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Beats today announced the Solo 4, a $200 set of familiar-looking cans with significant upgrades inside, even if they look almost entirely the same as the Solo 3. At this price, the Solo 4s dont have any active noise cancellation and, according to Billy Steele, who tested the new headphones, they sound a bit thin. However, sound is generally improved, and the boost to 50 hours of playback (along with USB-C) is a major improvement over the predecessor. Theyre available to buy now. Engadget Beats also surprised us with new sub-$100 Solo buds, wireless (non-ANC) earbuds with 18 hours of playback. One focus is comfort, with ergonomic acoustic nozzles and vents assisting with audio performance and relieving the pressure on your ears. The Solo Buds will be available in June for $80. Mat Smith The biggest stories you might have missed Lorelei and the Laser Eyes preview: This may be my GOTY What to expect from Apples Let Loose iPad event The excellent and customizable Arc Browser is now fully available on Windows Binance founder Changpeng Zhao sentenced to four months in prison You can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here! Instagram algorithm overhaul will reward original content And penalize low-effort aggregators. Instagram is overhauling its recommendation algorithm for Reels to support and increase original content. It could greatly impact aggregator accounts and other accounts that mostly report other users work. The company is also changing how it ranks Reels to boost smaller accounts. The apps changes around original content could be pretty immediate. Instagram says it will actively replace reposted Reels with the original clip in its suggestions when it detects two pieces of identical content. Aggregator accounts that repeatedly publish posts from others will be penalized even more harshly. Ive come across many accounts (often through Reels) that are simply the same viral clip (that isnt even original) posted and reposted as far as I was willing to scroll. These changes could shrink the chances of coming across lazier content like that. Continue reading. FCC fines Americas largest wireless carriers $200 million Its for selling customer location data. The Federal Communications Commission has slapped the largest mobile carriers in the US with a collective fine worth $200 million for selling access to their customers location information without consent. AT&T was ordered to pay $57 million, while Verizon has a $47 million fine. Meanwhile, Sprint and T-Mobile are facing a penalty with a combined amount of $92 million, as the companies merged two years ago. Apparently, the carriers sold real-time location information to data aggregators, and this data ended up in the hands of bail-bond companies, bounty hunters and other shady actors. Continue reading. The Instax mini 99 is an instant camera that's cool But its more like a Polaroid. Engadget Fujifilms Instax cameras have been around for a while, but the new Instax mini 99, which was released this month, looks more like my X-T2 and other Fujifilm models than yet another plasticky Polaroid. From a distance, it looks like a pricey digital camera, but it costs only $200. It also has modes and filters to customize your tiny instant photos. That flexibility, combined with the understated look, makes for an instant camera I might actually buy (and use). Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-our-verdict-on-the-beats-solo-4-headphones-111559935.html?src=rss
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A group of publications that include the Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News and the Orlando Sentinel are suing Microsoft and OpenAI, as reported by The Verge. The eight publications in this particular lawsuit, all owned by Alden Capital Group (ACG), are accusing the companies of "purloining millions" of their copyrighted articles "without permission and without payment to fuel the commercialization of their generative artificial intelligence products, including ChatGPT and Copilot." This is but the latest lawsuit filed against Microsoft and OpenAI for their use of copyrighted materials without express consent from publishers. The New York Times also famously sued the companies late last year, alleging that they've used "almost a century's worth of copyrighted content." Their products can regurgitate Times' articles verbatim and can "mimic its expressive style," the publication said, even though they didn't have a prior licensing agreement. In a motion seeking to dismiss key parts of the lawsuit, Microsoft accused the Times of doomsday futurology by claiming that generative AI can pose a threat to independent journalism. ACG's newspapers complain of the same thing, that the companies' chatbots are reproducing their articles word-for-word shortly after they're published without a prominent link back to the sources. They included several examples in their complaint. In addition, the chatbots are apparently suffering from hallucinations and are attributing inaccurate reporting to ACG's publications. The publisher argued that the defendants pay for the computers, the specialized chips and the electricity they use to build and operate their generative AI products. And yet they're using copyrighted articles "without permission and without paying for the privilege" even though they need content to train their large language models. The plaintiffs referenced OpenAI's previous admission that it would be "impossible to train today's leading AI models without using copyrighted materials." OpenAI is no longer a non-profit company, the plaintiffs said, and is now valued at $90 billion. Meanwhile, ChatGPT and Copilot have added "hundreds of billions of dollars to Microsoft's market value." The publications are seeking an unspecified amount in damages and are asking the court to order the defendants to destroy GPT and LLM models that use their materials. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-and-openai-sued-yet-again-by-chicago-tribune-and-new-york-daily-news-085501073.html?src=rss
