While many streamers have a global subscriber base, some have stuck to North America. Tubi, the Fox Corporation's free ad-supported streaming service, is no longer in that second camp with the streamer announcing it will launch in the United Kingdom.Tubi will arrive with over 20,000 TV episodes and movies on-demand, from the likes of Disney and Sony Pictures Entertainment, along with Tubi Originals. "We are launching with one of the largest and most diverse content libraries in the UK, designed to indulge viewers in everything from blockbusters to original stories to hidden gems," Anjali Sud, CEO of Tubi, stated in the company's announcement. "Most importantly, we're committed to listening to what resonates with UK fans, and bringing them more and more of what they love." Tubi will offer UK users Hollywood films, British classics, Bollywoods, Nollywoods and Arthouse Cinema - to name a few.The streamer claims to have nearly 80 million monthly active users and clearly hopes to grow that number significantly with a UK audience. It will be available on iOS and Android smartphones, major connected TV platforms and the web.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tubi-is-coming-to-the-uk-103019398.html?src=rss
The NFC Forum, the non-profit org made up of big tech companies promoting the NFC standard, envisions a future wherein one tap is all you need for multiple actions at once. With a single tap, for instance, you could pay for your purchase, get points on your rewards account and receive a digital receipt on your phone. The organization released a document that can give you an overview of what the NFC multi-purpose tap capability is and how it can potentially be used.It explains that the multi-purpose tap "leverages the capability of NFC devices to allow both reading and writing of data across a connection." That enables several actions, which typically requires multiple stages, to be accomplished at one time. If you're buying alcohol, tapping to pay for it would also verify your identity and your age. You could also get a product's sustainability information, including ways its packaging can be recycled, on your phone the moment you pay for it.For public transit, the technology could ensure you're getting charged the correct fare, taxes and concessions every time. If the ride you're taking requires a ticket that you'll need to show a conductor, operators will be able to automatically issue you an e-ticket when you pay with the new multi-purpose tap experience.As The Verge notes, the capability does raise some privacy concerns, seeing as it automates everything, including identity verification. In addition, it will allow companies to trigger targeted marketing communications that you'll then get straight on your smartphone. Multi-purpose tap is still in its very early stages at the moment, though, and the NFC Forum is seeking contributions as it looks at market use cases for the technolog. The organization - which includes Apple, Google and Huawei, among other tech companies and manufacturers - still has to conduct tests to make sure the NFC technology is working as intended, as well, and to define standards to "enable mass market delivery."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nfc-forum-wants-to-bundle-age-verification-and-payment-receipts-in-tap-to-pay-043046883.html?src=rss
Midjourney, a popular AI-powered image generator, is creating images of Donald Trump and Joe Biden despite saying that it would block users from doing so ahead of the upcoming US presidential election.When Engadget prompted the service to create an image of the president of the United States," Midjourney generated four images in various styles of former president Donald Trump.MidjourneyWhen asked to create an image of the next president of the United States," the tool generated four images of Trump as well.MidjourneyWhen Engadget prompted Midjourney to create an image of the current president of the United States," the service generated three images of Trump and one image of former president Barack Obama.MidjourneyThe only time Midjourney refused to create an image of Trump or Biden was when it was asked to do so explicitly. The Midjourney community voted to prevent using Donald Trump' and Joe Biden' during election season," the service said in that instance. Other users on X were able to get Midjourney to generate Trump's images too.The tests show that Midjourney's guardrails to prevent users from generating images of Trump and Biden ahead of the upcoming US presidential election aren't enough - in fact, it's really easy for people to get around them. Other chatbots like OpenAI's ChatGPT, Microsoft's Copilot, Google's Gemini and Meta AI did not create images of Trump or Biden despite multiple prompts.Midjourney did not respond to a request for comment from Engadget.Midjourney was one the first AI-powered image generators to explicitly ban users from generating images of Trump and Biden. I know it's fun to make Trump pictures - I make Trump pictures," the company's CEO, David Holz, told users in a chat session on Discord, earlier this year. However, probably better to just not - better to pull out a little bit during this election. We'll see." A month later, Holz reportedly told users that it was time to put some foots down on election-related stuff for a bit" and admitted that this moderation stuff is kind of hard." The company's existing content rules prohibit the creation of misleading public figures" and events portrayals" with the potential to mislead."Last year, Midjourney was used to create a fake image of Pope Benedict wearing a puffy white Balenciaga jacket that went viral. It was also used to create fake images of Trump being arrested ahead of his arraignment at the Manhattan Criminal Court last year for his involvement in a hush money payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Shortly afterwards, the company halted free trials of the service and, instead, required people to pay at least $10 a month to use it.Last month, the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a non-profit organization that aims to stop the spread of misinformation and hate speech online, found that Midjourney's guardrails against generating misleading images of popular politicians including Trump and Biden failed 40% of its tests. The CCDH was able to use Midjourney to create an image of president Biden being arrested and Trump appearing next to a body double. The CCDH was also able to bypass Midjourney's guardrails by using descriptions of each candidate's physical appearance rather than their names to generate misleading images.Midjourney is far too easy to manipulate in practice - in some cases it's completely evaded just by adding punctuation to slip through the net," wrote CCDH CEO Imran Ahmed in a statement at the time. Bad actors who want to subvert elections and sow division, confusion and chaos will have a field day, to the detriment of everyone who relies on healthy, functioning democracies.Earlier this year, a coalition of 20 tech companies including OpenAI, Google, Meta, Amazon, Adobe and X signed an agreement to help prevent deepfakes in elections taking place in 2024 around the world by preventing their services from generating images and other media that would influence voters. Midjourney was absent from that list.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/midjourney-is-creating-donald-trump-pictures-when-asked-for-images-of-the-president-of-the-united-states-212427937.html?src=rss
YouTube quietly added a new policy last month that lets you request the removal of AI-generated content featuring your likeness. The new privacy violation policy, first spotted by TechCrunch's Sarah Perez, allows you to flag videos that used AI to alter or create synthetic content that looks or sounds like you."YouTube says several factors will determine whether it considers a removal, including whether the content is altered or synthetic (and whether it's disclosed as such), easily identifiable as the person in question or realistic.The company will also weigh whether it could be considered a parody or satire. Another factor is whether it includes a public figure (or other well-known individual) engaging in a sensitive behavior," like crime, violence or endorsing a product or political candidate. TechCrunch notes the paramount importance of the latter during this pivotal election year.The new policy falls under YouTube's privacy violations, not misleading content. The company now requires first-party claims in most cases. The most notable exceptions are when the individual is a minor, doesn't have access to a computer or is deceased.YouTube will give the alleged violator 48 hours to act on the complaint. If it's removed during that window, it's case closed. If not, YouTube will review it.The documentation clarifies that removal means fully removing it (and removing the individual's name and personal info from the title, description and tags, if applicable). Blurring out faces is another option. It also explains that making the clip private isn't allowed since that would let the poster easily make it public again.YouTube didn't make noise about the change, but it did hint at it earlier this year when it laid out its policies for AI-generated video. At the time, it promised, In parallel, as we previously announced, we're continuing to work towards an updated privacy process for people to request the removal of AI-generated or other synthetic or altered content that simulates an identifiable individual, including their face or voice."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/new-youtube-policy-lets-you-request-the-removal-of-ai-generated-content-that-uses-your-likeness-211522438.html?src=rss
Alternate video game endings are always fun to see. If a talented modder remakes an alternate ending previously scrapped by the game's developer, it's even better. Someone did just that, putting together an alternate ending for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt using footage that was originally discarded by CD Projekt Red.YouTuber xLetalis shared a video detailing the restorations that modder Glassfish added to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt after the end of the game's original storyline. (Note that some spoilers for the game follow!) The game ends with Geralt being pulled out of his fight with Eredin by Yennefer, his potential partner and sorceress. However, the remade cutscene shows Geralt waking up in a tent and receiving care from two doctors making a bet on his survival rate. From there, he leaves the hospital and talks to Yennefer, whose dialogue varies depending on whether he's romancing her or another sorceress, Triss. Regardless of who Geralt was dating in the original game, you can ask where Ciri is or who won the war.The extended ending continues with more deleted content, including Geralt attending Crach's funeral, him meeting the Lodge of Sorceresses, and Yennefer betraying the Lodge to save Ciri. xLetalis speculated towards the end of the video that CD Projekt Red changed their minds about including Yennefer's betrayal in the final game for creative reasons such as prioritizing matching the player's motivations with the beat of the story, as they have no insider or PR connections within the company to confirm it.The restoration of the deleted content by Glassfish was made possible by CD Projekt Red releasing the REDkit modding tool for the PC version of The Witcher 3: Wild Huntin May. The company announced the modding tool last year to allow PC players to breathe new life into the game in any way they wish. REDkit was previously released for The Witcher 2, but as far as we know it wasn't used to insert previously-scrapped scenes into the game as we're seeing now. As for the origin of the deleted content, Glassfish pulled it from content that was cut from the main game but is still in the game's files.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/modder-remakes-scrapped-alternate-ending-for-the-witcher-3-wild-hunt-201010523.html?src=rss
