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Disney+ has released the first trailer for its upcoming animated series X-Men '97, and it feels like a blast from the past for fans of the animated series that aired in the 90s. Its story picks up from where the old series left off, with the trailer showing how the team makes an effort to work together after the death of Professor X who was seriously injured by the end of the Saturday morning cartoon. That means viewers can expect the same roster of mutants from the original show, including Cyclops as team leader, Wolverine, Jean Grey, Beast, Storm, Rogue, Gambit, Jubilee and Bishop. By the end of trailer, we also get a glimpse of Magneto, who apparently inherited everything Professor X had left behind.X-Men: The Animated Series was arguably the best adaptation of the comic books. The new show has a similar look and feel to it, but its animation quality thankfully looks a lot better. It features voice actors already known for the role, including Alison Sealy-Smith as Storm and Cal Dodd as Wolverine, but it also features new ones like Ray Chase as Cyclops. According to Entertainment Weekly, Divergent star Theo James is also part of the cast, but showrunner Beau DeMayo refused to reveal who he's voicing other than saying that it's a "fan-favorite character." Marvel Animation's X-Men '97 starts streaming on Disney+ on March 20 and will have 10 episodes in all. The streaming service has yet to reveal its release schedule, but it typically adds an episode a week for its shows - whether it'll also release an episode every Saturday morning remains to be seen.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/marvels-x-men-97-will-pick-up-from-where-the-90s-animated-series-left-off-082615903.html?src=rss

Game Pass, Microsoft's subscription service for games, has 34 million subscribers as of February 2024. Microsoft revealed the number in a blog post where it shared its plan about the future of the Xbox business.The latest number reveals that Game Pass growth has slowed down drastically. It took Microsoft three years since Game Pass launched in 2017 to get to 10 million subscribers in April 2020. In the next five months, the company added five million subscribers, and hit 18 million subscribers by January 2021, a growth rate of nearly 90 percent per year. A year later, the company announced that Game Pass had 25 million subscribers. Over the last two years, Game Pass has added nine million subscribers, which would be an average annual increase of just 18 percent.Game Pass lets players pay a monthly fee to Microsoft for unlimited access to an evolving library of games that they can play on their consoles or PCs. In an announcement on Thursday, the brand's leaders revealed plans to bring Xbox games to more platforms including the PlayStation 5 and the Nintendo Switch, both of which have far more users than Xbox. There are currently no plans to offer Game Pass on either Sony or Nintendo's platforms.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/xbox-game-pass-subscriptions-have-begun-to-taper-off-225335361.html?src=rss

The first Activision Blizzard game to join Xbox Game Pass will be Diablo IV, and it's due to land on March 28. The move means Diablo IV will be playable on Xbox and PC at no extra charge to Game Pass members - of which there are 34 million, Xbox announced today.This is just the first step in Xbox's broader plan to offer Activision Blizzard titles in its monthly subscription service, now that Microsoft fully owns the studio."There will be even more to play as we begin to fulfill our commitment to offer Activision and Blizzard games with Game Pass, both new releases and classic games from its legendary catalog," the Xbox Wire reads. Xbox plans to share more information about additional Activision Blizzard titles hitting Game Pass "soon."Diablo IV is a big get for Game Pass, and there are plenty of other popular franchises in Activision Blizzard's roster, including Call of Duty, Overwatch, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Tony Hawk, World of Warcraft and Starcraft.Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard in October 2023, after nearly two years of antitrust investigations from authorities in the United States and abroad. The deal was worth nearly $69 billion, the largest in Microsoft's history. As part of negotiations with regulators, Microsoft agreed to offload the streaming rights for Activision Blizzard games onto Ubisoft, opening the door for their inclusion in Game Pass, Ubisoft+ and other cloud services. That deal lasts for 15 years, and Microsoft signed similar 10-year agreements with Nintendo and a few other streaming hubs.In the US, the FTC is continuing to investigate the acquisition and recently accused Microsoft of misrepresenting its plans for Activision Blizzard following layoffs in January that affected 1,900 employees across the company's gaming segments. In the process, at least one Blizzard game was canceled and Skylanders studio Toys for Bob was gutted.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/diablo-iv-will-be-the-first-activision-blizzard-title-on-xbox-game-pass-204734655.html?src=rss

Times are a-changing at Xbox. The brand's leaders have confirmed plans to bring more Xbox games to other platforms - that almost definitely means PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch. Both of those consoles have a far larger install base than Xbox Series X/S, which are estimated to have shipped a combined 27 million units, compared with 54.8 million PS5s and nearly 140 million Switches.On the latest edition of the Official Xbox Podcast, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer says his team is bringing four of its games to "the other consoles." He didn't name the titles, but contrary to previous rumors, Starfield and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle are not coming to PS5 or Switch for now. Reports have suggested that Hi-Fi Rush, Sea of Thieves, Halo and Gears of War would be among those crossing the great divide.Spencer did confirm that the Xbox games that are coming to PlayStation and Switch have been on Xbox and PC for at least a year already. "A couple of the games are community-driven games, new games, kind of first iterations of a franchise that have reached their full potential, let's say, on Xbox and PC - there's always growth, franchises that we obviously want to continue to invest in," he said."Two of the other games are smaller games that were never really meant to be built as kind of platform exclusives and all the fanfare that goes around that, but games that our teams really wanted to go build that we love supporting creative endeavors across our studios regardless of size," Spencer added. "And as they've realized their full potential on Xbox and PC, we see an opportunity to utilize the other platforms as a place to just drive more business value out of those games, allowing us to invest in maybe future iterations of those, so equals to those or just other games like that in our portfolio."Spencer said Xbox isn't going to commit to porting other titles to more platforms beyond those four games just yet. He urged folks who play games on "those other platforms" not to assume every Xbox game will be come to their systems, but suggested that his team is going to take notes based on the impact of the initial four games and take things from there.That said, this doesn't mark a major change in strategy, Spencer argued. Xbox's philosophy has long been about helping players access its games from anywhere, including through the cloud, and tiptoeing onto other consoles is just a part of that."By bringing these games to more players, we not only expand the reach and impact of those titles, but this will allow us to invest in either future versions of these games, or elsewhere in our first-party portfolio," an Xbox Wire blog post reads. "There is no fundamental change to our approach on exclusivity."President of Game Content and Studios Matt Booty noted on the podcast that Xbox will continue to release its first-party games on Game Pass on their release date, and that "Game Pass will only be available on Xbox." Still, Booty acknowledged that Microsoft wants to bring more of its games to more players.Meanwhile, Xbox President Sarah Bond assured fans that Microsoft isn't looking to get out of the console hardware business. In fact, the team has "some exciting stuff coming out in hardware that we're going to share this holiday." Previous leaks indicated that Microsoft was building an all-digital version of the Xbox Series X that has improved Wi-Fi connectivity and more power efficiency.Microsoft is also looking ahead to the next Xbox. "We're also invested in the next generation roadmap," Bond added. "And what we're really focused on there is delivering the largest technical leap you will have ever seen in a hardware generation, which makes it better for players and better for creators and the visions that they're building." A leak last September indicated that the next Xbox is slated to arrive in 2028 and that it will be support "cloud-hybrid games."Microsoft's gaming division looks vastly different than it did a few months ago. The company finally completed its protracted $68.7 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard in October, significantly swelling its headcount in the process. In January, Microsoft said it was laying off 1,900 people from the gaming teams. It also canceled at least one game, a survival title that Blizzard was working on.Even though the Activision acquisition immediately and significantly improved the bottom line of Microsoft's gaming division, the company is looking to make that part of the business more profitable. Reducing headcount is one way of doing that. Selling games to new audiences on other platforms is an arguably healthier approach, even though it might come at the expense of turning some former Xbox loyalists away from the brand.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/xbox-confirms-four-of-its-games-are-coming-to-more-popular-consoles-201419203.html?src=rss

OpenAI on Thursday announced Sora, a brand new model that generates high-definition videos up to one minute in length from text prompts. Sora, which means sky" in Japanese, won't be available to the general public any time soon. Instead, OpenAI is making it available to a small group of academics and researchers who will assess harm and its potential for misuse.Sora is able to generate complex scenes with multiple characters, specific types of motion, and accurate details of the subject and background," the company said on its website. The model understands not only what the user has asked for in the prompt, but also how those things exist in the physical world."One of the videos generated by Sora that OpenAI shared on its website shows a couple walking through a snowy Tokyo city as cherry blossom petals and snowflakes blow around them.

The Apple Vision Pro is officially two weeks old, and the apps are starting to roll in. TikTok was conspicuously absent on launch day, but now our long national nightmare has come to an end. The Vision Pro has a native TikTok app.This isn't just the iPad app with a new coat of paint. There are some neat features here that take advantage of Apple's well-regarded and prohibitively-expensive headset. The navigation bar and like button are moved entirely off-screen, giving users an uninterrupted view of video content.TikTokThis extends to comment sections and creator profiles, as they both now appear as expansions alongside the feed, which TikTok says provides a more immersive content viewing experience." To that end, TikTok integrates with the headset's immersive environments, so people can watch short-form videos on the moon or surrounded by the lush flora of Yosemite.TikTok also works with the Vision Pro's Shared Space feature, allowing the app to exist somewhere in your peripheral as you work on other stuff. The location of the app will remain static, so it'll be in the same place every time you put on the headset (provided you are in the same room.)You may notice that these features are primarily intended for content consumers, and not creators. Engadget reached out to TikTok to ask about creator-specific features and we'll update this post when we hear back.The app's available for download right now, though it likely won't be accessible for TikTok's core userbase of 10 to 19 year olds. The Apple Vision Pro costs $3,500. That's like an entire childhood of allowances.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-vision-pro-now-has-a-native-tiktok-app-193214818.html?src=rss

On Thursday, Google unveiled Gemini 1.5 Pro, which the company describes as delivering dramatically enhanced performance" over the previous model. The company's AI trajectory - viewed internally as increasingly critical for its future - follows the unveiling of Gemini 1.0 Ultra last week, alongside the rebranding of the Bard chatbot (to Gemini) to align with the new model's more powerful and versatile capabilities.In an announcement blog post, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis try to balance assuring their audience about ethical AI safety while touting their models' rapidly advancing capabilities. Our teams continue pushing the frontiers of our latest models with safety at the core," Pichai summarized.The company needs to emphasize safety for AI skeptics (including one former Google CEO) and government regulators. But it also needs to stress its models' accelerating performance for AI developers, potential customers and investors concerned the company was too slow to react to OpenAI's breakout success with ChatGPT.Pichai and Hassabis say Gemini 1.5 Pro delivers comparable results to Gemini 1.0 Ultra. However, Gemini 1.5 performs at that level more efficiently, with reduced computational requirements. The multimodal capabilities include processing text, images, videos, audio or code. As AI models advance, they'll continue to offer a more versatile array of capabilities in one prompt box (another recent example was OpenAI integrating DALL-E 3 image generation into ChatGPT).Google CEO Sundar PichaiALAIN JOCARD via Getty ImagesGemini 1.5 Pro can also handle up to one million tokens, or the units of data AI models can process in a single request. Google says Gemini 1.5 Pro can process over 700,000 words, an hour of video, 11 hours of audio and codebases with over 30,000 lines of code. The company says it's even successfully tested" a version that supports up to 10 million tokens.The company says Gemini 1.5 Pro maintains high accuracy in queries with larger token counts when it has more new data to learn. It says the model impressed in the Needle In a Haystack evaluation. In this test, developers insert a small piece of information inside a long text block to see if the AI model can pick it out. Google said Gemini 1.5 Pro could find the embedded text 99 percent of the time in data blocks as long as one million tokens.Google says Gemini 1.5 Pro can reason about various details from the 402-page Apollo 11 moon mission transcripts. In addition, it can analyze plot points and events from an uploaded 44-minute silent film starring Buster Keaton. As 1.5 Pro's long context window is the first of its kind among large-scale models, we're continuously developing new evaluations and benchmarks for testing its novel capabilities," Hassabis wrote.Google is launching Gemini 1.5 Pro with 128,000-token capabilities, the same number at which OpenAI's (publicly announced) GPT-4 models max out. Hassabis says Google will eventually introduce new pricing tiers that support up to one million-token queries.Google DeepMind CEO Demis HassabisJoy Malone via Getty ImagesGemini 1.5 Pro is also adept at learning new skills from information in long prompts - without additional fine-tuning (in-context learning"). In a benchmark called Machine Translation from One Book, the model learned a grammar manual for Kalamang, a language with fewer than 200 speakers globally that it hadn't previously been trained on. The company says Gemini 1.5 Pro learned to perform at a similar level as a human learning the same content when translating English to Kalamang.In a piece of the announcement that will catch developers' attention, Google says Gemini 1.5 Pro can perform problem-solving tasks across longer code blocks. When given a prompt with more than 100,000 lines of code, it can better reason across examples, suggest helpful modifications and give explanations about how different parts of the code works," Hassabis wrote.On the ethics and safety front, Google says it's taking the same approach to responsible deployment" it took with Gemini 1.0 models. That includes developing and applying red-teaming techniques,where a group of ethical developers essentially serve as devil's advocate, testing for a range of potential harms." In addition, the company says it heavily scrutinizes areas like content safety and representational harms. The company says it continues to develop new ethical and safety tests for its AI tools.Google is launching Gemini 1.5 in early access for developers and enterprise customers. The company plans to make it more widely available eventually. Gemini 1.0 is currently available for consumers, alongside a Pro variant that costs $20 monthly.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/googles-gemini-15-pro-is-a-new-more-efficient-ai-model-181909354.html?src=rss

