Bing's been copying Google's homework.

The appetite for AI-derived drivel isnt as strong as many publishers would have you believe, and demand for quality content is growing.

MacworldWith Samsung announcing Unpacked for January 22 and every other tech company announcing major new products this week, a rumor began circulating Tuesday that Apple was planning on getting in on the January fun.But almost as soon as it started, the rumor that Apple was planning to launch the iPhone SE successor later this month was debunked as completely untrue by Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman. However, Gurman does offer some clarification, explaining that while the new iPads and iPhone SE replacement are being developed on the iOS 18.3 train, they wont launch when the update arrives later this month.Its not clear whether Apple will hold an event to launch the new products, which are expected to include an 11th-gen iPad and possibly a new AirTag. Apple held a spring event in May 2024 to launch the M4 iPad Pro, 13-inch iPad Air, and Apple Pencil Pro, but hadnt previously held a spring event since the Peek Performance event in 2022 when the Mac Studio and M1 Ultra chip debuted.Gurman and others have reported that Apple is likely to launch new products in March or April, which should be several weeks after the release of iOS 18.3. Apple began testing the update in December and released the second beta this week.The iPhone SE 4, now expected to be called the iPhone 16E, will reportedly be a complete overhaul of Apples budget phone with a modern design based on the iPhone 14.

Capcoms Monster Hunter Wilds is getting a second open beta test next month. Its available from February 6th. 7 PM PT, to February 9th, 6:59 PM PT and February 13th to 16th on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. The same content from the first open beta, which featured a Story Trial and free roam Doshaguma Hunt, will be available with Gypceros added as a new target.The character creation tool will also be available, and creations carry over to the game. Character data from the previous open beta is also usable in the second. Cross-platform play will also be available. Participants will receive an item pack and a decorative weapon/Seikret charm for use in the game.Unfortunately, improvements to performance, various weapons, hitstop, etc. will not be available in this second open beta.Monster Hunter Wilds launches on February 28th. Head here for more details on the graphics modes for consoles. Capcom has confirmed PS5 Pro support at launch and is also looking into lowering the minimum specifications on PC.

You cant change one behavior without changing anotherPublished inThe Medium BlogSent as aNewsletter3 min readJust now-- Its Wednesday, and were 2% of our way through 2025Issue #241: salt, Jimmy Carter, and the Golden GlobesOn Friday, I saw Heretic with a friend (Hugh Grant is perfectly cast, just likable enough to be an unexpectedly three-dimensional villain) and then we walked a few blocks to a nearby bar. I didnt think I was going to do Dry January, but earlier that day the U.S. Surgeon General had called for cigarette-box-style cancer warnings on alcoholic beverages. His office had published a report explaining that even if youre drinking at moderate or low levels (the classic glass of wine with dinner), alcohol increases your risk of seven types of cancer significantly.Im pretty risk-averse, so I got a mocktail.The first issue of this newsletter we ever sent focused on Dry January, which originated as a way for the Finnish government to save money during World War II. In that issue, we featured one writer, David Grover, who used this tradition as a way to jumpstart a virtuous cycle in his life. Cutting out beer gave him more energy, which spurred more change, like losing weight and cutting out sugar. Hence the principle of starting small with any big shift youd like to make.His experience underlines a core, magical truth: You cant change one behavior without unintentionally changing others. In one of my favorite Medium posts (ever?) Edith Zimmerman illustrates her first year sober in cross-hatched black-and-white line drawings and describes how her whole universe got brighter when she stopped drinking wine. She started knitting. She started waking up buoyant and happy. She realized wine may have just been a shortcut to relationships and behaviors she could have gotten in other ways that didnt make her feel bad:Image credit: Edith Zimmerman, My First Year SoberBut everyones different. Everyone has their own relationship to risk, their body, ethanol, the U.S. Surgeon General, and change. In one of the most-read stories of 2024, cultural anthropologist Karolina Kozmana says something most Dry January enthusiasts dont have the guts to say: not drinking also changes other peoples behavior, and (in Kozmanas experience) it can make socializing less pleasant when (a) people think youre judging them, or (b) you suspect they think youre judging them (even if youre not!). The social side effects of abstinence arent always good, Kozmana argues, even if the health benefits are clear.In other words, there are unintended side effects to every choice we make. May we all choose our side effects wisely this year. Harris Sockel Also worth readingThe FDA recommends the average adult consume less than 1 teaspoon of salt per day, but as Jacob Waalk discovered, research supporting that prescription is inconsistent at best. (Also, its a nearly impossible guideline to follow if youre an adult human who likes your food to taste like something.) Whats more important than sodium intake alone is the ratio of sodium to potassium; you run a risk of hypertension when you eat lots of salt without a proportionate amount of potassium. (Even thats an oversimplification. Read Waalks story for more nuance.)Billy Howard photographed the late U.S. President Jimmy Carter for 35 years. He remembers Carter as a man with an easy smile and a quiet gravitas. (Carter is also the only former U.S. President to win a Nobel Peace Prize, partially because he helped broker a treaty between Egypt and Israel.)Anora, a movie about a stripper who marries a Russian oligarch, was nominated for five Golden Globes and won zero. Jessicah Lahitou thinks she knows why: Not one moment in this entire film surprised or challenged, other than the insistence on returning to strip scenes and keeping Ani in various states of undress at almost all times. Your daily dose of practical wisdom: on decision-makingThe only bad decision you can make is one you didnt think through and cant explain. (Noa Ganot)

