Gadgets, Game & Mobile News

Acer Nitro 16 Review: Big, Bright and Brisk Budget Gaming Laptop - CNET

CNET News - Thu, 2024-02-22 07:00
With a roomy 16-inch, 16:10 display that's surprisingly bright and vibrant and powered by a full-octane RTX 4050 GPU, the Nitro 16 delivers the goods for gamers on tight budgets.

'Shōgun' on Hulu: Everything to Know About the FX Series - CNET

CNET News - Thu, 2024-02-22 07:00
The upcoming series based on James Clavell's epic novel about feudal Japan debuts on Hulu.

Current Mortgage Interest Rates on Feb. 22, 2024: Touchstone Mortgage Rate Decreases - CNET

CNET News - Thu, 2024-02-22 06:40
Mortgage interest rates were variable, but one benchmark rate saw a decline. Rates change on an hourly, daily and weekly basis.

Current Refinance Rates on Feb. 22, 2024: Rate Slides - CNET

CNET News - Thu, 2024-02-22 06:40
Refinance rates were mixed, but one key rate trended down. Experts expect refi activity to go up as rates drop.

Mortgage Interest Rates for Feb. 22, 2024: Key Mortgage Rate Recedes - CNET

CNET News - Thu, 2024-02-22 06:40
Mortgage interest rates split, but one benchmark rate saw a decrease. Rates fluctuate daily.

India’s government is forcing X to censor accounts via executive order amid the farmers’ protest

Engadget - Thu, 2024-02-22 06:26

X, formerly Twitter, is once again restricting content in India. The company's Global Government Affairs account announced that the Indian government had issued an executive order mandating that X withhold specific accounts and posts or face penalties such as "significant fines and imprisonment." X further stated that it doesn't agree with the order and is challenging it. 

The designated posts and accounts will only be blocked within India, however, there's no clear list of those affected. "Due to legal restrictions, we are unable to publish the executive orders, but we believe that making them public is essential for transparency," the Global Government Affairs post stated. "This lack of disclosure can lead to a lack of accountability and arbitrary decision-making." X claims to have notified all affected parties. 

The posts likely center around the ongoing farmers' protest, which, since February 13, has seen multiple farmers' unions on strike in a bid to get floor pricing, or a minimum support price, for crops sold. Violent clashes between protesters and police have already resulted in at least one death, AP News reports. Mohammed Zubair, an Indian journalist and co-founder of Alt News, shared purported screenshots of suspended accounts belonging to individuals critical of the current government, on-the-ground reporters, prominent farm unionists, and more. 

This forced blocking is far from the first incident between X and India. In 2022, X sued the Indian government for "arbitrarily and disproportionately" applying its IT laws passed the year prior. The law required the company to hire a point of contact for the local authorities and a domestic compliance officer. Prior to this concession, in early 2021, the Indian government had threatened to jail X's employees if posts about the then occurring farmers' protest stayed live on the site. Shortly after, the country mandated that X remove content criticizing its COVID-19 response.

India dismissed X's suit in June 2023, claiming the company didn't properly explain why it had ever delayed complying with the country's IT laws. The court also fined X 5 million rupees ($60,300), stating, "You are not a farmer but a billon dollar company." The order followed shortly after Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey claimed that India had threatened to raid employees' homes and shut down the site if the company hadn't taken down posts during the farmers' protest. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/indias-government-is-forcing-x-to-censor-accounts-via-executive-order-amid-the-farmers-protest-112617420.html?src=rss

Google's sign-in and sign-up pages have a new look

Engadget - Thu, 2024-02-22 06:15

After teasing it for the past couple of weeks, Google is rolling out a new sign-in page with a slightly cleaner design. The changes are small and don't affect functionality, but it's something that users encounter often, and Google has been using the previous version since it changed its logo, as far as I can see. 

The refresh puts the sign-in (and sign-up) page more in line with the company's Material Design ethic introduced back in 2014. To that end, it's now aligned left (instead of centered) and features an orientation that automatically adjusts to your screen's size — so it's wider on PC screens and narrower on smartphones. It shows up on all types of devices, but may not appear on older browsers, the company said. 

The biggest previous change Google made to its sign-in page was putting password entry onto a second page back in 2015. That update was made "in preparation for future authentication solutions that complement passwords," and to reduce confusion among people who have multiple Google accounts, it said at the time. 

Google emphasized that the change will be permanent, much like the switch to Gmail's integrated view. The rollout will be fairly gradual, starting on February 21 and set for completion by March 4, 2024.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/googles-sign-in-and-sign-up-pages-have-a-new-look-111546179.html?src=rss

Best Solar Companies of February 2024 - CNET

CNET News - Thu, 2024-02-22 05:19
Finding the right installer is a crucial first step in the switch to clean energy. Here are CNET's highest rated companies and some advice for finding the best one for you.

