Author Archives: Mariella Moon

Google and Meta reportedly teamed up for ads targeting young teens

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Google worked with Meta to roll out ads that targeted young teens even if it's against the former's rules, according to the Financial Times. Based on the documents seen by the publication, Google worked on a marketing project designed to advertise Instagram to YouTube users within the 13- to 17-year-old age range. Google had blocked age-based ad targeting for users under 18 years ago, but the company reportedly found and used a loophole. 

Since they couldn't go for the demographic they wanted to reach, they instead targeted a group of users Google had labeled as "unknown." Google's staff proposed the group to Meta, The Times said, because the company had data points to prove that a large number of users under the label are below 18 years in age. The company even reportedly told Meta that the daily engagement it gets from 13- to 17-year-old users exceeds TikTok's and Instagram's. The Information says using this loophole is against Google's rules, as well, since it has policies against proxy targeting. 

Meta and Google worked with media agency Spark Foundry to launch the marketing program in Canada between February and April, according to the report. When it did well, they kicked off a trial in the US in May and had made plans to expand it to other regions, as well as to include other Meta apps in the campaign. 

However, Google had investigated and ultimately cancelled the project after being contacted by the Times. "We prohibit ads being personalized to people under-18, period," the company told the publication. It said that its safeguards worked properly in this case because it didn't directly target registered YouTube users know to be 18. That said, it didn't outright deny using the loophole and only said that it will take "additional action to reinforce with sales representatives that they must not help advertisers or agencies run campaigns" that attempt to work around its policies.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/google-and-meta-reportedly-teamed-up-for-ads-targeting-young-teens-130024683.html?src=rss

X makes its Premium+ subscription tier fully ad-free

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X has updated its Premium+ subscription tier so that paying users don't have to see any advertisement at all. The website formerly known as Twitter has announced that Premium+, which costs $16 a month in the US, is now fully ad-free. While one of the tier's original perks is having an ad-free For You and Following timelines, subscribers still saw advertisements on other parts of the social network.

As Social Media Today points out, the FAQ page for X's subscriptions used to say that the no-ads feature for Premium+ "does not apply to promoted content elsewhere on X, including but not limited to ads on profiles, ads in post replies, ads in Immersive Media Viewer, promoted events in Explore, promoted trends, and promoted accounts to follow."

Some users in that announcement thread on X have expressed concerns about the company's revenue-sharing scheme. People can earn on the social network by getting some of X's ad revenue, but they can only earn money for an add if a fellow verified user sees it. That is why X engineer Eric Farraro had to write a post answering a common complaint from creators that their payouts were lower than expected. "Revenue is only earned for ads shown to Verified users. This is one of many ways we mitigate attempts to manipulate the program," he tweeted. Since ads had been limited for Premium+ subscribers from the start, though, this might not have a big impact on the revenue amount X can share with its users. People paying for the basic tier, the cheapest option at $3 a month, will continue seeing ads like usual. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/x-makes-its-premium-subscription-tier-fully-ad-free-120017998.html?src=rss

Stranger Things will make its Broadway debut in March 2025

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Starting next year, Stranger Things fans will be able to watch its stage play spin-off on Broadway. The prequel to the popular sci-fi/horror series, Stranger Things: The First Shadow, won two Olivier Awards and several other accolades since it premiered in London's West End in December 2023. Its West End production will run until sometime in 2025, thanks to an extended run, but performances on Broadway will also begin on March 28, 2025. That said, the play will officially open at Marquis Theatre in New York on April 22, 2025. 

The First Shadow is set in 1959, before the events in the Netflix series. Jim/Hop, Joyce and Bob — who was played by Sean Astin — are seniors in the story who all just want to graduate and leave town. "When new student Henry Creel arrives, his family finds that a fresh start isn’t so easy... and the shadows of the past have a very long reach," the play's synopsis reads. It's based on a story by the Duffer Brothers, the creators of Stranger Things who will also serve as the play's creative producers, and will be directed by Tony award winner Stephen Daldry.

