Philips Hue users will soon be able to create their own AI-powered lighting scenes, the company announced on Tuesday.Philips Hues new generative AI lighting assistant lets users create personalized lighting scenes based on occasion, mood, or style. They can do so by typing commands like Give me a scene for a garden party into the Hue app and also by using their voice. The assistant will then either recommend scenes from the existing Philips Hue gallery or create a new one entirely. In addition to creating scenes, the AI assistant can also be used to adjust the settings of existing lights, including brightness levels and color. The assistant will recommend scenes based on prompts. Image: Philips HueThe news comes after Hueblog reported that Philips Hue was working on a generative AI feature in October. According to Hueblog, the AI Playground lets users create lighting scenes based on typed text like Create a scene for a childrens birthday party, but there was no mention of voice commands.Philips Hue isnt the first to offer an AI-powered lighting assistant. Govees AI Lighting Bot generates similar dynamic lighting effects and also responds to voice prompts. Meanwhile, Nanoleafs Magic Scenes feature creates similar scenes, too, but only responds to typed short phrases like tropical paradise.Philips Hue says the AI assistant will be compatible with all of its lights. The company hasnt divulged details about its exact availability, but stated itll start rolling out in the first quarter of 2025.RelatedThe AI-powered lighting assistant isnt the only piece of news Philips Hue announced on Tuesday. The Philips Hue Sync TV app now supports LG TVs, while thecolor-changing Philips HueDatura ceiling light is now available in the US starting at $299.99. The frameless ceiling panel offers a pair of individually controllable lights and customizable color effects.Philips Hue also announced new smart home security features, including smoke alarm sound detection and the ability to stream live camera feeds to Amazon Alexa and the Google Nest Hub. Users can also now check out live camera views or schedule system settings straight from their devices.

Dense embedding-based text retrieval has become the cornerstone for ranking text passages in response to queries. The systems use deep learning models for embedding text into vector spaces that enable semantic similarity measurements. This method has been adopted widely in applications such as search engines and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), where retrieving accurate and contextually relevant information is critical. These systems efficiently match queries with relevant content by building on learned representations, driving huge advancements in knowledge-intensive domains.However, the main challenge for embedding-based retrieval systems is their susceptibility to manipulation by adversaries. The reason is that these systems often build on public corpora, which are not immune to adversarial content. Malicious actors can inject crafted passages into the corpus in a way that affects the retrieval systems ranking to prioritize the adversarial entries over the queries containing them. This can threaten the integrity of search results with the spread of misinformation or the introduction of biased content, endangering the reliability of knowledge systems.Previous approaches to counter adversarial attacks have used simple poisoning techniques, such as stuffing targeted queries with repetitive text or embedding misleading information. Although these methods can break single-query systems, they are often ineffective against more complex models that handle diverse query distributions. Existing defenses also do not address the core vulnerabilities in embedding-based retrieval systems, leaving the systems open to more advanced and subtle attacks.Researchers at Tel Aviv University introduced a mathematically grounded gradient-based optimization method called GASLITE for crafting adversarial passages. GASLITE performs better than previous techniques because it focuses precisely on the retrieval models embedding space rather than modifying content in the text. It aligns itself with certain query distributions, which results in adversarial passages achieving high visibility within retrieval results. Thus, this makes it a potent tool for evaluating vulnerabilities in dense embedding-based systems.The GASLITE methodology is grounded in rigorous mathematical principles and innovative optimization techniques. It constructs adversarial passages from attacker-chosen prefixes combined with optimized triggers designed to maximize similarity to targeted query distributions. Optimization takes the form of gradient calculations in the embedding space to find optimal token substitutions. Unlike previous approaches, GASLITE does not edit the corpus or model but instead focuses on generating text that the retrieval systems ranking algorithm can manipulate. This design makes it stealthy and effective; adversarial passages can blend directly into the corpus without being detectable by standard defenses.The authors test GASLITE with nine state-of-the-art retrieval models under various threat scenarios. The method consistently outperformed baseline approaches, achieving a remarkable 61-100% success rate in ranking adversarial passages within the top 10 results for concept-specific queries. These results were achieved with minimal poisoning of the corpus, with adversarial passages comprising just 0.0001% of the dataset. For example, GASLITE demonstrated top-10 visibility across most retrieval models when targeting concept-specific queries, showcasing its precision and efficiency. In single-query attacks, the method consistently ranked adversarial content as the top result, which is effective even under the most stringent conditions.Further analysis of the factors that contributed to the success of GASLITE showed that embedding-space geometry and similarity metrics significantly determined model susceptibility. Models using dot-product similarity measures were particularly vulnerable because the GASLITE method exploited these characteristics to achieve optimal alignment with targeted query distributions. The researchers further emphasized that models with anisotropic embedding spaces, where random text pairs produced high similarities, were more susceptible to attacks. This again points towards the importance of understanding embedding-space properties while designing retrieval systems.It underscores the need for strong defenses against adversarial manipulations in embedding-based retrieval systems. The authors thus recommend utilizing hybrid retrieval approaches like dense and sparse retrieval techniques that can minimize the risks provided by such methods as GASLITE. It serves, on its own, to expose the vulnerability in current retrieval systems to risks and pave the way for more secure and resilient technologies.The researchers urgently call to focus on the risks presented by such adversarial attacks to dense embedding-based systems. The minimal effort that GASLITE could use to manipulate search results shows the potential severity of such attacks. However, by characterizing critical vulnerabilities and developing actionable defenses, this work provides valuable insights into improving this robustness and reliability in retrieval models.Check out the Paper and GitHub Page. All credit for this research goes to the researchers of this project. Also,dont forget to follow us onTwitter and join ourTelegram Channel andLinkedIn Group. Dont Forget to join our60k+ ML SubReddit. Nikhil+ postsNikhil is an intern consultant at Marktechpost. He is pursuing an integrated dual degree in Materials at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. Nikhil is an AI/ML enthusiast who is always researching applications in fields like biomaterials and biomedical science. With a strong background in Material Science, he is exploring new advancements and creating opportunities to contribute. [Recommended Read] Nebius AI Studio expands with vision models, new language models, embeddings and LoRA (Promoted)

