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Apple’s 42mm flagship is down to just $329 with various bands. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Whether or not you subscribe to them, New Year’s resolutions are a capital-T Thing for many people in the US. Thankfully, if your goals for 2025 revolve around health and fitness, the 42mm Apple Watch Series 10 is on sale at Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy starting at $329 ($70 off), matching its Black Friday low. You can also pick it up in the 46mm sizing at Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy starting at $359 ($70 off), which remains the best price we’ve seen on the larger model. While there are certainly better fitness trackers for hardcore athletes, none of them offer the kind of robust third-party support you’ll get with a flagship Apple Watch, nor do they integrate as well with Apple’s larger device ecosystem. The Series 10 is a pretty minor update over the previous model, but it’s still a solid bet for casual athletes, with a terrific wide-angle OLED display, sleep a...

On December 27, a Waymo robotaxi and a Serve Robotics sidewalk delivery robot collided at a Los Angeles intersection, according to a video that’s circulating on social media. The footage shows a Serve bot crossing a street in West Hollywood at night and trying to get onto the sidewalk. It reached the curb, backed up © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

The data was found exposed on an Amazon cloud server, and contained precise location data on thousands of vehicles. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

For a number of years now, Moft has offered some of the most innovative gadget accessories. They’re always interesting, if not necessarily useful. This new combination Find My wallet and stand manages to tick both boxes. The accessory was announced a couple of weeks out from CES, where it will be shown off for the © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

German electric air taxi company Volocopter has filed for bankruptcy protection, the latest in a string of similar startups to hit financial turbulence. The company plans to keep operating while it searches for new investors. “We are ahead of our industry peers in our technological, flight test, and certification progress. That makes us an attractive © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

The Apple Watch Series 10 is down to its Black Friday price. You can pick one up for $329 via Amazon, which is a discount of $70 and nearly 20 percent off. Even better? This deal is available for multiple band colors, including jet black, rose gold and more. This is the company’s latest and greatest smartwatch and it easily topped our list of the best Apple wearables. It’s thinner and lighter than the Series 9, which is something that we were impressed by in our official review. We also appreciated the larger wide-angle OLED display, which makes some things easier to read. This is particularly useful when trying to navigate via Maps. There’s a brand-new depth gauge, for snorkeling and swimming, and sensors that support sleep apnea detection. The speakers are even much-improved over previous generations, so the Apple Watch Series 10 is a decent option for checking out a podcast. It’s just a watch, however, so we can't recommend using the speakers for extended listening. Other ...

Artificial General Intelligence, or AGI, has long been the pinnacle of ambition in the tech world. It’s the dream of creating a machine that can think, reason, and adapt like... Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

The proliferation of data centers aiming to meet the computational needs of AI could be bad news for the US power grid, according to a new report in Bloomberg. Using the 1 million residential sensors tracked by Whisker Labs, along with market intelligence data from DC Byte, Bloomberg found that more than half of the © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Three crypto industry groups — the DeFi Education Fund, the Blockchain Association, and the Texas Blockchain Council — are suing the Internal Revenue Service to block new regulations that require decentralized finance (DeFi) entities to report customer information. The IRS has been finalizing crypto tax regulations as part of the Biden Administration’s Infrastructure Investment and © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Marvel just dropped the first trailer for its upcoming animated series, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, which will bring us back to Peter Parker’s early days as a high school superhero. The art leans into a classic comic book style, and it looks like the story itself will be a departure from the MCU version of things, in contrast to how the show was initially described back in 2021 when it was first announced. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man will have 10 episodes, and debuts on Disney+ on January 29. Peter Parker is voiced by Hudson Thames. The cast also includes Colman Domingo as Norman Osborn, who we see in the trailer stepping in as Spider-Man’s mentor, along with Zeno Robinson (Harry Osborn), Grace Song (Nico Minoru) and Charlie Cox (Daredevil). Hugh Dancy voices Otto Octavius aka Doctor Octopus. The animated series was first teased at Disney+ Day three years ago under a different name, Spider-Man: Freshman Year. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https:/...

