Facebook owner Meta says it is banning several Russian state media networks, alleging they use deceptive tactics to carry out influence operations and evade detection on its platforms.
"After careful consideration, we expanded our ongoing enforcement against Russian state media outlets. Rossiya Segodnya, RT and other related entities are now banned from our apps globally for foreign interference activity," Meta said.
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Finally out of beta, iOS 18 arrived for public availability as of Monday afternoon. You can download and install it if your device is compatible, but it already comes with all iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus and iPhone 16 Pro models that will be available on September 20. Those with eligible devices can update them by going to Settings > General > About > Software Update and starting the download and installation processes.
To see if your device is eligible, we have a list of iPhone models that can support iOS 18. Check it out and see if yours will work.
Some of the “hidden” features our editor Cherlynn spotted include Apple Maps upgrades, Calendar integration with Reminders and expanded Tapback options in Messages, letting you see who reacted with which emoji. Safari is getting a “Highlights” function, which generates a summary of web pages you’re on via machine learning. Our UK bureau chief Mat Smith also tried out some early iOS 18 features in July, and his main takeaway was that Apple Intelligence is the real star. Unfortunately, Apple Intelligence isn’t out today, but its first features will become available in October as part of a subsequent update.
Besides iOS 18, all of Apple's other major sibling operating system updates are available as well. That includes iPadOS 18, visionOS 2, macOS Sequoia, tvOS 18 and watchOS 11, all of which are coming to their respective devices today. Make sure to check if your devices are eligible for the update and that they have enough space. You may have to free up a few gigabytes of storage first.
Update, September 16, 8:17PM ET: Added more complete list of additional Apple OS updates that are now available, and additional context about Apple Intelligence (some, not all, of the features are arriving beginning in October). This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/apple-has-released-ios-18-heres-how-to-update-your-iphone-171444043.html?src=rss
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Space is more accessible than ever thanks to the proliferation of small satellites and more affordable launch prices, which opened the door to bespoke applications like global pollution monitoring, crop observations, and new ways of collecting weather and climate data.
Now you can add wildfire detection to the list. Satellites have observed wildfires from space for decades, but a new initiative partially funded by Google's philanthropic arm aims to deploy more than 50 small satellites in low-Earth orbit to pinpoint flare-ups as small as a classroom anywhere in the world.
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Apple has just released watchOS 11, the latest version of its smartwatch operating system, alongside iOS 18 and iPadOS 18. The update, available for the Apple Watch Series 6 and later models, will finally allow users to take rest days without breaking their activity streak and introduces FDA-cleared sleep apnea detection.
Sleep apnea is a condition that can cause a person to stop breathing during sleep and can lead to an increased risk of hypertension and Type 2 diabetes if left untreated. Apple’s sleep apnea detection feature, which uses the accelerometer to monitor for small wrist movements associated with sleep interruptions, was announced alongside the new Apple Watch Series 10 and is now available for both the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2. If sleep apnea is detected, the Apple Watch will alert the user and provide additional information that can be shared with a doctor, who can make a formal diagnosis.
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Jason Redmond | AFP | Getty Images OpenAI on Monday said its Safety and Security Committee, which the company introduced in May as it dealt with controversy over security processes, will become an independent board oversight committee.
The group will be chaired by Zico Kolter, director of the machine learning department at Carnegie Mellon University's school of computer science. Other members include Adam D'Angelo, an OpenAI board member and co-founder of Quora, former NSA chief and board member Paul Nakasone, and Nicole Seligman, former executive vice president at Sony.
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Roasting can be really brutal, but at least if we inflict it on ourselves, we can get ahead of the joke.
A friend recently shared a comment someone had made about her online. Sophie was a middle-aged, never-was influencer, in this stranger’s estimation, who exploited her children and alienated everyone she met. As I debated whether “liking” the post would read as support or broad agreement, I noticed a strange watermark. The vicious words had been generated not by a bitter stranger, but an AI roast app. My demented friend had asked for this.
