Google has responded to allegations that it censored searches about Donald Trump after Elon Musk baselessly claimed the company had imposed a search ban on the former president. The issues, Google explained, were due to bugs in its autocomplete feature. But Musks tweet, which was viewed more than 118 million times, nonetheless forced the search giant to publicly explain one of its most basic features.Over the past few days, some people on X have posted claims that Search is censoring or banning particular terms, Google wrote in a series of posts on X. Thats not happening.Though Google didnt name Musk specifically, over the weekend the X owner said that Google has a search ban on President Donald Trump. The claim appeared to be based on a single screenshot of a search that showed Google suggested president donald duck and president donald regan when president donald was typed into the search box.The same day, Donald Trump Jr. shared a similar image that showed no autocomplete results relating to Donald Trump for the search assassination attempt on. Both Trump Jr. and Musk accused the company of election interference.Over the past few days, some people on X have posted claims that Search is censoring or banning particular terms. Thats not happening, and we want to set the record straight.The posts relate to our Autocomplete feature, which predicts queries to save you time. Autocomplete Google Communications (@Google_Comms) July 30, 2024 In its posts Tuesday, Google explained that people are free to search for whatever they want regardless of what appears in its autocomplete suggestions. It added that built-in protections related to political violence had prevented autocomplete from suggesting Trump-related searches and that those systems were out of date.Likewise, the company said that the strange suggestions for president donald were due to a bug that spanned the political spectrum. It also affected searches related to former President Barack Obama and other figures.Finally, the company explained that articles about Kamala Harris appearing in search results for Donald Trump is not due to a shadowy conspiracy, but because the two both of whom are actively campaigning for president are often mentioned in the same news stories. That may sound like something that should be painfully obvious to anyone who has ever used the internet, but Musks post on X has fueled days of conspiracy theories about Googles intentions.Musks post, which questioned whether the search giant was interfering in the election, was particularly ironic considering that the X owner came under fire the same weekend for sharing a manipulated video of Kamala Harris without a label, a violation of his companys own policies.While Googles statements didnt cite Musks post directly, the company pointed out that Xs search feature has also experienced issues in the past. Many platforms, including the one were posting on now, will show strange or incomplete predictions at various times, the company said.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-dismisses-elon-musks-claim-that-autocomplete-engaged-in-election-interference-214834630.html?src=rss

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission has determined that Amazon is responsible for hazardous or defective products sold by third-party retailers through its platform. The CPSC unanimously decided that more than 400,000 products sold through the Fulfilled by Amazon program represent a "substantial product hazard," and that the tech giant is legally responsible for their recall. It also said that Amazon failed to properly notify buyers about the faulty products and did not encourage buyers to return or destroy those items.Today's decision is several years in the making, with the CPSC initially suing Amazon in July 2021. This investigation centered on carbon monoxide detectors that did not function correctly, hair dryers that did not have electrocution safeguards and children's sleepwear that did not meet federal flammability standards. Under the decision and order issued by the agency, Amazon must submit plans to notify customers about these faulty products and take steps for getting them returned or destroyed.We've reached out to Amazon for comment and will update this post if we hear from the retailer.The Department of Justice took similar actions against eBay in recent months. In September 2023, the department sued eBay after environmentally unsafe materials were put up for sale on the retailer, and in January 2024, the company paid $59 million for a DoJ settlement over pill press machines.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cpsc-says-amazon-is-responsible-for-hazardous-items-from-third-party-sellers-213334907.html?src=rss

Cigarette butts pose a huge risk to the worlds oceans and can be a pain to clean up by hand especially on public spaces like beaches. A group of Italian scientists have built a quadruped robot that can identify litter and pick up the smaller bits with its leg mounted vacuums.VERO, the vacuum equipped quadruped robot, is a four-legged device designed to look for and clean up litter on a variety of terrains. VERO was designed and built by a team of researchers from the Dynamic Legged Systems lab at the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa, according to USA Today.The group published a paper back in April on VEROs development and effectiveness in the Journal of Field Robotics. The research paper states that cigarette butts are a serious concern. Discarded butts release toxic chemicals and microplastics into the ocean as they break down. Its also the second most common undisposed waste worldwide, in terrains that are hard to reach for wheeled and tracked robots.VERO is designed for picking up this common type of small litter. An operator sets up a field target for the robot to traverse. Then it slowly walks the entire length of the target while identifying litter with a special neural network and onboard cameras. The quadruped robot has a convolutional neural network for litter detection that can target litter and pick it up with one of four leg mounted vacuums, according to IEEE Spectrum.Cleaning up beaches also can be a challenge because the sand makes it hard to lug wheeled trash bins or heavy receptacles over the terrain. The researchers conducted tests on six different outdoor scenarios to show VEROs proficiency at navigating difficult terrain. It can steady itself while picking up trash with an Intel RealSense depth camera mounted on its chin.The robot didnt get every piece of trash in its initial test but it still picked up 90 percent of the cigarette butts identified in testing. Thats 90 percent less waste that ends up in the ocean.There dont seem to be any plans to implement VERO just yet. The researchers say VEROs design could be programmed and engineered to do other tasks like spraying crops, looking for weaknesses in infrastructure and helping with construction projects.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/this-vacuum-robot-dog-can-find-and-suck-up-trash-with-its-feet-203952526.html?src=rss

