U.S. police departments are increasingly relying on a controversial surveillance practice to demand large amounts of users’ data from tech companies, with the aim of identifying criminal suspects. So-called “reverse” searches allow law enforcement and federal agencies to force big tech companies, like Google, to turn over information from their vast stores of user data. … Read more
During the congressional online safety hearing in January, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg argued that mobile app store providers like Apple and Google should be the ones to implement parental controls for social media. Now, it appears Meta is using its Quest VR store to demonstrate how it thinks devices with app stores should approach online … Read more
The estate of the comedian George Carlin reached a settlement on Monday with the makers of a podcast who had said they had used artificial intelligence to impersonate Mr. Carlin for a comedy special. As part of the agreement, the two podcast creators, Will Sasso and Chad Kultgen, agreed to permanently remove the comedy special … Read more
For years, the solar energy sector has grappled with interseasonal energy storage. The ability to harness the surplus solar energy of summer months for use during the winter has remained an elusive goal, with existing solutions like batteries falling short due to prohibitive costs and limited lifespans. Hydrogen, meanwhile, despite its clean-burning properties, has been … Read more
Much like the headset for which they were designed, Apple’s Personas are very much a work in progress. The original version of the beta avatars were — is “nightmarish” too strong a word? A subsequent update has made them more palatable and truer to life, and Apple says it’s continuing to work on the 3D … Read more
A group of 200 musicians signed an open letter calling on tech companies and developers to not undermine human creativity with AI music generation tools. The list of undersigned artists is so power-packed and wide-ranging that it could make for a great Coachella lineup — it features Billie Eilish, the Bob Marley estate, Chappell Roan, … Read more
Rubrik, a data cybersecurity company that raised more than a half-billion dollars while private, filed to go public after the bell on Monday. Following quickly on the heels of debuts from Reddit and Astera Labs, the choice by Rubrik to pursue a public offering now could indicate that the IPO market is warming for tech … Read more
The fediverse — the name for the social network made of of interconnected servers, like Mastodon and others — just got another boost of legitimacy on Tuesday as the @Potus (President of the United States) account on Instagram Threads shared its first federated post. The account operated by Biden’s team published a message regarding the … Read more
How do you get an AI to answer a question it’s not supposed to? There are many such “jailbreak” techniques, and Anthropic researchers just found a new one, in which a large language model can be convinced to tell you how to build a bomb if you prime it with a few dozen less-harmful questions … Read more
Thrive Market is well, thriving. The billion-dollar e-commerce company splashed onto the scene in 2016 with its idea of online grocery delivery. The idea came way before buying food online was normalized during the pandemic, putting Thrive Market well ahead —and making them well equipped — to stand out among its peers. Nick Green, one … Read more