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Peloton announced this week, among other things, that all of its devices are getting a bit of an overhaul. While the Bike, Bike+, Tread, Tread+, and Row each got some improvements, this doesn’t necessarily mean you have to upgrade your equipment just yet.

Comparing old Peloton models with the new Cross Training Series

First, the basics: Peloton unveiled all-new versions of its classic at-home fitness equipment Wednesday. Collectively, they’re known as the Cross Training series—the equipment itself is the Cross Training Bike, the Cross Training Bike+, etc. Like before, there are still five models—two bikes, two treadmills, and a rowing machine—but the new versions have features that make them more compatible with cross training and are just a little better than their predecessors overall.

Peloton Bike vs. Peloton Cross Training Bike

We’ll start with the classic bike, Peloton’s bread and butter. The original Bike retails for $1,145 and the new Cross Training Bike is $1,695. Like all the new models, the updated version of the base model Bike features a swiveling touchscreen designed to make it easier for you to segue from cardio on the machine to strength, stretching, yoga, or some other Peloton workout, all while still following along with an instructor on the screen.

Otherwise, what this $200 price hike gets you is pretty basic: There is improved audio in the form of front-facing speakers, better wifi connectivity, and Bluetooth 5.2. It also has an upgraded seat, which Peloton describes as “an ergonomically redesigned saddle with enhanced cushioning and optimized weight distribution.” A comfier seat is a bonus, but comfier seats were already available on the third-party market.

There are more similarities between the old model and new than there are differences. Both have manual resistance knobs, a 21.5″ touchscreen, a belt drive, and magnetic resistance. To be clear, Peloton didn’t set out to reinvent the (fly)wheel here; all of these devices are functionally similar to their predecessors. You cycle on the Bike, run on the Tread, and row on the Row, just as you always did.

Bike+ vs. Cross Training Bike+

I liked the old Bike+ when I tested it out, but the new Bike+ has some significant upgrades over that one. The old-style Bike+ retails for $2,495 while the Cross Training Bike+ is $2,695. You get the swivel screen and the upgraded seat, but you also get a movement-tracking camera that uses AI to make suggestions and correct your form, Sonos audio with a woofer, AI-powered voice commands, a fan, a phone tray, and better software overall. Like the old Bike+, this one has a 23.8″ HD touchscreen and the much-loved auto-resistance feature.

I got the chance to play around with the new devices at Peloton Studios this week and, from what I experienced, the company’s claims that the hardware and software have been enhanced to improve touchscreen responsiveness and audio quality are accurate. That’s true for this new Bike+ and all the newer models announced.

Tread vs. Cross Training Tread

The Cross Training Tread is $3,295 compared to the Tread’s $2,995, though both get you a 23.8″ HD touchscreen, a maximum speed of 12.5 miles per hour, and an incline up to 12.5%, as well as a soft-touch running belt. That price increase also covers the swivel screen, an upgraded processor, and better speakers and connectivity.

Tread+ vs. Cross Training Tread+

You’re going to notice a theme here: The Plus models pack more upgraded features into their upgrades, period. That’s true for the Cross Training Tread+, which sees one of the biggest price increases over its predecessor—it now retails for $6,495 compared to $5,995. The similarities are in the 32″ screen, slatted running belt, and incline up to 15%. The differences mirror the differences between the Bike+ and Cross Training Bike+: It comes with the movement-tracking camera, swivel screen, Sonos speakers, voice control, fan, and upgraded tech and hardware.

Row vs. Cross Training Row+

The Row is the Peloton device that moved from plain-old equipment to Plus line. Now, the Cross Training Row+ retails for $3,495 instead of $3,195 and comes with all those Plus features, like the rotating screen, movement-tracking camera, Sonos speakers, voice control, fan, and upgraded processor.

Should you upgrade your Peloton device?

Let me start by saying I have only gotten to interact with the new devices for a brief time during a press event, so I haven’t formed my opinion based on any extensive use. That said, what I saw at the event was impressive—especially from the Plus line, which is the line that features the much-touted movement-tracking camera.

