Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang made a bold claim onstage at CES earlier this week when he was introducing the next-generation RTX 50-series GPUs. The RTX 5070, 4090 performance at $549, said Huang. Its a claim thats been echoed on YouTube, TikTok, and social media networks and has generated a debate over the RTX 50 series and DLSS 4s Multi Frame Generation. So, can a $549 RTX 5070 really deliver the same level of performance as a $1,5999 RTX 4090? The answer is yes and no, and it all comes down to a fake frames argument about DLSS Frame Generation that might not even be a big problem for a lot of PC gamers.Nvidias big RTX 5070 claim is all based on its latest generation of DLSS. Impossible without artificial intelligence, admits Huang after promising that the RTX 5070 can deliver RTX 4090 levels of performance. DLSS 4 has a new Multi Frame Generation technique that can generate up to three additional frames per every traditionally rendered frame.Some PC gamers have long argued that this technique, which Nvidia introduced originally with DLSS 3, is simply fake frames and not reflective of the true rasterization performance of GPUs that weve been used to for decades.Using neural rendering and DLSS 4 we can reach performance levels [on an RTX 5070] that were only possible with an RTX 4090, explains Lars Weinand, a senior technical product manager at Nvidia, in a briefing with The Verge. This does not mean that the RTX 5070 can beat an RTX 4090 in every single way and in every single configuration.When Nvidia says performance levels, it means frame rates: how many still images it can send to your screen that add up to a moving image rather than whether that moving image looks the same quality. Nvidia has already shown what DLSS 4 is capable of in games like Cyberpunk 2077, boosting frame rates from DLSS 3.5 at 142fps to 243fps a big leap from the 27fps without DLSS enabled. The DLSS 4 boost to frame rates. Image: NvidiaIn games like Cyberpunk 2077 or Alan Wake 2, you can match performance numbers [on an RTX 5070] using DLSS 4 compared to an RTX 4090 using only DLSS 3.5 Frame Generation, says Weinand. This is what the claim is based on, you see performance levels that were only before possible with an RTX 4090, but of course, that doesnt mean that in every single configuration and graphics setting that you might pick that you will have the similar performance.As expected, youre simply not going to see RTX 4090 levels of pure rasterization performance on an RTX 5070. Its really all down to seeing a difference in games that support DLSS 4. As a result, Nvidias claim has reignited the fake frames debate. This all started when Nvidia first announced DLSS 3 Frame Generation, which works by using an algorithm to insert an additional frame after two successive images in order to smooth out movement in games and increase frame rates.In DLSS 3, Nvidia generates a new image using Frame Generation every time a new image is rendered, allowing the GPU to use its full power to render regular frames and DLSS to utilize dedicated Tensor cores to boost frame rates and image quality.With DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation, Nvidia is now able to generate up to three additional frames per every traditionally rendered frame. That means frame rates can be up to 8x more than traditional rendering. Nvidia has also switched to a new transformer model for DLSS 4, which it says will make its frame generation model 40 percent faster and use 30 percent less VRAM.Theres still a lot to learn about DLSS 4, but during a Q&A session at CES, Huang said that DLSS 4 predicts the future rather than interpolating the past. That means the extra two frames that are generated by DLSS 4 wont add a huge amount of latency to the experience.Digital Foundryfoundthat DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation has smoother frame times despite adding two additional frames compared to the existing Frame Generation. It also found that there is around an additional 6ms for the Multi Frame Generation onthe RTX 5080, on top of the existing Frame Generation found on the RTX 40 series.The latency is very small that were adding with Multi Frame Generation, says Weinand. With the GPU pacing that were doing, we make sure that frames are being displayed at a very even pace.Input latency, or the way a game feels, is very important in many games, and the results of DLSS 4 will depend on your input frame rate. DLSS 4 doesnt appear to solve the issue of a 27fps game still feeling like 27fps, even if Multi Frame Generation can more than 8x the frame rate to 243fps. Thats been one of the main drawbacks of DLSS Frame Generation so far that although a game can look visually smoother thanks to the additional frames, it still feels slower than if it were actually rendering at high frame rates. A lot of people might not even notice the input latency, but if youre familiar with the feeling of dropping from 240fps to 60fps or even 30fps, then you probably will.I think the fake frames debate really only matters when these technologies are impacting latency and image quality or the game still feels slow despite the extra generated frames. More games are starting to get full ray-tracing support to make them look dramatically different, but its difficult to play them without DLSS Frame Generation on even the best GPUs. Theres a tradeoff here where people might not mind fake frames if theyre getting far better visuals.So much of modern gaming is already fake, and it has been for years. Rendering itself is all about the tricks, shortcuts, and optimizations that developers use to produce something that looks like reality. DLSS 4 gives developers yet another tool to achieve image quality, lighting effects, or gameplay that we wouldnt have thought was possible until recently.For years, weve been playing games on consoles that arent at native resolution, with developers using a variety of different rendering techniques to dynamically adjust resolution, image quality, and more. Nvidia is making it clear with DLSS 4 that the future of PC gaming will involve AI-powered rendering techniques, and its something both Sony and AMD are leaning into with a PlayStation partnership and AMDs latest FSR 4 upscaling. Some PC gamers might not like fake frames, but its clear theyre very much here to stay.

