Technology - Kalakshar US

Judge tosses Republican lawsuit against Google over Gmail spam filters

Last year, the Republican National Committee (RNC) filed a lawsuit against Google accusing it of political bias over its Gmail spam filters. Now, a federal judge has dismissed that lawsuit, noting that Google was effectively protected by Section 230 of US law, and that the RNC had not “sufficiently pled that Google acted in bad faith” by filtering out campaign emails, The Washington Post has reported.

According to the lawsuit, Google intentionally marked “millions” of RNC emails as spam, so the group sought reimbursement for “donations it allegedly lost as a result” of that. As evidence, it cited a study finding that Gmail was more likely than Yahoo and other mail systems to mark Republican emails as spam. (One of the study’s authors told the Post last year that its findings were cherry-picked.)

Calling the lawsuit a “close case,” US District Court judge Daniel Calabretta said the RNC had “failed to plausibly allege its claims” that Google’s spam filtering was done in bad faith. Google said that the emails in questions were likely flagged as spam because of user complaints, and cited RNC domain authentication issues and frequent mailouts as other potential issues.

The court also decided that RNC emails could be deemed “objectionable” based on the CAN-SPAM Act, and the fact that Google flagged them as such was covered by Section 230, which provides immunity to online platforms from civil liability based on third-party content. All that said, the judge said Republicans could still amend the lawsuit to better establish a lack of good faith by Google.

Interestingly, during last year’s mid-term US elections, Google created a loophole allowing political campaigns to dodge Gmail spam filters. However, the RNC reportedly didn’t take advantage of the program. Google has since ended the experiment, following largely negative feedback from the public.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/judge-tosses-republican-lawsuit-against-google-over-gmail-spam-filters-075622648.html?src=rss

Hitting the Books: Why AI needs regulation and how we can do it

The burgeoning AI industry has barrelled clean past the “move fast” portion of its development, right into the part where we “break things” — like society! Since the release of ChatGPT last November, generative AI systems have taken the digital world by storm, finding use in everything from machine coding and industrial applications to game design and virtual entertainment. It’s also quickly been adopted for illicit purposes like scaling spam email operations and creating deepfakes.

That’s one technological genie we’re never getting back in its bottle so we’d better get working on regulating it, argues Silicon Valley–based author, entrepreneur, investor, and policy advisor, Tom Kemp, in his new book, Containing Big Tech: How to Protect Our Civil Rights, Economy, and Democracy. In the excerpt below, Kemp explains what form that regulation might take and what its enforcement would mean for consumers.

Fast Company Press

Excerpt from Containing Big Tech: How to Protect Our Civil Rights, Economy, and Democracy (IT Rev, August 22, 2023), by Tom Kemp.

Road map to contain AI

Pandora in the Greek myth brought powerful gifts but also unleashed mighty plagues and evils. So likewise with AI, we need to harness its benefits but keep the potential harms that AI can cause to humans inside the proverbial Pandora’s box.

When Dr. Timnit Gebru, founder of the Distributed Artificial Intelligence Research Institute (DAIR), was asked by the New York Times regarding how to confront AI bias, she answered in part with this: “We need to have principles and standards, and governing bodies, and people voting on things and algorithms being checked, something similar to the FDA [Food and Drug Administration]. So, for me, it’s not as simple as creating a more diverse data set, and things are fixed.”

She’s right. First and foremost, we need regulation. AI is a new game, and it needs rules and referees. She suggested we need an FDA equivalent for AI. In effect, both the AAA and ADPPA call for the FTC to act in that role, but instead of drug submissions and approval being handled by the FDA, Big Tech and others should send their AI impact assessments to the FTC for AI systems. These assessments would be for AI systems in high-impact areas such as housing, employment, and credit, helping us better address digital redlining. Thus, these bills foster needed accountability and transparency for consumers.

In the fall of 2022, the Biden Administration’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) even proposed a “Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights.” Protections include the right to “know that an automated system is being used and understand how and why it contributes to outcomes that impact you.” This is a great idea and could be incorporated into the rulemaking responsibilities that the FTC would have if the AAA or ADPPA passed. The point is that AI should not be a complete black box to consumers, and consumers should have rights to know and object—much like they should have with collecting and processing their personal data. Furthermore, consumers should have a right of private action if AI-based systems harm them. And websites with a significant amount of AI-generated text and images should have the equivalent of a food nutrition label to let us know what AI-generated content is versus human generated.

