YouTube has announced new steps to combat AI misuse and misinformation that will roll out over the coming months. The new policies address transparency in videos made using AI and the rampant issue of deepfakes. YouTube is making it “possible to request the removal of AI-generated or other synthetic or altered content that simulates an identifiable individual, including their face or voice.”
Individuals can submit calls for removal through YouTube’s privacy request process, but the company will weigh the decision based on whether it’s satire or if the person can be uniquely recognized — such as a public figure. Similarly, musicians or their representatives can also request the removal of any content using AI to mimic their voice. The policies come at a time when deepfakes are being widely pushed and shared, such as Civitai, which is encouraging sexualized recreations of influential women.
On top of streamlining removal, YouTube will also make sure any altered or synthetic content is labeled as such. Creators will see new options to disclose this information and, if they don’t, could face post removal, a YouTube Partner Program suspension and other repercussions. YouTube claims it will connect with creators about using this new tool before it rolls out. On the viewer side, this will lead to a big banner in the description stating the content is “altered or synthetic,” with the option to learn more. Regardless of proper labeling, YouTube might still take down AI-created videos if they contain purposely disturbing content.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/youtube-will-let-musicians-and-actors-request-takedowns-of-their-deepfakes-131533866.html?src=rss
Enlarge/ Behold, it is Arp 273. (credit: James Peirce)
Welcome to the Daily Telescope. There is a little too much darkness in this world and not enough light, a little too much pseudoscience and not enough science. We’ll let other publications offer you a daily horoscope. At Ars Technica, we’re going to take a different route, finding inspiration from very real images of a universe that is filled with stars and wonder.
Good morning. It’s November 14, and today’s photograph is drop-dead gorgeous. It features an astronomical feature known as Arp 273—so named because it was part of an atlas of peculiar galaxies compiled by American astronomer Halton Arp six decades ago.
In this case, Arp 273 is not one but two galaxies located about 300 million light-years from Earth. The two spiral galaxies are in the process of interacting with one another, and astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope believe the distinct signs of intense star formation in the nucleus of the smaller galaxy were probably triggered by the encounter with the larger one.
An anonymous reader writes: Joby Aviation and Volocopter gave the public a vivid glimpse of what the future of aviation might look like this weekend, with both companies performing brief demonstration flights of their electric aircraft in New York City. The demonstration flights were conducted during a press conference on Sunday, during which New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced that the city would electrify two of the three heliports located in Manhattan — Downtown Manhattan Heliport and East 34th Street. (The third heliport is privately owned.) Beta Technologies, which is also developing an electric aircraft, showed off its interoperable aircraft charging technology at the event. You can watch a demo of the Joby Aviation flight here. Additional assets are available via Joby’s press release.
In the history of modern gaming handhelds, Sony was there in the fairly early days with the PSP and Vita. Both were well regarded, if flawed, living and dying long before the age of the Switch and the Steam Deck. So it would be reasonable to expect the new PlayStation Portal, which marks Sony’s return to handhelds, would be a triumph. Yeah. About that.
Portal is a $200 handheld that can only stream from your own PlayStation 5, either at home or when you’re on the go. There are no local titles, or any bells and whistles for that matter, it’s just a way to play on your own PS5 when the TV isn’t available. Devindra Hardawar has been testing one for a while and the obvious flaws remain obvious.
If your internet connection isn’t rock-solid, then the Portal isn’t very useful, especially when you can pick up a mobile handheld dock for a lot less cash. It doesn’t help that Sony’s not the best at perfectly integrating its hardware and software, so things you might expect to be seamless are anything but. Click to read Devindra’s full review, but if you’re a Sony diehard, it might be best to hide behind your hands while you do so.
— Dan Cooper
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It’s common knowledge that Google pays Apple a king’s ransom to be the default search engine on Safari. What is less well known is Google also hands over a 36 percent commission on the revenue generated by those searches. The news accidentally let slip during a recent hearing, despite both companies’ insistence the figure remain strictly confidential. Oops.
Volvo’s first fully electric minivan, the EM90, which it describes as a “living room on the move,” has been announced for the Chinese market. Based on the Zeekr 009, it includes plush reclining chairs, air suspension and external noise cancellation. The range is no slouch, either, with a promised 450 miles on a single charge, if you can believe those sorts of promises.
There are plenty of words a respectable newsletter writer can’t use when describing how people behave online. You’ll just have to imagine how I’d like to describe the operators and members of an AI marketplace encouraging its users to create the most realistic-looking deepfakes of real people. It’s not just creepy requests for celebrities, which would be bad enough, either, since reporters also found requests for fakes of private citizens.
