Apple Music has introduced a Sing feature, best described as a karaoke mode. Not only can you adjust the voice levels, but you can also use multiple lyric views if you’re looking to share a duet or even just wail harmonize in the background. Apple has tweaked existing lyric views, so they’re now cued to the beat and light up slowly.
The company says "tens of millions" of tracks will get the feature in December on the new Apple TV 4K, as well as recent iPhones (iPhone 11 and later) and iPads (including last year's ninth-generation model). Competitor Spotify already has a singing mode, but it’s more for rating your vocal skills. Apple told Engadget its feature doesn't use microphones at all – so all you need to worry about is family members recording you during your rendition of Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep.”
– Mat Smith
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The long-running squabble between Amazon and HBO appears to be over. Amazon and Warner Bros. Discovery have returned HBO Max to Prime Video Channels in the US. For $15 per month, you'll have access to House of the Dragon and other HBO shows within Prime Video – and you won't have to manage separate apps or subscriptions. This will also provide access to the unified HBO Max and Discovery+ service (possibly called Max) when it goes live in 2023.
Apple's Self Service Repair program has arrived in eight European countries. Using it, you can perform many of the most common fixes on the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 lineups, along with MacBooks with Apple silicon – that is, non-Intel models. If you'd rather not purchase a tool for a one-time repair, you can rent a kit for a week at £54.90 (€59.95). You can send back replaced parts for refurbishment and recycling and potentially receive a credit. A few examples of part prices include a battery module for £70.78 (€77.04) and a camera module for £168.55 (€192.76).
It's available in new Renault Austral Hybrid's and Megane E-Tech EVs.
Waze is France's most popular navigation app, to the point that it was recently updated with three regional accents (Toulouse, Provençal and Ch'ti). So it makes sense that Waze partnered with French automaker Renault to launch a new, dedicated version of the app for cars. Sure, you can use Waze on Android Auto by installing it as an app from your smartphone. What's different is Renault drivers can now install the app directly to the infotainment system – and won’t need a phone to use it.
More car news as Bloomberg sources say Apple’s EV, codenamed Project Titan, is no longer a fully self-driving machine. It will reportedly have a conventional wheel and pedals and will 'only' drive itself on highways. The company has also pushed the launch back by a year to 2026, according to those sources. The vehicle may offer enough autonomy for you to play games or watch videos on the highway, but it’ll ask you to take control to drive on city streets or in adverse weather.
Bandai Namco announced that a free multiplayer-focused update will go live later today. The Colosseum update will open up the titular arenas in Limgrave, Leyndell and Caelid, where players can battle it out in "duels, free-for-alls and team fights," according to a YouTube video description. The colosseums have been in the game since launch, but were inaccessible. There aren’t a lot of details about the update, but having dedicated arenas for player-versus-player (PvP) battles should freshen things up for those who like to duke it out against other humans in Elden Ring. The trailer showed off some three vs. three combat as well. The video also includes text stating that players can "join forces to fight for the Elden Ring." That suggests there will be more robust co-op options, too.
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Uber has launched public robotaxi rides in Las Vegas using Motional's Hyundai Ioniq 5 autonomous EVs with the aim of offering a full driverless service to the public in 2023. It will eventually expand to Los Angeles, where the two companies have been testing autonomous Uber Eats deliveries since May 2022. It's all part of a 10-year agreement between Uber and Motional to offer autonomous ride-hailing and deliveries.
The taxi rides will be monitored by safety drivers, with the goal of launching a fully driverless service to the public in 2023. "Today, Motional becomes the first AV company to conduct all-electric autonomous rides on the Uber network for public passengers," said Motional VP Akshay Jaising. (Uber offered "autonomous" taxi rides using its own self-driving tech back in 2016, but riders were accompanied by engineers ready to take the wheel.)
Lyft also partners with Motional, a joint venture between Hyundai and Aptiv. It beat Uber to the punch by launching Motional rides in Las Vegas in August this year with safety drivers on board. Lyft has also said it will ditch those drivers and offer true autonomous service by next year.
Don't be surprised if that timeline changes, though. Apart from Motional, only Alphabet division Waymo and GM's Cruise are offering true driverless services at a reasonably large scale. The Waymo One service is operating in Phoenix and San Francisco, while Cruise rides are currently limited to San Francisco. Both operate only in specific areas of cities (which can be mapped out in great detail) and some vehicles still use safety riders.
Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick once said that the his company had to be "tied for first, at least" in the race to offer true driverless rides. Since both Uber and Lyft rely on Motional for self-driving tech, that's exactly what might happen.
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China announced on Wednesday the country’s strictest covid-19 rules will be lifted, allowing more freedom of movement for people who are living under some of the harshest health regulations in the world three years after the start of the pandemic.
The White House and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing co. (TSMC) have announced plans to build a second chip plant in Arizona, AZCentral has reported. That will boost the company's investment in the state from $12 billion to $40 billion, while heavily reducing US reliance on semiconductor imports.
Both TSMC factories combined will produce 600,000 wafers per year. "At scale, these two [plants] could meet the entire U.S. demand for U.S. chips when they’re completed," the National Economic Council's Ronnie Chatterji told CNBC. "That’s the definition of supply chain resilience. We won’t have to rely on anyone else to make the chips we need."
The newly announced factory will produce cutting-edge 3-nanometer chips by 2026. The expansion marks one of the largest direct foreign investments in the US and the largest in Arizona. TSMC recently upgraded its plans at its first facility as well, announcing it will now manufacture 4-nanometer instead of 5-nanometer wafers. The first chips are set to be manufactured there starting in 2024, with Apple and NVIDIA reportedly among the first customers.
