developers and clearly-marked promotions, which reminds me of Steam. This even extends to the post-purchase experience, as return users will see updated developer notes and a section for tips and tricks. The program is in early access and currently only available to English language users. There are also some new games coming to Google's oft-overlooked Play Pass, like Asphalt Legends Unite and Candy Crush Saga, and a feature that lets users play multiple games at once on PC.Finally, there's some personalization stuff in this update. The new Collections feature provides custom categories based on previously-purchased apps. This means that each Google Play homescreen will be different for each user, offering an easy way to continue binging a show or finishing a video game.Many of these upgrades begin rolling out today, though some are still in the early access stage. Others, like the shared spaces feature, still have some kinks to work out.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-is-updating-the-play-store-with-ai-powered-app-reviews-and-curated-spaces-130036843.html?src=rss

Anyone with a PlayStation 5 should now have a smoother option for connecting with other gamers. Sony has officially rolled out a system software update, allowing you to create shareable links inviting others to a multiplayer game. The company first announced the feature in early May.The new PS5 update works by providing you with a link in the app that can be shared with anyone, even if you aren't friends on the Playstation Network. A QR code pops up alongside the link, though Sony warns you might have to update a few of your games for the new feature to work. One of the best things about this tool is the invite isn't immediately time-sensitive, so the link will still drop the recipient into your game 10 or 30 minutes from when its sent as long as you're still playing. If you send the link on Discord, a widget should appear to say if people are still playing or have dropped off.Alongside the new share method is another update that lets you open Game Help action cards through Voice Command. All you need to do is say "Show Game Help," and it should pop up. However, Voice Command (Preview) is currently available only in English for gamers in the US and UK with PlayStation Network accounts.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/new-ps5-update-makes-it-easier-to-join-multiplayer-games-123730301.html?src=rss

CrowdStrike has blamed faulty testing software for a buggy update that crashed 8.5 million Windows machines around the world, it wrote in an post incident review (PIR). "Due to a bug in the Content Validator, one of the two [updates] passed validation despite containing problematic data," the company said. It promised a series of new measures to avoid a repeat of the problem.The massive BSOD (blue screen of death) outage impacted multiple companies worldwide including airlines, broadcasters, the London Stock Exchange and many others. The problem forced Windows machines into a boot loop, with technicians requiring local access to machines to recover (Apple and Linux machines weren't affected). Many companies, like Delta Airlines, are still recovering.To prevent DDoS and other types of attacks, CrowdStrike has a tool called the Falcon Sensor. It ships with content that functions at the kernel level (called Sensor Content) that uses a "Template Type" to define how it defends against threats. If something new comes along, it ships "Rapid Response Content" in the form of "Template Instances."A Template Type for a new sensor was released on March 5, 2024 and performed as expected. However, on July 19, two new Template Instances were released and one (just 40KB in size) passed validation despite having "problematic data," CrowdStrike said. "When received by the sensor and loaded into the Content Interpreter, [this] resulted in an out-of-bounds memory read triggering an exception. This unexpected exception could not be gracefully handled, resulting in a Windows operating system crash (BSOD)."To prevent a repeat of the incident, CrowdStrike promised to take several measures. First is more thorough testing of Rapid Response content, including local developer testing, content update and rollback testing, stress testing, stability testing and more. It's also adding validation checks and enhancing error handing.Furthermore, the company will start using a staggered deployment strategy for Rapid Response Content to avoid a repeat of the global outage. It'll also provide customers greater control over the delivery of such content and provide release notes for updates.However, some analysts and engineers think the company should have put such measures in place from the get-go. "CrowdStrike must have been aware that these updates are interpreted by the drivers and could lead to problems," engineer Florian Roth posted on X. "They should have implemented a staggered deployment strategy for Rapid Response Content from the start."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/crowdstrike-blames-bug-that-caused-worldwide-outage-on-faulty-testing-software-120057494.html?src=rss

Netflix has hired Alain Tascan as its new president of games. Before joining Netflix, Tascan was executive vice president for Epic Games and oversaw first-party development for some of the company's (and gaming's) most successful titles, like Fortnite, Rocket League and Fall Guys.Since launching its games project in 2021, Netflix has acquired notable indie studios Night School, Boss Fight, Next Games and Spry Fox and has brought many great indie games to mobile - seriously, search the app store, if only for Into The Breach. Netflix recently said it has 80-plus games currently in development. A multiplayer Squid Game project will be part of that, coinciding with the hit show's next season, later this year.- Mat SmithThe biggest stories you might have missedPrime Video's much-needed overhaulAdobe's Photoshop can now generate AI imagesFujifilm GFX 100 II: The king of medium-format mirrorless camerasYou can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!Meta's latest AI model is great at general knowledge, math and languagesThe large language model arms race continues.Meta's newest large language model (LLM), called Llama 3.1 405B, is the first openly available model to compete with rivals in general knowledge, math and translating. It was apparently trained on more than 16,000 NVIDIA H100 GPUs, currently the fastest available chips, which cost roughly $25,000 each, and can beat rivals on over 150 benchmarks, Meta claimed.Unlike OpenAI, Google, Microsoft and Anthropic, which hold their AI models proprietary close, Meta's AI models are open source, meaning anyone can modify and use them for free, without sharing personal data with Meta.Continue reading.Humble Games reportedly lays off its entire staffThe publisher confirmed its layoffs.Humble Games laid off all 36 of its staff. Former employees posted about the layoffs on social media. But a PR rep for Humble Games confirmed to Engadget the company would not be shutting its doors after the restructuring. He added the studio would continue to support and publish both ongoing and upcoming projects. Humble Games is owned by media conglomerate Ziff Davis, which counts IGN, Eurogamer and GamesIndustry.biz in its gaming portfolio.Continue reading.Lego's first Fortnite sets are hereIncluding a 954-piece Battle Bus kit.LegoThat should keep someone busy for an afternoon or ten.Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-netflixs-new-gaming-boss-is-a-former-epic-games-exec-111512978.html?src=rss

Humble Games has reportedly laid off all 36 of its staff. Former employees posted about the layoffs on social media. Humble Games is owned by media conglomerate Ziff Davis, which counts IGN, Eurogamer and GamesIndustry.biz among its gaming portfolio. Humble Games confirmed in a LinkedIn post that there had been a "restructure" at the company, but did not reveal the number of jobs lost.A PR rep for Humble Games also confirmed to Engadget that the company would not be shutting its doors as a result of today's restructuring. He added that both ongoing and upcoming projects would continue to be supported and published by the studio.The layoffs at Humble Bundle are the latest in a sweep across the gaming business. Last year saw a shocking number of cuts across studios of all sizes, and the trend has sadly continued into 2024."The games industry is volatile, it's been inundated by people who only want exponential growth at the expense of making great games with great teams," Emilee Kieffer, a former lead quality assurance analyst with Humble Games, wrote on LinkedIn following the layoffs.

Netflix has landed a notable new leader for its rapidly-expanding gaming endeavors. Variety reported that the streaming company has hired Alain Tascan as its new president of games. Before joining Netflix, Tascan was executive vice president for game development at a little studio you may have heard of called Epic Games. In that role, he oversaw the first-party development for some of the company's hugely successful titles, such as Fortnite, Lego Fortnite, Rocket League and Fall Guys.The company is also recruiting talent on the creative side. Since launching the games project in 2021, Netflix has acquired notable indie studios Night School, Boss Fight, Next Games and Spry Fox, and has brought a large number of acclaimed indie games to mobile. In its second quarter earnings call, Netflix execs revealed that it has more than 80 games currently in development, which would nearly double its current library of about 100 titles.Many of these new projects are interactive fiction based on Netflix shows and movies, with the goal of giving fans new ways to engage with their favorite titles. "I think our opportunity here to serve super fandom with games is really fun and remarkable," Co-CEO Ted Sarandos said during the call. We also learned that a multiplayer Squid Game project will be coming to Netflix Games later this year.Although Netflix is making a sizable investment into this games division, people haven't been flocking to their titles yet. In 2022, the library had about 1.7 million daily users and its games had been downloaded 23.3 million times.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/netflix-hires-former-epic-games-exec-as-new-president-of-games-212614285.html?src=rss

