ChatGPT went offline and temporarily became inaccessible on Monday after some users discovered that they could see the titles of other people's chat histories. People posted screenshots of their ChatGPT UI on social networks like Reddit and Twitter, showing sidebars populated with chats they said weren't theirs. While they could only see the titles and not the entirety of other people's conversations, the incident still highlights the need to be mindful when it comes with sharing details with or writing up questions for the chatbot. 

An OpenAI spokesperson told Bloomberg that the company temporarily disabled ChatGPT after it became aware of these reports. Apparently, a bug in an open source software that the company has yet to name had caused the issue, but OpenAI is still investigating to figure out what triggered it exactly.

Based on the company's incident report, it shut down ChatGPT on Monday morning and then fully restored the service 10 hours later after rolling out a fix. As of this writing, though, chat histories are still unavailable. OpenAI posted a note saying as much on the sidebar, along with an assurance that it's "working to restore this feature as soon as possible." The company has not announced an ETA for the feature's restoration. 

Microsoft could launch an Xbox store on iOS and Android as early as next year, according to a Financial Times interview with Phil Spencer. Microsoft first revealed it was working on an Xbox store for mobile devices in a document filed with the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) last year. The head of the company’s gaming division said the plan depends on regulators approving Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. “The Digital Markets Act (DMA) that’s coming – those are the kinds of things that we are planning for,” he said. “I think it’s a huge opportunity.”

Under the DMA, major platforms the European Union designates as “gatekeepers” will be required to open their devices to competing app stores. Bloomberg reported last year that Apple was already preparing to make iOS compliant with this legislation ahead of its March 2024 deadline. Spencer also noted in the interview it would be “pretty trivial” for Microsoft to adapt its existing Xbox and Game Pass apps to sell games and subscriptions through mobile devices.

– 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.

The biggest stories you might have missed

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Amazon will lay off another 9,000 employees in the coming weeks

LG’s iridescent 2023 Gram Style laptops start at $1,499

Samsung's expanded OLED TV lineup includes a new lower-priced series

Acer is making an e-bike

Because why not?

Acer

Acer is making a serious left turn. Typically known for its PCs, laptops and accessories, the company has revealed the ebii, an e-bike for cities, with AI features that learn riders' personal preferences and change gears depending on road conditions. It's about 35 pounds, making it lighter than most e-bikes. Acer claims it has a maximum assist speed of 20MPH and can go just under 70 miles on one charge. For now, there’s no date or price.

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Kamado Joe's new ceramic grill has smart features and one-button ignition

A true ceramic grill with two big upgrades.

Ceramic kamado-style grills have been some of the best grilling gear available for backyard cooks for a long time. However, it takes practice to master lighting them and maintain cooking temperatures. But the new Konnected Joe has a push-button charcoal igniter to get the grill going and a digitally controlled fan system to keep the heat level where you need it. The 18-inch diameter cooking surface gives you enough room for 13 burgers, four whole chickens or two pork butts, the latter being my new favorite unit of measure for area.

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Netflix plans to add roughly 40 more titles to its mobile game library this year

The 'Monument Valley' series will hit the service in 2024.

Netflix continues to build up an incredible library of mobile games that (surprisingly) aren’t awful. Maybe because it’s been buying established titles – and developers. Apparently, Netflix is just getting started and plans to add around 40 more games throughout the year. The company has revealed a few of those titles, including reverse city-builder Terra Nil (March 28th) and Paper Trail, in which you fold parts of the world to solve puzzles. Netflix has also struck a deal with Ubisoft for three exclusive games.

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The next-gen Digits robot gets a head and hands

The updated model can haul more weight and reach farther.

Digits

Agility Robotics announced an updated version of its bipedal Digits warehouse robot. Designed to take on repetitive or injury-risking tasks, the new version adds a head (with LED animated eyes) and hands, and it can handle a wider variety of demanding workloads than its predecessor. The company is opening applications for spots in its Agility Partner Program (APP), which will be the only place to purchase them initially. Pricing has yet to be announced, but the first units should ship in early 2024.

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8BitDo game controllers now work with Apple devices

Six models are compatible now, and more are incoming.

8BitDo, makers of some of our favorite (and well-priced) smartphone gamepads, has confirmed its controllers now officially support iPhones, iPads and Macs, thanks to firmware upgrades and Apple's recent iOS 16.3, iPadOS 16.3, tvOS 16.3 and macOS 13.2 updates. The compatibility is limited to the Lite SE, Pro, Pro 2, SN30 Pro+, SN30 Pro for Android and Ultimate Controller 2.4g, but more models are "incoming."