The Battle of New Orleans, as painted by E. Percy Moran, showing Andrew Jackson emerge victorious over the British Library of CongressWhen Andrew Jackson arrived in New Orleans in winter 1814, diplomats were already negotiating peace. But neither the Louisianans he commanded nor the British troops advancing on them were wise to such peacemakingand New Orleans was in trouble.The United States had declared war on Great Britain back in June 1812, a few decades after winning independence in 1783. The U.S. aimed to stop the Royal Navys continued interference in American trade and seafaring and conquer remaining British territory in North America. The war was mostly fought around the Great Lakes and in Canada, but conflict wasnt restricted to the north. British forces burned Washington, D.C. in August 1814, then attempted to capture Baltimore, losing at Fort McHenry. Now, much farther south, the Royal Navy was closing in on New Orleans.At this time, the future seventh president was serving in the U.S. Army. Born in 1767, he was a British-hating orphan who came of age during the American Revolution. He loathed the British with good reason: Not only was he imprisoned by them, suffering starvation, disease and a sword slash to his face, but his entire family perished during the Revolution. After the war, Jackson moved to Tennessee and conducted a political career, but by 1812, he was back in the military.Jackson actually spent most of the War of 1812 fighting not the British, but Native Americans. His infamous treatment of Indigenous peoples would tarnish his reputation in the history books, but at the time, most regarded him as an immensely effective combat leader. After defeating the Creek peoples in Alabama in 1814, he was promoted to major general and made his way south to the headquarters of the Armys seventh district: New Orleans.New Orleaniansa diverse population including Italian, Spanish, French and Portuguese immigrants, as well as enslaved and free African Americanswere terrified of a British invasion. The port citys inhabitants had heard of British war atrocities, as historian Ronald J. Drez told Louisiana Public Broadcasting in 2015. When Jackson came, says Drez, The whispered word [spread] throughout the city that a savior had arrived.Jackson worked to unite and calm New Orleanians through a public speech, saying that no British enemy soldier would enter their city, unless over my dead body. For the first time in the United States, Jackson declared martial lawmilitary control of the citizenryproclaiming, Those who are not for us are against us.Louisiana Governor William Claiborne had warned that the citys fragmented populace was unlikely to be a ready fighting force. But Jacksons forceful organization proved effective, and he assembled an eclectic group of U.S. troops, Tennessee and Kentucky frontiersmen, Louisiana militiamen, New Orleans businessmen, free Black men, Choctaw Indigenous men, sailors and even pirates to stave off the British.On the morning of January 8, 10,000 British troops attacked Chalmette, just outside of New Orleans. In 30 minutes, they were shot into oblivion by Jacksons ragtag army. The British suffered about 2,000 casualties, while the Americans suffered 250.As one American soldier later recalled, When the smoke had cleared and we could obtain a fair view of the field, it looked at first glance like a sea of blood. It was not blood itself, but the red coats in which the British soldiers were dressed. The field was entirely covered in prostrate bodies.The British commander suffered fatal wounds during the battle, and his body was shipped home in a barrel of rum. Jackson, on the other hand, exited the battle having earned the loyalty of Louisianans, the nickname Old Hickory and a reputation that would help make him president in 1829.The Battle of New Orleans was Britains last attempt to regain a stronghold in America. From that day on, Drez notes, the United States ascended on the worlds stage, while the British Empire began a slow decline.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

