Tag Archives: author_name|Mariella Moon

Google admits YouTube’s war on ad blockers is resulting in ‘suboptimal viewing’ experiences

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Some YouTube viewers who use Firefox or Edge instead of Chrome have reported having to wait around five seconds every time they try to load a video. In screen recordings shared on Reddit and other online forums, users show how their screen goes blank for a short period when they click on a YouTube video before the page loads. But when they switch to Chrome, that waiting period seemed to be non-existent. Android Authority and 404media, which reported on the users' complaints, weren't able to replicate the phenomenon. We also didn't notice any difference in loading times when we accessed YouTube on different browsers. 

Based on the code found by some YCombinator and Reddit posters, YouTube has implemented an anti-adblocker mechanism that's causing the delays. We did find the snippet of code cited in those threads, but it's not quite clear what it does. In a statement that Google has provided Android Authority, it admitted that it has implemented a system that's meant to urge viewers to uninstall their ad blockers. The company said that users who have ad blockers installed "may experience suboptimal viewing" no matter what browser they choose to use

"To support a diverse ecosystem of creators globally and allow billions to access their favorite content on YouTube, we've launched an effort to urge viewers with ad blockers enabled to allow ads on YouTube or try YouTube Premium for an ad free experience," the spokesperson said. "Users who have ad blockers installed may experience suboptimal viewing, regardless of the browser they are using."

YouTube started cracking down on ad blockers earlier this year, but it went all out earlier this month when it prevented viewers around the world from watching videos unless they disable their apps, add-ons and extensions. The video hosting website is hoping to entice users who couldn't stand watching ads to subscribe to its $14-a-month YouTube Premium service. Multiple ad-blocking companies have since reported experiencing an elevated number of uninstallations per day since then, but Google has yet to reveal whether YouTube Premium subscriptions have also gone up as a result.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-admits-youtubes-war-on-ad-blockers-is-resulting-in-suboptimal-viewing-experiences-115041371.html?src=rss

US Senator calls for the public release of AT&T ‘Hemisphere’ surveillance records

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US Senator Ron Wyden wants the public to know about the details surrounding the long-running Hemisphere phone surveillance program. Wyden has written US Attorney General Merrick Garland a letter (PDF), asking him to release additional information about the project that apparently gives law enforcement agencies access to trillions of domestic phone records. In addition, he said that federal, state, local and Tribal law enforcement agencies have the ability to request "often-warrantless searches" from the project's phone records that AT&T has been collecting since 1987. 

The Hemisphere project first came to light in 2013 when The New York Times reported that the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) was paying AT&T to mine and keep records of its customers' phone calls. Four billion new records are getting added to its database every day, and a federal or state law enforcement agency can request a query with a subpoena that they can issue themselves. Any law enforcement officer can send in a request to a single AT&T analyst based in Atlanta, Georgia, Wyden's letter says, even if they're seeking information that's not related to any drug case. And apparently, they can use Hemisphere not just to identify a specific number, but to identify the target's alternate numbers, to obtain location data and to look up the phone records of everyone who's been in communication with the target. 

The project has been defunded and refunded by the government several times over the past decade and was even, at one point, receiving federal funding under the name "Data Analytical Services (DAS)." Usually, projects funded by federal agencies would be subject to a mandatory Privacy Impact Assessment conducted by the Department of Justice, which means their records would be made public. 

However, Hemisphere's funding passes through a middleman, so it's not required to go through mandatory assessment. To be specific, ONDCP funds the program through the Houston High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, which is a regional funding organization that distributes federal anti-drug law grants and is governed by a board made up of federal, state and local law enforcement officials. The DOJ had provided Wyden's office with "dozens of pages of material" related to the project in 2019, but they had been labeled "Law Enforcement Sensitive" and cannot be released to the public. 

