Florida witnessed a massive rise in VPN demand on New Year's Day after Pornhub began prohibiting people from accessing its site from within the Sunshine State, it is claimed.Between the clock striking midnight and 4am on January 1, the day of the Pornhub pullout, the folks at VPN-pushing vpnMentor documented a rather incredible 1150 percent spike in Floridians wanting to use a VPN to mask their public IP addresses.January 1 marked the implementation of Florida's age-verification mandate, so perhaps all those netizens were scrambling for a VPN client and provider so that they appeared to the adult dot-com to be visiting from somewhere outside the Sunshine State, and thus evade Pornhub's blockade.VPN demand, what's that exactly? vpnMentor is a site that recommends various VPN providers and tracks the industry. By demand, it means evidence that people are curious about using a VPN, from things like searches for VPN software and clicks on links to download a client, rather than actual VPN traffic and usage.A spokesperson explained to us: "To measure the impact of VPN demand the research team compiles data from a variety of sources. The team uses internal tools to assess changes in terms of search volume, web traffic, and clicks related to VPN services in general. We work with different metrics which we analyze, and we evaluate the searches or impressions that transform into downloads."So, in this context, take "demand" as a rough estimate of interest in a VPN service, rather than vpnMentor observing stuff like packet flows or connections.Here's the back story: In March, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) signed the Online Protection for Minors act, aka House Bill 3, into law. The legislation requires websites to verify visitors' ages, and for those hosting a "substantial portion of material harmful to minors," such as Pornhub, to block access to anyone under 18 in an effort to prevent kids and teens from peeping on any pornographic videos. Making sure children aren't looking at smut online requires identity and age verification, which Pornhub isn't willing to get into.HB3 allows fines of up to $50,000 for websites that don't comply with the regulations.And so in response, Pornhub's parent company Aylo decided to yank the site from Florida users as it had already done in other states with similar laws, including Kentucky, Indiana, Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, North Carolina, Montana, Mississippi, Virginia, Arkansas, and Utah."Unfortunately, the way many jurisdictions worldwide, including Florida, have chosen to implement age verification is ineffective, haphazard, and dangerous," Aylo told news outlets in a statement."Any regulations that require hundreds of thousands of adult sites to collect significant amounts of highly sensitive personal information is putting user safety in jeopardy. Moreover, as experience has demonstrated, unless properly enforced, users will simply access non-compliant sites or find other methods of evading these laws."America's favorite X-rated video-sharing site pointed to Louisiana as an example. That state began requiring age verification last year, and according to Aylo, Pornhub was one of the few sites to comply with the new law."Since then, our traffic in Louisiana dropped approximately 80 percent," the statement continued. "These people did not stop looking for porn. They just migrated to darker corners of the internet that don't ask users to verify age, that don't follow the law, that don't take user safety seriously, and that often don't even moderate content. In practice, the laws have just made the internet more dangerous for adults and children."For what it's worth, Robin Tombs, boss of Yoti, which provides age checks for blue-movie sites in the US, argued earlier this week that its age confirmation system, using facial analysis, and identity document verification is secure and safe, as you might imagine.While we can't confirm that these laws have made the internet more dangerous, vpnMentor did document a similar VPN services surge in other say-no-to-porn states. In May 2023, Pornhub's Utah users ban resulted in a 967 percent spike in VPN demand, and Texas' law last year saw a 234.8 percent uptick.Some Florida residents jumped the gun before that smut site started geoblocking Florida IP addresses. On December 19, a day after Pornhub's decision to eject from that state, vpnMentor noted a 51 percent jump in that state's VPN demand.The New Year may ring in some good news for southern states' smut surfers, however. Over the summer, the US Supreme Court agreed to hear a case challenging the legality of the Texas law, which could set a precedent for similar age-verification mandates and, thus, Pornhub blocks.The Texas case, Free Speech Coalition, et al v. Paxton, is set for argument on January 15.

In BriefPosted:4:06 PM PST January 5, 2025Sam Altman has choice words for the OpenAI board members who fired himOpenAI CEO Sam Altman has strong words for the former board members who abruptly fired him late last November. [A]ll those people that I feel, like, really fed me and fed the company were gone, and now I had to clean up their mess, he told Bloomberg in a wide-ranging interview.Just over a year ago, OpenAIs old board removed Altman for not being consistently candid in his communications with board members. The way Altman tells it, the board quickly reversed course under pressure, at which point Altman agreed to return only if the entire board quit.The brief appointment of Twitch co-founder Emmett Shear as OpenAIs CEO took Altman by surprise. [I] was like, All right, now Im fing really done, because that wasrealdeception, he told Bloomberg. The interview reveals other interesting tidbits about OpenAIs past and future, like that the company once considered charging $42 per month for ChatGPT and that OpenAI intends to reveal more about its chip plans this year. Topics

