The first medical treatment to use Crispr gene editing has been on the market for a year. Its complexity means few patients in the US have received it yet.

In Russias war against Ukraine, electronic warfare, including signal-jamming, anti-drone weapons, and innovative protections for critical military systems, has become a key piece of the conflict.

Even as Telegram faces legal scrutiny and grapples with billions in debt, it is set to be profitable for the first time as it tries cryptocurrencies, subscriptions and ads.

MacworldAfter largely ignoring the smart home for years, Apple is poised to make a grand entrance in 2025. Rumors claim Apple is gearing up to launch a new iPad-like home controller in 2025 as well as smart home-centric updates to the HomePod mini and Apple TV. And now theres a new rumored product on the way: a smart video doorbell.According to Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, writing in its latest Power On newsletter, Apple has nother home device in the works that hasnt been reported before: a smart doorbell with advanced facial recognition that wirelessly connects to a deadbolt lock. He explains that the doorbell would automatically unlock by scanning a users face, just like an iPhone.Video doorbells arent exactly new or innovative, but one with facial recognition most certainly is. The technology isnt without its security issuesaside from spoofing the system an intruder could gain entry by forcing a face scan against a users willbut Apple has plenty of time to work out solutions. Gurman says the accessory is still in the early stages and wont ship before the end of next year at the soonest.The video doorbell market is dominated by Amazon Ring, and there are only a handful of doorbells that support HomeKit, including the popular Aqara G4 Doorbell. Apple offers HomeKitSecure Video for HomeKit-compatible video doorbells that brings end-to-end encryption.Apple is also rumored to be making an indoor/outdoor security camera as it seeks to build out an array of accessories that tap into HomeKit and Apple Intelligence.

MacworldApple is famously good at making customers excited about its new releases, but that doesnt mean the company applies its powers of persuasion to all products equally. As I plan to discuss further in this column next week, excellent-value offerings like the 4th-gen AirPods and the new Mac mini sometimes slip by almost unnoticed while the marketing machine shines its spotlight on costlier alternatives. Occasionally you get hints of favoritism.One product that no longer appears to have Apples full and enthusiastic support is the HomePod. Everything seemed so promising at the start: a cool new product for an exciting new market, a great design and superb sound quality, and all of it accessible from anywhere in the home thanks to the reliable and intuitive assistance of Siri. Oh dear. Whether because of Siris failings or not, things went wrong. Sales evidently werent good enough, and after launching a cheaper (and also very nice) mini model, Apple made the hard decision and killed off the full-sized HomePod. That, we assumed, was that. Until it wasnt.Its hard to feel confident in a product when the maker stops selling it for almost two years, before slinking back with a second version that looks exactly like and fails to solve any major problems with the first. And when the product doesnt seem to have evolved at all in the seven years since it came out, having never given the impression of understanding the smart speaker market or the fact that a (very good) speaker with bad voice controls wont really cut it in 2025.In 2025, in fact, the HomePod may get with the times. Most importantly it needs a better voice assistant, and that means one thing: Apple Intelligence. If we get a new HomePod with the hardware to run Apples AI platform, that could mean a Siri that plays the correct track more often than not: a Siri, in other words, that knows its arias from its Elbow. And once youve got that, any further upgradesa functional display, for examplewould be merely icing on the cake.But if this suggests that I dont like the current HomePod, I had better correct that assumption. Call me sentimental but I am very fond of the HomePod, as erratic and old-fashioned as it undoubtedly is. I love the way it looks and the way it sounds, and after years of practice, Ive learned to work around the flaws of its control system without getting angry more than two or three times a week. As for the mini well, it might just be the best Christmas gift you can buy in the Apple store right now.At $99/99 and available in a range of stunning colors that are inexplicably denied to buyers of the full-size model (I recommend the orange), the HomePod mini is a brilliantly affordable way to brighten a room and fill it with beautiful audio. The bass punch doesnt quite live up to its larger sibling, but the audio quality is nevertheless superb for the size and price. Its easy to set up, and the physical design means you can easily move it from room to room as the fancy takes you. Its just a really nice thing. Or a pair of things, if you can afford to buy two and set them up in glorious stereo. (Please do.)Christmas, after all, is the time when we remember those less fortunate than ourselves, the neglected members of society who have fallen through the cracks. The HomePod mini may have been forgotten by its maker, but theres still time for you to find a place in your home for one of these noble creatures. Merry Christmas!FoundryWelcome to our weekly Apple Breakfast column, which includes all the Apple news you missed last week in a handy bite-sized roundup. We call it Apple Breakfast because we think it goes great with a Monday morning cup of coffee or tea, but its cool if you want to give it a read during lunch or dinner hours too.Looking ahead to 2025: End of year special!Here are 5 exciting products that will shape Apples 2025and beyond.iPhone in 2025: The upgrades weve been waiting for are finally coming.The Mac in 2025: Small updates and big hopes.In 2025, even Pro users will want Apples cheapest devices.Apple has big plans for the smart home in 2025.Trending: Top storiesApples 2024 full of surprises set up an unpredictable future.The iPhone is doomed because Apple Intelligence isnt smart enough.Your iPhone is now integrated with ChatGPTheres how to use it.Podcast of the weekWith 2024 closing, its time to look forward to 2025. What could we see from Apple in the new year? Thats coming up in the latest episode of the Macworld Podcast!You can catch every episode of the Macworld Podcast onSpotify,Soundcloud, thePodcasts app, orour own site.Reviews cornerFrost Punk 2 review: When the snowman brings the snow.Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Pro Edition review: Veteran AirPlay speaker gets even better sound quality.OWC Envoy Ultra review: Super-fast Thunderbolt 5 storage.Best antivirus for Mac 2025: Top security software compared.The rumor millThe rumors of a gigantic foldable iPad make no sense.Abracadabra! Apple is working on a new Magic Mouse with proper charging.Software updates, bugs, and problemsThe first iOS update of 2025 is already in testing. Thats right: iOS 18.3 is now in beta!And with that, were done for this weeks Apple Breakfast. If youd like to get regular roundups, sign up forour newsletters. You can also follow uson Facebook, Threads, or Twitter for discussion of breaking Apple news stories. See you next Monday, and stay Appley.

