ArduinoMania

Those on the lookout for a good deal on a new TV could do worse than to consider Samsung's The Frame lineup. The latest versions of the smart TVs are currently on sale. The 50-inch model has dropped by $400 to $898 at Amazon and Walmart. That marks a record-low price for this size.

When you aren't watching a show or movie, a Frame TV displays artwork, making it look like a hanging picture instead of an ominous black mirror. It's likely to be a classy upgrade from an older TV you've been hanging onto, and one that's a neat party trick when unassuming guests see it switch into TV mode for the first time.

You can display your own collection of images and photos on the TV. In addition, you'll have the option to subscribe to Samsung's Art Store and access more than 1,400 artworks from emerging and well-known artists alike.

The latest models have an anti-reflective matte finish to add to the illusion, while the bezel is customizable and magnetic, so you can swap it out whenever you like. Samsung also attempted to reduce cable clutter by having a single tin wire that connects to an external receiver into which you might plug game consoles and/or a cable box.

Let's not forget that The Frame is a QLED 4K TV too. Samsung says it delivers 100 percent color volume and vivid images. The display has a 60Hz refresh rate and it supports Google Assistant and Alexa. It runs a variety of apps, including the likes of Apple TV+, Samsung TV Plus, Netflix, YouTube, Prime Video, Disney+, Hulu, Xbox, NVIDIA GeForce Now, ESPN and Max — in other words, all the major streaming services and some cloud gaming options.

The Frame is available in a variety of formats, from 32 inches to a whopping 85 inches, so you're bound to find a size that fits your needs. Meanwhile, Walmart is running a broader flash sale on Samsung TVs, so if you're perhaps looking for an option with a higher refresh rate, you might be able to snap one up for a discount.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

It's no secret that Apple is slowly transitioning away from the Lightning connector and embracing USB-C after the European Union forced its hand. While many accessories, the iPad and even the iPhone now use USB-C, the AirPods Max are still mired in Lightning land. However, engineer Ken Pillonel (who previously brought USB-C to the iPhone and AirPods before Apple did) has created a USB-C connector for the headphones.

Pillonel found that it was easy to knock out the Lightning connector AND leave a perfectly sized hole for a USB-C cable. Then, he designed a custom circuit board and found the right connector to make everything work. Pillonel managed to charge the AirPods Max via USB-C on the first try.

Unfortunately, wired USB-C audio isn't feasible through this mod. Pillonel notes that doing so would require a chip from Apple's own adaptor, which costs $35. At that point, you may as well just buy a USB-C headset. So, this mod is only really worthwhile if you really want to charge your AirPods Max via USB-C, meaning there's less of a reason to carry around a Lightning cable.

The AirPods Max are three years old and they're probably due for an upgrade. Any future model is likely to have a USB-C connector to comply with EU regulations. However, if you're willing to tinker with your existing headphones (or perhaps even replace a busted Lightning connector), you can download the circuit design and buy all the other parts you need. Everything's listed in the description of Pillonel's YouTube video and directions are on his website. Alternatively, you can buy a kit directly from Pillonel's store.

It's been a bleak year so far for the gaming industry, between mass layoffs, projects getting canceled and studios shutting down. There are some specks of light in the darkness, though, thanks to a few surprise hits like Palworld and Helldivers 2, while there are still some studios opening up. One of those is BulletFarm, a nascent NetEase studio led by a former Call of Duty multiplayer designer.

Studio head David Vonderhaar will draw from his experience of working on the Call of Duty: Black Ops series for his latest project, a co-op game set in an original universe. The studio is aiming to offer "a fresh take on first-person gameplay." Vonderhaar describes the project as a "departure from the games I’ve worked on, but one that showcases my passion for rich characters, precise mechanics, more intimate storytelling and plenty of action."

BulletFarm is currently hiring workers for the project and, although it's headquartered in Los Angeles, it's a remote-first studio. That could make BulletFarm an enticing prospect for game developers who have lost their jobs over the last several months and may not be able to move to Southern California.

The game industry is said to have cut more than 16,000 jobs since the beginning of 2023, so there are a lot of talented people looking for work. One new studio isn't going to fix that massive labor problem, but it's a step in a positive direction.

LG unveiled its 2024 OLED evo TVs in January at CES 2024 promising extra brightness and other features, and we're now learning the prices for its best models. They'll start at $1,500 for the mid-range C4 models and go up to an impressive $25,000 for the 97-inch G4 flagship. 

First, here's what you're getting. The big theme this year was AI and the company's latest Alpha 11 processor is supposed to boost graphics performance by 70 percent, but it'll only be found in the high-end G4 series. The C4 models, meanwhile, will get the updated Alpha 9 Gen 7 chip. Both promise improved brightness (150 percent for the G4 compared to the G3), along with more AI features like upscaling.

Both chips, when paired with compatible LG soundbars, will be able to transmit wireless, lossless Dolby Atmos audio, letting consumers get high-quality surround sound with less hassle. 

Brightness levels on the new models are hitting nearly 1,000 nits — still not as bright as Mini LED TVs but far better than past OLED models. In addition, both the C4 and G4 and now support 144Hz refresh rates (with both G-Sync and AMD Freesync compatibility), so they'll be better options for PC gamers. 