We also need AI certifications. For instance, the finance industry has accredited certified public accountants (CPAs) and certified financial audits and statements, so we should have the equivalent for AI. And we need codes of conduct in the use of AI as well as industry standards. For example, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) publishes quality management standards that organizations can adhere to for cybersecurity, food safety, and so on. Fortunately, a working group with ISO has begun developing a new standard for AI risk management. And in another positive development, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released its initial framework for AI risk management in January 2023.

We must remind companies to have more diverse and inclusive design teams building AI. As Olga Russakovsky, assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science at Princeton University, said: “There are a lot of opportunities to diversify this pool [of people building AI systems], and as diversity grows, the AI systems themselves will become less biased.”

As regulators and lawmakers delve into antitrust issues concerning Big Tech firms, AI should not be overlooked. To paraphrase Wayne Gretzky, regulators need to skate where the puck is going, not where it has been. AI is where the puck is going in technology. Therefore, acquisitions of AI companies by Big Tech companies should be more closely scrutinized. In addition, the government should consider mandating open intellectual property for AI. For example, this could be modeled on the 1956 federal consent decree with Bell that required Bell to license all its patents royalty-free to other businesses. This led to incredible innovations such as the transistor, the solar cell, and the laser. It is not healthy for our economy to have the future of technology concentrated in a few firms’ hands.

Finally, our society and economy need to better prepare ourselves for the impact of AI on displacing workers through automation. Yes, we need to prepare our citizens with better education and training for new jobs in an AI world. But we need to be smart about this, as we can’t say let’s retrain everyone to be software developers, because only some have that skill or interest. Note also that AI is increasingly being built to automate the development of software programs, so even knowing what software skills should be taught in an AI world is critical. As economist Joseph E. Stiglitz pointed out, we have had problems managing smaller-scale changes in tech and globalization that have led to polarization and a weakening of our democracy, and AI’s changes are more profound. Thus, we must prepare ourselves for that and ensure that AI is a net positive for society.

Given that Big Tech is leading the charge on AI, ensuring its effects are positive should start with them. AI is incredibly powerful, and Big Tech is “all-in” with AI, but AI is fraught with risks if bias is introduced or if it’s built to exploit. And as I documented, Big Tech has had issues with its use of AI. This means that not only are the depth and breadth of the collection of our sensitive data a threat, but how Big Tech uses AI to process this data and to make automated decisions is also threatening.

Thus, in the same way we need to contain digital surveillance, we must also ensure Big Tech is not opening Pandora’s box with AI.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/hitting-the-books-containing-big-tech-tom-kemp-it-rev-ai-regulation-143014628.html?src=rss

Withings gets FDA approval for its upcoming Body Scan Connected Health Station

The Withings Body Scan Connected Health Station has received the go-ahead from the FDA and is set to launch this fall. Engadget’s Daniel Cooper tried it earlier this year and had “nothing but praise for” the luxury smart scale when trying it earlier this year, although he also described its $400 price tag as “mad money” to pay for an extravagance many of us won’t need.

The Body Scan was announced back at CES 2022, seemingly another epoch in the fast-moving world of consumer tech. Withings initially priced the scale at $300, but after getting caught in FDA approval limbo — and facing inflation and a semiconductor crisis during that window — its cost grew.

As for what you get for that significant investment, the scale is a powerhouse. It’s the first FDA-approved health station that detects atrial fibrillation through a six-lead ECG. In addition, it analyzes your segmented body composition, measures nerve activity and monitors your vascular age. It even uses Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) to monitor foot sweat levels to screen for signs of neuropathy.

During Engadget’s time with it, we found the process to be straightforward and nearly effortless. “Get on the scale, hold the grab at pelvis height and wait 90 seconds for it to do its thang,” Daniel Cooper wrote in February. “It’ll run the gamut of tests measuring your weight, body fat, muscle mass, visceral fat, ECG, Pulse Wave Velocity, vascular age and nerve health. It’ll then relay those data points to you in a big, bright, bold and easy-to-read manner, followed by the day’s weather and an indicator about the local air quality (pulled from an online service).”

