Wednesday, August 09, 2023

Technology News and More for a Wednesday...

Technology News and More...




WeWork has 'substantial doubt' it will be able to stay in business


Mashable / 2h
WeWork has released its second quarter earnings for this year. They are not great. The coworking space company reported a $397 million net loss on Tuesday, sending its stock plummeting by over 20 percent. WeWork's loss may sound shocking, but it's actually an improvement over its abysmal results from the same time last year. The company lost $635 million in 2022's second quarter — $238 million mo


GoodNotes’ biggest update in four years brings AI-powered handwriting features and a digital marketplace
TechCrunch / 15min
GoodNotes is releasing a new version with features like AI-powered handwriting recognition, a marketplace for digital stationery, and an educational module for maths in the popular note-taking app’s biggest push in four years to win and retain customers. The app, launched by Steven Chan in 2011, said the new version, GoodNotes 6, has put immense effort to enhance support for Apple Pencil. While G


Red Dead Redemption selling for $50 is "commercially accurate" according to Take-Two
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 1h
The $50 / £40 price point for a straight port of 13-year-old Red Dead Redemption on PS4 and Nintendo Switch is "commercially accurate", according to Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick. The CEO described this to IGN in an interview following a recent earnings call for the company. Saying it's "commercially accurate" would imply that the company could potentially point to some data that would indeed show



American Airlines Investing In Connect Airlines?!
One Mile at a Time / 2min
I’ve written before about Connect Airlines , an airline startup that intends to fly Bombardier Q400s from Toronto Billy Bishop City Airport (YTZ) to destinations in the United States. The airline is essentially trying to replicate what Porter Airlines has done out of the airport. While Connect Airlines is a couple of years late with launching operations, the airline claims to be on track to start


WeWork reveals "substantial doubt" about its future
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 7min
One of the pioneers of flexible office working could be facing serious issues after WeWork confirmed it has serious concerns about its future Following years of financial worries and concerns about the company’s founder, Adam Neumann, WeWork was finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel when Neumann’s replacement Sandeep Mathrani stepped in as CEO in 2020. Despite regarding recen


iPhone 15 release date narrowed to exact day by senior Apple analyst
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 14min
Earlier this week, Bloomberg’s resident Apple analyst, Mark Gurman, weighed in on recent iPhone 15 release date rumors by predicting that Apple will indeed debut its next crop of iPhones in the second full week of September . Now, in a follow-up post to that initial claim, Gurman has narrowed his release date prediction to just one day: Tuesday, September 12. “Signs are increasingly pointing to S


More and more businesses are blocking ChatGPT on work devices
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 14min
Organizations are increasingly banning the use of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT citing concerns over privacy, security and reputational damage. In a new report published by BlackBerry, 66% of organizations it surveyed said that they will be prohibiting the infamous AI writer and others at the workplace, with a further 76% of IT decision-makers accepting that employers are allowed to control


Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 Review: Covering All the Bases
How-To Geek / 17min
Foldable phones are no longer a new thing; Samsung has been hammering that point home with iterative updates in recent years. However, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 finally sees a much-needed and requested upgrade. Flipping never felt so...unnecessary?


How Mixtapes Remixed Music History—and Its Future
20Wired / 18min
They started out as dubbed cassettes of live performances. Decades later, they’re still integral to the careers of emerging artists.


The All-American Myth of the TikTok Spy
Wired / 18min
The TikTok hearings made clear that the American imagination of foreign espionage has become Chinese. Who stands to benefit? Data-hungry US companies and military.


Is Raptor Lake Refresh going to be a winner for Intel? New leak shows a beefy mid-range CPU
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 22min
Leak season is kicking into high gear for Intel’s next-gen desktop processors, as another benchmark has been spilled for a mid-range Raptor Lake Refresh CPU. VideoCardz spotted a tweet from Harukaze5719 highlighting a Geekbench result (originally unearthed by Benchleaks) for the Core i5-14600KF. (The K means an unlocked CPU that can be overclocked, and the F denotes a chip without integrated grap


The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra might finally upgrade a neglected camera
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 36min
Samsung’s Ultra line is arguably known for its excellent cameras above anything else, with the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra currently sitting in the top spot of our best camera phone rankings, and if a new camera leak is right, there's every chance the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra could take its place. For Samsung to safely keep the top spot with one of its phones, it will need to make some camera upgrad