Now that you know the lineups better, here are the models and prices. The G4 series comes in five sizes, 55, 65, 77, 83 and 97 inches priced at $2,600, $3,400, $4,600, $6,500 and $25,000. The C4 models, meanwhile, are offered in six sizes :42, 48, 55, 65, 77 and 83 inches priced at $1,500, $1,600, $2,000, $2,700, $3,700 and $5,400 respectively. 

They're certainly not the cheapest OLED TVs out there, but the extra brightness, along with other OLED benefits like inky blacks, will no doubt tempt the right buyers. The new models will ship in late March, and as a sweetener, LG is throwing in some goodies for any pre-orders made prior to March 17: a free LG Smart Cam, 5 percent back in membership rewards and free wall mounting or TV stand setup. 

After roughly a decade, multiple leadership changes and a regular spot in Apple rumor reports, the Apple Car project, internally known as Project Titan, could well be dead. A new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says Apple has officially canceled the car, breaking the news to nearly 2,000 employees working on it.

Apple will reportedly move “many employees working on the car” to the company’s artificial intelligence division where they will focus on generative AI projects, which Apple is expected to share more about later this year.

Leaks over the years revealed the company’s ambitions to expand into a brand-new product category. At the beginning of the project in 2014, Apple wanted to build a fully self-driving car without pedals or a steering wheel, with a remote command center ready to take over for a driver. More recently, Apple pared down its ambitions, with the most recent reports suggesting Apple’s car would be a more standard electric vehicle.

Now, we may never know. Would you have bought an Apple car?

— Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

Which iPhone should you buy?

Amazon accused of using AI to ‘replicate the voices’ of actors in Road House remake

PlayStation is laying off 900 staff across Naughty Dog, Insomniac and other studios

​​You can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!

Pokémon Legends: Z-A for Switch returns the series to Lumiose City

It could be the first Pokémon game for Nintendo’s next console.

The Pokemon Company

The Pokémon Company revealed the franchise’s latest Legends entry on Tuesday. Pokémon Legends: Z-A returns the series to Lumiose City, last seen as a region in Pokémon X and Y on the Nintendo 3DS. The Pokémon Legends: Z-A trailer — an extended teaser — doesn’t show any gameplay footage, and its shots of Lumiose City use wireframe models to tease a city in mid-development, according to the announcement.

Continue reading.

TikTok is muting more songs following its Universal Music royalties fight

Millions more tracks are likely to vanish.

TikTok is being forced to take down more music from its platform. Universal Music Group (UMG) recently yanked recordings it owns or distributes from TikTok, including tracks from superstars like Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and The Weeknd. The standoff is now impacting songs published by UMG, with millions more tracks to be muted on TikTok by the end of this week. Due to an issue called split copyrights, if a Universal Music Publishing Group-contracted writer has contributed to a song, that track may have to be removed from TikTok. So artists who have collaborated with Taylor Swift, Adele, Justin Bieber, Mariah Carey, Ice Spice, Elton John, Harry Styles and SZA may see their songs disappear from TikTok too.

Continue reading.

Google is reportedly paying publishers to use its AI to write news stories

What could go wrong?

Google has quietly struck deals with publishers to use new generative AI tools to publish stories. The deals, reportedly worth tens of thousands of dollars a year, are apparently part of the Google News Initiative (GNI), a six-year-old program that funds media literacy projects, fact-checking tools and other resources for newsrooms. Adweek says publishers can use the beta tools to create aggregated content more efficiently, indexing recently published reports generated by other organizations, like government agencies and neighboring news outlets, then summarizing and publishing them as a new article.

Publishers in the program are apparently not required to disclose their use of AI nor are the aggregated websites informed that their content is used to create AI-written stories on other sites. Publications like CNET and Sports Illustrated have been widely criticized for attempting to pass off AI-authored articles as written by human staffers.

Continue reading.

Nothing's drip feed of specs and line drawings gets us to this point. At MWC 2024, the company finally revealed its next phone in the flesh during its MWC soiree. Sadly, it was in a glass box — which seems to be the not-great trend of this year's Mobile World Congress. 

But, for a phone seemingly pitched as its cheapest device yet, it looks good. Cool, even. The Nothing design DNA is fully there, with an admittedly scaled-back version of its light-up Glyphs on the rear. The phone will seemingly mark the return of a centralized camera unit, gasp! What's next, a headphone socket?

Nothing

Journalists attending the event managed to capture every angle of the new phone, rumored to ring in cheaper than the Nothing Phone 2, which launched priced at a reasonable $599. (The original Phone 1 cost $299 in the US under a "Beta Membership" program.) Earlier rumors peg the European price around €400 ($430), with savings from using a cheaper MediaTek processor.

Courtesy of Tom's Guide, a perceptible bezel around the display is possibly the biggest sign of a cheaper Nothing device. Still, without handling the Phone 2(a) in person, we'll reserve judgment. The phone goes on sale March 5. 

Catch up on all of the news from MWC 2024 right here!