Video games are supposed to provide us an escape from the grinding and anger produced on an average day. Now one of the real world's most contentious aggravations has slithered its way into Fortnite AND Rocket League. The Cybertruck, Tesla's electric vehicle that replaced the pink Hummer as the official car for total jerks, makes its digital debut in both games today.The Cybertruck add-ons are part of a new Summer Road Trip'' promotion bundle for Fortnite and Rocket League. Both bundles come with a vehicle that looks like a door stop and special body decals such as Baja Off-Road," CyberCamo," MatteBlack," Stainless Steel" and OMG Cybertruck," which recreates the window that Elon Musk broke while trying to prove the strength of the Cybertruck's windows. Did they also include the sticky accelerator?Psyonix/TeslaPresumably, the OMG stands for Oh my God! (Can't I go one day without seeing that ego on wheels we call the) Cybertruck?" The Baja Off-Road skin paired with the douchey Cybertruck in particular just screams, I wear a lot of Ed Hardy!"We have... some questions. Will the rain in Fortnite cause widespread rusting of the chassis? Will the Rocket League ball dent the shatterproof" window like a metal ball famously did way back in 2019? Will players be able to finish a whole game if there's another recall alert? If you really must, you can find out in both games now.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-cybertruck-is-coming-to-fortnite-and-rocket-league-because-were-being-punished-210309356.html?src=rss

Microsoft has been taking a lot of hits over its Xbox Game Pass price hike and the overall lackluster offering of games. So to make up for it, they are offering a Call of Duty game for the first time on its virtual buffet. Unfortunately, it's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, one of the lowest rated games in the series.Calling the reviews for Modern Warfare III mixed" would be generous.IGN's Simon Cardy said its single-player campaign was shallow," dull" and the worst Call of Duty single-player campaign I've played." Jump Dash Roll's Derek Johnson wrote that its main campaign is genuinely not worth playing" and its signature Zombies mode isn't quite as atrociously terrible as its single-player but that doesn't mean it's anything resembling something fun."Modern Warfare III won't be the only Call of Dutygame available for Xbox Game Pass subscribers. Xbox Game Pass will provide day one access to Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 in October. Of course, we don't know how good the game will be but one imagines it'll garner a bit more favor from critics compared to Modern Warfare III.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/a-call-of-duty-game-is-coming-to-xbox-game-pass-just-not-one-anyone-wants-175255224.html?src=rss

Cybersecurity company Dragos has flagged malware that can attack industrial control systems (ICS), tricking them into malicious behavior like turning off the heat and hot water in the middle of winter. TechCrunch reports that's precisely what the malware, dubbed FrostyGoop, did this January in Lviv, Ukraine, when residents in over 600 apartment buildings lost heat for two days amid freezing temperatures.Dragos says FrostyGoop is only the ninth known malware designed to target industrial controllers. It's also the first to specifically set its sights on Modbus, a widely deployed communications protocol invented in 1979. Modbus is frequently used in industrial environments like the one in Ukraine that FrostyGoop attacked in January.Ukraine's Cyber Security Situation Center (CSSC), the nation's government agency tasked with digital safety, shared information about the attack with Dragos after discovering the malware in April of this year, months after the attack. The malicious code, written in Golang (The Go programming language designed by Google), directly interacts with industrial control systems over an open internet port (502).The attackers likely gained access to Lviv's industrial network in April 2023. Dragos says they did so by exploiting an undetermined vulnerability in an externally facing Mikrotik router." They then installed a remote access tool that voided the need to install the malware locally, which helped it avoid detection.The attackers downgraded the controller firmware to a version lacking monitoring capabilities, helping to cover their tracks. Instead of trying to take down the systems altogether, the hackers caused the controllers to report inaccurate measurements - resulting in the loss of heat in the middle of a deep freeze.Dragos has a longstanding policy of neutrality in cyberattacks, preferring to focus on education without assigning blame. However, it noted that the adversaries opened secure connections (using layer two tunneling protocol) to Moscow-based IP addresses.I think it's very much a psychological effort here, facilitated through cyber means when kinetic perhaps here wasn't the best choice," Dragos researcher Mark Magpie" Graham told TechCrunch. Lviv is in the western part of Ukraine, which would be much more difficult for Russia to hit than eastern cities.Dragos warns that, given how ubiquitous the Modbus protocol is in industrial environments, FrostyGoop could be used to disrupt similar systems worldwide. The security company recommends continuous monitoring, noting that FrostyGoop evaded virus detection, underscoring the need for network monitoring to flag future threats before they strike. Specifically, Dragos advises ICS operators to use the SANS 5 Critical Controls for World-Class OT Cybersecurity, a security framework for operational environments.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/russia-linked-hackers-cut-heat-to-600-ukrainian-apartment-buildings-in-the-dead-of-winter-researchers-say-171414527.html?src=rss

Regulators in the US and Europe have laid out the "shared principles" they plan to adhere to in order to "protect competition and consumers" when it comes to artificial intelligence. "Guided by our respective laws, we will work to ensure effective competition and the fair and honest treatment of consumers and businesses," the Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission, European Commission and the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said."Technological inflection points can introduce new means of competing, catalyzing opportunity, innovation and growth," the agencies said in a joint statement. "Accordingly, we must work to ensure the public reaps the full benefits of these moments."The regulators pinpointed fair dealing (i.e. making sure major players in the sector avoid exclusionary tactics), interoperability and choice as the three principles for protecting competition in the AI space. They based these factors on their experience working in related markets.The agencies also laid out some potential risks to competition, such as deals between major players in the market. They said that while arrangements between companies in the sector (which are already widespread) may not impact competition in some cases, in others "these partnerships and investments could be used by major firms to undermine or co opt competitive threats and steer market outcomes in their favor at the expense of the public."Other risks to competition flagged in the statement include the entrenching or extension of market power in AI-related markets as well as the "concentrated control of key inputs." The agencies define the latter as a small number of companies potentially having an outsized influence over the AI space due to the control and supply of "specialized chips, substantial compute, data at scale and specialist technical expertise."In addition, the CMA, DOJ and FTC say they'll be on the lookout for threats that AI might pose to consumers. The statement notes that it's important for consumers to be kept in the loop about how AI factors into the products and services they buy or use. "Firms that deceptively or unfairly use consumer data to train their models can undermine people's privacy, security, and autonomy," the statement reads. "Firms that use business customers' data to train their models could also expose competitively sensitive information."These are all fairly generalized statements about the agencies' common approach to fostering competition in the AI space, but given that they all operate under different laws, it would be difficult for the statement to go into the specifics of how they'll regulate. At the very least, the statement should serve as a reminder to companies working in the generative AI space that regulators are keeping a close eye on things, even amid rapidly accelerating advancements in the sector.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/us-and-european-antitrust-regulators-agree-to-do-their-jobs-when-it-comes-to-ai-163820780.html?src=rss

Lego just announced its first sets inspired by the gaming phenomenon Fortnite. These kits draw from iconic characters and vehicles from both the original game and the brick-based spinoff Lego Fortnite, like an ouroboros of corporate synergy. The baddest of the bunch looks to be the 954-piece Battle Bus kit, which costs $100. This is a brick-based replica of the iconic hot-air balloon on wheels, complete with a removable roof and characters like Meowscles, Raven and Cuddle Team Leader, among others. Lego The 1,414-piece Peely Bone set looks to appeal to collectors more than kids. It builds into a giant version of the rare Fortnite character, who is one-half banana and one-half skeleton. The kit comes with accessories like a pickaxe and paint launcher. This set also costs $100. The game's beloved Supply Llama is also getting a kit. This 691-piece set allows fans to build the iconic character and it comes with a whole bunch of themed accessories, including a grappler, Slurp Juice, Slap Juice and more. This set costs $40, which isn't too bad given the number of pieces involved. Lego Finally, there's a teensy Durrr Burger kit, which is aimed squarely at kids. This 193-piece set builds into the aforementioned Fortnite landmark (it's a restaurant in the game.) It even comes with an olive on a toothpick. The kit costs just $15. All of these sets are available for preorder right now straight from Lego, but we have to wait a little bit before they ship. The kits don't officially release until October 1. In the meantime, there's a nifty Jaws-inspired set coming out in August and a massive 2,500-piece set based on The Legend of Zelda that ships on September 1. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/legos-first-fortnite-sets-are-here-153451343.html?src=rss