The new Lovestruck expansion pack for The Sims 4 gives the decade-old sequel a shot of life by turning it into a full-fledged dating sim - including non-monogamous WooHoo-ing for the first time. In addition to polyamory, the $40 DLC adds an in-game dating app, an encounter-planning system, turn-ons and turn-offs and a swanky singles club where Leisure Suit Larry (apologies for the dated reference) would feel right at home.The expansion pack takes your Sim to Ciudad Enamorada, a gorgeous city in love and the perfect place for all of your romantic encounters." It includes three neighborhoods for all the dangerous (if you're into that) liaisons your Sim's gibberish-speaking heart can handle.Your Sim can meet, flirt, spark romance or even rent a room at Beso Rapido" for a quickie WooHoo. They're no longer boxed into monogamy, letting you set up dates with as many partners as your Sim wants.EAThe Cupid's Corner app (in the game, not on your phone) lets your Sim snap selfies, create a profile and set preferences for compatible partners. Potential connections will appear in the app's Matches tab, where you can tap a heart to save and spark a chat.The date planner lets you craft a night to remember with customizable date types, venues, group invites (ha-cha-cha), activities and goals. When you meet your match for the date, you can test the chemistry by playing games, chatting over a picnic, sharing food or cuddling (or something like that) in bed. Most importantly, EA added new options for kisses, sultry dances and three new WooHoo spots... because variety is the spice of life.The expansion adds four romance types that will vary depending on the partners: wholesome, steamy, strained and unpredictable. Your Sim can level up their romance skills as they mingle and unlock spicy new interactions.EAThe Sims' representation has evolved significantly since the base game's inception. EA added gender customization in 2016, followed by Pride-themed content three years later. The ability to change your Sim's sexual orientation finally arrived two years ago, not long after EA incorporated a pronoun customization option.The Lovestruck expansion for The Sims 4 costs $40 and launches on July 25. Those who pre-order the DLC will get digital bonuses like a Cry Me a River Eyeliner (it wouldn't be dating without a few broken hearts), Herbert Heart Plushie and, everyone's favorite, the Basic Breakup Double Bed.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-sims-4s-lovestruck-expansion-lets-you-dive-into-a-steamy-polyamory-sandbox-193545470.html?src=rss
Meta is updating its Made with AI" labels after widespread complaints from photographers that the company was mistakenly flagging non-AI-generated content. In an update, the company said that it will change the wording to AI info" because the current labels weren't always aligned with people's expectations and didn't always provide enough context."The company introduced the Made with AI" labels earlier this year after criticism from the Oversight Board about its manipulated media" policy. Meta said that, like many of its peers, it would rely on industry standard" signals to determine when generative AI had been used to create an image. However, it wasn't long before photographers began noticing that Facebook and Instagram were applying the badge on images that hadn't actually been created with AI. According to tests conducted by PetaPixel, photos edited with Adobe's generative fill tool in Photoshop would trigger the label even if the edit was only to a tiny speck."While Meta didn't name Photoshop, the company said in its update that some content that included minor modifications using AI, such as retouching tools, included industry standard indicators" that triggered the Made with AI" badge. While we work with companies across the industry to improve the process so our labeling approach better matches our intent, we're updating the Made with AI' label to AI info' across our apps, which people can click for more information."Somewhat confusingly, the new AI info" labels won't actually have any details about what AI-enabled tools may have been used for the image in question. A Meta spokesperson confirmed that the contextual menu that appears when users tap on the badge will remain the same. That menu has a generic description of generative AI and notes that Meta may add the notice when people share content that has AI signals our systems can read."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-changes-its-labels-for-ai-generated-images-after-complaints-from-photographers-191533416.html?src=rss
Google is investing in a Taiwanese solar company with plans to build a 1 gigawatt (GW) pipeline of sustainable energy in the region. The company is placing a stake in New Green Power (NGP), part of BlackRock's investment portfolio, for the project. The move could help Google and Taiwan move closer to their climate goals while stabilizing green energy production in one of the most crucial semiconductor hubs of our new AI-infused world.Google already has a significant presence in Taiwan, including a data center. According to Amanda Peterson Corio, Google's global head of data center energy, fossil fuels currently generate nearly 85 percent of Taiwan's power grid. To help overcome these obstacles, companies can play a pivotal role in finding new strategies to grow the supply of available renewable energy sources and promoting emerging technologies that enable the full decarbonization of regional electricity systems," she wrote.Google expects to use up to 300 megawatts of solar capacity to power its data centers in Taiwan. In addition, Peterson Corio says the company may offer a portion of this clean energy capacity to [its] semiconductor suppliers and manufacturers in the region." She said that would help its partners meet their green energy goals and reduce indirect (Scope 3) emissions from Google's supply chain partners.A significant share of our Scope 3 footprint can be traced back to the electricity grids that power our suppliers and users, which is why broad decarbonization - and partnerships like this - continue to be core to our net-zero goal," Peterson Corio wrote.Regulators haven't yet approved the deal. Google hasn't said how much it's investing in NGP.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-invests-in-taiwanese-solar-company-to-boost-green-energy-171231205.html?src=rss
Sega's upcoming Crazy Taxi reboot is going to be an open-world massively-multiplayer online (MMO) game, according to a developer interview on YouTube. The interview includes both quotes from Sega's team and some brief instances of game footage.Series producer Kenji Kanno confirmed that the reboot will be playable by many people at once, though the company is still testing the game mechanics. The goal, according to a translation by Automaton, is to maintain the feel of the original franchise entries while incorporating MMO elements. To that end, the footage shows multiple yellow taxis racing one another with police cars in pursuit. Oddly, the police cars are convertibles.It also looks like the map will be inspired by California, which makes sense given the previous entries, and will include theme park-like" elements. The reboot has previously been described as a AAA title, so Sega is putting a whole bunch of resources behind it. Based on one job recruitment page, the game is being developed in Unreal Engine.The idea of an open-world Crazy Taxi makes perfect sense, as it already was basically a precursor to GTA and the like. The MMO aspect, however, could be annoying or it could be amazing. We won't know until it comes out.This reboot is just one of Sega's upcoming visits to the nostalgia well. The company recently announced that it's breaking out many dusty IPs to work on modern versions. These include Crazy Taxi, of course, but also Golden Axe, Jet Set Radio, Shinobi and Streets of Rage. It's worth noting that the company continues to ignore what the people really want, a modern take on the horrifying talking fish nightmare simulator Seaman.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/segas-new-crazy-taxi-reboot-will-be-an-open-world-mmo-155456136.html?src=rss
Two state laws that could upend the way social media companies handle content moderation are still in limbo after a Supreme Court ruling sent the challenges back to lower courts, vacating previous rulings. In a 9 - 0 decision in Moody v. NetChoice and NetChoice v. Paxton, the Supreme Court said that earlier rulings in lower courts had not properly evaluated the laws' impact on the First Amendment.The cases stem from two state laws, from Texas and Florida, which tried to impose restrictions on social media companies' ability to moderate content. The Texas law, passed in 2021, allows users to sue large social media companies over alleged censorship" of their political views. The Supreme Court suspended the law in 2022 following a legal challenge. Meanwhile, the Florida measure, also passed in 2021, attempted to impose fines on social media companies for banning politicians. That law has also been on hold pending legal challenges.Both laws were challenged by NetChoice, an industry group that represents Meta, Google, X and other large tech companies. NetChoice argued that the laws were unconstitutional and would essentially prevent large platforms from performing any kind of content moderation. The Biden Administration also opposed both laws. In a statement, NetChoice called the decision a victory for First Amendment rights online."In a decision authored by Justice Elena Kagan, the court said that lower court rulings in both cases concentrated" on the issue of whether a state law can regulate the content-moderation practices used in Facebook's News Feed (or near equivalents)." But, she writes, they did not address the full range of activities the laws cover, and measure the constitutional against the unconstitutional applications."Essentially, the usually-divided court agreed that the First Amendment implications of the laws could have broad impacts on parts of these sites unaffected by algorithmic sorting or content moderation (like direct messages, for instance) as well as on speech in general. Analysis of those externalities, Kagan wrote, simply never occurred in the lower court proceedings. The decision to remand means that analysis should take place, and the case may come back before SCOTUS in the future.In sum, there is much work to do below on both these cases ... But that work must be done consistent with the First Amendment, which does not go on leave when social media are involved," Kagan wrote.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/supreme-court-remands-social-media-moderation-cases-over-first-amendment-issues-154001257.html?src=rss
Between price increases and Netflix cutting people off their neighbor's sister's dog sitter's account, affording streaming accounts has become a lot harder. So, we're thrilled that Paramount+ with Showtime annual subscriptions are still available for half off. The yearly cost is $60, down from $120 - as long as you pay the entire sum up front. Paramount+, formerly CBS All Access, is a great streamer for Star Trek and sports fans - among a few others. It offers originals like Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard, while being a hub for watching soccer. The streamer has aired NWSL soccer matches and the UEFA Champions League and Europa League. Showtime is home to a huge range of television shows that cater to just about every taste. The streamer offers its customers massive hits like Yellowjackets, Billions and Dexter. Paramount+ with Showtime is available for half off until July 14. If you opt for the deal, remember to set a calendar reminder for a year from now or you're going to get a frustrating bill when it doubles. 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/theres-still-time-to-get-half-off-one-year-of-paramount-with-showtime-145514463.html?src=rss
Amazon Prime Day is still a couple weeks away, but the company is already running discounts on some of its biggest items. The latest deal comes on the Kindle Scribe Essentials Bundle, which includes a 64GB Kindle Scribe, Premium Pen and a leather folio cover. The trio is available for $324, down from $520 - a 37 percent discount. The Kindle Scribe is one of our picks for best E Ink tablets for 2024, garnering a solid 85 in our launch review. Unlike other Kindles, the Scribe is meant for taking notes or marking up documents. It offers a 10.2" 300 ppi Paperwhite display that's glare-free and front-lit, allowing you to use it just about anywhere. Plus, it works with titles in the Kindle Store, PDFs, Microsoft Word and more. The Premium Pen functions without any setup and it attaches directly to the Kindle Scribe's side. A shortcut button makes it easy to execute commands like highlight and erase. Then there's the leather folio cover, which protects the Kindle Scribe, closes magnetically and folds into a stand. It's worth noting that this deal doesn't include Pen replacement tips. Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog's experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-kindle-scribe-essentials-bundle-is-nearly-200-off-at-amazon-135908123.html?src=rss