The device itself consists of a tempered glass platform with an integrated retractable handle. It has four weight sensors, 14 ITP electrodes on the scale and four stainless steel electrodes in the handle. Withings says its battery will last 12 months before needing a recharge. The device’s display is a 3.2-inch color LCD for viewing your metrics. Withings says the scale’s weight measurements are precise down to 0.1 lbs. It measures Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR).

The Withings Body Scan Connected Health Station will be available this September for $400.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/withings-gets-fda-approval-for-its-upcoming-body-scan-connected-health-station-190021767.html?src=rss

GuliKit’s new Steam Deck and Switch dock looks like a SNES

I’m currently building out a new home entertainment setup, so I figure I may as well finally get a dock for my Steam Deck so I can hook it up to my TV. I’m glad I haven’t already plumped for Valve’s own Steam Deck Docking Station as an unofficial one from accessory maker GuliKit is a bit more stylish.

That’s because it takes a design cue or two from the Super Nintendo. It has a gray shell and a couple of large purple switches, which may be there just for aesthetic reasons. The docking port, which you can protect with a sliding dust cover when not in use, has a pair of vents.

New docking station. Support Steam Deck, ROG Ally, Switch and Ayaneo’ consoles. pic.twitter.com/wfpu7pH39b

— GuliKit (@GuliKitDesign) August 23, 2023

On the rear, there are USB-C charging and AC adapter ports, as well as Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI and three USB 3.0 ports. The dock supports up to 100W power delivery as well as 4K 60Hz HDMI video output. There’s even hidden storage for four microSD cards.

It’s not only a Steam Deck you can plop into the dock either. GuliKit says it works with similar handheld devices such as the ROG Ally and Ayaneo‘s systems. You can use it to play your Nintendo Switch on your TV as well. GuliKit notes that you’ll need to place your Switch upside down so that the console’s USB-C port is accessible. Still, there’s something quite fitting about using a Switch placed in this dock to play SNES games.

Pricing hasn’t been revealed as yet, but the dock should be available in September, GuliKit told The Verge. At least for now, the only downside is that it’s based on the US version of the SNES rather than the more refined European model.

Hidden 4 Micro SD slots https://t.co/cCVyNhdwNQ pic.twitter.com/HiDc7LdTVo

— GuliKit (@GuliKitDesign) August 24, 2023

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gulikits-new-steam-deck-and-switch-dock-looks-like-a-snes-175032640.html?src=rss

Solo Stove firepits are up to 40 percent off, plus the rest of this week’s best tech deals

Labor Day weekend doesn’t hit until next week, but we’re already seeing a few pre-holiday sales. Solo Stove fire pits are up to 40 percent off and if you order this weekend, your new pit should arrive in time for the holiday. Microsoft has discounted its Xbox wireless controllers and some gaming laptops from Acer and Razer are also getting 40 percent discounts. Bundles that include a Sony Bravia XR TV and a PS5 console are between $450 and $1,050 off and the three-quart Instant Pot Duo is down to $60. For your audio needs, the new Beats Studio Pro headphones are $100 off while Google’s Pixel Buds Pro are down to $139. And if you’ve got your eye on Apples’s new 15-inch MacBook Air, this might be a good time to buy as it has dropped back down to $1,099. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.

Solo Stove Labor Day sale

Solo Stove is having a Labor Day sale from now through the holiday weekend that will take up to 40 percent off single items and 50 percent off of some bundles. The sale includes the company’s most popular fire pit, the Bonfire 2.0, which also happens to be one of our favorite pieces of outdoor equipment for fall. It’s down to $240 which is a 40 percent discount. The Bonfire falls in the middle of Solo Stove’s range, measuring around 19-inches across and weighing 23 pounds. The real selling point for these backyard buddies is the recirculating design that re-burns the smoke so less of it gets in your eyes. The Backyard Bonfire Bundle 2.0, which adds extras like a carrying case, lid and shield, is usually $840 but down to $425 during the sale. The smaller Ranger and ultra big Yukon are also discounted, by $100 and $310, respectively.

Apple 15-inch MacBook Air M2

Different configurations of Apple’s 15-inch MacBook Air are $200 off at Amazon, B&H Photo and Best Buy. That makes the 8GB RAM/256GB SSD model $1,099 and the 8GB/512GB model $1,299. Note that the discount applies to only the Midnight colorway at Best Buy and B&H, but all colors appear to be on sale at Amazon. A version with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage is $100 off at B&H Photo.

