A group of more than 85 scientists have issued a joint rebuttal to a recent U.S. Department of Energy report about climate change, finding it full of errors and misrepresenting climate science. NPR: The group of climate scientists found several examples where the DOE authors cherry-picked or misrepresented climate science in the agency’s report. For instance, in the DOE report the authors claim that rising carbon dioxide can be a “net benefit” to U.S. agriculture, neglecting to mention the negative impacts of more heat and climate-change fueled extreme weather events on crops.

The DOE report also states that there is no evidence of more intense “meteorological” drought in the U.S. or globally, referring to droughts that involve low rainfall. But the dozens of climate scientists point out that this is misleading, because higher temperatures and more evaporation — not just low rainfall — can lead to and exacerbate droughts. They say that there are, in fact, many studies showing how climate change has exacerbated droughts.

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Waymo is expanding its U.S. robotaxi footprint by bringing its Jaguar I-Pace SUVs and Zeekr vans to Denver and Seattle. Testing is set to begin this week, with commercial rides expected as early as 2026. TechCrunch reports: The vehicles will be manually driven to start, before the company starts testing its autonomous tech in both cities. Waymo told TechCrunch that it hopes to start offering robotaxi trips in Denver next year and the Seattle metropolitan area “as soon as we’re permitted to do so.” Denver and Seattle will be two of the most extreme-weather cities that Waymo is feeling out, giving it a chance to test out its tech in snow, wind, and rain that is harder to come by in places like Phoenix. The report notes that Waymo currently operates more than 2,000 robotaxis in the U.S., concentrated in cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Austin, and Atlanta. The self-driving car company is expanding to Dallas, Miami, Washington D.C., and New York, while also “dipping its toes” in additional markets such as Philadelphia, Las Vegas, and Houston.

Further reading: ‘Why Do Waymos Keep Loitering in Front of My House?’

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Paramount and Activision are teaming up to produce a live-action Call of Duty movie, with Paramount promising the same blockbuster treatment it gave Top Gun: Maverick.

David Ellison, Chairman and CEO of Paramount, said in a statement: “As a lifelong fan of Call of Duty this is truly a dream come true. From the first Allied campaigns in the original Call of Duty, through Modern Warfare and Black Ops, I’ve spent countless hours playing this franchise that I absolutely love. Being entrusted by Activision and players worldwide to bring this extraordinary storytelling universe to the big screen is both an honor and a responsibility that we don’t take lightly. We’re approaching this film with the same disciplined, uncompromising commitment to excellence that guided our work on Top Gun: Maverick, ensuring it meets the exceptionally high standards this franchise and its fans deserve. I can promise that we are resolute in our mission to deliver a cinematic experience that honors the legacy of this one-in-a-million brand — thrilling longtime fans of Call of Duty while captivating a whole new generation.”

Rob Kostich, President of Activision, also commented: “Throughout its history, Call of Duty has captured our imagination with incredible action and intense stories that have brought millions of people together from around the world, and that focus on making incredible Call of Duty games remains unwavering. With Paramount, we have found a fantastic partner who we will work with to take that visceral, breathtaking action to the big screen in a defining cinematic moment. The film will honor and expand upon what has made this franchise great in the first place, and we cannot wait to get started. Our shared goal is quite simple — to create an unforgettable blockbuster movie experience that our community loves, and one that also excites and inspires new fans of the franchise.”

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Register: Ten vulnerabilities in Copeland controllers, which are found in thousands of devices used by the world’s largest supermarket chains and cold storage companies, could have allowed miscreants to manipulate temperatures and spoil food and medicine, leading to massive supply-chain disruptions. The flaws, collectively called Frostbyte10, affect Copeland E2 and E3 controllers, used to manage critical building and refrigeration systems, such as compressor groups, condensers, walk-in units, HVAC, and lighting systems. Three received critical-severity ratings. Operational technology security firm Armis found and reported the 10 bugs to Copeland, which has since issued firmware updates that fix the flaws in both the E3 and the E2 controllers. The E2s reached their official end-of-life in October, and affected customers are encouraged to move to the newer E3 platform. Upgrading to Copeland firmware version 2.31F01 mitigates all the security issues detailed here, and the vendor recommends patching promptly.

