Technology

Geek Squad agents have been flooding Reddit with images of their badges and posts about “going sleeper” after the company reportedly conducted mass layoffs this week. A former employee who spoke to 404 Media said they were sent an email notifying them to work from home on Wednesday and were then called individually to be … Read more

OpenAI and Google trained their AI models on text transcribed from YouTube videos, potentially violating creators’ copyrights, according to The New York Times. The report, which describes the lengths OpenAI, Google and Meta have gone to in order to maximize the amount of data they can feed to their AIs, cites numerous people with knowledge … Read more

In addition to updating its developer guidelines to allow music streaming apps to link to external website, Apple has also added new language that allows game emulators on the App Store. The updated guidelines, first noticed by 9to5Mac, now say that retro gaming console emulator apps are welcome and can even offer downloadable games. Apple … Read more

Apple will make it easier for you to pay for music purchases and subscriptions outside of its payment system, if you’re living in a European Union country. As first noticed by 9to5Mac, the company has updated its Apple Developer guidelines page to state that iOS and iPadOS music streaming apps “in specific regions” can now … Read more

Tesla is introducing a robotaxi on August 8, Elon Musk has announced on X a few hours after Reuters published a report that the automaker is scrapping its plans to produce a low-cost EV. Reuters also said that Musk’s directive was to “go all in” on robotaxis built on the company’s small-vehicle platform. Tesla has … Read more

Meta has asked a judge to dismiss a Federal Trade Commission antitrust case against the company before it goes to trial. Alongside 48 states and territories, the FTC sued Meta in 2020 in an attempt to force the company to divest Instagram and WhatsApp, which it bought in 2012 and 2014, respectively. The agency and … Read more

Tesla has scrapped plans to make an affordable electric vehicle (EV), according to Reuters. CEO Elon Musk said as recently as January that he was “optimistic” the low-cost EV would arrive in the second half of 2025. The automaker will instead reportedly “go all in” on robotaxis, which Musk has described as the future of … Read more

As another week winds to a close, it’s time for Engadget’s roundup of the best deals we spotted this week. There’s no giant sale happening right now, but we still found a few decent discounts on some of our recommended tech, including 40 percent off a year’s subscription to Max’s streaming service, $130 off our … Read more

It looks like President Biden’s CHIPS Act is starting to pay off. Samsung is planning on doubling its investment in Texas, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. This will bring the total investment in the state’s chip-manufacturing sector to $44 billion, as Samsung already spent nearly $20 billion to build a factory … Read more