Five years ago, Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda went to CES to share with the world his personal field of dreams a plan to build a prototype city on a 175-acre site at the foot of Mount Fuji in Japan, where people would live and work amongst all of Toyotas projects, including autonomous vehicle technology, robotics, smart home-connected technology, and AI.Toyoda will return to CES, the annual tech trade show in Las Vegas this year to finally reveal his living laboratory, called Woven City. The Toyota press conference, in which Chairman Toyoda will have a starring role, will be held at 1 p.m. PT/4 p.m. ET on January 6 during CES media day. The presentation will be livestreamed on the companys website.In a video that teases the upcoming showcase, Toyoda dons a hard hat and safety vest as he heads into a modern multi-story building. He arrives on an upper floor and then removes the protective covering of the window, revealing Mount Fuji in the background and exclaiming Welcome to Woven City!Details are slim about exactly what will be revealed. TechCrunch, which was at the initial announcement in 2020, will be watching to see how startups will be incorporated into Woven City and whether Toyota followed through on its plans to build a fully connected ecosystem powered by hydrogen fuel cells.

LG's new AI experience in the M5 and G5 allows for a more personalized and tailored user experience. Here's what to expect.

Ahead of CES 2025, Hyper announces a premium haptic trackpad that looks like the Windows version of Apple's Magic Trackpad.

Govee's new products deliver smart lighting solutions for gaming and ambiance, suitable for bedside to the campsite.

Samsung has its new flagship phone, the Galaxy S25 series almost ready for release (heres when to expect it). But it looks like there will be a major speed boost for one aspect of the current Galaxy S24 serieswhich is great news for those who have the S24, S24 Plus or S24 Ultra and wont need to buy a new phone to get it.Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. 2024 Bloomberg Finance LPThe change is down to the upcoming One UI 7 software Samsung is expected to unveil alongside the new S25 range. Its one of the benefits of electronic goods, that with improved software, hardware can get better with age.In particular, among the benefits of the new software is a change which leads to a new unlock sound, according to regular leaker Ice Universe. The leaker describes the new lock and unlock sound as crisp, and notes theres a new sound to indicate the phone is charging.Thats mildly interesting, not more than that, but the bigger news is how that will impact the speed of unlocking the S24. In a separate post on X, Ice Universe says, Not only the sound is clearer, but also the fingerprint unlocking speed is extremely fast, which is faster than the previous version.MORE FOR YOUThat might not sound revolutionary, but think about it: some reports have claimed that we unlock our phones well over 100 times a day, with some estimates suggest 300 plus is more accurate.Remember when you had to type in four or six digits or swipe a pattern every time? Fingerprint sensors made this faster, and under-the-display fingerprint sensors made unlocking more convenient.So if the fingerprint unlock is faster, thats a bonus. The video that accompanied the X post demonstrated the unlock on the display of a Samsung Galaxy S24 using beta software, so unless theres a remarkable change, that speed bonus is definitely coming to Samsungs 2024 phones.In the video, it looks more like a tap than a press, so quick is the response.Itll be far from the biggest upgrade in One UI 7, and some features will be exclusive to the phones waiting to be released, but its a neat extra.

Nvidia is expected to announce its GeForce RTX 5000-series graphics cards at this coming week's Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas, with information likely to be revealed on models such as the RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 and it's the latter that has apparently been revealed by board partner Inno3D with an absolutely enormous cooler.What we know about the RTX 5090 so farSpeculation has been rife about the size of this card before, with concerns over not just the depth, but also the width. These concerns seem to be realised here thanks to the leak of Inno3D's iChill X3 model (via Videocardz). The model in question is 3.5-slots deep, which is as big as the largest RTX 4090 models, but the width seems to be even larger than we've seen before. One of the largest RTX 4090 models was the Palit GameRock and a comparison of the two does seem to suggest the Inno3D iChill is slightly wider.Tech website Videocardz has revealed an image of Inno3D's RTX 5090 iChill X3 and it's a monsterVideocardz.comRTX 5090: Why size mattersThe RTX 4090 is already a large graphics card and the leaked image from Inno3D proves that the RTX 5090 is unlikely to be any smaller and in fact might even be a little bigger on average across the various cooler designs including an expected Nvidia Founders Edition. This isn't good news for anyone with a small case with limited graphics card clearance, especially mini-ITX or small form factor.Other RTX 5090 specifications we think we knowPlenty of rumors about specifications and pricing have been unleashed over the last few weeks, but nothing is officially confirmed yet by Nvidia itself. Board partners have provided plenty of leaks such as this one, though, as well as potential leaks from regular community members that have provided accurate information in the past. If you haven't already, check out my article below about the RTX 5000 series.MORE FOR YOUAs well as a 3.5-slot cooler, the image confirms the rumor that the RTX 5090 will indeed come with 32GB of VRAM, which is expected to be GDDR7 - a sizeable upgrade from the 24GB of GDDR6X on the RTX 4090 and by far the biggest memory upgrade that we're likely to see of the entire product stack. In fact, it's 8GB upgrade might be larger than those of the rest of the stack combined, especially as Nvidia is rumored to be sticking with 8GB for the RTX 5060.What about the RTX 5090 power connector?Annoyingly we can't see the power connector in the photo, which would help to dispel rumors of twin 16-pin 12VPWR connectors on the RTX 5090, which have already been dismissed by a Chinese power supply manufacturer. Given Nvidia's previous launch schedules, it's highly likely we'll learn a lot more about the RTX 5090 this week, even if the latest rumors point at the RTX 5080 being launched first, possibly being released as soon as Jan. 21.Pricing is something little is known about apart from some fairly horrific figures from the rumor mill recently that puts the RTX 5090 at $2,000-$2,500. That's a sizeable markup from the $1,600 launch price of the RTX 4090.I'll be covering the hardware launches in January so follow me here on Forbes using the blue button below, Facebook or YouTube to get the latest news and reviews.

