Eight TikTok creators are suing the US government in an effort to block a law requiring TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell the service or face a US-wide ban. The lawsuit claims the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act is unconstitutional because it violates the First Amendment rights of the creators who depend on the platform.
TikTok has already filed its own lawsuit against the government, but according to The Washington Post, the company is “covering” the legal fees for this separate suit too. ByteDance has money.
But will it work? Maybe? A group of TikTok creators sued Montana over an attempted statewide ban last year. And that ban never happened.
The company is making it easier to use your gaze to navigate iOS and iPadOS.
Coinciding with Global Accessibility Awareness Day, this week, Apple is bringing eye-tracking support to recent models of iPhones and iPads (with an A12 chip), as well as customizable vocal shortcuts, music haptics, vehicle motion cues and more.
With eye tracking enabled, people can look at their screen to move through apps and menus, then linger on an item to select it. That pause to select action is called Dwell Control, which has already been available on Macs. There are also new vocal shortcuts and music haptics for Apple Music.
Xbox is also expanding its accessibility with the Proteus Controller, a modular gamepad created by peripheral company ByoWave. The controller is a group of palm-sized cubes connected in a variety of configurations, with interchangeable buttons and controller faceplates. This means players can set up the Proteus Controller in myriad ways: in one hand, flat on a desktop or as part of a traditional gamepad with palm grips. The Proteus Controller is available for pre-order now at a discounted price of $255. It’s expected to ship in the fall.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-in-a-bid-to-stop-ban-tiktok-creators-are-suing-the-us-government-111555478.html?src=rss
Soon, AT&T subscribers will have the option to ensure that they have access to cell service even in typical dead zones, like deep inside national parks or far-flung rural locations. The mobile carrier has been working with AST SpaceMobile since 2018 under a Memorandum of Understanding, helping the latter test two-way audio calls, texts and video calls via satellites in space using ordinary smartphones. Now, the companies have entered a definitive commercial agreement, which means AT&T is getting close to offering subscribers the capability to transform their regular phones into legit satellite devices.
Phones need to be close enough to cell towers to be able to get any sort of service. That's why people aren't usually able to call their families, or even text them, when they're in a forest or in the mountains. AT&T's satellite-to-phone service will use satellites as cell towers, and since they're placed in orbit, they're able to provide connectivity even in remote areas.
The companies have reached an agreement just in time for a rocket launch this summer that will ferry five commercial AST satellites to space. Those satellites will enable AT&T to roll out its service and are just the first ones in the company's planned constellation. Unfortunately, AT&T has yet to reveal a specific rollout date for the service, and it's also unclear if it will charge extra for the capability.
Last year, AT&T wrote the FCC to raise concerns about a similar satellite-to-phone technology T-Mobile and SpaceX's Starlink are working on. The two companies formed an alliance in 2022, promising to provide users with a service that they'll be able to access even if they're in the middle of the ocean. SpaceX launched the first Starlink satellites with direct-to-cell service capability in January 2024, and the companies sent and received the first text messages via T-Mobile using the satellites a week later. The carrier said it's planning to offer satellite-based texting to the public sometime this year.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/att-deal-will-make-every-phone-a-satellite-phone-101351590.html?src=rss
Fujifilm has unveiled the X-T50 APS-C mirrorless camera, a long-awaited follow-up to the consumer-friendly X-T30 and X-T30 II. The new model retains key features from the past model, including the light weight and generous manual controls. At the same time, it adds a higher-resolution 40.2-megapixel sensor, 6.2K 30p video and other features from the X-T5 and other recent models. However, it also has a much higher price than the X-T30 and unusual new dial that may prove controversial.
The X-T50 looks similar to the X-T30 II, with a relatively slim and light 438 gram (15.45 ounce) body, just a bit heavier than before. However, in place of the shooting mode dial on the previous model, Fujifilm introduced a dedicated film simulation dial with eight preset modes (Acros, Nostalgic Negative, Classic Neg and others), three custom slots for other built-in simulations and a custom slot for user-designed simulations.
The company likely believes that sales of the X100 V and VI took off due to the popularity of film simulations with the TikTok and influencer set. However, users may find that it's more of a hassle to change shooting modes (burst, single-shot etc.) than before.
Fujifilm
One key feature missing from the X-T30 was in-body stabilization, but with the X-T50, Fujifilm has introduced a five-axis system with seven stops of shake reduction that hardly adds any weight. That will make it a much better tourism and street photography camera, as handheld shooting is possible at shutter speeds down to 1/4th of a second or so. It will also make the X-T50 far more useful for video.
