Samsung launched its Music Frame speaker last month, and now it finally has its first Amazon sale running. A $23 coupon brings the device down to $375 from $398 — already $2 off its standard $400 retail price. All you need to do is apply the coupon at checkout, and you can get the Music Frame for a discount (though the deal is limited to one device per purchase).

Samsung first announced its Music Frame back in January at CES 2024 after years of success with its Frame TVs. The wireless speaker has two woofers, two tweeters and two mid-range drivers inside. It uses Samsung's SpaceFit to calibrate based on your room and is compatible with Dolby Atmos audio. Unlike other smart speakers (or Samsung's Frame TVs), the Music Frame actually requires a physical picture put inside it. It might seem a bit weird, given its digital nature, but it does help it blend in among other pictures better. You can connect the Music Frame to your television or phone and change the bezel color to better match its surroundings. 

We had a chance to see the Music Frame in action at the conference and found the speaker had a robust, clear sound quality with solid highs and mids. The bass was more restrained, but it wasn't clear whether that was due to the noisy environment. 

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There was a time when streamers wooed potential customers with the promise of an ad-free experience. In recent years, however, companies such as Netflix, Amazon, Disney and more have hiked up their prices and made an ad-supported tier the most affordable option. Now, Netflix is taking the next step towards becoming a de-facto ad tech company by moving its development in-house, according to The Hollywood Reporter. 

Netflix announced the shift during its upfront preview, in which the company also shared that its $7 per month ad-supported tier has 40 million monthly active users. The ad-supported plan is reportedly getting 40 percent of new signups, with it having 15 million users just six months ago, in November. 

The streaming company has relied heavily on Microsoft to reach this success, partnering with the tech giant in 2022 on advertising and sales. But, the training wheels are coming off with Netflix's choice to move things in house, a choice that "will allow us to power the ads plan with the same level of excellence that’s made Netflix the leader in streaming technology today," Netflix ads chief Amy Reinhard said. Microsoft will also no longer be Netflix's sole ad tech partner, as the streamer will start working with companies like Google’s Display & Video 360 and The Trade Desk later this summer. 

Meta is back in hot water for its methods (or lack thereof) for protecting children. The European Commission has launched formal proceedings to determine whether the owner of Facebook and Instagram has violated the Digital Services Act (DSA) by contributing to children's social media addiction and not ensuring they have high levels of safety and privacy.

The Commission's investigation will specifically examine whether Meta is properly assessing and acting against risks brought on by its platforms' interfaces. It's concerned about how their designs could "exploit the weaknesses and inexperience of minors and cause addictive behavior, and/or reinforce so-called 'rabbit hole' effect. Such an assessment is required to counter potential risks for the exercise of the fundamental right to the physical and mental well-being of children as well as to the respect of their rights."

The proceedings will also explore whether Meta takes necessary steps to prevent minors from accessing inappropriate content, has effective age-verification tools and minors have straightforward, strong privacy tools, such as default settings.

The DSA sets standards for very large online platforms and search engines (those with 45 million or more monthly users in the EU) like Meta. Obligations for designated companies include transparency about advertising and content moderation decisions, sharing their data with the Commission and looking into risks their systems pose related to areas such as gender-based violence, mental health and protection of minors.

Meta responded to the formal proceedings by pointing to features such as parental supervision settings, quiet mode and it automatically restricting content for teens. "We want young people to have safe, age-appropriate experiences online and have spent a decade developing more than 50 tools and policies designed to protect them. This is a challenge the whole industry is facing, and we look forward to sharing details of our work with the European Commission," a Meta spokesperson told Engadget.

However, Meta has continuously failed to prioritize the safety of young people. Previous alarming incidents include Instagram's algorithm suggesting content that features child sexual exploitation and claims that it designs its platforms to be addictive to young people while suggesting psychologically harmful content, such as the promotion of eating disorders and body dysmorphia.

