Get ready to have that Will Smith song stuck in your head for the rest of the day because the autonomous taxi company Waymo is going to Miami. Yeah, sorry about that.Waymo announced its plans to Miami on its official Waypoint blog. The expansion will start early next year as the company gets its fleet of self-driving Jaguar I-PACE EVs familiar with Miami's streets and intersections. Then in 2026, Waymo plans to start offering rides to customers through the Waymo One app.Waymo is also partnering with the African startup Moove as part of its expansion plans. Moove provides vehicles for ride-sharing services. Waymo wants Moove to manage its fleet operations, facilities and charging infrastructure" first in Phoenix and eventually in Miami.The Waymo One app currently operates in parts of San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Austin, according to Google support. Waymo secured $5.6 billion in funding in October to expand to Austin and Atlanta by the early part of next year.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/waymo-announces-its-expanding-to-miami-204504533.html?src=rss
Threads' latest test could help creators and others understand more about how their posts are performing on the platform. The company is testing an expanded version of its analytics feature, which will show users stats for specific posts, Adam Mosseri said in an update.Up to now, Threads has had an insights" feature, but it showed aggregated stats for all posts, so it was hard to discern which posts were performing well. Now, insights will be able to surface detailed metrics around specific posts, including views and interactions. It will also break down performance among followers and non-followers.Now that your posts will be shown to more people who follow you, it's especially important to understand what's resonating with your existing audience," Mosseri wrote. Threads recently updated its highly criticized for you" algorithm to surface more posts from accounts you follow, rather than random unconnected accounts.The change could also address criticism from creators on Threads, who have said they often don't understand how the app's algorithm works. More detailed analytics could also help Meta entice more brands to the app as the company reportedly is gearing up to begin running ads on the service as soon as next month.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/threads-is-testing-post-analytics-203548697.html?src=rss
World models - AI algorithms capable of generating a simulated environment in real-time - represent one of the more impressive applications of machine learning. In the last year, there's been a lot of movement in the field, and to that end, Google DeepMind announced Genie 2 on Wednesday. Where its predecessor was limited to generating 2D worlds, the new model can create 3D ones and sustain them for significantly longer.Genie 2 isn't a game engine; instead, it's a diffusion model that generates images as the player (either a human being or another AI agent) moves through the world the software is simulating. As it generates frames, Genie 2 can infer ideas about the environment, giving it the capability to model water, smoke and physics effects - though some of those interactions can be very gamey. The model is also not limited to rendering scenes from a third-person perspective, it can also handle first-person and isometric viewpoints. All it needs to start is a single image prompt, provided either by Google's own Imagen 3 model or a picture of something from the real world.
A new season starts for Overwatch 2 next week, but one of the special modes we'll be getting in the near future is a throwback to the past. For a limited time during season 14, there will be a 6v6 role queue mode, bringing back the original game's composition of two tanks, two damage and two support. This mode will be available from December 17 through January 6.The switch to five players on a team when Overwatch 2 launched was one of the more controversial choices at the time, we heard rumblings recently that Blizzard might walk back the decision. The current season included a full-on nostalgia trip mode where you could play 6v6 with only the original heroes as they were designed at launch. Yes, back in the days of self-healing Bastion mowing down everybody and Mercy undoing it all with full-team rez. The season 14 approach to 6v6 will be for the heroes as they exist now, with the current balance design in full effect. Blizzard said in October that they would explore how the community felt about the increased team size and consider if six-player teams should have more of a presence in the live game based on the player reactions.It's the right time to experiment with different tank playstyles, because that's the role for the newest hero joining the game in season 14. Hazard is a spiky punk who deals a lot of damage at close range and can crowd control opponents by summoning a thorny wall. Think of him as a cross between Doomfist and Mei, with a Scottish accent.
Gearheads, rejoice! Forza Motorsport for PC is getting a graphics update on Monday that adds a new realistic lighting system to the game. Nvidia announced that Ray-Traced Global Illumination (RTGI) will be part of the PC-only upgrade for Turn 10's driving simulator.RTGI simulates how light interacts with surfaces in a virtual environment to create more realistic looking images. The upgrade for Forza Motorsport on PC will be able to create more accurate indirect lighting and occlusion across tracks and cars in real-time, amping up visual fidelity and realism," according to Nvidia's post.The new RTGI lighting will be applied across all modes, cinematics and features in Forza Motorsport for PC. You'll be able to take super sleek photos of your McLaren 720S Spider executing a perfect power slide in Photo Mode, marvel at your favorite cars in your Homespace and even watch enhanced cinematics with the new enhanced lighting system.RTGI lighting must be turned on in settings in order to use it once the update is complete. Nvidia recommends setting Raytracing Quality" to Full Reflections + RTGI" and choosing a quality level under RTGI Quality" to enable it.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/forza-motorsport-on-pc-is-getting-an-enhanced-lighting-upgrade-191017416.html?src=rss
OpenAI kicked off its 12 Days of OpenAI" series of livestreams with the announcement of a new, more expensive tier for its flagship chatbot. Starting today, ChatGPT users can pay $200 per month for ChatGPT Pro. Included in the package is unlimited access to the company's latest model, o1, which following a limited preview earlier in the year, is now faster and 34 percent less likely to produce a major error when answering difficult real-world questions.ChatGPT Pro also comes with access to GPT-4o, o1-mini and the company's Advanced Voice mode, but the reason most power users are likely to splurge is the addition of an o1 pro mode" that gives the chatbot additional compute power to reason through the most complex problems. In evaluations from external expert testers, o1 pro mode produces more reliably accurate and comprehensive responses, especially in areas like data science, programming, and case law analysis," OpenAI says of the feature.
The fizzy, hot pink writing appears to be on the wall for Foamstars. Square Enix said on Thursday that the next season of the 4x4 party shooter" will be its last. To be fair, all the game's online services will remain available after the final season's conclusion, and there will be events for those who hang around. But with development winding down (after switching to a free-to-play model in October), it's hard to imagine the Splatoon-meets-Fortnite shooter will be long for this world.The final season of Foamstars, the loudly capitalized PARTY GOES ON!", will run from December 13 to January 17. You'll be able to customize each character's shots in the concluding update" (never an encouraging phrase). After the final season is a wrap, Square Enix will bring back all season passes for you to switch between at any time. This will let you obtain all seasons' items and rack up the full collection.Foamstars launched this past February on PlayStation Plus. The game has unique mechanics like spraying bright foam to build terrain, sliding on top of it and... dancing on a duck's head to push it toward a finish line (as one does). However, after today's announcement, the bright, loud and full-of-attitude shooter appears to be sliding toward a finish line of its own, with its development team presumably moving to other projects.You can read more about the final season and changes coming after that on Square Enix's update page.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/foamstars-next-season-will-be-its-last-185127904.html?src=rss
Over the last year or so, electric vehicle makers have been a little friendlier to each other, at least when it comes to their charging networks. Many automakers are now supporting Tesla's North American Charging System (NACS), which is fast becoming the industry standard. Now Rivian's opening its doors to drivers of other brands' EVs.For the first time, drivers of non-Rivian EVs will be able to top up their batteries at the company's charging locations. This pertains to next-gen Rivian Adventure Network charging locations. The first of these opens today at Joshua Tree Charging Outpost in California. Before the year is out, Rivian plans to open more charging locations in Texas, Colorado, Illinois, Montana, Pennsylvania, Michigan and New York.The stations offer rapid charging up to 900 volts and have CCS connectors that work with NACS vehicles that have an adapter. Rivian says support for native NACS connectors will become available later.This isn't entirely an altruistic step, of course. Rivian sees it as a way to generate revenue from EV drivers who perhaps happen to be closer to one of its charging stations than any other. The chargers have a tap to pay option and the Rivian app isn't required.Rivian plans to have more than 3,500 DC fast chargers in its Adventure Network. According to Ars Technica, the automaker has 91 Adventure Network sites in the US, with plans for 12 more. However, Rivian drivers can use Tesla Superchargers as well.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/rivian-is-now-letting-other-evs-charge-at-its-stations-182702444.html?src=rss
EA has just made 23 accessibility patents open-source, as reported by Game Developer. This means that other developers throughout the industry can use the technology at no cost. The news comes after EA made a pledge back in 2021 not to sue rival companies for co-opting these types of tools.As of today, third parties can openly use a whole lot of patented tech to improve accessibility for users. This includes new speech recognition tools, simplified speech tech in games and the ability to create personalized speech detection algorithms. EA says other devs can use this technology to "make it possible for those players' speech to be more effectively recognized and reflected in-game in a way that is representative of their age, emotion, language and speaking style."There's also an internal plugin for Unreal Engine 5 that went into the open-source pile. This one incorporates EA's photosensitivity analysis tech, called IRIS, and should allow developers to quickly catch potential problems that could impact players with certain health issues related to vision or the nervous system.Kerry Hopkins, EA's SVP of global affairs, says this new group of open-source patents "encourages the industry to work together to make video games more inclusive by removing unintended barriers to access." The company also says that this is just the beginning of its efforts to improve accessibility across the industry, as it's going to start running accessible design workshops and expanding its testing capabilities.This isn't the first time EA has made some of its proprietary accessibility technology free for competitors. It has done so for the ping system originally found in the battle royale hit Apex Legends, which gives players a way to discuss in-game strategy without having to rely on voice chat. It also makes it easier to relay location data to teammates. The tech has popped up in other games like Call of Duty: Warzone and Fortnite.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/ea-just-made-a-whole-bunch-of-accessibility-patents-open-source-181131893.html?src=rss
