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Facebook is collecting data about people who visit the websites of pregnancy crisis centers, according to a report from Reveal. The findings raise questions about how that data could be misused, and Meta’s ability to enforce its advertising rules.

In an investigation conducted with The Markup, Reveal found that hundreds of crisis pregnancy centers were using the Meta Pixel on their websites. The Meta Pixel allows companies to keep tabs on who visits their websites so they can create targeted ads on Facebook. As the report notes, so-called crisis pregnancy centers typically aren't licensed medical establishments and are not bound by HIPAA and other privacy regulations. Instead, they are "mostly run by religiously aligned organizations whose mission is to persuade people to choose an option other than abortion." 

Under Meta’s rules, the Meta Pixel is supposed to filter out “sensitive” health data, like much of what Reveal found was being collected. “In many cases, the information was extremely sensitive – for example, whether a person was considering abortion or looking to get a pregnancy test or emergency contraceptives,” Reveal reports. In some cases, the social network also received data about specific appointments that were requested. The report also found that third-party anti-abortion marketing companies were able to gain access to data collected by the Meta Pixel, even though their websites had not been visited.

In a statement provided to Reveal, Meta said that “It is against our policies for websites and apps to send sensitive information about people through our Business Tools,” referring to the Meta Pixel. “Our system is designed to filter out potentially sensitive data it detects, and we work to educate advertisers on how to properly set up our Business Tools.”

The issue of online platforms collecting data from people seeking abortion services has taken on a new urgency in recent weeks following a leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade. Privacy advocates have warned that the information could be used to prosecute people seeking abortions in areas where it's been outlawed. Lawmakers have also raised concerns about the issue, calling on Apple, Google and other platforms to bar apps that collect data targeting people seeking abortion services.

I've been haunted by Radical Dreamers since I was a nerdy, RPG-loving teenager. In 1996, I heard internet whispers about a pseudo-sequel to the SNES masterpiece Chrono Trigger, which remains my favorite game to this day. But Radical Dreamers wasn't your ordinary title: It was a text adventure released solely in Japan for Nintendo's Sattelaview, a satellite peripheral that let you download games to the SNES. Unfortunately, that device never made it to the US. And the game's director, Masato Kato, reportedly felt there wasn't enough demand to include it with the Nintendo DS re-release of Chrono Trigger.

So, for the past few decades, the only way to play a translated version of Radical Dreamers was through an unofficial ROM hack. For whatever reason — maybe it was the daily struggle to survive as an adult, or working like crazy to get into the prestigious world of tech reporting — I never got around to playing it. Now with the Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition, I finally have an easy way to catch up on both of Chrono Trigger's follow-ups.

It's somewhat fitting that Radical Dreamers finds me now, when I'm juggling family life with a toddler and a newborn. I haven't had much time to play any games since the birth of my son three months ago. But it turns out I can still make room for a text adventure title on the Switch – it's something I can play while my daughter is busy with her Lego creations, or while I pray for my son to stay asleep at night.

It also helps that Radical Dreamers is relatively simple. You play as Serge, a young thief working together with his rambunctious companion Kid and a mysterious cloaked mage named Magil. Like your typical text adventure, the game involves lots of reading, creating a mental map of your travels and making a few choices (like the direction you're moving, or deciding to attack or dodge in battle). Some gorgeous artwork helps to paint a picture of your journey, while Yasunori Mitsuda's music once again envelopes you in a unique atmosphere. (It was a surprise to find that some of Chrono Cross's sweeping melodies first appeared in this simple text-only title.)

While it's far from Chrono Trigger's epic time-hopping journey, I found myself instantly vibing with Radical Dreamers. It feels more like reading an adventurer's journal than playing an actual game, but I ended up caring for these characters quite a bit. In many ways, it was the escape I needed from dealing with a colicky infant all day.

Playing Radical Dreamers also made me excited to give Chrono Cross another chance. That’s a game I was eager to play when it was originally released in 2000, but I never quite clicked with it because it was so dramatically different from my beloved Chrono Trigger.