Casting for the production hasn't been announced yet, but fans can already sign up to make sure they get early access to pre-sale tickets. Those who sign up on The First Shadow's official website will be able to buy pre-sale tickets first, starting at 11AM on September 13. Everyone else will be able to purchase tickets when they go on sale to the general public a few days later on September 17. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/stranger-things-will-make-its-broadway-debut-in-march-2025-140015764.html?src=rss

X accused of using EU user data to train Grok without consent

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Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) is taking Elon Musk's X to court. According to Irish broadcaster RTE, the commission has launched High Court proceedings against Twitter International over concerns on how Europeans' public posts on X are being used to train the company's artificial intelligence tools. The data protection watchdog is especially worried that European users' data is being used to train the next version of Grok that Musk previously said will be released sometime this month. 

In July, X rolled out a change that automatically activated a setting for all users, allowing the website to use their public posts on the platform to train its AI chatbot further. The commission told TechCrunch that it was surprised by X's decision, seeing as it has been in contact with the company on the matter for months. X has had a help page instructing users on how to opt out of their data being used for AI training since at least May, but it didn't exactly tell them that it's switching on its access to people's data by default. 

The DPC has acknowledged that X had given people the mechanism to opt out. However, it reportedly isn't enough for the agency, which argued that there's still a significant number of European-based X users whose data had been processed without being afforded the protection of those mitigation measures. X's use of people's data to train Grok violates its obligations under the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), according to the commission. Not offering users an opt-out mechanism in a timely manner also violates the GDPR, it added. 

As TechCrunch notes, there must be at least one legal basis for a European user's data to be lawfully processed under the GDPR. If a company wants to legally process a user's data, for instance, it must get their express consent, or it must be because the user needs to fulfill contractual obligations. There are other lawful purposes wherein a person's data could be used, but the DPC's complaint indicates that it doesn't believe X has any legal basis for its actions. 

Twitter International, X's Irish division, also reportedly refused to stop processing users' data and to delay the launch of the next version of Grok as the commission had requested. That's why the DPC has decided to push through with its complaint — so that it can ask the court to suspend or completely prohibit the company from training any AI system with X users' data. If the court determines that X has indeed violated GDPR rules, the company could be fined up to 4 percent of its annual worldwide turnover. 

After the DPC brought its complaint to court, though, X agreed to stop using some European users' data for training, at least for the moment. In particular, it agreed not to use public posts made by Europe-based users gathered between May 7 and August 1. The "developments will help us to continue protecting the rights and freedoms of X users across the EU and [the European Economic Area]," Data Protection Commissioner Des Hogan said. The agency isn't withdrawing its lawsuit, however, and the DPC will continue investigating whether X's actions had violated the GDPR. 

Update, August 09, 2024, 9:39AM ET: This posted was updated to reflect new information that X agreed to pause the use of some European users' data for Grok training. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/x-accused-of-using-eu-user-data-to-train-grok-without-consent-133042114.html?src=rss

NASA delays next SpaceX crew launch due to ongoing Starliner problems

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SpaceX's Crew-9 flight for NASA was supposed to take off on August 18, but the agency has just announced that its target launch date was moved to no earlier than September 24. The delay will give NASA and Boeing more time to finalize their plans for Boeing Starliner's return, the agency said in its announcement. What it didn't say was that while eight space ships can attach themselves to the ISS at one time, the US segment of the space station only has two docking ports that can accommodate astronaut capsules. Both of them are still occupied, since Starliner's supposed eight-day stay has stretched on for months. 

NASA said that Starliner's ground teams are still analyzing the results of all the testing they've been putting the spacecraft through, including a recent hot-fire test. They still need to confirm if it's ready to bring back astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams back to Earth before a return flight could be scheduled. Boeing's first crewed Starliner mission launched in June and was only slated to stay for a few days to determine whether it was ready for regular flights to the station. However, five of its thrusters failed on its approach to the ISS, and only one came back online. The helium leak that forced Boeing and NASA to push back its takeoff in the past had worsened, as well. 