YouTube just released a new feature that lets users remix music videos and turn them into Shorts. This allows you to adjust various parameters from a full-length music video to create something wholly unique. Does this sound like TikTok? It definitely sounds like TikTok.Here's how it works. Just tap remix" on a music video. You'll be presented with four options: Sound, Green Screen, Cut and Collab. You can only pick one, so choose wisely. The Sound tool does what you think. It strips the audio and lets you use it in your own YouTube Short. This is the kind of thing that's hugely popular on TikTok, with many users lip-syncing to various audio clips. This Sound tool is available to any music video and most songs that were automatically uploaded to the platform.Green Screen takes things a step further. It turns the video into a background, which you can then dance in front of or whatever. The Cut tool just clips out a five second portion of the video that you can add to any Short. Finally, Collab creates a side-by-side video that places your Short next to the original content. YouTube says this is the perfect option when you and your friends" want to show off choreography alongside the original artist.The feature's already available on the mobile app, though it may not have rolled out to every user yet. If you want to check, just open the app, click on a music video and look for that remix" option. It's worth noting that many of these features were already available to Shorts creators, but not in one handy tab.YouTube/Lawrence BonkYouTube Shorts was already a TikTok-alike when it released back in 2021, but these features make it even more, uh, TikTok-ier. With that in mind, YouTube picked the perfect time to officially launch the toolset. Universal Music has pulled its roster from TikTok after a breakdown in financial negotiations. UMG artists include Taylor Swift, Drake, Billie Eilish and many more.This has forced TikTok creators to swap out music tracks, as anything sourced from Universal is automatically muted. The record label has accused TikTok of wanting to pay a fraction" of rates offered by other social media sites. YouTube's Remix tool has access to Universal's entire roster.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/youtube-shorts-now-lets-you-chop-up-and-remix-music-videos-180655627.html?src=rss

Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg has posted his own review of Apple's Vision Pro on Instagram, coming inexplicably for our jobs here at Engadget.In a video shot direct from a Meta Quest 3 (oh of course), Zuckerberg didn't mince his words. He said he expected the Quest to be the better value for most people, because it's "like seven times less expensive" than the $3,500 Vision Pro. Eventually, he concluded that the Quest 3 was the better product, period."Zuckerberg thinks the Quest is "a lot more comfortable," noting that the headset's field of view is wider and has a brighter display than the Vision Pro. He added that the Quest had a bigger library: Meta's Quest, unlike the Vision Pro, has access to the YouTube and Xbox apps. And that's definitely a fair criticism.All in all, two out of five Zucks. Don't forget to like and subscribe.- Mat SmithThe biggest stories you might have missedX let terrorist groups pay for verification, report saysAmazon knocks $100 off the Apple AirPods MaxAn earnings typo sent Lyft's stock price into the stratosphereMario vs. Donkey Kong is an odd, eye-catching ode to simpler timesYou can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!A piracy app outranked Netflix on the App Store before Apple pulled itKimi gave viewers access to pirated shows and movies.An app called Kimi curiously outranked well-known streaming services like Netflix and Prime Video in the App Store's list of top free entertainment apps this week. Now, Apple has pulled it, probably because it gave users access to pirated movies.Kimi was disguised as an app that tests your eyesight by making you play spot the difference' between similar photos. In reality, it was packed with bootlegged shows and movies. If anyone remembers the heyday of pirated movies on slow internet connections, you got to relive the variable video quality of yesteryear.Continue reading.Walmart might buy budget TV maker VizioThis could make the retail giant a formidable rival to Amazon and Roku.Justin Sullivan via Getty ImagesWalmart might buy budget TV maker Vizio. The rumored $2 billion deal would make Vizio a house brand for the retailer and would allow the company to compete directly in the affordable smart TV space currently dominated by Amazon and Roku. Vizio has been eyeing up buyers for years. It was nearly purchased by Chinese media conglomerate LeEco back in 2016, which was another $2 billion deal, but that fell through. If the purchase happens, Walmart would also have access to all of that sweet, sweet customer data collected by Vizio's smart TV platform.Continue reading.Can geoengineering stop the ice caps from melting?We're not ready for what's coming.Getty ImagesSince 1979, Arctic ice has shrunk by 1.35 million square miles and Antarctic ice is now at the lowest level since records began. Frozen Arctic, a report produced by the universities of the Arctic and Lapland alongside UN-backed thinktank GRID-Arendal, collates sixty geoengineering projects that could slow down or reverse polar melting. A team of researchers examined every idea, from those already in place to the ones at the fringes of science. Daniel Cooper breaks down some of the possible solutions.Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-mark-zuckerberg-thinks-the-quest-3-is-much-better-than-the-vision-pro-121503056.html?src=rss

The mini PC is misunderstood. Easily dismissed as underpowered, over-priced or just plain ugly; we intuit that a computer with a tiny footprint has to mean a compromise. Ayaneo, best known for its Windows gaming handhelds, has branched out into tiny desktops with retro-inspired designs. Thankfully Ayaneo's AM01 and AM02 mini PCs have more to offer, but their initial draw over rivals, I won't lie, is nostalgic appeal.Sadly, I'm old enough to remember using the original Macintosh that inspired the AM01 and if Nintendo ever reimagined a real NES, I hope it looks like the AM02. Both PCs come in various specifications, but to save typing out the numerous configurations the AM01 starts at $200 and comes in low-to-modest specifications, good for retro gaming and general office tasks. The AM02 is priced between $440 and $630, and all variants come with an AMD 7840HS APU, better suited for PC gaming and heavier tasks like video editing or even music production.Photo by James Trew / EngadgetAs someone that plays a lot of retro games and doesn't mind playing PC games on low or medium settings, the AM02 is fast becoming my primary gaming system. Partly because the AM02 strikes a good balance between retro and contemporary design so it fits well in my adult living room. It's also really well built. I'm not so sure about the four-inch touch screen (more on this later) but the overall design blends in nicely with a contemporary decor without calling too much attention to itself.The AM02 I've been testing is fully loaded with 32GB or RAM and 1TB of storage, but there are enough ports here that even with a lower-spec model you can add more storage or even an eGPU (thanks to a USB 4.0 port) later down the line. There are also two RJ45 ports, one of which is 2.5Gbps, future-proofing the AM02 somewhat and making it well-suited to pulling media from networked storage. This model is also powered by USB-C which makes it more portable" than its Mac-inspired sibling that uses a laptop-style power brick. Theoretically you could power a display from the AM02's USB 4 port and have a PC that can easily be moved around. Yes, they invented laptops for exactly this but a perk of mini PCs is that they aren't a pain to relocate.

This week's edition of the Official Xbox Podcast is likely to have far more eyes and ears on it than usual. That's because three top Xbox executives are set to lay out what's ahead for the brand.Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer, Xbox President Sarah Bond and President of Game Content and Studios Matt Booty will share updates on the Xbox business," following rumors that several major games could be coming to PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch. Various reports have indicated that one-time exclusives such as Hi-Fi Rush, Sea of Thieves, Starfield and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle are bound for rival platforms. Even tentpole franchises like Halo and Gears of War could be on the way to Sony and Nintendo platforms.

A team of South Korean researchers at Yonsei University have developed a hybrid rice variant that's quite literally filled with beef. The lab-grown rice grains were infused with cow muscle and fat cells, so they are one part plant and one part meat. The rice is also an appetizing shade of bright pink, which tends to happen when flesh enters the picture.The team hopes to eventually offer a cheaper and more sustainable source of protein with a much lower carbon footprint than actual beef. It'll also save time for those who enjoy a nice beef bowl over rice-the rice is the beef bowl.Here's how they achieved this culinary delight. The researchers first coated each grain of rice in fish gelatin to help the meat cells latch on. Next, they inserted cow muscle and fat stem cells into each grain, which are then left to culture in a petri dish. Rice grains feature a porous, yet organized, internal structure that actually mimics the biological scaffolds" found in meat cells. So the rice grains offer a housing that allows the cells to grow and thrive, along with molecules to provide nourishment.The meat cells grow both on the surface of the rice grain and inside of the grain itself. After around ten days, you get a finished product. The study, published in Matter, says the rice grains taste like beef sushi, which makes sense given the ingredients.Imagine obtaining all the nutrients we need from cell-cultured protein rice," primary author Sohyeon Park said in a press release. Rice already has a high nutrient level, but adding cells from livestock can further boost it."The team even envisions a day when livestock could be eliminated from the process entirely. They hope to develop a line of cells that continue to divide and grow over long periods of time, so they can source from that line instead of from actual cows. After that, we can create a sustainable food system," Park told CNN.Obviously, this is still in the research phase, so pink beef rice won't be showing up on restaurant menus anytime soon. The team's refining the growth process to produce rice grains with more nutritional value. They also hope to further improve the taste, texture and color. It could one day serve as food relief for famine, military ration, or even space food," Park said in the press release.This is just one part of a global effort to do something, anything, about the ongoing ecological disaster that is meat production. Livestock intended for slaughter are responsible for 6.2 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere each year, according to a UN report. That's nearly 12 percent of all human-caused carbon emissions.To that end, there are various efforts underway to create palatable and economical lab-grown meat, from cultured chicken nuggets to steaks grown using a similar gelatin-based biological scaffolding system to the aforementioned beef rice. There's also the rise of insects as a viable source of protein.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/youve-tried-plant-based-meat-but-here-come-meat-based-plants-163654564.html?src=rss

Meta says it will start making businesses and influencers cover the cost of a 30 percent fee Apple is charging when they pay to promote their posts on the Facebook and Instagram iOS apps. In 2022, Apple updated its App Store policy to apply the 30 percent cut it takes from digital purchases to boosted posts, claiming that they were effectively in-app purchases. Meta is now passing that additional cost along to advertisers.Starting later this month in the US and in other markets later this year, Apple will take over billing of boosted posts through the apps. When the 30 percent fee becomes applicable, it will be more expensive for advertisers to pay for boosted posts on the Instagram and Facebook iOS apps. They can get around Apple's fee by going through the mobile web or desktop instead.Meta says its hands are tied, since it either has to play by Apple's rules or remove the boosted post feature from its iOS apps. "We do not want to remove the ability to boost posts, as this would hurt small businesses by making the feature less discoverable and potentially deprive them of a valuable way to promote their business," the company wrote in a blog post.Those who don't mind paying extra to promote posts via the iOS apps will need to go through a different payment process too. They'll have to add prepaid funds to their account and pay for boosted posts in advance of publishing them instead of after the ads run.If advertisers add prepaid funds through the Facebook or Instagram iOS apps, they'll be subject to Apple's 30 percent service fee. Alternatively, they can add funds to their Meta account on desktop or the mobile web. That way, Meta says, they can use the funds to boost posts "from any tool, including from the Instagram or Facebook iOS apps, without incurring fees."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-will-make-advertisers-cover-apples-30-percent-fee-on-boosted-facebook-and-instagram-posts-160823453.html?src=rss

Beyond the sound's quality, we want two things when it comes to headphones: a lightweight design and noise canceling. Bose's aptly named QuietComfort wireless headphones make a case for both and, right now, do so at a record-low price. The 2023 QuietComfort headphones are currently available for $249, down from $349 - a 29 percent discount. The sale applies to all colors: Cypress Green, Moonstone Blue, Black and White.The newest iteration of the Bose QuietComfort wireless headphones improves on the QuietComfort 45. While many of the features (which we'll get into) are quite similar, the 2023 model offers adjustable ANC models and an option to save custom modes. The headphones are our choice for the best noise-canceling wireless headphones for 2024.Bose's QuietComfort headphones also offer a soft earcup and padded band for that comfort component. They provide 24 hours of battery life with a 15-minute charge providing another two and a half hours of juice. As for sound quality, the QuietComfort headphones offer high-fidelity audio and adjustable EQ for even greater customization.The Ultra QuietComfort model is also on sale, with a 12 percent discount dropping the cost to $379 from $429. They offer Breakthrough Spatialized Audio, Bluetooth 5.3 and "luxurious comfort." If headphones aren't your thing, Bose's QuietComfort Ultra Wireless Noise Cancelling Earbuds are available for $249, down from $299. Plus, you can grab the SoundLink Flex Bluetooth Speaker for $129 instead of $149.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/boses-new-quietcomfort-headphones-are-100-off-right-now-145839415.html?src=rss

