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Of all the once-unthinkable changes Elon Musk had made since taking over Twitter, pulling the rug out from under developers might seem relatively minor. After banning third-party clients without warning, Twitter announced that it would no longer allow any developer to use its APIs for free.

So far, Twitter has communicated very little about the changes, other than confirming a February 9th cut-off date. Musk has suggested Twitter could charge $100 a month “with ID verification,” but hasn’t elaborated. What we do know, is that once free access is shut off, thousands of apps, research projects, bots and other services will stop functioning (or, at the very least, be interrupted). If you’re a Twitter user, chances are this will affect you in some way, and you shouldn’t wait until it’s too late to prepare.

Change logins for apps where you’ve signed in with Twitter

If you’ve ever used your Twitter credentials to sign into another service, the coming API shutoff could prevent you from being able to access your account. That means you’ll want to double check which services you’ve used Twitter as a login for, and change your account info while you’re still able to.

You can check which services have access to your Twitter account via Settings -> Security and Account Access -> Apps and sessions -> Connected Apps (or, clicking here). Depending on the service, you may have to create an entirely new account with different credentials.

Nuke your tweets

There are a lot of good reasons to delete your old tweets. But if you haven’t already, your window for easily doing so is rapidly closing. If you want to wipe your tweet history, check out TweetDelete, TwitWipe, TweetDeleter, or another similar service. Note that there are a handful of subscription-based tweet deletion services. It may be a good idea to hold off on using a paid service for now until it’s clear whether any of these apps will continue to operate after the API changes go into effect.

Find your mutuals on Mastodon

Whether you’re new to the Fediverse or not, now would be a very good time to find all your mutuals from Twitter over on Mastodon. Services like Movetodon and Twitodon enable you to easily find familiar accounts on Mastodon. Rebuilding your following graph on a new platform can be one of the biggest hurdles to getting started, so even if you’re not sure about switching, it’s not a bad idea to use these tools while you still can.

Everything else

Unfortunately, the effects of ending the free API will be much more far-reaching than just these services. The future of Twitter’s bots — the automated accounts that share everything from weather updates, helpful reminders, jokes and emergency alerts — is now very much uncertain. While Musk has indicated that he may allow some bots with “good” content to access the Twitter API for free, it’s not at all clear how this will work, or if paying for Twitter Blue will be a requirement. So far, a number of bot developers have said they will not pay for use of Twitter's API and are planning for their accounts to go dark on the 9th.

The API changes will also have a disastrous impact on the research community. Currently, there are scores of journalists, nonprofits and academic institutions that use Twitter’s API to research misinformation, public health, education and numerous other issues. Requiring these researchers to pay could effectively end these projects, particularly for organizations that are smaller and not as well-funded. For now, it's not clear if these organizations will have any other options available to them. 

If it seems like everyone is rushing to develop an alternative to ChatGPT, you're not wrong. Chinese online commerce heavyweight Alibaba has confirmed to CNBC that it's working on its equivalent to OpenAI's hit AI chatbot. The company isn't detailing features or offering a release schedule, but says it has been developing generative AI since 2017 and is in the middle of internal testing.

The reveal comes as multiple tech giants have introduced rivals to or spinoffs of ChatGPT this week. Google unveiled Bard, while China's Baidu said it was testing "Ernie Bot." Microsoft, meanwhile, launched a redesigned Bing that uses a "much more powerful" language model built with OpenAI's help. The text-generating AI is considered particularly useful for search, where it can provide detailed responses to very specific questions.

Alibaba hasn't said how it would put the AI to work. However, the company is a powerhouse in online shopping and has its fingers in numerous other fields ranging from cloud computing through to finance. A counterpart to ChatGPT could be useful in many of these categories, and might help Alibaba challenge Baidu and other Chinese firms hoping to wield AI as a competitive advantage.

At I/O 2022, Google revealed an Immersive View feature for Maps that uses computer vision and AI to combine Street View and aerial photography into a 3D format. The idea is to create a detailed perspective of buildings and other aspects of the environment. 

The feature is rolling out in five cities today. You'll be able to check it out in London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Tokyo. Google started offering a preview of the feature in those cities in September. Immersive View is coming to other cities over the next several months, including Amsterdam, Dublin, Florence and Venice.

Google is pitching Immersive View as a way to help folks plan a trip. The feature adds contextual information, including traffic, the weather and how busy a location typically is at different times of the day. You'll be able to soar over buildings and see things like the location of an entrance to an attraction, so you don't end up walking around an entire block to find a museum's front door (nope, I definitely haven't done that).

