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Uber and Lyft Threaten to Pull Out of Minneapolis After City Council Vote

NYT Technology - Fri, 03/15/2024 - 14:21
Local lawmakers in the Minnesota city voted on Thursday to guarantee a minimum hourly wage to ride-hailing drivers.

What China Is Saying About the TikTok Ban Furor in Washington

NYT Technology - Fri, 03/15/2024 - 13:07
A bill to force TikTok’s sale in the United States has been criticized by Beijing but has not triggered a high-alert public response or retaliation.

Supreme Court Sets Rules for Blocking Citizens From Officials’ Accounts

NYT Technology - Fri, 03/15/2024 - 11:15
In two unanimous rulings, the justices tried to distinguish between private conduct, which is not subject to the First Amendment, and state action, which is.

New macOS Sonoma update is reportedly taking down printers as well as USB hubs

Techradar - Fri, 03/15/2024 - 09:23

Not content with playing havoc with USB hubs in some scenarios, it appears the latest update for macOS Sonoma is also a troublemaker for printers, too.

Indeed, according to various reports online as flagged up by Apple Insider, the macOS Sonoma 14.4 update is breaking printers in some cases. In other cases, there appears to be a more limited impact, in that the printer still works, but selecting page sizes doesn’t.

It seems Sonoma 14.4 is either stripping out, or messing up, printer drivers in Apple’s operating system, rendering the devices non-functional, at least for the time being in many of these reported cases.

There are users complaining about printer functionality going very wonky on Reddit and Apple’s support forums – however, there does appear to be a solution.

Namely, as stated in the above Apple post, you need to head to System Settings, and ‘Privacy & Security’ and then ‘Full Disk Access’ to grant full disk access to ‘com.microsoft.dlp’ – and that might sort the issue.

This isn’t guaranteed, mind, but there are a number of users giving the thumbs-up and saying this move did get their printer (or printers) working in macOS again.

Analysis: A cocktail of possible causes?

Seemingly the issue pertains to Microsoft Defender (which is what the above disk access change relates to), and/or JAMF mobile device management software, and possibly some other factors. It’s difficult to know exactly what, but the most prominent commonality seems to be Defender.

The good news is that this doesn’t seem to be affecting too many macOS Sonoma 14.4 users, as while there are a number of reports, they aren’t too widespread. And they appear to relate to particular configurations, too, mainly in office scenarios.

Given that, hopefully your average user at home isn’t seeing this problem – or only in rare cases. In short, you’re probably pretty unlucky if you hit this snag outside of a business network setting – but it seems that there are isolated incidents of this occuring with individual Macs.

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Windows 11 speech recognition feature gets ditched in September 2024 – but only because there’s something better

Techradar - Fri, 03/15/2024 - 08:08

Windows 11’s voice functionality is being fully switched over to the new Voice Access feature later this year, and we now have a date for when the old system – Windows Speech Recognition (WSR) – will be officially ditched from the OS.

The date for the replacement of WSR by Voice Access has been announced as September 2024 in a Microsoft support document (as Windows Latest noticed). Note that the change will be ‘starting’ in that month, so will take further time to roll out to all Windows 11 PCs.

However, there’s a wrinkle here, in that this is the case for Windows 11 22H2 and 23H2 users, which means those still on Windows 11 21H2 – the original version of the OS – won’t have WSR removed from their system.

Windows 10 users will still have WSR, of course, as Voice Access is a Windows 11-only feature.

Analysis: WSR to go MIA, but it’s A-OK (for the most part)

This move is no surprise as Microsoft removed Windows Speech Recognition from Windows 11 preview builds back at the end of 2023. So, this change was always going to come through for release versions of Windows 11, it was just a question of when – and now we know.

Will the jettisoning of WSR mean this feature is missed by Windows 11 users? Well, no, not really, because its replacement, Voice Access, is so much better in pretty much every respect. It is leaps and bounds ahead of WSR, in fact, with useful new features being added all the time – such as the ability to concoct your own customized voice shortcuts (a real timesaver).