So much relies on Wi-Fi - your TV, music, games, smart home devices, possibly even your alarm clock - which makes dead zones productivity killers. One of our favorite ways to remedy weak or spotty coverage is with Google's Nest Wi-Fi Pro 6E and right now, a three pack is down to $285. That's a 29 percent discount and matches the sale price it hit last week for Prime Day. This isn't an all-time low, but it's just $5 more than the record. We named the Nest Wi-Fi Pro the best for novice users in our guide to mesh Wi-Fi systems and it earned an 87 in our full review. Our reviewer, Daniel Cooper, called Google's 6E system "more approachable than the rest," though he notes that it's can't beat the competition on speed. The smooth rounded shape is a little more decor-friendly than some more industrial-looking routers and was the first Nest router to harness WiFi 6/6E. That's great if you're looking to upgrade to the newer Wi-Fi standard, but keep in mind that these aren't backwards compatible with any pre-6E Nest routers. As for speed, it's plenty fast enough for streaming movies and browsing the web and the coverage is impressive. To help with performance, it dynamically shunts traffic around the available space, including using the 6GHz band as backhaul. That frees up a lot of space in 2.4 and 5GHz bands, which is what most devices use. So unless you have a ton of devices that are Wi-Fi 6E-enabled, that feature should help. Still, if speed is your main concern, you might be better off with our pick for power users. Overall, Dan appreicated that this was one of the cheapest WiFi 6E systems on the market, with a particularly easy-to-use app that made set up fairly foolproof. And if you're already using other Nest or Google-compatible smart home equipment, you'll appreciate the integration with the Google Home app. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/a-google-nest-wi-fi-6e-three-pack-is-back-on-sale-for-285-153232698.html?src=rss

Meta AI launched in September 2023 using the Llama 2 learning language model. Nearly a year later, Meta has announced a new round of features for its AI assistant and a fresh LLM to support it: Llama 3.1.These updates include an expansion of who can access Meta AI. Thanks to the addition of Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Cameroon, the assistant is now available in 22 countries. It's also accessible in new languages: French, German, Hindi, Hindi-Romanized Script, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. However, some of the new features are location or language-specific for the time being.Meta is rolling out a beta tool called "Imagine me" throughout the US. It allows for prompts such as "Imagine me surfing" or "Imagine me as a surrealist painting," and the AI assistant will create it using a photo of the individual. Meta is also adding new ways to tinker with an image, such as removing, changing or editing its content. This feature allows for creating an image, such as a duck, with the "Imagine me" tool and then instructing Meta AI to "Change the duck to a cat." Next month there will also be an "Edit with AI" button for further fine-tuning of images. The company is also rolling out the ability to create an image with Meta AI in a feed, comment, story or message across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger. It should roll out this week, though just in English for now.Then there's the launch of Llama 3.1 405B - Meta's new open-source AI model. You can use it on WhatsApp or meta.ai for tasks such as answering math problems and coding. Meta claims it will update its AI technology every two weeks and that new features and languages are on the way.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-ai-is-now-available-in-spanish-portugese-french-and-more-150051715.html?src=rss

Meta on Tuesday announced the release of Llama 3.1, the latest version of its large language model that the company claims now rivals competitors from OpenAI and Anthropic. The new model comes just three months after Meta launched Llama 3 by integrating it into Meta AI, a chatbot that now lives in Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp and also powers the company's smart glasses. In the interim, OpenAI and Anthropic already released new versions of their own AI models, a sign that Silicon Valley's AI arms race isn't slowing down any time soon.Meta said that the new model, called Llama 3.1 405B, is the first openly available model that can compete against rivals in general knowledge, math skills and translating across multiple languages. The model was trained on more than 16,000 NVIDIA H100 GPUs, currently the fastest available chips that cost roughly $25,000 each, and can beat rivals on over 150 benchmarks, Meta claimed.The 405B" stands for 405 billion parameters, which are internal variables that an AI model uses to reason and make decisions. The higher the number of parameters an AI model has, the smarter we perceive it to be. OpenAI's GPT-4 model, by comparison, is reportedly has roughly 1.5 trillion parameters, although the company has not disclosed the number so far. In addition, Meta also released upgraded versions of existing Llama models that contain 70 billion and 8 billion parameters each, claiming that the newer versions had stronger reasoning abilities among other things.Developers can download Llama 3.1 from its official website, while regular users can play with it through Meta AI in WhatsApp or on meta.ai, the company's website for its chatbot. Llama 405B's improved reasoning capabilities make it possible for Meta AI to understand and answer your more complex questions, especially on the topics of math and coding," Meta's blog post states. You can get help on your math homework with step-by-step explanations and feedback, write code faster with debugging support and optimization." (Editor's note: Engadget will pit Llama 3.1 against the New York Times Spelling Bee and report back to you). For now, Meta AI on Facebook, Messenger and Instagram are still restricted to the smaller version of Llama 3.1 that uses 70 billion parameters.Unlike OpenAI, Google, Microsoft and Anthropic that keep their AI models proprietary, Meta's AI models are open source, which means that anyone can modify and use them for free and without sharing personal data with Meta. In a letter published on Tuesday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg argued that an open source approach to AI development will ensure wider access to the technology's benefits, prevent the concentration of power among a few big companies, and enable safer AI deployment across society. By open sourcing the company's largest language model to date, Meta aims to make Llama the industry standard" for anyone to develop AI-powered apps and services with, Zuckerberg wrote.Open sourcing AI models and adding them to its existing products already used by billions of people could allow Meta to compete more effectively with OpenAI whose ChatGPT and DALL-E chatbots ignited an AI explosion when they launched in 2022. And it could also boost engagement - Meta announced today that users would soon be able to add AI-generated images directly into feeds, stories, comments and messages across Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram.In his letter, Zuckerberg also criticized Apple and its closed ecosystem, arguing that the iPhone maker's restrictive and arbitrary policies had constrained what Meta could build on its platforms. [It's] clear that Meta and many other companies would be freed up to build much better services for people if we could build the best versions of our producers and competitors were not able to constrain what we could build," he wrote.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/llama-31-is-metas-latest-salvo-in-the-battle-for-ai-dominance-150042924.html?src=rss

Meta's AI-powered assistant have been accessible on the Ray-Ban smart glasses for quite some time, but the company will only start rolling it out to its Quest headsets next month. The assistant will still be in experimental mode, however, and it's availability will be limited to users in the US and Canada. Meta has revealed the update alongside its announcements for the Llama 3.1 and the new Meta AI capabilities.Users who get access to the assistant in August will be able to put its hands-free controls to the test. The company said Meta AI is replacing the current technology used for Voice Commands on Quest, so it will be the one controlling the headset whenever people use voice for navigation and the one answering their questions if they ask for information. They can ask the assistant for restaurant recommendations for an upcoming trip, as an example, or ask it for the weather those days, as well as suggestions on how to dress for it.They will also be able to use the "Meta AI with Vision" feature, which will let them ask the assistant for information on what they're seeing, while using Passthrough on the Quest. Passthrough lets users see their environment through a video feed while watching or doing something else on their headsets. A user can, for instance, ask the assistant to look at what's inside the fridge and suggest what they can cook, or ask for tips on what kind of top would go with a skirt they're holding up, all while watching a YouTube video.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/metas-ai-assistant-is-coming-to-quest-headsets-in-the-us-and-canada-150033530.html?src=rss

General Motors is putting the autonomous Cruise Origin shuttle van on ice. The company said that the embattled Cruise, of which GM is the majority owner, will now focus on making the next-gen Chevy Bolt. The automaker discontinued the previous Bolt last year due to a shift away from an older battery system but did not reveal plans for a new model at the time.According to a letter that GM CEO Mary Barra sent to shareholders, the indefinite delay of the shuttle van "addresses the regulatory uncertainty we faced with the Origin because of its unique design." Barra added that the per-unit costs of the next-gen Bolt will be much lower, "which will help Cruise optimize its resources."GM and Cruise were working on the Origin with Honda. The Origin - which does not have a driver's seat, steering wheel or pedals - was supposed to debut in Japan in 2026.In October, the California Department of Motor Vehicles suspended Cruise's driverless vehicle permits over safety issues. Earlier that month, a pedestrian in San Francisco was dragged 20 feet by a Cruise vehicle and pinned under it after a hit-and-run by another car pushed her into the robotaxi's path. Cruise later paused all driverless operations before temporarily halting production in November.According to CNBC, former Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt at one point told staff that hundreds of pre-commercial Origin vehicles had been built. The company has resumed robotaxi operations in Phoenix, Houston and Dallas with human operators on board and is carrying out tests in Dubai. However, it hasn't recommenced operations in San Francisco. It's still under investigation for the October incident there.Shelving the Origin is not a decision that GM and Cruise would have come to lightly. In GM's second quarter earnings report, the automaker noted that it incurred around $583 million of Cruise restructuring costs. It said these resulted "from Cruise voluntarily pausing its driverless, supervised and manual [autonomous vehicle] operations in the US and the indefinite delay of the Cruise Origin."On the plus side, resuming work on the Bolt (which will presumably use GM's Ultium battery tech the next time around) could be a boon for GM's bottom line. As of 2023, the Bolt EV and EUV accounted for most of GM's electric vehicle sales. It planned to make around 70,000 of them last year before ceasing production.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gm-shelves-the-autonomous-cruise-origin-shuttle-van-144256801.html?src=rss