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As TikTok gears up for its latest fight to not get banned in the United States, the company is again trying to increase transparency around how it operates. TikTok revealed an updated set of community guidelines, the sweeping set of rules that dictates what creators are allowed to post on its platform. The changes come just days ahead of CEO Shou Zi Chew’s first-ever Congressional appearance, where he will be grilled about allegations TikTok is a threat to national security.

The company has been on a charm offensive to fend off these claims, and has recently made efforts to demystify its algorithm, policies and moderation practices. Likewise, the newly updated community guidelines, set to take effect next month, contain more details about the platform’s rules and how it enforces them.

Though TikTok calls it “the most comprehensive updates to our Community Guidelines to date,” many of the actual changes are tweaks to existing policies rather than completely new or rewritten guidelines. One notable exception is that the new guidelines include an entire section dedicated to AI-generated and “synthetic media.” While the company first came out with rules banning misleading manipulated media ahead of the 2020 presidential election, the updated guidelines are much more explicit about how Ai-generated content can be used on the platform.

“Synthetic media or manipulated [media] that shows realistic scenes must be clearly disclosed,” the new guidelines state, “This can be done through the use of a sticker or caption, such as ‘synthetic,’ ‘fake,’ ‘not real,’ or ‘altered.’” The rules also note that synthetic media of “any real private figure” is prohibited and that AI generated content showing public figures, like a celebrity, cannot be used for political or commercial endorsements.

Of course, TikTok is facing much bigger issues right now than the clarity of its community guidelines. Federal officials have told parent company ByteDance that TikTok could face a total ban in the United States if the Chinese firm doesn’t sell its stake in the app. Meanwhile, the company argued that a ban would hurt its 150 million US users, including small businesses and creators.

Gamers looking for a more immersive VR experience in their own home might finally get it with Virtuix's Omni One. Virtuix has been developing the treadmill-like gaming machine for years and, following crowdfunding campaigns, Omni One recently started making its way to backers. Now, Virtuix is kickstarting another round of funding which it has announced will parlay into Omni One being released for sale to the general public later this year.

You might remember the Omni, which launched on Kickstarter in 2013 and was backed within 24 hours. The Omni One is modelled after the Omni Pro, a larger but similar version available in entertainment venues worldwide. The round — or omni directional — treadmill is four feet wide by five feet long, and it weighs about 250 pounds. The safety bit comes in through a vertical bar that holds a shoulder and waist strap, with the latter having a controller positioned on either side of it. It allows users to run, walk, kneel and even jump through a video game. The Omni One can also be folded away when not in use. 

Omni One will retail starting at $2,595 plus shipping for the treadmill and a Pico Neo 3 VR headset — customized specifically for Omni One. The price is a bit higher than Virtuix's initial projection of $1,995. Investors receive a 30 percent discount off the listed price. 

It should be noted that while the company says compatibility with other VR games may come further down the line, Virtuix plans to offer first-party games via its own store. There will be 30 titles available at launch, but the company shared in a Facebook post that it has a 'shortlist' of around 200.

While the Omni One should be available for customers later this year, it's unclear how many models will be produced. According to Virtuix, 900 "investors" applied to buy beta units and there are currently 35,000 general subscribers on a waiting list. 

Apple's 10.9-inch 2022 iPads are improved in almost every way, including the design, performance, battery life, front facing camera and more. One of the biggest knocks is the price, so if you've been holding out for a deal, Amazon now has them on sale at prices matching all-time lows. You can grab the 64GB model in silver for just $399 and the 256GB version in multiple colors for $549, saving $50 on both. 

Despite a few caveats, the 2022 iPad scored a solid 85 score in our Engadget review. Apple redesigned its entry-level tablet to give it thinner bezels, a bigger display and USB-C charging. It’s also the first iPad to include a landscape-oriented front-facing camera, a feature that makes the tablet more useful for video chatting. The 2022 model’s A14 Bionic processor is also a highlight. Other notable features include USB-C charging and a keyboard folio with function keys.

The main downsides revolve around the price, as this tablet is a full $120 more expensive than its 9th-generation predecessor, the keyboard folio is also expensive and it only supports the first-generation Apple Pencil. However, Amazon's sale helps ease the pricing issues, making this a very solid buy.  

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We were left impressed with Oppo's Find X5 Pro last year, so naturally, we have high expectations for its successor. As announced earlier, the upcoming Find X6 Pro meets the basic requirements you'd expect from a 2023 flagship: Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, Sony's IMX989 "1-inch" sensor for the main camera, a bright 6.82-inch 3,168 x 1,440 AMOLED screen, a generous 5,000mAh battery, an IP68 ruggedness rating and up to 16GB of RAM plus 512GB of storage. As a bonus, Oppo also brought back a periscopic telephoto camera — a missing feature since the Find X2 Pro from 2020 — to make full use of its photopgrahy partnership with Hasselblad, as well as its very own MariSilicon X imaging neural processor.

