Tag Archives: author_name|Will Shanklin

Warner Bros. Discovery sues the NBA in a last-ditch effort to block Amazon’s new streaming package

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Warner Bros. Discovery followed through on its threat to “take appropriate action” against the NBA for rejecting its broadcasting rights offer. Variety reported on Friday that the media company sued the league in the New York State Supreme Court after the NBA turned down its bid to match Amazon’s streaming package that kicks in starting in the 2025-26 season.

The conflict stems from Warner’s belief that its current contract gives it the right to match any offer that would replace Warner’s TNT as a home for NBA games (and the iconic Inside the NBA) in the upcoming deal. As for the league’s stance, The Athletic reported that since the current agreements were signed when streaming was “on the horizon, but not part of the deals,” the NBA disagrees with Warner’s matching claim.

The lawsuit was expected as soon as the league announced its new broadcasting and streaming package, which also includes Disney (ABC and ESPN) and Comcast (NBC). The NBA reportedly told Warner it rejected its matching offer because it wanted to put all its games on its streaming service, Max, in addition to TNT. Amazon also allegedly offered to pay its first three years in full, whereas Warner offered a three-year line of credit. Finally, the NBA reportedly believed Amazon’s reach was simply greater.

“Warner Bros. Discovery’s most recent proposal did not match the terms of Amazon Prime Video’s offer and, therefore, we have entered into a long-term arrangement with Amazon,” the NBA’s statement on Wednesday read.

Charles Barkley sitting in a studio chair, a look of disbelief on his face.
Charles Barkley
TNT / Warner Bros. Discovery

Unless Warner can force the NBA’s hand, the new agreement will almost certainly mean the end of Inside the NBA. The decades-old sports show, starring Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal, has harnessed a rare blend of comedy, chemistry and (sometimes taking a backseat to the first two) sports analysis. The beloved program, which has won 19 Sports Emmy Awards, began in 1989 as a Johnson solo effort before fleshing out its tight-knit cast through the following years and (in the case of Shaq) decades.

Turner has partnered with the NBA since the 1984-85 season, which coincided with Barkley’s (and Michael Jordan’s) entrance into the league out of college.

Barkley lashed out at the NBA after hearing about the new rights package, accusing it of wanting to “break up with us from the beginning” in a statement on X. Adding, “I’m not sure TNT ever had a chance,” the Hall of Famer described it as “a sad day when owners and commissioners choose money over the fans.”

“It just sucks,” Barkley wrote before thanking Turner’s fans for the last 24 years he’s been on the show. Inside the NBA will return next season, perhaps its last, along with the network’s standard lineup of NBA games, before the new deal begins in the 2025-26 season.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/warner-bros-discovery-sues-the-nba-in-a-last-ditch-effort-to-block-amazons-new-streaming-package-183352404.html?src=rss

Apple’s M3 MacBook Air with 16GB of RAM is $200 off right now

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Apple’s M3 MacBook Air combines Apple’s lightest and thinnest laptop design with the impressive horsepower of third-generation Apple silicon. B&H Photo Video has the 2024 laptop on sale for $200 off. Usually $1,299, the variant with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage is only $1,099.

The 2024 MacBook Air adds the M3 chip, Apple’s silicon with a 3nm process that crams more electronic components into a smaller space compared to its predecessor. Apple’s Neural Engine, which will become more crucial with the introduction of Apple Intelligence AI features this fall, is also 15 percent faster in the M3 family than the M2. While the M3 MacBook Air may not provide a dramatic speed boost over the M2 in day-to-day tasks, it has a higher ceiling for intensive work and is more future-proofed.

The M3 model adds support for dual screens with the lid closed. It also supports Wi-Fi 6E’s faster speeds and lower latency if you have a compatible router.

Engadget Senior Editor Devindra Hardawar praised the device in his review from earlier this year, describing the two sizes of the laptop as “great computers with excellent performance, gorgeous screens and incredible battery life.” The M3 MacBook Air lasted over 10 hours in our video-playback battery stress test.

Although the $200 off deal at B&H is for the 13-inch model, the retailer (which operates online but also has a robust Manhattan retail outlet) has the 15-inch model for $150 off. If you like more real estate for your apps and desktop (or, like me, need larger text for aging eyes), the larger model may be the better choice.