Meta is expanding its feature that helps users avoid Facebook jail." Earlier this year, the company began allowing Facebook creators to complete in-app educational training" for first-time rule violations in order to avoid strikes on their accounts. Now, the company is expanding the feature to all Facebook users and opening it up to creators on Instagram.As Engadget noted back in August, the idea of the feature is a bit like going to traffic school. People who violate one of the company's rules for the first time will have the option to complete a a short educational program" in Facebook or Instagram's app in order to avoid a strike" on their account and any restrictions that may come with it.Users will be able to take advantage of the process once in a 12-month period for most first-time offenses. The process to remove the warning" on an account will be available to anyone on Facebook, as well as creators on Instagram (a broader rollout for Instagram is expected soon," according to the company.) Meta won't allow people to remove strikes for more serious" offenses, including posts about sexual exploitation or drug sales.Meta has described the strike-removal feature as part of its effort to reform its penalty system, which has long been frustrating and confusing for users who often get caught up in it unintentionally. In a blog post, Meta said that the in-app education features have already shown some signs of success with Facebook creators. What we've already seen from our initial launch this summer has been promising - those who successfully removed their first strikes for violating a policy were more likely to say they understood Facebook's policy decisions and became less likely to violate that policy again," the company said.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-expands-its-strike-removal-feature-to-instagram-and-all-facebook-users-170056830.html?src=rss
Microsoft is rolling out a preview for one of the experimental AI features it previewed in October. Copilot Vision, which scans your web browsing and has a chat with you about it, is available for testing in Copilot Labs.Copilot Vision has strict limits, at least at first. It only works in Microsoft Edge and only on a select set of websites." (The company says it will carefully expand that list over time.) Even the trial has restrictions: It's only available to a limited number of Copilot Pro ($20 monthly) subscribers in the US. Like the available websites, Microsoft will expand access to more users over time.Microsoft says Copilot Visions sessions are opt-in and ephemeral," so you'll have to activate it manually, and each session's data is wiped as soon as you're done. The company says the feature only interprets text and images from browsed websites and doesn't process content beyond that or train on web publishers' data.The cautious approach seems to be a course correction from the company's sloppy Recall launch. That photographic memory" feature, which snaps screenshots of everything you do on your PC, drew the ire of security and privacy experts, who called our Microsoft for - in a baffling decision - leaving the feature's data unencrypted. It's finally available for Windows Insiders to try after three delays and security adjustments.If you're a Copilot Pro subscriber, you can sign up to request access to Copilot Vision through Copilot Labs today. You can check out Microsoft's demo video below.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/microsoft-starts-testing-copilot-vision-in-edge-170033830.html?src=rss
If you're an Android user, today is your lucky day; Google has announced a swath of new AI features for the entire ecosystem. Broadly speaking, the features make Android devices more accessible, but there's something here for everyone.For instance, one of the new enhancements, Expressive Captions, automatically generates subtitles that attempt to capture the emotion and intensity of what's being said. So, let's say you're video chatting with a friend who groans after you make a lame dad joke. The feature will not only transcribe what they said, but it will also include [groaning]" in the transcription. This works for other subtleties of human speech, too, such as when someone gasps or whispers something, and is compatible across Android, including streaming and social media apps. Per Google, Expressive Captions are available on Pixel 6 and newer Pixel phones, as well as other compatible" Android devices.Separately, Google has enhanced Android's Image Q&A in Lookout feature. The latest version of the tool makes use of the company's Gemini 1.5 Pro model to provide more helpful image descriptions. Image Q&A is primarily designed to assist blind and low-vision users, but in reality, anyone can use the feature to get Android to describe a picture in a natural-sounding voice.Speaking of Gemini, Google is supercharging the AI agent with new extensions that provide better integration with some of the most popular Android apps. For instance, a new Spotify plugin allows Gemini to play your favorite songs for you and find playlists that suit your current mood. In the future, the company is promising tighter integration with Google Maps and even smart home devices that are linked to your Google account.Additionally, Gemini now features the capability to remember things about you so that it can provide more personalized responses. For example, you can tell Gemini you're a vegetarian, and the agent will remember that about you the next time you ask it to recommend a new dinner recipe. Google notes it has made it easy to view, edit and delete any personal information you've told Gemini to remember.GoogleAnother more practical update comes in the form of a Google Drive feature called auto-enhancements. The next time you upload a scanned document to the service, it will automatically edit the image to optimize the contrast and adjust the white balance, as well as remove any shadows and blurring.And if you want to share a file with someone, Google has made that easier, too, with an improvement to Android's Quick Share functionality. There's a new feature that allows you to transfer pictures, videos and documents by displaying a QR code on your phone. Using this tool, you don't need to add the recipient as a contact or fiddle with your Quick Share settings.Lastly, if you're a Pixel user, you can look forward to all of the above features and more. Most notably, there are improvements to the Pixel Screenshots app. For one, now you can save things you find with Circle to Search directly to the software. Google suggests this feature will be handy for holiday gift ideas. Pixel Screenshots will now also automatically categorize your snaps for you and provide suggestions, such as calendar invites and directions, based on the information you saved.As with most Android updates, it can take some time for Google to roll out all the new features it announced today to every user, so be patient if you don't see them on your device right away.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/androids-latest-round-of-ai-features-improve-accessibility-file-sharing-and-more-170020518.html?src=rss
Samsung's One UI 7 operating system is finally out in the wild, albeit in a beta format. The updated UI focuses a lot of its improvements on security and privacy, which is never a bad thing in today's world.There's further integration with the company's Knox Matrix security protocol, which began popping up in Samsung devices back in 2023. Knox Matrix continually monitors devices via a secure private blockchain" and shows all connected gadgets on a dashboard.This dashboard lets users instantly see the security status of various Samsung smart devices, including other Galaxy handsets, tablets, TVs and appliances. If a device shows as green in the dashboard, that means that it's up to date and no risks are detected." If something is at risk, Knox Matrix will provide actionable recommendations. All Samsung devices will soon fall under the One UI umbrella, which should make this integration more seamless.SamsungThere are also new security measures put in place for recovering data from the cloud. Enhanced Data Protection makes sure that all connected devices are synchronized and secure and helps users make a backup plan in the event of data loss. To that end, One UI 7 lets users sign in to a new device by verifying the credentials of their previous device.One UI 7 lets people create and use passkeys to log into a Samsung account and gives users more control over network connections. To the latter point, folks can block 2G service, which is not that safe, and make it so phones won't automatically connect to unknown networks.Text messages and photos have even gotten a bit of tough love to improve security. Users can remove location data from photos and block hyperlinks from text messages. Shared photo albums can also be blocked, as can automatic attachment downloads. Users can block USB connections for an added security boost. The port will still work for charging, but not for anything else.SamsungFinally, there's a new theft protection tool. Samsung devices could already be remote locked, but now there's a feature called Identity Check. This opt-in software forces users to prove they are who they say they are if a PIN becomes compromised.The new UI also brings a simplified design, broader availability of AI tools and a redesigned camera app. The full release will also include something called the Now Bar, which is a new notification system that Samsung promises will "transform the lock screen experience." It sounds a lot like Apple's Dynamic Island and Live Activities feature. Samsung's Now Bar isn't part of the beta, so we have to wait a bit longer to get our hands on it.The One UI 7 beta program is available now for Galaxy S24 series devices in a bunch of different countries, including the US, Germany, India, South Korea and Poland. Users have to apply via the Samsung Members program. The full version of UI 7 drops sometime in the first quarter of 2025.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/samsungs-one-ui-7-is-out-in-beta-and-its-chock-full-of-security-features-163820698.html?src=rss
It's Thursday, which means that Epic Games has a fresh pair of PC games on its storefront for folks to claim for free. One of this week's options is a humdinger. Until 11AM on December 12, you can snap up Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga for exactly zero dollars.This is easily the best Lego game I've played, and probably the best Star Wars title. You don't have to start with The Phantom Menace if that name still causes you anguish 25 years later, though you'll play through the stories of all nine core Star Wars films. The game has that trademark Lego brand of silly humor with clever (and often very funny) riffs on famous moments from the movies. As you might imagine, Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is packed with Easter eggs. It looks terrific too. There are a lot of reasons why this was one of my favorite games of 2022.Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is not perfect, though. Reports that developers at TT Games were pushed to work long hours to finish the game cast a dark shadow over it. In addition, the collectathon aspects may start to feel like a slog if you plan to reach 100 percent completion. Still, there's potentially dozens of hours of family fun here, and you'll be able to hop in gratis.There's one other free title on the Epic Games Store this week in the form of Bus Simulator 21 Next Stop. I hope that's also a fun game for people who check it out, but I'll never know myself!This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/lego-star-wars-the-skywalker-saga-is-free-on-the-epic-games-store-160712375.html?src=rss