You can's say Fujifilm is boring. It stuck to APS-C sensors instead of going full-frame like everyone else, while releasing cool and weird models like the X100 VI. That strategy has been refreshing in a conservative industry and undeniably successful.It also went big by introducing its first medium-format camera seven years ago, the GFX50S. After eight models, they've proven to be popular among pro portrait and scenic photographers, a market Fujifilm never really had before. Each has become increasingly more sophisticated, with better image quality, faster shooting speeds and improved video.Now that the company's flagship $7,500 100-megapixel GFX 100 II, has been out for awhile and had several firmware updates, I was keen to test the new AF speeds and more. So I went to London to try it out alongside two pro photographer friends who are thinking of buying one.BodyThe original GFX 100 is a gigantic camera, weighing over three pounds with the viewfinder. The GFX 100 II is more manageable at 2.27 pounds, the same as Panasonic's full-frame S1. Photographers are still likely to be carrying a heavy bag, though, as medium-format GFX lenses are generally bigger and heavier than full-frame glass.The GFX 100 II also feels more like a full-frame camera than an old-school top-down viewfinder medium format model. It has an updated, modern control layout, with a pair of control dials, a mode dial, a joystick, 14 buttons and a movie/photo switch.The rear display tilts up, down and to the side, but doesn't flip out - not a huge deal, as this will never be a vlogging camera. It shines where it counts, though, with a high 2.36 million dot resolution and enough brightness to use in sunlight. The viewfinder, meanwhile, is one of the best on any camera, with an extremely sharp 9.36-million dot resolution and 100 percent magnification.It's easy to handle, thanks to the well-placed controls and large grip. The top display, which stays on even when the camera is switched off, shows all the main settings at a glance. I'm not a huge fan of Fujifilm's overly complicated menu system, but it's fine once you get used to it.As with other recent high-end cameras, you get both an SD UHS II card slot and a much faster CFexpress B option. The latter is required for fast burst shooting, as I'll discuss soon. Battery life is solid, with up to 540 shots on a charge, or about an hour of 8K or 4K 60p recording.PerformanceSteve Dent for EngadgetThe GFX 100 II is the fastest medium-format camera to date. You can fire bursts at up to 8 fps with the mechanical shutter enabled and capture about 300 lossless RAW frames before the buffer fills. That's about 36GB of data, so it requires a fast CFexpress card.Autofocus wasn't a strong point on the GFX, but it's a big step up on this model. The majority of shots in our burst testing were in focus, though it becomes less accurate when the subject is close to the camera. This isn't a sports camera, obviously, but it still has the best AF I've seen on any medium format camera.Face and eye detection have also improved, usually locking onto the eye and not, say the eyebrow as the older model did. Fujifilm also introduced AI subject detection from recent models, so it now has settings for animals, birds, automobiles, motorcycles, bikes, airplanes and trains.Nathanael Charpentier for EngadgetThe GFX 100 II has a new 5-axis stabilization system with up to eight stops of shake reduction, compared to 5.5 stops before. This is useful for portraits and scenics, letting you shoot down to a quarter second or slower and blur water or people, while keeping the background sharp.Rolling shutter was pretty abysmal on the original model, and isn't a lot better here. If you're taking street photos and want to remain silent, it's fine if the subject doesn't move much. For anything else, use the mechanical shutter to avoid some bad skewing.Image qualityImage quality is this camera's forte. Naturally, photos are pin sharp thanks to the 102-megapixel sensor. And with 16 bits of color depth in RAW mode, dynamic range is outstanding, right up there with Sony and Nikon. All of that makes it ideal for portraits and landscapes, on top of tasks that benefit from high-resolution, like art preservation.The GFX 100 II now goes down to ISO 80 instead of 100 to further boost dynamic range. All of that allows photographers to get creative with RAW photos, or tease detail out of highlights and shadows.It's not bad at high ISOs either, thanks to the sensor's backside illumination and dual-gain design. There's very little noise visible at ISO 6400, and photos are usable up to ISO 12800 if exposure is correct.The medium format sensor offers incredibly shallow depth of field if you need that for portrait shooting. Combined with a fast lens like the 80 mm f/1.7, it allows for incredible bokeh and subject separation.For those who prefer to use JPEGs straight out of the camera, it delivers color-accurate images with the perfect amount of in-camera sharpening. That's ideal for previews or for folks who want to use Fujifilm's impressive film simulation modes. For the GFX 100 II, Fujifilm introduced a new one called Reala Ace that's based directly on one of its old negative films. With a punchy, saturated and slightly nostalgic feel, it has become one of my new favorites.There is one quality issue - the GFX 100 II drops from 16- to effectively less than 14-bits when shooting 8fps bursts in order to reduce throughput. That in itself isn't a huge problem, but Fujifilm has been cagey about how it markets this, which has rubbed a lot of pro photographers the wrong way.VideoSteve Dent for EngadgetI'm starting to sound like a broken record, but the X100 II is also Fuji's best medium format camera for video. It has a host of new modes, most notably 8K. It also offers 6K, 4K/60p and 1080p at 240fps. All those formats can be captured in 12-bit ProRes, along with 10-bit H.265 formats. You also get access to Fujifilm's excellent F-Log2 capture that boosts dynamic range.There are some considerable compromises, though. 8K is captured with a 1.53 times crop, reducing the effective sensor size to less than full frame - which negates one of the main medium-format advantages: shallow depth of field. Other resolutions use the full sensor width, but pixel binning reduces sharpness.Rolling shutter is also an issue at 8K, so be sure not to move the camera much at that resolution. It's less bothersome at 4K resolutions, likely due to the pixel binning.All that aside, video from the GFX100 II has a different quality than I've seen from most mirrorless cameras. The larger sensor makes it cinematic, especially with some of Fujifilm's prime lenses. And the 8K video is extremely sharp when downsampled to 4K in DaVinci Resolve.Realistically though, video is more of a nice-to-have feature for occasional use, as the majority of buyers will certainly be using it for photography.Wrap-upNathanael Charpentier for EngadgetThe $7,500 GFX100 II is an impressive medium format camera with improvements in every area compared to the previous model. More importantly, what did my pro photographer friends think and will they buy one? What's most noticeable is the evolution of the autofocus compared to the GFX100," said Nathanael Charpentier. In our studio we usually work with Sony, and the GFX100 II autofocus is still far from Sony's level, but it's a big improvement.It's not a sports camera, it doesn't have super-fast burst speeds. It's more for studio portrait work. For certain types of reportage' like candid wedding shoots, if we really need the extra dynamic range offered by a medium-format camera, I could see using it." At this point, they're not planning on buying one due to the high price (and the fact that they just laid down 6,000 euros for an A9 III), but it's high on their list of future equipment purchases.Its main competitor is the $8,200 Hasselblad X2D 100C, which has perhaps slightly better color science and image quality - while also bringing a certain prestige with the Hasselblad name. However, the GFX100 II is superior in most other ways, including speeds, autofocus and video. If you really need to nail autofocus in busy or difficult situations, though, full-frame is still best: Sony's 45-megapixel $6,500 A1 or Nikon's $3,800 Z8 or $5,500 Z9 (both 45MP as well) are better choices.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/fujifilm-gfx-100-ii-the-king-of-medium-format-mirrorless-cameras-143009929.html?src=rss