Meta has also famously served as a hub of misinformation for people of all ages. The Commission already launched formal proceedings against the company on April 30 due to concerns around deceptive advertising, data access for researchers and the lack of an "effective third-party real-time civic discourse and election-monitoring tool" before June's European Parliament elections, among other concerns. Earlier this year, Meta announced that CrowdTangle, which has publicly shown how fake news and conspiracy theories move around Facebook and Instagram, would be completely shut down in August.

AI's capabilities are growing at tremendous speeds, and while that apparently warrants a ton of the United States' money for development, it doesn't seem to translate to a very obvious action: regulation. A bipartisan group of four senators, led by majority leader Chuck Schumer, have announced a legislative plan for AI that includes putting $32 billion towards research and development. But, it passes off the responsibility of devising regulatory measures around areas such as job eliminations, discrimination and copyright infringement to Senate committees. 

“It’s very hard to do regulations because AI is changing too quickly,” Schumer said in an interview published by The New York Times. Yet, in March, the European Parliament approved wide-ranging legislation for regulating AI that manages the obligations of AI applications based on what risks and effects they could bring. The European Union said it hopes to "protect fundamental rights, democracy, the rule of law and environmental sustainability from high-risk AI, while boosting innovation and establishing Europe as a leader in the field." 

Schumer seems to disagree with finding that balance, instead stating in the interview that investment into AI research and development "is sort of the American way — we are more entrepreneurial." 

For absolutely no reason at all and clearly not to hypothesize on reasons he avoided regulations, if you didn't know, one of Schumer's daughters works as a senior policy manager for Amazon, and the other one has worked for Meta (it's unclear if she still does). Furthermore, in May 2022, the New York Post reported that over 80 of Schumer's former employees held jobs in Big Tech at places such as Google and Apple.

This might come as a shock to you but the things people put on social media aren't always truthful — really blew your mind there, right? Due to this, it can be challenging for people to know what's real without context or expertise in a specific area. That's part of why many platforms use a fact-checking team to keep an eye (often more so look like they're keeping an eye) on what's getting shared. Now, Threads is getting its own fact-checking program, Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram and de-facto person in charge at Threads, announced. He first shared the company's plans to do so in December. 

Mosseri stated that Threads "recently" made it so that Meta's third-party fact-checkers could review and rate any inaccurate content on the platform. Before the shift, Meta was having fact-checks conducted on Facebook and Instagram and then matching "near-identical false content" that users shared on Threads. However, there's no indication of exactly when the program started or if it's global.

Then there's the matter of seeing how effective it really can be. Facebook and Instagram already had these dedicated fact-checkers, yet misinformation has run rampant across the platforms. Ahead of the 2024 Presidential election — and as ongoing elections and conflicts happen worldwide — is it too much to ask for some hardcore fact-checking from social media companies?

The Google I/O event is here, and the company is announcing lots of great updates for your Android device. As we heard earlier, Gemini Nano is getting multimodal support, meaning your Android will still process text but with a better understanding of other factors like sights, sounds and spoken language. Now Google has shared that the new tool is also coming to it's TalkBack feature.

TalkBack is an existing tool that reads aloud a description of an image, whether it's one you captured or from the internet. Gemini Nano's multimodal support should provide a more detailed understanding of the image. According to Google, TalkBack users encounter about 90 images each day that don't have a label. Gemini Nano should be able to provide missing information, such as what an item of clothing looks like or the details of a new photo sent by a friend. 

Gemini Nano works directly on a person's device, meaning it should still function properly without any network connection. While we don't yet have an exact date for when it will arrive, Google says TalkBack will get Gemini Nano's updated features later this year.

Catch up on all the news from Google I/O 2024 right here!

Your experience while taking a flight comes down to many random factors, including who sits next to you. Your seatmate has plenty of ways to bother you — you've lived them, we don't need to remind you how — but now there's a whole new option. Meta has announced a new feature called Travel Mode for its Quest 2 and 3 headsets that lets people use the devices while on a plane.