Over the past few decades though, as I’ve fruitlessly attempted to recreate the highs of that RPG experience (Xenogears came close), I’ve come to terms with the fact that it’s impossible. After seeing so many projects try and fail to tap into our nostalgia for the past, doing so just seems like a fool’s errand. You’ll never be able to recreate your childhood experiences. But sometimes you’ll find something that evokes a feeling you once had, like an echo through time.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has released its first batch of data for semi-autonomous driving technology. As The New York Timesexplains, the agency linked 392 crashes to self-driving and driver assistance systems in the 10 months between July 1st, 2021 and May 15th, 2022. About 70 percent of those, 273, were Tesla vehicles using Autopilot or the Full Self-Driving beta. Honda cars were tied to 90 incidents, while Subaru models were involved in 10. Other makes, including Ford, GM, VW and Toyota, had five incidents or less.

Out of the 98 crashes with injury reports, 11 resulted in serious injuries. Five of the Tesla incidents were fatal. The 130 total crashes for self-driving systems included 108 with other cars and 11 with "vulnerable" road users like cyclists and pedestrians.

The findings are a response to a Standing General Order requiring that car manufacturers and operators report crashes to the NHTSA when Level 2 or higher autonomy is active at the time of the incident. The transportation agency hopes the info will support a "more data-driven approach" to safely rolling out self-driving tech, including regulation and education.

As administration head Steven Cliff told the press, the data doesn't offer any conclusions by itself. There are roughly 830,000 Autopilot-equipped Tesla vehicles in the US, for instance — they may dominate incident reports simply because they're some of the most common semi-autonomous cars. Ford, GM and others have equivalents, but they're frequently optional (Autopilot is standard on Teslas) and simply rarer on the road.

The statistics nonetheless draw attention to multiple investigations into crashes like these, including from the National Transportation Safety Board. One Tesla driver in California is also facing felony charges from state prosecutors over a deadly 2019 incident. While companies like Tesla have long argued that their driver assists are safer than exclusively human control, the NHTSA, NTSB and other bodies clearly want a better understanding of real-world safety issues before they embrace autonomous driving in earnest.

Sony has confirmed a Gran Turismo movie is in the works and it's slated to arrive sooner than many folks may have expected. Its Columbia Pictures imprint will release the film on August 11th, 2023. District 9's Neill Blomkamp, who is far from a stranger to the world of video games, is directing. American Sniper scribe Jason Hall wrote the screenplay.

The movie is based on a true story, as Deadline reports. It will tell the tale of a Gran Turismo player who gets a shot at becoming a professional racecar driver. For several years, players had a path to real-life motorsport through the GT Academy.

This is the latest example of Sony adapting its gaming franchises for the big and small screen. That's become a bigger priority for the company over the last few years under its PlayStation Productions banner.

Shows based on The Last of Us and Twisted Metal have been in the works for a while, and Sony recently revealed Horizon and God of War adaptations are coming to Netflix and Amazon Prime Video respectively. The company at long last released the Uncharted movie earlier this year, while a Ghost of Tsushima movie is in the pipeline. Sony also mentioned that a Gran Turismo TV show is in development, but it's unclear whether that's still going ahead after the movie announcement.

Void Riders, OlliOlli World’s first story expansion, is now available to download on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and PC. The DLC adds new levels for players to explore complete with UFOs that will use their tractor beams to help you defy gravity and take your tricks to new heights. The expansion also adds new emotes, tricks and outfits, including a cow onesie, you can use to further customize your character.

Void Riders costs $10 on its own. It’s also included in the “Rad Edition” of the game and as part of the $15 Expansion Pass, which will also grant you access to the other DLC developer Roll7 plans to release later this year. If you haven’t picked up OlliOlli World yet, consider doing so. It’s one of Engadget’s favorite games of the year, thanks to its easy-to-learn but difficult-to-master gameplay and charming art style.

PuffCo has continually improved upon the form and function of its heating element since the Peak made its debut at CES 2018. In 2020 it showed off a more reliable and precise heater with the over-accessorized Peak Pro. In 2022, PuffCo has once again refined its vaporizing system — further shrinking the heating element and doing away with the water chamber entirely — into a one-handed vape experience, the Proxy.

Engadget -- Andrew Tarantola

The Proxy takes much of the same crucible tech found in the Peak Pro — such as side walls that heat instead of the floor to prevent the hash from boiling off until you actually draw — and makes it small enough to fit into the formfactor of a pipe. In fact, the idea behind the Proxy came about because Peak users kept using their devices dry (without water in the chamber) to taste more of the terpenes.

It measures about five inches long and just under four inches from the base to carb cap, not much larger or heavier than a conventional tobacco pipe. It feels more comfortable in hand than the Firefly 2 or the Storz & Bickel Mighty, the latter of which is hefty enough to double as a self-defense brick when the need arises. Smashy, smashy.

