GM has issued a stop-sale order for the Chevy Blazer EV just weeks after its release following reports of software problems that made the vehicle undrivable. Edmunds, which received confirmation on Friday night that the company is halting deliveries, previously documented 23 issues during tests of the SUV, including the infotainment system repeatedly crashing and displaying a multitude of error messages. Inside EVs writer Kevin Williams also tested the Blazer EV and not only encountered similar problems with the display, but was left stranded after the car broke down while charging.

In a statement to Edmunds, Chevrolet said, “We are aware that a limited number of Blazer EV owners have experienced some software quality issues. To ensure our customers have a great experience with their vehicle, we are temporarily pausing sales of Blazer EVs.” All new deliveries are on pause, VP Scott Bell said.

The Chevrolet Blazer EV is powered by GM’s Ultium battery system, which is being used in a slew of other vehicles including the GMC Hummer EV and the Cadillac Lyriq. Those, too, have been the subject of plenty of complaints, as Inside EVs reported. A spokesperson for GM told TechCrunch the Blazer’s problems are “not safety related nor related to Ultium or Google Built-In.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gm-halts-sales-of-its-new-chevy-blazer-ev-amid-reports-of-major-software-issues-214225984.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – GM halts sales of its new Chevy Blazer EV amid reports of major software issues

Bluesky, the invite-only decentralized social network, is taking baby steps towards opening up to the public. CEO Jay Graber announced this week that Bluesky posts are now viewable whether a person is logged in or not, meaning you can directly share content with your friends who don’t have Bluesky accounts. While Bluesky has about 2.6 million users so far, that pool is still relatively small as it remains closed off to wider public signups.

The new public web interface, which the company teased last month, will make Bluesky posts accessible to a bigger audience. To mark the shift, Bluesky has also adopted a blue butterfly as its new logo — gone is the stock photo-style cloudy sky. “Like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, we are starting to open up,” Graber wrote in a blog post about the changes. Graber also notes that many Bluesky users were already using the butterfly emoji as a symbol for the social network. “We loved it,” Graber wrote, “and adopted it as it spread.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/bluesky-changed-its-logo-and-now-lets-everyone-view-posts-even-without-an-account-172649141.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Bluesky changed its logo and now lets everyone view posts, even without an account

It’s Christmas Eve Eve, so I’ve phoned in this week’s TMA and shouted “Lost In Space!” to myself. What a time to be alive. I’m also stoking the flames of the console wars in 2023. Yes, Sony announced its sold 50 million PS5 consoles so far. Xbox doesn’t offer its own official figures (because of this eventuality?) but analysts say, during this year, Sony outsold Microsoft consoles three to one. 

Apple has been noticeably missing in the list of companies with their own generative AI product, but based on a new report by The New York Times, it’s looking to change that real soon. In recent weeks, Apple has reportedly started negotiating with major publishers and news organizations to ask for permission to use their content to train the generative AI system it’s developing. The company doesn’t expect to get its hands on their content for free, though, and The Times says it’s offering them multi-year deals worth at least $50 million for access to their news archives.

Apparently, some of the publishers it approached are concerned about the repercussions of letting Apple use their news articles throughout the years. They think a broad licensing deal for their archives could lead to legal issues along the way. The publishers are also concerned about the potential competition that may arise from Apple’s efforts.

That said, the iPhone-maker also reportedly built goodwill simply by asking them for permission and showing willingness to pay. The Times says the company’s higher-ups have been in discussion over where to get data for generative AI development for years now. Due to its commitment to privacy, they’ve been hesitating to use information collected from the internet.

Other companies with generative AIs of their own had been accused of stealing content and using it to train their products without express consent from creators and rights holders. OpenAI, for instance, is contending with several lawsuits that accuse it of using other people’s intellectual properties. One of those lawsuits was filed by novelists that include George R.R. Martin and John Grisham, while another was filed by nonfiction authors who said OpenAI and Microsoft have built a business “valued into the tens of billions of dollars by taking the combined works of humanity without permission.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-is-reportedly-looking-to-team-up-with-news-publishers-to-train-its-ai-074348010.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Apple is reportedly looking to team up with news publishers to train its AI

The Humane AI Pin is expected to start shipping in March. On Friday, the company posted on X (Twitter) that “those who placed priority orders will receive their Ai Pins first when we begin shipping in March.” The company had previously given an “early 2024” estimate for the screen-less wearable device designed to replace a smartphone.

Humane, founded by former Apple employees Bethany Bongiorno and Imran Chaudhri, views the smartphone (still their ex-employer’s bread and butter) as on its last legs. “The last era has plateaued,” TechCrunch reported Chaudhri as saying in a November press briefing. He views the AI-powered wearable product as “a new way of thinking, a new sense of opportunity.”

The $699 Humane AI Pin doesn’t have a screen; instead, it relies on voice cues and a projector that beams relevant info onto the user’s hand. The founders flaunt the device’s privacy focus combined with contextual intelligence, promising it “quickly understands what you need, connecting you to the right AI experience or service instantly.” Partnerships with OpenAI, Microsoft and Tidal provide what the company calls “access to some of the world’s most powerful AI models and platforms.”

The pin runs on a quad-core Snapdragon processor with a dedicated Qualcomm AI Engine powering its Cosmos OS software. It ships in three color options, two of which add an extra $100 to its price. Buyers must pay $24 monthly to access the pin’s cellular data, built as an MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) on top of T-Mobile’s network.

In addition to providing the March shipping date, Humane says the remaining orders will continue to roll out in the order they were received. Engadget emailed the company to ask when it expects current orders to go out, and we’ll update this article if it responds.

The Humane AI Pin is available to pre-order now from Humane’s website. The Eclipse (matte black on black) costs $699, while Lunar (polished chrome on white) and Equinox (polished chrome on black) colorways will set you back $799.

Insomniac Games has weighed in publicly for the first time since hackers leaked over 1.3 million of the publisher’s private files. The studio posted on X (Twitter) that it’s “saddened and angered” by the cyberattack, describing the internal aftermath as “extremely distressing.” Insomniac indirectly alluded to the publication of gameplay footage from an upcoming Wolverine game, assuring fans that “Marvel’s Wolverine continues as planned.”

The publisher began by thanking supportive fans, many of whom rallied around the hacking victim in the thread’s comments, before relaying the burden the cyberattack inflicted on its employees. “We’re both saddened and angered about the recent criminal cyberattack on our studio and the emotional toll it’s taken on our dev team,” the studio wrote. “We have focused inwardly for the last several days to support each other.”

Insomniac acknowledged some of the stolen content currently making the rounds on social media and the dark web. “We are aware that the stolen data includes personal information belonging to our employees, former employees, and independent contractors,” it posted. “It also includes early development details about Marvel’s Wolverine for PlayStation 5. We continue working quickly to determine what data was impacted.”

The Rhysida ransomware group took credit for the attack, claiming to have infiltrated Insomniac within 20 to 25 minutes, according to the group’s statement to cyberdaily.au. The hackers threatened to publish the stolen content if Insomniac, Sony or anyone else refused to pay its $2 million ransom. The group suggested that some data was sold, and the public dump allegedly comprised 98 percent of the complete set.