"I have serious concerns about the legality of this surveillance program, and the materials provided by the DOJ contain troubling information that would justifiably outrage many Americans and other members of Congress," Wyden wrote in his letter. "While I have long defended the government’s need to protect classified sources and methods, this surveillance program is not classified and its existence has already been acknowledged by the DOJ in federal court. The public interest in an informed debate about government surveillance far outweighs the need to keep this information secret."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/us-senator-calls-for-the-public-release-of-att-hemisphere-surveillance-records-083627787.html?src=rss

X lawsuit accuses Media Matters of running a campaign to drive advertisers away

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X has filed a lawsuit against media watchdog group Media Matters over the latter's research that showed ads on the social network appearing next to antisemitic content. The company's owner, Elon Musk, promised to file a "thermonuclear lawsuit" against the organization late last week following an advertiser exodus. In its complaint, X said Media Matters "knowingly and maliciously manufactured side-by-side images depicting advertisers' posts on X Corp.'s social media platform beside Neo-Nazi and white national fringe content." It added that the group portrayed the "manufactured images" as if they represented the typical user's experience in the platform. "Media Matters designed both these images and the resulting media strategy to drive advertisers from the platform and destroy X Corp," the company wrote. 

As TechCrunch notes, though, Media Matters didn't exactly "manufacture" the images it used with its research. Based on X's own investigation as it detailed in its lawsuit, the organization used an account older than 30 days to bypass the website's ad filters to follow a set of users known to produce "extreme, fringe content" along with the biggest advertisers on the platform. The group then allegedly kept on scrolling and refreshing its feed to generate "between 13 to 15 times more advertisements per hour than viewed by the average X user." X said the watchdog didn't provide any context regarding the "forced, inauthentic nature" of the advertisements it saw."

In a response to Media Matters' research, X CEO Linda Yaccarino said "not a single authentic user on X saw IBM's, Comcast's, or Oracle's ads next to the content in Media Matters' article." She added that "only two users saw Apple's ad next to the content, at least one of which was Media Matters," confirming that the organization did see the advertisements, even if it had to create the right conditions for them. After Yaccarino released her statement, Media Matters head Angelo Carusone retweeted several posts from seemingly authentic users showing ads for searches and tags such as "killjews" and "HeilHitler." We reached out to the organization about the lawsuit, and a spokesperson told Engadget: "This is a frivolous lawsuit meant to bully X's critics into silence. Media Matters stands behind its reporting and looks forward to winning in court."

Aside from X's lawsuit, Media Matters also has to grapple with an investigation by Ken Paxton, the Attorney General of Texas. Paxton said his office is looking into Media Matters, which he called "a radical anti-free speech" organization, for potential fraudulent activity. He said he's investigating the watchdog to "ensure that the public has not been deceived by the schemes of radical left-wing organizations who would like nothing more than to limit freedom by reducing participation in the public square."

The media watchdog had published its findings after X owner Elon Musk responded to a tweet that said Jews pushed "hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them." Musk wrote: "You have said the actual truth." Several big-name advertisers had pulled their campaigns from the platform following the incidents, including IBM, Apple, Disney, Paramount and Comcast. Meanwhile, Lionsgate specifically cited Elon's tweet as the reason for pulling its ads. 

According to Fortune, Yaccarino held an all-hands meeting after X filed the lawsuit to confirm to staff members that some customers' advertisements are still on pause. When asked about what the best outcome for the lawsuit would be, the CEO said a win would validate that X was right.

"They have a long history of being an activist organization, to force a narrative and not allow people of the world to make their own decisions," she reportedly responded. "I think one of the main goals that underscores the dedication to truth and fairness and that is that we allow people a global Town Square, to seek out their own information and make their own decisions. So exposing Media Matters to train people’s rights to make their own decisions will be a validation that X was right, and this was an inauthentic manipulation."

Update, November 21, 2023, 12:14AM ET: Added information from Fortune's report about X's all-hands meeting. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/x-lawsuit-accuses-media-matters-of-running-a-campaign-to-drive-advertisers-away-from-its-website-040022933.html?src=rss

Watch SpaceX’s Starship lift off for its second fully integrated test flight

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At 8AM ET today, SpaceX will open a 20-minute launch window for Starship's second-ever fully integrated test flight. If everything goes well during the pre-flight procedures, and if the weather cooperates, then we'll see the company's spacecraft make another attempt to reach space. SpaceX completed Starship's first fully integrated launch in April. While it was considered a success, the company wasn't able to meet all its objectives and had to intentionally blow up the spacecraft after its two stages failed to separate. 