Engadget -- Andrew Tarantola

The vape is composed of three modular parts: the glass pipe section, a base unit and the replaceable chamber inside of that. The chamber twists and clicks into the base, and the base slides into the pipe body. Easy peasy.

Cleaning is also a breeze, as everything is swabbable if not fully submersible in 90-percent isopropyl. That’s a relief because good lord this thing spills hot hash like a hung over short order cook working the deep frier on Sunday morning. Within four sessions, I’ve got congealed ABX Live Resin pooling around the underside of the chamber, dribbling out of the base’s airflow path and encrusted around the inner lip of the pipe body. That said, cleaning up from what you see below took about three fluid ounces of iso, a paper towel and five minutes of my time (three of those dedicated to letting the parts soak). It’s a lot easier to swab clean than the blown-glass dab monstrosities popular in the previous decade.

Engadget -- Andrew Tarantola

The fact that the Proxy tends to dribble all over itself isn't so much a matter of its various pieces not fitting together snugly (they do!) but rather a limitation inherent to the material it vaporizes. CO2 oil by its nature tends to be an ooey-gooey mess, which is a big part of why I stopped messing around with oils in the first place — there’s just so much more cleanup and maintenance required than with flower or edibles. At least with this, I don’t have to worry about accidentally knocking it over and spilling bong water across the rug.

Messiness aside, the Proxy is dead simple to use. Once the base has been charged using the included USB to USB-C cable, which takes about 30 minutes on average, simply spoon a little hash into the chamber, hold the only button on the device for three seconds to unlock it (so it doesn't accidentally activate in your bag or pocket), single tap to select between the unit’s four increasing temperature settings (colored in order blue, green, red and white), and then double click to get it heating. 

Like the Peak and Peak Pro, the Proxy will rumble when it reaches the selected temperature and will stay hot for around four drags before automatically turning off the heat. You can extend the session by double tapping the control button up to four times and I got around a half dozen, four-puff sessions on Green heat level before having to recharge. Triple clicking gives you an estimate of the remaining battery life, with Green, Orange and Red denoting the three levels.

Engadget - Andrew Tarantola

And, like the Peak, the Proxy communicates through a series of colored patterns emitted by the LED ringing the chamber: a slow pulse means it's heating up, three red flashes means the battery is spent and a solid red ring means you let the unit get too hot and it won’t respond until it’s had time to sufficiently cool off. But unlike the Peak, the Proxy isn’t encumbered by a companion smartphone app so you’ll never have to worry about keeping the thing updated or having your personal data leak.

Given my own cannabis habits which centers mostly on middling strength 510 cartridges — all the hash, less of the mess! — and chomping on Breez tablets, I don’t see the Proxy becoming a daily driver — with an MSRP of $300, it had damn well better. But for those days when I want a more tactile experience and to be so high I’m looking down on stars, the Proxy will be first out of my magic funtime drawer.

Mobility startup Lime has begun rolling out a new swappable battery to its fleet of electric bikes and scooters. According to the company, the component is a significant upgrade over the one it uses currently. The nearly 1 kWh battery features twice the capacity of Lime’s previous .46 kWh design. Best of all, the battery is compatible with the company’s existing Gen4 and Citra e-bikes and scooters, allowing Lime to enhance the capabilities of those vehicles without replacing them.

Lime says it plans to deploy the battery in a handful of cities this summer, including Paris and Long Beach, before rolling it out more widely. A higher capacity power source brings with it a few advantages. The most obvious of all is that Lime’s vehicles can travel further. In turn, that allows the company to save on operating costs since its charging vans no longer need to make as many trips to support its fleet.

The timing of the upgrade comes at a critical time for Lime and other micromobility providers. After a decline in ridership at the beginning of the pandemic, the company saw people increasingly turn to its service for their transportation needs. With gas prices in the US and other parts of the world approaching historic highs, more and more people are looking for affordable and safe ways to get where they need to go.

Politicians are determined to put a stop to brokers who compromise privacy by selling your data. Motherboard has learned Elizabeth Warren and other senators are introducing a bill, the Health and Location Data Protection Act, that would ban brokers from selling or transferring a person's medical and positional info outside of limited circumstances. The main exceptions would include HIPAA-compliant activities (such as sharing patient records between facilities) and First Amendment-protected speech.

