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Spotify has added a new feature for Premium subscribers meant for bookworms. Starting on October 4, subscribers in the UK and Australia will get access to a selection of more than 150,000 audiobooks without having to pay extra. US subscribers will also be able to enjoy the new perk sometime later this year. While they're getting access to a wide range of books and can choose to listen to as many as they want, the offering comes with a catch: Subscribers will only get 15 hours of free audiobook listening every month. The streaming giant told us that users can top up their listening hours to the tune of $11 for another 10 hours after the allocation.

That makes Spotify's service a lot more expensive than Audible's, which costs $8 a month and has no listening limit. The company first made audiobooks available on its platform back in September last year. It launched with 300,000 titles in its library, and users could purchase any of them from within the service. Spotify could have added audiobooks to Premium subscriptions as a way to get users hooked to consuming different types of media in one place. It's just a question of whether users would be willing to pay $11 for every 10 hours of listening after the first 15. That may sound lengthy to some, but for voracious readers (or audiobook listeners), that's nowhere near enough.

"We believe that offering personalized music, podcasts, and audiobooks on a single platform gives you a superior way to connect with your favorite artists, podcasters, creators, and authors — all in one spot," Spotify explained in its announcement.

That said, users can still purchase any title they want from Spotify's audiobook library, so there's no need to pay for additional hours if they have specific books in mind. The feature also comes with auto-bookmarking, preventing users from having to repeat pages and lose precious minutes of listening. Plus, if they activate Spotify Sleep Timer, they can fall asleep while listening to their books without having to rewind when they wake up. It's also worth noting that subscribers can download audiobooks for offline listening. 

At the moment, the new perk is only available for individual Premium subscribers and to plan managers of Family or Duo accounts, but Spotify says it plans to expand its availability in the future. 

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I never really understood Samsung’s fan edition branding, and after not making an FE version of the S22 last year, I thought that designation might have been killed off for good. But now in 2023, Samsung is bringing the FE tag back with a bit of a twist. Instead of standing for “fan edition,” the moniker will simply be used to denote devices that share some features and design traits with the company’s flagship devices but with lower prices. Additionally, on Tuesday Samsung expanded the line, announcing four new FE models including the Galaxy S23 FE, Galaxy Tab S9 FE, Galaxy Tab S9 FE+ and the Galaxy Buds FE.

The S23 FE may be the most straightforward of them all. It features an almost identical design to the regular model, but with a 120Hz 6.4-inch OLED display that fits between the standard S23 (6.1 inches) and the S23+ (6.6) in size. Around back, you still get three rear cameras including a 50-MP main sensor, a 12-MP ultra-wide and a slightly lower-res 8-MP telephoto with a 3x optical zoom. Notably, unlike Samsung’s A-series phones, the S23 FE still features a glass design with metal sides, the difference is that the FE uses Gorilla Glass 5 instead of Gorilla Glass Victus like on the standard S23. However, there is a refreshed range of colors including mint, purple, cream and graphite in addition to a couple of exclusive hues on Samsung.com.

Inside, the other major difference is that the S23 features an older Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip (instead of a Gen 2 processor). So even though that silicon is still relatively speedy, you’re not getting full flagship performance. Battery capacity has also increased slightly to 4,500 mAh. But aside from that, the specs are pretty similar. You can choose from either 128GB or 256GB of storage, with the phone also offering features like an in-screen fingerprint reader and an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance.

Next, we have the Galaxy Tab S9 FE and S9 FE+, which sport nearly identical specs aside from the latter having an extra camera, a larger battery and a bigger display (10.9 inches vs. 12.3 inches). The biggest departure from the regular Tab S9 is that the FE models feature LCD displays instead of OLED panels. At first, that was a bit of concern as Samsung’s OLED screens are some of the best in the business and have become a signature feature on its mobile devices. But after seeing them in person, even with a slightly lower max refresh rate (90Hz vs. 120Hz), I’m not that worried. The Tab S9 FE’s displays are bright, colorful and even support the company’s Vision Booster tech for increased viewability outdoors.