In addition to the Wolverine gameplay, the leak included files from Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, internal HR documents (including I-9 employment forms and termination docs), screenshots from Insomniac’s Slack channels and the contents of several employees’ PCs.

“This experience has been extremely distressing for us,” Insomniac wrote. “We want everyone to enjoy the games we develop as intended and as our players deserve.”

Insomniac alluded to its leaked protagonist to signal durability. “Like Logan…Insomniac is resilient,” the publisher posted. “Marvel’s Wolverine continues as planned. The game is in early production and will no doubt greatly evolve throughout development, as do all our plans.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/insomniac-says-its-saddened-and-angered-by-massive-leak-of-13-million-files-172822264.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Insomniac says it’s ‘saddened and angered’ by massive leak of 1.3 million files

While it’s a bit too late to receive most gifts in time for Christmas, there are still a handful of good gadget deals floating around if you’re shopping for yourself. If you need a new laptop today, for instance, multiple configurations of the 13-inch MacBook Air are $200 off Apple’s list price. The 15-inch Air, meanwhile, is available for as low as $999, a $300 discount. A bundle of Apple’s AirTags is down to $79, while a pack of Tile trackers is down to $50. The Xbox Series X is still $150 off, and the major video game storefronts have kicked off their annual winter sales, with sweeping discounts across Steam, the Nintendo eShop, the PlayStation Store and the Microsoft Store. We’re also seeing price drops on recommended gaming mice, wall chargers, wireless earbuds and more. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.

A configuration of the 13.6-inch MacBook Air with an Apple M2 chip, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD is down to $1,299 at B&H. That’s $200 off Apple’s list price. If you can live with less storage and memory, a variant with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD is also $200 off at $899. A version of the 15.3-inch Air with the same specs, meanwhile, is $300 off and down to an all-time low of $999. The M2 MacBook Air is the top pick in our guide to the best laptops, and both models earned a score of 96 in their respective reviews.

That said, you should only grab one of these if you need a notebook right away, as a recent report from Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman said that Apple plans to launch updated MacBook Airs in the coming months. If you absolutely can’t wait, however, the current models remain supremely well-built and should perform well for everyday tasks for years to come.

If you want a more affordable desktop PC, the M2 Mac mini is also on sale for an all-time low of $479. That’s about $30 off its usual street price, though, again, it’s likely just a matter of time until we see a refresh with Apple’s new M3 chip.

It’s a great time to pick up a new video game, as Steam, Nintendo, PlayStation and Xbox have all kicked off their respective holiday sales. There are simply too many deals for us to list them all here, but one highlight is Baldur’s Gate 3 for $54. That’s only $6 off its usual price, but it’s the first discount to date for the recent game of the year winner and recommendation in our guide to the best couch co-op games. The PS5 version of the RPG is also on sale for $63, another 10 percent discount.

Beyond that, other notables include the sweeping open-world RPG Elden Ring for $36, the stylish roguelike Hades for $12.49 and the superb 3D platformers Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury for $35. Mass Effect Legendary Edition, which compiles three classic action-RPGs, is available for just $6, while Halo: The Master Chief Collection, which includes six entries in the Xbox’s premier FPS series, is back down to $10. A few more personal recommendations: the all-time great puzzler Portal 2 for a buck, the frantic 2D platformer Pizza Tower for $15, the wonderfully kinetic FPS Titanfall 2 for $4 and the ultra-stylish third-person shooter Max Payne 3 for $6. Outside of these sales, the intense mech-action game Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon is down to a new low of $40 at Amazon.

There are hundreds more deals beyond those, so it’s worth perusing the sales for yourself if you’re looking to pad your backlog. (Use sites like Deku Deals and IsThereAnyDeal to ensure you’re getting a good price.) All of these promos will run into 2024, so even if you don’t want anything right now, you’ll have time to apply any gift cards you may receive over the holidays. PC gamers should note that the Epic Games Store is still running its holiday sale, which includes a recurring 33 percent coupon that makes many games cheaper than they are on Steam and other storefronts.

The Apple AirTag is the top pick for iPhone owners in our Bluetooth tracker buying guide, as it can utilize Apple’s giant Find My device network to locate lost items with impressive accuracy. Right now you can get a single AirTag for $24, which is $6 off Apple’s list price, or a four-pack for $79, which is $20 off. The former is about $1 off the lowest price we’ve tracked; the latter is a deal we’ve seen for much of the past few weeks, but it still comes within $5 of its all-time low. Just be aware that you’ll need an extra accessory or two if you want to attach an AirTag to a particular item, as it lacks any keyring holes or built-in adhesive. These deals are available at several retailers, including Amazon, Walmart and Best Buy.

Tile’s trackers are among the better AirTag alternatives for Android users, and right now a four-pack that includes two Tile Mates, a Tile Slim and a Tile Sticker is down to a new low of $50. Normally, this bundle costs about $75. Tile’s devices generally aren’t as precise as AirTags, but its feature set is mostly similar and its crowd-finding network is still decently large. The varying designs here are more convenient, too — you can easily slip a Tile Slim into a wallet and attach a Tile Mate to a keyring without any third-party accessories. None of these devices have replaceable batteries, however, and Tile locks separation alerts (which let you know when you’ve travelled too far from a tracked item) behind a subscription fee.

The Xbox Series X is still $150 off and down to $350 at Best Buy, Walmart and Target, though the latter two may require in-store pickup. If those offers run dry, you can still get a bundle that pairs the console with the action-RPG Diablo IV for $50 more. While the console briefly dipped to $340 earlier this week, these are still nice entry points to Microsoft’s highest-end game console, which can play many games at a steady 4K/60 fps. The hardware also includes a disc drive, unlike the lower-cost Xbox Series S. And while the Xbox library is a bit light on top-tier exclusives, it still includes a diverse range of games we like. There’s a chance Microsoft launches an all-digital Series X refresh at some point in 2024, but the existing model is an easier buy at this price.

The Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 3 is down to $60 at Amazon and Target, which is a little more than $20 off the compact portable speaker’s typical street price. To sweeten the deal, both retailers are throwing in $10 of store credit alongside the purchase. That’ll come in the form of an e-gift card at Target, while Amazon says it’ll apply the credit to your account 30 days after shipment. We recommend the Wonderboom 3 in our guide to the best portable Bluetooth speakers, praising its rugged, waterproof design and punchy-for-the-size sound quality. Battery life should last between 14 and 20 hours depending on how much you crank the volume.

The Razer Basilisk V3 is on sale for $40 at Amazon, Target and Best Buy, a $10 discount that matches the deal price we saw on Black Friday. This is the top pick in our gaming mouse buying guide. It’s not especially light at 100 grams, but it performs reliably, and its sturdy, contoured shape should be comfortable for any grip type. It comes with 11 customizable buttons, and its scroll wheel is impressively versatile, as it can tilt left or right and utilize a free spin mode for faster scrolling. Though the design looks “gamer-y,” its RGB lighting isn’t overly aggressive, either.

The Anker 735 Charger is down to $30 at Amazon, which is about $10 off its typical street price. This is a fairly compact wall charger with two USB-C ports and a USB-A port. It can supply up to 65W of power, which is enough to refill many smartphones at full speed and charge some smaller laptops. If you need more juice, the Anker 736 Charger is a bit larger but can deliver up to 100W; that one is $15 off and down to $45 with an on-page coupon.