Who would volunteer to be insulted? A wave of apps such as Roastai.app, Roastedby.ai, Roastik.com and er, Monica.im suggest the answer is loads of us. Every day, people upload selfies to the Reddit page r/RoastMe, begging to be taken down a peg or two hundred. “You look like a series of circles stacked on top of one another,” the users exult. “Why does your forehead start at the back of your head?” There is a cruel craft to it. One sedentary rapper recently got called “The Notorious BMI”, while someone else, who I don’t even think had strabismus, was accused of having “mortgage eyes – one fixed, one variable.”
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The Apple AirPods are one of the most iconic and popular pairs of true wireless earbuds you can buy. But, since they’re designed exclusively for Apple devices, Android users are left in the cold. Samsung has been making great alternatives for years, but with the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, they’re closer to the Apple formula than ever. While there’s a little bit of copycat-ism going on, and they could do with better battery life, great sound quality and active noise cancellation make these a contender for one of the best wireless earbuds of 2024. Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro – Photos
The Galaxy Buds Pro has undergone a reinvention from last generation. Samsung has abandoned its previous in-ear design for the Buds 3 Pro and instead opted for AirPods-like stems. Also like the AirPods, it comes in two versions. The standard Galaxy Buds 3 open-ear design and hangs in your ear, allowing you to hear what’s around you. The Galaxy Buds 3 Pro offers an in-ear fit with silicone ear tips and added features. The extra money nets you Adaptive Noise Control and an additional driver for enhanced sound quality.
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Image: The Verge
OpenAI is turning its Safety and Security Committee into an independent “Board oversight committee” that has the authority to delay model launches over safety concerns, according to an OpenAI blog post.
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The Boar's Head deli-meat plant at the epicenter of a nationwide Listeria outbreak that killed nine people so far harbored the deadly germ in a common area of the facility deemed "low risk" for Listeria. Further, it had no written plans to prevent cross-contamination of the dangerous bacteria to other products and areas. That's according to a federal document newly released by Boar's Head.
On Friday, the company announced that it is indefinitely closing that Jarratt, Virginia-based plant and will never again produce liverwurst—the product that Maryland health investigators first identified as the source of the outbreak strain of Listeria monocytogenes. The finding led to the recall of
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It’s hard to buy a bad pair of wireless earbuds these days, and with constant discounts and deals wherever you look, now is as good of a time as any to splurge on the pair you’ve been eyeing. The market has come a long way since the early era of true wireless earbuds when we had to deal with mediocre sound quality and unreliable performance, all for the sake of ditching cables. Things are much different now. After several product generations of learned lessons, companies like Sony, Apple, Samsung, and others are releasing their most impressive earbuds to date.
You can get phenomenal noise cancellation and sound quality in the premium tier of earbuds if you’re willing to spend big. But those aren’t always the most important criteria for everyone: maybe you’re looking for the perfect fitness earbuds or for a set that works just as well for Zoom calls as for playing your favorite playlists and podcasts.
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It’s been around three years since Tile has offered a serious refresh for its popular line of Bluetooth trackers. Since that time, the company was bought by Life360 and Apple began dominating the field with its AirTag trackers. Now, Tile is back with four new trackers to help people find stuff.
The Bluetooth range has been extended across the full lineup, but the big news here is the SOS alert button. The system will send out a notification and user location to designated emergency contacts when pressing the button three times. This feature is available to anyone with a free Life360 account, but a premium membership will allow users to send notifications to emergency dispatch services.
The Tile Mate ($25) is the standard “everything tracker” with a built-in key ring. This makes it a good choice for keys, backpacks, purses and anything else that can accommodate a key ring. The Bluetooth range is around 350 feet and it features an IP68 water resistance rating and a non-replaceable battery that lasts three years. Orders are open right now.
The Tile Pro ($35) is an amped-up version of the Mate. It looks the same, but it boasts a longer range, up to 500 feet, and a louder ring. The battery is also user-replaceable. This one won’t be available until October.
The Tile Slim ($30) is designed primarily for wallets, luggage and other items with plenty of nooks and crannies. The range maxes out at 350 feet and each tracker includes a non-replaceable battery that lasts three years. The Tile Sticker ($25) is being advertised as the “smallest Bluetooth tracker on the market” and it’s absolutely tiny. It also includes a sticker that adheres to items. This makes it a great choice for TV remotes and headphones. The range maxes out at 250 feet. Both the Slim and Sticker are available to order right now.
