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Discord is making "big changes" to how identities work on the platform, a move that will force you to change your username, The Verge reported. Up until now, the company has appended four-digit tags to identities as a way to distinguish people with the same username. However, the new system will give everyone a unique username, much like Twitter, Instagram and other services.

"The whole point of these changes is that we want to make it a lot easier for you and all the new users coming to Discord to connect and hang out with friends," co-founder Stanislav Vishnevskiy wrote in a blog post. "We know that your username and identity are important, and we understand that some of you may not like this change and disagree with it."

The original aim with the four-digit tags was to allow you to choose any username you wanted, but it has now become "technical debt," according to Discord. The company said that the usernames are "too complicated or obscure" for people to remember. 

The new system will be implemented over "the coming weeks," and you'll receive a message when it's possible to do so. If you've been on the site (founded in 2015) for a long time, you'll get priority over newer users, Discord said. Your previous username and discriminator will continue to function as an alias, so friends will still be able to find you.

Bing AI is now open to all—sort of. Three months after debuting its revamped search engine, Microsoft has announced that it's now moving into open preview. You'll still need to sign into Bing on the Edge browser (or the Bing mobile apps) to use the chatbot, but at least you no longer have to deal with a waitlist.

As if to celebrate this new phase of Bing (powered by OpenAI's GPT-4), Microsoft is also rolling out several new features. For one, it can go beyond mere text responses to deliver charts, graphs and rich formatting. The Bing Image Creator, which taps into DALL-E to craft AI-generated pictures, also now supports the more than 100 languages that Bing's standard search offers.

Microsoft

Microsoft also says it's working on multi-modal support, which would allow you to upload images to search for specific content. You could, for example, ask Bing to search for furniture that matches a unique bookcase in your home.

Dedicated users will likely appreciate the addition of conversation histories. Previously, your chats with Bing AI would disappear into the ether. Now, you'll be able to continue older discussions at will. Microsoft is also trying to optimize the user experience a bit: If you click into a link from a chat result, your conversation will be moved into the Edge sidebar for easy reference.

Microsoft

Slowly, but surely, we're seeing Bing's AI integration blossom from a mere technical test into something that we can rely on as much as Microsoft Office. The company says it's also working on bringing over context from previous chats into your conversations, and it'll soon be adding share and export features. Improved summarization will also make Bing better at breaking down PDFs, documents or long websites. Beware, college professors everywhere.

As you'd expect, Microsoft also wants to fashion Bing's AI chat into a genuine platform. The company will soon offer third-party plugins to do things like confirm a reservation through OpenTable, or fetch complex math solutions from Wolfram|Alpha. It'll be interesting to see how Microsoft manages those plugins though: How will those services be approved? And will they be able to access any of your data beyond the conversation they're being used in?

The Edge browser is getting its fair share of upgrades soon, as well. Microsoft says we'll eventually see a "sleeker and enhanced" interface, thanks to rounded corners and semi-transparent elements. (Let's just hope the company doesn't go all Vista with it.) Edge will also be empowered by Bing AI in new ways: Edge's built-in chat could show you places to watch a particular movie you're searching about. You'll also be able to Bing chat directly about websites you're viewing in the Edge mobile apps.

Microsoft will surely have more AI and Edge announcements in tow for its Build conference at the end of the month. Mostly, though, I'm wondering how the company plans to pitch Bing's AI chat to general users. Microsoft doesn't need to try very hard to get tech enthusiasts hyped up, but how can it explain why anyone else should care?

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The Boring Company (TBC) can now officially say that it's expanding its tunnel network underneath Las Vegas by 25 miles, which will add 18 new stations to its original plan. If you'll recall, TBC, which is owned by Elon Musk, originally envisioned the Vegas Loop as an underground transportation system with 29 miles of tunnels and 51 stations. Now, the current plan is to build 65 miles of tunnels with 69 stations after the commissioners at Clark County, Nevada have approved its latest expansion. 

According to TechCrunch, the commissioners voted 6-to-1 after TBC's lawyer, Stephanie Allen, assured them that the company and not the taxpayers will be paying for the project entirely. The lone dissenting vote came from Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick, who raised concerns about the transit system servicing only tourists and not taking resort and casino employees into account. Apparently, Kirkpatrick has been getting calls from people her district, because it's been getting harder and harder for them to get to work due to the tunnels' construction. TBC's lawyer said the company has plans to expand to residential areas near the strip to accommodate workers.

At the moment, the Vegas Loop is still just around 2 miles long with five stops around the Las Vegas Convention Center. TBC plans to dig more tunnels connecting the network to the Harry Reid International Airport, Allegiant Stadium, downtown Las Vegas and even to Los Angeles. TechCrunch says some of the newly approved stations will be located at Las Vegas Boulevard near the airport, as well as in Chinatown, Town Square Las Vegas and Harmon Square. 