The artificial intelligence world is buzzing, and for good reason. Enter DeepSeek-V3, a groundbreaking open-source AI model that has just flipped the script on how we think about innovation, accessibility,... Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Foundation models will be brand DNA, hands-free will be redefined and we'll hit the AI trust tipping point (among other developments). Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

The reference frames from which observers view quantum events can themselves have multiple possible locations at once—an insight with potentially major ramifications. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The US Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is proposing new cybersecurity requirements for healthcare organizations aimed at protecting patients’ private data in the event of cyberattacks, reports Reuters. The rules come after major cyberattacks like one that leaked the private information of more than 100 million UnitedHealth patients earlier this year. The OCR’s proposal includes requiring that healthcare organizations make multifactor authentication mandatory in most situations, that they segment their networks to reduce risks of intrusions spreading from one system to another, and that they encrypt patient data so that even if it’s stolen, it can’t be accessed. It would also direct regulated groups to undertake certain risk analysis practices, keep compliance documentation, and more. The rule is part of the cybersecurity strategy that the Biden administration announced last year. Once fin...

Blue Origin's New Glenn heavy-lift launch vehicle is now ready for its first flight. The company has conducted — and successfully completed — a wet dress rehearsal or a full run-through of the rocket's launch countdown. As The New York Times reports, Blue Origin had to attempt the countdown several times over a few hours, but the company managed to ignite and fire New Glenn's seven engines for 24 seconds in the end.  New Glenn's tanks were filled with fuel and the rocket was fitted with a 45,000-pound payload mass simulator as if it truly was heading to space. Blue Origin says this is the first time it operated the vehicle as an integrated system, with New Glenn SVP Jarrett Jones calling the test's completion a "monumental milestone." The Federal Aviation Administration has also granted the company a launch license for New Glenn, which means it's now truly ready to go. The company describes New Glenn as a "giant, reusable rocket built for bigger t...

These nifty tools combine the ease of jotting notes by hand with the power of saving them digitally. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Bench, a Canada-based accounting startup that offered software-as-a-service for small and medium businesses, has abruptly shut down, according to a notice posted on its website.   “We regret to inform you that as of December 27, 2024, the Bench platform will no longer be accessible,” the notice reads. “We know this news is abrupt and may © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

President-elect Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to delay the law that could ban TikTok until after his inauguration. In an amicus brief, Trump’s attorney D. John Sauer wrote that the future president wants the opportunity to find a solution to the problem “through political means.” The law requiring a ban or sale of TikTok is set to take effect on January 19, 2025, just one day before Trump’s inauguration. The brief calls the ban date “unfortunately timed”and argues the incoming president should have more time to work on a deal with TikTok. TikTok’s legal team cited a similar concern in its requests for a delay of the ban. The brief also cites Trump’s “dealmaking” experience and his social media platform Truth Social. “President Trump alone possesses the consummate dealmaking expertise, the electoral mandate, and the political will to negotiate a resolution to save the platform while addressing the national security concerns expressed by the Government–concerns which President...

Add some color to your life, find accent lighting to match your mood, and transform the feel of your home with these decorative connected devices. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

It’s that quiet, end-of-December period for tech news. Still, alongside our usual retrospectives on tech in 2024, the Russian government is cracking down crypto, and final seasons of hit Netflix phenomena are on their way. First, according to reports by the state-owned news agency Tass, the Russian government banned crypto mining in ten regions for six years. Russia has cited the industry’s high power consumption rates as the primary reason behind the ban. Crypto mining operations already account for nearly 2.5 percent of US energy use. The Russian ban takes effect on January 1 and lasts until March 15, 2031. The currency has only been fully legal in Russia since November. — Mat Smith Get this delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here! The biggest tech stories you missed How to spend your $100 gift card after Christmas Engadget's Balatro of the year 2024 'Doctor Who: Joy to the World' review Squid Game will have a third (and final) season in 2025 Netflix...

Do Kwon, the co-founder of collapsed cryptocurrency startup Terraform Labs, will be extradited from Montenegro to the U.S. to face federal fraud charges, as first reported by Bloomberg. Kwon faces charges in both the U.S. and South Korea; Terraform Labs’ TerraUSD and Luna cryptocurrencies crashed in 2022, causing investors to lose over $40 billion. Terraform © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

When you really probe venture capitalists about investing in AI startups, they’ll tell you that businesses are experimenting wildly but are very slow to add AI solutions into their ongoing business processes.  But there are some exceptions. And one of them appears to be an area known as AI sales development representatives, or AI SDRs. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Scientists at the Suzumori Endo Robotics lab in Tokyo have developed the Superman Suit: a suit powered by hydraulic artificial muscles that allows it to perform superhuman tasks. In this video, the suit demonstrates the ability to complete 15 rotations around a bar, making anyone into a great gymnast. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Samsung’s celebrated flagship soundbar does just enough to beat out the rest of its Dolby Atmos competitors. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

From Chinese cyberspies breaching US telecoms to ruthless ransomware gangs disrupting health care for millions of people, 2024 saw some of the worst hacks, breaches, and data leaks ever. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Blaming victims, months of silence, and suing security researchers all featured in cybersecurity in 2024. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