Tile
There are, as previously mentioned, snazzy new colors to choose from. The Tile Mate and Slim come in six colors, including black, white, blue, pink, green and yellow. The Tile Pro will be available in both black and white, while the Sticker is only available in black.
It’s worth noting that Tile experienced a hack a couple of months back in which customer information was accessed. There’s nothing in the promotional materials to indicate that these new trackers have been outfitted with updated security measures to prevent that kind of thing from happening again. We reached out to the company to inquire about potential safety tech and will update this post if we learn anything notable.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/tile-introduces-its-first-new-bluetooth-trackers-in-years-173100389.html?src=rss
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A decade ago, Flappy Bird became a sensation among smartphone users, with many of us spending far too long getting the little yellow guy to climb higher and higher along pipes. But, it didn't last long, with it soon pulled from app stores. Here at Engadget, we were excited by the news last week that Flappy Bird is coming back to our devices in 2025. However, there's one person who isn't psyched: Flappy Bird's creator, Dong Nguyen. He took to X (formerly Twitter) to confirm he isn't involved in or profiting off the new version. "No, I have no related with their game. I did not sell anything. I also don't support crypto," he stated.
No, I have no related with their game. I did not sell anything.
I also don't support crypto.— Dong Nguyen (@dongatory) September 15, 2024
The team behind the new Flappy Bird iteration has been open about being a "new team of passionate fans." Nguyen's trademark was reportedly considered abandoned, and Gametech Holdings LLC picked it up for free. The new team then got the rights to Flappy Bird from Gametech.
It's unlikely Nguyen would have ever revived the game on his own. He released the original game in May 2013 and made about $50,000 a day from advertising when it blew up the following January. However, he took the game down only a month later, stating, "I cannot take this anymore." In an interview with Forbes then, Nguyen explained, "Flappy Bird was designed to play in a few minutes when you are relaxed. But it happened to become an addictive product. I think it has become a problem. To solve that problem, it's best to take down Flappy Bird. It's gone forever."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/flappy-birds-creator-wants-you-to-know-hes-got-nothing-to-do-with-the-new-version-121532179.html?src=rss
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Emissions from in-house data centers of Google, Microsoft, Meta and Apple may be 7.62 times higher than official tally.
Big tech has made some big claims about greenhouse gas emissions in recent years. But as the rise of artificial intelligence creates ever bigger energy demands, it’s getting hard for the industry to hide the true costs of the data centers powering the tech revolution.
According to a Guardian analysis, from 2020 to 2022 the real emissions from the “in-house” or company-owned data centers of Google, Microsoft, Meta and Apple are likely about 662% – or 7.62 times – higher than officially reported.
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On Thursday, Google made Gemini Live, its voice-based AI chatbot feature, available for free to all Android users. The feature allows users to interact with Gemini through voice commands on their Android devices. That's notable because competitor OpenAI's Advanced Voice Mode feature of ChatGPT, which is similar to Gemini Live, has not yet fully shipped.
Google unveiled Gemini Live during its Pixel 9 launch event last month. Initially, the feature was exclusive to Gemini Advanced subscribers, but now it's accessible to anyone using the Gemini app or its overlay on Android.
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Earth has gone through many geologic phases, but it did have one striking period of stasis: Our planet experienced a tropical environment where algae and single-celled organisms flourished for almost 2 billion years. Then things changed drastically as the planet was plunged into a deep freeze.
It was previously unclear when Earth became a gargantuan freezer. Now, University College London researchers have found evidence in an outcrop of rocks in Scotland, known as the Port Askaig Formation, that show evidence of the transition from a tropical Earth to a frozen one 717 million years ago. This marks the onset of the Sturtian glaciation and would be the first of two "snowball Earth" events during which much of the planet’s surface was covered in ice. It is thought that multicellular life began to emerge after Earth thawed.
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Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images Uber announced Friday it is expanding its partnership with Alphabet's Waymo to offer robotaxi rides in Austin, Texas, and Atlanta beginning in early 2025.