OpenAI has started rolling out its advanced Voice Mode feature. Starting today, a small number of paying ChatGPT users will be able to have a tete-a-tete with the AI chatbot. All ChatGPT Plus members should receive access to the expanded toolset by the fall of this year.In an announcement on X, the company said this advanced version of its Voice Mode "offers more natural, real-time conversations, allows you to interrupt anytime, and senses and responds to your emotions."Were starting to roll out advanced Voice Mode to a small group of ChatGPT Plus users. Advanced Voice Mode offers more natural, real-time conversations, allows you to interrupt anytime, and senses and responds to your emotions. pic.twitter.com/64O94EhhXK OpenAI (@OpenAI) July 30, 2024 Support for voice conversations arrived last September in ChatGPT and the more advanced version got a public demo in May. ChatGPT-4o uses a single multimodal model for the voice capabilities rather than the three separate models used by its previous audio solution, decreasing the latency in conversations with the chatbot.OpenAI drew a lot of criticism at the May demo for debuting a voice option that sounded uncannily like Scarlett Johansson, whose acting career included voicing AI character Samantha in Spike Jonze's film Her. The release date for advanced Voice Mode was delayed shortly after the backlash. Even though the company insisted that the voice actor was not imitating Johansson's performance, the similar-sounding voice was since taken out.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/openai-rolls-out-advanced-voice-mode-and-no-it-wont-sound-like-scarjo-200426358.html?src=rss

Spotify users who don't pay for a subscription can once again see lyrics for any song they listen to on the service. Back in May, the company began a wider rollout of a test that it initiated last fall, requiring a paid subscription to see lyrics to any track. Free users could still follow along with the words, but only for three songs a month. Now, Spotify is removing the restriction so free users can see all the lyrics they need to with no cap on viewing them.At Spotify, were always testing and iterating. This means availability of our features can vary across tiers and between markets and devices," a Spotify spokesperson told Engadget. "Over the coming weeks, well be expanding Lyrics availability for Spotify Free users so more people can enjoy viewing more lyrics, globally.As you might expect, the initial move to cap access to lyrics for free users drew backlash earlier this year. Perhaps Spotify thought doing so was a way to push people to its revised subscription tiers that start at $11 a month for music streaming. CEO Daniel Ek explained during the company's most recent earnings call this month that plans were in motion to improve what's offered to free users. It seems that list of updates included bringing back full access to lyrics."We are prioritizing enhancements in our free product pipeline that based on existing performance in certain markets," Ek said on the call. "Further additional improvements will be integrated into our free experience in the coming months."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/spotify-lyrics-are-back-for-free-users-175200293.html?src=rss

The Senate has passed two major online safety bills amid years of debate over social medias impact on teen mental health. The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection Act, also known as COPPA 2.0, passed the Senate in a vote of 91 - T3.The bills will next head to the House, though its unclear if the measures will have enough support to pass. If passed into law, the bills would be the most significant pieces of legislation regulating tech companies in years.KOSA requires social media companies like Meta to offer controls to disable algorithmic feeds and other addictive features for children under the age of 16. It also requires companies to provide parental supervision features and safeguard minors from content that promotes eating disorders, self harm, sexual exploitation and other harmful content.One of the most controversial provisions in the bill creates whats known as a duty of care. This means platforms are required to prevent or mitigate certain harmful effects of their products, like addictive features or algorithms that promote dangerous content. The Federal Trade Commission would be in charge of enforcing the standard.The bill was originally introduced in 2022 but stalled amid pushback from digital rights and other advocacy groups who said the legislation would force platforms to spy on teens. A revised version, meant to address some of those concerns, was introduced last year, though the ACLU, EFF and other free speech groups still oppose the bill. In a statement last week, the ACLU said that KOSA would encourage social media companies to censor protected speech and incentivize the removal of anonymous browsing on wide swaths of the internet.COPPA 2.0, on the other hand, has been less controversial among privacy advocates. An expansion of the 1998 Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection Act, it aims to revise the nearly 30-year-old law to better reflect the modern internet and social media landscape. If passed, the law would prohibit companies from targeting advertising to children and collecting personal data on teens between 13 and 16 without consent. It also requires companies to offer an eraser button for personal data to delete children and teens personal information from a platform when technologically feasible.The vote underscores how online safety has become a rare source of bipartisan agreement in the Senate, which has hosted numerous hearings on teen safety issues in recent years. The CEOs of Meta, Snap, Discord, X and TikTok testified at one such hearing earlier this year, during which South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham accused the executives of having blood on their hands for numerous safety lapses.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-senate-just-passed-two-landmark-bills-aimed-at-protecting-minors-online-170935128.html?src=rss

