Uber’s partnership with Waymo, a driverless taxi service, began Wednesday to provide autonomous ride options for customers in Phoenix. Riders who book an UberX, Uber Green, Uber Comfort, or Uber Comfort Electric could be paired with an autonomous Waymo vehicle.
Source: Gizmodo – You Can Now Order a Waymo Robotaxi on the Uber App in Phoenix
When you have an acting career as vast and varied as Patrick Stewart’s, you’re allowed a little moment or two of going “well, that wasn’t great, was it?” But it’s surprising to see him reflect so harshly on what, to legions of people, will remain some of defining work: as Captain Picard on Star Trek: The Next…
Source: Gizmodo – Patrick Stewart Thinks He Wasn’t That Great in The Next Generation’s Early Seasons
Google has expanded its vulnerability rewards program (VRP) to include attack scenarios specific to generative AI. From a report: In an announcement shared with TechCrunch ahead of publication, Google said: “We believe expanding the VRP will incentivize research around AI safety and security and bring potential issues to light that will ultimately make AI safer for everyone.” Google’s vulnerability rewards program (or bug bounty) pays ethical hackers for finding and responsibly disclosing security flaws.
Given that generative AI brings to light new security issues, such as the potential for unfair bias or model manipulation, Google said it sought to rethink how bugs it receives should be categorized and reported. The tech giant says it’s doing this by using findings from its newly formed AI Red Team, a group of hackers that simulate a variety of adversaries, ranging from nation-states and government-backed groups to hacktivists and malicious insiders to hunt down security weaknesses in technology. The team recently conducted an exercise to determine the biggest threats to the technology behind generative AI products like ChatGPT and Google Bard.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Google Adds Generative AI Threats To Its Bug Bounty Program
After traveling through space for 200 million miles, rocky pieces from asteroid Bennu were dropped off on Earth by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft in late September. Now, some of those fragments will be put on display for museum-goers to observe firsthand.
Source: Gizmodo – Pieces of Asteroid Bennu Land at the Smithsonian After 200 Million Mile Voyage
Hyundai said this week that it will set up “mobile clinics” at five U.S. locations to provide anti-theft software upgrades for vehicles now regularly targeted by thieves using a technique popularized on TikTok and other social media platforms. From a report: The South Korean automaker will hold the clinics, which will run for two to three days on or adjacent to weekends, in New York City; Chicago; Minneapolis; St. Paul, Minnesota; and Rochester, New York. The clinics will take place between Oct. 28 and Nov. 18. Hyundai said it will also support single-day regional clinics run by dealerships before the end of 2023, although it didn’t name locations or dates.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Hyundai To Hold Software-Upgrade Clinics Across the US For Vehicles Targeted By Thieves
Need to fix your Samsung device? Why not temporarily back up your data in the cloud before attempting it yourself or sending it to a technician? Samsung announced it’s started rolling out a “temporary cloud backup” feature to select smartphones and tablets running the latest version of One UI 6. The ability lets you…
Source: Gizmodo – Samsung’s Temporary Cloud Backup is Like a Scratch Pad for Your Phone’s Data
The Roku Channel, which already has a robust array of free-with-ads content, has added even more live linear channels, all curated around a specific theme, to its 400-plus options. Just in time for Halloween, there’s a new channel completely dedicated to Universal Monster movies—earlier today, we clicked over and…
Source: Gizmodo – Roku’s New Channels Include One Dedicated to Universal Monsters
Apple has at least one more trick — or possibly a treat — up its sleeve this year. On October 30, the night before Halloween, the company is hosting another event. This one is dubbed “Scary Fast,” which is a strong indicator that Apple will have some speedy new hardware to show off. Unusually, Apple is holding this event in the evening. It starts at 8PM ET.
This year’s iPhones and Apple Watches are out in the wild already, but Apple has a bunch of other product categories that it could focus on here. There’s always the chance that we might get iPad updates. But, if rumors are to be believed, Apple’s focus during the Scary Fast event will be on Macs and a fresh batch of chipsets to power them.
Apple won’t be talking about speed advancements without having new hardware to discuss. That could all start with upgraded chipsets. It’s been nearly 17 months since Apple’s M2 system on a chip (SoC) debuted. With many manufacturers having an annual cadence for their chipsets, it may be time for Apple to move onto the next generation. (No, shoving two M2 Max chips together isn’t quite the same thing.) For what it’s worth, the M2 series debuted 19 months after the M1. So, if Apple announces the M3 at the Scary Fast event, the latest SoC would be arriving after a similar period of time.
Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has suggested that “M3 series MacBook Pro” will be the focus of the event, indicating that the company will have more than one new SoC to reveal. As such, there’s a chance that we could see an M3 Pro and maybe even an M3 Max during the Scary Fast showcase.