You Need This Number to File Your Taxes Online: Here's How to Find It - CNET

CNET News - Thu, 2024-02-22 05:00
The IRS uses your AGI from last year to verify your identity this year.

PlayStation now supports passkey sign-ins

Engadget - Thu, 2024-02-22 04:40

You don't have to type in your password every time you log into your PlayStation account anymore. Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has launched passkey support for PlayStation accounts, which means you can simply sign in through your mobile device or computer and use its screen unlocking method to log in. If you use a PIN, your fingerprint or your face to unlock your phone, for instance, that's also how you'll be able to get into your PlayStation account. On desktop, we were easily able to link our account with 1Password and use its passkey capability. 

In its official page for the update, the company touches on the benefits of using passkeys, such as reducing account vulnerability. Passkeys can't be reused or given away, whether it's inadvertently or on purpose as SIE explains, making them resistant to phishing and data breaches. 

To set up a passkey, you simply have to go to Security under Account Management. There, you can activate the option and create a passkey by following the on-screen instructions. The company warns that some hardware security keys could cause issues, and it might be better to use synced passkeys on mobile devices instead. It also cautions against the use of mobile PIN codes as passkeys on Android and recommends iCloud Keychain, Google Password Manager, 1Password and Dashlane as a passkey provider. After setting up the option, you'll be prompted to use your passkey whenever you need to sign in on a PlayStation 5 or a PlayStation 4 console. You can deactivate the option anytime, though, if you want to go back to signing in with a password.

Login to your PlayStation account hassle-free with passkeys arriving later today! Keep an eye out for updates. pic.twitter.com/BAmh64EwHR

— Ask PlayStation (@AskPlayStation) February 21, 2024

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/playstation-now-supports-passkey-sign-ins-094017402.html?src=rss

Google promises to fix Gemini's image generation following complaints that it's 'woke'

Engadget - Thu, 2024-02-22 02:34

Google's Gemini chatbot, which was formerly called Bard, has the capability to whip up AI-generated illustrations based on a user's text description. You can ask it to create pictures of happy couples, for instance, or people in period clothing walking modern streets. As the BBC notes, however, some users are criticizing Google for depicting specific white figures or historically white groups of people as racially diverse individuals. Now, Google has issued a statement, saying that it's aware Gemini "is offering inaccuracies in some historical image generation depictions" and that it's going to fix things immediately. 

We're aware that Gemini is offering inaccuracies in some historical image generation depictions. Here's our statement. pic.twitter.com/RfYXSgRyfz

— Google Communications (@Google_Comms) February 21, 2024

According to Daily Dot, a former Google employee kicked off the complaints when he tweeted images of women of color with a caption that reads: "It's embarrassingly hard to get Google Gemini to acknowledge that white people exist." To get those results, he asked Gemini to generate pictures of American, British and Australian women. Other users, mostly those known for being right-wing figures, chimed in with their own results, showing AI-generated images that depict America's founding fathers and the Catholic Church's popes as people of color. 

In our tests, asking Gemini to create illustrations of the founding fathers resulted in images of white men with a single person of color or woman in them. When we asked the chatbot to generate images of the pope throughout the ages, we got photos depicting black women and Native Americans as the leader of the Catholic Church. Asking Gemini to generate images of American women gave us photos with a white, an East Asian, a Native American and a South Asian woman. The Verge says the chatbot also depicted Nazis as people of color, but we couldn't get Gemini to generate Nazi images. "I am unable to fulfill your request due to the harmful symbolism and impact associated with the Nazi Party," the chatbot responded. 

Gemini's behavior could be a result of overcorrection, since chatbots and robots trained on AI over the past years tended to exhibit racist and sexist behavior. In one experiment from 2022, for instance, a robot repeatedly chose a Black man when asked which among the faces it scanned was a criminal. In a statement posted on X, Gemini Product Lead Jack Krawczyk said Google designed its "image generation capabilities to reflect [its] global user base, and [it takes] representation and bias seriously." He said Gemini will continue to generate racially diverse illustrations for open-ended prompts, such as images of people walking their dog. However, he admitted that "[h]istorical contexts have more nuance to them and [his team] will further tune to accommodate that."

We are aware that Gemini is offering inaccuracies in some historical image generation depictions, and we are working to fix this immediately.

As part of our AI principles https://t.co/BK786xbkey, we design our image generation capabilities to reflect our global user base, and we…

— Jack Krawczyk (@JackK) February 21, 2024

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-promises-to-fix-geminis-image-generation-following-complaints-that-its-woke-073445160.html?src=rss

Microsoft's upcoming custom chip will be made by Intel

Engadget - Thu, 2024-02-22 01:33

Intel's relatively new Foundry division — formerly known as Intel Foundry Services until earlier today — has just landed a notable order from a big name. According to Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that his company will be tapping into Intel's latest 18A (1.8nm) fabrication process for an upcoming in-house chip design. But given Intel's process roadmap, this means we likely won't be seeing Microsoft's new chip until 2025.

