After her game was banned from sale on Steam in a baffling decision with no appeal option, solo developer Cara Cadaver has made VILE: Exhumed available as shareware under a Creative Commons license. The project can be downloaded for free, but players can opt to donate in support of the solo developer's work. Both Cara and publisher DreadXP will pay forward those donations, with 50 percent of the game's profits being given to the Toronto-based charity Red Door Family Shelter. The group aids families, refugees and women who are escaping violence.

Both Steam and Itch.io have recently adopted sweeping and vague policies regarding their approach to projects with adult content due to pressure from payment processors. Itch.io has begun re-indexing some projects, but only free ones.

These changes have disproportionately impacted projects by underrepresented and queer creators, according to a statement from the International Game Developers Association that condemned the broad delisting of adult games. In her post announcing the new distribution plan for VILE: Exhumed, Cara summed up the situation pretty aptly: "What this actually results in is taking power and storytelling away from women, other marginalized artists, and ultimately, from everyone."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/banned-steam-game-vile-exhumed-is-back-as-a-free-shareware-title-225220847.html?src=rss

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Sonos is having overheating issues with a "very low" number of its Roam speakers. Bloomberg reports that some users' portable Bluetooth speakers are overheating around the device's USB-C port. The company has not recalled any products as a result but it aware of the issue happening.

"We’ve closely tracked a limited number of reports involving the USB-C charging connection on some first-generation Sonos Roam speakers," Sonos said in a statement shared with Engadget. "While the overall incidence rate is very low, and environmental conditions appear to play a role, we’ve taken several proactive steps to even further reduce the likelihood of this issue, including software updates and accessory improvements."

The issue appears to be centered on the original model of the Sonos Roam that debuted in 2021; the Sonos Roam 2 offered some upgrades over that version when it rolled out last spring.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/speakers/a-very-low-number-of-original-sonos-roam-speakers-are-overheating-205722779.html?src=rss

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© Nathan Ingraham for Engadget

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has sued multiple pornography platforms on allegations that they fall afoul of age verification laws. The state passed HB 3 in March 2024 and the law took effect in January 2025. HB 3 placed new requirements on services to confirm the ages of their users if they contain "material harmful to minors" and to ensure nobody younger than 18 accesses their content.

The lawsuit today targets the companies behind several porn sites, including XVideos, XNXX, BangBros and Girls Gone Wild, as well as adult advertising network Traffic Factory. "We are taking legal action against these online pornographers who are willfully preying on the innocence of children for their financial gain," Uthmeier said.

Although today's lawsuit focuses on pornography providers, many of the provisions in HB 3 also center on teen use of social media. In June, a judge temporarily blocked the law after NetChoice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association — groups representing several social media platforms — sought a preliminary injunction. Uthmeier has appealed that injunction to the Eleventh Circuit.

Yahoo, the parent company of Engadget, is a member of NetChoice. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/florida-is-suing-several-porn-companies-over-age-verification-190251850.html?src=rss

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© Joe Raedle via Getty Images

WhatsApp has shared a new update about how it prevents scams, as well as unveiling a new feature aimed at protecting users from possible swindles. People will now receive alerts when they are added to a new WhatsApp group by someone not in their contacts.

This safety overview will include key details about the group chat, such as the number of members, whether any other members are contacts and the chat's start date. It also offers some common sense reminders of how to avoid scams. Users can exit the group from that alert without ever looking at the chat if they choose, or can look at the chat to double-check whether it is a group they wish to participate in.

WhatsApp said it will "continue to test new approaches" for delivering similar alerts on individual direct messages within its service. These tools seem to still be in development, but the company indicated it is working on ways to catch scammers who initiate contact on a different platform before moving a conversation to WhatsApp.

In addition to the in-app tools, WhatsApp said that it has also identified and blocked many accounts used to perpetrate scams. During the first half of 2025, the company said it detected and banned more than 6.8 million accounts linked to scam centers. 

The Federal Trade Commission has published multiple reports over the years about the prevalence of scams on social media platforms.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/whatsapp-adds-new-warning-about-potential-group-chat-messaging-scams-160013367.html?src=rss

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The Lunar Trailblazer mission to the moon officially ended on July 31, but it wasn't a complete journey. NASA said today that its teams lost contact with the satellite shortly after its launch several months prior.