Take-Two CEO says $50 for 'Red Dead Redemption' port is 'great value'
Engadget / 37min
There's good news if you felt thrown by the $50 price tag for 13-year-old Red Dead Redemption 's Nintendo Switch and PS4 release : Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick says the cost is right. Seriously, IGN reports that Zelnick had his reasons, which he clearly laid out after the company's Q2 earnings report, "That's just what we believe is the commercially accurate price for it." Satisfied now? Points o


Yes, Mars is spinning faster. Here's what NASA found.
Mashable / 45min
The Red Planet's spin is speeding up a hair fast enough to shorten the length of a Martian day by a fraction of a millisecond per year. NASA 's Mars Insight lander died a few months ago, no longer able to generate power from its dust-covered solar panels, but scientists continue to learn new things about Earth's neighboring planet from the data it collected. One of the latest revelations from the


Take-Two seemingly hints again at GTA 6 being released before March 2025
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 59min
Take-Two has hinted again at the possibility of GTA 6 being released before March 2025. In the company's previous earnings report for 2024's first quarter (which ends in March 2024), the publisher reported $1.2 billion in net bookings for the quarter. While this was at the higher end of its expectations, Take-Two seems to think it can do better next fiscal year, and it may have something to do wi


Is Cathay Pacific Introducing A New First Class?
30One Mile at a Time / 1h
Cathay Pacific recently teased its new “Aria Suites” business class , which will be introduced on Boeing 777-300ERs as of the second quarter of 2024. One thing I was curious about is if the airline also planned on introducing a new first class on these aircraft, and we now have our answer… New Cathay Pacific first class coming to 777-9, not 777-300ER We’ve known for years that Cathay Pacific plan


Baldur's Gate 3 expansion would be "very hard" to make thanks to D&D's quirks, warns dev
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 1h
Larian's founder Swen Vinke has revealed that any potential Baldur's Gate 3 expansion would be "very hard", but hasn't ruled out the possibility entirely. In a recent interview, Vinke made it clear that "we haven't even started on an expansion" for Baldur's Gate 3 ( via PCGamer ). While he didn't outright deny the possibility of an expansion down the line, he did make it clear that the powers aff


This Is a Reminder That You’re Probably Oversharing on Venmo
NYT > Technology / 1h
The mobile wallet service is a cautionary tale of how apps born a decade ago or more may be exposing more information than you would like.


Xbox Game Pass's awesome $1 trial just got less awesome
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 1h
Microsoft has reduced its $1 / £1 Xbox Game Pass Ultimate offer to just a couple of weeks, slicing sixteen days off its runtime. The offer, which gives new subscribers a chance to try out the full suite of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate , PC Game Pass, and Xbox Cloud Gaming for just a buck, is still intact. However, new players will find it's only good for 14 days now, as opposed to the 30 days it previ


Oru's lightest foldable kayak is worth every penny
Mashable / 1h
There's a lot of gear that goes into a day on the water. At minimum, you'll probably have a kayak, a paddle, a life jacket, maybe your dog , and a dry bag with your lunch, sunscreen, and bug spray. Carrying all that down to the water can be a drag, especially if you have a giant, heavy paddle craft. As someone who isn't very strong (and who is constantly wrangling my two dogs), I can't fathom hav


Intense gov't footage shows what triggered glacial outburst in Alaska
Mashable / 1h
A furious flood recently swept through Alaska's capital. A government camera, perched in the mountains above, filmed the cause. In a world where most of the glaciers are melting and receding as the planet warms , lakes dammed up by glaciers can often form. These dams break from time to time, resulting in an event called a glacier lake outburst flood (GLOF). A section of Alaska's famed (though fas



Get a lifetime of text-to-speech AI conversions for under $50
Mashable / 1h
TL;DR: As of August 9, you can get a lifetime subscription to Micmonster AI Voiceovers for only $49.97 instead of $119 — a savings of 58%. Writing a script and actually recording it are very different experiences. You may know exactly what you want to say, but actually saying it is a different story. Not to mention that there are only so many voices one person can do, even if you’re a pro at impr


Juice up your gadgets with this charge station and bedside lamp
Mashable / 1h
TL;DR: As of August 9, you can get the 6-in-1 Magstand Mini Magnetic Charge Station and Bedside Lamp (in black or white color options) for only $44.99 instead of $69.99 — a savings of 35%. Smart devices are convenient, but the cables are a nuisance. Between your phone, watch, and earbuds, that's already three separate chargers, and that doesn't even factor in tablets and other smart tech. It's a


