Tarsier Studios, creators of the first two Little Nightmaresgames, is back with another creepy adventure — and its “partially disemboweled talking pig” teaser video looks like it set the proper tone. Announced at Gamescom Opening Night, Reanimal takes two children on an adventure across land and sea as they work together to rescue their missing friends on an island filled with horrifying creatures.
The developer helmed the first two Little Nightmares installments before Supermassive Games took over for part III. The new game promises to up the ante with “a more terrifying journey than ever before.”
The horror-adventure game stars a brother and sister in an “unsettling tale” who “go through hell to rescue their missing friends.” The protagonists are described as broken but resilient, facing fragments of their troubled past in the guise of gruesome beasts. It will somehow explore themes of hope and redemption as they navigate the chilling environment.
Tarsier Studios / THQ Nordic
The game lets you play single-player or co-op (local and online). In an illustration of the creators’ understanding of the horror genre, it uses a shared, directed camera “to maximize claustrophobia and tension.”
Reanimal doesn’t yet have a launch date other than “coming soon,” but we know it will be available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. You can check out the announcement trailer below.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/reanimal-promises-a-more-terrifying-journey-than-little-nightmares-200457474.html?src=rss
Black Myth: Wukong, considered China’s first true AAA game, has broken Steam’s concurrent players record for a single-player title, passing Cyberpunk 2077 for the single-player record. In addition, it’s now the game with the second-most all-time concurrent players to date (including multiplayer), moving past Palworld. Based on the 16th-century novel Journey to the West, the souls-like action-adventure epic peaked at 2,223,179 players.
Industry analyst Simon Carless of GameDiscoverCo posted on X (Twitter) early on Tuesday an estimate that Black Myth: Wukong’s regional breakdown heavily favored its home country. The agency’s pie graph showed China claiming 88 percent of the game’s players. (In second place was the US at a mere three percent.) Although some interpreted that as potentially showing inflated numbers, the game launched in the middle of the night in the western hemisphere, and Carless’ stats were posted around 5AM ET.
The title’s records come against a backdrop of misogyny and censorship accusations aimed at developer Game Science. Streamers who were granted early access keys were given a (non-legally-binding) document that raised some eyebrows.
Game Science / Sony
The document included a list of banned topics the streamers were to avoid discussing while broadcasting gameplay. The New York Timesreported that the off-limits subjects included politics, “feminist propaganda,” COVID-19, China’s gaming industry, and anything else that “instigates negative discourse.” (While streamers were given the list, reviewers weren’t.)
As for the “feminist propaganda” restriction for Black Myth: Wukong’s streamers, you can easily draw a straight line from widespread accusations of misogyny from developer Game Science and individuals working there, including some of its cofounders. Among the many instances (summarized in a 2023 IGN story) were Game Science recruitment posters from 2015, one of which implied friends with benefits were an office perk and another featuring a dumbbell with the text (translated) “fatties should fuck off.” (Yikes.) The accusations go on from there.
Game Science / Valve
Game Science has ties to the Chinese government, which is no stranger to accusations of misogyny and censorship. To cite only a few examples, the #MeToo hashtag was censored or blocked on Chinese social platforms during the height of the movement, posts from feminist and LGBTQ+ groups and voices are routinely blocked or deleted on the country’s social media, feminist perspectives are frequently restricted or censored in China’s academic institutions and activists are no strangers to harassment, surveillance or arrests.
Tencent Holdings, a five-percent stakeholder according to The NY Times, has direct ties to Xi’s government. Meanwhile, the game’s publisher, Zhejiang Publishing & Media, is majority-owned by the Zhejiang provincial government. Finally, Hero Games, the company that sent out the streamer keys on Game Science’s behalf, has financial ties to “several state-owned enterprises,” according to The NYT. Hero Games owns around 20 percent of Game Science.
Some streamers supplied with keys (and the attached red tape) decided not to cover the game. “I have never seen anything that shameful in my 15 years doing this job. This is very clearly a document which explains that we must censor ourselves,” the prominent French streamer Benoit Reinier said (translated) in a YouTube video.
In Engadget’s preview of Black Myth: Wukong from earlier this summer (which didn’t include provisions about censored topics like streamers received), Mat Smith found the game visually stunning. We found the demo “elevated by how good the environment looks, the bizarre monster design and the quiet, unsettling soundtrack.” The game is available now on PC and PS5.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/black-myth-wukong-breaks-steams-concurrent-single-player-record-within-hours-of-launch-184559634.html?src=rss
If you’ve ever browsed Razer’s selection of gaming peripherals and thought, “You guys really need to step up your RGB game,” HP has just the accessory for you. The company’s newest HyperX microphone, unveiled on Tuesday at Gamescom, has over 100 LEDs for “a stunning visual” with “energetic style,” which sounds about right.
The HyperX QuadCast 2 S is a USB gaming microphone with over 100 aRGB LEDs. The individually customizable lights can display over 16 million color combinations. Why, you ask? To complement your “streams and creations,” according to HP. (Sure, why not!)
If you’re the kind of fuddy-duddy who cares more about audio input than groovy light shows, the QuadCast 2 S has a 32-bit audio resolution and a 192kHz sampling rate. It has a tap-to-mute sensor, four selectable polar patterns and a bundled shock mount / stand combo. When used with the HyperX NGENUITY software (NGENIOUS!), you can customize the LEDs, limiter and 10-band EQ. It also includes AI-based noise reduction.
HP
In addition to the Vegas casino of gaming mics, HP is launching a wireless keyboard that it claims has “the longest battery life on a backlit dual-wireless gaming keyboard” available. The HyperX Alloy Rise 75 offers 80 hours of gameplay with the backlighting on (more RGB!!). Alternatively, you can squeeze out “a staggering 1,500 hours with the backlighting off.” (At least your mic can compensate for the lack of backlighting under those conditions.)
The keyboard supports a 2.4GHz wireless connection or up to three Bluetooth connections. It includes hot-swap key switches, magnetic top plates and badges.
The RGB-tastic HyperX QuadCast 2 S gaming mic will be available in November for $200, while the Alloy Rise 75 keyboard launches in October for $230.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/hps-latest-gaming-mic-is-the-las-vegas-casino-of-microphones-100009803.html?src=rss
Product image of the HyperX QuadCast 2 S gaming mic. The mic (with over 100 LEDs) sits on a black desk in front of a blue background. Dramatic shadows.
If you’re looking for an iPad that’s more affordable than cutting-edge, Amazon has the 2021 base model for only $199. Although that’s a generation behind the current version, this ninth-generation edition could be great for kids, seniors or those wanting a HomeKit-based smart home hub.
The three-year-old model is still a capable tablet for anyone content with forgoing the latest and greatest hardware. The ninth-gen iPad has a 10.2-inch Retina display and Apple’s old home button-based Touch ID sensor. It runs on the A13 Bionic chip, which has a six-core processor, quad-core GPU and octal-core Neural Engine. This isn’t the model to get if you want screaming-fast speeds, the most eye-popping display or the upcoming Apple Intelligence, but it’s hard to nitpick too much about any of that when you look at the price.
Engadget’s 2021 review found this model to be “a modest update” over the previous version. Nathan Ingraham described it as “a fast, lightweight tablet with a nice display and tons of apps, without having to spend too much.” In our battery test, we found that it outperformed Apple’s 10-hour estimate, lasting about 14 hours of video streaming.
This model runs iPadOS 17 and will support iPadOS 18 when it launches this fall. It isn’t known how many annual updates it will be eligible for after that, but the upcoming 2024 software will still run on two hardware generations behind this model, hinting that it may not be approaching the end of the line just yet.
It’s also well-suited for video chat, and its 12MP ultrawide front-facing camera supports Center Stage. Apple’s machine learning-based feature tracks your and anyone else’s faces in the shot, adjusting the call’s framing accordingly through automatic pans and zooms.
It’s worth keeping in mind that this model uses a Lightning connector rather than the USB-C that Apple has shifted its product lineup toward. It includes a charger in the box, but you may want to consider that if you’ve already chucked all your old Lightning cables. On the other hand, some may consider it a bonus that it still includes Apple’s now-defunct headphone jack.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/tablets/apples-ninth-generation-ipad-hits-an-all-time-low-of-199-191018362.html?src=rss
Alphabet-owned Waymo unveiled its sixth-generation Driver system on Monday with a more efficient sensor setup. Despite having a reduced camera and LiDAR sensor count from the current platform, the self-driving ride’s new setup allegedly maintains safety levels. Once it's ready for public rides, it will coexist with the current-gen lineup.
CNBCreports that the new system is built into Geely Zeekr electric vehicles. Waymo first said it would work with the Chinese EV maker in late 2021. The new platform’s rides are boxier than the current-gen lineup, built on Jaguar I-PACE SUVs. The Zeekr-built sixth-gen fleet is reportedly better for accessibility, including a lower step, higher ceiling and more legroom — with roughly the same overall footprint as the Jaguar-based lineup.
The sixth-gen Waymo Driver reduced its camera count from 29 to 13 and its LiDAR sensors from five to four. Alphabet says they work together with overlapping fields of view and safety-focused redundancies that let it perform better in various weather conditions. The company claims the new platform’s field of view extends up to 500 meters (1,640 feet) in daytime and nighttime and “a range of” weather conditions.
Waymo
Waymo says the new system has a modular aspect, allowing it to “swap out various sensing components to match the specific conditions of each operating environment,” like more stringent sensor cleaning for vehicles in colder cities. CNBC clarified that the cleaning system includes wipers that can clear most dirt and moisture.
The company says the sixth-gen Driver performs reliably even in extreme heat, fog, rain and hail, thanks to “regular road trips to newer cities.” That makes sense, given that its currently approved cities are all in relatively clear and dry climates. (CNBC reports that Waymo tested it in Detroit, Buffalo and NYC.) Currently, Waymo only operates in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Austin. After launching in 2018, the company’s fleet serves around 50,000 paid autonomous trips weekly.
Waymo says the new generation already has thousands of miles of real-world driving experience (and “millions more” in simulations). The company expects it to be ready for consumers sooner than previous models — about half the time — thanks to learning from the system’s “shared knowledge” from its previous generations.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/waymos-sixth-generation-autonomous-fleet-has-fewer-sensors-without-compromising-safety-175339320.html?src=rss
Gamescom 2024 is almost here. Exhibitors from over 60 countries will descend on Cologne, Germany, for what is now the industry’s biggest gaming event following E3’s demise. An opening night presentation will kick off the festivities with new game announcements, trailers, footage and other surprises (like the obligatory awkward celebrity cameos). You can watch the showcase right here on Tuesday, August 20.
As usual, industry stalwart Geoff Keighley will host the Opening Night Live festivities, which begin at 2PM ET on Tuesday. E-sports MC Eefje “sjokz” Depoortere will join as co-host.
Keighley has confirmed the showcase will include the following:
OpenAI said on Friday that it thwarted an Iranian influence campaign that used ChatGPT to generate fake news stories and social posts aimed at Americans. The company said it identified and banned accounts generating content for five websites (in English and Spanish) pretending to be news outlets, spreading “polarizing messages” on issues like the US presidential campaign, LGBTQ+ rights and the war in Gaza.
The operation was identified as “Storm-2035,” part of a series of influence campaigns Microsoft identified last week as “connected with the Iranian government.” In addition to the news posts, it included “a dozen accounts on X and one on Instagram” connected to the operation. OpenAI said the op didn’t appear to have gained any meaningful traction. “The majority of social media posts that we identified received few or no likes, shares, or comments,” the company wrote.
In addition, OpenAI said that on the Brookings Institution’s Breakout Scale, which rates threats, the operation only charted a Category 2 rating (on a scale of one to six). That means it showed “activity on multiple platforms, but no evidence that real people picked up or widely shared their content.”
OpenAI described the operation as creating content for faux conservative and progressive news outlets, targeting opposing viewpoints. Bloombergsaid the content suggested Donald Trump was “being censored on social media and was prepared to declare himself king of the US.” Another framed Kamala Harris’ choice of Tim Walz as her running mate as a “calculated choice for unity.”
OpenAI added that the operation also created content about Israel’s presence at the Olympics and (to a lesser degree) Venezuelan politics, the rights of Latin American communities and Scottish Independence. In addition, the campaign peppered the heavy stuff with comments about fashion and beauty, “possibly to appear more authentic or in an attempt to build a following.”
“The operation tried to play both sides but it didn’t look like it got engagement from either,” OpenAI Intelligence and Investigations investigator Ben Nimmo told Bloomberg.
The busted dud of an influence op follows the disclosure earlier this week that Iranian hackers have targeted both Harris’ and Trump’s campaigns. The FBI said informal Trump adviser Roger Stone fell victim to phishing emails. The Iranian hackers then took control of his account and sent messages with phishing links to others. The FBI found no evidence that anyone in the Harris campaign fell for the scheme.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/openai-shut-down-an-iranian-influence-op-that-used-chatgpt-to-generate-bogus-news-articles-202526662.html?src=rss
In the latest example of a troubling industry pattern, NVIDIA appears to have scraped troves of copyrighted content for AI training. On Monday, 404 Media’s Samantha Cole reported that the $2.4 trillion company asked workers to download videos from YouTube, Netflix and other datasets to develop commercial AI projects. The graphics card maker is among the tech companies appearing to have adopted a “move fast and break things” ethos as they race to establish dominance in this feverish, too-often-shameful AI gold rush.
