Author Archives: Kris Holt

OpenAI now has a $4 billion credit line on top of $6.6 billion in funding

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Keeping ChatGPT running is expensive as heck, so OpenAI needs access to plenty of cash to make sure the lights stay on. A day after the company said it had secured $6.6 billion in funding — the biggest ever funding round for a startup — it confirmed that it has a new $4 billion revolving line of credit. OpenAI has yet to tap the credit line, which it obtained from JPMorgan Chase, Citi, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Santander, Wells Fargo, SMBC, UBS and HSBC. Some of those banks are also among OpenAI's customers.

All told, OpenAI now has a war chest of over $10 billion in liquid funds. The company says that will give it the ability to invest in new projects and research, expand its infrastructure and hire top talent. “This credit facility further strengthens our balance sheet and provides flexibility to seize future growth opportunities,” OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar said.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-now-has-a-4-billion-credit-line-on-top-of-66-billion-in-funding-163230350.html?src=rss

Prime Day deals include 32 percent off Amazon’s Kindle Paperwhite Kids

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Physical books are heavy and given everything else a youngster has to carry around in their backpack, who needs to deal with those as well? An ereader can help to lighten the load and there's a good deal on a kid-friendly option at the minute. Just ahead of the October edition of Prime Day, Amazon has dropped the price of the Kindle Paperwhite Kids by $55, bringing it down to $115. That's close to the all-time-low price.

Along with a Kindle Paperwhite with 16GB of storage, the bundle includes a year of Amazon Kids+ access, a kid-friendly cover and a two-year worry-free guarantee. If the ereader breaks for any reason in that timeframe, Amazon will replace it. Amazon says all of that equates to a value of up to $263.

Amazon Kids+ typically costs $6 per month. It includes thousands of kid-friendly books, Amazon says. The Paperwhite is all about reading. So while Amazon Kids+ includes access to games, videos and apps on a Kindle Fire, there's none of that here.

The Kindle Paperwhite Kids has a couple extra features called Vocabulary Builder and Word Wise to help youngsters develop their reading skills. The ereader also includes a font called OpenDyslexic, which Amazon says some readers with dyslexia prefer.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice in the lead up to October Prime Day 2024.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/prime-day-deals-include-32-percent-off-amazons-kindle-paperwhite-kids-193131655.html?src=rss

ChatGPT added 50 million weekly users in just two months

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It's little wonder that investors were clamoring to plow money into OpenAI. Alongside an announcement that the company had raised $6.6 billion in funding, OpenAI revealed that "every week, over 250 million people around the world use ChatGPT to enhance their work, creativity, and learning." That's a sharp rise since late August, when OpenAI said the chatbot had 200 million weekly users — double the number it had last November. As of June, 350 million people were using OpenAI's tools each month, according to internal documents obtained by The New York Times. It's unclear how many people are paying for access versus those using the free tier.

It's not exactly clear why there was such a sharp increase in user numbers in just a couple of months. However, kids just went back to school and might be using the chatbot to cheat do some quick research. OpenAI can probably expect ChatGPT's user numbers to get another major boost when Apple eventually incorporates it into Apple Intelligence, which will happen in the coming months.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/chatgpt-added-50-million-weekly-users-in-just-two-months-181012894.html?src=rss

Students used Meta’s smart glasses to automatically dox strangers via Instagram streams

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An unsettling report from 404 Media has shed light on some ways that the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses could be used to violate people's privacy. Two Harvard students used facial recognition tech and a large language model to unearth a subject's name, occupation and other details. Their setup (dubbed I-XRAY) can use that information to pull together other data about the person including their address, phone number, family member details and partial Social Security Numbers from a variety of sources on the web. All of this is said to happen automatically.

While this would be possible with a variety of cameras, AnhPhu Nguyen and Caine Ardayfio opted to use Meta's smart glasses since "they look almost indistinguishable from regular glasses" and have a camera built in. A demo video shows the students using the glasses to swiftly find out information about people they meet in public. Nguyen and Ardayfio address people who appear to be strangers by name, discuss their work and bring up a place where they may have met in the past, based on information gleaned through the facial recognition setup.

In the video, it's explained that the students stream video from the glasses to Instagram. The stream is monitored by a computer program. Once AI detects someone's face, their I-XRAY system pulls more photos of that person from the web along with public information about them. The program then feeds those details back to a mobile app that Nguyen and Ardayfio built. It can take just a couple of minutes for this process to play out.