The NASA satellite was part of the IM-2 mission by Intuitive Machines, which took off from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center on February 26 at 7:16PM ET. The Lunar Trailblazer successfully separated from the rocket as planned about 48 minutes after launch. Operators in Pasadena, CA established communication with the satellite at 8:13PM ET, but two-way communication was lost the next day and the team was unable to recover the connection. From the limited data ground teams received before the satellite went dark, the craft's solar arrays were not correctly positioned toward the sun, which caused its batteries to drain.

"While it was not the outcome we had hoped for, mission experiences like Lunar Trailblazer help us to learn and reduce the risk for future, low-cost small satellites to do innovative science as we prepare for a sustained human presence on the Moon," said Nicky Fox, associate administrator at NASA Headquarters' Science Mission Directorate. "Thank you to the Lunar Trailblazer team for their dedication in working on and learning from this mission through to the end."

The Lunar Trailblazer mission was one of several commercial spaceflights planned for travel to the moon during 2025. Its goal was to create high-resolution maps of any water on the moon's surface, as well as assessing how much water was present, in what forms and how it may have changed over time. Fingers crossed the remaining missions have better success.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasas-lunar-trailblazer-mission-ends-in-disappointment-201318932.html?src=rss

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Spotify is introducing new requirements to confirm the ages of users in the UK trying to access explicit content. The streaming platform is implementing a facial scan process in partnership with Yoti, which also provides its services to Instagram. UK Spotify users may be prompted to perform this age check when they try to view or listen to age-restricted content.

This type of approach to checking ages can sometimes yield wrong results. If the facial scan based on a photo of the user determines their age incorrectly, the person can instead provide an ID for verification. In addition to the limits on some explicit content, Spotify may use the results of these checks to deactivate an account if the user is below the minimum required age to be on the platform. In the UK, the minimum age for Spotify users is 13. "If you cannot confirm you’re old enough to use Spotify, your account will be deactivated and eventually deleted," the company said.

The UK's Online Safety Act has seen companies and services including Reddit, Bluesky, Microsoft/Xbox and pornography providers now requiring some form of age verification, either within the region or for all users.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/spotify-now-requires-face-scans-to-access-age-restricted-content-in-the-uk-210738192.html?src=rss

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President Donald Trump's latest economic move is to halt the de minimis exemption, a provision that made international shipments of low-value items cheaper. When the exemption ends on August 29, shipments valued at or under $800 will be subject to duty fees when sent by any carrier other than the international postal network, no matter what country they are coming from.

According to the White House's announcement of this change, shipments will either be assessed with an ad valorem duty equal to the tariff rate for the country of origin set by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act or with a limited-time specific duty between $80 and $200 per item. The specific duty will only be a available for six months, after which all shipments will be subject to an ad valorem duty. The administration claimed the de minimis exemption was harming US businesses and that the loophole was being used to ship synthetic opioids such as fentanyl into the country.

The administration had already suspended de minimis exemptions for shipments from China and Hong Kong in May. A large number of those low-cost purchases originated in those regions, which are the center for several online shopping sites specializing in inexpensive goods, such as Shein and Temu and Amazon's Haul.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/trump-will-end-the-de-minimis-exemption-for-low-cost-global-shipments-202707806.html?src=rss

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Opera is filing an antitrust complaint against Microsoft in Brazil, alleging it creates an unfair environment for alternate browsers to compete with Edge. The Norway-based company claims Microsoft's deals to make Edge the exclusive pre-installed browser on Windows machines creates an unfair environment for alternate browsers to compete. Opera also argued that Microsoft uses design tactics and dark patterns to further discourage people from downloading and using rival products. It is asking Brazil's Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) to pursue remedies against Microsoft.

"Microsoft thwarts browser competition on Windows at every turn. First, browsers like Opera are locked out of important pre-installation opportunities," Aaron McParlan, general counsel for Opera, said in a statement. "And then Microsoft frustrates users' ability to download and use alternative browsers."