New to Govee? Get a $5 coupon on your first purchase just for signing up. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Updated December 25, 12:21 p.m. Pacific: Added details of xAI’s valuation and Kingdom Holdings’ contribution. xAI, Elon Musk’s AI company, has raised $6 billion in a Series C financing round. The company announced this week that Andreessen Horowitz , Blackrock, Fidelity, Lightspeed, MGX, Morgan Stanley, OIA, QIA, Sequoia Capital, Valor Equity Partners, Vy Capital, Nvidia, © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Indian online pharmacy PharmEasy’s valuation now stands at about $456 million, according to disclosures from its investor Janus Henderson, a 92% drop from its peak valuation of $5.6 billion. The British American global asset firm’s Global Research Fund values its holding of 12.9 million shares in PharmEasy at $766,043, according to its latest filing for © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Honda & Nissan Merger: The Dawn of a New Automotive Superpower! #Honda, #Nissan, #AutomotiveInnovation, #ElectricVehicles, #CarIndustryNews, #HondaNissanMerger, #FutureOfMobility, #GreenGround, #SustainableCars, #TechInnovation Buckle up as we dive into the groundbreaking Honda and Nissan merger that’s set to revolutionize the automotive world! In this episode, Alvin from GreenGround unpacks how these two automotive giants are joining forces to create the world’s third-largest carmaker. Discover why this merger matters, what it means for electric vehicles and future technologies, and how it could change the way we drive forever.Will Honda and Nissan take the lead in the race for sustainability and innovation, or will this bold move face unforeseen challenges? Share your thoughts in the comments and join the conversation!Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell for more insights into the fast-paced world of cars, tech, and innovation.More details and sources in...

Your physical and mental well-being are crucial—but the picture isn’t complete if you aren’t flexing your connection muscles, too. Here’s how to build—and keep—your social health. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

AMD has its work cut out for it at CES 2025. Competitor Nvidia has been sucking the oxygen out of every room it graces, as the chipmaker remains at the forefront of the AI boom. So, how will AMD compete with Nvidia’s reported RTX 5000 announcement? The company should show of its own next-gen GPU. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Maximum Entertainment announced it's divested assets of the former Merge Games to new publisher Silver Lining Interactive. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

The automotive world is buzzing, and for a good reason. Two of Japan’s automotive giants, Honda and Nissan, have announced a groundbreaking merger that’s set to change the way we... Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

A consortium of investors has resurrected Lilium just days after the electric air taxi startup ceased operations and laid off about 1,000 employees. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Sony knows how to put on a show at CES. The company’s pressers are high-octane, star-studded affairs, as these things go. In addition to standard Sony fare like TVs and audio systems, there’s always a curve ball or two, be it a car, a drone, or a “Gran Turismo” movie. That’s one of the perks © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Lux, which makes the iPhone camera app Halide, published a roadmap on Monday detailing the app’s next version, called Halide Mark III, to be released sometime next year. The company said Halide Mark III will ship with two new features: Color Grades, and its own take on HDR (High Dynamic Range) photos. The company plans © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Surrendering to algorithmic agents risks putting us under their influence. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

A US judge ruled that the Israeli spyware maker breached hacking laws by using WhatsApp to infect devices with Pegasus © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

One of the most widely used techniques to make AI models more efficient, quantization, has limits — and the industry could be fast approaching them. In the context of AI, quantization refers to lowering the number of bits — the smallest units a computer can process — needed to represent information. Consider this analogy: When © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Coralogix, the well-funded observability platform, on Monday announced that it has acquired Aporia, a startup that focuses on giving businesses tools to observe and secure their AI workloads, as well as set guardrails for them to avoid hallucinations or unintended disclosures. As part of this acquisition, Coralogix will launch a dedicated AI research center, Coralogix © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

With a US TikTok ban scheduled to take effect in less than a month, President-elect Donald Trump said Sunday that he’d like to keep the app around, according to Reuters. “We’re going to have to start thinking because, you know, we did go on TikTok, and we had a great response with billions of views, © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Elon Musk's AI company, xAI, is testing out a standalone iOS app for its chatbot, Grok, which was available only to X users until now. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is still zipping around the sun making history, and it’s gearing up for another record-setting approach this week. On December 24 at 6:53AM ET, the spacecraft’s orbit will take it just 3.8 million miles from the solar surface, according to the space agency. That’ll be the closest it — or any other probe — has ever come to the sun. The milestone will mark the completion of the Parker Solar Probe’s 22nd orbit around our star, and the first of the three final closest flybys planned for its mission. The craft, which launched in 2018, is expected to complete a total of 24 orbits. “No human-made object has ever passed this close to a star, so Parker will truly be returning data from uncharted territory,” Nick Pinkine, Parker Solar Probe mission operations manager at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, said in a statement on NASA’s blog. “We’re excited to hear back from the spacecraft when it swings back around the Sun.” The Parker Solar Probe will be trave...