The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds are back on sale for $249 at several retailers, which isn’t an all-time low but still takes $50 off the pair’s usual going rate. It also ties the deal we saw on Black Friday. The QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds earned a score of 88 in our review this past September, and they’re currently the “best for noise cancellation” pick in our wireless earbuds buying guide. If you just want the strongest active noise cancellation (ANC) possible in a true wireless form factor, they’re better at muting the outside world than any earbuds we’ve tested. Their default sound goes heavy on the bass, which should please fans of hip-hop and EDM, but you can customize the EQ curve if needed. The design is on the larger side, however, and their battery life and call quality are just OK. 

Sony’s WF-1000XM5, the top pick in our guide, is currently available for a dollar less, though that discount has been available for most of the past two months. The WF-10000XM5 is still a more well-rounded option on the whole, but the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds’ ANC is more adept at muting low-end noises like the rumble of a plane or bus engine.

The Beats Fit Pro is the “best for workouts” pick in our wireless earbuds guide, and it’s now on sale for $160 at Amazon, Walmart and others. We’ve seen this deal several times in the past year, but it’s a decent $20 less than the pair’s typical street price. The Fit Pro packs many of the Apple-friendly conveniences of the AirPods Pro — hands-free Siri, easy pairing and audio switching, spatial audio, etc. — in a sportier and more stable design. It sounds nice, too, plus it uses physical buttons instead of touch controls. That said, it lacks wireless charging, it can’t connect to multiple devices simultaneously and its ANC can’t really touch the better options on the market. We gave the Fit Pro a score of 87 in our review. A few other Beats models are also on sale, including the more basic Studio Buds for $80.

The 55-inch version of Hisense’s U6K TV is back down to $350 at Amazon and Best Buy, tying the all-time low we saw around Black Friday. Normally, it retails for $50 to $100 more. Though we don’t review TVs at Engadget, the U6K has received positive reviews from other sites we trust for delivering better-than-usual picture quality for a budget-level TV. It’s one of the few sets in this price range to use mini-LED backlighting, quantum dots and full-array local dimming, which collectively improve its color volume and contrast performance. Reviews say it can’t get as bright as more expensive models, so it won’t be great for HDR content, and its image will wash out when viewed from an angle. It’s also not ideal for gaming, as it’s stuck at a basic 60Hz refresh rate and lacks HDMI 2.1 ports. But if you don’t have tons of cash to burn, it should provide strong value.

If you’re willing to pay a little extra and don’t mind dropping down to a 48-inch TV, the LG A2 is also worth noting at its current price of $550 at Best Buy. This is another deal we’ve seen numerous times, but it ties the best price we’ve tracked. The A2 is LG’s entry-level OLED TV from 2022, but simply being an OLED set means it produces superior contrast, bolder colors, wider viewing angles and smoother motion than most options in this price range. It can’t get especially bright, so it’s best suited away from glare, and like the U6K it lacks HDMI 2.1 features for gaming like VRR. Still, it should be a nice step-up option for smaller or secondary rooms. 

The 8BitDo Ultimate Bluetooth Controller is on sale for $56 at Best Buy. That’s a few bucks higher than the lowest price we’ve tracked but still $14 off the device’s typical going rate. The Ultimate Bluetooth Controller is a comfortable and deeply customizable wireless gamepad for Switch and PC that we’ve highlighted before. The big advantage it has over most official controllers is its Hall effect joysticks, which use magnets to read inputs instead of contact-based potentiometers. That means it should be less susceptible to wear over time and avoid the dreaded “stick drift” we often see with traditional gamepads. An accurate d-pad, a nifty charging dock and a pair of customizable back buttons are all nice to have as well.

The latest Amazon Fire HD 10 tablet is on sale for $90, which is $10 more than the all-time low we saw on Black Friday but still $50 off its usual going rate. At this price, the Fire HD 10 is one of the better values for those who just want a cheap slate for media consumption. Its 10.1-inch 1080p display is decently sharp and bright, its battery lasts a solid 10-ish hours per charge and it performs fine for simple web browsing and video streaming. This model only comes with 32GB of storage, but you can expand that with a microSD card. Its matte plastic design is still a far cry from an iPad’s build quality, and Amazon’s Fire OS is still a bit of a mess, with lock-screen ads, a limited app store and a general tendency to push you toward the company’s own services. But if you really can’t spend more than $100 on a new tablet, the Fire HD 10 should be an acceptable compromise. 

The 32-inch Samsung Smart Monitor M80C is back down to $400 at Amazon, B&H and other retailers. That’s a roughly $100 discount and the best price we’ve seen outside of education-related special offers. This is one of the more versatile monitors on the market, as it comes with the Tizen platform you’d find on Samsung’s smart TVs built-in. This allows the device to access various streaming services without having to connect to a PC. It’s a decent 4K monitor in its own right, with a VA panel that delivers high contrast, though it’s limited to a 60Hz refresh rate and will look washed out from an angle. You’d buy it for the extra functionality first: Apart from the built-in app support, it can function as a smart home hub, it supports Apple AirPlay and it works with both Alexa and Bixby. There are built-in speakers and a dedicated webcam as well.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apples-macbook-air-m2-is-up-to-300-off-plus-the-rest-of-the-weeks-best-tech-deals-165034046.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Apple’s MacBook Air M2 is up to 0 off, plus the rest of the week’s best tech deals

Right as we’re heading into Christmas, Apple has been forced to stop sales of the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 in the US, due to an ongoing patent dispute with Masimo over pulse oximeters. To break down what’s going on, Devindra and Ben chat with Christina Farr, a health tech investor at OMERS Ventures and author of the newsletter Second Opinion. It turns out Apple has made a habit of tempting people away from competing companies, and that includes Masimo’s former chief medical officer. Did Apple really steal trade secrets? Or does it just look very guilty since it had the means and motive to copy Masimo’s technology?

Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you’ve got suggestions or topics you’d like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcast, Engadget News!

First American, a real estate and mortgage financial firm, experienced a “cybersecurity incident” impacting operations, the company posted on its website on Thursday. The company has not released any details about what happened, but as of the time of publication, its website remained down. 

“First American has experienced a cybersecurity incident,” says a statement on its website. “In response, we have taken certain systems offline and are working to return to normal business operations as soon as possible.” First American did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

In 2019, First American came under fire for its handling of sensitive information. It paid a $1 million fine to the New York State Department of Financial Services after a vulnerability in its proprietary “EaglePro” application left data like social security numbers and bank information exposed.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/first-american-discloses-a-cybersecurity-incident-a-few-years-after-its-major-leak-145141277.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – First American discloses a ‘cybersecurity incident,’ a few years after its major leak

If you haven’t heard, the popular budgeting app Mint is about to go away. Parent company Intuit will shut down the service on March 24, 2024. The company suggests folks migrate to its other personal finance app, Credit Karma. Mint had 3.6 million active users as of 2021, according to Bloomberg, and I’m one of them. I use the app to track all of my accounts in one place without having to log into too many disparate banking apps. But I’ve also used it to monitor my credit score, stick to a monthly budget, and set goals like building a rainy-day fund or paying down my mortgage faster.