One thing to keep in mind before ordering is that B&H’s return policy states that it won’t take computers back for a refund once the packaging has been unsealed. Although you can contact customer service for an exchange if something is wrong out of the box, buyer’s remorse alone won’t cut it for getting your money back. This contrasts with competitors like the Apple Store, Amazon and Best Buy, so consider that before proceeding. However, apart from that footnote, B&H has been an Apple partner for nearly a decade and has built a solid reputation with customers since its 1973 founding.

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/apples-m3-macbook-air-with-16gb-of-ram-is-200-off-right-now-165605741.html?src=rss

California Supreme Court upholds classification of gig workers as independent contractors

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Ride-share companies scored a victory in the California Supreme Court, allowing them to continue classifying gig workers as independent contractors rather than employees. Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and other gig-economy companies invested around $200 million in the passage of Proposition 22, which voters approved in 2020. The state’s highest court rejected a legal challenge from a drivers’ group and a labor union, ending their quest to bring full employee benefits to the state’s gig workers.

The California Supreme Court ruling affirms the state’s definition of drivers and other gig workers as independent contractors. Proposition 22, which received the support of 59 percent of voters in 2020, gives gig workers limited benefits like a baseline income and health insurance for those working at least 15 hours a week. However, it also allows the companies to avoid providing the broad swath of benefits full employees receive.

The Service Employees International Union and a drivers’ group sued to challenge the law after it went into effect in early 2021. Their lawsuit got an early boost from lower courts: An Alameda County Superior Court Justice ruled that year that Proposition 22 was “unconstitutional and unenforceable,” as the LA Times reported. The lower-court judge determined that the law diminished the state Legislature’s power to regulate injury compensation for workers.

However, in 2023, a state appeals court ruled the opposite, that Proposition 22 didn’t impede on the Legislature’s authority. Thursday’s decision upholds that ruling, ending the long saga and leaving the state’s gig workers with fewer benefits than they’d otherwise have. Proposition 22 remained in effect during the legal challenges, so nothing will change in how they’re treated.

Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and other gig-economy companies fought tooth and nail to pass and uphold the law. Four years ago, they invested upwards of $200 million in campaigning for it. They even threatened to pull their businesses from the state if they were forced to classify drivers as employees.

The LA Times reports the decision could influence other states’ laws. Uber has lobbied for similar legislation in other parts of the US. A law in Washington state closely parallels it, and the companies recently settled with the Massachusetts attorney general to provide similar (minimal) benefits to gig workers in that state.

Uber framed the ruling as a victory for upholding the will of the people (well, apart from the gig workers who wanted more benefits and protections). The company described the Supreme Court’s decision as “affirming the will of the nearly 10 million Californians who voted to deliver historic benefits and protections to drivers, while protecting their independence.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/california-supreme-court-upholds-classification-of-gig-workers-as-independent-contractors-210735586.html?src=rss

AI video startup Runway reportedly trained on ‘thousands’ of YouTube videos without permission

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AI company Runway reportedly scraped “thousands” of YouTube videos and pirated versions of copyrighted movies without permission. 404 Media obtained alleged internal spreadsheets suggesting the AI video-generating startup trained its Gen-3 model using YouTube content from channels like Disney, Netflix, Pixar and popular media outlets.

An alleged former Runway employee told the publication the company used the spreadsheet to flag lists of videos it wanted in its database. It would then download them without detection using open-source proxy software to cover its tracks. One sheet lists simple keywords like astronaut, fairy and rainbow, with footnotes indicating whether the company had found corresponding high-quality videos to train on. For example, the term “superhero” includes a note reading, “Lots of movie clips.” (Indeed.)

Other notes show Runway flagged YouTube channels for Unreal Engine, filmmaker Josh Neuman and a Call of Duty fan page as good sources for “high movement” training videos.

“The channels in that spreadsheet were a company-wide effort to find good quality videos to build the model with,” the former employee told 404 Media. “This was then used as input to a massive web crawler which downloaded all the videos from all those channels, using proxies to avoid getting blocked by Google.”

Screnshot of the Runway AI homepad.
Runway

A list of nearly 4,000 YouTube channels, compiled in one of the spreadsheets, flagged “recommended channels” from CBS New York, AMC Theaters, Pixar, Disney Plus, Disney CD and the Monterey Bay Aquarium. (Because no AI model is complete without otters.)