The CHIPS and Science Act allotted $52.7 billion in loans and other incentives, plus billions more in tax credits, to encourage US semiconductor manufacturing investment. The legislation aims to boost private financing in chip manufacturing in the US.
President Joe Biden is set to visit the site of TSMC's first plant later today, but the White House announced other related news yesterday. The US Department of Commerce and the European Commission are striking a deal to implement an "early warning mechanism" related to semiconductor chain disruptions following a pilot program last summer. The aim is to improve forecasting of semiconductor supply and demand to achieve a balance between the two.
At the same time, the EU and US are implementing a "transparency" mechanism around public support provided to the chip sector. In other words, one side won't blindside the other with unexpected semiconductor subsidies that could put either at a competitive disadvantage. A similar issue came up during a recent visit by French President Macron, as EU leaders complained that the US Inflation Reduction Act was unfair to non-American companies.
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Google is giving its search results on desktop the "continuous scrolling" treatment over a year after launching the feature on mobile. Continuous scrolling will eliminate the need to click "Next" or the page numbers at the bottom of your search results. Instead, Google will automatically load the next batch of results on the page once you've scrolled to the bottom of the current list. If you use Google on mobile, the feature will feel very familiar.
The tech giant has confirmed the rollout to Search Engine Land and told the publication that its website will automatically show up to six pages of results before you need to click a "More results" button to load the next batches. Its arrival on desktop will make the Google search experience more consistent across devices and platforms. "So starting today, we're bringing continuous scrolling to desktop so you can continue to see more helpful search results with fewer clicks. It's now even easier to get inspired with more information at your fingertips," a company spokesperson said.
Similar to the mobile version of the feature, it will initially be available for English queries in the US and will most likely make its way to more people and more regions in the future.
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Yelp is offering users a more refined way to keep tabs on communications with service professionals when they have a problem to fix or want to make some home improvements. Through the Projects tab in the Yelp app, you'll be able to create, manage and organize jobs. Yelp says that you'll be able to use the feature to request quotes from businesses, compare prices, message contractors and schedule consultations.
You'll start a new project when you select Request A Quote. The app will organize each project by the most recent quote requests and there'll be category-specific icons. It should be relatively easy for folks who have multiple projects on the go to see the status of each one at a glance. You'll be able to see if you're still awaiting quotes from some contractors and which businesses have yet to respond to a message or request.
Yelp
When you get an email notification after a business owner messages you, you'll be able to click a link in the email that will take you to the Yelp app and automatically log you in if you aren't already so you can respond. This should remove some of the friction and mitigate some of the stress that comes with managing home projects.
The Projects tab could come in especially handy when you're moving and are bringing in contractors for a bunch of different jobs. It should be useful for comparing quotes from different service professionals for a single job too.
Yelp is rolling out some changes for businesses as well. A revamped message center will show project titles, the location of the job, timing and message previews. Yelp suggests that this will help service professionals respond to quote and call requests more easily.
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More than a year after Meta asked the Oversight Board to weigh in on its cross-check rules, the group has finally published its full policy advisory on the topic. The board found that the program, which creates a separate content moderation process for certain high-profile users, prioritizes the company’s business over the rights of its users.
“In our review, we found several shortcomings in Meta’s cross-check program,” the board writes in its assessment. “While Meta told the Board that cross-check aims to advance Meta’s human rights commitments, we found that the program appears more directly structured to satisfy business concerns.” Notably, the critique echoes that of whistleblower Frances Haugen, who revealed explosive details about cross-check last year, and has said that Meta “chooses profits over safety.”
Cross-check, or xcheck, is an internal program at Facebook and Instagram that shields celebrities, politicians, and other high-profile users from the company’s automated content moderation systems. Meta has characterized it as a “second layer of review” to avoid mistakenly removing posts. But disclosures made by Haugen showed the program includes millions of accounts, and has enabled billions of views on posts that would have otherwise been taken down. The Oversight Board itself has accused Meta of being not “fully forthcoming” about the program, which was a central issue in the board’s handling of the suspension of former President Donald Trump.
The Oversight Board’s policy advisory opinion, or PAO, on the program is the most detailed to look to date at Meta’s evolving cross-check rules. The board writes at length about two separate cross-check processes: Early Response Secondary Review (ERSR), which is reserved for certain high-profile users determined by Meta, and General Secondary Review (GSR), a newer system that uses an algorithm to automatically flag some types of posts from across its platform for additional review. GSR, which can apply to content from any Facebook or Instagram user, began in 2021 “in response to criticism” related to Haugen’s disclosures in the Facebook Papers.
But according to the Oversight Board, both cross-check systems have serious issues. Both operate with a “consistent backlog of cases,” which lengthens the amount of time potentially rule-breaking content is left up. “Meta told the Board, that, on average, it can take more than five days to reach a decision on content from users on its cross-check lists,” the group notes. “This means that, because of cross-check, content identified as breaking Meta’s rules is left up on Facebook and Instagram when it is most viral and could cause harm.”
The board sheds new light on one such case, pointing to a 2019 incident in which Brazilian soccer star Neymar posted a video showing nude photos of a woman who had accused of him of sexual assault. Because of cross-check, the post was left up for more than a day and received more than 100 million views before it was ultimately removed. In its opinion, the board raises questions about why the athlete was not suspended, and pointedly notes that the incident only came to light as a result of Haugen’s disclosures.
“The company ultimately disclosed that the only consequence was content removal, and that the normal penalty would have been account disabling ... Meta later announced it signed an economic deal with Neymar for him to ‘stream games exclusively on Facebook Gaming and share video content to his more than 166 million Instagram fans.’"
The Oversight Board is similarly critical of other “business” factors that play a role in Meta’s cross-check rules. For example, it says Meta skews toward under-enforcement of cross-checked content due to the "perception of censorship" and the effect it could have on the company. “The Board interprets this to mean that, for business reasons, addressing the ‘perception of censorship’ may take priority over other human rights responsibilities relevant for content moderation,” the group writes.