The new Air impressed Engadget’s Nathan Ingraham during his review. It’s still super thin and portable, but the extra screen real estate is able to make the most of the M2 chip’s processing power. The keyboard and trackpad are comfortable and the battery life lasted even longer than the promised 18 hours in Nate’s rundown tests.

Xbox Wireless Controller

The standard Xbox Wireless Controller is down to $44 at Amazon and Walmart right now. That’s the lowest price its gone for since last year’s Black Friday sales, when it was $39. The discount applies to the controller in white, black or red. Other colorways are discounted too, but cost $5 more. The gamepads are compatible with the Series X and S consoles and offer a Bluetooth connection for PCs or mobile Android devices — you can also use it wired if you prefer. One hitch is its reliance on AA batteries, forcing you to buy a battery pack for $25 for the convenience of recharging.

The Elite Series 2 controller is also on sale. It includes myriad ways to customize the controls including adjustable-tension, swappable thumbsticks, extra paddles and D-pads, wraparound rubberized grips and a charging dock. It’s down to $140 at Amazon or straight from Microsoft after a 22 percent discount, which is just a few dollars more than its all-time low.

Razer, MSI and Acer gaming laptops

A bunch of Intel-powered gaming laptops are on sale right now at Amazon, including a few of our top picks from Acer and Razer. One call-out is the Acer Nitro 5, which is down to $640 instead of $800 and the steepest discount we’ve seen on one of our top budget gaming laptops. This configuration has a 12th-gen Intel Core i5-12500H CPU, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 graphics card and 8GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. It supports WiFi 6 and has a 15.6-inch Full HD IPS display with a 144Hz refresh rate.

The Razer Blade 15, which is our favorite premium gaming laptop, is also on sale. A 33 percent discount brings the rather spendy $3,000 machine down to a more palatable $2,000. This version comes with a 12th-gen Intel Core i7 processor and a GeForce RTX 3070 Ti GPU, it has 16GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage. Best of all it weighs just 4.4 pounds which is pretty lightweight for a high-powered gaming laptop.

Google Pixel Buds Pro

Google’s Pixel Buds Pro are down to $139 at Amazon, which matches the Prime Day price they hit back in July. We named these the best wireless earbuds for Android users in our guide because they deliver deep punchy bass, great active noise cancelation and have responsive touch controls. The case gives you wireless charging abilities and the buds themselves are rated IPX4, which means they can handle a splash of water or a sweaty workout and keep churning out the music.

Apple iPad (10th generation)

Apple’s standard iPad with WiFi connectivity and 64GB of storage is back down to $399 at Amazon and Best Buy, which is a $50 discount and the lowest price it’s sold for yet. All four colors are available from Best Buy, but Amazon currently only has it in pink. We’ve seen this sale come and go a few times now, so you my want to grab it before it pops back up to full price.

We gave the tablet a score of 85 in our review thanks to the sleek modern design with thinner bezels and flatter edges. It now has a USB-C port, unlike the previous gen iPad, and Apple wisely gave it a landscape-oriented front camera. It uses the A14 Bionic chip, which isn’t Apple’s latest M-series, in-house silicon, but was powerful enough to handle a moderate workload of word processing, email, messaging apps and photo editing. The battery is also impressive, lasting for 11 hours and 45 minutes in our video run-down test.

Sony HT-A7000 Soundbar

Sony’s HT-A700 is down to $998 at Amazon, which is nearly a 30 percent discount off its $1,400 MSRP, though it often dips down to $1,198. This is the best premium pick in our guide because it’s a robust soundbar with Dolby Atmos and immersive 7.1.2 audio. You can use Chromecast, Spotify Connect or Apple AirPlay 2 to send music to the A700 and dual HDMI eARC ports let you connect gaming consoles or streaming boxes, which can pass along 8K and 4K at 120Hz video to your screen. While it doesn’t have a separate subwoofer, it does have one built in. And should you decide you’d like the fullness of separate speakers, Sony sells plenty of options that connect seamlessly.