The students told 404 Media that they developed I-XRAY to make people aware of what's possible with this technology and they won't release the code that they used. Nguyen said that while some of the people they showed the tech to suggested they might use it to network or prank friends, others pointed out some serious safety concerns. “Some dude could just find some girl’s home address on the train and just follow them home," Nguyen pointed out.

In a Google Doc that explains some of the tech behind their system, Nguyen and Ardayfio provide resources detailing how to remove your information from the services that they used for I-XRAY. Those concerned about their privacy may also want to consider using personal information removal services such as DeleteMe or Incogni.

This kind of technology isn't inherently new — 404 Media points out that Meta and Google have had the ability to apply facial recognition to a camera feed for years, but didn't release it publicly. But the ability to use it in off-the-shelf smart glasses that appear relatively innocuous (save for a light that is active when the camera is recording) may give cause for concern.

When asked for comment, Meta referred Engadget to this section of its terms of service regarding Facebook View, an accompanying app for the smart glasses:

Your responsibility for your use of Facebook View. You are responsible for complying with all applicable laws when using Facebook View, and for providing any notice or obtaining any consents, as required under video recording, audio recording, biometric data, or other privacy, data protection, or other applicable laws, from other individuals who use your Facebook View or interact with you while you are using Facebook View. You are also responsible for using Facebook View in a safe, lawful, and respectful manner. You may not tamper with the Glasses, or otherwise obscure or modify any of the features on the Glasses that signal to others that the Glasses are recording (including the external-facing LED light).

Facebook View is intended for purely personal or household use. You may only use Facebook View for personal non-commercial purposes subject to the Terms and any other terms made available by us relating to Facebook View. Except to the extent such restriction is prohibited under applicable law, you will not disassemble, decompile, reverse engineer, decrypt, or attempt to derive any code or extract software from Facebook View. Except to the extent expressly permitted by us, you will not prepare derivative works based upon, distribute, license, sell, rent, transfer, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, stream, broadcast or otherwise exploit Facebook View or any software, content, or services made available on or through Facebook View.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/students-used-metas-smart-glasses-to-automatically-dox-strangers-via-instagram-streams-170228496.html?src=rss

Palworld is bound for mobile, thanks to the maker of PUBG

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Palworld could be on its way to a mobile device near you. Krafton, the publisher of PUBG: Battlegrounds, has agreed a licensing deal with the game’s maker, Pocketpair, to bring the smash hit to mobile.

Krafton’s PUBG Studios will develop the mobile version. No other details have been announced, other than to note that PUBG Studios will “reinterpret” Palworld’s gameplay for mobile devices, per an automated translation of a press release (which is in Korean). So it’s not completely clear whether this will be a faithful port of the full game or a spinoff that has some of the same features.

Palworld debuted in January and it was an instant hit, selling over a million copies in eight hours and 15 million on Steam alone within a month. It also quickly reached 10 million players on Xbox and was biggest ever third-party launch on Game Pass. Palworld then suddenly landed on PlayStation 5 in many markets last week.

However, there’s a reason that Palworld isn’t available on PS5 in Japan for now. The game’s similarity to Pokémon (here, you also catch a variety of monsters, but some of ‘em have guns and you can also eat them) caught the attention of Nintendo and The Pokémon Company. The latter indicated in January that it was investigating the would-be rival. In September, the two companies filed suit against Pocketpair in Japan for alleged patent infringement.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/palworld-is-bound-for-mobile-thanks-to-the-maker-of-pubg-141104110.html?src=rss

The first new Game Pass titles for October include Inscryption and Sifu

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While there's a much bigger title coming to the service later in the month, Xbox has revealed the first five Game Pass additions for October. Among them are some newcomers to the new Game Pass Standard tier. 

Baseball sim MLB The Show 24 and the enjoyable narrative game Open Roads were already on Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass and Game Pass for Console (which is no longer available unless you were grandfathered in). They'll join the Standard library on consoles on October 2 alongside Sifu. That captivating brawler is also coming to Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.

Two other games will hit all versions of the service save for Xbox Game Pass Core in the coming days (have we talked about how needlessly convoluted the Game Pass setup is lately?). Physics-based party brawler Mad Streets will join the lineup on October 7, followed by Inscryption on October 10. That creepy roguelike deck-builder is one of our picks for the best horror games you can play right now.

