Amazon and GoPro have filed a joint lawsuit against a group of Chinese nationals and businesses they allege sold counterfeit GroPro products on Amazon. In newly unsealed court documents, the two companies say the fraudsters made knockoffs of some of GoPro's most popular accessories that blatantly used its branding to try and trick potential buyers.

Among the products the counterfeiters saw to pass off as authentic include GoPro's signature "3-Way" and "The Handler" grips. The knockoffs were often hard to spot, with subtle differences between them and their real GoPro counterparts. For instance, some had foam handles that were a slightly different color from the one you'll find on tripods from the company.

"When counterfeiters attempt to sell in our store, they not only violate the intellectual property rights of companies like GoPro, they also mislead consumers and harm Amazon's reputation as a place to buy authentic goods," said Kebharu Smith, director of Amazon's recently formed Counterfeit Crimes Unit.

Amazon and GoPro aren't the first companies to take legal action against fraudsters using the platform to sell counterfeit goods. Back in 2016, Apple alleged that about 90 percent of the Lightning cables and chargers marked "Fulfilled by Amazon" were fake.

However, Amazon contends the problem isn't widespread. In 2020, the company says less than 0.01 percent of all products sold on its marketplace were the subject of a counterfeit complaint from customers. As The Verge points out, what we don't know is how many items the company sold last year.

At the scale Amazon does business, 0.01 percent could represent tens of thousands of complaints. It's also not clear how many people bought a counterfeit product, and either didn't think to contact the company about their purchase or were none the wiser about what they had in their possession. Either way, the issue of fake GoPro products was pressing enough for Amazon to team up with the company to take it on.

It's no longer possible to prevent the planet from heating over the next 20 to 30 years, and some of the changes global warming is bringing about are now impossible to undo in the short term, according to a new report from the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The document represents the most comprehensive analysis of the physical science behind climate change ever amassed in human history. The 284 scientists who worked on the project spent eight years examing data from more than 14,000 studies. They say human activity is "unequivocally" behind the Earth's rapidly changing climate.

Since the mid-19th century, the planet's temperature has increased by 1.1 degrees Celsius, or 2 degrees Fahrenheit, as a direct result of greenhouse gas emissions related to humans burning coal, oil and other fossil fuels for energy. We've already seen the effects a warmer planet can have on humans. It was only earlier this summer that parts of Canada and the US Pacific Northwest suffered through a sweltering and unprecedented heatwave that melted power cables, buckled roads and killed people.

"Many of the changes observed in the climate are unprecedented in thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of years, and some of the changes already set in motion — such as continued sea level rise — are irreversible over hundreds to thousands of years," the IPCC said.

Unless governments commit to sharply reducing emissions, limiting warming to the targets established in the Paris Climate Agreement will be "beyond reach," the report warns. With a 1.5 degree Celsius increase in global temperatures, there will be more frequent and life-threatening heat waves, droughts that leave millions struggling to find water and continued sea level rise that will likely displace coastal communities across the globe.

"We can expect a significant jump in extreme weather over the next 20 or 30 years," Piers Forster, one of the climate scientists who contributed to the report, told The New York Times. "Things are unfortunately likely to get worse than they are today."

Reiterating past UN reports, the IPCC also warned a 3 degree or even 4 degree Celsius increase in global temperatures would be catastrophic. With every additional degree of warming, there's a greater risk of the planet passing specific tipping points that could lead to even dramatic changes to the climate. According to the IPCC, drastic reductions in emissions can limit the worse effects of climate change and keep warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. However, it could take between 20 to 80 years to see global temperatures stabilize.

The report will be front and center when diplomats travel to Glasgow, Scotland, to attend the UN's COP26 summit on climate change. As one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases globally, the US can play a significant role in what happens next. After rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement, President Biden pledged America would cut its greenhouse emissions in half by 2030. Now more than ever, it's time to take action.

Before Gamescom 2021 gets officially underway on August 25th, Microsoft will kick off the all-digital event with a livestream of its own. The company will share an update on its holiday Xbox lineup on August 24th at 1PM ET/10AM PT. We don't expect Microsoft to announce too many new titles. Instead, it sounds like we'll see more of the games it highlighted at its E3 2021 presentation, including Starfield and Halo Infinite.