Sony 65-inch 4K X90L Series with PS5

Amazon is offering a bundle of a 65-inch Sony X90L 4K TV plus a PlayStation 5 console for $1,548. The TV by itself usually goes for $1,500 (though is currently discounted to $1,198) and the PS5 has a list price of $500. In total, the savings amount to $450 off the list price, which is sort of like getting the console for $50 — but only if you were already in the market for a new TV. The larger sizes are also discounted, including the massive 85-inch screen plus console going for 27 percent off, a savings of $1,050.

The X90L is part of the 2023 Bravia XR TV lineup and is the more affordable option of the bunch. It has a full-array LED panel, a built-in smart TV with Google TV, and a few PlayStation-specific features such as Auto HDR Tone Mapping and an Auto Genre Picture Mode. The PlayStation 5 is the all-digital version without a disc drive, which shouldn’t make much difference in your life if you typically download your games from the PlayStation store.

Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids Pro

The Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids Pro is the best tablet you can get for a kid, according to our latest buyer’s guide on the topic. Right now, Amazon is selling it for 30 percent off the list price, although that’s $20 more than it sold for during Prime Day in July. The company just confirmed there will indeed be another such sale in October, and Fire devices are likely to get deep discounts again. Still, if you can’t wait to get your kid a new and reliable screen, you’ll save $60 right now.

The Fire HD 10 Kids Pro is the fastest kid-focused tablet Amazon makes and grants parental controls via a dashboard on your phone. It comes with a free year of Amazon Kids+, which has games, audio books, shows and more that are all suitable for young ones. A protective case doubles as a stand and the device comes with a two-year warranty against breakage.

Amazon eero 6+ mesh Wi-Fi system

If you’re a Prime member and in the market for a new mesh WiFi system, you may want to check out Amazon’s deal on their Eero 6+ routers. The four-pack usually sells for $440 but the deal brings it down to $285. These operate on the new WiFi 6 standard which brings efficiency upgrades and typically improves connection speeds and these claim to support speeds up to a Gigabit. The set should cover a house up to 6,000 square feet and the routers can also function as smart home hubs for certain connected devices.

Keep in mind that these don’t operate on the WiFi 6E standard, which opens up access to the 6Ghz band, which can make your connections better in densely populated areas. The Eero routers that support 6E aren’t currently on sale, but a three-pack of the TP-Link Deco AXE5400 routers, which happen to be the best 6E routers according to our testing, are down to $396 after a clickable $40 coupon. That deal comes as part of a larger TP-Link router sale.

Beats Studio Pro headphones

The Beats Studio Pro headphones debuted this July and are getting a first discount at Amazon, Target and Walmart, bringing the price down from $350 to $250, a sizable 29 percent discount. Engadget’s Billy Steele gave the set an 81 in his review, appreciating the updated design, useful transparency mode and solid voice pickup. The sound quality improved over the previous generation, with the addition of new 40mm drivers that can push out loud volume with little distortion. But even more impressive is the improvements to the overall balance, with ample, but not heavy-handed, bass and immersive clarity. They aren’t the most comfortable cans you can wear and the lack of an auto-pause feature when you take them off is a little disappointing.

Sony WH-CH520 wireless headphones

If you’re looking for a recently released pair of headphones from a reputable brand for under $40, this is your chance to buy. Sony’s WH-CH520 are currently $38 after a 37 percent discount. This set debuted at the same time as the mid-range WH-CH720N and we mentioned them as a budget alternative in our review of those headphones. The WH-CH520s don’t have ANC, but they do have an impressive 50-hour battery life and include DSEE and multipoint connection.

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max

Amazon’s Fire TV Stick 4K Max has dropped down to $27, which is a 51 percent discount and just $2 more than it sold for during the company’s Prime Day sale in July. This is the speediest of the Fire TV dongles and supports Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and Dolby Atmos audio. The remote has Alexa built in, so you can use your voice to find your next show. The Fire TV interface is simple enough to use, though we notice it tends to favor Prime Video and related content. Our favorite streaming device and interface, however, happens to be Roku’s Streaming Stick 4K, which is $10 off right now, both at Amazon and directly from Roku.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 + $50 Amazon gift card

Amazon is continuing the deal it offered during pre-orders of Samsung’s latest wearable, giving you a $50 gift card when you order the now-available Galaxy Watch 6. The watch on its own goes for $300, which is the same price as the bundle. Provided you plan to buy more stuff from Amazon, you could compare this to a $50 discount. The retailer is also throwing in a fabric watch band. Our video review dives into the improved health and fitness features of the watch, which are impressive, even if the Galaxy Watch 6 is a modest upgrade over its predecessor.