Uber riders in those cities can be matched with a driverless Waymo car for some trips, according to the companies. The rides will only be available through Uber's app, unlike in San Francisco and Los Angeles where riders book through the Waymo app. A Waymo spokesperson said it had no plans to partner with Uber in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
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A European consumer watchdog has filed a complaint against Epic Games, Electronic Arts, Roblox and other game publishers over deceptive in-game currency practices, Reuters reported. The European Consumer Organization (BEUC) said it has "identified numerous cases where gamers are misled into spending money" and called on authorities "to provide consumers with safe gaming environments."
The BEUC pointed out that consumers are unable to see the real cost of digital items price using in-game currencies, saying that in-game purchases should always be displayed in real money. It added that companies' claims that gamers prefer in-game premium currencies are wrong; consumers are often denied their rights when using such currencies; and that children are particularly vulnerable to these "manipulative tactics."
"Regulators must act, making it clear that even though the gaming world is virtual, it still needs to abide by real-world rules," said BEUC director general Augustin Reyna in a statement. "Premium in-game currencies are purposefully tricking consumers and take a big toll on children. Companies are well aware of children's vulnerability and use tricks to lure younger consumers into spending more."
Also named in the complaint is Microsoft's Activision Blizzard, Mojang Studios, Tencent-owned Supercell and Ubisoft.
In a separate statement, Video Games Europe, which counts members including Epic Games, Roblox, Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Supercell and and Ubisoft, said that consumers are already well-informed around in-game currencies. "The PEGI (Pan-European Game information) Code of Conduct requires developers to ensure that the real-world cost is clear and unambiguous at the point of purchase of the in-game currency," it told Reuters. "Our members always respect European consumer laws in how they offer these purchases."
The use of premium currencies purchased with real money has been controversial, especially around young players. In 2022, Epic was hit by a record FTC fine, in part for making it possible for children to purchase Fortnite's V-Bucks in-game currency without parental consent until 2018. The regulator said that Epic ignored more than a million user complaints and employee concerns over wrongful charges. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/eu-complaint-urges-action-on-confusing-in-game-currencies-140028212.html?src=rss
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Multiple Stream Deck Studio interfaces can be stacked in a studio rack. Image: Elgato
Elgato’s new Stream Deck Studio — the largest version of its Stream Deck controller yet — is designed for broadcast environments where workflows involve juggling more hardware, software, and media feeds than streamers and solo content creators typically have to deal with.
Available starting today for $899.99, the Stream Deck Studio is a collaboration between Elgato and Bitfocus, whose Companion software already brought more advanced functionality to the original Stream Deck, letting you connect multiple controllers and configure them remotely through a web browser interface.
Bitfocus helped make the Stream Deck a useful tool in “traditional broadcast settings” and other applications outside of content creation.
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A concerning report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) expresses some serious concerns about the future of America’s space exploration agency.
The NASEM report was written by a panel of aerospace experts and lays out what it sees as a possible "hollow future” for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). It addresses issues of underfunding due to “declining long-term national emphasis on aeronautics and civil space,” an assertion that NASA itself is aware of and agrees with. The report also notes that NASA’s problems extend far beyond having enough funding to carry out its missions and operations.
Some of the report’s “core findings” suggest areas of concern that could affect the space agency’s future. These include a focus on “short-term measures without adequate consideration for longer-term needs and implications,” reliance on “milestone-based purchase-of-service contracts”
and inefficiency due to “slow and cumbersome business operations.” The report also raised concerns about the current generation of talent being siphoned off by private aerospace companies, and the next generation of engineers not receiving an adequate foundation of knowledge due to our underfunded public school systems. Finally the report states bluntly that NASA’s infrastructure “is already well beyond its design life.”
These and other issues could lead to even more serious problems. Norman Augustine, a former Lockheed Martin chief executive and the report’s lead author, told The Washington Post that reliance on the private sector could further erode NASA's workforce, reducing its role to one of oversight instead of problem-solving.
Congress could allocate more funds to NASA to address these concerns but that’s not likely since it’s constantly struggling to prevent government shutdowns. Instead, Augustine says NASA could focus on prioritizing its efforts on more strategic goals and initiatives.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/a-new-report-raises-concerns-about-the-future-of-nasa-184643260.html?src=rss
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Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge
One year to the day since Unity announced its runtime fee pricing model, the software developer is canceling that program effective immediately. “After extensive consultation with our games community and customers, we’ve decided to cancel the Runtime Fee,” said Unity CEO Matt Bromberg in the blog post announcing the news. Instead of the runtime fee, Unity will return to a per-seat subscription model.