The training was reportedly to develop models for products like its Omniverse 3D world generator, self-driving car systems and “digital human” efforts.
NVIDIA defended its practice in an email to Engadget. A company spokesperson said its research is “in full compliance with the letter and the spirit of copyright law” while claiming IP laws protect specific expressions “but not facts, ideas, data, or information.” The company equated the practice to a person’s right to “learn facts, ideas, data, or information from another source and use it to make their own expression.” Human, computer… what’s the difference?
YouTube doesn’t appear to agree. Spokesperson Jack Malon pointed us to a Bloomberg story from April, quoting CEO Neal Mohan saying using YouTube to train AI models would be a “clear violation” of its terms. “Our previous comment still stands,” the YouTube policy communications manager wrote to Engadget.
NVIDIA employees who raised ethical and legal concerns about the practice were reportedly told by their managers that it had already been green-lit by the company's highest levels. “This is an executive decision,” Ming-Yu Liu, vice president of research at NVIDIA, replied. “We have an umbrella approval for all of the data.” Others at the company allegedly described its scraping as an “open legal issue” they’d tackle down the road.
In addition to the YouTube and Netflix videos, NVIDIA reportedly instructed workers to train on movie trailer database MovieNet, internal libraries of video game footage and Github video datasets WebVid (now taken down after a cease-and-desist) and InternVid-10M. The latter is a dataset containing 10 million YouTube video IDs.
Some of the data NVIDIA allegedly trained on was only marked as eligible for academic (or otherwise non-commercial) use. HD-VG-130M, a library of 130 million YouTube videos, includes a usage license specifying that it’s only meant for academic research. NVIDIA reportedly brushed aside concerns about academic-only terms, insisting their batches were fair game for its commercial AI products.
To evade detection from YouTube, NVIDIA reportedly downloaded content using virtual machines (VMs) with rotating IP addresses to avoid bans. In response to a worker’s suggestion to use a third-party IP address-rotating tool, another NVIDIA employee reportedly wrote, “We are on [Amazon Web Services](#) and restarting a [virtual machine](#) instance gives a new public IP[.](#) So, that’s not a problem so far.”
404 Media’s full report on NVIDIA’s practices is worth a read.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/nvidias-ai-team-reportedly-scraped-youtube-netflix-videos-without-permission-204942022.html?src=rss
Apple is pumping the brakes on some of its updates to the Photos app in iOS 18. The company made some changes — removing some features and tweaking others — on Monday to address user feedback. The pared-down version can be found in the software’s fifth developer beta, which app makers can install today.
The biggest change is that Apple removed the Carousel from the Photos app altogether. The iOS 18 feature used “on-device intelligence” (which, confusingly, isn’t the same as Apple Intelligence) to aggregate what it thought was your best content, placing them in a swipeable row. Previously found to the right of the photo grid, it’s now gone altogether, helping Apple clean up one of the features that earned a healthy dose of complaints from beta testers.
In addition, Apple tweaked the All Photos view in today’s update to show more of the photos grid. The company also added Recently Saved content to the Recent Days collection. Finally, Apple made albums easier to find for users with more than one. (The difficulty of locating that section was a frequently echoed complaint among testers.)
Apple
Apple pitched the changes to the Photos app as one of the pillars of its 2024 software update. Although the app is streamlined into a single view and designed to be more customizable, it too often ends up as a mishmash of extra features most people won’t need, sometimes getting in the way of finding what you’re looking for.
A Reddit thread from July with over 1,000 upvotes gave voice to some of the most frequent complaints. “Once again taking a rapid-use app and making it into an experience for no reason,” u/thiskillstheredditor commented. “I just want a camera roll and maybe the ability to sort photos by location. It was perfectly fine, if maybe a bit bloated, before. But this is an unmitigated mess.”
Time will tell if today’s updates are enough to clean up the app’s user experience ahead of iOS 18’s fall launch to the public. The changes aren’t yet in the public beta but will likely appear there in the next version or soon after.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apples-latest-ios-18-beta-walks-back-some-changes-to-the-redesigned-photos-app-180145232.html?src=rss
If you’ve been holding out for a deal on an iPad mini, it may be time to make a move. Apple’s mini-tablet has dropped to a record low on Amazon. Usually $499, the sixth-gen model with 64GB is on sale for a mere $379. If you want more storage, the 256GB variant, typically $649, is on sale for $529.
Although the iPad mini is a niche device these days, it’s still a terrific tablet for those who like something smaller to easily hold in one hand and stow away in a small bag or purse. It can serve as a fancy eReader (through Apple Books, Kindle or any other iPadOS reading app), and it’s handy for perusing other content, watching videos and FaceTiming friends. It even includes Apple’s AI-powered Center Stage feature, which keeps you in frame on video calls.
This sixth-generation model is several years old (it launched in 2021), but it’s still Apple’s newest model. It was the first to shed the old Touch ID home button design from iPads in the days of yore, moving to an 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display that nearly covers its entire face. Like the iPad Air, its Touch ID sensor is on its power / sleep button, which is on the tablet’s side. It has a 2266 x 1488 resolution with 326 ppi.
Its battery life is rated for up to 10 hours, but it lasted around 12 in Engadget’s continuous video playback test. Powering it is the A15 Bionic chip, only one generation behind the A16 found in the (non-Pro) iPhone 15 series.
The iPad mini supports the second-generation Apple Pencil, which attaches magnetically to its side. The tablet includes a USB-C charging port, aligning with Apple’s current standard.
Antstream Arcade offers over 1,300 retro games from old-school platforms like Atari consoles, Commodore 64, DOS and arcade. It even has a few PS1 games, but its fare is less Metal Gear Solid and more… Hogs of War. You can browse Antstream’s current library here.
Although Apple cited developer feedback for its loosening of rules, you can likely thank the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). Designed to boost competition and prevent the all-too-common consumer-hostile practices in Big Tech, the DMA’s regulations went into effect in 2023. Earlier this year, Apple said it would begin allowing developers to submit single apps that stream entire libraries of games, something it had previously resisted.
Antstream typically costs $5 monthly or $40 annually, but Cult of Mac reports that it will launch with an introductory offer of $4 per month or $30 for a year. You can check out the company’s website to see if it’s worth it before it launches next week.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/antstream-will-be-the-iphones-first-official-game-streaming-app-204617575.html?src=rss
Spotify has a new plan for US subscribers that keeps you on the old $11 monthly pricing — as long as you don’t mind ditching audiobooks. The new Basic tier includes the music and podcast content you get from Premium but without 15 hours of audiobook access, a recently added feature we suspect many subscribers don’t care about anyway. Spotify said earlier this month it would hike Premium prices to $12 per month, beginning in July.
The Basic plan echoes one it rolled out in the UK last month. That one costs £11 per month compared to £12 for Premium with audiobook content.
Some have suspected Spotify’s audiobook push has nefarious motives. Earlier this month, the National Music Publishers’ Association asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the move, going as far as calling the company’s audiobook integration “a scheme to increase profits by deceiving consumers and cheating the music royalty system.” The NMPA complaint claims Spotify will pay about $150 million less in music royalties over the next year because of its audiobook fusion. Spotify told Engadget it did nothing wrong and rejected the accusations.
Spotify has been penny-pinching in other areas. It was reported last year that the company planned to overhaul its royalty model. One alleged part of that plan was to demonetize tracks earning less than five cents per month, pushing out some indie artists without established audiences.
Spotify also laid off around 9,000 employees late last year, citing “the gap between our financial goal state and our current operational costs.”
You can switch to the audiobook-free tier (which is now live) by navigating to your account page, then “Manage your plan” and “Change plan” and picking Basic. If you’re a new subscriber, you can choose the Basic option when signing up.
Update, June 21, 2024, 2:36 PM ET: This story has been updated to note that the ability to sign up for the Basic plan is now live.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/spotifys-basic-plan-returns-to-11-a-month-by-cutting-audiobooks-163804267.html?src=rss
“We are concerned 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,” the company said in a statement to Bloomberg. Apple didn’t expand on how DMA regulations could force it to compromise user privacy and security.
The DMA, which passed in 2022, tries to usher in fair competition by reining in what Big Tech companies can do to stifle competition. It blocks them from pushing out smaller competitors, favoring their own services over those of rivals, locking customers’ data into their platform and limiting transparency about their use of advertising data.
This isn’t the first time Apple has pinned blame on regulations — without offering much in the way of specifics — for blocking EU users from having nice things. Earlier this year, the company said it would remove the ability to add home screen web apps in Europe due to DMA rules. It later reversed course, citing “requests” it received. Google did something similar when it removed third-party apps and watch faces from European devices, blaming “new regulatory requirements.”
Apple’s delay comes when EU regulations present a thorn in the company’s side. The European Commission formally opened an investigation into the company in March and reportedly plans to charge it in the coming weeks for DMA violations. The company was already fined €1.8 billion ($1.95 billion) earlier this year for preventing app developers from informing iOS users about cheaper music subscription plans outside of the company’s ecosystem.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-will-reportedly-withhold-new-ai-features-in-europe-due-to-regulations-183313640.html?src=rss
Apple CEO Tim Cook attends the annual developer conference event at the company's headquarters in Cupertino, California, U.S., June 10, 2024. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
The image of the Serpens Nebula you see above, taken by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), not only looks mesmerizing but also captures a never-before-seen phenomenon. The aligned, elongated “protostellar outflows” visible in the top left support a longstanding theory. As suspected, the jets shoot out in alignment from the swirling disks of surrounding material, showing evidence that clusters of forming stars spin in the same direction.
NASA says the bright and clumpy streaks in the image’s upper-left area, which somewhat resemble JJ Abrams-style lens flare, represent shockwaves caused by outward-shooting jets that emerge when the interstellar gas cloud collapses inwards. As forming stars condense and twirl more rapidly, some material shoots out perpendicular to the disk.
“Astronomers have long assumed that as clouds collapse to form stars, the stars will tend to spin in the same direction,” Klaus Pontoppidan of NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory wrote in a blog post. “However, this has not been seen so directly before. These aligned, elongated structures are a historical record of the fundamental way that stars are born.”
The aligned jets (which look a bit like JJ Abrams-style lens flare) indicate the forming stars spin in the same direction.
The Serpens Nebula is only one or two million years old and sits around 1,300 light years from Earth. NASA says the dense cluster of protostars at the image’s center includes stars less than 100,000 years old. Serpens is a reflection nebula, meaning the gas and dust cloud shines by reflecting light from stars inside or nearby.
The JWST’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) captured the image, which covers about 16 trillion miles by 11 trillion miles. The black rectangles you see at the full image’s lower left and upper left represent missing data. NASA says its next step is to use the telescope’s Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) to study the Serpens Nebula’s chemical breakdown.
You can check out NASA’s instructional video below for a closer look at specific details from the glorious image.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-webb-telescopes-dazzling-nebula-image-supports-a-long-held-theory-210229206.html?src=rss
If you’re in the market for a new webcam, you can save 20 percent on one of Engadget’s top picks for video calls. The Anker PowerConf C200, our top budget pick even at its standard price, is on sale for only $48.
Anker PowerConf C200 Webcam captures video in up to 2K resolution. Although 1080p will suit most people just fine (and you can lower it to that, 720p or 360p if you want), we appreciated the extra sharpness and clarity the 2K feed brought to our calls. The plug-and-play webcam has a fast autofocus and an ƒ/2.0 aperture to let in more light and help brighten up darker scenes.
It has dual stereo microphones built in, and you can use its companion software (AnkerWork) to change its pickup sensitivity from the default directional to omnidirectional (the latter for when more than one person is in your room). The webcam has a 95-degree field of view, but you can adjust it to 78 degrees if you prefer a tighter shot.
As far as tradeoffs, it’s a surprisingly short list for this price point. The Anker C200 lacks the fancy AI framing in some of the latest flagship models, and its cube-like shape makes it a bit more challenging than some competitors to adjust while on top of your screen. Its bundled USB-C to USB-A cable is also annoyingly short — not a big deal for laptops, but folks with standing desks or more sprawling desktop setups may need to swap it out for a longer one.
Anthropic rolled out its newest AI language model on Thursday, Claude 3.5 Sonnet. The updated chatbot outperforms the company’s previous top-tier model, Claude 3 Opus, while working at twice the speed. Claude users (including those on free accounts) can check it out beginning today.
Sonnet, which tends to be Anthropic’s most balanced model, is the first release in the Claude 3.5 family. The company says Claude 3.5 Haiku (the fastest in each generation) and Claude 3.5 Opus (the most powerful) will arrive later this year. (Those models will stay on version 3 in the meantime.) The Sonnet update comes only a few months after the arrival of the Claude 3 family, showcasing the breakneck speed AI companies are working to spit out their latest and greatest.
Anthropic
Anthropic claims Claude 3.5 Sonnet marks a step forward in understanding nuance, humor and complicated prompts, and it can write in a more natural tone. Benchmarks (above) show the new model breaking industry records for graduate-level reasoning, undergraduate-level knowledge and coding proficiency. It beats OpenAI’s GPT-4o on many of the benchmarks Anthropic published. However, the latest Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and Llama models tend to score within a few percentage points of each other on most tests, underscoring the tight competition.