The company built Immersive View using an AI technique called neural radiance fields (NeRF), which converts photos into 3D representations. With the help of NeRF, Google can "accurately recreate the full context of a place including its lighting, the texture of materials and what’s in the background," according to a blog post. "All of this allows you to see if a bar’s moody lighting is the right vibe for a date night or if the views at a cafe make it the ideal spot for lunch with friends."

Google laid out some other Maps updates as well. A feature called "glancable directions" will help you track your journey from your lock screen or route overview whether you're walking, on your bike or using public transit. It can tell you where to turn and keep you updated on the estimated time of arrival, and it will update the info if you switch up the route. Glancable directions will arrive on iOS (where it will be available through Live Activities) and Android in the coming months.

Moreover, there are more features on the way to electric vehicles with Google built-in. The system will factor in charging stops for shorter trips that require one, and it will suggest the best charging station based on variables like traffic, your current battery level and how much energy your EV is using. You'll have access to a "very fast" filter to locate "stations that have chargers of 150 kilowatts or higher." In addition, you'll be able to filter search results for locations that have charging stations to help you figure out, for instance, which supermarket to go to so you can top up your battery while buying groceries.

Meanwhile, Google is expanding Search with Live View and Indoor Live View to more locations in the coming months. The company has also offered a peek at its upcoming Search chatbot, Bard, but things didn't entirely go smoothly.

If the unofficial debut of Google’s Bard chatbot is any indication, misinformation is about to get a lot worse. The company posted an ad to Twitter this week showing off the natural-language AI model displaying false information about the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

In the advertisement (via Reuters), a short GIF shows an example of a Q&A with Bard. “What new discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope can I tell my 9-year old about?” the query reads. The machine quickly spits out three ideas, including the last one that says, “JWST took the very first pictures of a planet outside of our own solar system. These distant worlds are called ‘exoplanets.’ Exo means ‘from outside.’” Although the bit about exoplanets is spot-on, the first part saying the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) took the first pictures of them is false. That honor belongs to the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in 2004, as confirmed by NASA.

Although incorrect information in a Twitter ad won’t likely hurt anything directly, it’s easy to view the mistake as an omen of the risks of releasing natural-language chatbots into the wild. It parallels CNET’s decision to write financial advice articles with an AI chatbot; they were also riddled with errors.

Because chatbots get so much right — and spit out answers with such supreme confidence — anyone who doesn’t fact-check their responses may be left with false beliefs. Considering the chaos that (non-AI-powered) misinformation has already let loose on society, releasing this often mind-blowing technology before it can be trusted to produce factual information reliably and accurately — even escaping Google’s copy editors — we may be in for a wild ride.

Last September, Google began rolling out Search with Live View, a feature within Maps that adds search functionality to the app's augmented reality layer. At the time, that feature was only available if you found yourself in London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Paris or Tokyo. Today, Google announced it's bringing Search with Live View to Barcelona, Dublin and Madrid within the coming months. The company is also greatly expanding the availability of Live View within indoor locations. Google said Wednesday it's bringing the functionality to more than 1,000 new airports, train stations and malls across cities like Barcelona, London, Madrid, Paris and Singapore. The expansion will take place over the next few months.

Separately, Google (via The Verge) showcased some of its other work in AI-augmented search. In one demo, the company asked for a summary of the best constellations to look for when stargazing. Notably, the demo Google showed wasn't as polished as the one Microsoft brought to its "new Bing" showcase yesterday. In that instance, Bing provided the user with footnotes and links to the material it used to summarize its findings, something that was missing from Google's demo. 

Over the last several months, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) has been working to smush HBO Max and Discovery+ together into a single, giant streaming service, which is expected to debut this spring. However, it seems the company has rethought its strategy, as Discovery+ is sticking around as a standalone platform.

"Our plan for the enhanced platform that will bring together HBO Max and Discovery+ content remains unchanged," WBD spokesperson Jeff Cusson told Engadget. "In addition, we have decided to keep the lower-priced offering of Discovery+ in the US marketplace."

According to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news, executives were concerned that a sizable number of the current 20 million Discovery+ subscribers may not be willing to pay a higher price for a service that features HBO Max content. It doesn't seem that there are plans to keep HBO Max as a standalone app as well. As such, folks who want to watch shows like The Last of Us and Succession without a cable subscription may need to pay more for a service that combines HBO Max content and most of the offerings from Discovery+.

Discovery+ costs $5 per month with ads or $7 to go ad-free, while the ad-supported version of HBO Max costs $10 per month (or $16 without ads). The upcoming service is expected to be pricier than HBO Max.