Inevitably, Xbox will be removing some games from the library in the coming days to make way for the newcomers (and also because various licensing deals will be coming to an end). On October 15, it will yank Dyson Sphere Program, Everspace 2, From Space, F1 Manager 2023 and Scorn.

As ever, Xbox will add more titles to Game Pass in the back half of the month, including a lil' under-the-radar one a few people might have heard of called Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. That one will not be on the Standard tier any time soon, however.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/the-first-new-game-pass-titles-for-october-include-inscryption-and-sifu-165518640.html?src=rss

Here’s how Sonos hopes to win back your trust after its app debacle

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It’s been a disastrous few months for Sonos after the company botched a major overhaul of its mobile app. In an effort to win back users’ trust, the company has laid out a plan that includes several new commitments.

“Our priority since its release has been — and continues to be — fixing the app. There were missteps, and we first went deep to understand how we got here, and then moved to convert those learnings into action,” Sonos CEO Patrick Spence said in a statement. “We are committed to making changes to get us back to being the brand people love by offering the best audio system for the home and beyond.”

There are two pillars that Sonos’ latest plan is based on: tackling the core causes of the app’s problems (it wasn’t fully ready and lacked critical features) and winning back users’ trust. In the first instance, Sonos is promising an "unwavering focus on the customer experience." That nebulous commitment involves deciding on "ambitious quality benchmarks" at the beginning of a product development cycle and not releasing products before those standards are met.

The company will appoint a quality ombudsperson, who will be a point of contact for employees who have quality and customer experience concerns. Sonos leadership will consult this person during the development process and before any product rollouts. The ombudsperson will deliver a semi-annual report to the executives and employees as well.

Next, Sonos is planning to make its testing processes more stringent, such as by opening up its beta testing program to more types of users and different kinds of setups. Testing periods will be longer too. As such, Sonos thinks this will help it to address user concerns faster.

In addition, Sonos has pledged to roll out major changes to its app gradually. That way, users can provide feedback and let the company make tweaks before a significant update becomes the default for everyone. As for smaller-scoped features, there will be an opt-in toggle in the app for those who want to try them out on an experimental basis.

When it comes to earning consumers’ trust again, Sonos is making a trio of pledges. First, as a goodwill gesture, Sonos is extending the manufacturer warranty for all home speaker products (home theater gear and plug-in speakers) that are still under warranty. The company has promised to keep rolling out app updates between every two and four weeks in order to "optimize and enhance the software experience."

Last but not least, Sonos will set up a customer advisory board. This will provide the company with "feedback and insights from a customer perspective to help shape and improve our software and products before they are launched."

The company plans to implement all of these changes by the end of the year, though some of them are already in place. Sonos also notes that, unless it's able to rebuild trust with users and improve "the quality of the app experience," none of its executive leadership team members will receive an annual bonus for the fiscal year that commenced today. However, the company didn't spell out the parameters for meeting those goals.

The company debuted its new app in May in preparation for the debut of the Sonos Ace, its first set of headphones. However, to its detriment, Sonos rushed the rollout of the redesigned app. It was buggy and lacked several important and fundamental features, such as the ability to adjust alarms (it was possible, but inconvenient, to do that on the desktop app).

The company has spent several months trying to fix the issues, which it says will end up costing between $20 million and $30 million to resolve. The problems prompted Sonos to delay the release of two new products. It also laid off 100 workers in August.

Sonos says that it has brought back over 80 percent of the app's missing features and it expects to have restored almost 100 percent in the coming weeks. It claims that "the reliability and speed of the app has improved with each release."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/heres-how-sonos-hopes-to-win-back-your-trust-after-its-app-debacle-144236940.html?src=rss

Amazon’s Fire HD 10 tablet drops to a record-low price ahead of October Prime Day

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If you've been on the lookout for a killer deal on a perfectly decent tablet for streaming videos and catching up on some reading, hunt no more. Just ahead of the October edition of Prime Day, Amazon has slashed the price of the Fire HD 10 tablet to $75, which is a discount of $65. This matches the tablet's lowest price to date, which we saw during Prime Day in July.

The deal is for a model with 32GB of storage and ads on the lockscreen. Expanding the storage is easy enough thanks to the microSD slot, but to get rid of the lockscreen ads you'll need to buy a different version (which, at $90, is also currently $65 off).