The company claims Claude 3.5 Sonnet is also better at interpreting visual input than Claude 3.0 Opus. Anthropic says the new model can “accurately transcribe text from imperfect images,” a skill it hopes will attract customers in retail, logistics and financial services who need to grok data from charts, graphs and other visual cues.
Claude’s update also brings a new workspace the company calls Artifacts (above). When you prompt the chatbot to generate content like code, text documents or web designs, a dedicated window appears to the right of the chat. From there, you can prompt Claude to make changes, and it will keep the Artifacts window updated with its latest output.
The company sees Artifacts as a first step towards making Claude a space for broader team collaboration. “In the near future, teams — and eventually entire organizations — will be able to securely centralize their knowledge, documents, and ongoing work in one shared space, with Claude serving as an on-demand teammate,” the company wrote in a press release.
Claude 3.5 Sonnet is available now for anyone with an account to try on its website, as well as in the Claude iOS app. (On both of those platforms, Claude Pro and Team subscribers get higher token counts.) You can also access it through the Anthropic API, Amazon Bedrock and Google Cloud’s Vertex AI. It costs $3 per million input tokens and $15 per million output tokens — the same as the previous model.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/anthropics-newest-claude-chatbot-beats-openais-gpt-4o-in-some-benchmarks-170135962.html?src=rss
Stylized digital image of a rough outline of a human head (profile) with a black squiggly-lined explosion happening in its brain. Orange-ish background.
The company says both games will have a free demo (for “a portion of each game”) at launch, but you’ll need to make “a single purchase” to unlock each title’s full experience. Capcom hasn’t announced pricing for the new games. For reference, the App Store’s current installments in the series, Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil Village, cost $30 and $16, respectively (plus extra for optional DLC).
Speaking of downloadable content, Capcom says Resident Evil 7’s main game and Not A Hero DLC will launch together as a bundle. Optional DLC will include the Gold Edition upgrade, which includes End of Zoe, Banned Footage Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, the 5-Coin Set, Survival Pack and Madhouse difficulty mode.
The iOS and iPadOS versions of Resident Evil 7 will include “enhanced controls with a new Auto Fire feature.” The idea is to make the game more playable on touch screens with an option to automatically fire weapons after aiming at enemies for a set time. The game will also support MFi gamepads.
To play Resident Evil 7, you’ll need recent Apple devices. It only supports the iPhone 15 Pro series, iPads and Macs with Apple Silicon chips (M1 or later). Capcom hasn’t yet provided the hardware requirements for Resident Evil 2.
Resident Evil 7 Biohazard arrives on July 2, and Capcom says you can pre-order it today. However, it isn’t yet live in the App Store at the time of publication.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/resident-evil-7-and-the-resident-evil-2-remake-are-coming-to-iphone-ipad-and-mac-210355411.html?src=rss
Apple's macOS 15 update is called Sequoia. The 2024 Mac software, coming this fall, includes iPhone mirroring and notification, a new passwords app and Safari upgrades. Of course, it also includes Apple Intelligence. The new software was announced at Apple’s WWDC 2024 keynote at Apple Park.
Like the company’s other 2024 updates, macOS Sequoia includes Apple Intelligence baked in — but only for Apple Silicon Macs with an M1 or newer chip. The system-wide writing tools will work in Mail, Notes, Pages and third-party apps. The AI composition features can rewrite text, proofread and summarize content.
Sequoia also includes Image Playground, Apple’s image generation tool. It lets you create “playful images” in several styles, including animations, illustrations and sketches. The feature is built into Apple’s core apps and has a standalone app.
Typing to Siri also arrives on the Mac in Sequoia, letting you switch between voice and text-based chats with the assistant. You can also use Apple Intelligence’s ChatGPT integration, which asks for user permission to send your requests to OpenAI’s bot.
iPhone mirroring lets you use your Mac to view, control and interact with your phone. It lets you access iOS apps and receive notifications from your nearby handset. Your iPhone screen stays locked in Standby mode (one of iOS 17’s updates) while you work on your computer.
Apple
macOS Sequoia also adds a new Windows-like snap window arrangement tool. Drag an app near the screen’s edge, and macOS will automatically suggest where to tile it. You can quickly place windows side by side or in corners. Sequoia will also include new keyboard and menu shortcuts to arrange tiles even faster.
Apple highlighted new video conferencing features in its WWDC keynote. Presenter Preview lets you see what you’re about to share with your call partner(s) before they see it, potentially saving folks some embarrassment. Meanwhile, Background Replacement (as its name implies) lets you swap out your real surroundings for built-in ones or your own photos in video calls.
1Password’s developers are likely squirming today with the introduction of Apple’s new Passwords app. Building on iCloud Keychain and the passwords previously buried in Safari’s settings (and system settings on iPhone and iPad), the standalone app will include all your saved credentials, verification codes and security alerts. It syncs across devices and will also appear on iOS, iPadOS, visionOS and even Windows (via iCloud for Windows).
Safari also gets some upgrades. These include Highlights, which automatically detect relevant info from webpages, and Summaries, which provide AI-fueled recaps of web content in a redesigned Reader mode.
macOS Sequoia has some gaming advancements, including improved Windows porting capabilities in Gameporting Toolkit 2. Apple said it will also be easier to port Mac games to iPad and iPhone, potentially giving developers an extra financial incentive to make or port titles for the Apple ecosystem.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/macos-sequoia-will-let-you-see-your-iphone-mirrored-on-your-macs-screen-180215857.html?src=rss
As rumored, Apple confirmed at WWDC 2024 that it’s partering with OpenAI to bring ChatGPT to the iPhone and other devices. GPT-4o will power cloud-based Apple Intelligence queries in iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia.
Apple’s Craig Federighi said the new AI-powered Siri can (with your permission) tap into ChatGPT’s knowledge base “when it might be helpful.” Examples include asking for menu ideas for an elaborate meal with specific ingredients. You can also include photos with your questions, like asking for decorating advice based on a specific detail or color arrangement in the uploaded picture. In addition, you can ask Siri about documents, presentations and PDFs.
With its new Compose feature, ChatGPT will integrate with Apple’s system-wide writing tools. Apple included an example of creating a custom bedtime story that incorporates a child’s specific interests. Notably, Apple mentioned that you’ll want to “check important info for mistakes.”
Apple
Apple says you can access ChatGPT for free without creating an account, and the company says your requests and user info won’t be logged. If you already subscribe to ChatGPT (Plus, Teams or Enterprise), you can connect your account and access extra paid features via Apple Intelligence experiences. Apple emphasized that you'll be in control of when it’s used, and you’ll be required to grant explicit permission for each cloud-based ChatGPT request.
ChatGPT integration will be available in iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia, but the OpenAI features won’t arrive until “later this year.” Apple said it will add support for other AI models in the future, which apparently confirms that it doesn’t have a long-term exclusivity deal with OpenAI.
Empire of the Ants, a real-time strategy game with dazzlingly photorealistic insects and other critters, arrives on November 7. Although the game doesn’t sound like it’s exactly a remake, it comes from the same publisher (and draws from the same source material) as the 2000 RTS game of the same name. The new version will be available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
Publisher Microids and developer Tower Five describe the new Empire of the Ants as “a 3D real-time strategy game with progressive difficulty.” Set in Fontainebleau forest, you’ll play as 103,683e, “a determined ant on a mission to protect its colony.” You’ll gather resources, secure outposts, fortify your armies and execute the queen’s plans.
The game was built using Unreal Engine 5 and will have scalable difficulty. The RTS title has a narrative storyline, and its gameplay will adapt to different seasons and day-night cycles.
Microid / Tower Five
“With Empire of the Ants, every decision is critical, every move is strategic, and every conquest reflects your skill in exploring a world where the smallest beings wield immense power,” the game’s press release reads. “Strategy, exploration, battles, and even alliances with the local wildlife will be necessary to emerge victorious from the myriad challenges that await players.”
Like its Y2K predecessor, the 2024 version of Empire of the Ants is based on the 1991 novel of the same name (in its English translation) by French author Bernard Werber. (Le Fourmis is its title in the author’s native French.) The book, the first in a trilogy, follows a society of ants and a parallel world of humans in early 21st-century Paris, covering themes of communication, cooperation, environmental impact and social hierarchy.
You can check out the trailer below ahead of the game’s November 7 release date. You can wishlist the game now on Steam, GOG, Epic and the PlayStation Store.
Catch up on all of the news from Summer Game Fest 2024 right here!
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/empire-of-the-ants-will-let-you-explore-a-photorealistic-bugs-life-this-november-080022224.html?src=rss
Key image for the upcoming RTS game Empire of the Ants. A large (queen?) ant stands face-to-face in profile with a small (worker?) ant. Photorealistic art.
Sony’s lovable robo-mascot is getting a new game. During its PlayStation State of Play on Thursday, Sony dropped a trailer for the upcoming PS5 title Astro Bot. The 3D Mario-esque title, a sequel to the beloved pack-in, Astro’s Playroom, arrives on September 6.
The trailer sees our pal Astro wading through puddles full of pink flamingos, grappling across platforms like Bionic Commando and summoning a PS5 console to help fight a giant green alien in a UFO (as one tends to do). In a nod to old-school PlayStation, the trailer even includes a cameo from PaRappa the Rapper.
Sony describes Astro Bot as a “supersized adventure” that spans over six galaxies and 80 levels as you search for your lost crew. You’ll have over 15 new abilities, and, like in its predecessor, it will serve as a showcase for the various sensors and haptics in the DualSense controller.
Astro Bot will be available for pre-order on June 7 ahead of its September 6 release date.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sonys-astro-bot-is-getting-the-mario-like-adventure-it-deserves-225716801.html?src=rss
Microsoft and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) have forged a labor neutrality agreement for all ZeniMax workers. The CWA says the deal is similar to the one from 2022 covering Activision Blizzard’s workforce, which went into effect in April of this year.
“Thousands of our ZeniMax co-workers now have a free and fair path to organize together for better working conditions,” Page Branson, a Senior Quality Assurance (QA) Tester, wrote in a CWA press release.
In 2022, the Xbox maker signed a formal agreement with CWA to respect Activision Blizzard employees’ right to organize. Set to take effect 60 days after Microsoft’s acquisition closed, it didn’t become official until earlier this year. It also extends Microsoft’s early 2023 recognition of ZeniMax QA workers’ right to unionize, and it now includes every eligible employee at ZeniMax.
The CWA says the new agreement means Microsoft will take a neutral approach when employees express interest in joining the union. The workers can communicate with their peers and union reps about membership “in a way that encourages information sharing and avoids business disruptions.”
According to the CWA, workers will have access to a decision-making process that respects their privacy if they wish. In addition, it includes a dispute resolution and arbitration process in the case of any disagreements between the union and Microsoft.
“When we organized our union under a similar legal agreement the process was clear and management did not try to influence anyone’s decision and the company did not try to interfere with the voting process,” Branson wrote. “There is strength in numbers, and as our numbers grow at ZeniMax, at Microsoft, and in the video game industry, we will gain the respect we deserve and raise the standards of working conditions for everyone across the video gaming industry. When we benefit, the consumer and the company will ultimately benefit with us and help keep this industry stable for current and future workers.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-and-cwa-forge-labor-neutrality-agreement-covering-all-zenimax-workers-212643324.html?src=rss
Spotify says it has quietly begun offering refunds for its soon-to-be-bricked Car Thing. The company told Engadget on Thursday that, as of last Friday, customers with proof of purchase (like an emailed invoice) can contact customer service and get their money back for the vehicle streaming device.
Spotify has taken some heat for its announcement last week that it will brick every Car Thing device on December 9, 2024. The company described its decision as “part of our ongoing efforts to streamline our product offerings” (read: cut costs) and that it lets Spotify “focus on developing new features and enhancements that will ultimately provide a better experience to all Spotify users.”
TechCrunchreports that Gen Z users on TikTok have expressed their frustration in videos, while others have complained directed toward Spotify in DMs on X (Twitter) and directly through customer support. Some users claimed Spotify’s customer service agents only offered several months of free Premium access, while others were told nobody was receiving refunds. It isn’t clear if any of them contacted them after last Friday when it shifted gears on refunds.
Others went much further. Billboard first reported on a class-action lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on May 28. The suit accuses Spotify of misleading Car Thing customers by selling a $90 product that would soon be obsolete without offering refunds, which sounds like a fair enough point.
It’s worth noting that, according to Spotify, it began offering the refunds last week, while the lawsuit was only filed on Tuesday. If the company’s statement about refunds starting on May 24 is accurate, the refunds aren’t a direct response to the legal action. (Although it’s possible the company began offering them in anticipation of lawsuits.)
Regardless, anyone reaching out to customer service with a valid receipt should be offered a refund. If you have tried since then and have been denied, we recommend you contact them again.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/spotify-now-says-it-will-refund-car-thing-purchases-193001487.html?src=rss
Android’s RCS message capabilities are inching closer to iMessage’s. Google said today that you can now edit RCS messages, bringing parity with the iMessage editing feature Apple added two years ago.
The new editing feature gives you 15 minutes (the same as iMessage) to edit a message in the Google Messages app. Hold down on the message to bring up a text box to fix your typos or add extra clarity.