In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Boeing revealed that it took another $125 million in losses due to the Starliner's delayed return and the extensive testing that had to be conducted to ensure its readiness. The company said a few days ago, though, that it supports NASA's requests for additional testing and that it "remains confident in the Starliner spacecraft and its ability to return safely with crew."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasa-delays-next-spacex-crew-launch-due-to-ongoing-starliner-problems-123034635.html?src=rss

Two more OpenAI leaders are leaving the company

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Two key OpenAI personnel are leaving the company, while another one is taking a months-long leave of absence. As reported by The Information, OpenAI president Greg Brockman is taking a sabbatical, while his fellow co-founder John Schulman is bidding the company farewell and joining its rival Anthropic. Peter Deng, its VP for consumer product who joined last year, is leaving OpenAI, as well. Deng used to lead product developments at Meta and Uber.

In a post on X/Twitter, Brockman said his leave of absence will last through end of year and that it's his "first time to relax" since the founding of OpenAI nine years ago. He also reportedly assured staff members that he's coming back after his vacation. Brockman temporarily left OpenAI last year when the company's board ousted its CEO, Sam Altman. They were both reinstated just a few days later, whereas the board was disbanded and replaced.

John Schulman also posted the note he sent to OpenAI staff on X, where he said that his departure stems from his "desire to deepen [his] focus on AI alignment" and to "return to hands-on technical work." He clarified that he wasn't leaving OpenAI due to lack of support for alignment research and that the company's executives have apparently been "very committed to investing in this area." At OpenAI, Schulman helped lead the post-training team that refined its large language models. After the company disbanded the "Superalignment" team that was in charge of steering powerful AI models that could pose a threat to humanity in the future, OpenAI said Schulman would be in charge of any future safety efforts. 

These departures follow several major previous changes in OpenAI's rank of leaders. Before the Superalignment team was disbanded, Jan Leike, one of its heads, wrote on X that "safety culture and processes have taken a backseat to shiny products" within the company over the past years. Company co-founder and Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever also left in May. He was involved in Altman's dismissal as a board member, though he later said that he regretted his participation in the board's actions. While he remained Chief Scientist after the event, he reportedly never truly returned to his duties. The Information also notes that OpenAI recently hired its first CFO and chief product officer, which may have had an effect on Deng's role within the company. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/two-more-openai-leaders-are-leaving-the-company-110012003.html?src=rss

Prison Architect 2 is delayed indefinitely

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Prison Architect 2, the sequel to the 2015 cult hit, isn't coming out this year as its creators had planned. The prison construction simulator's publisher, Paradox Interactive, has announced that its release has been delayed indefinitely. In its post, Paradox has admitted that its internal reviews and beta testing feedbacks surfaced the areas that need more attention, mainly the game's performance and content. "We need to raise the quality a bit more to meet the standards we'd like to achieve with this sequel," it wrote. 

This latest development comes after a series of delays. Prison Architect 2 was supposed to come out on March 26, but it was pushed back a couple of times so that its developers at Double Eleven and Kokku could resolve issues concerning memory usage and minimum spec configuration. This time, Paradox decided not to set a new release date. It says it will announce a new one once the Prison Architect 2 teams are done reworking the game's scope. 

Earlier this year, Paradox Interactive also had to deal with the overwhelmingly negative reception for Cities: Skylines 2's Beach Properties asset pack. Players weren't happy with the $10 DLC's contents, especially since they're still waiting for patches for the main game that was riddled with visual and mechanical bugs when it was released in 2023. Prison Architect 2's delay could prevent a repeat of what happened to Cities: Skylines.

Paradox explained that improving the game will take time, because it has "deep systems that all interact with each other." If one area is fixed, other parts of the game need to be fixed or adjusted, as well. For now, the publisher and the developers will refund all pre-orders. Those who purchased from Paradox directly will automatically be reimbursed, but those who purchased from the Xbox, PlayStation or Steam stores will have to go through those platforms to get their refund. Paradox will remove the option to pre-order the game entirely and will add the supposed pre-order bonus to the base game instead.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/prison-architect-2-is-delayed-indefinitely-160038125.html?src=rss

Meta is reportedly offering millions to use Hollywood voices in AI projects

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A future artificial intelligence product by Meta could have you chatting with celebrities. According to Bloomberg and The New York Times, the company is in talks with Awkwafina, Judi Dench and Keegan-Michael Key, among other celebrities from various Hollywood agencies for its AI projects. The company apparently intends to incorporate their voices into a conversational generative AI-slash-digital assistant called MetaAI, which is similar to Siri and Google Assistant. 