The Find X6 Pro features what's arguably the largest external redesign since the Find X3 Pro, with the three rear cameras — all with a 50-megapixel resolution plus optical stabilization — residing within a large circular island. The glass-covered upper part houses the main camera (23mm equivalent), the ultra-wide camera (15mm equivalent), the LED flash and Hasselblad's logo, while the lower part features the periscopic camera with 3x optical zoom (65mm equivalent) or 6x "in-sensor" zoom — we'll get to that later. As for video recording, you can get up to 4K at 60fps, though the 32-megapixel punch-hole selfie camera (21mm equivalent) on the other side is limited to 1080p at 30fps.

Richard Lai/Engadget

While the 3x optical zoom on this new periscopic camera may sound less exciting than the 5x counterpart on the Find X2 Pro, it does offer a 6x "in-sensor" zoom. This is thanks to the relatively large Sony IMX890 sensor (1/1.56-inch), which still offers a good amount of pixels even when cropped natively. With a pre-release firmware, I was able to capture impressively clean and sharp shots even at 6x. Of course, any other 10x optical zoom camera would beat this hybrid solution, but this is still a viable alternative, especially given how handy the 3x optical zoom comes in for food photography and the new Hasselblad Portrait Mode — the latter claiming to simulate "the colors and depth of field of Hasselblad’s classic XCD30 and XCD80 lenses."

As for the ultra-wide camera, it also uses an IMX890 sensor, which is apparently the largest offering to date in this category. Like before, this camera packs a freeform surface lens to minimize distortion, along with a relatively large f/2.2 aperture.

Of course, there are plenty other non-photography goodies on the Find X6 Pro. The 5,000mAh battery is now paired with a new 100W SuperVOOC fast charging, which goes from zero to 100-percent charge in just 28 minutes. Or you can go with 50W AirVOOC wireless charging, which takes 52 minutes to reach a full charge. Oppo also claims to double the battery lifespan with its Battery Health Engine from last year.

In addition to the usual stereo speakers, Oppo implemented a design dubbed "Active Privacy Protection for Voice Calls" to the earpiece, which is apparently "capable of improving sound insulation by up to a factor of 3.5 to reduce audio leakage." In other words, people stood around you are less likely to eavesdrop on your calls.

Last but not least, while not all flagship phones come with an infrared remote control, some may still appreciate this feature on the Oppo Find X6 Pro to control things like TVs, air conditioners and lights.

Richard Lai/Engadget

The Oppo Find X6 Pro will be available in China from March 24th, with design options including a dual-tone brown (glass plus vegan leather), black (glass) and green (glass). Prices range from 5,999 yuan or about $873 (12GB RAM with 256GB storage) to 6,999 yuan or about $1,018 (16GB RAM with 512GB storage).

There's also a similar-looking but more affordable Find X6, which swaps out the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip with MediaTek's Dimensity 9200. Also, its main camera uses an IMX890 instead of the 1-inch IMX989, whereas its ultra-wide camera uses a Samsung JN1 sensor and, sadly, lacks a freeform lens. That said, this phone still packs a generous 4,800mAh battery with 80W fast charging, and it comes with an IP64 ruggedness rating. It'll be offered in green, gold and black, with prices going from 4,499 yuan or around $654 (12GB RAM with 256GB storage) to 4,999 yuan or about $727 (16GB RAM with 512GB storage).

We'll be keeping an eye out for international availability, even though it'll likely be limited to Europe for the west. Stay tuned.

You most likely know Duolingo as an app you can fire up when you want to learn a new language or at least familiarize yourself with the local tongue of a place you're visiting. It has ventured into other subject matters over the years, though, and now it looks like the company is also hoping to be the one people turn to when they want to learn about music. According to a job posting (seen by TechCrunch), Duolingo has a small team that's currently working to build an app for teaching music. 

The job ad is for an "expert in music education who combines both theoretical knowledge of relevant learning science research and hands-on teaching experience." Whoever gets the job will be in charge of making sure that the app is "well-grounded in learning science." They have to translate "research findings into concrete ideas" that can be used for "learning by doing" activities that Duolingo is known for. They also have to take the lead on curriculum development, which signifies that the app is still in its very early stages. 