Intuit has not commented on whether it intends to fold Mint’s budgeting features into Credit Karma but as it stands, Credit Karma is not a Mint substitute: It’s meant to monitor your credit and, Intuit hopes, steer you toward credit cards and various other financial products.

So, over the past month, I’ve downloaded a good half-dozen competing money apps to see if any might cut it as a permanent Mint replacement. What follows is the guide I would have wanted to read: a comparison of budgeting apps that promise to track your net worth and spending in one place. Join me as I fall down a rabbit hole.

How we tested

First, I had to do some research. To find a list of apps to test, I consulted trusty ol’ Google (and even trustier Reddit); read reviews of popular apps on the App Store; and also asked friends and colleagues what budget tracking apps they might be using. Some of the apps I found were free, just like Mint. These, of course, show loads of ads (excuse me, “offers”) to stay in business. But most of the available apps require paid subscriptions, with prices typically topping out around $100 a year, or $15 a month. (Spoiler: My top pick is cheaper than that.)

Since this guide is meant to help Mint users find a permanent replacement, any services I chose to test needed to do several things: import all of your account data into one place; offer budgeting tools; and track your spending, net worth and credit score. Except where noted, all of these apps are available for iOS, Android and on the web.

Once I had my shortlist of six apps, I got to work setting them up. For the sake of thoroughly testing these apps (and remember, I really was looking for a Mint alternative myself), I made a point of adding every account to every tracking app, no matter how small or immaterial the balance. What ensued was a veritable Groundhog Day of two-factor authentication. Just hours of entering passwords and one-time passcodes, for the same banks half a dozen times over. Hopefully, you only have to do this once.

What is Plaid and how does it work?

Each of the apps I tested uses the same underlying network, called Plaid, to pull in financial data, so it’s worth explaining up top what it is and how it works. Plaid was founded as a fintech startup in 2013 and is today the industry standard in connecting banks with third-party apps. Plaid works with over 12,000 financial institutions across the US, Canada and Europe. Additionally, more than 8,000 third-party apps and services rely on Plaid, the company claims.

To be clear, you don’t need a dedicated Plaid app to use it; the technology is baked into a wide array of apps, including the budget trackers I tested for this guide. Once you find the “add an account” option in whichever one you’re using, you’ll see a menu of commonly used banks. There’s also a search field you can use to look yours up directly. Once you find yours, you’ll be prompted to enter your login credentials. If you have two-factor authentication set up, you’ll need to enter a one-time passcode as well.

As the middleman, Plaid is a passthrough for information that may include your account balances, transaction history, account type and routing or account number. Plaid uses encryption, and says it has a policy of not selling or renting customer data to other companies. However, I would not be doing my job if I didn’t note that in 2022 Plaid was forced to pay $58 million to consumers in a class action suit for collecting “more financial data than was needed.” As part of the settlement, Plaid was compelled to change some of its business practices.

In a statement provided to Engadget, a Plaid spokesperson said the company continues to deny the allegations underpinning the lawsuit and that “the crux of the non-financial terms in the settlement are focused on us accelerating workstreams already underway related to giving people more transparency into Plaid’s role in connecting their accounts, and ensuring that our workstreams around data minimization remain on track.”

How to import your financial data from Mint

If only importing data from Mint were as easy as entering your credentials from inside your new budgeting app and hitting “import.” In fact, any app that advertises the ability to port over your stats from Mint is just going to have you upload a CSV file of transactions and other data.

To download a CSV file from Mint, do the following:

1. Sign into Mint.com and hit Transactions in the menu on the left side of the screen.

2. Select an account, or all accounts.

3. Scroll down and look for “export [number] transactions” in smaller print.

4. Your CSV file should begin downloading.

Note: Downloading on a per-account basis might seem more annoying, but could help you get set up on the other side, if the app you’re using has you importing transactions one-for-one into their corresponding accounts.

The best budgeting app overall: Quicken Simplifi

No pun intended, but what I like about Quicken Simplifi is its simplicity. Whereas other apps try to distinguish themselves with dark themes and customizable emoji, Simplifi has a clean user interface, with a landing page that you just keep scrolling through to get a detailed overview of all your stats. These include your top-line balances; net worth; recent spending; upcoming recurring payments; a snapshot of your spending plan; top spending categories; achievements; and any watchlists you’ve set up. You can also set up savings goals elsewhere in the app. I also appreciate how it offers neat, almost playful visualizations without ever looking cluttered. I felt at home in the mobile and web dashboards after a day or so, which is faster than I adapted to some competing services (I’m looking at you, YNAB and Monarch).

Getting set up with Simplifi was mostly painless. I was particularly impressed at how easily it connected to Fidelity; not all budget trackers do, for whatever reason. This is also one of the only services I tested that gives you the option of inviting a spouse or financial advisor to co-manage your account.

In practice, Simplifi miscategorized some of my expenses, but nothing out of the ordinary compared to any of these budget trackers. As you’re reviewing transactions, you can also mark if you’re expecting a refund, which is a unique feature among the services I tested. Simplifi also estimated my regular income better than some other apps I tested. Most of all, I appreciated the option of being able to categorize some, but not all, purchases from a merchant as recurring. For instance, I can add my two Amazon subscribe-and-saves as recurring payments, without having to create a broad-strokes rule for every Amazon purchase.

The budgeting feature is also self-explanatory. Just check that your regular income is accurate and be sure to set up recurring payments, making note of which are bills and which are subscriptions. This is important because Simplifi shows you your total take-home income as well as an “income after bills” figure. That number includes, well, bills but not discretionary subscriptions. From there, you can add spending targets by category in the “planned spending” bucket. Planned spending can also include one-time expenditures, not just monthly budgets. When you create a budget, Simplifi will suggest a number based on a six-month average.

Not dealbreakers, but two things to keep in mind as you get started: Simplifi is notable in that you can’t set up an account through Apple or Google. There is also no option for a free trial, though Quicken promises a “30-day money back guarantee.”

The best budgeting app (runner-up): Monarch Money

Monarch Money grew on me. My first impression of the app, which was founded by a former Mint product manager, was that it’s more difficult to use than others on this list, including Simplifi, NerdWallet and Copilot. And it is. Editing expense categories, adding recurring transactions and creating rules, for example, is a little more complicated than it needs to be, especially in the mobile app. (My advice: Use the web app for fine-tuning details.) Monarch also didn’t get my income right; I had to edit it.

Once you’re set up, though, Monarch offers an impressive level of granularity. In the budgets section, you can see a bona fide balance sheet showing budgets and actuals for each category. You’ll also find a forecast, for the year or by month. And recurring expenses can be set not just by merchant, but other parameters as well. For instance, while most Amazon purchases might be marked as “shopping,” those for the amounts of $54.18 or $34.18 are definitely baby supplies, and can be automatically marked as such each time, not to mention programmed as recurring payments. Weirdly, though, there’s no way to mark certain recurring payments as bills, specifically.

The mobile app is mostly self-explanatory. The main dashboard shows your net worth; your four most recent transactions; a month-over-month spending comparison; income month-to-date; upcoming bills; an investments snapshot; a list of any goals you’ve set; and, finally, a link to your month-in-review. That month-in-review is more detailed than most, delving into cash flow; top income and expense categories; cash flow trends; changes to your net worth, assets and liabilities; plus asset and liability breakdowns.