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If you've been thinking about picking up a new supercomputer but were waiting on a good price, now might be a good time to put in your bid. Right now, the US government, via GSA Auctions, is auctioning off the Cheyenne Supercomputer to the highest bidder with three days remaining. While we haven't tested this one ourselves, we assume its 145,152 CPU cores will easily out-perform our current top pick for a laptop. You also won't need to upgrade the memory anytime soon, as there's a full 313,344GB of RAM currently installed, and the storage capacity tallies up to around 36 petabytes. No need to delete files to make room for new games or other media downloads. The deal was spotted by Ars Technica, who also point out that the fiber optic and CAT5/6 cabling are not included in the sale. While the price the government paid for the supercomputer has not been disclosed, it's safe to assume the cost was well into the millions, considering the price tags of other supercomputers. As of this writing, the bidding has reached $28,085, though the reserve has not yet been met. There are still three days to go and there's currently no deposit required to place a bid. The reason for such a hefty discount (other than the fact that Cheyenne has been decommissioned) could be faulty quick disconnects causing water spray and the fact that approximately one percent of nodes have "experienced failure" and "will remain unrepaired." One other caveat to note before you start making room in your arena-sized climate-controlled garage is that shipping is not included. As GSA Auctions notes on the details page, "moving this system necessitates the engagement of a professional moving company" and that "the purchaser assumes responsibility for transferring the racks from the facility onto trucks." But where else will you find such steep savings on a machine that can carry out 5.34 quadrillion calculations per second? Cheyenne is also surprisingly energy-efficient, consuming 25 percent less energy per computation than its predecessor, Yellowstone. The massive supercomputer helped researchers understand the rapid intensification of hurricanes, how wildfires impact air quality, and simulated years of climate functions to predict outcomes decades in advance. It should definitely provide you with enough processing power for extreme multitasking at work while handling even the most demanding games after hours. 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/the-cheyenne-supercomputer-is-going-for-a-fraction-of-its-list-price-at-auction-right-now-235330715.html?src=rss
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A federal judge has sentenced Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (often known as CZ) to four months in prison, as first reported by The New York Times. Prosecutors had recommended three years. Zhao pleaded guilty in November to violating the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to set up an anti-money-laundering program. The DOJ accused Zhao of allowing criminal activity to flourish on the crypto exchange. Binance turned a blind eye to its legal obligations in the pursuit of profit. Its willful failures allowed money to flow to terrorists, cybercriminals, and child abusers through its platform, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in November. The government accused Binance of refusing to comply with American sanctions and failing to report suspicious transactions related to drugs and child sexual abuse materials. Prosecutors said in court that Zhao had told Binance employees it was better to ask for forgiveness than permission while bragging that if Binance had obeyed the law, it wouldnt be as big as we are today. Under the plea deals terms, Binance agreed to forfeit $2.5 billion and pay a $1.8 billion fine. Zhao personally paid $50 million as part of the settlement. Although the charges differed, Zhaos sentence is dramatically shorter than the 25 years fellow crypto figurehead Sam Bankman-Fried received in March. SBF, as hes often known, was convicted on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy for his role at the helm of the crypto platform FTX. Zhao played an integral role in Bankman-Frieds downfall and the crypto industrys broader decline in the last 18 months. The Binance founder tweeted in November 2022 that his company would liquidate its holdings in FTXs de facto token. He said recent revelations that have came[sic] to light while citing ethical concerns and regulatory risks. The posts not only crushed FTX but the crypto world at large. (They likely helped attract the governments attention as well.) When FTXs wells dried up following the platforms rapid collapse, Zhao briefly agreed to buy the company but quickly backed out. Prosecutors said Zhaos crime carried a standard federal sentence of 12 to 18 months but argued for a three-year term, describing his crimes as being on an unprecedented scale. But Judge Richard A. Jones saw it differently, sentencing him to a measly one-twelfth of the governments suggested term. This wasnt a mistake it wasnt a regulatory oops, Kevin Mosley, a DOJ lawyer, reportedly said in court on Tuesday. Breaking U.S. law was not incidental to his plan to make as much money as possible. Violating the law was integral to that endeavor.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/binance-founder-changpeng-zhao-sentenced-to-four-months-in-prison-205550299.html?src=rss
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The newest Assassins Creed game will soon arrive on iPhone and iPad. Assassins Creed Mirage, the 2023 installment that takes you to ninth-century Baghdad, will be available on June 6 for the iPhone 15 Pro series and iPads with an M-series chip. Ubisoft says the mobile version of the AAA title offers the same experience as the console version but with adapted touchscreen controls. IGN reports that Ubisoft confirmed the mobile game will support MFi hardware controllers like the Backbone One and Razer Kishi Ultra. Ubisoft says Assassins Creed Mirage supports cross-progression and cross-save through Ubisoft Connect, so you can pick up where you left off no matter your platform. The game launched in October for PC, PS5/4, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One. Ubisoft Engadgets Kris Holt found Assassins Creed Mirage to be a return to form for the series, trading the RPG elements that had grown prominent in recent years for the series' stealth and action roots. The deeper I got into Assassins Creed Mirage, the more a sense of warm nostalgia washed over me, Holt wrote. It felt like a cozy hug from an old friend. A comforting, bloody embrace. The game will be free to download, and it has a 90-minute free trial. After that, itll be a $50 in-app purchase to continue playing on any compatible iPhone or iPad. You can pre-reserve the game now on the App Store.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/assassins-creed-mirage-finally-arrives-on-june-6-for-iphone-and-ipad-190711252.html?src=rss
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