Author Archives: Mariella Moon

DeepSeek promises its new AI model has ‘world-class’ reasoning

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DeepSeek has released its latest AI models, the V4 Pro and Flash versions, a bit over a year after it went viral and became the top rated free app on Apple's App Store in the US. “Welcome to the era of cost-effective 1 million context length,” DeepSeek said in its announcement. Context length is what you call the maximum number of tokens that an AI model can remember, so the bigger it is, the more coherent and consistent an AI is when it comes to extended conversations. OpenAI’s recently announced GPT‑5.5 has a context window ranging from 400,000 to 1 million, for instance.

The new model is still open-source, allowing users to download its code and modify it if they want. DeepSeek says V4 Pro has enhanced agentic capabilities and claims that it rivals top closed-source models when it comes to reasoning. It also says that it trails only Gemini-3.1-Pro in rich world knowledge. Meanwhile, V4 Flash isn’t quite as powerful as the V4 Pro, but it has faster response times. Still, its reasoning abilities closely approach V4 Pro, DeepSeek says, and it performs on par with with the Pro version on simple Agent tasks.

Shortly after DeepSeek topped the App Store charts, it was banned for use by US federal agencies and on government-owned devices. Authorities believed it was a national security risk and posed a threat to US AI stocks. South Korea also paused downloads of its app over privacy concerns.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/deepseek-promises-its-new-ai-model-has-world-class-reasoning-115733512.html?src=rss

US soldier arrested for allegedly making over $400,000 on Polymarket with classified Maduro information

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United States soldier Gannon Ken Van Dyke has been arrested and charged for placing bets on prediction marketplace Polymarket using classified information he had access to related to the capture of former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro. The US Army Special Forces master sergeant, who was directly involved with the planning and execution of the operation, allegedly made $409,881 in profits.

According to the Department of Justice, Van Dyke created a Polymarket account around December 26, 2025 and made 13 bets related to Maduro from December 27 to January 2. He took the “Yes” position on several Polymarket wagers, including “US Forces in Venezuela… by January 31, 2026,” “Maduro out by… January 31, 2026, “Will the US invade Venezuela by January 31” and “Trump invokes War Powers against Venezuela by… January 31.” The US military captured Maduro and his wife on January 3.

Van Dyke allegedly bet a total of $33,034 and made over ten times that amount from his winnings. He withdrew his money from Polymarket on the day Maduro was captured and then sent it to a foreign crypto vault before depositing it to a new online brokerage account.

Shortly after Maduro’s capture, reports came out about how an anonymous gambler made almost half a million dollars before it was announced, raising concerns that someone had profited off insider military knowledge. The Justice Department says Van Dyke tried to cover his tracks. After reports about the potential insider bets were published, he allegedly asked Polymarket to delete his account, falsely claiming that he lost access to the email he used. He also changed the email address linked to his crypto account to another one not associated with his name.

Van Dyke has been charged with three counts of violation against the Commodity Exchange Act, with each one carrying a max sentence of 10 years in prison. He has also been charged with one count of wire fraud with a max penalty of 20 years in prison, as well as one count of unlawful monetary transaction with a max sentence of 10 years.

Prediction marketplaces have been struggling with insider trading problems, and this is far from the first incident. Recently, Kalshi took action against three political candidates, accusing them of insider trading related to their campaigns. Matt Klein of Minnesota and Ezekiel Enriquez of Texas face a fine of less than $1,000 and suspensions of up to five years. Meanwhile Mark Moran of Virginia faces disciplinary action, a five year suspension and a fine of more than $6,000.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/us-soldier-arrested-for-allegedly-making-over-400000-on-polymarket-with-classified-maduro-information-014531367.html?src=rss

Musk pledges to fix 2019-2023 Teslas that can’t fully self drive

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Tesla still doesn’t have a solid pathway for how to give Hardware 3 cars Full Self-Driving (FSD) capabilities, based on what Elon Musk said during the company’s latest earnings call. The automaker has known for quite a while that its vehicles equipped with Hardware 3 aren’t capable of unsupervised FSD, even though the company built the system specifically to give its cars the ability. Tesla used Hardware 3 on cars manufactured from 2019 until early 2023 before Hardware 4 shipped.

