Tag Archives: Internet & Networking Technology

Google Search is testing verified checkmarks for legitimate businesses

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Google Search has always had one serious drawback — if you're not paying attention, it's easy to click on a fraudulent site that's mimicking a real business. Now, the company appears to be testing a long-overdue solution: blue verified checkmarks that show a company is legitimate. 

The checks started appearing next to official site links for corporations including Microsoft, Meta, Apple and Amazon, according to a report from The Verge. The checks aren't showing for all users, though, and Google confirmed that the feature is still in testing. 

"We regularly experiment with features that help shoppers identify trustworthy businesses online, and we are currently running a small experiment showing checkmarks next to certain businesses on Google," a Google spokesperson told The Verge.

If you hover over a checkmark, a message pops up stating "this icon is being shown because Google's signals suggest that this business is the business that it says it is. Google can't guarantee the reliability of this business or its products." 

The implementation appears to be based on Google's Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) feature. That first appeared for Gmail, adding authenticated logos for emails from participating companies. The implementation is different in the Search tests, but may draw from the same database of organizations. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/google-search-is-testing-verified-checkmarks-for-legitimate-businesses-123047155.html?src=rss

WordPress founder sued for alleged libel and attempted extortion

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The WP Engine web hosting service is suing WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg and his company Automattic. This follows a public feud over the WordPress trademark. The federal lawsuit accuses Mullenweg of “abuse of power, extortion and greed.”

This is the latest volley in an ongoing battle between WordPress and WP Engine, but it requires a bit of background. WordPress is the backend that powers a large chunk of the internet, around 40 percent of websites. Users can build a website from the ground up using WordPress or opt for an easier plug-and-play solution offered by third-party providers like WP Engine.

Mullenweg, who runs his own provider called Automattic, began loudly criticizing WP Engine back in September, calling it a “cancer to WordPress.” He said that the third-party provider’s name has confused customers into thinking it's actually part of WordPress. He also accused WP Engine of turning off certain features to save money.

WP Engine responded with a cease-and-desist letter and a request to withdraw the aforementioned comments, according to reporting by TechCrunch. It also said that its use of the WordPress trademark was legal under fair use. It went on to claim that Mullenweg threatened to take a “scorched earth nuclear approach” against WP Engine unless it agreed to pay “a significant percentage of its revenues for a license to the WordPress trademark.”

After this, the WordPress Foundation changed its Trademark Policy page and accused WP Engine of “never once” donating to the open-source arm of the foundation, “despite making billions of revenue on top of WordPress.” He went as far as to suggest that WP Engine covered up trademark abuse by editing websites. 

Mullenweg also banned WP Engine from accessing certain resources, like some plug-ins and themes. WP Engine powers over 200,000 websites and this move allegedly broke a lot of them. In response, the company wrote that Mullenweg’s “unprecedented and unwarranted action interferes with the normal operation of the entire WordPress ecosystem, impacting not just WP Engine and our customers.”

On October 1, WP Engine announced that it had developed its own solution that allowed consumers to access all of the missing themes and plug-ins. It followed that with today’s lawsuit, which accuses Mullenweg of demanding eight percent of the company’s monthly revenue as a royalty payment. The suit also alleges that Mullenweg and Automattic participated in libel, slander, violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and IRS fraud.

“Matt Mullenweg’s conduct over the last ten days has exposed significant conflicts of interest and governance issues that, if left unchecked, threaten to destroy that trust,” WP Engine said in a statement. “WP Engine has no choice but to pursue these claims to protect its people, agency partners, customers and the broader WordPress community.” Mullenweg and Automattic have yet to respond to today’s developments.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/wordpress-founder-sued-for-alleged-libel-and-attempted-extortion-152957987.html?src=rss

Meta’s smart glasses can now tell you where you parked your car

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Meta is rolling out some of the previously announced features to its AI-powered Ray-Ban smart glasses for users in the US and Canada. CTO Andrew Bosworth posted on Threads that today's update to the glasses includes more natural language recognition, meaning the stilted commands of "Hey Meta, look and tell me" should be gone. Users will be able to engage the AI assistant without the "look and" portion of the invocation.

Most of the other AI tools showed off during last month's Connect event are also arriving on the frames today. That includes voice messages, timers and reminders. The glasses can also be used to have Meta AI call a phone number or scan a QR code. CEO Mark Zuckerberg demonstrated the new reminders features as a way to find your car in a parking garage in an Instagram reel. One notable omission from this update is the live translation feature, but Bosworth didn't share a timeline for when that feature will be ready.