If you are considering upgrading, your best bet is to go all the way to Plus so you can make the most of all the new features Peloton announced. The movement-tracking camera and voice controls were really slick in the demos I participated in. The camera can correct your form or let you know when lifting a certain way is becoming too easy for you and you should consider moving to a higher weight, for instance. The Plus line also has the built-in fan, which is simply a nice touch.

All of that said, while Peloton rolled out new classes and AI features to accompany these cross training devices, everything except the motion-tracking and voice control works fine on existing equipment. If you have a Bike or even older Bike+, you’ll still be able to use the new customized workout scheduling feature, plus all the other features you’ve already had access to. If you’re not in a rush to get rid of your old machine, you don’t have to unless you really want the motion-tracking camera and voice commands.

Upgrading to the Cross Training Bike or Cross Training Tread doesn’t make sense to me right now, since the only real improvement you get with those is the swivel screen. If I were going to get a new device—and, after almost five years with my beloved Bike, I’m finally considering it—I’d opt for a Plus so I could take advantage of all the new tools and features.

It’s worth keeping in mind, though, that whether you upgrade hardware or not, you’re going to be paying more as it is. Membership fees for Peloton’s app, which allows you to take classes and follow programs on your phone as well as on the company’s proprietary devices, are going up as of the new equipment release. The new prices for membership are:

• All-Access Membership goes up from $44 to $49.99 per month

• App+ Membership goes up from $24 to $28.99

• App One Membership goes up from $12.99 to $15.99

Moreover, Peloton has done away with free installation, which we knew was coming. You’ll have to spend $150 for assembly of your new device, unless you get a Cross Training Tread+, which will run you $299 in assembly fees. Accounting for all these extra fees is part of deciding if you need new equipment, so take it all in.

Peloton will be rolling out deals for existing members who want to upgrade in the coming days and weeks. For now, don’t forget that the company launched its own resale platform earlier this year and, depending on what kind of device you sell, not only do you get paid for the equipment itself, but you get a few hundred bucks off your future Peloton purchase. If you’re considering a new device from this upgraded fleet, look into selling your old goods first so you have a better sense of how much money you have to work with.

And if you don’t have a Peloton device but want one, maybe think about waiting around a few weeks for all the older models to hit the resale site. Like I said, the new software upgrades work just fine on them, so this could be your moment to get a great deal.

When Lego announced its near 1:1, 421-piece Nintendo Game Boy set I wrote that it was charming, but “sadly not playable.” Now that it has started shipping (as of yesterday), creator Natalie the Nerd proved me 100 percent wrong. She added the power to play genuine Game Boy cartridges, using real hardware and not an emulator, according to her post on Bluesky and a story on The Verge. 

The project was right up Natalie’s alley as she specializes in circuit board design, having even created a transparent one for another Game Boy project. To make the Lego Game Boy run, she created a custom circuit board with Game Boy chips soldered on, including working buttons. She then added the “smallest screen kit on the market,” she told The Verge, removing a few bricks to make it fit. You won’t even have to worry about batteries as it has a USB-C port to run everything.

Natalie the Nerd

It’s fully functional but not quite complete — on Bluesky, Natalie pointed out that the A and B keys are currently held in by an elastic band. To fix that, she plans to 3D print a lego piece that will hold a custom PCB for the buttons. Once it’s all ready, she’ll share her designs as she has with past products. “I am going to release it once I am happy with it,” she wrote on X. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/a-creator-has-made-legos-non-playable-game-boy-set-playable-120044617.html?src=rss

For the last month, NASA’s interim administrator, Sean Duffy, has been giving interviews and speeches around the world, offering a singular message: “We are going to beat the Chinese to the Moon.”

This is certainly what the president who appointed Duffy to the NASA post wants to hear. Unfortunately, there is a very good chance that Duffy’s sentiment is false. Privately, many people within the space industry, and even at NASA, acknowledge that the US space agency appears to be holding a losing hand. Recently, some influential voices, such as former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, have spoken out.