Nik Shevchenko closes his eyes and starts to focus intently. Hes spent the last half hour or so telling me about his new product, an $89 wearable called Omi that can listen to, summarize, and get information out of your conversations. Now he wants to show me the future. So his eyes are closed, and hes focusing all his attention on the round white puck stuck to his left temple with medical tape. (Did I mention hes had this thing on his face the whole time? Its very distracting.)Hey, what do you think about The Verge, like as a news media website? Shevchenko asks, to no one in particular. Then he waits. Fifteen or so seconds later, a notification pops up on his phone, with some AI-generated information about how reputable and terrific a news source The Verge is. Shevchenko is thrilled, and maybe a little relieved. The device read his brain waves to understand he was talking to it, and not to me, and answered his question without any prompting or switching.So far, thats all the brain-computer-interface stuff Omi can do. And it seems pretty fragile. It just understands one channel, he says, its one electrode. What hes trying to build is a device that understands when youre talking to it and when youre not. And then eventually understands and saves your thoughts, which Shevchenko both waves off as total science fiction and says will probably be possible in two years. Whenever it happens, he thinks it might change the way you use your AI devices.This is the (more normal) way most people will wear devices like Omi. Image: OmiFor now, the Omis actual purpose is much simpler: its an always-listening device (the battery apparently lasts three days on a charge) that you wear on a lanyard around your neck that can help you make sense of your day-to-day life. Theres no wake word, but you can still talk to it directly because its always on. Think of it as 80 percent companion and 20 percent Alexa assistant. Omi can summarize a meeting or conversation and give you action items. It can give you information Shevchenko offhandedly wondered about the price of Bitcoin during our conversation and got a notification from the Omi companion app a few seconds later with the answer. Theres also an Omi app store, which developers are already using to plug the audio input into things like Zapier and Google Drive.For Shevchenko himself, though, Omi is a personal mentor above all else. I was born in the middle of nowhere on an island near Japan, he tells me, and always wanted access to the tech visionaries he grew up admiring. For years, he says he cold-emailed people like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk asking for advice and mentorship on how to make it in tech but never got much response. With no real-life options, Shevchenko decided to build his own. Omi already has a product called Personas, which allows you to plug in anyones X handle and create a bot that assumes their social network persona. When Shevchenko shares his screen with me, it shows hes been chatting with an AI Elon Musk for a long time. It helps me to understand what I should be working on tomorrow, Shevchenko says. Or when Im talking to someone and I dont know an answer to the question, it will give me a small nudge it sometimes tells me Im wrong! His wearable heard him say he was sick a few days ago and has been reminding him ever since to get more rest. He asks it every month to give him feedback and tell him how to do better. He gets a lot of notifications from the Omi app, including during our call, and not all of them make much sense one was just a transcription of a sentence hed said a minute earlier. Shevchenko acknowledges its early, but he doesnt seem bothered by the systems misses. The communication works for him.Omis tech is actually pretty simple its mostly just a microphone. The AI is the trick. Image: OmiMost people wont use Omi this way, though. The product will ship widely in the second quarter of this year, but Shevchenko says the 5,000 people with an early version of the device are using it to help remember things, look up information, and perform other tasks common to AI assistants. In that sense, Omi has a lot in common with devices like the Limitless Pendant and bears a striking resemblance to another wearable called Friend. When Friend launched last year, Shevchenko claimed Friend CEO Avi Schiffmann was stealing his work, and the subsequent beef included everything from sniping on X to a freestyle rap diss track. Omi was actually called Friend for a while, and Shevchenko says he changed the name both to avoid confusion and because Schiffmann dropped $1.8 million on Friend.com and subsequently dominated search results.Shevchenko is confident that Omi can improve on those other devices. All of Omis code is open source, and there are already 250 apps in the store. Omis plan is to be a big, broad platform, rather than a specific device or app the device itself is only one piece of the puzzle. The company is using models from OpenAI and Meta to power Omi, so it can iterate more quickly on the product itself. For all their issues and underlying concerns, its clear that AI models are already good enough to feel like a true companion to millions of people. You can feel about that however youd like, but from Omi and Friend to Character.AI and Replika, bot friends are quickly becoming real friends. What they need, then, is both more information about you and more ways to help you. Omi thinks the first answer is an always-on microphone, and the second is an app store. Then, I guess, comes the brain.