This isn't the first time these two companies have clashed. Opera sued Microsoft in the EU all the way back in 2007 with a similar argument that bundling Internet Explorer was anticompetitive. Last year, it also argued that Microsoft should have gatekeeper designation for the Edge browser under the EU's Digital Markets Act; that case against the European Commission is ongoing.

Update, July 30, 2025, 3:05PM ET: Corrected the status of Opera's case against the European Commission.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/opera-takes-its-browser-beef-with-microsoft-to-brazil-in-antitrust-complaint-214105355.html?src=rss

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YouTube will start using machine learning to determine whether viewers should be on a teen account. The company said it plans to start using this AI application on a subset of US users in the coming weeks for a trial before rolling it out to the rest of the market. The tool will assess user behaviors including the types of videos being searched for, the categories of videos watched and how long the account has existed. When an account is deemed by machine learning to belong to a teen, YouTube will disable personalized advertising, activate digital wellbeing tools and add other safeguards for its younger users.

Since introducing supervised teen accounts in 2021, YouTube has continued to add protections aimed at its younger users. The company noted that it has been using this machine learning approach "in other markets for some time, where it is working well."

YouTube isn't the only service to leverage an AI tool to catch users who might be lying about their age. However, it's putting the burden of correcting false positives on its users: "If the system incorrectly estimates a user to be under 18, they will have the option to verify that they are 18 or over, such as using a credit card or a government ID." Meta has a similar tool it began rolling out across Facebook, Instagram and Messenger earlier this year, but it lets people simply change their settings if the AI tool incorrectly guesses their age.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/youtube/youtube-is-turning-over-age-verification-to-ai-185634150.html?src=rss

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Last week, social network Tea experienced a data breach that exposed personal information for its users. The dating safety app for women said at the time that "there is no evidence to suggest that current or additional user data was affected." However, 404 Media reports that the problem is bigger than originally stated. The site credits independent security researcher Kasra Rahjerdi, who found that content from the platform as recent as last week has been exposed.

Additionally, this source claims that the compromised information could allow hackers to view messages between Tea users. DMs might include other sensitive information, such as personal phone numbers, discussions of cheating and experience obtaining abortions. 

"As part of our ongoing investigation into the cybersecurity incident involving the Tea App, we have recently learned that some direct messages (DMs) were accessed as part of the initial incident," a spokesperson for the company told Engadget. "Out of an abundance of caution, we have taken the affected system offline. At this time, we have found no evidence of access to other parts of our environment." In addition, Tea said it will offer them free identity protection to users whose personal information was involved in the breach.

Tea's security issues come during a surge in popularity. The app allows women to anonymously share personal stories about their dating experience, with the intended goal of letting others know if the men they are meeting might be a risk to their personal safety, were engaged in catfishing, or were already in a relationship.

Update, July 29, 2025, 1:08PM ET: Added statement from Tea.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/data-breach-at-tea-reportedly-contains-images-and-dms-from-last-week-224823984.html?src=rss

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Anthropic has introduced new weekly rate limits on its Claude Code tool for AI assistance with coding tasks. The move comes shortly after the AI company quietly began implementing rate limits on the Claude Code service, which is an agentic side of the AI chatbot that is capable of reading code, editing files, performing tests and pushing GitHub commits.

According to a series of posts from Anthropic on X, these changes are in response to some users who have been running Claude Code "continuously in the background, 24/7." Not only does that add up to a hefty environmental toll, the instances of non-stop use are also financially expensive for Anthropic. The company additionally questioned whether some users were violating terms of service by sharing or reselling accounts.

Claude Code is only available on Anthropic's Pro and Max plans, the most expensive of which is $200 a month. Those subscriptions which will start seeing the weekly rate limits beginning in August. "We estimate they’ll apply to less than 5% of subscribers based on current usage," the company said. For those people who do run up against the limits on the Max plan, there will be an option to purchase extra usage at standard API rates.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/anthropic-is-rate-limiting-claude-code-blaming-some-users-for-never-turning-it-off-211134730.html?src=rss

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© Anthropic

Microsoft has debuted a Copilot Mode for its Edge web browser. When enabled, this experimental feature can search across multiple open browser tabs and analyze the information on each page. An example posted on X by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella shows Copilot Mode examining several papers published by the company's researchers and assessing if they make any similar points.