President Joe Biden has signed an executive order that aims to limit the mass-sale of Americans’ personal data to “countries of concern,” including Russia and China. The order specifically targets the bulk sale of geolocation, genomic, financial, biometric, health and other personally identifying information.

During a briefing with reporters, a senior administration official said that the sale of such data to these countries poses a national security risk. “Our current policies and laws leave open access to vast amounts of American sensitive personal data,” the official said. “Buying data through data brokers is currently legal in the United States, and that reflects a gap in our national security toolkit that we are working to fill with this program.”

Researchers and privacy advocates have long warned about the national security risks posed by the largely unregulated multibillion-dollar data broker industry. Last fall, researchers at Duke University reported that they were able to easily buy troves of personal and health data about US military personnel while posing as foreign agents.

Biden’s executive order attempts to address such scenarios. It bars data brokers and other companies from selling large troves of Americans’ personal information to countries or entities in Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela either directly or indirectly. There are likely to be additional restrictions on companies’ ability to sell data as part of cloud service contracts, investment agreements and employment agreements.

Though the White House described the step as “the most significant executive action any President has ever taken to protect Americans’ data security,” it’s unclear how exactly enforcement of the new policies will be handled within the Justice Department. A DoJ official said the executive order would require due diligence from data brokers to vet who they are dealing with, similar to the way companies are expected to adhere to US sanctions.

As the White House points out, there are currently few regulations for the multibillion-dollar data broker industry. The order will do nothing to slow the bulk sale of Americans’ data to countries or companies not deemed to be a security risk. “President Biden continues to urge Congress to do its part and pass comprehensive bipartisan privacy legislation, especially to protect the safety of our children,” a White House statement says.

Nintendo has filed a lawsuit against the creators of a popular Switch emulator called Yuzu, which gives users a way to play games developed for the platform on their PCs and Android devices. In the lawsuit shared by Game File's Stephen Totilo, the company argued that Yuzu violates the anti-circumvention and anti-trafficking provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). 

Nintendo explained that it protects its games with encryption and other security features meant to prevent people from playing pirated copies. Yuzu has the capability to defeat those security measures and to decrypt Nintendo games. "[W]ithout Yuzu's decryption of Nintendo's encryption, unauthorized copies of games could not be played on PCs or Android devices," the company wrote in its complaint. 

It's illegal to "circumvent technological measures put into place by copyright owners to protect against unlawful access to and copying of copyrighted works" under the DMCA, Nintendo continued. And distributing "software primarily designed to circumvent technological measures" also constitutes unlawful trafficking. The defendants are, thus, "facilitating piracy at a colossal scale," the lawsuit argued. This case could set a precedent for future lawsuits against emulators, which aren't illegal in and of them themselves. As Ars Technica notes, Nintendo's arguments are calling their very nature unlawful. 

To illustrate how much Yuzu has affected its business, Nintendo revealed in its complaint that The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was illegally distributed a week and a half before its official release. It was apparently downloaded over a million times from pirated websites, which specifically noted that people can play the game file through Yuzu. The company also mentioned that Yuzu's creators are making money from their emulator. They're getting around $30,000 a month from their Patreon supporters and have earned around $50,000 from the paid version of their software on Google Play, so far. 

Nintendo is asking the court to stop Yuzu's creators from promoting and distributing the software. It's also asking for an unspecified amount in "equitable relief and damages."

Amazon is being sued by the writer of the original 1989 Patrick Swayze version of the film Road House over alleged copyright infringement in the movie's remake, The Los Angeles Times has reported. Screenwriter R. Lance Hill accuses Amazon and MGM Studios of using AI to clone actors' voices in the new production in order to finish it before the copyright expired. 

Hill said he filed a petition with the US Copyright Office in November 2021 to reclaim the rights to his original screenplay, which forms the basis of the new film. At that point, the rights were owned by Amazon Studios, as part of its acquisition of MGM, but were set to expire in November 2023. Hill alleges that once that happened, the rights would revert back to him. 

According to the lawsuit, Amazon Studios rushed ahead with the project anyway in order to finish it before the copyright deadline. Since it was stymied by the actor's strike, Hill alleges Amazon used AI to “replicate the voices” of the actors who worked in the 2024 remake. Such use violated the terms of the deal struck between the union and major studios including Amazon. 

The claim is complicated by the fact that Hill signed a "work-made-for-hire" deal with the original producer, United Artists. That effectively means that the studio hiring the writer would be both the owner and copyright holder of the work. Hill, however, dismissed that as "boilerplate" typically used in contracts. 

The lawsuit seeks to block the release of the film, set to bow at SXSW on March 8th before (controversially) heading direct to streaming on Prime Video on March 21. 

Amazon denies the claims, with a spokesperson telling The Verge that "the studio expressly instructed the filmmakers to NOT use AI in this movie." It added that if AI was utilized, it was only done in early versions of the films. Later on, filmmakers were told to remove any "AI or non-SAG AFTRA actors" for the final version. It added that other allegations are "categorically false" and that it believes its copyright on the original Road House has yet to expire. 

• Read more about DigiKey Launches Season 3 of its “Farm Different” Video Series
• Log in or register to post comments