You can get a $50 credit when you preorder the next Samsung Galaxy devicesYou can get a $50 credit when you preorder the next Samsung Galaxy devices / Were expecting a whole family of Galaxy S25 smartphones and potentially more. The announcement is coming January 22nd.By Quentyn Kennemer, a writer who helps The Verge's readers save money by surfacing the best tech deals and presenting the latest product recommendations from our experts. He has covered tech and gaming for all of his 15-plus-year career for publications like Forbes, Business Insider, and more. Jan 8, 2025, 3:54 PM UTCShare this storySamsung announced its first Galaxy Unpacked event of 2025, which its historically used to introduce the latest flagship Galaxy smartphones. That would be the Galaxy S25 family if our count is right, including the base model, the expected Galaxy S25 Ultra, and whatever else falls between. Well know for sure before too long with an unveiling scheduled for January 22nd.RelatedBut before the company even confirms what were getting, you can already place a reservation to preorder the device. If you sign up at Samsungs website or the Shop Samsung app by January 22nd at 1 PM ET (which only entails submitting your name and email address) and later place your pre-order, youll get a $50 credit thats good toward any additional devices or accessories youre purchasing alongside it. That sadly means you cant use the $50 toward the device itself. The fine print also mentions that you can get a $100 credit toward your pre-order of a qualifying 2025 TV (perhaps some of the models it announced at CES) or audio device using the same email address, hinting that we may see more than just smartphones at the event.As for what to expect from the Galaxy S25 family, they could be some of the first Qi2 Ready devices, which would mean theyll support the wireless charging standard, but require cases to use them with magnetic Qi2 chargers. A recent video leak suggests the Galaxy S25 Ultra may get a slight redesign with a curvier chassis. We may even get a Galaxy S25 Slim to turn the de facto trio of flagships into a quartet.And we didnt need to see the letters AI in Samsungs teaser to know that would be a central selling point for its latest devices. Weve already seen Galaxy AI deployed in several of its devices over the last couple of years, which includes features like Circle to Search, computational photography and video tricks with generative photo manipulation, summarized notes and transcriptions, and live translations. Samsung will presumably continue building that experience out as part of One UI 7.Most PopularMost Popular

HOWL is the latest release from up-and-coming publisher Ahoy Comics. The series is billed as a mashup of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. If that sounds like an intriguing combination, we've got an exclusive preview of the first issue.Check out the slideshow gallery below to see more of HOWL #1:HOWL #1: Exclusive Comic Book Preview GalleryHOWL is written by Alisa Kwitney (The Sandman Presents, G.I.L.T.) and illustrated by artist Mauricet (Star Wars Adventures, G.I.L.T.). The first issue features cover art by Mauricet and Bill Koeb. Here's Ahoy's official description of the series:Marry a science fiction writer, become science fiction! Thats the law of Greenwich Village in the late 1950s, home of poets, artists, musicians, writers, their put-upon partnersand the extraterrestrial spores that are secretly taking them over! Novelist/comics writer Alisa Kwitney (The Sandman Presents) mixes science fiction with family memoir, featuring stunning art by Mauricet (Star Wars Adventures).HOWL #1 is priced at $3.99 and will be released on January 15, 2025.PlayFor more on what's coming in the Marvel Universe, check out what to expect from Marvel in 2025 and what to expect from DC in 2025, and also see IGN's most anticipated comics of 2025. Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket byfollowing @jschedeen on BlueSky.