If and when Duolingo's Music app comes out, it will join the company's growing list of learning applications that include its ABC app, which teaches kids how to read and write. It also has an English Test app for language certification and a Math app that uses colorful animations and interactive exercises to help people learn multiplication, division, fractions, geometry and measurements. As TechCrunch notes, the company is most likely diversifying to ensure its survival and income growth in the future. And its plan seems to be working so far: In its earnings report (PDF) for the fourth quarter of 2022, Duolingo revealed that it enjoyed a 67 percent increase in paid subscribers from the year before. 

Microsoft is preparing to launch an Xbox store on iOS and Android as early as next year, according to Phil Spencer. The head of the company’s gaming division shared the timeline in a Financial Times interview published on Monday, noting the plan is dependent on regulators approving Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

“We want to be in a position to offer Xbox and content from both us and our third-party partners across any screen where somebody would want to play,” Spencer told the outlet. “Today, we can’t do that on mobile devices but we want to build towards a world that we think will be coming where those devices are opened up.”

Microsoft first revealed it was working on an Xbox store for mobile devices in regulatory documents the company filed with the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) last year. At the time, the tech giant didn’t provide a timeline for the plan, noting only its proposed merger with Activision Blizzard would play a critical role. Spencer was more direct on Monday. “The Digital Markets Act that’s coming — those are the kinds of things that we are planning for,” he said. “I think it’s a huge opportunity.”

Under the Digital Markets Acts (DMA), major platforms the European Union designates as “gatekeepers” will be required to open their devices to competing app stores. Last fall, a Bloomberg report said Apple was already at work preparing to make iOS compliant with the legislation ahead of its March 2024 deadline. The EU will allow companies it labels as gatekeepers to appeal the designation, a carveout that could delay enforcement of the law. Additionally, with challenges from the Federal Trade Commission and CMA, there’s no guarantee Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard will close before the new rules apply to Apple and Google, a fact Spencer seemed to acknowledge when interviewed by the Financial Times. However, he said it would be “pretty trivial” for Microsoft to adapt its existing Xbox and Game Pass apps to sell games and subscriptions through mobile devices.

You no longer need to pass on 8BitDo's gamepads if you use Apple products. 8BitDo has confirmed that its controllers now officially support iPhones, iPads and Macs thanks to both firmware upgrades and Apple's recent iOS 16.3, iPadOS 16.3, tvOS 16.3 and macOS 13.2 updates. The compatibility is limited to the Lite SE, Pro, Pro 2, SN30 Pro+, SN30 Pro for Android and Ultimate Controller 2.4g, but more models are "incoming."

The company's offerings are already some of our favorite mobile gaming controllers, and for good reason. They promise good ergonomics, substantial customization and (in some cases) a tinge of nostalgia. It's relatively easy to switch between your Apple devices and other hardware, such as consoles and PCs. That makes them particularly handy if you're playing action games away from home, or just don't want to poke at a touchscreen.

These aren't the only strong options for mobile controllers. SteelSeries' Nimbus and Stratus models are well-suited to enthusiasts who want an Xbox-style pad. And if you want a makeshift Switch or Steam Deck, the Razer Kishi is your pick. Still, it's good to have more choices for Apple-friendly input — particularly if you like 8BitDo's priorities.

LG announced pricing and availability today for its sleek 2023 Gram Style laptops announced at CES. The Windows-running ultra-portables are available now, ranging from $1,499 to $1,999.

The 14-inch LG Gram Style costs $1,499 for 512GB storage and 16GB memory; you’ll pay $1,799 to make it a 1TB SSD and 32GB of RAM. Meanwhile, the larger 16-inch variant costs $1,799 for 1TB and 16GB RAM, while $1,999 will stick with 1TB but move up to 32GB RAM. In addition, LG is currently offering a deal that will get you a 32GB memory model for the price of a 16GB one (with the same screen size) if you order from LG’s website between now and April 16th.

We were intrigued by LG’s stylish new notebook during our CES demo. Its lid and keyboard deck are made with iridescent Gorilla Glass 3 (with a nano-magnesium alloy base). It has a vanishing trackpad that visually and tactilely blends into the keyboard base when you aren’t using it. They’re light, too: Even the larger model weighs a mere 2.7 lbs (Engadget’s Cherlynn Low had no problem doing a bunch of bicep curls with it). However, we were less sure about its build quality, as the 16-inch model yielded a bit during our lifting tests on the CES floor — and we've run into build-quality issues with past LG Gram models.

The LG Gram Style has a 3,200 x 2,000 OLED with a 120HZ refresh rate for the 16-inch model and a 2,880 x 1,800 OLED at 90Hz for the 14-inch variant. It runs on Intel’s latest 13-generation Core processors.