In that respect, there’s no real need to worry about the transition from WSR to Voice Access – the only potential thorny issue comes with language support. WSR offers a whole lot more in this respect, because it has been around a long time.

However, Voice Access is getting more languages added in the Moment 5 update. And in six months’ time, when WSR is officially canned (or that process begins), we’ll probably have Windows 11 24H2 rolling out, or it’ll be imminent, and we’d expect Voice Access to have its language roster even more filled out at the point.

Those on Windows 11 21H2 will be able to stick with WSR as observed, but then there’s only a very small niche of users left on that OS, as Microsoft has been rolling out an automatic forced upgrade for 21H2 for some time now. (Indeed, this is now happening for 22H2 as of a few weeks ago). Barely anyone should remain on 21H2 at this point, we’d imagine, and those who are might be stuck there due to a Windows update bug, or oversight during the automated rollout.

Windows 10 users will continue with WSR as it’s their only option, but as a deprecated feature, it won’t receive any further work or upgrades going forward. That’s another good reason why Windows 11 users should want to upgrade to Voice Access which is being actively developed at quite some pace.

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Here’s more proof Apple is going big with AI this year

Techradar - Fri, 03/15/2024 - 06:16

The fact that Apple is going to debut a new generative artificial intelligence (AI) tool in iOS 18 this year is probably one of the worst-kept secrets in tech at the moment. Now, another morsel has leaked out surrounding Apple’s future AI plans, and it could shed light on what sort of AI features Apple fans might soon get to experience.

As first reported by Bloomberg, earlier this year Apple bought Canadian startup DarwinAI, with dozens of the company’s workers joining Apple once the deal was completed. It’s thought that Apple made this move in an attempt to bolster its AI capabilities in the last few months before iOS 18 will be revealed, which is expected to happen at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June.

Bloomberg’s report says that DarwinAI “has developed AI technology for visually inspecting components during the manufacturing process.” One of its “core technologies,” however, is making AI faster and more efficient, and that could be the reason Apple chose to open its wallet. Apple intends its AI to run entirely on-device, presumably to protect your privacy by not sharing AI inputs with the cloud, and this would benefit from DarwinAI’s tech. After all, Apple won’t want its flagship AI features to result in sluggish iPhone performance.

Apple’s AI plans

Siri

(Image credit: Unsplash [Omid Armin])

This is apparently just the latest move Apple has made in the AI arena. Thanks to a series of leaks and statements from Apple CEO Tim Cook, the company is known to be making serious efforts to challenge AI market leaders like OpenAI and Microsoft.

For instance, it’s been widely reported that Apple will soon unveil its own generative AI tool, which has been dubbed Ajax and AppleGPT during its development process. This could give a major boost to Apple’s Siri assistant, which has long lagged behind competitors such as Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. As well as that, we could see generative AI tools debut in apps like Pages and Apple Music, rivaling products like Microsoft’s Copilot and Spotify’s AI DJ.

Tim Cook has dropped several hints regarding Apple’s plans, saying customers can expect to see a host of AI features “later this year.” The Apple chief has called AI a “huge opportunity” for his company and has said that Apple intends to “break new ground” in this area. When it comes to specifics, though, Cook has been far less forthcoming, presumably preferring to reveal all at WWDC.

It’s unknown whether Apple will have time to properly integrate DarwinAI’s tools into iOS 18 before it is announced to the world, but it seems certain it will make use of them over the coming months and years. It could be just one more piece of the AI puzzle that Apple is attempting to solve.

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A Looming TikTok Ban, a Royal Photoshop Mystery and Your Snitching Car

NYT Technology - Fri, 03/15/2024 - 04:04
Maybe go ahead and download your favorite TikToks.

Young Entrepreneurs Find a Way to Indulge Their C.E.O. Dreams

NYT Technology - Fri, 03/15/2024 - 04:00
Fresh business school graduates are raising “search funds” from willing investors to buy companies they can lead.