A Google Nest doorbell camera. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Apple is working on a new smart doorbell camera that uses Face ID to unlock your door, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in today’s Power On newsletter. The camera could be released by the end of 2025 “at the soonest,” Gurman writes. The lock would work just like your iPhone, automatically unlocking your door when you or another resident looks at it. Like biometric login info on other Apple devices, the camera would be equipped with the company’s Secure Enclave chip that stores and processes Face ID information separately from the rest of the system’s hardware. Gurman writes that this device will “likely” work with existing third-party HomeKit smart locks and that the company may also partner with a smart lock company “to offer a complete system on day one.” He expects the camera will make use of Apple’s in-house “Proxima” combination Wi-Fi / Bluetooth chip that’s rumored for new HomePod Mini...

There’s been a lot of reporting in recent months around Apple’s efforts to expand its footprint in customers’ homes with in-development products like a wall-mounted smart home hub. According to a new report in Bloomberg, that strategy could also include a smart doorbell. This doorbell would use Apple’s FaceID technology to scan people’s faces as © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

The US Department of Commerce on Friday announced its awards for Samsung, Texas Instruments and Amkor Technology under the CHIPS Incentives Program, which come to more than $6.75 billion altogether. The program is meant to help expand domestic semiconductor production. Samsung was awarded up to $4.745 billion in direct funding — a smaller amount than the preliminary award of up to $6.4 billion that was announced earlier this year — while Texas Instruments was granted up to $1.61 billion and Amkor up to $407 million. Samsung plans to invest $37 billion over the next few years to ramp up chip development and production in the US, the DOC said. The company will expand its operations in Texas to include two new production facilities and a site for research and development. It also plans to expand an existing facility in Austin. Texas Instruments is working to build three new facilities — two in Texas and one in Utah — which it’s said it will invest over $18 billion in through 2029. Amkor i...

After announcing this week that it furloughed 82 employees, EV startup Canoo emailed remaining workers to inform them they were being placed on a “mandatory unpaid break” and would be locked out of the company’s systems at the end of the day Friday, TechCrunch reports. The email viewed by TechCrunch reportedly said the break would last at least through the end of the year. Canoo announced on Wednesday that it was idling its Oklahoma factories “while it works to finalize securing the capital necessary to move forward with its operations.” Canoo has faced financial difficulties, lawsuits and the departure of multiple executives over the last year. It previously announced it was furloughing 30 employees just this fall. Canoo’s announcement on Wednesday said that the company is now in “advanced discussions with various capital sources.” In a statement about the cuts, Canoo said, “We regret having to furlough our employees, especially during the holidays, but we have no choice at this point...

We may be a bit technology-obsessed here, but the Engadget team does occasionally get around to low-tech activities, like reading. Well, some of us read on ereaders or our smartphones, but you get the point — books are great, and we read some exceptional ones this year that each deserve a shoutout. These are some of the best books we read in 2024. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/our-favorite-books-we-read-in-2024-151514842.html?src=rss Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Qualcomm did not violate a license with Arm when it acquired Nuvia for $1.4 billion, in a ruling by a jury today. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Given enough time to "think," small language models can beat LLMs at math and coding tasks by generating and verifying multiple answers. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Social network Bluesky has released a new update to its app that includes a separate mentions tab in notifications, protections against username squatting, and new controls for replies sorting. The company announced that it is adding a new mentions tab with the v1.96 rollout to let you see those posts separately. Until now, all notifications © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

The hype is fading, and people are asking what generative artificial intelligence is really good for. So far, no one has a decent answer. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

