The UK’s antitrust regulator will formally investigate Alphabet’s $2.3 billion Anthropic investment

The UK’s competition regulator is probing Alphabet’s investment in AI startup Anthropic. After opening public comments this summer, the Competition and Market Authority (CMA) said on Thursday it has “sufficient information” to begin an initial investigation into whether Alphabet’s reported $2.3 billion investment in the Claude AI chatbot maker harms competition in UK markets.

The CMA breaks its merger probes into two stages: a preliminary scan to determine whether there’s enough evidence to dig deeper and an optional second phase where the government gathers as much evidence as possible. After the second stage, it ultimately decides on a regulatory outcome.

The probe will formally kick off on Friday. By December 19, the CMA will choose whether to move to a phase 2 investigation.

Google told Engadget that Anthropic isn’t locked into its cloud services. “Google is committed to building the most open and innovative AI ecosystem in the world,” a company spokesperson wrote in an email. “Anthropic is free to use multiple cloud providers and does, and we don't demand exclusive tech rights.” Engadget also reached out to the CMA for comment, and we’ll update this story if we hear back.

TechCrunch notes that Alphabet reportedly invested $300 million in Anthropic in early 2023. Later that year, it was said to back the AI startup with an additional $2 billion. Situations like this can be classified as a “quasi-merger,” where deep-pocketed tech companies essentially take control of emerging startups through strategic investments and hiring founders and technical workers.

Amazon has invested even more in Anthropic: a whopping $4 billion. After an initial public comment period, the CMA declined to investigate that investment last month. The CMA said Amazon avoided Alphabet’s fate at least in part because of its current rules: Anthropic’s UK turnover didn’t exceed £70 million, and the two parties didn’t combine to account for 25 percent or more of the region’s supply (in this case, AI LLMs and chatbots).

Although the CMA hasn’t specified, something in Alphabet’s $2.3 billion Anthropic investment constituted a deeper dive. Of course, Google’s Gemini competes with Claude, and both companies make large language models they provide to small businesses and enterprise customers.

Update, October 25, 2024, 11:10AM ET: This story has been updated to add a quote from a Google representative.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/the-uks-antitrust-regulator-will-formally-investigate-alphabets-23-billion-anthropic-investment-171043846.html?src=rss

Apple teases new Macs in a ‘week of announcements’ that starts Monday

Apple is planning a "week of announcements" starting next Monday, October 28, that's all but guaranteed to include the reveal of new Macs. The company's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, Greg Joswiak said to "Mac (😉) your calendars!" in a post on X, letting the cat out of the bag.

"We have an exciting week of announcements ahead, starting on Monday morning," Joswiak wrote. "Stay tuned…"

It was widely expected that Apple would reveal desktop Macs and MacBooks that run on M4 chipsets next week, a year after the company unveiled its first M3-powered laptops. The M4 debuted in an iPad Pro earlier this year, but Apple has yet to refresh its Macs with the chipset. It had long been rumored that Apple would release M4-powered iMacs, 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros and a redesigned Mac mini by early 2025, and now it appears to be doing so ahead of the peak holiday shopping season.

New hardware isn't the only thing Apple has lined up for next week. On Monday, the company will release iPhone, iPad and Mac software updates that will give the masses their first taste of Apple Intelligence features. Meanwhile, Apple just released its latest iPad Mini.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/apple-teases-new-macs-in-a-week-of-announcements-that-starts-monday-165121897.html?src=rss

Get a four-pack of Samsung Galaxy SmartTag2 trackers for just $64

Attaching Bluetooth trackers to important items can help you keep tabs on your important stuff. If you have a Samsung Galaxy device, you may wish to consider the Samsung Galaxy SmartTag2, not least because you can pick up a four-pack at a discount. The bundle has dropped to $64 at Amazon. That’s $36 off the list price.

It’s not quite a record low price for this pack — it dropped to $60 over Labor Day. Still, its a solid discount on our pick for the best Bluetooth tracker designed for use with Samsung devices.

The trackers are oblong-shaped and have a metal ring at one end. This is said to provide improved durability over the first-gen SmartTag while making it easy to attach the tracker to things like a set of keys. Apple AirTag owners, on the other hand, may need to buy a case to attach that tracker to their precious belongings. There is a silicone case you can buy for the SmartTag2 for extra protection, though the tracker is already IP67-rated for dust and water resistance.