Google I/O 2024 will take place on May 14 – here's what to expect

Techradar - Fri, 03/15/2024 - 03:32

The big day has been set: Google I/O 2024 will kick off on Tuesday, May 14 at 10am PST (1pm ET / 6pm BST) and continue into the following day.

Assuming history repeats itself, the keynote will be hosted by CEO Sundar Pichai at the Shoreline Amphitheatre up in Mountain View, California. That’s where last year’s event took place and the year before that. It’ll be broadcast in front of a live studio audience, and of course everyone will be able to watch the event as it unfolds via livestream.

No one knows what will be revealed at Google I/O 2024. The tech giant suddenly dropped the news out of the blue after posting an interactive puzzle game on its website. But despite the limited information, we can speculate about what we might see at the event, because the company has been dropping hints these past few months or so. 

Potential Gemini updates 

The most obvious pick here is artificial intelligence. Even though we’re only about a quarter in, 2024 has been a big year for Google AI. We saw the launch of the Gemini models, the brand’s very own LLM, as well as the rebranding of several other AIs under the Gemini moniker. Expect to see multiple demonstrations of what the tech will be able do in the near future. We could also find out more information on the mysterious Gemma, which is slated to be the open-source version of big brother Gemini.

It’s possible Pichar, or one of the hosts, will talk about improving their AI’s performance. If you’re not aware, Gemini has had some issues lately regarding, shall we say, inaccurate depictions of ethnic groups. Plus, hallucinations remain a problem.

Google Gemini AI

(Image credit: Google) New hardware and Android 15's debut

When it comes to hardware, Google I/O 2024 will most likely see the debut of the midrange Pixel 8a. I/O 2023 saw the reveal of the Pixel 7a, so it makes sense that the company will repeat the trick with its successor. 

Recent leaks claim the smartphone will run on the Tensor 3 chipset and that the Pixel 8a will be a little bigger than the previous generation. Certain aspects of the Pixel 8a's potential design do concern us, like the large bezels around the display.

We should also expect to see the full debut of Android 15. Mid-February saw the launch of the Android 15 developer preview, giving the world its first opportunity to get its hands on the upcoming OS. Very little is known about the OS, but we are expecting to see lock screen widgets make their long-awaited return plus the ability to save pairs of apps, among other things. 

Google Pixel 8 review back angled case

(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)

We're almost certain to see new AI developments, the Pixel 8a and Android 15 at Google I/O 2024, but elsewhere we're very much in speculation territory. 

For instance, we could see the reveal of new hardware like the Pixel Watch 3 or something, but don’t hold your breath. As our sister site Tom's Guide points out, the Pixel Watch 2 wasn’t announced at I/O 2023; it was instead unveiled during the Made By Google event in October. 

Same goes for the Pixel Tablet 2. The company is probably holding onto that for another day. If anything, I/O 2024 will feature smaller changes to other Google products. New Workspace tools, new Android 14 features, things of that nature. Nothing too crazy. It’s going to be Gemini’s day in the sun.

Online registration for the event is open and free for everyone. It lets you stay up-to-date on the schedule and what content will show up. Be aware that registering will require you to make a developer profile for Google, though.

There's still two month away. In the meantime, check out TechRadar's list of the best Pixel phones for 2024.

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Russia Strengthens Its Internet Controls in Critical Year for Putin

NYT Technology - Thu, 03/14/2024 - 23:00
Facing an election this weekend and the fallout from Aleksei Navalny’s death and the war in Ukraine, Russia has intensified online censorship using techniques pioneered by China.

Chrome to offer constant, real-time protection against malicious sites 24/7

Techradar - Thu, 03/14/2024 - 23:00

Google is upgrading Chrome’s Safe Browsing security tool by allowing it to provide constant protection against suspicious websites in real-time.

Before going into the update itself, it’s worth covering the backstory. Safe Browsing gives the Chrome browser a list of thousands of well-known, unsafe websites on the internet. Whenever you visit a webpage, the software will check to see if it’s on the list. If it’s there, Chrome will immediately block it and bring up a warning page telling you to stay away. According to Google’s Security Blog, that list is updated every 30 to 60 minutes 24/7. However, the bad actors behind these malicious websites have adapted to the changing landscape.

