Mozilla is revising its new Terms of Use for Firefox introduced on Wednesday following criticisms over language that seemed to give the company broad ownership over user data. With the change, were updating the language to more clearly reflect the limited scope of how Mozilla interacts with user data, the company says in a Friday post.The particular language that drew criticism was:When you upload or input information through Firefox, you hereby grant us a nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to use that information to help you navigate, experience, and interact with online content as you indicate with your use of Firefox.That language has been removed. Now, the language in the terms says:You give Mozilla the rights necessary to operate Firefox. This includes processing your data as we describe in the Firefox Privacy Notice. It also includes a nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license for the purpose of doing as you request with the content you input in Firefox. This does not give Mozilla any ownership in that content. Weve been listening to some of our communitys concerns with parts of the TOU, specifically about licensing, the company says. Our intent was just to be as clear as possible about how we make Firefox work, but in doing so we also created some confusion and concern.Fridays post additionally provides some context about why the company has stepped away from making blanket claims that We never sell your data. Mozilla says that in some places, the LEGAL definition of sale of data is broad and evolving,and that the competing interpretations of do-not-sell requirements does leave many businesses uncertain about their exact obligations and whether or not theyre considered to be selling data.Mozilla says that there are a number of places where we collect and share some data with our partners so that Firefox can be commercially viable, but it adds that it spells those out in its privacy notice and works to strip data of potentially identifying information or share it in aggregate.Fridays post follows an update added to the original Wednesday announcement to try and clarify things.See More:

For the last couple years, it has been evident that Google co-founder Sergey Brin is back in the building. This week, he sent a clear message to hundreds of employees in Googles DeepMind AI division, known as GDM: the pressure to win the AGI race is on.It has been 2 years of the Gemini program and GDM, begins his note, which The New York Times first reported on yesterday and Im publishing below in full. We have come a long way in that time with many efforts we should feel very proud of. At the same time competition has accelerated immensely and the final race to AGI is afoot. I think we have all the ingredients to win this race but we are going to have to turbocharge our efforts.Brin goes on to recommend that Googles AI teams work longer hours (60 hours a week is the sweet spot of productivity), come into the office at least every week day, prioritize simple solutions to problems, and generally move faster (cant wait 20 minutes to run a bit of python). What stuck out the most to me was his last point: that Googles AI products are overrun with filters and punts of various kinds. According to Brin, Google needs to trust our users and cant keep building nanny products.While his note was intended for a small audience of AI researchers at DeepMind and not all of Google, its still remarkable in a couple of ways. For one, it came from Brin, who technically has no formal role these days besides being a board member, and not Demis Hassabis, who runs Google DeepMind. As some employees have poined out to me, theres also irony in Brin recommending that employees work 12-hour days when he and co-founder Larry Page arguably left Google rudderless when they retired in 2019 just before this AI boom cycle began in earnest. Finally, its telling that Brin, who attended President Donald Trumps inauguration with CEO Sundar Pichai, is now using his power to seemingly push for removing Geminis guardrails.You can read Brins full note to Gemini researchers below:It has been 2 years of the Gemini program and GDM. We have come a long way in that time with many efforts we should feel very proud of. At the same time competition has accelerated immensely and the final race to AGI is afoot. I think we have all the ingredients to win this race but we are going to have to turbocharge our efforts.Code matters most AGI will happen with takeoff, when the Al improves itself. Probably initially it will be with a lot of human help so the most important is our code performance. Furthermore this needs to work on our own 1p code. We have to be the most efficient coder and Al scientists in the world by using our own Al.Productivity In my experience about 60 hours a week is the sweet spot of productivity. Some folks put in a lot more but can burn out or lose creativity. A number of folks work less than 60 hours and a small number put in the bare minimum to get by. This last group is not only unproductive but also can be highly demoralizing to everyone else.Location It is important to work in the office because physically being together is far more effective for communication than gve etc. And, therefore you need to be physically colocated with others working on the same thing. We need to minimize reporting lines across countries, cities, and buildings. I recommend being in the office at least every week day.Organization We need to have clear responsibility and organization with high functioning groups with shared management and technology leadership.Simplicity Lets use simple solutions where we can. Eg if prompting works, just do that, dont posttrain a separate model. No unnecessary technical complexities (such as lora). Ideally we will truly have one recipe and one model which can simply be prompted for different uses.Excellence whether its an eval or a data source or a dashboard or a message in an internal Ul, please make sure they all work and all are good.Speed we need our products, models, internal tools to be fast. Cant wait 20 minutes to run a bit of python on borg.Iterate at small scale we need lots of ideas that we can test quickly. The best way to do this is small scale experiments until you can ramp up and hopefully see increasing advantage at scale. This is an excellent validation. Working too much at just large scale has a habit of minor tweaking and overfitting to evals, checkpoint sniping, etc. We need real wins that scale.No punting we cant keep building nanny products. Our products are overrun with filters and punts of various kinds. We need capable products and [to] trust our users.Andrew Bosworth. Getty Images / The VergeWe just fire those peopleBy now, most employees at Meta have probably seen my story about the company firing around 20 employees for leaking. (A special thanks to the communications team for widely sharing it on Workplace!) Cracking down on leaks is nothing new for Meta, though leadership does seem highly motivated to snuff out this recent wave. Moments after my story was published yesterday, CTO Andrew Bosworth addressed the firings during a company all-hands meeting that was, yes, leaked to me. After joking about how chairs had been rearranged in the room to make the all-hands look more well attended than it actually was, heres what he had to say about leaks:There are three different types of leaks. A lot of times there are accidental leaks, people who are just being casual [and] clumsy with information. Theyre trying to share it to a friend, a housemate, their mom, and theyre not paying attention to what theyre doing. The second kind is people who are trying to be helpful. If only the press understood this one thing, then they would surely tell a good story about us. They wont. And then theres malicious leaks, antagonistic leaks, people who are trying to push an agenda that they hold and they think is more important to them than the company. All three of those leaks are fireable offenses. All three of them. And we take them seriously. We have a team dedicated to identifying these leaks. And so we did conduct a bunch of investigations and we fired more than 20 people for leaking in the last couple of weeks. More than 20. Thats not the entirety of the list. Theres quite a few more investigations that are proceeding right now. So, just to remind everybody, dont be screenshotting stuff, dont be recording stuff. We are getting pretty good at finding these things and those people arent here anymore We just have zero tolerance. It doesnt matter what the excuse is. It doesnt matter how innocuous you think it was. We just fire those people. Okay. Great. Fun. Boy, were really off to a great roll. Nobodys here. We fired people And they wonder why they gave me the Q&A.ElsewhereNewsoms plea: You could hear a pin drop when California Governor (and now podcaster) Gavin Newsom walked out to address hundreds of influential tech investors at the Upfront Summit in Los Angeles earlier this week. It was the first time Id seen him address the tech industry since President Trump won the presidency. He made sure to take shots (its the regulatory market that created Elon Musk in California) but mostly came across as pleading with a cohort he knows the Democrats have already lost: Alabama is an interesting state. Mississippi may be your jam. I dont mean to knock you. Im just saying I think youre leaving a little on the table in terms of opportunity.Amazons Alexa revamp: Reporters werent allowed to test the new Alexa Plus experience on their own at the unveiling in NYC this week. As others have reported, and Ive also heard from company insiders, this AI revamp of Alexa has been plagued from the start with several changes in strategy and release delays. There are still a lot of bugs to be worked out before the new subscription starts slowly rolling out to people next month. Well have more on all this when Nilay Patel drops his Decoder interview with Amazons Panos Panay next week.AI headlines: Nvidias stock price slid after it reported earnings DeepSeek is working on its next model Anthropic released its first hybrid reasoning model OpenAI released GPT-4.5 (and said it is momentarily out of GPUs)... Groks unhinged mode will curse and scream at you Meta is working on a standalone app for its AI assistant.Interview recsElon Musk on Joe Rogan.Andy Jassy on Bloomberg TV.David Luan, head of Amazons AGI research lab, on Unsupervised Learning.Keith Coleman, Xs head of Community Notes, on Lennys Podcast.Mark Chen, OpenAIs head of research, on Big Technology.Dario Amodei on Hard Fork.More linksThe voice demo for Sesame, a new AI glasses startup led by Oculus co-founder Brenden Iribe.A new embodied companion AI app called Tolan.Stripes annual letter.Coatues deep dive on the state of defense tech.Metas blog post on the second version of its glasses research prototype, Project Aria.Housing in Silicon Valley is as out of control as ever.Meet SFs biggest robotaxi addicts.Whats the deal with all these airplane crashes?Our iPhone 16E review.If you havent already, dont forget to subscribe to The Verge, which includes unlimited access to Command Line and all of our reporting.As always, I want to hear from you, especially if you have feedback on this issue or a story tip. Respond here or ping me securely on Signal.Thanks for subscribing.See More:

Of all the things one might expect from a brand new Gundam series, an opening episode dedicated to recreating and revising the events and aesthetics of 1979s Mobile Suit Gundam isnt necessarily one of them. Though perhaps its no surprise that a series led by a team that includes former Gainax collaborators Kazuya Tsurumaki, Yji Enokido, and Hideaki Anno a trio of names best known for shows like Neon Genesis Evangelion, FLCL, and Revolutionary Girl Utena would be so interested in rooting their own unique vision in the past of the mecha-anime franchises.Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX a mouthful that even its characters joke is confusing to pronounce, but boils down to quacks kicks off by throwing us back to the very first episode of MSG, Gundam Rising!!!, with an intriguing, what if? twist: Instead of Amuro Ray becoming the Gundams pilot for the Earth Federation, Char Aznable from the Principality of Zeon steals the robot for himself, landing a victory via truce in the One Year War. The first act of this theatrical release, which is edited together from footage well eventually see after the full series premieres in April, is entirely designed for fans of Mobile Suite Gundam. Shots from that series are lovingly remade with a fresh coat of paint ( la the Evangelion rebuilds) and exact musical cues are reused and recontextualized. Its fascinating to see how every part of the show that started it all is framed or sped up when Char is the protagonist instead of the antagonist. Chars sheer drive and skill allowing him to sidestep all of Amuros insecurities and stumbles is particularly interesting.Think of this first act like a speedrun of the original Mobile Suit Gundam, though one that undoubtedly requires a certain level of context to fully appreciate, down to an almost immediate introduction of Newtypes and seeing how one-off characters from MSG, like Challia Bull, become full-fledged protagonists themselves. Fortunately, gestures toward larger repercussions (particularly with Char) blessedly prevent the playful references from turning into a shallow easter egg hunt. The intro is ultimately a loose history lesson that preps the uninitiated viewer with just enough information about the One Year War to anticipate the new world that GQuuuuuuX seems to be diving into. Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX Beginning GalleryAnd what a world it is. The attempts at relative fidelity toward the classic UC79 designs are contrasted with colorful characterization and design work by take that recalls their work on Pokmon but also boasts personality and flourishes that point to the influence of Gainax classics like FLCL, Gurren Lagann, and DieBuster. Not once do these aesthetic shifts feel out of place, instead emphasizing the way life and culture has progressed in the years since the war ended (GQuuuuuuX takes place in UC85) and the fact that this is a world in which the Zeon have the luxury of enacting fascistic rule and continue to harm refugees.Within this world are a trio of fresh faces: Nyaan, a refugee of the war who smuggles illegal goods to survive; Shuji Ito, a mysterious graffiti artist who also happens to pilot Chars own Gundam, which disappeared half a decade prior; and Amate Yuzuriha (who goes by MACHU), a high schooler whose longing for more than what life has given her leads her to piloting the gundam GQuuuuuuX in Clan Battles. These battles are seemingly no more than illegal (but live streamed) street fights for quick cash, but theyre where GQuuuuuuX indulges in the spectacle it rightfully deserves. That many of Evangelion Rebuilds 3D-based animators are at work here is clear the second we see how these giant machines move and the way their fights are choreographed. Such fun being offered this early on makes me wonder whats to come from GQuuuuuuX.Even their mere slenderness and speed as opposed to the beautifully clunky fights of the classic series could be considered something of an Eva-ification of these bots. (It could be considered blasphemy, but I found it engrossing.) When it comes to the current era of Gundam (and Japans Reiwa era), its a stark contrast to the 2D animation and fight scenes of The Witch from Mercury. Theres a real fluidity to the way action unfolds, whether in or out of a gundam, and such fun being offered this early on makes me wonder whats to come. For all the intrigue and fun that Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX Beginning has to offer, its still ultimately just a teaser for a series and not anything that can stand on its own two, gigantic, heavily armored feet. If this first segment is any indication though, GQuuuuuux promises to be a series thats as playful as it is intriguing, the ideal bridge between the past and the future of what Gundam can look like.