Meta plans to record their voices and to secure the right to use them for as many situations as possible across Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp and even the Ray-Ban Meta glasses. Bloomberg says negotiations have started and stopped many times, because both sides can't seem to agree with the terms for use. For now, they seemed to have settled on a time limit, meaning any voice the company records can only be used over a set period. However, the deals with the actors could be renewed or extended by the time their contract is up. 

The actors' representatives are still looking to negotiate for stricter limits, though SAG-AFTRA has reportedly reached an agreement with Meta on terms. SAG-AFTRA, if you'll recall, fought for the establishment of provisions to protect actors from the threat of job loss due to AI when it went on strike last year. Under those terms, a company will have to pay actors and obtain their consent before it can use their AI-generated likeness. If Meta reaches a deal with the actors it's talking to, it could pay them millions of dollars in fees. 

Meta is looking to finalize deals before its Connect conference in September, The Times says, where it's expected to launch a bunch of AI products. During the same event last year, the company also introduced a chatbot platform with 28 "characters" voiced by celebrities, including Snoop Dogg, Paris Hilton, Dwyane Wade and Kendall Jenner. The Information reports that Meta has just quietly scrapped that project, and the celebrity chatbots' pages on Facebook and Instagram are no longer available. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-is-reportedly-offering-millions-to-use-hollywood-voices-in-ai-projects-121019385.html?src=rss

Nintendo profits fall 55 percent as people save their cash for the Switch 2

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People are so excited for the next-gen Switch, they're likely holding off on buying Nintendo's current consoles and games. At least that's what the company's latest earnings report seems to indicate. For the quarter ending on June 30, Nintendo posted a net profit of 80.9 billion Japanese Yen, which is higher than its forecast but over 50 percent lower than its net profit for the same period last fiscal year. In addition, the company said it only sold 2.1 million Switch consoles for the quarter. That means it experienced a 46.3 percent decline on unit sales year-on-year. Even its games didn't sell well, seeing as Nintendo posted a software sales figure that's 41.3 percent lower than last fiscal year's at 30.64 million units sold. 

In its report, Nintendo admits that the low sales figures for games was caused by the lack of big releases, such as the previous year's The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. The Super Mario Bros. Movie also helped "energize" its business back then. But since hardware sales for this quarter are similar to the previous one's, Nintendo considers its Switch sales to be stable. 

Nintendo is expected to launch its "Switch 2" console soon. It was expected to come out sometime this year, but according to reports published in the previous months, it will be released in early 2025 instead. There's still very little known about the upcoming console, but rumors say it will have backwards compatibility, as well as 4K capabilities. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nintendo-profits-fall-55-percent-as-people-save-their-cash-for-the-switch-2-140019403.html?src=rss

Intel makes good on CPU instability issues by extending warranties by two years

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Intel is extending the warranties for its controversial Core 13th and 14th-gen processors by two years, it has announced in a community post. The company says it will share more details in coming days, but for now, customers just waiting for their computers to conk out can at least know that they may not have to spend money to replace their processors. Intel revealed in July that after extensive analysis, it found that elevated operating voltage was causing these particular processor models' instability issues for a lot of people.

A microcode algorithm has apparently been sending incorrect voltage requests to the processor, causing users' computers to crash. The company is working on a patch that it plans to release in mid-August, but for some people, it may be too late: As Tom's Hardware notes, the patch will not fix processors that are already crashing. An indie gaming studio called Alderon Games reported that based on its personnel's observations, the processors' failure rate is 100 percent. Even CPUs that work well deteriorate and fail in the end. That's why an extended warranty is very much welcome, especially since some models only have a year-long warranty. 

"Intel is committed to making sure all customers who have or are currently experiencing instability symptoms on their 13th and/or 14th Gen desktop processors are supported in the exchange process," the company wrote in its announcement. It also admitted that "this has been a challenging issue to unravel and definitively root cause." For now, Intel advises those who purchased systems from computer manufacturers to reach out to the brand's support team. Meanwhile, people who purchased boxed CPUs for their PCs can contact Intel's customer support.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/intel-makes-good-on-cpu-instability-issues-by-extending-warranties-by-two-years-130010567.html?src=rss