In late June, the European Union shared its preliminary findings that Apple had violated the Digital Markets Act (DMA) - the bloc's first regulatory action since the law took effect in March. Now, it's Meta's turn, with the EU announcing Facebook and Instagram's owner has also breached the DMA. The European Commission first opened investigations into Apple, Meta and Google's parent company, Alphabet, shortly after the DMA became law.The Commission's preliminary findings on Meta focus on concerns about Meta's "consent or pay" model. Meta currently gives users the choice to have free access to its apps and consent to data sharing or pay to prohibit its collection. The Commission's statement argues that Meta "Does not allow users to opt for a service that uses less of their personal data but is otherwise equivalent to the 'personalised ads' based service," Furthermore, Meta doesn't "allow users to exercise their right to freely consent to the combination of their personal data."Echoing past statements, the Commission called for Meta to create an "equivalent alternative" that requires no fee payment. The EU's regulatory body has until late March 2025 - one year after opening its investigation - to make a final decision. If Meta is found guilty of violating the DMA, it could owe a fine equal to ten percent of its annual global revenue.Meta has yet to concede any wrongdoing. "Subscription for no ads follows the direction of the highest court in Europe and complies with the DMA. We look forward to further constructive dialogue with the European Commission to bring this investigation to a close," Meta said in a statement.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-could-get-slapped-with-a-massive-fine-for-violating-the-eus-digital-markets-act-120053616.html?src=rss
Welcome to the first day of July. Summer is here in earnest, but let me keep you, briefly, indoors with tales of finalized rules for crypto in the US, and how Lego is making bricks from stardust.A new rule finalized by the US Treasury Department will ensure that people that dipped their toes into crypto (and crypto trading) are paying the proper amount on their sales. The new rule will require cryptocurrency platforms like exchanges and payment processors to report their users' transactions to the IRS. Brokers will have to start reporting sales proceeds on digital assets in 2026 for all transactions accomplished in 2025, which means crypto traders are still on their own for now.The rule will make easier for people to declare their earnings because their brokers will now have to provide them with a 1099 form. The form has a threshold of $10,000 to report on transactions involving stablecoin, which are cryptocurrencies that track fiat money like the US dollar.- Mat SmithThe biggest stories you might have missedChina is plowing $11 billion into a solar, wind and coal energy projectSamsung's Unpacked 2024 event: What to expectAmazon Prime Day 2024: The best early Prime Day dealsYou can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!NASA and Boeing say Starliner astronauts are not stranded'Engineers are set to investigate Starliner's thruster issues.Officials insisted in a press conference Friday afternoon that astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are not stranded" on the International Space Station. We're not in a rush to come home," said Steve Stich, manager of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. Boeing's Starliner has been docked with the ISS since June 6 for what was meant to be a 10-day flight test. However, during approach, the craft experienced problems with five of its thrusters, and a known helium leak appeared to worsen.It was initially stated that Starliner could only stay docked at the ISS for a maximum of 45 days due to limitations with its batteries, but Stich said during the conference that these batteries are being recharged by the space station, so this can be extended.Continue reading.The AI prison of the future is just an Outer Limits episodeCognify would mentally incarcerate prisoners.The US has a higher incarceration rate per 100,000 people in its population than any other NATO country. Hashem Al-Ghaili, a molecular biologist and science communicator, claims he's got the solution. In an interview with Wired, he outlined how a virtual prison could work. Instead of locking prisoners up for long periods of time, prisoners would be subjected to artificial memories in a virtual environment. The system creates customized AI-generated content that's converted to visual information and delivered to the prisoner's brain as well as the parts of their DNA and RNA linked to memory formation to establish a long term memory pattern. There are a lot of wrinkles and road bumps, but the biggest may be that such technology just doesn't exist.Continue reading.Lego made bricks from meteorite dustWill it make for a decent building material?LegoLego has teamed up with the European Space Agency (ESA) to make Lego pieces from actual meteorite dust. They are on display at several Lego store locations until September 20, although it all isn't just for giggles, or Lego kit upsell. It's a proof of concept to show how astronauts could use moondust to build lunar structures.Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-the-us-treasury-finalizes-tax-rules-for-crypto-111534062.html?src=rss
Extreme E, the premium off-road EV racing series, is pivoting to hydrogen. The series announced this week that it's rebranding to Extreme H, and unveiled a hydrogen-powered race car it's calling the Pioneer 25 to usher in the transition. The first season is slated to begin in April 2025 in Saudi Arabia, before heading to the UK, Germany, Italy and wrapping up in the US.
The Detroit Police Department has to adopt new rules curbing its reliance on facial recognition technology after the city reached a settlement this week with Robert Williams, a Black man who was wrongfully arrested in 2020 due to a false face match. It's not an all-out ban on the technology, though, and the court's jurisdiction to enforce the agreement only extends four years. Under the new restrictions, which the ACLU is calling the strongest such policies for law enforcement in the country, police cannot make arrests based solely on facial recognition results or conduct a lineup based only on facial recognition leads.Williams was arrested after facial recognition technology flagged his expired driver's license photo as a possible match for the identity of an alleged shoplifter, which police then used to construct a photo lineup. He was arrested at his home, in front of his family, which he says completely upended my life." Detroit PD is known to have made at least two other wrongful arrests based on the results of facial recognition technology (FRT), and in both cases, the victims were Black, the ACLU noted in its announcement of the settlement. Studies have shown that facial recognition is more likely to misidentify people of color.The new rules stipulate that [a]n FRT lead, combined with a lineup identification, may never be a sufficient basis for seeking an arrest warrant," according to a summary of the agreement. There must also be further independent and reliable evidence linking a suspect to a crime." Police in Detroit will have to undergo training on the technology that addresses the racial bias in its accuracy rates, and all cases going back to 2017 in which facial recognition was used to obtain an arrest warrant will be audited.In an op-ed for TIME published today, Williams wrote that the agreement means, essentially, that DPD can no longer substitute facial recognition for basic investigative police work."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/detroit-police-can-no-longer-use-facial-recognition-results-as-the-sole-basis-for-arrests-204454537.html?src=rss
Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, which acquired the movie rental service Redbox in 2022, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Deadline reports. The company recently disclosed net losses of $636.6 million for 2023 in a SEC filing, and Deadline reported just a few days ago that it had suspended medical benefits and missed payroll, leaving employees without their paychecks for a week already. In a message to employees on Saturday, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment said it had applied for a debtor-in-possession loan in an attempt to remedy the situation.Upon court approval, we expect payroll to be funded early in the week and funding for this upcoming week's payroll to also be secured," the message said, per Deadline. We also expect to have the funds to reinstate medical benefits back to May 14, 2024 and going forward." The $375 million deal to acquire Redbox brought with it a ton of debt, and according to The Verge, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment owes money to a slew of retailers, studios, and streaming platforms - including Walmart, Universal and Sony - as well as other creditors.Its total debts come to about $970 million. Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment also owns the streaming service Crackle and a few other film and TV brands, in addition to selling the long-running self-help books it's best known for.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-owner-of-redbox-has-filed-for-chapter-11-bankruptcy-172124081.html?src=rss
NASA and Boeing plan to spend the next few weeks conducting tests on the ground in order to better understand issues with the Starliner spacecraft's thrusters before giving its crew the go-ahead to fly back to Earth. But, officials insisted in a press conference Friday afternoon, astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are not stranded" on the International Space Station. We're not in a rush to come home," said Steve Stich, manager of NASA's Commercial Crew Program.Starliner has been docked with the ISS since June 6 for what was meant to be a 10-day flight test all in all. During its approach of the orbiting lab, however, the craft experienced problems with five of its thrusters, and a known helium leak appeared to worsen. NASA and Boeing have been working together to evaluate the issues ever since. On Friday, representatives for the two said they aren't yet setting a date for the return flight, and will instead wait until the ground tests have been completed and all analyses run. The first thruster tests, which will be conducted at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, are expected to begin as soon as Tuesday.It was initially stated that Starliner could only stay docked at the ISS for a maximum of 45 days due to limitations with its batteries, but Stich said during the conference that these batteries are being recharged by the space station, so this can be extended. I want to make it very clear that Butch and Suni are not stranded in space," Stich said. Our plan is to continue to return them on Starliner and return them home at the right time."Starliner is performing well while docked, and the craft could still be used as a lifeboat to bring the astronauts home if necessary in the case of an emergency, the officials said. Mark Nappi, VP and program manager of Boeing's Commercial Crew Program, reiterated Stich's comments, saying, We're not stuck on the ISS, the crew is not in any danger, and there's no increased risk when we decide to bring Suni and Butch back to Earth."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nasa-and-boeing-say-starliner-astronauts-are-not-stranded-but-will-be-on-the-iss-for-a-few-more-weeks-154407704.html?src=rss