The report suggests the new service and Discovery+ will feature Shark Week content and lifestyle shows from the Magnolia Network. Other programming will be available on both platforms. 

Discovery+ has low operating costs and is turning a profit, according to the Journal's sources. However, WBD is cutting billions in costs since it formed last year as a result of a merger between WarnerMedia and Discovery. The company has been yanking shows from HBO Max and canceling streaming-exclusive projects, reportedly in favor of using them as tax write-offs.

Meanwhile, the report suggests that WBD is gearing up to roll out its own free, ad-supported (FAST) service with streaming channels that feature content from across the portfolio. This move makes sense, as the company recently inked deals with Roku and Tubi to offer an array of FAST channels featuring shows like Westworld and The Nevers, which it pulled from HBO Max in December.

Are you considering the OnePlus 11, but want something to sweeten the deal? You're getting what you wish for. Amazon is offering a free $100 gift card if you pre-order the phone in any color or configuration by February 12th. That could be helpful for buying the Buds Pro 2 ($180), a case or other accessories you may need.

The OnePlus 11 is, in some ways, a return to form for the brand. For just under $700, you're getting a fast, long-lasting phone with a vivid display and speedy 100W charging. The cameras are improved over its predecessor, too. Combine this with four years of major OS updates and you're getting a phone that can easily compete against some more expensive phones.

You're still getting what you pay for. While the OnePlus 11 is faster than the Pixel 7, its cameras aren't on par. There's no wireless charging, and you can't get more than 256GB of storage. If you mainly care about performance and battery life, though, OnePlus' device is difficult to beat at this price point — particularly if you aren't keen on importing phones like the Xiaomi 13 Pro.

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

The UK's competition authority has found that Microsoft's proposed $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard could result in a "substantial lessening of competition in gaming consoles" and "could harm UK gamers." In a provisional finding, the Competition Markets Authority (CMA) said that Activision may need to be split up into separate businesses for the merger to proceed. 

The government said it conducted a wide-ranging probe over the last five months to determine the deal's potential impact. Noting that Microsoft already accounts for 60-70 percent of global cloud gaming services, it said that buying Activision would "reinforce this strong position" and substantially reduce Microsoft's competition in cloud gaming. That in turn could "potentially [harm] UK gamers, particularly those who cannot afford or do not want to buy an expensive gaming console or gaming PC." 

The CMA said that the deal may work if Activision Blizzard divested parts of its business. Namely, it could split out either the Activision and/or Blizzard segments, or the business that operates its biggest franchise, Call of Duty (CoD). The idea, it said, would be to leave assets "capable of competing effectively under separate ownership" with the new business.

In response, Microsoft said it has already addressed the CMA's concerns over competition. "We are committed to offering effective and easily enforceable solutions that address the CMA’s concerns," Microsoft corporate VP and deputy general counsel Rima Alaily told Engadget in a statement. "Our commitment to grant long term 100 percent equal access to Call of Duty to Sony, Nintendo, Steam and others preserves the deal’s benefits to gamers and developers and increases competition in the market."

First announced last year, the merger would allow Microsoft to add titles like Call of Duty to its already impressive suite of games. The deal ran afoul of regulators from the get-go, though, over concerns that it would block out Sony's PS5 and other consoles from key games, particularly CoD. Rival Sony vehemently opposes the deal, having called it a "game-changer that poses a threat to our industry." 

Last September, the CMA announced it was launching an anti-trust investigation into the deal. The US Federal Trade Commission has also sued to block the takeover, and the EU is set to make a decision on April 11th with a statement of objections. 

Microsoft said at the time that the CMA's concerns were misplaced and that its arguments were based on "self-serving statements by Sony." In November, it confirmed that it would support Call of Duty on PlayStation "forever" and promised to bring it to Nintendo's Switch consoles and Steam as well. 

Microsoft now has until February 22nd to address the CMA's concerns, with a final report from the regulator due April 26th. "Our job is to make sure that UK gamers are not caught in the crossfire of global deals that, over time, could damage competition and result in higher prices, fewer choices, or less innovation. We have provisionally found that this may be the case here," said Martin Coleman, who chaired a panel of independent experts conducting the probe. 

Bing may be back. Microsoft announced yesterday it’s partnering with OpenAI to enhance Bing with its AI technology. However, Microsoft also had a surprise up its sleeve: The next release of Bing will tap into a new next-generation language model the company claims is "much more powerful" than ChatGPT and designed specifically to excel at search.