"You'll get in-depth updates from some of our previously announced Xbox Game Studios titles alongside some of our third-party partners, including some of the incredible titles coming to Xbox this holiday, upcoming releases to our monthly subscription service, Xbox Game Pass and much more," the company said.

Microsoft will stream the presentation to YouTube, Twitch, Facebook Gaming and Twitter. It also said today it would have more information to share about Xbox FanFest at a later date. As always, if you can't watch the livestream, we will have you covered after the event with coverage of all the biggest announcements.   

Last month, Facebook’s Oversight Board chastised the company for losing an important policy for three years. At the center of the ruling was an Instagram post about Abdullah Öcalan, which encouraged people to talk about his political imprisonment. Öcalan is one of the founding members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. The PKK is a Kurdish militia Facebook classifies as a “dangerous organization.”

The company had initially removed the post because of a rule that prohibits Facebook users from expressing support for groups and individuals that fall under that category. At the same time, Facebook also had “internal guidance” in place — which came out in part around discussions the company had about Öcalan’s imprisonment — that carved out an exception to that policy to allow people to discuss “conditions of confinement for individuals designated as dangerous.” However, Facebook did not apply that rule to Öcalan’s case due to an oversight that occurred when it moved to a new review system in 2018.

In examining what happened, the Oversight Board issued 12 recommendations to Facebook, which the company responded to today. To start, it will “immediately” re-implement the misplaced policy at the center of the case. Facebook says it has begun training its content reviewers on implementing the rule and expects the guidance to be fully in place within the next two weeks. 

By the end of the year, it also plans to clarify the Dangerous Individuals and Organizations policy. Out of the 12 recommendations put forward by the Oversight Board, Facebook plans to fully or partially implement most of them. However, one it’s not sure on would involve the company sharing more comprehensive information on its enforcement of those policies. The company says it’s still examining the feasibility of creating a system that provides a country-by-country breakdown of enforcement and error data. It says it will share an update on that work in one of its upcoming quarterly updates.

Razer’s Project Hazel is one step closer to becoming a product you can buy. On Friday, the company announced a final name for the face mask. It’s now known as Razer Zephyr, and you can sign up to test the device ahead of its planned release date later this year.

Even among Razer products, Zephyr has had a highly visible development cycle. The company first announced Project Hazel at CES 2021, promising a high-tech face mask with built-in RGB lighting and an active air filtration system Razer claimed was as effective as an N95 mask. In March, Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan revealed the accessory-maker was moving forward with plans to manufacture the mask, noting that he believed there would still be a market for Project Hazel even as countries started to vaccinate their people against COVID-19.

Since we first saw the mask at CES 2021, Razer has added internal lighting and a silicon face seal. The company also says the latest iteration of Zephyr is 99 percent effective at filtering out bacteria. The only detail Razer has yet to reveal is how much the mask will cost.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has released its first-ever mobile broadband coverage map. The tool allows you to compare the LTE and voice coverage areas of the country’s four largest carriers, showing where you can expect to see wireless download and upload speeds of at least 5 Mbps and 1 Mbps, respectively.

The data you see on the map is accurate as of May 15th, 2021, and you can use the tool to compare what coverage looks like in your area away from the often misleading and confusing maps offered by AT&T, T-Mobile, US Cellular and Verizon (Engadget’s parent company). The tool is the result of last year’s Broadband DATA Act, which requires the FCC to collect and release robust data comparing different wired, fixed-wireless, satellite and mobile broadband service providers. To compile the map, the FCC collected standardized propagation information from the carriers. It also asked the public to help.

“This map provides a preview of how the mobile data the FCC will collect under the standards set by the Broadband DATA Act will look when mapped,” the agency said. “Never before have maps been created using these new, standardized mobile data specifications, which will improve the uniformity and consistency of broadband availability data collected by the FCC.”

The map isn’t perfect. For example, you can’t see the extent of each carrier’s current 5G buildouts. But it’s hard to overstate just how much of an improvement this new tool is over what the FCC offered previously. To put things into context. In 2019, Microsoft estimated that 163 million Americans couldn’t access the internet at or above broadband speeds. Meanwhile, the FCC put that number closer to 25 million. 

