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Showing posts from June, 2024

Extreme E is now Extreme H, a hydrogen-powered racing series starting 2025

Extreme E, the premium off-road EV racing series, is pivoting to hydrogen. The series announced this week that it’s rebranding to Extreme H , and unveiled a hydrogen-powered race car it’s calling the Pioneer 25 to usher in the transition. The first season is slated to begin in April 2025 in Saudi Arabia, before heading to the UK, Germany, Italy and wrapping up in the US. Take a sneak peek at the Pioneer 25 in action 🎬 pic.twitter.com/40gTrtQMbR — Extreme E (@ExtremeELive) June 29, 2024 Extreme E had its first race in 2021 , putting electric off-road vehicles to the test of (as you might expect) extreme environments, like the desert. It got some major teams on board, including the likes of McLaren . This year marks Extreme E’s fourth season. In a blog post about the shift to hydrogen, founder and CEO Alejandro Agag said the move is “not just about e-mobility; it’s about creating green power solutions that can be applied anywhere, from remote locations to bustling cities.” “By

Twitch announces the 'Bleed Purple Statue,' a physical award for streamers

Twitch streamers, will you be receiving a Bleed Purple Statue? Among YouTube creators, one surefire way to show you've made it is if you've received a YouTube Creator Award. These are physical plaques that YouTube sends to channel owners who've hit certain subscriber milestones. At Twitchcon Europe 2024 in Rotterdam on Saturday, Twitch announced its own version of these physical awards: Twitch Streamer Achievement Awards. SEE ALSO: YouTube demonetized Dr Disrespect over allegations from earlier Twitch ban The awards will be given out under Twitch's Streamer Achievement Program. Unlike YouTube, which bases awards on subscriber milestones, Twitch is focusing on rewarding creators for viewership milestones.  Twitch streamer award eligibility Twitch streamers who hit certain viewership numbers based on hours watched will receive a Bleed Purple Statue .  Tweet may have been deleted Like YouTube's version of the program, there will be three different mileston

Detroit police can no longer use facial recognition results as the sole basis for arrests

The Detroit Police Department has to adopt new rules curbing its reliance on facial recognition technology after the city reached a settlement this week with Robert Williams, a Black man who was wrongfully arrested in 2020 due to a false face match. It’s not an all-out ban on the technology, though, and the court’s jurisdiction to enforce the agreement only extends four years. Under the new restrictions, which the ACLU is calling the strongest such policies for law enforcement in the country, police cannot make arrests based solely on facial recognition results or conduct a lineup based only on facial recognition leads. Williams was arrested after facial recognition technology flagged his expired driver’s license photo as a possible match for the identity of an alleged shoplifter, which police then used to construct a photo lineup. He was arrested at his home, in front of his family, which he says “completely upended my life.” Detroit PD is known to have made at least two other wron

'My Lady Jane' turns the tables on the damsel-in-distress trope — and history itself

My Lady Jane raises a big, unapologetic middle finger to history. Based on the novel by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, and Jodi Meadows, this swashbuckling tale — which was inspired very loosely by the story of Lady Jane Grey, the infamous "Nine Days' Queen"— establishes itself as a radical, female-led reimagining of its real-life inspiration. It's hardly the first project to offer up a revisionist history with contemporary flair; a few recent examples include Six the Musical , Mary & George , and The Serpent Queen , to name just a few. However, with its brash, playful script and its surprisingly nuanced take on the damsel-in-distress trope, My Lady Jane is one of the most successful so far. In an energetic opening montage, a lively, posh male narrator recounts the known history as old time-y sketches covered in crayon scribblings flash quickly before our eyes: Lady Jane Grey was unexpectedly crowned Queen of England after the death of her cousin Edward VI. Then

FCC wants to force carriers to unlock phones for consumers

Don't like your phone carrier because of shoddy reception or literally any other reason – but your device is carrier-locked to that service provider? The FCC is looking to make it easier for consumers to switch to a different service provider. According to a new proposed rule by the FCC, phone carriers could be forced to unlock users' phones and allow consumers to move the device to a provider of their choosing. "When you buy a phone, you should have the freedom to decide when to change service to the carrier you want and not have the device you own stuck by practices that prevent you from making that choice," said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a statement along with the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). "Real competition benefits from transparency and consistency," she continued. "That is why we are proposing clear, nationwide mobile phone unlocking rules." SEE ALSO: AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile declare legal war on FCC Fo