RCS messages will soon whittle down the divide between green and blue bubbles on iOS. Apple said it would support RCS in the Messages app starting in 2024, giving iPhone owners typing indicators, read receipts and high-resolution media sharing when chatting with their Android phone-toting friends. Although Apple hasn’t provided a specific timeline, the assumption is RCS will arrive in iOS 18, which we’ll learn about in its June 10 WWDC keynote ahead of a fall launch.
Google had a few other new features to roll out. Android users with a Chromebook or Android tablet will soon get Instant Hotspot, similar to another feature Apple rolled out years ago (way back in 2014 in iOS 8 and macOS Yosemite). “Coming soon, with instant hotspot, you’ll be able to connect your Android tablet or Chromebook to your phone’s hotspot with one tap — without needing to go through the extra step of typing in your password,” Google product director Jan Jedrzejowicz wrote in the company’s blog post announcing the new features.
Along similar lines, Google Meet will soon let you quickly move devices mid-call. You can tap the Cast icon in the app to switch between an Android phone, tablet or web browser, which is handy when you want to switch locations during a video chat.
Google
Android is also getting easier smart home controls. A new Google Home Favorites widget gives you access to room temperatures or lighting controls with one tap. This seems like a more intuitive placement than the lock screen shortcut for smart home controls that Google introduced in Android 13. You can sign up for a public preview to try the widget.
In addition, Wear OS will get a Google Home Favorites tile and complication for smart-home control from your wrist.
Google is also adding new Emoji Kitchen combinations. If you aren’t familiar with it, the clever feature lets you blend two emoji in Gboard to send franken-moji stickers to friends. The company didn’t provide a complete list of new options, but it said a disco ball and headphones combo was one example.
Other Android updates include using PayPal on Google Wallet from Wear OS watches. Android’s digital car keys are now available with some Mini models and will soon be available for “select Mercedes-Benz and Polestar vehicles.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/you-can-now-edit-rcs-chats-in-android-messages-160010553.html?src=rss
Google promo image of a person in a straw hat smiling while holding an Android phone. Overlaid bubbles show editing messages ("See you at the shoe!" becomes "See you at the show!") and new emoji combinations (a disco ball and headphones transform into a small disco ball between two headphones).
Slack trains machine-learning models on user messages, files and other content without explicit permission. The training is opt-out, meaning your private data will be leeched by default. Making matters worse, you’ll have to ask your organization’s Slack admin (human resources, IT, etc.) to email the company to ask it to stop. (You can’t do it yourself.) Welcome to the dark side of the new AI training data gold rush.
Corey Quinn, an executive at DuckBill Group, spotted the policy in a blurb in Slack’s Privacy Principles and posted about it on X (viaPCMag). The section reads (emphasis ours), “To develop AI/ML models, our systems analyze Customer Data (e.g. messages, content, and files) submitted to Slack as well as Other Information (including usage information) as defined in our Privacy Policy and in your customer agreement.”
In response to concerns over the practice, Slack published a blog post on Friday evening to clarify how its customers’ data is used. According to the company, customer data is not used to train any of Slack’s generative AI products — which it relies on third-party LLMs for — but is fed to its machine learning models for products “like channel and emoji recommendations and search results.” For those applications, the post says, “Slack’s traditional ML models use de-identified, aggregate data and do not access message content in DMs, private channels, or public channels.” That data may include things like message timestamps and the number of interactions between users.
A Salesforce spokesperson reiterated this in a statement to Engadget, also saying that “we do not build or train these models in such a way that they could learn, memorize, or be able to reproduce customer data.”
I'm sorry Slack, you're doing fucking WHAT with user DMs, messages, files, etc? I'm positive I'm not reading this correctly. pic.twitter.com/6ORZNS2RxC
The opt-out process requires you to do all the work to protect your data. According to the privacy notice, “To opt out, please have your Org or Workspace Owners or Primary Owner contact our Customer Experience team at [email protected] with your Workspace/Org URL and the subject line ‘Slack Global model opt-out request.’ We will process your request and respond once the opt out has been completed.”
The company replied to Quinn’s message on X: “To clarify, Slack has platform-level machine-learning models for things like channel and emoji recommendations and search results. And yes, customers can exclude their data from helping train those (non-generative) ML models.”
How long ago the Salesforce-owned company snuck the tidbit into its terms is unclear. It’s misleading, at best, to say customers can opt out when “customers” doesn’t include employees working within an organization. They have to ask whoever handles Slack access at their business to do that — and I hope they will oblige.
Inconsistencies in Slack’s privacy policies add to the confusion. One section states, “When developing Al/ML models or otherwise analyzing Customer Data, Slack can’t access the underlying content. We have various technical measures preventing this from occurring.” However, the machine-learning model training policy seemingly contradicts this statement, leaving plenty of room for confusion.
In addition, Slack’s webpage marketing its premium generative AI tools reads, “Work without worry. Your data is your data. We don’t use it to train Slack AI. Everything runs on Slack’s secure infrastructure, meeting the same compliance standards as Slack itself.”
In this case, the company is speaking of its premium generative AI tools, separate from the machine learning models it’s training on without explicit permission. However, as PCMag notes, implying that all of your data is safe from AI training is, at best, a highly misleading statement when the company apparently gets to pick and choose which AI models that statement covers.
Update, May 18 2024, 3:24 PM ET: This story has been updated to include new information from Slack, which published a blog post explaining its practices in response to the community's concerns.
Update, May 19 2024, 12:41 PM ET: This story and headline have been updated to reflect additional context provided by Slack about how it uses customer data.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/yuck-slack-has-been-scanning-your-messages-to-train-its-ai-models-181918245.html?src=rss
We may have a good look at Motorola’s next foldable phones. Separate leaks from 91Mobiles (via 9to5Google) and longtime device-leaking insider Evan Blass show the entry-level Moto Razr 50 and high-end Razr 50 Ultra (likely branded as the 2024 Razr and Razr+ in the US) in various colors from all sorts of angles.
Leaks point to the high-end Razr+ (2024) — aka Razr 50 Ultra — running on a Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chip with 12GB of RAM and 256GB storage. It’s expected to have a 6.9-inch OLED display at 2,640 x 1,080 resolution on the inside and a 3.6-inch cover display on the outside. A 50MP wide-angle camera paired with a 50MP telephoto lens, a 32MP front sensor and a 4,000mAh battery round out the (alleged) specs.
Leaked images of the flagship model show dark blue, dark green, peach and pink color options.
Meanwhile, the entry-level Razr (2024) — likely branded as the Razr 50 outside the US — will supposedly run on a MediaTek Dimensity 7300 processor, a departure from the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 found in its 2023 equivalent. Another apparent change from its predecessor is its reported 3.63-inch cover display, quite a step up from the piddly 1.5-inch outward-facing screen on last year’s budget model.
You can check out a gallery of the leaked images below, courtesy of Blass and 91Mobiles.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/motorolas-2024-razr-lineup-may-include-a-bigger-cover-screen-for-the-budget-model-203745181.html?src=rss
Grand Theft Auto VI’s return to Vice City is officially scheduled for fall 2025. On Thursday, parent company Take-Two Interactive wrote in its Q4 2024 earnings report that it’s narrowed GTA 6’s previously announced 2025 window to autumn of next year.
“Our outlook reflects a narrowing of Rockstar Games’ previously established window of Calendar 2025 to Fall of Calendar 2025 for Grand Theft Auto VI,” Take-Two Chairman and CEO Strauss Zelnick wrote in the earnings report. “We are highly confident that Rockstar Games will deliver an unparalleled entertainment experience, and our expectations for the commercial impact of the title continue to increase.”
The sixth mainline installment in the open-world series will be set in Leonida (Rockstar’s Florida equivalent), focused mostly on Vice City (Miami). The game appears to have a contemporary setting, as opposed to the charming '80s cheese from 2002’s Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. You can catch a glimpse of protagonists Jason and Lucia in the trailer below.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/grand-theft-auto-6-will-arrive-in-fall-2025-205513138.html?src=rss
On Wednesday, the US House of Representatives passed a bill that could provide at least some accountability for Ticketmaster and other live event vendors. NBC Newsreports the TICKET Act (not to be confused with the Senate’s separate bill with the same try-hard acronym) would mandate that ticket sellers list upfront the total cost of admission — including all fees — to buyers.
In addition to the full pricing breakdown, the bill would require sellers to indicate whether the tickets are currently in their possession. It would also ban deceptive websites from secondary vendors and force sellers to refund tickets to canceled events. The bill doesn’t appear to address price gouging or extravagant fees.
It now moves to the Senate, which is floating two separate event-reform bills: the other TICKET Act and a bipartisan Fans First Act. The latter was introduced in December to strengthen the 2016 BOTS Act that bars the use of bots to buy tickets, a practice that Taylor Swift fans (among others) can attest is still all too common.
Reforming the ticketing industry became a political point-scoring item in late 2022 after Ticketmaster’s Taylor Swift fiasco. The Live Nation-owned service, which has a stronghold on the industry, melted down as millions of fans battled “a staggering number” of bots. Ticketmaster said presale codes reached 1.5 million fans, but 14 million (including those pesky bots) tried to buy tickets.
Live Nation President and CFO Joe Berchtold testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee in January 2023, where he largely passed the buck to Congress to fix the mess. He suggested the government strengthen the BOTS Act, which one of the Senate’s bills would try to do. During the hearing, Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) needled the executive for dodging blame, accusing the company of pointing the finger at everyone but itself.
Representatives Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ) issued a joint statement on Wednesday about the House’s TICKET Act. “This consensus legislation will end deceptive ticketing practices that frustrate consumers who simply want to enjoy a concert, show, or sporting event by restoring fairness and transparency to the ticket marketplace,” the group wrote. “After years of bipartisan work, we will now be able to enhance the customer experience of buying event tickets online. We look forward to continuing to work together to urge quick Senate passage so that we can send it to the President’s desk to be signed into law.”
Artists publicly supporting legislation to combat the ticketing industry’s failures include (among others) Billie Eilish, Lorde, Green Day, Cyndi Lauper, Jason Mraz and Dave Matthews. “We are joining together to say that the current system is broken: predatory resellers and secondary platforms engage in deceptive ticketing practices to inflate ticket prices and deprive fans of the chance to see their favorite artists at a fair price,” a joint letter from over 250 musicians reads.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/us-house-passes-ticket-act-to-force-event-pricing-transparency-202852148.html?src=rss
YouTube said it would comply with an order blocking access to videos of Hong Kong’s protest anthem inside the region, according to The Guardian. The platform’s decision comes after an appeals court banned the protest song “Glory to Hong Kong,” which the largely China-controlled government (predictably) framed as a national security threat.
Alphabet, YouTube and Google’s parent company, followed its familiar playbook of legally complying with court orders undermining human rights while issuing statements puffing up its advocacy for them. “We are disappointed by the Court’s decision but are complying with its removal order,” YouTube’s statement to The Guardian said. “We’ll continue to consider our options for an appeal, to promote access to information.”
Alphabet reportedly told the outlet the block would take effect immediately inside the region. It added that it shares the concerns of human rights groups that it could deal a blow to online freedoms.
YouTube reportedly said links to the videos will eventually no longer be visible in Google Search inside Hong Kong. I tried using a Hong Kong-based VPN server while in the US, and the videos were still viewable on Thursday morning. However, The Guardian said attempts to view it from inside the region show the message, “This content is not available on this country domain due to a court order.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/youtube-reportedly-agrees-to-block-videos-of-hong-kongs-protest-song-inside-the-region-174245129.html?src=rss
Apple will reportedly focus its first round of generative AI enhancements on beefing up Siri’s conversational chops. Sources speaking withThe New York Times say company executives realized early last year that ChatGPT made Siri look antiquated. The company allegedly decided that the large language model (LLM) principles behind OpenAI’s chatbot could give the iPhone’s virtual assistant a much-needed shot in the arm. So Apple will reportedly roll out a new version of Siri powered by generative AI at its WWDC keynote on June 10.
Apple Senior Vice Presidents Craig Federighi and John Giannandrea reportedly tested ChatGPT for weeks before the company realized that Siri looked outdated. (I would argue that the epiphany came about a decade late.) What followed was what The NYT describes as Apple’s “most significant reorganization in more than a decade.”
The company sees generative AI as a once-in-a-decade tentpole area worth shifting heaps of resources to address. You may recall the company canceled its $10 billion “Apple Car” project earlier this year. Apple reportedly reassigned many of those engineers to work on generative AI.
Apple executives allegedly fear AI models could eventually replace established software like iOS, turning the iPhone into “a dumb brick” by comparison. The clunky, awkward and overall unconvincing first wave of dedicated AI gadgets we’ve reviewed, like the Human AI Pin and Rabbit R1, aren’t good enough to pose a threat. But that could change as software evolves, other smartphone makers incorporate more AI into their operating systems and other hardware makers have a chance to innovate.
So, at least for now, it appears Apple isn’t launching direct competitors to generative AI stalwarts like ChatGPT (words), Midjourney (images) or ElevenLabs (voices). Instead, it will start with a new Siri and updated iPhone models with expanded memory to better handle local processing. In addition, the company will reportedly add a text-summarizing feature to the Messages app.
Apple’s M4 chip (shown next to VP John Ternus) could help process local Siri requests.