On the main screen, you’ll also find tabs for accounts, transactions, cash flow, budget and recurring. Like many of the other apps featured here, Monarch can auto-detect recurring expenses and income, even if it gets the category wrong. (They all do to an extent.) Expense categories are marked by emoji, which you can customize if you’re so inclined.

Monarch Money uses a combination of Plaid and Finicity, a competing network owned by Mastercard. Similar to NerdWallet, I found myself completing two-factor authentication every time I wanted to get past the Plaid screen to add another account. Notably, Monarch is the only other app I tested that allows you to grant access to someone else in your family — likely a spouse or financial advisor. Monarch also has a Chrome extension for importing from Mint, though really this is just a shortcut for downloading a CSV file, which you’ll have to do regardless of where you choose to take your Mint data.

The best up-and-comer: Copilot Money

Copilot Money might be the best-looking budget tracker I tested. It also has the distinction of being exclusive to iOS and Macs — at least for now. Andres Ugarte, the company’s CEO, has publicly promised that Android and web apps are coming in 2024 (more likely the second half of the year, Ugarte tells me). But until it follows through, I can’t recommend Copilot for most people with so many good competitors out there.

There are other features that Copilot is missing, which I’ll get into. But it is promising, and one to keep an eye on. It’s just a fast, efficient, well designed app, and Android users will be in for a treat when they’ll finally be able to download it. It makes good use of colors, emoji and graphs to help you understand at a glance how you’re doing on everything from your budgets to your investment performance to your credit card debt over time. In particular, Copilot does a better job than almost any other app of visualizing your recurring monthly expenses.

Behind those punchy colors and cutesy emoji, though, is some sophisticated performance. Copilot’s AI-powered “Intelligence” gets smarter as you go at categorizing your expenses. (You can also add your own categories, complete with your choice of emoji.) It’s not perfect. Copilot miscategorized some purchases (they all do), but it makes it easier to edit than most. On top of that, the internal search feature is very fast; it starts whittling down results in your transaction history as soon as you begin typing.

Copilot is also unique in offering Amazon and Venmo integrations, allowing you to see transaction details. With Amazon, this requires just signing into your Amazon account via an in-app browser. For Venmo, you have to set up fwd@copilot.money as a forwarding address and then create a filter, wherein emails from venmo@venmo.com are automatically forwarded to fwd@copilot.money.

While the app is heavily automated, I still appreciate that Copilot marks new transactions for review. It’s a good way to both weed out fraudulent charges, and also be somewhat intentional about your spending habits.

Because the app is relatively new (it launched in early 2020), the company is still catching up to the competition on some table-stakes features. Ugarte told me that his team is almost done building out a detailed cash flow section, which could launch before the end of 2023, but more likely in early 2024. On its website, Copilot also promises a raft of AI-powered features that build on its current “Intelligence” platform, the one that powers its smart expense categorization. These include “smart financial goals,” natural language search, a chat interface, forecasting and benchmarking. That benchmarking, Ugarte tells me, is meant to give people a sense of how they’re doing compared to other Copilot users, on both spending and investment performance. Most of these features should arrive in the new year.

Copilot does a couple interesting things for new customers that distinguish it from the competition. There’s a “demo mode” that feels like a game simulator; no need to add your own accounts. The company is also offering two free months with RIPMINT — a more generous introductory offer than most. When it finally does come time to pony up, the $7.92 monthly plan is cheaper than some competing apps, although the $95-a-year-option is in the same ballpark.

The best free budgeting app: NerdWallet

You may know NerdWallet as a site that offers a mix of personal finance news, explainers and guides. I see it often when I google a financial term I don’t know and sure enough, it’s one of the sites I’m most likely to click on. As it happens, NerdWallet also has the distinction of offering one of the only free budget tracking apps I tested. In fact, there is no paid version; nothing is locked behind a paywall. The main catch: There are ads everywhere. To be fair, the free version of Mint was like this, too.

Even with the inescapable credit card offers, NerdWallet has a clean, easy-to-understand user interface, which includes both a web and a mobile app. The key metrics that it highlights most prominently are your cash flow, net worth and credit score. (Of note, although Mint itself offered credit score monitoring, most of its rivals do not.) I particularly enjoyed the weekly insights, which delve into things like where you spent the most money or how much you paid in fees — and how that compares to the previous month. Because this is NerdWallet, an encyclopedia of financial info, you get some particularly specific category options when setting up your accounts (think: a Roth or non-Roth IRA).

As a budgeting app, NerdWallet is more than serviceable, if a bit basic. Like other apps I tested, you can set up recurring bills. Importantly, it follows the popular 50/30/20 budgeting rule, which has you putting 50% of your budget toward things you need, 30% toward things you want, and the remaining 20% into savings or debt repayments. If this works for you, great — just know that you can’t customize your budget to the same degree as some competing apps. You can’t currently create custom spending categories, though a note inside the dashboard section of the app says “you’ll be able to customize them in the future.” You also can’t move items from the wants column to “needs” or vice versa but “In the future, you’ll be able to move specific transactions to actively manage what falls into each group.” A NerdWallet spokesperson declined to provide an ETA, though.

Lastly, it’s worth noting that NerdWallet had one of the most onerous setup processes of any app I tested. I don’t think this is a dealbreaker, as you’ll only have to do it once and, hopefully, you aren’t setting up six or seven apps in tandem as I was. What made NerdWallet’s onboarding especially tedious is that every time I wanted to add an account, I had to go through a two-factor authentication process to even get past the Plaid splash screen, and that’s not including the 2FA I had set up at each of my banks. This is a security policy on NerdWallet’s end, not Plaid’s, a Plaid spokesperson says.

Precisely because NerdWallet is one of the only budget trackers to offer credit score monitoring, it also needs more of your personal info during setup, including your birthday, address, phone number and the last four digits of your social security number. It’s the same with Credit Karma, which also does credit score monitoring.

Related to the setup process, I found that NerdWallet was less adept than other apps at automatically detecting my regular income. In my case, it counted a large one-time wire transfer as income, at which point my only other option was to enter my income manually (which is slightly annoying because I would have needed my pay stub handy to double-check my take-home pay).

Budgeting apps we also tested

YNAB

YNAB is, by its own admission, “different from anything you’ve tried before.” The app, whose name is short for You Need a Budget, promotes a so-called zero-based budgeting system, which forces you to assign a purpose for every dollar you earn. A frequently used analogy is to put each dollar in an envelope; you can always move money from one envelope to another in a pinch. These envelopes can include rent and utilities, along with unforeseen expenses like holiday gifts and the inevitable car repair. The idea is that if you budget a certain amount for the unknowns each month, they won’t feel like they’re sneaking up on you.

Importantly, YNAB is only concerned with the money you have in your accounts now. The app does not ask you to provide your take-home income or set up recurring income payments (although there is a way to do this). The money you will make later in the month through your salaried job is not relevant, because YNAB does not engage in forecasting.

The app is harder to learn than any other here, and it requires more ongoing effort from the user. And YNAB knows that. Inside both the mobile and web apps are links to videos and other tutorials. Although I never quite got comfortable with the user interface, I did come to appreciate YNAB’s insistence on intentionality. Forcing users to draft a new budget each month and to review each transaction is not necessarily a bad thing. As YNAB says on its website, “Sure, you’ve got pie charts showing that you spent an obscene amount of money in restaurants — but you’ve still spent an obscene amount of money in restaurants.” I can see this approach being useful for people who don’t tend to have a lot of cash in reserve at a given time, or who have spending habits they want to correct (to riff off of YNAB’s own example, ordering Seamless four times a week).