That discrepancy was the direct result of how the FCC compiled its data at the time. It relied on Form 477 filings from the service providers, which could include errors and exaggerations. FCC acting chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel says the new mobile broadband map is just the start of what the agency has planned on that front.

An unopened copy of Super Mario Bros. has sold for $2 million, shattering the previous record set by a video game sale set just last month when a collector paid $1.56 million to obtain a mint version of Super Mario 64. Per an image shared by Rally, the company that sold the game, the copy had a 9.8 A+ rating on the Wata Scale, meaning it was in “exceptional” condition.

Once you get past the insane price, what makes this sale interesting is that it didn’t involve an auction. Instead, Rally positions itself as an “alternative asset investment” platform. Per The New York Times, the firm buys physical collectibles and holds “initial offerings” where people can buy shares in that item. When a collector wants to acquire something from Rally, the company takes their offer to everyone who has a stake, and they then vote on the matter.

In the case of this recent Super Mario Bros. sale, Rally bought the copy for approximately $140,000 in April 2020. That same year, investors rejected a $300,000 offer for the game. Even with $2 million on the line, some didn’t want to part with the game just yet, with a quarter of those with a stake in the collectible voting to reject the offer.

If you’ve been following the market, you probably have a good idea of why some wanted to hold onto the copy for a while longer. Days before the previous record was set, a boxed version of The Legend of Zeldasold for $870,000 at auction. With no signs of the market cooling down anytime soon and only so many mint video games in existence, it seems it’s only a matter of time before another record is set.

Twitter’s experiment with ephemeral content may have ended earlier in the week, but its take on Clubhouse is going stronger than ever. Starting this week, Spaces hosts can invite other individuals to help them with moderation duties.

With today’s announcement, a single Space can include one host, two co-hosts and up to 10 speakers. As a co-host, you can invite additional people to talk, mute and remove rowdy participants and pin tweets. However, you won’t be able to remove the original host or your counterpart, nor can you end a broadcast. Adding a co-host is done through an invite system that allows you to search for specific users.

Of course, Twitter isn’t the only company making audio broadcasts an integral part of what it offers users. Facebook and Discord quickly added Clubhouse-like features to their platforms following the app’s early post-release success. And if you believe Spotify CEO Daniel Ek, most online services are likely to add live audio as a way for their users to communicate, much like they did when it came to video and Stories.

Following a report on work the company was doing to create a tool that scans iPhones for child abuse images, Apple has published a post that provides more details on its efforts related to child safety. With the release of iOS 15, watchOS 8 and macOS Monterey later this year, the company says it will introduce a variety of child safety features across Messages, Photos and Siri. 

To start, the Messages app will include new notifications that will warn children, as well as their parents, when they either send or receive sexually explicit photos. When someone sends a child an inappropriate image, the app will blur it and display several warnings. "It's not your fault, but sensitive photos and videos can be used to hurt you," says one of the notifications, per a screenshot Apple shared. 

As an additional precaution, the company says Messages can also notify parents if their child decides to go ahead and view a sensitive photo. "Similar protections are available if a child attempts to send sexually explicit photos," according to Apple. The company notes the feature uses on-device machine learning to determine whether a photo is explicit. Moreover, Apple does not have access to the messages themselves. This feature will be available to family iCloud accounts. 

Apple will also introduce new software tools in iOS and iPadOS that will allow the company to detect when someone uploads content to iCloud that shows children involved in sexually explicit acts.  

Developing...

As a wearable device, Amazon's Halo wristband is about as no-frills of a fitness tracker you can buy. It doesn't include a display, and outside of the two microphones that enable its controversial tone detection feature, it forgoes many of the more advanced sensors we've seen make their way into devices like the Apple Watch. But starting today, you can use the Halo band to see an overlay of your heart rate across various third-party apps and fitness equipment.

At launch, the integration works with machines from brands like NordicTrack and CLBMR, in addition to software like iFit and Openfit. To enable the feature, open the settings menu in the Amazon Halo app and find the "Heart Rate Sharing" option.

While not an exact match for the Apple Watch's GymKit functionality, the inclusion of heart rate sharing should make the Halo band more versatile, and that's something the wearable desperately needs. Once you get past its more controversial features, the problem with Halo is it doesn't stand out. In fact, most of the platform's best features are found inside the accompanying Halo app.