This feature will also support natural voice navigation and adds a dynamic pane for Copilot to be available wherever you're browsing. The company is working on more advanced options as well. For instance, if you grant it permission to access your web history and credentials, Copilot Mode will "soon" be able to execute actions such as booking a reservation or suggesting whatever the chatbot deems as relevant information to a query. Copilot Mode will be available for a limited time for users with Edge on Windows or Mac machines to try out. If those people prefer, they can also turn Copilot Mode off in their browser settings.

Many tech companies have set their sights winning the race to have an AI-equipped browser. Perplexity, OpenAI, Opera, and The Browser Company have been pushing to get their products in front of users. Although Microsoft has been putting Copilot in both hardware and software, the business may have a ways to go to become a frontrunner in adoption of its AI tools.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/microsoft-trials-copilot-mode-in-edge-201851903.html?src=rss

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Key Points

• PepsiCo's stock popped after the company reported unexpectedly strong second -quarter 2025 earnings.

• The stock remains mired in a deep downturn.

• One quarter isn't a trend, but this Dividend King has proved it knows how to adapt over the long term.

• 10 stocks we like better than PepsiCo ›

PepsiCo (NASDAQ: PEP) announced second-quarter 2025 earnings that were stronger than Wall Street expected. The stock popped 6% the next day, which is great. But it is a typical short-term, news-driven move that probably shouldn't be too important to long-term investors.

The bigger story here is that the stock remains well off its highs, which makes it a buy if you are worried about a bear market. Here are three reasons why.

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More »

1. PepsiCo is a consumer staples company

PepsiCo makes beverages, salty snacks, and packaged foods. It owns some of the most iconic brands around, including Pepsi, Frito-Lay, and Quaker Oats.

Its size, distribution strength, marketing prowess, and research and development acumen make it a valuable partner to retailers around the world. It is highly unlikely that PepsiCo goes away anytime soon.

And there's a key feature here that is important to remember: PepsiCo makes affordable products that are bought regularly and have high brand loyalty among customers. This is the core of why consumer staples companies are resilient to economic downturns and are often sought out by investors as safe havens during bear markets. PepsiCo's business, while it will vary a bit over short periods of time, is really fairly stable, with a slight growth bias over the long term.

If you are worried about a bear market, consumer staples stocks are a great place to go fishing for new investments. Notice that statement is broad and not specific to PepsiCo. Which brings up the next point: its stock price.

PEP data by YCharts.

2. It's already in its own bear market

Without getting too deep into the details, PepsiCo hasn't been firing on all cylinders lately. Some of its peers, notably Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), have been performing better. Thus, Wall Street has been downbeat on PepsiCo's stock.

Even after the pop following unexpectedly strong second-quarter 2025 earnings, shares remain down more than 20% from their 2023 highs. A bear market is when the broader indexes fall 20% or more, so PepsiCo is kind of in its own private bear market already.

A market-wide downturn could easily lead investors to seek out safe havens, like already downtrodden consumer staples makers. PepsiCo could quickly find itself gaining favor again in that scenario.

And even if that positive shift doesn't happen, given the already deep drawdown, it seems likely that the stock wouldn't suffer as much as the broader market in a downturn.

3. PepsiCo has a proven record of survival

The final reason to consider buying PepsiCo if you are worried about a bear market is its status as a Dividend King. With over five decades of annual dividend increases, the company has proved it knows how to survive bear markets, recessions, and whatever else the world can throw at it. Simply put, you don't create a dividend record like that by accident.

On this front, you might also want to pay attention to the stock's historically high dividend yield of around 4% or so. Basically, you are getting paid very well to own this reliable dividend stock, and that can help you wait out a broader market downturn without losing your cool.

PepsiCo is muddling through again

To reiterate, PepsiCo is not operating at the top of its game right now. That said, it is making moves to get back into form, including cutting costs and acquiring new, more relevant brands, among other things.

It is basically doing the right things from a business perspective. Add that to what is really a pretty reliable business, the deep decline in the stock price, and an attractive dividend yield, and this dividend stalwart looks like a buy even if you aren't worried about a bear market!

Should you invest $1,000 in PepsiCo right now?