Apple
Apple’s first foray into generative AI, if The NYT’s sources are correct, sounds like less of an immediate threat to creators than some had imagined. At its May iPad event, the company ran a video plugging the new iPad Pro that showed various creative tools crushed by a hydraulic press. The clip accidentally served as the perfect metaphor for the (legitimate) fears of artists, musicians and other creators, whose work AI models have trained on — and who stand to be replaced by those same tools as they become more normalized for content creation.
Samsung and Google have already loaded their flagship phones with various generative AI features that go far beyond improving their virtual assistants. These include tools for editing photos, generating text and enhancing transcription (among other things). These features typically rely on cloud-based servers for processing, whereas Apple’s approach will allegedly prioritize privacy and handle requests locally. So Apple will apparently start with a more streamlined approach that sticks to improving what’s already there, as well as keeping most or all processing on-device.
The New York Times’ sources add that Apple’s culture of internal secrecy and privacy-focused marketing have stunted its AI progress. Former Siri engineer John Burkey told the paper that the company’s tendency to silo off the information various divisions share with each other has been another primary culprit in Siri’s inability to evolve far past where the assistant was when it launched a day before Steve Jobs died in 2011.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apples-big-ai-rollout-at-wwdc-will-reportedly-focus-on-making-siri-suck-less-203035673.html?src=rss
Climate protestors in Germany broke through police barricades on Friday, amid clashes between activists and law enforcement. The protestors either made it onto (according to protestors) or near (according to local police) the grounds of a Tesla gigafactory in Grünheide, Germany, near Berlin. It’s part of a planned five-day demonstration ahead of a local government vote next week to determine whether Tesla’s plant can expand.
Wiredflagged social media videos showing activists, many of whom have been camping out in treehouses in nearby forest encampments, running toward a Tesla building on the site. In addition, the German newspaper Welt said at least one person participating was injured. Police reportedly police used pepper spray and batons to try to thwart the crowd, and there were at least some arrests.
A spokesperson for one of the groups participating in the protests told Wired that they broke the police barriers and stormed the Tesla grounds. “Eight hundred people have entered the premises of the gigafactory,” Lucia Mende of Disrupt Tesla said. However, local police posted on X (Musk’s social media platform) that the activists only reached a field facing the site. “We have been able to prevent them from entering so far,” they posted.
Axel Schmidt via Getty Images
At least at first glance, it’s easy to wonder why activists are pouring so much energy into fighting Tesla. After all, despite Musk’s increasingly unhinged right-wing conspiracy-mongering and Nazi-catering on X, other automakers pushing gas-guzzling cars seem like more appropriate targets (not to mention the fossil fuel companies spending big bucks on anti-climate-reform disinformation). However, several factors make the issues at the heart of the protests less simplistic.
A (nonbinding) vote in February showed Grünheide residents opposed the expansion by almost a two-to-one ratio. If for no other reason, the local government having a chance to brush aside the overwhelming will of the voters in the name of capitalism is enough to raise the eyebrows of anyone who balks at minority rule.
Wirednotes the area is also one of the most water-scarce in Germany, and residents worry the gigafactory will drain the resource, leaving much less for the humans who live there. The plant could also pollute local water supplies.
Those fears appear to have merit: The plant is licensed to use 1.4 million cubic meters of water annually, and a separate Wiredreport from Tuesday noted that’s enough to supply for a large town. As for the contamination fears, Tesla was fined in 2019 by the EPA for several hazardous waste violations at a California factory. The company paid a grand total of $31,000 to settle. (Tesla had a market cap of almost $76 billion in 2019.)
But some of the groups protesting have concerns that go much farther than those more immediate issues affecting the locals, instead taking issue with the entire electric vehicle movement. “Companies like Tesla are there to save the car industry, they’re not there to save the climate,” Esther Kamm, spokesperson for Turn Off the Tap on Tesla told Wired.
Another activist, who only gave Wired the name Mara, described the factory as the result of “green capitalism.” She views the EV movement as little more than a theatrical performance in the name of profit. “This has been completely thought up by such companies to have more growth, even in times of an environmental crisis,” she said.
I wouldn’t exactly say flipping the bird to the EV movement is a “workable” solution to the very real and pressing climate crisis. Regardless of your thoughts on the matter, the world needs to move quickly to fend off climate change’s most ravaging effects, and the scientific consensus is that the planned shift to EVs will need to play a central role.
Tesla reportedly told its employees at the factory to work from home on Friday, shutting down the plants for the planned protests. As for Friday’s protests, Welt reports that the situation had calmed by afternoon — at least for now.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/climate-protestors-clash-with-police-outside-teslas-german-gigafactory-175726961.html?src=rss
GRUENHEIDE, GERMANY - MAY 10: Police confront environmental activists in a forest near the Tesla Gigafactory electric car factory on May 10, 2024 near Gruenheide, Germany. Activists have come from across Germany to demand a stop to plans by Tesla to expand the factory, which would involve cutting down at least 50 hectares of trees. Some locals also support the protest, citing stress to local groundwater reserves from the factory. (Photo by Axel Schmidt/Getty Images)
Apple has reportedly apologized for its tone-deaf “Crush!” ad that sparked a furious backlash with artists, musicians and other creators. AdAge reports that Apple said the video “missed the mark” and has scrapped plans to run the cutesy-turned-cringey commercial on TV.
It’s clear that Apple intended for the ad to serve as a metaphor for all the myriad creative tools one has when they throw down $1,000 or more for a new iPad Pro. Run during Tuesday’s event, the video shows a series of musical instruments and other tools for human expression, including a guitar, drums, trumpet, amplifiers, record player, TV and much more. “All I Ever Need Is You” by Sonny & Cher soundtracks the clip.
Soon, it’s revealed that the objects are all sitting on an industrial crusher, which descends upon the scattered creative instruments, exploding in plumes of satisfyingly colorful smoke. But when the crusher pulls back up, we see that everything was transformed into a shiny new iPad Pro.
Apple
A decade ago, this ad likely wouldn’t have been a big deal. But Apple’s marketers completely whiffed on the context of the moment. The ad comes weeks before Apple will take the stage at WWDC to announce its generative AI features that its investors have been salivating for.
Generative AI, as you may have heard, needs something to train on — and that means humans’ work. It learns from existing content to make algorithmically generated words, pictures, music, voices or who knows what else. It also has the capability to put those same creators — most of whom don’t have cushy jobs at Apple or other Big Five tech companies — out of work as corporations and consumers eagerly adopt the robots destined to put creators on the unemployment line.
Context is everything, and Apple failed spectacularly there. Its ad serves as a pitch-perfect metaphor for generative AI’s potential to crush human creation, turning us all into “prompt artists” who type words into text boxes to replace their years of training and experience. (Granted, generative AI has genuinely exciting applications, too, but much more needs to be made of the society-level chaos it can and will unleash.)
“Creativity is in our DNA at Apple, and it’s incredibly important to us to design products that empower creatives all over the world,” Tor Myhren, Apple VP of marketing communications, told AdAge. “Our goal is to always celebrate the myriad of ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad. We missed the mark with this video, and we’re sorry.”
Hey, an apology means something. But we’ll see what tone Apple adopts next month when it rolls out the tools that set the stage for the apology in the first place. Something tells me that train is out of the station and will be plowing forward full steam, no matter how much creativity the company has in its DNA.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-apologizes-for-its-tone-deaf-ad-that-crushed-human-creativity-to-make-an-ipad-211116524.html?src=rss
Google has an offer for iPad owners who are curious about the Pixel Tablet. The company has a trade-in promotion that covers at least the cost of the Pixel Tablet for iPad owners — if not more, depending on which model you have. It works with Samsung tablets as well, but those trade-in values are lower. The Pixel Tablet costs $399 (without deals) for 128GB storage and no charging speaker dock.
The promo works with iPads as old as the sixth-generation model from six years ago. For that, Google will give you a surprising $399 — matching the Pixel Tablet’s base cost. That iPad model only cost $329 in 2018, so Google is overpaying by a lot for that one.
However, Google balances that with much worse offers for modern, high-end iPads. For example, the 12.9-inch iPad Pro with M2 chip (2022) only nets $450. Until this week (when the company launched a new iPad Pro and iPad Air), Apple sold that model for $1,099, so we don’t recommend that trade-in price. If you’re done with a high-end iPad from the last few years, you can likely sell it on places like eBay, Craigslist or Swappa for significantly more.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
The Pixel Tablet stands out from its Android-running competitors by working with a charging speaker base that lets the device double as a smart display, making it much more versatile. Engadget’s Cherlynn Low thought that part overshadowed its core functionality as a tablet. “As a smart display, the Pixel Tablet mostly shines. It has a useful dashboard, an easy-to-read interface and impressive audio quality,” she wrote in our full review.
The tablet has a 10.95-inch display with a 2,560 x 1,600 resolution (276 PPI) and runs on a Google Tensor G2 chip. It weighs slightly over a pound and is lighter than Android rivals like the Galaxy Tab S8 and OnePlus Pad. Its back has a nano-ceramic coating that gives it a premium, glass-like feeling that you may not expect from a $399 device.
Accessories are where the Pixel Tablet stands out the most. Google’s Pixel Tablet Case, sold separately for $79, has a built-in kickstand that makes the slate more versatile. “What I love about the kickstand-hanger-combo is that it allows you to place the Tablet pretty much anywhere,” Low wrote in Engadget’s review. “So when I want to hang it off a kitchen cabinet to follow along with a recipe video or keep watching Love Is Blind for example, I can. And though the 2,560 x 1,600 LCD panel isn’t as vibrant as the OLED on Samsung’s Galaxy Tabs, it still produced crisp details and colorful images.”
The star accessory is Google’s $129 charging speaker dock, which you can use without removing the kickstand case. This product transforms the tablet into a smart display, potentially voiding the need for other smart home control hubs. The speaker has impressive sound for its size, making it easier to hear its responses if you aren’t right next to it.
Google’s fine print notes that the trade-in value will be finalized after receiving the tablet, and it could be lower if it determines the condition doesn’t match what you selected during the trade-in process. The refund will be processed on the credit card you used to buy the Pixel Tablet (or through Google Store credit if you return your purchase during that time).
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/get-up-to-450-off-a-google-pixel-tablet-when-you-trade-in-your-old-ipad-or-android-slab-192718892.html?src=rss
Nintendo has apparently had enough of X’s (Twitter’s) API fees. The Mario maker said on Wednesday that starting on June 10, direct integration from the Switch’s image album to Elon Musk’s Nazi-curious platform will no longer work. With Nintendo’s departure, all three major console makers have pulled the plug on native screen-sharing to X.
X’s official gaming account posted a bizarre, downright Orwellian response that ignores its central role in the Mario maker’s exit. “Our partnership with Nintendo remains strong, and we are working together to ensure a smooth transition for all users,” @xGaming posted at the end of its nonchalantly misleading reply to Nintendo’s announcement. “We will continue collaborating with partners to bring new and exciting experiences to our global gaming community.”
Ironically, X’s built-in reader context feature filled in the omitted subtext. “This is in direct response to X changing their API,” the user-generated context says. “Specifically, X is charging companies upwards of $40,000 or more per month to access its API. Sony’s PlayStation and Microsoft’s Xbox already removed integration with X last year.”
As of June 10, 2024, it will no longer be possible to post screenshots and videos to X (formerly Twitter) from the Nintendo Switch's Album, or send friend requests to social media users via the Friend Suggestions feature.
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) May 9, 2024
Wired first reported last year that access to the cheapest Enterprise API plan for The Dumpster Fire Formerly Known As Twitter starts at $42,000 monthly. Higher tiers can allegedly cost $125,000 and $210,000 per month. Microsoft led the charge when it said the Xbox was abandoning Musk’s API plan in April 2023, while Sony held its nose and stuck it out until November.
The $42,000 (or more) monthly cost may not sound like much to these well-heeled mega-corporations, but apparently, even they have their limits. After all, quick screen-sharing to social channels is a marketing feature from a corporate perspective. If their accountants look at the analytics, weigh them against Musk’s fees and see it isn’t paying off, they’ll do what profit-driven entities do and reduce the overhead. But hey, at least X’s “partnership with Nintendo remains strong.”
AlphaFold software, from Google DeepMind and (the also Alphabet-owned) Isomorphic Labs, has already demonstrated that it can predict how proteins fold with shocking accuracy. It’s cataloged a staggering 200 million known proteins, and Google says millions of researchers have used previous versions to make discoveries in areas like malaria vaccines, cancer treatment and enzyme designs.
Knowing a protein’s shape and structure determines how it interacts with the human body, allowing scientists to create new drugs or improve existing ones. But the new version, AlphaFold 3, can model other crucial molecules, including DNA. It can also chart interactions between drugs and diseases, which could open exciting new doors for researchers. And Google says it does so with 50 percent better accuracy than existing models.
“AlphaFold 3 takes us beyond proteins to a broad spectrum of biomolecules,” Google’s DeepMind research team wrote in a blog post. “This leap could unlock more transformative science, from developing biorenewable materials and more resilient crops, to accelerating drug design and genomics research.”
“How do proteins respond to DNA damage; how do they find, repair it?” Google DeepMind project leader John Jumper toldWired. “We can start to answer these questions.”