While people who own and sell cryptocurrency have always had to pay taxes on their earnings, a new rule finalized by the US Treasury Department can ensure that they're paying the proper amount on their sales. The new rule will require cryptocurrency platforms like exchanges and payment processors to report their users' transactions to the Internal Revenue Service. According to The Wall Street Journal, authorities are hoping that the measure can deter tax evasion, seeing as the IRS would know exactly how much a taxpayer owes.At the same time, the rule will make it much easier for people for declare their earnings because their brokers will now have to provide them with a 1099 form. The IRS released a draft form of 1099-DA (Digital Asset Proceeds From Broker Transaction) made especially to track crypto transactions last year and will make the final version available soon. To note, the rule sets a threshold of $10,000 to report on transactions involving stablecoin, which are cryptocurrencies that track fiat money like the US dollar."[I]nvestors in digital assets and the IRS will have better access to the documentation they need to easily file and review tax returns," Aviva Aron-Dine, the Treasury's acting assistant secretary for tax policy, said in a statement. By implementing the law's reporting requirements, these final regulations will help taxpayers more easily pay taxes owed under current law, while reducing tax evasion by wealthy investors."The new rule will only apply to platforms that take possession of digital assets, such as Coinbase or Binance. It doesn't cover decentralized ones, which will have to comply with a separate rule that's expected to be finalized later this year. Brokers will have to start reporting sales proceeds on digital assets in 2026 for all transactions accomplished in 2025, which means crypto traders are still on their own for 2024.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/us-treasury-finalizes-crypto-rules-to-prevent-tax-evasion-143051676.html?src=rss
Amazon Web Services has started an investigation to determine whether Perplexity AI is breaking its rules, according to Wired. To, be precise, the company's cloud division is reportedly looking into allegations that the service is using a crawler, which is hosted on its servers, that ignores the Robots Exclusion Protocol. This protocol is a web standard, wherein developers put a robots.txt file on a domain containing instructions on whether bots can or can't access a particular page. Complying with those instructions is voluntary, but crawlers from reputable companies have generally been respecting them since web developers started implementing the standard in the '90s.In an earlier piece, Wired reported that it discovered a virtual machine that was bypassing its website's robots.txt instructions. That machine was hosted on an Amazon Web Services server using the IP address 44.221.181.252 that's "certainly operated by Perplexity." It reportedly visited other Conde Nast properties hundreds of times over the past three months to scrape their content, as well. The Guardian, Forbes and The New York Times had also detected it visiting their publications multiple times, Wired said. To confirm whether Perplexity truly was scraping its content, Wired entered headlines or short descriptions of its articles into the company's chatbot. The tool then responded with results that closely paraphrased its articles "with minimal attribution."A recent Reuters report claimed that Perplexity isn't the only AI company that's bypassing robots.txt files to gather content used to train large language models. However, it seems like Wired only provided Amazon with information on Perplexity AI's crawler. "AWS's terms of service prohibit abusive and illegal activities and our customers are responsible for complying with those terms," Amazon Web Services told us in a statement. "We routinely receive reports of alleged abuse from a variety of sources and engage our customers to understand those reports." The spokesperson also added that the company's cloud division told Wired it was investigating information the publication provided as it does all reports of potential violations.Perplexity spokesperson Sara Platnick told Wired that the company has already responded to Amazon's inquiries and denied that its crawlers are bypassing the Robots Exclusion Protocol. "Our PerplexityBot - which runs on AWS - respects robots.txt, and we confirmed that Perplexity-controlled services are not crawling in any way that violates AWS Terms of Service," she said. Platnick told us that Amazon looked into Wired's media inquiry only as part of a standard protocol for investigating reports of abuse of its resources. The company has apparently not heard from Amazon about any type of investigation before Wired contacted the company. Platnick admitted to Wired, however, that PerplexityBot will ignore robots.text when a user includes a specific URL in their chatbot inquiry.Aravind Srinivas, the CEO of Perplexity, also previously denied that his company is "ignoring the Robot Exclusions Protocol and then lying about it." Srinivas did admit toFast Company that Perplexity uses third-party web crawlers on top of its own, and that the bot Wired identified was one of them.Update, June 28, 2024, 2:20PM ET: We have updated this post to add Perplexity's statement to Engadget.Update, June 28, 2024, 8:27PM ET: We have updated this post to a statement from Amazon Web Services.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-investigating-perplexity-ai-after-accusations-it-scrapes-websites-without-consent-133003374.html?src=rss
According to the Prison Policy Institute, the US has a higher incarceration rate per 100,000 people in its population than any other NATO country and it's even higher than the next five member states combined (the UK, Portugal, Canada, France and Belgium).So what's the solution? Hashem Al-Ghaili, a molecular biologist and science communicator from Yemen, claims he's got it in an interview with Wired: build a virtual prison instead. He's not talking about stapling a bunch of Meta Quest 3's to prisoners' heads for years at a time, but it's also not far off from that concept.Al-Ghaili is proposing a new neurological prison system that he calls Cognify. He posted a proposal video of the virtual justice system on his Instagram and YouTube channel and it looks downright horrifying.Here's how Cognify works in a theoretical nutshell - Instead of locking prisoners up for long periods of time, prisoners would be subjected to artificial memories in a virtual environment. The system creates customized AI-generated content that's converted to visual information and delivered to the prisoner's brain as well as the parts of their DNA and RNA linked to memory formation to establish a long term memory pattern.Currently, such technology does not exist and Cognify is only a proposal. However, Al-Ghaili claims that experiments conducted on animals prove this process could work on humans at some point in the future. For instance, a study published in March in the scientific journal Nature in March that used mice as its test subjects found that memories are possibly formed by broken and repaired strands of DNA.Of course, there are ethical implications and effects that would need to be addressed if such a system were to become a reality. Al-Ghaili says Cognify could happen within a decade from now but only if we could overcome the ethical restrictions that limit testing such technology."If that doesn't send a shiver up your spine, then check your wrist for a pulse. Horror anthology fans like me will remember an episode from the 1990s reboot of The Outer Limits on Showtime called The Sentence" in which a scientist played by David Hyde Pierce invents a very similar virtual prison system that simulates an entire life sentence within a matter of minutes. He, of course, subjects himself to his own invention that makes him believe he committed a murder and served an entire lifetime in prison. He wakes up only to start denouncing the very system he championed just a few minutes earlier.You can watch the whole thing on YouTube for free. Someone should send it to this guy.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-ai-prison-of-the-future-is-just-an-outer-limits-episode-200937257.html?src=rss
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has drafted a series of letters to nine major telecom companies, including AT&T and Comcast, to ask if they're actually doing anything about AI political robocalls. AI-generated voices are getting pretty good at mimicking humans and we've already seen this technology in action, when an audio deepfake urged voters to skip the New Hampshire Democratic primary.We know that AI technologies will make it cheap and easy to flood our networks with deepfakes used to mislead and betray trust. It is especially chilling to see AI voice cloning used to impersonate candidates during elections. As AI tools become more accessible to bad actors and scammers, we need to do everything we can to keep this junk off our networks," wrote Rosenworcel.It's worth noting that all AI robocalls were banned back in February, political or not, but the big telecom companies have yet to announce any enforcement plans. The mandate, however, does give State Attorneys General the ability to prosecute those involved in the robocalls.Rosenworcel has also been trying to force political campaigns to disclose whether or not they used AI in TV or radio ads, as reported by US News & World Report. The proposed plan, however, has faced opposition from the Republican chair of the Federal Election Commission. Chairman Sean Cooksey wrote in a letter to Rosenworcel that the plan would overwrite the authority of the FEC to enforce federal campaign law, prompting a legal challenge.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/fcc-chair-asks-telecoms-companies-to-prove-theyre-actually-trying-to-stop-political-ai-robocalls-184227549.html?src=rss
There are plenty of Lego sets that feature astronauts, but now there are Lego bricks made out of the stuff that astronauts find out there in the void. The Danish brickmaker has teamed up with the European Space Agency (ESA) to make Lego pieces from actual meteorite dust. Pretty cool, right? They are on display at several Lego store locations until September 20, including the big 5th Avenue branch in Manhattan.This project isn't just for giggles, though it is pretty fun. It's a proof of concept to show how astronauts could use moondust to build lunar structures. Consider the sheer amount of energy and money required to haul up building materials from Earth to the Moon. It would be a game changer to, instead, build everything from pre-existing lunar materials.There's a layer of rock and mineral deposits at the surface of the Moon, which is called lunar regolith. It's long been thought that regolith of some kind would be required to build our first off-world colonies. It's readily available and there are several prospective methods to transform it into building materials. After all, humans have been making structures out of dirt, soil and sand for thousands of years.LegoHowever, there isn't too much lunar regolith here on Earth for folks to experiment with. ESA scientists made their own regolith by grinding up a really old meteorite. The dust from this meteorite was turned into a mixture that was used to 3D print the Lego pieces. Voila. Moon bricks. They click together just like regular Lego bricks, though they only come in one color (space gray obviously.)Lego"Nobody has built a structure on the Moon, so it was great to have the flexibility to try out all kinds of designs and building techniques with our space bricks. It was both fun and useful in scientifically understanding the boundaries of these techniques," said ESA Science Officer Aidan Cowley.Humanity is actually getting closer than ever before to our first real lunar base. NASA has teamed up with the Italian Space Agency and the Thales Alenia Space Corporation to build the first permanent human outpost on the Moon, though it won't happen until at least the 2030s. Recent designs for lunar habitats have ranged from something resembling a mobile home to full-fledged inflatable villages.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/lego-made-bricks-out-of-meteorite-dust-and-theyre-on-display-at-select-stores-161440194.html?src=rss