AMD has announced the Ryzen Embedded 7000 Series processor family at Smart Production Solutions 2023, primarily targeting industrial markets such as automotive, robotics, and edge solutions. Built on the Zen 4 architecture and incorporating integrated Radeon graphics, it offers a new level of performance and functionality for the embedded market. Announced today are five new SKUs, ranging from 12C/24 down to 6C/12T, with three models with a 65 W TDP and two overclockable X-series models with a higher 105 W TDP.
Designed for industrial applications such as automotive, edge robotics, and IoT, AMD’s Ryzen 7000 Embedded series finally includes integrated graphics via their Radeon RDNA™ 2 graphics, reducing the need for discrete GPUs. The Ryzen Embedded 7000 series processors also feature support for multiple operating systems, including Windows Server and Linux/Ubuntu, as well as Windows 10 and 11.
AMD Ryzen Embedded 7000 Series (Zen 4)
AnandTech
Core/
Thread
Base
Freq (MHz)
1T Boost
Freq (MHz)
PCIe 5.0 Lanes
L3
Cache
iGPU
(RDNA2)
TDP
(W)
Ryzen Embedded 7700X
8
16
4500
5400
28
32 MB
1WGP
105
Ryzen Embedded 7600X
6
12
4700
5300
28
32 MB
1WGP
105
Ryzen Embedded 7945
12
24
3700
5400
28
64 MB
1WGP
65
Ryzen Embedded 7745
8
16
3800
5300
28
32 MB
1WGP
65
Ryzen Embedded 7645
6
12
3800
5100
28
32 MB
1WGP
65
Touching on the specifications of the five new Zen 4-based Ryzen 7000 Embedded SKUs, AMD has opted to launch two overclockable X series variants, the Ryzen Embedded 7700X (8C/16T) and the Ryzen Embedded 7600X (6C/12T). These processors shouldn’t be confused with their Ryzen 7000 desktop counterparts. However, the Ryzen Embedded 7700X does have 8 x Zen 4 cores, 32 MB of L3 cache, with a base frequency of 4.5 GHz and a boost frequency of up to 5.4 GHz; this puts it in a similar position to the Ryzen 7 7700X, which is virtually identical in specifications.
The same can be said about the Ryzen Embedded 7600X, which is a 6C/12T part with a base frequency of 4.7 GHz, a turbo frequency of 5.3 GHz, 32 MB of L3 cache, with both X series Embedded chips coming with a 105 W TDP. Moving down the stack to the non-X series CPUs, the Ryzen Embedded 7945 has 16 x Zen 4 cores, with a larger 64 MB L3 cache, but has lower base clock speeds of 3.7 GHz, but has a 5.4 GHz turbo at just 65 W.
Coming in below the 7945 is the Ryzen Embedded 7745, an 8C/16T part with a 3.8 GHz base and 5.3 turbo frequencies, with 32 MB of L3 cache, all within a 65 W TDP. Offered as the entry-level chip to the Ryzen 7000 Embedded series is the Ryzen Embedded 7645, which has 6 x Zen 4 cores with a 3.8 GHz base frequency, with a turbo of up to 5.1 GHz.
The AMD Ryzen Embedded 7000 series processors have multiple platform options, including conventional AM5 socketed X670 and B650 motherboards. Interestingly, AMD includes support for an X600 “activator” socketed board, which provides the full 28 PCIe 5.0 lanes from the processor. The only caveat with not using PCIe lanes to connect to the chipset is that the X600 activator boards don’t have a chipset and thus don’t include any benefits such as I/O. Combining one of the Ryzen Embedded 7000 series processors with an X670 motherboard provides up to 24 x PCIe 5.0 lanes and 12 x PCIe 4.0 lanes for devices such as PCIe slots, M.2 storage, and other connectivity.
Unveiling the Ryzen Embedded 7000 series processors at the Smart Production Solutions 2023 event in Nuremberg, Germany, AMD’s Corporate VP and GM of the Embedded Processors Group, Rajneesh Gaur, went on to say, “With the integration of key performance features and a scalable design, Ryzen Embedded 7000 Series processors are ideal for a broad range of applications from advanced robotics and instrumentation design to power control, video surveillance and more.”
AMD hasn’t provided retail pricing at the time of writing, which is typical for their Embedded solutions. ODM and OEMs are expected to start shipping Ryzen Embedded 7000 products imminently.