OpenAI announced a new o3 model on Friday. In a tweet ahead of its livestream, the company confirmed previous reports that it is skipping o2 due to copyright concerns, and is releasing early evals for the o3 model. It appears to be a successor to its o1 reasoning model. This story is developing… © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Gear can make or break your home office setup. Here’s our ultimate list of nearly 100 items, from monitors and desks to webcams and chairs. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sat before Congress in 2023 to testify about the dangers of AI. He told American lawmakers at the time that he owns no equity in OpenAI, something he’s said many times, claiming he just runs the company because he loves it. However, Altman recently said he actually did have some equity © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Rapido restricted access to the exposed portal soon after TechCrunch contacted the company. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Cath Virginia / The Verge The European Union has published several recommendations for Apple to make iOS and iPadOS more interoperable with competitors following two separate proceedings launched in September, sparking concerns about user privacy from the iPhone maker. On Wednesday, the EU Commission submitted draft recommendations to Apple regarding changes that would make the iOS operating system more compatible with third-party devices like smartwatches, earbuds, and headsets. The Commission is also proposing measures to improve how Apple communicates with developers who make interoperability requests for iOS and iPadOS, including increased transparency around internal features and rejections. The EU’s proposed iOS interoperability measures cover interactivity features like automatic audio switching, background activity like maintaining Bluetooth and network connections, and notifications — which could address long-standing complaints from iPhone users who are unable to se...

Apple and Meta are warring in Europe over the balance between interoperability and privacy, Reuters reports. The fight focuses on the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), a competition regulation that requires designated gatekeepers (including Apple and Meta) not to restrict rivals’ access to so-called core platform services. In Apple’s case, this means: iOS, iPadOS, © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Struggling EV startup Canoo says it has furloughed 82 employees and is idling its factory in Oklahoma while it grasps for the capital needed to survive. The company claims it is in “advanced discussions with various capital sources” to raise emergency funding. The announcement comes just a few days after board member James Chen resigned, © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Alphabet spinout SandboxAQ is advancing large quantitative models to help enterprise AI optimize value creation. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

The number of investors active in gaming will fall further as the sector remains underinvested relative to public market capitalization. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

After unveiling Exodus just over a year ago at The Game Awards, developer Archetype Entertainment has shown off the first gameplay for the sci-fi RPG. The trailer features a troupe of space mercenaries called Travelers, a lot of battle action and a particularly angry boss bear. It looks a lot like Mass Effect, which isn't a surprise given that the studio employs former Bioware devs, along with ex-employees from 343 and Naughty Dog.  During a livestream, the team revealed that Exodus is set in a post-Earth scenario at a time when humanity has ventured into faraway star systems and created new civilizations. That doesn't mean everything is kumbaya, though, as characters create alliances and compete for resources to make a profit. The game involves genetically modified creatures like the aforementioned bear, along with a valuable element called Livestone created by "Celestials." It also uses time dilation, so when the Travelers make a short jaunt to a star system, much m...

Many sites saw their organic traffic decline in 2024, in big part due to the rise of AI-generated search results. Many queries no longer lead to click-throughs, and even when users click, it is hard for companies to get more context on searches made within apps like ChatGPT or Perplexity. The answer to this problem © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear TikTok owner ByteDance’s appeal of a law that could ban the app. The court took up the case (via NBC News) unusually quickly — only two days after the company filed its appeal. Oral arguments are scheduled for January 10. The law being challenged, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, is set to go into effect on January 19, the day before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. The court didn’t provisionally block the law when saying it would take up the case. The bill mandates that the app be banned if ByteDance doesn’t sell the platform to an American company. It was passed with overwhelming support in Congress and signed by President Biden in April. The argument was that TikTok had become a national security issue. The Justice Department defended the law in lower courts, citing concerns that the Chinese government could influence the company and collect data about American citizens. The US Court of A...

The Supreme Court said on Wednesday that it will hear ByteDance and TikTok’s challenge to a law would ban the social network in the U.S. unless the social network divests from Chinese ownership by January 19.  On January 10, the Supreme Court justices will hear argue about whether the sell-or-ban law violates the First Amendment. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

A new hard drive based on the long-promised heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) technology is almost here. Tom’s Hardware reported that a new sales page popped up on the Seagate website announcing a new Exos M 30TM and 32TB hard disk drive (HDD) featuring 3TB per platter with three times the power efficiency per terabyte compared to other hard drives. The new hard drive is based on Seagate’s new Mozaic 3+ platform and is its first HDD to use HAMR. HAMR refers to a magnetic storage process in which localized heat is applied to the disk material during writing, which allows for smaller regions and more space per platter. These and other breakthroughs could someday pave the way to a 50TB HDD. Here’s a video from our Upscaled series that breaks down the entire process and what it means for the future of HDD storage. There’s no official release date yet for the Exos M. You can stay up to date by email of its pending release on Seagate’s product page.This article originally appeared on ...

