Steam’s seasonal sales are usually the peak moments to add new software to your library, but right now, Valve is offering a notable hardware discount. The Steam Deck starter model is currently on sale for 20 percent off its usual $399 price tag. That means you can snag yourself the gaming handheld with an LCD screen and 256GB of storage for $319. Steam hasn’t set an end date for this offer, so it might be worth acting quickly if you want to get in on this particular sale.

The Steam Deck is still the go-to for most PC gamers who want a handheld. Its balance of power, portability and price have kept it one of our top recommendations, even three years after the product’s debut. But keep in mind before you add this to your cart that this iteration does have a few limitations compared to the higher end Steam Decks. The LCD screen doesn’t have the true blacks of the OLED option, and serious players may run up against the storage limits of this model pretty quickly. But if you’ve been curious about a Steam Deck and aren’t looking to have a full library of big AAA downloads available all at once, this is a good time to pick up one of your own. Besides, with the $80 you’ll save, you can also grab a copy of current indie darlings Hollow Knight: Silksong and Hades II and still have money leftover.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-lcd-steam-deck-is-20-percent-off-right-now-215238765.html?src=rss

Steam’s seasonal sales are usually the peak moments to add new software to your library, but right now, Valve is offering a notable hardware discount. The Steam Deck starter model is currently on sale for 20 percent off its usual $399 price tag. That means you can snag yourself the gaming handheld with an LCD screen and 256GB of storage for $319. Steam hasn’t set an end date for this offer, so it might be worth acting quickly if you want to get in on this particular sale.

The Steam Deck is still the go-to for most PC gamers who want a handheld. Its balance of power, portability and price have kept it one of our top recommendations, even three years after the product’s debut. But keep in mind before you add this to your cart that this iteration does have a few limitations compared to the higher end Steam Decks. The LCD screen doesn’t have the true blacks of the OLED option, and serious players may run up against the storage limits of this model pretty quickly. But if you’ve been curious about a Steam Deck and aren’t looking to have a full library of big AAA downloads available all at once, this is a good time to pick up one of your own. Besides, with the $80 you’ll save, you can also grab a copy of current indie darlings Hollow Knight: Silksong and Hades II and still have money leftover.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-lcd-steam-deck-is-20-percent-off-right-now-215238765.html?src=rss

LinkedIn has said it will start using some member profiles, posts, resumes and public activity to train its AI models from November 3, 2025. From a report: Users are rightly frustrated with the change, with the biggest concern isn’t the business networking platform will do so, but that it’s set to be enabled by default, with users instead having to actively opt out. Users can choose to opt out via the ‘data for generative AI improvement’ setting, however it will only apply to data collected after they opt out, with data up until that point still retained within the training environment.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

EventVPN, a new freemium VPN built by the same team and on the same infrastructure as ExpressVPN, launched on September 18 for iOS and macOS. It comes with unlimited free bandwidth, a relative rarity among free VPNs, and carries over ExpressVPN’s kill switch and post-quantum WireGuard protocol. Free users get 35 server locations and one device connection, while paid users get 125 locations and eight simultaneous connections.

EventVPN isn’t the first free VPN that actually aims to ensure user privacy — the free version of Proton VPN is also safe, as are a few others on our best VPN list, like hide.me and Windscribe. However, ExpressVPN isn’t wrong that free VPNs often don’t have their users’ interests at heart. The EventVPN announcement left me with one big question: what’s it doing to be safer, more private and/or better than other free options?

The most interesting feature of EventVPN — and one I can’t currently find duplicated on any other free VPN — is that it has no user data backend whatsoever. It uses Apple ID validation to manage accounts and connection tokens without storing any information itself. This doesn’t move the security needle much (Apple isn’t immune to data leaks either), but it does make it theoretically impossible for EventVPN to sell user information.

Of course, a clear privacy policy that EventVPN sticks to would accomplish the same thing. But just like with RAM-only servers automatically deleting user activity logs, it’s always nice to have an option other than trusting the VPN provider to keep its word. And to be fair, ExpressVPN has a clear privacy policy that it sticks to, so there’s good reason to believe EventVPN will do the same for its own policy.