Mindy KalingMindy Kaling attends the 2025 Golden Globe Awards. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images Kaling arrived in a sparkly gold gown from Ashi Studio.The form-fitting dress, which shimmered as Kaling walked the red carpet, featured a strapless neckline and a slit on the side. Cristin MiliotiCristin Milioti attends the 2025 Golden Globe Awards. Amy Sussman/Getty Images Milioti, who was nominated for her performance in "The Penguin," chose a simple black dress for the Golden Globes.The gown's neckline was trimmed with angular, sparkly fabric designed to look like leaves, giving it a chic pop. That same trim was attached to Milioti's black gloves. Elle FanningElle Fanning attends the 2025 Golden Globe Awards. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images Fanning's glamorous taupe gown from Balmain featured a full skirt, which cinched at the waist.The V-neck bodice brought a modern edge to the gown's classic shape, as the top was covered in leopard-print fabric. Cartier jewelry completed the look. Adam BrodyAdam Brody attends the 2025 Golden Globe Awards. Amy Sussman/Getty Images Adam Brody put a fresh twist on menswear with his deep-green suit from Prada. The double-breasted jacket had black hardware, and he accessorized with a white flower on one of his black lapels.Black shoes completed the look. Zo KravitzZo Kravitz attends the 2025 Golden Globe Awards. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images The neckline of Kravitz's black gown plunged nearly to her navel, where a white ribbon cinched her waist.The bow flowed out behind her in place of a train. Eiza GonzlezEiza Gonzlez attends the 2025 Golden Globe Awards. Amy Sussman/Getty Images Gucci designed the shimmering gold dress Gonzalez chose for the Golden Globes.The figure-hugging dress was sleeveless and featured a high neckline, contrasting with the back, which was nearly entirely open aside from thin ties. Rachel BrosnahanRachel Brosnahan attends the 2025 Golden Globe Awards. Amy Sussman/Getty Images Brosnahan's deep-green gown was covered in architectural detailing, from the ruching across the bodice that flowed into one sleeve to a thigh-high slit on the skirt that allowed the fabric to cascade around her leg.The dress also featured a subtle ombr, turning nearly blue at the bottom of the skirt. Leighton MeesterLeighton Meester attends the 2025 Golden Globe Awards. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images Meester's sage-green dress featured a cowl neck that dipped low on her chest. She accessorized with a simple diamond necklace and bracelet.

Has all the RGB lights and excessive gaming gear on your desktop made you yearn for a simpler, more pixelated gaming experience? Govees latest lighting products, its Gaming Pixel Light and Mini Panel Lights, offer the best (or potentially worst) of both worlds. Its Pixel Light especially comes with a modern, spaceship-like aesthetic while containing all the faux LED pixels to remind you of the 8-bit era.Govees latest lighting product is tuned explicitly for gamers with its wide frame and decals. Although the Govee frame includes a 32 by 32-pixel count, it isthanks to the modern capability of LEDsable to depict images with a far more varied color palette than a traditional NES game ever could. It has over 150 preset scenes, including a clock or weather display. The frame supports static images and GIFs up to 30 FPS, which you can create and edit through an app. If youve ever seen Divooms slate of pixel art speakers and wall art, youre likely feeling some deja vu.Divooms products, like theTimebox Evoand the non-speaker64 by 64-pixel wall panel, include creating your own pixel art and animations and then setting them to music. What separates the Govee box is the sci-fi-aesthetic frame that may be more at home with some desktop setups than others. You can also use Govees in-app AI to generate pixel art with a prompt, though it takes so little effort to create 32-by-32-pixel art that you might as well ignore the AI capabilities entirely.Better yet, you can connect the frame to a Govee HDMI 2.1 Sync Box and the Govee app. This lets you stream your on-screen game visuals to the Gaming Pixel Light, showing off your detailed 3D game in a pseudo-2D pixel art fashion. Govee said its Gaming Pixel Light will also recognize music played through its speakers and change the visuals based on the beat and rhythm of the music. Govee said the Gaming Pixel Light will be available sometime in Q2 this year.Gizmodo is covering all the coolest and weirdest tech from the show floor at CES 2025 in Las Vegas. Follow our live coverage here.