What to expect from 'Interview with the Vampire' Season 3

Ahead of Sunday's Season 2 finale, AMC renewed its TV adaptation of Interview with the Vampire for a third season. Cue cheers and fainting (not from blood loss)! Tweet may have been deleted Seasons 1 and 2 of Interview , unsurprisingly, focused on the first novel in Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles series, Interview with the Vampire . What will Season 3 be about? SEE ALSO: 'The Bear' falls victim to its own success: Full Season 3 review Interview with the Vampire Season 3 The next season will adapt the second book in Rice's vampire series, The Vampire Lestat . As you would expect, this novel focuses on the character Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid). We saw a hint of The Vampire Lestat in Season 2 during a flashback to Lestat's first meeting with the vampire Armand (Assad Zaman), and when Lestat mentions his former lover, Nicki . Season 3, however, will take an even bigger bite from Lestat's story. (The AMC show has also planted Easter eggs for o

Dune director throws shade at the Deadpool & Wolverine popcorn bucket

There’s a war brewing in Hollywood and we’re not talking about how AI will inevitably kill us all by plagiarizing The Joker’s chaos plans from The Dark Knight . We’re talking about the popcorn bucket war. The latest shot came from Dune director Denis Villeneuve in a red carpet interview in which he called the Wolverine & Deadpool popcorn bucket “horrific” and called the Dune buckets “unmatchable.” Villeneuve did an impromptu interview with eTalkCTV where a reporter asked him about the feud that’s been brewing between him and Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds over their respective popcorn receptacles. The reporter showed Villeneuve a picture of the Deadpool & Wolverine bucket featuring the yellow Wolverine’s head and his gaping maw full of some of Orville Redenbacher’s finest. Villeneuve said he doesn’t have anything against the bucket but he thinks they are just riding the coattails he unfurled when the Dune sandworm popcorn bucket blew up the Internet. View t

Valve reveals the most-played games on Steam Deck

Valve has added a new chart to its roster of publicly-available data: a list of the 100 top-played titles on the Steam Deck . The information can be sorted by the past week, month, or year, and will be updated daily. These charts can play a big part in game discovery on the platform, so it's worth noting that making the list isn't only about the sheer number of players. Lawrence Yang from Valve told The Verge more about the process. "The metric we’re using to determine top-played is a combination of unique users and interest," Yang said. " Hades 2 has only been out for a month, but so many Steam Deck players have it as one of their top played games for the entire year, that it was lifted in the rankings." At the chart's launch, Elden Ring unsurprisingly holds the top spot after the recent Shadow of the Erdtree release ( and subsequent patch ). Indie fave Stardew Valley is currently in second and hot deck-builder Balatro is in third. Both Hades 2

Reddit is cracking down on AI bots

In May, Reddit announced it would allow OpenAI to train its models on Reddit content for a price. Now, according to The Verge , Reddit will block most automated bots from accessing, learning from, and profiting from its data without a similar licensing agreement. Reddit plans to do this by updating its robots.txt file , the "basic social contract of the web" that determines how web crawlers can access the site. Most nascent AI companies (including, at one point, OpenAI) train their models on content they've scraped from across the web without considering copyright or the Terms of Service of individual sites. SEE ALSO: Reddit's traffic is way up – but why? It's Google. Per The Verge's Alex Heath, search engines like Google got away with this form of scraping thanks to the "give-and-take" of Google sending traffic back to individual sites in exchange for the ability to crawl them for information. Now, AI companies are tipping the balance by ta

Paramount's strategy of purposeful digital rot doesn't even make sense

Sometimes as we navigate our way through the daily doom scroll that is our current news cycle, it’s nice to go back and remember how things used to be. Those times sucked too but a distraction is still a distraction. One of my favorite ways to look at the past was by going through old clips of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report on Comedy Central’s website . Paramount went on a content teardown this week and pulled old clips and episodes of its signature satire shows from the Comedy Central website, as well as content from cable channels like TV Land, CMT and the Paramount Network, according to the Hollywood Reporter . Those sites now contain a notice that tells views the clips are unavailable there, but that they can "sign up for Paramount+ to watch many seasons of Comedy Central shows." It’s a bizarre move because most of those old episodes aren’t available on its Paramount+ streaming service. Essentially, there's no longer a free, legal means to