Learn Amazon Web Services from home for $35
Mashable / 1h
TL;DR: As of August 9, you can get the 2023 All-in-One AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials Training Bundle for just $34.99 instead of $70 — a savings of 50%. There's so much job growth in IT. According to an article on LinkedIn , "The global cloud computing market is expected to reach a staggering $591.8 billion in 2023." And Amazon Web Services (AWS) is one of the world's most comprehensive and us


Get an 8-piece master chef's knife set for just $140
Mashable / 1h
TL;DR: As of August 9, you can get the Seido Japanese Master Chef's 8-Piece Knife Set for only $139.99 instead of $429 — that's a savings of 67%. A good set of knives can do wonders for any aspiring chef, offering a superior way to slice, dice, and chop up ingredients for recipes. The only downside? Master chef's knives typically come with a hefty price tag. Aspiring and advanced chefs alike will


The cookies in 'Only Murders in the Building' are a sweet Broadway Easter egg
Mashable / 1h
Only Murders in the Building is no stranger to plot-relevant food. Oliver Putnam (Martin Short) loves his dips, while Charles-Haden Savage had his morning routine of making (and throwing away) an omelet. And, of course, who could forget the ghastly liverwurst and marmalade sandwich that helped catch Season 2's murderer ? Hulu's charming whodunnit continues its food obsession with its Season 3 pre


ISS experiment will help scientists work out how to keep astronauts cool in space
Engadget / 1h
On August 4th, Northrop Grumman's 19th resupply mission for the ISS arrived on the orbiting lab, carrying not just necessities for its inhabitants, but also an experiment that could greatly benefit future human colonies outside our planet. Specifically, the mission was carrying a module with hardware that could help us understand how heating and air conditioning systems can operate in reduced gra


Pretiosum Ventures hits first close on its second fund to back infrastructure startups
TechCrunch / 2h
London-based Pretiosum Ventures has reached the first close of what TechCrunch understands could eventually be a $20 million second fund. Founded in London in 2019 by Yana Abramova , the solo GP fund invests in ‘infrastructure’ startups, (enterprise SaaS, Fintech, and Web3). Pretiosum (a witty inflexion of the Latin phrase ‘pretiƍsus’ meaning ‘precious’) typically writes cheques in the $250-500,0


Coupang to ramp up investment in Taiwan after four quarters of profits
22TechCrunch / 3h
Coupang , a Seattle-headquartered e-commerce company, said it will accelerate its investment in Taiwan after four straight quarters of profits. Coupang was the most downloaded app in the second quarter of this year in Taiwan, the company said in an earnings call on Wednesday. “Taiwan is another investment that is thus far exceeding our expectations,” said chief executive officer of Coupang Bom Ki


Author says the Apple TV+ 'Tetris' movie ripped off his book
Engadget / 3h
The Apple TV+ film Tetris was copied from a book written years ago, according to a lawsuit filed against the tech giant and the Tetris Company. Dan Ackerman, the editor-in-chief of Gizmodo , has accused the plaintiffs of ripping off his book The Tetris Effect , which tells the history of the game in the form of a Cold War-era thriller. In his lawsuit (PDF, via Reuters ), Ackerman said he sent the


Netflix has quietly released a game controller app for iOS
35Mashable / 5h
Netflix has quietly released a game controller in Apple's App Store, confirming rumours that the streaming service may soon let you play games on your TV . First spotted by TechCrunch , the new Netflix Game Controller app seems fairly barebones at the moment. Screenshots on its App Store show off a minimalist controller layout on a plain black background, featuring a virtual thumbstick on the lef


Made Renovation promises “tech-enabled” remodels; customers describe “absolute nightmare”
23TechCrunch / 6h
Last year, Jonas Heineman was overseeing a team of commercial project managers as they installed hundreds of electric vehicle charging stations. Heineman’s wife was also pregnant with their first child. Given his busy days and evenings filled with planning for the couple’s growing family, the last thing that Heineman wanted was to spend his “off” hours managing yet another another construction pr


This Microsoft Office and MBA-style course bundle is on sale for 90% off
24Mashable / 6h
TL;DR: The Microsoft Office Pro 2021 for Windows lifetime license and MBA course bundle is on sale for £31.25, saving you 90% on list price. As students around the nation prepare for another year of classes, you may feel a push to learn something new or work toward a goal you've always had. If your dream is to own a business but you don’t have a clue where to start, this bundle might be for you.