Oura is moving a respiratory sickness detection feature out of beta and rolling it out to Ring Gen 3 and Ring 4 wearers. Users with an active subscription should be able to take advantage of Symptom Radar by December 9.Oura started publicly testing the feature earlier this year. The idea is that Symptom Radar looks at metrics including resting heart rate, skin temperature, sleep data and breathing rate to see if there are any differences from your baseline stats. If there are, Oura may let you know that it has detected possible common cold- or flu-like symptoms and offer suggestions on how to rest up and recover, such as putting your device into rest mode so you aren't prompted to meet activity goals.Following feedback from beta testers, Oura has added a couple of extra features to Symptom Radar. It now has a history graph showing wellness trends and whether the daily Symptom Radar result has been recorded (this should happen when a ring syncs with the Oura app each morning). There's also a breakdown of each biometric input for those who want more granular detail on which markers have changed and by how much.Like wellness detection features on other wearables, such as electrocardiogram readings on smart watches, this isn't designed to make any kind of diagnosis. Instead, the aim is notify you of warning signs that a cold or flu may be about to hit so you can take action. Oura claims "Symptom Radar can detect signs of strain accurately and precisely, up to two days before a member selects an illness-related tag" in its tagging feature.Symptom Radar stems from Oura's work on COVID-19 detection, in which researchers found that the company's smart rings were able to predict symptoms of the virus up to three days early with 90 percent accuracy. That led into the creation of Oura's health management platform and then to a refined algorithm "based on a vastly increased data set, inclusive of millions of tags, that has significantly up-leveled accuracy to produce the new Symptom Radar feature."While features such as Symptom Radar could be helpful in detecting respiratory sickness, it's still worth listening to your intuition and trusting your knowledge of your own body. After all, Shyamal Patel, Oura's head of science, told The Vergethat the algorithm isn't 100 percent accurate, and as such false positive and negative readings are possible. The company has yet to disclose accuracy data for Symptom Radar.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/oura-is-rolling-out-its-sickness-detection-feature-to-ring-gen-3-and-ring-4-users-155820702.html?src=rss
Bitcoin has passed the $100,000 threshold for the first time. At approximately 9:39PM ET this evening, the cryptocurrency's value hit six figures, moving it past the milestone for the first time in its nearly 16-year history. As of the morning of December 5th, the price has stayed well above that $100,000 mark, and Bitcoin's value has generally been steadily increasing over the past month or so. That's no guarantee it'll stay where it is, but it's clearly having a moment.That also means the legendary Bitcoin pizza order is now worth $1 billion. For those not in the loop, a Florida man - because, of course it was a Florida man - paid 10,000 BTC for two Papa John's pizzas over 14 years ago in what's considered the cryptocurrency's first commercial transaction.I'll pay 10,000 bitcoins for a couple of pizzas ... like maybe 2 large ones so I have some left over for the next day," Laszlo Hanyecz posted in a crypto forum on May 18, 2010. Four days later, a British man took him up on the offer. That amount was only worth $45 at the time. (And the UK man only paid Papa John's $25!) But only nine months later, the transaction's value had skyrocketed to $10,000.Hanyecz told The New York Times in 2013 that he had no regrets about the then-$6 million pizza order. It wasn't like Bitcoins had any value back then, so the idea of trading them for a pizza was incredibly cool," he said. No one knew it was going to get so big."I wonder if Florida Man has any regrets now that his fee for those two Papa John's pizzas is worth a billion dollars.Looking at it another way, Papa John's current market cap is $1.567 billion. So, had Hanyecz saved his crypto instead of ordering those two pizzas, he could have bought nearly two-thirds of the company that baked his pie today.Then, there's the story of a writer who, in 2017, helped a friend recover (at the time) $200,000 worth of Bitcoin from a broken laptop. Those 40 Bitcoins stuck in a MultiBit wallet for three-and-a-half years are worth more than $4 million today (so long as the cryptocurrency stays above the $100,000 mark).Update, 10:35AM ET: This story has been updated with details about Bitcoin's current value after it hit the $100,000 mark.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/bitcoin-price-breaks-the-100000-barrier-for-the-first-time-042918884.html?src=rss
You know that feeling when the snow is falling outside but you're inside curled up or cooking something warm as music plays around you? That movie moment is reason enough to invest in a good speaker but, by invest, I mean shop a great deal on one of our favorite Bluetooth speakers for 2024. Marshall's Emberton II Portable Bluetooth Speaker is currently down to $100 from $170 - a 41 percent discount. Marshall's Emberton II Speaker is one of our top picks thanks to its 360-degree sound that provides a good quality listening experience for any small gathering (or solo dance party). It offers 30 hours of battery, charges up in only three hours and is IP67 dust and water resistant so you don't have to be too precious with it. In August, Marshall did release a new version of this speaker, aptly named the Emberton III. It has a few upgrades from its predecessor, including an extra two hours of battery life, a built-in microphone and taking only two hours to fully charge. It's normally the same price as the second generation Emberton but, since it's not on sale, we'd say the Emberton II is a much better buy. 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/deals/one-of-our-favorite-bluetooth-speakers-is-41-percent-off-right-now-150156828.html?src=rss
We've got a little bit longer to wait until Secret Level, the gaming-inspired animated anthology series from the Love, Death and Robots team, debuts on Prime Video. But Amazon is ramping up to the launch by offering some solid freebies for Prime members on many of the games that inspired episodes in Secret Level. Roguelike masterpiece Spelunky and story-laden space adventure The Outer Worlds are must-haves if they aren't already in your library. Here's the full list of free titles:
Telegram is taking a significant step to reduce child sexual abuse material (CSAM), partnering with the International Watch Foundation (IWF) four months after the former's founder and CEO Pavel Durov was arrested. The French authorities issued 12 charges against Durov in August, including complicity in "distributing, offering or making available pornographic images of minors, in an organized group" and "possessing pornographic images of minors."The UK-based IWF works with social media platforms, tech companies, governments and more to prevent the spread of CSAM. Telegram's membership to the IWF grants it access to the organization's tools that block links to CSAM content and "non-photographic depictions," including AI-created images. It also provides Telegram with hashes of known CSAM content and any harmful content the organization detects. The IWF reports having found thousands of confirmed instances of CSAM on Telegram since 2022.Telegram has previously refused to join any programs that could help limit CSAM. In a release, Telegram's Head of Press and Media Relations Remi Vaughn claimed the platform "removes hundreds of thousands of child abuse materials each month" through reports and moderation through AI, hash-matching and more. Though Vaughn conceded IWF's support will strengthen the company's ability to delete CSAM before it reaches anyone.Telegram has taken other steps since Durov's arrest, announcing in September that it would hand over IP addresses and phone numbers in legal requests - something it fought in the past. Durov must remain in France for the foreseeable future.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/telegram-finally-takes-action-to-remove-csam-from-its-platform-134514444.html?src=rss
Its universally derided AI pin was a flop, so Humane now pivoting to software. The company just released a video showing how its CosmOS software could work in other devices like a car, TV and smart speaker as "an AI operating system built for a universe of connected devices." The only problem is that the software was a big part of what made the AI pin bad, and much of what Humane shows are "simulated experiences" for "illustrative purposes" rather than the AI in actual use.The video starts out with a person talking to CosmOS in a car (with the brand blurred out), asking for takeout restaurant suggestions and when guests are coming over, and commanding it to turn up the thermostat. Once at home, the user asks an unknown smart speaker (again, blurred out) for a recipe and a soccer player's scoring stats from their smart TV. "I didn't have to specify the player," the person states. "CosmOS is just using the context of what's on the screen to answer."Then, this AI-empowered individual notes that he has CosmOS on his phone, and asks it to read an email and tell him if he needs to follow up with anything. After some to-and-fro, the AI finds space on the user's calendar and schedules an appointment with an RSVP.Humane notes that CosmOS is device and LLM agnostic, so it can work on cars, mobile devices, PCs, wearables and more. "And as we get closer to releasing our SDK to the public, developers and enterprise will easily be able to add and integrate their agents data and services to CosmOS, leveraging the powerful ecosystem to provide even more utility to all types of devices and platforms," according to the voiceover.If Humane is selling its OS as an AI option for third -party devices, it has some stiff competition. As Cherlynn Low noted in our Engadget review, its AI pin wasn't much better than a Google search for information and was slower. Though it did have some useful features like context for follow-up questions, that's the least of things for any AI assistant in 2024. With all that, it seems that any company building the devices it shows (cars, TVs, phones, etc.) are more likely to consider OpenAI, Gemini, or other far more credible players for an AI assistant.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/humane-cosmos-kinda-turns-everything-into-a-pin-133018127.html?src=rss
Uber is rebranding its local delivery service, formerly Uber Connect, in time for the holidays. Launched in 2020, it now has a name that better clarifies its purpose: Uber Courier.The service launched with support for sending and receiving items to and from local addresses. Since then, it's expanded to include pickups of pre-purchased items from local stores. So, if traffic is a nightmare, you're on a tight schedule and you can spare an extra expense, tap the Courier button in the Uber app and have an Uber delivery person head to, for example, the Best Buy pickup counter to grab something you ordered online and bring it to you (or take it to someone else).Uber Courier can also pick up and deliver your packages to the post office. That may be worth the cost to avoid the existential dread of standing in a long line of impatient people under fluorescent lighting, waiting for burned-out and underpaid government employees to weigh your package and ring you up.UberThose traveling with little ones have more options for Uber rides this holiday season. The rideshare company is expanding its Uber Car Seat service, which already covered New York City, Los Angeles and Orlando. Starting today, you can also use it in Washington, DC, Atlanta, Miami and San Francisco. When you reserve an Uber Car Seat in advance, your driver will come equipped with a Nuna Rava convertible car seat for your baby or toddler.Uber is running a promotion for Uber Car Seat until January 2. The code FESTIVESEAT10 lets you save up to $20" on two Car Seat rides.The company is also rolling out services that dive into the deep end of holiday traditions. These include the delivery of Christmas trees or Hanukkah bushes, on-demand carolers equipped with booze and... Macaulay Culkin (naturally).This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/uber-rebrands-its-courier-service-and-expands-on-demand-car-seats-to-four-more-cities-130040912.html?src=rss