CES 2025 has been filled with huge announcements celebrating the latest and greatest you can expect from consumer tech in the coming years. At the annual Las Vegas show the industry comes together to give the rest of the world a sneak peek at products that offer a tantalizing glimpse into the future of tech. But, with hundreds of companies demoing their gadgets on the show floor, it can be tough to weed out the biggest announcements you need to know about.From Nvidias brand new graphics cards to the brand-new OLED gaming monitors set to hit the market this year, weve rounded up all tech news you need to know heres everything announced at CES 2025.Nvidia RTX 5000 series GPUs: DLSS 4, GDDR 7, and big performance claimsNvidia boss Jensen Huang took to the stage at the beginning of the week to show off a brand new generation of graphics cards, the RTX 5000 Blackwell series.GPUPriceAvailabilityNvidia GeForce RTX 5090$1999January 30, 2025Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080$999January 30, 2025Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti$749February 2025Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070$549February 2025During the keynote we saw glimpses at the RTX 5090, RTX 5080, RTX 5070 Ti, and RTX 5070. The former two high-end GPUs will be available before the end of January, but the slightly more wallet-friendly variants have no release date attached to them quite yet, with a release window of 2025. The chips come with brand-new hardware, like rapid GDDR7 memory, and a swanky new dual-slot Founders Edition cooler design.PlayNvidia claims the $549 RTX 5070 will perform on par with an RTX 4090 in certain titles. In a press briefing held after Huangs CES keynote, an Nvidia representative said: "This does not mean a 5070 can beat a 4090 in every single way," noting that technology like DLSS 4, which is exclusive to the RTX 5000 series, will bolster those numbers further thanks to its new advanced AI frame generation techniques. As ever, its best to wait for independent benchmarks to see if those statements hold up.Nvidia showed off some other swanky new tech, like Reflex 2, which reduces lag even further in competitive gaming titles, as well as a suite of tools that developers can use, like RTX Neural Shaders, RTX Neural Faces, and RTX Mega Geometry.AMD RX 9070 series GPUs: Team Reds midrange competitionAMD, not one to back down from a fight, has announced its latest midrange GPU lineup, named the RX 9070 series. It arrives in two variants: the RX 9070 XT and RX 9070. A new numbering system denotes that the chips are set to go up against Nvidias RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5070 respectively. Curiously, though AMD has officially announced the new GPUs (we even benchmarked one of them), no pricing or release date details have been revealed. It also remains unclear if AMD is to offer a higher-end model to compete with the RTX 5080 and 5090. The new chips will also ship with the latest AI-enhanced upscaler, named FSR 4. In somewhat confusing messaging from AMD, FSR 4 is listed as being exclusive to the RX 9070 series," lending credence to the idea that the feature will be locked behind specific chips in its lineup.AMD unveiled its new range of GPUs at CES 2025.Lenovo Legion Go S: the first official third-party SteamOS handheldLenovo has been showing off a pair of its brand-new gaming handhelds, which come sporting AMDs brand new Ryzen Z2 chips. First to land is the Legion Go S, which ships with the Z2 Go chip inside, and can be configured with up to 32GB of RAM, ships with an 8-inch 1200p display, and crucially, is the first handheld to officially ship with SteamOS, the same operating system the Steam Deck uses. An AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme version of the handheld with Windows 11 is set to arrive later this month at $729, while the Z2 Go variant shipping with Windows 11 will cost $599, and the SteamOS-based variant will run just $499 and begin shipping in May 2025.Lenovo Legion Go S ImagesAcer Nitro Blaze 11: how big is too big for a gaming handheld?With heaps of gaming handheld news coming out at CES 2025, another device that caught our attention was the Acer Nitro Blaze 11, a gaming handheld that sports an AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS laptop chip, alongside up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 2TB of storage. The twist here is in the display, as the Nitro Blaze 11 will ship with a staggering 11-inch 2560x1600 120Hz IPS display, which really pushes the definition of the term 'handheld.' With a 55Wh battery in tow and a staggering weight of 1050g, the Nitro Blaze 11 is hilariously large, something that the promotional imagery cannot escape. The Acer Nitro Blaze 11 will ship in Q2 2025, starting at $1199.The Acer Nitro Blaze 11 is a big old handheld.Razer Project Arielle: a gaming chair that warms or coolsRazer is no stranger to a marketing