Before AI, scientists could only study protein structures through electron microscopes and elaborate methods like X-ray crystallography. Machine learning streamlines much of that process by using patterns recognized from its training (often imperceptible to humans and our standard instruments) to predict protein shapes based on their amino acids.
Google says part of AlphaFold 3’s advancements come from applying diffusion models to its molecular predictions. Diffusion models are central pieces of AI image generators like Midjourney, Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s DALL-E 3. Incorporating these algorithms into AlphaFold “sharpens the molecular structures the software generates,” as Wiredexplains. In other words, it takes a formation that looks fuzzy or vague and makes highly educated guesses based on patterns from its training data to clear it up.
“This is a big advance for us,” Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis told Wired. “This is exactly what you need for drug discovery: You need to see how a small molecule is going to bind to a drug, how strongly, and also what else it might bind to.”
AlphaFold 3 uses a color-coded scale to label its confidence level in its prediction, allowing researchers to exercise appropriate caution with results that are less likely to be accurate. Blue means high confidence; red means it’s less certain.
Google is making AlphaFold 3 free for researchers to use for non-commercial research. However, unlike with past versions, the company isn’t open-sourcing the project. One prominent researcher who makes similar software, University of Washington professor David Baker, expressed disappointment to Wired that Google chose that route. However, he was also wowed by the software’s capabilities. “The structure prediction performance of AlphaFold 3 is very impressive,” he said.
As for what’s next, Google says “Isomorphic Labs is already collaborating with pharmaceutical companies to apply it to real-world drug design challenges and, ultimately, develop new life-changing treatments for patients.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-deepminds-latest-medical-breakthrough-borrows-a-trick-from-ai-image-generators-194725620.html?src=rss
Apple will reportedly focus its first round of generative AI enhancements on beefing up Siri’s conversational chops. Sources speaking withThe New York Times say company executives realized early last year that ChatGPT made Siri look antiquated. The company allegedly decided that the large language model (LLM) principles behind OpenAI’s chatbot could give the iPhone’s virtual assistant a much-needed shot in the arm. So Apple will reportedly roll out a new version of Siri powered by generative AI at its WWDC keynote on June 10.
Apple Senior Vice Presidents Craig Federighi and John Giannandrea reportedly tested ChatGPT for weeks before the company realized that Siri looked outdated. (I would argue that the epiphany came about a decade late.) What followed was what The NYT describes as Apple’s “most significant reorganization in more than a decade.”
The company sees generative AI as a once-in-a-decade tentpole area worth shifting heaps of resources to address. You may recall the company canceled its $10 billion “Apple Car” project earlier this year. Apple reportedly reassigned many of those engineers to work on generative AI.
Apple executives allegedly fear AI models could eventually replace established software like iOS, turning the iPhone into “a dumb brick” by comparison. The clunky, awkward and overall unconvincing first wave of dedicated AI gadgets we’ve reviewed, like the Human AI Pin and Rabbit R1, aren’t good enough to pose a threat. But that could change as software evolves, other smartphone makers incorporate more AI into their operating systems and other hardware makers have a chance to innovate.
So, at least for now, it appears Apple isn’t launching direct competitors to generative AI stalwarts like ChatGPT (words), Midjourney (images) or ElevenLabs (voices). Instead, it will start with a new Siri and updated iPhone models with expanded memory to better handle local processing. In addition, the company will reportedly add a text-summarizing feature to the Messages app.
Apple’s M4 chip (shown next to VP John Ternus) could help process local Siri requests.
Apple
Apple’s first foray into generative AI, if The NYT’s sources are correct, sounds like less of an immediate threat to creators than some had imagined. At its May iPad event, the company ran a video plugging the new iPad Pro that showed various creative tools crushed by a hydraulic press. The clip accidentally served as the perfect metaphor for the (legitimate) fears of artists, musicians and other creators, whose work AI models have trained on — and who stand to be replaced by those same tools as they become more normalized for content creation.
Samsung and Google have already loaded their flagship phones with various generative AI features that go far beyond improving their virtual assistants. These include tools for editing photos, generating text and enhancing transcription (among other things). These features typically rely on cloud-based servers for processing, whereas Apple’s approach will allegedly prioritize privacy and handle requests locally. So Apple will apparently start with a more streamlined approach that sticks to improving what’s already there, as well as keeping most or all processing on-device.
The New York Times’ sources add that Apple’s culture of internal secrecy and privacy-focused marketing have stunted its AI progress. Former Siri engineer John Burkey told the paper that the company’s tendency to silo off the information various divisions share with each other has been another primary culprit in Siri’s inability to evolve far past where the assistant was when it launched a day before Steve Jobs died in 2011.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apples-big-ai-rollout-at-wwdc-will-reportedly-focus-on-making-siri-suck-less-203035673.html?src=rss
Climate protestors in Germany broke through police barricades on Friday, amid clashes between activists and law enforcement. The protestors either made it onto (according to protestors) or near (according to local police) the grounds of a Tesla gigafactory in Grünheide, Germany, near Berlin. It’s part of a planned five-day demonstration ahead of a local government vote next week to determine whether Tesla’s plant can expand.
Wiredflagged social media videos showing activists, many of whom have been camping out in treehouses in nearby forest encampments, running toward a Tesla building on the site. In addition, the German newspaper Welt said at least one person participating was injured. Police reportedly police used pepper spray and batons to try to thwart the crowd, and there were at least some arrests.
A spokesperson for one of the groups participating in the protests told Wired that they broke the police barriers and stormed the Tesla grounds. “Eight hundred people have entered the premises of the gigafactory,” Lucia Mende of Disrupt Tesla said. However, local police posted on X (Musk’s social media platform) that the activists only reached a field facing the site. “We have been able to prevent them from entering so far,” they posted.
Axel Schmidt via Getty Images
At least at first glance, it’s easy to wonder why activists are pouring so much energy into fighting Tesla. After all, despite Musk’s increasingly unhinged right-wing conspiracy-mongering and Nazi-catering on X, other automakers pushing gas-guzzling cars seem like more appropriate targets (not to mention the fossil fuel companies spending big bucks on anti-climate-reform disinformation). However, several factors make the issues at the heart of the protests less simplistic.
A (nonbinding) vote in February showed Grünheide residents opposed the expansion by almost a two-to-one ratio. If for no other reason, the local government having a chance to brush aside the overwhelming will of the voters in the name of capitalism is enough to raise the eyebrows of anyone who balks at minority rule.
Wirednotes the area is also one of the most water-scarce in Germany, and residents worry the gigafactory will drain the resource, leaving much less for the humans who live there. The plant could also pollute local water supplies.
Those fears appear to have merit: The plant is licensed to use 1.4 million cubic meters of water annually, and a separate Wiredreport from Tuesday noted that’s enough to supply for a large town. As for the contamination fears, Tesla was fined in 2019 by the EPA for several hazardous waste violations at a California factory. The company paid a grand total of $31,000 to settle. (Tesla had a market cap of almost $76 billion in 2019.)
But some of the groups protesting have concerns that go much farther than those more immediate issues affecting the locals, instead taking issue with the entire electric vehicle movement. “Companies like Tesla are there to save the car industry, they’re not there to save the climate,” Esther Kamm, spokesperson for Turn Off the Tap on Tesla told Wired.
Another activist, who only gave Wired the name Mara, described the factory as the result of “green capitalism.” She views the EV movement as little more than a theatrical performance in the name of profit. “This has been completely thought up by such companies to have more growth, even in times of an environmental crisis,” she said.
I wouldn’t exactly say flipping the bird to the EV movement is a “workable” solution to the very real and pressing climate crisis. Regardless of your thoughts on the matter, the world needs to move quickly to fend off climate change’s most ravaging effects, and the scientific consensus is that the planned shift to EVs will need to play a central role.
Tesla reportedly told its employees at the factory to work from home on Friday, shutting down the plants for the planned protests. As for Friday’s protests, Welt reports that the situation had calmed by afternoon — at least for now.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/climate-protestors-clash-with-police-outside-teslas-german-gigafactory-175726961.html?src=rss
GRUENHEIDE, GERMANY - MAY 10: Police confront environmental activists in a forest near the Tesla Gigafactory electric car factory on May 10, 2024 near Gruenheide, Germany. Activists have come from across Germany to demand a stop to plans by Tesla to expand the factory, which would involve cutting down at least 50 hectares of trees. Some locals also support the protest, citing stress to local groundwater reserves from the factory. (Photo by Axel Schmidt/Getty Images)
Apple has reportedly apologized for its tone-deaf “Crush!” ad that sparked a furious backlash with artists, musicians and other creators. AdAge reports that Apple said the video “missed the mark” and has scrapped plans to run the cutesy-turned-cringey commercial on TV.
It’s clear that Apple intended for the ad to serve as a metaphor for all the myriad creative tools one has when they throw down $1,000 or more for a new iPad Pro. Run during Tuesday’s event, the video shows a series of musical instruments and other tools for human expression, including a guitar, drums, trumpet, amplifiers, record player, TV and much more. “All I Ever Need Is You” by Sonny & Cher soundtracks the clip.
Soon, it’s revealed that the objects are all sitting on an industrial crusher, which descends upon the scattered creative instruments, exploding in plumes of satisfyingly colorful smoke. But when the crusher pulls back up, we see that everything was transformed into a shiny new iPad Pro.
Apple
A decade ago, this ad likely wouldn’t have been a big deal. But Apple’s marketers completely whiffed on the context of the moment. The ad comes weeks before Apple will take the stage at WWDC to announce its generative AI features that its investors have been salivating for.
Generative AI, as you may have heard, needs something to train on — and that means humans’ work. It learns from existing content to make algorithmically generated words, pictures, music, voices or who knows what else. It also has the capability to put those same creators — most of whom don’t have cushy jobs at Apple or other Big Five tech companies — out of work as corporations and consumers eagerly adopt the robots destined to put creators on the unemployment line.
Context is everything, and Apple failed spectacularly there. Its ad serves as a pitch-perfect metaphor for generative AI’s potential to crush human creation, turning us all into “prompt artists” who type words into text boxes to replace their years of training and experience. (Granted, generative AI has genuinely exciting applications, too, but much more needs to be made of the society-level chaos it can and will unleash.)
“Creativity is in our DNA at Apple, and it’s incredibly important to us to design products that empower creatives all over the world,” Tor Myhren, Apple VP of marketing communications, told AdAge. “Our goal is to always celebrate the myriad of ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad. We missed the mark with this video, and we’re sorry.”
Hey, an apology means something. But we’ll see what tone Apple adopts next month when it rolls out the tools that set the stage for the apology in the first place. Something tells me that train is out of the station and will be plowing forward full steam, no matter how much creativity the company has in its DNA.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-apologizes-for-its-tone-deaf-ad-that-crushed-human-creativity-to-make-an-ipad-211116524.html?src=rss
Google has an offer for iPad owners who are curious about the Pixel Tablet. The company has a trade-in promotion that covers at least the cost of the Pixel Tablet for iPad owners — if not more, depending on which model you have. It works with Samsung tablets as well, but those trade-in values are lower. The Pixel Tablet costs $399 (without deals) for 128GB storage and no charging speaker dock.
The promo works with iPads as old as the sixth-generation model from six years ago. For that, Google will give you a surprising $399 — matching the Pixel Tablet’s base cost. That iPad model only cost $329 in 2018, so Google is overpaying by a lot for that one.
However, Google balances that with much worse offers for modern, high-end iPads. For example, the 12.9-inch iPad Pro with M2 chip (2022) only nets $450. Until this week (when the company launched a new iPad Pro and iPad Air), Apple sold that model for $1,099, so we don’t recommend that trade-in price. If you’re done with a high-end iPad from the last few years, you can likely sell it on places like eBay, Craigslist or Swappa for significantly more.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
The Pixel Tablet stands out from its Android-running competitors by working with a charging speaker base that lets the device double as a smart display, making it much more versatile. Engadget’s Cherlynn Low thought that part overshadowed its core functionality as a tablet. “As a smart display, the Pixel Tablet mostly shines. It has a useful dashboard, an easy-to-read interface and impressive audio quality,” she wrote in our full review.
The tablet has a 10.95-inch display with a 2,560 x 1,600 resolution (276 PPI) and runs on a Google Tensor G2 chip. It weighs slightly over a pound and is lighter than Android rivals like the Galaxy Tab S8 and OnePlus Pad. Its back has a nano-ceramic coating that gives it a premium, glass-like feeling that you may not expect from a $399 device.
Accessories are where the Pixel Tablet stands out the most. Google’s Pixel Tablet Case, sold separately for $79, has a built-in kickstand that makes the slate more versatile. “What I love about the kickstand-hanger-combo is that it allows you to place the Tablet pretty much anywhere,” Low wrote in Engadget’s review. “So when I want to hang it off a kitchen cabinet to follow along with a recipe video or keep watching Love Is Blind for example, I can. And though the 2,560 x 1,600 LCD panel isn’t as vibrant as the OLED on Samsung’s Galaxy Tabs, it still produced crisp details and colorful images.”
The star accessory is Google’s $129 charging speaker dock, which you can use without removing the kickstand case. This product transforms the tablet into a smart display, potentially voiding the need for other smart home control hubs. The speaker has impressive sound for its size, making it easier to hear its responses if you aren’t right next to it.