Photo by Sam Rutheford/Engadget

Similar to the S23 FE, the Tab S9 features less powerful silicon (an Exynos 1380 chip) instead of a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. But even so, Samsung says the Tab S9 FE delivers 38 percent better CPU performance and 73 percent faster GPU performance when compared to the Tab S7 FE from 2021. Granted, comparing the new one to a two-year-old model may not be super convincing, but if you’ll recall, there was no Tab S8 FE. But the thing I really appreciate is that Samsung hasn’t messed with the tablet’s general design. It still features a super sleek aluminum chassis and a bundled S-Pen, just like you get on the normal model.

Finally, there’s the Galaxy Buds FE which are essentially a cheaper version of the standard Galaxy Buds 2 but without wireless charging. The case is identical right down to the USB-C port in back, the only change is on the sides of the buds themselves. Compared to their more expensive counterpart, the Galaxy Buds FE feature a flatter touch panel which Samsung says was altered due to customer feedback that a curvier design makes tap gestures harder to perform.

The buds still come with both active noise cancellation and support for passthrough ambient sound, though interestingly their expected battery is a touch longer at around six hours with ANC on or nine hours with it off. The two new additions are the ability to locate the buds using SmartThings Find and Easy Pair/Auto Switch which makes it faster and easier to control audio when connected to multiple devices.

Of course missing out on some performance or a few features might be worth it in order to get more affordable devices, which is sort of what the FE line is all about. For the type of people who don’t care about wireless charging, at $100 the Galaxy Buds FE could be a great alternative to the $150 Galaxy Buds 2. It’s a similar situation for the Tab S9 FE line which isn’t quite as fast but starts at $450 compared to $800 for the regular model. And then there’s the S23 FE, which $600 presents a $200 savings over the standard S23 despite featuring a larger display and battery. So if you’re OK with devices that aren’t quite as fancy, but come with a more palatable price, the new Galaxy FE family could be worthy alternatives.

The Galaxy Tab S9 FE/FE+ and Galaxy Buds FE will be available on October 10, followed by the Galaxy S23 FE on October 26.

A traditional watermark is a visible logo or pattern that can appear on anything from the cash in your wallet to a postage stamp, all in the name of discouraging counterfeiting. You might have seen a watermark in the preview to your graduation photos, for example. But in the case of artificial intelligence, it takes a slight twist, as most things in the space usually do.

In the context of AI, watermarking can allow a computer to detect if text or an image is generated from artificial intelligence. But why watermark images to begin with? Generative art creates a prime breeding ground for the creation of deep fakes and other misinformation. So despite being invisible to the naked eye, watermarks can combat the misuse of AI-generated content and can even be integrated into machine-learning programs developed by tech giants like Google. Other major players in the space, everyone from OpenAI to Meta and Amazon, have pledged to develop watermarking technology to combat misinformation.

That’s why computer science researchers at the University of Maryland (UMD) took it upon themselves to examine and understand how easy it is for bad actors to add or remove watermarks. Soheil Feizi, a professor at UMD told Wired that his team’s findings confirm his skepticism that there aren’t any reliable watermarking applications at this point. The researchers were able to easily evade the current methods of watermarking during testing and found it even easier to add fake emblems to images that weren’t generated by AI. But beyond testing how easy it is to evade watermarks, one UMD team notably developed a watermark that is near impossible to remove from content without completely compromising the intellectual property. This application makes it possible to detect when products are stolen.

Google

In a similar collaborative research effort between the University of California, Santa Barbara and Carnegie Mellon University, researchers found that through simulated attacks, watermarks were easily removable. The paper discerns that there are two distinct methods for eliminating watermarks through these attacks: destructive and constructive approaches. When it comes to destructive attacks, the bad actors can treat watermarks like it's a part of the image. Tweaking things like the brightness, contrast or using JPEG compression, or even simply rotating an image can remove a watermark. However, the catch here is that while these methods do get rid of the watermark, they also mess with the image quality, making it noticeably worse. In a constructive attack, watermark removal is a bit more sensitive and uses techniques like the good old Gaussian blur.

Although watermarking AI-generated content needs to improve before it can successfully navigate simulated tests similar to those featured in these research studies, it's easy to envision a scenario where digital watermarking becomes a competitive race against hackers. Until a new standard is developed, we can only hope for the best when it comes to new tools like Google’s SynthID, an identification tool for generative art, which will continue to get workshopped by developers until it hits the mainstream.