Blink sale

Blink devices are currently on sale at Amazon, with up to 40 percent off video doorbells, cameras and other security devices. The Blink Video Doorbell is down to $39 from its original $60. You can also save on a bundle that includes the doorbell and an indoor Blink Mini camera. The camera acts as a doorbell chime inside your house and supports two-way audio with whoever is at your door. The set is currently $64 instead of $95. If you only want the Blink Mini, you can grab one for just $25 after a 29 percent discount or go for a set of three for $64 instead of $100. The Blink Wired Floodlight is $60 which is 40 percent off its regular $100. It packs a 2600 lumen, motion-activated LED light and also shoots 1080p video and supports two-way audio and a siren feature.

If you’d prefer to use Amazon’s other security brand for your porch-observation needs, the company is also hosting a sale on Ring devices, including 30 percent off the Ring Video Doorbell and 42 percent off the Ring Indoor Cam.

Instant Pot Duo (3-quart)

The 3-quart Instant Pot Duo is on sale for $60, or $20 below its typical price at both Amazon and directly from the Instant Brands website. It’s not the lowest price the multi-cooker has sold for, but it’s is the best price we’ve seen this year. This is what we recommend in our Instant Pot buying guide for people who do a lot of cooking for one or simply have a smaller kitchen. The larger, 6-quart version is our overall pick, but that’s seeing a slimmer, 12 percent discount, making it $88, which is about average for its street price this year.

Anker 622 Magnetic Battery

The Anker 622 Magnetic Battery is back on sale for $40 at Amazon. That’s not its lowest price ever, but still about $10 less than its average price lately and a full $30 less than its list price. Just be sure to click the on-page coupon to get the full deal. The 5,000mAh charger snaps onto the back of a MagSafe iPhone and has a built-in kickstand to prop it up for viewing while you charge. The battery should give you about a 50 percent charge, depending on the size and age of your phone.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/solo-stove-firepits-are-up-to-40-percent-off-plus-the-rest-of-this-weeks-best-tech-deals-171256473.html?src=rss

Razer, MSI and Acer gaming laptops are up to 40 percent off right now

Amazon is running a sale on several Intel-powered gaming laptops, including some of our top picks across a variety of categories. Take, for instance, the Acer Nitro 5, which is one of the best budget gaming laptops you can get your hands on, even at its regular price of $800. During the sale, though, it’s even more enticing. The price has dropped by 20 percent to $640, which is a record low.

It’s good value, since you’ll receive a laptop that should be able to run most games, but don’t expect to play the most demanding titles smoothly at maximum settings. This Acer Nitro 5 configuration has an Intel Core i5-12500H CPU, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 graphics card and 8GB of DDR4 RAM. It features a 15.6-inch Full HD IPS display with a 144Hz refresh rate, WiFi 6 and 512GB of SSD storage. It’s not bad at all if you’re looking to dip your toes into PC gaming, or want to play some games (and maybe get a little work done) while you’re traveling.

Those with a bigger budget to spend on a gaming laptop might be interested in the MSI Stealth 17 Studio. We included the 14-inch model in our best Windows laptops guide, but you’ll of course get more screen real estate with this 17-inch version. This model has dropped by 14 percent from $2,800 to $2,400 — another record low.

For your money, you’ll get a semi-portable (it weighs over 11 pounds) powerhouse that should be able to handle just about any current game at high settings. The MSI Stealth 17 Studio has a 13th-gen Intel Core i9 processor, 32GB of DDR5 RAM and a GeForce RTX 4080 GPU. It comes with 1TB of SSD storage and the 240Hz QHD display has an anti-glare coating.

Meanwhile, the Razer Blade 15 is one of the best gaming laptops you can buy, period. While the models included in this sale don’t quite have the most up-to-date components, one is a whopping 40 percent off at $1,800.

One major factor that’s worth considering here is that the Razer Blade 15 weighs just 4.4 pounds. So while it has a 12th-gen Intel Core i7 processor and a GeForce RTX 3070 Ti GPU rather than a 13th-gen CPU or a 40-series RTX graphics card, that portability is definitely a key selling point.