Meta claims it has "specially tuned" its algorithms, so the experience remains stable, even if you direct it out the window. Users can try Travel Mode out for themselves by visiting the experimental features section in settings. They can quickly turn the feature on and off in quick settings and should also get a prompt to activate it while flying on some airlines — though Meta doesn't specify which ones.

In general, if someone is traveling on a flight with Wi-Fi, then they can access entertainment like movies, games, and messages, but, as Meta's photo indicates, it definitely could go into the next person's space (or at least mean their seatmate is flailing their arms all around. However, Meta is also partnering with Lufthansa to offer Quest 3 headsets with custom content and entertainment on select flights' Business Class Suites. As usual, getting any dedicated space on a plane costs a lot of money. 

Interestingly, Meta decided to introduce Travel Mode on planes and not something more stable (read: moving on the ground), but it plans to expand the feature to trains and other modes of transportation.

The United States is taking additional measures to quash China’s influence on its economy. The White House has announced a tremendous increase in tariffs on $18 billion worth of Chinese imports, including semiconductors, steel, aluminum and EVs. The latter’s tariff is set to increase fourfold, from 25 percent to 100 percent—a move that the White House claims “will protect American manufacturers.” The announcement further reported that China’s EV exports grew 70 percent between 2022 and 2023.

Other tariff increases, such as the jumps from 25 percent to 50 percent for semiconductors and solar cells, are also significant. Then there are batteries, which are getting a tariff raise from 7.5 percent to 25 percent. Medical products are also a part of this hike, with tariffs on needles and syringes increasing from zero percent to 50 percent.

The Biden administration stresses that American companies need a real shot at competing against Chinese imports. “China’s unfair trade practices concerning technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation are threatening American businesses and workers. China is also flooding global markets with artificially low-priced exports,” the White House stated in a release. Biden’s decision builds on tariffs implemented by his predecessor and current election opponent, Donald Trump.

Things are really changing over at Apple with the announcement of a new M4 iPad Pro and M2 iPad Air. The company has also discontinued the ninth-generation iPad and cut the price of its 10th-generation model to $349. While that was exciting on its own, Apple's 10th-gen iPad is now available for an even better deal on Amazon: $334. The discount brings Apple's 64GB base model to a new record-low price.

The 10th-gen iPad is becoming Apple's cheapest option on the market and it's a solid product. We gave it an 85 in our review when it debuted in 2022 thanks to updates like a USB-C charging port and a redesign that made it more comparable to the iPad Air. It also has a landscape-mode front-facing camera so you can join video calls without being awkwardly vertical on people's screens. 

Apple's most affordable iPad also has a 10-hour battery estimate but lasted 11 hours and 45 minutes for us when playing a movie pushed from iTunes — though gaming or other active use would shorten the amount of time it works between charges. This iPad also has a 10.9-inch screen, compared to it's predecessors 10.2-inches. Plus, it uses an A14 chip (the same one as in an iPhone 12). 

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It's no secret that MacBooks can cost you a pretty penny, which is why we're excited to see that our favorite budget Macbook has dropped to a new all-time low price. Apple's 2022 Macbook Air is currently available for $829, down from $999 – $20 lower than ever before. The deal is running the 256GB model in all colors but doesn't include AppleCare+.

We've been a huge fan of Apple's 2022 MacBook Air from the start, calling it a "near-perfect Mac" when it first launched, and, despite new arrivals since, it's still an excellent option for a well-made, everyday laptop. We gave it a 96 in our review thanks to its thinner look and an impressive 13.6-inch high-quality screen. The MacBook Air also comes with an M2 chip, and despite Apple's new foray into an M4 chip with the iPad Pro, it's still a fast-performing, great option.

This model was also the first MacBook Air to get rid of the wedge design and get the more uniform, sleek look of its more expensive sibling, the MacBook Pro. Other perks include a great quad-speaker system that works with Dolby Atmos and Spatial Audio and a three-mic array for better sound quality during video chats.

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