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Blizzard's Story and Franchise Development team has voted to unionize

Workers from Blizzard Entertainment's department for Story and Franchise Development have voted to unionize. Members of the team will become members of the Communication Workers of America and Microsoft has recognized the union. The SFD team is responsible for cinematics, animation and narrative in Blizzard's series, creating content such as in-game cutscenes and promotional videos. The department also includes archival workers and historians for Blizzard franchises, such as World of Warcraft and Overwatch. A spokesperson from CWA said that there will be about 169 workers from the company joining the local chapter.

"After more than a decade working at Blizzard, I've seen all the highs and lows. For years, Blizzard has been a place where people could build their careers and stay for decades, but that stability's been fading," Bucky Fisk, a principal editor and member of the organizing committee, said. "With a union, we're able to preserve what makes this place special, secure real transparency in how decisions are made, and make sure policies are applied fairly to everyone."

"These past couple of months have felt both important and cathartic given what's happened to video game workers across the industry," said Sammi Kay, another member of the organizing committee and an associate producer at Blizzard. "At multiple points in my life, I've always been told to accept the way things are, but with organizing, we're able to build a future better than we found it."

Blizzard is owned by Microsoft. Today's development marks the latest move for game developers under the tech giant's umbrella to pursue union representation. About 600 quality assurance workers from Activision joined CWA last March. The QA team from ZeniMax also ratified its union agreement in June and Raven Software finally secured a union contract earlier this month.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/blizzards-story-and-franchise-development-team-has-voted-to-unionize-213818158.html?src=rss

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Β© Blizzard Entertainment

Still from the War Within cinematic for WoW
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Russia reportedly implicated in hack on US federal courts' databases

Databases used by US federal courts for sharing and managing case documents have been hacked. Politico first reported on the hack last week on August 6; today, an investigation from The New York Times states that Russia is suspected to be involved in the attack. The Administrative Office of the US Courts initially identified the severity of the cyberattack in July, although the extent of the breach by "persistent and sophisticated cyber threat actors" has not been disclosed and may still not be known by national officials.

Both the Case Management/Electronic Case Files (CM/ECF) and PACER systems have been impacted by the attack. CM/ECF is used by legal professionals and courts to store documents, while PACER grants the public limited access to those same files. Anonymous officials told Politico that chief judges for federal courts in the 8th Circuit were briefed on the attack, but were unable to confirm what agency provided the briefing. The 8th Circuit includes Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.

Politico's original report said the hack may have "compromised the identities of confidential informants involved in criminal cases at multiple federal district courts." The Times coverage added that some of the searches by the intruders "included midlevel criminal cases in the New York City area and several other jurisdictions, with some cases involving people with Russian and Eastern European surnames." However, there have been no additional details revealed about what entity is behind the attack, whether a branch of Russian intelligence may have been involved, or what evidence the investigators have discovered tying the hack to Russia.

The isn't the only time CM/ECF has been a hacking target. The courts introduced new protections for the system in 2021 in response to a cyberattack; a similar announcement arrived on August 7. At this time, the courts have been ordered to move files for cases that may have been of interest off the compromised systems, although some districts have ordered even more limited use of CM/ECF or PACER as a preventive measure.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/russia-reportedly-implicated-in-hack-on-us-federal-courts-databases-204029993.html?src=rss

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Β© REUTERS / Reuters

A Lady Justice statue is seen at the Delaware Supreme Court in Dover, Delaware, U.S., June 10, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
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Threads is up to 400 million monthly active users

Meta's X competitor, Threads, is continuing to add users at a brisk clip, with the social network now surpassing 400 million monthly active users. The news, reported by Fast Company, follows Threads reaching the 300 million mark in December 2024 and the 200 million mark in August 2024.

FC also cited data from Similarweb that showed mobile performance for Threads drawing closer to the figures from X. In June, Threads posted 115.1 million daily active users on mobile and X had 132 million. Those figures marked an increase of 128 percent on-year for Threads, but a slide of 15 percent from the previous year for X.