Last month, Bose took an interesting approach to debuting a new product when it launched its Ultra Open Earbuds exclusively through a collaboration with fashion company Kith. Now, Bose is back with its own version, nixing the co-branding while keeping the same price. For both varieties, the $299 Ultra Open Earbuds sit outside of your ear canal and clip onto the ridge of your ear to stay in place. Due to the open nature of the design, active noise cancellation (ANC) is moot, but Bose does bring its Immersive Audio tech to the table for spatial sound.Bose has gone the open" route before, debuting the Sport Open Earbuds in 2021. That model has the over-the-ear hook that we've seen on some fitness-focused earbuds, only the company opted for a hard plastic hook that doesn't bend or flex at all. This meant they weren't the most comfortable and you couldn't use them while wearing glasses or a hat. As open-type earbuds have become increasingly popular, mostly for the allure of all day" wear by allowing you to stay in-tune with your surroundings, Bose developed this model that fixes all the issues of its previous design. There are some trade-offs with earbuds that sit outside of your ear canal, but you may be willing to overlook them in the name of style, comfort and functionality.DesignPhoto by Kate Steele/EngadgetFor the Ultra Open Earbuds, Bose created a two-piece design that consists of a rounded speaker chamber that sits outside of your ear canal and a cylindrical battery box that rests behind your ear. In between is a strip of soft-touch, flexible silicon that wraps around the edge of your ear for what the company calls a light-as-air grip." There are onboard controls too, as the battery barrel on both sides each holds a single, multi-function button.Bose describes the Ultra Open Earbuds as more fashion accessory than traditional wearable," and they certainly aren't inconspicuous. They provide a lewk that you'll need to be okay with. During my testing, not everyone I encountered, even in my own home, was a fan.It's really hard for me to look at you when you have those things on," my wife said. They're a vibe." On the bright side, that vibe got me out of a conversation with a door-to-door internet salesman quickly as they suggested I was on call."Polarizing design aside, the Ultra Open Earbuds are extremely comfortable to wear. Earbuds that go into your ears are fine for a few hours at most for me before they become a test of my endurance. Open-type earbuds are different, of course, and these are certainly the most comfy of the sort that I've tested thanks to the lack of a hook. And that clip-on pressure is so light that you don't feel any irritation there. There's enough of a grip to hold the IPX4-rated earbuds in place though, even during workouts.Bose Music app and featuresPhoto by Billy Steele/EngadgetLike most of Bose's recent products, the Ultra Open Earbuds work with the company's Music app for access to features and settings. There isn't anything new here that wasn't available on the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds that debuted last year, except for some guidance about how to put the Ultra Open Earbuds on. Most of the tools you'll need are still front-and-center on the main screen, with things like battery life, sound modes, EQ, Immersive Audio and Bluetooth connections easily accessible. The Ultra Open Earbuds don't have multipoint Bluetooth connectivity, so though the app does show multiple devices to stream from, you can only sync with one at a time. And since these are meant to be worn all the time, there's no automatic pausing either.The app also lets you reassign what the onboard button does, but only one gesture is available for customizing: press-and-hold. By default, it's set to cycle between stereo and Immersive Audio modes. You can also employ it to change the Immersive Audio setting (Still, Motion, Off), switch Bluetooth connections, summon your voice assistant or simply disable it entirely. Left and right buttons can be configured individually, putting different tasks on either side. Bose does include onboard volume control despite only having one physical button on the earbuds. A double press then hold on the right increases the level while the same sequence on the left lowers it.Sound qualityOne unique aspect of the Ultra Open Earbuds audio-wise is the fact that you can wear them anywhere along your ear they sound and feel the best. This could be at the bottom of your ear or along the back edge. Bose says positioning around your ear doesn't affect overall sound quality so long as the speaker component is placed first before wrapping the silicon flex arm" around back. There are certain spots where the Ultra Open Earbuds feel and sound better, but it always takes a small adjustment to find the sweet spot when I first put them on.Bose says that the Ultra Open Earbuds use so-called Open Audio in tandem with its spatial Immersive Audio tech for a breakthrough experience." According to the company, the former allows you to listen to tunes with almost no sound leaks" to those around you. I found that this only holds true up to about 50 percent volume level. Above that, people around you in quiet settings will hear what you're listening to. Not in great detail unless you crank the earbuds all the way up, but a general rumble is audible to those nearby.Immersive Audio, Bose's spatial sound technology, puts you in the acoustic sweet spot to improve the overall listening experience. This works really well on the QC Ultra Earbuds and QC Ultra Headphones where your ears are closed off and the sound is directed at them. With the Ultra Open Earbuds, the difference between stereo and Immersive Audio in terms of overall sound quality is subtle. And since Immersive Audio has such an impact on battery life, it's probably best if you leave it off if you aren't able to greatly distinguish between the two modes.Photo by Billy Steele/EngadgetIn general, the Ultra Open Earbuds suffer the same fate as most open-type audio wearables. You sacrifice sound quality to keep your ears clear, which certainly increases overall comfort most, if not all of the time. Specifically, there's a lack of dynamic tuning as the audio profile rests mostly in the mid range. Bass is subdued, as are the crisp highs from Bose's other recent audio gear. These are still some of the best open-type earbuds I've tested in terms of sound, but their design leads to a less impressive listening experience compared to in-ear buds.There is a decent low-end thump when listening to things like Com Truise's synth-tinged electronic instrumentals. But, it doesn't have the same deep bass punch as closed-off earbuds. There's also still good detail in mellow selections like Kacey Musgraves' Deeper Well" but even then the sound is more compressed than usual, so the openness of the track is quite subdued. The overall audio quality depends on how the earbuds fit on your ears as I could improve things by holding them close to my ear canal, but they don't stay there without assistance. Where they rest on their own, though, doesn't deliver the best these buds have to offer.There also seems to be a reverb-y echo on the Ultra Open Earbuds, like the two sides are slightly out of sync. This is the biggest knock on the sound quality for me as it's very evident when listening to podcasts. It sounds like the host recorded in a school hallway even when the audio is pristine. It doesn't make the earbuds unusable, but it's enough to be noticeable, especially on isolated voices. I've reached out to Bose for more information on why this is happening, and whether there might be a fix coming. (Update: This is caused by Immersive Audio mode being active for podcasts. After some guidance from Bose, I disabled it, which fixed the issue.)Call qualityDue to their design, the Ultra Open Earbuds are great for hearing yourself on calls. Your ears aren't blocked, so you don't ever feel the need to shout or worry about a subpar transparency mode. When you're speaking, voice quality is decent, but only in quiet areas. If you encounter medium-to-high levels of ambient noise, which I simulated with a white noise machine and a louder-than-average bathroom fan, that background clamor is very apparent to the person on the other side.Battery lifePhoto by Billy Steele/EngadgetOn the Ultra Open Earbuds, battery life is drastically impacted by the spatial Immersive Audio. Bose says you can expect up to four and a half hours with it turned on or up to seven and half hours without. Battery life also took a hit on the QC Ultra Earbuds and the QC Ultra Headphones when Immersive Audio was at work, so this isn't a surprise. But, cutting the expected play time by about half is more of a decrease than what I experienced on those two models. During my tests, I managed just over five hours of playtime at 75 percent volume with Immersive Audio active almost the entire time. This includes letting the earbuds sit idle in standby mode twice for around 30-45 minutes before picking them back up (breaks not factored into use time).The good news is there are nearly three full charges in the case, no matter which audio mode you use. A 10-minute rest will give you up to two hours of playtime and the Ultra Open Earbuds take one hour to fully charge. The bad news is that the case doesn't charge wirelessly out of the box, so you'll need to plug in a USB-C cable. Bose will sell a wireless charging cover for the case like it does with the QC Ultra Earbuds ($49).The competitionThere are fewer options for open-wear earbuds than there are traditional" models. One in particular is worth considering as an alternative to the Ultra Open Earbuds. Shokz is better known for its bone-conduction models that keep your ears completely free from obstruction, but the company also makes the OpenFit ($180) open-ear headphones. Engadget homepage editor Jon Turi observed rich bass" during his review, but with a crunchy" edge to super-low frequencies. Senior commerce editor Valentina Palladino has also tested these, noting the balanced weight distribution that helps them stay in place during workouts. Of course, these have the over-the-ear hook, so you'll have to contend with that interfering with glasses or headwear.For something more mainstream, I'd suggest Bose's QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds. They are certainly the best true wireless model yet from the company, with stellar ANC performance and that Immersive Audio tech that doesn't require special content for spatial sound. They're also slightly cheaper at $249.Wrap-upKudos to Bose for thinking outside the box for its latest set of open-style earbuds. The Ultra Open Earbuds' design is certainly unique, and it's also very comfortable. If you're going to wear these all day like the company expects, they can't be painful at any point, and these certainly aren't. However, you'll need to make some sacrifices in terms of audio, unless these fit you right in the sweet spot close to your ear canal. If all-day wear is your goal, though, and you enjoy the benefits of the open design, you'll likely be ok with the sonic deficiencies.The Bose Ultra Open Earbuds are available starting today in black and white color options for $299.Update, February 15 2024, 11:09AM ET: This review was updated with more info on the use of Immersive Audio when listening to podcasts.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/bose-ultra-open-earbuds-review-function-meets-fashion-140015467.html?src=rss

NVIDIA is doing very well for itself, so much so that the chip maker has overtaken Alphabet, Google's parent company, to become the third most valuable company in the United States, Reuters reports. The news comes almost immediately after NVIDIA pushed past Amazon in the rankings, with the company now valued at $1.83 trillion. Worldwide, it sits in fourth, behind American companies Microsoft ($3.04 trillion) and Apple ($2.84 trillion) and the Saudi Arabian state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco ($2.07 trillion).AI's boom over the last year is largely to thank for NVIDIA's jump in valuation, with about 80 percent of the high-end chip market in its hands. It created the H100 chip, which powers LLMs at OpenAI, Amazon, Meta and more. In January, Mark Zuckerberg said Meta will buy 350,000 of NVIDIA's H100 chips by the end of the year.Unlike most companies that are engaged in a competition over which will advance in AI the quickest, NVIDIA has its figurative hands in all baskets. The chip maker is also expanding its business to create custom chips for cloud computing firms. This additional offering can keep NVIDIA in the mix, even as AI manufacturers seek more bespoke options.NVIDIA's quarterly report will drop on Wednesday, February 21, and while it's expected to be positive, anything less than excellent could lower the company's valuation and, thus, ranking. Predictions set NVIDIA's quarterly earnings tripling to $20.37 billion and net profits jumping 400 percent to $11.38 billion.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nvidia-becomes-the-third-most-valuable-us-company-at-alphabets-expense-123503967.html?src=rss

Intuitive Machines' Odysseus has started making its way to the moon and could make history as the first privately built lander to touch down on the lunar surface. The lander was ferried to space by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket using a booster that already had 17 flights under its belt before this one and could even fly again in the future, seeing as it had safely returned to Earth on the company's Landing Zone 1. Both SpaceX and Intuitive Machines have confirmed that Odysseus has successfully been deployed and has started its multi-day journey to the moon.