Crypto scam victims are being scammed double by fake law firms, FBI warns

Crypto scam victims are being pegged as easy marks by fraudsters who are targeting these individuals – after they've already been scammed. According to a new warning by the FBI, there's a new, growing trend of scammers masquerading as law firms and targeting those who have already been victims of cryptocurrency scams. These nonexistent law firms offer services to the scam victims, claiming that they can recoup their stolen funds. In reality, these fake companies just scam these victims again. SEE ALSO: Fake Elon Musk livestreams promoting crypto scams keep popping up on YouTube The FBI first put out a warning about this scam last year. However, according to the FBI's update, targeting crypto scam victims has been quite lucrative for scammers. Between February 2023 and February 2024, the FBI reports that $9.9 million has been stolen from crypto scam victims by fake law firms via this scheme. Victims report being contacted by the scammers, who claim they can investi

Apple’s self-repair diagnostics tool expands to Europe

Apple is expanding access to its web-based diagnostic tool. The software (officially called “Apple Diagnostics for Self Service Repair”) is now available in 32 European countries, including the UK, Germany, France and the Netherlands. They join the US, where the tool arrived in December . As Apple describes it, the software “gives users the same ability as Apple Authorized Service Providers and Independent Repair Providers to test products for optimal parts functionality and performance.” It currently supports iPhone , Mac and Studio Display . The tool can scan the device for display, camera, Face ID, software integration and audio output issues and tell you which parts may need repair. This is part of Apple’s recent push to be friendlier to self-servicing, likely to try to head off regulations . The only catch is the diagnostics require a second Apple device. Both products need to be running iOS 17 or later or macOS Sonoma 14.1 or later. Beta software is a no-go. (Sorry, iOS 18

Collina Strada's Baggu collab is under fire for using AI-generated prints

Fashion label Collina Strada has made a name for itself by claiming to prioritize sustainable production and climate awareness, but a recent release has buyers doubting whether the brand is truly committed to the cause. A highly anticipated collaboration between Collina Strada and bag-maker Baggu, released yesterday, has been revealed to have been created using AI tools. As part of a larger discussion of the brand's use of AI, a Reddit user fed photos from the whimsical collection, which featured horse-shaped purses and trippy prints, into a program that purports to detect whether an image has been created using AI. The result? An 86.4 percent likelihood that one of the designs had been created using AI or deepfake tech. Reddit Buyers were confused. On its website and throughout its marketing, Collina Strada calls itself "a platform for climate awareness, social awareness, change and self expression [sic]." But AI is hugely taxing on the environment. One report su

Toys 'R' Us uses OpenAI's Sora to make a brand film about its origin story and it’s horrifying

The rise of artificial intelligence in our media and entertainment industries has raised a lot of concerns about programs like Open Al’s text-to-video maker Sora replacing the artistic endeavors and aspirations of humans. If those AI made movies are anything like a new brand film about the Toys 'R' Us toy store chain's origin story, the only thing we’ll have to fear is watching them. Toys ‘R’ Us’s current owner WHP Global worked with the Emmy nominated creative agency Native Foreign to create a short brand film called The Origin of Toys ‘R’ Us   using OpenAI’s text-to-video creator Sora. The film premiered at the 2024 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and can currently be viewed on the toy retailer’s website . The Origin of Toys ‘R’ Us is only a little over a minute long but it’s a mix of confusing and eerie. The film features the young version of the toy store chain’s founder Charles Lazarus coming up with the idea for his signature retail creation and

ChatGPT for macOS no longer requires a subscription

The macOS ChatGPT desktop app is now available to everyone. That is, provided you’re running an Apple Silicon Mac (sorry, Intel users) and your computer is on macOS Sonoma or higher. OpenAI rolled out the app gradually, starting with Plus subscribers last month. ChatGPT now has an official macOS client before it has a Windows one. (In case you haven’t heard, Microsoft is its most crucial partner .) Of course, Windows 11 has the OpenAI-powered Microsoft CoPilot baked into its OS, which likely explains the omission. OpenAI and Apple are also teaming up on Apple Intelligence , which arrives later this year ( unless you’re in Europe ). The Mac app includes a keyboard shortcut (option-space by default, but it’s customizable) for typing chatbot queries from anywhere in macOS. Otherwise, the app mirrors the ChatGPT website’s appearance and functionality (including custom GPTs ), except in native app form. You can also upload files, photos and screenshots. You can download and install C