My colleague Valentina Palladino, knowing I was working on this guide, penned a respectful rebuttal, explaining why she’s been using YNAB for years. Perhaps, like her, you have major savings goals you want to achieve, whether it’s paying for a wedding or buying a house. I suggest you give her column a read. For me, though, YNAB’s approach feels like overkill.

PocketGuard

PocketGuard is one of the only reputable free budget trackers I found in my research. Just know it’s far more restricted at the free tier than NerdWallet or Mint. In my testing, I was prompted to pay after I attempted to link more than two bank accounts. So much for free, unless you keep things simple with one cash account and one credit card. When it comes time to upgrade to PocketGuard Plus, you have three options: pay $7.99 a month, $34.99 a year or $79.99 for a one-time lifetime license. That lifetime option is actually one of the few unique selling points for me: I’m sure some people will appreciate paying once and never having to, uh, budget for it again.

From the main screen, you’ll see tabs for accounts, insights, transactions and the “Plan,” which is where you see recurring payments stacked on top of what looks like a budget. The main overview screen shows you your net worth, total assets and debts; net income and total spending for the month; upcoming bills; a handy reminder of when your next paycheck lands; any debt payoff plan you have; and any goals.

Like some other apps, including Quicken Simplifi, PocketGuard promotes an “after bills” approach, where you enter all of your recurring bills, and then PocketGuard shows you what’s left, and that’s what you’re supposed to be budgeting: your disposable income. Obviously, other apps have a different philosophy: take into account all of your post-tax income and use it to pay the bills, purchase things you want and maybe even save a little. But in PocketGuard, it’s the “in your pocket” number that’s most prominent. To PocketGuard’s credit, it does a good job visualizing which bills are upcoming and which ones you’ve already paid.

PocketGuard has also publicly committed to adding some popular features in early 2024. These include rollover budgeting in January 2024, categorization rules in February and shared household access in March.

Although PocketGuard’s UI is easy enough to understand, it lacks polish. The “accounts” tab is a little busy, and doesn’t show totals for categories like cash or investments. Seemingly small details like weirdly phrased or punctuated copy occasionally make the app feel janky. More than once, it prompted me to update the app when no updates were available. The web version, meanwhile, feels like the mobile app blown up to a larger format and doesn’t take advantage of the extra screen real estate.

Of note, although PocketGuard does work with Plaid, its primary bank-connecting platform is actually Finicity. Setting up my accounts through Finicity was mostly a straightforward process. I did encounter one hiccup: Finicity would not connect to my SoFi account. I was able to do it through Plaid, but PocketGuard doesn’t make it easy to access Plaid in the app. The only way, as far as I can tell, is to knowingly search for the name of a bank that isn’t available through Finicity, at which point you get the option to try Plaid instead. Like I said: the experience can be janky.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-best-budgeting-apps-to-replace-mint-143047346.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – The best budgeting apps to replace Mint

Along with a countdown showing the next Unpacked will be on January 17, leaker Evan Blass shared a spec sheet that purports to break down the components of the Galaxy S24 lineup. Just like the S23 (pictured above), expect three Galaxy devices: the regular model, an S24+ and an S24 Ultra. All three are slated to run on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.

The leak suggests Samsung will offer Space Zoom of up to 30x and dual telephoto zoom of up to 3x in the Galaxy S24 and S24+, while Ultra will probably have a beefier camera system. If the leak proves true, it will have a 200MP main lens, with up to 10x quad telephoto and 100x Space Zoom.

So far, the Samsung S24 lineup isn’t likely to have any terribly exciting upgrades in designs and pure specs. These are likely to include the company’s own Gauss generative AI systems, so as with Google’s Pixel series, the hardware may only tell half the tale. Let’s see what appears next year.

— Mat Smith

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Hyperloop One is shutting down

No high-speed transportation system between Europe and China.

Hyperloop One had once dreamed of building a high-speed freight link between Europe and China, one that could take cargo from one end to the other in a single day. But the dream is pretty much dead. Hyperloop One is shutting down, a staff member has confirmed to Engadget after Bloomberg reported its closure. Which Hyperloop company was this again? From 2017 until 2022, it was known as Virgin Hyperloop One due to an investment from Richard Branson’s Virgin Group. Virgin quietly pulled its branding last year when the company abandoned its plans to transport passengers to focus on a cargo-only service. The company couldn’t secure a contract to build a working hyperloop system.

Continue reading.

Beeper says it’s done playing cat and mouse with Apple over its iMessage app

It issued one last fix for current users.

Beeper versus Apple has been our own little David and Goliath matchup, but it looks like the saga’s coming to a close. The Beeper Mini chat app, which lets Android users send iMessage missives to its iOS buddies, has issued yet another fix after Apple once again disabled access to the iMessage platform. The company says this will be the last fix released. Beeper wrote in a blog post today that it’s done “playing a cat-and-mouse game with the largest company” on the planet. Be warned: It’s… convoluted.

Continue reading.

GTA 6 hacker sentenced to an indefinite hospitalization after mental health assessment

He hacked Rockstar Games from a hotel with a Fire TV stick.

A London judge has sentenced the teenage hacker who infiltrated Rockstar Games, leaking Grand Theft Auto VI footage, to an indefinite hospitalization. Arion Kurtaj breached Rockstar’s servers from a Travelodge hotel while under police custody, using only an Amazon Fire TV Stick, smartphone, keyboard and mouse. (He was promptly re-arrested.) Kurtaj was a central member of the Lasus$ international hacking group.

The two accomplices (the other is 17 so can’t be named) are the first Lapsus$ members to be convicted. Authorities believe others in the group (suspected to be primarily teenagers in the UK and Brazil) are still at large. It isn’t clear what kind of payoff the hackers got from the ransom requests, if any, as none of the affected companies have admitted to ponying up.

Continue reading.

Microsoft is nixing its Windows mixed-reality platform

This shouldn’t impact the Hololens 2.

Microsoft is shutting down its Windows Mixed Reality platform, according to an official list of deprecated Windows features. This includes the garden variety Windows Mixed Reality software, along with the Mixed Reality Portal app and the affiliated Steam VR app. The platform isn’t gone yet, but Microsoft says it’ll be “removed in a future release of Windows.”

Microsoft first unveiled Windows Mixed Reality back in 2017 as its attempt to compete with rivals in the VR space, like HTC and Oculus (which is now owned by Meta.) We were fascinated by the tech when it launched as it offered the ability for in-person shared mixed reality. But uptake seemingly wasn’t big enough. Thank goodness I can still use MS Office on my Quest headset…

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-samsungs-galaxy-s24-specs-leaked-121424289.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – The Morning After: Samsung’s Galaxy S24 specs have leaked

Tesla has issued a second recall in the US in as many weeks. This time around, it’s recalling 120,423 Model S and X vehicles made between 2021 and 2023 due to an issue that may result in an unlocked door unlatching and opening during a crash. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), this increases the risk of injury and means that the EVs fail to comply with a federal safety regulation. The automaker has already issued a free over-the-air (OTA) update to resolve the problem and owner notification letters are expected to go out in February.