While Apple's MacBook Pro is a clear choice for most creatives over its MacBook Air counterpart, the higher cost is prohibitive. If that's been stopping you from picking one up, then you're in luck: Apple's 2023 MacBook Pro with a M3 Pro chip is currently on sale for $1,799, down from $1,999. The 10 percent discount still leaves the 14-inch laptop with a few hundred dollars between it and even the most expensive 2023 MacBook Air, but it's worth it if you want the 11-core M3 Pro's extra power.Apple released the new 2023 MacBook Pro last November with three different M3 chips: the standard, M3 Pro, and M3 Max. The mid-range model is what's currently on sale and offers a 14.2-inch screen, a Liquid Retina XDR display and a magic keyboard with touch ID. It has 18GB of RAM, a 14-core GPU and 512GB of SSD storage. Plus, it has 18 hours of battery life when starting out.This MacBook Pro also has a 1080p HD camera and a Spatial Audio-equipped sound system with six speakers. It's also very connection-friendly, with an HDMI port, a headphone jack, MagSafe charging port, three Thunderbolt 4 points and an SDXC card slot.Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apples-macbook-pro-with-m3-pro-chip-falls-back-to-a-low-of-1799-110557157.html?src=rss

GM has announced a significant expansion of its Super Cruise operating area by around 750,000 miles to rural roads and minor highways in the US and Canada, TechCrunch reported. The upgrade is set to be completed by 2025 and will nearly double the automaker's current 400,000 mile network.First launched in 2017, Super Cruise allows fully hands-free operation under the supervision of a driver, who must be ready to take control at any time. It uses highly accurate GPS, cameras, radar sensors and a driver attention system to ensure the operator is paying attention.However, it can only be operated on designated roads that have been LiDAR scanned for GM by a third-party contractor. That generates maps maps showing lane level data, topography, the radius of road curves and more, allowing Super Cruise to adjust speeds when necessary. That's particularly important on rural roads and highways that are more likely to have tight curves, steep hills and other potentially dangerous sections.The automaker has taken a slow approach to its driver assistance system, especially compared to rival Tesla, which offers a $12,000 Full Self Driving system that can operate on city streets. GM recently unveiled the Ultra Cruise system that could also work in cities, saying it could be used "95 percent" of the time hands-free. However, that program was reportedly cancelled, with GM now fully focusing on Super Cruise.GM offers 15 vehicles with Super Cruise, including pickups, SUVs, the Bolt EUV and all Cadillac models. Up until now, it's largest Super Cruise expansion took place in 2022, growing from 200,000 to 400,000 miles.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gms-super-cruise-expansion-adds-750000-miles-of-rural-roads-100119273.html?src=rss

After designating social media as a "public health hazard" in late January, New York City is now suing Meta, Google, Snap and TikTok for "fueling nationwide youth mental health crisis." Specifically, these companies face three counts in the lawsuit: public nuisance, negligence and gross negligence. The Mayor Eric Adams administration accuses TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and YouTube of "endangering our children's mental health, promoting addiction, and encouraging unsafe behavior."These are allegedly achieved by way of harmful algorithms, gambling-like mechanisms and manipulation through reciprocity - making the user "feel compelled to respond to one positive action with another positive action." The city believes that there is a correlation between the increase in social media usage and the decline in local youth mental health over "more than a decade."In response, Google and Meta told CNBC that they have always worked with youth safety experts and provided parental control tools. ByteDance's TikTok also highlighted some of its specific tools to Axios, namely age-restricted features, parental controls and an automatic 60-minute time limit for users under 18. However, none of the tech companies acknowledged the problematic features listed by the Adams administration.This lawsuit follows a recent Senate hearing on online child safety, in which the CEOs of all the aforementioned tech companies (except Google) were present. In his opening remarks, Senator Lindsey Graham told the tech execs that "you have blood on your hands" - a reference to online child exploitations and cyberbullying that unfortunately led to deaths.Through this case, the Adams administration wants these tech companies to pay up for the city's youth mental health services, which apparently cost more than $100 million each year. But ultimately, it's about forcing these tech giants to stop manipulating young users into addictive behavior, as well as to make policymakers place new federal laws that safeguard youth mental health on social platforms.Before this New York City lawsuit, Meta already faces a similar case from 41 states back in October 2023, in which it was accused of misleading the public about the safety of its platform's "addictive" features. Meta, Snap, TikTok and Google were also sued in a multi-district litigation in 2022 for their addictive features that allegedly cause "emotional and physical harms, including death" to adolescents.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/new-york-city-is-suing-social-media-firms-for-allegedly-harming-the-mental-health-of-children-082524295.html?src=rss

Elon Musk has started moving his businesses away from Delaware, following a judge's decision in the state to invalidate his $56 billion Tesla pay package. In a post on X, Musk has announced that SpaceX has moved its corporate home from Delaware to Texas, along with a copy of the certificate of conversion it received from the Texas Secretary of State. "If your company is still incorporated in Delaware, I recommend moving to another state as soon as possible," the executive added.

The parents of a teenager who was killed in Florida's Parkland school shooting in 2018 have started a bold new project called The Shotline to lobby for stricter gun laws in the country. The Shotline uses AI to recreate the voices of children killed by gun violence and send recordings through automated calls to lawmakers, The Wall Street Journal reported.The project launched on Wednesday, six years after a gunman killed 17 people and injured more than a dozen at a high school in Parkland, Florida. It features the voice of six children, some as young as ten, and young adults, who have lost their lives in incidents of gun violence across the US. Once you type in your zip code, The Shotline finds your local representative and lets you place an automated call from one of the six dead people in their own voice, urging for stronger gun control laws. I'm back today because my parents used AI to recreate my voice to call you," says the AI-generated voice of Joaquin Oliver, one of the teenagers killed in the Parkland shooting. Other victims like me will be calling too." At the time of publishing, more than 8,000 AI calls had been submitted to lawmakers through the website.

Another day, another layoff occuring in the tech world. Instacart, the popular grocery delivery and pick-up service has announced the termination of 250 employees - about seven percent of its workforce. The layoffs are primarily individuals in management, as Instacart told Engadget that it was moving towards a flatter organization. The company also said that it was disbanding some teams working on smaller projects in favor of focusing on bigger bets like retail-powered media and off-platform ads. Most of the layoffs will go into effect by March 31 with Instacart estimating that the process will cost the company between $19 million and $24 million due to factors like severance pay and employee benefits.Instacart released the news along with its fourth-quarter earnings. Despite choosing to layoff employees, the company reported a six percent increase in revenue, jumping from $803 million to $804 million, year-over-year. At the same time, Instacart is seeing the voluntary departure of three of its executives: the chief operating officer, chief technology officer and chief architect.The layoffs follow only a short time after Instacart's September 2023 IPO. Unlike many companies that barely (or didn't) survive the COVID-19 pandemic, Instacart thrived. It allowed people to stay and still receive their groceries and other necessary items. Now, it exists in 5,500 cities and, like most companies of the past year, is focusing on building its AI capabilities. But, despite its increased revenue, the company's layoffs signal that not everything is going as planned over at Instacart.Update, Feb 14 2024, 5:45PM ET: This story has been updated with additional details from Instacart about the parts of the organization affected, and to note that Instacart primarily isn't letting people go who are working on their ads products.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/instacart-cuts-250-jobs-after-reporting-increased-revenue-112503431.html?src=rss

Sony may shrink the gap between the launches of its PlayStation exclusives and PC ports. Company president Hiroki Totoki suggested in a post-earnings call Q&A session Wednesday (via VGC) that he wants PlayStation to go aggressive on improving our margin performance," with multi-platform" games playing a significant role. He clarified in the talk that, by multi-platform, he meant on PlayStation and PC - not Xbox or Switch.When asked about Sony's profits not keeping up with increasing gross income, he said hardware and first-party games were two areas of focus. He noted that hardware cost reduction this console cycle was difficult to come by," suggesting we won't see any permanent console price drops.I personally think there are opportunities out there for improvement of margin, so I would like to go aggressive on improving our margin performance," he continued. Totoki hinted one way to get there is to cash in more on its (often critically acclaimed and commercially successful) PlayStation Studios titles, like Marvel's Spider-Man 2 and God of War: Ragnarok.In the past, we wanted to popularize consoles, and a first-party title's main purpose was to make the console popular," Totoki said in the Q&A. This is true, but there's a synergy to it, so if you have strong first-party content - not only on our console but also other platforms, like computers - a first-party [game] can be grown with multi-platform, and that can help operating profit to improve, so that's another one we want to proactively work on."The Last of Us Part INaughty Dog / SonyThat's a clear shift from PlayStation Studios head Herman Hulst's thoughts in 2022. He said then that PC gamers would have to wait at least a year" before seeing first-party PlayStation games (minus live service titles) on their computers. God of War (2018) and the first Marvel's Spider-Man had about a four-year gap between their PS4 and PC launches. The latter's Miles Morales spin-off saw about a two-year turnaround.On February 8, Sony launched Helldivers 2 on PS5 and Windows simultaneously. VGC notes the game led to PlayStation Studios' highest concurrent Steam player count -beating God of War (2018), The Last of Us Part I and Horizon Zero Dawn. Helldivers 2 was developed by Arrowhead Games with Sony Interactive Entertainment publishing.It isn't clear if Totoki meant we can expect future PlayStation tentpoles like the upcoming Wolverine game or the ever-popular Spider-Man, God of War or various Naughty Dog franchises to appear on PC on the same day as console. But a strategy shift is underway regardless, and Totoki will have the leverage to put the plan into action: He takes over for Jim Ryan as interim CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment in April.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sony-wants-its-playstation-exclusives-to-come-to-pc-earlier-212001939.html?src=rss

Baseball fans who've had to stay glued to their computer to watch several MLB games simultaneously will soon be able to kick back in front of their TV and do the same thing. The league has announced several updates for MLB.TV for this upcoming season. For one thing, the MLB apps on supported Apple TV, Fire TV and Google TV devices will let you watch up to four games simultaneously in Multiview.Until now, Apple TV users, for instance, were restricted to watching a maximum of two games at once through picture-in-picture. The upgrade should become especially useful later in the season as the race for playoff spots comes down to the wire and fans can watch multiple teams play for a post-season slot simultaneously with more ease. You'll also be able to stream more than 7,000 Minor League Baseball games, featuring affiliates from all 30 MLB teams.In addition, MLB.TV is bringing Catchup Mode to certain streaming platforms this season, but did not specify which. This mode will feature in-game highlights for key moments and plays you might have missed, so if you missed the first few innings of a game that's in progress, you can quickly get up to speed.Fans can expect new episodes of original shows such as Carded and Inside Stitch, along with more documentaries and live programming. Select teams will provide local pregame and postgame coverage, while MLB Big Inning will deliver the top action from around the league with highlights and live look-ins. Those who authenticate subscriptions through TV providers will be able to stream every post-season game, as well as the 2024 All-Star Game.The MLB All Teams Yearly subscription is the same price as last year at $150. It includes access to every out-of-market regular season game and some Spring Training games with no blackout restrictions, both live and on-demand. A monthly subscription is also available for $30.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mlbtvs-four-game-multiview-feature-is-coming-to-apple-amazon-and-google-tv-devices-210523812.html?src=rss

X has allowed dozens of sanctioned individuals and groups to pay for its premium service, according to a new report from the Tech Transparency Project (TTP). The report raises questions about whether X is running afoul of US sanctions.The report found 28 verified accounts belonging to people and groups the US government considers to be a national security threat. The group includes two leaders of Hezbollah, accounts associated with Houthis in Yemen and state-run media accounts from Iran and Russia. Of those, 18 of the accounts were verified after X began charging for verification last spring.The fact that X requires users to pay a monthly or annual fee for premium service suggests that X is engaging in financial transactions with these accounts, a potential violation of U.S. sanctions," the report says. As the TTP points out, X's own policies state that sanctioned individuals are prohibited from paying for premium services. Some of the accounts identified by the TTP also had ads in their replies, according to the group, raising the possibility that they could be profiting from X's revenue-sharing program."Changing up Twitter's verification policy was one of the most significant changes implemented by Elon Musk after he took over the company. Under the new rules, anyone can pay for a blue checkmark if they subscribe to X Premium. X doesn't require users to submit identification, and the company has at times scrambled to shut down impersonators.X also offers gold checkmarks to advertisers as part of its verified organizations" tier, which starts at $200 a month. The TTP report found that accounts belonging to Iran's Press TV and Russia's Tinkoff Bank - both sanctioned entities - had gold checks. X has also given away gold checks to at least 10,000 companies. As the report points out, even giving away the gold badge to sanctioned groups could violate US government policies.X didn't immediately respond to a request for comment, but it appears that the company has removed verification from some of the accounts named in the TTP's report. X, formerly known as Twitter, has removed the blue check and suspended the paid subscriptions of several Iranian outlets," Press TV tweeted from its account, which still has a gold check. The Hezbollah leaders' accounts are also no longer verified.In a statement shared by the company's @Safety account, X said that it was reviewing the TTP report and would "take action if necessary.""X has a robust and secure approach in place for our monetization features, adhering to legal obligations, along with independent screening by our payments providers," the company wrote. "Several of the accounts listed in the Tech Transparency Report are not directly named on sanction lists, while some others may have visible account check marks without receiving any services that would be subject to sanctions."Update February 14, 2024, 4:52 PM ET: This story has been updated to include a statement from X.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/x-let-terrorist-groups-pay-for-verification-report-says-201254824.html?src=rss