Save 25% on this premium encrypted email and VPN bundle
Mashable / 6h
SAVE 25%: A one-year subscription to Proton Mail Plus is on sale for £41.26, saving you over £10 on list price. This discounted plan includes a free VPN. The time has come to invest in your cybersecurity . The online world can be a dangerous place full of hackers, viruses, and other threats, so your identity protection and data security is absolutely crucial. Fortunately, there are plenty of cybe


How to unblock websites and access restricted content
Mashable / 6h
TL;DR: ExpressVPN is the best service for unblocking websites and accessing restricted content. A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for £82.82 and includes an extra three months for free — 49% off for a limited time. Your online freedom is under threat. Schools, workplaces, and some countries ban access to certain sites, and the only way you can get around these restrictions is with


Micromax eyes a steer into electric vehicles
44TechCrunch / 6h
Micromax Informatics once had a firm grip on the local mobile phone market in India, for a time passing stalwarts like Samsung, icons like Apple and many more to be the biggest handset maker of them all. But a mix of stronger (and cheaper) competition, coupled with the rapid pace of technology development and the ongoing market slowdown , have left it spinning. While some believe that it still ha


PSNI: Major data breach identifies thousands of officers and civilian staff
500+BBC News - Technology / 7h
A top officer apologises for the breach affecting police and employees in Northern Ireland.


Wordle today: Here's the answer and hints for August 9
Mashable / 8h
It is Wednesday, my dudes, and there's a new Wordle ! We're always here for you with some tips and tricks to help you figure out the solution. If you just want to be told the answer, you can jump to the end of this article for August 9's Wordle solution revealed. But if you want to solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you. Where did Wordle come from? Orig


Why some Americans cheered when Megan Rapinoe and the U.S. lost at the World Cup
500+Mashable / 8h
Since the start of the 2023 World Cup, Samuel Schmidt felt tension rising on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter ) each time the United States Women's National Team took the field. Some of that agitation, however, wasn't about the team's underwhelming performance in the group stage. Instead, it was coming from conservative accounts upset that only a handful of the storied team's players


NASA’s Artemis II crew meets their Moonship
Ars Technica - All content / 9h
Enlarge / Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen pose with their Orion spacecraft at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (credit: Trevor Mahlmann) The three Americans and one Canadian slated to fly on NASA's Artemis II circumlunar mission had a "pinch me" moment Monday when they got their first chance visit the Orion sp



Amazon confirms a second Prime Day is coming in October 2023
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 9h
Get those wallets ready – just a month after its major Prime Day sale, Amazon has confirmed that a second big round of deals and discounts is coming in October. There’s no specific date yet, but it’s been given the name of Prime Big Deal Days, replacing the Prime Early Access Sale (or the Big Smile Sale in Australia) that shoppers were treated to on October 11-12 in 2022. It’s been confirmed that


Zoom knots itself a legal tangle over use of customer data for training AI models
28TechCrunch / 9h
Three years ago Zoom settled with the FTC over a claim of deceptive marketing around security claims, having been accused of overstating the strength of the encryption it offered. Now the videoconferencing platform could be headed for a similar tangle in Europe in relation to its privacy small print. The recent terms & conditions controversy sequence goes like this: A clause added to Zoom’s legal


'Quordle' today: Here are the answers and hints for August 9
Mashable / 9h
If Quordle is a little too challenging today, you've come to the right place for hints. There aren't just hints here, but the whole Quordle solution. Scroll to the bottom of this page, and there it is. But are you sure you need all four answers? Maybe you just need a strategy guide. Either way, scroll down, and you'll get what you need. What is Quordle ? Quordle is a five-letter word guessing gam


BlueJeans folds
24TechCrunch / 10h
Verizon dropped hundreds of millions on BlueJeans at the height of the pandemic lockdowns. Three years and some change later, the lesser-known video-conferencing app is done for, the telecom giant told users today. In a mass email, Verizon wrote that it “made the difficult decision to sunset our suite of BlueJeans products.” 9to5Google first reported the news. ( Verizon is TechCrunch’s former par


Singapore wealth management platform Endowus raises $35M
200+TechCrunch / 10h
Back in 2021 and early 2022, there was a flurry of VC interest in Southeast Asian investment apps. One of them was Singapore-based Endowus , which raised two rounds in rapid succession: a Series A in June 2021 followed just seven months later by $25.6 million in follow-on funding. Now two years later, despite a much different funding environment, especially for fintech startups , Endowus is annou


Onlyfans, Twitch and Snapchat rules 'impenetrable'
200+BBC News - Technology / 11h
Ofcom says popular platforms' terms of service are very long and difficult to understand.