Earlier this month, Tesla recalled more than 2 million EVs over Autopilot safety concerns. The company issued a free OTA update with features that aim to make sure drivers are paying attention while using the system.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tesla-is-recalling-120000-vehicles-in-the-us-over-a-door-safety-issue-114540716.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Tesla is recalling 120,000 vehicles in the US over a door safety issue

Motorsport fans who yearn for juicy behind-the-scenes insights might want to circle January 2 on their 2024 calendar. The third season of Formula E’s unscripted reality show Unplugged will hit the Roku Channel on that date. It’s the first time that the show will be available on Formula E’s new streaming home, while fans around the world will be able to check it out on YouTube. 

Unplugged will arrive on Roku just 11 days before the motorsport’s tenth season starts with the Mexico E-Prix on January 13. That race will also stream on Roku as the platform ventures into live sports.

The latest season of Unplugged follows the events of the 2022-23 Formula E campaign, including a title race that was only decided on the final weekend. Along with the twists and turns and personal drama, the eight-episode season will also highlight some of the motorsport’s tech advancements, such as the new Gen3 racecar that drivers had to get to grips with.

In case you need a refresher of what happened in Formula E’s last campaign (or you just want to rewatch all the action), it’s worth noting that every race from the motorsport’s first nine seasons is available to stream on its website. Every Season 10 race will be available on that platform too, albeit one week after each event. Along with Roku, races will air live on Paramount+ and CBS this season.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/formula-es-version-of-drive-to-survive-will-hit-roku-in-january-102516767.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Formula E’s version of Drive to Survive will hit Roku in January

If you’d previously purchased Discovery shows from the PlayStation Store, you can breathe easily now. Sony has announced that it’s no longer removing shows from the network by December 31 like it had previously planned, thanks to updated licensing agreements. Earlier this month, the company said that it’s pulling Discovery shows from PlayStation and is even removing any purchased title from your library due to content licensing agreements with its providers. The Discovery shows available on the PlayStation Store include MythBusters, Deadliest Catch and Cake Boss.

In all, around 1,200 titles would’ve been affected by the change, and you wouldn’t have gotten a refund for any of them. The announcement came shortly after Warner Bros Discovery, the owner of Discovery Channel, had revealed in an earnings report that its flagship streaming service Max lost 2.5 million subscribers over a six month period.

Both of Sony’s announcements were brief and didn’t elaborate on its licensing troubles with the network. As The New York Times said when the company published the warning that it was going to remove any Discovery show you’d purchased in the past, though, the situation raised questions about the meaning of ownership in the age of digital goods. Supposedly, buying digital would give you access to a piece of content forever, since there’s no physical medium that could break or get lost. As this incident demonstrates, that’s not true at all, and you could only hope that networks and providers never change their licensing deals.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sony-wont-take-away-your-playstation-bought-discovery-shows-after-all-083239866.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Sony won’t take away your PlayStation-bought Discovery shows after all

Hyperloop One had once dreamed of building a high-speed freight link between Europe and China, one that could take cargo from one end to the other in a single day. That will, however, remain one of the many goals the company won’t be able to fulfill. Hyperloop One is shutting down, a staff member has confirmed to Engadget after Bloomberg published a report about its closure. It was founded in 2014 following the release of Elon Musk’s paper about his vision for hyperloop transportation technologies.

The company originally aimed to provide transportation for both cargo and people in the form of pods traveling through sealed metal tubes across long distances in airplane-like speeds. From 2017 until 2022, it was known as Virgin Hyperloop One due to an investment from Richard Branson’s Virgin Group. But Virgin quietly pulled its branding last year when the company decided to abandon its plans of transporting passengers to focus on building a cargo-only service. Hyperloop One laid off over 100 staff members early last year due to its change in priorities.

According to Bloomberg, the company has been having financial troubles for a while and has notably never secured a contract to build a working hyperloop system. It has now laid off most of its remaining employees, the news organization said, and the ones left will be let go on December 31. Until then, they’re reportedly overseeing the sales of Hyperloop One’s assets, including its machineries and test tracks.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/hyperloop-one-is-shutting-down-030049106.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Hyperloop One is shutting down

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is proposing changes to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA) to make it harder for tech companies to track and monetize children’s data. Some of the proposed changes include placing limits on how long companies can retain data they collect from minors and forcing parents to consent to, or opt out of, targeted marketing.

COPPA has been around since April 2000 and currently requires some level of transparency from online services and websites. Before collecting data from minors, providers need to obtain “verifiable parental consent.” In 2013, the FTC tried to narrow the definition of what a provider is to any digital service that weaves an advertising network into its platform and collects personal data — regardless of whether or not a website or online service is particularly directed toward children. At the time, they also expanded the scope of what constitutes ‘personal information’ to include geolocation and any photos or videos that depict a child’s image, among other things.

In its new proposal, the FTC wants to expand the scope of personal information in COPPA again to include biometric data. The proposal will also scrutinize digital service providers for sending push notifications that encourage kids to keep using their service and attempt to close any loopholes for data collection to “support for internal operations.”

“When we consider the harms of online behavioral advertising to children, we cannot forget one of the original reasons COPPA was envisioned and enacted: A desire to ensure that companies cannot build a commercial relationship with children that preys on their immaturity, honesty, and trust,” FTC Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya said in a statement.

The FTC also wants to make it harder to monetize children’s data generated in the classroom in an effort to enhance privacy safeguards for students. If passed, COPPA will allow schools to gain more control over whether or not to allow educational tech providers the option to collect or use students’ personal information.

Lina Khan, the chair of the FTC, took to X to voice support for the proposal, writing: “Our proposed changes to COPPA are much-needed, especially in an era where online tools have become essential for navigating daily life,” adding that companies are deploying increasingly sophisticated ways to collect kids’ data. The FTC will collect public comments on the proposal for 60 days before taking any further regulatory action.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-ftc-wants-to-strengthen-coppa-to-make-it-harder-for-companies-to-monetize-kids-data-214459097.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – The FTC wants to strengthen COPPA to make it harder for companies to monetize kids’ data

You can’t buy the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Ultra 2 from Apple’s online store anymore — and after December 24, they’ll also no longer be available from the company’s retail outlets. Here’s why.

Why is there an Apple Watch ban?

Apple has pulled the watch models from its website after the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) ordered the company to stop selling them in the US.

The ITC issued the Apple Watch ban after siding with Masimo, a medical technology company, which sued Apple in 2021 for allegedly infringing on five patents related to light-based blood oxygen monitoring. In October, the ITC upheld a judge’s ruling from earlier this year that the Apple Watch did violate Masimo’s patents.Both the affected models come with the feature, but older models with the capability are not included in the sales ban. Apple started offering blood oxygen monitoring with the Watch Series 6. 

The ITC had upheld a judge’s previous ruling from earlier this year that Apple did violate Masimo’s patents. Apple is appealing the decision and tried to convince the commission to put a pause on the ban until it’s done. However, the ITC has denied the request, meaning the ban is pushing through unless the president himself steps in and vetoes the order. The US Trade Representative is reviewing the ITC’s decision, as well, and could choose to disapprove it due to policy reasons.