With Immaculate, Nosferatu, The Substance, Longlegs, and more, 2024 set a high bar for spooky stuff. But 2025 looks set to keep the scares going for another year. From big studio blockbusters to grimy little indies to interesting art films (dont call it elevated), 2025 has something for everyone who needs a good scare in the new year.Wolf Man (January 17)Scary 2025 starts on a strong note with Leigh Whannells return to the world of Universal Monsters. As he did with Invisible Man from 2020, Whannell promises to bring a kinetic visual style and social relevance to the classic monster. His werewolf update stars Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner as a married couple who get waylaid in the woods after a lycanthrope attacks the father. As father Blake (Abbott) struggles with his inner beast, its up to mother Charlotte (Garner) to protect their young daughter (Matilda Firth) and herself.Presence (January 24)Dont let the big names fool you. Presence may come from director Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter David Koepp, with Lucy Liu and Julia Fox in the lead, but it falls firmly within the filmmakers experimental phase. Presence has a traditional haunted house premise, in which a family senses an entity in their new home. Soderbergh shoots the entire film in first-person perspective, hoping to follow in the footsteps of Nickel Boys in innovating the technique on the big screen.Companion (January 31)Between his affable demeanor and solid performances in The Boys and Star Trek: Lower Decks, Jack Quaid has become not only a good nepo baby, but also a Tom Hanks nice guy for Millennials. Writer and director Drew Hancock plans to test those feelings with Companion where Quaid plays a nice guy who kidnaps a young woman (Sophie Thatcher from Heretic) under romantic pretenses. So far, we dont know much about the plot other than what the trailer shows. But the emphasis on Barbarian director Zach Cregger as a producer on Companion promises a couple of upsetting twists.Heart Eyes (February 7)Director Josh Ruben scored a surprise hit with his imminently likable Werewolves Within in 2020. His follow-up Heart Eyes sounds like Rubens moving into less pleasant territory. Heart Eyes involves a serial killer hunting victims on Valentines Day, a classic slasher premise. But it wont be all doom and gloom. Ruben has cast former Disney player Olivia Holt in the lead, alongside Scream regular Mason Gooding and horror icon Devon Sawa.The Monkey (February 21)With last years buzzy Longlegs, director Oz Perkins fully moved out of the shadow of his famous father Anthony, aka Norman Bates himself. Perkins will continue that momentum with his second movie in eight months, one that goes just as weird as Longlegs. The Monkey adapts the Stephen King story about a cursed wind-up toy. Theo James of The White Lotus plays the owners of the toy in dual roles; Tatiana Maslany, Elijah Wood, and Halloween Ends Rohan Campbell round out the cast.The Woman in the Yard (March 28)Hot off the deserved Netflix hit Carry-On, Jaume Collet-Serra has become one of our most reliable genre directors. Sure, he has a few misses like Black Adam, but House of Wax, Orphan, and Non-Stop stand as enjoyable crowdpleasers. Collet-Serra turns back to horror with The Woman in the Yard, a chiller about a mysterious figure who suddenly appears in a familys front lawn. Collet-Serra has a strong lead in Danielle Deadwyler, who won attention for Till and The Piano Lesson.Drop (April 11)Christopher Landon made his name with great horror comedies Happy Death Day and Freaky, but hes ready for something different. As he told Den of Geek, Landon wanted a break from the horror/comedy world, returning to the tone of earlier projects such as his Hitchcock riff Disturbia. With Drop, Landon takes on the world of social media and dating. Meghann Fahy of The White Lotus plays a single mom on her first date, with a man who may or may not be who he says he is. Laughs might be harder to come by in the Drop, but it sounds like the expected tension will be there.Sinners (April 18)One of the more heavily anticipated movies of the year comes from Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan. The duo have been turning out smart crowdpleasers since the directors debut Fruitvale Station, through the first Creed and both Black Panther films. Sinners puts Jordan in a dual role as twin brothers saving their hometown from an onslaught of vampires. Between the period piece setting and strong supporting cast that includes Hailee Steinfeld and Wunmi Mosaku, Sinners seems poised for another blockbuster for Coogler and Jordan.Until Dawn (April 25)Until Dawn has been entertaining gamers for a decade thanks to its application of the Butterfly Effect concept to a horror game. David F. Sandberg of Shazam! and Lights Out fame, as well as Conjuring-verse mainstay Gary Dauberman, hope to bring the same mechanic to the big screen. Its hard to say exactly how the Until Dawn movie will translate the players choice aspect that represents the Butterfly Effect mechanic. But at least the horror vets can guarantee some solid horror thrills.Final Destination: Bloodlines (May 16)The Final Destination series went out on top with the delightfully gnarly Final Destination 5, which perfected the franchises Rube Goldberg scares. Directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein make the jump from Disney Channel movies to the big screen to helm the latest entry, the first in 14 years. As with previous Final Destination films, Bloodlines doesnt boast the biggest names in its cast, with Stargirls Brec Bassinger in the lead. But the biggest draw remains the late, great Tony Todd, appearing one last time as the knowing mortician William Bludworth.Join our mailing listGet the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!28 Years Later (June 20)Few properties have more claim to the zombie resurgence of the 2000s than Danny Boyles aggressive and innovative 28 Days Later in 2002. After sitting out the 2007 sequel 28 Weeks Later, Boyle returns to the franchise for 28 Years Later. To be honest, the first trailer for 28 Years Later doesnt offer much we havent seen from the many, many zombie stories that followed Boyles first outing. However, Boyle and frequent collaborator Alex Garland have never been people who do the expected. Chances are that