After nearly a decade, Master & Dynamic has updated a classic. The company's new ME05 wired earphones take the familiar formula from the original, like an elegant brass design with audiophile sound. But the new model is more compatible with today's (headphone-jack-less) mobile devices with a bundled USB-C adapter (with DAC). Fortunately, the 2024 model costs the same $199 as its now-discontinued 2015 predecessor. The updated ME05 has the same solid brass design and in-line volume remote as the old version. But Master & Dynamic says the new model has an updated dynamic sound," thanks to acoustic refinements." Some of that comes from a switch from 8mm titanium drivers in the 2015 original to high-excursion 8mm bio-cellulose in the 2024 model. Maybe the most notable change in this generation is the inclusion of a 3.5mm to USB-C adapter with a Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) for listening on modern mobile devices. The bundled DAC supports up to 32-bit / 384kHz resolution, which - unless you have Daredevil-esque super-hearing - should be way beyond what your ears can perceive. The new ME05 comes with two sizes of foam ear tips and five sizes of silicone ones. Master & Dynamic says the tips provide an impeccable fit and seal for a wide range of ear shapes." Another welcome update for our modern technology is an improved microphone setup. The company also promises clear calls, even in windy environments. The 2024 Master & Dynamic ME05 is available to order today in a gold and black version from the company website. Two more colors (gunmetal / black and palladium / black) are up for pre-order today, too. The wired earphones cost the same $199 / 219 / 169 as their 2015 namesake. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/master--dynamic-updates-its-decade-old-me05-earphones-for-the-modern-world-130040878.html?src=rss
A $16 deck of cards based on the Balatro design is up for pre-order on Fangamer, and it's expected to ship in March. The mockups show subtly pixelated cards that mimic the art style of the game. They have a red design on the rear - the red deck is the default set in the game.But what of the jokers, the cards that make Balatro a lot more than a poker spin-off? You only get four: Joker, Juggler, Blueprint and Gros Michel. One of those is the popular banana card, at least. It's a little frustrating they're not available to buy now. For other people, I mean, for the holiday. Yes. For me? No.- Mat SmithGet this delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!The biggest tech stories you missed
They (regulators) said it couldn't be done (originally) but Three is finally approved for a merger. The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has given the go ahead for a merger between Three and Vodafone, first proposed by the companies in June 2023. The decision follows an independent inquiry group's investigation into the move's impact.CMA is allowing the deal to proceed as long as "both companies sign binding commitments to invest billions to roll out a combined 5G network across the UK," a release states. "The network commitment would be supported by shorter term customer protections which would require the merged company to cap certain mobile tariffs and offer preset contractual terms to mobile virtual network operators, for a period of three years." CMA and UK communication services regulator Ofcom will both oversee these commitments and the merged company must produce an annual implementation report.Chair of the independent inquiry group, Stuart McIntosh, explained, "We believe the merger is likely to boost competition in the UK mobile sector and should be allowed to proceed -but only if Vodafone and Three agree to implement our proposed measures."Three tried to merge with O2 in 2015, but the European Commission (yes, this was pre-Brexit) blocked it a year later. Then European Commissioner for competition Margrethe Vestager, stated that the concessions Three offered wouldn't offset the deal's potential to limit competition and bring higher prices. CMA concurred but, in 2021, allowed O2 to merge with Virgin Media, determining that it would not have a "substantial" impact on competition due to the nature of their combined offerings.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/three-and-vodafone-will-merge-in-the-uk-120007936.html?src=rss
Peloton is continuing to expand into products other than stationary bikes and treadmills with a new strength training app called Peloton Strength+. The iOS-only app will give current and future Peloton subscribers access to audio-guided strength workouts that can be performed at the gym.The fitness company initially started testing a beta version of the app in September, which Peloton says informed features like bookmarking custom workouts and the ability to swap and reorder movements. The final version also includes a tool for generating new workouts based on how much time you have, your experience level, or available equipment, instructional how-to videos and in-ear coaching" to keep you on track while you're working out. Like many other fitness apps, Strength+ can also connect to an Apple Watch to display metrics like your heart rate and calories burned and let you log weights and reps from your wrist. None of these features are radically different from what you can get from other popular apps like Fitbod or SmartGym, save for Peloton's focus on audio and the company's roster of popular fitness instructors.In the years following the pandemic, Peloton has struggled to adjust to the changing demand for its subscription hardware. Not everyone wanted a Peloton Tread or Bike in their living room when the option to pay less to use one in public became available. Peloton has tried various strategies to recapture its popularity since then, making it possible to access Peloton workouts without expensive hardware, launching a fitness-tracking camera called Guide with a strength workout focus similar to Strength and even selling a rowing machine. Nothing has matched the sales highs the company experienced during the pandemic. Selling subscriptions to the Peloton app and Strength+ seems like a viable way to grow in the inevitable future where most people don't care about Peloton hardware.Peloton Strength+ will be available for a limited time at $1 per month for the first six months. Afterward, a subscription to Strength+ will cost $9.99 per month. Current Peloton All Access, Guide, and App+ subscribers can use Strength+ at no additional cost.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/peloton-is-introducing-a-new-audio-focused-strength-training-app-222145376.html?src=rss
OpenAI has partnered with defense startup Anduril Industries to develop AI for the Pentagon. The companies said on Wednesday that they'll combine OpenAI's models, including GPT-4o and OpenAI o1, with Anduril's systems and software to improve the US military's defenses against unpiloted aerial attacks.The deal comes less than a year after OpenAI softened its stance on using its models for military purposes. Although the ChatGPT maker's policies still prohibit its models from developing or using weapons, it deleted a line in January that explicitly banned integrating its tech into military and warfare" use. The company said at the time it was already working with DARPA on cybersecurity tools. In October, the company hired a former Palantir security officer and was reportedly pitching its products to the US military and national security establishment.An OpenAI spokesperson told The Washington Post that the deal complies with the company's rules because it focuses on systems that defend against pilotless aerial threats. The company said the partnership doesn't cover other uses.According to The Washington Post, the OpenAI-Anduril partnership will aim to improve the latter's tech for detecting and shooting down drones threatening the US military and its allies. The Pentagon already buys Anduril's Roadrunner drone interceptor (pictured above) to help counter the rise of smaller drones on the world's battlefields. The startup sells sentry towers, comms jammers, military drones and an autonomous submarine, among other projects.The companies framed the partnership as a way to defend US military personnel and counter China's advancing AI. Our partnership with OpenAI will allow us to utilize their world-class expertise in artificial intelligence to address urgent Air Defense capability gaps across the world," Anduril CEO Brian Schimpf wrote in a statement. Together, we are committed to developing responsible solutions that enable military and intelligence operators to make faster, more accurate decisions in high-pressure situations."Anduril was co-founded by Oculus Rift inventor (and Oculus VR co-founder) Palmer Luckey. That headset laid the foundation for the Meta Quest lineup, which today holds the lion's share of the VR and AR market. Luckey left Meta (then Facebook) in 2017, months after news broke that he donated $10,000 to a group aiming to post 4chan-style anti-Hillary Clinton memes on roadside billboards.OpenAI builds AI to benefit as many people as possible, and supports U.S.-led efforts to ensure the technology upholds democratic values," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote in a statement. Our partnership with Anduril will help ensure OpenAI technology protects U.S. military personnel, and will help the national security community understand and responsibly use this technology to keep our citizens safe and free."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-signs-deal-with-palmer-luckeys-anduril-to-develop-military-ai-213356951.html?src=rss
With the end date for Windows 10 less than a year away, people still using that operating system will need to start preparing to enter the Windows 11 era. And Microsoft is placing a hardware requirement on the current OS that could pose a problem for those of us using older machines.Windows 11 will require computers to have TPM 2.0. Also known as a Trusted Platform Module, this is a dedicated chip or firmware used for device security, and the 2.0 version offers several useful features for improved cryptography and encryption. A blog post from Microsoft outlines all of the benefits and why it's being made a core part of Windows 11 installations. Notably, the latest TPM can help future-proof the three-year-old operating system "by helping to protect sensitive information as more AI capabilities come to physical, cloud, and server architecture."That's all well and good, but many older machines don't have TPM 2.0. That version became the hardware standard for Windows computers in 2016. Savvy users may have been able to use Windows 11 on incompatible computers with workarounds, but Microsoft's language that "TPM 2.0 is not just a recommendation-it's a necessity" indicates that the company will likely be getting more stringent about preventing those bypasses. You can check the TPM status of your computer with Microsoft's PC Health Check app ahead of the October 14, 2025 end of support date for Windows 10.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/microsoft-confirms-the-windows-11-tpm-security-requirement-isnt-going-anywhere-211002424.html?src=rss
Just when it seemed like PC support was Sony's final word on the PlayStation VR2, the company is showing off hand tracking for the virtual reality headset. As spotted by UploadVR, Sony has been demoing controller-free hand-tracking support on the PSVR2 at SIGGRAPH Asia 2024, an academic conference and tradeshow focused on computer graphics and interactive techniques."Sony hasn't released any official announcement explaining the new feature, but a published description of what it's presenting at SIGGRAPH does mention that hand-tracking support is available with the latest development kit of PlayStation 5." Mixed noticed that Sony had filed a patent for several different hand-tracking features in May 2023, but this is the first instance of that work running on an actual headset.Besides feeling more natural than swinging around a controller, hand-tracking allows for more nuanced movements and controls in apps and games. When you press a virtual button in a game with hand tracking, you might not feel the haptic feedback you'd get from gripping a controller, but what you're doing with your hand is much more like real life. A video of the demo shared on X shows hand-tracking working on a PSVR2 with a similar level of fidelity and latency to hand-tracking on a Quest 3, so it seems like Sony's feature could work well.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is known for having one of the best character creation systems around, and now everyone can experience it without dropping $60. EA just announced that it has made the tools free for all users, as part of a larger Dragon Age Day celebration.It's available right now for all platforms. There's no time limit, so have at it. Additionally, the character carries over to the main game, so consider it a demo of sorts. The software also allows players to choose their class and faction, which also transfer to the game. The only caveat here is that the platform you use to create your character must be the same one you play the actual game on. There will be no mixing of PCs and consoles here.This character creator is very good, and it actually started picking up kudos even before the game was released. As for Dragon Age: The Veilguard, well, it's also pretty dang good. We called it beautiful in every way" in our official review, noting it was one of Bioware's most-polished titles. If the devs put this kind of love into the next Mass Effect, we are in for a treat.Dragon Age Day isn't just about this free character creator. EA and Bioware have also released new artwork for the game and put armor inspired by the protagonist of Dragon Age II into Dragon Age: The Veilguard. There's also a new patch for the game that brings a bunch of quality of life changes and bug fixes.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/dragon-age-the-veilguards-excellent-character-creator-is-now-a-standalone-freebie-193834444.html?src=rss