“Unless something changes, it is highly unlikely the United States will beat China’s projected timeline to the Moon’s surface,” Bridenstine said in early September.

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Google has laid off over 100 employees in design-related roles, including user experience research and cloud design teams, as part of broader cost-cutting measures to prioritize AI infrastructure. CNBC reports: Earlier this week, the company laid off employees within the cloud unit’s “quantitative user experience research” teams and “platform and service experience” teams, as well as some adjacent teams, according to internal documents viewed by CNBC. The roles often focus on using data, surveys and other tools to understand and implement user behaviors that inform product development and design. Google has halved some of the cloud unit’s design teams, and many of those affected are U.S.-based roles. Some employees have been given until early December to find a new role within the company.

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Scientists have discovered complex organic molecules within the icy plume erupting from Saturn’s moon Enceladus, strengthening the case that its hidden saltwater ocean may harbor the conditions for life. The Guardian reports: The sixth largest of Saturn’s moons, Enceladus has become one of the leading contenders in the search for bodies that could harbor extraterrestrial life, with the Cassini mission — which ended in 2017 — revealing the moon has a plume of water ice grains and vapors erupting from beneath the surface at its south pole. The phenomenon has since been captured by the James Webb space telescope, with the plume reaching nearly 6,000 miles into space. The source of this material is thought to be a saltwater ocean that lies beneath the moon’s icy crust.

Now researchers studying data from the Cassini mission say they have discovered organic substances within the plume, with some types of molecule detected there for the first time. Dr Nozair Khawaja, a planetary scientist at Freie University Berlin and lead author of the work, said the results increased the known complexity of the chemistry that is happening below the surface of Enceladus. “When there is complexity happening, that means that the habitable potential of Enceladus is increasing right now,” he said. Writing in the journal Nature Astronomy, Khawaja and colleagues reported how their previous work had revealed the presence of organic substances and salts within ice grains found in a ring of Saturn, known as the “E-ring,” that is composed of material ejected from Enceladus. […]

While the new findings do not show that there is life on Enceladus, Khawaja said they indicate there are complex chemical pathways at play that could lead to the formation of substances that could be biologically relevant. The results, he added, support plans by the European Space Agency (ESA) to investigate the moon for signs of life. “I think all the signals are green here for Enceladus,” Khawaja said. The findings add momentum to ESA’s proposed mission to directly search for biological signs around 2042. According to the ESA, the mission will consist of an orbiter around Enceladus that will also fly through the plumes, as well as a lander that will touch down in the south pole region of the moon.

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: Thinking Machines Lab,a heavily funded startup cofounded by prominent researchers fromOpenAI, has revealed its first product — a tool called Tinker that automates the creation of custom frontier AI models. “We believe [Tinker] will help empower researchers and developers to experiment with models and will make frontier capabilities much more accessible to all people,” said Mira Murati, cofounder and CEO of Thinking Machines, in an interview with WIRED ahead of the announcement.

Big companies and academic labs already fine-tune open source AI models to create new variants that are optimized for specific tasks, like solving math problems, drafting legal agreements, or answering medical questions. Typically, this work involves acquiring and managing clusters of GPUs and using various software tools to ensure that large-scale training runs are stable and efficient. Tinker promises to allow more businesses, researchers, and even hobbyists to fine-tune their own AI models by automating much of this work.

Essentially, the team is betting that helping people fine-tune frontier models will be the next big thing in AI. And there’s reason to believe they might be right. Thinking Machines Lab is helmed by researchers who played a core role in the creation of ChatGPT. And, compared to similar tools on the market, Tinker is more powerful and user friendly, according to beta testers I spoke with. Murati says that Thinking Machines Lab hopes to demystify the work involved in tuning the world’s most powerful AI models and make it possible for more people to explore the outer limits of AI. “We’re making what is otherwise a frontier capability accessible to all, and that is completely game-changing,” she says. “There are a ton of smart people out there, and we need as many smart people as possible to do frontier AI research.” “There’s a bunch of secret magic, but we give people full control over the training loop,” OpenAI veteran John Schulman says. “We abstract away the distributed training details, but we still give people full control over the data and the algorithms.”