In an absolutely bananas turn of events, a typo in an earnings report caused Lyft shares to skyrocket nearly 70 percent after Tuesday's closing stock market bell, as reported by CBS. There was an extra zero in the report that suggested a five percent margin expansion in 2024, instead of a .5 percent margin. This sent investors into a tizzy, as the company has long struggled to turn a profit.The mistake was even present in Lyft's slide deck, which was part of that earnings report, and an accompanying press release. The company quickly corrected the mistake, calling it a clerical error, but the stock surge had already begun. Lyft CFO Erin Brewer addressed the issue in an earnings call yesterday evening which caused the stocks to reverse course. It's worth noting that the earnings report was still good news for Lyft, even without that mistake, so the stock price experienced a more stable increase of around 35 percent.Now, onto the blame game. Lyft CEO David Risher appeared on CNBC's Squawk Box to take responsibility for the mistake, saying look, it was a bad error, and that's on me." Risher went on to note that it was super frustrating" for everyone on the team and said that he could see a fellow employee's jaw drop" when discovering the issue.The good news? Even with that adjustment, this is Lyft's best day since the company's initial IPO offering back in 2019. Yesterday's earnings report indicated $1.22 billion in revenue for the quarter, an increase of four percent from last year. Bookings increased 17 percent for the quarter, accounting for $3.7 billion. Risher called it a great quarter."A misplaced zero on a spreadsheet isn't the ridesharing giant's only concern. Thousands of Lyft and Uber drivers are going on strike today to demand better pay and safer working conditions. The striking workers are primarily clustered around ten major US airports, though it's only planned to last for a few hours.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/an-earnings-typo-sent-lyfts-stock-price-into-the-stratosphere-193904095.html?src=rss

Nintendo's next first-party Switch title is almost here. Princess Peach: Showtime will be available on March 22 and the company just dropped a brand new trailer to keep the hype train rolling. The game's primary hook is that the oft-kidnapped princess can transform into a number of different professions, each with its own move sets and challenges.The new trailer gives us a look at four never-before-seen transformations, including a figure skater, a superhero, a thief and a mermaid. Each transformation shakes up the gameplay, so while figure skater Peach stars in a 2.5D platformer, superhero Peach pummels her way through a side-scrolling beat-em-up. Mermaid Peach seems to spend most of her time singing.A previously-released trailer showed Peach turning into a swordfighter, a detective, a pastry chef and a kung-fu master. It remains to be seen just how many other jobs the princess has experience with. Nintendo has shown off ten so far, but it's likely keeping several as a surprise. Peach sure has a diverse resume, and she does all of it while running a kingdom filled with excitable little fungi. Meanwhile, Mario golfs and plays tennis on his days off.Princess Peach: Showtime will cost $60 when it hits next month, and pre-orders are open now. To commemorate the release, Nintendo is also dropping a pair of pastel pink Joy-Cons. The controllers will be available on March 22, alongside the game, and will set you back $80.If you can't wait until March to dive into some Mario-adjacent tomfoolery, a remake of the Game Boy Advance puzzle platformer Mario vs. Donkey Kong releases this Friday. This updated version includes local co-op.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/princess-peach-showtimes-latest-trailer-shows-off-four-new-transformations-181503463.html?src=rss

Sony said Wednesday it won't launch any new blockbuster first-party PlayStation exclusives until at least early 2025. While major projects are currently under development, we do not plan to release any new major existing franchise titles next fiscal year like God of War Ragnarok and Marvels Spider-Man," Sony President Hiroki Totoki wrote (via Polygon) in the company's Q3 2023 financial results. Sony's 2024 fiscal year begins on April 1 and ends on March 31, 2025.The PlayStation division will instead focus on third-party software sales, which Totoki expects to grow gradually. Square Enix's upcoming Final Fantasy VII Rebirth launches as a PS5 exclusive on February 29. Konami's Silent Hill 2 remake, a console exclusive on the PS5 that will also launch on PC, is scheduled to arrive later this year. Other upcoming third-party tentpoles include Stellar Blade and Rise of the Ronin.Meanwhile, the platform's first-party exclusive Wolverine game may not arrive until 2026 if leaked documents from a hack are any indication.We expect third-party software sales to continue to expand gradually due to the expansion of the PS5 installed base and the high level of user engagement," Totoki wrote. Totoki will replace Jim Ryan as Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO in April.Sony President Hiroki TotokiYOSHIKAZU TSUNO via Getty ImagesAs for why PlayStation ended up with such a long gap between first-party flagship games - Marvel's Spider-Man 2 launched in October 2023, leaving a roughly 18-month gap or more -VGC reports that Totoki said in an earnings call (through a translator) that the company's creative teams can can improve their development turnarounds.When it comes to the business, I think there is room for improvement," Totoki said of its first-party studios after complimenting their creativity and vision. And that's to do with how to use money, the schedule of development, and how to fulfill one's accountability towards development - those are my frank impressions. I will continue to engage in dialogue with the people so that we can find the right way to proceed."PS5 console sales, which reached 8.2 million units in Q3 2023, missed their target in the quarter. The company has adjusted its fiscal year projections of PS5 sales from 25 million units sold to 21 million. Sony expects a gradual decline to continue. Regarding the PS5 hardware, which will enter its fifth year since launch, partially due to its entering the latter half of the console cycle, we aim to optimize sales with a greater emphasis on the balance with profits, so we anticipate a gradual decline in unit sales from next fiscal year onwards," he wrote.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-ps5-wont-be-getting-any-big-first-party-sequels-for-at-least-a-year-180016231.html?src=rss

There's no denying that Apple's AirPods Max are a solid set of premium over-ear headphones that include all of the best features of in-ear AirPods. However, the main drawback with the AirPods Max is its high regular price of $550. A new sale on Amazon mitigates some of that sticker shock, as it takes $100 off the typical price. That means the AirPods Max have dropped to as low as $450, depending on the color. The green, pink and silver versions are all available for that price. The space gray version is $525, while the sky blue model comes in at $529. In any case, $450 is the best price we've seen for the AirPods Max since the 2023 holiday shopping season.We gave the AirPods Max a score of 84 in our review. We appreciated the balanced sound, active noise cancellation performance, controls and battery life of up to 20 hours (with ANC and spatial audio switched on). Easy pairing to Apple devices and hands-free Siri access are nice to have too. The price was our biggest gripe, but if a $100 discount is enough to sway you, then Amazon's current sale is worth paying attention to.Also on sale is one of our top picks for a set of wireless Bluetooth headphones. For our money, Bose's QuietComfort Headphones are the best noise canceling wireless headphones around. You can enjoy a comfortable fit and adjust the ANC levels to your liking. This model is also $100 off at $249.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/amazon-knocks-100-off-the-apple-airpods-max-174515939.html?src=rss

There aren't enough games with queer characters and themes - and GLAAD, the world's largest LGBTQ media advocacy group, has the statistics to prove it. GLAAD's first annual report on the video game industry found that nearly 20 percent of all players in the United States identify as LGBTQ, yet just 2 percent of games contain characters and storylines relevant to this community. The report highlights three critical truths: Representation matters a lot to LGBTQ players, the remaining gaming audience largely welcomes these themes, and new generations of gamers are only becoming more open to queer content.GLAAD has the numbers, so let's take a deeper look alongside a few bits of gaming news from the past week:This week's storiesXbox rumor millXbox is preparing to address a bunch of rumors on Thursday about the company's plans to bring its exclusive games to PlayStation, Switch and other platforms. The rumors have centered on major releases like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Starfield, but according to The Verge's Tom Warren, the first titles scheduled to make the leap are Hi-Fi Rush and Pentiment. Nothing has been confirmed yet, but Xbox's top gaming executives, Phil Spencer, Sarah Bond and Matt Booty, will chat about all of it on the next installment of the Official Xbox Podcast, which drops at 3PM ET on Thursday.Ubisoft pledges to be good againUbisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said on an investor call last week that the studio is officially going to make good games again. Talking about the company's positive third quarter, Guillemot said it marks the beginning of our turnaround to consistently creating and delivering high-quality, long-lasting games," which sounds like a tacit admission that Ubisoft hasn't been producing great games recently. This is something I've talked about a lot - it feels like the studio has been coasting on NFTs and free-to-play mobile titles since a period of financial turmoil in 2015, and I'm actually excited to see a return to its weird, more focused roots. Assassin's Creed Mirage and Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown were great first steps. Ubisoft plans to reveal more details about Star Wars Outlaws, the new Assassin's Creed set in Japan and its mobile lineup in May.Gaming has never been gayerThe game industry is out of step with contemporary media in terms of LGBTQ representation, and it is failing its LGBTQ customers." That's one of the breakout lines from GLAAD's first annual gaming report, which analyzes the state of the video game industry from the perspective of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender players in the United States.In its survey, GLAAD - the world's largest LGBTQ media advocacy group - found that 17 percent of the total gaming audience identifies as LGBTQ, or about one in every five players. This figure falls in line with statistics for Gen Z. Still, just 2 percent of all games on the market contain LGBTQ content, a saturation level that falls miserably short of those in film, TV and other forms of media.GLAAD ran the numbers itself: In November 2023, the Xbox store had 146 games with LGBTQ content, while PlayStation offered a list of 90 titles with these themes, and the Switch eShop had 50 games tagged LGBT. Steam had 2,302 English-language games under its LGBTQ+ tag, but that figure dropped to 1,506 when filtering out adult only sexual content" titles. All told, queer games composed roughly 2 percent of the stores' libraries.In contrast, GLAAD found that almost one in three films from the top distributors in 2022 contained an LGBTQ character, and LGBTQ characters appeared as series regulars in 10 percent of primetime scripted broadcast shows in 2022 and 2023. GLAAD Associate Director of Gaming Blair Durkee said that, with queer representation at just 2 percent, gaming remains woefully behind other entertainment industries.The report also tried to identify why this gap exists. It suggested some developers simply don't think about including LGBTQ people, or they worry about pushing away a core audience that they assume is hostile toward LGBTQ content. However, the report says, This imagined core audience is a myth," considering LGBTQ people compose nearly 20 percent of the market on their own. Critically, GLAAD found that more than 60 percent of non-LGBTQ players weren't bothered by queer protagonists in their games, and 70 percent said they were fine with titles that presented the option to play as an LGBTQ character.So this type of representation doesn't bother most straight, cisgender people, but it means a lot to LGBTQ players. 72 percent of LGBTQ players said that seeing characters of their gender identity or sexual orientation portrayed well made them feel better about themselves, and this number was even higher among younger players. Overall, 36 percent of LGBTQ players reported that video games helped them discover their sexual orientation or gender identity, and this percentage rose to 41 percent among LGBTQ players of color. More than 40 percent of queer players said video games helped them cope with a lack of acceptance in the real world. These issues are more prominent than ever amid an avalanche of anti-LGBTQ legislation: Already in the first few weeks of 2024, more than 500 anti-LGBTQ bills have been proposed or passed in the US, a majority of which target transgender youth.While GLAAD found that 66 percent of all LGBTQ gamers said they use gaming to express themselves in ways they don't feel comfortable doing in the real world, this statistic rose to 75 percent for players living in states with proposed or active anti-LGBTQ bills.The real key is that more gamers identify as LGBTQ than ever before, and resistance toward these themes is waning with each new generation of players. I'm part of the LGBTQ community, and I can say that overall, the GLAAD report rings true. It feels like the industry is saturated with games that weren't made for me, and there's an immense joy that comes with discovering a new title that speaks to my own life or lets me play in a world that doesn't involve traditionally straight-male power fantasies. Queer people have fantasies, too, and the GLAAD report highlights how forgotten these stories have been in games. It's not a matter of LGBTQ people asking for all games to be gay - we just want proportional access to fantasy and escape. Personally, I'd love to see more LGBTQ people in positions of authority in video games, a recommendation that GLAAD makes in its report as well.And really quickly because I can already hear the keyboards melting: Woke ideas will not destroy the gaming industry, but stagnation will, and as the GLAAD report points out, we're much closer to that reality than anything else.Bonus content

