GoPro is going back to desktops with a new editing app for Mac. While the company has long offered GoPro Studio and Player + ReelSteady desktop apps, much of its attention has on mobile since it bought Quik in 2016.

The latest desktop program is also based on Quik and it ties into the GoPro mobile apps. You'll be able to start editing in the Quik mobile app and finish up on your Mac — or vice-versa. Features include a beat sync tool that matches your edit to the rhythm of the backing track. There's an auto-highlight editing function too. Although the Mac editing suite could certainly use more features, GoPro says all the key tools from the Quik mobile app will make their way to desktop by the time a Windows version arrives later this year.

GoPro charges those who don't use its devices $10 per year to use the Quik mobile app. Subscribers to its other tiers will get access to the desktop app at no extra cost. On that note, the company is rebranding its GoPro Subscription to GoPro Premium. It still costs $50 per year (though newcomers get a 50 percent discount for the first year) and it includes perks such as unlimited cloud backups, livestreaming, discounts on equipment and guaranteed camera replacements.

The company is adding a higher subscription tier as well, GoPro Premium+. It includes all of the perks of Premium, along with HyperSmooth Pro video stabilization and up to 500GB of cloud storage for footage captured with non-GoPro cameras (compared with 25GB for Premium). Premium+ costs $100 per year, and Premium users can upgrade for $50.

If you're already onboard with Alexa and have decided you want a smart display, a new deal on Amazon's latest Echo Show 8 may be of interest. The 8-inch display is currently down to $90 at Amazon, Target, Best Buy and other retailers, which matches the lowest price we've seen since the device was unveiled last September. Amazon normally sells the smart display for $150, though we saw it drop to $105 for much of the holiday season. Amazon's offer also includes a Sengled color smart bulb for no extra cost. That bulb is compatible with the Matter smart home standard, and we recommend a similar model in our guide to the best smart lights.

We haven't formally reviewed the latest Echo Show 8, but it's largely similar to the second-gen model from 2021, which we previously called the best smart display for Alexa users. It still offers a 1,280 x 800 resolution panel and a 13-megapixel front-facing camera. The design is mostly the same, though the new model's rounded back is a little less pronounced, and the glass on its front stretches edge-to-edge. Its front camera is also located in the center of the top edge, not off to the right, so it's a bit more convenient for framing yourself during video calls. Internally, there's an upgraded octa-core processor that should make it faster to complete Alexa requests, and the new model can work with other smart home devices using the Zigbee and Thread protocols in addition to Matter. Amazon promises improved sound quality, too, though you still shouldn't expect deep sub-bass or ultra-spaciousness with a smallish speaker like this.

All of this should keep the Echo Show 8 as the sweet spot in Amazon's smart display lineup. It's not as affordable as the Echo Show 5, but it's faster and louder, with a superior camera and more spacious display for showing photos and making video calls. It's not as big as the Echo Show 10, but it's significantly less expensive and easier to fit in more rooms around the house. Either way, you can use it to check the weather, pull up recipes or stream music, among other typical Alexa tasks. And while no smart display like this will truly be comfortable for those protective of their privacy, the Echo Show 8 at least has a camera cover and mic mute button built in. Google's Nest Hub remains a better buy for those who heavily use services like Gmail, Google Calendar and YouTube — and there are still questions regarding Alexa's long-term outlook — but this should be a solid deal if you're looking to build a smart home through Amazon's assistant. 

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Ever since the Vision Pro went on sale last week, Apple's pricey AR/VR headset has been spotted in all sorts of unusual places: from the gym to airplanes and everywhere in between. However, after one owner was seen wearing it while driving down the highway in a Tesla Cybertruck, US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg issued a warning reminding people to use some common sense. 

In a post on X alongside a snippet from the original video, Buttigieg reiterated that "ALL advanced driver assistance systems available today require the human driver to be in control and fully engaged in the driving task at all times." Similarly, Apple's headset ships with multiple warnings advising users not to use it while "operating a moving vehicle" or in "any other situations requiring attention to safety." 

Following Secretary Buttigieg's response, the creator of the video, Dante Lentini, told Gizmodo that the footage was a "skit" made with friends and that the headset was only worn for 30 to 40 seconds while driving. Additionally, Lentini says footage suggesting that he got arrested for his prank was staged. But what makes the video even more irresponsible is that while the Cybertruck comes with Tesla's Autopilot system as standard, that feature has yet to be activated for the first wave of Founder's Edition vehicles. That means Lentini was going down the highway while wearing a headset without the help of any advanced driver-assistance systems.

