More than 1,100 public figures have signed a statement calling for a prohibition on the development of superintelligence. The signatories included Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton, former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, former chief strategist to President Trump Steve Bannon and Turing Award winner Yoshua Bengio. The statement was organized by the Future of Life Institute, led by Anthony Aguirre, a physicist at the University of California, Santa Cruz. It proposes halting work on superintelligence until there is broad scientific consensus on safety and strong public support.

The institute’s biggest recent donor is Vitalik Buterin, a co-founder of Ethereum. Notable tech executives did not sign the statement. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in July that superintelligence was now in sight. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said last month he would be surprised if superintelligence did not arrive by 2030.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Uber Green is rebranding to Uber Electric, and to coincide with the name switch — a move designed to make it clearer for Uber users preferring to hail zero-emissions rides — the company will incentivise its drivers to swap their current vehicle for an EV by way of a $4,000 grant. According to Uber’s numbers, there are currently more than 200,000 EVs on its global network, and drivers are switching to electric up to 5x faster than regular motorists in the US, Canada and Europe.

Uber’s carrot for drivers is particularly timely given that President Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill“ recently wiped out the federal tax credit on used EVs, which was worth (at its maximum value) the same amount as its new “Go Electric” EV grant. The grant automatically qualifies drivers in New York City, California, Colorado, and Massachusetts to receive $4,000 when they switch to an EV. Grants are available for both new and used electric vehicles, and Uber drivers nationwide can also get $1,000 when they purchase any new or used EV through TrueCar.

Uber has also announced that it’s rolling out its battery-aware matching (BAM) feature to EVs made by Kia, Hyundai, Ford, Nissan, Volkswagen, and Mercedes-Benz in 25 countries including the US and Canada. This allows drivers to connect their vehicle to the Driver app, and will subsequently only receive ride requests that they are able to fulfill with their remaining range at the time. Uber said that 49 percent of non-EV drivers on its platform are put off switching to an EV due to battery-related concerns, which the expansion of BAM should help alleviate.

The Uber Electric rebrand follows Uber transitioning Uber Green to fully electric in the US earlier this year, where previously it has consisted of a mix of hybrids and all-electric vehicles. Riders are also being enticed to seek EV drivers, with Uber offering them 20 percent off (up to $8) their next electric ride with code GOELECTRIC20, which is valid for a week.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/uber-will-pay-drivers-4000-to-switch-to-an-ev-144704532.html?src=rss

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The Meta Quest Pro is currently down to $799.95 at Walmart, a $200 drop from its original $999 price tag and a solid $90 less than what Amazon is asking right now. It’s one of the most advanced VR and mixed reality devices you can buy without needing a gaming PC (meaning you can dive straight into immersive apps and environments right out of the box). PCMag named it the best VR headset of 2022, and even two years later, it remains one of the most well-built and feature-rich VR headsets around.

Meta Quest Pro

$799.95
at Walmart

$999.00
Save $199.05

$799.95
at Walmart

$999.00
Save $199.05

It’s stylish, comfortable, and built for extended use, with a balanced strap design that places the battery at the back to distribute weight evenly. Battery life, though, is short—around two hours per charge—which might be its biggest limitation for heavy users. Inside, the hardware is serious: a Snapdragon XR2+ chip (which Meta says is 50% faster than the Quest 2), 12GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. Each lens delivers 1,920 by 1,800 resolution per eye with improved contrast and a 130% wider color gamut, thanks to a local dimming backlight. That means brighter highlights, deeper blacks, and a much sharper image overall.

As for the Quest Pro’s controllers, Meta removed the bulky tracking rings and replaced them with built-in cameras, so each controller tracks itself independently. The result is smoother hand movement and better precision for things like drawing or sculpting in 3D. Eye and face tracking are also part of the package, letting your avatar mimic your actual expressions in real time. That said, if you want full immersion, you’ll need the $32.90 light blocker since the default face padding lets light leak in from the sides, notes this PCmag review.