stars Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Ralph Fiennes will deal with some surprising twists, especially as the movie sets up another sequel, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, for 2026.M3GAN 2.0 (June 27)The first M3GAN became a hit thanks in part to Blumhouses strong internet advertising campaign. The sequel M3GAN 2.0 doesnt have that same element of surprise, but it does have the same creative team returning, with Gerard Johnstone directing, Akela Cooper writing, and James Wan producing. Also back are Allison Williams and Violet McGraw as an aunt and niece brought together after a tragedy leaves the latter orphaned, and Amie Donald and Jenna Davis as the body and voice of M3GAN as well.I Know What You Did Last Summer Sequel (July 18)I Know What You Did Last Summer never reached the heights of the Scream movies it aped, but it still had a healthy audience. That was enough to get two sequels about a vengeful fisherman chasing Jennifer Love Hewitt and her pals. Reportedly, Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. will show up in this latest entry, but not as the leads. Instead Madelyn Cline of Outer Banks and Glass Onion fame will be the beleaguered heroine this time around. Thor: Love & Thunder co-writer Jennifer Kaytin Robinson steps in to direct, with journalist Sam Lansky and Scrambleds Leah McKendrick also writing the script.The Conjuring: Last Rites (September 5)Unlikely as it seems, The Conjuring franchise has become one of the most reliable shared universes outside of the MCU, spinning off movies about Annabelle, the Nun, and La Llorona (they cant all be winners). The mainline series returns for its fourth and supposedly final entry, The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson are back to put a lovable spin on real-world scam artists paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren and Michael Chaves, who helmed The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It and The Curse of La Llorona, directs.The Bride! (September 26)Speaking of shared universes, the MCU still pales in comparison to the monster movies that Universal Pictures made from the 1930s through the 50s. Attempts to repeat the success of those first movies has failed (RIP Dark Universe), but the legacy of those classic characters will never stay in the ground for long. Thus enters Maggie Gyllenhaal, writer and director of The Bride!, which reimagines the original as a tale of womans liberation in 1930s Chicago. Jesse Buckley stars as a murdered woman, rebuilt as a mate for the Monster (Christian Bale). Penlope Cruz, Peter Sarsgaard and Annette Bening co-star.Saw XI (September 26)If youve only seen one or two Saw movies, you might think you know what to expect from the newest movie Saw XI. You might think its all just a bunch of torture and misery, nothing more. Saw XI will certainly have lots of nastiness, just like its surprisingly great predecessor, Saw X. But the Saw franchise is also about overly complex timelines and crazy twists, which director Kevin Greutert and writers Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstanall regulars for the franchisewill surely bring to Saw XI.The Black Phone 2 (October 17)After leaving Doctor Strange 2 and the world of big budget blockbusters, director Scott Derrickson got down to basics with the solid supernatural thriller The Black Phone. Derrickson and co-writer C. Robert Cargill return to the terror this year, building off the original short story by Joe Hill.The Black Phone 2 continues the fight between child killer the Grabber (Ethan Hawke) and the one who got away, Finney (Mason Thames). In the first movie, Finney escaped the Grabbers basement through the help of his psychic sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) and the ghosts of previous victims, who communicated via the titular telephone. They also seemed to welcome the Grabber straight into hell. Which raises questions about what could happen next.Predator: Badlands (November 7)Alright, were all a bit disappointed that the next Predator movie isnt the one set in feudal Japan. Still, director Dan Trachtenberg earned a lot of good will with his last movie Prey, the best Predator film since the original. Trachtenbergs back for Predator: Badlands, which stars Elle Fanning as a pair of twin sisters. The pair tries to survive a futuristic wasteland where theyre hunted by the titular monsters.Five Nights at Freddys 2 (December 5)It didnt make anyones top 10 lists, but no one can deny that Five Nights at Freddys was a bonafide hit, becoming the highest opening Blumhouse movie ever. So of course were going back to the pizza place in 2025. According to early reports, Five Nights at Freddys 2 will adapt the second game in the series, with Matthew Lillard back as the primary villain. Game creator Scott Cawthon will be on hand again to ensure that fans of the original property are entertained, even if everyone else is a bit mystified.Death of a Unicorn (TBA)Death of a Unicorn almost sounds like a parody of an A24 movie, but rest assured its a real thing. Longtime producer Alex Scharfman writes and directs this story of a father and daughter (Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega), who crash into a unicorn on their way to a retreat hosted by their pharmaceutical company boss. The first trailer for the film promises surreal satire, anchored by a solid cast. Ta Leoni, Richard E. Grant, and Will Poulter all play rich people were sure to want to eat. Luckily, the unicorn(s) will be there to chow down for us.Fear Street: Prom Queen (TBA)The Fear Street trilogy has proven to be a true hit for Netflix, thanks to director Leigh Janiak bringing the energy of the R.L. Stine books to the screen. The series continues with Fear Street: Prom Queen, which doesnt seem to be launching a new trilogy, but will surely continue the same themes of the original. Janiak isnt directing this outing, but shes got a solid replacement in Matt Palmer, who made 2018s Calibre. Hell be working with an interesting cast, which includes Ariana Greenblatt, Katherine Waterston, and Lili Taylor.Frankenstein (TBA)Its not just about the Bride in 2025. The mad scientist and his monster will also stalk the screen. The master Guillermo del Toro writes and directs this latest adaptation of the Mary Shelley novel Frankenstein, with Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein and Jacob Elordi as the Monster he creates. Although del Toros making the movie for Netflix, that shouldnt worry those concerned for his artistic integrity. The animated Pinocchio adaptation that del Toro did for Netflix remains one of the most beautiful and unique entries in his filmography.King Spawn (TBA)Spawn might be one of the most reliable indie characters in comics, but poor Al Simmons hasnt fared as well on the screen. The schlocky 1997 movie has its defenders, but try as he might, creator Todd McFarlane hasnt been able to get a new movie going. According to McFarlane, a hard-R movie called King Spawn is finally in production for Blumhouse. That said, no director or actor has been officially attached, but Jamie Foxx has expressed interest.V/H/S/8 (TBA)Anthology films are famously hit or miss, which makes the V/H/S series all the more impressive. Of course, the