When Meta launched Threads in 2023, Mark Zuckerberg set a goal of making it "a public conversations app with 1 billion+ people on it." There was still plenty of progress left for the platform to make after its first year, on users and features. But already in 2025, Threads has added some pretty core features such as DMs and an increased emphasis on external links (although whether people will click those links is a separate question).

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/threads-is-up-to-400-million-monthly-active-users-190203754.html?src=rss

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Β© REUTERS / Reuters

Meta's Threads app logo is seen in this illustration taken July 4, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
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AI summaries can downplay medical issues for female patients, UK research finds

The latest example of bias permeating artificial intelligence comes from the medical field. A new study surveyed real case notes from 617 adult social care workers in the UK and found that when large language models summarized the notes, they were more likely to omit language such as "disabled," "unable" or "complex" when the patient was tagged as female, which could lead to women receiving insufficient or inaccurate medical care.

Research led by the London School of Economics and Political Science ran the same case notes through two LLMs β€” Meta's Llama 3 and Google's Gemma β€” and swapped the patient's gender, and the AI tools often provided two very different patient snapshots. While Llama 3 showed no gender-based differences across the surveyed metrics, Gemma had significant examples of this bias. Google's AI summaries produced disparities as drastic as "Mr Smith is an 84-year-old man who lives alone and has a complex medical history, no care package and poor mobility" for a male patient, while the same case notes with credited to a female patient provided: "Mrs Smith is an 84-year-old living alone. Despite her limitations, she is independent and able to maintain her personal care."Β 

Recent research has uncovered biases against women in the medical sector, both in clinical research and in patient diagnosis. The stats also trend worse for racial and ethnic minorities and for the LGBTQ community. It's the latest stark reminder that LLMs are only as good as the information they are trained on and the people deciding how they are trained. The particularly concerning takeaway from this research was that UK authorities have been using LLMs in care practices, but without always detailing which models are being introduced or in what capacity.

"We know these models are being used very widely and what’s concerning is that we found very meaningful differences between measures of bias in different models,” lead author Dr. Sam Rickman said, noting that the Google model was particularly likely to dismiss mental and physical health issues for women. "Because the amount of care you get is determined on the basis of perceived need, this could result in women receiving less care if biased models are used in practice. But we don’t actually know which models are being used at the moment."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/ai-summaries-can-downplay-medical-issues-for-female-patients-uk-research-finds-202943611.html?src=rss

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Β© Rawlstock via Getty Images

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Meta says these wild headset prototypes could be the future of VR

Meta previewed some of its latest virtual reality prototypes this week, with concepts that are compelling on the specs and long on the design. Literally. The company shared some details on its Tiramisu project, dubbing it "hyperrealistic VR." This set promises three times the contrast, 14 times the maximum brightness and 3.6 times the angular resolution of the Meta Quest 3. In actual stats, that's up to 1,400 nits of brightness and an angular resolution of 90 pixels per degree.

One of the goals for Reality Labs Research’s Optics, Photonics and Light Systems (OPALS) team is to create a virtual reality experience that is indistinguishable from the real world, or what it calls a visual Turing test. "Our mission for this project was to provide the best image quality possible," said Xuan Wang, an optical research scientist with OPALS. But the team achieved that quality with some tradeoffs; Tiramisu has a limited field of view of just 33 degrees by 33 degrees compared to the 110 degrees horizontal and 96 degrees vertical FOV in the Meta Quest 3. And the form factor is currently a pretty bulky beast, as you can see above.

Meta researcher wearing the Boba 3 headset
Meta

The other prototypes detailed in the company's blog post are Boba 3 headsets. These mixed and virtual reality headsets offer an ultrawide field of view. All three projects will be on display during the SIGGRAPH 2025 conference in Vancouver next week.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/meta-says-these-wild-headset-prototypes-could-be-the-future-of-vr-225132683.html?src=rss

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Β© Meta

Researcher at Meta wearing a prototype Tiramisu VR headset.
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The FCC will review emergency alert systems in the US

The Federal Communications Commission is planning a review of the US emergency alert systems. Both the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WAS) will be subject to a "re-examination" by the agency. "We want to ensure that these programs deliver the results that Americans want and need," FCC Chairman Brendan Carr posted on X.