President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Sriram Krishnan, a seasoned entrepreneur and former Andreessen Horowitz partner, as the Senior Policy Advisor for Artificial Intelligence within the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.Krishnans appointment signals a renewed focus on maintaining US leadership in AI innovation, alongside a push to reshape how AI interacts with industries and digital infrastructure.

On the surface, Android and privacy might not seem like the most natural of bedfellows. Google is known for its advertising business, after all its how the company makes the lions share of its money and it can be tough to square the notion of data collection with the concept of carefully controlled information.In actuality, though, Google gives you a good amount of authority over how and when it taps into your Android-associated info. (And even at its worst, the company never shares your data with anyone or sells it to third parties, despite some broad misconceptions to the contrary.) Ultimately, it just comes down to a matter of educating yourself about the possibilities and then determining what balance of privacy and function makes the most sense for you.And youd better believe the onus falls squarely on you to do that. By default, most Google privacy valves are opened up to the max to the setting that allows the most feature-rich and ad-supporting experience and that uses your data in the most free-flowing manner possible. That isnt necessarily a bad thing, but it may or may not be what you want, particularly from a professional perspective. And navigating the layers of settings, not only with Google itself but also with the various third-party services that interact with your phone, is often easier said than done.Well, consider this your guide to the labyrinth. Ill take you through a series of 18 Android privacy adjustments, starting with the easiest and most broadly advisable tweaks and ending with higher-level tactics for the most privacy-minded users. Along the way Ill explain what each setting accomplishes, how long it should take to implement, and how much inconvenience itll cause.Make your way through the list and think thoroughly about each items pros and cons and before you know it, youll have a deliberate Android privacy plan thats less about defaults and more about your own preferences.Section I: Easy Android privacy adjustments that are advisable for anyone1. Uninstall unused appsTime required: 2 minutesInconvenience level: 0/10This first Android privacy step is a no-brainer and something everyone should do periodically: Look through all of the installed apps on your phone and remove anything you havent used in the past month or two (so long as it isnt required by your IT department, of course!). Unused apps not only take a toll on your devices resources; they also have the potential to leave open doors to sensitive info thatd be better off closed.So open up your app drawer and mull over every icon you see there. If you havent used an app in a while, press and hold its icon and select Uninstall or, if you dont see that as an option, select App info and then find the Uninstall button. On certain Android versions, you might have to drag the app toward the top of the screen to access those same options; once you see them appear at the top of your display, drag the app up to that area and then release it.With apps that came preinstalled on your phone out of the box, you may not always be able to uninstall but can often disable them with the option to do so appearing either in that same long-press menu or within the aforementioned App info screen. That wont get the app off your device entirely but will stop it from running and actively accessing any of your information.2. Check on apps with access to your Google accountTime required: 2 minutesInconvenience level: 0/10In addition to the phone-specific permissions, apps and services can request access to certain types of data within your Google account things like your contacts, your Gmail messages, or even your Google Drive storage. Again, such access may be completely warranted and no cause for concern (and itd be present only if you explicitly authorized it at some point), but once youre no longer actively using the associated app, you dont want to leave that pathway open.Luckily, its an especially easy one to close and another painless privacy step worth performing periodically. Just open up the Google account connections page and look over everything in the list. For any items you no longer use or dont recognize, click their title and then click the Delete all connections option on the screen that comes up next.Clamping down on third-party app access to your Google account is a simple way to secure forgotten pathways and strengthen your privacy.JR Raphael / IDGClick Confirm on the confirmation box that pops up after, then rest easy knowing that teensy crack into your data is closed up and patched over.3. Revisit your Android app permissionsTime required: 5 minutesInconvenience level: 0/10Now that weve taken care of apps youre no longer using, lets think about the ones youarestill actively engaging with because even those may have permissions you once granted but no longer require.So open up the Security & Privacy section of your system settings and tap Permission Manager. Depending on your specific software and device, you might have to first tap a line that says Privacy or Privacy controls before you see it. (If you dont see anything like that, try searching your system settings for the word permission to find the closest equivalent.)Then, one by one, tap on each permission type in the list, look over the apps that have access to it, and consider whether each apps access still strikes you as being necessary.If you see something that seems questionable, tap the name of the app and then change its setting to Deny. Theres a chance the app will stop being able to perform one of its functions as a result, but at worst, itll prompt you to re-enable the permission at some future moment and you can then reconsider it.And provided youre using 2019s Android 10 version or higher and if you arent, youve got far bigger privacy problems to ponder! pay extra attention to the Location section of permissions. As of that release, you can get more nuanced with that setting and allow an app to access to your location all the time or only when the app is actively in use, which gives you a lot more flexibility than the traditional all-or-nothing approach.With 2020s Android 11 version and higher, you can also grant apps access to your location, camera, and microphone only on a limited, single-session basis meaning the permissions will expire and have to be requested anew each time, whenever you exit the app and move on to something else.And with 2021s Android 12 software and up, you can specify whether you want an app to have access to your precise location or only your approximate location, too.Android lets you get incredibly granular about what data different apps can access, but its up to you to check up on it and make any necessary changes.JR Raphael / IDGFor even more insight, look for the Privacy dashboard option within that same section of your system settings (or Permissions used in last 24 hours, for the closest equivalent in Samsungs heavily modified version of the operating system). Thatll let you see exactly which apps have accessed different permission-requiring areas over the past 24 hours in a visual timeline view.4. Put invisible app tracking on noticeTime required: 2 minutesInconvenience level: 1/10Aside from their actual system-level permissions, apps on Android are able to track your activity in a variety of ways and then share that data elsewhere provided they have access to the internet (which itself is a system-level permission).Often, this is nothing nefarious. Lots of apps rely on these sorts of mechanisms to monitor performance and spot possible bugs, while others use technology considered trackers as part of the advertising that allows them to be monetized and continue offering you ongoing services for little to no ongoing expense.Even so, you can take control of this type of tracking