Meta's smart glasses already made headlines once today after two students from Harvard University used them to essentially dox total strangers. Their combination of facial recognition technology and a large language processing model was able to reveal addresses, phone numbers, family member details and partial Social Security Numbers.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/metas-smart-glasses-can-now-tell-you-where-you-parked-your-car-195200826.html?src=rss

eBay will stop charging seller fees in the UK

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As of today, eBay consumer-to-consumer (C2C) sellers in the UK will no longer have to pay selling fees for any domestic purchases. The company had first tested free selling for pre-owned clothes earlier this year. Using the data from this test, eBay decided to open the floodgates.

In addition to the initial test in the UK, eBay also removed seller fees in Germany for domestic sales. In today’s announcement from eBay, CEO and President Jamie Iannone said that doing so can “strengthen our marketplace by lowering the barriers to C2C selling, which improves the breadth and depth of inventory on eBay.” However, Iannone also mentioned that the company will begin implementing a “buyer-facing fee” early next year.

Among the reasons cited for the removal of seller fees was that the UK is home to hundreds of millions of unused items. Iannone believes that sellers would be more inclined to set up shop on eBay if they didn’t have to spend money just to list items and not worry about the company taking a percentage of the money received after a sale. The breadth of items coming from consumers rather than just professional sellers could make the marketplace “more vibrant.”

eBay also faces competition from Vinted and Depop, two newer ecommerce platforms that don’t charge seller fees. Vinted, in particular, is a second-hand marketplace primarily for clothes, and eBay removing seller fees for clothes is a direct answer to the rival company. Depop, owned by Etsy, has also been growing. Thus, it’s not a surprise that eBay is following its competitor’s footsteps.

The announcement also mentioned more changes and improvements, such as a “streamlined listing process,” an improved local pickup process and a better wallet experience through eBay Balance. eBay plans to share more details on its future plans at the next Global All Hands event.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/ebay-will-stop-charging-seller-fees-in-the-uk-155751915.html?src=rss

ByteDance will reportedly use Huawei chips to train a new AI model

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As first reported by Reuters, ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, is planning to train and develop an AI model using chips from fellow Chinese company Huawei. Three anonymous sources approached Reuters with this information; a fourth source couldn’t confirm that ByteDance was using Huawei chips but did say that a new AI model was in development.

Previously, ByteDance’s AI projects used NVIDIA’s H20 AI chips, which were designed for the Chinese market and avoided the trade restrictions the US government placed in 2022. Chinese customers were only allowed to purchase select models of AI chips, which was an attempt to slow down Chinese technological advancement.

ByteDance has ordered 100,000 Ascend 910B chips from Huawei this year but only received 30,000 of them. Huawei’s Ascend 910B chips are said to be superior to NVIDIA’s A100 chips in GPU performance and computing power efficiency. Nevertheless, the chip shortage halted ByteDance’s AI model development project.

The news isn’t confirmed by ByteDance yet, but it’s not the only company to switch away from NVIDIA products. Many other Chinese companies are slowly transitioning to local chips. Even though ByteDance had previously used loopholes to get NVIDIA AI chips, the latest development shows how China is attempting to reduce its dependence on Western products.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/bytedance-will-reportedly-use-huawei-chips-to-train-a-new-ai-model-154846749.html?src=rss

Disney+ account sharing crackdown starts today in the US

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Disney announced a new rule intended to curb password sharing among its streaming subscribers, following through on plans initially shared last month in an earnings call. Today's blog post from the company explained that Disney+ is getting a Paid Sharing feature. For an additional $7 a month on Disney+ Basic or $10 a month on Disney+ Premium, an account holder can provide access to their plan to one person outside their household, dubbed an Extra Member. Paid Sharing is rolling out today in the US, Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

With the upcoming price increases — $10 a month for Basic and $16 a month for Premium — the Extra Member route is still cheaper than buying a separate Disney+ plan. However, the Paid Sharing option comes with several caveats. For starters, only one Extra Member is allowed per account. And if your plan is part of a Disney Bundle, you don't have access to the Extra Member feature at all. Ditto for any subscribers billed through Disney's partners, meaning bundle customers are out of luck. The post says those restrictions apply "at this time," but doesn't give any hint as to whether the company is considering a policy change in the future.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/disney-account-sharing-crackdown-starts-today-in-the-us-201102641.html?src=rss

Disney+ account sharing crackdown starts today in the US

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Disney announced a new rule intended to curb password sharing among its streaming subscribers, following through on plans initially shared last month in an earnings call. Today's blog post from the company explained that Disney+ is getting a Paid Sharing feature. For an additional $7 a month on Disney+ Basic or $10 a month on Disney+ Premium, an account holder can provide access to their plan to one person outside their household, dubbed an Extra Member. Paid Sharing is rolling out today in the US, Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