The new Samsung Galaxy devices drop tomorrow which means today is your last chance to take advantage of pre-order promotions. One of the best deals we've seen comes from Amazon, which is offering a $300 gift card to anyone who pre-orders the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6. The bundle is available for $1,900 thanks to a six percent discount on the 512GB model (originally $2,020). You can pick it up in Silver, Navy or Pink. Samsung announced the Galaxy Z Fold 6 earlier this month, and we've had the chance to test it out. We gave it an 86 in our review due to welcome features like native stylus support and an even lighter chassis. It also uses the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip and has a larger vapor chamber, so there's basically no lag, and it's less likely to overheat. The screen is brighter, with a colorful display, and the device lasted over 20 hours during our video rundown test on the main screen and 25 hours and 19 minutes on the exterior screen. If you're in the market for something cheaper, check out the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 - a smaller device with some of the same perks. The smartphone is also available for pre-order, with the 512GB model and a $200 Amazon gift card on sale for $1,100. The 512GB Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 starts at $1,220 on its own (though both Amazon and Samsung are running pre-order sales on just the phone). Like the Galaxy Z Fold 6, it comes out tomorrow so today is the last day to snag a pre-order deal. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/its-your-last-chance-for-a-300-amazon-gift-card-when-you-pre-order-the-samsung-galaxy-z-fold-6-141053944.html?src=rss

The first reports of instability issues with the 13th-gen Intel desktop CPUs started popping up in late 2022, mere months after the models came out. Those issues persisted, and over time, users reported dealing with unexpected and sudden crashes on PCs equipped with the company's 14th-gen CPUs, as well. Now, Intel has announced that it finally found the reason why its 13th and 14th-gen desktop processors have been causing crashes and giving out on users, and it promises to roll out a fix by next month.In its announcement, Intel said that based on extensive analysis of the processors that had been returned to the company, it has determined that elevated operating voltage was causing the instability issues. Apparently, it's because a microcode algorithm - microcodes, or machine codes, are sets of hardware-level instructions - has been sending incorrect voltage requests to the processor.Intel has now promised to release a microcode patch to address the "root cause of exposure to elevated voltages." The patch is still being validated to ensure that it can address all "scenarios of instability reported to Intel," but the company is aiming to roll it out by mid-August.As wccftech notes, while Intel's CPUs have been causing issues with users for at least a year and a half, a post on X by Sebastian Castellanos in February put the problem in the spotlight. Castellanos wrote that there was a "worrying trend" of 13th and 14th-gen Intel CPUs having stability issues with Unreal Engine 4 and 5 games, such as Fortnite and Hogwarts Legacy. He also noticed that the issue seems to affect mostly higher-end models and linked to a discussion on Steam Community. The user that wrote the post on Steam wanted to issue a warning to those experiencing "out of video memory trying to allocate a rendering resource" errors that it was their CPU that was faulty. They also linked to several Reddit threads with people experiencing the same problem and who had determined that their issue lied with their Intel CPUs.More recently, the indie studio Alderon Games published a post about "encountering significant problems with Intel CPU stability" while developing its multiplayer dinosaur survival game Path of Titans. Its founder, Matthew Cassells, said the studio found that the issue affected end customers, dedicated game servers, developers' computers, game server providers and even benchmarking tools that use Intel's 13th and 14th-gen CPUs. Cassells added that even the CPUs that initially work well deteriorate and eventually fail, based on the company's observations. "The failure rate we have observed from our own testing is nearly 100 percent," the studio's post reads, "indicating it's only a matter of time before affected CPUs fail."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/intel-has-finally-figured-out-its-long-standing-desktop-cpu-instability-issues-130042083.html?src=rss

Adobe has widely released a new and potentially contentious feature: text-to-image generation for Photoshop powered by Firefly, first teased in April. As with LLMs like Dall-E and Mid Journey, you can use it to create an image from scratch by typing a description into Photoshop's updated generative AI tool.I tried it with the text "Dramatic low angle view of a steamship from the 1800s in a storm with large waves and lightning" in multiple styles (anime, watercolor, sketch, realistic) and got decent results. The usual AI art caveats apply though, particularly with weird details if you look closely. But it certainly created useable results and you have the benefit of already being inside Photoshop to fix any errors.Adobe Firefly AI-generated imagePreviously, Photoshop's Generative Fill feature only let you add, extend or remove specific parts of an image. Now, you can create images from scratch, then tweak them later. "This really speeds up time to creation," Adobe's Erin Boyce told Engadget in April. "The idea of getting something from your mind to the canvas has never been easier."The feature is powered by Firefly Image 3 model, something at the heart of a recent artist backlash against Adobe. Creators were incensed by language in Adobe's recent ToS (terms of service), interpreting it to mean that Adobe could freely use their work to train the company's generative AI models.In its latest post, however, Adobe stated that it has a "commitment to creator friendly AI" which means "never training on customer content." It promised to take a creator-friendly approach as part of its AI ethics principles of accountability, responsibility and transparency.AdobeAlong with image generation, Adobe introduced an "Enhance Detail" feature in Photoshop's Generative Fill. For Illustrator, it introduced Generative Shape Fill to add detailed vectors in a designer's unique style (above), Enhanced Text to Pattern (creating customized vector patterns in the artists style) and Style Reference. It also added a Mockup tool to create "high-quality visual prototypes of art on objects like product packaging," enhanced selection capabilities and more.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/adobes-photoshop-can-now-generate-ai-images-via-prompts-like-dall-e-or-mid-journey-130018181.html?src=rss

For all its stacked selection of original content, like Fallout, The Boys and Rings of Power, Prime Video has historically pffered a cluttered, confusing and less-than-intuitive layout - especially compared to rivals like Netflix. That changes today as Amazon begins rolling out a new Prime Video UI that, in the company's words, brings clarity and simplicity back to streaming."The Prime Video redesign starts with a streamlined navigation bar that should make it easier to find your way around. To the left, the bar includes the general categories Home, Movies, TV Shows, Sports and Live TV. Immediately to the right, the nav bar continues with a dedicated tab for content bundled with your Prime membership, followed by sections for add-on subscriptions like Max, Paramount+, Crunchyroll and others. There's a separate section to add new subscriptions - from Amazon's more than 100 options - straight from the bar.Meanwhile, a new hero rotator" below the bar drills down to highlight content available within each selected bar section. It looks similar to rival services, which doesn't sound like a big deal on paper but should be a welcome change for anyone who's ever futzed around with the confusing old Prime Video UI.AmazonUnsurprisingly, Amazon is adding personalized AI-generated recommendations (Made for you") when navigating the bar's Movies and TV Shows sections. Using the company's Bedrock AI model, the machine learning recommendations will offer content tips based on your watch history and preferences.AI will also power new show and movie synopses. Amazon says the change will make browsing their blurbs faster, preventing you from having to scroll around to learn more about a given piece of content.Finally, Amazon says the UI has new animations, snappier page transitions and zoom effects to make the experience more frictionless." On living room devices, video content will auto-play on the hero rotator as you browse around (much like Netflix and other competitors). If you head to the Live TV tab, recommended stations will also play on their own, continuing until you pick something to give your full attention.The UI update begins rolling out on Tuesday. You can read more in Amazon's announcement post.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/prime-video-gets-a-much-needed-ui-overhaul-with-a-new-content-bar-and-ai-recommendations-120019397.html?src=rss