In some respects, it's a bit sad that Buttigieg's warning even needs to be said. However, given the massive amounts of hype and pre-orders nearing 200,000 units, it was probably only a matter of time until someone got caught driving while wearing Apple's pricey headset. 

It looks like Elon Musk isn’t the only billionaire who doesn’t like having their private jet tracked. Pop star Taylor Swift has threatened legal action against a Florida student who set up multiple social media accounts that release real-time information as to the whereabouts of her personal aircraft, according to The Washington Post.

This is eerily reminiscent of the whole ElonJet scandal of late 2022, in which Twitter banned an account that was tracking Musk’s jet. As a matter of fact, the student facing legal action by Swift’s team is the same guy who ran that account. Jack Sweeney, 21, runs various social media pages that log the takeoffs and landings of aircraft owned by billionaires, politicians and, of course, pop stars.

Back in December, Swift’s attorneys wrote Sweeney a cease-and-desist letter that said the pop star would “have no choice but to pursue any and all legal remedies” if he did not stop publishing details as to her jet’s whereabouts, likening it to “stalking and harassing behavior.”

The letter went on to say that Sweeney’s actions had caused Swift and her family “direct and irreparable harm, as well as emotional and physical distress,” and had heightened her “constant state of fear for her personal safety.” It’s worth noting that Swift has had numerous stalkers and harassers throughout her career. Just last month, a man was arrested for stalking her at home on several occasions.

“While this may be a game to you, or an avenue that you hope will earn you wealth or fame, it is a life-or-death matter for our client,” the legal team wrote. The letter added that there is “no legitimate interest in or public need for this information, other than to stalk, harass, and exert dominion and control.”

Tree Paine, a spokesperson for Swift, made a direct line from Sweeney’s social media accounts to Swift’s harassers, saying that the pop star’s team couldn’t “comment on any ongoing police investigation but can confirm the timing of stalkers suggests a connection.”

Sweeney told The Washington Post that this is just an attempt to scare him away from sharing public data, noting that all of his jet-tracking accounts draw location information from the Federal Aviation Administration and volunteer hobbyists. Aircraft regularly broadcast their locations via transponders so air traffic controllers can see what’s going on. Anyone on the ground can pick up these signals by using a device called an ADS-B receiver, which are widely available online. “This information is already out there,” Sweeney said. “Her team thinks they can control the world.”

Swift’s team wrote that Sweeney is “notorious for disregarding the personal safety of others in exchange for public attention and/or requests for financial gain”, citing an incident in which he asked Elon Musk for $50,000 to take down the ElonJet account.

Facebook and Instagram banned Sweeney’s accounts that track Swift’s air travel late last year, but they’re still live on Bluesky, Mastodon, Telegram and other social media sites. His live-tracking accounts have been banned on X, but he’s allowed to post location data with a 24-hour delay. In addition to the world’s biggest pop star, Sweeney also tracks people like Donald Trump, Jeff Bezos, Kim Kardashian and Mark Zuckerberg.

It doesn’t look like Sweeney's planning to stop tracking the pop star's jet anytime soon. He's lawyered up to defend himself from legal action.

Meta plans to ramp up its labeling of AI-generated images across Facebook, Instagram and Threads to help make it clear that the visuals are artificial. It's part of a broader push to tamp down misinformation and disinformation, which is particularly significant as we wrangle with the ramifications of generative AI (GAI) in a major election year in the US and other countries.

According to Meta's president of global affairs, Nick Clegg, the company has been working with partners from across the industry to develop standards that include signifiers that an image, video or audio clip has been generated using AI. "Being able to detect these signals will make it possible for us to label AI-generated images that users post to Facebook, Instagram and Threads," Clegg wrote in a Meta Newsroom post. "We’re building this capability now, and in the coming months we’ll start applying labels in all languages supported by each app." Clegg added that, as it expands these capabilities over the next year, Meta expects to learn more about "how people are creating and sharing AI content, what sort of transparency people find most valuable and how these technologies evolve." These will help inform both industry best practices and Meta's own policies, he wrote.

Meta says the tools it's working on will be able to detect invisible signals — namely AI generated information that aligns with the C2PA and IPTC technical standards — at scale. As such, it expects to be able to pinpoint and label images from Google, OpenAI, Microsoft, Adobe, Midjourney and Shutterstock, all of which are incorporating GAI metadata into images that their products whip up.

As for GAI video and audio, Clegg points out that companies in the space haven't started incorporating invisible signals into those at the same scale that they have images. As such, Meta isn't yet able to detect video and audio that's generated by third-party AI tools. In the meantime, Meta expects users to label such content themselves.