In addition, Runway reportedly compiled a separate list of videos from piracy sites. A spreadsheet titled “Non-YouTube Source” includes 14 links to sources like an unauthorized online archive of Studio Ghibli films, anime and movie piracy sites, a fan site displaying Xbox game videos and the animated streaming site kisscartoon.sh.

In what could be viewed as a damning confirmation that the company used the training data, 404 Media found that prompting the video generator with the names of popular YouTubers listed in the spreadsheet spit out results bearing an uncanny resemblance. Crucially, entering the same names in Runway’s older Gen-2 model — trained before the alleged data in the spreadsheets — generated “unrelated” results like generic men in suits. Additionally, after the publication contacted Runway asking about the YouTubers’ likenesses appearing in results, the AI tool stopped generating them altogether.

“I hope that by sharing this information, people will have a better understanding of the scale of these companies and what they’re doing to make ‘cool’ videos,” the former employee told 404 Media.

When contacted for comment, a YouTube representative pointed Engadget to an interview its CEO Neal Mohan gave to Bloomberg in April. In that interview, Mohan described training on its videos as a “clear violation” of its terms. “Our previous comments on this still stand,” YouTube spokesperson Jack Mason wrote to Engadget.

Runway did not respond to a request for commeInt by the time of publication.

At least some AI companies appear to be in a race to normalize their tools and establish market leadership before users — and courts — catch onto how their sausage was made. Training with permission through licensed deals is one thing, and that’s another tactic companies like OpenAI have recently adopted. But it’s a much sketchier (if not illegal) proposition to treat the entire internet — copyrighted material and all — as up for grabs in a breakneck race for profit and dominance.

404 Media’s excellent reporting is worth a read.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai-video-startup-runway-reportedly-trained-on-thousands-of-youtube-videos-without-permission-182314160.html?src=rss

The US Senate unanimously passes a bill to empower victims of intimate deepfakes

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The US Senate unanimously passed a bill on Tuesday designed to hold accountable those who make or share deepfake porn. The Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits Act (DEFIANCE Act) would allow victims to sue those who create, share or possess AI-generated sexual images or videos using their likeness. The issue took root in the public consciousness after the infamous Taylor Swift deepfake that circulated among online lowlifes early this year.

The bill would let victims sue for up to $150,000 in damages. That number grows to $250,000 if it’s related to attempted sexual assault, stalking or harassment.

It now moves to the House, where a companion bill awaits. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) sponsors the sister bill. If it passes there (which sounds likely, given the unanimous nature of the Senate’s vote), it will move to President Biden’s desk for final passage.

“There’s a shock to seeing images of yourself that someone could think are real,” Ocasio-Cortez told Rolling Stone earlier this year. “And once you’ve seen it, you’ve seen it. It parallels the same exact intention of physical rape and sexual assault, [which] is about power, domination, and humiliation. Deepfakes are absolutely a way of digitizing violent humiliation against other people.”

The bill, sponsored by Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), lets the victims of intimate digital forgeries (deepfakes) sue for damages. It would give victims a 10-year statute of limitations, beginning either from the discovery of the content or when they turn 18 in the (even more disturbing) case of minors.

“As we know, AI plays a bigger role in our lives than ever before, and while it has many benefits, it’s also easier than ever to create sexually explicit deep fakes without a person’s consent,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said on the Senate floor late Tuesday. “It is a horrible attack on someone’s privacy and dignity to have these fake images of them circulating online without recourse.”

Schumer cited Swift and Megan Thee Stallion in his floor speech as two celebrity examples who have fallen victim to the types of content the bill targets. However, The Verge notes online sexual deepfakes have affected those with much less clout (and money for lawyers) than A-list pop stars, like high school girls, some of whom have found out about contrived sexual images of them being passed around among their peers.

Fortunately, the bill stipulates that victims would have privacy protections during court proceedings and that they could recover legal costs. “It’s a grotesque practice and victims of these deep fakes deserve justice,” Schumer said.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-us-senate-unanimously-passes-a-bill-to-empower-victims-of-intimate-deepfakes-201343557.html?src=rss

AI search engines that don’t pay up can’t index Reddit content

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When Reddit said last month that it would block unauthorized data scraping from its site, everyone’s (rightful) first reaction was “AI, AI, AI.” However, now that the change has taken effect, chatbot makers may not be the only ones being locked out. The widely used forum also appears to be blocking major search engines other than Brave and Google, the latter of which reportedly inked a deal earlier this year with Reddit worth $60 million annually. However, a Reddit spokesperson told Engadget that the empty search results are about Google’s rivals not agreeing to the company’s requirements for AI training. It says it’s it’s in discussions with several of them.