In addition to the Copeland updates, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is also scheduled to release advisories today, urging any organization that uses vulnerable controllers to patch immediately. Prior to these publications, Copeland and Armis execs spoke exclusively to The Register about Frostbyte10, and allowed us to preview an Armis report about the security issues. “When combined and exploited, these vulnerabilities can result in unauthenticated remote code execution with root privileges,” it noted.
[…] To be clear: there is no indication that any of these vulnerabilities were found and exploited in the wild before Copeland issued fixes. However, the manufacturer’s ubiquitous reach across retail and cold storage makes it a prime target for all manner of miscreants, from nation-state attackers looking to disrupt the food supply chain to ransomware gangs looking for victims who will quickly pay extortion demands to avoid operational downtime and food spoilage.

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Google will not have to divest its Chrome browser but will have to change some of its business practices, a federal judge has ruled. The ruling comes more than a year after the same judge ruled that Google had acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in internet search.

Following the ruling last year, the Department of Justice had proposed that Google should be forced to sell Chrome. But in a 230-page decision, Judge Amit Mehta said the government had “overreached” in its request. “Google will not be required to divest Chrome; nor will the court include a contingent divestiture of the Android operating system in the final judgment,” Mehta wrote. “Plaintiffs overreached in seeking forced divesture of these key assets, which Google did not use to effect any illegal restraints.”

Google will, however, no longer be permitted to strike exclusive deals around the distribution of search, Google Assistant, Gemini or Chrome, Mehta ruled. For example, Google can’t require device makers to pre-load its apps in order to get access to the Play Store. It also can’t condition revenue-sharing arrangements on the placement of its apps. But Google will be able to continue to pay partners — like Apple — for pre-loading search and other apps into their products. Mehta said that ending these arrangements could cause “downstream harms to distribution partners, related markets, and consumers.”

Mehta also ruled that Google will need to share some of its search data with competitors going forward. “Making data available to competitors would narrow the scale gap created by Google’s exclusive distribution agreements and, in turn, the quality gap that followed,” he wrote. The company is not required to hand over data related to its ads. 

Mehta’s ruling is largely a win for the search giant, which had argued that divesting Chrome or Android “would harm Americans and America’s global technology leadership.” In a statement Tuesday, Google said it had “concerns” about some aspects of the ruling. 

“Today’s decision recognizes how much the industry has changed through the advent of AI, which is giving people so many more ways to find information,” the company said. “Now the Court has imposed limits on how we distribute Google services, and will require us to share Search data with rivals. We have concerns about how these requirements will impact our users and their privacy, and we’re reviewing the decision closely.”

The company previously indicated it plans to appeal Mehta’s original decision, but said in June it would wait for a final decision in the case.

Update, September 2, 2025, 4:28PM PT: This post has been updated to add a statement from Google on the ruling.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/google-doesnt-have-to-sell-chrome-judge-in-monopoly-case-rules-211032326.html?src=rss

Chrome has extended its dominance in the browser wars, surpassing 70% market share on desktops while Edge, Safari, Firefox, and Opera trail far behind. Neowin reports: According to [Statcounter], in August 2025, Chrome kept on increasing its overwhelming market share, which is now above the 70% mark (70.25%, to be precise) in the desktop browser market. The gap between Chrome and its closest competitor, Microsoft Edge, is immense, with Edge holding just 11.8% (+0.01 points over the previous month). Apple’s Safari is third with 6.34% (+1.04 points); Firefox has 4.94% (-0.36 points); and Opera is fifth with a modest 2.06% market share (-0.13 points).

Things look similar on the mobile side of the market, with Google Chrome having 69.15% (+1.92 points) and Safari being second with 20.32% (-2.2 points). Samsung Internet is third with 3.33% (-0.17 points). As for Microsoft Edge, its mobile share is only 0.59% (+0.06 points). The findings can be found here.