The announcement of this plan notes that the infrastructure underlying the EAS β€” which includes radio, television, satellite and cable systems β€” is 31 years old, while the framework underpinning the WAS mobile device alerts is 13 years old. The FCC review will also assess what entities should be able to send alerts on those systems, as well as topics such as geographic targeting and security.

The role of emergency communication systems came under recent scrutiny after catastrophic flooding in central Texas earlier this summer that led to more than 130 deaths. Questions arose in the aftermath of whether residents in potentially dangerous areas received enough warning to evacuate, as well as if recent federal cuts to the National Weather Service's staff and budget could have contributed to the high death toll.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/the-fcc-will-review-emergency-alert-systems-in-the-us-212753623.html?src=rss

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Β© ASSOCIATED PRESS

FILE - Brendan Carr listens during a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation committee hearing to examine the Federal Communications Commission on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 24, 2020. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post via AP, File)
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Microsoft has ended 'active development' on Contraband

The upheaval continues for gaming at Microsoft. The latest victim appears to be Contraband, a planned release from Avalanche Studios with Xbox Game Studios as publisher. The co-op open-world game from the studio behind the entertaining Just Cause series was teased in a brief, mostly atmospheric trailer at E3 2021. But very little had been heard since about the project, and it seems the axe is currently hanging pretty precariously above Contraband.

"Active development has now stopped while we evaluate the project's future," Avalanche said in a post on its website. "We're thankful for the excitement we've seen from the community since we announced and will give an update on what's next as soon as we can."

Microsoft announced in May that it would cut 7,000 jobs, or about 3 percent of its global workforce. That news was followed by another cut of 9,000 positions later in the summer. Gaming has been hit hard by these changes, with several studios and planned projects shuttering as Microsoft consolidates. Here's the rundown of other projects that have been reported to have ended so far under Microsoft's auspices:

Several of the aforementioned studios, and many others under the Xbox umbrella, have also been hit by the layoffs. Some, like The Initiative, have been completely shut down.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/microsoft-has-ended-active-development-on-contraband-175333930.html?src=rss

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Β© Avalanche Studios

Still from a teaser trailer announcing Contraband from Avalanche Studios
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There's a Tea app for men, and it also has security problems

Tea bills itself as a safety dating app for women, allowing users to anonymously share details about men they have met. A new app called TeaOnHer has emerged that attempts to flip the script, with men sharing information about women they date. And while Tea drew scrutiny last month after a data breach revealed user information, including potentially identifying details such as phone numbers and personal anecdotes, the copycat app seems to be suffering from the same problem.

TechCrunch discovered several security issues at TeaOnHer, which is currently second most popular lifestyle app on iOS. (Tea is the current leader despite the issues). The publication reported that it identified a security flaw that allowed anyone to access TeaOnHer user data, including usernames, email addresses, uploaded driver's licenses and selfies. It also found a possible second issue where the email address and plaintext password for Xavier Lampkin, founder and CEO of the app's developer, was left exposed. These credentials appear to offer access to TeaOnHer's admin panel, which is another security risk.

The full report at TechCrunch also raises concerns about the content shared on the app, which included spam posts with nude photos of women. It's unclear how many of the roughly 53,000 users for TeaOnHer might be bots, or whether the app was ever meant to be used seriously; chunks of its description in the iOS store use near-identical language to Tea's listing.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/theres-a-tea-app-for-men-and-it-also-has-security-problems-224435459.html?src=rss

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Β© Nico De Pasquale Photography via Getty Images

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RedOctane relaunches and will continue to make new rhythm games

RedOctane Games is back and ready to make more rhythm games. The studio announced its re-launch today and said it is already in production on its first title. Charles and Kai Huang, who co-founded the original RedOctane back in 1999 and launched the Guitar Hero franchise, will serve on a special advisory board for the new company. The first RedOctane was acquired by Activision in 2006 and shuttered in 2010.

The team is small, but it has some heavy-hitters from the rhythm game world. Its head of studio is Simon Ebejer, who was the production director for multiple Guitar Hero games, and many of its employees worked on Guitar Hero and DJ Hero. RedOctane will operate within parent company Embracer Freemode, which also houses CRKD, a gaming accessory company that also has history in rhythm games.