The Full HD 360Hz display is worth paying attention to as well. This Razer Blade 15 also includes 16GB of DDR5 RAM and 1TB of SSD storage. If you prefer a larger screen, you can pick up a 17-inch model with a QHD 240Hz display and otherwise similar specs for $2,000 (38 percent off). However, at ‎10.35 pounds, it weighs substantially more.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/razer-msi-and-acer-gaming-laptops-are-up-to-40-percent-off-right-now-145811298.html?src=rss

Is ‘War Games’ Homeworld 3’s secret weapon?

If one thing kept me coming back (and back) to Homeworld, it was skirmish mode. Setting up a quick (“quick”) battle against the CPU would often rob me of a whole weekend while at college. Homeworld 3 sees a new mode arrive on the second sequel, a roguelike-inspired multiplayer co-op called War Games. It pits one, two or three players against the enemy in a series of randomized challenges where you only progress if you can survive. I’ve spent the last few days playing an early build of the mode, and it’s impressive enough, especially given the fact I find the phrases “roguelike” and “multiplayer co-op” to be a massive turn-off.

Each campaign starts with a predetermined fleet – you get the choice of one early on, and more options are unlocked the more XP you accrue. You then have to run through a trio of missions, each one in a new environment, until you defeat the opponent’s carrier. These missions include escorting friendly transports from one side of the map to the other, rescuing captured civilians or attacking enemy positions. You need to balance your attacking and defending needs against the drive to research ship upgrades while managing resources – which are more scarce here than in previous Homeworld titles.

During each campaign, players will collect artifacts, which are randomized bonuses for your ships. These include a boost, like faster ships or more effective weapons, but at the cost of defensive stats or each vehicle’s responsiveness. Once you’ve completed your mission, you’ll get the option to hang around to repair your fleet and load up on resources. But doing so risks you becoming quickly overwhelmed by the enemy, which constantly increases their attacking intensity the longer you’re around. As soon as the objectives are done, a big hyperspace jump button will hover over your screen, encouraging you to get the heck out of dodge.

Blackbird Interactive / Gearbox

It’s possible to play War Games solo, but I wouldn’t recommend it. It’s far more enjoyable with other people, with more emphasis on coordination and cooperation. As a traditional loather of any multiplayer game, this is one of those rare times where I’d rather play with friends. Not to mention that War Games is the sort of experience where it feels really good to share the mental load.

It’s not clear how much War Games is indicative of how Homeworld 3 itself will play but it’s hard not to want to draw a conclusion. If you’ve got decades of muscle memory then the differences here are more than a little jarring, at least in the short term. It does benefit from nearly 20 years of improvements, with stellar graphics that lean even harder into the ‘70s sci-fi aesthetic the games have always gestured toward. One part of Homeworld 3’s evolution is the combat, which takes place not in open space but amongst the destroyed remains of alien megastructures. It’s here that I struggled the most: It’s hard to identify the pin-pricks of your ships against the texture of these magnificent backdrops.

Blackbird Interactive / Gearbox

The announcement of War Games is but one part of a drip feed of announcements to build hype for Homeworld 3’s launch. (Series prequel Deserts of Kharak is currently free on Epic Games Store.) The latest story trailer has outlined the shape of the plot, which is set a generation after the events of Homeworld 2. Opening the hyperspace gates heralded a bold new era of peace and prosperity, but not everyone was as happy with this state of affairs. A series of missing ships and anomalies saw Karan S’Jet and the Pride of Hiigara investigate, but the ship never returned. Now, several years later, new Fleet Command Imogen S’Jet will be installed in a new mothership, but her shakedown cruise is interrupted by a new enemy, the Incarnate.

Homeworld 3 is broadening out its narrative focus to look at how all of this impacts people below the very top. Blackbird Interactive has promised we will see inside the mothership for the first time and how these missions affect the individuals sent out to fight them. New character Isaac Paktu is a seasoned battle commander who will be leading missions, and both he and Imogen will have their backstories fleshed out with short stories published on the Homeworld website. Given the rather sterile way that Fleet Command of old would notify you of a lost unit, giving the characters on the front lines more development should help boost the stakes.

