Adobe is working on a new feature that makes it possible to create composite images with just a few clicks. During its latest round of sneak peaks for experimental features, Adobe has showed off Project Clever Composites that uses AI and automation to quickly combine two images together. If you want a picture showing you standing in front of a tourist spot like the Eiffel Tower or the Leaning Tower of Pisa, you'd have to cut your photo out of an image and trim its edges. Then, after you paste it in front of the background you want, you still need to adjust the lighting, scale and color to make it blend seamlessly. Clever Composites can do all that on its own. 

Its AI can identify objects that can be used for composites, and it can automatically cut it out, as well as adjust its color and size, when you click the "Auto Compose" button. The AI can also automatically generate shadows for the object based on the background's lighting. There are also options to remove its "Auto Scale" and "Add Shadow" capabilities, though, if you want to do those on you own.

Another notable experimental feature is Project Blink, which can save you precious time when you're editing videos. The tool uses AI to make videos searchable using their transcripts, allowing you to look for "specific words, objects, sounds or even types of activities." After choosing the portion of the video you want to use, its AI will automatically create a new clip of that section. Blink is already in beta, and you can request for access on Adobe's website if you'd like to test it out. 

Meanwhile, Project All Of Me "un-crops" images by using AI to generate portions of the photo that aren't actually there. It simplifies creating bigger images out of smaller ones or generating the same photo from another angle. Adobe has also introduced a bunch of other features under development for videos and immersive content, including Project Artistic Scenes that uses AI to turn 2D artwork into 3D scenes. You can read about all of them on Adobe's blog or watch its MAX Sneaks event right here.

TikTok said it does not collect precise GPS location information from users in the US, which means it cannot be used to monitor people "in the way [Forbes] suggested." The app's communications team has tweeted that in response to a Forbes article claiming that a China-based team from its parent company, ByteDance, had planned to use the app to track "the personal location of some specific American citizens." It's unclear if information about those individuals had actually been collected.

Forbes reported that the team behind the monitoring project is part of ByteDance's Internal Audit and Risk Control department. The division is typically in charge of looking into potential misconduct by current and former company employees. But the publication said that the group intended to use TikTok to collect data about the location of a US citizen that had never been employed by the company in at least two cases. 

TikTok has fired back against the publication's allegations, accusing Forbes of omitting the part of its statement where it said that it doesn't collect precise GPS location. That portion "disproved the feasibility of [the piece's] core allegation," it explained. In addition, TikTok stressed that it has never been used to target members of the US government, public figures, activists and journalists and that it doesn't serve them content different from other users. In its report, Forbes wrote that TikTok "did not answer questions" about whether the internal audit team at ByteDance targeted members of those groups. 

As Forbes notes, TikTok previously made promises to American authorities and lawmakers in an effort to assuage their concerns that China could use the app against US citizens. In June, TikTok announced that it "changed the default storage location of US user data" to "Oracle cloud servers located in the US." The service made the announcement just as BuzzFeed News published a report about China-based ByteDance employees repeatedly accessing nonpublic data on TikTok users in the US. That report was based on hours of internal meetings that were leaked to the publication. 

A couple of weeks later, TikTok detailed its plans on how to ensure the security of US users' data in a letter sent to to lawmakers. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew assured them that the company will "delete US users' protected data from [its] own systems and fully pivot to Oracle cloud servers located in the US." Forbes talked to an Oracle spokesperson who said that while TikTok is currently using its cloud services, Oracle has no insight on what it's doing and that the service still has full control of all its information.

Google has detailed the new, recent and upcoming changes to its Messages app in an effort to advocate for the more widespread adoption of the RCS messaging protocol. Apple chief Tim Cook recently made clear that the company has no plans to fix the 'green bubbles' texting experience anytime soon, but Google's feature additions improve messaging interoperability between iOS and Android. Earlier this year, it rolled out an update for the Messages app that allowed it to display iMessage reactions as emoji. More recently, it launched the ability to react to SMS texts from iPhone users with emoji reactions, as well. 

To make navigating busy group chats easier, the app will soon let users respond to individual messages when RCS is enabled — they simply have to swipe on a particular message to reply. This will begin rolling out in the coming weeks. Google has expanded access to the Voice Message Transcription feature, as well, giving people who own a Pixel 6, Pixel 6A, Pixel 6 Pro, Samsung Galaxy S22 and the Galaxy Fold 4 the option to read the contents of a voice message instead. The feature auto-transcribes voice messages using machine learning and was only previously available for the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro.

Another new feature is the ability to add reminders from right within the Messages app. Users who set reminders for birthdays and anniversaries will even get a notification when they open the application. In addition, the app will now suggest "starring" a message to keep track of important information or scheduling Meet calls and creating Calendar events when appropriate.

Google has also given Messages an in-app YouTube player, so that users won't have to leave the application when someone sends them a link to a video on the platform. It's testing the capability that would allow users to chat with businesses on Search and Maps from within the application in some countries, as well. And for those flying United, take note that the tech giant has struck a deal with the airline to offer free messaging for passengers using United WiFi starting this fall. 