and make yourself aware of what, exactly, apps are doing in the background and put a stop to it, if you want.The key to making this happen comes in the unlikely-seeming spot of an Android web browser called DuckDuckGo. But you dont need to do anything related to the actual browser function of the app to tap into it (though you certainly can, if youd like!).Instead, install the app, then open it up, make your way through its welcome screens, and once you see the main web browsing interface, tap the three-dot menu icon in the upper-right corner. Select Settings, then App Tracking Protection.Flip the toggle at the top of the next screen into the on position, confirm that you want to activate the feature, and then keep an eye on your notifications.There, DuckDuckGo will show you exactly what trackers its finding and blocking in apps on your device. You can also always see that same info by going back to that same settings screen within the browser.DuckDuckGos App Tracking Protection feature gives you rare insight into and control over the typically-invisible ways apps track your activity.JR Raphael / IDGNow for the asterisk here: Since most of this activity isnt actually anything to worry about, its possible that seeing this data will (a) cause you unnecessary stress and waste your time and (b) potentially cause some functions within apps to stop working properly since DuckDuckGo is blocking mechanisms that may be crucial to an apps operation.But that same area of the browsers settings make it easy to enable or disable the blocking on an app-by-app basis, so you can fine-tune and adjust things as you see fit.Whether you ultimately decide to peek at the info for a while and then disable the feature or keep it running and blocking indefinitely, its a valuable bit of knowledge and, optionally, power to have.5. Clamp down on your lock screen privacyTime required: 1 minuteInconvenience level: 1/10By default, Android is typically set to show all of your notification content on your lock screen and that means if someone else picks up your phone, they might see sensitive info without even having to put in a PIN, pattern, or passcode.Change that by opening up the Display section of your phones settings, selecting Lock screen, then selecting Privacy and switching the setting to either Show sensitive content only when unlocked or Dont show notifications at all, depending on your comfort level. (On a Samsung phone, youll instead open the Notifications section of the system settings and then tap Lock screen notifications to find a similar set of options.)6. Opt out of Samsungs data-sharing systems and consider avoiding its appsTime required: 5 minutesInconvenience level: 1/10If you have a Samsung phone, listen up: The company is quite possibly selling your data not just using it internally and privately but outright selling it to third parties (and without being even remotely up-front about whats going on).As Ive reported before, Samsungs Galaxy phones have a disconcertingly intricate system for collecting different types of data from people who use its devices and then generating extra revenue by selling that data to other companies. And clearly, thats not what you want to have happening.So at the very least, opt of this obnoxiousness everywhere you can most importantly by searching your system settings for customization service and then making sure the associated option is off everywhere it appears, including within the settings for the Samsung Calendar app, Samsung Clock app, Samsung Gallery app, and Samsung My Files app as well as within the General management settings and the settings for your Samsung account.And if you really want to be proactive about your privacy, just ditch Samsungs default apps altogether. Youll get better all-around experiences by turning to other Android apps for those same purposes, anyhow, and youll have an easier time syncing or moving your data to non-Samsung devices now and in the future, too. And, yknow, you wont be subjecting yourself to sneaky selling of your personal and/or company information with no discernible benefit to you.Section II: Moderately advanced Android privacy modifications some people may want to perform7. Turn off Googles ad personalization systemTime required: 2 minutesInconvenience level: 2/10Google makes its money by showing ads around the internet thats no secret. And it uses data about you to select ads that are, in theory, catered to your interests and more likely to be relevant to you. It never shares your data with advertisers, as mentioned at the top of this story, and all of the matching happens within Google and in a completely automated, machine-driven sense.At the end of the day, youre bound to see some of those ads no matter what you do so theres an argument that having the ads be catered to your interests at least creates thepotentialfor them to be appealing as opposed to just random. But if youd rather not have your data used for that purpose, you can turn the personalization system off.Just head into the Google section of your system settings, tap your name and account name at the top, then tap Manage your Google Account.Next, tap the Data & Privacy tab, scroll down to the Personalized ads section, and tap My Ad Center then turn off the toggle at the top of the screen that comes up and confirm you want to make the change.Google lets you opt out of its ad personalization system entirely, if youre so inclined.JR Raphael / IDGIf youd rather take a more measured approach, you can also tap on any individual parts of your Google profile on that same screen to disable ad personalization based only on those specific variables for instance, your gender, age, and marital status.And one more thing to check: Make your way back to the Google settings menu where we started and tap your name and account name there one more time. If you see any additional Google accounts show up as options, be sure to tap them and follow the same steps we just went over for each subsequent account. Every Google account has its own separate settings, so youll have to make sure your ad personalization preferences are adjusted everywhere for them to become truly universal.8. Reset or erase your Android advertising IDTime required: 2 minutesInconvenience level: 2/10As an alternate path to the full ad personalization opt-out, you can also now reset or erase something known as your advertising ID on Android.That ID is a unique string of numbers specific to your phone that apps can use to identify you. They may not know your name or anything personal about you unless you choose to share such info but that advertising ID lets them learn about your interests and behaviors, even so, and then use that data to show you ads that are allegedly more likely to be up your alley.When you reset or delete that ID, all of that data is lost and apps have no way to connect your behavior to any consistent identifier associated with you. Again, just like with our last item, that doesnt mean you wont see ads within apps or around the web anymore. It just means those ads wont be programmatically selected based on your ongoing activities and what those suggest about your interests.Here, too, theres some nuance available: If you reset the advertising ID, youll basically give yourself a fresh start and eliminate any data thats been associated with your activity up until that moment. If you delete the ID, youll make it impossible for apps to identify you entirely (again, unless you choose to provide them with identifying info).Either way, you can find the option by looking in the Security & Privacy section of your system settings, then tapping either Privacy Controls or More Privacy Settings followed by Ads. Youll find both possible paths in that area, along with options to see and customize exactly which subject areas apps currently have associated with your ID, to see and customize if and how apps are able to use that data to control ads in other environments, and to opt in or out of allowing advertisers to request info thatd help them measure their ad performance over time.Androids advertising ID options are an untapped gold mine of privacy choices.JR Raphael / IDG9. Start using a VPNTime required: 