Samsung says the SmartTag2 can run for up to 500 days in Normal Mode or 700 days in Power Saving Mode on its CR2032 watch battery. A Compass View that shows the direction and distance of a tag from your phone can help you track down a misplaced item that's nearby. The Lost Mode allows anyone to tap an NFC-enabled phone against the tracker to scan it and see your contact details, as long as you choose to share that info. You can include a personalized message if you wish too.

One major downside of the SmartTag2 is that it only works with Samsung phones and tablets running at least Android 8.0. Other trackers can connect to broader networks of Apple and Android devices, perhaps making missing items they're attached to easier to pinpoint.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/get-a-four-pack-of-samsung-galaxy-smarttag2-trackers-for-just-64-164101334.html?src=rss

Of course telecom companies are suing the FTC to block the new ‘click-to-cancel’ rule

An industry group representing telecom providers like Comcast and Charter has sued the FTC to block the recently-ratified “click-to-cancel” rule, as reported by Reuters. The NCTA, formerly known as the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, filed the suit with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans on the grounds that the rule oversteps the FTC’s authority.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau, which represents the online advertising industry, and the Electronic Security Association, which represents the home security industry, are also involved in the lawsuit. The groups call the FTC ruling “arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion.” There’s also language in the suit that suggests that jumping through annoying hoops to cancel a subscription is actually helpful to consumers, according to USA Today. So this little mom and pop trade organization is just looking out for us, the little guy. I’m practically glowing with appreciation.

For news junkies, the lawsuit’s venue may have raised some eyebrows. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans is widely considered to be the nation’s most right-leaning appeals court, so it’s where giant corporations and political entities like to drop suits like this.

Judges from this court temporarily banned the White House, FBI and the Surgeon General from urging social media companies to take down posts filled with misinformation. The court also invalidated a ban on bump stocks, limited access to the abortion pill mifepristone and made it difficult to fund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB.)

Several of these decisions were reversed by the Supreme Court, so the 5th Circuit is actually markedly more conservative than even SCOTUS. To that end, 12 of the 17 judges on the court were appointed by Republican presidents, with six being appointed by former President Trump. The NCTA and its industry partners have been accused by consumer advocacy groups of “venue shopping” by selecting a federal appeals court that would likely look favorably on the suit.

“The big businesses that deploy deceptive subscription models to trap customers are trying to sue their way out of this regulation to lower costs for millions of consumers,” Liz Zelnick, director for the watchdog group Accountable.US said in a statement published by USA Today. “We’ve seen this movie before, with big industry players venue shopping in a corporate-friendly jurisdiction regardless of the impact on Americans.”

The FTC ratified the “click-to-cancel” rule on October 16 in a vote that went down along party lines. Simply put, this ruling requires providers to make it as easy to cancel a subscription as it is to sign up for one. It prohibits companies from misrepresenting their recurring services and memberships.

“Too often, businesses make people jump through endless hoops just to cancel a subscription,” said Chair Lina Khan. “The FTC’s rule will end these tricks and traps, saving Americans time and money. Nobody should be stuck paying for a service they no longer want.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/of-course-telecom-companies-are-suing-the-ftc-to-block-the-new-click-to-cancel-rule-153728158.html?src=rss

Intel wins latest antitrust battle with EU court

Intel just won an epic battle with the European Union over a €1.06 billion ($1.1 billion) fine levied way back in 2009, Bloomberg reported. In a final decision, the EU Court of Justice overturned the original judgement, ruling that regulators didn't provide sufficient proof that Intel gave illegal rebates to PC makers. Intel's European misadventures aren't quite finished yet, though, as it's still battling a €376 million fine ($406 million) imposed by the Commission last year.

Back in 2009, the EU ruled that Intel illegally used hidden rebates to squeeze rivals out of the marketplace for CPUs. It also found that Intel paid manufacturers to delay or completely cease the launch of products powered by AMD's CPUs, calling those actions "naked restrictions." The legal process went back and forth for years after that, but in 2017, Europe's highest court ordered the fine to be re-examined as the EU didn't conduct an economic assessment on how Intel's actions impacted rivals. 

Europe's second highest court confirmed that the Commission carried out an incomplete analysis and overturned the €1.06 billion fine back in 2022. At the time, it said that the EU couldn't establish if Intel's rebates were "capable of having, or were likely to have, anticompetitive effects" due to the incomplete analysis. 

The Commission launched an appeal to that ruling, but the EU Court of Justice has now upheld it. Still, Intel never appealed the "naked restrictions" part of past decisions, so last year the Commission imposed a new €376 million fine on that basis. Intel is also fighting that penalty too, though, and has sued the EU to recoup interest on the original, larger fine.