I never played the original Mario vs. Donkey Kong, which came out in 2004 for the Game Boy Advance. So I brought no nostalgia or past experience to the new version coming out this week, which feels thoroughly modern in all ways except the gameplay. Mario is limited - he can't run quickly, he doesn't jump very high, you lose a life with a single mistake. Coming from the brand-new Super Mario Bros. Wonder can give you serious whiplash, as there's no Elephant power or Wonder Stars to be found here. But if you don't compare Mario vs. Donkey Kong to the plumber's more modern adventures, it has some charm all of its own to enjoy.Mario vs. Donkey Kong has a lot more in common with the original Donkey Kong arcade games than your typical Mario platformer. Each level has two parts, but they aren't expansive side-scrolling adventures. Instead, it's a puzzle that requires specific steps and clever usage of the enemies and tools littered throughout. First, you need to get a key, and then you need to rescue a cute little Mario toy that Donkey Kong stole and placed in the level. Sometimes, you'll need to throw a Shy Guy onto a pit of spikes and ride him across the hazard; other times you're activating switches in a specific order to get platforms to appear where you need them to advance. As with a lot of the best Mario games, nearly every level introduces a new mechanic, enemy or tool that impedes or helps you finish. These levels stretch both horizontally and vertically, but they're small, self-contained little worlds.NintendoAs usual, Nintendo's polish is on display here. There are plenty of bouncy orchestral music selections; Mario, DK and all the baddies who pop up throughout are lovingly rendered and controls are tight and precise. That is, once you get used to Mario's limitations. I didn't have an issue with Mario being a bit less capable, as it's a totally different style of game, but I definitely forgot that Mario didn't have the hops to make it across some chasms.There's a surprising amount of content in this game, too. There are eight worlds, two of which are brand-new for the 2024 reissue. Each has six stages, plus a bonus stage and a boss battle. And once you beat the main campaign, there's a remixed Plus" version of all those levels available that use the same items and overall characteristics as the original but with a new, more challenging goal - you need to lead a vulnerable mini Mario toy to the exit, and those toys are even less capable than big Mario. It's a good way to mix up the formula that had gotten extremely familiar by the time I completed the first 64 stages.NintendoFinishing the main game also unlocks 16 new expert stages that absolutely live up to that title. They're quite challenging, and since the game doesn't continuously feed you 1-Up mushrooms, they'll take some skill to complete (I have only just started getting into this new challenge). Figuring out the puzzle and executing the solution without making a mistake before is a tall order on some of these later levels, both in the expert stages and the Plus levels.That's good, because beating the first eight worlds was so easy I was worried this game wouldn't have any real value to it. I breezed through the first four worlds, and only hit significant challenges in the last two. The Plus worlds, so far, haven't been too tough either, though I wager that'll change. As it is, I got the perfect" mark on all of world two-plus in 30 minutes (six stages, plus a bonus stage to harvest some 1-Up mushrooms and the final world boss level). It would have been 20 minutes had I not run into a challenge on 2-6 that took some time to work out. I wish there were more levels like that - as it is, the game felt either extremely easy or surprisingly difficult, without as much of a difficulty ramp as I'd like to see. All that said, I am looking forward to seeing how the Plus worlds continue to advance in difficulty.NintendoGiven the simplicity of this game, it's fair to say that its target audience might be younger or less experienced than I am. Nintendo included some features to make the game even more accessible, too. There's a casual" mode where you can take six hits before you lose a life in a stage, instead of just one. That also removes the time limit, which didn't stress me out in earlier levels but definitely posed a challenge as the game went on. If you do like trying to beat the clock, there's a time attack" mode where you try and beat a target time in the level. And regardless of which play style you choose, you can always just hit retry" to start a stage over without losing a life. Finally, Nintendo also included local co-op multiplayer, something experienced and novice players may enjoy.At first, I felt like Mario vs. Donkey Kong was going to be too slight of a game to recommend people spend $50 on. It started off cute and clever, but very simple and with seemingly little depth. But Nintendo surprised me - while it's definitely a throwback sort of game, there's a solid mix of challenge and depth here. And as with many Nintendo games, this one should be fun for players of any age. Just don't expect Mario to have the moves and tricks he does in Super Mario Wonder.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mario-vs-donkey-kong-is-an-odd-eye-catching-ode-to-simpler-times-171516524.html?src=rss

Retail giant Walmart is reportedly in talks to acquire budget TV maker Vizio, according to The Wall Street Journal. The $2 billion deal would make Vizio a house brand for Walmart and would allow the company to directly compete in the affordable smart TV space currently dominated by Amazon and Roku.It would also give Walmart access to all of that sweet, sweet customer data collected by Vizio's smart TV platform throughout the years, which would open up another revenue stream in the form of personalized ads. The company would also be able to sell user data collected by Vizio boxes. Finally, it could use Vizio TVs as ad space in the showrooms of its nearly 11,000 retail locations. The company's already doing this with display televisions via its current in-house brand Onn.However, Roku and Amazon have had years to shore up the budget-friendly TV market. Roku started with streaming devices, but transitioned to smart TVs last year, and there's even a more expensive line of Mini LED TVs coming in a few months. Amazon Fire TVs are just about everywhere, with more than 200 million sales as of ten months ago. So Walmart has a fairly steep hill to climb, should this deal go through.Speaking of deals going through, this isn't Vizio's first acquisition rodeo. The company's been looking for a buyer for years. Vizio was nearly purchased by Chinese media conglomerate LeEco back in 2016, which was another $2 billion deal, but things went south quickly. LeEco, once called the Netflix of China," ran into serious financial troubles and backed out of the deal, leaving Vizio in the lurch. This caused Vizio to sue LeEco for $100 million, which was eventually settled for $60 million. Shortly after that, Vizio went public with an IPO.If the deal goes off without a hitch, Vizio will join other tech companies under Walmart's global umbrella. These include content delivery platform Vudu, AR optical tech company Memomi, banking app ONE and a whole bunch of digital retailers, like Shoes.com and Bare Necessities.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/walmart-might-buy-budget-tv-maker-vizio-170034017.html?src=rss

The Department of Defense sent a data breach notification letter to thousands of current and former employees alerting that their personal information had been leaked, DefenseScoop reported on Tuesday. While the department first detected the incident in early 2023, the notifications didn't begin to go out until earlier this month. More than 20,000 individuals appear to be affected by the breach.The letter explains that emails messages were "inadvertently exposed to the internet" by a Defense Department "service provider." The emails contained personally identifiable information. While the agency doesn't clarify what type of information, PII generally ranges from information like social security numbers, home address or other sensitive details. "While there is no evidence to suggest that your PII was misused, the department is notifying those individuals whose PII may have been breached as a result of this unfortunate situation," the letter says. It urges affected parties to sign up for identity theft protection.According to TechCrunch, the breach stems from an unsecured cloud email server that leaked sensitive emails onto the web. The Microsoft server, which was likely misconfigured, could be accessed from the internet without so much as a password."As a matter of practice and operations security, we do not comment on the status of our networks and systems. The affected server was identified and removed from public access on February 20, 2023, and the vendor has resolved the issues that resulted in the exposure," the Department of Defense said in a statement. "DOD continues to engage with the service provider on improving cyber event prevention and detection. Notification to affected individuals is ongoing."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/defense-department-alerts-over-20000-employees-about-email-data-breach-164528056.html?src=rss

We named the Sonos Era 100 the best midrange option in our guide to smart speakers and right now, Woot is selling a two-pack for $410. That amounts to an 18 percent discount or $88 less than buying them at full price from Sonos. This isn't the lowest price we've seen - that happened during Black Friday last year, when a single unit sold for $199 directly from Sonos. Still, if you want a smart speaker capable of delivering good audio, the deal is worth considering as Sonos speakers aren't often on sale.The Sonos Era 100 earned an 88 in our review, with Engadget's Nathan Ingraham calling it "affordable multi-room audio that actually sounds good." This is the replacement for the popular Sonos One and improves upon its predecessor in both sound quality and features. It has a new speaker array with two tweeters and a larger woofer. Combined, the improvements add up to better clarity and impressive bass.The Era 100 can now tune itself based on where you put the speaker thanks to the built-in mics (previously you had to manually optimize it using your phone). Unlike the Sonos One, this generation does have line-in capabilities, but you'll need an adapter to hook up a turntable. The multi-room audio feature is simple to set up, as is pairing the speakers to work in stereo - that means if you go for this offer, it'll be easy to get the most out of the set.As a smart speaker, Alexa comes standard so you can get help with questions, smart home control and other tasks like setting reminders or managing your smart home devices. There's also the Sonos assistant, which lets you control your music just by asking. Unfortunately, the Google Assistant is no longer supported through Sonos speakers. The Era 100 does support Apple AirPlay 2, but you'll need to access Siri through your phone, not the speaker.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/get-a-two-pack-of-sonos-era-100-smart-speakers-for-88-off-162558229.html?src=rss

Meta has taken down a network of fake accounts that posed as US military families and anti-war activists. The fake accounts on Facebook and Instagram originated in China and targeted US audiences, according to the company's security researchers.Meta detailed the takedowns in its latest report on coordinated inauthentic behavior (CIB). The cluster of fake accounts was relatively small - 33 Facebook accounts, four Instagram profiles, six pages and six groups on Facebook. The accounts posted about US aircraft carriers and other military themes," as well as criticism of US foreign policy towards Taiwan and Israel and its support of Ukraine," Meta wrote in its report.The group also ran accounts on YouTube and Medium and shared an online petition claiming to have been written by Americans to criticize US support for Taiwan." The company's researchers said the fake accounts originated in China, but didn't attribute the effort to a specific entity or group. During a call with reporters, Meta's global threat intelligence lead Ben Nimmo said that there has been a rise in China-based influence operations over the last year.The greatest change in the threat landscape," Nimmo said, has been this emergence of Chinese influence operations." Nimmo said. He noted that Meta has taken down 10 CIB networks originating in China since 2017, but that six of those takedowns came in the last year. Last summer, Meta discovered and removed an especially large network of thousands of fake accounts that attempted to spread pro-China propaganda messages on the platform.In both cases, the fake accounts were apparently unsuccessful at spreading their message. The latest network only managed to reach about 3,000 Facebook accounts, according to Meta, and the two Instagram pages had no followers at the time they were discovered.Still, Meta's researchers note that attempts like this will likely continue ahead of the 2024 election and that people with large audiences should be wary of resharing unverified information. Our threat research shows that, historically, the main way that CIB networks get through to authentic communities is when they manage to co-opt real people - politicians, journalists or influencers - and tap into their audiences," the report says. Reputable opinion-makers represent an attractive target and should exercise caution before amplifying information from unverified sources, particularly ahead of major elections."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-takes-down-chinese-facebook-accounts-posing-as-us-military-families-160059602.html?src=rss

Microsoft and OpenAI say that several state-backed hacking groups are using the latter's generative AI (GAI) tools to bolster cyberattacks. The pair suggests that new research details for the first time how hackers linked to foreign governments are making use of GAI. The groups in question have ties to China, Russia, North Korea and Iran.According to the companies, the state actors are using GAI for code debugging, looking up open-source information to research targets, developing social engineering techniques, drafting phishing emails and translating text. OpenAI (which powers Microsoft GAI products such as Copilot) says it shut down the groups' access to its GAI systems after finding out they were using its tools.Notorious Russian group Forest Blizzard (better known as Fancy Bear or APT 12) was one of the state actors said to have used OpenAI's platform. The hackers used OpenAI tools "primarily for open-source research into satellite communication protocols and radar imaging technology, as well as for support with scripting tasks," the company said.As part of its cybersecurity efforts, Microsoft says it tracks north of 300 hacking groups, including 160 nation-state actors. It shared its knowledge of them with OpenAI to help detect the hackers and shut down their accounts.OpenAI says it invests in resources to pinpoint and disrupt threat actors' activities on its platforms. Its staff uses a number of methods to look into hackers' use of its systems, such as employing its own models to follow leads, analyzing how they interact with OpenAI tools and determining their broader objectives. Once it detects such illicit users, OpenAI says it disrupts their use of the platform through the likes of shutting down their accounts, terminating services or minimizing their access to resources.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/russian-and-north-korean-hackers-used-openai-tools-to-hone-cyberattacks-152424393.html?src=rss