Conde Nast, the media giant that owns The New Yorker, Vogue and Wired, has sent a cease-and-desist letter to AI-powered search startup Perplexity, according to The Information. The letter, sent on Monday, demanded Perplexity stop using content from Conde Nast publications in its AI-generated responses and accused the startup of plagiarism. It comes a month after Forbes took similar action.Conde Nast CEO Roger Lynch has warned many" media companies could face financial ruin in the time it would take for litigation against generative AI companies to conclude. Lynch has called upon Congress to take immediate action."- Mat SmithThe biggest stories you might have missedEU officials say Meta may be violating consumer laws with paid ad-free' planThe Engadget guide to the best smartwatchesApple accused of underreporting suspected CSAM on its platformsYou can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!ThermoWorks' new wireless meat probe uses radio wavesA more reliable connection than Bluetooth.Right in the middle of BBQ season, ThermoWorks, makers of the Thermapen, is upgrading its wireless meat probe. The RFX Meat uses radio technology rather than Bluetooth to transmit data. The company explains its patent-pending sub-GHz RFX wireless technology" provides a more reliable connection with up to 2,132 feet of direct line of sight range. When placed inside a grill or smoker, it should work at up to 659 feet of range, ThermoWorks says. The $159 RFX Meat starter kit is available for pre-order. Shipping starts September 10, so, arguably, not quite in time for BBQ season.Continue reading.Google isn't killing third-party cookies in Chrome after allThe advertising industry can heave a sigh of relief.Google won't kill third-party cookies in Chrome after all, the company said on Monday in a blog. Instead, it'll introduce a new experience in the browser that will allow users to make informed choices about their web browsing preferences. Killing cookies, Google said, would hurt online publishers and advertisers.Over the past few years, multiple delays and regulatory hurdles have hit Google's plans to eliminate third-party cookies. Initially, the company wanted to phase out these cookies by the end of 2022 but pushed the deadline to late 2024 and then to early 2025 because of various challenges and feedback from stakeholders, including advertisers, publishers and regulatory bodies, like the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).The company says it will now focus on giving users more control over their browsing data, including additional privacy controls, like IP Protection in Chrome's Incognito mode, and ongoing improvements to Privacy Sandbox APIs.Continue reading.The Google Pixel 8a is on sale for $449The best cheap Android phone.EngadgetGoogle's Pixel 8a is the best Android phone for less than $500, and now it's even cheaper than usual, making it the best Android phone for less than $450. Like past A-series devices (usually the best cheap Android phones in their time), it takes most of the headline features from last year's flagship Pixel phone - the Pixel 8, in this case - and puts them in a slightly cheaper design. You still get a bright and vivid OLED display with a smooth 120Hz refresh rate and superb camera performance.Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-conde-nast-is-the-latest-media-company-to-accuse-ai-search-engine-perplexity-of-plagiarism-111559877.html?src=rss

iRobot unveiled its most advanced and expensive robot vacuum yet on Tuesday. The (deep breath) Roomba Combo 10 Max Robot + AutoWash Dock automatically washes and dries the mopping pad, something you had to do manually on all its previous combo vacs. But at $1,399, many customers will want to wait several generations for the feature to trickle down to models that don't cost nearly the equivalent of a MacBook Pro. Cleaning robots exist to automate tasks that are a pain for us, and the Roomba Combo 10 Max Robot expands on that. iRobot says the dock, which contains premium antimicrobial materials," can empty its dirt into an enclosed bag, refill the mopping solution tank and clean itself after each pad wash. You can manually run self-cleaning, and its companion app will remind you when it's time for standard maintenance or a deeper cleaning. The robot can store dirt and debris for up to 60 days before emptying, and the mopping pad and self-cleaning tank hold up to seven days of water. At least in theory, the Combo 10 Max leaves less work for the user than any other Roomba before it. iRobot iRobot says the new Roomba can seamlessly transition from vacuuming carpet to mopping floors, automatically boosting its suction power when it detects carpets. It can then move back and forth with consistent pressure and deeper scrubbing when it senses that it's time to mop. The combo vacuum is designed to retract its entire mopping system when it reaches carpet, lifting its mop pad to the top of the robot to keep even high-pile carpets fresh and dry." Meanwhile, it can vacuum and mop simultaneously on hard floors. While other Roomba models have been able to sense particularly messy areas, the Combo 10 Max adds a camera to visually pinpoint dirt on the floor." The company claims this allows it to recognize the dirtiest spots up to eight times more frequently, making multiple passes on those areas more efficiently. Like other models, the robot cleaner can map your home, but iRobot says it can do so seven times faster than other models while automatically labeling each room type. Its software can even use past cleaning information to predict each room's cleanliness, proceeding accordingly. iRobot The robot works with Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant, and iRobot expects it to be Matter-enabled by the end of 2024. That should cover just about every type of smart home. Of course, it includes the company's memorably branded Pet Owner Official Promise (P.O.O.P.). It provides a free device replacement if the robot accidentally plows through pet waste and ruins your day. The Roomba Combo 10 Max is available for pre-order today on iRobot's website in the US and Canada. (It's also available to reserve in Europe and will launch there in the coming months.") However, as marvelous as the technological cleaning wonders sound, its $1,399 cost of admission prices it out of everything but the most well-heeled homes. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/irobots-newest-cleaning-machine-is-the-first-to-wash-and-dry-its-mopping-pad-for-you-110100150.html?src=rss

Google won't kill third-party cookies in Chrome after all, the company said on Monday. Instead, it will introduce a new experience in the browser that will allow users to make informed choices about their web browsing preferences, Google announced in a blog post. Killing cookies, Google said, would adversely impact online publishers and advertisers. This announcement marks a significant shift from Google's previous plans to phase out third-party cookies by early 2025.[We] are proposing an updated approach that elevates user choice," wrote Anthony Chavez, vice president of Google's Privacy Sandbox initiative. Instead of deprecating third-party cookies, we would introduce a new experience in Chrome that lets people make an informed choice that applies across their web browsing, and they'd be able to adjust that choice at any time. We're discussing this new path with regulators, and will engage with the industry as we roll this out."Google will now focus on giving users more control over their browsing data, Chavez wrote. This includes additional privacy controls like IP Protection in Chrome's Incognito mode and ongoing improvements to Privacy Sandbox APIs.Google's decision provides a reprieve for advertisers and publishers who rely on cookies to target ads and measure performance. Over the past few years, the company's plans to eliminate third-party cookies have been riding on a rollercoaster of delays and regulatory hurdles. Initially, Google aimed to phase out these cookies by the end of 2022, but the deadline was pushed to late 2024 and then to early 2025 due to various challenges and feedback from stakeholders, including advertisers, publishers, and regulatory bodies like the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).In January 2024, Google began rolling out a new feature called Tracking Protection, which restricts third-party cookies by default for 1% of Chrome users globally. This move was perceived as the first step towards killing cookies completely. However, concerns and criticism about the readiness and effectiveness of Google's Privacy Sandbox, a collection of APIs designed to replace third-party cookies, prompted further delays.The CMA and other regulatory bodies have expressed concerns about Google's Privacy Sandbox, fearing it might limit competition and give Google an unfair advantage in the digital advertising market. These concerns have led to extended review periods and additional scrutiny, complicating Google's timeline for phasing out third-party cookies. Shortly after Google's Monday announcement, the CMA said that it was considering the impact" of Google's change of direction.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-isnt-killing-third-party-cookies-in-chrome-after-all-202031863.html?src=rss

Conde Nast, the media conglomerate that owns publications such as The New Yorker, Vogue and Wired, has sent a cease-and-desist letter to AI-powered search startup Perplexity, according to The Information. The letter, which was sent on Monday, demands that Perplexity stop using content from Conde Nast publications in its AI-generated responses and accused the startup of plagiarism.The move makes Conde Nast the latest in a growing list of publishers taking a stand against the unauthorized use of their content by AI companies, and comes a month after similar action taken by Forbes. Perplexity and Conde Nast did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Engadget.Perplexity, a San Francisco-based startup, is valued at $3 billion and backed by high-profile investors including the Jeff Bezos family fund and NVIDIA, has recently come under scrutiny for not respecting copyright and ripping off content to feed its AI-generated responses. The controversy surrounding the company extends beyond copyright concerns.A recent investigation from Wired reveled that the startup's web crawlers do not respect robots.txt, a type of file that website owners can use to block bots from scraping their content. Last month, Amazon Web Services reportedly launched an investigation to determine whether the startup broke its rules around web scraping. Shortly after, a report from Reuters showed that Perplexity was just one of the many AI companies ignoring robots.txt.This practice has sparked concerns about the ethical and legal implications of AI development and its impact on content creators and publishers. In response, Perplexity executives have talked about starting a revenue-sharing program with publishers, although it is still unclear what its terms will be.Conde Nast CEO Roger Lynch has warned that many" media companies could face financial ruin by the time it would take for litigation against generative AI companies to conclude. Lynch has called upon Congress to take immediate action" by asking AI companies to compensate publishers for the use of their content and striking licensing deals in the future. Earlier this month, three senators introduced the COPIED Act, a bill that aims to protect journalists, artists and songwriters from AI companies using their content to train AI models.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/conde-nast-has-reportedly-accused-ai-search-startup-perplexity-of-plagiarism-191639677.html?src=rss