Google’s fine print notes that the trade-in value will be finalized after receiving the tablet, and it could be lower if it determines the condition doesn’t match what you selected during the trade-in process. The refund will be processed on the credit card you used to buy the Pixel Tablet (or through Google Store credit if you return your purchase during that time).
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/get-up-to-450-off-a-google-pixel-tablet-when-you-trade-in-your-old-ipad-or-android-slab-192718892.html?src=rss
Nintendo has apparently had enough of X’s (Twitter’s) API fees. The Mario maker said on Wednesday that starting on June 10, direct integration from the Switch’s image album to Elon Musk’s Nazi-curious platform will no longer work. With Nintendo’s departure, all three major console makers have pulled the plug on native screen-sharing to X.
X’s official gaming account posted a bizarre, downright Orwellian response that ignores its central role in the Mario maker’s exit. “Our partnership with Nintendo remains strong, and we are working together to ensure a smooth transition for all users,” @xGaming posted at the end of its nonchalantly misleading reply to Nintendo’s announcement. “We will continue collaborating with partners to bring new and exciting experiences to our global gaming community.”
Ironically, X’s built-in reader context feature filled in the omitted subtext. “This is in direct response to X changing their API,” the user-generated context says. “Specifically, X is charging companies upwards of $40,000 or more per month to access its API. Sony’s PlayStation and Microsoft’s Xbox already removed integration with X last year.”
As of June 10, 2024, it will no longer be possible to post screenshots and videos to X (formerly Twitter) from the Nintendo Switch's Album, or send friend requests to social media users via the Friend Suggestions feature.
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) May 9, 2024
Wired first reported last year that access to the cheapest Enterprise API plan for The Dumpster Fire Formerly Known As Twitter starts at $42,000 monthly. Higher tiers can allegedly cost $125,000 and $210,000 per month. Microsoft led the charge when it said the Xbox was abandoning Musk’s API plan in April 2023, while Sony held its nose and stuck it out until November.
The $42,000 (or more) monthly cost may not sound like much to these well-heeled mega-corporations, but apparently, even they have their limits. After all, quick screen-sharing to social channels is a marketing feature from a corporate perspective. If their accountants look at the analytics, weigh them against Musk’s fees and see it isn’t paying off, they’ll do what profit-driven entities do and reduce the overhead. But hey, at least X’s “partnership with Nintendo remains strong.”
AlphaFold software, from Google DeepMind and (the also Alphabet-owned) Isomorphic Labs, has already demonstrated that it can predict how proteins fold with shocking accuracy. It’s cataloged a staggering 200 million known proteins, and Google says millions of researchers have used previous versions to make discoveries in areas like malaria vaccines, cancer treatment and enzyme designs.
Knowing a protein’s shape and structure determines how it interacts with the human body, allowing scientists to create new drugs or improve existing ones. But the new version, AlphaFold 3, can model other crucial molecules, including DNA. It can also chart interactions between drugs and diseases, which could open exciting new doors for researchers. And Google says it does so with 50 percent better accuracy than existing models.
“AlphaFold 3 takes us beyond proteins to a broad spectrum of biomolecules,” Google’s DeepMind research team wrote in a blog post. “This leap could unlock more transformative science, from developing biorenewable materials and more resilient crops, to accelerating drug design and genomics research.”
“How do proteins respond to DNA damage; how do they find, repair it?” Google DeepMind project leader John Jumper toldWired. “We can start to answer these questions.”
Before AI, scientists could only study protein structures through electron microscopes and elaborate methods like X-ray crystallography. Machine learning streamlines much of that process by using patterns recognized from its training (often imperceptible to humans and our standard instruments) to predict protein shapes based on their amino acids.
Google says part of AlphaFold 3’s advancements come from applying diffusion models to its molecular predictions. Diffusion models are central pieces of AI image generators like Midjourney, Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s DALL-E 3. Incorporating these algorithms into AlphaFold “sharpens the molecular structures the software generates,” as Wiredexplains. In other words, it takes a formation that looks fuzzy or vague and makes highly educated guesses based on patterns from its training data to clear it up.
“This is a big advance for us,” Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis told Wired. “This is exactly what you need for drug discovery: You need to see how a small molecule is going to bind to a drug, how strongly, and also what else it might bind to.”
AlphaFold 3 uses a color-coded scale to label its confidence level in its prediction, allowing researchers to exercise appropriate caution with results that are less likely to be accurate. Blue means high confidence; red means it’s less certain.
Google is making AlphaFold 3 free for researchers to use for non-commercial research. However, unlike with past versions, the company isn’t open-sourcing the project. One prominent researcher who makes similar software, University of Washington professor David Baker, expressed disappointment to Wired that Google chose that route. However, he was also wowed by the software’s capabilities. “The structure prediction performance of AlphaFold 3 is very impressive,” he said.
As for what’s next, Google says “Isomorphic Labs is already collaborating with pharmaceutical companies to apply it to real-world drug design challenges and, ultimately, develop new life-changing treatments for patients.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-deepminds-latest-medical-breakthrough-borrows-a-trick-from-ai-image-generators-194725620.html?src=rss
Apple will reportedly focus its first round of generative AI enhancements on beefing up Siri’s conversational chops. Sources speaking withThe New York Times say company executives realized early last year that ChatGPT made Siri look antiquated. The company allegedly decided that the large language model (LLM) principles behind OpenAI’s chatbot could give the iPhone’s virtual assistant a much-needed shot in the arm. So Apple will reportedly roll out a new version of Siri powered by generative AI at its WWDC keynote on June 10.
Apple Senior Vice Presidents Craig Federighi and John Giannandrea reportedly tested ChatGPT for weeks before the company realized that Siri looked outdated. (I would argue that the epiphany came about a decade late.) What followed was what The NYT describes as Apple’s “most significant reorganization in more than a decade.”
The company sees generative AI as a once-in-a-decade tentpole area worth shifting heaps of resources to address. You may recall the company canceled its $10 billion “Apple Car” project earlier this year. Apple reportedly reassigned many of those engineers to work on generative AI.
Apple executives allegedly fear AI models could eventually replace established software like iOS, turning the iPhone into “a dumb brick” by comparison. The clunky, awkward and overall unconvincing first wave of dedicated AI gadgets we’ve reviewed, like the Human AI Pin and Rabbit R1, aren’t good enough to pose a threat. But that could change as software evolves, other smartphone makers incorporate more AI into their operating systems and other hardware makers have a chance to innovate.
So, at least for now, it appears Apple isn’t launching direct competitors to generative AI stalwarts like ChatGPT (words), Midjourney (images) or ElevenLabs (voices). Instead, it will start with a new Siri and updated iPhone models with expanded memory to better handle local processing. In addition, the company will reportedly add a text-summarizing feature to the Messages app.
Apple’s M4 chip (shown next to VP John Ternus) could help process local Siri requests.
Apple
Apple’s first foray into generative AI, if The NYT’s sources are correct, sounds like less of an immediate threat to creators than some had imagined. At its May iPad event, the company ran a video plugging the new iPad Pro that showed various creative tools crushed by a hydraulic press. The clip accidentally served as the perfect metaphor for the (legitimate) fears of artists, musicians and other creators, whose work AI models have trained on — and who stand to be replaced by those same tools as they become more normalized for content creation.
Samsung and Google have already loaded their flagship phones with various generative AI features that go far beyond improving their virtual assistants. These include tools for editing photos, generating text and enhancing transcription (among other things). These features typically rely on cloud-based servers for processing, whereas Apple’s approach will allegedly prioritize privacy and handle requests locally. So Apple will apparently start with a more streamlined approach that sticks to improving what’s already there, as well as keeping most or all processing on-device.
The New York Times’ sources add that Apple’s culture of internal secrecy and privacy-focused marketing have stunted its AI progress. Former Siri engineer John Burkey told the paper that the company’s tendency to silo off the information various divisions share with each other has been another primary culprit in Siri’s inability to evolve far past where the assistant was when it launched a day before Steve Jobs died in 2011.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apples-big-ai-rollout-at-wwdc-will-reportedly-focus-on-making-siri-suck-less-203035673.html?src=rss
Climate protestors in Germany broke through police barricades on Friday, amid clashes between activists and law enforcement. The protestors either made it onto (according to protestors) or near (according to local police) the grounds of a Tesla gigafactory in Grünheide, Germany, near Berlin. It’s part of a planned five-day demonstration ahead of a local government vote next week to determine whether Tesla’s plant can expand.
Wiredflagged social media videos showing activists, many of whom have been camping out in treehouses in nearby forest encampments, running toward a Tesla building on the site. In addition, the German newspaper Welt said at least one person participating was injured. Police reportedly police used pepper spray and batons to try to thwart the crowd, and there were at least some arrests.
A spokesperson for one of the groups participating in the protests told Wired that they broke the police barriers and stormed the Tesla grounds. “Eight hundred people have entered the premises of the gigafactory,” Lucia Mende of Disrupt Tesla said. However, local police posted on X (Musk’s social media platform) that the activists only reached a field facing the site. “We have been able to prevent them from entering so far,” they posted.
Axel Schmidt via Getty Images
At least at first glance, it’s easy to wonder why activists are pouring so much energy into fighting Tesla. After all, despite Musk’s increasingly unhinged right-wing conspiracy-mongering and Nazi-catering on X, other automakers pushing gas-guzzling cars seem like more appropriate targets (not to mention the fossil fuel companies spending big bucks on anti-climate-reform disinformation). However, several factors make the issues at the heart of the protests less simplistic.
A (nonbinding) vote in February showed Grünheide residents opposed the expansion by almost a two-to-one ratio. If for no other reason, the local government having a chance to brush aside the overwhelming will of the voters in the name of capitalism is enough to raise the eyebrows of anyone who balks at minority rule.
Wirednotes the area is also one of the most water-scarce in Germany, and residents worry the gigafactory will drain the resource, leaving much less for the humans who live there. The plant could also pollute local water supplies.
Those fears appear to have merit: The plant is licensed to use 1.4 million cubic meters of water annually, and a separate Wiredreport from Tuesday noted that’s enough to supply for a large town. As for the contamination fears, Tesla was fined in 2019 by the EPA for several hazardous waste violations at a California factory. The company paid a grand total of $31,000 to settle. (Tesla had a market cap of almost $76 billion in 2019.)
But some of the groups protesting have concerns that go much farther than those more immediate issues affecting the locals, instead taking issue with the entire electric vehicle movement. “Companies like Tesla are there to save the car industry, they’re not there to save the climate,” Esther Kamm, spokesperson for Turn Off the Tap on Tesla told Wired.
Another activist, who only gave Wired the name Mara, described the factory as the result of “green capitalism.” She views the EV movement as little more than a theatrical performance in the name of profit. “This has been completely thought up by such companies to have more growth, even in times of an environmental crisis,” she said.
I wouldn’t exactly say flipping the bird to the EV movement is a “workable” solution to the very real and pressing climate crisis. Regardless of your thoughts on the matter, the world needs to move quickly to fend off climate change’s most ravaging effects, and the scientific consensus is that the planned shift to EVs will need to play a central role.
Tesla reportedly told its employees at the factory to work from home on Friday, shutting down the plants for the planned protests. As for Friday’s protests, Welt reports that the situation had calmed by afternoon — at least for now.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/climate-protestors-clash-with-police-outside-teslas-german-gigafactory-175726961.html?src=rss
GRUENHEIDE, GERMANY - MAY 10: Police confront environmental activists in a forest near the Tesla Gigafactory electric car factory on May 10, 2024 near Gruenheide, Germany. Activists have come from across Germany to demand a stop to plans by Tesla to expand the factory, which would involve cutting down at least 50 hectares of trees. Some locals also support the protest, citing stress to local groundwater reserves from the factory. (Photo by Axel Schmidt/Getty Images)
Apple has reportedly apologized for its tone-deaf “Crush!” ad that sparked a furious backlash with artists, musicians and other creators. AdAge reports that Apple said the video “missed the mark” and has scrapped plans to run the cutesy-turned-cringey commercial on TV.
It’s clear that Apple intended for the ad to serve as a metaphor for all the myriad creative tools one has when they throw down $1,000 or more for a new iPad Pro. Run during Tuesday’s event, the video shows a series of musical instruments and other tools for human expression, including a guitar, drums, trumpet, amplifiers, record player, TV and much more. “All I Ever Need Is You” by Sonny & Cher soundtracks the clip.
Soon, it’s revealed that the objects are all sitting on an industrial crusher, which descends upon the scattered creative instruments, exploding in plumes of satisfyingly colorful smoke. But when the crusher pulls back up, we see that everything was transformed into a shiny new iPad Pro.
Apple
A decade ago, this ad likely wouldn’t have been a big deal. But Apple’s marketers completely whiffed on the context of the moment. The ad comes weeks before Apple will take the stage at WWDC to announce its generative AI features that its investors have been salivating for.
Generative AI, as you may have heard, needs something to train on — and that means humans’ work. It learns from existing content to make algorithmically generated words, pictures, music, voices or who knows what else. It also has the capability to put those same creators — most of whom don’t have cushy jobs at Apple or other Big Five tech companies — out of work as corporations and consumers eagerly adopt the robots destined to put creators on the unemployment line.