Last year, Unity caused a stir within the game development community with a controversial update to its pricing model. Instead of charging developers a set monthly rate based on the number of users utilizing the software, it would implement a pay-per-download scheme that charged developers every time their game was downloaded.
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Google is under investigation by Europe’s privacy watchdog over its processing of personal data in the development of one of its artificial intelligence models, as regulators ramp up their scrutiny of Big Tech’s AI ambitions.
Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, which is responsible for enforcing the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, said it had launched a statutory inquiry into the tech giant’s Pathways Language Model 2, or PaLM 2.
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The US Secret Service says it is "aware" of a social media post by Elon Musk in which he said that "no one is even trying" to assassinate President Joe Biden or Vice-president Kamala Harris.
Mr Musk has since deleted the post and said it was intended as a joke.
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Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge. Photos from Getty Images
TikTok — an app used to by 170 million Americans — now has its future resting in the hands of three judges. The company fought for its life during oral arguments on Monday only for the judges to express a great deal of skepticism towards TikTok’s case.
Attorneys for TikTok and a group of creators suing to block the law popularly known as “the TikTok ban” made their case before a panel of three judges on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. Though the bill seeks a divestment of the app from its Chinese owner ByteDance by a January 19th deadline, the company says the ultimatum is in truth a ban that would stifle the speech of TikTok and its creators, and improperly limit the information Americans are able to receive.
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OpenAI truly does not want you to know what its latest AI model is "thinking." Since the company launched its "Strawberry" AI model family last week, touting so-called reasoning abilities with o1-preview and o1-mini, OpenAI has been sending out warning emails and threats of bans to any user who tries to probe into how the model works.
Unlike previous AI models from OpenAI, such as GPT-4o, the company trained o1 specifically to work through a step-by-step problem-solving process before generating an answer. When users ask an "o1" model a question in ChatGPT, users have the option of seeing this chain-of-thought process written out in the ChatGPT interface. However, by design, OpenAI hides the raw chain of thought from users, instead presenting a filtered interpretation created by a second AI model.
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An ancient board game known as Hounds and Jackals has long been believed to have originated in Egypt. However, according to a paper published in the European Journal of Archaeology, a version of the game board found in present-day Azerbaijan might date back even earlier, suggesting that the game originated in Asia.
As previously reported, there is archaeological evidence for various kinds of board games from all over the world dating back millennia: Senet and Mehen in ancient Egypt, for example, or a strategy game called ludus latrunculorum ("game of mercenaries") favored by Roman legions. A 4,000-year-old board discovered last year at an archaeological site in Oman's Qumayrah Valley might be a precursor to an ancient Middle Eastern game known as the Royal Game of Ur (or the Game of Twenty Squares), a two-player game that may have been one of the precursors to backgammon (or was replaced in popularity by backgammon). Like backgammon, it's essentially a race game in which players compete to see who can move all their pieces along the board before their opponent.
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A supply chain failure that compromises Secure Boot protections on computing devices from across the device-making industry extends to a much larger number of models than previously known, including those used in ATMs, point-of-sale terminals, and voting machines.
The debacle was the result of non-production test platform keys used in hundreds of device models for more than a decade. These cryptographic keys form the root-of-trust anchor between the hardware device and the firmware that runs on it. The test production keys—stamped with phrases such as “DO NOT TRUST” in the certificates—were never intended to be used in production systems. A who's-who list of device makers—including Acer, Dell, Gigabyte, Intel, Supermicro, Aopen, Foremelife, Fujitsu, HP, and Lenovo—used them anyway.
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I-Hwa Cheng | AFP | Getty Images The Biden Administration on Monday awarded Intel up to an additional $3 billion under the CHIPS and Science Act for the "Secure Enclave" program which is designed to expand the supply of microelectronics for the U.S. Department of Defense.
Shares of Intel jumped 8% in extended trading after the company announced it's creating a separate entity for its foundry business, which could allow it to raise outside funding.
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I-hwa Cheng | AFP | Getty Images Intel shares jumped 8% in extended trading on Monday after the company said it plans to turn its foundry business into an independent unit with its own board and the potential to raise outside capital.