series has had some excellent creators involved, including Ti West, Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead, and Mike Flanagan.No word yet on who will join on for the eighth entry, but each of the previous seven entries have had at least one excellent short, so were optimistic.Wildwood (TBA)One of the more interesting entries on this list, Wildwood comes from Laika, Americas answer to Aardman. Travis Knight (Kubo and the Two Strings) directs and Laika regular Chris Butler writes this adaptation of the childrens fantasy novel by The Decemberists frontman Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis. Before anyone grouches about including an animated adaptation of a kids book, keep in mind that previous Laika movies Coraline and ParaNorman are solid horror films, even if theyre aimed at a younger audience.Eddington (TBA)Heres what we know about Eddington. Its made by Ari Aster. And thats about all we need to know to be excited by it. Okay, it does look like Aster has an impressive cast lined up, including Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, and Emma Stone. And Aster is coming off his very divisive comedy(?) Beau Is Afraid. And still, even those who hated that last film are at least curious about a new Aster project.Hope (TBA)Its been nearly 10 years since Korean director Na Hong-jin released The Wailing, an excellent, moving exorcism film. But director Nas finally back in 2025 with Hope, a thriller that mixes in some sci-fi elements. So far we only know that Hope takes place in a harbor town, and that Western actors Alicia Vikander and Michael Fassbender will appear alongside Hwang Jung-min and Zo In-sung.

If further proof were required that gameshow The Traitors isnt made by a TV production company but by a cabal of supervillains plotting inside a hollowed-out mountain, the shows release schedule would be it. Its been designed to disorient and weaken our senses the TV equivalent of being spun around in a hall of mirrors. Ask anybody when the next episode of The Traitors is on and they wont be able to tell you. Wednesdays, yes. Thursdays, I think so. Fridays, yeah. Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday? No, but also maybe?It didnt help that the first episode of series three aired on January 1, at a time of year when the names of weekdays sink underneath the festive slush and leave us navigating the passing of time only by the increasing honk of Dads Special Cheese. (Still able to get the milk out of the fridge without gagging? Itll be Boxing Day. Can only approach said fridge with a novelty Rudolph tea towel blocking your smell and taste holes? Probably time to go back to work now.)Immediately after episode one aired, episode two was made available to stream early on BBC iPlayer a common ploy used by drug dealers to get customers hooked. That left those of us weak enough to submit strung out and going cold turkey the following night. Then Friday came, and with it, episode three, after which nothing. For FOUR DAYS.When was the last time you had to wait for something you actually wanted? GP appointments, Avanti West Coast trains and Glastonbury tickets aside, nobody waits for stuff anymore. The modern internet has made open-beaked baby birds of us all. With fluttery wings and gaping mouths, we demand a constant slurry of mashed-up caterpillar to be glooped straight into our gullets. Verify the transaction and the gloop keeps coming. Uber Eats, Tesco Whoosh, Amazon, DeliverooRead more Being made to wait for television feels even more outdated. For years, the streaming model has taken months sometimes years worth of peoples careful creative work, loaded it onto the back of a tipper lorry and then in one go, slid it all into a massive quarry and watched it disappear. Its been terrible for the industry but great for the baby bird viewers. So much gloop! No waiting.And now: waiting. The Traitors insists on it, because the BBC knows that waiting is all part of the fun. Not because each episode of The Traitors is as richly flavoured as an episode of the also weekly-released Wolf Hall and needs time to steep and infuse, but because delaying gratification is a game and The Traitors is a gameplayer extraordinaire. With a glint in its eye to rival Claudia Winklemans, it wants its audience on our toes, twitching and guessing. Generously, itll deliver three episodes over three consecutive nights to lull us into the false security of a routine, and then snatch the 9pm slot away for Casualty and Silent Witness for the next half a week. Its toying with us, keeping us in Trait-icipation, just like its castle-based contestants. Barring surprises, heres what we know:When is The Traitors Next On BBC One?Episode four 9pm, Wednesday January 8Episode five 9pm, Thursday January 9Episode six 9pm, Friday January 10Episode seven 9 pm, Wednesday January 15Episode eight 9pm, Thursday January 16Episode nine 9pm, Friday January 17And presumably (but as-yet unconfirmed)Episode 10 9pm, Wednesday January 22Episode 11 9pm, Thursday January 23Episode 12 9pm, Friday January 24The Traitors series three airs on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

Dell was mocked at its own press launch for copying Apples iPhone naming convention for its PCs. Both laptop and desktop PCs are now divided into three tiers, whose names are taken straight from the iPhone line-up: Dell, Dell Pro, and Dell Pro Max.Despite claiming it did this purely for simplicity, and not to copy Apple, Dell actually managed to make its PC line-up even less comprehensible than before Bloomberg reports that Dell is abandoning its own sub-brands, like XPS and Inspiron, in favor of the new naming convention.Now, most of the companys new PCs will be divided into three tiers: Dell, Dell Pro and Dell Pro Max []Customers really prefer names that are easy to remember and easy to pronounce, Chief Operating OfficerJeff Clarkesaid during a briefing with reporters ahead of the show. Buyers shouldnt have to spend time figuring out our nomenclature, which at times has been a bit confusing, he said.If Dell hoped nobody would notice the origin of these names, it was disappointed.I am wondering why you guys didnt choose something original, because you essentially have Apples branding here, one audience member quipped. Another said your branding sounds a lot like Apple arent you just following them?The new tiers dont even simplify things for buyers, because all three tiers are sub-divided into Base, Plus, and Premium variants. Is a Pro Plus better than a Pro Max Base? How about a Pro Premium versus Pro Max Plus?Engadget notes that things descend entirely into farce when Dell also throws in size labels for its desktop PCs.Just try to read the names Dell Pro Max Micro and Dell Pro Max Mini without having your brain self destruct [] And yes, you can expect those machines to have their own plus and premium sub-branding.So yes, there really is going to be a Dell Pro Max Micro Plus.Its worse than Apples Mac model names in the 1990s (Macintosh IIvx, Macintosh Centris/Quadra 610, PowerBook Duo 280c, and so on) before Steve returned and tore them all up.Photo: DellAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