According to our testing, Amazon’s Fire TV Stick Lite is the best budget streaming device you can buy. And thanks to an early Black Friday deal at Amazon, it’s down to just $16. That’s a 46 percent discount off the $30 list price (though it often goes for $20) and only $2 more than its all-time low. If you’re looking for a way to turn any screen with an HDMI port into a smart TV, this is one of the most affordable ways to do it, particularly now that it’s on sale.
The Fire TV Stick Lite doesn’t stream content in 4K and can’t control the TV’s volume or on/off functions, but it will give you access to all major streaming platforms through Amazon’s Fire TV interface. You can also use it to access free ad-supported TV like Amazon’s Freevee and PlutoTV. We found the Fire TV interface easy enough to figure out, though we note that it does tend to favor and promote it’s own Prime content. The Alexa remote is particularly helpful, letting you launch apps just with your voice. It’ll also handle standard requests like weather forecasts and answering questions. If you’ve got Alexa-enabled smart home devices like a camera or doorbell, the Fire TV Sticks can also send live feeds to your TV, turning it into a smart display of sorts.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-amazon-fire-tv-stick-lite-drops-to-16-in-an-early-black-friday-deal-140047555.html?src=rss
Press2ToContinue writes: “An undergraduate student used an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 and AI to decipher a word in one of the Herculaneum scrolls to win a $40,000 prize (via Nvidia),” reports Tom’s Hardware. “Herculaneum was covered in ash by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, and the over 1,800 Herculaneum scrolls are one of the site’s most famous artifacts.”
The scrolls have been notoriously hard to decipher because they cannot be unwrapped because they’re basically like a stick of charcoal. Instead they must be virtually unwrapped, using a 3D scan dataset of it in its wrapped state. So, the task is to find the tiny bits of ink, assemble them into letters, and try to decipher what they say. Machine learning is now becoming the key that picks the lock. A student deciphered one of the words using a GTX 1070, which doesn’t even have any tensor cores. Imagine what he could do with a RTX 4090!
It was almost exactly three years ago that we were celebrating the relatively quick arrival of Ableton Live 11. Today, the company is unveiling Live 12, the next version of its popular digital audio workstation (DAW). In terms of release cycles, this is the shortest time between versions in recent memory, and it brings with it some exciting new features. The less fun news is that you won’t actually be able to get your hands on Live 12 until early next year, but there’s plenty to get excited about in the meantime.
Usually, the first thing people want to know is if there are any new instruments, and the answer is yes. Live 12 Suite comes with “Meld” which the company describes as a macro oscillator synth, and there’s also a new distortion effect called Roar. Other updates include a feature where Live 12 will create MIDI arrangements or transform existing ones via new tools in Live’s Clip view. There’s also an option to track the scale and key of what you’re working on so that any effects or edits will automatically be in that key (if you wish). On the other hand, if you want to create music in non-western tones and scales, there’s full support for a wide range of musical tunings now baked right into Live. Most of the above is also MPE ready where applicable. There’s a lot more, which we’ll go through below but those are the headline features.
Meld synthesizer
Ableton
The newest instrument to join the Ableton Live family is going to be a lot of fun. At first glance, the two oscillator setup seems pretty straightforward. But this “macro oscillator” synth has a lot of interesting waveforms to play with. Everything from classic sine/saw/square shapes through to more noise type formations like “rain” and “bubble” mean Meld can really create some unique textures. If you’re a fan of moog-style big pulsing sounds, the “swarm” waveforms are for you. Both oscillators have a modulation matrix that makes it super easy to bend and shape the sound to your liking. From some quick experimentation, Meld looks perfect for sound design and creating big, gritty leads as well as abstract pads and real-word sounding textures.
Roar distortion effect
Live already has a decent selection of distortion effects, but Roar is possibly the most comprehensive yet. The range of tone shapes available range from light, pedal-style crunchiness through to aggressive hard digital clipping and everything in between. The power with Roar lies in the amount of controls you have throughout the chain. Right from dialing in the perfect amount of distortion through the filter to the modulation options, again, controlled by a matrix setup. It’s perhaps not quite as comprehensive as Arturia’s ColdFire, but it’s close. Live’s primary distortion tools, Saturator and Overdrive, often worked best together. Meld offers the power of both of those tools and adds complex signal bending tools for good measure.
Generative MIDI tools
When it comes to songwriting, Live 12 offers some exciting tools to get you started or to help push you through a creative block. Specifically, Live 12 will generate random MIDI clips for you according to certain parameters (length, note density and so on). Alternatively, if you already have a clip with a MIDI sequence that you like, the “transform” tab in the Clip view will create endless variations on it depending on your requirements.