A new 24-inch iMac could make its debut at the Scary Fast event. Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman reported that a fresh model is expected to arrive this month. He noted that the iMac is in short supply at Apple retail stores, which is another sign that an upgrade is imminent.
The 24-inch iMac is well overdue for a refresh, and there have been rumblings for a while that an M3 variant was in the pipeline. The most recent model was an M1-powered machine that arrived in April 2021. Making the leap to M3 — assuming that the new chip lineup is more capable than the M2 series — may make any new iMac worth the upgrade for many users.
There’s a very good chance Apple will have at least one MacBook Pro refresh to show off at the event. Both Kuo and Gurman have indicated that will be the case.
Gurman pointed out that the 13-inch, 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro all currently have extended shipping times on Apple’s web store. That’s often an indicator that the company is winding down the supply of existing products. Furthermore, Gurman reported that Apple has been testing M3 Max and M3 Pro MacBook Pro models. Those could now be ready for prime time.
However, Kuo doesn’t expect Apple to have a huge inventory of new MacBook Pro units to sell this year. He previously didn’t anticipate that Apple would start selling M3-powered laptops before the end of the year due to limited supply of between 400,000 and 500,000 units. Unless demand drops, Kuo said supply may remain tight until early 2024.
MacBook sales have waned this year, mainly due to “the limited M2 computing power upgrade,” Kuo wrote on X. That might be a reason why Apple is willing to start shipping M3 MacBook Pros now, even if supply is constrained. Announcing new models just a few days before reporting quarterly earnings could help give investors confidence in the company (recent increases of Apple TV+, Apple Arcade and Apple News+ prices could play into that too).
If M3-powered models don’t lead to a boost in sales, though, Kuo suggests it’s more likely that a MacBook Pro with a new design will arrive in 2025. Furthermore, Apple may try to beef up the division with a more budget-friendly MacBook that has an annual sales target of between 8 million and 10 million.
We can’t disregard our hunch that we’ll see at least one iPad at Apple’s event. With the focus likely to be on M3-powered products, the chances are that any new iPad will be of the Pro variety with one of those chips inside.
It has only been a year since the most recent iPad Pro debuted. Other than a few small tweaks, Apple only really swapped in the M2 in place of the M1. The next iPad Pro will probably need more changes to make it more palatable for anyone who picked up the previous two models, which means Apple might need more time to get it ready. If that’s the case, the company might be content to give the iPad Pro a spec bump for the time being.
Other iPads could also get a refresh at the event, just in time for the holidays. We won’t have to wait too long to find out either way. We’ll have full coverage of everything you need to know from the Scary Fast event at Engadget, so while you’re waiting for Halloween trick-or-treaters to show up, slip into your jammies, grab a mug of cocoa and join us on Monday evening.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/what-we-expect-at-apples-scary-fast-event-m3-powered-macbook-pros-and-new-imacs-191549274.html?src=rss
Source: Engadget – What we expect at Apple’s Scary Fast event: M3-powered MacBook Pros and new iMacs
If you’ve always wanted to see more of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, your time has arrived: Five Nights at Freddy’s will soon be both in theaters and streaming on Peacock, offering an entertaining if imperfect expansion on the popular Five Nights at Freddy’s video game franchise.
Source: Gizmodo – Five Nights at Freddy’s Animatronics Steal the Show in Their Movie Debut
Meta is once again showing the limits of its own Supreme Court’s policy recommendations. This time, the disagreement centers around the ways users can post about certain drugs like ketamine on Facebook and Instagram. These drugs, which can straddle the line between recreational and therapeutic use, can run right up…
Source: Gizmodo – Meta and Its Oversight Board Are Squabbling Over Ads for Dubiously Legal Drugs
Slowly but surely, the public will start gaining more access to evidence shared in the Department of Justice’s antitrust trial probing Google’s search business, following an intervention by press outlets. In a motion to intervene, outlets earlier this month told the court that they were struggling to cover the trial because much of the evidence and proceedings has been withheld, redacted, or closed off entirely to protect industry trade secrets.
Yesterday, Judge Amit Mehta granted some of the demands of outlets—including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, MLex, and Law360—which, among other requests, had asked the court to mandate the sharing of dozens of exhibits that the public has so far been denied access to despite pending press requests.
Mehta said that the supplemental order and other recent orders would allow the court to “continue facilitating public access to the trial and minimizing the need to close the courtroom while providing for the protection of confidential information.”
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Source: Ars Technica – Media outlets win fight to gain faster access to Google trial evidence
Drones aren’t new tools for live sports production, but when the World Series begins this Friday, Fox Sports will use a fleet of three compact aircraft during the Fall Classic for the first time ever. Previously, the network used drones during baseball games for coverage of the All-Star and Field of Dreams games. Fox also employs drones for its broadcasts of USFL and first began using them for production in 2015.