Researchers at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (along with collaborators in Sweden, Germany and the UK) have shed new light on the final step of photosynthesis. They observed in atomic detail how Photosystem II, a protein complex found in plants, undergoes a transformation that leads to the loss of an extra oxygen atom. Scientists believe the discoveries will help provide a roadmap for optimizing clean energy sources. “It’s really going to change the way we think about Photosystem II,” said Uwe Bergmann, scientist and professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who co-authored the paper.

Researchers took “extremely high-resolution images” of different stages of the process (at room temperature), giving them new insight into specifically how and where the oxygen is produced. Baseball can provide a simple (if somewhat forced) metaphor to illustrate the process. “The center cycles through four stable oxidation states, known as S0 through S3, when exposed to sunlight,” SLAC explains. “On a baseball field, S0 would be the start of the game when a player on home base is ready to go to bat. S1-S3 would be players on first, second, and third.” Based on this metaphor, a batter making contact to advance the runners signifies the complex absorbing a sunlight photon. “When the fourth ball is hit, the player slides into home, scoring a run or, in the case of Photosystem II, releasing one molecule of breathable oxygen.” It’s that final stage (S4, between third base and sliding home in our metaphor) that they imaged for the first time, where two oxygen atoms bond to release an oxygen molecule, revealing additional steps previously unseen.

The video below illustrates the team’s process and discoveries.

“Most of the process that produces breathable oxygen happens in this last step,” said Vittal Yachandra, a scientist at Berkeley Lab and co-author of the paper, published inNature. “But there are several things happening at different parts of Photosystem II and they all have to come together in the end for the reaction to succeed. Just like how in baseball, factors like the location of the ball and the position of the basemen and fielders affect the moves a player takes to get to home base, the protein environment around the catalytic center influences how this reaction plays out.”

The researchers expect an X-ray upgrade later this year to shed more light on the process. It will use a repetition rate of up to a million pulses per second, up from the 120 per second used in this experiment. “With these upgrades, we will be able to collect several days’ worth of data in just a few hours,” Bergmann said. “We will also be able to use soft X-rays to further understand the chemical changes happening in the system. These new capabilities will continue to drive this research forward and shed new light on photosynthesis.”

The team believes the results will help them “develop artificial photosynthetic systems that mimic photosynthesis to harvest natural sunlight to convert carbon dioxide into hydrogen and carbon-based fuels.” Jan Kern, another co-author and scientist at Berkley Lab, said, “The more we learn about how nature does it, the closer we get to using those same principles in human-made processes, including ideas for artificial photosynthesis as a clean and sustainable energy source.”

Google is rolling out a Gmail feature that aims to help you figure out whether a sender is genuine or if they may be a scammer. When you receive an email from a company that has verified its identity, you'll see a blue check next to their name in your inbox.

The checkmark update is Google's latest implementation of the Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) tech. Google started testing BIMI in Gmail in 2020. At first, it enabled brands that were enrolled in BIMI to include authenticated logos in their emails. The blue check is a perhaps more obvious indicator that the sender is legitimate.

When you hover over the blue check in Gmail, you'll see a pop-up that reads "The sender of this email has verified that they own [the domain was sent from] and the logo in the profile image." The pop-up includes a link that directs you to a page with more information.

Google

"Strong email authentication helps users and email security systems identify and stop spam, and also enables senders to leverage their brand trust," Google wrote in a blog post. "This increases confidence in email sources and gives readers an immersive experience, creating a better email ecosystem for everyone." The feature should be live for all users by the end of the week, while Workspace admins can help set up BIMI for their company.

It's nice to see one company bring back an element of trust to the blue check, which used to be a pretty clear indicator that the person, brand or business on the other end is the real deal. Unlike a certain other company, at least Google doesn't seem to have weaponized blue checks as part of a culture war or used them to wring more revenue out of users while damaging its overall trustworthiness.

Do you know what the lock icon in your web browser means? If not, you're far from alone. Google now plans to replace the lock next to the address in Chrome with a variant of the "tune" icon you see below. Simply put, most people don't understand it. According to Google's research, only 11 percent of users realize that it refers to HTTPS encryption. Many others think it means the site is trustworthy — a problem when even phishing sites use the technology.

The tune icon doesn't imply trustworthiness, Google says. Instead, it signals that security is the default state. It also invites a click, making it more likely that you'll use site controls. Many people never even realized they could click the lock, according to the company.

Google

Most users will see the replacement icon in Chrome 117 on Android and desktop, which is scheduled to arrive early in September. As you can't tap the icon in Chrome for iOS, Google is pulling the icon entirely on Apple's mobile platforms. If you just can't wait, you can see the icon now in Chrome Canary if you enable the Chrome Refresh 2023 flag.