On the generative side of things, there are options for more rhythmic patterns, melodic arrangements or even chords. The created MIDI can be almost any length, but shorter clips tend to have more success. Every time you change a parameter — length, pitch and so on — Live will create a new pattern and you can keep cycling through variations until you find one you like. Here is where Live 12’s new “scale aware” feature really shines, as when activated, this will ensure any generated MIDI matches the key and scale of what you are working on.
Ableton
The transform tool is ideal for when you have a progression you already like but want to create some variations on it. This could be something simple like arpeggiation or velocity adjustments through to more detail-oriented tweaks such as how the notes flow into each other or creating a humanized “strum” effect on chords. Despite their power, both the transform and generate tools are neatly tucked away as tabs in the Clip view and mostly have straightforward controls, though some experimentation is encouraged. It’s pretty easy to get lost in a rabbit hole, testing out different settings and parameters until you end up with something barely recognizable. Which, to be fair, is sometimes exactly what you want.
Tunings
An addition to the main library in Live 12 is the Tunings tab. Simply put, here you’ll find a collection of tunings outside of the conventional western 12 note scale. So if Turkish Makam is your thing or you’re a fan of Just Intonation, there are several options here that can be activated and adapted as you prefer. The scales library consists of .ascl files meaning you can add to your library of scales from third-party or user-created files also.
UI improvements
If you’ve used Live for any amount of time, you likely have Tab and Shift+Tab muscle memory so deeply ingrained you can switch views blindfolded. In this update, you’ll no longer have to jump over to Session view to access the mixer as finally it’s available in Arrangement view also. The same is true for the Device and Clip view windows, meaning you can see the MIDI/audio at the same time as the synth/effects chain without having to jump between them constantly. Things can get a bit busy if you have all three panels open at the same time, but this is a solid quality of life enhancement that’s long overdue.
Library management
Organizing and navigating your sample library in Live 12 comes with a number of improvements. Notably, the ability to tag MIDI clips, plugins and audio at a granular level. Tag categories include everything from Type (Loop/MIDI clip and so on) to musical key, groove and many other categories. You can, of course, also add your own custom tags.
Ableton
If your library is quite large and disorganized, the initial tagging might take a while, but you can select multiple items at once and tag them at the same time. Right now, it doesn’t appear that you can tag at the folder level, which would be handy for large sample collections but it’s a useful tool nonetheless.
A much neater trick is Live 12’s ability to find “similar” sounds. For example, if you have a kick drum sample and know you have others like it in other sample packs/folders, but don’t remember where, clicking the new “Show Similar Files” radio button will pull up all the samples you have that Live has deemed to be, well, similar. In testing, it does a good job for percussive sounds matching length, sound style and so on. Searching on melodies, leads and even vocals also does a decent job of bringing up related samples, but it’s perhaps more open to interpretation here as the timbre can be quite different with the length, shape and gain of the sound seeming to have more weight on what’s a match. Either way, both new features will be a boost to those of us that only got as far as organizing their library alphabetically.
There are other enhancements to the general user experience that go far beyond creative functionality. For one, Live 12 is optimized for screen readers and almost everything can be controlled with the keyboard which is a big plus for accessibility. As always there are updates across the board including the included core library of sounds and modulation parameters. Likewise, some Live 11 sounds and instruments — such as Analog and Tension synths — are available in the Standard edition of 12 whereas before they were exclusive to the more expensive Suite edition.
As for availability, Ableton hasn’t confirmed a date, but you should expect Live 12 to launch around late February or March next year. The Standard edition will cost $439 (€279) which features most of the above minus Meld and Roar. Live 12 Suite edition, which features all the above plus the Operator synth and Granulator effect among other perks will retail for $749 (€599).
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ableton-live-12-whats-new-meld-roar-094528196.html?src=rss
Japan plans to establish a new 1 trillion yen ($6.6 billion) fund to develop the country’s outer space industry. “We believe it is a necessary fund to speed up our country’s space development so we don’t lag behind the increasingly intensifying international competition,” Sanae Takaichi, minister in charge of space development, said in a news conference last week. The Japan Times reports: The fund will be allocated over a 10-year period for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), an Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry spokesperson said. Some 300 billion yen has been set aside for the fund in the latest supplementary budget approved by the Cabinet on Friday. The funding, which will support JAXA and the development of Japan’s space industry, was a response to increased public and private sector focus on space activities.
Back in June, Tokyo unveiled a Space Basic Plan, detailing budgetary support for innovation in the private sector as an area of business growth. At the same time, it also unveiled a Space Security Initiative, which labeled space “a major arena for geopolitical competition for national power over diplomacy, defense, economic, and intelligence, as well as the science and technology and innovation that support these national powers.”