The Sony PSVR2 Headset is the best VR headset for PS5 owners, but it has always been an expensive purchase. Thankfully, Sony announced just yesterday that the company would be dropping the recommended retail price of the headset down to $399.99. This price cut brings it more in line with the Meta Quest 3 line, which is currently $499 for the Quest 3 and $299 for the Quest 3S.If you're hoping to pick up the PlayStation VR2 headset for yourself at this new price, now you can! Retailers have already started adopting the price cut and you can purchase the PSVR2 Horizon Call of the Mountain Bundle for just $399.99 at Target. The bundle has already sold out at Amazon.The Best PlayStation VR2 Deal TodayPlayStation VR2 Horizon Call of the Mountain BundleAlong with the headset, this bundle also comes with a copy of Horizon Call of the Mountain which we gave a 7 out of 10 in our review. This game is exclusive to PlayStation, but that doesn't mean you can only use the headset with your PS5. Sony released a PSVR2 PC adapter just last year that allows you to connect the headset to your PC and play SteamVR games. This has elevated the PlayStation VR2 headset to be one of the best VR headsets for PC gamers. You can check out our guide on how to connect it to PC for more info.What We Said in Our ReviewWe had the chance to go hands-on with the PSVR2 headset when it first came out. Here's a quick synopsis of what we thought:"The PlayStation VR2 may seem pricey, given that it costs $150 more than the base PS5 Digital Edition console youll need to use it. Even so, its such a quantum leap over the original PSVR in terms of ease of use, visual quality, and immersion that any PlayStation owner who loves VR should upgrade as soon as possible. Its 4K HDR OLED screen and excellently tactile Sense controllers are the most obvious improvement, but plentiful quality-of-life changes and the raw horsepower of the PS5 set a new standard for how VR games should play and feel on console. The downside is that, like any new platform, its thin launch lineup makes its lack of backward compatibility with original PSVR games a significant problem, but one that will only improve as Sony and other developers roll out new games that take advantage of the PSVR2s unique features."PlayStation VR2 Photos

iPhone 16e is now officially available in stores. Apples new entry-level phone looks similar to an iPhone 14 from the outside, but features the A18 chip inside. And thanks to a teardown video shared on the web, we can now take a better look at whats new and whats different inside the iPhone 16e.Teardown video shows whats inside the iPhone 16eThe 5-minute video shared on YouTube by REWA Technology shows how to tear down the iPhone 16e, as well as a closer look at its internal components. Despite the similarities to an iPhone 14 in its external design, the iPhone 16e comes with some surprises inside.Internally, most of the components are arranged in almost the same way as in the base iPhone 15 model. The most obvious difference is in the rear camera. While the iPhone 15 has two lenses (one wide and one ultra-wide), the iPhone 16e has a single 48-megapixel wide lens. Because of this, the camera module is significantly smaller, which probably helped Apple put a bigger battery in the iPhone 16e.iPhone 16e uses the same system based on low-voltage electric current to remove and replace the internal battery, which makes the process much easier and safer. Interestingly, the teardown shows that the battery has 4005 mAh of capacity more than was previously reported by some YouTubers. For comparison, the iPhone 16 battery has 3561 mAh.When it comes to the Face ID module, its pretty much identical to the one in the iPhone 14 as the new iPhone 16e features a notch instead of the Dynamic Island.The teardown also shows the C1 chip, Apples first 5G modem. It combines 4 nanometer baseband technology with 7 nanometer transceiver technology. As previously revealed by a lab test, the new modem is much more efficient and uses less power than the Qualcomm modems in other iPhones.You can watch the full teardown below:iPhone 16e starts at $599 for the 128GB version. Alternatively, you can buy other iPhone models at a discount.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

Instagram last month announced Edits, a new video editor app for mobile platforms that aims to compete with CapCut (owned by ByteDance, which is behind TikTok). Although Meta promised to launch the new app on March 13, it now appears that it will be released a bit later than expected.Edits app from Instagram coming later next monthThe pre-order page on the App Store for the new Instagram Edits app now says that the video editor is expected to launch on March 31, 2025 two weeks later than the original date. Theres no word from Meta as to why the launch has been delayed.Edits was announced by Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri, who described the app as a tool for people who are passionate about making videos using their phone. According to the executive, the app is a full suite of creative tools and will offer features such as:A dedicated inspiration tabAnother tab to keep track of your ideasA much higher quality camera for shooting videosAll the editing tools youd expectAbility to share drafts with friends and other creatorsEasy export to Instagram, and powerful insights for Reels contentBased on screenshots, Instagram Edits will let users crop videos, combine multiple clips, add sounds and voiceover, create subtitles, and much more. The app will also have options to record videos directly from it, with resolution, frame rate, and color profile settings. Meta says Edits will let users export videos to other platforms with no watermark.Coincidentally or not, Edits was announced on the same day that TikTok and CapCut were banned in the US. Given that Instagram has the Reels platform that competes directly with TikTok when it comes to short vertical videos, its no surprise to see the Meta investing in its own video editor.Edits will be released first for iPhone, with the version set to be released soon after.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