Early Monday, an Amazon Web Services outage disrupted banks, games, and Peloton classes. Eight Sleep customers faced a different problem. Their internet-enabled mattresses malfunctioned. People woke to beds locked in upright positions, excessive heat, flashing lights, and unexpected alarms. Matteo Franceschetti, the company’s chief executive, apologized and said engineers were building an outage-proof mode. By Monday evening, all devices functioned again, though some experienced data processing delays. The mattresses adjust temperature between 55 and 110 degrees and elevate bodies into different positions. They activate soundscapes and vibrational alarms. The advanced models cost over $5,000. A yearly subscription of $199 to $399 is required for temperature controls.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

YouTube is about to get less scammy. The video-sharing platform today rolled out likeness-detection technology designed to identify AI-generated content featuring fake faces and voices of YouTube creators. This program is only open to eligible creators in the YouTube Partner Program right now.

Creators interested in the program upload a picture and a voice recording of themselves with proof of their identity, then they can view any detected videos, and request their removal, either through YouTube’s privacy guidelines or a copyright request. There’s also an option to archive the video, to prevent sneaky deletions.

In the short term, this is unlikely to nuke the growing scourge of videos featuring influencers endorsing products or ideas they’ve never heard of. But with new AI tools making realistic video fakes possible in minutes, this kind of protection may soon be something everyone uses.

YouTube’s larger AI-control program

The likeness identification program is part of YouTube’s broader effort to deal with the glut of AI-generated content on its site. Earlier this year, the company began requiring creators to label “realistic” AI videos and updated its monetization policies to cut the revenues earned from the kind of low-effort, inauthentic content that is often generated by AI.

The potential danger of large-scale identity verification

Of course proving you’re you isn’t risk-free. Proving your identity to any company involves uploading a driver’s license, passport, or other official ID, or handing over biometric data, and tech companies often fail to keep that private information out of the hands of bad actors. Here are only a few recent examples:

• Seventy thousand people recently had their identities compromised after sharing age verification information with Discord.

• All the users of Tea had their identifying documents stolen.

• About a million Coinbase accounts were recently hacked and identifying documents were stolen.

YouTube’s new system might fight deepfakes and make the platform less spammy, but it also adds to the growing library of personal data people are trusting tech companies to guard.

If I had a dollar for every time a vehicle manufacturer launched a new in-car software experience designed to achieve the same levels of user experience as your average tablet or smartphone, I’d probably have about enough cash for a decent lunch at a middling restaurant. It’s a common refrain, and yet after years of hearing that same story over and over, I still find myself firing up Android Auto or Apple CarPlay as soon as I get into just about every new car I evaluate. 

At the launch of the 2026 Toyota RAV4, I heard that story yet again, about how they’d rewritten their in-car software to deliver an experience like that found in modern mobile devices. And I have to say, for once, they might have actually delivered. Toyota’s latest SUV has voice and touch capabilities that are not only quick and responsive but genuinely pleasant to use. And thankfully, the rest of the SUV has been upgraded to match.

The RAV4 has been in production for over 30 years now. This, the sixth generation, comes hot on the heels of its predecessor becoming the world’s best-selling car in 2024. Over 1.1 million were sold last year, which goes a long way towards explaining why you can’t kick a pebble in a grocery store parking lot without hitting a RAV4.

The overall changes for the 2026 RAV4 aren’t radical, but they are appreciated. For starters, every trim of this SUV is a hybrid, with base models powered by a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine that drives the front wheels, offering 226 horsepower. Those wanting all-wheel drive can add another electric motor at the back, adding a little more power (10 hp) and a good bit more drive for low-grip situations. 

Tim Stevens for Engadget

From there, buyers can step up to a revised plug-in hybrid model, which now makes 324 horsepower, up 22 from before. Fuel economy is up too, up to 48 mpg depending on what trim you choose, and you can now get up to 52 miles of range from a 22.7 kWh battery pack in the plug-in.

And that’s usable range. I took a RAV4 XSE plug-in edition out for a morning drive and covered nearly 20 miles without spinning up the engine. Even at highway speeds the RAV4 was slow but perfectly manageable. With that much range and even reasonably quick DC charging (50 kW maximum), it’s easy to see this as the introduction to EVs for many.