5 minutesInconvenience level: 2/10If youre using a company-connected phone, theres a decent chance your employer is already providing you with a corporate VPN (virtual private network). But if not, it may be worth your while to set one up on your own.A VPN, in short, keeps all the data you send and receive on your phone encrypted, private, and secure. Without it, someone could snoop on your connection and intercept sensitive info without your knowledge. (Its an especially common concern when public Wi-Fi networks are involved.)With widespread improvements to web security over the past several years, theres now some debate as to whether a VPN is actually needed in most professional scenarios especially outside of countries where authoritarian control over internet access is an issue.Still, as long as youre using a trustworthy and reputable provider, theres certainly no harm in having that extra layer of protection in place. And if youre working with sensitive company data in particular, there may be some significant benefits.So where to begin? If youre using a Google Pixel phone, youve got a VPN built right into your device and ready to roll without any expense. Just look for the VPN option within the Network & Internet section of your system settings, then tap the VPN By Google line to get it set up.If youre using a non-Pixel phone with the Google Fi wireless service, you also have access to a similar sort of built-in always-on VPN option. Like the Pixel VPN path, its free, secure, and as simple as can be to use. You can activate and manage it by tapping your name and then selecting Privacy & security within the Google Fi Android app. Look for the line labeled Protect your online activity to get started.If youre using any other phone and carrier, youll need to turn to a third-party provider to get that same sort of functionality. In its latest rankings, our sister publication, PCWorld, recommends ExpressVPN and NordVPN as its top two choices. Both have been consistently well-reviewed for years now.Both are also minimal hassle once set up on your phone and shouldnt change much about the way you work, but they do require an ongoing payment roughly 13 bucks a month for either, with discounts available if you pay for a year or more up front hence the inconvenience level score. But theyre absolutely more advisable to use than most free or dirt-cheap VPN options youll encounter, as those frequently mishandle data and stick you with unreasonably low usage limits in order to make up for their low costs.10. Add extra encryption onto especially sensitive filesTime required: 3 minutesInconvenience level: 3/10Give sensitive files on your phone an extra layer of encryption with Solid Explorer, which costs $3 after a two-week trial. The app lets you encrypt any file so it can be accessed only after your personal password or biometric authentication has been applied. That does mean youll have to unlock the file every time you want to view or share it, which can be mildly annoying but depending on what type of material you have on your device, it might be worth it for the added peace of mind.Solid Explorer lets you add an extra layer of encryption onto especially sensitive files.JR Raphael / IDG11. Find your Private and/or Safe SpaceTime required: 3 minutesInconvenience level: 3/10As of 2024s Android 15 release, Android offers a native way to separate out sensitive apps and add in an extra layer of authentication to protect the information within them. The system also optionally allows you to hide those apps entirely and make em visible only after said authentication.If your device is running Android 15 or higher, you can get started by searching your phones settings for Private Space and then selecting the Private Space option that shows up in the results.Samsung devices also offer a similar feature called Secure Folder thats available even on earlier Android builds. Search the system settings of any Galaxy gizmo for Secure Folder to find that.And, no matter what type of Android device youre carrying, you can find similar systems for keeping both files and photos out of sight and password-protected within the Google Files and Google Photos Android apps, respectively. Those systems dont involve encryption, like our last measure, but they do make it far more unlikely for sensitive files and photos to be found in the first place should anyone else ever have their hands on your device.You can find em by looking for the Safe Folder tile on the Files apps main screen and the Locked option at the bottom of the Photos apps Collections tab.12. Rethink your browser setupTime required: 4 minutesInconvenience level: 4/10Googles Chrome Android browser has all sorts of impressive features, but many of them inherently require some manner of privacy tradeoff in order to work. For instance, you can easily find any page you visited on any device with a super-fast search but in order for that to happen, Google has to maintain a cross-device record of every site you visit.Only you can decide whether the conveniences outweigh the privacy tradeoffs, but if you want to make your Android web browsing as private as possible, Mozillas Firefox Focus app is hands-down the simplest, most minimal-effort way to make it happen.Firefox Focus is designed at its core to provide an ephemeral, single-session-only sort of Android browsing experience: No history, cookies, or passwords are ever saved, and the app automatically blocks trackers and ads across the web. When youre done with a page, you tap a trash can icon in the corner of the screen, and poof: Its gone for good.The app also offers a host of enhanced tracking protection features that make it incredibly easy to block scripts, cookies, and other forms of tracking, too. You can also configure it to require authentication every time you open it or switch to it from another app, in case you have a browsing session active and want to be sure no one else who holds your phone could possibly find it.The downside, of course, is that theres no syncing whatsoever no ability to access or revisit your browsing history and also no way to find recently opened tabs from within the same browser on another device. Beyond that, aggressive blocking of cookies and other script-oriented elements on the web can often break websites and cause key functions to fail, without any obvious outward indication to you of whats happening or why. (Believe me, I troubleshoot this stuff with people all the time!)So if youd rather stick with Chrome, there are things you can do to crank up its privacy protection and create a happy-medium of sorts for yourself. Start in the Sync section of the apps settings, where you can scale down or even completely disable how different forms of your browsing data are shared with Google. Just remember that the more you disable, the more sacrifices youll make in terms of convenience particularly when moving from your phone to your computer and maintaining a common collection of settings and history.Firefox Focus and Chrome both offer a fair amount of privacy-related options, depending on which path you prefer.JR Raphael / IDGOther places to look include:The apps Google Services section, where you can stop Chrome from sending your browsing data back to Google for different reasonsThe Search Engine section, where you can select any default search service you wantThe Payment Methods section, where you can tell Chrome not to save or store any of your payment infoThe Addresses and More section, where you can turn off Chromes on-by-default habit of saving your address and other such details and then offering to fill that in for you in the futureThe Privacy and Security section, where you can control what info sites are allowed to see about you when serving you ads as well as prevent sites from detecting if you have payment info saved, opt out of having Chrome preload pages for faster browsing, and activate an option to lock any incognito tabs every time you exit the appAnd the Site Settings section, where you can prevent all sites from accessing your location, camera, and microphone as well as control if and how cookies are allowed13. Disable Androids location history featureTime required: 