Since 1979, Arctic ice has shrunk by 1.35 million square miles, a new JPL study found ice loss in Greenland is far worse than previously thought and Antarctic ice is now at the lowest level since records began. The more they melt, the faster the rate of decline for the ice that remains until we're faced with a series of catastrophes. The most immediate of which is sea level rise which threatens to eradicate whole nations that are situated on low-lying islands. How do we stop such a problem? While we remedy the longer-term issues around fossil fuel consumption, we might have to buy ourselves more time with geoengineering.The severity of this situation can't be stressed enough. Professor John Moore of the Arctic Center, University of Lapland, says that we're long past the point where emissions reductions alone will be effective. We are faced with this situation where there's no pathway to 1.5 [degrees] available through mitigation," he said. Things like the ice sheets [melting] and other tipping points will happen regardless," adding that the Earth's present situation is akin to a patient bleeding out on the operating table, we are in this situation where we cannot mitigate ourselves out of the shit."Moore is one of the figures behind Frozen Arctic, a report produced by the universities of the Arctic and Lapland alongside UN-backed thinktank GRID-Arendal. It's a rundown of sixty geoengineering projects that could slow down or reverse polar melting. A team of researchers opted to examine every idea, from those already in place to the ones at the fringes of science. We wanted to be thorough," said Moore, because even the craziest idea might have a nugget of gold in there." Each approach has been given a brief analysis, examining if it's feasible on a scientific or practical basis, if it would be potentially helpful and how much it would cost. The report even went so far as to look at pykrete, a wacky World War Two initiative to create artificial glaciers for strategic use by mixing sawdust or paper products into ice.If you're curious and don't have a day or two to read the report yourself, you can boil down the approaches to a handful of categories. The first is Solar Radiation Management, i.e. making the polar regions more reflective to bounce away more of the sun's heat. Second, there's artificial ice generation to compensate for what has already been lost. Third, enormous engineering work to buttress, isolate and protect the remaining ice - like massive undersea walls that act as a barrier against the seas as they get warmer. Finally, there are measures that nibble at the edges of the problem in terms of effect, but have more viable long-term success, like preventing flora and fauna (and the warmth they radiate) from encroaching on regions meant to remain frozen.If you're a climate scientist, the likely most obvious approach is the first, because we've seen the positive effects of it before. Albedo is the climate science term to describe how white ice acts as an enormous reflector, bouncing away a lot of the sun's heat. Ice ages dramatically increase albedo, but there are more recent examples in living memory: In 1991 Mount Pinatubo, a volcano in the Philippines, erupted, spewing an enormous amount of volcanic ash into the atmosphere. (The event also caused a large amount of damage, displaced 200,000 people and claimed the lives of at least 722.) According to NOAA, the ash dumped into the atmosphere helped reflect a lot of solar heat away from the Earth, causing a temporary global cooling effect of roughly 1.5 degrees celsius. The devastation of Pinatubo isn't desirable, nor was the ozone depletion that it caused, but that cooling effect could be vital to slowing global warming and polar melting.It's possible to do this artificially by seeding the clouds with chemicals deposited by an airplane or with ground-based smoke generators, which can also be used to promote rain clouds. This is a tactic already used in China to help make rain for agriculture and to alleviate drought-like conditions. In this context, the clouds would act as a barrier between the sun and the ice caps, bouncing more of that solar radiation away from the Earth's surface. Unfortunately, there's a problem with this approach, which is that it's incredibly expensive and incredibly fussy. The report says it's only viable when the right clouds are overhead, and the work would require enormous infrastructure to be built nearby. Not to mention that while we have some small shreds of evidence to suggest it might be useful, there's nothing proven as yet.And then there are the second order effects when these approaches then spill over into the rest of the global ecosystem. If you do sunlight reflection methods and you put anything up in the atmosphere, it doesn't stay where you put it." That's the big issue identified by Dr. Phil Williamson, honorary associate professor at the University of East Anglia and a former contributor to the UN's keystone Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports. His concern is that regional, targeted climate solutions don't solve the problem for the whole world," and that if you're not tackling climate change on a global scale, then you're just accentuating the difference." With a cold arctic, but rising temperatures elsewhere, you're climbing aboard a climate rollercoaster."Second in the ranking of hail-mary climate approaches is to build a freezer to both cool down the existing ice and make more. Sadly, many ideas in this area forget that ice sheets are not just big blocks of immovable ice and are, in fact, liable to move. Take the idea of drilling down two miles or so into the ice sheet and pumping out the warm water to cool it down: Thanks to the constantly shifting ice and water, a new site would need to be drilled fairly regularly.There's another problem: The report says one project to bore a hole down 2.5km (1.5 miles) burned 450,000 liters of fuel. Not to mention how much energy it would consume to run the heat exchangers or freezers to create fresh ice on such a scale. That's a considerable amount of greenhouse gas pollution for a project meant to undo that exact type of damage. Dumping a layer of artificially-made snow on a mountain may work fine for a ski resort when the powder's a little thin, but not the whole planet.As hard as the scientific and engineering battles will be, there's also the political one that will need addressing. A lot of people get quasi-religiously upset about putting stuff into the stratosphere," said Professor John Moore, you'd think they'd get similarly upset about greenhouse gasses." One strategy under consideration is to inject sulfur into the atmosphere to replicate the cooling effects observed after major volcanic eruptions. The sulfur would form SO2, creating thick layers of dense cloud to block more heat from reaching the ice. But if you, like me, have a high school-level knowledge of science, that's a scary prospect given that sulfur dioxide would resolve to sulfuric acid. Given the microscopic quantities involved, there would be little-to-no impact on the natural world. But the image of acid rain pouring down from the clouds means it'd be a hard sell to an uninformed population.But if there is a reason for concern, it's that any unintended consequences could pose a problem in the global political space. It's almost like declaring war on the rest of the world if [a nation] goes it alone," says Phil Williamson, because any damage or alteration to the global climate system, the country that did it is responsible for all future climatic disasters because the weather isn't the same."Of course, Moore knows that the Frozen Arctic report's conclusions aren't too optimistic about a quick fix. He feels its conclusions should serve as a wake-up call for the planet. Nobody is going to scale up something for the entire arctic ocean overnight," he said, but that this is the time to find ideas that might be valuable [...] and then put resources into finding out if [those ideas] really are useful." He added that the short turnaround time before a total climate disaster isn't much of an issue, saying engineers can pretty much do anything you ask them to if you put enough resources into it." Because the alternative is to do nothing, and every day that we choose to do nothing, we accept more of the damages that are coming."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-ice-caps-are-melting-is-geoengineering-the-solution-150004916.html?src=rss

Slack has finally unleashed its generative AI toolset on the world, after teasing it last year. The vast majority of these features look to simplify your day-to-day life when using the work-focused chat platform.First up, the AI will auto-generate channel recaps to give you key highlights of anything you missed while away from the keyboard or smartphone. Slack says the algorithm that generates these recaps is smart enough to separate the content from the various topics discussed. In other words, if your co-workers launched into a debate about coffee beans and also talked about third-quarter earnings or whatever, you should get a paragraph on both.There's a similar tool available for threads, which are basically just one-on-one or group conversations that don't occupy an entire channel. This lets users get up to speed on any thread in just one click." Now you can safely ignore that one colleague who messages you eight times in a row when one short paragraph would absolutely suffice.Another cool feature here is conversational search. This allows you to ask a question using natural language instead of using Slack's pre-existing search bar to slowly crawl through previous chats. The algorithm does the crawling for you, providing you with a clear, concise answer based on relevant conversational data."It remains to be seen just how much time these tools will save the average user throughout the workday, but Slack says it remains committed to artificial intelligence. To that end, the company is prepping more native AI features, including the ability to generate personalized summaries of channels that users don't check daily but want to keep an eye on. Additionally, Slack says it'll soon integrate some of its most-used third-party apps into the AI ecosystem.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/slacks-new-generative-ai-features-include-thread-summaries-and-conversational-search-140059238.html?src=rss

While carbon dioxide gets the lion's share of attention when it comes to global warming, there are other factors at play. Methane is responsible for about 30 percent of the rise in global temperatures since the Industrial Revolution, according to the International Energy Agency. About 40 percent of methane emissions from human activity stem from the energy sector. Identifying and mitigating these emissions is said to be one of the most critical actions we can take in the short term to combat climate change.To that end, Google and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) have once again teamed up to tackle the issue. The pair previously mapped methane leaks in major cities using sensors on Street View cars. This time they're using a blend of satellite imagery and AI.The EDF and its partners have developed a satellite that's set to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in early March. While there have been other satellite-based monitoring efforts, MethaneSAT is slated to provide the most comprehensive picture yet of methane emissions across the planet.The satellite will orbit the Earth 15 times a day at an altitude of over 350 miles, and focus on measuring methane levels in the top oil- and gas-producing regions. It will be capable of imaging large emissions from a single source as well as smaller sources of methane spread across wider areas.EDF and its partners developed Google Cloud-powered algorithms to calculate emissions in certain places and to track them over time. Artificial intelligence will also be employed to pinpoint oil and gas infrastructure such as storage containers and pump jacks, much like Google uses AI to detect sidewalks, street signs and road names in satellite images for Maps.Combining the methane map with one showing oil and gas infrastructure is expected to provide a clearer picture of where emissions are stemming from. That should give energy companies actionable information to help them stop leaks.Insights from the project will be publicly available on the satellite's website and Google Earth Engine later this year. "By making MethaneSAT datasets available on Earth Engine, which has over 100,000 monthly active users, it's easier for users to detect trends and understand correlations between human activities and environmental impact," Yael Maguire, Google's vice president and general manager of Geo Developer and Sustainability, wrote in a blog post. Earth Engine users will be able to match the methane data against other maps, such as those showing forests, regional borders and water. They'll also be able to view methane emissions over time.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-will-use-ai-and-satellite-imagery-to-monitor-methane-leaks-130051724.html?src=rss

It's no secret that using the internet usually means handing over most of your personal information - consciously or not. DuckDuckGo bills itself as an alternative to this, protecting its users' privacy, and now it's providing users an easier way to access their information from multiple places. The browser has announced a new sync and backup feature that shares bookmarks, email protection settings and passwords across devices.Basically, DuckDuckGo users who choose it for its lack of data sharing can still get the advantages of using the same browser on multiple devices without wondering who gets access to their searches. The entire process is end-to-end encrypted, with DuckDuckGo never receiving any information as the key for decryption is stored on the individual's devices.The update means that individuals can share information, for example, from their DuckDuckGo browser on their PC or Mac to their Android or iPhone and vice versa. Mobile phones and tablets can link with a QR code, while computers require users to enter a code. There's no need to sign in, but users will want to download a Recovery PDF. It allows people to access synced data if a device breaks, including Email Protection, which removes hidden trackers and creates unique and private email addresses.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/duckduckgos-privacy-focused-browser-gets-cross-device-syncing-and-backups-130017599.html?src=rss

Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg has posted a review of Apple's Vision Pro on Instagram, reminding us all that the rivalry between the two companies have deepened even further with the launch of the latter's mixed reality headset. In the video shot with a Meta Quest 3, Zuckerberg didn't mince words while pitting the Vision Pro against his company's device. He said he originally expected the Quest to be the better value for most people, because it's "like seven times less expensive" than the $3,500 Vision Pro. However, after testing his competitor's product, he came to the conclusion that the Quest "is the better product, period."He added that the Quest is "better for the vast majority of things that people use mixed reality for." Zuckerberg said he thinks the Quest is "a lot more comfortable," since Meta designed it to be light and portable, so that people could use it while moving around or even while hanging out with friends and socializing. He found the Quest's field of view to be wider and its screen to be brighter than the Vision Pro, and he also found that Meta's headset showed crisper visuals when he moved his head while wearing it. Apple's device, he said, had motion blur.Zuckerberg acknowledged that the Vision Pro has a screen with a higher resolution, but in the same breath, he criticized Apple for the "tradeoffs" it had to make to the device's comfort and ergonomics. While Quest's controllers are "a little more accurate," he admits that Apple's eye tracking is "really nice." Apparently, Meta used the Vision Pro's sensors for the Quest Pro but took them out for the Quest 3. The company is planning to bring them back in the future. Of course, Zuckerberg took the chance to talk about the Quest's bigger library and to emphasize that the Quest, unlike the Vision Pro, has access to the YouTube and Xbox apps. Zuckerberg ended his review by talking about open and closed models for every generation of computing and how he wants to make sure that for this generation, Meta's technology, as the open model, "wins out" like Microsoft's did in the past.