Zelle recently made a huge change to its policy that would give victims of certain scams the chance to get their money back. The payment processor has confirmed to Engadget that it started reimbursing customers for impostor scams, such as those perpetrated by bad actors pretending to be banks, businesses and government agencies, as of June 30 this year. Its parent company Early Warning Services, LLC, said this “goes beyond legal requirements.”
As Reuters noted when it reported Zelle’s policy change, federal laws can only compel banks to reimburse customers if payments were made without their authorization, but not when they made the transfer themselves. The payment processor, which is run by seven US banks that include Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo, explained that it defines scams as instances wherein a customer made payment but didn’t get what they were promised. It had anti-fraud policy from the time it was launched in 2017, but it only started returning money to customers who were scammed, possibly due to increasing scrutiny and pressure from authorities.
“As the operator of Zelle, we continuously review and update our operating rules and technology practices to improve the consumer experience and address the dynamic nature of fraud and scams,” Early Warning Services, LLC, told Engadget. “As of June 30, 2023, our bank and credit union participants must reimburse consumers for qualifying imposter scams, like when a scammer impersonates a bank to trick a consumer into sending them money with Zelle. The change ensures consistency across our network and goes beyond legal requirements.
Zelle has driven down fraud and scam rates as a result of these prevention and mitigation efforts consistently from 2022 to 2023, with increasingly more than 99.9% of Zelle transactions are without any reported fraud or scams,” it added.
A series of stories published by The New York Times in 2022 put a spotlight on the growing number of scams and fraud schemes on Zelle. The publication had interviewed customers who were tricked into sending money to scammers but were denied reimbursement, because they had authorized the transactions. Senator Elizabeth Warren also conducted an investigation last year and found that “fraud and scams [jumped] more than 250 percent from over $90 million in 2020 to a pace exceeding $255 million in 2022.” In November 2022, The Timesreported that the seven banks that own Zelle were gearing up for a policy change that will reimburse scam victims.
In Zelle’s “Report a Scam” information page, users can submit the scammer’s details, including what they were claiming to be, their name, website and their phone number. They also have to provide the payment ID for the transfer, the date it was made and a description of what the transaction was supposed to be about. Zelle said it will report the information provided to the recipient’s bank or credit union to help prevent others from falling victim to their schemes, but it’s unclear how Zelle determines whether a scam refund claim is legitimate or not.
“Zelle’s platform changes are long overdue,” Senator Warren told Reuters. “The CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) is standing with consumers, and I urge the agency to keep the pressure on Zelle to protect consumers from bad actors.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/zelle-may-refund-your-money-if-you-were-scammed-062826335.html?src=rss
If you’ve ever wondered what would make Neon Genesis Evangelion fans go berserk, look no further than ASUS. The PC maker brought its $700 ROG Maximus Z790 Hero EVA-02 Edition motherboard to the US in September, and over time, eagle-eyed users finally started noticing a small typo in the anime brand: you get “EVANGENLION” instead of “EVANGELION.” In other words, someone at ASUS was probably watching dubs while accidentally adding the extra “n” here.
This mistake can be spotted alongside the “Polymo lighting” I/O cover panel, which has a display that switches between the iconic red mecha and its stubborn pilot, Asuka. As pointed out by Digital Trends, the official product shots also contained said typo at the time of publishing this article. Interestingly though, this wasn’t the case with the press images received by Engadget back in July — as per the above comparison image. We’ve reached out to ASUS regarding this amusing error, but there’s probably not much point in rectifying it at this point — much like the anime’s original abrupt ending.
Having said that, sometimes it’s typos like this that turn products into collectibles, but good luck finding one. This limited edition motherboard was once listed for above $1,000 by third-party sellers on Amazon, but it has since sold out. You may still find stock in some Micro Center stores, according to its website.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/asus-revealed-to-be-total-anime-fan-poseur-via-costly-typo-on-motherboard-034417256.html?src=rss
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Washington Post: For decades, scientists have tried to figure out ways to reverse climate change by pulling carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and storing it underground. They’ve tried using trees, giant machines that suck CO2 out of the sky, complicated ocean methods that involve growing and burying huge quantities of kelp. Companies, researchers and the U.S. government have spent billions of dollars on the research and development of these approaches and yet they remain too expensive to make a substantial dent in carbon emissions. Now, a start-up says it has discovered a deceptively simple way to take CO2 from the atmosphere and store it for thousands of years. It involves making bricks out of smushed pieces of plants. And it could be a game changer for the growing industry working to pull carbon from the air.