It's safe to say Apple and the European Commission aren't exactly bosom buddies. The two sides have been at loggerheads over Apple's compliance - or alleged lack thereof - with the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA), a law designed to rein in the power of major tech companies.Apple said last week it would delay the rollout of certain features in the European Union, including Apple Intelligence AI tools, over concerns "that the interoperability requirements of the DMA could force us to compromise the integrity of our products in ways that risk user privacy and data security." As it turns out, the EU is not exactly happy about that decision.The call to push back the rollout of Apple Intelligence in the EU is a "stunning, open declaration that they know 100 percent that this is another way of disabling competition where they have a stronghold already," EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said at a Forum Europa event, according to Euractiv. Vestager added that the short version of the DMA" means companies have to be open for competition to keep operating in the region.Not to leap to the defense of Apple here, but these comments are sure to raise an eyebrow or two, especially after Vestager also said she "was personally quite relieved that I would not get an AI-updated service on my iPhone." Apple does intend to bring Apple Intelligence to Europe more broadly, but it's taking a cautious approach with the tech in that region due to "regulatory uncertainties" and ensuring it won't have to compromise on user safety.As it stands, the European Commission is carrying out multiple investigations into the company over possible violations of the DMA. This week, it accused Apple of violating the law's anti-steering provisions by blocking app developers from freely informing users about alternate payment options outside of the company's ecosystem. If it's found guilty, Apple could be on the hook for a fine of up to 10 percent of its global annual revenue. Based on its 2023 sales, that could be a penalty of up to $38 billion. The percentage of the fine can double for repeated violations.Earlier this year, before the DMA came into force, the European Commission fined Apple 1.8 billion ($1.95 billion) over a violation of previous anti-steering rules. According to the Commission, Apple prevented rival music streaming apps from telling users that they could pay less for subscriptions if they sign up outside of iOS apps. Apple has challenged the fine.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/eu-competition-chief-jabs-at-apple-from-both-sides-over-ai-delay-140022585.html?src=rss
Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is a brand-new game from the creators of Life is Strange. It's been described as a spiritual successor to that series and was previously scheduled to arrive in late 2024. However, publisher Don't Nod has opted to delay Lost Records: Bloom & Rage and release it in early 2025 instead.In fact, the delay is in large part due to a new Life is Strange game from another studio. Life is Strange: Double Exposure marks the return of the original game's protagonist Max Caulfield. The sequel, from Square Enix and developer Deck Nine Games, is set to hit PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in October, with a Switch release planned for later.Don't Nod says it wanted to give Lost Records: Bloom & Rage some breathing space to succeed following "an in-depth assessment of recent trends and developments in the industry." But a quote from CEO Oskar Guilbert makes the reasoning more explicit. "We know that many of our fans are eagerly awaiting this game, just as they are the recently announced next installment of Life is Strange," Guilbert said in a statement. "Let's give both titles the space they need to be enjoyed by our players within the large community we have built."While this update might be disappointing for those who were looking forward to Lost Records, it's a smart call. It gives fans plenty of time to experience both games without too much overlap.In the meantime, Don't Nod reckons that Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, a surprisingly emotional action RPG from earlier this year that I enjoyed quite a bit, will boost its bottom line, especially in the long term. It also released the thoughtful climbing puzzle game Jusant late last year.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/life-is-strange-spiritual-successor-delayed-to-avoid-life-is-strange-sequel-124553471.html?src=rss
An attack on Microsoft by Russian hackers had further implications than initially reported. The tech giant is notifying additional individuals that emails between them and Microsoft were accessed, Bloomberg reports. A group known as Midnight Blizzard or Nobelium orchestrated this attack, along with the 2020 SolarWinds hack. The US government has previously linked Midnight Blizzard to the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service.Microsoft previously informed some individuals that their emails were viewed, but the company is now sharing specifics. "This week we are continuing notifications to customers who corresponded with Microsoft corporate email accounts that were exfiltrated by the Midnight Blizzard threat actor, and we are providing the customers the email correspondence that was accessed by this actor," a Microsoft spokesperson stated. "This is increased detail for customers who have already been notified and also includes new notifications." Microsoft is making customers aware via email, which initially led to concerns that the notification was a phishing scam.Microsoft first disclosed the hack in January, stating that a password spray attack gained the group access to "a very small percentage of Microsoft corporate email accounts" in late 2023. Employees with compromised emails included members of the senior leadership, cybersecurity and legal teams.At the time, Microsoft said vulnerabilities in its systems were not to blame for the attack but that it would be improving security. However, the US government has brought the heat against Microsoft, with a March report from the Cyber Safety Review Board finding the company's "security culture was inadequate and requires an overhaul." In April, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued an order requiring federal agencies to analyze hacked emails and secure Microsoft cloud accounts, among other measures. CISA notified all impacted agencies and required them to provide regular updates on the steps taken to thwart this "grave and unacceptable risk."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-reveals-further-emails-compromised-by-russian-hack-130014275.html?src=rss
A Chinese state-owned power company is splashing out 80 billion yuan ($11 billion) on an energy base that will generate electricity from solar, wind and coal sources. China Three Gorges Renewables Group, a subsidiary of the country's largest hydropower company, plans to build a plant with a 16-gigawatt capacity and a five-gigawatt storage facility, Bloomberg reports.This is part of China's aim to build 455 gigawatts worth of renewable energy projects in the desert by 2030. This plant is being constructed in Inner Mongolia, which will get 135 gigawatts of the total planned output.The China Three Gorges Corporation is looking to diversify its energy sources as building large hydro dams is becoming less feasible. According to Three Gorges, wind and solar generation from the plant will depend on grid accessibility. The coal plant is set to start operations in three years.It's somewhat disappointing that the new plant will have a coal power element, though it's not fully surprising given the way China has bristled at renewable energy commitments during climate summit talks with other countries. As Bloomberg notes, China has been struggling to put all of its clean energy into the power grid. It often relies on coal when renewable sources like solar and wind aren't available.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/china-is-plowing-11-billion-into-a-solar-wind-and-coal-energy-project-120007712.html?src=rss
Older Assassin's Creed titles are about to get modern reimaginings, mostly likely with better graphics and other improvements for newer consoles and more powerful PCs. Yves Guillemot, the CEO of Ubisoft, has revealed in an interview on the company's website that Assassin's Creed remakes are in the works when he was asked what's next for the franchise. The remakes will allow the company to revisit and modernize older worlds it has created, he explained, telling the interviewer that "there are worlds in some of [its] older Assassin's Creed games that are still extremely rich."Guillemot also said that Ubisoft's goal is to have Assassin's Creed games come out more regularly, "but not for it to be the same experience every year." The upcoming Assassin's Creed Hexe that's set during the witch trials in the Holy Roman Empire is "going to be a very different game from Assassin's Creed Shadows," he said. Shadows is set in Japan at the end of the Sengoku era and features real events and historical figures from that period, including feudal lord Oda Nobunaga. It will be available worldwide on November 15.While Guillemot didn't say which titles Ubisoft is remaking, Kotaku previously reported that it's working on a new version of Black Flag. The action-adventure game, which focuses on 18th century pirates, was released back in 2013 and was one of the most beloved entries in the franchise. Ubisoft is also expected to launch a new platform called "Animus hub" that players can use to launch and play games from the franchise on the same day Shadows drops. Animus hub, formerly known as Infinity, could be potentially be a store, as well, and if that's true, then it makes sense for Ubisoft to work on more AC releases that it can sell through the hub.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ubisoft-ceo-says-assassins-creed-remakes-are-in-the-works-035852195.html?src=rss
This is your periodic reminder that AI-powered chatbots still make up things and lie with all the confidence of a GPS system telling you that the shortest way home is to drive through the lake.My reminder comes courtesy of Nieman Lab, which ran an experiment to see if ChatGPT would provide correct links to articles from news publications it pays millions of dollars to. It turns out that ChatGPT does not. Instead, it confidently makes up entire URLs, a phenomenon that the AI industry calls hallucinating," a term that seems more apt for a real person high on their own bullshit.Nieman Lab's Andrew Deck asked the service to provide links to high-profile, exclusive stories published by 10 publishers that OpenAI has struck deals worth millions of dollars with. These included the Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, The Times (UK), Le Monde, El Pais, The Atlantic, The Verge, Vox, and Politico. In response, ChatGPT spat back made-up URLs that led to 404 error pages because they simply did not exist. In other words, the system was working exactly as designed: by predicting the most likely version of a story's URL instead of actually citing the correct one. Nieman Lab did a similar experiment with a single publication - Business Insider - earlier this month and got the same result.An OpenAI spokesperson told Nieman Lab that the company was still building an experience that blends conversational capabilities with their latest news content, ensuring proper attribution and linking to source material - an enhanced experience still in development and not yet available in ChatGPT." But they declined to explain the fake URLs.We don't know when this new experience will be available or how reliable it will be. Despite this, news publishers continue to feed years of journalism into OpenAI's gaping maw in exchange for cold, hard cash because the journalism industry has consistently sucked at figuring out how to make money without selling its soul to tech companies. Meanwhile, AI companies are chowing down on content published by anyone who hasn't signed these Faustian bargains and using it to train their models anyway. Mustafa Suleiman, Microsoft's AI head, recently called anything published on the internet freeware" that is fair game for training AI models. Microsoft was valued at $3.36 trillion at the time I wrote this.There's a lesson here: If ChatGPT is making up URLs, it's also making up facts. That's how generative AI works - at its core, the technology is a fancier version of autocomplete, simply guessing the next plausible word in a sequence. It doesn't understand" what you say, even though it acts like it does. Recently, I tried getting our leading chatbots to help me solve the New York Times Spelling Bee and watched them crash and burn.