The processor landscape has changed drastically since the original 2009 ruling, of course. Back then, Intel ruled the PC roost with an 81 percent CPU market share, compared to 12 percent for AMD. Today, Intel's share is down to 63 percent and the company has struggled in the area of chip production next to rival TSMC, which manufacturers the bulk of AMD and NVIDIA's CPUs, GPUs and AI processors. Ironically, Intel has outsourced a large chunk of its production to TSMC and other foundries, to the tune of around 30 percent. Luckily, despite its manufacturing problems, it does appear to have excellent legal counsel.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/intel-wins-latest-antitrust-battle-with-eu-court-133040762.html?src=rss

The Apple Watch Series 10 is $30 off right now

If you've been looking to upgrade your smartwatch, now might be the right time. Our favorite smartwatch, the Apple Watch Series 10, is currently on sale with the 42mm model down to $370 from $399 in Jet Black. The 46mm model is down to $399 from $429 and available in Jet Black and Silver Aluminum.

Apple released its Series 10 Watch only a month ago, alongside new products like the AirPods 4 and the iPhone 16. We gave it a 90 in our review features like its thinner frame and bigger screens — from 41mm to 42mm and 45mm to 46mm. The watch also offers music and podcast listening through its onboard speaker, which worked alright for a quick listen in a quiet space. Its battery also lasts slightly longer than its predecessor's. 

Health-wise, the Apple Watch Series 10 brings sleep apnea monitoring, tracking your sleeping patterns for 30 days to see if its worth going to a doctor. Notably, the Series 10 Watch doesn't include a Blood Oxygen app as Apple faces ongoing copyright litigation arguing the tech giant infringed on a patent owned by health tech company, Massimo. 

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-apple-watch-series-10-is-30-off-right-now-133026681.html?src=rss

EU fines LinkedIn $334 million for violating the GDPR

LinkedIn is facing a €310 million ($334 million) fine in the EU after the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) determined it had improperly conducted behavioral analyses of its members' personal data for targeted advertising. This decision argues that LinkedIn violated the GDPR by not obtaining proper consent, demonstrating legitimate interest or showing a contractual necessity to process the data it and third-parties collected. 

The DPC also reprimanded LinkedIn and handed down an order for it to collect all data in a compliant manner. "The lawfulness of processing is a fundamental aspect of data protection law and the processing of personal data without an appropriate legal basis is a clear and serious violation of a data subjects’ fundamental right to data protection," DPC Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle stated. 

The decision stems from a 2018 complaint by the French non-profit organisation, La Quadrature Du Net, and an initial inquiry examining whether LinkedIn processed the personal data of its users lawfully, fairly and transparently. The matter was originally raised with the French Data Protection Authority and then transferred to the DPC as LinkedIn's European base is Ireland. 

A LinkedIn spokesperson shared a statement with Engadget in response to the decision: "Today the Irish Data Protection Commission (IDPC) reached a final decision on claims from 2018 about some of our digital advertising efforts in the EU. While we believe we have been in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we are working to ensure our ad practices meet this decision by the IDPC's deadline."

Update, October 24 2024, 9:12AM ET: This article has been updated to include a statement from LinkedIn. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/eu-fines-linkedin-334-million-for-violating-the-gdpr-123053773.html?src=rss

Snapchat’s camera is getting a shortcut on the iPhone lock screen

Snapchat users will soon be able to launch the app’s camera directly from the iPhone lock screen, thanks to an app update and the magic of iOS 18. The latest iPhone operating system update allows people to swap out the flashlight and camera on the lock screen for a diverse array of other useful tools. These tools will now include the Snapchat camera.

Tapping the button will launch Snapchat’s “Camera Only” mode. This will, technically, let you create a Snap, but there’s a major caveat. The lock screen allows users to take photos, but not add filters or post anything. For that, you’ll have to unlock the phone with Face ID, Touch ID or a passcode and open the actual app.

This unique feature will be available via an app update sometime this week. Of course, it also requires an update to iOS 18.0 or the forthcoming iOS 18.1. To get started, tap and hold the Lock Screen and tap Customize. Follow the prompts to remove the default options and add the Snapchat camera.