As a result of that incident, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had grounded Starship while authorities conducted an investigation. They found that the explosion scattered debris across 385 acres of land, caused pulverized concrete to rain down on areas up to 6.5 miles northwest of the pad site, and started a wildfire at Boca Chica State Park. The FAA required SpaceX to make 63 corrective actions before it could give the company clearance to fly its reusable spacecraft again. 

SpaceX said that this flight will debut several changes it implemented due to what happened during Starship's first test flight. They include a new hot-stage separation system, a new electronic Thrust Vector Control (TVC) system for Super Heavy Raptor engines, reinforcements to the pad foundation and a water-cooled steel flame deflector.

The company's live broadcast of the launch starts at 7:24AM ET on its website and on X. If the Starship's stages can successfully separate this time around, its upper stage will fly across the planet before splashing down off a Hawaiian coast.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/watch-spacexs-starship-lift-off-for-its-second-fully-integrated-test-flight-121559318.html?src=rss

Sam Altman was ‘shocked and saddened’ after he was fired as CEO of OpenAI

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Sam Altman and Greg Brockman were "shocked and saddened by what the board did" and are still trying to figure out what exactly happened. The former CEO and the former President of OpenAI have published a post on X, sharing the details of what they do know and how they found out the former was being fired. Apparently, company co-founder and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever invited Altman for a meeting at noon on Friday, which was then attended by the whole board except for Brockman. It was at that meeting that Altman found out he was being fired and that OpenAI was going to announce it "very soon."

Shortly after that, Sutskever reportedly invited Brockman to a separate Google Meet conference, where he was told that Altman had gotten fired and that he was being removed from the board. However, the board members told him that he was "vital to the company and would retain his role." Brockman chose to quit on his own. The two former OpenAI executives also said that the rest of the company's management team outside of interim CEO Mira Murati only found out about the board's decision after Altman was already removed from his post. "The outpouring of support has been really nice; thank you, but please don’t spend any time being concerned," their joint statement reads. "We will be fine. Greater things coming soon."

While OpenAI's c-suite shakeup might have come as a surprise to onlookers, employees were reportedly very much aware that turmoil was brewing within the organization. According to The Information, Altman's ouster followed internal arguments on whether OpenAI was developing artificial intelligence technology in a safe manner. During the all-hands meeting after Altman's firing, employees asked Sutskever if the CEO's removal was a "coup" or a "hostile takeover." That seems to imply that some personnel were wondering whether the organization's leadership removed Altman because he was was commercializing OpenAI's technology too quickly at the expense of potential safety concerns. 

Bloomberg says Altman and Sutskever were the two people within the organization who butted heads the most when it came to the speed of development and the company's commercialization. Sutskever is one of the two employees leading a team within OpenAI that's dedicated to preventing its technologies from going rogue. He and his allies within the company may also have been put off by Altman raising funds using OpenAI's name, Bloomberg continues. The former CEO had huge ambitions for OpenAI, and the news organization says he was looking to secure funding worth tens of millions of dollars from Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds in order to develop AI chips that can compete with NVIDIA processors. 

The well-sourced journalist and podcast host Kara Swisher posted similar information on X. She said employees felt that "the profit direction of the company under Altman and the speed of development" were at odds with the "nonprofit side dedicated to more safety and caution." Swisher also said she expects more major departures of "top folks" at OpenAI. The Information reported afterward that three senior researchers have left the company: Jakub Pachocki, OpenAI's director of research, Aleksander Madry, who headed a team evaluating potential risks from AI, and Szymon Sidor, who'd been with the organization for seven years. 

These concerns over the safety of AI development within the organization didn't pop up overnight, however. OpenAI has been grappling with the issue from the beginning, and it's the reason why a group of employees left in 2020 to form their own startup that became known as Anthropic. Still, investors were blindsided by Altman's firing, Forbes reports. Even Microsoft, which pledged to invest $10 billion into the organization over the next few years, reportedly learned about his removal a minute before the announcement went out. 

Update, November 18, 2023, 1:40AM ET: This story has been updated to include additional details from Bloomberg's report.