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Renewables generated 54% of the EU’s net electricity in Q2 2025, with solar power emerging as the leading source at nearly 20% of the total mix. Electrek reports: According to new data from Eurostat, renewable energy sources generated 54% of the EU’s net electricity in Q2 2025, up from 52.7% year-over-year. The growth came mainly from solar, which produced 122,317 gigawatt-hours (GWh) — nearly 20% of the total electricity generation mix. June 2025 was a milestone month: Solar became the EU’s single largest electricity source for the first time ever. It supplied 22% of all power that month, edging out nuclear (21.6%), wind (15.8%), hydro (14.1%), and natural gas (13.8%). […]

In total, 15 EU countries saw their share of renewable generation rise year-over-year. Luxembourg (+13.5 percentage points) and Belgium (+9.1 pp) posted the most significant gains, driven largely by solar power growth. Across the EU, solar made up 36.8% of renewable generation, followed by wind at 29.5%, hydro at 26%, biomass at 7.3%, and geothermal at 0.4%.

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A relatively new spacecraft company, Inversion, revealed its new “on demand” delivery vehicle Wednesday evening during a splashy ceremony at its factory in Los Angeles.

The company said it is building the Arc spacecraft to provide a capability to the US military to deliver as much as 500 pounds (225 kg) of supplies almost anywhere in the world, almost instantaneously.

“The nominal mission for us is pre-positioning Arcs on orbit, and having them stay up there for up to five years, able to be called upon and then autonomously go and land wherever and whenever they’re needed, being able to bring their cargo or effects to the desired location in under an hour,” said Justin Fiaschetti, co-founder and chief executive of Inversion, in an interview with Ars before the event.

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Researchers have unveiled two new hardware-based attacks, Battering RAM and Wiretap, that break Intel SGX and AMD SEV-SNP trusted enclaves by exploiting deterministic encryption and physical interposers. Ars Technica reports: In the age of cloud computing, protections baked into chips from Intel, AMD, and others are essential for ensuring confidential data and sensitive operations can’t be viewed or manipulated by attackers who manage to compromise servers running inside a data center. In many cases, these protections — which work by storing certain data and processes inside encrypted enclaves known as TEEs (Trusted Execution Enclaves) — are essential for safeguarding secrets stored in the cloud by the likes of Signal Messenger and WhatsApp. All major cloud providers recommend that customers use it. Intel calls its protection SGX, and AMD has named it SEV-SNP.

Over the years, researchers have repeatedly broken the security and privacy promises that Intel and AMD have made about their respective protections. On Tuesday, researchers independently published two papers laying out separate attacks that further demonstrate the limitations of SGX and SEV-SNP. One attack, dubbed Battering RAM, defeats both protections and allows attackers to not only view encrypted data but also to actively manipulate it to introduce software backdoors or to corrupt data. A separate attack known as Wiretap is able to passively decrypt sensitive data protected by SGX and remain invisible at all times.

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Apple has paused development of a cheaper, lighter Vision Pro headset to shift resources toward AI-powered smart glasses aimed at competing with Meta. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports: The company had been preparing a cheaper, lighter variant of its headset — code-named N100 — for release in 2027. But Apple announced internally last week that it’s moving staff from that project to accelerate work on glasses, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The company is working on at least two types of smart glasses. The first one, dubbed N50, will pair with an iPhone and lack its own display. Apple aims to unveil this model as soon as next year, ahead of a release in 2027, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing internal matters.

Apple is also working on a version with a display — something that could challenge the just-released Meta Ray-Ban Display. The Apple version had been planned for 2028, but the company is now looking to accelerate development, the people said. […] Apple’s glasses will rely heavily on voice interaction and artificial intelligence — two areas where it hasn’t always excelled. It was slow to introduce the Apple Intelligence platform and had to delay upgrades to its Siri voice assistant.