"While the industry works towards this capability, we’re adding a feature for people to disclose when they share AI-generated video or audio so we can add a label to it," Clegg wrote. "We’ll require people to use this disclosure and label tool when they post organic content with a photorealistic video or realistic-sounding audio that was digitally created or altered, and we may apply penalties if they fail to do so. If we determine that digitally created or altered image, video or audio content creates a particularly high risk of materially deceiving the public on a matter of importance, we may add a more prominent label if appropriate, so people have more information and context."

That said, putting the onus on users to add disclosures and labels to AI-generated video and audio seems like a non-starter. Many of those people will be trying to intentionally deceive others. On top of that, others likely just won't bother or won't be aware of the GAI policies.

In addition, Meta is looking to make it harder for people to alter or remove invisible markers from GAI content. The company's FAIR AI research lab has developed tech that "integrates the watermarking mechanism directly into the image generation process for some types of image generators, which could be valuable for open source models so the watermarking can’t be disabled," Clegg wrote. Meta is also working on ways to automatically detect AI-generated material that doesn't have invisible markers.

Meta plans to continue collaborating with industry partners and "remain in a dialogue with governments and civil society" as GAI becomes more prevalent. It believes this is the right approach to handling content that's shared on Facebook, Instagram and Threads for the time being, though it will adjust things if necessary.

One key issue with Meta's approach — at least while it works on ways to automatically detect GAI content that doesn't use the industry-standard invisible markers — is that it requires buy-in from partners. For instance, C2PA has a ledger-style method of authentication. For that to work, both the tools used to create images and the platforms on which they're hosted both need to buy into C2PA.

Meta shared the update on its approach to labeling AI-generated content just a few days after CEO Mark Zuckerberg shed some more light on his company's plans to build general artificial intelligence. He noted that training data is one major advantage Meta has. The company estimates that the photos and videos shared on Facebook and Instagram amount to a dataset that's greater than the Common Crawl. That's a dataset of some 250 billion web pages that has been used to train other AI models. Meta will be able to tap into both, and it doesn't have to share the data it has vacuumed up through Facebook and Instagram with anyone else.

The pledge to more broadly label AI-generated content also comes just one day after Meta's Oversight Board determined that a video that was misleadingly edited to suggest that President Joe Biden repeatedly touched the chest of his granddaughter could stay on the company's platforms. In fact, Biden simply placed an "I voted" sticker on her shirt after she voted in person for the first time. The board determined that the video was permissible under Meta's rules on manipulated media, but it urged the company to update those community guidelines.

Bluesky, the open-source Twitter alternative, is getting rid of its waitlist and opening its decentralized platform to everyone. The service, which opened in beta last spring, currently has a little over 3 million users, though that number could rise quickly now that prospective users don’t need an invitation to join.

It’s a significant moment for Bluesky, which began as an internal project at Jack Dorsey’s Twitter (Bluesky ended its association with the entity now known as X after Elon Musk’s takeover, though Dorsey is on Bluesky’s board.) The company is part of a growing movement for decentralized social media, which proponents say could address many of the shortcomings of centrally-controlled platforms like Facebook, X and TikTok.

“We really believe that the future of social is, and should be, open and decentralized,” Bluesky CEO Jay Graber tells Engadget. “This is something that we think is good for the public conversation overall.”

For those who missed Bluesky’s first hype cycle last spring, the service is functionally similar to X and Threads. Its posts — lovingly referred to by some early users as “skeets” — default to a chronological timeline, though users can also follow numerous other algorithmic feeds created by fellow users. Soon, the company will take a similar approach to content moderation, allowing third-parties to create their own “labeling services” for Bluesky content.

The service is still much smaller than most of its counterparts and doesn’t yet have a direct messaging feature. But it has become a haven for a number of once high-profile Twitter users and others looking for more Weird Twitter vibes and less Elon Musk.

Much like how Mastodon and other services in the fediverse are built on the ActivityPub protocol, Bluesky runs on its own open-source standard called AT Protocol.Right now, the only Bluesky is the version of the service created by Bluesky, the company. But that will soon change, as the company plans to start experimenting with federation, which will allow other developers and groups to create their own instances of Bluesky.

“The protocol is like an API that's permanently open,” Graber says. “And that means that developer creativity can kind of go wild.”

Of course, the world of Twitter alternatives looks considerably different since Bluesky first launched. Meta’s Threads app has grown to 130 million users since last summer. Meta has also started to make some Threads posts available on Mastodon, the first step toward making it compatible with the rest of the fediverse.