Unfortunately, the rear 1.8-million-dot display still only flips up/down and not out, so it's not going to be great for vlogging. Another feature carried over is the NP-W126S battery (about half the power of the battery in the X-T5), which is pretty small considering the higher-resolution sensor and upgraded video capabilities.
With the same sensor as the X-T5, X-H2 and X100 VI, you can expect similar image quality and speeds, up to 13 fps bursts with the electronic shutter. Autofocus performance is likely to be in line with the X100 VI, which is to say, pretty good but not great. The main attraction, Fujifilm hopes, will be the film simulations that let creators take Instagram-ready shots straight out of the camera.
Fujifilm
Like the X-100 VI, the X-T50 is surprisingly competent at video as well, with 6.2K at up to 30p and 10-bit F-Log2 on tap. That's why, again, it's a shame that it doesn't have a flip-out screen as vloggers and content creators may prefer the form factor and interchangeable lenses over the X100 VI.
Fujifilm also introduced the Fujinon XF16-50mmF2.8-4.8 R LM WR (24-75 or so in full-frame terms). It's a compact, lightweight and decently fast kit zoom that should be ideal for the X-T50. Though it costs $700 by itself, it's a much better deal if purchased in a kit.
The X-T50 is now on pre-order for $1,400 (body only), or $1,800 with the XF16-50mm. That's a hefty $500 more than the X-T30 II cost at launch, and just a few hundred dollars less than the X-T5. I'm not sure that the extra features justify such a large jump, but Fujifilm must be confident that people will pay it, given the runaway success of the X100 series.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/fujifilms-x-t50-has-a-special-dial-for-film-simulations-060043643.html?src=rss
Fujifilm’s successor to the GFX 100S, its 2021 medium format camera with terrific performance but slow speeds, is the aptly named GFX 100S II. The new model is $1,000 cheaper, smaller, lighter and has (shocker) AI features to improve its autofocus, one of our gripes with its predecessor.
The Fujifilm GFX 100S II uses a 102MP high-speed sensor and the X-Processor 5 processing engine. The company says its medium format sensor is about 1.7 times larger than a 35mm full-frame sensor. Its body weighs around 883g (including the battery and memory card), making it the lightest in the lineup.
The camera has “enhanced” in-body image stabilization, allowing for a maximum of eight-stop, five-axis performance. This could boost its image quality when using longer exposure times.
Fujifilm says it improved the sensor’s pixel layout design, enabling a standard sensitivity of ISO80. “When the sensor sensitivity is set at ISO80, the camera can capture images at greater dynamic range and lower noise than with the previous model” when shooting in 16-bit RAW mode, the company wrote in a press release. This should lead to better low-light performance, autofocus accuracy and overall image quality.
The camera’s sensor has an improved micro-lens design, increasing light use efficiency at its edges. Fujifilm says this gives it better image quality and autofocus accuracy around the edges than its predecessor.
Fujifilm
Like nearly every other bit of recent tech gear, Fujifilm is using AI in its products — in this case, AI-based subject detection. Fujifilm says it can automatically recognize animals, birds, cars, motorcycles, bicycles, airplanes, trains, insects, and drones and focus accordingly. The company claims its improved autofocus predictive algorithm and a continuous shooting speed of up to seven FPS make it better at tracking high-speed subjects. Autofocus was one of our nitpicks in Engadget’s review of the GFX 100S, so we’ll be curious to see if those claims hold up in practice.
On the video front, the new camera supports 4K / 30P 4:2:2 10bit videos (for more precise color reproduction) when using its internal SD card. It’s equipped with the F-Log 2 profile for improved dynamic range. Its compatibility is boosted by supporting Apple ProRes, but only when using an external solid-state drive connected via USB-C.
The Fujifilm GFX 100S II costs $4,999, or €5,499 in Europe. That’s cheaper than the $7,500 GFX 100 II, trading some extra video perks for less of a hit on the wallet. You can order it on Friday from Fujifilm’s website.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/fujifilms-medium-frame-gfx-100s-ii-is-lighter-cheaper-and-ai-enhanced-060037826.html?src=rss
PPSSPP, an app that's capable of emulating PSP games, has joined the growing number of retro game emulators on the iOS App Store. The program has been around for almost 12 years, but prior to this, you could only install it on your device through workarounds. "Thanks to Apple for relaxing their policies, allowing retro games console emulators on the store," its developer Henrik Rydgård wrote in his announcement. If you'll recall, Apple updated its developer guidelines in early April, and since then, the company has approved an app that can emulate Game Boy and DS games and another that can play PS1 titles.