Experts warn that Metas decision toend its third-party fact-checking programcould allow disinformation and hate to fester online and permeate the real world.The company announced today that its phasing out a program launched in 2016 where it partners with independent fact-checkers around the world to identify and review misinformation across its social media platforms. Meta is replacing the program with a crowdsourced approach to content moderation similar to Xs Community Notes.Meta is essentially shifting responsibility to users to weed out lies on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp, raising fears that itll be easier to spread misleading information about climate change, clean energy, public health risks, and communities often targeted with violence.Its going to hurt Metas users firstIts going to hurt Metas users first because the program worked well at reducing the virality of hoax content and conspiracy theories, says Angie Drobnic Holan, director of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) at Poynter. A lot of people think Community Notes-style moderation doesnt work at all and its merely window dressing so that platforms can say theyre doing something ...most people do not want to have to wade through a bunch of misinformation on social media, fact checking everything for themselves, Holan adds. The losers here are people who want to be able to go on social media and not be overwhelmed with false information.In a video, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg claimed the decision was a matter of promoting free speech while also calling fact-checkers too politically biased. Meta also said that its program was too sensitive and that 1 to 2 out of every 10 pieces of content it took down in December were mistakes and might not have actually violated company policies.Holan says the video was incredibly unfair to fact-checkers who have worked with Meta as partners for nearly a decade. Meta worked specifically with IFCN-certified fact-checkers who had to follow the networks Code of Principles as well as Metas own policies. Fact-checkers reviewed content and rated its accuracy. But Meta not fact-checkers makes the call when it comes to removing content or limiting its reach.Poynter owns PolitiFact, which is one of the fact-checking partners Meta works with in the US. Holan was the editor-in-chief of PolitiFact before stepping into her role at IFCN.That process covers a broad range of topics, from false information about celebrities dying to claims about miracle cures, Holan notes. Meta launched the program in 2016 with growing public concern around the potential for social media to amplify unverified rumors online, like false stories about the pope endorsing Donald Trump for president that year.Metas decision looks more like an effort to curry favor with President-elect Trump. In his video, Zuckerberg described recent elections as a cultural tipping point toward free speech. The company recently named Republican lobbyist Joel Kaplan as its new chief global affairs officer and added UFC CEO and president Dana White, a close friend of Trump, to its board. Trump also said today that the changes at Meta were probably in response to his threats.Zucks announcement is a full bending of the knee to Trump and an attempt to catch up to [Elon] Musk in his race to the bottom. The implications are going to be widespread, Nina Jankowicz, CEO of the nonprofit American Sunlight Project and an adjunct professor at Syracuse University who researches disinformation, said in a post on Bluesky. Twitter launched its community moderation program, called Birdwatch at the time, in 2021, before Musk took over. Musk, who helped bankroll Trumps campaign and is now set to lead the incoming administrations new Department of Government Efficiency, leaned into Community Notes after slashing the teams responsible for content moderation at Twitter. Hate speech including slurs against Black and transgender people increased on the platform after Musk bought the company, according to research by the Center for Countering Digital Hate. (Musk then sued the center, but a federal judge dismissed the case last year.) Advocates are now worried that harmful content might spread unhindered on Metas platforms. Meta is now saying its up to you to spot the lies on itsplatforms, and that its not their problem if you cant tell the difference, even if those lies, hate, or scams end up hurting you, Imran Ahmed, founder and CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, said in an email. Ahmed describes it as a huge step back for online safety, transparency, and accountability and says it could have terrible offline consequences in the form of real-world harm.By abandoning fact-checking, Meta is opening the door to unchecked hateful disinformation about already targeted communities like Black, brown, immigrant and trans people, which too often leads to offline violence, Nicole Sugerman, campaign manager at the nonprofit Kairos that works to counter race- and gender-based hate online, said in an emailed statement to The Verge today. RelatedMetas announcement today specifically says that its getting rid of a number of restrictions on topics like immigration, gender identity and gender that are the subject of frequent political discourse and debate.Scientists and environmental groups are wary of the changes at Meta, too. Mark Zuckerbergs decision to abandon efforts to check facts and correct misinformation and disinformation means that anti-scientific content will continue to proliferate on Meta platforms, Kate Cell, senior climate campaign manager at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said in an emailed statement. I think this is a terrible decision ... disinformations effects on our policies have become more and more obvious, says Michael Khoo, a climate disinformation program director at Friends of the Earth. He points to attacks on wind power affecting renewable energy projects as an example. Khoo also likens the Community Notes approach to the fossil fuel industrys marketing of recycling as a solution to plastic waste. In reality, recycling has done little to stem the tide of plastic pollution flooding into the environment since the material is difficult to rehash and many plastic products are not really recyclable. The strategy also puts the onus on consumers to deal with a companys waste. [Tech] companies need to own the problem of disinformation that their own algorithms are creating, Khoo tells The Verge.