Unsurprisingly, the board had numerous recommendations for Meta on how to improve cross-check. The board says Meta should use “specialized teams independent from political or economic influence, including from Meta’s public policy teams,” to determine which accounts get cross-check protections. It also suggests that there should be a “transparent strike system” to revoke cross-check status from accounts that abuse the company's rules.
The board also recommends that Meta inform all accounts that are part of cross-check, and “publicly mark the pages and accounts of entities receiving list-based protection in the following categories: all state actors and political candidates, all business partners, all media actors, and all other public figures included because of the commercial benefit to the company.” It also wants Meta to track and report key statistics about cross-check accuracy, and take steps to eliminate the backlogs in cases.
In total the Oversight Board came up with 32 detailed recommendations, which Meta will now have 90 days to respond to. As with other policy suggestions from the board, the company isn't obligated to implement any of its suggestions, though it is expected to respond to each one.
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Waze is France's most popular navigation app, to the point that it was recently updated with three regional accents (Toulouse, Provençal and ch'ti). So it makes sense that Waze elected to partner with French automaker Renault to launch a new, dedicated version of the app for cars. It's available on infotainment systems via Google integration, starting with the Austral Hybrid and Megane E-Tech EV.
To be clear, it's already possible to use Waze on Android Auto by installing it as an app from your smartphone. What's different is that Renault drivers can now install the app directly to the infotainment system and use it without the need for a mobile device.
"When you drive, you can experience safer and more convenient journeys while eliminating the hassle of using a smartphone," Waze wrote on its blog. "With this new experience, Renault drivers will have all Waze real-time routing, navigation and alerts, plus settings, preferences and saved places, built into their car display."
Renault's latest multimedia system supports CarPlay and Android Auto wirelessly and has a number of apps like Google Maps and Spotify pre-installed — with no need to connect your phone for those apps. You can install Waze either from the Play store in the above vehicles' infotainment systems, or from Renault's dedicated app.
Waze appears set to expand to other vehicles and brands, saying it's "looking forward to bringing this excellent driving experience to more users across the globe in 2023." So if you prefer Waze to Google Maps and have a car that supports Android Auto, you may be able to switch soon.
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The jokes really write themselves as far as the fledgling phone company Nothing is concerned. So far, the famed maker of the LED-backed Phone has kept up in the European, Middle Eastern, and Asian markets and has had nothing to show for the U.S. or Canada, at least as far as its phone business is concerned. Now, the…
Three years and counting of a global pandemic has put the strain on a lot of people’s social lives: a problem that Cooler Master has decided to further exacerbate, rather than resolve, with a new multi-purpose computing pod called the Orb X that lets users further shut out distractions like co-workers, family, and…
In about two weeks time, folks will finally see Avatar: The Way of Water in theaters. There’s been a lot of talk about if the multi-delayed, debatably long-awaited sequel to the 2009 juggernaut has anything to offer during its 3-hour runtime beyond gorgeous visuals and blue people with dreadlocks. And to that, James…
According to Elon Musk, Apple has “fully resumed” advertising on Twitter. The billionaire made the comment during a Twitter Spaces conversation he broadcast from his private plane on Saturday evening. On November 28th, Musk claimed Apple had “mostly stopped advertising on Twitter” and threatened to remove the platform’s iOS client from the App Store. “Do they hate free speech?” Musk asked his followers and went on to play up the censorship angle.
The New York Times reports Apple temporarily stopped advertising on Twitter following the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs on November 19th. The outlet notes brands tend to their dial back their Twitter ads following shootings and disasters, primarily because they don’t want to see their products next to tweets about human tragedy.
Amazon is also planning to resume advertising on Twitter at about $100m a year pending some security tweaks to the company’s ads platform, per a source familiar with the situation. https://t.co/VWQJX4HZEp
Two days after blasting Apple, Musk said he had met with Tim Cook. “We resolved the misunderstanding about Twitter potentially being removed from the App Store,” he posted. “Tim was clear that Apple never considered doing so.” On Saturday, Musk added Apple was the largest advertiser on Twitter. That same day, he thanked advertisers “for returning to Twitter.”
Separately, Platformer’s Zoë Schiffer reported on Saturday that Amazon also had plans to start advertising on Twitter again. The retail giant has reportedly committed to spending approximately $100 million per year, “pending some security tweaks to the company’s ads platform.”
News of Apple and Amazon returning to Twitter comes amid ongoing reports that the company’s advertising revenue has dropped significantly since Musk’s takeover in late October. During the first week of the World Cup in Qatar, the company only made about 20 percent of the ad revenue it expected to during that period, according to The Times. In recent weeks, the company has repeatedly cut its internal revenue projections for the final three months of the year. Initially, Twitter reportedly expected to earn about $1.4 billion in Q4 but has since cut that number to $1.1 billion. Musk previously told employees the company was in dire financial straits and warned bankruptcy was “not out of the question.”
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Amazon’s The Boys has become such a hit with audiences that it was only inevitable the series would get a spinoff or two to build out the franchise. While The Boys: Diabolical offered up some of the mothership series’ trademark violence and satire in an animated anthology format, Gen V is in live action and has as its…
If you missed the chance to buy the 2022 iPad when it was $30 off, don’t worry: the tablet has hit a new all-time low price on Amazon. After an 11 percent discount, the base 64GB model of the 10th-generation iPad is $399. All four colorways – blue, pink, silver and yellow – are part of the promotion. Amazon has also discounted select 256GB models by $50.