The change is overdue in some respects. Google defaulted to HTTPS web connections in Chrome 90 two years ago, and that came months after Mozilla made a similar change in Firefox. Over 95 percent of page loads in Chrome for Windows use HTTPS, the company adds. Much like the floppy disk icon sometimes used to represent file saves, the lock is a relic from another era.

The pandemic is over, according to Airbnb (that's debatable), so the company is gearing up for a massive summer of vacationing. It's introducing over 50 new features to its rental platform, including an expansion of the more transparent pricing it unveiled last year. Most importantly, though, it's refocusing on the pitch that made the company a success: Being able to easily rent low-cost rooms. It's relaunching that experience as "Airbnb Rooms," which will make it easier to find private rooms, as well as offer more details up-front to potential renters. 

A new "Host Passport" feature will help you get to know hosts before booking, a useful feature since you'll most likely be sharing their living space. Listings can also show if a bedroom has its own lock, and if the bathrooms are private or shared with the host. “Airbnb Rooms are often more affordable than hotels, and they’re the most authentic way to experience a city," Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky said in a statement. "This is the soul of Airbnb.”

The company says it'll have over a million Airbnb Rooms listings, and that more than 80 percent of them will cost under $100 a night. Given how much Airbnb prices have skyrocketed over the last few years, as hosts pumped up cleaning costs and built mini-rental empires, it makes sense for the company to highlight its more affordable offerings. For many travelers, including this reporter, hotels often seem cheaper and easier to book than many Airbnb options. 

As for other upgrades, Airbnb will also let you view checkout instructions before completing a booking (which could be a useful red flag for potential nightmare hosts), it's improved map performance and revamped wishlists completely (including the ability to write notes). The company is also reducing service fees for stays longer than three months, as well as for stays longer than a month if you pay with a linked bank account. Not surprisingly, Airbnb is also getting into the pay over time game with a new partnership with Klarna.

Nearly eight years after the start of Dieselgate, one of the highest-ranking executives implicated in the scandal is set to plead guilty. The New York Times reports former Audi CEO Rupert Stadler has agreed to accept a plea deal that will see him confess that he allowed Audi to continue selling diesel cars even after Volkswagen, the automaker’s parent company, admitted its vehicles had illegal software designed to cheat government emissions tests. Per The Times, a Munich state court said on Wednesday that Stadler would also pay a €1.1 million fine and serve a sentence of up to two years. The former executive is expected to make his confession in about two weeks.

Since the start of his trial in 2020, Stadler had maintained he was innocent of any wrongdoing. In court, Volkswagen has insisted that Dieselgate was the work of employees who hid the software they created from the company’s leadership. While at Audi, Stadler also served as a member of Volkswagen’s management board. Alongside Stadler, German prosecutors are set to convict two other former executives: Wolfgang Hatz and Zaccheo Giovanni Pamio. The former previously led engine development at Audi and Porsche, while the latter was involved in designing the software that allowed Volkswagen vehicles to cheat emissions tests.

In 2017, Volkswagen agreed to pay $4.3 billion to settle fraud and other criminal and civil charges brought by the Department of Justice after the company admitted that nearly 600,000 diesel cars sold in the US were compromised by its “defeat device.” Those vehicles were programmed to detect when they were being tested on a set of rollers and would, as a result, produce fewer emissions than out on the road. According to court documents filed by German prosecutors, Audi engineers originally designed the software that Volkswagen would later deploy in its vehicles. Since Dieselgate came to light, the German automaker has agreed to pay more than $20 billion in fines and legal settlements.

We’ve known there was a reboot coming of 1990s sci-fi cult hit Babylon 5 for a while now, but we didn’t have any concrete details until today. Original series creator J. Michael Straczynski just announced that it’s an animated feature length film developed by Warner Bros. Animation.

Straczynski is quiet regarding plot details but did say that the movie is “classic B5” with a “raucous, heartfelt” story, going on to suggest that the cartoon feature is “the most B5-ish” project since the original series bowed out in 1998. He also said that the movie is completely finished and just awaiting release. In other words, it’ll likely be a matter of months, not years, before mega-fans get their eyeballs on this one.

To that end, the writer said that the official movie title, release date and other details will drop next week. If the film is “in the can”, as Straczynski says, here’s hoping we also get a trailer or at least some animation stills with that release date announcement. It’s still unknown which original series actors, if any, will reprise their roles for the film.

Babylon 5 was originally on the air for five seasons, which was followed up by five made-for-TV movies (the last one aired in 2002). The show has long-been praised for its commitment to hard sci-fi and revolving crew of motley characters, netting two Hugo Awards and a Saturn Award during its run. It’s primarily set on the titular space station, calling to mind rival sci-fi epic Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. There’s some discussion as to which series came first, as DS9 aired a full year before Babylon 5, but B5 was first to production. In recent years, series creator Straczynski has been heavily involved with shows like Sense8 and plenty of high-profile comic books.