During an earlier earnings call back in January 2025, Musk admitted that the company was “going to have to upgrade people’s Hardware 3 computer for those that have bought Full Self-Driving.” At Tesla’s latest earnings call, Musk said that Hardware 3 “simply does not have the capability to achieve unsupervised FSD.” Tesla thought it would be able to at one point, but Hardware 3 apparently has 1/8th the memory bandwidth of Hardware 4. Musk explained that memory bandwidth is “one of the key elements” needed for unsupervised FSD.

Tesla will be offering to upgrade and replace the computers and cameras on older vehicles, but it doesn’t have a concrete plan in place yet. “I do think over time it’s going to make sense for us to convert all Hardware 3 cars to Hardware 4,” he said. To do so at service centers would be extremely slow, Musk has admitted. Around 4 million cars or so have Hardware 3, though not everyone has paid for FSD. Still, to be able to replace its vehicles’ hardware efficiently, Musk said Tesla is going to have to set up “microfactories or small factories in major metropolitan areas.” He didn’t give any indication that Tesla has already started building those microfactories, though, or even that construction is already scheduled to begin. He did say that in the meantime, the company is going to be releasing FSD version 14 for Hardware 3 around the end of June.

Musk also said during the same earnings call that Tesla’s Fremont factory will start manufacturing the company’s humanoid Optimus robots in late July or August. The Tesla CEO is known for announcing highly optimistic and aggressive timelines. Tesla made the decision to kill off its Model X and S cars earlier this year, so that it can convert its Fremont facility into an Optimus factory. The last Model S and X vehicles will be rolling off the production line in May, which gives the company just a few months to dismantle the facility’s current equipment and put new ones in place.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/musk-pledges-to-fix-2019-2023-teslas-that-cant-fully-self-drive-095002120.html?src=rss

Anker’s ‘Thus’ chip brings AI to its headphones and other products

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Anker has announced its own chip that can give its small, wearable products AI capabilities that run locally on device. The company is planning to debut the chip called “Thus” on a new model of headphones, slated to be unveiled at its Anker Day event on May 21.

Anker calls Thus the “first Compute-in-Memory (CIM) AI audio chip with neural networks.” The company explains that Thus is “inspired by the workings of the human brain” in that the storage and processing of information takes place in one location instead of keeping them separate, similar to how it works on modern chips for computers.

Thus integrates computing power directly into NOR flash memory cells, which provide faster read speeds than NAND memory. A NOR-based CIM system requires only a tiny space inside devices, which makes it an ideal option for small products like headphones. Anker says headphones are a particularly challenging environment to demonstrate what a new chip can do, because “hardly any other device places higher demands on an AI chip.” They have a tiny space allotted for components and operate with just a few milliwatts of power, even though they have to consistently provide noise cancellation. If the model delivers, it could be a huge advertisement for Thus, which Anker plans to put in other mobile accessories and IoT devices, as well.

While the company has yet to reveal all its upcoming headphones’ AI-powered capabilities, it did announce one particular feature. Clear Calls, as it’s called, will cancel noise “with a large neural network running entirely on the device, supported by eight MEMS microphones and two bone conduction sensors.” Anker says it will enable significantly clearer conversations even in environments that are challenging for conventional noise cancellation.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/ankers-thus-chip-brings-ai-to-its-headphones-and-other-products-122142552.html?src=rss

X finally adds custom timelines

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Nikita Bier, X’s head of product, has announced the launch of custom timelines, which lets you curate what you see on your feed based on your topics of interest. He called the update “one of the biggest changes to X” and a ”huge undertaking” that took the team “many months” to develop. The feature lets you pin specific topics to your home tab, so you can switch from one to the other to see the latest discussions about your interests and hobbies.

Bier said that X’s custom timelines is “powered by Grok's understanding of every post with the algorithm's personalization.” You have 75 topics to choose from, including food, art, photography, business, finance, movies and TV. As you’d expect, the personalization aspect of the feature works better if it’s a topic you already engage with regularly. X’s new feature is similar to Bluesky’s and Threads’ custom feeds, which also allow you to pin topic-based timelines to the home screens of the apps, and which their users have been enjoying since 2023 and 2024, respectively.