Graphyte, a new company incubated by Bill Gates’s investment group Breakthrough Energy Ventures, announced Monday that it has created a method for turning bits of wood chips and rice hulls into low-cost, dehydrated chunks of plant matter. Those blocks of carbon-laden plant matter — which look a bit like shoe-box sized Lego blocks — can then be buried deep underground for hundreds of years. The approach, the company claims, could store a ton of CO2 for around $100 a ton, a number long considered a milestone for affordably removing carbon dioxide from the air. […] Graphyte’s approach uses the power of plants and trees to photosynthesize and pull carbon dioxide from the air. While trees and plants are excellent at carbon capture, they don’t store that carbon for very long — when a plant burns or decays, its stored carbon comes spilling back out into the air and soil.
Graphyte plans to avoid that decomposition by taking plant waste from timber harvesters and farmers and drying it thoroughly, removing all the microbes that could cause it to decompose and release greenhouse gases. Then, in a process that they call “carbon casting,” it will compress the waste and wrap it into Lego-like bricks, for easier storage about 10 feet underground. The company says that with the right monitoring systems, the blocks can stay there for a thousand years. […] Graphyte is planning to build its first project in Pine Bluff, Ark., and the company hopes to sequester its first carbon for a customer in 2024. It remains to be seen whether Graphyte will be able to scale up its operation to removing millions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere. The company will need to secure many sources of plant waste and build many small processing centers around the country to be successful. “The simplicity of the Graphyte approach is so exciting,” said Daniel Sanchez, who runs the Carbon Removal Lab at the University of California at Berkeley, and serves as a science adviser for Graphyte. “You don’t need very expensive equipment or processes. And it locks up a lot of the carbon in the wood — nearly all of it.”
“People that are academics probably thought about this before and were like, ‘That’s way too simple,'” Sanchez said, laughing. “‘No one’s ever going to do that.'”
Rick Lane reports via PC Gamer: KeeperFX has been in the process of rescuing Dungeon Keeper for a decade and a half. The project originally started in 2008, and experienced something of a bumpy road up until 2016. Since then, though, it has gradually added support for Windows 7, 10, and 11, support for hi-res and 4k screens, modernized controls, and even additional campaigns. With this latest version, KeeperFX’s developers say “all original Dungeon Keeper code has been rewritten, establishing KeeperFX as a true open-source standalone game.” 1.0 also introduces some new features, such as higher framerates, AI that is better at digging and less likely to “instantly” throw its entire army at you, and “higher quality landview speeches” for the additional campaigns. That refers to the introductions and epilogues to missions which, in the game’s original campaign, were voiced by Richard Ridings, aka Daddy Pig.
Perhaps most intriguing of all, KeeperFX’s 1.0 adds a couple of new units to play with. First up is the Druid, a sort-of color-flipped version of the Warlock who uses ice spells rather than fire. The other unit is the excitingly named Time Mage, a recolor of the Wizard who can cast teleport and speed spells, and also turn enemy units into chickens (presumably through rapid devolution). You won’t find these units in the original campaign, but you will encounter them in the custom campaigns bundled with the 1.0 version. You can download KeeperFX here, although it still requires you to own Dungeon Keeper “for copyright reasons.”
According to the Korea Herald, Apple is expected to begin production of OLED displays for its next-gen iPad Pro in February 2024. MacRumors reports: Sources familiar with the matter speaking to the Korea Herald claim that LG Display is set to initiate OLED production for the new iPad Pro as early as February next year at their facility in Paju, Gyeonggi Province — a time frame around three months sooner than previously expected. The displays are expected to be three times the price of those used in iPhones, which could translate to higher prices for customers. […] Apple is reportedly seeking around 10 million OLED panels for the iPad in 2024. LG is expected to supply around 60% of the OLED panels, with the remaining portion supplied by Samsung, which is expected to focus on the 11-inch model only. Production of the panels for the next-generation iPad Pro is expected to help LG Displays’ financial recovery next year. LG and Samsung are said to be currently finalizing price negotiations with Apple.
According to Reuters, banks on the payment app Zelle have begun refunding victims of imposter scams to address consumer protection concerns raised by U.S. lawmakers and the federal consumer watchdog. From the report: The 2,100 financial firms on Zelle, a peer-to-peer network owned by seven banks including JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, began reversing transfers as of June 30 for customers duped into sending money to scammers claiming to be from a government agency, bank or existing service provider, said Early Warning Services (EWS), the banks’ company that owns Zelle. That’s “well above existing legal and regulatory requirements,” Ben Chance, chief fraud risk officer at EWS, told Reuters.