stunt every CES, and this year its cooked up a gaming chair that can dynamically heat of cool you by integrating bladeless fans into its design. The chair itself is based on Razers Fujin Pro, and claims to deliver up to 30 degrees Celsius of warm air during the cold winter months. The company states that the bladeless fans can also cool the ambient temperature of the room by two to five degrees.Heating or cooling is configured via a touch panel on the right-hand side of the seat. Naturally, you can also expect a massive RGB lightstrip placed at the front so you can be warmed with an ominous glow. Project Arielle remains a concept for now, with Razer not having the greatest track record of actually putting any of its concept designs out to market.Razer's new gaming chair heats or cools.ASUS ROG Swift PG27UCDM: a next-gen OLED gaming monitorASUS makes some of the best gaming monitors on the planet, and at CES 2025 it announced the ROG Swift OLED PG27UCDM. The PG27UCDM boats a 27-inch, 4th generation QD-OLED display, with a 4K resolution and 240Hz refresh rate, and claims to be the worlds first 4K QD-OLED 27-inch monitor. Being an OLED panel, it also offers a rapid 0.03ms G2G response time. Its sharp 160ppi density will make the display look fantastic, with new-gen anti-flicker technology.With full HDR10 support, the display also offers impressive connectivity, like DisplayPort 2.1a support, HDMI 2.1, a USB hub, and a 90W USB-C power delivery connector. And with a three-year warranty for OLED Burn-in, this new gaming monitor offers just about the peak of the technology out right now, and in a desk-perfect 27-inch form factor.The ASUS ROG Swift PG27UCDM.LG G5 and M5 OLED TVs: wireless tech and brighter displays LGs newest lineup of consumer TVs includes the high-end G5 and M5 OLED, which come with four stack OLED panel tech, which can allow the displays to get brighter than ever before, claiming an increase in panel brightness of 40% when compared to the last-generation G4. Itll also begin shipping in a 48-inch model, which, confusingly, wont come with the brand-new panel tech upgrades. Secondly, the OLED M5 lineup lands with a new generation of its wireless technology, with a Zero Connect Box that will loslessly stream any of your HDMI inputs straight to the TV.LG says the M5 offers a cable-free experience, with true wireless that streams a visual lossless image from the set-top box, which no longer needs to be in the line of sight of the display itself. With full support for 144Hz, 4K, and VRR (with G-Sync and Freesync support), the M5 OLED could make for a great option for cable-conscious setups.The LG G5 OLED TV.Sonys Future Immersive Entertainment Concept: The Last of Us comes to lifeAt CES, Sony debuted its Future Immersive Entertainment Concept, which is essentially a room filled with Sony Crystal LED panels that visitors can explore and interact with, fully fitted with haptics, audio, and even smells that can immerse its users into experiences. In the demo, a showcase where users can enter the world of The Last of Us was showcased. While you might not be able to bring this one home with you, its a fresh take on the immersive experience that doesnt rely on VR headsets. We just hope that its smell-o-vision system is a bit more impressive than last years GameScent.PlayPlayStation video game movies level upAt CES, Sony announced movies based on its hit PlayStation games Helldivers 2 and Horizon Zero Dawn, as well as an anime series based on Ghost of Tsushima that debuts exclusively on Crunchyroll in 2027.And finally... the Nintendo Switch 2 in plain sight?A mockup of the Nintendo Switch 2 appeared at CES this week and the company behind it insists its based on the real thing.Gaming accessories maker Genki is showing off its Switch 2 mockup to press at the Consumer Electronics Show, and based on a report from French publication Numerama, it has plenty to say about Nintendos unannounced next-gen console.Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Fast and Furious star Vin Diesel has walked back the dig he made at Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson while presenting an award at the 2025 Golden Globes.As reported by Variety, Diesel posted an older photo of him and Johnson on Instagram alongside the caption "All love... Always." This comes after Diesel poked fun at the infamous feud between him and Johnson by saying "Hey, Dwayne" during his award presentation and enjoying the audience's laughter.Despite starring alongside each other in Fast 5, Furious 6, and Fast and Furious 7, with Diesel playing Dominic Toretto and Johnson playing Luke Hobbs, a spat arose between the two and was made public when Johnson called Diesel a "chicken s**t" and "candy-ass" co-star.Diesel told Men's Health this was because of the "tough love" he gave Johnson, "to assist in getting that performance where it needed to be."Hobbs will seemingly return in the upcoming Fast X: Part 2, a sequel to the 10th mainline film due for release in 2026, after a post-credits tease.Johnson posted on X/Twitter in 2023 that he and Diesel "put all the past behind us," and will "lead with brotherhood and resolve." They "always take care of the franchise, characters, and fans that we love," he said.Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Listen to a recap of the top stories of the day from9to5Mac. 9to5Mac Daily is availableon iTunes and Apples Podcasts app,Stitcher,TuneIn,Google Play, or through ourdedicated RSS feedfor Overcast and other podcast players.Sponsored by HabitView: Change your habits, change your life! Download on the App Store today.New episodes of 9to5Mac Daily are recorded every weekday. Subscribe to our podcast in Apple Podcast or your favorite podcast player to guarantee new episodes are delivered as soon as theyre available.Stories discussed in this episode:Listen & Subscribe:Subscribe to support Chance directly with 9to5Mac Daily Plus and unlock:Ad-free versions of every episodeBonus contentodCatch up on 9to5Mac Daily episodes!Dont miss out on our other daily podcasts:Share your thoughts!Drop us a line at happyhour@9to5mac.com. You can also rate us in Apple Podcasts or recommend us in Overcast to help more people discover the show.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

A new US administration is about to enter office, one that will incentivize companies to build in America rather than overseas. And Apple seems well prepared for that change, as the company has reportedly just expanded its US-based chip production.TSMC Arizona now producing two chips for AppleTim Culpan writes at Culpium:TSMC Arizona has picked up a second Apple product. In addition to the A16 processor for iPhones, which I shared with you in September, the fab is now producing SiPs (Systems-in-Package) for the Apple Watch, according to my sources. This product is believed to be the S9 SiP (Ill be honest, I am a little unclear on this, but Im 99% sure its the S9). Recall that TSMC Arizona is manufacturing at N4 (part of the N5-family of process nodes) while the S9 is made in Taiwan at N4 and is a derivation of the A16, so this would make sense.Adding a single Apple Watch SiP to its US manufacturing may not seem like a big deal. But as Culpan points out, this is just the second chip Apple is producing at TSMC Arizona. Going from one chip to two is, in some respects, a doubling of what the company did before. And Apple will likely tout the move as such in a forthcoming press releaseperhaps after President-elect Trump takes office later this month.Apples expanded US investment likely tied to avoiding tariffsTrumps administration is expected to impose strict tariffs on products being brought into the US from overseas, but Apple hopes to largely be exempt from any such financial burdens.The rationale? Tariffs on Apple, a US-based company, will harm its ability to compete against foreign tech giants like the Korea-based Samsung.That argument largely worked for Apple during Trumps first term, but the company also made moves back then to invest more in US projects than it had before.Todays report shows Apple following that same playbook ahead of Trumps inauguration, and we should expect to see more announcements of US-based initiatives in the years ahead.What do you make of Apple expanding its US chip manufacturing? Do you expect more stories like this to emerge? Let us know in the comments.Best iPhone accessoriesAdd 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

AT&T is kicking off 2025 with a new AT&T Guarantee program that the company says will set a new bar for customer and network service. The headlining part of the announcement? AT&T will now credit you if you experience a network outage There are two categories of customers eligible for these credits, AT&T explains:Fiber customers who experience an outage of 20 minutes or moreWireless customers who experience an outage of 60 minutes or more (so long as the outage is caused by a single incident impacting 10 or more towers.In these situations, AT&T says that customers will automatically receive a bill credit equaling a full day of service.In the event of a network interruption, we will work diligently to restore service and make it right for fiber customers who experience 20 minutes or more and wireless customers who experience 60 minutes or more of a covered outage.1 Consumers will automatically receive a bill credit equaling a full day of service and well reach out to our small business customers with options to help make it right.Other aspects of the new AT&T Guarantee program:Clearer guidelines for deals on wireless and fiber service.Improved customer service: Speak to a friendly tech expert within 5 minutes or schedule a callback at a time that you choose.Learn more on the AT&T website.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