At the moment, X’s custom timelines is still in its early access phase and is only available to Premium subscribers on iOS. It will be rolling out to Premium users on Android “very soon,” as well. Bier has also announced that X has released a tool to snooze topics on the For You tab. With the tool, you’ll be able to hide certain topics, such as politics or sports, for 24 hours from your feed. It’s now available for Premium users on iOS and the web.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/x-finally-adds-custom-timelines-103130966.html?src=rss

Amazon allegedly pressured companies to raise product prices with other retailers

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Rob Bonta, the Attorney General of California, has released an unredacted copy of a legal document that the state filed in relation to its lawsuit against Amazon, containing details of the company’s alleged price fixing scheme. In it, the state of California accuses the e-commerce company of reaching out to brands and asking them to “fix” the retail prices of their products on competitors’ websites. Due to Amazon’s “overwhelming bargaining leverage” and out of fear of punishment, the brands agree to raise their products’ prices on other retailers like Walmart and Target or to remove them altogether, the filing reads.

California filed an antitrust lawsuit accusing Amazon of price fixing back in 2022. It said the company prevented sellers from offering lower prices on other sites and that vendors risked losing buy buttons and prominent listings if they defied Amazon. In February this year, Bonta filed for a preliminary injunction, asking the court to put a stop to Amazon’s “illegal conduct” while the state’s lawsuit is ongoing and waiting to go to trial next year.

In the unredacted filing, California said that Amazon instructs vendors and brands to increase their prices on other retailers and threatens them with “significant penalties for failure to comply.” State officials gave several examples in the filing, including one incident wherein Amazon allegedly emailed security systems provider Arlo.

The company talked to Arlo about “external price matching,” along with a screenshot of one of its cameras on Walmart, noting that its price of $549.93 “did not go back up.” Arlo reportedly responded that it would get it addressed, and Amazon told the company to “get [it] corrected by EOD.” Afterward, Arlo sent Amazon a screenshot, showing the same Walmart page now listing the camera’s price at $649.99. Amazon ended the conversation by thanking Arlo for its “quick action.” Other samples include Amazon asking Levi’s to “resolve” the lower prices of its khaki pants on Walmart and Hanes to increase the prices of its clothing items on Walmart and Target.

Amazon shrugged off the filing’s release and called California’s case against the company weak. “The Attorney General’s motion is a transparent attempt to distract from the weakness of its case, coming more than three years after filing its complaint and based on supposedly ‘new’ evidence it has had for years,” an Amazon spokesperson told Engadget. “Amazon is consistently identified as America’s lowest-priced online retailer, and we’re proud of the low prices customers find when shopping in our store. Amazon looks forward to responding in court at the appropriate time.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/amazon-allegedly-pressured-companies-to-raise-product-prices-with-other-retailers-115302642.html?src=rss

Amazon allegedly pressured companies to raise product prices with other retailers

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Rob Bonta, the Attorney General of California, has released an unredacted copy of a legal document that the state filed in relation to its lawsuit against Amazon, containing details of the company’s alleged price fixing scheme. In it, the state of California accuses the e-commerce company of reaching out to brands and asking them to “fix” the retail prices of their products on competitors’ websites. Due to Amazon’s “overwhelming bargaining leverage” and out of fear of punishment, the brands agree to raise their products’ prices on other retailers like Walmart and Target or to remove them altogether, the filing reads.

California filed an antitrust lawsuit accusing Amazon of price fixing back in 2022. It said the company prevented sellers from offering lower prices on other sites and that vendors risked losing buy buttons and prominent listings if they defied Amazon. In February this year, Bonta filed for a preliminary injunction, asking the court to put a stop to Amazon’s “illegal conduct” while the state’s lawsuit is ongoing and waiting to go to trial next year.

In the unredacted filing, California said that Amazon instructs vendors and brands to increase their prices on other retailers and threatens them with “significant penalties for failure to comply.” State officials gave several examples in the filing, including one incident wherein Amazon allegedly emailed security systems provider Arlo.

The company talked to Arlo about “external price matching,” along with a screenshot of one of its cameras on Walmart, noting that its price of $549.93 “did not go back up.” Arlo reportedly responded that it would get it addressed, and Amazon told the company to “get [it] corrected by EOD.” Afterward, Arlo sent Amazon a screenshot, showing the same Walmart page now listing the camera’s price at $649.99. Amazon ended the conversation by thanking Arlo for its “quick action.” Other samples include Amazon asking Levi’s to “resolve” the lower prices of its khaki pants on Walmart and Hanes to increase the prices of its clothing items on Walmart and Target.