Meta has agreed to pay $1.4 billion to the state of Texas in order to resolve a lawsuit that accused the company of illegally using facial recognition technology. The suit alleges that Meta used this tech to collect the biometric data of millions of Texans without consent. The agreement marks the largest financial settlement ever paid out to a single state.The lawsuit was originally filed in 2022 and was the first big case brought under the states Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act, which was put into place back in 2009. A provision of this law mandates up to $25,000 per violation and Texas accused Meta of violating the statute billions of times via photos and videos that users uploaded to Facebook that were tagged without consent.Additionally, the original suit could have led to an additional $10,000 per alleged violation of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. In other words, Meta just saved itself a bunch of money, considering the sheer number of alleged violations and a maximum financial penalty of $35,000 each.BREAKING NEWS: We have secured a $1.4 billion settlement with Meta to stop the companys practice of capturing and using the personal biometric data of millions of Texans without the authorization required by law.This settlement is the largest ever obtained from an action pic.twitter.com/AkOppAGO0K Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) July 30, 2024 A spokesperson for Meta told Reuters that its happy the matter is settled and that the company is "exploring future opportunities to deepen our business investments in Texas, including potentially developing data centers. The company, however, continues to deny any wrongdoing, though it has shut down its automated facial recognition system.Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is taking something of a victory lap, declaring in an official statement that the state is fully committed to standing up to the worlds biggest technology companies and holding them accountable for breaking the law and violating privacy rights. Texas and Meta reached this settlement just weeks before a court trial was set to begin.Facebook will no longer take advantage of people and their children with the intent to turn a profit at the expense of ones safety and well-being, Paxton said when the suit was originally filed. This is yet another example of Big Techs deceitful business practices and it must stop.This isnt the first time Meta has had to issue a large payout to a state regarding the alleged collection of biometric data. The company agreed to pay Illinois $650 million back in 2020 to settle a similar class action suit. That suit alleged that the company had violated a privacy law that requires companies to get explicit consent before collecting biometric data from users. Once again, Meta denied any wrongdoing.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-will-pay-14-billion-to-texas-settling-biometric-data-collection-suit-165451338.html?src=rss

Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson has said its College Football 25 developers implementing AI technology was critical for creating a game that lived up to its quality standards and impressed fans. Speaking during EA's latest earnings briefing, Wilson said AI "amplified and accelerated" the development on the game."In the absence of AI, we simply would not have been able to deliver College Football at the level we did, even though we'd given the team many, many years in development. It was the first time we had done it in 10 years, and the level of gameplay and the level of visual fidelity that we did, was a combination of many years of work of our incredible teams, amplified and accelerated by AI," he said. "Something that we just wouldn't have been able to do as little as two or three years ago."Prior to launch, EA explained how it was "never going to be a viable option" to create CFB 25's thousands of players manually by scanning them all into the game and using human hands alone to do it. Instead, EA used AI and a machine-learning toolset to create the character models. EA inputted "hundreds" of head shapes, hairstyles, skin tones, complexions, beards, and brows into the model. Using this data, along with a single reference photo of the athlete or coach in question, EA said it was able to create the player likenesses in the game.Continue Reading at GameSpot

Last week, video game voice actors voted to go on strike after a year and a half of back-and-forth negotiation with major gaming entities. The CEO of one of the companies at the bargaining table, EA, has said he's not concerned about the strike having a short-term impact on business.As part of EA's most recent earnings call, EA CEO Andrew Wilson was asked about any potential impact from the strike, IGN reports. Due to the specifics of how the strike will operate, and how EA's business runs, he's not concerned that the strike will cause any disruption in the near future."We're working very closely; this is not an EA-specific situation, this is an industry-specific situation, and we're working diligently to negotiate at the table," Wilson said, noting that voice actors are an important and valued part of EA's business.Continue Reading at GameSpot

In its latest financial earnings call, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella celebrated a major milestone for the company's gaming division, reporting 500 million monthly active users across all platforms and devices. While the success has clearly been influenced by Microsoft's acquisition of Activision, the Fallout TV show also got a shoutout from Nadella for its influence.The CEO talked up the success of Prime Video's live-action Fallout adaptation (via IGN) in his part of the presentation, saying the TV show was bringing Microsoft's IP to new audiences. Nadella revealed that player numbers for Fallout games on Game Pass had increased by five times compared to the previous quarter, with that increase attributable to the popular TV show.We've already seen plenty of statistics on how the TV show, which has become Prime Video's second-most-watched title, has led to a renewed wave of interest in Fallout video games. Steam rankings saw huge boosts across multiple Fallout titles, while 2018's Fallout 76 is more popular on Steam than it's ever been.Continue Reading at GameSpot