Masimo originally sued Apple in 2020 for allegedly stealing trade secrets. It alleged that Apple hired several Masimo employees and used their knowledge of Masimo’s products to develop the Apple Watch’s blood oxygen monitoring capabilities. That case is still ongoing.

What is Apple doing about it?

Apple previously told Engadget that it’s pulling the watch models from its websites on December 21 and from its retail outlets on December 24 as a preemptive measure should the ruling stand. The import ban won’t be taking effect until December 26, and the Presidential Review Period is currently ongoing until December 25.

“Apple’s teams work tirelessly to create products and services that empower users with industry-leading health, wellness, and safety features,” the company said earlier this month. “Apple strongly disagrees with the order and is pursuing a range of legal and technical options to ensure that Apple Watch is available to customers.” The company added that it will “continue to take all measures to return Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 to customers in the US as soon as possible.”

In 2022, Apple itself filed two patent infringement lawsuits against Masimo that accuse it of releasing a smartwatch that copies its watches’ features. If neither the president nor the US Trade Representative overturns the ban, however, the company may have to wait for the results of its appeal. 

Apple could also come to an agreement with Masimo, which most likely means money will be changing hands. The company’s CEO has said he is open to a financial settlement, but told Bloomberg that Apple has not tried to negotiate an agreement. Bloomberg also reports that Apple is working on a software update that it believes will resolve the ITC dispute.

How can I buy an Apple Watch now?

You can still get the brand’s older watches, or the Apple SE, which doesn’t have a blood oxygen monitor. If you’re looking to buy either of the affected models this holiday season, they will still be available from third-party retailers. 

With the Apple Watch import ban taking effect on December 26, retailers will only be able to sell through their existing stock. So your best bet for buying these models would be a reputable retailer like Amazon, Best Buy, Target or Walmart. If they’re out of stock, you’ll just have to wait for this mess to get sorted out — or take it as an excuse to vacation in Mexico or Canada.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-apple-watch-ban-is-here-why-apple-is-no-longer-selling-the-watch-series-9-and-watch-ultra-203706971.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – The Apple Watch ban is here: Why Apple is no longer selling the Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra

A London judge has sentenced the teenage hacker who infiltrated Rockstar Games, leaking Grand Theft Auto VI footage, to an indefinite hospitalization, as reported by The BBC. The 18-year-old, Arion Kurtaj, breached Rockstar’s servers from a Travelodge hotel while under police custody, using only an Amazon Fire TV Stick, smartphone, keyboard and mouse. (He was promptly re-arrested.) Kurtaj was a central member of the Lasus$ international hacking group.

Doctors declared Kurtaj unfit to stand trial because he has acute autism. Following the judgment, the jury was instructed to determine if he committed the alleged crimes, not whether he had criminal intent. Following a mental health assessment suggesting he “continued to express the intent to return to cybercrime,” the judge decided he remained too high a risk to the public. The court also heard accounts of Kurtaj’s allegedly violent behavior while in custody, including reports of injury and property damage. And so Kurtaj will now be committed to a hospital prison.

Despite Rockstar’s claim that the hack cost it $5 million and thousands of hours of staff time, Kurtaj’s attorneys argued the success of the GTA 6 trailer, which racked up 128 million views in its first four days, meant his hack didn’t cause serious harm.

A second Lapsus$ member was found guilty in the same trial, but the 17-year-old’s name wasn’t made public because they’re a minor. The unnamed hacker was accused of working with Kurtaj and other Lapsus$ members to infiltrate Nvidia and phone company BT/EE, stealing data and demanding a $4 million ransom. The minor was sentenced to an 18-month youth rehabilitation order under “intense supervision,” including a ban on VPN use.

The two accomplices are the first Lapsus$ members to be convicted. Authorities believe other “digital bandits” in the group (suspected to be primarily teenagers in the UK and Brazil) are still at large. It isn’t clear what kind of payoff the hackers got from the ransom requests, if any, as none of the affected companies have admitted to ponying up.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gta-6-hacker-is-sentenced-to-an-indefinite-hospitalization-194251395.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Teen GTA 6 hacker sentenced to an indefinite hospitalization after mental health assessment

At its heart, Squid Game is a critique of capitalism and yet, Netflix can’t stop finding ways to squeeze money from it. After renewing the show for a second season and then debuting a reality show based on the series, Netflix opened a pop-up experience in Los Angeles where fans can pay to play games inspired by the show, eat Korean snacks and maybe even buy some costumes.

If you purchase general admission tickets (starting at $39), you are agreeing to participate as a contestant in a series of six games designed by Netflix inspired by the show’s deadly challenges — from glass bridge, where players have to memorize which tiles light up, to a game of ‘Gganbu’, where you have to steal all of your opponent’s marbles to win. Instead of dying, though, you’re given a bracelet that buzzes when you lose a game — but you get to move on anyway and play all six games.

As you move from room to room or game to game, you’re competing against other players in the game for a title to win. In a bit of a gimmick, Netflix says that if a guest passes all six challenges within the 70-minute experience window, it will give interested patrons priority casting consideration for a spot on the reality TV offshoot of the show, which was recently renewed for a second season. For now, the experience is only available in Los Angeles and is running for a limited time through the new year. Netflix hinted that ‘Squid Game: The Trials’ will later come to another city.

In building this in-person pop-up space, Netflix partnered with Samsung – of course, one of Korea’s premier hometown companies. For example, during Red Light, Green Light, the Galaxy S23 Ultra positioned in the game room captures key moments of gameplay with Hyperlapse video and still images. Samsung TVs and Galaxy mobile devices will be dotted throughout individual games and participants will have to navigate “experiential zones” that are surrounded by Samsung TV screens, including the flagship Neo QLED 8K, the 4K and The Frame.

Once a player is done with the games, general admission grants you access to a ‘Korean Night Market’ where you can purchase street food and soju-infused cocktails. You can also buy the signature green tracksuit worn by contestants (a Halloween costume for next year, maybe, if Squid Game costumes are still cool then?). There are also arcade-style and mini-games inspired by the show available for play.

More broadly, Netflix has been exploring ways to break free from its identity as a streaming-only service and has explored expanding into new categories outside its main service. From expanding its footprint in the gaming space (including VR) to launching brick-and-mortar branded retail stores and even dining space next year, Netflix seems determined to try to make some money selling goods and experiences inspired by its media library. The new Squid Game immersive live experience won’t be the streaming company’s first bet on pop-up experiences either. It has already experimented with the format with other hit shows like Stranger Things and Bridgerton, where it invited fans to dress in ball gowns and try to win the Queen’s attention for the title of the ‘season’s diamond.’

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/netflix-keeps-milking-squid-game-this-time-with-an-in-person-experience-starting-at-39-192303172.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Netflix milks ‘Squid Game’ again with a in-person ‘experience’

Steam’s annual winter sale is upon us, offering discounts on everything from AAA titles to overlooked indie gems. The bonanza starts today and ends on January 4 at 1PM ET. Steam offers several big yearly sales, but winter is usually the best one. In other words, break out that three-digit card security code and start browsing.

There are literally thousands of titles on sale, so it can be tough to stumble upon exactly what you’re looking for. We are here to help. Here are some of the more tantalizing deals to separate you from your money this holiday season.