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Dolby has announced the features of Dolby Vision 2, its successor to the popular Dolby Vision HDR format.

Whereas the original Dolby Vision was meant to give creators the ability to finely tune exactly how TVs present content in HDR, Dolby Vision 2 appears to significantly broaden that feature to include motion handling as well—and it also tries to bridge the gap between filmmaker intent and the on-the-ground reality of the individual viewing environments.

What does that mean, exactly? Well, Dolby says one of the pillars of Dolby Vision 2 will be “Content Intelligence,” which introduces new “AI capabilities” to the Dolby Vision spec. Among other things, that means using sensors in the TV to try to fix the oft-complained-about issue of shows being too dark.

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Waymo is preparing to launch in two more markets. The company announced today that it will expand into both Denver and Seattle. It will begin testing with humans behind the wheel this week, bringing up to a dozen vehicles to each location, according to CNBC. The rollout will include a mix of the brand’s fully electric Jaguar iPace and Geely Zeekr autonomous vehicles.

“We will begin driving manually before validating our technology and operations for fully autonomous services in the future,” a representative told CNBC. 

This has been a busy year for the Alphabet-owned Waymo, which said in January that it planned to introduce its autonomous vehicles to ten new cities during 2025. The company partnered with Uber for its Atlanta launch in June and also rolled out a teen account option in July. Waymo received permits to begin testing its cars in New York City last month. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/waymos-next-stops-for-its-robotaxis-are-denver-and-seattle-225125605.html?src=rss

SAP will invest over 20 billion euros ($23 billion) in European sovereign cloud infrastructure over the next decade. “Innovation and sovereignty cannot be two separate things — it needs to come together,” said Thomas Saueressig, SAP’s board member tasked with leading customer services and delivery. CNBC reports: The company said it was expanding its sovereign cloud offerings to include an infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) platform enabling companies to access various computing services via its data center network. IaaS is a market dominated by players like Microsoft and Amazon. It will also roll out a new on-site option that allows customers to use SAP-operated infrastructure within their own data centers. The aim of the initiative is to ensure that customer data is stored within the European Union to maintain compliance with regional data protection regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR.

[…] Saueressig said that SAP is “closely” involved in the creation of the new AI gigafactories but would not be the lead partner for the initiative. He added that the company’s more than 20-billion-euro investment in Europe’s sovereign cloud capabilities will not alter the company’s capital expenditure for the next year and has already been baked into its financial plans.

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Daily squirts of a safe, over-the-counter allergy nasal spray may prevent COVID-19 infections from taking hold, according to results published Tuesday in JAMA Internal Medicine. In a mid-staged trial, the spray appeared to reduce infections by promising 67 percent, though a larger trial will need to confirm that robust efficacy.

The trial was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 2 trial conducted by researchers at Germany’s Saarland University between March 2023 and July 2024. The study included 450 healthy adults, about half of whom (227) spritzed their noses three times a day with the generic antihistamine nasal spray, azelastine, which can be purchased over the counter in the US. The placebo, meanwhile, was a spray with an identical composition except for the absence of the antihistamine. The two groups had similar mixes of previous COVID-19 vaccination and infection statuses.

After about 56 days of frequent mistings, only five people using the allergy spray (2.2 percent) caught a SARS-CoV-2 infection, while 15 people using a placebo (6.7 percent) got the pandemic infection. That 4.5 percentage-point drop represents a 67 percent reduction in COVID-19 cases, though the numbers here are small. Still, the researchers noted that the five people using the allergy spray who contracted COVID-19 took more time to get the infection than the 15 in the placebo group (31 days versus 19.5). This could hint that the spray held off some infections from exposures early in the trial. And when the allergy spray users did get COVID-19, they were positive on a rapid antigen test for less time than those infected in the placebo group (3.4 days versus 5.1 days), suggesting they cleared the virus a bit faster.