Phones running iOS 18 offer another little update for Snapchat users. The volume buttons can now be used to capture a Snap while the app is open. Just press either volume button to take a photo or hold one down to record a video.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/snapchats-camera-is-getting-a-shortcut-on-the-iphone-lock-screen-130039644.html?src=rss

NASA’s Webb telescope detects the first potential brown dwarfs outside our galaxy

The James Webb Space Telescope is making it possible to detect more celestial objects we previously wouldn't be able to, including ones that can further our knowledge on how our universe began. A team of astronomers, for instance, detected a "rich population of brown dwarf candidates" outside our own galaxy for the first time. The image above was captured using the telescope's Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam) instrument. 

We already know of the roughly 3,000 brown dwarfs inside the Milky Way, but Webb made it possible to find candidates 200,000 light years away from our planet. "Only with the incredible sensitivity and spatial resolution in the correct wavelength regime is it possible to detect these objects at such great distances," said Peter Zeidler, the team leader from AURA/STScI for the European Space Agency. "This has never been possible before and also will remain impossible from the ground for the foreseeable future."

Brown dwarfs are neither planets nor stars. They're free-floating objects around 13 to 75 times larger than Jupiter, and they aren't gravitationally bound to a star like exoplanets are. Yes, they're bigger than the biggest gas giants, but they're also not big enough to produce massive amounts of light, which is why they're sometimes called "failed stars." According to the scientists in this study, their observations support the theory that brown dwarfs form like stars do, they merely "don’t accrete enough mass to become a fully fledged star." As NASA notes, scientists think it's possible that a "great deal" of the universe's mass comes in the form of brown dwarfs. Seeing as they're mostly dark and can barely generate any light, they could help answer the "missing mass" problem that astronomers are still trying to solve. 

The team found the new brown dwarf candidates in a star cluster called NGC 602 near the outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud dwarf galaxy. They explained that older Hubble observations showed that the cluster contains very young low mass stars, but Webb made it possible to look at them more closely. Based on what they've seen, the cluster exists in an environment comparable to the early universe, which means studying the brown dwarfs could provide more clues on how stars and planets formed billions of years ago.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasas-webb-telescope-detects-the-first-potential-brown-dwarfs-outside-our-galaxy-120007295.html?src=rss

The Morning After: Arm doubles down in its Qualcomm fight

Isn’t it fun when a relatively minor skirmish over money boils over to threaten (checks notes) the whole Android ecosystem? That’s what’s happening now chip firm Arm has moved to cancel the architecture license allowing Qualcomm to build its chips.

Essentially, back in 2021, Qualcomm bought an AI chip company, Nuvia, which was also an Arm licensee. Qualcomm has used Nuvia’s technology inside its AI PC chips, but Arm feels Qualcomm never sought its blessing to transfer those licenses.

In response, Arm sued Qualcomm in 2022 to try to get what it was owed, with the battle due to go to trial this December. But unless someone backs down in the interim, Qualcomm might not be able to make the chips — the basis for its multi-billion dollar business.

I wouldn’t worry too much, given how high the stakes are for both companies in this situation. It’s likely someone will cut a hefty check days before the license is withdrawn, and everyone can go back to gently tolerating each other.

— Dan Cooper

Get this delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!

News in Brief

Image of an Intelsat Satellite
Intelsat

A Boeing-made communications satellite has exploded, breaking up while in geostationary orbit around Earth. The US Space Force believes the Intelsat hardware has broken into 20 pieces, while Roscosmos says it is tracking 80 fragments. There is no danger to life on Earth, but the debris may pose a risk to other satellites in orbit — as well as Boeing’s reputation.

Continue Reading.

Image of Adam Scott in 'Severance'
Apple

I’ll be honest, I found Severance to be the most stressful TV show of 2022, to the point where I had heart palpitations for most of the season finale. Now, after nearly three years in production, the second season will debut on Apple TV+ on January 17, 2025. I’m still not sure if my body can manage a second go, but those with stronger constitutions should make preparations.

Continue Reading.

Image of a Tesla vehicle
Tesla

Tesla has claimed it’s working on a series of more affordable EVs, with production due to begin in the first half of 2025. Of course, like any pledge coming out of an Elon Musk-owned company, we must take that with a pinch of salt. Although if you want a cheap Tesla, the used market has been pretty bountiful for a while now.

Continue Reading.

Huawei is believed to have used a new TSMC-made chip in its hardware despite the number of sanctions designed to stop that happening. Now, TSMC has revealed it has halted shipments to a client that may have quietly been handing its supply over to the Chinese technology giant. If true, it makes you wonder how long Huawei expected to do this before someone noticed.

Continue Reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-arm-doubles-down-in-its-qualcomm-fight-111513704.html?src=rss