404 Media reported on Wednesday (and Engadget confirmed in our queries) that searching for Reddit results from the past week on rival engine Bing (using “site:reddit.com”) returns empty results. The publication reported that DuckDuckGo produced seven links without any descriptions, only providing the note, “We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us.” The engine now appears to have removed even those, as our test only produced an empty page, reading, “no results found.”

When Reddit said last month that it would update its Robots Exclusion Protocol (robots.txt) to block automated data scraping, it’s now apparent that it wasn’t only meant to thwart AI companies like Perplexity and its controversial “answer engine.” Currently, Google appears to be the only search engine allowed to crawl Reddit and produce results from “the front page of the internet.”

A Reddit spokesperson told Engadget on Wednesday it isn’t accurate to say the missing search results are a result of its Google deal. “We block all crawlers that are unwilling to commit to not using crawl data for AI training, which is in line with enforcing our Public Content Policy and updated robots.txt file,” the company said. “Anyone accessing Reddit content must abide by our policies, including those in place to protect redditors. We are selective about who we work with and trust with large-scale access to Reddit content.”

Meanwhile, a source familiar with Reddit’s thinking told Engadget on Wednesday that Bing’s omission is due to Microsoft refusing to agree to Reddit’s terms regarding AI crawling. Instead, the Bing maker allegedly claimed its standard web controls were sufficient. The source claims Microsoft’s stance conflicts with Reddit’s data privacy policy, leading to the impasse and empty search results.

The ubiquitous robots.txt is the web standard that communicates which parts of a site can be crawled. Although many crawlers are known to ignore its instructions, Google’s standard procedure is to respect it. So, on the technical side, the companies in cahoots on the lucrative deal appear to have deployed some manual override.

The saga could be seen as a trickle-down effect of AI chatbots scraping the live web for results. With courts slow to determine how much of the open web is fair use to train chatbots on, companies like Reddit, whose bottom lines now depend on safeguarding their data from those who don’t pay, are building walls at the expense of the open web. (Although, given the integral role Microsoft has played in this AI era, cozying up with OpenAI early on, it seems ironic that Bing finds itself on the losing end of at least one aspect of the fallout.)

Colin Hayhurst, CEO of lesser-known “no-tracking” search engine Mojeek, told 404 Media that Reddit is “killing everything for search but Google.” In addition, the executive said his attempts to contact Reddit were ignored. “It’s never happened to us before,” he said. “Because this happens to us, we get blocked, usually because of ignorance or stupidity or whatever, and when we contact the site you certainly can get that resolved, but we’ve never had no reply from anybody before.”

Reddit has made no secret of its desire to block AI companies from scraping its treasure trove of data in this burgeoning age of AI. Last year, CEO Steve Huffman risked alienating large portions of its user base by blocking third-party API requests, leading to the demise of beloved apps like Christian Selig’s Apollo. Despite widespread protests among moderators and forum-goers, the company only temporarily lost negligible numbers of users.

The gamble appeared to pay off, and Reddit recovered. It went public in March.

Update, July 24, 2024, 5:00 PM ET: This story has been updated to add statements from Reddit and additional context from sources familiar with the company’s thinking.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/search-engines-that-dont-pay-up-cant-index-reddit-content-172949170.html?src=rss

Russia-linked hackers cut heat to 600 Ukrainian apartment buildings in the dead of winter, researchers say

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Cybersecurity company Dragos has flagged malware that can attack industrial control systems (ICS), tricking them into malicious behavior like turning off the heat and hot water in the middle of winter. TechCrunch reports that’s precisely what the malware, dubbed FrostyGoop, did this January in Lviv, Ukraine, when residents in over 600 apartment buildings lost heat for two days amid freezing temperatures.

Dragos says FrostyGoop is only the ninth known malware designed to target industrial controllers. It’s also the first to specifically set its sights on Modbus, a widely deployed communications protocol invented in 1979. Modbus is frequently used in industrial environments like the one in Ukraine that FrostyGoop attacked in January.

Ukraine’s Cyber Security Situation Center (CSSC), the nation’s government agency tasked with digital safety, shared information about the attack with Dragos after discovering the malware in April of this year, months after the attack. The malicious code, written in Golang (The Go programming language designed by Google), directly interacts with industrial control systems over an open internet port (502).