Finally, Google is updating its Messages, Phone and Contacts icons to "to better reflect today's modern messaging experience" and to better blend in with Google's other apps.

The remastered version of Alan Wake is now available on the Nintendo eShop, just in time for Halloween. It was initially released for Windows, PS4 and PS5, as well as Xbox One and Xbox X|S in October 2021. But in May this year, Remedy Entertainment’s creative director Sam Lake revealed that the cult classic will also be making its way to the Switch. Alan Wake Remastered, with all its DLCs, will set you back $30 / €30 / £25 on the eShop, but it's currently being sold with a launch discount of 20 percent. 

The game is a story-driven action adventure that follows a thriller novelist whose wife disappeared during a vacation in a small town. While he witnesses his wife being dragged into the lake by an unknown force, he loses consciousness and only wakes up a week after the incident. Wake then finds a manuscript he appears to have written, but which he has no memory of, with events that were coming true. Events, such as townspeople getting taken or possess by supernatural forces. 

The horror game will only be available as a digital download for the Switch, and the developer told us that it will not be releasing physical copies for the console. Remedy is also working on a sequel for the game, which will be released for the PC, Xbox Series X/S and the PS5 in 2023. The developer has yet to reveal its exact plot, but it released a teaser late last year that will give you a glimpse of the sequel's creepy setting.

Google has launched News Showcase in France, and it has teamed up with over 65 publishers representing over 130 publications for the program's expansion in the country. Now, users in France will see panels populated by articles from participating publications when they navigate to the News tab on Android, iOS or the web and in Discover on the mobile platforms. The tech giant says its partners include not just national outlets, but also regional and local ones, including 20 minutes, La Dépêche, L’Equipe, L'Express, Le Figaro, La Provence, Le Monde, Les Echos, Groupe EBRA and Le Parisien. 

In addition to showing a curated selection of headlines from partner outlets, Google is also making "a limited amount" of their paywalled content available to readers for free. The company is paying them for those paywalled articles as part of their licensing agreement. And since the deal would put the publications' content in front of more people, it could gain them more potential subscribers.

While Google's program partners praised News Showcase for helping them disseminate good and truthful information, the company didn't always have a great relationship with the media in France. In 2020, French regulators forced the tech giant to pay publishers for showing snippers their articles in search results after the company implemented the EU's new "Copyright Directive" law. Authorities said back then that the company "caused a serious and immediate harm to the press sector." Google initially removed news previews as a response, but it backtracked and started working with publishers instead. Earlier this year, the tech giant inked deals with over 300 publications across Europe to publish snippets of their stories in search.

SpaceX has revealed the official details of its Starlink satellite internet service for aviation, and it promises to deliver speeds of up to 350 Mbps for each airplane. Delta Chief Executive Ed Bastian admitted earlier this year that the airline conducted "exploratory tests" of Starlink's internet technology for its planes. Hawaiian Airlines also announced that it will start deploying Starlink internet with "select" aircraft in 2023 around the same time. Shortly after that and after launching Starlink for RVs, the Federal Communications Commission authorized the company to provide satellite internet services to vehicles.

Starlink Aviation, according to the company's FAQ page, will be available worldwide, as long as the plane equipped with its Aero Terminals has an unobstructed view of the sky. The service's satellites are moving in Low Earth Orbit, so there's almost always one or a few overhead. SpaceX says that means passengers will have consistent access to the internet, whether the plane is over land or water and even while it's taxiing or landing. 

If Starlink Aviation can truly deliver on SpaceX's promises, that would make it a lot faster than other satellite options that only offer speeds of up to 100 Mbps per plane at most. The company claims the service will allow passengers to do things they couldn't do so mid-flight, such as making video calls, playing online games and using VPN.

The service will initially be available for select airplanes, but the company plans on developing support for more airframes in the future. SpaceX intends to start deliveries for the Starlink Aviation Aero Terminal kits in 2023, so the first airlines to offer the service as an in-flight WiFi option will likely announce it in the coming months. 

All Mac users can now take DuckDuckGo's browser and its built-in privacy protections for a spin. The company first gave us a glimpse of its desktop web browser in December last year before launching it as a closed beta in April. Now, the beta browser is finally open to the public and can be downloaded — clicking this link will automatically load its DMG file — from DuckDuckGo's website. The company has also bundled the browser with new features, some of which were requested by testers who've been using it over the past few months. One new feature is the Duck Player, a YouTube player that prevents the website from serving the viewer targeted ads. 

While YouTube will still register a user's views, the videos they watch will not add any information to their advertising profile. The company says that had prevented most ads from showing up in videos during testing, but any ad that does pop up for viewers will not be personalized. Another new feature is integration with Bitwarden, an open-source password manager, on top of DuckDuckGo's own manager and support for 1Password's autofill feature. 