Ads for sleazy AI services that allow users to generate realistic synthetic video clips of real people kissing are flooding social media the latest trend in the rise of easy-to-use generative AI tools blurring the lines of consent.Some of these many services advertise a tamer vision for their product, for example suggesting that users might use AI to create videos of their grandparents sharing a kiss. Most, though, immediately veer into dark territory, with advertisements and product webpages imploring users to leverage AI as a way to fabricate videos of themselves locking lips with an unwitting crush or former partner. The vibes are bad, like an ad on Instagram circulating on X-formerly-Twitter and shown below in which an app takes imagesof a girl with braces and an older man, and uses them to produce a video of the two wetly making out.In short, with the help of these apps, people can cheaply and easily generate deepfaked media depicting any two real subjects locked in intimate or even explicit scenarios. As for consent? It's not required.A proliferation of similar services are available via web browsers and mobile apps, available on the Android and iOS app stores, where the vast majority are listed as safe for teenagers. At least one a service called Fotorama that's listed as a "Kiss and Hug Video Generator" is rated safe for people aged four and older in the iOS store, and safe for "everyone" on Google Play.Some apps advertise the kissing feature as just one use case in a broader suite. Though a popular app titled Mova AI showcases its kissing function in YouTube clips and sponsored TikTok posts, for instance, it fails to mention the tool in any of its app store descriptions.But while some apps downplay the AI-poweredkissing, others are much more straightforward about the functionality and the very creepy ways that users might deploy such a feature.Take a service called YouCam, which claims in a company webpage that its "AI Kissing Video Generator" can be used to bring a user's "dream of sharing a kiss" with their "favorite celebrity" to life."The possibilities are endless!" the description continues.Another service, bluntly titled AIKiss.AI, brags on a webpage that its "advanced algorithms create realistic and captivating kiss videos that look incredibly natural.""No technical expertise required," it adds, "anyone can create beautiful AI kissing videos in minutes."On the same webpage, AIKiss.AI encourages users to use its tool to create "explicit content" that caters to "adult audiences"such as apologies in advance what it characterizes as "cum kissing videos." It then suggests that users might consider creating videos depicting the actress Scarlett Johansson. (Needless to say, it would take no great technological leap for these or similar apps to create even more explicit videos of people without consent.)Taken together, these AI kissing services sit in a seamy gray space between PG content and pornographic imagery, and come amid a broader reckoning around AI-generated intimate material and consent.Deepfaked pornography, particularly that of women in the public eye, has exploded in popularity as public-facing generative AI tools have become increasingly widespread. The same is true for AI-generated nude images, easily created by way of designated AI apps like the ever-alarming Nudify, which have led to a disturbing flurry of cases involving middle and high school students using AI to create nude imagery of underage classmates.Generative AI has also been used by adult predators to cook up grotesque child sexual abuse material, or CSAM, while watchdog groups like the Internet Watch Foundation have tracked a troubling rise of AI-generated CSAM across the web. And though these AI-fueled abuses have seen some legal and even criminal action, victims frequently find themselves in an uphill battle, with little in the way of effective or reliable recourse.Meanwhile, though they might be marketed as a low-stakes way to connect with a long-distance partner or fawn over a celebrity crush, AI kissing apps offer yet another AI-powered avenue for the creation and dissemination of nonconsensual intimate imagery of real people.After all, these apps are frequentlyadvertisingnonconsensual use cases, and misuses aren't exactly hard to imagine: consider grade school-aged students using the apps to generate intimate videos of unwitting classmates; an obsessed ex creating videos designed to sexually harass their former partner; an adult predator creating and sharing intimate or explicit videos involving children; or bad actors using the tools as yet another vehicle for generating deepfaked porn of celebrities and other public figures. The possibilities, unfortunately, are endless.We reached out to all AI kiss-generating services mentioned in this article, as well as several others, for comment. We didn't hear back.More on AI and consent:Russian Hackers Are Using Fake AI "Nudify" Sites to Steal DataShare This Article