Before you buy stock in PepsiCo, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and PepsiCo wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $636,628!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,063,471!*

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See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of July 21, 2025

Reuben Gregg Brewer has positions in PepsiCo. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Key Points

• Coca-Cola is beating the market this year, but it usually doesn't.

• It's enjoying confidence as investors look for safe stocks at a volatile time.

• The stock isn't cheap, and large gains will need corresponding revenue growth.

• 10 stocks we like better than Coca-Cola ›

Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) is doing something this year it doesn't usually do: beating the market. There are several reasons investors have been enthusiastic about the stock this year. It generally draws interest when the market is down because it provides protection in its stability, and investors choose it for its safety.

This year in particular, it's creating optimism because it's well protected against tariffs. However, as the tariff issue doesn't seem to be having the expected negative effects due to trade deals (or talk of them), the market is rising while the stock is starting to teeter.

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More »

Let's see what's happening at Coca-Cola and whether or not it can continue to beat the market.

Warren Buffett's favorite

Let's be clear: Coca-Cola is not a growth stock. It's the largest beverage company in the world, with $47 billion in trailing-12-month sales and has been around since 1886. There are many advantages to its position, but generating high sales growth is not one of them.

In general, stocks like this one offer value and protection, as well as an incredible dividend, which I'll get to. But investors don't buy them to beat the market.

Over the past 30 years, Coca-Cola stock has seriously trailed the market, with a few moments of market-beating performance interspersed. You can guess when those moments were; like today, they were predominantly times when the market pulled back, and the shares benefited from the flight to safety.

KO Total Return Level data by YCharts.

Despite its market underperformance, which started not long after Warren Buffett bought it for Berkshire Hathaway, he isn't selling. There are features that he loves, including the company's capital-light model, brand name, and dividend -- all of which he has mentioned over the past few years.

Could things be changing?

That brings us to what's happening at the company today. It's actually in a much better position than it was a few years ago after some tightening and restructuring, and it's well on its way to meeting its long-term goals. Management has built its business back up to where it was 10 years ago, and it's finally reporting records again.

In the 2025 second quarter, revenue increased 1% year over year, but organic revenue, which adjusts for acquisitions, divestures, and the like, increased 5%. Operating margin was 34.1%, up from 21.3% last year, and adjusted operating margin was 34.7%, up from 32.8% last year. Comparable earnings per share (EPS) increased 4% to $0.87, beating Wall Street's expectations of $0.84.

Revenue growth came within its long-term goal of 4% to 6%, but EPS fell below the long-term goal of 7% to 9%. Adjusted operating income was up 15%, though, well above its 6% to 8% long-term goal.

Even if the company continues on this trajectory, it may not be enough to move the needle to market-beating stock performance. Growth in the low to mid-single digits can't move the stock much higher without raising the valuation significantly.

At the current price, the stock trades at a price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of 27, slightly higher than its three-year average. It would have to report some serious growth to get much higher or warrant a higher valuation.

It may not matter

Coca-Cola stock is still beating the market this year, up 13% versus 8%. But the gap is narrowing as the market makes a comeback. While a chance exists for Coca-Cola to keep it up, that's not the reason for most investors to buy it; that would be an added plus.

Its attractions are its security and value. Part of that comes from its storied dividend, which has been raised for the past 63 years straight and yields 2.9%. It's as reliable as payouts come. If you need that slot filled in a diversified portfolio, Coca-Cola stock could be worth buying whether it beats the market or not.

Should you invest $1,000 in Coca-Cola right now?

Before you buy stock in Coca-Cola, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Coca-Cola wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $636,628!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,063,471!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 1,041% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 183% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of July 21, 2025

Jennifer Saibil has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Intel provided more detail about the scope of its planned job cuts and other business changes while sharing its second-quarter earnings results. Reports in April suggested that Intel could eliminate around 20 percent of its staff in a restructuring plan. Today, the chipmaker said it anticipates having a core workforce of 75,000 employees by the end of 2025, down from 99,500 at the start of the year.

