Mark Gurman at Bloomberg is back with the latest rumors about what’s afoot with Apple’s future plans, and how its ongoing difficulties with artificial intelligence seem to be creating further delays for its next wave of product launches. His sources say that Apple is expected to postpone the debut of its smart home display until later in 2026, likely September when it often introduces new gadgets. Although the hardware has reportedly been finished for months, this delay is being credited to the company’s AI-centric overhaul of Siri still not being complete.

The device, internally known as J490, has been one of Apple’s many poorly-kept secrets. Rumors about a HomePod smart speaker coupled with a screen first emerged back in 2022 and have resurfaced from time to time in the interim, often with promises that the device’s arrival was imminent. The latest claims anticipated that the official announcement was coming this spring, possibly as soon as this month. However, appears to Apple once again be hamstrung by an AI strategy that has left it scrambling to catch up to other industry leaders.

Apple has been working to incorporate more AI capabilities into Siri for more than a year as part of its Apple Intelligence package. Gurman reports that the new timeline from Apple aims to have the revamp completed for the launch of the iPhone 18 Pro, which is also expected for September. Apple may unveil this long-awaited Siri-as-chatbot during its WWDC keynote in the summer before it shows up in any devices.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/apple-reportedly-delays-its-planned-smart-display-launch-to-fall-194539082.html?src=rss

Back in January, I wrote about Meta’s plans to test subscription services for some of its platforms. The idea is to keep the current experience of each app the same (that is, free of charge), while adding new features users can access for a monthly fee. It’s not a bad compromise—if you hate the idea of paying for Instagram or WhatsApp, you can keep using the apps as you always have. If you like the new features, you can pay for them. Heck, maybe Meta will make enough money from subscriptions to end its data collection business! (Hey, a guy can dream.)

Now, it seems that Meta is moving forward with WhatsApp’s premium subscription. According to WABetaInfo, the company is working on “WhatsApp Plus,” an optional paid plan that adds extra features to the messaging app. There are a number of new features on offer, but not as many as I expected for a subscription version of an app that’s always been available for free. (That said, there’s no indication of what WhatsApp Plus will cost, so it’s possible these features are coming for something like $1 a month.)

What features are coming to WhatsApp Plus?

If you choose to pay for WhatsApp, Meta will offer you 14 new icons to choose from, and over a dozen options to change the app’s theme. Free users can currently pin up to three threads to the top of the Chats window; paid users will be able to pin up to 20. (A screenshot from WABetaInfo shows that if you try to add too many pins, you receive a pop-up warning you “You can only pin 20 chats.” Only 20!) Many of us keep our smartphones on vibrate or silent all of the time, but for anyone who doesn’t, paying for WhatsApp will unlock a new set of ringtones. WABetaInfo says that each new ringtone “has its own distinctive style,” though didn’t share any of the sound files.

Those are the features currently in testing, but WABetaInfo says that WhatsApp has more features planned for its Plus service. That could include exclusive stickers that free users will not get, and reactions could be “more immersive and interactive.”

How to try WhatsApp Plus early

There’s no official timeline for WhatsApp Plus’ launch, so it’s difficult to say when Meta plans on rolling out it. However, WABetaInfo does say that the latest WhatsApp beta for Android (version 2.26.9.6) adds a banner, either within the sticker keyboard or at the top of the settings menu, to enroll in the WhatsApp Plus waitlist.

If you’re comfortable with that, sign up for the WhatsApp for Android beta, update your app to install it, then check either of these locations within the app. Note that when you sign up for the waitlist, that doesn’t require you to subscribe. It only gives you the option to do so when Meta rolls out WhatsApp Plus. If you decide you don’t feel like paying, you can simply ignore the option.

Warmer waters in the Pacific Ocean may have brought devastating floods to the cradle of ancient Chinese civilization, according to a recent study in which its authors link three wildly different lines of evidence to tell the story.