The 2022 iPad features several upgrades over its dated predecessor, but a higher price and a few odd design choices make it harder to recommend without caveats. Apple redesigned its entry-level tablet to give it thinner bezels, a bigger display and USB-C charging. It’s also the first iPad to include a landscape-oriented front-facing camera, a feature that makes the tablet more useful for video chatting. The 2022 model’s A14 Bionic processor is also a highlight. But then there’s the fact Apple’s latest tablet is $120 more expensive than its 9th-generation counterpart and only supports the first-generation Apple Pencil. At a more affordable $399, however, it’s easier to overlook some of those flaws.
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Though we fairly recently had a live action adaptation of Cowboy Bebop, it still feels like it’s been awhile since there’s been a big live-action adaptation of a beloved anime to be watched. Plenty have been announced, to be fair, but several of them are quite a ways off, if they ever get made at all. Fortunately (?),…
The holiday travel season is once again upon us! It's the magical time of the year that combines standing in airport security lines with incrementally losing your mind as the hands of your watch perpetually tick closer to a boarding time that magically moved up 45 minutes since you left the house and the goober in front of you is in the year of our lord 2022 still somehow confused about why we have to take our shoes off in security and goddamit dude stop arguing with the TSA and untie your laces already these tickets are nonrefundable.
Ai can help fix this. It can perhaps even give regular folks a taste of the effortless airport experience that more well-heeled travelers enjoy — the private jet set who don't ever have to worry about departure times or security lines like the rest of us schmucks stuck flying Spirit.
In their latest book POWER AND PREDICTION: The Disruptive Economics of Artificial Intelligence, University of Toronto economists and professors Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans, and Avi Goldfarb examine the foundational impact that AI/ML systems have on human decision making as we increasingly rely on automation and big data predictions. In the excerpt below, they posit what the airports of tomorrow might look like if AI eliminates traffic congestion and security delays.
Before considering the threat AI prediction may pose to airports, as with everything, there is an alternative system that can show us what the other side looks like. One example is the alternative universe of the very, very wealthy. They don’t fly commercial and so have no occasion to deal with either the old or newly designed public airport terminals. Instead, they fly privately and go through private terminals. Normally, glitz, glamour, nice restaurants, and art galleries are going to be where the very rich are. But in the world of airports, private terminals are positively spartan.
The reason there is no investment in making private terminals better places is that the very uncertainty that plagues the rest of us doesn’t plague the rich. With a commercial plane, you are tied to a schedule, and those planes will leave late passengers behind. With a private plane, the schedule is more flexible or even nonexistent. If the passengers aren’t there, the plane doesn’t leave until they arrive. If the passengers are there earlier, the plane leaves then. The whole system is designed so there is no waiting—at least, on the part of the passengers. No waiting means no need to invest in making waiting more pleasant. At the same time, the rich don’t have rules about when they need to leave for the airport. They leave when they want. If more people could have that experience, then surely the optimal terminal would be more spartan than cathedral.
You don’t have to be rich, however, to see this alternative universe. Instead, just compare the world on the other side of the arrival gates to those at departure. When arrival areas are separated from departure areas, they are spartan. You might find some light food outlets, but everything else is designed to get you out of the airport. The critical issue is how close the taxi and parking facilities are, even though you may not be in a stressful rush. Do you even remember any details of arrivals at your regular airport, other than how best to get out?
The AI Airport Threat
Airports are no strangers to AI. Air traffic control has adopted AI-based systems to better predict aircraft arrivals and congestion. At Eindhoven Airport, a new AI baggage-handling system is being piloted whereby passengers simply photograph their bags, drop them off, and pick them up at their destination—no labels required. Subject to privacy requirements, it hopes to do the same with people. All this will help you get to your flight more quickly.
None of these things, however, hit at the key drivers of uncertainty in your travel to your flight — traffic and security. Change, however, is already here with regard to traffic. Navigational apps such as Waze account for traffic conditions and can reasonably estimate how long it takes to get to any airport based on the time of day. The apps aren’t perfect, but they keep getting better.
The apps free passengers from having rules that tell them how early they need to leave for the airport. Instead, they can add that flight time to their calendar, and an app tells them the best time to depart and schedule their time accordingly. Even better, in the near future, the uncertainty in the actual time a flight leaves will be taken into account. Rather than just telling you when you need to leave based on a scheduled departure, the app will tell you when to leave depending on the flight’s predicted actual departure. Again, there is residual uncertainty, but the leap from having no information to having more precise information could save hours of waiting time. Similarly, many Uber riders who previously thought they wouldn’t care about knowing the predicted arrival time of their taxi now cite that information as one of the most valuable features of the service. Uber uses AI to make that prediction. AI could also predict security line wait times. Put it all together, and you can use the AI to decide when to leave for the airport rather than rely on rules. As with everything, there will be some who leap at this possibility ahead of others. At Incheon and many other airports, waiting isn’t bad anymore, so maybe you don’t need to make an informed decision.
Those developing an AI-driven navigation app or flight departure predictor have no direct interest in the earnings of in-terminal airport activities. However, the value of their AI applications depends critically on how many people do not want to wait at airports. Thus, if airports are currently less costly to wait in, the value of those apps is diminished. The security line prediction is another matter. Airports claim that they want to improve security times and reduce uncertainty. But as economists, we don’t think their incentives are aligned with passengers. Yes, improving security times leaves more time to spend at the facilities past security. But, at the same time, it will reduce uncertainty and cause people to tighten their airport arrival times. Combined with AI that solves the other uncertainty for passengers in getting to the terminal, will the airports want to eliminate the uncertainty under their own control?
Accommodating Rules
Our broader point is not about airports but about rules. Rules arise because it is costly to embrace uncertainty, but they create their own set of problems. The so-called Shirky Principle, put forth by technology writer Clay Shirky, states that “institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution.” The same can be said of businesses. If your business is to provide a way to help people when they wait for a plane, what’s the chance you are going to ensure they don’t have to wait for planes?