The News app may finally be expanding its international reach. Since 2019, the app has been exclusively available in the US, the UK, Canada, and Australia.More than five years on, according to the Financial Times, Apple is finally looking to add new supported countries. Apple monetizes News app through a combination of display advertising and the News+ premium subscription.The report says Apple currently has about 100 editors across New York, London, Sydney and California. Unlike some rivals, the News app depends heavily on a team of human editorial curators to select top stories and make new featured sections. Other parts of the application are produced algorithmically.However, the significance of the human touch has stalled Apples international rollout efforts in the past, as expansion necessitates more manpower and increased domestic coverage. But the Financial Times indicates Apple is finally preparing to do the work and expand availability. The report does not detail exactly which additional countries are in the works, unfortunately. However, the efforts will also apparently include bringing some of the currently US-only News app content to the UK, like the News+ word games and Sudoku puzzles.It remains unclear how financially lucrative the service is, both in terms of advertising income and News+ subscription numbers. Publishers generally report that the News app sends a lot of traffic, but monetization is much more difficult. Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Skip to main contentApple @ Work Podcast: AI and education Bradley C|Jan 7 2025 - 3:00 am PTApple @ Work is exclusively brought to you by Mosyle,the only Apple Unified Platform. Mosyle is the only solution that integrates in a single professional-grade platform all the solutions necessary to seamlessly and automatically deploy, manage & protect Apple devices at work. Over 45,000 organizations trust Mosyle to make millions of Apple devices work-ready with no effort and at an affordable cost.Request your EXTENDED TRIALtoday and understand why Mosyle is everything you need to work with Apple.In this episode of Apple @ Work, I talk with Jose Moreno from Neulight about using AI tools in K-12 education.Connect with BradleyListen and subscribeListen to Past EpisodesAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel Featuredfrom 9to5Mac9to5Mac Logo Manage push notificationsAllPost

After several years of economic uncertainty and layoffs, salaries paid to US tech talent are once again some of the worlds most competitive. And in at least one significant US jobs category -- sales and marketing -- there is now pay equity between women and men.Those are among the findings of an analysis our company conducted of more than 150,000 anonymized employment contracts in more than 100 countries for software engineers, product designers, and sales and marketing professionals. That includes three countries -- the US, Canada and the UK -- which tend to be the most competitive with one another for top talent.This good news about the state of American tech talent, innovation and competitiveness comes at a time when that standing has been a source of public concern.Much of the higher compensation for tech workers is presumably driven by the widely acknowledged skills gap, particularly in AI. For US software engineers, for example, median compensation had dropped below $100,000 during the big waves of tech layoffs in 2022 and 2023.But by the end of the second quarter of 2024, the most recent period in our analysis, it had rebounded to $122,000 -- perhaps driven in part by the soaring demand for AI skills. The US compensation level was second only to Canada, whose much smaller population has fewer tech workers for employers to compete for.Related:Overall, our survey indicates that when it comes to one of the factors that really matter to global talent -- compensation -- US tech workers are in high demand. And whether its companies based in the US or global employers offering remote contracts to Americans, the global business world is willing to pay what it costs to attract and retain that talent.Heres a deeper dive into the data:Software Skills Are in High DemandFor the people with the skills for in-demand tasks like writing code or developing AI models and algorithms, the US jobs market has some idiosyncrasies. One is the much higher potential portion of compensation that comes from stock or equity grants. In positions where equity is part of the package, the median US compensation for a software-and-data engineer is $151,000 a year -- the highest anywhere in the world -- assuming the typically four-year vesting program pays out. That translates to an additional 35% a year in compensation, beyond salary. Of the countries we looked at, only Germany comes close, with a combined $135,000 in annual pay and equity.Unfortunately, another characteristic of the US labor market for software engineers and data scientists is a stark gender gap. Women represent only 10.3% of workers in this category, roughly in line with the UK and Germany. And that disparity translates into a compensation gap. The median US compensation for men in software and data is $155,000, compared to $120,000 for women. Similar pay gaps are found in all other countries we surveyed. Related:Tech Product Development and DesignThis line of work also has a gender gap, although a slightly narrower one. For jobs that might involve software development and design, or overseeing such activities, women hold 41% of the positions.And women in those roles have median compensation of $128,000. While a bit closer to the male median of $150,000, its still a sizable gap. The same pattern is evident in other countries, although typically at lower pay scales.Techs Silver Lining for Gender ParityTech sales and marketing is one area where, in the US at least, there is full pay parity between men and women -- median compensation of $100,000.Thats second to the top figure in the UK. But there, the gender disparity is still sizable: $105,000 for men, compared to $92,000 for women. Canada shows a comparable gender gap, at $84,000 for men but only $77,000 for women.Related:Why women, who hold 42% of jobs in tech sales and marketing in the US, have been able to achieve pay parity deserves further study. One factor might be that sales performance is easy to quantify -- the more a person sells, the better one is rewarded.But why this parity doesnt translate to other countries -- maybe theres a cultural component? -- would be worth researching. The Takeaway on Tech Take-Home PayOur findings lead to several steps that employers can take to remain competitive and retain the best talent:Recognize the need for competitive compensation.If inflation is a factor, ensure your pay scales include bi-annual adjustments or regular cost-of-living increases.Offer equity, which especially in tech, is widely sought by employees and can ensure longer-term loyalty.Given the all-too-common gender gap in compensation, position your organization to attract female talent by closing that gap. For the global business world, the survey indicates that the US has bounced back as a top competitive market for tech talent. And for companies everywhere, the value proposition is clear: The relatively high cost of skilled US tech workers is well worth the price.