People in Shang Dynasty China, around 3,000 years ago, probably didn’t realize that the massive floods sweeping through their heartland were the product of typhoons battering the southern Chinese coast hundreds of kilometers away. They certainly couldn’t have seen that the sheer intensity of those typhoons was fueled by a sudden shift in temperature cycles over the Pacific Ocean thousands of kilometers to the south and east. But, with the benefit of 3,000 years of hindsight and scientific progress, Nanjing University meteorologist Ke Ding and colleagues recently managed to connect the dots. The results are like a handwritten warning from the Shang Dynasty about how to prepare for modern climate change.

Typhoons, oracle bones, and abandoned settlements

Around 3,000 years ago, two great civilizations were flourishing in central China. In the Yellow River Valley, the Shang Dynasty rose to prominence, producing the first Chinese writing and also sacrificing thousands of people in ceremonies at the capital, Yinxu. Meanwhile, on the Chengdu Plain in southwestern China, the Shanxingdui culture built a walled capital city and sculpted large bronze heads, gold foil masks, and tools of jade and ivory, which they buried in huge sacrificial pits.

Read full article

Comments

Uber has expanded its program that helps pair women riders and drivers. The Women Preferences feature is now available nationwide, after being tested in several cities. It has previously been available in many countries around the globe and started in Saudi Arabia back in 2019.

It’s pretty easy to use. Women riders will see an option for Women Drivers when requesting a trip, and this also works when making a reservation in advance. Users can also make a preference for a woman driver in the settings app, though this doesn’t guarantee anything and depends on the driver pool.

The feature works in much the same way for drivers. Women drivers will be able to request trips with women riders via the settings.

Uber isn’t the only rideshare company trying to make half of the world’s population a bit safer during trips. Lyft has been expanding its own take on the feature, which it also recently took nationwide. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/uber-expands-its-program-that-helps-pair-women-riders-and-drivers-184832010.html?src=rss

Last Friday, Nintendo joined thousands of companies suing the Trump administration to secure full refunds, plus interest, for billions in unlawful tariffs collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

In its complaint, Nintendo insisted that the Trump administration has already conceded that more than $200 billion in refunds are owed to hundreds of thousands of importers who paid tariffs, regardless of liquidation status.

However, Nintendo fears that the Trump administration may try to avoid paying refunds to certain companies whose tariff payments have already been liquidated, which means that the duties owed were finalized. The government has continually argued that it will only follow through on refunding all importers if a court directly orders refunds to be repaid in a way that requires reliquidation. Such an order would force officials to void all finalized tariffs and come as a relief to many companies in Nintendo’s position that remain uncertain if all their tariff payments can be clawed back.

Read full article

Comments

Samsung just announced that 120 games will be playable via its Odyssey 3D Hub platform by the end of the year. This is the platform that provides content for glasses-free 3D monitors like recent Odyssey displays.

The company made this claim at GDC 2026, while also noting that the platform currently offers around 60 playable titles. Samsung has only announced a couple of games headed to the platform this year, which include Cronos: The New Dawn and Hell is Us. These are both solid third-person action games that originally came out last year.

The collection already includes several notable games, including Stellar Blade, Lies of P and Psychonauts 2, among others. It’s good to know the library continues to grow, proving that there might still be some life left in 3D display technology after all.

We came away impressed with the technology when we gave it a go last year. We even said that if “3D had been like this all along, people would be much more receptive.” The games look great and the displays include head tracking so users don’t have to constantly struggle to find the one sweet spot (I’m looking at you, Nintendo 3DS.)

Samsung has quietly been adding to its lineup of glasses-free 3D displays. There are several models to choose from nowadays, with screen sizes up to 32-inches.

The company also used GDC to announce a partnership with game developer CD Projekt Red, but details remain scant. It has something to do with display technology and Samsung’s HDR10+ Gaming standard. We do know that CDPR and Samsung are integrating HDR10+ Gaming into Cyberpunk 2077.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/samsung-promises-120-games-will-be-playable-via-its-glasses-free-3d-monitor-tech-by-the-end-of-the-year-180102470.html?src=rss

If you use an AI-powered coding assistant like Claude Code, here’s a good reason to always ensure you’re copying commands from the legitimate interface: Scammers are now using cloned versions of popular tools to spread info-stealing malware through fake installation instructions—a tactic known as InstallFix.