There are some interesting competitors to this revived RedOctane on the market, such as Clone Hero and Fortnight Festival, not to mention legions of arcade titles. It should be exciting to see what new ideas RedOctane will bring to the party.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/redoctane-relaunches-and-will-continue-to-make-new-rhythm-games-211816411.html?src=rss

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Β© RedOctane Games

Guitar peripheral with the RedOctane Games logo
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Researchers hacked Google Gemini to take control of a smart home

Wired reported on new cybersecurity research that demonstrated a hack of the Google Gemini artificial intelligence assistant. The researchers were able to control connected smart home devices through the use of indirect prompt injections in Google Calendar invites. When a user requested a summary of their calendar and thanked Gemini for the results, the malicious prompt ordered Google's Home AI agent to take actions such as opening windows or turning lights off, as demonstrated in the video above.

Before attacks were demonstrated this week at the Black Hat cybersecurity conference, the team shared their findings directly with Google in February. Andy Wen, a senior director of security product management with Google Workspace, spoke to Wired about their findings.

"It’s going to be with us for a while, but we’re hopeful that we can get to a point where the everyday user doesn’t really worry about it that much," he said of prompt injection attacks, adding that instances of those hacks in the real world are "exceedingly rare." However, the growing complexity of large language models means bad actors could be looking for new ways to exploit them, making the approach difficult to defend against. Wen said Google took the vulnerabilities uncovered by the researchers "extremely seriously" and used the results to speed its work on building better tools to block this type of attack.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/researchers-hacked-google-gemini-to-take-control-of-a-smart-home-201926464.html?src=rss

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Β© Ben Nassi

A cybersecurity researcher demonstrating an indirect prompt injection attack via Google Gemini
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Banned Steam game VILE: Exhumed is back as a free shareware title

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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Β© Cara Cadaver

Still from indie game VILE: Exhumed
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A 'very low' number of original Sonos Roam speakers are overheating

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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Β© Nathan Ingraham for Engadget

Review photo of the original Sonos Roam
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Florida is suing several porn companies over age verification

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 β€” groups representing several social media platforms β€” sought a preliminary injunction. Uthmeier has appealed that injunction to the Eleventh Circuit.

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

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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Β© Joe Raedle via Getty Images

TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA - JULY 26: The Florida Historic Capitol sits near the 22-story New Capitol building, which together are part of the Capitol Complex on July 26, 2023 in Tallahassee, Florida. Tallahassee became the state's new capital city in 1824. Currently, the Florida Capitol Complex serves as the state government's headquarters. The Capitol, a twenty-two-story structure, houses the Florida government's Executive and Legislative arms. The Capitol Complex also includes the Historic Capitol and Knott Building and two five-story office buildings for the House of Representatives and Senate. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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WhatsApp adds new warning about potential group chat messaging scams

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.Β 

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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Β© WhatsApp

Image of safety overviews that will appear in WhatsApp groups when a user is added by someone outside their contacts list
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NASA's Lunar Trailblazer mission ends in disappointment

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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Β© NASA

This composite image of the moon using Clementine data from 1994 is the view we are most likely to see when the moon is full.

Credit: NASA

To learn about NASA's LRO project go to: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/main/index.html

https://images.nasa.gov/details/GSFC_20171208_Archive_e001982
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Spotify now requires face scans to access age-restricted content in the UK

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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Β© REUTERS / Reuters

FILE PHOTO: A screen displays the logo of Spotify on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., December 4, 2023. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
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Trump will end the de minimis exemption for low-cost global shipments

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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Β© REUTERS / Reuters

The exterior of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., November 19, 2022. REUTERS/Sarah Silbiger
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Opera takes its browser beef with Microsoft to Brazil in antitrust complaint

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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Β© Reuters / Reuters

FILE PHOTO: A view shows a Microsoft logo at Microsoft offices in Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris, France, March 21, 2025. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/ File Photo
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YouTube is turning over age verification to AI

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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YouTube mobile app on a smartphone screen
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Data breach at Tea reportedly contains images and DMs from last week

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.Β 

"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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Promotional images and screenshots of Tea, a dating safety app for women.
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