Google states a majority of these unsafe web pages littering the internet are only around "for less than 10 minutes”. Because the list refreshes every 30 minutes or so, there is a blind spot within this time frame. Bad actors are exploiting the blind spot and slipping through Chrome’s defenses. It’s a small window of opportunity, but it’s enough to do a lot of damage. 

The solution here, as mentioned earlier, is to provide real-time protection.

Security boost

It's important to note the security boost is being made to Safe Browsing's Standard Protection mode. A company representative told us Enhanced mode already has these capabilities, but Google is essentially closing the gap a bit.

The way the new default will work is a little complicated, so here’s a quick breakdown.

Let’s say you visit a website not on Chrome’s list. The browser will then take the page’s URL, break it down into smaller bits of data, and send the packet to a third-party privacy server owned by Fastly, a company specializing in cloud computing. The server then analyzes the data and matches what it finds against its own database. If anything weird is found, Chrome is alerted and will warn you to stay away.

Of course, there’s more to it than that. We didn’t go over exactly how the browser breaks down the URL. If you want more details, we recommend checking out the blog post and Google’s URL hashing guidance page.

Activating the enhanced Safe Browsing does require more information than normal. But it's important to note that neither Google nor Fastly will receive any user identifiers. IP addresses will not be collected. All the security checks you send over are mixed in with requests from other people so it’s all one big mess. And because Fastly runs the server independently, Google has no access to the data.

Accessing the new Safe Browsing tool

The same representative from earlier told us the upgrade is live on Chrome for desktop and iOS, but not for Android. That's coming later on in the month.

Because it'll be the default, you don't have to manually activate it. To obtain the tool, start by clicking the three dots in the upper right corner. Go to Help, then select About Google Chrome. The installation will begin automatically. Relaunch the browser once prompted.

Return to the Settings menu, select Privacy and Security on the left, then go to the Security tab. Expand Safe Browsing and you should see Safe Browsing's standard mode with the updated text. We didn't receive the patch at the time of this writing, so the image below is still the old version. It's just an example of what you might see.

Chrome's Safe Browsing

(Image credit: Future)

Since the Android version isn't out yet, we can't show you its process although we suspect it'll be very similar to the desktop experience. 

It's unknown what kind of extra information Google will ask from its users. Presumably, the data it'll want will be the same listed under the Enhanced mode: system information, extension activity, and the like. We reached out to Google for more details. This story will be updated at a later time.

To learn how to further beef up your computer's security, check out TechRadar's roundup of the best antivirus software for 2024.

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TikTok Is Its Own Worst Enemy

NYT Technology - Thu, 03/14/2024 - 20:08
The video-sharing app has received unfair treatment in Washington. But the company’s biggest wounds are self-inflicted.

Florida Man Sues G.M. and LexisNexis Over Sale of His Cadillac Data

NYT Technology - Thu, 03/14/2024 - 17:51
Romeo Chicco’s auto insurance rate doubled because of information about his speeding, braking and acceleration, according to his complaint.

Taiwan Is Building a Satellite Network Without Elon Musk

NYT Technology - Thu, 03/14/2024 - 13:34
The island democracy urgently needs an internet backup. Mr. Musk’s total control over his Starlink service, which dominates the market, left Taiwan wary.

Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin Could Race SpaceX to the Moon

NYT Technology - Thu, 03/14/2024 - 10:50
While SpaceX has a major head start on the way to orbit, Blue Origin has a plan to put an uncrewed spacecraft on the moon in 12-16 months.

What is SpaceX’s Starship?

NYT Technology - Thu, 03/14/2024 - 08:50
Bigger than the Statue of Liberty, the SpaceX vehicle is central to NASA’s plans to get to the moon and Elon Musk’s dreams of the red planet.