The Apple glasses are expected to come in a variety of styles and run a new chip. They’ll include speakers for music playback, cameras for media recording, and voice-control features that will work with a connected phone. Apple has also been exploring a suite of health-tracking capabilities for the device. The priority shift to glasses is just the latest change to the company’s headset strategy following an underwhelming debut by the Vision Pro. The $3,499 product, which melds virtual and augmented reality, is seen as too heavy and expensive to be a mainstream hit. It’s also short on both video content and apps. Apple executives have acknowledged the product’s shortcomings in private, viewing it as an overengineered piece of technology.

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from MacRumors: iFixit today disassembled the AirPods Pro 3, giving us a look at what’s inside and how the AirPods Pro 3 have changed in comparison to the AirPods Pro 2. […] To get a look at other components inside the AirPods Pro 3, iFixit essentially had to destroy them because Apple didn’t design them to be repaired. Since the first version of the AirPods launched, they’ve included a battery that is sealed shut with glue, and that hasn’t changed with the AirPods Pro 3. iFixit says battery replacements are so difficult that many repair shops won’t even attempt to do it. The AirPods Pro Charging Case has the same glued-in battery.

There’s no way to attempt a battery repair without causing blemishes on the plastic of the earbuds and the casing, because they have to be pried open. Heat needs to be used to melt the adhesive, and there’s no easy way to disconnect the flex cable that’s inside each earbud. With the need for specialized equipment and the inability to repair the earbuds and the case without causing damage, the AirPods Pro 3 earned a 0 out of 10 repairability score from iFixit.

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Meta will begin using data from AI chatbot conversations and other AI-powered products to fuel targeted advertising across Facebook and Instagram, with no way to opt out. The policy change, effective December 16, excludes users in South Korea, the UK, and the EU due to stricter privacy laws. TechCrunch reports: If a user chats with Meta AI about hiking, for example, the company may show ads for hiking gear. However, Meta spokesperson Emil Vazquez tells TechCrunch that the privacy update is broader than just Meta AI and applies to the company’s other AI offerings. That means Meta may use data from AI features in its Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses — including voice recordings, pictures, and videos analyzed with AI — to further target its ad products.

Meta may also use data from its new AI-video feed, Vibes, and its AI image generation product, Imagine. Conversations with Meta AI will only influence ads on Facebook and Instagram if a user is logged into the same account across products. […] Meta says the company has “no plans imminently” to put ads in its AI products, though CEO Mark Zuckerberg has suggested they may be coming in the future.

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This is a video following LEGO builder Grant Davis’s quest to construct a working mechanical version of the bouncing DVD logo screensaver using LEGO. And what a quest it is! If somebody asked me if you could make a working DVD logo screensaver out of LEGO I would have told them they’ve lost their mind. But Grant over here — he did it. Hands down one of the greatest human achievements of the last century, and if there was ever a video to convince the aliens to unzip their human costumes and reveal their true form, this is it. Show yourselves!

Two Amazon delivery drones reportedly collided with a crane this morning in Tolleson, AZ. The incident occurred about two miles from a fulfillment center run by the tech company and involved two of its Prime Air drones. No injuries have been reported. Law enforcement were called to the scene, however Sgt. Erik Mendez of the Tolleson police told local radio station KTAR that the Federal Aviation Administration would be taking over the investigation.

“We’re aware of an incident involving two Prime Air drones in Tolleson, Arizona,” Amazon representative Terrence Clark said. “We’re currently working with the relevant authorities to investigate.”

Amazon began offering a drone delivery option in the Phoenix area last year. The drones only fly during the day and if weather conditions are favorable. The company received FAA approval to ship several more products by drone in May.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/two-amazon-prime-air-drones-crashed-in-arizona-224857013.html?src=rss

alternative_right writes: Last week, thousands of people in North and Central Texas were suddenly knocked offline. The cause? A bullet. The outage hit cities all across the state, including Dallas, Irving, Plano, Arlington, Austin, and San Antonio. The outage affected Spectrum customers and took down their phone lines and TV services as well as the internet.