This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. The start of a new year, and maybe especially this one, feels like a good time for a gut check: How optimistic are you feeling about the future of technology? Our annual list of 10 Breakthrough Technologies, published on Friday, might help you decide. Its the 24th time weve published such a list. But just like our earliest picks (2001s list featured brain-computer interfaces and ways to track copyrighted content on the internet, by the way), this years technologies may come to help society, harm it, or both. Artificial intelligence powers four of the breakthroughs featured on the list, and I expect your optimism about them will vary widely. Take generative AI search. Now becoming the norm on Google with its AI Overviews, it promises to help sort through the internets incomprehensible volume of information to offer better answers for the questions we ask. Along the way, it is upending the model of how content creators get paid, and positioning fallible AI as the arbiter of truth and facts. Read more here. Also making the list is the immense progress in the world of robots, which can now learn faster thanks to AI. This means we will soon have to wrestle with whether we will trust humanoid robots enough to welcome them into our most private spaces, and how we will feel if they are remotely controlled by human beings working abroad. The list also features lots of technologies outside the world of AI, which I implore you to read about if only for a reminder of just how much other scientific progress is being made. This year may see advances in studying dark matter with the largest digital camera ever made for astronomy, reducing emissions from cow burps, and preventing HIV with an injection just once every six months. We also detail how technologies that youve long heard aboutfrom robotaxis to stem cellsare finally making good on some of their promises. This year, the cultural gulf between techno-optimists and, well, everyone else is set to widen. The incoming administration will be perhaps the one most shaped by Silicon Valley in recent memory, thanks to Donald Trumps support from venture capitalists like Marc Andreessen (the author of the Techno-Optimist Manifesto) and his relationship, however recently fraught, with Elon Musk. Those figures have critiqued the Biden administrations approach to technology as slow, woke, and overly cautiousattitudes they have vowed to reverse. So as we begin a year of immense change, heres a small experiment Id encourage you to do. Think about your level of optimism for technology and whats driving it. Read our list of breakthroughs. Then see how youve shifted. I suspect that, like many people, youll find you dont fit neatly in the camp of either optimists or pessimists. Perhaps thats where the best progress will be made. Now read the rest of The Algorithm Deeper Learning The biggest AI flops of 2024 Though AI has remained in the spotlight this year (and even contributed to Nobel Prizewinning research in chemistry), it has not been without its failures. Take a look back over the years top AI failures, from chatbots dishing out illegal advice to dodgy AI-generated search results. Why it matters: These failures show that there are tons of unanswered questions about the technology, including who will moderate what it produces and how, whether were getting too trusting of the answers that chatbots produce, and what well do with the mountain of AI slop that is increasingly taking over the internet. Above all, they illustrate the many pitfalls of blindly shoving AI into every product we interact with. Bits and Bytes What it's like being a pedestrian in the world of Waymos Tech columnist Geoffrey Fowler finds that Waymo robotaxis regularly fail to stop for him at a crosswalk he uses every day. Though you can sometimes make eye contact with human drivers to gauge whether theyll stop, Waymos lack that social intelligence, Fowler writes. (The Washington Post) The AI Hype Index For each print issue, MIT Technology Review publishes an AI Hype Index, a highly subjective take on the latest buzz about AI. See where facial recognition, AI replicas of your personality, and more fall on the index. (MIT Technology Review) What's going on at the intersection of AI and spirituality Modern religious leaders are experimenting with A. just as earlier generations examined radio, television, and the internet. They include Rabbi Josh Fixler, who created Rabbi Bot, a chatbot trained on his old sermons. (The New York Times) Meta has appointed its most prominent Republican to lead its global policy team Just two weeks ahead of Donald Trumps inauguration, Meta has announced it will appoint Joel Kaplan, who was White House deputy chief of staff under George W. Bush, to the companys top policy role. Kaplan will replace Nick Clegg, who has led changes on content and elections policies. (Semafor) Apple has settled a privacy lawsuit against Siri The company has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a class action lawsuit alleging that Siri could be activated accidentally and then record private conversations without consent. The news comes after MIT Technology Review reported that Apple was looking into whether it could get rid of the need to use a trigger phrase like Hey Siri entirely. (The Washington Post)

MIT Technology Reviews Whats Next series looks across industries, trends, and technologies to give you a first look at the future. You can read the rest of them here. Every day, we are tracked hundreds or even thousands of times across the digital world. Cookies and web trackers capture every website link that we click, while code installed in mobile apps tracks every physical location that our devicesand, by extension, wehave visited. All of this is collected, packaged together with other details (compiled from public records, supermarket member programs, utility companies, and more), and used to create highly personalized profiles that are then shared or sold, often without our explicit knowledge or consent. A consensus is growing that Americans need better privacy protectionsand that the best way to deliver them would be for Congress to pass comprehensive federal privacy legislation. While the latest iteration of such a bill, the American Privacy Rights Act of 2024, gained more momentum than previously proposed laws, it became so watered down that it lost support from both Republicans and Democrats before it even came to a vote. There have been some privacy wins in the form of limits on what data brokersthird-party companies that buy and sell consumers personal information for targeted advertisements, messaging, and other purposescan do with geolocation data. These are still small steps, thoughand they are happening as increasingly pervasive and powerful technologies collect more data than ever. And at the same time, Washington is preparing for a new presidential administration that has attacked the press and other critics, promised to target immigrants for mass deportation, threatened to seek retribution against perceived enemies, and supported restrictive state abortion laws. This is not even to mention the increased collection of our biometric data, especially for facial recognition, and the normalization of its use in all kinds of ways. In this light, its no stretch to say our personal data has arguably never been more vulnerable, and the imperative for privacy has never felt more urgent. So what can Americans expect for their personal data in 2025? We spoke to privacy experts and advocates about (some of) whats