Wireless food probes are some the best grilling gear for keeping tabs on meat and other items while cooking. You don't have to dodge cords when you're flipping a steak or trying to wrap a brisket. Several companies make these, Traeger-owned Meater being one example, but existing products rely solely on Bluetooth and have ambient temperature sensors that may not be the most accurate. ThermoWorks, the company that's known for its Thermapen instant-read thermometers, has officially announced its take on the wireless meat probe: the RFX Meat. Like ThermoWorks' more robust grill and smoker temperature-tracking devices, the RFX Meat uses radio technology to transmit data rather than Bluetooth. The company explains that its "patent-pending sub-GHz RFX wireless technology" provides a more reliable connection with up to 2,132 feet of direct line of sight range. When placed inside a grill or smoker, ThermoWorks promises up to 659 feet of range. Similar to the competition, the RFX Meat has four internal sensors that provide an accurate measure of food temps with 0.9-degree accuracy between 14 and 212 degrees Fahrenheit. This probe is also IP69K rated, so it's safe to use for deep frying and sous vide. Plus, it can withstand temperatures of up 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, which makes it well-suited for high-heat searing, and you can stick in in the dishwasher when you're done. Since the RFX Meat utilizes radio frequency and not Bluetooth, you'll need a RFX Gateway receiver to use it. This small device sends cooking data to ThermoWorks Cloud when it's connected to WiFi, or it can be used offline with your phone via Bluetooth. Either way, you get timely updates on your phone to keep tabs on meat and other foods. And when the RFX Gateway is connected to WiFi, you can monitor what's on the grill or smoker from anywhere. The RFX Gateway is also capable of handling readings for up to 70 RFX Meat probes at once. ThermoWorks Most of these wireless probes come with a charging dock that doubles as a Bluetooth transmitter. RFX Meat resides in one of these (minus the Bluetooth), and ThermoWorks says you can get over 50 hours of use with a 10-minute charge. The dock uses a single AAA battery which should be enough for over 175 full charges, according to the company. One thing the RFX Meat doesn't have is a built-in ambient temperature sensor. Meater's products, for example, have one situated at the far end of its wireless probes. But, ThermoWorks argues this component doesn't provide accurate readings. Due to the fact that it's close to cold meat at the start or in an evaporative cooling zone around food, a built-in ambient temperature sensor can't accurately keep tabs on the grill, according to the company. So, ThermoWorks devised a solution that uses a wired Pro-Series Air Probe from its other products that plugs into the RFX Gateway. Since this probe is only monitoring grill or smoker temps and can be placed out of the way, it's not as essential that it be wireless. The RFX Meat starter kit is available for preorder today for $159. That price includes the RFX Meat probe, the RFX Gateway and a Pro-Series Air Probe. The same bundle with four RFX Meat probes is $349 and individual probes are $89. You can also purchase the RFX Gateway for $79, which comes with a Pro-Series Air Probe. ThermoWorks says it will start shipping the grilling devices on September 10th. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/thermoworks-rfx-meat-wireless-probe-uses-radio-waves-instead-of-bluetooth-to-monitor-food-on-the-grill-183446728.html?src=rss

Warner Bros. just announced the acquisition of Player First Games, the developer behind the popular free-to-play platform fighter MultiVersus. This makes a whole lot of sense as the hit Smash Bros-esque brawler pulls its entire roster from WB properties. The game includes characters like Batman, Bugs Bunny, Agent Smith from The Matrix and, of course, both Rick and Morty.It doesn't look like much will change with regard to the day-to-day workings of Player First Games. Co-founders Tony Huynh and Chris White will still lead the company, though the pair will report to Carlos Barbosa, Vice President and Studio Head of Warner Bros. Games.Huynh says the team is excited about the acquisition and that it should be great for MultiVersus overall." There has been no announcement as to what comes next for the fighting game. However, Player First regularly drops new characters into the roster, so this will likely continue. I for one would like to beat up Tom and Jerry as Tony Soprano. Make it happen WB.MultiVersus is available now on just about every platform out there, including PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC. Even better? There's crossplay between platforms. The game isn't available for the Nintendo Switch just yet, but maybe that'll change whenever the Switch 2 makes its grand entrance.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/warner-bros-has-bought-the-developer-behind-its-multiversus-brawler-180355445.html?src=rss

The European Commission really isn't happy about a Meta business model that gives users in the EU, European Economic Area and Switzerland the generous choice of continuing to use Facebook and Instagram with targeted ads without paying anything, or signing up for a monthly subscription that's said to offer an ad-free experience.Officials from the Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) Network - a group of national authorities that enforce EU consumer protection laws - have suggested that Meta may be violating consumer legislation with the "pay or consent" approach. The Commission, which is the European Union's executive arm, coordinated the group's action against Meta.The CPC Network sent Meta a letter laying out numerous ways in which it believes the company may be violating consumer laws. The company has until September 1 to reply and propose solutions to officials' concerns. If CPC officials find that Meta doesn't take appropriate steps to solve the problems, they could take enforcement actions against the company, which may include sanctions.CPC authorities have suggested that Meta is misleading users by describing its platforms as free to use if they opt not to pay for a subscription, when Meta in fact monetizes their personal data by displaying targeted ads. They further say that Meta is "confusing users" by requiring them to access different areas of the privacy policy and terms of service to see how their data is being used for personalized ads.Officials have also taken aim at Meta's "imprecise terms and language" that suggest subscribers will not see ads at all, even though those still might be displayed "when engaging with content shared via Facebook or Instagram by other members of the platform." Furthermore, they claim Meta is pressuring users who have long used Facebook and Instagram without forking over any payment "to make an immediate choice, without giving them a pre-warning, sufficient time and a real opportunity to assess how that choice might affect their contractual relationship with Meta, by not letting them access their accounts before making their choice."Meta introduced its "pay or consent" options last year in an attempt to comply with the EU's data protection laws while maintaining its advertising model. CPC officials say they are concerned that "many consumers might have been exposed to undue pressure to choose rapidly" between consenting to data collection or paying a monthly fee, "fearing that they would instantly lose access to their accounts and their network of contacts."This action is separate from other investigations the EU is carrying out against Meta over the "pay or consent" model. Earlier this month, the EU said Meta had potentially breached the Digital Markets Act with this approach. If found guilty, Meta could be on the hook for a fine of up to 10 percent of its global annual revenue.In addition, the Commission requested more information from the company in March about the "pay or consent" model under the Digital Services Act, another law the bloc designed to keep the power of major tech companies in check. Not only that, consumer rights groups have filed complaints arguing that the approach violates the EU's General Data Protection Regulation.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/eu-officials-say-meta-may-be-violating-consumer-laws-with-paid-ad-free-plan-175834177.html?src=rss

Apple has been accused of underreporting the prevalence of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on its platforms. The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), a child protection charity in the UK, says that Apple reported just 267 worldwide cases of suspected CSAM to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) last year.That pales in comparison to the 1.47 million potential cases that Google reported and 30.6 million reports from Meta. Other platforms that reported more potential CSAM cases than Apple in 2023 include TikTok (590,376), X (597,087), Snapchat (713,055), Xbox (1,537) and PlayStation/Sony Interactive Entertainment (3,974). Every US-based tech company is required to pass along any possible CSAM cases detected on their platforms to NCMEC, which directs cases to relevant law enforcement agencies worldwide.The NSPCC also said Apple was implicated in more CSAM cases (337) in England and Wales between April 2022 and March 2023 than it reported worldwide in one year. The charity used freedom of information requests to gather that data from police forces.As The Guardian, which first reported on the NSPCC's claim, points out, Apple services such as iMessage, FaceTime and iCloud all have end-to-end encryption, which stops the company from viewing the contents of what users share on them. However, WhatsApp has E2EE as well, and that service reported nearly 1.4 million cases of suspected CSAM to NCMEC in 2023.There is a concerning discrepancy between the number of UK child abuse image crimes taking place on Apple's services and the almost negligible number of global reports of abuse content they make to authorities," Richard Collard, the NSPCC's head of child safety online policy, said. Apple is clearly behind many of their peers in tackling child sexual abuse when all tech firms should be investing in safety and preparing for the roll out of the Online Safety Act in the UK."In 2021, Apple announced plans to deploy a system that would scan images before they were uploaded to iCloud and compare them against a database of known CSAM images from NCMEC and other organizations. But following a backlash from privacy and digital rights advocates, Apple delayed the rollout of its CSAM detection tools before ultimately killing the project in 2022.Apple declined to comment on the NSPCC's accusation, instead pointing The Guardian to a statement it made when it shelved the CSAM scanning plan. Apple said it opted for a different strategy that prioritizes the security and privacy of [its] users." The company told Wired in August 2022 that "children can be protected without companies combing through personal data."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-accused-of-underreporting-suspected-csam-on-its-platforms-153637726.html?src=rss