For the World Series, Fox plans to use the trio of drones to capture moments like relief pitchers coming in from the bullpen, warm-ups between innings and pitchers leaving the mound. The network collaborated with Beverly Hills Aerials on the customized fleet and that company will operate them. While Fox says it will select the drone best-suited for what it’s capturing, all three are FPV units (first-person view) and only one will be in the air at any given time. The pilot will be positioned in the outfield either behind or between the bullpens. While all three drones are equipped with 4K cameras, Fox says they’ll transmit 1080p HDR footage that will also be available for use on jumbo screens inside the two stadiums.
Ump CAM of Corey Seager’s solo blast 😍 pic.twitter.com/550hMN1Qcs
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 20, 2023
The drone shots will join Fox’s new UmpCam that it debuted during this year’s ALDS. It’s exactly what it sounds like: a camera that gives you the vantage point of the home plate umpire. The camera is installed in the top of the umpire’s mask, getting viewers as close as they can get to what he sees. Fox uses UmpCam to show ball/strike calls and for an on-field perspective of big hits. The network will employ 52 cameras total during the World Series, including an overhead FlyCam, three DirtCams (near home plate, first base and second base), 13 Super Motion cameras and three RF cameras. To capture audio inside each ballpark, Fox will position over 100 microphones to bring fans at home every bit of sound from the game that it can.
The World Series begins Friday, October 27 at 8PM ET when the Texas Rangers host the Arizona Diamondbacks for Game 1.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/fox-sports-will-use-drones-in-world-series-broadcasts-for-the-first-time-190330105.html?src=rss
Source: Engadget – Fox Sports will use drones in World Series broadcasts for the first time
Daimler has finally started producing its flagship medium-duty electric truck, the Freightliner eM2, in its manufacturing plant in Portland, Oregon. The company didn’t say when its first production units will be available but once they are complete, the vehicles will be delivered to select commercial leasing companies in the US and Canada.
The eM2 is powered by a battery-electric Detroit ePowertrain and is designed with 2-speed transmissions that minimize energy cost per mile. The truck’s driving range will depend on the battery capacity per model. The class 6 single-motor version that has a 194 kWh battery can drive up to 180 miles on a single charge. Alternatively, the class 7 dual-motor which is equipped with a 291 kWh battery can drive up to 250 miles on a single charge.
The Freightliner eM2 electric delivery truck, which has been in the works since 2019, was able to be recharged to 200 miles in 60 minutes during testing with Penske. But that test was four years ago, and the company didn’t say anything about recharge times in today’s news. Access to charging stations, like the ones being developed by Penske, will be essential for Daimler’s rollout of the eM2. In a similar regard, Volvo, which contends against Daimler in the EV long-haul trucking space, has been focused on improving the battery ranges of vehicles in its truck fleet. The Volvo FE electric truck, which competes against the eM2, has a range of up to 170 miles and is expected to be out for deliveries in autumn of this year.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/daimler-begins-manufacturing-freightliner-em2-electric-trucks-185447791.html?src=rss
Source: Engadget – Daimler begins manufacturing Freightliner eM2 electric trucks
Threads finally has built-in options for posting GIFs and polls. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the updates on Thursday, replying with his own GIFs and polls to a string of users who’d questioned when these features would come to the platform. Both have begun rolling out for the Threads app and on the web, though polls seems to be taking a bit longer to make its way to the latter.
While users could previously post GIFs using workarounds like third-party keyboards or by copy/pasting them from elsewhere, with mixed results, there was no native button in the app itself. Now, users will see a GIF button in the post creation window next to the image gallery button, which will pull up a searchable GIPHY library to choose from.
For polls, users will be able to add up to four choices for others to vote on, and control who can and can’t respond. Polls will stay open for 24 hours after they’re posted, and only people who responded to the poll will be able to see the results as they come in. The poll button will appear in the post creation toolbar as three horizontal lines.
GIFs and polls have become staple features on Twitter, where they’ve been available for years, and users who have turned to Threads as an alternative have been asking for them since the beginning. Instagram got GIF replies this past spring and polls only last week, so their arrival on Threads was perhaps an obvious next step. Slowly but surely, Threads has been adding more and more to the experience as it finds its footing, and it seems to be working. Just yesterday, Zuckerberg said the platform now has almost 100 million monthly active users.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/threads-now-has-polls-and-an-easy-way-to-post-gifs-184330729.html?src=rss
Source: Engadget – Threads now has polls and an easy way to post GIFs
OpenAI today announced that it’s created a new team to assess, evaluate and probe AI models to protect against what it describes as “catastrophic risks.” From a report: The team, called Preparedness, will be led by Aleksander Madry, the director of MIT’s Center for Deployable Machine Learning. (Madry joined OpenAI in May as “head of Preparedness,” according to LinkedIn, ) Preparedness’ chief responsibilities will be tracking, forecasting and protecting against the dangers of future AI systems, ranging from their ability to persuade and fool humans (like in phishing attacks) to their malicious code-generating capabilities.