When we took a look at Xreal's Air 2 Ultra AR glasses earlier this year at CES in Las Vegas, we had positive first impressions but also noted that its success would ultimately boil down to the range of apps." Xreal may have come up with a novel way to address this problem with its new One Series of AR glasses: make them connectable to more devices through USB-C.Xreal unveiled its new One Series AR glasses that can create customizable cinematic displays with three degrees-of-freedom (3DoF) rotational tracking and spatial computing. The new AR glasses can also create and control displays from iPhones, Androids, Steam Deck, PC, MacBooks and just about any device with video-out over USB-C," according to Xreal's announcement.Previous Xreal glasses needed an Xreal Beam or Beam Pro adapter to create spatial displays for USB-C devices. The One Series puts its spatial capability in the glasses themselves with a custom silicon chip called the X1 that delivers incredibly low motion-to-photon (M2P) latency of only ~3ms at 120Hz," according to the announcement.The Xreal One Series also offers a huge display area with 1080p full HD for each eye. The Xreal One uses a triangular birdbath lens design that can produce a 50-degree field-of-view and a 20.7-percent larger display than the Xreal Air 2 series. The Xreal One Pro is the first set of AR glasses with a flat-prism lens design that can create a 57-degree field-of-view. Both the Xreal One and One Pro also can deliver fine-tuned audio with Sound by Bose.The glasses themselves are still fairly big, as are most AR spectacles like the Meta Orion AR glasses. The One Series' 11 mm plane is 40.9 thinner than traditional birdbath optics," according to the announcement.Xreal is currently taking pre-orders for the Xreal One for $499 (549) and One Pro glasses for $599 (649) on its website. Shipping begins in mid-December for the Xreal One and early next year for the Xreal One Pro.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/xreals-new-one-series-ar-glasses-use-usb-c-to-connect-with-nearly-any-device-191221387.html?src=rss
When Helene made landfall in Florida earlier this year, 234 people lost their lives to the worst hurricane to strike the US mainland since Katarina in 2005. It's natural disasters like that, and their growing intensity due to climate change, that have pushed scientists to develop more accurate weather forecasting systems. On Wednesday, Google's DeepMind division announced what may go down as the most significant advancement in the field in nearly eight decades of work.In a post on the Google Keyword blog, DeepMind's Ilan Price and Matthew Wilson detailed GenCast, the company's latest AI agent. According to DeepMind, GenCast is not only better at providing daily and extreme weather forecasts than its previous AI weather program, but it also outperforms the best forecasting system in use right now, one that's maintained by the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). In tests comparing the 15-day forecasts the two systems generated for weather in 2019, GenCast was, on average, more accurate than ECMWF's ENS system 97.2 percent of the time. With lead times greater than 36 hours, DeepMind's was an even better 99.8 percent more accurate.I'm a little bit reluctant to say it, but it's like we've made decades worth of improvements in one year," Remi Lam, the lead scientist on DeepMind's previous AI weather program, told The New York Times. We're seeing really, really rapid progress."GenCast is a diffusion model, which is the same tech that powers Google's generative AI tools. DeepMind trained the software on nearly 40 years of high-quality weather data curated by the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. The predictions the new model generates are probabilistic, meaning they account for a range of possibilities that are then expressed as percentages. Probabilistic models are considered more nuanced and useful than their deterministic counterparts, which only offer a best guess of what the weather might be like on a given day. The former also harder to create and calculate.Indeed, what's perhaps most striking about GenCast is that it requires significantly less computing power than traditional physics-based ensemble forecasts like ENS. According to Google, a single one of its TPU v5 tensor processing units can produce a 15-day GenCast forecast in eight minutes. By contrast, it can take a supercomputer with tens of thousands of processors hours to produce a physics-based forecast.Of course, GenCast isn't perfect. One area the software could provide better predictions on is hurricane intensity, though the DeepMind team told The Times it was confident it could find solutions for the agent's current shortcomings. In the meantime, Google is making GenCast an open model, with example code for the tool available on GitHub. GenCast predictions will also soon make their way to Google Earth.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/deepminds-gencast-ai-is-really-good-at-forecasting-the-weather-184751414.html?src=rss
Meta is taking another important step toward making Threads interoperable with the fediverse. The app now allows users to follow accounts from Mastodon and other fediverse apps directly from Threads, Mark Zuckerberg said in an update.Since the early days of Threads, Meta has promised to bake-in support for ActivityPub, the open-source protocol that powers Mastodon and other decentralized services that make up the fediverse." Eventually, the goal is for Threads users to be able to seamlessly interact with other users on Mastodon or other sites that use ActivityPub.With the latest change, Threads users who have previously opted into fediverse sharing in the app will now be able to view profiles and follow accounts from Mastodon and other services directly in Threads. The update is a significant move toward making Threads compatible with the wider Activity Pub ecosystem.That said, there are still some significant limitations to Threads' fediverse support. There's currently no way to search for users on other servers, so the only way to find those accounts is to look for fediverse accounts that have followed you already or otherwise interacted with one of your posts.Users are also still unable to reply to posts that originate on Mastodon or other ActivityPub services, so the interactions are still one way - at least for now. And an in-app disclaimer from Meta notes that fediverse sharing is still a beta feature and that some posts from other servers may not be visible" in Threads. Adam Mosseri, however, said that more interop features are on the way," so hopefully fediverse enthusiasts won't have long to wait to see deeper integrations.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/threads-now-allows-users-to-follow-fediverse-accounts-directly-in-its-app-183517197.html?src=rss
If your group chat is anything like Engadget's Slack, Balatroprobably comes up several times a week. The indie poker-style title is one of the most talked-about games of the year for good reason: it's endlessly compelling. But what if you don't have a laptop, phone, Steam Deck, Switch or other console nearby and you need your fix, goshdarnit? That's where a physical deck of Balatro playing cards may come in handy. A $16 deck is up for preorder on Fangamerand it's expected to ship in March. The mockups show subtly pixellated cards that ape the game's art style. They have a red design on the rear - Balatro players will know that the red deck is the default set in the game. But what of the game-changing jokers? I'm afraid you only get four of those: Joker, Juggler, Blueprint and Gros Michel. Plus, they're just regular ol' jokers here. That's a little disappointing, given how important jokers are in Balatro, but at least my personal favorite banana card is here. The same goes for the apparent lack of tarot, planet and spectral cards, which greatly modify each run. It's fun that there's a physical Balatro deck on the way, but it's a bit of a bummer that it's a standard set of cards that doesn't really play into the convention-breaking ethos of the video game. Perhaps a board game along those lines is in the works. But for now I might have to pick up several of these decks. I'm probably going to ruin at least one set by using a Sharpie to have 52 diamond cards. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/a-physical-deck-of-balatro-cards-can-soon-be-yours-for-16-180958044.html?src=rss
There's a huge gap between serious racers like Gran Turismo and arcade-style stuff like Mario Kart. That's where the soon-to-be-released My First Gran Turismo comes in. This is a streamlined version of the iconic Sony racing game that's intended for those who have yet to experience Gran Turismo." The free-to-play title launches for both PS4 and PS5 on December 6.Sony promises that the game is perfect for anyone aged 7 to 77." I'm not sure what my 78-year-old dad would say about that, but whatever. There's a trailer to help folks get the gist, which shows off a selection of real-world vehicles and graphics that don't stray too far from the mainline games. It looks pretty fun.All told, there are 18 cars to choose from and three tracks to race around. For comparison, the most-recent entry Gran Turismo 7 includes more than 400 vehicles and around 40 dedicated tracks. It's also a full-priced game, though likely on sale for the holidays, whereas My First Gran Turismo is free as a bird.The cars in this kid-friendly version have Mario Kart-style charts to show off various specs and there's a nifty game mode called Music Rally. This makes players race along to the beat of a song. Other modes include time trials and license tests.SonyFinally, there's PSVR 2 support for PS5, bringing the whole experience into virtual reality. Racing in VR is super fun, but remember to take copious breaks to avoid the dreaded nausea fairy.This launch is part of PlayStation's wider 30th anniversary celebration. The company released some retro-looking hardware, which sold out in no time, and digital themes from past console iterations.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/the-free-to-play-my-first-gran-turismo-comes-to-ps4-and-ps5-on-december-6-172344125.html?src=rss
OpenAI will start announcing new features and demos tomorrow for 12 days through livestreams. Sources familiar with the matter told The Verge that these new products will allegedly include OpenAI's long-awaited text-to-video tool, Sora, and a new reasoning model.The announcement for "12 Days of OpenAI", as the company puts it, was made public on X yesterday. The first livestream will broadcast tomorrow, but the announcements themselves remain unconfirmed That said, in addition to the sources that spoke more recently with The Verge, the Wall Street Journal previously reported Sora was likely to come out before the end of 2024.Sora was revealed early this year, and shared with a small group of testers. But 20 or so of those artists leaked the model to the public in protest of unpaid labor," The Washington Postreported. OpenAI has broadly been the subject of criticism regarding the provenance of data supporting its language models, and Sora has been no different. The company has yet to directly address if Sora has scraped public YouTube videos - something that YouTube's CEO has said would be a breach of the platform's terms of service.OpenAI isn't the only company working on text-to-video models. Google's Veo is now available to Google Vertex AI users via private review. It was announced three months after Sora's February unveiling.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-may-launch-sora-its-text-to-video-model-very-soon-171434280.html?src=rss