Update, November 18, 2023, 3:04AM ET: Added information about the three senior researchers who left the company.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sam-altman-was-shocked-and-saddened-by-openais-decision-to-fire-him-051538582.html?src=rss

Samsung’s refreshed Smart Monitor M8 falls to a new low in early Black Friday deal

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Samsung's Amazon store is selling the 2023 version of its Smart Monitor M8 at a discount, and it's the lowest we've seen the device go for on the website. You can get the smart TV-monitor hybrid for $400, a full $300 less than its retail price and $100 less than its list price during October's Prime Day sale. Absolutely not bad for a model that only became available for purchase in June this year. The new Smart Monitor M8 is an updated version of the device that launched at CES 2022. It's slimmer than its predecessor and can rotate to portrait mode for when you want to see the entirety of long documents onscreen. 

The 32-inch smart monitor comes with built-in smart TV experience, complete with streaming apps such as Netflix and YouTube. You can enjoy your movies and shows in 4K and 4K HDR for anything that supports it, but it's still very much a monitor that you can do work on. In fact, its Workmode will allow you to remotely access another PC and use Microsoft 365 programs. You can also use the monitor as an internet-of-things hub to control your smart home devices. That means you can change the lighting around your home or adjust the temperature right from the monitor, as long as you connect your smart home products to Samsung's SmartThings. 

In addition, the model comes with a SlimFit camera that you can use for video calls and conferences. You can easily use the camera's cover for privacy, or even detach it from the monitor if you're not going to use it anytime soon. The Smart Monitor M8 is on sale for $400 as an early Black Friday deal, so it'll most likely go back to a higher price after sales for the season are over. 

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/samsungs-refreshed-smart-monitor-m8-falls-to-a-new-low-in-early-black-friday-deal-123505651.html?src=rss

YouTube will now let breastfeeding and twerking videos be monetized

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YouTube videos that feature breastfeeding content can now earn money on the platform, so long as they meet a certain set of criteria. The website has updated its policy to allow monetization of breastfeeding videos that show the mother's areola, as well as those wherein the person in the video is demonstrating how to use a breast pump with nipples visible. Those videos, however, must include contextual reference to breastfeeding and must include a child in the scene. Otherwise, they still won't be able to earn money from ads. 

Breastfeeding videos with exposed nipples previously couldn't earn money on the website. A spokesperson told TechCrunch that YouTube reconsidered after getting feedback on how helpful they are for those navigating that particular stage of parenthood. 

In addition, YouTube has also changed its guidelines when it comes to what it calls "non-sexually graphic dancing." Creators can now earn money for videos with dance moves such as twerking and grinding, unless those videos were made to deliberately focus on the dancers' "extreme minimal clothing" or on their breasts, butt and genitalia. They also won't be earning any money if they use moves that mimic sexual acts, such as grabbing a partner's genitalia while dancing. Showing "fleeting minimal clothing" is fine, though, as well as "fleeting caresses of sexual body parts" and doing moves that mimic or simulate sexual acts in a professional setting, such as a dance studio. TechCrunch says the website is now reviewing existing content that could be eligible for monetization under the new rules and will switch on their ads if they'd actually adhered to its advertiser-friendly content guidelines. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/youtube-will-now-let-breastfeeding-and-twerking-videos-be-monetized-084535300.html?src=rss

Bluesky hits 2 million users and will soon release a public web interface

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Bluesky has just crossed 2 million users a year after the service's first ever post was created. While that's nowhere near the numbers Threads has already reached, it's still a big accomplishment for the X rival that only opened the app to users in February and still requires an invite for access. Bluesky hit 1 million users merely a couple of months ago, in September, which could mean that the platform has been sending out more invites recently. In its post announcing the milestone, the Bluesky team has also revealed that it's launching a public web interface around the end of November. 

The interface will allow anybody, even those without an account, to view posts on the platform. Its launch could make more potential users aware about the service's existence, and Bluesky believes making its posts more accessible "will be especially useful for real-time commentary and breaking news." In the long run, it could make the service one of people's go-to social networks for news in the same way X users rely on the website to read about current events. 

And for those waiting for Bluesky to become a more open platform like Mastodon, the team says federation is "timelined for early next year if development continues as planned." To become a federated or a decentralized and distributed social network, the team is currently developing the AT Protocol, which will give users the power to migrate both their identities and their content from one personal data server to another. "This is one of the core features of Bluesky that makes it 'billionaire-proof,' — you’ll always have the freedom to choose (and to exit) instead of being held to the whims of private companies or black box algorithms," the announcement post reads. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/bluesky-hits-2-million-users-and-will-soon-release-a-public-web-interface-062757340.html?src=rss

The FCC will crack down on ISPs to address ‘digital discrimination’ in poorer areas

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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is keeping a close eye on internet providers to make sure they provide Americans with equal access to broadband services regardless of customers' "income level, race, ethnicity, color, religion or national origin." Two years after the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law became official, the FCC has adopted a final set of relevant rules to enforce. 