Fake Elon Musk livestreams promoting crypto scams keep popping up on YouTube

Is there any end in sight to fake Elon Musk livestream scams on YouTube? Over the weekend, Engadget reported on a YouTube broadcast featuring Elon Musk talking at what appears to be a Tesla conference-type event. The livestream had over 30,000 viewers at one point according to Engadget. One problem: It wasn't real. The fake live event is part of an ongoing cryptocurrency scam on YouTube. Fake Elon Musk livestreams on YouTube continue to flourish The scammers that take part in this particular scheme appear to focus solely on YouTube to perpetrate their fraudulent activity. The idea behind it is simple. Scammers broadcast a video of Elon Musk speaking at some event as a livestream. Oftentimes, these broadcasts feature real video of Musk on a loop. The audio can be either a fake AI generated voice that sounds like Musk or real audio from a Musk speech that's generic enough that it can be just about anything. The on-screen graphics, however, portray the event as a live talk

Uber is locking New York drivers out of its apps and blaming a city pay rule

For the last month, Uber has been locking New York City drivers out of its apps during low-demand periods, and Lyft has threatened to do so, too. Bloomberg reports that the ride-hailing companies blame a New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) rule for their behavior. At least one drivers’ union says it may consider striking if the lockouts continue. The mid-shift lockouts stem from a six-year-old NYC pay rule that requires ride-sharing companies to pay drivers for idle time between fares. Capping how long drivers without passengers can be paid means Uber pays less, but it also means drivers are taking home much less money for the same amount of time on the clock. And they can’t predict when they’ll lose access to the app. Drivers are understandably angry. “I used to work 10 hours and make $300 to $350,” Nikoloz Tsulukidze, a full-time Uber driver, told Bloomberg . “Now, I just worked 10 hours and barely made $170. I was so disappointed. I’m paying for my gas and cannot

Amazon TV deals ahead of Prime Day are actually pretty good

Prime Day can surely be counted as one of the best times of year to buy a TV depending on the type of TV you're in the market for. If that's a budget-friendly QLED model or Fire TV, you're in luck — you even have a handful of options for decent deals before Prime Day actually starts . While Amazon hasn't marked any of these deals as official early Prime Day deals yet, several are worth considering if you want that new TV now (rather than waiting until Prime Day officially starts). More than one match the lowest price we've ever seen on those models at Amazon, or are close (some deals are exclusive to Prime members, but most are open to everyone for now). The deals are already more impressive than the sorry showing of TV deals at last week's Walmart+ event, where there was barely a worthwhile QLED deal in sight. SEE ALSO: The best 4th of July deals are already happening — here's what you need to know Several TVs at Amazon also currently have a 90-day

NYT Connections today: See hints and answers for June 24

Connections is the latest New York Times word game that's captured the public's attention. The game is all about finding the "common threads between words." And just like Wordle , Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier—so we've served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle. If you just want to be told today's puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for June 24's Connections solution. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you. What is Connections ? The NYT 's latest daily word game has become a social media hit. The Times credits associate puzzle editor Wyna Liu with helping to create the new word game and bringing it to the publications' Games section. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common. Tweet may have been

Apple reportedly even held talks with Meta about an AI partnership as it plays catch-up

Apple is apparently looking to take all the help it can get to integrate generative AI into its recently announced Apple Intelligence . According to a report by the Wall Street Journal , citing sources with knowledge of the discussions, Apple has held talks with Meta about the possibility of using the company’s generative AI model. It also reportedly had similar discussions with startups Anthropic and Perplexity. As of now, though, nothing has been finalized, WSJ reports. At WWDC earlier this month, Apple officially announced its much-rumored partnership with OpenAI that will bring ChatGPT to newer iPhones, iPads and Macs with the upcoming generation of the devices’ OS. During the event, Apple’s senior VP of software engineering, Craig Federighi, also name-dropped Google’s Gemini as something that could be added to Apple Intelligence in the future. “We want to enable users ultimately to choose the models they want,” Federighi said. It would make sense, then, for Apple to be shoppin

'Wordle' today: Here's the answer hints for June 23

Oh hey there! If you're here, it must be time for Wordle . As always, we're serving up our daily hints and tips to help you figure out today's answer. If you just want to be told today's word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for June 23's Wordle solution revealed. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you. Where did Wordle come from? Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble , music identification game Heardle , and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once .  Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times , and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing . Not the