For better or worse, that DC charging is handled on a CCS port, not the newer NACS ports that most manufacturers (even Toyota) are using on their EVs. The lack of any kind of vehicle-to-load functionality is a bummer, too, especially on the rugged-ish Wilderness edition, which would seemingly be a perfect machine for powering a campsite. 

Regardless of which trim you go with, you’ll get that new software system running on either a 10.5-inch touchscreen on the lower trims or a 12.9-inch display on higher-end machines. The overall experience is the same, looking bright and crisp either way, just with more finger-friendly controls on the bigger panel.

Tim Stevens for Engadget

Toyota’s software layout is familiar, with a vertical column of icons on the left for toggling between major sections like media or navigation, and then a row of controls along the bottom for controlling the car’s heating, ventilation and cooling system. The rest of the display is taken up by a customizable series of panels. As you swipe from left to right, you swing through different pages, which you can move around and rearrange as you like. None of this is particularly revolutionary, but is pleasantly responsive. Swiping from page to page was quick and easy, without any annoying lag waiting for content to load.

That responsiveness continued through to the voice assistant, which is the quickest I’ve ever used in a car. Just say “Hey, Toyota” and ask for whatever you want. When asked for pizza, the voice assistant listed nearby joints, even quoted their star rating and offered navigation, all without the annoying round-trip processing lag that’s common in these systems. Some of that speed might be thanks to the addition of 5G connectivity (provided by AT&T), but there’s surely some quicker hardware running beneath the skin powering the Linux-based software.

The car’s integrated navigation was also easy to use, quick to route and re-route and features all the points of interest you could ever want. There’s even an integrated dashcam feature that will record any incidents on the road, or whatever else you feel like highlighting, while also storing the footage from the SUV’s other cameras. 

Despite the quality experience through the touchscreen, Toyota didn’t take this as an opportunity to delete all the car’s buttons. You’ll still find physical controls for all the major features, including (praise be) a volume knob. It was all good enough to make me not feel compelled to reach for my phone, but of course, I did in the interest of testing. Both wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are supported, not only in the main touchscreen but also able to feed navigation details into the 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster. That, too, is customizable, with a series of panels of information that hover over your phone’s map view.

Tim Stevens for Engadget

So, even if you still prefer your phone, you’re covered, and powered, too. The RAV4 has a pair of Qi wireless chargers, conveniently situated in the center stack just below the HVAC controls. You’ll also find two 45-watt USB-C ports up front, plus a pair of 15-watt ports in the back for rear-seat passengers.

The new RAV4 has  a roomy, comfortable cabin with some fun touches, like a neoprene-like insert in the dash that’s pleasant to touch. The overall interior design won’t win any awards for dramatic styling or eye-catching flair, but it’s comfortable and seems like the kind of thing that’ll stand up to whatever you or your kids throw at it. 

In terms of driving dynamics, the extra power offered by the RAV4 doesn’t turn it into a rocket ship, but the PHEV trim in particular feels more than quick enough. There’s also a new GR Sport edition for those who aspire to something even more engaging, but despite a more aggressive grille up front and a big wing hanging off the back, it still feels like a RAV4 from behind the wheel. That is to say: It’s not the most exciting thing on the road.

But people don’t buy RAV4s to be wowed, they buy them because they’re practical and comfortable and priced right. Price, unfortunately, is one thing we don’t know about the new model, with Toyota only saying that it’ll start somewhere in the low $30,000 range. But all the SUV’s other virtues carry forward into 2026 with upgrades. Add to that a massively improved software experience, and you have an SUV that doesn’t disappoint.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/toyotas-new-all-hybrid-rav4-has-software-you-might-actually-want-to-use-140000442.html?src=rss

The cyber attack on Jaguar Land Rover is estimated to have cost the UK at least £1.9 billion in what is likely to be “the most economically damaging cyber event” for the country.

The month-long shutdown of internal systems and production at JLR affected over 5,000 British organisations, according to an analysis by Cyber Monitoring Centre, a non-profit organization that ranks the severity of cyber events in the UK.

“This incident looks to have been by some distance, the single most financially damaging cyber event ever to hit the UK,” said Ciaran Martin, former head of the National Cyber Security Centre and chair of CMC’s technical committee.

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