Washington, DC's Attorney General Brian Schwalb is suing Amazon for allegedly excluding certain ZIP codes from enjoying Amazon Prime's speedy delivery. Schwalb claims that, beginning in 2022, Amazon stopped using its in-house delivery systems for Wards 7 and 8 while still charging those customers the same amount for a Prime subscription. According to Census Reporter, Ward 7 and Ward 8 are 83 percent and 82 percent Black, respectively.According to the suit, instead of using its own trucks, Amazon relied on UPS and USPS carriers to make deliveries - a decision that resulted in longer delivery times. Only 24 percent of packages to these Wards were delivered within two days. Schwalb also alleged that Amazon didn't notify any Ward 7 and Ward 8 residents about these changes.Worryingly, this isn't the first time Amazon has been called out for excluding majority-Black neighborhoods from the full benefits of a Prime membership. A damning 2016 report in Bloomberg indicated the practice was common across several metro areas. Amazon has since provided Prime Free Same-Day Delivery to Boston's Roxbury neighborhood, Chicago's South Side and the Bronx in New York City.Update, December 4 2024, 12:03PM ET: Amazon provided the following statement to Engadget:
As Rust Cohle famously put it in HBO's True Detective, "Time is a flat circle." So it's maybe not a huge surprise that Max is the latest service to bring cable-style linear channels to a premium streaming service.It's starting to test such channels in the US. Some ad-free subscribers will see a Channels option on the homepage of adult profiles. This will take you to a selection of 24/7 feeds of HBO programming, including HBO and HBO 2 simulcasts. Other channels will showcase prestige drama, comedy and classic HBO shows, movies and documentaries.The channels work pretty much like any linear TV network in the modern age. You can restart shows, rewind and fast-forward. On select devices, you'll be able to switch between channels directly in the player, without having to go back to the channels hub.This initial rollout lays the groundwork for more themed channels, which will start arriving next year. According to The Verge, Max may even offer personalized streaming channels down the road.These channels could help you avoid wasting time instead of scrolling through Max while figuring out what to watch. If you're in the mood to laugh, maybe just turn on HBO Comedy. Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) will surely be hoping that channels increase engagement and keep people using the streaming service. After all, lots of folks simply switch on the likes of CBS because they want to watch something and they trust the network's brand enough to deliver a show that suits them.Max already offers linear channels in Europe. Crave, a Canadian streaming service that has exclusive rights to the HBO library in that market, offers HBO and HBO 2 simulcasts as well. WBD notably pulled shows including Westworld and The Nevers from Max a couple of years ago. Roku and Tubi now offer free, ad-supported channels featuring HBO shows and other WBD programming.Rivals also have their own linear channels, including Disney+, Paramount+ and Peacock. Amazon, meanwhile, is shutting down Freevee and moving its programming to Prime Video.As if it weren't already evident enough that media conglomerates are trying to bring back the heady success that cable saw for decades, they're teaming up with each other through streaming bundles. One gets you Max, Disney+ and Hulu for $30 per month, while Comcast offers a package of Netflix, Peacock and Apple TV+ for $15 per month.Saving you money (compared with subscribing to these services separately) while dumping a ton of programming you don't care about into your lap? This is all really just cable 2.0.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/streaming-is-just-tv-all-over-again-165115834.html?src=rss
Google has begun rolling out private access to its Veo and Imagen 3 generative AI models. Starting today, customers of the company's Vertex AI Google Cloud package can begin using Veo to generate videos from text prompts and images. Then, as of next week, Google will make Imagen 3, its latest text-to-image framework, available to those same users.With Veo's rollout, Google says it's the first hyperscale cloud provider to offer an image-to-video model. To that point, OpenAI's Sora model is still only available to select artists, academics and researchers - though that could change quickly with the company teasing 12 days of product demos starting December 5.Of Veo, Google says the model creates 1080p footage that's consistent and coherent" and can run beyond a minute." The tool is also capable of working with both text prompts and images. In the latter case, it's possible to use either AI-generated or human-made pictures as the starting point for a video.Looking at the sample footage Google shared, it's evident Veo, like all AI models, can struggle with cause and effect. For example, in the clip of the roasting marshmallows, the treats don't yellow and char as they're exposed to the heat of a campfire flame. Artifacting is also an issue, as is apparent if you look closely at the hands in the concert footage.GoogleAs for Imagen 3, Google says the model generates the most realistic and highest quality images from simple text prompts, surpassing previous versions of Imagen in detail, lighting, and artifact reduction." Here again, however, you don't have to look too closely to see Google has more work to do.In the first example of a group of friends sitting on the trunk of a car, the original prompt includes mention of flash photography," but the subjects are clearly backlit. One could argue that a flash was used to create intense backlighting, but if the idea behind the prompt was to create something representative of flash photography from the 1960s, this image isn't it.Still, Google is keen to get more of its enterprise customers using generative AI. Citing its own research, the tech giant says among companies using generative AI in production, 86 percent report an increase in revenue. However, a recent Appen survey found return on investment from AI projects fell by 4.6 percentage points from 2023 to 2024.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/googles-generative-ai-video-model-is-available-in-private-preview-160055983.html?src=rss
RPG fans who love Hironobu Sakaguchi's work may be familiar with Fantasian, a 2021 Apple Arcade exclusive. Now, Fantasian is coming to Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch and PC on December 5.As The Verge puts it, Fantasian is Final Fantasy in all but name. The port to these platforms is called Fantasian Neo Dimension and doesn't differ much from the original apart from added voice acting. The addition of voices will elevate the experience, and you'd be pleased to know that Square Enix is publishing this port, which ensures it gets the best treatment before release.One unique mechanic Fantasian has is the Dimengeon, a portmanteau of dimension and dungeon. If you activate this device in-game, the random battles will be stored and waiting for you to fight. The Dimengeon has a limit, which means you'll have to face your foes eventually.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/fantasian-an-apple-arcade-rpg-is-now-coming-to-consoles-and-pc-141543706.html?src=rss
Ubisoft's first-person shooter XDefiant, which launched less than six months ago with some success, will shut down on June 3, 2025. As part of that, the studio will close three production studios and lay off 277 employees.New downloads, player registrations, and purchases will no longer be available starting today, However, Season 3 will launch as planned and servers will remain online until June 3. Players who purchased the Ultimate Founders Pack or bought anything in the last 30 days will automatically receive full refunds within eight weeks."Despite an encouraging start, the team's passionate work, and a committed fan base, we've not been able to attract and retain enough players in the long run to compete at the level we aim for in the very demanding free-to-play FPS market," said Ubisoft's chief studios and portfolio officer Marie-Sophie de Waubert.Ubisoft confirmed that it will close its Osaka and San Francisco studios while ramping down its Sydney site. That will result in the loss of 277 jobs, or just over half of XDefiant's team, with the other half transitioning to other parts of the company. "I want to express my deepest gratitude for your work and contributions. Please know that we are committed to supporting you during this transition," de Waubert told departing employees.At one time, XDefiant was Ubisoft's fastest growing game ever, hitting 5 million users sooner than any of its other titles and eventually counting up to 15 million players. However, it couldn't build on that success and last month, rumors began to circulate that XDefiant would be shut down. "The game is too far away from reaching the results required to enable further significant investment," de Waubert said yesterday.Ubisoft has been going through a rough patch of late. The company recently cancelled The Division: Heartland before it launched and delayed Assassin's Creed Shadows until Valentine's Day 2025, following a disappointing launch for Star Wars Outlaws. Last year, the company cancelled three unannounced projects and commenced a restructuring program that led to over a thousand layoffs.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/ubisoft-is-giving-up-on-xdefiant-130023396.html?src=rss
There's a chill in the air, lights have been strung through the trees and winter coats are a daily need. All this can only mean one thing: it's Spotify Wrapped season. Today, Spotify Wrapped begins rolling out to users across the globe with a slew of new features powered by Google's AI-powered NotebookLM.To be honest, some of it is, let's say, interesting. Notably, Spotify is releasing a My Wrapped AI Podcast with two hosts discussing all your listening preferences for the year. These hosts in question are powered by the same technology that NotebookLM uses to make audio overviews. The podcasts should last three to six minutes, are shareable and available for free and premium users in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland and Sweden for a limited time. If you love listening to AI then maybe this is exciting for you but, personally, I'm happy with my usual roundup. Spotify does caveat that it might not "provide a comprehensive overview" and could mispronounce words or use inappropriate language if its in a song title, for example.Then there's the AI DJ, which brings you through the music you listened to and provides commentary. Yes, this sounds a bit like the AI podcast, but it should focus more on the actual music and how you used the DJ. It should also touch on aspects like your top artists and most listened to songs. However, this feature and a wrapped version of Spotify's AI Playlist are only available to premium subscribers.As always, you can also see how your listening choices measure up against other users. Spoiler that's not really a spoiler: Taylor Swift and her album The Tortured Poet's Department took the most streamed spots for artist and album, respectively, both in the US and globally. Women took the top five spots for most streamed albums globally, while Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter held the title of most streamed song for the US and world. Other categories of interest include the top podcasts and most viral songs, plus one interesting addition: audiobooks.Spotify has leaned heavily into audiobooks this year, rolling out a subscription solely for the medium and new tools like a sleep timer and detailed author pages. So, it's no surprise that the platform has released its first ever year-end top charts for audiobooks. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas was the top audiobook for premium users in both the US and globally - a near inevitably for anyone paying even a little attention to book trends this year. Also new this year: Authors will join creators, artists, podcasters and advertisers in receiving a Wrapped all about how their readers listened to their books in 2024.As always, Spotify Wrapped is shaping up to be a bit cringe (as many new AI creations are) and the usual burst of fun. You can explore these features and more on your Spotify Wrapped or, if this has all been irrelevant to you, maybe on the just announced Amazon Music Delivered or through Apple Music Replay.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/music/spotify-wrapped-2024-includes-ai-hosted-podcasts-discussing-your-listening-habits-130002140.html?src=rss