There is one unfortunate cost to that relative privacy, though: EventVPN’s free plan requires you to watch ads. When I briefly tested it, I was shown one 30-second ad whenever I connected and another when I disconnected. It’s galling to be asked to watch ads for a service that also has a paid tier ($9.99 per month, or $69.99 for a year), since I’ve already named three other equally good freemium VPNs that don’t show ads at all. At least EventVPN anonymizes the ads, showing advertisers a masked identifier instead of any real info on you.

To sum up, EventVPN is a lot better than free VPNs that turn you into the product, but its ads put it a step behind ProtonVPN, hide.me, Windscribe and even TunnelBear. If ExpressVPN has always worked far better for you than any other provider, it might be worth using EventVPN as a backup free service. Otherwise, there are better options.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/vpn/heres-how-eventvpn-is-different-from-other-free-vpns-213014671.html?src=rss

As is now a long-standing custom, iFixit performed a full teardown of the latest iPhone—this time, the newly launched iPhone Air. These teardowns got pretty routine for a while, as Apple settled into a fairly consistent design for iPhones, but the new design of the iPhone Air offered an opportunity for compelling observations.

Many of the important components—including the entire logic board—are clustered up at the top of the phone, while the majority of its middle and body house a battery.

iFixit found that this battery is identical to the one included in Apple’s iPhone Air MagSafe battery pack—you can even swap the batteries between the pack and the phone with no problems.

Read full article

Comments

The U.S. General Services Administration has approved Meta’s AI system Llama for use by federal agencies, declaring that it meets government security and legal standards. Reuters reports: “It’s not about currying favor,” [said Josh Gruenbaum, the GSA’s procurement lead, when asked whether tech executives are giving the government discounts to get President Donald Trump’s approval]. “It’s about that recognition of how do we all lock in arms and make this country the best country it could possibly be.” Federal agencies will be able to deploy the tool to speed up contract review or more quickly solve information technology hiccups, among other tasks, he said.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.

The onn. 10.1″ Android 14 tablet is on sale for $79.99 on StackSocial right now as part of an open-box deal. In this case, “open box” usually just means it’s leftover stock or a store return, so while the packaging might not look perfect, the device itself is tested, in new condition, and comes with a one-year warranty. For under $80, this tablet lands firmly in the everyday-use category (think streaming, browsing, and casual apps) without needing any subscriptions or hidden add-ons.

The tablet runs Android 14 right out of the box, which means you’re getting the latest interface and features without waiting for updates to trickle down. The screen is bright enough for watching shows, casual gaming, or scrolling, and the 2GHz octa-core processor with 3GB of RAM handles everyday multitasking reasonably well. Storage is limited to 32GB, but a microSD slot means you can add more space if needed. You won’t mistake the cameras (a 2MP front and 5MP rear) for those on a phone, but they’re serviceable for video calls or the occasional snapshot. Where the device pulls ahead of other low-cost tablets is its battery life: up to 17 hours (according to the manufacturer), which is enough to get through a full day of use without hugging a charger.

It also leans heavily toward being family-friendly. Google Kids Space and YouTube Kids are built in, giving parents some peace of mind with curated content, and Play Protect adds another layer of safety by scanning for malware in apps. Features like GPS and Google Assistant make it a handy travel companion too, even if it isn’t replacing a high-end tablet. The biggest trade-off is performance—this isn’t a powerhouse, and heavier apps will test its limits—but as a lightweight, affordable device for streaming, browsing, and keeping kids entertained, it does its job well.

Jimmy Kimmel is going back on the air. ABC owner Disney today issued a statement saying that Jimmy Kimmel Live will return on Tuesday.

“Last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country,” Disney said in a statement today. “It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive. We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday.”

Disney suspended the show after Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr threatened the company with license revocations for broadcast stations affiliated with ABC. After caving to the FCC, Disney faced a public backlash, and many users said they were protesting by canceling subscriptions to Disney-owned services.

Read full article

Comments

Google is back in court, hoping to avoid a painful breakup of its advertising business. US District Judge Leonie Brinkema has already ruled that Google operated an illegal monopoly in digital advertising, and now it’s time to learn the consequences of that behavior. Google’s had mixed luck with antitrust rulings lately, but it’s not a great sign that Google has so many legal woes that it can be hard to keep them all straight.