As for War Games, you can imagine its combination of co-operation and punishment will catch on with a small but deeply hardcore portion of the fanbase.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/is-war-games-homeworld-3s-secret-weapon-153005414.html?src=rss

The Solar Orbiter spacecraft may have discovered what powers solar winds

We know the sun belches out solar winds, but the origin of these streams of charged particles remain a mystery and has been the subject of numerous studies over the past decades. The images captured last year by the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) instrument aboard ESA’s and NASA’s Solar Orbiter, however, may have finally given us the knowledge needed to explain what powers these winds. In a paper published in Science, a team of researchers described observing large numbers of jets coming out of a dark region of the sun called a “coronal hole” in the images taken by the spacecraft.

The team called them “picoflare jets,” because they contain around one-trillionth the energy of what the largest solar flares can generate. These picoflare jets measure a few hundred kilometers in length, reach speeds of around 100 kilometers per second and only last between 20 and 100 seconds. Still, the researchers believe they have the power to emit enough high-temperature plasma to be considered a substantial source of our system’s solar winds. While Coronal holes have long been known as source regions for the phenomenon, scientists are still trying to figure out the mechanism of how plasma streams emerge from them exactly. This discovery could finally be the answer they’d been seeking for years.

Lakshmi Pradeep Chitta, the study’s primary author from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, told Space: “The picoflare jets that we observed are the smallest, and energetically the weakest, type of jets in the solar corona that were not observed before…Still, the energy content of a single picoflare jet that lives for about 1 minute is equal to the average power consumed by about 10,000 households in the UK over an entire year.”

Chitta’s team will continue monitoring coronal holes and other potential sources of solar winds using the Solar Orbiter going forward. In addition to gathering data that may finally give us answers about the plasma flows responsible for producing auroras here on our planet, their observations could also shed light on why the sun’s corona or atmosphere is much, much hotter than its surface.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-solar-orbiter-spacecraft-may-have-discovered-what-powers-solar-winds-114504839.html?src=rss

‘GTA VI’ hacker leaked footage using a Fire TV Stick in a budget UK hotel room

In movies, a hacker typically sits at a large desk with a slew of cutting-edge technology in front of them. In real life, it turns out all you need is an Amazon Fire TV stick, smartphone, keyboard and mouse to steal and leak clips from a game like the hotly anticipated yet to be released Grand Theft Auto IV. That’s exactly what Arion Kurtaj, a member of hacking group Lapsus$, did while already on bail for allegedly hacking NVIDIA, the BBC reports. The 18-year-old infiltrated Rockstar Games, which created GTA VI, going so far as to announce himself as an “attacker” in the company’s slack channel. The scene of the crime? A UK Travelodge hotel officials had placed him in.

Kurtaj was moved to the hotel after hackers “doxxed” him, releasing detailed information about him and his family online, and compromising his safety. While there he was allowed no internet access — something he used the Fire TV Stick to get around.

Further details of Kurtaj’s illegal stunt became public following a seven-week trial and his being found guilty of hacking Rockstar, neobank Revolut and Uber. A 17-year-old was also convicted but, unlike Kurtaj, is still out on bail. The two individuals are autistic, and psychiatrists deemed them ineligible to stand trial. This meant that the jury only weighed in on if they believed the crimes were committed, not if they were done with criminal intent.

Lapsus$, referred to in court as a group of “digital bandits,” is believed to be comprised mostly of teenagers from Brazil and the UK — Kurtaj and the unnamed 17-year-old are two of seven members arrested in the UK. Between 2021 and 2022, Lapsus$ also allegedly hacked Samsung, T-Mobile and Microsoft. Though the group requested ransoms, it’s unclear how much it made from these exploits, if much at all.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gta-vi-hacker-leaked-footage-using-a-fire-tv-stick-in-a-budget-uk-hotel-room-121548381.html?src=rss

Engadget Podcast: Is Sony’s PlayStation Portal a huge mistake?

The PSP is back! Sort of. This week, Sony announced the PlayStation Portal, a $200 handheld that can only stream games from your PS5. In this episode, Devindra and Producer Ben Ellman try to figure out what the heck Sony is doing. Is the Portal something gamers actually want? Or did Sony completely miss an opportunity to build a better portable? Also, we discuss why we’re excited for Armored Core VI and some serious big mecha action.

Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you’ve got suggestions or topics you’d like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!