Facebook's spread not linked to psychological harm, study finds
100+BBC News - Technology / 11h
A study found no evidence the platform's growth across 72 countries harmed wellbeing.


Quordle today - hints and answers for Wednesday, August 9 (game #562)
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 11h
It's time for your daily dose of Quordle hints, plus the answers for both the main game and the Daily Sequence spin off. Quordle is the only one of the many Wordle clones that I'm still playing now, around 18 months after the daily-word-game craze hit the internet, and with good reason: it's good fun, but also difficult. What's more, its makers (now the online dictionary Merriam-Webster) are also


AI Knows What You’re Typing Just By Hearing It Over a Zoom
Futurism / 11h
Dangerous Mix A new paper claims: With only Zoom audio to go on, an AI can decode keystroke sounds with a startling 93 percent accuracy. And it can decode what — no, not if, but what — you're typing. It's an ominous discovery, and the cybersecurity implications loom large. In the (yet-to-be-peer-reviewed) paper , a UK-based team of researchers emphasizes the modern ubiquity of microphone-equipped


Immortal Mars Helicopter Still Soars After Emergency Landing, Takes Photo of Its Buddy
Futurism / 11h
Nevertheless, She Persisted After NASA's Mars helicopter ghosted for two months and then fell down on the job, we're pleased to report that Ingenuity is back at it again and snapping photos of its bestie, the Perseverance Rover. In a press release about the maneuver, NASA noted that Ingenuity's Earthbound operators had the chopper perform "a short hop" so its humans could better understand why it


How AI Could Predict the Outbreak of Infectious Diseases like Ebola
Futurism / 11h
Disease Report AI's potential for analyzing mountains of data is unmatched. Take one of these AIs, set it loose on all the data in existence about the deadly Ebola virus, and the result could be nothing less than an unrivaled tool in fighting the virus — one that could save lives. This was, in a nutshell, the nature of a recent investigation by ProPublica , which found that AI trained on environm


Hollywood Should Actually Cast Matt Berry in a Star Wars Project
Gizmodo / 11h
Though most American audiences know Matt Berry for playing frisky vampire Laszlo on What We Do in the Shadows , he’s had a lengthy comedy career in his native England , highlighted by cult-beloved shows like Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace , The Mighty Boosh , and Toast of London , to name just a few. Read more...


WeWork goes from $47B valuation to ‘substantial doubts’ about its future
87TechCrunch / 11h
WeWork is struggling to survive in a post-pandemic world. In announcing its earnings today, the flexible space provider said that “substantial doubt exists about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.” WeWork has faced a number of challenges for years now, and with so many companies abandoning office space and more people being able to work remotely, demand for its co-working space


The Galaxy Tab S9 FE may no longer be so budget-friendly according to new leaks
TechRadar - All the latest technology ne... / 11h
Whenever Samsung releases a Fan Edition (FE) of a device, they downgrade a lot of the hardware so it can be sold at a significantly lower price. That pattern may soon change as a recent leak states the upcoming Galaxy Tab S9 FE may not see a huge price drop compared to its base model. This information comes from notable industry leaker Roland Quandt on X (or Twitter if you prefer) who claims a Wi


X hopes ‘sensitivity settings’ will bring back advertisers
Engadget / 12h
X is giving advertisers new ways to have some control over what type of content can appear near their ads. The company formerly known as Twitter introduced new “sensitivity settings” that allow advertisers to choose between different types of content filtering for their ads. The new controls arrive as X is increasingly desperate to win back advertisers. The company’s ad revenue has dropped 50 per


The Pope Doubles Down on AI Concerns
Futurism / 12h
Silicon Vatican Pope Francis has AI on the mind. Just weeks after the release of the Vatican's official guide to AI ethics — a surprising project developed in collaboration with the very secular folks over at Santa Clara University's Markkula Center for Applied Ethics — Pope Francis is making his AI concerns clear once again, using this year's World Peace Day to issue a call for AI responsibility