While neither company disclosed the nature of said silicon, Microsoft did unveil its custom-made Azure Maia AI Accelerator and Azure Cobalt 100 CPU server chips last November, with an expected rollout some time "early" this year to bolster its own AI services. The Cobalt 100 is based on Arm architecture, and it just so happens that Intel has been optimizing its 18A process for Arm designs since April last year (it even became an Arm investor later), so there's a good chance that this collaboration may lead to the next-gen Cobalt CPU.

In addition to the usual efficiency improvements as node size decreases, Intel 18A also offers "the industry's first backside power solution" which, according to IEEE's Spectrum, separates the power interconnect layer from the data interconnect layer at the top, and moves the former to beneath the silicon substrate — as implied by the name. This apparently allows for improved voltage regulation and lower resistance, which in turn enable faster logic and lower power consumption, especially when applied to 3D stacking.

Announced at Intel Foundry Direct Connect, Intel’s extended process technology roadmap adds Intel 14A to the company’s leading-edge node plan, in addition to several specialized node evolutions and new Intel Foundry Advanced System Assembly and Test capabilities. Intel also affirmed that its ambitious five-nodes-in-four-years process roadmap remains on track and will deliver the industry’s first backside power solution.Intel

In Intel's Q4 earnings call, CEO Pat Gelsinger confirmed that "18A is expected to achieve manufacturing readiness in second half '24." Given that Intel's very own 18A-based processors — "Clearwater Forest" for servers and "Panther Lake" for clients — won't arrive until 2025, chances are it'll be a similar time frame for Microsoft's next chip.

At Intel's event earlier today, the exec shared an extended Intel Foundry process technology roadmap, which features a new 14A (1.4nm) node enabled by ASML's "High-NA EUV" (high-numerical aperture extreme ultraviolet) lithography system. According to AnandTech, this 14A leap may help Intel play catchup after its late EUV adoption for its Intel 4 (7nm) node, though risk production won't take place until the end of 2026.

Intel Foundry is the brainchild of Gelsinger, who launched this department right after he assumed the CEO role in February 2021, as part of his ambitious plan to put Intel up against the likes of TSMC and Samsung in the contract chip-making market. Before Microsoft, Intel Foundry's list of clients already include MediaTek, Qualcomm and Amazon. The company still aims to become "the second largest external foundry by 2030" in terms of manufacturing revenue, which it believes is achievable as early as this year.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsofts-upcoming-custom-chip-will-be-made-by-intel-063323035.html?src=rss

Best DIY Home Security Systems of 2024 - CNET

CNET News - Wed, 2024-02-21 22:21
Want to make your home safer? Put together your own DIY home security system with our top picks.

Your older S23 phone will get Samsung's Galaxy AI suite in late March

Engadget - Wed, 2024-02-21 22:00

Samsung said Wednesday that the Galaxy S24’s AI features will arrive on last year’s phones (including foldables) and tablets in late March. In January, Engadget’s Sam Rutherford reported that the AI suite would soon be available on the Galaxy S23 series, Z Fold 5, Z Flip 5 and Tab S9. Today’s announcement makes that device list official while adding the more specific arrival window of late March 2024.

That group of 2023 devices will receive a software update next month with the AI features from the S24 series. Those include communication-based AI tricks like Chat Assist (adjusts message tone and translates messages), Live Translate (real-time voice and text translations) and Interpreter (split-screen translation for in-person conversations).

They’ll also get the productivity-based AI features Circle to Search (search for anything on your screen by drawing a ring around it), Note Assist (formatting, summaries and translations of notes), Browsing Assist (summaries of news articles) and Transcript Assist (transcribe and summarize meeting recordings).

Finally, image-based AI features coming to those devices include Generative Edit (reframe shots, move subjects around or delete and replace them), Edit Suggestion (recommended image tweaks), and Instant Slow-Mo (generate extra frames to transform a standard video into a slow-motion one).

Photo of the Galaxy S24 Ultra in someone’s hand. Its screen shows AI-suggested alternatives to a chat message.Photo by Sam Rutherford / Engadget

The full list of devices receiving the update starting in March includes the Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23+, Galaxy S23 Ultra, Galaxy S23 FE, Galaxy Z Fold 5, Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Galaxy Tab S9. But Samsung says you can expect more devices to join them later. “This is only the beginning of Galaxy AI, as we plan to bring the experience to over 100 million Galaxy users within 2024 and continue to innovate ways to harness the unlimited possibilities of mobile AI,” Samsung President TM Roh wrote in a press release.