Some of the risk categories Preparedness is charged with studying seem more… far-fetched than others. For example, in a blog post, OpenAI lists “chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear” threats as areas of top concern where it pertains to AI models. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is a noted AI doomsayer, often airing fears â” whether for optics or out of personal conviction — that AI “may lead to human extinction.” But telegraphing that OpenAI might actually devote resources to studying scenarios straight out of sci-fi dystopian novels is a step further than this writer expected, frankly.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – OpenAI Forms Team To Study ‘Catastrophic’ AI Risks, Including Nuclear Threats
You can now treat your cough, cold, and flu with Amazon Clinic, the company’s latest expansion into the healthcare space Wednesday that begs the question: Why is Amazon now my doctor?
Source: Gizmodo – Amazon Clinic Is the Latest Sign That American Healthcare Has Failed Us
There’s no weirder, more Doctor Who thing than the fact that right now you can’t go back and watch the last appearance of this year’s big 60th anniversary villain—the Toymaker, now played by Neil Patrick Harris—57 years ago because 75% of that story doesn’t actually exist anymore. But that could at least change in…
Source: Gizmodo – Doctor Who’s Next Animated Remake Could Have Ties to Its 60th Anniversary
Enlarge / A T-Mobile store on August 24, 2023 in Washington, DC. (credit: Getty Images | Anna Moneymaker)
T-Mobile has scrapped a plan to automatically switch users to newer, more expensive packages after hearing loads of criticism from customers.
The plan became public knowledge two weeks ago with the leak of internal documents that said customers would be switched to pricier tiers starting with the November bill cycle unless they contacted T-Mobile to opt out. Documents showed that T-Mobile customer service reps were trained to tell users who complained, “We are not raising the price of any of our plans; we are moving you to a newer plan with more benefits at a different cost.”
But in an earnings call yesterday (see transcript), T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert said it’s no longer happening because feedback from angry subscribers showed it “isn’t something that our customers are going to love.”
Read 11 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Backlash forces T-Mobile to cancel automatic migrations to pricier plans
Google executive Prabhakar Raghavan on Thursday detailed challenges the search and advertising giant faces from smaller rivals, describing efforts to avoid becoming “the next road kill.” From a report: Raghavan testified at the ongoing antitrust trial in the suit brought by the U.S. Justice Department and a coalition of state attorneys general, alleging Alphabet’s Google unlawfully abused its dominance in the search-engine market to maintain monopoly power. Raghavan, asked about a 1998 article about Yahoo!’s dominance of search at the time, said he was acutely aware rivals from Expedia.com to Instagram to TikTok competed for users’ attention.
“I feel a keen sense not to become the next road kill,” said Raghavan, a senior vice president at Google who reports to chief executive Sundar Pichai. Raghavan said Google had some 8,000 engineers and product managers working on search, with about 1,000 involved in search quality. Raghavan’s description of Google struggling to stay relevant clashed with the Justice Department’s depiction of a behemoth that broke antitrust law to retain dominance of online search and some aspects of advertising, including paying an estimated $10 billion annually to smartphone makers and wireless carriers to be the default search engine on devices. Google’s share of the search engine market is near 90%.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Google Exec Testifies Innovation Key To Avoid Becoming ‘Next Road Kill’
Enlarge / Google Fiber Labs brings quick internet to early adopters. (credit: Google)
Google Fiber is still operating in a handful of cities, and now the bandwidth-rich are getting richer: Fiber plans to upgrade some users to outrageously fast 20Gbps service by the end of the year. Google’s Wednesday blog post calls this part of a “GFiber Labs” experiment and says the service “will initially be available as an early access offering to a small group of GFiber customers in select areas.”
The 20Gbps service is made possible by new networking gear: Nokia’s 25G PON (passive optical network) technology, which lets Internet service providers push more bandwidth over existing fiber lines. Google says it’s “one of the first” ISPs to adopt the technology for consumers, though at least one other US ISP, the Tennessee provider “EPB,” has rolled out the technology. Customers will need new networking gear, too, and Google says you’ll get a new fiber modem with built-in Wi-Fi 7.
Fierce Telecom spoke with Google’s Nick Saporito, head of product at Google Fiber, who said, “We definitely see a need” for 20Gbps service. For now, Saporito says the service is “a very early adopter product,” but it will eventually roll out “in most, if not all, of our markets.”
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Source: Ars Technica – Google Fiber is getting outrageously fast 20Gbps service