“The outage stemmed from a fiber optic cable that was damaged by a stray bullet,” Spectrum told 404 Media. “Our teams worked quickly to make the necessary repairs and get customers back online. We apologize for the inconvenience.”

Spectrum told 404 Media that it didn’t have any further details to share about the incident so we have no idea how the company learned a bullet hit its equipment, where the bullet was found, and if the police are involved.

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Scammers have been abusing unsecured cellular routers used in industrial settings to blast SMS-based phishing messages in campaigns that have been ongoing since 2023, researchers said.

The routers, manufactured by China-based Milesight IoT Co., Ltd., are rugged Internet of Things devices that use cellular networks to connect traffic lights, electric power meters, and other sorts of remote industrial devices to central hubs. They come equipped with SIM cards that work with 3G/4G/5G cellular networks and can be controlled by text message, Python scripts, and web interfaces.

An unsophisticated, yet effective, delivery vector

Security company Sekoia on Tuesday said that an analysis of “suspicious network traces” detected in its honeypots led to the discovery of a cellular router being abused to send SMS messages with phishing URLs. As company researchers investigated further, they identified more than 18,000 such routers accessible on the Internet, with at least 572 of them allowing free access to programming interfaces to anyone who took the time to look for them. The vast majority of the routers were running firmware versions that were more than three years out of date and had known vulnerabilities.

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The extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna may be people’s fault after all, according to a recent study.

A team of archaeologists recently examined animal bones at sites dating to the waning years of the last Ice Age. Their results suggest that extinct megafauna like giant sloths, giant armadillos, and elephant-like creatures were on the menu for Pleistocene hunters in South America. And that means human hunters may have played a nontrivial role in killing off the continent’s last great Ice Age megafauna.

Giant ground sloth: It’s what’s for dinner

Archaeologist Luciano Prates of Mexico’s National University of La Plata and his colleagues counted the animal bones left behind by ancient people at 20 archaeological sites in modern-day Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. They compared the number of bones from extinct megafauna (technically, “megafauna” describes any animal over 44 kilograms) to the number of bones from smaller prey. They also tallied the remains of still-living species of megafauna like vicuñas. The archaeologists hoped to learn whether giant sloths, giant armadillos, and now-extinct species of horses were staples in the diets of Ice Age South Americans.

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Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source.

Last year, I wrote that we should all be scared of Sora, OpenAI’s AI video generator. Sora’s initial rollout promised hyper-realistic videos that, while exciting to some, terrified me. While AI fans see a future of AI-generated movies and shows, I see a future where no one can tell what’s real or fake. To me, the only destination for this technology is mass disinformation.

In the year and a half since, these AI-generated videos haven’t only become more realistic; they’ve also become more accessible, as companies like Google make their tools readily available to anyone willing to pay. That’s the situation we find ourselves in with OpenAI’s latest announcements: Sora 2, a new AI model for generating video with audio, as well as a new Sora app for creating and sharing your AI-generated products.

Sora 2

OpenAI is marketing Sora 2 as a massive upgrade over Sora—comparing the two to GPT-3.5 and GPT-1, respectively. The company says the new model can generate complex videos that earlier models could not. That includes, specifically, an Olympic gymnastic routine; a man performing a backflip on a paddleboard that “accurately” models water physics; as well as a skater performing a triple axel with a cat on their shoulder.

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One common flaw with AI video models is their lack of understanding of real-world physics. The visual might look realistic, but elements may morph together randomly, while others may disappear and reappear without rhyme or reason. OpenAI says Sora 2 doesn’t make these mistakes as often. A basketball that misses the hoop won’t magically reappear there; it will, instead, bounce off the backboard as you’d expect it to. The company warns the model is still imperfect, but is improved. Building on this, the model is better at continuity across different shots: Taking OpenAI at their word, your videos should maintain consistency between takes, and you should be able to dictate different types of styles, including “realistic,” “cinematic,” and “anime.”