on their mind regarding how our digital data might be traded or protected moving forward. Reining in a problematic industry In early December, the Federal Trade Commission announced separate settlement agreements with the data brokers Mobilewalla and Gravy Analytics (and its subsidiary Venntel). Finding that the companies had tracked and sold geolocation data from users at sensitive locations like churches, hospitals, and military installations without explicit consent, the FTC banned the companies from selling such data except in specific circumstances. This follows something of a busy year in regulation of data brokers, including multiple FTC enforcement actions against other companies for similar use and sale of geolocation data, as well as a proposed rule from the Justice Department that would prohibit the sale of bulk data to foreign entities. And on the same day that the FTC announced these settlements in December, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed a new rule that would designate data brokers as consumer reporting agencies, which would trigger stringent reporting requirements and consumer privacy protections. The rule would prohibit the collection and sharing of peoples sensitive information, such as their salaries and Social Security numbers, without legitimate purposes. While the rule will still need to undergo a 90-day public comment period, and its unclear whether it will move forward under the Trump administration, if its finalized it has the power to fundamentally limit how data brokers do business. Right now, there just arent many limits on how these companies operatenor, for that matter, clear information on how many data brokerages even exist. Industry watchers estimate there may be 4,000 to 5,000 data brokers around the world, many of which weve never heard ofand whose names constantly shift. In California alone, the states 2024 Data Broker Registry lists 527 such businesses that have voluntarily registered there, nearly 90 of which also self-reported that they collect geolocation data. All this data is widely available for purchase by anyone who will pay. Marketers buy data to create highly targeted advertisements, and banks and insurance companies do the same to verify identity, prevent fraud, and conduct risk assessments. Law enforcement buys geolocation data to track peoples whereabouts without getting traditional search warrants. Foreign entities can also currently buy sensitive information on members of the military and other government officials. And on people-finder websites, basically anyone can pay for anyone elses contact details and personal history. Data brokers and their clients defend these transactions by saying that most of this data is anonymizedthough its questionable whether that can truly be done in the case of geolocation data. Besides, anonymous data can be easily reidentified, especially when its combined with other personal information. Digital-rights advocates have spent years sounding the alarm on this secretive industry, especially the ways in which it can harm already marginalized communities, though various types of data collection have sparked consternation across the political spectrum. Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the Republican chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, for example, was concerned about how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention bought location data to evaluate the effectiveness of pandemic lockdowns. Then a study from last year showed how easy (and cheap) it was to buy sensitive data about members of the US military; Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, called out the national security risks of data brokers in a statement to MIT Technology Review, and Senator John Cornyn, a Republican, later said he was shocked when he read about the practice in our story. But it was the 2022 Supreme Court decision ending the constitutional guarantee of legal abortion that spurred much of the federal action last year. Shortly after the Dobbs ruling, President Biden issued an executive order to protect access to reproductive health care; it included instructions for the FTC to take steps preventing information about visits to doctors offices or abortion clinics from being sold to law enforcement agencies or state prosecutors. The new enforcers With Donald Trump taking office in January, and Republicans taking control of both houses of Congress, the fate of the CFPBs proposed ruleand the CFPB itselfis uncertain. Republicans, the people behind Project 2025, and Elon Musk (who will lead the newly created advisory group known as the Department of Government Efficiency) have long been interested in seeing the bureau deleted, as Musk put it on X. That would take an act of Congress, making it unlikely, but there are other ways that the administration could severely curtail its powers. Trump is likely to fire the current director and install a Republican who could rescind existing CFPB rules and stop any proposed rules from moving forward. Meanwhile, the FTCs enforcement actions are only as good as the enforcers. FTC decisions do not set legal precedent in quite the same way that court cases do, says Ben Winters, a former Department of Justice official and the director of AI and privacy at the Consumer Federation of America, a network of organizations and agencies focused on consumer protection. Instead, they require consistent [and] additional enforcement to make the whole industry scared of not having an FTC enforcement action against them. (Its also worth noting that these FTC settlements are specifically focused on geolocation data, which is just one of the many types of sensitive data that we regularly give up in order to participate in the digital world.) Looking ahead, Tiffany Li, a professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law who focuses on AI and privacy law, is worried about a defanged FTC that she says would be less aggressive in taking action against companies. Lina Khan, the current FTC chair, has been the leader of privacy protection action in the US, notes Li, and shell soon be leaving. Andrew Ferguson, Trumps recently named pick to be the next FTC chair, has come out in strong opposition to data brokers: This type of datarecords of a persons precise physical locationsis inherently intrusive and revealing of peoples most private affairs, he wrote in a statement on the Mobilewalla decision, indicating that he is likely to continue action against them. (Ferguson has been serving as a commissioner on the FTC since April 20214.) On the other hand, he has spoken out against using FTC actions as an alternative to privacy legislation passed by Congress. And, of course, this brings us right back around to that other major roadblock: Congress has so far failed to pass such lawsand its unclear if the next Congress will either. Movement in the states Without federal legislative action, many US states are taking privacy matters into their own hands. In 2025, eight new state privacy laws will take effect, making a total of 25 around the country. A number of other stateslike Vermont and Massachusettsare considering passing their own privacy bills next year, and such laws could, in theory, force national legislation, says Woodrow Hartzog, a technology law scholar at Boston University School of Law. Right now, the statutes are all similar enough that the compliance cost is perhaps expensive but manageable, he explains. But if one state passed a law that was different enough from the others, a national law could be the only way to resolve