You probably won't be doing as much creative work on a Fire HD tablet as you might on an iPad Pro. But for kicking back and catching up on a show or reading a Kindle book, Amazon's tablet certainly does the trick. It has a 10.1-inch Full HD display with a promise of up to 13 hours of battery life. Amazon says it delivers 25 percent faster performance than the previous model and it has 3GB of storage.

You can use the tablet to keep up with family and friends using messaging apps or hop on video calls with the help of the 5MP front-facing camera. You can also use a stylus to sketch in various apps. There's Alexa integration as well, of course — you can use the tablet to control smart compatible home devices and get a live view of connected security cameras.

One thing worth noting is that Amazon has yet to hold its usual fall devices event, so it may be using the October Prime Day sale to get rid of its current inventory of devices on the cheap before announcing upgraded models. Even if Amazon does have new tablets to show off in the coming weeks, though, you'll still have a solid device in hand if you snap this one up.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice in the lead up to October Prime Day 2024.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/amazons-fire-hd-10-tablet-drops-to-a-record-low-price-ahead-of-october-prime-day-202755183.html?src=rss

Verizon says its network is ‘fully restored’ following an hours-long outage

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Update, September 30, 7:28PM ET: At 7:18PM ET, the company tweeted that its engineers had resolved the issue. The original story, which was updated twice after publish with statements from Verizon, follows.

Verizon mobile customers reported widespread outages across the US on Monday. Starting at around 9:30AM ET, hundreds of thousands of people flagged issues with their mobile service on Downdetector, which tracks user-submitted outage reports. The volume of reports spiked at almost 105,000 at 11:20AM, but were still reaching almost 59,000 at 12:52PM.

Many folks claimed they were unable to make or receive calls or exchange text messages. Those with an iPhone may be seeing "SOS" instead of the usual connection bars on the top right of their screen. That's a common sight when there's limited service or none at all. However, affected iPhone users can still make emergency calls via other networks.

A Downdetector heatmap suggested that the issue was most prevalent in New York, New Jersey, Georgia and elsewhere on the east coast and midwest. A narrow yellow band of reports was also emerging on the west coast as of 1:10PM ET. along with an intensifying heat spot in Los Angeles.

Verizon confirmed that service was affected for some customers. “Our engineers are engaged and we are working quickly to solve the issue,” the company wrote on X at 11:48AM. The cause of the outage is not yet clear.

As of 3:45PM ET, Verizon had yet to provide an update on the outage via X. User outage reports were still flooding into Downdetector, however, with almost 48,000 of them at 3:10PM.

At 5:04PM ET, the company tweeted that "service has started to be restored," and Downdetector reports of outages had dipped below 30,000. 

At 7:18PM ET, the company tweeted that its engineers had "fully restored today's network disruption." The number of reports of an outage on Downdetector had dropped below 3,500. There has still been no word from the company on what caused the outage.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/verizon-says-its-network-is-fully-restored-following-an-hours-long-outage-194833420.html?src=rss

Ford throws in a free home charger and installation with new EV purchases and leases

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Ford is looking to take some of the sting out of EV charging by offering a free home charger. The automaker will even send out a technician to install it at no cost to you if you buy or lease a retail Mustang Mach-E, F-150 Lightning or E-Transit between October 1 and January 2. However, Ford may opt to extend the program if it proves successful. (Ford Pro fleet customers will get a $2,000 commercial charging cash incentive instead.)

According to Joanna Stern of The Wall Street Journal, those who take up the offer will get a Level 2 charger at home. This should save Ford EV buyers and lessees a pretty penny, since the Ford Charge Station Pro costs $1,310 and the company typically charges $2,000 for installation. Still, those who want to take up the deal may need to make sure their garage is wired up properly to fully take advantage of Level 2 charging.

The EV side of Ford's business has been struggling as of late — the company expects that division to lose as much as $5.5 billion this year. In January, it cut production of the F-150 Lightning due to lower than expected demand and shifted resources to make more Broncos and Rangers. A few months later, the company delayed some EV models, including a planned three-row SUV, and placed more focus on hybrids. But in August, the automaker killed the three-row SUV project entirely while further delaying some other EVs.

Incentivizing EV purchases and leases with a free home charger and installation is smart and it could pay off for Ford. However, it may turn out to be little more than a Band-Aid for the division's deeper-set problems.

Update 9/30 2:53PM ET: The headline has been updated to reflect that the offer is available for all new EV purchases and leases in the US.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/ford-chucks-in-a-free-ev-home-charger-and-installation-with-some-models-160138994.html?src=rss