Apple has wrapped up all your listening stats in a bow with its annual recap of your entire year in music streaming. This time, you can view the full Replay experience in the Apple Music app via the home, new and search tab - yes, no need to go to a microsite for your vital listening statistics. You can save a playlist of your most-played songs in 2024, though that and your stats will be cemented in January - if you're looking to kick out a particularly embarrassing song that's wormed its way into your head, you could spam other tracks? You can even access your Replays from previous years (something Spotify doesn't offer with Wrapped).More widely, the most-listened-to song on Apple Music overall this year was Kendrick Lamar's Not Like Us," his most recent Drake-diss track. Benson Boone's Beautiful Things," meanwhile, was the most identified song on Shazam. Beautifully hard to identify.- Mat SmithGet this delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!The biggest tech stories you missed
The connected fitness boom of pandemic-era lockdowns is long behind us (hopefully), but Growl, a new startup, is still looking to bolt a workout to the wall of your home. Think of Tonal, except instead of resistance training, it's a boxing-inspired heavy bag session.The wall-mounted Growl is, according to the company, powered by AI and Unreal Engine and appears to have overhead projectors, which beam the image of a life-sized coach onto the convex punching surface. 3D motion tracking technology claims to gather information about your form and technique and provide insights.Besides the projection, the bag has an interactive coaching system to help motivate users. It also supposedly supports side-by-side training, which works great for training partners.Growl isn't available yet, but pre-sales are likely to open in April 2025. Pricing is projected to be between $150 and $190 a month, putting it on the steeper end of fitness devices, if it ever ships. And keep in mind you'll need to install this thing into a wall that can withstand hours of punching.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/this-new-startup-wants-to-be-your-ai-powered-boxing-coach-120022634.html?src=rss
MSI has two new versions of the MSI Claw after the original landed with a thud earlier this year. The company's $900 MSI Claw 8 AI+ and $800 Claw 7 AI+ have Lunar Lake Intel processing, better battery life and quality-of-life improvements like redesigned sticks, bumpers and triggers. The previous model launched a touch late and a bit too pricey," according to Engadget's Sam Rutherford in our review. He said its performance was underwhelming compared to cheaper rivals, its software was too clunky, and it was plagued by an overabundance of optimization updates (presumably because MSI scrambled to fix its long list of problems). We haven't handled the new models, but their switch to Intel's latest Core Ultra 7 processor should lead to better performance and lower power consumption - two of the biggest marks against the A1M. The Claw 8 AI+ has an 8-inch (1,920 x 1,200) display, and the Claw 7 AI+ has a 7-inch (1,920 x 1,080) one. Both devices support a 120Hz refresh rate. However, they're LCD panels; you still won't find an OLED option here, like in Valve and Lenovo's alternatives. It... floats, too? MSI The Claw 8 has an 80Wh battery, while the 7-inch model has a 54.5Wh battery. It uses MSI's Cooler Boost HyperFlow tech, which includes dual fans and heat pipes. The company claims it outperforms competitors" (without stating which) when running at a power-efficient 17W. Each handheld has a pair of Thunderbolt 4 ports, so you could plug the handheld into a monitor and use it as a makeshift Windows PC. They even have CoPilot+ support built-in. MSI redesigned the new generation's joysticks, bumpers, D-pad and triggers for this generation. Although the last model had Hall effect sticks, the new ones also have it in their triggers. Ergonomics were a rare highlight in the previous model, and MSI touts the new handhelds as being tailored to fit the natural contours of the hand." As for the AI in the handheld's branding, MSI presumably refers to the XeSS upscaling tech in the Intel chip. However, the previous model also used XeSS, so maybe the company just wanted to scream to customers and investors that it uses AI. The new handhelds arrive on December 25. GameRant notes that their pre-order pages are listed without available stock (yet). Regardless, once you can buy them, the Claw 7 AI+ costs $800, and the Claw 8 AI+ will set you back $900. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/msis-new-claw-gaming-handhelds-have-lunar-lake-processors-and-nondescript-ai-powers-230028563.html?src=rss
Meta has confirmed its plans to use nuclear power to fuel US data centers. The company announced that it's accepting proposals from nuclear energy developers to work on the project, with the goal of adding between one and four gigawatts of nuclear energy capacity starting in the early 2030s."The company's request for proposals states that Meta is seeking partners that have experience with either Small Modular Reactors (SMR) or larger nuclear reactors." Axios reports that the company is geographically agnostic" about the location of potential nuclear sites. The company previously had plans to build a nuclear-powered data center, The Financial Times reported earlier this year, but the plans were scuttled after the discovery of a rare species of bees near the site.As new innovations bring impactful technological advancements across sectors and support economic growth, we believe that nuclear energy can help provide firm, baseload power to support the growth needs of the electric grids that power both our data centers (the physical infrastructure on which Meta's platforms operate) as well as the communities around them," the company wrote in a statement.Meta isn't the only major tech company looking to nuclear power to help power its AI ambitions. Google recently announced a deal to build multiple reactors in the US, with the goal of adding 500 megawatts of nuclear power from SMRs. Microsoft also said this year it wants to revive the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania to fuel its AI development.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/meta-wants-to-use-nuclear-power-for-its-data-centers-225051671.html?src=rss
Former cryptocurrency leader Alex Mashinsky has pleaded guilty to two fraud charges. The founder and CEO of Celsius Network was indicted on seven criminal counts in 2023, including charges of fraud, conspiracy and market manipulation. He entered a not guilty plea at the time, but in a hearing today, Mashinsky pled guilty to two of those original counts. The first is commodities fraud and the second is a fraudulent scheme to manipulate the price of his company's in-house crypto token CEL. Reuters reported that as part of a plea deal, Mashinsky has agreed not to appeal any sentence of 30 years or less.Mashinsky's case is one of several fraud cases being pursued against leaders of cryptocurrency operations. The most well-publicized charges are those brought against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who was found guilty on seven counts of fraud in 2023.National agencies began a push into fraud charges for cryptocurrency schemes in 2022, when several notable companies filed for bankruptcy as token prices plummeted in response to rising interest rates and high inflation. That year, the Federal Trade Commission said that victims of crypto schemes had lost more than $1 billion since 2021.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/former-celsius-ceo-pleads-guilty-to-two-fraud-charges-224046043.html?src=rss
Vizio is now a member of the Walmart corporate empire. The retail company announced the completion of its $2.3 billion acquisition of the TV manufacturer on Tuesday.Walmart didn't just buy a TV brand. It now owns a new advertising platform. Vizio's SmartCast OS collects huge amounts of data from its 19 million active accounts, and the company makes the majority of its money from the platform. Walmart's new partnership with Vizio and its other smart TV brand Onn is sure to stir up the lucrative competition for advertising revenue, according to the Wall Street Journal.Walmart officially announced its plans to buy Vizio in February following early reports about its deal.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/walmart-completes-its-23-billion-purchase-of-vizio-222449239.html?src=rss
This is not a drill, people: Tetris for the NES will join the Nintendo Switch Online library on December 12. Nintendo of America announced this exciting arrival out of the blue today on X. The NES port of Tetris initially launched all the way back in 1989, so it's been a very long time coming for this classic title to return to Nintendo hardware.That's not to say there haven't been many other ways to get your tetrimino fix. Tetris is a perennially popular puzzle game, with many official releases and plenty of knockoffs. And plenty of them, like the dazzling Tetris Effect, are extremely good. But the NES version is the one most frequently hailed as the best of the bunch. It's the iteration primarily used in the fascinating competitive Tetris circuit, and even after more than three decades, a player only just managed to 'beat' the game by, well, breaking its little computer brain. For those of us who missed out on the NES era, or those whose NES hardware bit the dust long ago, finally having a modern-day way to play this iconic version of Tetris is very exciting news.The Switch Online service has gotten a couple notable updates in the past few weeks. A trio of Sega Genesis games joined the online Switch library, and Nintendo also released a music streaming app for members of the subscription plan. While that's all well and good, the really exciting development will be the hotly anticipated announcement of the Switch 2, expected in March.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nes-tetris-is-coming-to-the-nintendo-switch-online-library-this-month-194523784.html?src=rss
When an established company enters a new product category, there's a lot of pressure on it to immediately impress the masses, especially when it has a proven track record in its industry. That's what Cambridge Audio faced this year when it debuted its first wireless headphones, the Melomania P100 ($279). It had already made the Melomania M100 wireless earbuds, but with a reputation largely built on hi-fi amplifiers, digital-to-analog converters (DACs) and speakers, the company was entering uncharted waters. With the P100, Cambridge Audio managed to leave a lasting first impression right out of the box. Starting with the refined look, it's evident that the company is serious about taking aim at the best in the category. It partnered aesthetics with long battery life, user-friendly maintenance options and a crisp, clear sound profile for a very compelling package on its first attempt. What's good about the Melomania P100? The P100 certainly looks like a set of flagship headphones. In an age when a lot of companies opt for plastic-heavy builds, even for their high-end models, it's nice to see a polished design for less than $300. Cambridge Audio combined aluminum accents with vegan leather and soft memory foam ear cups to do most of the heavy lifting here. There's also cross-hatched fabric on the underside of the headband that offers a textural contrast while maintaining the color scheme. Cambridge Audio didn't make any sacrifices on battery life with the P100, promising up to 60 hours of use with active noise cancellation (ANC) turned on. What's more, the company says you can eke out up to 100 hours of play time with ANC disabled, depending on volume levels and other settings. I had no trouble hitting 60 hours during my battery tests, which I run almost entirely while employing noise cancellation. And to keep the P100 running longer than some headphones would, the company allows users