But while Threads may be showing some support for open-source protocols, that’s not the same as decentralization, Graber argues. “If they integrate with ActivityPub, you would still be on a Facebook-owned app with this little window into a more open world, and it wouldn't be as easy to leave. We hope that the AT Protocol universe lets people get in between different apps, different services a lot easier.”

Mozilla is rolling out a tool that can automatically monitor data brokers for your personal information and scrub any of your exposed details from them. Mozilla Monitor Plus expands on the Mozilla Monitor (formerly Firefox Monitor) service, which lets you know when your email address is included in a data breach.

This new paid service, which costs $9 per month or $107.88 per year, aims to proactively make sure your personal information stays off more than 190 data broker sites. Mozilla says that's double the number of data brokers that its competitors monitor. Subscribers will receive data breach alerts too.

Mozilla

To get a better understanding of how prevalent the issue is, you can get a free one-time scan that can show you if and where your data has been exposed. To do so, you'll need to sign up for a Mozilla account and provide your name, current city and state, date of birth and your email address. Mozilla says it will encrypt this data, which it notes is the least amount of information needed to obtain the most accurate results. The tool will also highlight information from "high-risk data breaches" — such as social security numbers, credit card details and banking information — along with advice on how to have that data scrubbed.

Mozilla Monitor and Monitor Plus are only available to folks based in the US for now. Google offers a similar tool. If you sign up for Mozilla's version, you can also get access to features including two-factor authentication, email alias tool Firefox Relay and Mozilla VPN.

Anker makes some of the most-recommended charging products out there, but the extra quality comes at a price. If you've been waiting for a sale, you can now grab a number of Anker chargers and other smartphone accessories at Amazon with discounts of up to 52 percent. Standout products include the Anker Prime Power Bank ($90, the lowest price we've seen by far), iPhone 15 portable charger ($20 instead of $30), Nano II 30W fast charger ($16, 33 percent off) and a USB-C Cable 3-pack for $18, saving you 40 percent. 

To start with, the Anker Prime 20,000mAh 200W power bank is our pick for the best premium power bank. It has two USB-C ports and one USB-A port capable of delivering a total charging output of 200W. That means you can charge two laptops at 100W each simultaneously. That 100W charging goes the other way too, so you can fully recharge the power bank in just 75 minutes.

Another great deal is on the iPhone 15 portable charger (Nano Power Bank), so called because of the USB-C connector. It attaches to the bottom and offers 5,000mAh hours of charging at a relatively quick 22.5W and of course works with other USB-C devices including iPad Pro/Air, AirPods, Android smartphones and more.  

The Anker Power Bank 10,000mAh portable charger can charge an iPhone 14 twice and an iPad Mini up to 1.3 times, according to the company. It also has the benefit of two ports, so it can charge two devices at once. Meanwhile, the Anker Nano II 30W GaN II compact fast charger has enough juice to charge a 2020 MacBook Air at full speed and apply a relatively quick charge to smartphones, tablets and more. 

Finally, if it's cables you're after, Anker has those, too. You can grab the Anker 333 USB-C to USB-C 3-pack (3.3-, 6-, and 10-feet lengths, 100W limit) for just $18, for a savings of 40 percent. This is one of the better off-season Anker sales we've seen, but it's always best to act soon if you're looking to buy. 

Tencent is in the midst of developing an Elden Ring game for mobile phones, according to Reuters. Apparently, if the Shenzhen-based tech company's plan pushes through, fans are getting a free-to-play title with in-app purchases, similar to the gacha game Genshin Impact. That's a complete departure from the original Elden Ring action RPG, which sells for $60 from the get-go and isn't loaded up with microtransactions. 

That's pretty much all the details Reuters has reported — according to the news organization's sources, progress on the project has been slow, so it may take a while before we see the game. That is, if the game even gets released: Tencent recently shut down the development of much-awaited Nier mobile game that had been in the works for two years. Tencent reportedly couldn't find a monetization model that would allow it to recoup what it cost the company to license the franchise from Square Enix, along with what it's going to spend to bring the project to completion. 

Tencent and Sony purchased a 30 percent share of FromSoftware, the Japanese developer behind Elden Ring, back in 2022. The Chinese company also acquired the licensing rights to develop the game back then and put together a team with a "few dozen people" to work on a prototype. Reuters says Tencent is hoping to give its aging library of games a boost with a new title, and one based on a wildly successful game like Elden Ring has the potential to become a hit. 