Federal rules require banks to reimburse customers for payments made without their authorization, such as by hackers, but not when customers themselves make the transfer. While Zelle disclosed Aug. 30 that it had introduced a new reimbursement benefit for “specific scam types,” it has not previously provided details on its new imposter scam refund policy due to worries doing so might encourage criminals to make false scam claims, a spokesperson said. The new policy marks a major shift from last year when bankers, including JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, told lawmakers worried about rising scams that it was unreasonable to require banks to refund transfers that customers were tricked into approving.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Michigan-based McLaren Health Care has confirmed that the sensitive personal and health information of 2.2 million patients was compromised during a cyberattack earlier this year. A ransomware gang later took credit for the cyberattack. In a new data breach notice filed with Maine’s attorney general, McLaren said hackers were in its systems for three weeks during July 28 through August 23 before the healthcare company noticed a week later on August 31. McLaren said the hackers accessed patient names, their date of birth and Social Security number, and a wealth of medical information, including billing, claims and diagnosis information, prescription and medication details, and information relating to diagnostic results and treatments. Medicare and Medicaid patient information was also taken.
McLaren is a healthcare provider with 13 hospitals across Michigan and about 28,000 total employees. McLaren, whose website touts its cost efficiency measures, made over $6 billion in revenue in 2022. News of the incident broke in October when the Alphv ransomware gang (also known as BlackCat) claimed responsibility for the cyberattack, claiming it took millions of patients’ personal information. Days after the cyberattack was disclosed, Michigan attorney general Dana Nessel warned state residents that the breach “could affect large numbers of patients.” TechCrunch has seen several screenshots posted by the ransomware gang on its dark web leak site showing access to the company’s password manager, internal financial statements, some employee information, and spreadsheets of patient-related personal and health information, including names, addresses, phone numbers, Social Security numbers, and diagnostic information. Alphv/BlackCat claimed in its post that the gang had been in contact with a McLaren representative, without providing evidence of the claim.
Meta is continuing to (slowly) untangle some aspects of Threads from Instagram. Threads users are now able to delete their accounts on the app without also deleting their Instagram, the app’s top exec, Adam Mosseri, said in an update.
Users can remove their profile from the Threads app via Settings -> Account -> Delete or deactivate profile.
The change has been a long-requested feature among Threads users, many of whom were frustrated by the inability to purge their Threads profile without also nuking their Instagram account. The update comes shortly after Meta introduced another settings change that allows Threads users to opt out of having their posts promoted in Instagram and Facebook’s main feeds.
Despite the changes, Instagram and Threads are still tied very closely together. An Instagram account is required to join Threads, and the app’s only messaging feature relies on Instagram’s inbox. Threads also draws on users’ Instagram presence for recommendations and other features.
While Meta is unlikely to completely separate the two services, there’s reason to hope that Threads may eventually become more independent. Meta has said it intends to make Threads compatible with ActivityPub, the open-source protocol that powers Mastodon and other services in the fediverse. The company hasn’t shared much about how this will work, but the integration should provide social media users with new ways to interact with Threads content even if they prefer to steer clear of Instagram.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/you-can-now-delete-your-threads-profile-without-nuking-your-instagram-account-232844974.html?src=rss
Anton Shilov reports via Tom’s Hardware: A new report from a data recovery company now points the finger at design and manufacturing flaws as the underlying issue with the recent flood of SanDisk Extreme Pro failures that eventually spurred a class action lawsuit. It became clear in May that some of Western Digital’s SanDisk Extreme Pro 4TB SSDs suffered from sudden data loss; at this point, the company promised a firmware update to owners of the 4TB models. However, the 2TB and 3TB models also suffer from the same issue, and Western Digital did not promise any firmware updates for these drives.
Markus Hafele, Managing Director of Attingo, a data recovery company, told FutureZone that the problem lies in hardware, not firmware, which could explain the lack of corrective firmware updates for those models and SanDisk’s continued silence about the source of the issues. Attingo, which has been in the data recovery business for over 25 years, normally sees these failed SanDisk Extreme Pro SSDs at least once a week. The problem appears to be rather complex. According to HÃfele, the components used in these SSDs are too big for the circuit board, causing weak connections (i.e., high impendence and high temperatures) and making them prone to breaking. He also says that the soldering material used to attach these components is prone to forming bubbles and breaking easily.
It remains unknown whether the cause is cheap solder, the componentry, or both contribute to the issues observed. However, newer revisions of these SanDisk Extreme Pro SSDs seem to have been modified with extra epoxy resin to secure the oversized components. This suggests that Western Digital might know about the hardware problems. Nevertheless, these newer models are still failing, thus sending data recovery service customers to firms like Attingo. According to the head of Attingo, the issue seems to be affecting multiple product lineups, including both SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD as well as the SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable SSD.