The iRobot Roomba Combo Essential vacuum and mop hybrid robot is on sale for just $200. That's a discount of $75 and one of the best prices we've seen on this particular model. This version just came out back in April, so a sale this significant (outside of Prime Day) comes as something of a surprise. This is squarely a budget-friendly entry in the company's lineup of robot vacuums, but it's certainly no slouch. As the name suggests, it can handle both vacuuming and mopping duties, which is always nice. The company says this model actually outperforms the popular Roomba 600 Series, with 20 times more suction power. It boasts a similar smart navigation algorithm as other iRobot vacuums and offers a robust battery life of 120 minutes. That's certainly long enough to both vacuum and mop an entire home, with time left over to chase the cats around. Like most of the company's vacuums, there's an affiliated app that lets people customize various settings and set up cleaning schedules. There's one major downside, though this is true of most robovacs in this price range. There's no dedicated waste bin so you'll have to stay on top of emptying and cleaning the vacuum yourself. I own a budget-friendly robot vacuum and have never found this to be a huge deal. The emptying process takes under a minute, though you do have to do it after every cleaning session. 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/irobots-roomba-combo-essential-robot-vacuum-and-mop-is-on-sale-for-200-151836301.html?src=rss

We called Google's Pixel 8a the best Android phone for less than $500 upon its release in May, and now it's even cheaper than usual. The handset is down to $449 at Amazon, Target, Best Buy and the Google Store, which is a $50 drop. Though we've technically seen the phone go for less, those deals have required you to trade in an older device or tie yourself to a specific carrier. Another pre-order deal threw in a $100 gift card, but only if you bought the phone at full price. This newest deal, though, marks the largest cash discount we've seen for the unlocked model. This price applies to the base version of the phone, which includes 128GB of storage space. If you need more room, the 256GB model is also $50 off at $509. Again, that's the lowest price we've seen for the unlocked variant. Both of these deals have been available for about a week now, but they still represent good value if you've been waiting for a price drop. Engadget's Sam Rutherford gave the Pixel 8a a score of 90 in his review. Like past A-series devices, it takes most of the headline features from last year's flagship Pixel phone - the Pixel 8 in this case - and puts them in a slightly cheaper design. You still get a bright and vivid OLED display with a smooth 120Hz refresh rate, superb camera performance and enough battery life for a typical day. It runs on the same Tensor G3 chip and 8GB of RAM, which means it can get warm under heavy load but can handle virtually any task. The stock software is just as clean, and Google promises the same seven years of OS and security updates. The handful of actually useful AI features from the standard Pixel 8 are here as well, including a Magic Eraser tool that lets you remove unwanted objects from photos. If you can afford to step up to the Pixel 8, you still should. That device is a few months older but offers faster wired and wireless charging speeds, thinner bezels and slightly better photo quality, particularly in darker settings and with zoomed-in shots. It has a glass back rather than one made from matte plastic, plus its screen is a tiny bit bigger (6.2 inches versus 6.1 inches). It's currently on sale for $549 for a 128GB model or $609 for a 256GB one. If you really want to save the extra $100, though, the Pixel 8a isn't far behind. And if money is no object, keep in mind that Google has already confirmed that new Pixel 9 devices will arrive next month. 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-google-pixel-8a-is-on-sale-for-a-low-of-449-145943989.html?src=rss

A faulty update from cybersecurity provider CrowdStrike caused a global outage last Friday, apparently affecting some 8.5 million Windows devices, according to Microsoft itself.The update triggered a blue screen of death (BSOD), knocking offline systems used by hospitals, airlines, and banks. Only machines running Windows were affected - according to CrowdStrike, the total number of devices affected was less than one percent of all Windows machines."The update was designed to target newly observed, malicious named pipes being used by common C2 frameworks in cyberattacks," according to CrowdStrike. Unfortunately, it included a logic error, crashing the OS. In the blog post on Saturday, Microsoft's VP of enterprise and OS security, David Weston, wrote that the company is working with CrowdStrike to develop a scalable solution" to fix the faulty update. Microsoft has also called for help from Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud Platform (GCP).Unfortunately, not everything is fixed quite yet - just ask Delta flyers over the weekend.- Mat SmithThe biggest stories you might have missedX is working on a way to block links in replies.45 PARABELLUM BLOODHOUND is a cyberpunk RPG with a '90s aestheticWhat to read this weekend: The Light Eaters, Paranoid Gardens and I Was a Teenage SlasherSamsung halts Galaxy Buds 3 Pro shipments amid quality control issuesYou can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 reviewThe foldable king, but for how much longer?EngadgetNo one has been making foldable phones longer than Samsung. But the pace of innovation from the company has slowed while new challengers, like the OnePlus Open and Pixel Fold, have arrived. Now for 2024, Samsung has reinforced the Galaxy Z Fold 6 with a stronger but significantly lighter frame, a new ultra-wide-angle camera and a bunch of AI-powered tools. It's better, sure, but it feels like complacency is eroding Samsung's foldable lead.Read the full review.Kunitsu-Gami review: Demonic delightsCome to defend humanity, stay for the beautifully rendered desserts.Kunitsu-Gami is a game of two halves: frenzied combat and peaceful base building. Demon enemies are often gross (intentionally!), filled with pus, and armed with claws. The game blends real-time combat with tower-defense mechanics, with all of it taking place in a zoomed-out third-person view. With so many samey action RPGs and Soulslikes, Kunitsu-Gami takes a refreshingly different approach. Oh, and so much delicious-looking, hyper-detailed video game food.Continue reading.NASA's Curiosity rover accidentally found pure sulfur crystals on MarsIt shouldn't be there.'NASA scientists say pure sulfur has been found on Mars for the first time after the Curiosity rover inadvertently uncovered a cluster of yellow crystals when it drove over a rock. And it looks like the area is filled with it. While minerals containing sulfur have been observed on the red planet, elemental sulfur has never been seen before. Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity's project scientist, said: It shouldn't be there, so now we have to explain it."Continue reading.Rivian opens its first Charging Outpost, a not-gas station near YosemiteThere's trail mix and coffee too, for your own refueling.RivianRivian just opened its first EV charging rest stop, 24 miles outside Yosemite National Park. Alongside the five DC fast chargers, only for Rivian owners, there are bathrooms, a lounge with a small library, a water refill station, free coffee, and make-your-own trail mix. These other amenities are open to anyone, and Rivian says it's planning more Charging Outposts around national parks and other high-traffic areas across the country."Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-blue-screen-of-death-outage-affected-around-85-million-devices-112012903.html?src=rss

The CrowdStrike outage that started late on Thursday is still causing havoc as Delta was forced to scrap an additional 1,250 flights yesterday on top of the 3,500 already cancelled, Reuters reported. That has left tens of thousands of Delta fliers stranded waiting for new flights that could take days, forcing many to cancel or postpone trips. The airline has yet to say when it will resume normal operations.Delta has scratched a third of scheduled flights for a total of 5,000 since Friday, and delayed another 1,700. "In particular one of our crew tracking-related tools was affected and unable to effectively process the unprecedented number of changes triggered by the system shutdown," said Delta CEO Ed Bastian.CrowdStrike's software update affected 8.5 million Windows devices, causing many to go into a boot loop that could only be recovered by technicians with direct access to machines. The problem turned out to be a faulty sensor designed to detect malicious activity that "triggered a logic error that resulted in an operating system crash," according to CrowdStrike.Delta was the worst hit of any US airline, and United Airlines was a distant second with about 266 (9 percent) of flights cancelled on Sunday.At first, United and Delta told stranded travelers that they wouldn't cover bills since the CrowdStrike crash was out of their control. However, US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg later stepped in and said that he considered the situation self-inflicted, so carriers would need to cover food, transportation and lodging costs for any delays longer than three hours as required by law.CrowdStrike said today that a "significant" number of devices are back online and the company is reportedly close to rolling out an automatic fix to the issue. Also heavily impacted by the outage are healthcare and other public services in the US and UK, with the NHS warning patients that "there may still be some delays."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/crowdstrike-outage-aftershocks-cause-delta-to-cancel-over-1000-more-flights-120025978.html?src=rss