Amazon shrugged off the filing’s release and called California’s case against the company weak. “The Attorney General’s motion is a transparent attempt to distract from the weakness of its case, coming more than three years after filing its complaint and based on supposedly ‘new’ evidence it has had for years,” an Amazon spokesperson told Engadget. “Amazon is consistently identified as America’s lowest-priced online retailer, and we’re proud of the low prices customers find when shopping in our store. Amazon looks forward to responding in court at the appropriate time.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/amazon-allegedly-pressured-companies-to-raise-product-prices-with-other-retailers-115302642.html?src=rss

Instagram says a bug turned your photos black and white

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If Instagram has been turning your color photo posts into black and white recently, don’t worry, there’s no problem with your camera or your account. The Meta-owned app has confirmed to Engadget that the issue is caused by a bug that’s affecting HDR photos in particular. "Earlier today, a technical issue caused some HDR photos to appear incorrectly as black-and-white for a subset of accounts,” Instagram has told us. However, we see complaints dated April 18 and 19, so the issue has been going on a bit longer for some people.

Regardless of when the bug started causing problems, the Instagram team said it has since corrected the issue. If your posts are still showing up in black and white, Instagram said the fix will automatically turn your affected photo posts back to their original state over the next few hours. “We apologize for any inconvenience,” they added.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/instagram-says-a-bug-turned-your-photos-black-and-white-061802389.html?src=rss

Anthropic will ask Claude users to verify their identities ‘for a few use cases’

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Anthropic has started rolling out identity verification on Claude “for a few use cases.” The company didn’t list out those use cases in its announcement, but we’ve asked it for details and will update this post when we hear back. Anthropic says you might see a verification prompt upon “accessing certain capabilities,” asking you to verify your identity. You would have to show a valid and physical government-issued photo ID. You’d also have take a selfie with your phone or computer camera that the system will compare against the ID you present. 

The news, as you’d expect, wasn’t well-received. Many users are questioning the necessity of identity verification to be able to use an AI chatbot, especially if Anthropic already has their credit cards on file as paying subscribers. People are also criticizing Anthropic’s decision to use Persona Identities, which also provides age verification services for OpenAI and Roblox. One of Persona’s major investors is venture firm Founders Fund, which was co-founded by Peter Thiel, who’s also the co-founder and chairman of surveillance company Palantir. 

Palantir’s customers are mostly federal agencies and government offices, including the FBI, the CIA and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Most criticisms against the company center around the services it provides those customers, as they’re mainly used to expand government surveillance using its facial recognition and AI technologies. 

In its announcement, Anthropic said that Persona will be the one handling your IDs and selfies. It will not copy and store those images. It also said that Persona is “contractually limited” in how it can use your data and that all data passing through its process is “encrypted in transit and at rest.” Anthropic emphasized that it will not use your identity data to train its models and that it will not share your data with anyone else. 

Update April 16, 2026, 11:35AM ET: Reached for comment, an Anthropic spokesperson told Engadget that "this applies to a small number of cases where we see activity that indicates potentially fraudulent or abusive behavior, which violates our usage policy."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/anthropic-will-ask-claude-users-to-verify-their-identities-for-a-few-use-cases-115754092.html?src=rss

YouTube now lets you hide Shorts

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You now have the power to remove short-form videos from your YouTube feed if you don’t want to see them. YouTube has rolled out the capability to set your Shorts feed limit to zero minutes, which could help you stop doomscrolling, at least on mobile. The video-sharing platform originally launched a Shorts feed limit back in October last year, but the lowest option you could choose was 15 minutes. Once 15 minutes are up, you’ll get a pop-up reminding you to take a break.

Earlier this year, it integrated the feature with parental controls, allowing guardians to set time limits for younger users. YouTube said back then that parents will soon see the option to set the timer to zero. Now, the Shorts timer is live not just for parents, but for all users. We can confirm that we’re now seeing the zero minutes option in our (adult) account and were able to activate it for ourselves. When you select it, you may see a notice that says “Scrolling is paused but you may still see individual Shorts.” You may also have to refresh your app before short-form videos disappear from your feed.

To be able to block stop Shorts from showing up for you, go to your Setting page in the YouTube app for mobile. Look for “Time management” and scroll down to “Daily limits,” where you can find the “Shorts feed limit” section. If you don’t want to get rid of Shorts altogether, you can choose from any of the other options, with two hours being the maximum time available.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/youtube-now-lets-you-hide-shorts-085538825.html?src=rss