The numbers are even more dramatic when considering the company's downsizing efforts as a whole. This time last year, the chipmaker employed 116,500 across the globe, not including workers at its subsidiaries, and that number has fallen precipitously since. As of June 28, the company had 96,400 workers, meaning it's planning a reduction of more than 20,000 employees over the second half of the year.

These cuts are part of the company's current goal to bring its non-GAAP operating expenses down to $17 billion this year, then to $16 billion at the end of 2026. The effort to rein in spending is also leading Intel to abandon some previously announced expansions. The business will no longer embark on new projects in Germany and Poland, and it said it will consolidate its Costa Rican testing and assembly operations into existing efforts in Vietnam and Malaysia. Finally, it will also "slow the pace" of its stateside growth at a construction site in Ohio.

"Our operating performance demonstrates the initial progress we are making to improve our execution and drive greater efficiency," said Lip-Bu Tan, who has been forthright about his plans to downsize since assuming the CEO title in March. Tan was brought in to replace Pat Gelsinger in an effort to turn around Intel's business following a long, slow slide into financial trouble.

Update, July 25, 3:30PM ET: This story has been updated multiple times since publish to provide more context around the layoffs. The employment numbers were also simplified by removing some mentions of employees at Intel subsidiaries.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/intel-confirms-it-will-cut-a-third-of-its-workforce-by-the-end-of-2025-215014365.html?src=rss

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© REUTERS / Reuters

Google's latest AI adventure is a new option for search. Web Guide is a new way that Google will organize search results based on analysis by a dedicated version of its Gemini artificial intelligence tool. The claim in the announcement is that AI can help surface the most relevant content, but it could also be a new way for Google to control what websites get prime billing in results. 

In the graphic shared alongside the blog post announcing this Search Labs experiment, the company showed clusters of results to the query "how to solo travel in Japan." Web Guide displayed a few hits each under different headers, such as "Comprehensive Guides for Solo Travel in Japan," "Personal Experiences and Tips from Solo Travelers" and "Safety and Destination Recommendations," with an option to reveal more for each grouping. It does seem to provide some AI-generated summaries at the top of each heading, but at least with this example, there are fewer instances of copy/pasting another publication's words wholesale.

Web Guide has some similarities to Google's AI Mode, which looped artificial intelligence more tightly into the search experience. The presence of AI Mode for all US users has already prompted outcry from publishers; News/Media Alliance called it "theft." Pew Research Center recently issued a report confirming that the presence of an AI summary at the top of a search led to fewer people clicking through to read published content from a source. The group's survey of 900 adults who shared their browsing history revealed that for users who did not see an AI summary, 15 percent of them clicked on a link from search results and 16 percent ended their browsing session. In contract, only 8 percent of users who saw an AI summary clicked a link in the search results, and 26 percent ended their browsing session. And while Google has been working to improve their accuracy, let us never forget that those AI-penned summaries once gave us glue pizza.

It's too early to know if Web Guide will encourage more people to actually visit and support sites other than Google. For now, it's only available for opted-in users in the Web tab for search, but it will appear elsewhere down the line. Given that Google is already in the legal dog house for anticompetitive behavior with its search business, it should be interesting to see how this latest AI rollout goes.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/google-will-use-ai-to-organize-search-results-with-web-guide-191135024.html?src=rss

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© Reuters / Reuters

Sony is bringing a welcome quality-of-life feature to the PlayStation 5. In the next PS5 system update beta, players will be able to have their DualSense controllers synced with multiple hardware platforms at the same time. That means you could swap a controller from a PS5 to your gaming PC to your smartphone without needing to re-pair the DualSense each time.

Up to four devices can be simultaneously paired with a single controller, and each of them will be mapped to one of the action buttons. To switch between them, first make sure the hardware you want to start using is on, then press the controller's PS button and the corresponding action button at the same time. Hold for three seconds, and when you see blinking on the controller's light bar, release both buttons.

It's the sort of change that may not carry weight for all players. But for those of us who do like to hop between platforms, this is very exciting news. The current beta access is limited to an invite-only guest list, but Sony said it plans to roll out the feature globally "in the coming months."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/sony-is-finally-making-it-possible-to-pair-a-dualsense-with-more-than-one-device-211715133.html?src=rss

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© Aaron Souppouris for Engadget

Current and former members of the FDA told CNN about issues with the Elsa generative AI tool unveiled by the federal agency last month. Three employees said that in practice, Elsa has hallucinated nonexistent studies or misrepresented real research. "Anything that you don't have time to double-check is unreliable," one source told the publication. "It hallucinates confidently." Which isn't exactly ideal for a tool that's supposed to be speeding up the clinical review process and aiding with making efficient, informed decisions to benefit patients.