The latest macOS Sonoma update is reportedly breaking some USB hubs

Techradar - Thu, 03/14/2024 - 08:40

Updating to macOS Sonoma 14.4 is breaking the functionality of some USB hubs, according to reports across the web – though it's unclear how widespread the problem is, or which particular peripherals are affected.

The heads-up first came via AppleInsider readers, but there's also some discussion on Reddit, Apple support forums, and MacRumors. So far, it appears to be just USB hubs built into monitors affected by the bug, including models from Dell, Samsung, and Gigabyte.

Judging by the number of replies to the article and threads linked above, several people are seeing this issue. That said, it doesn't appear to affect everyone with a macOS Sonoma 14.4 machine and a monitor USB hub.

Apple hasn't said anything about the issue and is unlikely to unless it becomes widespread. The 14.4 software update started rolling out last week, bringing with it new emojis and bug fixes – though it may have introduced some more bugs of its own.

Can you fix it?

macOS Sonoma bug

Changing this setting seems to help some people (Image credit: Future)

The users afflicted by the USB hub problem are trying various troubleshooting measures. There doesn't seem to be a single solution that works for everyone, across different types of monitors and USB connections.

For some, completely powering down everything and then powering it back up again seems to work. Other people have reported that heading to the Privacy & Security page in macOS System Settings and changing the Allow accessories to connect option to Ask every time, then rebooting, fixes it.

Reading between the lines, there may be something awry with the way macOS 'sees' the USB hub and the devices connected to it as peripherals, but there are a lot of links along that chain – some users have found that simply switching to a different USB cable helps.

We'll have to wait and see if Apple issues a fix for those affected. Of course, if workaround solutions are already being discovered, it's more likely that any necessary bug fixes for the problem will get quietly rolled into the macOS Sonoma 14.5 update.

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This N64-powered VR setup is the complete opposite of an Apple Vison Pro

Techradar - Thu, 03/14/2024 - 08:10

Most tech creators are on a never-ending upgrade quest – always after higher frame rates, pixel counts and processing speeds, in a lighter, sleeker form factor – but a select few instead choose to look backwards. And that’s how we got a Nintendo 64-powered Oculus Rift setup that's pretty much the antithesis of the Apple Vision Pro

It's the latest project from James Lambert – previously known for the Portal 64 demake that aimed to bring the classic Valve game to Nintendo’s 1996 console – and in a video shared to his YouTube channel he detailed exactly how he managed to create this unlikely VR pairing.

The first step was picking the right VR headset. Lambert opted for the Oculus Rift DK1 because its tracking is “relatively simple” – there are only a few sensors in the headset – and they can all pass data through USB – which works great with Lambert's custom-built N64 USB adapter.

He was then able to easily output video from his modded N64 to the headset via an HDMI cable running between their HDMI ports. And while the DK1 has a very low 640 x 800 pixel resolution per eye, Lambert jokes that it’s “not the bottleneck here” while gesturing with the N64.

Another unavoidable issue is that while the Oculus Rift can read sensor data at a rate of about 1,000 samples per second, the N64 setup Lambert used can only read data at a rate of about 60 samples per second. But after calibrating everything as best as he could, Lambert was able to send semi-accurate tracking data from the headset to the aging console. 

Lambert goes into much more detail about how he got the setup to work despite these technical limitations in his 10-minute video, and it’s well worth a watch – but the TL;DR is that while the Rift can indeed run on an N64, the end result isn’t a VR experience you’d actually want to try for very long.

A technical feat we don't want to experience

The phenomenally low resolution – just 320 x 480 pixels per eye – gives the world a very pixelated look. This coupled with the input lag when turning your head and low frame rate makes the whole thing “pretty motion-sickness inducing” according to Lambert.

Another disappointment was that he was unable to complete the Nintendo experience by getting the Power Glove to function with the Rift-N64 setup – having previously managed to get the wearable NES controller to work on the N64 in a previous video. Lambert does seem keen to keep tinkering with his N64 VR setup, though so perhaps that's an upgrade we’ll see in a version 2.0.