If you want to find opportunities by creating new AI-enabled decisions, you need to look beyond the guardrails that protect rules from the consequences of uncertainty and target activities that make bearing those costs easier or to reduce the likelihood of bad outcomes that the rules would otherwise have to tolerate.
We can see this in the long-standing protection farmers employ in England — building hedgerows. A hedgerow is a carefully planned set of robust trees and plants that serve as a wall between fields. It is extremely useful if your field is full of farm animals, and you do not want to employ a person to ensure they do not wander off. It is also useful if you do not want heavy rainfall to erode soil too quickly or if you want to protect crops from strong winds. Given all this protection against risky events, we are not surprised that this practice was the origin of the term “hedging,” which evolved to have a broader insurance meaning.
But hedgerows come at a cost. By dividing farmland, they make it impossible to use certain farming techniques — including mechanization — that are only efficient for large swathes of land. After World War II, the British government actually subsidized the removal of hedgerows, although in some cases, that removal was excessive, given their role in risk management. Today, there is a movement to restore hedgerows, led most prominently by the Prince of Wales. In many situations, costly investments are made to cover or shelter a would-be decision-maker from risk. Miles of highways are cocooned with guardrails to prevent cars from going down embankments, hills, or into oncoming traffic. Most are, fortunately, never used, but each allows a road to be built in a way that might have otherwise not been sufficiently safe, given the fallibility of human drivers.
More generally, building codes precisely specify various measures to protect those inside buildings from uncertain events. These include fire, but also damage from weather, weak building foundations, and other natural phenomena like earthquakes.
What these protection measures have in common is that they typically generate what looks like over-engineered solutions. They are designed for a certain set of events — the once-in-a-lifetime storm or the once-in-a-century flood. When those events occur, the engineering seems worthwhile. But, in their absence, there is cause to wonder. For many years, Freakonomics authors Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner pointed out how life vests and rafts on aircraft — not to mention the safety demonstrations of each — appeared wasteful, given that no aircraft had successfully landed on water. Then, in 2009, Captain Sullenberger landed a US Airways plane with no working engines on the Hudson River. Does that one example of a low-probability event make the precautionary life vests worth it? It is hard to know. But we cannot conclude that the absence of a possible outcome causes us to assess the probability of that outcome at zero.
Levitt and Dubner’s main point, however, is that while it is often possible when protection measures are employed to assess the likelihood or change in the likelihood of underlying uncertainty over time, it is not possible to measure whether the investments made to reduce the probability of a consequence are excessive, as the very risk management strategy employed takes away that information. It is entirely possible that too much is wasted on something that, for other reasons, is no longer high risk at all.
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The HBO horror-comedy series Los Espookysis calling it after two seasons. Like with Westworld from back in November, HBO has opted not to bring the series back for another season of episodes.
More than four years after her arrest, the drawn-out legal saga of Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou came to a formal end this week. On Friday, US District Judge Ann Donnelly dismissed an indictment against Meng, according to Reuters. On behalf of the US, Canadian authorities arrested Meng in 2018 for allegedly violating American sanctions against Iran. Meng, who is also the daughter of Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei, spent the next three years fighting attempts to extradite her to the US, where she faced up to 30 years in prison for bank and wire fraud charges. Donnelly dismissed the indictment “with prejudice,” meaning the Justice Department can’t bring the same charges against Meng again.
Before entering into an agreement with US prosecutors last year, Meng spent three years under house arrest. The detainment strained relationships between the United States and China and led to an international incident. China apprehended two Canadians, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, within days of Meng’s arrest. They were later released after Meng entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department. As part of the agreement, she acknowledged having made false statements about Huawei’s business in Iran. Meng flew home to China the day Donnelly approved the pact.
Huawei and its subsidiaries are still facing charges in the US. Most notably, the Justice Department recently announced charges against two Chinese spies who had allegedly tried to interfere in a criminal investigation into the company. Earlier this week, the FCC also banned telecom and video surveillance equipment from Huawei, among a handful of other Chinese companies. Meng currently serves as the company's rotating chairperson and deputy chairwoman, as well as CFO.
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The US military has unveiled the B-21 Raider, its first new stealth bomber in 30 years. Northrop Grumman, which developed the aircraft, first showed us a silhouette of the plane covered by a shroud way back in 2015. Now, the Pentagon has officially presented the B-21 at an event at Northrop Grumman's plant in Palmdale, California, but most of its details still remain a secret. Prior to the event, though, the company called it the "world’s first sixth-generation aircraft," which means it's a lot more technologically advanced than the military jets in service today.
According to ABC News, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said during the event that "no other long range bomber can match [the B-21's] efficiency." Austin also said that "fifty years of advances in low observable technology" have gone into the aircraft and that even the most sophisticated air defense systems will have a hard time detecting a B-21 in the sky.
The aircraft was designed using next-generation stealth technology so that it can remain undetectable even to advanced radars and air defense systems, Northrop Grumman said in a previous announcement. A Northrop Grumman official also said that the B-21 can fly in full stealth mode every day, according toAir and Space Forces Magazine, unlike the current model that needs hundreds of hours of maintenance between missions. The aircraft will use a cloud-based digital infrastructure that's cheaper and easier maintain, and the military can also roll out rapid upgrades for separate components so that it's always protected against evolving threats.
Northrop Grumman is currently working on six B-21 units, which are in various stages of production, but the Air Force is expected to order at least 100 of them. The military will start testing the stealth bomber in California sometime next year before the first units go into service by mid-2020s.