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This refurbished ASUS 14″ Chromebook CX1400 (2022) sits in a very specific lane: affordable, simple, and reliable. At $189.99 on StackSocial right now, it isn’t trying to compete with premium MacBooks or Windows ultrabooks. Instead, it’s meant to give you a capable everyday computer for cheap, without looking or feeling disposable. The 14-inch Full HD display with slim NanoEdge bezels keeps it from feeling dated, and at just 3.59 pounds, it’s light enough to carry around all day.

Under the hood, the Intel Celeron N4500 isn’t going to wow anyone with performance. It’s a dual-core processor with a base speed of 1.1 GHz that can burst up to 2.8 GHz. That’s enough for web browsing, Google Docs, Zoom calls, and streaming, but not for heavy workloads. The 8GB of RAM is actually a pleasant surprise at this price point—it keeps multiple Chrome tabs from slowing the whole system to a crawl. Storage is 128GB eMMC, which is better than the 64GB you usually see in budget Chromebooks, but it’s still flash storage, not a proper SSD. If you’re storing a lot of files locally, it’ll feel cramped, though most Chromebook users live in Google Drive anyway.

It’s a Grade “A” refurbished unit, meaning it should look close to new, and it’s a 2022 model that comes with a one-year warranty. But, of course, you’re buying into older hardware that won’t receive ChromeOS updates forever, though support is guaranteed through June 2031—so, six more years of automatic updates, which is actually decent for a budget device. If you need a travel laptop, a backup for the kids, or just a no-fuss machine for email and streaming, this is a smart buy at under $200. But if you’re hoping for future-proof performance or want something that can replace a full-fledged laptop for work or creative projects, this one probably isn’t the right fit.

Google has avoided the worst-case scenario in the pivotal search antitrust case brought by the US Department of Justice. DC District Court Judge Amit Mehta has ruled that Google doesn’t have to give up the Chrome browser to mitigate its illegal monopoly in online search. The court will only require a handful of modest behavioral remedies, forcing Google to release some search data to competitors and limit its ability to make exclusive distribution deals.

More than a year ago, the Department of Justice (DOJ) secured a major victory when Google was found to have violated the Sherman Antitrust Act. The remedy phase took place earlier this year, with the DOJ calling for Google to divest the market-leading Chrome browser. That was the most notable element of the government’s proposed remedies, but it also wanted to explore a spin-off of Android, force Google to share search technology, and severely limit the distribution deals Google is permitted to sign.

Mehta has decided on a much narrower set of remedies. While there will be some changes to search distribution, Google gets to hold onto Chrome. The government contended that Google’s dominance in Chrome was key to its search lock-in, but Google claimed no other company could hope to operate Chrome and Chromium like it does. Mehta has decided that Google’s use of Chrome as a vehicle for search is not illegal in itself, though. “Plaintiffs overreached in seeking forced divesture (sic) of these key assets, which Google did not use to effect any illegal restraints,” the ruling reads.

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: OpenAI said on Tuesday it will acquire Statsig in an all-stock deal valuing the product testing startup at about $1.1 billion based on OpenAI’s current valuation of $300 billion. The ChatGPT maker will also appoint Statsig’s chief executive officer, Vijaye Raji, as OpenAI’s tech chief of applications, in a push to build on its artificial intelligence products amid strong competition from rivals.

[…] In his role, Vijaye will head product engineering for ChatGPT and the company’s coding agent, Codex, with responsibilities that span core systems and product lines including infrastructure, the company said. Statsig builds tools to help software developers test and flag new features. It raised $100 million in funding earlier this year. Once the acquisition is finalized, Statsig employees will work for OpenAI but will continue operating independently out of its Seattle office, OpenAI said. The move follows the acquisition of iPhone designer Jony Ive’s startup, io Products, in a $6.5 billion deal to usher in “a new family of products” for the age of artificial general intelligence.

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The Federal Trade Commission announced that Disney will pay $10 million to settle allegations that the entertainment giant allowed data collection on YouTube videos meant for children. Under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule, also known as COPPA, companies are required to notify parents and obtain parental consent if they collection information from minors. According to the FTC complaint, Disney failed to properly label some YouTube videos as “Made for Kids,” which allowed the company to collect data and deliver targeted ads to viewers younger than 13.