The attackers likely gained access to Lviv’s industrial network in April 2023. Dragos says they did so by “exploiting an undetermined vulnerability in an externally facing Mikrotik router.” They then installed a remote access tool that voided the need to install the malware locally, which helped it avoid detection.

The attackers downgraded the controller firmware to a version lacking monitoring capabilities, helping to cover their tracks. Instead of trying to take down the systems altogether, the hackers caused the controllers to report inaccurate measurements — resulting in the loss of heat in the middle of a deep freeze.

Dragos has a longstanding policy of neutrality in cyberattacks, preferring to focus on education without assigning blame. However, it noted that the adversaries opened secure connections (using layer two tunneling protocol) to Moscow-based IP addresses.

“I think it’s very much a psychological effort here, facilitated through cyber means when kinetic perhaps here wasn’t the best choice,” Dragos researcher Mark “Magpie” Graham told TechCrunch. Lviv is in the western part of Ukraine, which would be much more difficult for Russia to hit than eastern cities.

Dragos warns that, given how ubiquitous the Modbus protocol is in industrial environments, FrostyGoop could be used to disrupt similar systems worldwide. The security company recommends continuous monitoring, noting that FrostyGoop evaded virus detection, underscoring the need for network monitoring to flag future threats before they strike. Specifically, Dragos advises ICS operators to use the SANS 5 Critical Controls for World-Class OT Cybersecurity, a security framework for operational environments.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/russia-linked-hackers-cut-heat-to-600-ukrainian-apartment-buildings-in-the-dead-of-winter-researchers-say-171414527.html?src=rss

Prime Video gets a much-needed UI overhaul with a new content bar and AI recommendations

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For all its stacked selection of original content, like Fallout, The Boys and Rings of Power, Prime Video has historically pffered a cluttered, confusing and less-than-intuitive layout — especially compared to rivals like Netflix. That changes today as Amazon begins rolling out a new Prime Video UI that, in the company’s words, brings “clarity and simplicity back to streaming.”

The Prime Video redesign starts with a streamlined navigation bar that should make it easier to find your way around. To the left, the bar includes the general categories Home, Movies, TV Shows, Sports and Live TV. Immediately to the right, the nav bar continues with a dedicated tab for content bundled with your Prime membership, followed by sections for add-on subscriptions like Max, Paramount+, Crunchyroll and others. There’s a separate section to add new subscriptions — from Amazon’s more than 100 options — straight from the bar.

Meanwhile, a new “hero rotator” below the bar drills down to highlight content available within each selected bar section. It looks similar to rival services, which doesn’t sound like a big deal on paper but should be a welcome change for anyone who’s ever futzed around with the confusing old Prime Video UI.

Closeup of the leftmost section of a mounted TV showing the new Prime TV layout. Crunchyroll is highlighted.
Amazon

Unsurprisingly, Amazon is adding personalized AI-generated recommendations (“Made for you”) when navigating the bar’s Movies and TV Shows sections. Using the company’s Bedrock AI model, the machine learning recommendations will offer content tips based on your watch history and preferences.

AI will also power new show and movie synopses. Amazon says the change will make browsing their blurbs faster, preventing you from having to scroll around to learn more about a given piece of content.

Finally, Amazon says the UI has new animations, snappier page transitions and zoom effects to make the experience more “frictionless.” On living room devices, video content will auto-play on the hero rotator as you browse around (much like Netflix and other competitors). If you head to the Live TV tab, recommended stations will also play on their own, continuing until you pick something to give your full attention.

The UI update begins rolling out on Tuesday. You can read more in Amazon’s announcement post.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/prime-video-gets-a-much-needed-ui-overhaul-with-a-new-content-bar-and-ai-recommendations-120019397.html?src=rss

iRobot’s newest cleaning machine is the first to wash and dry its mopping pad for you

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iRobot unveiled its most advanced and expensive robot vacuum yet on Tuesday. The (deep breath) Roomba Combo 10 Max Robot + AutoWash Dock automatically washes and dries the mopping pad, something you had to do manually on all its previous combo vacs. But at $1,399, many customers will want to wait several generations for the feature to trickle down to models that don’t cost nearly the equivalent of a MacBook Pro.