United Airlines had to ground its new Airbus A321neo planes, not due to a major safety issue, but because the light-up no smoking" signs are automated.A 1990 ruling mandates that the signs on aircraft must be manually operated by the crew. Airbus A321neo features software that automatically displays the signage during a flight, so the crew doesn't switch it on and off. Bear in mind that smoking was fully banned from both domestic and international flights nearly 25 years ago.Even more frustratingly, automated signage systems are not even new. Many air travel companies apply for exemptions with the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) - which United did for its entire fleet back in 2020. However, the company's Airbus A321neo is so new that it doesn't fall under that protection.The federal agency has now permitted United to fly its fleet of A321neos, five in all, while evaluating those pesky signs.- Mat SmithThe Flipper Zero digital multi-tool can now play gamesIt uses an external module powered by Raspberry Pi.FlipperThe Flipper Zero digital multi-tool can interact (or hack) wireless devices and smart home systems, connecting through IR, NFC, RFID, Bluetooth and physical connections. Now, it can even play games, thanks to a partnership with Raspberry Pi. A new add-on can run games programmed in C, C++ and MicroPython. To suit the quirkiness of Flipper's device, it even features sensors for hand-tracking. The Video Game Module can also output video to external displays.Continue reading.Nothing's next phone will debut on March 5It will see a limited release in the US as part of a 'developer program.'EngadgetNothing says it will reveal its latest Phone 2a on March 5th. However, instead of an official release like the Phone 2, the device will be part of a "developer program in the US." The company didn't reveal any images of the device or pricing, but the company may use a simplified Phone 2 esthetic, given the naming convention. The Phone 2 had a unique design with a transparent Gorilla Glass back and 11 LED "Glyph" strips.Continue reading.Sarah Silverman's copyright lawsuit against ChatGPT gets reducedBut the core accusation remains.Sarah Silverman's lawsuit against OpenAI will advance but some of her legal team's claims have been dismissed. The comedian sued OpenAI and Meta in July 2023, claiming they trained their AI models on her books and other work without consent. US District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin threw out parts of the complaint on Monday, including negligence and unjust enrichment, but the principal claim remains; that OpenAI directly infringed on copyrighted material to train its AI models.Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-united-airlines-grounded-its-new-airbus-fleet-over-no-smoking-signs-101534262.html?src=rss

As part of its NBA All-Star coverage press release, Warner Bros. Discovery announced that it'll stream live sports with Dolby Vision for the first time ever. The feature will be available to Max subscribers with supported Dolby Vision TVs "via the B/R [Bleacher Report] Sports Add On," the company said.Dolby Vision has been available for streaming films and TV series for ages, but this will mark the first time it comes to live sports. Warner Bros. Discovery hinted that it'll soon be available across NBA, NHLA, MLB, NCAA and US soccer games as well. Max has already been using Dolby Atmos sound to enhance live games.Sports streams arguably stands to benefit most from Dolby Vision, as it boosts brightness levels, clarity and color. Dolby has previously said that real-time HDR feeds will be handled intelligently to so that bright areas aren't blown out and detail isn't lost in shadows. The company has also said that live feeds will adjust accordingly to the device they're being played on so they're optimal for each display.This weekend's NBA All-Star coverage will be first to get Dolby Vision. Coverage includes the game on Sunday, February 18 starting at 8PM ET, as well as a special two-hour NBA All-Star Tip-Off show at 6PM.Max launched the Bleacher Report tier on October 5, offering live sporting events including MLB, NBA, NHL and NCAA. It also offers access to all of WBD's pre- and post-game shows, along with Bleacher Report highlights, documentaries and more. The company recently extended the deadline for free programming until February 29, 2024. After that, it'll cost $10 per month, but the addition of Dolby Vision makes it a more compelling option.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/max-is-the-first-streaming-service-to-offer-dolby-vision-for-live-sports-161515799.html?src=rss

Sony has lowered its PlayStation 5 sales forecast for fiscal 2023 significantly and now expects to sell 21 million units, down from a previous forecast of 25 million. That's despite posting record quarterly revenue and selling 8.2 million PS5s over the holiday season. So far this fiscal year, Sony has sold 16.4 million consoles, bringing its total to 54.8 million overall. (The company sold 19.1 million PS5s in fiscal 2022.)Sony announced in December that it had sold 50 million PS5 units over three years, as of December 9, 2023. That's just a week longer than it took the PS4 to achieve the same number, and the latter wasn't bogged down by supply chain issues and a worldwide pandemic.Revenue was up 16 percent over the same quarter last year, thanks in part to improved sales of non-first-party titles. However, operating income was down significantly (26 percent), due a drop in first-party sales and losses on hardware due to promotions. In other words, PS5 sales aren't meeting the company's expectations despite discounts.Sony has seen higher sales in all three quarters this year compared to last. That might not continue this year though, as it's forecasting sales of just 4.6 million for Q4 2023 (February to April), down from 6.3 million in Q4 2022.In terms of new first-part games, Sony noted that Marvel's Spider-Man 2 has sold 10 million units (as of February 4) since its release in October 2023.Almost all other Sony divisions saw higher revenue, including its Imaging & Sensor Solutions division (Sony makes sensors for iPhones and many other devices), along with Pictures and Music. That resulted in a record 3.75 trillion yen for Q3 ($24.9 billion) compared to 3.08 trillion yen the year before ($20.5 billion).This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sony-predicts-itll-sell-fewer-ps5s-than-first-thought-091816189.html?src=rss

Last year, two Waymo robotaxis in Phoenix "made contact" with the same pickup truck that was in the midst of being towed, which prompted the Alphabet subsidiary to issue a recall on its vehicles' software. A "recall" in this case meant rolling out a software update after investigating the issue and determining its root cause.In a blog post, Waymo has revealed that on December 11, 2023, one of its robotaxis collided with a backwards-facing pickup truck being towed ahead of it. The company says the truck was being towed improperly and was angled across a center turn lane and a traffic lane. Apparently, the tow truck didn't pull over after the incident, and another Waymo vehicle came into contact with the pickup truck a few minutes later. Waymo didn't elaborate on what it meant by saying that its robotaxis "made contact" with the pickup truck, but it did say that the incidents resulted in no injuries and only minor vehicle damage. The self-driving vehicles involved in the collisions weren't carrying any passenger.After an investigation, Waymo found that its software had incorrectly predicted the future movements of the pickup truck due to "persistent orientation mismatch" between the towed vehicle and the one towing it. The company developed and validated a fix for its software to prevent similar incidents in the future and started deploying the update to its fleet on December 20.Waymo's rival company Cruise was involved in a more serious incident last year, wherein one of its robotaxis accidentally dragged someone hit by another vehicle a few dozen feet down a San Francisco street. California then suspended its license to operate in the state, and Cruise eventually paused all robotaxi operations, even the ones with a human driver behind the wheel, as part of a safety review. Meanwhile, it's business as usual for Waymo, which recently announced that it will start testing driverless vehicles on highways and freeways in and around Phoenix.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/waymo-issued-a-recall-after-two-robotaxis-crashed-into-the-same-pickup-truck-055708611.html?src=rss

Sarah Silverman's lawsuit against OpenAI will advance with some of her legal team's claims dismissed. The comedian sued OpenAI and Meta in July 2023, claiming they trained their AI models on her books and other work without consent. Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that the unfair competition portion of the lawsuit will proceed. Judge Martinez-Olguin gave the plaintiffs until March 13 to amend the suit.US District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin threw out portions of the complaint from Silverman's legal team Monday, including negligence, unjust enrichment, DMCA violations and accusations of vicarious infringement. The case's principal claim remains intact. It alleges OpenAI directly infringed on copyrighted material by training LLMs on millions of books without permission.OpenAI's motion to dismiss, filed in August, didn't tackle the case's core copyright claims. Although the suit will proceed, the judge suggested the federal Copyright Act may preempt the suit's remaining claims. As OpenAI does not raise preemption, the Court does not consider it," Martinez-Olguin wrote.The US court system has yet to determine whether training AI large language models on copyrighted work falls under the fair use doctrine. Last month, OpenAI admitted in a court filing that it would be impossible to train today's leading AI models without using copyrighted materials."The result of Silverman's OpenAI hearing is similar to one in San Francisco in November when Silverman's claims against Meta were also slashed down to the core copyright infringement claims. In that session, US District Judge Vince Chhabria described some of the plaintiffs' dismissed claims as nonsensical."Other groups suing OpenAI for alleged copyright-related violations include The New York Times, a collection of nonfiction authors (a group that grew after the initial lawsuit) and The Author's Guild. The latter filed its claim alongside authors George R.R. Martin (Game of Thrones) and John Grisham.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sarah-silvermans-copyright-infringement-suit-against-openai-will-advance-in-pared-down-form-211456302.html?src=rss

Mozilla is the latest in a long line of tech companies to lay off employees this year. The not-for-profit company is firing around 60 people, which equates to roughly five percent of its workforce. Most of those who are leaving Mozilla worked on the product development team. The news was first reported by Bloomberg.We're scaling back investment in some product areas in order to focus on areas that we feel have the greatest chance of success," a Mozilla spokesperson told Engadget in a statement. To do so, we've made the difficult decision to eliminate approximately 60 roles from across the company. We intend to re-prioritize resources towards products like Firefox Mobile, where there's a significant opportunity to grow and establish a better model for the industry."According to an internal memo obtained by TechCrunch, Mozilla plans to pare back investments on several products, including its VPN and a tool that automatically scrubs a user's personal information from data broker sites. The company announced the latter just one week ago. Hubs, the 3D virtual world Mozilla debuted in 2018, is shutting down while the company is also reducing resources dedicated to its Mastodon instance.One area into which Mozilla does plan to funnel extra resources is, unsurprisingly, artificial intelligence. "In 2023, generative AI began rapidly shifting the industry landscape. Mozilla seized an opportunity to bring trustworthy AI into Firefox, largely driven by the Fakespot acquisition and the product integration work that followed," the memo reportedly reads. "Additionally, finding great content is still a critical use case for the internet. Therefore, as part of the changes today, we will be bringing together Pocket, Content and the AI/ML teams supporting content with the Firefox Organization."The reorganization comes after Mozilla appointed a new CEO just last week. Former Airbnb, PayPal and eBay executive Laura Chambers, who joined Mozilla's board three years ago, was appointed chief executive for the rest of this year. "Her focus will be on delivering successful products that advance our mission and building platforms that accelerate momentum," Mitchell Baker, Mozilla's former long-time CEO and its new executive chairman, wrote when Chambers took on the job.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mozilla-is-laying-off-around-60-workers-210313813.html?src=rss

One of the big drawbacks of talking to an AI chatbot is that everything resets once the conversation is done. It won't remember who you are or what you previously queried. This is by design, for privacy reasons, but it really hampers the tech from growing into a true digital assistant that knows you well enough to actually help with stuff.OpenAI is trying to fix this issue and is finally adding a memory feature to ChatGPT. This will allow the bot to remember important personal details from prior conversations and apply that context to current queries.Here's how it works. You can actually tell ChatGPT to remember something specific, like that your child is allergic to peanuts or how you prefer to sign emails. It'll automatically store this data as requested and apply it to future conversations and tasks.Beyond that, the system will pick up stuff over time. It'll naturally store data as you perform queries. The goal is for the chatbot to become smarter and, more importantly, attuned to your specific needs.Additionally, each custom GPT will have its own unique memory. OpenAI gives Books GPT as an example, as the bot will remember which books you've already read and what genres you like. The GPT Store is filled with unique chatbots that would absolutely benefit from this memory feature.This doesn't seem too different from how the internet already works. Apps store personal data, as do websites and social networks. This data is then leveraged to create a unique user profile, which is used to develop personalized algorithms. However, there are significant privacy concerns with the standard way of doing things that absolutely carry over to this memory feature.OpenAITo that end, OpenAI says users will have control over ChatGPT's memory and that the system has been trained to not automatically remember certain sensitive topics, like health data. The company says you can simply tell the bot to forget something and it will. There's also a Manage Memory tab included in the settings for more nuanced adjustments. If the whole idea skeeves you out, just shut the feature off entirely.This is a beta service, for now, and is rolling out to a small number" of ChatGPT free and Plus users this week. The company will share plans for a broader release in the future. In the meantime, you can rewatch the movie Her to see where this all ends.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/chatgpt-is-getting-a-digital-memory-to-recall-your-past-conversations-195126580.html?src=rss

Paramount Global said Tuesday it's laying off some of its very valued colleagues," including on its Paramount+ team. Variety reported Tuesday the cuts will affect about 800 employees, an estimated three percent of the media giant's workforce. I am confident this is the right decision for our future," CEO Bob Bakish wrote in a leaked staff memo. Paramount Global's revenue grew three percent in the third quarter of 2023.Bakish's memo says the company will notify terminated staff by the close of business on Tuesday. He added that international offices will be affected, too. Those notifications will occur over time in line with our local legal obligations in each of the countries where we operate," the CEO wrote.Variety claims the layoffs will be spread among all the company's divisions. These include Paramount+, CBS, Paramount Pictures, Showtime, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon and Pluto TV.The CEO referenced Super Bowl LVIII, which became what the NFL says was the most-watched telecast ever. Bakish chalked that up to the game's broadcast showcasing the full power of Paramount." Some may counter that it instead showcased the full power" of combining NFL fans with Taylor Swift fans.Jon Stewart's 2024 return to The Daily Show'Comedy Central / ParamountBakish's memo shouted out Jon Stewart, who returned to Comedy Central's The Daily Show on Monday. (In the host's 2024 homecoming, he suggested a new slogan for the 2024 US Presidential election: What the f#@k are we doing?") Stewart agreed last month to reclaim his old desk once a week after leaving his Apple TV+ series, The Problem with Jon Stewart, after only two seasons. Apple's cancellation reportedly came after disagreements with the iPhone maker over episodes criticizing China and AI. Lawmakers later questioned Apple about the fallout.Paramount's streaming and film divisions have driven recent growth, but its traditional television offerings continue to struggle. Revenue in that area dropped by eight percent in Q3 2024, with TV advertising dropping by 14 percent. The company's linear TV struggles have reportedly put it on the block for mergers and acquisitions, including (allegedly stalled) merger talks with Warner Bros. Discovery in December 2023.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/paramount-global-lays-off-a-reported-800-employees-192614248.html?src=rss