3 minutesInconvenience level: 4/10By default, Google keeps track of everywhere you go with your Android phone in tow. That allows the software to proactively give you traffic and commute alerts for places you commonly visit and lets your phone make more intelligent suggestions based on your behavior but it also, of course, gives Google quite the docket of data on your day-to-day whereabouts. (Again, the company doesnt actually share that info with anyone but does use it to determine what ads are shown to you in certain places.)If you want to turn off the system-level location tracking, open the Google section of your system settings, tap your name and account name at the top of the screen, then tap the Manage Your Google Account button. Next, tap the Data & Privacy tab and select Location History within the History settings section. (Note, too, that Google is in the midst of renaming this feature to Timeline, so the branding around it may change at some point before long.)Tap the Turn off button on the screen that appears next and select either to turn the system off or turn it off and delete any activity thats already been stored at the same time and, either way you go, thats it: Your phone wont keep track of your treks anymore.With a couple quick taps, you can stop Google from keeping track of your location and optionally also eliminate all the existing data its stored.JR Raphael / IDGFor a more nuanced option, look instead at the Auto-delete section directly beneath that button within the same Google account settings screen. There, you can instruct your phone to automatically delete all location data on a rolling three-month, 18-month, or 36-month basis for a middle-ground possibility thatll give you some of the standard location-oriented advantages without having quite as much data at play.Here, too, by the way, settings are controlled on an account-by-account basis, so youll want to repeat this process as many times as needed for however many Google accounts you have associated with your device.Section III: High-level Android privacy enhancements that wont be for everyone14. Ditch Gmail or Outlook for a more privacy-conscious email setupTime required: 4 minutesInconvenience level: 6/10If youre really serious about privacy, ProtonMail is the inbox you want to use. ProtonMail applies end-to-end encryption to every message you send, which makes sure no one other than its intended recipient can ever set eyes on it. Its a whole other level of protection from what you get with Gmails encryption or the encryption provided by most third-party mail servers.The downside is that you have to either use a special ProtonMail.com address with the service or set up your own domain to work with ProtonMails servers and anytime youre emailing someone who isnt a fellow ProtonMail user, youll have to encrypt your message with a password and a hint that theyll then need in order to open it. That isnt exactly easy, and it requires you to forfeit a fair amount of Gmails flexibility and power, but it does give you an awful lot of added privacy in return.ProtonMail is free at its most basic level, which includes one address and 1GB of storage. If you need more storage or want any extra features such as unlimited folders and labels and support for custom domains youll have to subscribe to a paid plan, which starts at $48 a year for individuals or $84 per user per year for teams.15. Encrypt your calls and messagesTime required: 4 minutesInconvenience level: 6/10For full encryption on the calling and messaging front, Signal is the service you want. It adds end-to-end encryption only when youre communicating with other Signal users, however which severely limits its usefulness and it doesnt allow you to send and receive text messages from your computer, as most regular messaging apps now do.Signal is free to use.16. Consider other privacy-minded app alternativesTime required: 4 minutesInconvenience level: 6/10If youre really concerned about maximizing your privacy, you dont have to stop with swapping out your email, calling, and messaging tools. Theres a whole host of standard Android app alternatives and also supplements that offer extra privacy assurances at varying convenience-oriented costs.Take a peek at my separate list of exceptional Android privacy and security apps for a bunch of possibilities worth exploring such as:Notesnook, a privacy-first note-taking app that adds end-to-end encryption into your virtual notebookCryptee, a fully encrypted vault for word processing as well as photo and general file storageSimple Keyboard, an Android keyboard app with absolutely no internet access or data collectionThese options wont be right for everyone, and they require at times significant quality-of-life sacrifices compared to the standard Google equivalents. But if privacy is paramount, theyre well worth your while to weigh out.17. Disable your Google Web & App ActivityTime required: 2 minutesInconvenience level: 7/10By default, Google keeps track of what you do on the web and within its apps, whenever youre signed into your account (as you generally are while using an Android device). It uses that info to serve up those targeted ads we keep coming back to, of course, but it also uses it to power personalization, results, and recommendations in places like Search, Maps, and also Google Assistant in the places where that service is still active. Without it enabled, in fact, some of Assistants most useful commands wont work whether youve still got Assistant present on your phone or youre interacting with it on other Assistant-connected devices.If you want to disable that tracking, though, you can: Just head back to the Google section of your system settings, tap your name and Google account name once more, and then tap the Manage Your Google Account button followed by Data & privacy.Find and tap Web & App Activity, then tap the Turn Off button and decide if you want to simply turn the system off or turn it off and simultaneously delete any already-collected data within it.Once again, just like with the location history, you can also get more nuanced and instead ask Google to automatically delete this data on a rolling three-, 18-, or 36-month cycle. And you can specify certain areas of data that you do and dont want included, too.Deep within your Android device settings are all sorts of options for disabling or just scaling back the amount of activity Google stores about you.JR Raphael / IDG18. Disable your device backupsTime required: 2 minutesInconvenience level: 9/10Last but not least, Android has the ability to back up your system data and then restore much of your system setup when the need arises. Thats a supremely handy option to have but it invariably requires some of your information to be stored within Google Drive in order to work.Specifically, Google maintains a record of what apps you have installed along with a limited amount of app setting data. It also stores your call history, phone settings, and in some cases your SMS messages for future use.Disabling Androids automatic backups will make your life significantly more difficult the next time you move to a new phone or reset your current phone, as everything from your previous setup will essentially be lost (or will need to be moved over manually, which is a pretty massive hassle).If youd rather reclaim the privacy required by this feature, however, you can turn the feature off by opening up the System section of your phones settings, tapping the Backup option, and flipping the toggle next to Backup by Google One into the off position.On Samsung phones, the option is located within the Accounts and Backup section of the settings, under Back up data beneath the Google Drive heading. Samsung also maintains its own separate and redundant backup system, which youll also see in this same settings section and can also disable, if you so choose.As with any of these areas, only you can weigh out the added privacy against the lost convenience and figure out what arrangement makes the most sense for you. But now you know where to look and you can make your own educated decisions.This article was originally published in June 2020 and updated in December 2024.