Context is everything, and Apple failed spectacularly there. Its ad serves as a pitch-perfect metaphor for generative AI’s potential to crush human creation, turning us all into “prompt artists” who type words into text boxes to replace their years of training and experience. (Granted, generative AI has genuinely exciting applications, too, but much more needs to be made of the society-level chaos it can and will unleash.)
“Creativity is in our DNA at Apple, and it’s incredibly important to us to design products that empower creatives all over the world,” Tor Myhren, Apple VP of marketing communications, told AdAge. “Our goal is to always celebrate the myriad of ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad. We missed the mark with this video, and we’re sorry.”
Hey, an apology means something. But we’ll see what tone Apple adopts next month when it rolls out the tools that set the stage for the apology in the first place. Something tells me that train is out of the station and will be plowing forward full steam, no matter how much creativity the company has in its DNA.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-apologizes-for-its-tone-deaf-ad-that-crushed-human-creativity-to-make-an-ipad-211116524.html?src=rss
Google has an offer for iPad owners who are curious about the Pixel Tablet. The company has a trade-in promotion that covers at least the cost of the Pixel Tablet for iPad owners — if not more, depending on which model you have. It works with Samsung tablets as well, but those trade-in values are lower. The Pixel Tablet costs $399 (without deals) for 128GB storage and no charging speaker dock.
The promo works with iPads as old as the sixth-generation model from six years ago. For that, Google will give you a surprising $399 — matching the Pixel Tablet’s base cost. That iPad model only cost $329 in 2018, so Google is overpaying by a lot for that one.
However, Google balances that with much worse offers for modern, high-end iPads. For example, the 12.9-inch iPad Pro with M2 chip (2022) only nets $450. Until this week (when the company launched a new iPad Pro and iPad Air), Apple sold that model for $1,099, so we don’t recommend that trade-in price. If you’re done with a high-end iPad from the last few years, you can likely sell it on places like eBay, Craigslist or Swappa for significantly more.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
The Pixel Tablet stands out from its Android-running competitors by working with a charging speaker base that lets the device double as a smart display, making it much more versatile. Engadget’s Cherlynn Low thought that part overshadowed its core functionality as a tablet. “As a smart display, the Pixel Tablet mostly shines. It has a useful dashboard, an easy-to-read interface and impressive audio quality,” she wrote in our full review.
The tablet has a 10.95-inch display with a 2,560 x 1,600 resolution (276 PPI) and runs on a Google Tensor G2 chip. It weighs slightly over a pound and is lighter than Android rivals like the Galaxy Tab S8 and OnePlus Pad. Its back has a nano-ceramic coating that gives it a premium, glass-like feeling that you may not expect from a $399 device.
Accessories are where the Pixel Tablet stands out the most. Google’s Pixel Tablet Case, sold separately for $79, has a built-in kickstand that makes the slate more versatile. “What I love about the kickstand-hanger-combo is that it allows you to place the Tablet pretty much anywhere,” Low wrote in Engadget’s review. “So when I want to hang it off a kitchen cabinet to follow along with a recipe video or keep watching Love Is Blind for example, I can. And though the 2,560 x 1,600 LCD panel isn’t as vibrant as the OLED on Samsung’s Galaxy Tabs, it still produced crisp details and colorful images.”
The star accessory is Google’s $129 charging speaker dock, which you can use without removing the kickstand case. This product transforms the tablet into a smart display, potentially voiding the need for other smart home control hubs. The speaker has impressive sound for its size, making it easier to hear its responses if you aren’t right next to it.
Google’s fine print notes that the trade-in value will be finalized after receiving the tablet, and it could be lower if it determines the condition doesn’t match what you selected during the trade-in process. The refund will be processed on the credit card you used to buy the Pixel Tablet (or through Google Store credit if you return your purchase during that time).
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/get-up-to-450-off-a-google-pixel-tablet-when-you-trade-in-your-old-ipad-or-android-slab-192718892.html?src=rss
Nintendo has apparently had enough of X’s (Twitter’s) API fees. The Mario maker said on Wednesday that starting on June 10, direct integration from the Switch’s image album to Elon Musk’s Nazi-curious platform will no longer work. With Nintendo’s departure, all three major console makers have pulled the plug on native screen-sharing to X.
X’s official gaming account posted a bizarre, downright Orwellian response that ignores its central role in the Mario maker’s exit. “Our partnership with Nintendo remains strong, and we are working together to ensure a smooth transition for all users,” @xGaming posted at the end of its nonchalantly misleading reply to Nintendo’s announcement. “We will continue collaborating with partners to bring new and exciting experiences to our global gaming community.”
Ironically, X’s built-in reader context feature filled in the omitted subtext. “This is in direct response to X changing their API,” the user-generated context says. “Specifically, X is charging companies upwards of $40,000 or more per month to access its API. Sony’s PlayStation and Microsoft’s Xbox already removed integration with X last year.”
As of June 10, 2024, it will no longer be possible to post screenshots and videos to X (formerly Twitter) from the Nintendo Switch's Album, or send friend requests to social media users via the Friend Suggestions feature.
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) May 9, 2024
Wired first reported last year that access to the cheapest Enterprise API plan for The Dumpster Fire Formerly Known As Twitter starts at $42,000 monthly. Higher tiers can allegedly cost $125,000 and $210,000 per month. Microsoft led the charge when it said the Xbox was abandoning Musk’s API plan in April 2023, while Sony held its nose and stuck it out until November.
The $42,000 (or more) monthly cost may not sound like much to these well-heeled mega-corporations, but apparently, even they have their limits. After all, quick screen-sharing to social channels is a marketing feature from a corporate perspective. If their accountants look at the analytics, weigh them against Musk’s fees and see it isn’t paying off, they’ll do what profit-driven entities do and reduce the overhead. But hey, at least X’s “partnership with Nintendo remains strong.”
AlphaFold software, from Google DeepMind and (the also Alphabet-owned) Isomorphic Labs, has already demonstrated that it can predict how proteins fold with shocking accuracy. It’s cataloged a staggering 200 million known proteins, and Google says millions of researchers have used previous versions to make discoveries in areas like malaria vaccines, cancer treatment and enzyme designs.
Knowing a protein’s shape and structure determines how it interacts with the human body, allowing scientists to create new drugs or improve existing ones. But the new version, AlphaFold 3, can model other crucial molecules, including DNA. It can also chart interactions between drugs and diseases, which could open exciting new doors for researchers. And Google says it does so with 50 percent better accuracy than existing models.
“AlphaFold 3 takes us beyond proteins to a broad spectrum of biomolecules,” Google’s DeepMind research team wrote in a blog post. “This leap could unlock more transformative science, from developing biorenewable materials and more resilient crops, to accelerating drug design and genomics research.”
“How do proteins respond to DNA damage; how do they find, repair it?” Google DeepMind project leader John Jumper toldWired. “We can start to answer these questions.”
Before AI, scientists could only study protein structures through electron microscopes and elaborate methods like X-ray crystallography. Machine learning streamlines much of that process by using patterns recognized from its training (often imperceptible to humans and our standard instruments) to predict protein shapes based on their amino acids.
Google says part of AlphaFold 3’s advancements come from applying diffusion models to its molecular predictions. Diffusion models are central pieces of AI image generators like Midjourney, Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s DALL-E 3. Incorporating these algorithms into AlphaFold “sharpens the molecular structures the software generates,” as Wiredexplains. In other words, it takes a formation that looks fuzzy or vague and makes highly educated guesses based on patterns from its training data to clear it up.
“This is a big advance for us,” Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis told Wired. “This is exactly what you need for drug discovery: You need to see how a small molecule is going to bind to a drug, how strongly, and also what else it might bind to.”
AlphaFold 3 uses a color-coded scale to label its confidence level in its prediction, allowing researchers to exercise appropriate caution with results that are less likely to be accurate. Blue means high confidence; red means it’s less certain.
Google is making AlphaFold 3 free for researchers to use for non-commercial research. However, unlike with past versions, the company isn’t open-sourcing the project. One prominent researcher who makes similar software, University of Washington professor David Baker, expressed disappointment to Wired that Google chose that route. However, he was also wowed by the software’s capabilities. “The structure prediction performance of AlphaFold 3 is very impressive,” he said.
As for what’s next, Google says “Isomorphic Labs is already collaborating with pharmaceutical companies to apply it to real-world drug design challenges and, ultimately, develop new life-changing treatments for patients.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-deepminds-latest-medical-breakthrough-borrows-a-trick-from-ai-image-generators-194725620.html?src=rss
Amazon has the Google Pixel Watch 2 on sale for $70 off. The Wear OS 4-powered smartwatch arrived last fall with a new stress-tracking feature, slightly longer battery life and a better heart sensor, as Google’s flagship wearable inches closer to rivals Apple and Samsung. Its current $330 sale price is a record low.
The Pixel Watch 2 works with Android phones, so you’ll want to sit this deal out if you use an iPhone and don’t plan on switching. But those with the right setup get a sleek device with a round (1.2-inch) screen. The watch’s 41mm case (one size only) is lighter than its predecessor, thanks to its recycled aluminum material. It also has an IP68 water and dust resistance, meaning it has dust protection and can withstand half an hour of submersion in 1.5 meters of water.
This latest model includes a stress-tracking feature that uses the watch’s continuous electrodermal activity (cEDA) sensor to track changes in your skin’s electrical activity. “This new sensor can point to possible signs of stress using a machine learning algorithm that incorporates heart rate, heart rate variability and skin temperature,” Google explains. “When the algorithm picks up on physical indicators of positive and negative stress, including excitement, the Body Response feature will send you a notification.”
Fitness tracking is likely one of the main reasons to buy a wearable like this, and Engadget’s Cherlynn Low found the watch’s Fitbit integration performed very well in our full review. “I’ve been wearing the Pixel Watch 2 alongside the Apple Watch Series 9 to all my workouts this week, and they generally showed similar results,” she wrote when the smartwatch arrived last fall. It includes automatic workout start and stop prompts in case you forget to set up or end a session.
The Pixel Watch 2’s $330 sale price is for the LTE version of the Pixel Watch 2, so once you set it up with your wireless carrier, it can stay connected without needing you to keep your phone nearby. If you prefer the Wi-Fi-only version, it’s available for $300, which is $50 off its usual price.
The Google Pixel Watch 2 on a person's left wrist, which is held up horizontally. The screen shows a list of feelings to log, including "Sad," "Calm" and "Content."
Microsoft says the April security updates for Windows may break your VPN. (Oops!) “Windows devices might face VPN connection failures after installing the April 2024 security update (KB5036893) or the April 2024 non-security preview update,” the company wrote in a status update. It’s working on a fix.
Bleeping Computer first reported the issue, which affects Windows 11, Windows 10 and Windows Server 2008 and later. User reports on Reddit are mixed, with some commenters saying their VPNs still work after installing the update and others claiming their encrypted connections were indeed borked.
“We are working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release,” Microsoft wrote.
There’s no proper fix until Microsoft pushes a patched update. However, you can work around the issue by uninstalling all the security updates. In an unfortunate bit of timing for CEO Satya Nadella, he said last week that he wants Microsoft to put “security above else.” I can’t imagine making customers (temporarily) choose between going without a VPN and losing the latest protection is what he had in mind.
At least one Redditor claims that uninstalling and reinstalling their VPN app fixed the problem for them, so it may be worth trying that before moving on to more drastic measures.
If you decide to uninstall the security updates, Microsoft tells you how. “To remove the LCU after installing the combined SSU and LCU package, use the DISM/Remove-Package command line option with the LCU package name as the argument,” the company wrote in its patch notes. “You can find the package name by using this command: DISM /online /get-packages.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsofts-latest-windows-security-updates-might-break-your-vpn-202050679.html?src=rss
Audible is testing a cheaper subscription tier in Australia that sounds like an answer to Spotify’s audiobook push. Like the more expensive plan, the new Standard membership gives you one free title per month. But, similar to gaming services like PlayStation Plus, you lose access to the books you claimed under the plan if you cancel.
As reported by Bloomberg, the Audible Standard plan costs AUD 8.99 (US$5.90) per month, significantly lower than the AUD 16.45 monthly cost of the Premium Plus plan in Australia ($14.97 in the US). Despite the lower cost, Audible Standard subscribers down under can still claim one audiobook per month to add to their library, which they can download and listen to online or off.
But the catch is, unlike Audible Premium Plus, Standard members’ free audiobook credits don’t roll over to the next month if they don’t use them. (So, if you forget to claim a book in May, you’ll still only have one credit to use in June.) In addition, the audiobooks you chose on the Standard plan will have a lock icon next to them after you cancel. To listen to them after canceling, you’ll have to buy them at full price or resubscribe.
Another difference between the plans is Audible Standard members won’t get full podcast access. “Audible Standard members can listen to many podcasts for free,” an Audible FAQ about the plan reads. “Some Audible Original podcasts aren’t available with Audible Standard membership though.”
Spotify launched an audiobook feature last year that challenged Audible’s established model. Spotify Premium subscribers in the US can stream 15 hours of books monthly through their ad-free music plan. The service also offers an audiobooks-only tier (with the same 15-hour cap) for $10 monthly. If the allotted time isn’t enough, Spotify users can buy a 10-hour top-up. A single audiobook often lasts around seven to 11 hours.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audible-is-testing-a-cheaper-plan-in-australia-191347871.html?src=rss
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