One of the most difficult parts of joining a new social platform is finding relevant accounts to follow. That has proved especially challenging for people who quit X to try out one of the many Twitter-like services that have cropped up in the last couple of years. Now, Bluesky has an interesting solution to this dilemma. The service introduced starter packs," which aim to address that initial discovery problem by allow existing users to build lists of accounts and custom feeds oriented around specific interests or themes.In a blog post, the company described the feature as a way to bring friends directly into your slice of Bluesky." Users can curate up to 50 accounts and three custom feeds into a starter pack." That list can then be shared broadly on Bluesky or sent to new users via a QR code. Other users can then opt to follow an entire pack" all at once, or scroll through to manually add the accounts and feeds they want to follow.BlueskyThough Bluesky seems to be positioning the feature as a tool for new users, it's also useful for anyone who feels like their feed is getting a little stale or has been curious about one of the many subcultures that have emerged on the platform. I've been on Bluesky for well over a year and I've already found some interesting starter packs, including Bluesky for Journalists (for people interested in news content) and Starter Cats (for accounts that post cat photos).Starter packs also highlight another one of Bluesky's more interesting features: custom feeds. The open-source service allows users to create their own algorithmic feeds that others can subscribe to and follow, a bit like a list on X. Custom feeds were introduced last year and have also been an important discovery tool. But scrolling a massive list of custom feeds can be overwhelming. Pairing these feeds with curated lists of users, though, is a much easier way to find ones related to topics you're actually interested in.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/bluesky-starter-packs-help-new-users-find-their-way-234322177.html?src=rss
Apple is finally loosening some restrictions on third-party repairs. The tech giant said in its latest white paper, Longevity, by Design, that it will extend software support to third-party replacement batteries and displays installed into iPhones later this year. This means that it won't deactivate True Tone and battery health data for iPhone users who receive those third-party repairs.In case you don't know what True Tone is, it's a feature that adjusts the iPhone display's white balance to match your environment. Currently, Apple disables that feature if the iOS detects that you installed a third-party replacement screen. You won't suffer that loss anymore as the company will allow consumers to activate True Tone with third-party parts to the best performance that can be provided" later this year. However, it pointed out that True Tone may not display accurate colors or perform well because third-party displays don't always gel with Apple's hardware, so you can choose to disable it if the screen doesn't work the way you expect it to.As for third-party replacement batteries, Apple will show their health metrics but it will notify users that it isn't able to verify them. The company says that an internal analysis that found that second-hand batteries with manipulated metrics are sometimes sold as new, and the iPhone's metrics will mark the maximum capacity at 100 percent even though the battery's current state won't reflect that.Apple has a long history of antagonizing third-party repairers of iPhones, but it's slowly opening up to them. In 2022, it made the iPhone 14 easier to repair upon release but its restrictions on third-party replacement displays made it difficult for third-party vendors to fix the broken original screens. In April, it announced that iPhones will be repairable with genuine used parts starting this fall with the iPhone 15 and newer models.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/iphone-users-wont-lose-true-tone-other-features-after-third-party-repairs-232926095.html?src=rss
There's a war brewing in Hollywood and we're not talking about how AI will inevitably kill us all by plagiarizing The Joker's chaos plans from The Dark Knight. We're talking about the popcorn bucket war.The latest shot came from Dune director Denis Villeneuve in a red carpet interview in which he called the Wolverine & Deadpool popcorn bucket horrific" and called the Dune buckets unmatchable."Villeneuve did an impromptu interview with eTalkCTV where a reporter asked him about the feud that's been brewing between him and Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds over their respective popcorn receptacles. The reporter showed Villeneuve a picture of the Deadpool & Wolverine bucket featuring the yellow Wolverine's head and his gaping maw full of some of Orville Redenbacher's finest. Villeneuve said he doesn't have anything against the bucket but he thinks they are just riding the coattails he unfurled when the Dune sandworm popcorn bucket blew up the Internet.
Valve has added a new chart to its roster of publicly-available data: a list of the 100 top-played titles on the Steam Deck. The information can be sorted by the past week, month, or year, and will be updated daily.These charts can play a big part in game discovery on the platform, so it's worth noting that making the list isn't only about the sheer number of players. Lawrence Yang from Valve told The Verge more about the process. "The metric we're using to determine top-played is a combination of unique users and interest," Yang said. "Hades 2 has only been out for a month, but so many Steam Deck players have it as one of their top played games for the entire year, that it was lifted in the rankings."At the chart's launch, Elden Ring unsurprisingly holds the top spot after the recent Shadow of the Erdtree release (and subsequent patch). Indie fave Stardew Valley is currently in second and hot deck-builder Balatro is in third. Both Hades 2 and Hades have made the top ten. There are some surprising entries too, such as Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX in fifth place and Fallout 4 in sixth. If you want to add anything on the Steam Deck chart to your library, now's the chance to load up your to-be-played queue for cheap with the ongoing Steam Summer Sale.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/valve-reveals-the-most-played-games-on-steam-deck-222004418.html?src=rss
Sometimes as we navigate our way through the daily doom scroll that is our current news cycle, it's nice to go back and remember how things used to be. Those times sucked too but a distraction is still a distraction. One of my favorite ways to look at the past was by going through old clips of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report on Comedy Central's website.Paramount went on a content teardown this week and pulled old clips and episodes of its signature satire shows from the Comedy Central website, as well as content from cable channels like TV Land, CMT and the Paramount Network, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Those sites now contain a notice that tells views the clips are unavailable there, but that they can "sign up for Paramount+ to watch many seasons of Comedy Central shows."It's a bizarre move because most of those old episodes aren't available on its Paramount+ streaming service. Essentially, there's no longer a free, legal means to consume the archive of these shows. It wouldn't be so insulting if you also couldn't watch all of Carlos Mencia's comedy specials on the platform.If you're itching to watch some of Comedy Central's older shows, some are available on the streaming service and you can still purchase some episodes of The Colbert Report on AppleTV or the iTunes store. If you're also like me and you still use DVDs, you can buy used copies of The Best of the Colbert Report and The Daily Show's Indecision 2004 coverage of the presidential election from online retailers. Paramount can't take away physical media... yet. But it seems likely some portion of these shows - as well as the entire MTVNews archive - are now effectively lost to time for no good reason.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/paramounts-strategy-of-purposeful-digital-rot-doesnt-even-make-sense-204613382.html?src=rss
It's that time of year again. The Steam Summer Sale is officially live, offering deep discounts on thousands of games and even the Steam Deck. The sale goes until July 11, so you have a bit of time to browse and fill up that wishlist.The venerable Steam Deck is on sale, with some caveats. The deals only apply to the LCD model, and not the newer OLED version. Also, the 256GB LCD is not on sale. That leaves the 64GB at $300 instead of $350 and the 512GB model at $382 instead of $450. Incidentally, that puts the 64GB model at the same price as the Nintendo Switch. I love the Switch, but it sure can't run Elden Ring.Speaking of Elden Ring, it's on sale for $42. The good news? That's a 30 percent discount. The bad news? There's no sale for the recently-released (and brutally difficult) expansion DLC Shadow of the Erdtree. That'll have to wait for next year.That's not the only AAA title available at a discount. Cyberpunk 2077 is half off, at $30, and Baldur's Gate 3 is $48, which is 20 percent off. It's rare to find a discount on Baldur's Gate 3 at all, so this might be just the time to finally try out 2023's Game of the Year winner. Hogwart's Legacy is just $24, the indie smash Palworld is $23 and Star Wars: Jedi Survivor is more than 50 percent off, at $32.There are also plenty of indie darlings available for cheap. The iconic Stardew Valley is $9 and the retro shooter Cuphead is $14. The fantastic Dave the Diver is also $14, which is a discount of 30 percent. Hades is $10, but the sequel remains full price. Even the recently-released smash hit Balatro, which is a sort of roguelike sequel to poker, is on sale, though only with a ten percent cut.The Steam Summer Sale includes some really deep discounts on popular games. We are talking impulse buy territory here. Disco Elysium: The Final Cut is only $4 and the renowned platformer Celeste is just $2. Borderlands 2 is $3, Castle Crashers is $1.50 and Batman: Arkham Knight is $2. As usual, The Witcher 3 is heavily discounted at $4.If you are like me, you'll use this sale to snatch up anything that's been hanging out in your wishlist for a while, where it will then go into a digital unplayed pile until the end of time. To that end, a researcher recently used SteamIDFinder's database to calculate that unplayed Steam games account for $19 billion dollars. Let's get it to at least $20 billion by July 11.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-steam-summer-sale-is-here-to-empty-your-bank-accounts-184158057.html?src=rss
Soon you'll have another means of playing Game Pass titles without breaking the bank for an Xbox Series X|S console. Microsoft and Amazon are teaming up to bring Xbox Gaming to select Amazon Fire TV devices in July. According to Microsoft, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers in over 25 countries will be able to access the Xbox app with the Fire TV Stick 4K Max and Fire TV Stick 4K..Once the new functionality goes live you can sign in to your Microsoft account, connect a compatible Bluetooth controller and start playing hundreds of games, including Fallout 76, Fallout 4, Starfield and Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2. Current-gen Xbox and PlayStation controllers will both work.Xbox Gaming will come to Amazon Fire TV two years after Microsoft released the Xbox app on Samsung smart TVs. The new integration with Amazon products also comes as Microsoft appears to be losing faith in its console business. The company's hardware refresh fell well short of its prior roadmap, and one of its biggest console-pushing series, Call of Duty, will have its next title appear on Game Pass at launch.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/xbox-gaming-coming-to-select-amazon-fire-tv-devices-in-july-182541532.html?src=rss
The Center for Investigative Reporting, the nation's oldest nonprofit newsroom that produces Mother Jones and Reveal sued OpenAI and Microsoft in federal court on Thursday for allegedly using its content to train AI models without consent or compensation. This is the latest in a long line of lawsuits filed by publishers and creators accusing generative AI companies of violating copyright.OpenAI and Microsoft started vacuuming up our stories to make their product more powerful, but they never asked for permission or offered compensation, unlike other organizations that license our material," said Monika Bauerlein, CEO of the Center for Investigative Reporting, in a statement. This free rider behavior is not only unfair, it is a violation of copyright. The work of journalists, at CIR and everywhere, is valuable, and OpenAI and Microsoft know it." Bauerlein said that OpenAI and Microsoft treat the work of nonprofit and independent publishers as free raw material for their products," and added that such moves by generative AI companies hurt the public's access to truthful information in a disappearing news landscape."OpenAI and Microsoft did not respond to a request for comment by Engadget.The CIR's lawsuit, which was filed in Manhattan's federal court, accuses OpenAI and Microsoft, which owns nearly half of the company, of violating the Copyright Act and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act multiple times.News organizations find themselves at an inflection point with generative AI. While the CIR is joining publishers like The New York Times, New York Daily News, The Intercept, AlterNet and Chicago Tribune in suing OpenAI, others publishers have chosen to strike licensing deals with the company. These deals will allow OpenAI to train its models on archives and ongoing content published by these publishers and cite information from them in responses offered by ChatGPT.On the same day as the CIR sued OpenAI, for instance, TIME magazine announced a deal with the company that would grant it access to 101 years of archives. Last month, OpenAI signed a $250 million multi-year deal with News Corp, the owner of The Wall Street Journal, to train its models on more than a dozen brands owned by the publisher. The Financial Times, Axel Springer (the owner of Politico and Business Insider), The Associated Press and Dotdash Meredith have also signed deals with OpenAI.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-nations-oldest-nonprofit-newsroom-is-suing-openai-and-microsoft-174748454.html?src=rss