The world might seem to be on the brink of a humanoid-robot heyday. New breakthroughs in artificial intelligence promise the type of capable, general-purpose robots previously seen only in science fictionrobots that can do things like assemble cars, care for patients, or tidy our homes, all without being given specialized instructions.Its an idea that has attracted an enormous amount of attention, capital, and optimism. Figure raised $675 million for its humanoid robot in 2024, less than two years after being founded. At a Tesla event this past October, the companys Optimus robots outshined the self-driving taxi that was meant to be the star of the show. Teslas CEO, Elon Musk, believes that these robots could somehow build a future where there is no poverty. One might think that supremely capable humanoids are just a few years away from populating our homes, war zones, workplaces, borders, schools, and hospitals to serve roles as varied as therapists, carpenters, home health aides, and soldiers.Yet recent progress has arguably been more about style than substance. Advancements in AI have undoubtedly made robots easier to train, but they have yet to enable them to truly sense their surroundings, think of what to do next, and carry out those decisions in the way some viral videos might imply. In many of these demonstrations (including Teslas), when a robot is pouring a drink or wiping down a counter, it is not acting autonomously, even if it appears to be. Instead, it is being controlled remotely by human operators, a technique roboticists refer to as teleoperation. The futuristic looks of such humanoids, which usually borrow from dystopian Hollywood sci-fi tropes like screens for faces, sharp eyes, and towering, metallic forms, suggest the robots are more capable than they often are.Im worried that were at peak hype, says Leila Takayama, a robotics expert and vice president of design and human-robot interaction at the warehouse robotics company Robust AI. Theres a bit of an arms waror humanoids warbetween all the big tech companies to flex and show that they can do more and they can do better. As a result, she says, any roboticist not working on a humanoid has to answer to investors as to why. We have to talk about them now, and we didnt have to a year ago, Takayama told me.Shariq Hashme, a former employee of both OpenAI and Scale AI, entered his robotics firm Prosper into this arms race in 2021. The company is developing a humanoid robot it calls Alfie to perform domestic tasks in homes, hospitals, and hotels. Prosper hopes to manufacture and sell Alfies for approximately $10,000 to $15,000 each.Why are we enamored with this idea of building a replica of ourselves?Guy Hoffman, associate professor, Cornell UniversityIn conceiving the design for Alfie, Hashme identified trustworthiness as the factor that should trump all other considerations, and the top challenge that needs to be overcome to see humanoids benefit society. Hashme believes one essential tactic to get people to put their trust in Alfie is to build a detailed character from the ground upsomething humanlike but not too human.This is about more than just Alfies appearance. Hashme and his colleagues are envisioning the way the robot moves and signals what hell do next; imagining desires and flaws that shape his approach to tasks; and crafting an internal code of ethics that governs the instructions he will and will not accept from his owners.In some ways, leaning so heavily on the principle of trustworthiness for Alfie feels premature; Prosper has raised a tiny amount of capital compared with giants like Tesla or Figure and is months (or years) away from shipping a product. But the need to tackle the issue of trustworthiness head-on and early reflects the messy moment humanoids are in: Despite all the investment and research, few people would feel warm and comfortable with such a robot if it walked into their living room right now. Wed wonder what data it was recording about us and our surroundings, fear it might someday take our job, or be turned off by its way of moving; rather than elegant and useful, humanoids are often cumbersome and creepy. Overcoming that lack of trust will be the first hurdle to clear before humanoids can live up to their hype.But on the road to helping Alfie win our trust, one question looms larger than any other: How much will he be able to do on his own? How much will he still rely on humans?New AI techniques have made it faster to train robots through demonstration datausually some combination of images, videos, and other data created by humans doing tasks like washing dishes while wearing sensors that pick up on their movements. This data can then coach robots through those tasks much the way that a large body of text can help a large language model create sentences. Still, this method requires lots of data, and lots of humans need to step in and correct for errors.Hashme told me that he expects the first release of Alfie to handle only about 20% of tasks on his own. The rest will be assisted by a Prosper team of remote assistants, at least some of them based in the Philippines, who will have the ability to remotely control Alfies movements. When I raised, among other concerns, whether its viable for a robotics business to rely on manual human labor for so many tasks, Hashme pointed to the successes of Scale AI. That company, which processes training data for AI applications, has a significant workforce in the Philippinesand is often criticized for its labor practices. Hashme was one of the people managing that workforce for about a year before founding Prosper. His departure from Scale AI was itself set off by a violation of trustone for which he would serve time in federal prison.The success or failure of Alfie will reveal much about societys willingness to welcome humanoid robots into our private spaces. Can we accept a profoundly new and asymmetric labor arrangement in which workers in low-wage countries use robotic interfaces to perform physical tasks for us at home? Will we trust them to safeguard private data and images of us and our families? On the most basic level, will the robots even be useful?To address some of these concerns around trust, Hashme brought in Buck Lewis. Two decades before Lewis worked with robots, before he was charged with designing a humanoid that people would trust rather than fear, the challenge in front of him was a rat.In 2001, Lewis was a revered animator and one of the top minds at Pixar. His specialty was designing characters with deep, universal appeal, a top concern to studios that fund high-budget projects aimed at capturing audiences worldwide. It was a niche that had led Lewis to bring trucks and sedans to life in the movie Cars and create characters for many DreamWorks and Disney films. But when Jan Pinkava, the creative force behind Ratatouille, told Lewis about his pitch for that filmthe story of a rat who wants to be a chefthe task felt insurmountable. Rats evoke such fear and apprehension in humans that their very name has become a shorthand for someone who cannot be trusted. How could Lewis turn a maligned rodent into an endearing chef? Its a deeply ingrained aversion, because rats are horrifying, he told me. For this to work, we had to create a character that rewires peoples perceptions.To do that, Lewis spent a lot of time in his head, imagining scenes like a group of rats hosting a playful pop-up dinner on a sidewalk in Paris. The result was Remy, a Parisian rat who not only rose through the culinary ranks in Ratatouille but was so lovable that demand for pet rats surged globally after the films release