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Those who plays video games may recall a game from earlier this year (or, if you have a Nintendo Switch, a month ago) by the name of Sifu. Developed by Sloclap of Absolver fame, the roguelike simultaneously garnered solid reviews for its combat and criticism for how it incorporated Chinese culture and languages. Now…
The rise of electric vehicles in China is causing devastating environmental impacts in nearby Indonesia, including rising ocean temperatures as a byproduct of coal plants. Upper respiratory infections are also one of the main health issues for people who live near nickel-processing factories and the main water sources for some areas are increasingly polluted and prone to flooding.
Some of the priciest condos in NYC are housed in buildings with futuristic parking systems. Robotic technology is deployed to park and retrieve vehicles. The catch? The apartments cost millions and reserving a self-parking spot will cost you at least $300,000 more.
"The amount of reputational and social wealth that stands to be lost if Twitter collapses is astounding," Fairbanks explains. "Twitter currently functions as perhaps the world's biggest status bank, and the investments stored in it are terrifyingly unsecured."
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In this collection from the 2022 Nature inFocus Photography Awards, you’ll see animals in their natural habitats—like a tiger lounging on a bed of flowers—and ones in decidedly unnatural environments, like a caterpillar in its nest of plastic or a fox in a snow-covered city. The contest received tens of thousands of…
Twitter owner Elon Musk’s goal for “general amnesty” towards banned accounts is in full swing. Since taking over, the multi-billionaire owner has given thousands of once-banned users access to their accounts once again. His extreme laissez faire-attitude has attracted some of Twitter’s worst characters back to the…
A group of anonymous plaintiffs who filed their taxes online in 2020 using H&R Block has sued Meta, accusing the company of violating users' trust and privacy. If you'll recall, a recent Markup investigation revealed that H&R Block, along with other popular tax-filing websites like TaxAct and TaxSlayer, have been sending users' sensitive financial information to Meta through its Pixel tracking tool.
Pixel is a piece of code companies can embed on their websites so they can track visitors' activities and identify Facebook and Instagram users to target with ads. Apparently, the aforementioned tax prep websites had been transmitting personal information, such as income data, filing statuses, refund amounts and dependents' tuition grants, to Meta through that code. The tax-filing services had already changed their Pixel settings to stop sending information or had been reevaluating how they used Pixel by the time Markup's report came out.
In a statement sent to Engadget when the news first came out, Meta said that advertisers are prohibited from sharing personal information and that it uses an automated system that can filter out sensitive content sent through Pixel. The plaintiffs acknowledged in their complaint (PDF, courtesy of The Markup) that Meta does require businesses that use Pixel to "have lawful rights to collect, use and share" user data before providing the company with any information. However, the plaintiffs argue that Meta makes no effort to enforce that rule and instead relies on a "broken honor-system" that has resulted in "repeated, documented violations."
According to The Markup, the lawsuit is seeking class action status for people who used the tax prep services mentioned in the publication's report. The services themselves, however, were not named as defendants in the case.
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Paleontologists discovered a 71-million-year-old carnivorous dinosaur in Southern Mongolia that they believe had a body built for swimming and diving for prey. Though it looks a lot like a modern bird, it’s actually a non-avian dinosaur, meaning it’s likely an example of convergent evolution, a phenomenon in which…
Apple has internally changed the name of its upcoming mixed reality headset's accompanying software from "realityOS" to "xrOS," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. As the reporter notes, the new name better represents the software's capabilities: "XR," after all, stands for extended reality, and the headset is expected to have both augmented and virtual reality features.
In addition to the internal name change, Gurman says a shell corporation named Deep Dive LLC has also filed a trademark for the brand "xrOS" in the US and in other countries, including ones in the European Union and in Asia, the UK, Australia, Mexico, Ukraine, Japan and Canada. In its application, Deep Dive wrote that it's applying for a trademark for "head-mounted displays" and devices that provide "virtual reality and augmented reality experiences." Apple hasn't confirmed whether it's behind this filing.
Earlier this year, though, Vox Media product manager Parker Ortolanifound a patent application for "realityOS" filed by a shell company called Realityo Systems LLC. Bloomberg also reported back in August that yet another shell company with a different name filed applications for "Reality One," "Reality Pro" and "Reality Processor."
This recent name change could indicate that Apple is ironing out the details of the project for its approaching launch. Gurman says Apple plans to debut the headset, its dedicated operating system and its app store sometime next year. According to previous reports, the device will feature virtual versions of the company's apps, including Messages, FaceTime and Maps, and will use iris scanning for app purchases and sign-ins. Apple's recent job listings also indicate that the tech giant is working on its own 3D mixed reality world, which could become a rival to Facebook's vision of the metaverse.
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YouTube just published its year-end review, rounding up the top trending content for 2022. Sure, you could check out their list of top videos, most popular creators or trendiest Shorts (the platform’s response to TikTok-style short form videos), but honestly, who cares about all that junk? We all know what you want to…
Valve’s portable gaming PC handheld is a revelation for some, but it’s also expensive. So, you could try your luck getting a free one. To coincide with this year’s Game Awards, Valve is making its own Steam TV coverage of the show more enticing by giving away lots of Steam Deck consoles.
There are a few eligibility criteria, however. You have to watch the event on Steam TV, which starts at 7:30 PM ET on December 8th, and you have to register on the giveaway's official page beforehand to enter the draw. And you can only register and win if you're in the US, Canada, UK or the EU, where the console is currently available. On top of all that, you must have made a Steam purchase in the year ending November 14th, 2022. That should thin the herd a little.
The Game Awards are expanding “live” experiences (which aren’t actually live) with IMAX theater showings across several cities in the US, Canada and other countries. This will also be the first year to feature a new Best Adaptation category, for projects that spin out games into movies, TV shows and more. Sonic the Hedgehog, this is your doing.