With the upcoming price increases — $10 a month for Basic and $16 a month for Premium — the Extra Member route is still cheaper than buying a separate Disney+ plan. However, the Paid Sharing option comes with several caveats. For starters, only one Extra Member is allowed per account. And if your plan is part of a Disney Bundle, you don't have access to the Extra Member feature at all. Ditto for any subscribers billed through Disney's partners, meaning bundle customers are out of luck. The post says those restrictions apply "at this time," but doesn't give any hint as to whether the company is considering a policy change in the future.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/disney-account-sharing-crackdown-starts-today-in-the-us-201102641.html?src=rss

Mozilla faces a privacy complaint over Firefox’s tracking

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Mozilla is the latest company to get in trouble with the EU. Austrian advocacy group Noyb has filed a complaint against Mozilla for setting a Privacy Preserving Attribution (PPA) feature to default without informing its users. Noyb claims the setting impacts millions of Europeans.

According to Mozilla, PPA involves websites asking Firefox to remember ads they show and to potentially generate an interest report. Firefox creates the data but then submits it to an aggregation service, where the report is combined with similar ones. The company claims individual's browsing activity isn't shared with any third-parties, making it a safer system.

Noyb's complaint alleges that this still interferes with EU users' GDPR-confirmed rights — while taking a dig at widespread tracking being the "norm" in the US. "Mozilla has just bought into the narrative that the advertising industry has a right to track users by turning Firefox into an ad measurement tool," said Felix Mikolasch, a data protection lawyer at Noyb, in a statement. "While Mozilla may have had good intentions, it is very unlikely that 'privacy preserving attribution' will replace cookies and other tracking tools. It is just a new, additional means of tracking users." Users wanting to turn PPA off must navigate to the browser's settings and click opt-out in a sub-menu. 

The complaint ends with Noyb requesting that the Austrian data protection authority investigates Mozilla's privacy settings. It also states that Mozilla should alert users about its data processing steps, use an opt-in system and delete "unlawfully" processed data. Noyb has previously lodged complaints against tech companies such as Microsoft, Meta and OpenAI.  

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/mozilla-faces-a-privacy-complaint-over-firefoxs-tracking-134047980.html?src=rss

California’s ‘click to cancel’ subscription bill is signed into law

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Governor Gavin Newsom has signed California's "click to cancel" Assembly Bill 286 into law to make it easier for consumers to opt out of subscriptions. The bill, introduced in April 2024, forces companies that permit online or in-app sign-ups to allow for online or in-app unsubscribing as well.

"AB 2863 is the most comprehensive ‘Click to Cancel’ legislation in the nation, ensuring Californians can cancel unwanted automatic subscription renewals just as easily as they signed up — with just a click or two,” said California Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo.

Like many, you may have signed up for a thing online and when you go to cancel it, are presented with a phone number. You then have to spend an hour on hold before being allowed to convince the person on the other end of a line that you can cancel a subscription that took five seconds to sign up for. California's new bill is designed to kibosh that sort of behavior, though companies have until mid-2025 to comply. 

Adobe is one of the more notable examples of this behavior, particularly since its subscriptions can cost $60 per month. Earlier this year, the FTC sued the company over early termination fees and roadblocks to unsubscribing, calling the practices "illegal." 

The FTC has proposed a similar law last year that would apply across the US, but the finalized rule is still to come. Meanwhile, if you're having trouble cancelling a subscription Engadget created a guide on how to do so with commonly used plans.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/californias-click-to-cancel-subscription-bill-is-signed-into-law-123058770.html?src=rss

California’s ‘click to cancel’ subscription bill is signed into law

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Governor Gavin Newsom has signed California's "click to cancel" Assembly Bill 286 into law to make it easier for consumers to opt out of subscriptions. The bill, introduced in April 2024, forces companies that permit online or in-app sign-ups to allow for online or in-app unsubscribing as well.

"AB 2863 is the most comprehensive ‘Click to Cancel’ legislation in the nation, ensuring Californians can cancel unwanted automatic subscription renewals just as easily as they signed up — with just a click or two,” said California Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo.

Like many, you may have signed up for a thing online and when you go to cancel it, are presented with a phone number. You then have to spend an hour on hold before being allowed to convince the person on the other end of a line that you can cancel a subscription that took five seconds to sign up for. California's new bill is designed to kibosh that sort of behavior, though companies have until mid-2025 to comply. 

Adobe is one of the more notable examples of this behavior, particularly since its subscriptions can cost $60 per month. Earlier this year, the FTC sued the company over early termination fees and roadblocks to unsubscribing, calling the practices "illegal." 

The FTC has proposed a similar law last year that would apply across the US, but the finalized rule is still to come. Meanwhile, if you're having trouble cancelling a subscription Engadget created a guide on how to do so with commonly used plans.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/californias-click-to-cancel-subscription-bill-is-signed-into-law-123058770.html?src=rss