The proposed order from the FTC would also require Disney to create a review process for determining when and how videos are correctly designated with YouTube’s Made for Kids label. YouTube rolled out the Made for Kids tags following a $170 million settlement in 2019 on charges that the video platform had violated COPPA. Google faced an additional settlement of $30 million last month from a similar class-action lawsuit.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/youtube/disney-will-pay-10-million-to-settle-ftc-complaint-that-it-collected-childrens-data-on-youtube-213646745.html?src=rss

Your Photos library is likely full of years’ worth of memories from vacations, gatherings, and events. You might have thousands, if not ten of thousands, of pictures and videos in your feed, and there’s a new iOS feature that will help you remember exactly when and where a particular photo or video was taken—assuming you captured the moment during a live show or game. It’s called “event recognition,” and will ship with iOS 26 when Apple releases it later this month.

Here’s how it works: Photos takes a look at the metadata for your photos and videos, or the information associated with that image, looking for details that may confirm whether it was taken at a major event. The app might use the date, time, location, and other data points to do this, and, once confirmed, it tags the photo or video with the event information. At this time, this feature works for both concerts as well as sporting events.

How Event Recognition in the iOS 26 Photos app works

Let’s say you attended a Death Cab for Cutie concert, like Lifehacker Deputy Editor Joel Cunningham did last month in Brooklyn. When scrolling through these photos and videos in your library, you’ll see a concert ticket icon appear along the bottom of the screen. Tap this, and it’ll pull up the image’s metadata page, complete with a tag labeled “Death Cab for Cutie concert.” If you tap that label, you’ll pull up a page dedicated to details surrounding the event, including the concert’s date, time, location, venue, and even a set list of songs played. In addition to details about the show itself, you’ll also get accompanied content associated with the artist who performed, such as Apple Music playlists and upcoming shows. The event tag might even extend to things you did immediately before or after the show—in Joel’s camera roll, the nearby restaurant he ate at before the Death Cab show is also tagged with a ticket icon.

If your photo was taken during a sporting event instead of a concert, this feature will show you details like the score of the game, the venue, and upcoming events there.

At present, the feature is active for some venues and events but not others (Joel saw no additional information for a 2018 show at a smaller venue, Brooklyn Steel); hopefully it will get more robust with the passage of time.

This isn’t necessarily a groundbreaking new feature, but it’s a fun one, and it makes it easier to remember details from concerts and games you attended long ago. It joins a series of other changes to the Photos app in iOS 26, including new layout changes, fresh filters, and a bottom tab bar.

A federal judge spared Google from the harshest penalties in its antitrust case. The search giant can keep Chrome and avoid breaking up Android, but it has been barred from exclusive contracts and ordered to limit data sharing with rivals. CNBC reports: U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled against the most severe consequences that were proposed by the U.S. Department of Justice, including selling off its Chrome browser, which provides data that helps its advertising business deliver targeted ads. “Google will not be required to divest Chrome; nor will the court include a contingent divestiture of the Android operating system in the final judgment,” the decision stated. “Plaintiffs overreached in seeking forced divesture of these key assets, which Google did not use to effect any illegal restraints.”

The company can make payments to preload products, but it cannot have exclusive contracts, the decision stated. The DOJ asked Google to stop the practice of “compelled syndication,” which refers to the practice of making certain deals with companies to ensure its search engine remains the default choice in browsers and smartphones. […] The judge ordered the parties to meet by September 10th for the final judgement.

“Google will not be barred from making payments or offering other consideration to distribution partners for preloading or placement of Google Search, Chrome, or its GenAI products. Cutting off payments from Google almost certainly will impose substantial — in some cases, crippling — downstream harms to distribution partners, related markets, and consumers, which counsels against a broad payment ban.” […] Google said it will appeal the ruling, which would delay any potential penalties. Mehta ruled Tuesday that Google will have to make available certain search index data and user interaction data though “not ads data.” The court narrowed the datasets Google will be required to share and said they must occur on “ordinary commercial terms that are consistent with Google’s current syndication services.”

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