Samsung has an Unpacked event scheduled for July 10, with plenty of hardware announcements expected. A reliable leaker, however, already has images of many of the big hitters, including the Galaxy Watch 7, Galaxy Watch Ultra, Galaxy Buds 3 and Galaxy Buds 3 Pro. It's like Christmas for Samsung fans!First, a caveat. These are leaked images obtained by Evan Blass and published on his Substack and X account. Blass has a very good track record with this kind of thing, but of course, nothing will be certain until Samsung itself confirms it. (Disclosure, Blass was a contributor and editor for Engadget from 2005 until 2008.)Evan BlassThere are glorious images of the forthcoming Galaxy Watch Ultra. The squarish smartwatch looks to feature a gray exterior with orange accents. It also boasts a durable-looking band that recalls the one originally introduced alongside the Apple Watch Ultra. The watch also seems to have eschewed the typical spring pin connector and replaced it with a new system that, once again, recalls Apple's connector.Evan BlassThe Galaxy Watch 7 comes in a new olive green colorway, though the design looks almost identical to the Watch 6. There's the same spring pin band connector and alternative gold and silver colorways. That green exterior sure does pop though.Evan BlassImages of the Galaxy Buds 3 and Buds 3 Pro were also leaked, though there's some confusion here. While Blass did publish images of two different pairs of earbuds, there's no branding so it's impossible to tell which is which. In any event, both of these are stemmed earbuds, with one featuring an open design just like Apple's entry-level AirPods. It's likely, though unconfirmed, that the open design represents the standard Buds 3. That leaves the one with the silicone eartips as the Buds 3 Pro.Samsung hasn't revealed any of the specs for the above items, though an additional leak suggests the Watch 7 will be available in a 40-millimeter size, with an unnamed three-nanometer chip powering the whole thing. It'll also allegedly feature a new BioActive Sensor for health metrics and, of course, plenty of AI bells and whistles.Additionally, the upcoming event should reveal new foldables and the long-awaited Galaxy Ring fitness device. Samsung will livestream Unpacked on its YouTube channel, main website and Newsroom site at 9AM ET on July 10.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/images-of-unannounced-samsung-watches-and-earbuds-appear-to-have-leaked-171013394.html?src=rss
Amazon Prime Day 2024 will be here next month, but the company has already pushed out its latest batch of free(ish) games that Prime members can snag right now (there are also a number of regular early Prime Day deals live today, too). In the run up to Prime Day on July 16 and 17, Prime members can grab 15 PC games at no extra cost, and there are actually some pretty groovy titles in the mix.On July 11, you can scoop up Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 - The Sith Lordsfor the Amazon Games App. This sequel to one of the most beloved RPGs of all time is set five years after the events of the original game. It tells the tale of a Jedi Knight who was exiled from the Jedi Order, which the Sith has almost entirely eliminated by this point. You're tasked with finding the remaining Jedi to help you take on those on the dark side of The Force.On the same day, you'll be able to claim Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge at no extra cost for the Epic Games Store. This arcade beat 'em up, a throwback to classics like Turtles in Time, is a blast, especially if you can persuade a few friends to pick it up and play co-op with you.Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX (also available July 11 for the Epic Games Store) is a solid modern remake of the 1986 Master System original. I've heard good things about Card Shark (June 27, Epic Games Store) and Hitman Absolution (July 3, GOG) as well, but I've yet to check those out.Let's jam through the rest of the latest Prime Gaming freebies, including details on where and when they'll be available:Available now
SpaceX just won a $843 million contract to, basically, crash the International Space Station (ISS) into the sea. It's part of a NASA program to safely deorbit the ISS within the next ten years.The ISS has been continuously operating since 1998 and, like all things, has been aging. The space station is due to end its orbital tenure in or around 2030. However, NASA doesn't want the whole thing just careening into Earth's atmosphere, throwing dangerous junk everywhere like season two of Breaking Bad. The agency wants a nice and controlled re-entry. That's where SpaceX comes in.
YouTube has recently launched a bunch of new features for Premium subscribers, including a quick way to skip the more boring parts of a video. When users double tap on a video, it will now skip ahead to what YouTube has marked as the more interesting portions of it based on a combination of AI and viewership data. The capability is now live in the US for Android users, though it's rolling out to iOS users in the coming weeks, as well. On Android, Premium subscribers can now also watch Shorts while checking their emails, browsing social media or doing things on other apps in general with the new picture-in-picture capability.Paying users will get access to the video hosting website's latest experimental features, as well. One of YouTube's newest test features is smart downloads for Shorts, which automatically saves the service's short-form videos on users' devices that they could then watch offline. In addition, Android users now have access to a conversational AI experience that can answer their questions and suggest related content without having to stop watching whatever's playing on their screens. It's only limited to users in the US at the moment, however, and only for English videos that display an "Ask" button. Finally, Premium subscribers can access YouTube's redesigned watch page for the web that apparently makes it easier to find related content.YouTube Premium removes ads from videos and gives subscribers access to offline viewing, Music Premium and other perks. In February, the Google-owned video sharing platform reported that it hit 100 million subscribers for both Premium and Music offerings, but it's been trying to get more people to pay for its services. Aside from introducing new perks, it's also waging a war against ad blockers and recently started preventing ad-blocking apps on mobile from accessing its videos.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/youtube-premiums-new-features-include-picture-in-picture-for-youtube-shorts-150029102.html?src=rss
Time has joined a growing number of publications to sign a licensing deal with OpenAI. The ChatGPT creator will legally be able to train its large language models on 101 years worth of the storied publication's journalism, as Axios first reported.OpenAI will also have access to real-time content from Time, with the apparent aim of answering user queries about breaking news. In return, OpenAI will cite Time and link back to source material on the publication's website.Perhaps Time will get a monetary kickback too, like other publishers that have shuffled over to OpenAI with a ragged cap in hand and an eye on one a new revenue source for struggling media companies. The Atlantic, Vox Media, Wall Street Journal publisher News Corp, the Financial Times, People magazine publisher Dotdash Meredith and the AP have also been enticed by some snake oil bank deposits from OpenAI.Time says the agreement builds on its "commitment to expanding global access to accurate and trusted information." It dropped its website paywall last year for the same reason.The magazine, which is now published on a biweekly basis after being hit hard by the impact of the internet on print advertising, says it will have access to OpenAI's tech to "develop new products for its audiences." Time will also "provide vital feedback and share practical applications to refine and enhance the delivery of journalism in ChatGPT and other OpenAI products and shape the future of news experiences."Some notable publishers have so far refused to bend the knee to OpenAI. The New York Times, theChicago Tribune, New York Daily News and others have sued the company and its partner Microsoft for copyright infringement, alleging that they trained AI chatbots on those publications' work without permission.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/time-strikes-a-deal-to-funnel-101-years-of-journalism-into-openais-gaping-maw-144058426.html?src=rss
Prime Day isn't until next month but Amazon is already discounting a lot of great items for Prime members. The latest steal comes courtesy of a 64 percent discount on the Blink Outdoor 4 and Blink Mini 2 bundle. It normally costs $140 for the duo but, right now, you can pick them up for $50. The combination of the Blink Outdoor 4 and the Blink Mini 2 keeps you covered inside and outside your home. We named the Outdoor 4 one of the best smart home gadgets for 2024. The wireless device offers two-way audio, Alexa integration and 1080HD video. Plus, the lens expanded to a 143-degree field of vision, with improved low-light vision and a quicker movement pick up, compared to its predecessor. The Blink Mini 2 is also a significant step up from the original. The plug-in security camera has improved day and night image quality, along with an LED spotlight to allow for color night vision. With a $3 monthly Blink subscription, you can access cloud recording, smart notifications and person detection. Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog's experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/get-a-blink-outdoor-4-system-with-a-blink-mini-2-for-50-in-an-early-prime-day-deal-140346588.html?src=rss
Much of the conversation about AI has revolved around the use of copyrighted materials to train models. YouTube is allegedly taking steps to avoid this issue, offering major musical labels payment to license their songs for AI training, the Financial Times reports.Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Records are all reportedly involved in talks with the Google-owned platform. However, it's unlikely the companies will get the last word as it would reportedly be up to each artist whether they participate.Many musicians are far from thrilled about allowing AI anywhere near their work. In April 2023, over 200 artists signed an open letter stating, "We must protect against the predatory use of AI to steal professional artists' voices and likenesses, violate creators' rights, and destroy the music ecosystem."In November, YouTube launched Dream Track, a tool that allowed select creators to pull from the lyrics and voices of singers such as John Legend and Charli XCX. However, only ten artists participated in the tool's test, and YouTube apparently aims to have "dozens" participate in an AI song generator.Record labels have taken a stand against companies they see using their copyrighted content. On June 24, the trio of Sony, Universal and Warner filed a suit against music generators Suno and Omio for "massive scale" copyright infringement. They demand injunctions against further use and up to $150,000 per work.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/youtube-reportedly-wants-to-pay-record-labels-to-use-their-songs-for-ai-training-125052503.html?src=rss
While Google Translate is far from perfect, it's still a helpful way to gain information or engage in conversation. Now, that option is expanding as Google uses AI to give Translate 110 new languages, such as Cantonese, Punjabi (Shahmukhi) and NKo. About a quarter of the languages come from Africa and Google claims that all the new ones together represent 614 million speakers - about eight percent of the global population.Google credits its LLM, PaLM 2, as "a key piece to the puzzle, helping Translate more efficiently learn languages that are closely related to each other, including languages close to Hindi, like Awadhi and Marwadi, and French creoles like Seychellois Creole and Mauritian Creole." Isaac Caswell, Senior Software Engineer, Google Translate, adds: "As technology advances, and as we continue to partner with expert linguists and native speakers, we'll support even more language varieties and spelling conventions over time."Google Translate got its last big influx of languages in May 2022 with the help of Zero-Shot Machine Translation. Zero-Shot allows a model to learn a new language even though it doesn't view examples. Later that year, Google announced the 1,000 Languages Initiative, which aims to create AI models that can support - you guessed it - the 1,000 most common languages spoken globally.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-uses-ai-to-add-110-new-languages-to-translate-123009750.html?src=rss
While there's a bunch of third-party apps and services you can use to record your Steam games, you now have a native option that's built right into the Steam client. Valve has launched its own game recorder in beta, and yes, it also serves as a native recorder on the Steam Deck. You can either set the feature to start recording in the background the moment you keep playing or set it to only start (and stop) recording when you press a hotkey. If you choose to record in the background, you can specify the maximum of amount of storage recordings can take. Steam will overwrite old recordings once you hit the limit.A Replay capability will allow you to watch previous footage in the Steam Overlay, so you can see what you did wrong in case you lose a boss fight or take a wrong turn that gets you lost. You can even drop markers beforehand to make it easy to find clips you think you'd want to watch later. The new feature also makes it easy to send clips from your Steam Deck to your PC or mobile device if you want to share them with friends or to upload them online.Valve says the feature will only capture footage of your games and not your desktop, but it can include audio from voice chat programs. It will also work for most games, even non-Steam titles, as long as they support Steam Overlay. Since the feature is still in beta, though, you'll have to join a beta program to be able to access it. Go to Beta Participation in Interface under Settings to choose a beta program and then activate the Game Recording option that shows up in the Settings menu.