Apple Pay is one of the most popular digital payment services in the world, allowing users to buy stuff on iOS apps, the web and in real life. You can use it to pay with your iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad and Mac, and it's accepted by thousands upon thousands of retailers. The cool thing about Apple Pay is that it actually digitizes debit/credit card chips, giving people the option of contactless payments. All you have to do is put your phone or watch up to the terminal.

However, you can’t do any of that stuff until you set up Apple Pay on your device. Here’s how to do just that.

How to set up Apple Pay on an iPhone

Apple Pay was originally envisioned as a mobile-only platform, so getting it set up on your iPhone will help you with every other device you own. To set up Apple Pay on your phone, add a debit or credit card to the Wallet app.

1. Open the Wallet app on your iPhone. Look for a colorful wallet icon or search the phone’s contents to find it.

Engadget/Lawrence Bonk

2. Tap the Add Card button. You may be prompted to sign in with your Apple ID, so do that.

3. Select the card. The app will ask you what kind of card you’re entering, so click on Debit or Credit.

4. Enter the card information. You can do this manually or by positioning the card so that it appears in the camera frame. This enables the phone to snap a photo of the card. 

5. You can also click on Previous Cards. Clicking on Previous Cards lets you choose any cards you’ve used in the past to bring them into Apple Pay. You’ll get a list of possible cards via purchases made with your Apple ID and Safari AutoFill. Once you tap on a card, authenticate with Face ID or Touch ID.

Apple

6. Consider other options. Apple Pay also lets you enter driver’s licenses, state IDs and transit cards.

7. Finish up. Once finished, head to Settings to make final adjustments. Tap your preferred option as to how you want your card to appear. You can make it so cards show up on the screen when you double-click the side button or the home button.

8. That’s it. Now you can buy stuff by pulling up a digital replica of your card.

How to set up Apple Pay on an Apple Watch

Apple Watch integrates with Apple Pay for an incredibly convenient payment option, as you don’t even need your phone nearby. Here’s how to get set up on your smartwatch.

1. Grab your phone. This process is quicker if you already have a card entered into your iPhone, but we’ll walk you through both procedures.

2. Head to the Watch app. If you already have a card stored, open up the Watch app. Tap My Watch and then Wallet & Apple Pay.

Apple

3. You should see a list of available cards. Tap Add next to the card you want and then enter the CVV, which is the number on the back. That’s it. You should be able to use your watch to make payments.

4. Open the Wallet app on your watch. If you’re entering a card manually on the actual watch, start by opening up the Wallet app. Tap the More Options button and then Add Card.

5. Enter card details. Follow on the on-screen prompts to enter your various card details.

6. Finish up. Once finished, head back into the Wallet app. Tap More Options, followed by Default Card. Look for the card you just entered and tap it to set it as the default. You’re good to go.

How to set up Apple Pay on an iPad

The iPad is basically a big iPhone, so the set-up process is similar. You can’t use Apple’s tablet at a physical payment terminal, but it’s a great option for making online purchases.

1. Open up Settings. Head to Settings and tap Wallet & Apple Pay.

Engadget/Lawrence Bonk

2. Tap Add Card. You may be asked to sign in with your Apple ID. Have your login credentials handy. 

3. Tap Debit or Credit Card and then Continue. Just like with the iPhone, you can enter card details manually or let the tablet’s camera snap a photo of the card.

4. Consider previously-used cards. You can also click on Previous Cards and select cards that you’ve used in the past. This will bring up a list of possible cards. Tap on a card and authenticate with Touch ID.

How to set up Apple Pay on a Mac

Mac laptops and desktops are also a no-go for physical sales terminals, for obvious reasons. However, it’s still useful to have Apple Pay as an option when buying stuff online. Here’s how to get set up.

Engadget/Lawrence Bonk

1. Head to System Settings. On your Mac, head to System Settings. Next, click Wallet & Apple Pay.

2. Click on Add Card. You’ll be asked to sign in with your Apple ID. Enter your credentials and then return to Wallet & Apple Pay.

3. Enter card details. Click Enter Card Details Manually and input your payment information in the appropriate fields, or position the card in front of your computer’s camera so it appears in frame. The computer will snap a photo and record all relevant data. Double-check to make sure everything looks right.

4. You can also use a card that’s already on file with Apple. You should see a list of cards you previously entered for use on the iTunes Store or the App Store. Click on the desired card and enter the security code when asked.

5. That’s all there is to it. Keep an eye on your Apple ID account. If you sign out of your account to let someone else use the computer, you may have to set up Apple Pay again.

That’s it. Apple Pay is set up and ready to go. We also whipped up a guide on how to use the service once set up.