But the timing for innovation by thought leaders could not be better. With the 2024 presidential election in the United States poised to take center stage soon, AI-generated content could play a huge role in swaying political opinion with things like deep fake ads. The Biden administration has even made note of the issue, citing that there are reasonable concerns for how artificial intelligence can be used for disruptive purposes, particularly in the realm of misinformation.

Even though it seems the worst of COVID has passed, October generally kicks off cold and flu season, so why not continue to pass out Halloween treats in a socially-distanced fashion?

That is, of course the idea behind [Gord Payne]’s Halloween Treat Trough of Terror. Lay a treat at the top of the trough and it will activate the LED strips that follow the treat down to the end, as well as some spooky sounds. The treat in question is detected by an SR-04 ultrasonic distance sensor connected to an Arduino Nano.

All in all this was a highly successful build as far as neighborhood entertainment value goes. Toddlers stared in awe at the blinkenlights, teenagers proclaimed it ‘sick’, and we can only assume that the adults were likely happy to see something aimed at kids that’s not scary.

[Gord] has a nice how-to if you want to build your own, and of course, the Arduino sketch is available. Be sure to check it out in action after the break.

Don’t have room to build a treat slide? Here’s a socially-distanced dispenser that lets them stomp a giant button.

Samsung announced a new portable solid-state drive (SSD) today. The Portable SSD T9 offers up to 2,000 MB/s sequential read and write speeds through the USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 interface. The SSD ships in 1TB, 2TB and 4TB options.

Samsung says the T9 is around twice as fast as its predecessor, the T7 (Engadget’s previous pick for the best portable SSD). “The USB interface enables two lanes of 10 Gbps operation to provide 20 Gbps data transfer rates which delivers faster speeds when transferring high-resolution videos or large files, effectively saving creators’ time during heavy workloads like video editing,” the company wrote in a press release. Samsung says it can transfer a 4GB video in nearly two seconds or a 90-minute 4K recording in 12 seconds.

Samsung

The device has an aluminum body with a rubber covering. Samsung says this allows it to withstand drops up to nine feet (one foot shorter than the T7 Shield). The company describes the cover as being ideal for heat control and comfort when gripping it. The SSD ships with USB Type C-to-C and USB Type C-to-A cables, and it includes a five-year limited warranty.

The T9 is compatible with Samsung’s Magician software, which enables performance benchmarks, security features and firmware updates. The software runs on Windows, macOS and Android.

The Samsung Portable SSD T9 is available today at Samsung’s website and retail partners (including Amazon). The drive costs $140 for 1TB, $240 for 2TB and $440 for 4TB.

Meta’s Oversight Board is set to take on a new high-profile case ahead of next year’s presidential election. The board said it planned to announce a case involving a user appeal related to an “altered” video of President Joe Biden. The board didn’t disclose specifics of the case, which it said would be announced formally “in the coming days,” but suggested it will touch on policies that could have far-reaching implications for Meta.

“In the coming days the Oversight Board will announce a new case regarding a user-appeal to remove an altered video of President Joe Biden on Facebook,” the Oversight Board said in a statement. “This case will examine issues related to manipulated media on Meta’s platforms and the company’s policies on misinformation, especially around elections.”

While neither Meta or the Oversight Board has shared details about the video in question, the case could further shape the social network’s policies around AI-generated or otherwise manipulated media. Even before the rise of generative AI tools that make it easier than ever to create fake videos of public figures, Meta has taken heat over its response to suggestively edited videos of politicians. In 2019, the company declined to remove an edited clip that falsely claimed then-Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi was “drunk.”

The incident prompted the company’s current policy that bars AI-generated deepfakes, but allows some other types of edited videos to remain up. Over the last year, fact checkers have regularly debunked deceptively-edited videos of Joe Biden that often spread widely on Facebook and Instagram.

It’s not the first time the Oversight Board has weighed in on a case involving a head of state, The board previously got involved in Meta’s suspension of Donald Trump, and recently recommended Meta suspend the former prime minister of Cambodia (Meta ultimately declined to do so). When the Oversight Board agrees to a case, Meta is only required to implement the board’s decision for the specific Facebook or Instagram post in question. The board also makes a number of policy suggestions, which Meta is free to ignore, though it must provide written responses.

A Cruise autonomous vehicle (AV) was reportedly involved in a horrific accident in San Francisco on Monday evening. A pedestrian crossing a street was hit by a car, which sped off. However, the hit-and-run hurled her in front of a Cruise driverless taxi, which stopped on top of her leg as she screamed in pain. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the woman was still in critical condition at 9:30AM ET on Tuesday.