When it's switched on, DuckDuckGo's Email Protection can shield the user's inbox with email tracker blocking. The company has also upgraded its Cookie Consent Pop-Up Manager to be able to block more cookies on more websites. Other features that were added after testers requested them include the bookmarks bar, pinned tabs and a way to view locally stored browsing history.

We tried out the browser for Mac and found it easy and quick to import passwords and bookmarks from other browsers like Chrome. It loaded quickly, as well, and the Fire Button that can instantly clear browsing data with one click is easily accessible at the top right corner of the app. Those who try it out and find themselves wanting to see features that aren't available for the browser yet can simply click at the ellipsis (...) menu next to the URL box to send the company their feedback. 

To note, DuckDuckGo hasn't forgotten its Windows users. Its Windows browser is still in early friends and family beta, though the company is planning to make it available to more people through a private waitlist beta launch in the coming months.

Ikea has teamed up with Kodiak Robotics, a company that's working on self-driving technology for long-haul trucking, to test driverless deliveries from its warehouses. Since August this year, an autonomous heavy-duty Kodiak truck has been delivering furniture from an Ikea distribution center near Houston to a retail store near Dallas every single day. While the truck has a backup driver behind the wheel who's in charge of picking up the loaded trailer and of overseeing the delivery, the truck runs autonomously over long stretches of highway during its 300-mile, one-way journey.

With this partnership, Ikea is hoping to have a better grasp of how autonomous deliveries can make long-haul trips safer and could lead to better working conditions for truck drivers. While Kodiak's trucks aren't electric, it's worth noting that a previous study by the UC San Diego (PDF) using another company's vehicles show that autonomous trucks are around 10 percent more efficient than their traditional counterparts. According to Forbes, the two companies agreed to a three-month pilot program, but if it all goes well, they could sign a multi-year deal that would cater to a number of Ikea stores and warehouses. 

The Swedish home furniture brand also embraced other types of technological advances over the past few months. In June, it launched a new AI-powered app that can scan rooms using LIDAR so that it can create 3D replicas you can design with Ikea furniture. It also made EV owners feel more welcome by signing a deal to install Electrify America's fast chargers in more than 25 of its stores in the US.

You only have a bit over a week left to get Nothing's Ear 1 wireless earbuds for $100. Carl Pei, the company's founder and CEO, has announced on Twitter that Nothing is raising the Ear 1's price to $149 on October 26th due to increased costs. In follow-up tweets, Pei talked about how Nothing has expanded since it started developing the device. He revealed that the company had three engineers during the initial stages of the earbuds' development and had 185 a year later. Pei also said that Nothing has sold almost 600,000 Ear 1 units so far and that it had paved the way for the company's first smartphone, the Phone 1. The executive didn't say whether the company has any plan to raise the Phone 1's prices.

Nothing is but one of the tech companies raising the prices of its products due to inflation and the rising costs of components. Meta added $101 on top the Quest 2 VR headset's original price and is now selling the standalone device for $400. We praised it for being a steal at $299 in our review, but Meta explained in a blog post that the "costs to make and ship [its] products have been on the rise." Apple raised App Store prices across Europe and Asia, as well, and one possible reason is that the Euro is weak against the dollar. The tech giant is also selling its devices like the iPhone 14 Pro at much higher price points in Europe, most likely due to the same reason. 

Google has made Family Link's most used tools easier to find and use in the new interface it designed for the parental controls application. The new experience's Controls tab contains the tools parents can use to set screen time for each device and app, set content restrictions and to manage app data permissions. Google has also added a "Today Only" option, which lets parents set a screen time limit for one day without having to change the general setting. That way, they can easily allow kids to spend more time online if they're still doing their homework or are just a few minutes away from finishing the show they're watching. 

In the Location tab, they'll see their children's linked devices on a map and those devices' battery life. They can ring their kids' phones from there, as well, in case they get misplaced. And as a new feature, the app will now notify guardians when their kids arrive at or leave a specific location, such as their school, sports field or swimming pool. If they want to know how their kids have been using their apps and to see their current screen time usage or their latest app downloads, parents only need to navigate to the Highlights tab. 

Finally, tapping on the notification bell at the top of the app will show parents not just the latest updates, but also all the requests they get from their kids for app downloads and purchases. That's also where they can find their kids' request for access to websites they'd previously blocked. And to make Family Link more accessible, Google has made it available on the web, allowing guardians to use all those features even if they don't have their phone with them.

Google

The tech giant has also rolled out parent-managed watchlists for kid profiles on Google TV, which guardians can use to create a list for their kids right from their own profiles. Young viewers will now also get Google-powered recommendations when they're done with what they're watching. Parents worried that Google's algorithm would recommend titles they don't approve of can use the new "hide" button to hide anything they want in the Popular movies or TV shows lists. They simply have to hold the Select button on their remote and choose "hide." As for families with older kids, Google TV now has a supervised experience on the YouTube app that offers content settings for pre-teens and older children. All these features are coming to Chromecast with Google TV and Google TV-powered devices over the coming weeks.