Perhaps the biggest leap with Sora 2 is the ability to add real world elements into the model, a feature OpenAI calls “Cameo.” You can put real people into the Sora 2 model, and ask the AI to generate them into any video you want. OpenAI shows a number of examples of their staff adding themselves to various videos, and while the quality is inconsistent, it’s a gargantuan leap from the days of JibJab.

Like Google’s Veo 3 model, Sora 2 can generate video with realistic audio. The announcement video shows this off: An elephant roars; a skater swooshes on the ice; water splashes on the ground. But, more impressively (and concerningly), people speak. An AI-generated Sam Altman explains the new model and app in this video, and while it’s rather obvious to those of us in the know that this is AI, I can imagine many people would have no idea this isn’t the real Altman in the clip.

Sora app

OpenAI says the Sora app came about as a “natural evolution of communication.” The company sees this as a way for people to create and remix other users’ AI generations, especially with the ability to upload your own face and likeness to the model.

At the moment, the app is invite-only, though you can download it for free from the App Store today. You can get a sense for the experience, however, from both the demo video OpenAI dropped on Tuesday, as well as posts from the people who already have access.

This first example OpenAI demos is of a dual Cameo of OpenAI research scientist Bill Peebles and Sam Altman. The video contains an establishing shot of the two men having a conversation, which cuts to a close up of Peebles speaking rapidly about the app’s revenue, then to a close up of Altman taking in the rant, before closing on the original establishing shot. On the surface, it’s the type of video you might expect to scroll past on a TikTok or Reels binge—but this video is entirely AI-generated.

The OpenAI staff show off a series of other pre-generated examples, including a Cameo that turns into a cartoon, another that switches the effect to anime, and another that generates a “news” report of one of the staff member’s addiction to ketchup. (That last one is quite gross, I might add.) They also demonstrate remixing videos you find in the feed, as you’re able to prompt Sora to adjust the video however you want. One video shows Peebles in an “ad” for a Sora 2 cologne, but others have remixed it to be of toothpaste instead, or entirely in Korean.

These videos are quite realistic: In one, you think you’re simply watching a clip of a tennis match, but it turns out to be a Cameo with OpenAI’s Rohan Sahai. After “Sahai” wins the match, the video cuts to his “interview,” in which he thanks the haters. Others are more obviously AI—though, again, not enough so that most people scrolling by may notice.

Safety and security, according to OpenAI

Cameos sound like a privacy and security nightmare, though OpenAI has some protections in place. You can’t simply use anyone’s face for any videos, and you’re only able to upload your own face to the platform. Setting up the Cameo feature on the app is straightforward, if not extremely off-putting. The app will scan your face, sort of like setting up Face ID on an iPhone, and will then send the data to OpenAI’s “systems,” for “tons of validation” to block impersonators, or users who might want to create Cameos of you without your consent. Once approved, you choose who can create Cameos of yourself, including all users, friends, users you specifically approve, or just you.

As for videos themselves, the Sora app applies a visible watermark to any clip exported out of the app. If you’ve seen any of these videos on the internet already, you’ll notice a small “Sora” stamp on each, similar to the watermark you see on TikTok clips exported to other platforms. There are also reasoning models under the hood to block users from generating “harmful” content, especially with respect to Cameos.

If you’re a teen using the Sora app, you won’t be able to scroll forever. After scrolling for a while, there will be a cooldown period to keep you from spending hours scrolling through these AI videos. While adult accounts won’t have this restriction, the app will “nudge” you to take a break.

Who asked for this?

With all due respect to OpenAI and its safety team, this app sounds like it’s going to be a disaster, for so many reasons.

For one, OpenAI has made it as easy to generate hyper-realistic short-form videos as it is to ask Siri about the weather. I appreciate that these videos all come with watermarks, but it won’t take much skill to edit those out—at least in a way that most people won’t notice. As soon as this is widely available, all of our social media feeds will be plagued with this content. And, seeing as much of it comes with video and audio that are quite realistic, a lot of people are going to be fooled by a lot of content.