Elon Musk and SpaceX are under three federal reviews from three different US military departments for allegedly failing to comply with reporting protocols. The New York Times reported that Musk and his private aerospace company have repeatedly disregarded requirements to disclose trips and meetings with foreign leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin. The three reviews of Musk and SpaceX’s suspected activity were opened by the Defense Department’s Office of Inspector General, the Air Force and the Pentagon’s Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security. The Air Force also reportedly denied Musk’s request for high-level security access because of concerns over potential security risks if he were allowed to handle certain pieces of classified information. Some SpaceX workers with knowledge of the reviews expressed their concerns to the Times about Musk’s ability to handle sensitive data when he posts openly about meetings on his X account. He already ...

You can now access Apple's answer to Google Street View on the web. As 9to5Mac reports, Apple has enabled Look Around for the beta version of Apple Maps on the web, letting you literally look around and explore the cities where it's available. The company has a full list of "Look Around" locations on its website, and it includes select cities in the US, Japan and several countries in the European Union. To start exploring a place on your desktop, you only have to click on the binocular icon at the bottom left corner of the map. Like on Street View, you'll be able to virtually fly across roads and drag the screen to show more of the place with the feature's 360-degree images.  Apple launched the beta version of Maps for the web in July, with a number of limitations. Access was limited to certain devices and browsers. While you could already use it to look up directions and guides, it didn't roll out with Look Around, though Apple promised to add more featur...

Agave Games is using its latest round of funding to expand its mobile title Find the Cat as well as potentially develop new games. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge I opened the App Store today to find an emulator I’d read about, and a new prompt appeared under the search bar inviting me to “search the way you talk.” I hadn’t seen the prompt before on my iPhone 13 Pro Max, and quite frankly, I had missed the iOS 18.1 update note about it. As it describes, Apple's update in October added, “App Store search lets you use natural language to find what you’re looking for more easily.” It’s also not the only place Apple is adding natural language search with iOS 18, in addition to Photos, Music, and Apple TV. While some others had seen a splash screen in October, I’d only spotted the same simple search prompts as before. When I asked around at The Verge, several others hadn’t seen it before, although closing the app and relaunching it caused the message to appear in at least one case, and a few social media posts have popped up from other people noticing it for the first time. The prompt in the hint ...

The massive lasers will be installed in the startup’s future facility, which it is building in the San Francisco Bay Area. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

TikTok is now subject to not one but two open Digital Services Act (DSA) investigations after the European Union announced on Tuesday that it has opened a formal proceeding focused on election risks — and specifically risks in the context of recent elections in Romania. The probe will focus on TikTok’s recommender systems — principally “risks © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Although Panic paused development on its official Playdate charging dock, an enterprising character artist has swooped in with an open-source kit (via Gizmodo) that transforms the device into an interactive robot pet. Playbot is Guillaume Loquin’s name for the cute add-on, which anyone with the right know-how can build. (For those without know-how, don’t be shocked if you eventually see others sell builds on platforms like Etsy.) Made with two wheels, a motor, a microcontroller and a 3D-printed casing, it taps into the Playdate’s built-in accelerometer, microphone and sensors to turn the indie game console into a charming desktop companion. Guillaume Loquin / YouTube Loquin, whose day job is as a character artist at Ubisoft, put those skills to use in bringing the device to life. He told Engadget the console stood out as a unique creative canvas. “I fell in love with the Playdate console — its unique form factor, the SDK developed by Panic,” he said. “And, of course, its distinctive cr...

Workers at two of Amazon's warehouses in New York City are set to go on strike after the company failed to come to the bargaining table by a December 15 deadline. Unionized workers at the JFK8 facility on Staten Island and DBK4 depot in Queens voted "overwhelmingly" to authorize strikes in protest against "Amazon’s illegal refusal to recognize their union and negotiate a contract addressing the company’s low wages and dangerous working conditions," according to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT). Engadget has contacted the Teamsters and Amazon Labor Union (ALU) for more details about the strikes. The workers at JFK8 were the first in the US to unionize at an Amazon warehouse. They organized under the ALU, which this June partnered with the Teamsters. The union now known as ALU-IBT Local 1 represents around 5,500 warehouse workers at JFK8. “Our members are ready to do whatever it takes to get a contract,” Connor Spence, president of ALU-IBT Local 1,...