The case that just got underway is the remedy phase of the AdTech trial, in which the DOJ secured a ruling against Google several months ago. The remedy phase of the search trial wrapped up recently, which ended with Google holding on to Chrome but pledging an appeal to overturn the verdict. There’s also the Google Play antitrust case, which was brought by Epic Games. In this case, Google has already lost its appeal, putting some major app changes on the table as it plans yet another appeal.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) and Google are squaring off in Virginia federal court for the next two weeks or so, and there are no surprises in opening arguments. The government says the only way to deal with a monopolist like this is to break it up, but Google says it has already made numerous changes, and there’s no way to excise it from online advertising without breaking the market.

Read full article

Comments

The Supreme Court has voted 6-3 in favor of hearing a lawsuit brought by a former member of the US Federal Trade Commission, CNBC reports. Democrats Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya were fired from their posts as commissioners in the FTC by President Donald Trump in March. As has been the case with several of the Trump administration’s actions to remove possible critics from their roles in civil service, the pair said their dismissal was illegal.

Commissioners’ terms may only be ended early for good cause under a law designed to protect the FTC as an independent agency. The FTC is also not allowed to have more than three commissioners from a single political party, meaning Slaughter and Bedoya could not both be replaced by additional Republican members.

In July, US District Judge Loren AliKhan ruled in favor of Slaughter, who has moved ahead with a suit to contest her dismissal, and a federal appeals court reinstated her to the FTC in September. Today, however, the Supreme Court ruled that her firing may stand while it considers her case.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-supreme-court-will-hear-former-ftc-commissioner-rebecca-slaughters-case-203200530.html?src=rss

The Trump administration has struck a deal requiring TikTok’s algorithm to be copied, retrained, and operated in the U.S. using only U.S. user data, with Oracle auditing the system and U.S. investors forming a joint venture to oversee it. The BBC reports: It comes after President Donald Trump said a deal to prevent the app’s ban in the US, unless sold by its Chinese parent company ByteDance, had been reached with China’s approval. White House officials claim the deal will be a win for the app’s US users and citizens. President Trump is expected to sign an executive order later this week on the proposed deal, which will set out how it will comply with US national security demands.

The order will also outline a 120-day pause to the enforcement deadline to allow the deal to close. It is unclear whether the Chinese government has approved this agreement, or begun to take regulatory steps required to deliver it. However, the White House appears confident it has secured China’s approval. Data belonging to the 170m users TikTok says it has in the US is already held on Oracle servers, under an existing arrangement called Project Texas. It saw US user data siphoned off due to concerns it could fall into the hands of the Chinese government.

A senior White House official said that under President Trump’s deal, the company would take on a comprehensive role in securing the entirety of the app for American users. They said this would include auditing and inspecting the source code and recommendation system underpinning the app, and rebuilding it for US users using only US user data.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Perplexity has introduced a new feature dubbed Email Assistant. With this resource, users can direct an AI chatbot to execute basic email tasks such as scheduling meetings, organizing and prioritizing emails, and drafting replies. At launch, Gmail and Outlook are the only supported email clients. 

Email assistant is only available to members of the company’s pricey Max plan, which costs $200 a month. Perplexity added this upscale subscription option in July. Once an Max user has signed up for the feature, they can write to Perplexity’s assistant email address to access its capabilities. Although the company emphasized that the AI assistant does not train on a user’s emails, it does adopt their writing style when drafting replies. The feature is available starting today.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/perplexity-launches-an-ai-email-assistant-for-max-subscribers-195212382.html?src=rss

Perplexity has introduced a new feature dubbed Email Assistant. With this resource, users can direct an AI chatbot to execute basic email tasks such as scheduling meetings, organizing and prioritizing emails, and drafting replies. At launch, Gmail and Outlook are the only supported email clients. 

Email assistant is only available to members of the company’s pricey Max plan, which costs $200 a month. Perplexity added this upscale subscription option in July. Once an Max user has signed up for the feature, they can write to Perplexity’s assistant email address to access its capabilities. Although the company emphasized that the AI assistant does not train on a user’s emails, it does adopt their writing style when drafting replies. The feature is available starting today.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/perplexity-launches-an-ai-email-assistant-for-max-subscribers-195212382.html?src=rss

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CalMatters: A California attorney must pay a $10,000 fine for filing a state court appeal full of fake quotations generated by the artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT. The fine appears to be the largest issued over AI fabrications by a California court and came with a blistering opinion (PDF) stating that 21 of 23 quotes from cases cited in the attorney’s opening brief were made up. It also noted that numerous out-of-state and federal courts have confronted attorneys for citing fake legal authority. “We therefore publish this opinion as a warning,” it continued. “Simply stated, no brief, pleading, motion, or any other paper filed in any court should contain any citations — whether provided by generative AI or any other source — that the attorney responsible for submitting the pleading has not personally read and verified.”