As part of CEO Pat Gelsinger's effort to turn around the struggling chipmaker, Intel said in a memo to employees that it will also sell off part of its stake in Altera.
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Hundreds of Amazon drivers in New York City have joined the Teamsters union in the hope of obtaining better pay and working conditions. The union says a majority of drivers at each of three delivery service partners (DSPs) working out of a Queens warehouse have signed authorization cards.
According to a Teamsters press release, the drivers have been organizing for a year to secure fair pay, consistent schedules, reasonable workloads and proper pay maintained trucks. They walked off the job last December as part of a nationwide protest against Amazon’s alleged unfair labor practices and union-busting efforts.
At least on paper, joining the union should give the drivers more leverage as they push Amazon for better working conditions. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the company will play ball. The Amazon Labor Union, one of the first major successful organization efforts within the company in the US, has yet to secure a union contract, two years after forming. The group became a Teamsters affiliate this summer.
However, the union has found some success on behalf of Amazon workers. Last month, a regional National Labor Relations Board director determined that Amazon is a joint employer of some third-party drivers in Palmdale, California. The Teamsters hope that finding will set a precedent for the rest for DSP drivers elsewhere. The Queens drivers are the first Amazon workers to organize with the Teamsters following that decision.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/hundreds-of-amazon-drivers-in-nyc-join-the-teamsters-union-202758685.html?src=rss
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Mitch Lowe, one of two MoviePass leaders indicted by the Justice Department in 2022, has pleaded guilty to securities fraud charges. The former CEO admitted to conspiring to deceive the public and investors about the service’s sustainability. Variety reports that the details of Lowe’s plea agreement haven’t been made public.
Prosecutors claim Lowe knew from the start that the company’s $9.95 “unlimited” plan was a short-term gimmick to attract subscribers and inflate stock. He’s also accused of making false statements in press releases, interviews and SEC filings about MoviePass’ long-term viability.
Those statements included allegedly lying about the company’s ability to become profitable on subscription fees alone and having tech that could generate revenue from customer data. He also claimed MoviePass was profiting from multiple revenue streams despite not having any income beyond subscriptions.
Prosecutors also accused Lowe and Ted Farnsworth, former CEO of MoviePass’ parent company Helios and Matheson, of preventing subscribers from getting what was promised from the “unlimited” subscription. The company settled with the FTC in 2021 over allegations that it intentionally invalidated subscriber passwords to freeze their accounts, blocking their ability to get the movie tickets the service promised. MoviePass and its parent company declared bankruptcy in 2020.
Although no sentencing date has been set, Lowe is free on bond and has a status conference court date scheduled in Miami for March 2025. The 72-year-old former executive faces a maximum of five years in federal prison.
“Mitch is a good man who is looking to move forward with his life,” Lowe’s attorneys, Margot Moss and David Oscar Markus, said in a statement to Variety. “He has accepted responsibility for his actions in this case and will continue to try to make things right.”
Meanwhile, Farnsworth is still in custody. He was initially freed on a $1 million bond that was revoked in August 2023 after the feds accused him of misusing nearly $300,000 in company funds. Farnsworth's former boyfriend, who he met on an escort site, was paid $147,000, and received a Cadillac worth $144,000; after the pair split up, the feds say he falsely accused his ex of stealing the vehicle.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/former-moviepass-ceo-reportedly-pleads-guilty-to-securities-fraud-201131284.html?src=rss
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The new Tile Mate and Tile Slim. Image: Tile
Tile, one of the leading makers of Bluetooth item finders, has just added a twist — its newest trackers can now send SOS alerts that notify friends, family, and possibly even emergency services.
The 2024 Tile Pro, Tile Mate, Tile Slim, and Tile Sticker are the first new products since Life360 bought the company nearly three years ago, and many facets are unchanged: they should each ring slightly louder and have slightly better water resistance, but the credit card, key fob, and sticker configurations are all roughly the same size and weight. There’s no mention of UWB signals for precision tracking, unlike Apple’s AirTags and Samsung’s SmartTag 2. The Tile Pro is once again the only model that offers a user-replaceable battery.
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Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss are the biggest individual crypto donors this election cycle,giving a combined $10.1 million, or slightly over $5 million each, according to Federal Election Commission data compiled by crypto market and blockchain analyst James Delmore and independently verified by CNBC.