Five years after CEO Elon Musk officially unveiled his Semi, Tesla’s electrified truck, the company delivered its first official production vehicle to Pepsi – the first of 100 ordered by the drinks maker. Originally, the Tesla Semi was set to retail at $150,000 and $180,000 for the 300- and 500-mile versions, respectively. Those prices are significantly higher than the $60k a standard diesel cab costs, but Tesla estimates its vehicles can operate 20 percent more efficiently and save up to $250,000 over the million-mile life of the Semi. Musk said the vehicle comes with a massive 1MW battery pack. This reportedly offers a 20-second 0 to 60, which is impressive given these vehicles are towing up to 80,000 pounds at a time, and a spent-to-80 percent charge time of just 30 minutes.
Engadget’s Jessica Conditt strapped herself in for the sci-fi horror that is The Callisto Protocol. It’s a gory, gorgeous horror game that, unfortunately, lets itself down. The game comes from Striking Distance Studios and Dead Space co-creator Glen Schofield, and there are a few familiar touches, like using gravity to explore all this horrible stuff in space. However, controls seem to rebel, while other game mechanics don’t trigger when they should, meaning lots of frustration and lots of game-over screens. The biggest tragedy of The Callisto Protocol is that it’s just not that scary.
The password manager was hacked in August this year.
LastPass password manager has been breached again. The company detected unusual activity in a third-party cloud storage service it shares with its parent company. So far, they've determined the unauthorized party got into LastPass' cloud service by using information obtained from the security breach it suffered this August. The password manager and its parent company are still investigating the incident to understand its scope, so we'll likely hear more details in the coming months.
Alongside an update this week, Nintendo said it was taking player feedback "seriously" as it planned fixes. The patch both introduces ranked battles and addresses numerous bugs, including inconsistent music playback during key events. The creature-collecting game routinely suffers from poor frame rates, particularly in busy areas, like cities. It's also common to encounter crashes, visual flaws and show-stopping bugs, like getting stuck in the terrain. It’s far from the polished gaming experience you’d expect from Nintendo.
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Twitter has given Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, a 12-hour suspension after he tweeted a photo of the Star of David merged with the swastika. In a public exchange on Twitter, CEO Elon Musk first told the rapper that tweeting a photo of him being hosed down on a yacht was fine, but tweeting the antisemitic image was not. Following that, Ye then posted a screenshot of his account on Truth Social, the social media platform backed by Donald Trump, showing that his account has been limited for 12 hours for violating Twitter's Terms of Service.
Ye also shared a screenshot of his private exchange with Musk, wherein the executive said: "Sorry, but you have gone too far. This is not love." In a couple of follow-up tweets, Musk said he tried his best to communicate with Ye, but the rapper still chose to violate Twitter's rule against inciting violence. Twitter suspended Ye in October for posting antisemitic messages that said he would go "death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE." His account was reinstated in November, along with other controversial personalities', such as former President Donald Trump's and Marjorie Taylor Greene's.
Shortly after he was suspended on both Twitter and Instagram in October, Ye entered a deal to acquire the "free speech" social media app Parler. "In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves," Ye said back then. Yesterday, however, Parlement announced that the acquisition will no longer push through. While Parler said that they had mutually agreed to "terminate the intent of sale" in mid-November, the news came out after Ye's guesting on Alex Jones' podcast InfoWars. During the interview, Ye went on an antisemitic tirade, wherein he denied that the Holocause had happened while praising Nazis and Hitler.
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SpaceX first asked the Federal Communications Commission for permission to deploy 29,988 second-generation Starlink satellites back in 2020. Now, the FCC has granted its request — partially, at least. The commission has given the company the go-ahead to build, deploy and operate up to 7,500 satellites for its Gen2 constellation at the altitudes of 525 km, 530 km and 535 km. In its announcement, the FCC said approving 7,500 satellites for the constellation will allow SpaceX to provide broadband internet to users worldwide, even those living in far-flung areas.
The FCC is limiting the number of satellites SpaceX can deploy for now, though, to address concerns about orbital debris and space safety. It says the limited grant will help maintain a safe space environment and protect other satellite and terrestrial operators from harmful interference. Several companies and even NASA previously raised concerns about SpaceX's plan to deploy an additional 30,000 satellites, considering the FCC already granted it permission to launch 12,000 first-gen Starlink satellites.
In NASA's letter to the commission, it talked about an expanded constellation's potential impacts to its science and human spaceflight missions. A massive number of Starlink satellites, it said, could cause an increase in collision risks and lead to fewer launch windows. That said, the FCC is only deferring "action on the remainder of SpaceX's application" for now, so it may approve additional deployments.
SpaceX chief Elon Musk previously revealed that the second-gen Starlink satellites will be much bigger than their predecessor and will need to be launch on the company's Starship launch vehicle. One of the reasons they're bigger is because of their massive antennas that will have the capability to communicate with phones here on Earth, like mobile towers in the sky. Indeed, the the collaboration T-Mobile and SpaceX announced in August will depend on Starlink's second-gen satellites. The companies aim to end mobile deadzones with their partnership and to provide connectivity wherever there's a clear view of the sky, even if it's in the middle of the ocean.
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Starting next year, a lot more Netflix viewers will reportedly be able to watch its originals before they become available for streaming. According to The Wall Street Journal, the streaming service is expanding its pool of preview viewers early next year to include as many as tens of thousands of subscribers around the world from its current group of around 2,000 people.
When Variety reported about the company's focus group earlier this year, the publication said that Netflix has been asking subscribers if they want to join "a community of members to view and give feedback on upcoming movies and series" since at least May 2021. "It's simple, but an incredibly important part of creating best-in-class content for you and Netflix members all around the world," the email reportedly said. Apparently, Netflix asks members of the group to watch several unreleased shows and movies over the course of six months. They then have to fill out a survey form to tell the company what they liked and what they didn't.