in 2007.Two decades later, Lewis has made a career change and is now in charge of crafting every aspect of Alfies character at Prosper. Much as the appealing Remy rebranded rats, Alfie represents Lewiss attempt to change the image of humanoid robots, from futuristic and dangerous to helpful and trustworthy.Prospers approach reflects a foundational robotics concept articulated by Rodney Brooks, a founder of iRobot, which created the Roomba: The visual appearance of a robot makes a promise about what it can do and how smart it is. It needs to deliver or slightly overdeliver on that promise or it will not be accepted.According to this principle, any humanoid robot makes the promise that it can behave like a humanwhich is an exceedingly high bar. So high, in fact, that some firms reject it. Some humanoid-skeptic roboticists doubt that a helpful robot needs to resemble a human at all when it could instead accomplish practical tasks without being anthropomorphized.Why are we enamored with this idea of building a replica of ourselves? asks Guy Hoffman, a roboticist focused on human-robot interactions and an associate professor at Cornell Universitys engineering school.Early prototypes of Prospers robotic butler, which could perform household tasks like cleaning a kitchen table, rinsing dishes, and discarding trash.DAVID VINTINERThe chief argument for robots with human characteristics is a functional one: Our homes and workplaces were built by and for humans, so a robot with a humanlike form will navigate them more easily. But Hoffman believes theres another reason: Through this kind of humanoid design, we are selling a story about this robot that it is in some way equivalent to us or to the things that we can do. In other words, build a robot that looks like a human, and people will assume its as capable as one.In designing Alfies physical appearance, Prosper has borrowed some aspects of typical humanoid design but rejected others. Alfie has wheels instead of legs, for example, as bipedal robots are currently less stable in home environments, but he does have arms and a head. The robot will be built on a vertical column that resembles a torso; his specific height and weight are not yet public. He will have two emergency stop buttons.Nothing about Alfies design will attempt to obscure the fact that he is a robot, Lewis says. The antithesis [of trustworthiness] would be designing a robot thats intended to emulate a human and its measure of success is based on how well it has deceived you, he told me. Like, Wow, I was talking to that thing for five minutes and I didnt realize its a robot. That, to me, is dishonest.But much other humanoid innovation is headed in a direction where deception seems to be an increasingly attractive concept. In 2023, several ultrarealistic humanoid robots appeared in the crowd at an NFL game at SoFi stadium in California; after a video of them went viral, Disney revealed they were actually just people in suits, a stunt to promote a movie. Nine months later, researchers from the University of Tokyo unveiled a way to attach engineered skin, which used human cells, over the face of a robot in an attempt to more perfectly resemble a human face.Through this kind of humanoid design, we are selling a story [that this robot] is in some way equivalent to us or to the things that we can do.Guy Hoffman, roboticistLewis has considered much more than just Alfies appearance. He and Prosper envision Alfie as an ambassador from a future civilization in which robots have incorporated the best qualities of humanity. Hes not young or old but has the wisdom of middle age, and his primary function in life is to be of service to people on their terms. Like any compelling character, Alfie has flaws people can relate tohe wishes he could be faster, and he tends to be a bit obsessive about finishing the tasks asked of him. Core tenets of Alfies service are to respect boundaries, to be discreet and nonjudgmental, and to earn trust.Hes an entity thats nonhuman, but he has a sort of sentience, Lewis says. Im trying to avoid looking at it as directly comparable to human consciousness.Ive been referring to Alfie as heat the risk of over-anthropomorphizing what is currently a robot in developmentbecause Lewis pictures him as a gendered male. When I asked why he pictures Alfie as having a gender, he said its probably a relic from the archetypal male butlers he saw on television shows like Batman growing up. But in a conversation with Hashme, I learned there is actually a real-life butler who is in some ways serving as an inspiration for Alfie.That would be Fitzgerald Heslop. Heslop has decades of experience in high-end hospitality training, and for seven years he was the only person within the United States Department of Defense qualified to train household managers who would run the homes of three- and four-star generals. Heslop now runs the household of a wealthy family in the Middle East (he declined to get more specific) and has been contracted by Prosper to inform Alfies approach to service within the home.Shortly into my conversation with Heslop, he elaborated on what excellent service looks like. Thats the level of creativity the good butler deals in: the making of beautiful moments to put people at their ease and increase their pleasure, he said, quoting Steven M. Ferrys book Butlers & Household Managers: 21st Century Professionals. He spoke with conviction about the impact great service can have on the world and about how protocol and etiquette can level the egos of even top dignitaries. Citing a quote often attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, he said, The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.Though he has no experience in robotics, Heslop is drawn to the idea that household robots could someday provide impeccable levels of service, and he thinks that Prosper has identified the right priorities to get there. Privacy and discretion, attention to detail, and meticulous eyes for that are mission critical to the overall objective of the company, he says. And more importantly, in this case, Alfie.It is one thing to dream up an Alfie in sketchbooks, and another to build him. In the real world, the first version of Alfie will depend on remote assistants, mostly working abroad, to handle approximately 80% of its household tasks. These assistants will use interfaces not unlike video-game controllers to control Alfies movements, relying on data from his sensors and cameras to guide them in washing dishes or clearing a table.Hashme says efforts are being made to conceal or anonymize personally revealing data while the robot is being teleoperated. That will include steps like removing sensitive objects and peoples faces from recordings and allowing users to delete any footage they like. Ideally, Hashme wrote in an email, Alfie will often simply look away from any potentially private activities.The AI industry has an appalling track record when it comes to workers in low-wage countries performing the hidden labor required to build cutting-edge models. Workers in Kenya were reportedly paid less than $2 an hour to manually purge toxic training data, including content describing child sexual abuse and torture, for OpenAI. Scale AIs own operation in the Philippines, which Hashme helped manage, was criticized in 2023 by rights groups for not abiding by basic labor standards and failing to pay workers properly and on time, according to an investigation by the Washington Post.In a statement, OpenAI said such work needs to be done humanely and willingly, and that the company establishes ethical and wellness standards for our