Fake Claude Code interface used for InstallFix attacks

Researchers at Push Security have identified carefully copied versions of Claude Code, Anthropic’s command-line AI coding assistant, that look exactly like the real thing, complete with the layout, branding, text, documentation sidebar, and a lookalike domain. Every link on the page even redirects to the legitimate Claude Code site. The only malicious part is the one-line command to install Claude Code for macOS, Windows PowerShell, and Windows CMD. If you copy and paste this into terminal, it’ll deliver malware instead.

InstallFix is a variation ClickFix, a social engineering tactic that uses fake error messages, CAPTCHAs, and command prompts to get users to install malware on their own devices. A similar campaign recently utilized fake OpenClaw installers.

The current Claude Code scheme targets both Windows and Mac users with an infostealer known as Amatera. This malware can harvest browser data—saved passwords, cookies, session tokens, autofill data, even cryptocurrency wallets and credentials—as well as system information. Attackers may be able to further avoid detection by hosting malicious sites on legitimate platforms like CloudFlare Pages and Squarespace.

How to avoid InstallFix attacks

Push Security found that these fake install pages proliferated through malvertising—specifically, sponsored results in Google when users searched terms like “Claude Code”, “Claude Code install”, or “Claude Code CLI.” Be extra cautious when searching for coding tools or install instructions, and don’t run commands copied from emails, forums, social media posts or messages, and websites unless you’ve independently verified their legitimacy.

You can hide sponsored results in Google search (after you scroll past them), which is good practice so you don’t accidentally click on a malicious ad. Consider bookmarking trusted sources you know you’ll need to return to so you don’t have to go through search.

Finally, review both URLs and commands carefully. Threat actors will use tricks to make fake web addresses look legitimate at a glance, but upon closer inspection, you’ll see that you’re not on the real Claude Code site. You could also type commands in manually (again, only from verified sources) to ensure you’re not copying and executing something hidden in the text.

Anthropic is suing the Department of Defense after the Trump administration labeled the company a “supply chain risk” and canceled its government contracts when Anthropic refused to allow its AI model Claude to be used for domestic surveillance or autonomous weapons. Fortune reports: The lawsuit, filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, calls the administration’s actions “unprecedented and unlawful” and claims they threaten to harm “Anthropic irreparably.” The complaint claims that government contracts are already being canceled and that private contracts are also in doubt, putting “hundreds of millions of dollars” at near-term risk.

An Anthropic spokesperson told Fortune: “Seeking judicial review does not change our longstanding commitment to harnessing AI to protect our national security, but this is a necessary step to protect our business, our customers, and our partners.” “We will continue to pursue every path toward resolution, including dialogue with the government,” they added.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Why do falling cats always seem to land on their feet? Scientists have been arguing about the precise mechanism for a very long time—since at least 1700, in fact—conducting all manner of experiments to pin down what’s going on. The research continues, with a paper published in the journal The Anatomical Record reporting on new experiments to analyze the flexibility of feline spines.

We covered this topic in-depth in 2019, when University of North Carolina, Charlotte, physicist Greg Gbur published his book, Falling Felines and Fundamental Physics. For a long time, scientists believed that it would be impossible for a cat in free fall to turn over. That’s why French physiologist Etienne-Jules Marey’s 1894 high-speed photographs of a falling cat landing on its feet proved so shocking to Marey’s peers. But Gbur has emphasized that cats are living creatures, not idealized rigid bodies, so the motion is more complicated than one might think.

Over the centuries, scientists have offered four distinct hypotheses to explain the phenomenon. There is the original “tuck and turn” model, in which the cat pulls in one set of paws so it can rotate different sections of its body. Nineteenth-century physicist James Clerk Maxwell offered a “falling figure skater” explanation, whereby the cat tweaks its angular momentum by pulling in or extending its paws as needed. Then there is the “bend and twist,” in which the cat bends at the waist to counter-rotate the two segments of its body. Finally, there is the “propeller tail,” in which the cat can reverse its body’s rotation by rotating its tail in one direction like a propeller.

Read full article

Comments