In The Journal's newer report, it said the streaming service calls the group the "Netflix Preview Club" and that the Leonardo DiCaprio/Jennifer Lawrence starrer Don't Look Up was one of the movies that benefited from its feedback. The movie was initially too serious, the preview group's members reportedly told Netflix, and the film's creators chose to listen to them and ratcheted up its comedic elements.
As The Journal notes, Netflix is known for giving creators a lot of creative freedom — even if it doesn't always lead to great content — so running a preview group has been tricky. The company has apparently been careful when it comes to sharing feedback with creators and has not been forcing changes. It's still the creators' decision whether to incorporate changes based on the previewers' response.
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It happened in less than 10 seconds, two years ago today: The Arecibo Observatory’s 1,000-foot radio dish collapsed, eliminating one of the world’s most renowned sources of radio observations.
We’ve talked a few times about the appeal of capable digital styluses and e-ink note-taking. Surely, it’s the perfect study tool? This time, Amazon tries it out. The Kindle Scribe, at $340, is costlier than a basic e-ink reader, but it has stylus input, high latency and a few more tricks.
This is Amazon’s first Kindle that supports stylus input, and according to Engadget’s Cherlynn Low, it offers an excellent reading and writing experience. There’s definitely room for improvement, though: Don’t expect handwriting-to-text conversion or sophisticated note-taking and syncing tools, like we’ve seen on other (usually more expensive) devices with stylus input.
This isn’t a Galaxy S22 Ultra or an iPad Pro, but it’s e-ink, sensitive to your chicken scratches and a different Kindle for Amazon. We’ve only really seen niche e-ink tablets until now. If you’re intrigued, check out our full review.
– Mat Smith
The Morning After isn’t just anewsletter– it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, bysubscribing right here.
It’s December, so all your streaming services are very eager to tell you which artists, songs and albums you listened to most in 2022, (it’s probably Beyoncé.) While Apple and YouTube Music already rolled out their annual nostalgia wrap-ups, Spotify's 2022 installment of Wrapped debuts today. The company likes to put a new spin on its personalized top lists each year, and this one is no different. A new feature called Your Listening Personality offers some insight into what the music you stream says about your taste. Spotify’s invented 16 listening personality types, including The Replayer, The Specialist, The Adventurer and The Fanclubber. Why yes, we are all insufferable.
The price of a Starlink satellite terminal has almost doubled in Ukraine, jumping from the equivalent of $385 to about $700, according to The Financial Times. The monthly rate isn't as expensive as it once was (as high as $100), but it's crept up from $60 to $75. It's not known if prices have also jumped for the Ukrainian government, which gets Starlink from a variety of sources that include SpaceX itself, foreign governments and even crowdsourcing. Ukraine's cellular networks are apparently buckling under the strain of Russian attacks on the country's electrical grid. In some cases, Starlink is the only way for locals to reach the internet.
Its Unpacked event is expected to take place in San Francisco.
Samsung will unveil its Galaxy S23 devices in the US in the first week of February 2023, according to news outlet Korea JoongAng Daily, which cites an anonymous company executive. And we’ve heard other corroborating reports. While Samsung has yet to formally announce an Unpacked event for the Galaxy S23, the timeline reported by the publications is consistent with the previous flagships' launch dates. Samsung revealed its Galaxy S22 phones on February 9th earlier this year.
What can you expect? Maybe the next Galaxy S series ditches Samsung’s in-house Exynos chips and goes all in on Qualcomm's Snapdragon chips. Some unofficial renders also suggest Samsung may get rid of the camera bump.
Its governor said the Chinese government is using TikTok to 'manipulate the American people.'
Kristi Noem, the governor of South Dakota, has signed an executive order prohibiting government employees, agencies and contractors from downloading and using TikTok on state-owned devices. In her office's announcement, Noem said she issued the order due to growing security concerns the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been using the social media app to gather information from American users and leveraging it to manipulate them. The order also prohibits government personnel from visiting the TikTok website on browsers.
US officials have long been raising security concerns about TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. In 2020, then-President Trump attempted to block TikTok and WeChat in the US – which didn't quite go anywhere.
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Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX and former CEO, spoke with New York Times and CNBC host Andrew Ross Sorkin in a highly anticipated interview on Wednesday that had been booked before FTX imploded. And it was a master class in spin.
You have quite a few streaming choices for this year's upcoming Game Awards, but Valve is making its Steam TV coverage more enticing than most by giving away a ton of Steam Deck consoles. The video game developer and distributor has announced that it's giving away one 512GB Steam Deck every minute during the live airing of the awards show on December 8th. To be eligible, you'll have to be watching the event on Steam TV, which starts at 7:30PM ET, and you'll have to register on the giveaway's official page beforehand to enter the drawing.
One factor that could potentially prevent you from joining the draw is your location: You can only register and win if you're in the US, Canada, UK or the EU, where the console is currently available for sale. In addition, you must have made a Steam purchase between November 14th, 2021 and November 14th, 2022 to verify your country and prove that your account is not limited and is in good standing. Valve will draw a random name from the pool of registrants every minute during the event and will be announcing winners in chat as each drawing takes place. To note, the show is expected to run for around two-and-a-half hours, so that's over a hundred Steam Decks to be won.
The 2022 Game Awards will not only stream online but will also offer a live "IMAX Experience" in select cities in the US, Canada and other regions. This year's event also introduces a new category for best adaptation featuring projects that translate games to movies, TV shows, podcasts and books.
Watch #TheGameAwards live on Steam next Thursday and you could win a FREE Steam Deck!
Valve is giving away a free Steam Deck a MINUTE to a viewer watching the show to celebrate!
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