the conflict. Additionally, four statesCalifornia, Texas, Vermont, and Oregonalready have specific laws regulating data brokers, including the requirement that they register with the state. Along with new laws, says Justin Brookman, the director of technology policy at Consumer Reports, comes the possibility that we can put some more teeth on these laws. Brookman points to Texas, where some of the most aggressive enforcement action at the state level has taken place under its Republican attorney general, Ken Paxton. Even before the states new consumer privacy bill went into effect in July, Paxton announced the creation of a special task force focused on enforcing the states privacy laws. He has since targeted a number of data brokersincluding National Public Data, which exposed millions of sensitive customer records in a data breach in August, as well as companies that sell to them, like Sirius XM. At the same time, though, Paxton has moved to enforce the states strict abortion laws in ways that threaten individual privacy. In December, he sued a New York doctor for sending abortion pills to a Texas woman through the mail. While the doctor is theoretically protected by New Yorks shield laws, which provide a safeguard from out-of-state prosecution, Paxtons aggressive action makes it even more crucial that states enshrine data privacy protections into their laws, says Albert Fox Cahn, the executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, an advocacy group. There is an urgent need for states, he says, to lock down our residents data, barring companies from collecting and sharing information in ways that can be weaponized against them by out-of-state prosecutors. Data collection in the name of security While privacy has become a bipartisan issue, Republicans, in particular, are interested in addressing data brokers in the context of national security, such as protecting the data of military members or other government officials, says Winters. But in his view, its the effects on reproductive rights and immigrants that are potentially the most dangerous threats to privacy. Indeed, data brokers (including Venntel, the Gravy Analytics subsidiary named in the recent FTC settlement) have sold cell-phone data to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as to Customs and Border Protection. That data has then been used to track individuals for deportation proceedingsallowing the agencies to bypass local and state sanctuary laws that ban local law enforcement from sharing information for immigration enforcement. The more data that corporations collect, the more data thats available to governments for surveillance, warns Ashley Gorski, a senior attorney who works on national security and privacy at the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU is among a number of organizations that have been pushing for the passage of another federal law related to privacy: the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act. It would close the so-called data-broker loophole that allows law enforcement and intelligence agencies to buy personal information from data brokers without a search warrant. The bill would dramatically limit the ability of the government to buy Americans private data, Gorski says. It was first introduced in 2021 and passed the House in April 2024, with the support of 123 Republicans and 93 Democrats, before stalling in the Senate. While Gorski is hopeful that the bill will move forward in the next Congress, others are less sanguine about these prospectsand alarmed about other ways that the incoming administration might co-opt private systems for surveillance purposes, as Hartzog puts it. So much of our personal information that is collected for one purpose, he says, could easily be used by the government to track us. This is especially concerning, adds Winters, given that the next administration has been very explicit about wanting to use every tool at its disposal to carry out policies like mass deportations and to exact revenge on perceived enemies. And one possible change, he says, is as simple as loosening the governments procurement processes to make them more open to emerging technologies, which may have fewer privacy protections. Right now, its annoying to procure anything as a federal agency, he says, but he expects a more fast and loose use of commercial tools. Thats something we've [already] seen a lot, he adds, pointing to federal, state, and local agencies using the Clearviews of the worlda reference to the controversial facial recognition company. The AI wild card Underlying all of these debates on potential legislation is the fact that technology companiesespecially AI companiescontinue to require reams and reams of data, including personal data, to train their machine-learning models. And theyre quickly running out of it. This is something of a wild card in any predictions about personal data. Ideally, says Jennifer King, a privacy and data policy fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, the shortage would lead to ways for consumers to directly benefit, perhaps financially, from the value of their own data. But its more likely that there will be more industry resistance against some of the proposed comprehensive federal privacy legislation bills, she says. Companies benefit from the status quo. The hunt for more and more data may also push companies to change their own privacy policies, says Whitney Merrill, a former FTC official who works on data privacy at Asana. Speaking in a personal capacity, she says that companies have felt the squeeze in the tech recession that were in, with the high interest rates, and that under those circumstances, weve seen people turn around, change their policies, and try to monetize their data in an AI worldeven if its at the expense of user privacy. She points to the $60-million-per-year deal that Reddit struck last year to license its content to Google to help train the companys AI. Earlier this year, the FTC warned companies that it would be unfair and deceptive to surreptitiously change their privacy policies to allow for the use of user data to train AI. But again, whether or not officials follow up on this depends on those in charge. So what will privacy look like in 2025? While the recent FTC settlements and the CFPBs proposed rule represent important steps forward in privacy protectionat least when it comes to geolocation dataAmericans personal information still remains widely available and vulnerable. Rebecca Williams, a senior strategist at the ACLU for privacy and data governance, argues that all of us, as individuals and communities, should take it upon ourselves to do more to protect ourselves and resist by opting out of as much data collection as possible. That means checking privacy settings on accounts and apps, and using encrypted messaging services. Cahn, meanwhile, says hell be striving to protect [his] local community, working to enact safeguards to ensure that we live up to our principles and stated commitments. One example of such safeguards is a proposed New York City ordinance that would ban the sharing of any location data originating from within the city limits. Hartzog says that kind of local activism has already been effective in pushing for city bans on facial recognition. Privacy rights are at risk, but theyre not gone, and its not helpful to take an overly pessimistic look right now, says Li, the USF law professor. We definitely still have privacy rights, and the more that we continue to fight for these rights, the more were going to be able to protect our rights.