The opinion, issued 10 days ago in California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal, is a clear example of why the state’s legal authorities are scrambling to regulate the use of AI in the judiciary. The state’s Judicial Council two weeks ago issued guidelines requiring judges and court staff to either ban generative AI or adopt a generative AI use policy by Dec. 15. Meanwhile, the California Bar Association is considering whether to strengthen its code of conduct to account for various forms of AI following a request by the California Supreme Court last month.

The Los Angeles-area attorney fined last week, Amir Mostafavi, told the court that he did not read text generated by the AI model before submitting the appeal in July 2023, months after OpenAI marketed ChatGPT as capable of passing the bar exam. A three-judge panel fined him for filing a frivolous appeal, violating court rules, citing fake cases, and wasting the court’s time and the taxpayers money, according to the opinion. Mostafavi told CalMatters he wrote the appeal and then used ChatGPT to try and improve it. He said that he didn’t know it would add case citations or make things up.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CalMatters: A California attorney must pay a $10,000 fine for filing a state court appeal full of fake quotations generated by the artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT. The fine appears to be the largest issued over AI fabrications by a California court and came with a blistering opinion (PDF) stating that 21 of 23 quotes from cases cited in the attorney’s opening brief were made up. It also noted that numerous out-of-state and federal courts have confronted attorneys for citing fake legal authority. “We therefore publish this opinion as a warning,” it continued. “Simply stated, no brief, pleading, motion, or any other paper filed in any court should contain any citations — whether provided by generative AI or any other source — that the attorney responsible for submitting the pleading has not personally read and verified.”

The opinion, issued 10 days ago in California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal, is a clear example of why the state’s legal authorities are scrambling to regulate the use of AI in the judiciary. The state’s Judicial Council two weeks ago issued guidelines requiring judges and court staff to either ban generative AI or adopt a generative AI use policy by Dec. 15. Meanwhile, the California Bar Association is considering whether to strengthen its code of conduct to account for various forms of AI following a request by the California Supreme Court last month.

The Los Angeles-area attorney fined last week, Amir Mostafavi, told the court that he did not read text generated by the AI model before submitting the appeal in July 2023, months after OpenAI marketed ChatGPT as capable of passing the bar exam. A three-judge panel fined him for filing a frivolous appeal, violating court rules, citing fake cases, and wasting the court’s time and the taxpayers money, according to the opinion. Mostafavi told CalMatters he wrote the appeal and then used ChatGPT to try and improve it. He said that he didn’t know it would add case citations or make things up.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Stellantis — the parent of several auto brands including Dodge, Ram and Chrysler — said customers’ personal information was included in a data breach. The automaker said in a statement that “contact information” was procured, but not “financial or sensitive personal” data, as that is not stored on the third-party platform that was breached.

“We recently detected unauthorized access to a third-party service provider’s platform that supports our North American customer service operations,” Stellantis said. “Upon discovery, we immediately activated our incident response protocols, initiated a comprehensive investigation and took prompt action to contain and mitigate the situation. We are also notifying the appropriate authorities and directly informing affected customers.” The company encouraged customers to be on guard against phishing and social engineering attacks, and to be careful about sharing personal information with anyone who contacts them unexpectedly.

Stellantis has not disclosed what types of contact information were involved in the breach, how many customers were affected or whether it’s offering them privacy or credit protection services. A spokesperson told Engadget the automaker is “not providing any additional information beyond our statement.”

Bleeping Computer says a group called ShinyHunters claimed credit for the breach. The group told the publication it obtained more than 18 million records, containing contact details and names, from Stellantis’ Salesforce instance. ShinyHunters has reportedly stolen data from other Salesforce clients over the last several months, including Google, Qantas, Adidas and LVMH.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/stellantis-confirms-data-breach-involving-customers-contact-information-194136744.html?src=rss