With 50 days to go until the November general election, political donations from, or in support of, the crypto industry are up to around $190 million, as some of the biggest names in the sector open their digital wallets to help elect candidates sympathetic to their interests.
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Amazon also plans to simplify its corporate structure by having fewer managers in order to "remove layers and flatten organizations," Jassy said. The company rapidly grew its headcount over the course of the pandemic before Jassy took the helm and instituted widespread cost cuts across Amazon, including the largest layoffs in its 27 years as a public company.
Jassy wrote in a lengthy missive to staffers that Amazon is making the changes in order to strengthen its corporate culture and ensure that it remains nimble. He underscored the point by saying the company created a "bureaucracy mailbox," or dedicated email alias, to root out any unnecessary processes or excessive rules within the company.
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David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images Oracle shares surged more than 6% on Monday, continuing their recently rally and propelling chairman Larry Ellison to become the world's second-richest person, snatching the title from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Since the close of trading Friday, Ellison's net worth has jumped $11.7 billion to reach $209 billion, according to Forbes' real-time billionaires list. Bezos, who had been the second-richest person on and off since 2016, is worth $202 billion. Tesla CEO Elon Musk sits at the top of the list, with a net worth of $251 billion.
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A visual neuroscientist realized he saw green and blue differently to his wife. He designed an interactive site that has received over 1.5m visits.
It started with an argument over a blanket.
“I’m a visual neuroscientist, and my wife, Dr Marissé Masis-Solano, is an ophthalmologist,” says Dr Patrick Mineault, designer of the viral web app ismy.blue. “We have this argument about a blanket in our house. I think it’s unambiguously green and she thinks it’s unambiguously blue.”
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The Pulsar Xboard QS is a beautiful mechanical keyboard that performs wonderfully and is built like a tank. But with the style of customization it offers, and its hefty price tag, it’s certainly reserved for enthusiasts.
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Drivers at the facility, known as DBK4, have called for consistent schedules, properly maintained delivery trucks and reasonable workloads, the union said.
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Turtle Beach may have made its name through years with gaming headsets – reaching a new peak with the latest Atlas Air headset. But other peripherals, such as gaming mice, have entered its roster in recent years (due in part to the acquisition of Roccat). Its latest in the wired Kone II and wireless Kone II Air go for a balance between ergonomics and gaming, striking a good middle ground. There are some slight yet notable differences between the two, and here, I’m focusing on the wired version of the Kone II. It’s a chunky mouse and that makes it not the best fit for high-level competitive shooters, but despite its somewhat tacky-looking design, it’s super comfortable with a lot of utility as an everyday workhorse. Turtle Beach Kone II - Photos
The Kone II sports a somewhat gaudy design, with prominent RGB lights along the top sides of the mouse and sharp contours to give it a high-tech look. The material housing the RGB strips looks a bit muddled and doesn't have the kind of glint you see on other premium peripherals with RGB lighting. I don’t put too much stock into flourishes though, because what’s more important is that this mouse fits like a glove.
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TikTok to assert the law targeting it is a breach of the first amendment protecting freedom of speech.
TikTok will take its case against a threatened US ban to a federal court on Monday where it will argue that a law targeting the video platform is “unconstitutional”.
In April Joe Biden formally introduced a law that gives TikTok’s Chinese parent, ByteDance, until 19 January to sell its stake in the platform to an approved buyer, due to concerns that the app poses a national security threat.
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Salesforce has rolled out some new AI features for its business-focused Slack chat app designed to take over mundane chores like transcription.
A key new feature is Slack AI huddle notes to "capture key takeaways and action items so users can focus on the work at hand," the company wrote. This looks like a more powerful version of a previous Slack AI feature that recaps channel highlights and generates summaries for threads in a single click.
When invited to a huddle, Slack AI creates a transcript based on real-time audio and messages shared in the thread. It can also organize notes with citations, action items and files shared into a canvas. All huddle attendees can then view the notes later, even if they weren't able to attend.
Slack also updated its AI search feature so that it can surface unique results for a user based on files and apps they uploaded in Slack, including canvases, transcripts from clips, documents from connected apps, Google files and more.