Enlarge/ That spoiler on the back is the mop pad, but it’s not mopping right now. (credit: iRobot)
Whether you have family in town or leisurely plans on the year’s biggest shopping day, there’s no need to fret, as we’ve boxed up early Black Friday sales for you in our latest Dealmasters. Today’s list includes a hearty selection of sweet deals, from HP printers to Lenovo laptops, 4K monitors, Apple iPads, and plenty of big-screen TVs, just to name a few. So get your early Black Friday savings now.
Featured deals
iRobot Roomba j6+ Self-Emptying Robot Vacuum for $400 (was $800) at Amazon
LG 77-inch Class B3 series OLED 4K UHD TV for $1,800 (was $3,300) at LG
Sony WH-1000XM5 Wireless Noise Canceling Over-Ear Headphones for $328 (was $400) at Amazon
Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Generation, USB-C) for $200 (was $249) Amazon
Samsung 55-inch Class QLED 4K Q70C for $750 (was $1,000) at Samsung
Apple iPad Air (5th Generation) with M1 chip, 64GB, Wi-Fi 6 + 5G Cellular for $650 (was $749) at Amazon
Samsung HW-B650 Powered 3.1-channel sound bar and wireless subwoofer system for $208 (was $398) at Crutchfield
HP Smart Tank 6001 Wireless Cartridge-Free all-in-one printer for $230 (was $345) at Amazon
Amazon Fire TV 65-inch Omni QLED Series 4K UHD smart TV for $590 (was $800) at Amazon
LG 43-inch 4K UHD IPS Smart Monitor for $500 (was $600) at LG
Home and office tech essentials
HP Color LaserJet Pro M283fdw Wireless All-in-One Laser Printer for $429 (was $549) at Amazon
HP Smart Tank 6001 Wireless Cartridge-Free all-in-one printer for $230 (was $345) at Amazon
HP Envy 6455e Wireless Color Inkjet Printer for $100 (was $150) at Amazon
HP Envy Inspire 7955e Wireless Color Inkjet Printer for $160 (was $220) at Amazon
HP LaserJet Pro MFP 4101fdw Wireless Black & White Printer with Fax for $369 (was $539) at Amazon
HP OfficeJet 250 All-in-One Portable Printer with Wireless & Mobile Printing for $400 (was $490) at Amazon
HP Laserjet Pro MFP 3101fdw Wireless Black & White Printer with Fax for $259 (was $379) at Amazon
Amazon eero Pro mesh WiFi router for $70 (was $160) at Amazon
Amazon eero 6+ mesh Wi-Fi system 2-pack for $155 (was $240) at Amazon
Netgear Cable Modem WiFi Router Combo C6300 for $105 (was $200) at Amazon
TP-Link Deco AX3000 WiFi 6 Mesh System 3-pack for $180 (was $230) at Amazon
TP-Link AX3000 WiFi 6 Router 802.11ax Wireless, Gigabit, Dual Band Internet $108 (was $130) at Amazon
TP-Link AC1750 Smart WiFi Router (Archer A7) Dual Band Gigabit for $53 (was $80) at Amazon
TP-Link Deco AX7800 Tri-Band Mesh WiFi 6 System (Deco X95) 2-pack for $350 (was $450) at Amazon
TP-Link AC1900 WiFi Extender (RE550) for $70 (was $80) at Amazon
Amazon eero Pro 6E mesh Wi-Fi System 2-pack for $280 (was $400) at Amazon
Amazon eero 6+ mesh Wi-Fi router for $90 (was $140) at Amazon
Echo Show 8 (2nd Gen, 2021 release) for $70 (was $130) at Amazon
Apple gear
Apple iPad Air (5th Generation) with M1 chip, 64GB, Wi-Fi 6 + 5G Cellular for $650 (was $749) at Amazon
Apple iPad Air (5th Generation) with M1 chip, 64GB for $499 (was $599) at Amazon
Apple iPad (9th Generation) with A13 Bionic chip, 64GB for $249 (was $329) at Amazon
Apple Watch Series 9 (GPS, 45mm) Smartwatch with Midnight Aluminum Case for $379 (was $429) at Amazon
Apple MacBook Air 15-inch Laptop, M2 chip,16GB Memory, 512GB SSD for $1,499 (was $1,699) at Best Buy
Apple MacBook Pro 13.3-inch Laptop, Apple M2 chip, 8GB Memory, 512GB SSD for $1,299 (was $1,499) at Best Buy