Aggressive BMW drivers rejoice: you're no longer the most hated motorists on the road.That mantle has roundly passed to the class of consumers unfortunate enough to have a Tesla parked in their driveway though it has less to do with the car itself and more to do with the company's owner, who's undertaken a near-total public makeover from a milquetoast environmental figurehead to a boorish bully who epitomizes Americans' growing disgust with oligarchy.What's to be said about Elon Musk that hasn't already been said? He's the richest man in the history of currency, raised by a blood emerald magnate in apartheid South Africa who used taxpayer funds to create hugely successful corporations,then became the Trump administration's unelected hatchet man in charge of slamming the door in the face of the next generation.Since seizing power, he's decimated the federal government's ability to provide for its citizens, haphazardly slashing crucial positions while positioning himself to secure huge government contracts at substantial benefit to his portfolio.And that's without getting into his Nazi salutes and Holocaust jokes.Feeling frustrated and powerless, Americans are turning to consumer activism as the levers of power give way to a new class of robber barons.In the past weeks, dozens of Tesla dealerships across the country have been picketed by federal workers and Musk-objectors. Tesla stores in Oregon and Colorado have also beenvandalized with spraypaint, guns, and molotov cocktails.Tesla's chargers are likewise being marked with graffiti, while the company's infamous Cybertrucks are being egged and defaced everywhere they go. A few weeks ago, a group of student activists in California announced a campaign threatening Tesla owners with property damage. Their sales pitch? Sell your car now, before it's too late.Meanwhile across the pond, guerilla activists in London have started a "swasticar" campaign, plastering up posters likening Musk to Adolf Hitlerand garnering millions of views on social media. That comes as broader anti-Musk protests gain momentum across Europe, sending Tesla sales into a nosedive.Though these efforts aren't coordinated, their combined pressure is having an effect, shaming Tesla owners and rallying would-be Tesla buyers to look elsewhere. Drivers around the world are selling off their EVs en masse, flooding social media to vent their frustrations."I'm getting rid of my Tesla," wrote one Reddit user. "In the last three weeks I've had two people give me a Nazi salute and one yell 'heil Hitler'... They were simply shaming me. It worked.""I'm just a little embarrassed to be driving it at this point," one driver toldAgence France-Presseof his beaming red Tesla, adding that he swore never to buy from the EV company again.All told, it's shaping up to be a nightmare for investors as the EV giant's stock price sank for the six straight day in a row, foratotal decline of nearly 30 percent over the past month.As backlash against Musk heats up, there's no telling how low Tesla's floor could be.Share This Article

Join Contra as an Animator, where youll have the opportunity to craft dynamic animations that enhance our platform's visual experience. In this role, you'll work independently and creatively to bring concepts to life, contributing to a collaborative and innovative environment.ResponsibilitiesDesign & Animate: Create high-quality motion graphics and animations that align with Contra's brand identity and goals.Develop Concepts: Collaborate with the creative team to brainstorm, develop, and storyboard animation ideas that resonate with our audience.Deliver on Time: Ensure timely delivery of animations that meet Contras quality standards and project requirements.Refine & Iterate: Revise and enhance animations based on feedback to ensure they meet expectations.Stay Current: Continuously explore and incorporate the latest animation trends, tools, and techniques to keep the work fresh and innovative.Apply NowLet's start your dream job Apply now

Contra is looking for a creative 2D Animator to bring ideas to life through engaging animations. This flexible, remote role offers the opportunity to collaborate on diverse projects while shaping visual storytellingResponsibilitiesCreate Animations: Develop high-quality 2D animations aligned with project goals and brand identity.Collaborate: Work with the team to develop concepts and storyboards.Refine & Improve: Edit animations based on feedback.Ensure Quality & Timeliness: Deliver completed animations on schedule while maintaining high standards.Communicate Effectively: Maintain clear and consistent updates with the teaApply NowLet's start your dream job Apply now

Looking for the most recent Strands answer?Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.Todays NYTStrandspuzzle has some very different words in it -- and one of them is kind of tough to spell, so solve carefully. If you need hints and answers, form your alliance and read on.I go into depth about therules for Strands in this story.If you're looking for today's Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visitCNET's NYT puzzle hints page.Read more:NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So FarHint for today's Strands puzzle Upgrade your inbox Get cnet insider From talking fridges to iPhones, our experts are here to help make the world a little less complicated. Today's Strands theme is:Let us preyIf that doesn't help you, here's a clue: Chomp!Clue words to unlock in-game hintsYour goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle's theme. If you're stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints, but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:SONS, SOAR, LINE, LINO, ROTA, MANS, ROAN, REST, TORE, TOAD, TOADS, SAND, DATE, NAPE.Answers for today's Strands puzzleThese are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you've got all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:LION, ORCA, HUMAN, CROCODILE, TYRANNOSAURUSToday's Strands spangram The completed NYT Strands puzzle for March 1, 2025, #363. NYT/Screenshot by CNETToday's Strands spangram is APEXPREDATORS. To find it, start with the A that's two letters to the left on the bottom row, and wind up.