Meta’s X rival Threads is growing steadily with more than 100 million people using the service daily, the company’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Monday. Zuckerberg also noted that Threads now has 300 million monthly active users, up from 275 million monthly active users in November. While Meta has regularly released updated numbers about monthly active © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Blackmagic has announced that its URSA Cine Immersive commercial camera for shooting high-quality 3D immersive video is now available to preorder “direct from Blackmagic Design Offices,” with the first deliveries going out in early 2025. The camera, which could enable more immersive content for the Vision Pro, costs $29,995 — or a mere 8.6 Vision Pros. First revealed in June, the Cine Immersive will let cinematographers shoot 90fps video in stereoscopic 3D at 8160 x 7200 resolution per eye — or more than twice the estimated per-eye resolution of the Vision Pro’s screens. They’ll be able to edit the footage using the proprietary Apple Immersive Video format in DaVinci Resolve Studio, which Blackmagic plans to add support for early next year. Blackmagic Design CEO Grant Petty said the DaVinci update will enable “a true end-to-end workflow for Apple Immersive Video.” He added that the company is “looking forward to working closely with filmmakers” on immersive videos ahead of the camera’s...

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo from Getty Images TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is set to meet with President-Elect Donald Trump on Monday as the platform faces a ban in the US, according to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. The move makes Chew the latest tech executive — following Apple CEO Tim Cook, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg — to meet with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort. TikTok already lost in appeals court while fighting the ban-or-divest law that goes into effect on January 19th, and today, it asked the Supreme Court to intervene. Though Trump initially led the ban on TikTok over claims about national security concerns, he started to reverse course earlier this year. In March, Trump said he didn’t want a TikTok ban because “...without TikTok, you can make Facebook bigger and I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people.” He later joined TikTok in June. When asked about the TikTok ban during a press conferenc...

On Monday, Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son announced that his company would invest $100 billion into the US over the next four years.  © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

For years, reporting has claimed employees and contractors at Amazon's warehouses are injured at unusually high rates, often attributed to a high pace of work. On Sunday, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions published an investigation that claims Amazon's own internal research reached similar conclusions — and then ignored them, The New York Times reported. The Senate Committee, chaired by Senator Bernie Sanders, published its 160-page report, which among other things, details the results of two internal Amazon initiatives meant to study worker injuries: Project Elderwand and Project Soteria. The former identified an upper bound of repetitive motions workers could perform before substantial risk of injury would occur, and noted that current quotes were above that rate. The latter indicated a link between work speed and injury. Both studies recommended relaxing the pace of work, but executives chose not to do so. Amazon spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said tha...

As 2024 comes to a close, Apple is unveiling the most downloaded games and apps of the year in the U.S. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

A speaker at the annual NeurIPS AI conference has drawn criticism — not for her opinions about AI, but the way she referred to a Chinese student. During her keynote presentation on “How to optimize what matters most,” MIT Media Lab Professor Rosalind Picard (pictured above) included a slide quoting an excuse given by a © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Amnesty said it found NoviSpy, an Android spyware linked to Serbian intelligence, on the phones of several members of Serbian civil society following police stops. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

With iOS 18.2 and iPadOS 18.2 now available, iPhone and iPad users have access to a slew of new features that make use of Apple Intelligence. That includes Genmoji, a new type of AI-generated emoji that was first introduced at WWDC 2024. What are Genmoji? Genmoji are custom emojis you can create if you’ve installed the iOS 18.2 or iPadOS 18.2 update. They are the emojis of your imagination, made real with help from Apple Intelligence — you describe what emoji you want to see, like a sad cowboy or an octopus DJ, and Apple’s AI will do its best to generate it. You can even create custom emojis of people you know if you have a photo of them in your library. Once you’ve made Genmoji, they’ll be stored in your keyboard so you can use them in Apple apps that support emojis. They can be sent as part of messages, as standalone stickers or as Tapback reactions. How to create Genmoji To create a Genmoji, you’ll need a device that is up to date with iOS 18.2/iPadOS 18.2 or later and compatible w...

From chatbots to retrieval-augmented generation applications to autonomous multi-agent AI: What's every enterprise leader needs to know. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Regardless of how they're defined, the agents are for helping complete tasks in an automated way with as little human interaction as possible. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

The next big upgrade to Apple’s mobile devices could be foldability, according to multiple reports published Sunday. According to The Wall Street Journal, Apple is aiming to launch two foldable devices in the next few years. There’s a larger model with a 19-inch screen that could compete with desktop monitors, as well as a smaller © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

With model degradation, AI development could stall, leaving AI systems unable to ingest new data and essentially becoming “stuck in time.” Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

According to a report from Reuters, president-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is trying to kill a rule set by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that requires automakers to report crashes if advanced driver assistance technology or automated driving systems were in use within 30 seconds of the crash. The NHTSA issued the Standing General Order in 2021, stating that its goal is to gather data that could help it identify potential safety issues.  The data has been used in investigations into crashes involving six companies so far, including Tesla and GM’s Cruise (which is shutting down its robotaxi program as of this week). Tesla “despises” the reporting requirement and believes the data could be misleading to consumers, Reuters reports, citing sources close to Tesla executives. In a document seen by Reuters, the transition team in charge of making a 100-day strategy for automotive policy reportedly recommended that the incoming administration repeal the requ...