During its event, Yusuf Mehdi, the company's consumer chief marketing officer, demoed the new Bing, asking it to compare the most influential Mexican artists and their best-known paintings. Bing displayed its response in a new side panel with annotations and weblinks. Later, Mehdi asked the search engine to compare three pet vacuums while listing the pros and cons of each model.

With the chat feature, you can ask Bing to create a five-day travel itinerary for you, including links to accommodation, flights and things to do. The new Bing is already available to preview. You can visit Bing.com – which I haven’t done since 2009 – to try a few sample queries and sign up for the waitlist for when it launches in earnest.

– Mat Smith

The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

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The Nintendo Switch has now outsold the PS4

It’s the third best-selling console ever.

The Switch just leaped over both the Game Boy and PlayStation 4 to become the third bestselling console of all time. The console had sold 122.55 million units by the end of 2022, Nintendo announced in its earnings report, so it’s now only behind the DS and PlayStation 2 in lifetime sales. Nintendo said last year the transition to its next console was "a major focus." It could start becoming a more urgent one soon.

Continue reading.

Microsoft's new Bing and Edge hands-on

It's like ChatGPT built right into your browser.

Through a partnership with ChatGPT -maker OpenAI, Microsoft is adding more advanced AI conversation models to power updates to both Bing and its Edge web browser. The company's keynote happened at a breakneck pace, but fortunately, Engadget’s Cherlynn Low got to test things out right after.

With the new Edge, a button on the top right gives you access to the new Bing's chat feature in your browser. But it goes beyond just answering your questions without having to leave the pages you're browsing. Edge can help make sense of the sites you're looking at and make research or multitasking much easier. You can use a new Compose function to create posts, emails and, apparently, even essays, and while the results are pretty similar to ChatGPT’s, they could be incredibly convenient.

Continue reading.

OnePlus 11 review

A back-to-basics flagship phone.

Engadget

The OnePlus 11 has everything we loved about OnePlus in the past: a powerful processor, a vivid screen and the return to a competitive price tag. The headline feature remains the fast-charging technology, cranked up to 100 watts. The cameras are improved, if not quite among the best smartphone shooters. But at this price ($699), it’s difficult to complain.

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Google will blur explicit images in search by default

It's one of several upcoming features the company announced on Safer Internet Day.

Yesterday was Safer Internet Day, and Google says it's working to blur explicit images in search results for all users as the default setting, even if they don't have SafeSearch switched on. SafeSearch filtering is already the default for signed-in users under 18. It’ll encompass nudity as well as violent content.

Elsewhere, Google is adding another layer of protection to the built-in password manager on Chrome and Android. The company says if you have a supported computer, you’ll have the option to require biometric authentication before filling a saved password into a form. The same feature will also let you "securely reveal, copy or edit passwords" you’ve saved in the password manager without having to punch in your main password first.

Continue reading.

Virgin Orbit's first orbital launch from UK soil, which was supposed to be a huge milestone for the company and for the region, may have ended in failure because of a component that cost around $100. According to SpaceNews, Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart has revealed at the SmallSat Symposium in Mountain View, California that the evidence so far points to a filter in the rocket's second stage engine getting dislodged and causing issues.

If you'll recall, the company launched its historic "Start Me Up" mission from Spaceport Cornwall on January 9th, and things seemed to flow smoothly at first. Virgin's LauncherOne rocket was able to detach from its carrier aircraft, and the company reported a successful stage separation. But soon, it became clear that the rocket wasn't able to reach orbit as planned. "[The rocket's] upper stage experienced an anomaly," a company spokesperson told Engadget at the time, and that "prematurely ended the first burn of the upper stage." They added: "This event ended the mission, with the rocket components and payload falling back to Earth within the approved safety corridor without ever achieving orbit." 

The LauncherOne rocket for the mission was carrying satellites from seven customers, including government entities. One of its payloads was a joint project between the UK Defense Science and Technology Laboratory and the US Naval Research Laboratory called CIRCE (Coordinated Ionospheric Reconstruction CubeSat Experiment). Virgin Orbit promised to conduct a full investigation into the root cause of the anomaly, but it didn't wait for results to come back before announcing that it was going to attempt another UK launch as soon as later this year. 

The company isn't done with its investigation, Hart said during the event, but he was confident enough to reveal the investigators' findings: "Everything points to, right now, a filter that was clearly there when we assembled the rocket but was not there as the second stage engine started, meaning it was dislodged and caused mischief downstream," he said. "This is like a $100 part that took us out." Hart also said that Virgin Orbit is no longer going to use that filter and that it's currently looking for potential fixes.