It’s bad enough when that involves silly videos, like bunnies jumping on a trampoline. But what happens when it’s “politicians” saying something egregious, or a “celebrity” stealing something from a store? One viral Sora video shows Sam Altman trying to run off with a GPU at Target, before being stopped by a security guard. How many more Sora videos will show Sam Altman, and anyone else who approves of their Cameos being remixed, committing crimes, or simply doing something embarrassing? Those with enough power or fame may be able to debunk the videos, but by then, it’ll be too late: Most people who saw it will take it as fact.

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To that point, it’s great that there are security measures in place to stop people from remixing other users’ Cameos without permission, but the risk here for abuse is supreme: What happens if someone figures out how to “scan” someone’s face from a video, or crack the settings that block others from using their original face scan? If they can bypass OpenAI’s security measures, they can then remix that person’s face into any video approved by the platform. At that point, the cat’s out of the bag.

Look, I’m chronically online. I’m not going to pretend like I don’t enjoy a good AI-generated meme when it comes across my feed. But I’m not about to spend my free time scrolling through nothing but AI-generated brain rot. I’m sure people will find creative ways to make funny videos using Sora, or have a good time making Cameos with their friends, but that’s the point: Beyond the sheer novelty of the tech, there’s nothing good to come from this.

It’s time to stop believing in anything you see online: Someone might’ve just cooked it up in an app.

Jane Goodall, world-renowned primatologist, anthropologist, and conservationist, has died at the age of 91 while on a speaking tour in California. The British primatologist’s “discoveries as an ethologist revolutionized science, and she was a tireless advocate for the protection and restoration of our natural world,” according to the institute she founded. From a report: Goodall was only 26 years old when she first traveled to Tanzania and began her important research on chimpanzees in the wild. Throughout her study of the species, Goodall proved that primates display an array of similar behaviors to humans, such as the ability to develop individual personalities and make and use their own tools. Among the most surprising discoveries Goodall made was “how like us” the chimpanzees are, she told ABC News in 2020.

“Their behavior, with their gestures, kissing, embracing, holding hands and patting on the back,” she said. “… The fact that they can actually be violent and brutal and have a kind of war, but also loving an altruistic.” That discovery is considered one of the great achievements of 20th-century scholarship, according to the Jane Goodall Institute. […] Goodall’s research garnered both scientific honors and mainstream fame, and she was credited with paving the way for a rise in women pursuing careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) over the years. The number of women in STEM has increased from 7% to 26% in the six last decades, according to The Jane Goodall Institute, which cited census information from 1970 to 2011.

In 1991, she also founded Roots & Shoots, a global humanitarian and environmental program for young people. She was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace in April 2002. The anthropologist continued to lend her voice to environmental causes well into her 80s and 90s. In 2019, Goodall acknowledged the climate crisis and the importance of mitigating further warming, telling ABC News that the planet is “imperiled.” “We are definitely at a point where we need to make something happen,” she said.

“We are imperiled. We have a window of time. I’m fairly sure we do. But, we’ve got to take action.” Goodall even partnered with Apple in 2022 to encourage customers to recycle their devices to reduce individual carbon footprint and cut down on unnecessary mineral mining around the world. “Yes, people need to make money, but it is possible to make money without destroying the planet,” Goodall told ABC News at the time. “We’ve gone so far in destroying the planet that it’s shocking.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

OpenAI and Apple have moved to dismiss a lawsuit by Elon Musk’s xAI alleging that ChatGPT’s integration into a “handful” of iPhone features violated antitrust laws by giving OpenAI a monopoly on prompts and Apple a new path to block rivals in the smartphone industry.

The lawsuit was filed in August after Musk raged on X about Apple never listing Grok on its editorially curated “Must Have” apps list, which ChatGPT frequently appeared on.

According to Musk, Apple linking ChatGPT to Siri and other native iPhone features gave OpenAI exclusive access to billions of prompts that only OpenAI can use as valuable training data to maintain its dominance in the chatbot market. However, OpenAI and Apple are now mocking Musk’s math in court filings, urging the court to agree that xAI’s lawsuit is doomed.

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