Twelve years on, Microsoft has finally made an Arm-powered Surface tablet that doesn't send our reviewers into a rage. The 2024 Surface Pro, or the Surface Pro Copilot+, is the fastest and most efficient Microsoft tablet we've seen, especially when paired with its Flex keyboard. The new OLED screen is great, and its NPU allows for powerful AI features.EngadgetHowever, those much-hyped AI features are far less compelling than the one-two punch of speed and solid battery life. (Take note: That's most of what we want, laptop/tablet makers.) You can use Cocreator in Paint to generate AI images alongside text prompts and doodles, and the device can translate 40-plus languages into English using Windows 11's Live Captions feature. The controversial Recall capability, meant to help you find anything you were doing on your computer through a natural conversation, is nowhere to be seen. There are security concerns other accounts could get into your Recall data.A shame the keyboards are sold separately, though. Check out the full review right here.- Mat SmithThe biggest stories you might have missedRabbit R1 security issue allegedly leaves sensitive user data accessible to anybodyEven FromSoftware agrees Elden Ring's DLC was too difficultAmazon Prime Day 2024: The best early Prime Day dealsGet these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!This cute/creepy pink blob could lead to realistic robot skinSmile.University of TokyoA team of scientists from the University of Tokyo and Harvard University is investigating how to create humanoid robots with skin that feels real. The process includes creating partly terrifying and partly adorable experimental machines with skin, like this smiley face. Broadly, the process tries to attach the skin to a layer beneath it, like real skin. The technique is called perforation-type anchors.Continue reading.An AI-generated Al Michaels will read you personalized Olympic recapsAh, the future.Of course, AI nonsense will be connected to this year's Olympics. Your Daily Olympic Recap on Peacock" will let you choose your favorite sports and highlight types for the 2024 Summer Olympics, and an AI-generated Michaels will read a 10-minute customized recap of the previous day's events based on your preferences. In fairness, you'd be hard-pressed to tell the AI-generated speech from Michaels' real voice.Continue reading.Amazon is reportedly working on a new AI chatbotMetis could be available as early as September.Amazon may be working hard on a new chatbot called Metis. The company is using a different generation model, called retrieval-augmented generation (RAG). RAG redirects the LLM to retrieve relevant information from authoritative, predetermined knowledge sources." This means the model can tap into data that can be updated separately without retraining and could allow it to access up-to-date information. According to a Business Insider report, the model would be for consumers, not businesses, where it's already offering its Amazon Q AI model.Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-microsofts-surface-pro-copilot-is-the-best-surface-tablet-yet-111534749.html?src=rss
The Oversight Board has published its latest annual report looking at its influence on Meta and ability to shift the policies that govern Facebook and Instagram. The board says that in 2023 it received 398,597 appeals, the vast majority of which came from Facebook users. But it took on only a tiny fraction of those cases, issuing a total of 53 decisions.The board suggests, however, that the cases it selects can have an outsize impact on Meta's users. For example, it credits its work for influencing improvements to Meta's strike system and the account status" feature that helps users check if their posts have violated any of the company's rules.Sussing out the board's overall influence, though, is more complicated. The group says that between January of 2021 and May of 2024, it has sent a total of 266 recommendations to Meta. Of those, the company has fully or partially implemented 75, and reported progress" on 81. The rest have been declined, omitted or reframed," or else Meta has claimed some level of implementation but hasn't offered proof to the board. (There are five recommendations currently awaiting a response.) Those numbers raise some questions about how much Meta is willing to change in response to the board it created.Oversight BoardNotably, the report has no criticism for Meta and offers no analysis of Meta's efforts (or lack thereof) to comply with its recommendations. The report calls out a case in which it recommended that Meta suspend the former prime minister of Cambodia for six months, noting that it overturned the company's decision to leave up a video that could have incited violence. But the report makes no mention of the fact that Meta declined to suspend the former prime minister's account and declined to further clarify its rules for public figures.The report also hints at thorny topics the board may take on in the coming months. It mentions that it wants to look at content demotion," or what some Facebook and Instagram users may call shadowbans" (the term is a loaded one for Meta, which has repeatedly denied that its algorithms intentionally punish users for no reason). One area we are interested in exploring is demoted content, where a platform limits a post's visibility without telling the user," the Oversight Board writes.For now, it's not clear exactly how the group could tackle the issue. The board's purview currently allows it to weigh in on specific pieces of content that Meta has removed or left up after a user appeal. But it's possible the board could find another way into the issue. A spokesperson for the Oversight Board notes that the group expressed concern about demoted content in its opinion on content related to the Israel-Hamas war. This is something the board would like to further explore as Meta's decisions around demotion are pretty opaque," the spokesperson said.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/metas-oversight-board-made-just-53-decisions-in-2023-100017750.html?src=rss
Microsoft leadership has been putting a lot of weight on Game Pass, and several of its business decisions of late appear to center on getting more people into that subscription service. One of those projects was called Keystone, a dedicated streaming device that would let Game Pass customers play Xbox titles without an Xbox console. After first announcing the concept in 2021, the project was eventually deemed too expensive. That team instead shifted focus to a smart TV streaming app, leaving Keystone to disappear into the void. Today, Windows Central uncovered a patent that showed what the Keystone might have looked like.This patent filing has more detail than we ever got from the Xbox leadership about the project. The only glimpse we'd seen before now was in a teaser image Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer shared back in 2022. But we can now see that the squat, square device would have had a circle pattern on the top and circular plate on the bottom. It also had the expected cable ports and what looks like a controller pairing button.Microsoft has made a lot of pitches for new hardware recently, but few of them seem to be sticking the landing. Even the company's announcement of Xbox hardware refreshes at the latest Summer Games Fest fell short of expectations after a leak had hinted at much bigger plans. Hopefully Xbox can get a big win on the hardware side soon. For now, getting a glimpse of what might have been is neat backstory to have about the company and its development process.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/check-out-what-microsofts-keystone-streaming-device-might-have-been-224031677.html?src=rss
Capcom announced a new remaster of its 2006 zombie smasher Dead Rising. The new update, Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster, is currently scheduled for a release this year on "the newest generation of platforms." We can assume that means at least the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X/S, though it may hit previous-gen consoles as well. Both Frank West and the Willamette Parkview Mall are looking great (although Frank seems to have a different voice in this version). This project looks like a big rebuild with completely redone assets, but we don't have any confirmation yet about the extent of the possible changes afoot. Check out the teaser above to see the differences.This is the second time Capcom has overhauled the look of this fan-favorite title. It received an HD remaster in 2016 that marked the original's ten-year anniversary, with updates that brought Dead Rising, Dead Rising 2, and Dead Rising 2: Off the Record into the modern era to run at 1080p and 60 fps. But gaming hardware has made even more leaps forward since then, so the Deluxe Remaster could up the ante to 4K, or possibly add in some HDR so that those blood splatters look extra vivid. After all, Frank's a photographer. Gotta go for the best image quality.It's been a quiet couple years from the Dead Rising team. After releasing DLC for Dead Rising 4, the only other big news was that Capcom had closed down the Capcom Vancouver studio responsible for the franchise. After weathering the layoffs that have been plaguing so much of the games business, it's heartening to see some care still being given to this goofy, campy series.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/dead-rising-is-back-with-a-new-deluxe-remaster-210535941.html?src=rss
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