Arlan Hamilton, founder of Backstage Capital, announced Friday that her role at the firm she started in 2015 will evolve.  “After 12 years of being deeply involved in the day-to-day operations, I’ve decided to transition into a chairperson and advisory position,” she wrote in a statement released online. She was previously a managing partner at © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Mark Zuckerberg. | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images Meta is asking California Attorney General Rob Bonta to block OpenAI’s planned transition from a non-profit to for-profit entity. In a letter sent to Bonta’s office this week, Meta says that OpenAI “should not be allowed to flout the law by taking and reappropriating assets it built as a charity and using them for potentially enormous private gains.” The letter, which was first reported on by The Wall Street Journal and you can read in full below, goes so far as to say that Meta believes Elon Musk is “qualified and well positioned to represent the interests of Californians in this matter.” Meta supporting Musk’s fight against OpenAI is notable given that Musk and Mark Zuckerberg were talking about literally fighting in a cage match just last year. OpenAI started as a non-profit but stumbled into commercial success with ChatGPT, which now makes billions of dollars a year in revenue. CEO Sam Altman has been cle...

Kalshi’s CEO, Tarek Mansour, confirmed on a podcast interview that his employees did ask social media influencers to promote memes about the FBI’s raid on the home of his arch rival, the CEO of Polymarket.  Both of these companies offer competing events-betting markets, a new kind of betting industry where people wager about the outcomes © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

A federal court has denied TikTok’s request for a temporary pause of a law that could result in a ban of the app next month. The ruling, which came in response to an emergency injunction filed by TikTok earlier this week, is the latest legal setback for the company as it tries to avoid a total ban of its app in the United States. In its request for a delay in the law taking effect, TikTok indicated that it planned to appeal to the Supreme Court. The company’s lawyers also cited the possibility that President-elect Donald Trump may want to take a different approach given some of Trump’s past comments about the app. But in a brief order, a panel of three judges denied that request, writing that such a pause was “unwarranted.” TikTok’s future now depends on the Supreme Court, though there’s no guarantee the court will agree to hear the case. "As we have previously stated, we plan on taking this case to the Supreme Court, which has an established historical record of protecting Americ...

XAI, Elon Musk’s AI company, may be embroiled in an escalating lawsuit with OpenAI. But that’s not stopping it from shipping new products — on a Friday night, no less. This evening, xAI revealed that it has begun to roll out an upgraded version of its flagship Grok 2 chatbot model to all users on © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Projects in ChatGPT allows users to create folders and add conversations and documents, bringing these capabilities together in one place.  Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Syndicate One is a debut investment firm out of Belgium that has raised a €6.5 million fund to back Belgian founders and startups. While the amount is small, the significance is that it is the first Belgian fund to have the support of all four of the federal regions of the country. This, in a © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

A flurry of drone sightings across New Jersey and New York has sparked national intrigue and US government responses. But experts are pouring cold water on America's hottest new conspiracy theory. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Advanced image recognition tech ensures these components are seamlessly integrated into AI generated videos, giving creators more control. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

The curated feed, now run by a team of six moderators, is the meeting ground for hundreds of thousands of Black users on Bluesky. Is it ready to meet the moment? Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Thursday launched an investigation into Character.AI and 14 other technology platforms over child privacy and safety concerns. The investigation will assess whether Character.AI — and other platforms that are popular with young people, including Reddit, Instagram and Discord — conform to Texas’ child privacy and safety laws. The investigation © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Netflix announced at The Game Awards that its Squid Game multiplayer mobile title will be playable on Android and iOS without an active Netflix subscription when it arrives on December 17. However, the free-for-anyone period will only be available for an unspecified “limited time.” Squid Game: Unleashed lets you play with friends online in a series of mini-games. The contests are either ripped directly from the series or thematically similar “classic childhood activities” (only with added death). The party royale game takes cues from the Mario Party franchise, but its inspiration may have been much more direct… and circular. In 2021, indie developer Dani published Crab Game for Windows, macOS and Linux. The title didn’t try to hide that it was inspired by the Netflix series (crab, squid… get it?), which was taking the world by storm at the time. Its Mario Party-style mini-games were initially Squid Game contests, presented in a cartoonish video-game form. However, it later expanded to ...