Cleaning robots exist to automate tasks that are a pain for us, and the Roomba Combo 10 Max Robot expands on that. iRobot says the dock, which contains “premium antimicrobial materials,” can empty its dirt into an enclosed bag, refill the mopping solution tank and clean itself after each pad wash. You can manually run self-cleaning, and its companion app will remind you when it’s time for standard maintenance or a deeper cleaning.

The robot can store dirt and debris for up to 60 days before emptying, and the mopping pad and self-cleaning tank hold up to seven days of water. At least in theory, the Combo 10 Max leaves less work for the user than any other Roomba before it.

A Roomba on a kitchen floor.
iRobot

iRobot says the new Roomba can seamlessly transition from vacuuming carpet to mopping floors, automatically boosting its suction power when it detects carpets. It can then move back and forth with consistent pressure and deeper scrubbing when it senses that it’s time to mop.

The combo vacuum is designed to retract its entire mopping system when it reaches carpet, “lifting its mop pad to the top of the robot to keep even high-pile carpets fresh and dry.” Meanwhile, it can vacuum and mop simultaneously on hard floors.

While other Roomba models have been able to sense particularly messy areas, the Combo 10 Max adds a camera to “visually pinpoint dirt on the floor.” The company claims this allows it to recognize the dirtiest spots up to eight times more frequently, making multiple passes on those areas more efficiently.

Like other models, the robot cleaner can map your home, but iRobot says it can do so seven times faster than other models while automatically labeling each room type. Its software can even use past cleaning information to predict each room’s cleanliness, proceeding accordingly.

Exploded view of the Roomba Combo 10 Max's internals, against a black background.
iRobot

The robot works with Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant, and iRobot expects it to be Matter-enabled by the end of 2024. That should cover just about every type of smart home. Of course, it includes the company’s memorably branded Pet Owner Official Promise (P.O.O.P.). It provides a free device replacement if the robot accidentally plows through pet waste and ruins your day.

The Roomba Combo 10 Max is available for pre-order today on iRobot’s website in the US and Canada. (It’s also available to reserve in Europe and will launch there in “the coming months.”) However, as marvelous as the technological cleaning wonders sound, its $1,399 cost of admission prices it out of everything but the most well-heeled homes.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/irobots-newest-cleaning-machine-is-the-first-to-wash-and-dry-its-mopping-pad-for-you-110100150.html?src=rss

Samsung is freezing Galaxy Buds 3 Pro shipments amid quality control issues

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Samsung has temporarily shut down Galaxy Buds 3 Pro shipments. With memories of its flaming hot (and not in a good way) Galaxy Note fiasco eight years ago, the company is halting the earbuds’ launch while “urgently assessing and enhancing” the product’s quality control, according to a statement shared with Engadget and Android Authority, which first published the news.

Some users who received the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro before their July 24 launch reported that their ear tips tore easily. Considering how often they may need to remove and replace tips to find their ideal fit, material prone to ripping could have led to atrocious PR and an expensive recall had the company let the launch proceed as planned.

Samsung’s website has added a new release date of August 28, although it’s unclear if that’s a soft placeholder or a new hard target. In addition, the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro Amazon listing has been pulled altogether.

Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro in hand at an event.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget

“To ensure all products meet our quality standards, we have temporarily suspended deliveries of Galaxy Buds 3 Pro devices to distribution channels to conduct a full quality control evaluation before shipments to consumers take place,” Samsung’s statement reads. Samsung Korea previously issued a statement apologizing for quality control issues and promising a full inspection. However, that remark didn’t mention a delay.

The company added that customers who already received the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro and are having problems should contact Samsung or visit a Samsung Service Center. Android Authority also published an email sent to a pre-order customer confirming a delay and advising them to request a cancellation if they choose.

You can read Samsung’s full statement below:

There have been reports relating to a limited number of early production Galaxy Buds 3 Pro devices.

We are taking this matter very seriously and remain committed to meeting the highest quality standards of our products. We are urgently assessing and enhancing our quality control processes.

To ensure all products meet our quality standards, we have temporarily suspended deliveries of Galaxy Buds3 Pro devices to distribution channels to conduct a full quality control evaluation before shipments to consumers take place.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

For more on the flagship wireless earbuds, you can read Engadget’s hands-on coverage.

Update, July 19, 2024, 2:48 PM ET: This story has been updated to add Samsung’s full statement, which the company shared with Engadget.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/samsung-is-freezing-galaxy-buds-3-pro-shipments-amid-quality-control-issues-181407398.html?src=rss