Invasion of Food Delivery Robots is Driving People to Vandalism and Theft
Futurism / 12h
Meals on Wheels Food delivery robots are now a common sight in parts of Los Angeles, where a startup has been testing them since last year — not without incident. Their arrival has also yielded reports of vandalism and theft targeting the machines, according to local broadcaster KTLA 5, along with video of people kicking and pushing them. Or, naturally, breaking into their mobile coolers to steal


Lyft wants to kill surge pricing
63TechCrunch / 12h
Lyft has been cutting fares in order to secure more riders, and it’s working. But that success has come with a (literal) cost. The ride-hail company reported Tuesday during its second quarter 2023 earnings an increase in riders and decrease in revenue per active rider. That discrepancy was fueled by a decision by the company to “price in line with the market,” according to CEO David Risher. Lyft’


Creators are 'pleasantly surprised' by X's decent ad revenue-sharing payouts
96Mashable / 12h
X is finally paying smaller creators for the content they produce on the platform, and creators say the earnings are decent. Last month, X began issuing ad revenue-sharing payouts in the thousands to select accounts, many of which had followings in the hundreds of thousands (and were some of Elon Musk's favorite users). Now, smaller creators are sharing the payouts that hit their accounts this we


Human toddlers are inspiring new approaches to robot learning
TechCrunch / 12h
It’s an exciting time for robotic learning. Organizations have spent decades building complex datasets and pioneering different ways to teach systems to perform new tasks. It seems we’re on the cusp of some real breakthroughs when it comes to deploying technology that can adapt and learn on the fly. The past year, we’ve seen a large number of fascinating studies. Take VRB (Vision-Robotics Bridge)



New LG TVs relegate I/O to a box you can set 30 feet from the screen
Ars Technica - All content / 12h
You can't tell from this picture, but both the TV and port box on the table need to be plugged in somewhere. [credit: LG ] Messy cables have haunted TVs for ages. Gaming consoles, sound systems, cable boxes, disc players, and even antennas can all contribute to a cluttered room. But what if all those cables weren't connected to the TV but instead to a separate box far away from the screen? That's


Florida man gets unexplained leprosy case; doctors suspect local soil
24Ars Technica - All content / 12h
Enlarge / An armadillo prepares to cross a gravel road as the space shuttle Endeavour rests on the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center before the scheduled launch of STS-130 in Cape Canaveral, Florida, February 4, 2010. (credit: Getty | JIM WATSON ) A Florida man's unexplained case of leprosy last year adds to mounting evidence that the rare and often misunderstood bacterial infection has become e


Author discovers AI-generated counterfeit books written in her name on Amazon
200+Ars Technica - All content / 12h
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) Upon searching Amazon and Goodreads, author Jane Friedman recently discovered a half-dozen listings of fraudulent books using her name, likely filled with either junk or AI-generated content. Both Amazon and Goodreads resisted removing the faux titles until the author's complaints went viral on social media. In a blog post titled "I Would Rather See My Books Get Pir


Netflix Game Controller App Randomly Sprouts Up in the App Store
45Gizmodo / 12h
While you still can’t share passwords without paying extra, it sounds like Netflix will soon attempt to sweeten your subscription deal by bringing its game offerings to your TV. The streaming giant has unexpectedly published the Netflix Game Controller to the iPhone App Store without any heads-up or an official launch… Read more...


Ken Stars in the Second Wave of Barbie Movie Dolls
Gizmodo / 12h
Looks like a good old fashioned visit to the toy aisle might be in order if you want a chance at the second drop of Barbie movie dolls. Read more...


Lyft shares pop, then plop, as it predicts slow and steady growth
TechCrunch / 12h
Lyft made less money per active rider in the second quarter — something that might normally give investors pause. Yet, the ride-hailing giant’s stock price initially rocketed nearly 14% in after-hours trading following its Q2 2023 earnings report. The stock then shed its after-hours gains shortly before this story went live. The company’s enthusiastic investors seemed to be reacting to its positi


Orion's Heat Shield Remains 'Biggest Open Issue' Ahead of NASA's Artemis 2 Mission
44Gizmodo / 12h
NASA is working to resolve a lingering issue with the Orion capsule’s heat shield, which is designed to protect the astronauts on board the spacecraft during its return to Earth as part of the Artemis 2 mission. Read more...


Amazon Removes AI-Generated Books That Spoofed an Author's Byline
100+Gizmodo / 12h
Amazon has removed half a dozen AI-generated books published under a living author’s name without her consent following a social media backlash. Though the misleading content was finally removed on Tuesday, the author,