Another timesaver is the new AI Workflow Builder that helps automate tasks. For instance, users can enter a prompt like "send a welcome message to teammates that join a channel" and Slack AI and Workflow Builder will will generate that functionality with no programming required.
Also arriving in the latest update are Slack templates, pre-configured for specific use cases like managing a project, collecting feedback and triaging help requests. The new Slack AI features are now available as a paid add-on for all subscription plans, and Slack templates will roll out in October 2024. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/slack-ai-will-generate-transcripts-and-notes-from-huddles-120026621.html?src=rss
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Suw Charman-Anderson Groups supporting women in science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) fields are struggling to survive as corporations’ shrinking budgets, and cultural changes, see diversity strategies take a back seat.
Ada Lovelace Day – a global annual celebration of women working in Stem – is on borrowed time.
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TikTok will start making its case on Monday against a law that will see it banned in the US unless its Chinese owner ByteDance sells it within nine months.
The measure - signed into law by President Biden in April - has been prompted by concerns that US users' data is vulnerable to exploitation by China's government.
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Back in the early 2000s, Estonia was rapidly modernising, shaking off the remnants of Soviet influence. It was ambitiously transforming itself into a digital society with innovations such as e-government and online voting. And, of course, it gave birth to Skype, the company that would launch the small Baltic nation’s journey towards becoming a startup powerhouse and a “unicorn country.” Since then, Estonia has established itself as a leader in breeding high-profile software companies, such as Bolt and Wise. Now, it’s aiming to become a deeptech hub, accelerating the development of research- and science-based entrepreneurship. Deeptech in Estonia is still…
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A controversial tweet may make it to the news, but reading every post from the world’s richest man shows how frenzied and extreme he really is.
It’s just after midnight mountain standard time in the US on 13 August when Elon Musk makes his first post of the day on X, the platform he bought for $44bn when it was known as Twitter. Musk has been tweeting for hours about his interview with Donald Trump, and he will continue into the night before taking a few hours’ break – presumably to sleep – and then logging back on to tweet dozens more times.
Over the next 24 hours, Musk will post over 145 timesabout a range of obsessions, projects and grievances to his 195 million followers. He will share anti-immigrant content, election conspiracies and attacks against the media. He will exchange tweets with far-right politicians, conservative media influencers and sycophantic admirers. He will send a litany of one-word replies that say “yeah”, “interesting” or simply feature a cry-laughing emoji.
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Customers are coming to Preston’s Spud Bros from as far away as Australia thanks to a revival of the humble jacket potato on social media.
The humble baked potato is enjoying a renaissance, with TikTok algorithms bringing the stuffed spud to new audiences and transforming this once-tired classic into the lunch of the moment.
Young potato sellers are breathing new life into the traditional British meal, with modern twists on favourite toppings.
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Consumers are the big losers in a world where top retailers get ‘sweetheart deals’ while small businesses get confused, advocates say.Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
Debit cards have long been promoted as a replacement to cash.
But a complicated system of opaque fee charges has created a multi-billion-dollar revenue opportunity for the payments sector and left many consumers paying too much.
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As unpleasant as this guilt is, the good news is that those feelings, if you listen to them, can help encourage healthier choices for you and your kids.
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Swedish startup Heart Aerospace has unveiled its first full-scale demonstrator hybrid-electric aircraft as it targets commercial flight by the end of 2029, a year later than previously planned. Heart revealed the prototype, dubbed HX-1, at its hangar in Gothenburg yesterday, which we toured earlier this year. The HX-1 prototype outside Heart’s hangar in Gothenburg, Sweden. Credit: Heart Aerospace The company will initially use the aircraft for ground-based testing, with the first flight scheduled for the second half of 2025 at the latest. It is set to be the largest electric plane to ever take to the skies. “It is a…
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Every week, millions of adults pretend that they’re football managers. I am one of them. We live out our dreams in the Fantasy Premier League (FPL), an online game that’s become a global phenomenon. With a budget of 100 million (digital) pounds, we build virtual squads of footballers. If their real-life counterparts play well, we win points. By the end of the season, the team with the most points wins. But what exactly do they win? Well, that depends who you ask. Here’s the official answer: over 10 million players compete for the grand prize of — drum roll, please — …
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