We were mostly impressed with the AI features in our Galaxy S24 Ultra review. “While harnessing AI might not be a super exciting development now that everyone and their grandmother is trying to shoehorn it into everything, it does make the S24 Ultra a more powerful and well-rounded handset,” Engadget’s Sam Rutherford wrote in January.

Although he noticed a few hiccups in the AI tools at launch, he found most of them to be a genuinely helpful complement to the phone’s high-end hardware. “Samsung finally has an answer to the sophisticated features that were previously only available from the Pixel family,” he wrote. “Sure, the S24’s tools aren’t quite as polished as Google’s offerings, but they get you 80 to 90 percent of the way there.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/your-older-s23-phone-will-get-samsungs-galaxy-ai-suite-in-late-march-030016691.html?src=rss

Samsung's Galaxy AI Is Coming to the Galaxy S23, Foldables and Tablets Next Month - CNET

CNET News - Wed, 2024-02-21 22:00
The Galaxy S24's standout new feature is coming to Samsung's previous-generation phone as well as its newest foldables and tablets.

Best Budget 3D Printer: 7 Great Printers at a Price You'll Love - CNET

CNET News - Wed, 2024-02-21 20:43
The best 3D printer is the one you can afford. These are printers to suit folks on a tighter budget.

Rivian is laying off 10 percent of its salaried employees

Engadget - Wed, 2024-02-21 20:04

Electric car maker Rivian announced on Wednesday that it’s laying off 10 percent of its salaried workforce to cut costs after facing a quarterly loss. The Amazon-backed company reported that it lost $1.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023 and said that it expects to build 57,000 electric vehicles in 2024, the same number it built last year.

“Our business is facing a challenging macroeconomic environment — including historically high interest rates and geopolitical uncertainty — and we need to make purposeful changes now to ensure our promising future,” Rivian’s founder and CEO RJ Scaringe wrote to employees in an email, CNN reported. "We must strategically prioritize our growth areas of the business, including the launch of Peregrine and R2 as well as investing in our go-to-market capabilities."

As part of its plans to cut costs, Rivian will shut down a factory in Illinois in the middle of this year and will upgrade its manufacturing line to boost production rates by 30 precent.The company is expected to unveil the R2, a compact SUV in the $40,000 to $60,000 range, on March 7, although deliveries of the vehicle won’t start until 2026.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/rivian-is-laying-off-10-percent-of-its-salaried-employees-010440428.html?src=rss

Best Deals on Robot Vacuums: Save Up to $400 on Dreametech, Roomba, Shark and More - CNET

CNET News - Wed, 2024-02-21 20:00
If you're always struggling with doing the vacuuming at home, then grabbing one of these robot deals is really the way to go.

Solar Eclipse 2024: Eye Safety and How to Find Eclipse Glasses - CNET

CNET News - Wed, 2024-02-21 19:38
The "path of totality" will cross 15 states this April, while the rest of the country will get glimpses of a partial eclipse.

Don't use smartwatches and rings that claim to measure blood sugar without needles, the FDA warns

Engadget - Wed, 2024-02-21 19:17

The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday issued a safety communication warning people to stay way from smartwatches and smart rings that claim to measure blood sugar levels without pricking the skin. “The FDA has not authorized, cleared, or approved any smartwatch or smart ring that is intended to measure or estimate blood glucose values on its own,” the agency wrote in the communication, and asked consumers, patients, and caregivers to stay away from such devices.

Non invasive blood sugar monitoring isn’t currently possible on any consumer device Popular wearables like the Apple Watch and the Oura ring can, instead, pair with FDA-authorized wearable devices like the Dexcom G7, which uses needles to read your blood sugar levels. Getting a smartwatch or a smart ring to monitor blood sugar levels without penetrating the skin would represent a huge medical advance, allowing people with diabetes, for instance, to stop pricking themselves each day, and alerting pre-diabetics.

Both Apple and Samsung have reportedly been working on the tech for years. Last year, Bloomberg reported that Apple’s no-prick monitoring was at a “proof-of-concept stage” and could come to the market once the company managed to figure out how to shrink its size. Apple has been working on the project since 2010, although it will likely still be years before the technology is small enough to be built into the Apple Watch. Samsung, too, is exploring ways to build the technology into the Galaxy Ring, a product that the company recently announced.

Until that time, be skeptical of any device that claims to do this right now. Current smartwatches and smart rings “do not directly test blood glucose levels,” the FDA writes. If you spot any company selling a device with these claims, you can report it to the FDA through the agency’s MedWatch Voluntary Reporting Form.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/dont-use-smartwatches-and-rings-that-claim-to-measure-blood-sugar-without-needles-the-fda-warns-001745875.html?src=rss

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