Rydgård's app is free to download, but as he told The Verge, there's $5 gold version coming, as well. While the paid version of PPSSPP for Android does have some extra features, it's mostly available so that you can support his work. At the moment, the emulator you can download from the App Store doesn't support Magic Keyboard for the iPad, because he originally enabled compatibility using an undocumented API. Retro Achievements is also currently unavailable. Rydgård said they'll be re-added in future updates.
The emulator's other versions support the Just-in-time (JIT) compiler, which optimizes code to make it run more smoothly on a particular platform. However, the one on the App Store doesn't and will not ever support it unless Apple changes its rules. Rydgård says iOS devices are "generally fast enough" to run almost all PSP games at full speed, though, so you may not notice much of a difference. Of course, the PPSSPP program only contains the emulator itself — you're responsible for finding games you can play on the app, since Apple will not allow developers to upload games they don't own the rights to.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sony-psp-emulator-ppsspp-hits-the-ios-app-store-052506248.html?src=rss
Threads is inching closer to becoming an actually useful source for real-time news and updates. The app is finally rolling out the ability to search posts in order of recency, after testing the feature last month.
“In an effort to make it easier to find timely, relevant content on Threads, we’re introducing a Recent tab for your searches,” Instagram’s Adam Mosseri wrote in an update. “Search results here are still evaluated for quality, but you can now see them in chronological order.”
The change has been a long requested one from users hoping Meta’s app will one day be a source of breaking news and real-time information the way that Twitter historically functioned. Being able to search for topics and keywords and find the most recent results is key to finding up-to-date details and commentary about breaking news, sports and anything else happening in real time.
On the other hand, Meta has also made it clear that it would prefer “news” to not be what Threads is known for. Mosseri has said he doesn’t want to “encourage” hard news on Threads and the company actively discourages political content. Threads’ default “for you” algorithm is also known for surfacing days-old posts, random personal stories and other content that’s not exactly timely.
It’s also worth pointing out that Threads’ new recency filter in search is not the same as the “latest” search filter on X. As Mosseri noted in his post, Meta still hides an unknown number of posts in search results that have been “evaluated for quality,” so Threads search will never surface all of the posts containing your search terms. But being able to at least find posts that aren’t a few days old should make looking for timely information a lot less frustrating.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/threads-search-will-finally-be-usable-with-recent-tab-rollout-202054011.html?src=rss
Just over three years ago, Ubisoft announced The Division Heartland, a free-to-play entry in its survival-action shooter series. At the time, it suggested that Heartland would arrive later in 2021 or in 2022, but that never happened. In fact, Heartland isn't coming out at all.
In its quarterly earnings report, Ubisoft said it ended development of the game, which Red Storm Entertainment, a studio that author Tom Clancy co-founded, was working on. Ubisoft is shifting resources to what it calls "bigger opportunities," including other aspects of the Clancyverse in XDefiant and the Rainbow Six series.
Ubisoft canceled a number of games over the last couple of years to try and streamline its pipeline and reduce costs. It noted that it had reduced its headcount by more than 1,700 workers over 18 months to have 19,011 employees at the end of March.
The company also provided an update on its overarching strategy. It plans to focus on two core pillars: open=world titles (like Assassin's Creed Shadows and Star Wars Outlaws) and ongoing live-service games (XDefiant and Rainbow Six Siege). That's where Ubisoft sees room for growth, so expect more Far Cry and Ghost Recon titles in the coming years.
As for the more immediate future, we'll find out the latest about the likes of AC Shadows, Star Wars Outlaws, Rainbow Six Mobile (which should finally arrive in September), The Division Resurgence and XDefiant at Ubisoft Forward on June 10.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ubisofts-planned-free-to-play-division-game-is-dead-200334383.html?src=rss
Google I/O isn’t the only tech-adjacent event this week. Uber just held its annual GO-GET event and announced a whole bunch of new features coming to the rideshare platform/taxi app/whatever you wanna call it. Much of this news concerns shuttles and expanded ride sharing options, specifically a new option called Uber Shuttle.
This lets users reserve up to five seats up to seven days in advance for transportation to and from major events like concerts and basketball games, though it's also available for trips to the airport. The company brags that this feature is particularly budget-friendly, noting that each rider will pay “a fraction of the price of an UberX.” The company promises that these rides will not be impacted by surge pricing. It’s also worth noting that these shuttles are only for events listed in the app, which is kind of a bummer.
Uber has partnered with Live Nation to bring these shuttles to certain venues throughout the summer, including Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium and Charlotte’s PNC Pavilion. These Uber Shuttles won’t be your typical Nissan Sentra or Toyota Camry. They are actual shuttles that hold anywhere from 14 to 55 occupants. The company says each driver will be commercially licensed to operate a large transport vehicle.