data annotators. In a response to questions about criticisms of its operation in the Philippines, Scale AI wrote, Over the past year alone, weve paid out hundreds of millions in earnings to contributors, giving people flexible work options and economic opportunity, and that 98% of support tickets regarding pay have been successfully resolved.Hashme says he was not aware of the allegations against ScaleAI during his time there, which ended in 2019. But, he said in an email, we did make mistakes, which we quickly corrected and generally took quite seriously. I asked him what lessons he takes from the allegations against Scale AI and other companies outsourcing sensitive data work and what safeguards hes putting in place for the team hes building in the Philippines for Prosper, which so far numbers about 10 people.Shariq Hashme, a former employee of both OpenAI and Scale AI, entered his robotics firm Prosper into the humanoid arms race in 2021.DAVID VINTINERA lot of companies that do that kind of stuff end up doing it in a way which is kind of shitty for the people who are being employed, Hashme told me. Such companies often outsource important HR activities to untrustworthy partners abroad or lose workers trust through bad incentive programs, he said, adding: With a more experienced and closely managed team, and a lot more transparency around the entire system, I expect well be able to do a much better job.Its worth disclosing the nature of Hashmes departure from Scale AI, where he was hired in 2017 as its 14th employee. In May 2019, according to court documents, Scale noticed that someone had repeatedly withdrawn unauthorized payments of $140 and transferred them to multiple PayPal accounts. The company contacted the FBI. Over the course of five months, approximately $56,000 was taken from the company. An investigation revealed that Hashme, then 26, was behind the withdrawals, and in October of that year, he pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.Ahead of his sentencing, Alexandr Wang, the now-billionaire founder and CEO of Scale AI, wrote a letter to the judge in support of Hashme, as did 13 other current or former Scale employees. I believe Shariq is genuinely remorseful for his crime, and I have no reason to believe he will ever do something like this again, Wang wrote, and he said the company would not have wanted the wrongdoer prosecuted if it had known it was Hashme.Hashme lost his job, his stock options, and Scales sponsorship of his green card application. Scale offered him a $10,000 severance payment before leaving, which he declined to accept, according to Wangs letter. Hashme paid the money back in 2019, and in February 2020, he was sentenced to three months in federal prison, which he served. Wang is now a primary investor in Prosper Robotics, alongside Ben Mann (cofounder of Anthropic), Simon Last (cofounder of Notion), and Debo Olaosebikan (cofounder and CEO of Kepler Computing).I had a major lapse in judgment when I was younger. I was facing some personal challenges and stole from my employer. The consequences and the realization of what Id done came as a shock, and led to a lot of soul-searching, Hashme wrote in an email in response to questions about the crime. At Prosper, he wrote, were taking trustworthiness as our highest aspiration.There are some real upsides to being able to control robots remotely, but the idea of large-scale robotic teleoperation by overseas workers, even if it takes years for it to be effective, would be nothing short of a seismic shift for labor. It would present the possibility that even highly localized physical work that we perceive as immune to moving offshorecleaning hotel rooms or caring for hospital patientsmight someday be conducted by workers abroad. It also seems antithetical to the very idea of a trustworthy robot, since the machines effectiveness would be inextricably tied to a faceless worker in another country, most likely receiving paltry wages.Hashme has spoken about using a portion of Prospers profits to make direct payments to people whose jobs have been affected or replaced by Alfies, but he doesnt have specifics on how that would work. Hes also still thinking through issues related to who or what Prospers customers should be trusting when they allow its robot into their home.We dont want you to have to place as much trust in the company or the people the company hires, he says. Wed rather you place trust in the device, and the device is the robot, and the robot is making sure the company doesnt do something theyre not supposed to do.He admits that the first version of Alfie will likely not live up to his highest aspirations, but he remains steadfast that the robot can be of service to society and to people, if only they can trust him.

As the year closes and we look forward to next years big games, its over a year since Rockstar provided a new trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6. Though the eagerly awaited open-world title is out in Fall 2025, theres been very little by way of details other than the team is working on absolutely mind-blowing things.Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take-Two Interactive (Rockstars parent company), touched on this in a new interview with Conner Mather on YouTube. Our teams are focused on whats new that you havent even thought about. You thought you were anticipating this thing, but this is way bigger, way better, more exciting and more beautiful than you could have possibly thought of.As for fans and their frustration, Zelnick said he understood how they felt but that the company wants to wait for a title to be ready before launching it. He further added that it will be extraordinary, worth waiting for, and breathtaking. While he still doesnt indicate when new details will arrive, at least theres some acknowledgment of the frustration.Grand Theft Auto 6 is in development for Xbox Series X/S and PS5, with Rockstar yet to confirm a PC version. Set in modern-day Vice City, it introduces two new protagonists Lucia and an unknown male (which leaks indicate to be named Jason). Stay tuned for updates, and check out our article on why the next trailer is taking so long.

Segas year has been pretty good, especially for role-playing game fans. Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth was one of the more notable, selling over one million copies in its first week and garnering strong critical acclaim. If you havent experienced it yet, a new game trial is available on PlayStation Plus Premium.Since it allows for playing ten hours of the game, PS4 and PS5 players can carry over their progression should they purchase the latter. PlayStations Holiday Sale is ongoing until January 1st, 2025, and the Standard Edition is a whopping 50 percent off, retailing for $34.99.Alongside PS4 and PS5, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is playable on Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. You can check out our review, where we gave it a nine out of 10.RGG Studios next title in the series is Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, focusing on Goro Majima as the protagonist. Its out on February 21st, and though essentially a spin-off, the scale is much larger than Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name.A 10-hour full game trial for Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is now available for PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers!The standard edition is also 50% off, so give it a try or pick it up to play over the holidays pic.twitter.com/gOynjSpCU1 RGG Studio | Like a Dragon & Yakuza Series (@RGGStudio) December 20, 2024