The Commission will have the power to investigate possible instances of "digital discrimination" under the new rules and could penalize providers for violating them. It could, for instance, look into a company's pricing, network upgrades and maintenance procedures to decide whether a provider is keeping an affluent area well maintained while failing to provide the same level of service to a low-income area. 

As The Wall Street Journal explains, it could even hold companies like AT&T and Comcast liable even if they weren't intentionally discriminatory, as long as their actions "differentially impact consumers' access to broadband." If the FCC does receive complaints against a particular provider, though, it will take into account any technical and economic challenges it may be facing that prevents it from providing equal access to its services. 

According to The Journal, the FCC approved the new rules in a 3-2 vote. Their critics — mainly internet providers and Republican members of the Congress — argued that the decision could affect investments and that the commission is taking things too far by penalizing unintentional discrimination. But FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel found the rules to be reasonable, especially since the agency will "accept genuine reasons of technical and economic feasibility as valid reasons." 

In addition to adopting a set of rules for digital discrimination, the FCC has also updated its protections against SIM swapping and port-out scams. It will now require wireless providers to notify customers immediately when a SIM change or a port-out is requested for their account and phone number. Further, providers are required to take additional steps to protect their subscribers from the schemes. The FCC has voted to begin a formal inquiry to look into the impact of artificial intelligence on robocalls, as well. It could, after all, be used to block unwanted voice and text messages, but it could also be used to more easily defraud people through calls and texts. 

Finally, the commission is now requiring mobile providers to split phone lines from family plans for victims of domestic violence when the abuser is on the account. Providers will also have to remove records of calls and texts to domestic violence hotlines from subscribers' logs, and they're expected to support survivors who can't afford lines of their own through the FCC Lifeline program.

Update, November 16, 2023, 8:50PM ET: This story has been updated to add information about the FCC's new rules supporting domestic violence survivors. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-fcc-will-crack-down-on-isps-to-improve-connectivity-in-poorer-areas-125041256.html?src=rss

Three in ten US adults still get their news from Facebook

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Even though Facebook has been moving away from providing its users with easy access to news over the past year, it apparently still remains a go-to source for current affairs in the US. According to Pew Research, three out of ten adults in the country still regularly get their news from Facebook, which has outpaced all the other social media websites in the center's study. YouTube comes next in the list, with 26 percent of US adults getting news from the video hosting website, while Instagram takes third place with 16 percent. While apparently not as popular as the first three when it comes to news, TikTok (14 percent), X (12 percent) and Reddit (8 percent) also serve as news sources for the US populace. 

When it was reported a year ago that Meta will no longer be paying publishers to run their content on Facebook's News Tab, a spokesperson said "[m]ost people do not come to Facebook for news, and as a business it doesn't make sense to over-invest in areas that don't align with user preferences." But according to the study, 43 percent of users still get their news regularly from the platform. That is, however, admittedly smaller than the 54 percent of users who used to go to the social network to keep themselves updated and read about the latest events back in 2020. Meanwhile, 43 percent of TikTok users say they're getting news from the app now, compared to 22 percent three years ago. Out of all the social networks in the study, though, X (formerly known as Twitter) has the highest percentage of users (53 percent) who go to the website for news. 

Based on the study's responders, men mostly rely on Reddit to keep them abreast of current events, followed by Twitter and YouTube. Meanwhile, women consume news from Nextdoor the most, followed by Facebook and Instagram. In addition, most of the people who get their news from social media are Democrats or lean Democratic, though "there is no significant partisan difference among news consumers on Facebook, X or Nextdoor." Bottom line is, a lot of people still look to social media websites to read about the latest happenings and new information as they come out. These companies will have to continue keeping a close eye on the spread of misinformation on their platforms, even if they do decide not to focus on news anymore. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/three-in-ten-us-adults-still-get-their-news-from-facebook-110526907.html?src=rss