The original StanByMe portable TV and the Inspector Gadget-like briefcase follow-up were surprisingly popular, so of course, were getting a new one to kick off 2025. I like to imagine LG literally toting the StanbyME 2 to CES by the carrying straps you can affix to it, as the rep did in this video below.The 27-inch 1440p touchscreen on the StanbyME 2 should offer a sharper picture than the originals 1080p. It also lasts longer with a four-hour battery life, up from three and a half, but LG has not revealed pricing or availability details.You can still mount the TV to a floor stand that holds and charges it, but LG is unashamedly emphasizing its portability with the carrying strap, which you can also use to hang from a wall like a picture frame on a sturdy enough hook. Its also compatible with a folio cover that protects the display during transport and doubles as a tabletop stand, and you can magnetically attach the remote to the top of the TV. It has two USB-C ports that you can use for charging and peripherals like webcams, plus a traditional HDMI input.These upgrades feel relatively minor, but if you aspire to be a modern-dayRadio Raheemwith a TV on your shoulder and, presumably, the matching pill-shaped StanbyME XT7 Bluetooth speaker under your arm the StanbyME 2 might be the television for you. 1/7 Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge1/7 Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Baseus is following Ankers lead and debuting new charging accessories at CES 2025 that could help ensure youre never hunting for missing charging cables. The company is expanding its Enercore line with a new $69.99 wall charger, expected as soon as April 2025, featuring a pair of built-in USB-C cables that fully retract and stay out of the way when not in use.The retractable cables on the Baseus Enercore CJ11 are each a little over 32 inches long and work alongside an additional USB-C port so you can also use cables with different connectors. The charger can deliver up to 67W of power with one device connected, allowing you to charge a power-hungry device like a laptop. With two or three of its ports in use, the total power output drops to 65W.Baseus new car charger has two retractable USB-C cables attached to a pivoting head. Image: BaseusBaseus also announced a new car charger with more functionality than the one Anker released last November. The Baseus PrimeTrip VR2 Max also features two built-in retractable USB-C cables that are just over 31 inches in length, plus an additional USB-C and USB-A port on its base.The chargers retractable USB-C cables work alongside a pair of USB-C ports on its base. Image: BaseusIt connects to a vehicles auxiliary power outlet and delivers a total of 240W of power across all four ports and up to a maximum of 105W to a single port. Its expected to be available in April 2025 priced at $44.99.

Jan 08, 2025Ravie LakshmananIoT Security / ComplianceThe U.S. government on Tuesday announced the launch of the U.S. Cyber Trust Mark, a new cybersecurity safety label for Internet-of-Things (IoT) consumer devices."IoT products can be susceptible to a range of security vulnerabilities," the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said. "Under this program, qualifying consumer smart products that meet robust cybersecurity standards will bear a labelincluding a new 'U.S Cyber Trust Mark.'"As part of the effort, the logo will be accompanied by a QR code that users can scan, taking them to a registry of information with easy-to-understand details about the security of the product, such as the support period and whether software patches and security updates are automatic.The information will also comprise details related to changing the default password and the various steps users can take to configure the device securely.The initiative, announced back in July 2023, is expected to involve third-party cybersecurity label administrators who will be in charge of evaluating product applications and authorizing use of the label. Compliance testing will be handled by accredited labs, the FCC added.Eligible products that come under the purview of the Cyber Trust Mark program include internet-connected home security cameras, voice-activated shopping devices, smart appliances, fitness trackers, garage door openers, and baby monitors.It does not cover medical devices regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA); motor vehicles and equipment regulated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA); wired devices; and products used for manufacturing, industrial control, or enterprise applications.The program also does not extend to equipment added to the FCC's Covered List; and products manufactured by companies added to other lists for national security reasons (Department of Commerce's Entity List or Department of Defense's List of Chinese Military Companies), or banned from Federal procurement.To apply to use the U.S. Cyber Trust Mark, manufacturers who meet the eligibility criteria must have their products tested by an accredited and FCC- recognized CyberLAB to ensure they meet the program's cybersecurity requirements, and then submit an application to a Cybersecurity Label Administrator with the necessary supporting documents."The U.S. Cyber Trust Mark program allows them to test products against established cybersecurity criteria from the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology via compliance testing by accredited labs, and earn the Cyber Trust Mark label, providing an easy way for American consumers to see the cybersecurity of products they choose to bring into their homes," the White House said.Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.SHARE