Rideshare companies have been trying to crack the "rebranded bus" for a while now. Uber tried something in 2015, called Uber Hop, which was meant to group more riders together who are on a similar route. It didn't last, but Uber Pool shared rides were a thing for years until the pandemic. This time, Uber's effort is strictly targeted at events, trying to fill a gap that exists in places where public transportation to and from venues isn't terribly efficient thanks to our country's reliance on cars.
GO-GET wasn't just about shuttles with a fresh coat of Silicon Valley paint. UberX Share, the company's replacement for Uber Pool that launched in 2023, is getting a new feature that lets users schedule shared rides in advance to save a bit of money. The company notes that an average rider should save around 25 percent per ride using this tool when compared to a regular trip with UberX.
It says this is “perfect for commutes,” as the company has seen data that rides during traditional commuting hours have shot up recently. Uber also says its “intentionally launching this new offering in cities that have experienced some of the highest rates of employees returning to office.” This includes New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, San Diego and Atlanta, with more locations to be added in the near future.
The company also announced Uber Caregiver, which lets people book rides for loved ones to doctors appointments and the like. Eventually, you'll also be able to use it to get things like groceries or over-the-counter medication delivered as well. If you're caring for someone, they can add you in their Uber app as a designated Caregiver, which then gives you the option to do things like booking a ride. Uber says you'll also be able to apply insurance benefits — so if the person you're caring for is on a program that provides a set number of rides to a medical services center, for example, those things can be applied in the app to save you out-of-pocket cash. Caregiver will roll out this summer, starting with ride booking options.
Uber
Food delivery platform Uber Eats is getting a couple of updates. The company has added Costco to its lineup of retail delivery offerings. Costco members will not only get stuff delivered, but should get an additional discount on top of membership privileges. Finally, Uber Eats Lists is a new way for people to decide on what to nosh on. This allows users to peruse restaurant recommendations from friends and local foodies. Uber says this “makes it easy to explore a new city or switch up your go-tos.” The service launches in July in NYC and Chicago, with more cities to come.
Regular Uber users should look out for these features throughout the summer, though not if they live in Minneapolis. Uber’s pulling up stakes after the city council voted to increase driver pay. It would rather leave a bustling metropolis than abide by a slight pay increase. After all, the idea of fair pay could spread and infect the innocent minds of Uber drivers everywhere. Long live the totally healthy and normal gig economy.
Correction, May 15 2024, 2:45PM ET: This story has been updated to correct information about Uber Caregiver and to clarify that surge pricing does not apply to the Uber Shuttle service. The headline has also been updated.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/uber-will-soon-let-you-reserve-a-shuttle-to-get-home-from-a-big-concert-or-ballgame-160727564.html?src=rss
At the end of I/O, Google’s annual developer conference at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, Google CEO Sundar Pichai revealed that the company had said “AI” 121 times. That, essentially, was the crux of Google’s two-hour keynote — stuffing AI into every Google app and service used by more than two billion people around the world. Here are all the major updates from Google's big event, along with some additional announcements that came after the keynote.
Gemini 1.5 Flash and updates to Gemini 1.5 Pro
Google
Google announced a brand new AI model called Gemini 1.5 Flash, which it says is optimised for speed and efficiency. Flash sits between Gemini 1.5 Pro and Gemini 1.5 Nano, which its the company’s smallest model that runs locally on device. Google said that it created Flash because developers wanted a lighter and less expensive model than Gemini Pro to build AI-powered apps and services while keeping some of the things like a long context window of one million tokens that differentiates Gemini Pro from competing models. Later this year, Google will double Gemini’s context window to two million tokens, which means that it will be able to process two hours of video, 22 hours of audio, more than 60,000 lines of code or more than 1.4 million words at the same time.
Project Astra
Google
Google showed off Project Astra, an early version of a universal assistant powered by AI that Google’s DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis said was Google’s version of an AI agent “that can be helpful in everyday life.”
In a video that Google says was shot in a single take, an Astra user moves around Google’s London office holding up their phone and pointing the camera at various things — a speaker, some code on a whiteboard, and out a window — and has a natural conversation with the app about what it seems. In one of the video’s most impressive moments, the correctly tells the user where she left her glasses before without the user ever having brought up the glasses.
The video ends with a twist — when the user finds and wears the missing glasses, we learn that they have an onboard camera system and are capable of using Project Astra to seamlessly carry on a conversation with the user, perhaps indicating that Google might be working on a competitor to Meta’s Ray Ban smart glasses.