to replace the battery themselves when performance dips (ear pads are also replaceable). The P100 uses the same Class AB amplification that powers Cambridge Audio's CX series hi-fi amps. This provides sound performance that's audibly better" than what's found in nearly all wireless headphones, according to the company. Three-layer 40mm drivers complete the audio platform, which is tuned for precise highs and dynamic lows." During my tests, the P100 excelled at reproducing crisp, clean details across every genre I threw at it. Even in the heaviest parts of Sleep Token's Vore," the snare hits remained punchy, cutting through distorted guitar riffs with vocals layered in. Prominence is given to treble and mids though, as bass-heavy tracks like that one don't quite have the booming punch they typically do. As such, the P100 was at its best for styles that demanded less low-end growl - genres like country, jazz and 90s grunge. What's not so good about the Melomania P100? Billy Steele for Engadget My notes on the overall sound profile of the P100 aren't great news for those who crave a bombastic blast when listening to music by Kendrick Lamar, Kaytranada and other bass-heavy tunes. Cambridge Audio does offer a selection of presets to alter the tuning, as well as a full EQ for custom profiles. The changes were more subtle for the EQ sliders, so they didn't deliver the thump I was after. But, unlike a lot of equalizer options from other companies, none of these muddied the sound or made things worse. Despite the soft touch of the P100's ear pads, they don't offer enough buffer from the ridges of the ear cups during longer listening sessions. I used these on a cross-country trip that involved a full day of air travel and wearing headphones for a solid six hours. After about 30 minutes, I could start to feel those edges. And while they never became painful, this kept the P100 from competing with the likes of the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones and Sony's WH-1000XM5 in terms of overall comfort. Cambridge Audio did well to cover all the basics on the P100. There's reliable, easy-to-use physical controls, solid adaptive ANC performance and support for aptX Lossless. Wear detection and multipoint Bluetooth are also in tow, as is wired listening at 24-bit/96kHz quality and a five-minute quick charge tool. What you won't find are things like speech detection, any mention of spatial audio or some of the automated features the competition offers. Sure, I can excuse the omissions on the P100 given the price, but these are the types of conveniences that are increasingly becoming core specs, so one or two would've been nice to have. Final verdict on the Melomania P100 I'm impressed by what Cambridge Audio has built for its first set of wireless headphones. It's obvious the company knows how to produce clear, balanced audio, even if the P100 could use a smidge more low-end tone. The combination of design, sound, repairability and battery life make this a compelling option at well under $300. And now that the company has a solid foundation to build on, I expect to be blown away by whatever comes next. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/cambridge-audio-melomania-p100-review-an-impressive-headphone-debut-192412530.html?src=rss
Despite Intel's recent woes, I didn't expect to see CEO Pat Gelsinger joining 15,000 or so of his colleagues being shown the door. Gelsinger is a storied engineer and business success who laid down an exhaustive rescue plan when he took the helm of the beleaguered chipmaker in 2021. It was never going to be a quick fix, given the company's long legacy of missteps. Gelsinger may be the public face of Intel's current malaise, but the problems started long before his tenure and will likely keep going.How Intel got hereGelsinger was tasked with addressing almost two decades' worth of bad decisions, all of which have compounded. Intel became an industry-swallowing behemoth as one half of the Wintel alliance, producing chips that went hand-in-glove with Microsoft Windows. The vast profits that flowed from this partnership meant there was an institutional reluctance to look too hard at new business ventures that could distract from its golden goose, still going strong all these years later.In 2005, then-CEO Paul Ottellini turned down the chance to make the iPhone's system-on-chip. It would have been easy for Intel, since it already made XScale ARM chips for mobile devices. You could find an Intel ARM chip inside popular phones like the BlackBerry Pearl 8100 and Palm Treo 650. A year later, it would sell XScale to Marvell, believing it would be able to shrink its x86 chips to work on smartphones. The first Intel Atom handsets showed some degree of promise, but the Snapdragons of the day - produced by considerably smaller rival Qualcomm - beat them pretty easily.At the same time, Intel was working on Larrabee, its own discrete GPU platform based on the x86 architecture. Despite several years of marketing bravado and suggestions it would kill" AMD/ATI and NVIDIA, Intel axed it in 2010 in favor of bundling integrated graphics into its regular processor products. The decision would hand the bulk of the GPU market to NVIDIA, making it the go-to name for gaming, supercomputers, crypto and AI, posting quarterly revenues of $35.1 billion on November 20.Could Intel have foreseen the meteoric rise of AI? Maybe not. But Reuters reported former Intel CEO Bob Swan turned down the chance to invest in OpenAI in 2017. It was looking for a hardware partner to reduce its reliance on NVIDIA, offering a generous deal in the process. Swan, however, reportedly said he couldn't see a future for generative AI, and Intel's data center unit refused to sell the hardware at a discount.Intel's core strength was in the quality of its engineering, the solidity of its product and that it always kept close to the cutting edge. (There are parallels to be drawn between Intel and Boeing, both of which are watching their reputation for quality erode in real time.) Sadly Intel's bread-and-butter business hit the skids after the company failed to produce 10-nanometer chips by its planned 2015 deadline. The company's famous tick, tock" strategy of launching a new chip process one year and a refined version the next ground to a halt.These issues enabled Intel's competitors to step in and steal a march, harnessing more modern chip architectures. AMD, which held a little over 10 percent of the chip market for much of the 2010s, has seen its market share double in the last few years. The biggest beneficiary, of course, was TSMC, the Taiwanese chip factory that has become the envy of the world. Even if Intel controls the bulk of the x86 processor market, it's TSMC that makes the chips for Apple, Qualcomm, NVIDIA and AMD, among others. Intel, meanwhile, was saddled with an older chip manufacturing process that it couldn't use to catch up with its rivals.The Gelsinger doctrineGelsinger was as close to an Intel lifer" as you could imagine, joining the company at 18 and rising to the position of Chief Technology Officer by 2001. In 2009, he left Intel to become COO at EMC and held the position as CEO of VMWare for almost a decade. After taking the reins at Intel, he laid down a detailed plan to mastermind its glorious comeback.Step one would be to separate Intel's design and manufacturing business into two distinct entities. With one eye on US subsidies through the Biden administration's CHIPS and Science Act, Gelsinger pledged to build two new chip factories harnessing the same EUV (Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography) technology used by TSMC.Gelsinger was also determined to reestablish discipline in Intel's chip business and get back to the tick, tock" structure. Unfortunately, the production delays that had been building up since 2015 meant that Gelsinger's target was just to get back to parity. In the interim, Intel would also get TSMC to manufacture some of its newest chips which, while costly, would help address any concerns the company was lagging even further behind.Nobody had any doubts as to the size of the task facing Gelsinger, but there was plenty of room for optimism. Gelsinger was humble enough to accept Intel couldn't simply stay on its current course, and had to embrace its new status. He proposed Intel could grin and bear the short-term pain for the company's eventual benefit. If it could build for the future, harness its rivals to keep it in the game and restore faith in its processes, Intel would emerge from this as the winner. All it needed was for nothing to get worse.Things got worseAt the end of October, Reuters reported Gelsinger made a colossal faux-pas when speaking about TSMC. The CEO was quoted saying You don't want all of our eggs in the basket of a Taiwan fab," and that Taiwan is not a stable place." This offended TSMC to such an extent that it ended a discount Intel had taken advantage of for yearsSadly, Gelsinger's desire to restore discipline to the chip division would also backfire, with the latest Core processors blighted by voltage instability issues. Intel was forced to extend those chips' warranties, which came at an additional cost it couldn't really afford. In August, it posted a loss of $1.6 billion and pledged to cut 15,000 employees in an attempt to right the ship. But it was forced to post the biggest quarterly loss in its history three months later, losing $16.6 billion, albeit much of that tied to revaluing company assets and paying for the layoffs. Worse, Intel's new production process, 18A, reportedly failed crucial tests ahead of its 2025 debut.Perhaps the lowest point in Intel's year was when its stock price fell low enough that it became a takeover target. Rumors suggested Qualcomm was potentially eyeing a takeover while others indicated ARM had made inquiries about purchasing Intel's product unit.Where does this leave Intel?The New York Times reports Intel's board grew frustrated with Gelsinger as his rescue plan was not showing results quickly enough." But Intel wasn't going to hire Gelsinger in 2021 and suddenly bounce back in 2024. Building large and complex chip factories isn't easy. Nor is getting thousands of engineers to solve difficult problems around chip yields. And obviously reversing a slide that started in 2015 was never going to happen overnight.Intel's board is presently looking for a full-time successor to Gelsinger but it's hard to see what someone else would do differently. After all, the company still needs to build those factories in order to own and control its future, and it still needs to fix its processes. Unless, of course, the next CEO is going to be told to just stanch the bleeding and keep the money rolling in. Even in its deeply-wounded state after a few bad quarters, Intel is still the biggest name in the x86 chip world and will keep making money for years to come.You could easily imagine Intel's board sitting around, prioritizing a few years of healthy profits at the cost of the company's long-term future. It can keep selling modified versions of its existing desktop chips, ceding the technological leadership to AMD, Qualcomm and others. There's probably a decade or two of big industrial clients who would be happy using Intel processors for their hardware for as long as they're still using Windows. Perhaps that would be fitting given how big and ossified Intel has become, admitting that it can't move fast enough to evolve.It's likely that scenario won't be allowed to happen given Intel's broader role in the global tech space. Even if the incoming administration criticized the CHIPS Act - Intel is still set to be its largest funding recipient - having a domestic manufacturer of Intel's scale will be an asset few sane governments would allow to fall. But just switching CEOs won't suddenly fix the company's big, hard-to-solve problems. It wasn't Pat Gelsinger who screwed up power design for Raptor Lake, nor did he pass on the opportunity to make the iPhone CPU all those years ago. The TSMC stuff, he can own that, but while a CEO sets the direction of travel, he can't micromanage every process in a company of Intel's scale. So whoever replaces him will have the same big stack of issues to tackle, knowing that the board's patience will be even shorter this time out.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/firing-pat-gelsinger-doesnt-solve-intels-problems-173420381.html?src=rss
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