As with other modded hardware projects, you unfortunately can’t go out and buy an N64 VR setup for yourself – unless you’re willing to put in a lot of time recreating Lambert’s mods. But even projects as eccentric as this are a technical marvel, and we’re excited to see what odd hardware will power a VR setup next – following in the footsteps of Doom, maybe we’ll see a lawnmower power a Valve Index, or another console will enter the mix with a PSP running a PlayStation VR headset.

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Microsoft is planning to make Copilot behave like a ‘normal’ app in Windows 11

Techradar - Thu, 03/14/2024 - 07:44

Windows 11 is set for a major change to the Copilot interface, or at least this is something that’s being tried out in testing.

With Windows 11’s preview build 26080 (in both Canary and Dev channels), Microsoft is adding a choice to free Copilot from the shackles that bind the AI assistant to the right-hand side of the screen.

Normally, the Copilot panel appears on the right, and you can’t do anything about that (although Microsoft has been experimenting with the ability to resize it, and other bits and bobs besides).

With this change, you can now undock Copilot, so the AI is in a normal app window, which can be moved wherever you want on the desktop, and resized appropriately. In other words, you’re getting a lot more versatility regarding where you want Copilot to appear.

Also in this preview build, more users are getting Copilot’s new abilities to alter Windows 11 settings. That functionality was already introduced to Canary testers, but is now rolling out to more of those folks, and Windows Insiders in the Dev channel too.

The extra capabilities include getting the AI assistant to empty the Recycle Bin, or turn on Live Captions, or Voice Access (there are a fair few new options on the accessibility front, in fact).

Analysis: Under the hood tinkering, too

Not all testers in the mentioned channels will see the ability to fully free Copilot and let the AI roam the desktop for a while yet, mind. Microsoft says it’s just starting the rollout – and it’ll only be for those in the Canary channel initially. A broader rollout will follow, with Microsoft asking for feedback as it goes, and adjusting things based on what it hears from Windows 11 testers, no doubt.

There are also some ‘under-the-hood improvements’ coming for Copilot as well, as mentioned in the blog post, but mysteriously, Microsoft doesn’t say what. We can only guess that this might be performance related, as that seems the most obvious way that tinkering in the background could improve things with Copilot. (Perhaps it’s to do with ensuring the smooth movement of the undocked panel for the AI, even).

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YouTube TV refreshed UI makes video watching more engaging for users

Techradar - Thu, 03/14/2024 - 00:00

YouTube is redesigning its smart TV app to increase interactivity between people and their favorite channels.

In a recent blog post, YouTube described how the updated UI shrinks the main video a bit to make room for an information column housing a video’s view counts, amount of likes it has, description, and comments. Yes, despite the internet’s advice, people do read the YouTube comments section. The current layout has the same column, but it obscures the right side of the screen. YouTube states in its announcement the redesign allows users to enjoy content “without interrupting [or ruining] the viewing experience.” 

Don’t worry about this becoming the new normal. TheVerge in their coverage states the full screen view will remain. It won’t be supplanted by the refresh or removed as the default setting. You can switch to the revamped interface at any time from within the video player screen. It’s totally up to the viewer how they want to curate their experience. 

Varying content

What you see on the UI’s column can differ depending on the type of content being watched. In the announcement, YouTube demonstrates how the layout works by playing a video about beauty products. Below the comments, viewers can check out the specific products mentioned in the clip and buy them directly.

Shopping on YouTube TV may appear seamless, however, TheVerge claims it’ll be a little awkward. Instead of buying items directly from a channel, you'll have to scan a QR code that shows up on the screen. From there, you will be taken to a web page where users will complete the transaction. We contacted YouTube to double-check, and a company representative confirmed that is how it’ll work.

Besides shopping, the far-right column will also display live scores and stats for sports games. It’ll be a part of the already existing “Views suite of features,” all of which can be found by triggering the correct on-screen filter.

The update will be released to all YouTube TV subscribers in the coming weeks. It won’t happen all at once so keep an eye out for the patch when it arrives.

Be sure to check out TechRadar's recommendations for the best TVs for 2024 if you're looking to upgrade.

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