The pedestrian was reportedly walking in a crosswalk at Market and Fifth in San Francisco when she was hit by a green car, which fled the scene. A witness allegedly told investigators that he watched the first car strike the woman, causing her to roll off its side and into the path of the Cruise car. As the autonomous taxi proceeded through the green light, it ran over her and came to a complete stop, pinning her leg under its rear axle and tire. Cruise says there weren’t any passengers in the AV, which was in autonomous mode.

The SF Chronicle says that it viewed a video recording of the incident provided by Cruise to confirm the sequence of events. The company offered to make the video available to Engadget, but we declined.

A bicycle delivery person reportedly tried to reassure the woman that an ambulance was coming and that it would be okay. “She was just screaming,” the cyclist reportedly told the SF Chronicle. City firefighters arrived and used the jaws of life to lift the car off the woman, who was transported to San Francisco General Hospital with “multiple traumatic injuries,” according to fire captain Justin Schorr. He said the car appeared programmed to stop and turn on its hazard lights after sensing an obstruction (in this case, a human being) beneath it.

“At approximately 9:30 pm on October 2, a human-driven vehicle struck a pedestrian while traveling in the lane immediately to the left of a Cruise AV,” Cruise communications manager Hannah Lindow wrote in a statement to Engadget. “The initial impact was severe and launched the pedestrian directly in front of the AV. The AV then braked aggressively to minimize the impact. The driver of the other vehicle fled the scene, and at the request of the police the AV was kept in place. Our heartfelt concern and focus is the wellbeing of the person who was injured and we are actively working with police to help identify the responsible driver.”

The nightmarish incident occurred as driverless taxis have expanded their reach in the city. Cruise and Waymo got approval from California regulators this year to operate and charge fares for fully autonomous cars in San Francisco at any time of the day. However, the state’s DMV asked the company in August to reduce its fleet of driverless taxis by half, pending an investigation into crashes involving the AVs. Cruise agreed to operate no more than 50 autonomous taxis during the day and no more than 150 of them at night.

Back in my day (puts on old man glasses) digital amp modelers were a bunch of hooey. They sounded like mold groaning. Things have come a long way and in 2023 you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference between a digital recreation and the real thing. Fender’s new Tone Master Pro workstation continues this relatively recent tradition, allowing access to over 100 effects and amp models right out of the box.

The Tone Master Pro is a standalone device that connects to your guitar to process incoming audio. Once you dial in a cool sound by combining amp models, impulse responses and effects, send it to your favorite amp, DAW, loudspeaker or just about anywhere else. The 8-core processor ensures a latency-free experience and seamless transitions between presets. The CPU also lets you load up large multi-amp and effects signal chains to go beyond classic retro sounds to make something unique.

Fender says the “tone, feel, responsiveness and character” of each available amp model will be “virtually indistinguishable” from the real thing, and that’s before making wacky combinations or throwing on layers of effects. Additionally, Fender included more than 6,000 custom-created impulse responses that recreate the tone of specific cabinet and microphone combinations.

There’s more to come on this front, as the device will support impulse responses from third-parties. This includes other companies, sure, but also garden variety users. The associated Mac/PC app lets you browse from a near-endless collection of IRs and presets from other players and Fender-approved artists.

There are four effects loops for integrating pedals from your own collection, instrument inputs and XLR inputs, making this a versatile unit. It also has plenty of specific features for playing live. There’s a 7” color touchscreen that’s bright and easy to read, a 60 second stereo looper and a brand-new song and setlist mode that lets you attach different presets to each track you’re set to play.

Fender promises regular firmware updates via USB. These updates will provide bug fixes, new amps, new effects and other goodies. The first update hits in approximately 90 days and the second one releases in around six months. The Tone Master Pro is available now with one major caveat. It costs $1,700. On the plus side, that’s only $17 per amp model and effect!

This isn’t the company’s first foray into digital amp modeling. The Tone Master Pro is just the latest release in the Tone Master series, though the previous entries are actual amp cabinets with the addition of digital amp modeling. Fender’s also toyed with the idea via its entry-level Mustang GT amplifiers and the USB-esque effects stick Mustang Micro.