The legislation would also give the Federal Trade Commission $1 billion over the next decade to help fund enforcement. The FTC, state attorneys general and individuals would also have the power to sue and seek injunctions. Bill cosponsors include longtime data privacy advocate Ron Wyden as well as Bernie Sanders, finance committee chair Patty Murray and HELP committee chair Sheldon Whitehouse.

The act comes in response to numerous instances where companies and government bodies violated privacy by purchasing data through brokers. Bounty hunters bought location data from carriers, for instance, while Google banned a company last year for allegedly selling Android location data indiscriminately. Critics have also accused agencies like ICE and the Secret Service of buying location info through brokers to get data that would normally require a warrant. At the same time, lawmakers are worried about access to abortion seekers' data when the Supreme Court is expected to overturn Roe vs. Wade. This measure could limit anti-abortion politicians and activists hoping to target patients.

Protection bills like this aren't new. Wyden's stalled Fourth Amendment is Not for Sale Act would require agencies to obtain warrants for location data. This would represent one of the most sweeping data controls yet if it became law, however, and reflects mounting opposition to companies that profit from trading sensitive content.

Elon Musk has filed an appeal against a judge's decision not to let him out of an agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which requires him to have lawyers review some of his tweets. A district court judge ruled that the Tesla and SpaceX CEO's consent decree with the SEC should stand. Now, Musk is hoping the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan will overturn that decision, as Reuters reports.

Musk's pact with the SEC stems from an infamous 2018 incident in which he tweeted that he had "funding secured" to make Tesla a private company, though that allegedly wasn't the case. The SEC laid securities fraud charges against Musk, who has not deleted the tweet in question nearly four years later.

He quickly settled the case by agreeing to step down as Tesla chairman (but remain as CEO), while he and the company each paid civil fines of $20 million. On top of that, Musk agreed to let a lawyer vet tweets that might include material information about Tesla. He later claimed he was "forced" into the settlement, but attempts to get out of the tweet-screening arrangement have proven unsuccessful.

"Musk cannot now seek to retract the agreement he knowingly and willingly entered by simply bemoaning that he felt like he had to agree to it at the time but now — once the specter of the litigation is a distant memory and his company has become, in his estimation, all but invincible — wishes that he had not," US District Judge Lewis Liman wrote in April.

Musk is in the process of buying Twitter for $44 billion, despite threatening to back out. The deal is expected to close this year, pending approval by regulators and Twitter shareholders. As things stand, Musk is on the precipice of buying a social media platform on which he cannot speak entirely freely. That's despite Musk telling the SEC itself that his purchase of Twitter would be a boon for free speech.

Meanwhile, Musk is being sued by Tesla investors over the same incident. The shareholders have accused Musk of making false and misleading statements that caused stock prices to rise, leading to billions of dollars in damages. Musk maintains he did have funding in place, though a judge ruled in May that "there was nothing concrete" about his claims. Musk has also been sued by an investor for allegedly not sticking to the terms of the SEC deal.

YouTube has hinted that Shorts are doing well, but it's now clear just what that means. As TechCrunchreports, YouTube has revealed that Shorts now has over 1.5 billion active, signed-in monthly users. For context, arch-nemesis TikTok had racked up 1 billion monthly users as of September 2021 despite being around for considerably longer (and serving as an inspiration for Shorts' very existence).

The short-form format also appears to have helped YouTube's more conventional videos. The Google brand said that channels posting both Shorts and longer videos were enjoying improved subscriber growth and watch time than creators only uploading lengthy clips. YouTube saw this as reflecting the "reality of today's viewer" — that is, a tendency to watch varying content at different times and places. You might watch a Short during your commute, but a lengthier video during your lunch break.

The statistic is clearly meant to position Shorts as serious competition for TikTok and Instagram Stories. It could also attract creators who weren't convinced Shorts could help them make money. However, the announcement also dances around the increasing overlap between products. Instagram already had the option of watching longer videos, while TikTok recently extended its maximum length to 10 minutes. YouTube's varying video sizes aren't unique.

With that said, YouTube's pitch for the monthly user figure also indicates different priorities. It sees Shorts as a way to boost creators' long-form work, while Instagram and TikTok treat long-duration videos as options for social media stars who normally focus on smaller content. YouTube's not necessarily determined to outperform challengers in every metric — it just needs to show that Shorts are popular enough to help channels grow.