Leadership at the FDA appeared unfazed by the potential problems posed by Elsa. "I have not heard those specific concerns," FDA Commissioner Marty Makary told CNN. He also emphasized that using Elsa and participating in the training to use it are currently voluntary at the agency.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services told Engadget that "the information provided by FDA to CNN was mischaracterized and taken out of context." The spokesperson also claimed that CNN led its story with "disgruntled former employees and sources who have never even used the current version of Elsa." The agency claims to have guardrails and guidance for how its employees can use the tool, but its statement doesn’t address that Elsa, like any AI platform, can and will deliver incorrect or incomplete information at times. We have not yet received a response to our request for additional details.

The CNN investigation highlighting these flaws with the FDA's artificial intelligence arrived on the same day as the White House introduced an "AI Action Plan." The program presented AI development as a technological arms race that the US should win at all costs, and it laid out plans to remove "red tape and onerous regulation" in the sector. It also demanded that AI be free of "ideological bias," or in other words, only following the biases of the current administration by removing mentions of climate change, misinformation, and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Considering each of those three topics has a documented impact on public health, the ability of tools like Elsa to provide genuine benefits to both the FDA and to US patients looks increasingly doubtful.

Update, July 24, 2025, 6:35PM ET: Added a statement from the Department of Health and Human Services.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/fda-employees-say-the-agencys-elsa-generative-ai-hallucinates-entire-studies-203547157.html?src=rss

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Google has been putting more AI tools in just about all of its services, and two more are getting the treatment. First up, Google Photos is adding some new AI-powered creation features. Starting today, the platform will support a photo-to-video option that can generate a six-second clip from a still image in your library. The capability is powered by Google's Veo 2 engine, and users will be able to select either "Subtle movements" or "I'm feeling lucky" as the prompt for their video. Google Photos is also getting a Remix feature that recreates images in other artistic styles, such as anime, comics, sketches, or 3D animation. Remix will begin rolling out in the coming weeks for US users on both Android and iOS. These tools will eventually be housed in a new Create tab that's due to start rolling out within the Google Photos platform in the US in August.

YouTube Shorts will also add a photo-to-video capability. This is a free feature that will arrive over the next week in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. More markets will receive the option later this year. The company noted that, like with Google Photos, the tool is powered by Veo 2, although Veo 3 support is slated to arrive in YouTube Shorts later this summer. Veo 2 also drives the new generative effects tool for the short-form videos.

Google introduced a photo-to-video option to its Gemini app earlier this month, although using the tool there requires a subscription.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/google-adds-its-photo-to-video-tech-to-youtube-shorts-160033683.html?src=rss

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Ken Pillonel has a history of developing clever projects that add USB-C support to gadgets that have less common, outdated port types. After creating the first ever USB-C iPhone back in 2021, the engineer has returned his attention to that concept. He's created an iPhone case that can provide older device models with a USB-C port, and you can browse the available options on his shop. He also detailed the design process in a fascinating video.

For several generations, Apple equipped its smartphones with proprietary Lighting ports. That connection tech required a frankly obnoxious number of adapters and dongles to use. A solution like Pillonel's can help keep those older devices functional in the present day, where USB-C has become the standard for most gadgets, including Apple's.

"The goal is to give some extra life to those older devices by making them feel less obsolete," he explains in the video announcement. Pillonel has designed cases for all 20 phone models from the Lightning era that can run the current iOS. The design promises fast charging as well as full data transfers to both computers and CarPlay. He's also adding more color options to be released in September.

The video is a worthy watch for anyone interested in product design and engineering. And you can also read the backstory on other products Pillonel has tackled, including Apple's AirPods and AirPods Max.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/an-engineers-new-smartphone-cases-can-give-any-iphone-a-usb-c-port-130014357.html?src=rss

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