Ask Google Photos
Google
Google Photos was already intelligent when it came to searching for specific images or videos, but with AI, Google is taking things to the next level. If you’re a Google One subscriber in the US, you will be able to ask Google Photos a complex question like “show me the best photo from each national park I’ve visited" when the feature rolls out over the next few months. Google Photos will use GPS information as well as its own judgement of what is “best” to present you with options. You can also ask Google Photos to generate captions to post the photos to social media.
Veo and Imagen 3
Google
Google’s new AI-powered media creation engines are called Veo and Imagen 3. Veo is Google’s answer to OpenAI’s Sora. It can produce “high-quality” 1080p videos that can last “beyond a minute”, Google said, and can understand cinematic concepts like a timelapse.
Imagen 3, meanwhile, is a text-to-image generator that Google claims handles text better than its previous version, Imagen 2. The result is the company’s highest quality” text-to-image model with “incredible level of detail” for “photorealistic, lifelike images” and fewer artifacts — essentially pitting it against OpenAI’s DALLE-3.
Big updates to Google Search
Google
Google is making big changes to how Search fundamentally works. Most of the updates announced today like the ability to ask really complex questions (“Find the best yoga or pilates studios in Boston and show details on their intro offers and walking time from Beacon Hill.”) and using Search to plan meals and vacations won’t be available unless you opt in to Search Labs, the company’s platform that lets people try out experimental features.
But a big new feature that Google is calling AI Overviews and which the company has been testing for a year now, is finally rolling out to millions of people in the US. Google Search will now present AI-generated answers on top of the results by default, and the company says that it will bring the feature to more than a billion users around the world by the end of the year.
Gemini on Android
Google
Google is integrating Gemini directly into Android. When Android 15 releases later this year, Gemini will be aware of the app, image or video that you’re running, and you’ll be able to pull it up as an overlay and ask it context-specific questions. Where does that leave Google Assistant that already does this? Who knows! Google didn’t bring it up at all during today’s keynote.
WearOS 5 battery life improvements
Google isn't quite ready to roll out the latest version of it smartwatch OS, but it is promising some major battery life improvements when it comes. The company said that Wear OS 5 will consume 20 percent less power than Wear OS 4 if a user runs a marathon. Wear OS 4 already brought battery life improvements to smartwatches that support it, but it could still be a lot better at managing a device's power. Google also provided developers with a new guide on how to conserve power and battery, so that they can create more efficient apps.
Android 15 anti-theft features
Android 15's developer preview may have been rolling for months, but there are still features to come. Theft Detection Lock is a new Android 15 feature that will use AI (there it is again) to predict phone thefts and lock things up accordingly. Google says its algorithms can detect motions associated with theft, like those associated with grabbing the phone and bolting, biking or driving away. If an Android 15 handset pinpoints one of these situations, the phone’s screen will quickly lock, making it much harder for the phone snatcher to access your data.
Catch up on all the news from Google I/O 2024 right here!
Update May 15, 2:45PM ET: This story was updated after being published to include details on new Android 15 and WearOS 5 announcements made following the I/O 2024 keynote.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-io-2024-everything-revealed-including-gemini-ai-android-15-and-more-210414423.html?src=rss
The Shark AI robot vacuum and mop combo unit has dropped to a record low of $230 at Amazon. This is a massive discount of 52 percent, which knocks nearly $250 off the price. It does look to be one of those deals that ends when the stock runs out, so you might want to act quickly instead of popping it on your wishlist.
This is a version of our very favorite robot vacuum. The only difference between this robovac and the one that took the top spot is that this edition doesn’t come with a self-emptying base. That model, however, is also currently on sale for $370.
If you can get over the absence of the base, the Shark AI vacuum is a fantastic cleaning partner. It ticks all of the boxes. The suction power is fantastic, the obstacle avoidance is on point and it works with voice assistants like Alexa. It’s also a great mop, cleaning hard surfaces with 100 scrubs per minute.
We also enjoyed using the mobile app, which easily creates accurate maps of your space. The app can also be used to operate the vacuum when not at home, so you can return from work to find a freshly-cleaned living area. You can even set “no-go” zones for the robot to avoid, so it won’t mop carpet. The best robot vacuums are the ones that do their job without requiring constant surveillance, and this lil robovac consistently manages to get itself out of tight spots to continue cleaning. The AI in the name refers to obstacle avoidance.
There’s only one major downside, besides the lack of a base. This robovac/mop hybrid can get pretty loud when vacuuming, so you may want to schedule the book club meeting for somewhere else. Other than that, this is pretty much the perfect mid-range robot vacuum.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-shark-ai-robot-vacuum-and-mop-drops-to-a-record-low-of-230-at-amazon-184259470.html?src=rss
