Category: Technology

No matter how old you get, something happens inside your brain in mid-August that signals it’s time to buy new supplies. As a child preparing to go back to school, this might have been notebooks and erasers. As an adult, it can be a little bigger — especially if sales are going on — like a new iPad. Currently, Apple’s 64GB ninth-generation iPad is back down from $330 to its all-time low price of $250 in both Space Gray and Silver. Now this deal is a little tricky in that you will initially see a markdown to $269, but when you head to checkout, it will drop further to $250. 

Apple’s ninth-gen iPad isn’t the newest model, having first come out in 2021 and followed by a 10th-gen version the following year. We gave the earlier model an 86 in our initial review and, while it wasn’t a massive upgrade from its predecessor, found it to be a great option if you’re looking for a well-working device with all the basics at a solid price — even on sale, the 10th-gen iPad is $150 more. 

The 10.2-inch iPad has a retina display, A13 Bionic chip and 12MP Ultra Wide front camera. It’s compatible with the first Apple Pencil and the Smart Keyboard. The ninth-gen model still has a lightning connector versus the newer model’s USB-C port and has a physical home button. 

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apples-102-inch-ipad-drops-back-to-a-record-low-of-250-092845182.html?src=rss 

Ford announced today that it’s expanding the availability of its BlueCruise hands-free driving tech. Previously, customers had to decide whether to add the option on available models at purchase — and that decision was final. Now, the service will be installed as standard on all supported vehicles. In addition to enabling it at purchase, owners can add the service later or only activate it for months when needed (like for road trips).

You’ll still have the option of buying the feature at purchase and folding it into your financing. However, you can now also subscribe to access annually or monthly at any point after that. BlueCruise costs $2,100 at purchase (for three years), while annual subscriptions cost $800 and monthly subscriptions $75. Ford also offers a 90-day free trial if you choose not to set it up at purchase.

The automaker expects to install BlueCruise on 500,000 vehicles in North America for the 2024 model year. That’s a significant ramp-up since it’s currently only installed on less than half of that: 225,000, according to Ford.

The service’s changes will also apply to Lincolns. The 2024 Navigator and Nautilus lines and “select trims” of the Lincoln Corsair will come equipped with BlueCruise. The $800 annual and $75 monthly pricing is the same for Lincoln models.

Ford says the tech’s upcoming version, BlueCruise 1.3, will enhance performance when driving around curves and narrow lanes. The company says v1.3 lets you keep your hands off the wheel longer. “Based on our internal testing, BlueCruise 1.3 stayed engaged in hands-free mode for an average of 5X longer compared to BlueCruise 1.0, the first version of BlueCruise,” the automaker said. The 1.2 software, rolled out earlier this year, added hands-free lane changes, in-lane repositioning and predictive speed assist. The company is serious about AI-assisted driving: It created an automated-driving subsidiary earlier this year to push toward a more machine-driven future.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/fords-advanced-bluecruise-driver-assist-features-will-only-be-available-as-a-subscription-200525088.html?src=rss 

It certainly didn’t take long for AI’s other shoe to drop, what with the emergent technology already being perverted to commit confidence scams and generate spam content. We can now add censorship to that list as the Globe Gazette reports the school board of Mason City, Iowa has begun leveraging AI technology to cultivate lists of potentially bannable books from the district’s libraries ahead of the 2023/24 school year. 

In May, the Republican-controlled state legislature passed, and Governor Kim Reynolds subsequently signed, Senate File 496 (SF 496), which enacted sweeping changes to the state’s education curriculum. Specifically it limits what books can be made available in school libraries and classrooms, requiring titles to be “age appropriate” and without “descriptions or visual depictions of a sex act,” per Iowa Code 702.17.

But ensuring that every book in the district’s archives adhere to these new rules is quickly turning into a mammoth undertaking. “Our classroom and school libraries have vast collections, consisting of texts purchased, donated, and found,” Bridgette Exman, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction at Mason City Community School District, said in a statement. “It is simply not feasible to read every book and filter for these new requirements.” 

As such, the Mason City School District is bringing in AI to parse suspect texts for banned ideas and descriptions since there are simply too many titles for human reviewers to cover on their own. Per the district, a “master list” is first cobbled together from “several sources” based on whether there were previous complaints of sexual content. Books from that list are then scanned by “AI software” — the district doesn’t specify which systems will be employed — which tells the state censors whether or not there actually is a depiction of sex in the book. 

“Frankly, we have more important things to do than spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to protect kids from books,” Exman told PopSci via email. “At the same time, we do have a legal and ethical obligation to comply with the law. Our goal here really is a defensible process.”

So far, the AI has flagged 19 books for removal. They are as follows:

Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan

Sold by Patricia McCormick

A Court of Mist and Fury (series) by Sarah J. Maas

Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson

Tricks by Ellen Hopkins

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Looking for Alaska by John Green

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Crank by Ellen Hopkins

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Feed by M.T. Anderson

Friday Night Lights by Buzz Bissinger

Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mason-city-iowa-school-district-ai-book-ban-censorship-202541565.html?src=rss 

Netflix is officially bringing its games to more devices. So far, the company’s impressive library of games has only been available on iOS and Android. Now, though, Netflix is starting to use its streaming tech to publicly test its titles on TVs and computers.

“Our goal has always been to have a game for everyone, and we are working hard to meet members where they are with an accessible, smooth and ubiquitous service,” Mike Verdu, Netflix’s vice-president of games, wrote in a blog post. “Today, we’re taking the first step in making games playable on every device where our members enjoy Netflix.”

The test appears to be very limited for now. Just two games will be available at the outset: Oxenfree (Netflix just released the sequel as its first game from an in-house studio) and gem-mining arcade title Molehew’s Mining Adventure.

The beta is only open to a small number of Netflix subscribers in the UK and Canada on Amazon Fire TV streaming media players, Chromecast with Google TV, LG TVs, NVIDIA Shield TV, Roku devices and TVs, Samsung smart TVs and Walmart ONN. The company will add support for more devices later.

To play Netflix games on a TV, you can use a controller app that the company just released. When you select a game, your TV will display a QR code. Scan this with your phone to use it as your controller.

The games will also be available to try on Netflix’s website via supported desktop browsers in the next few weeks. You’ll be able to use your keyboard and mouse to control them on PCs and Macs.

Netflix says the goal of the test is to put its game streaming tech and controller app through their paces. Given the complex nature of rights agreements with various publishers, it’s not yet clear whether Netflix will bring all of the games in its library to TVs and web browsers. For instance, you’ll need a Netflix subscription to play Kentucky Route Zero,Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge or Immortality natively on your phone, but those games are all available on other platforms. In any case, there’s a big new player coming to the cloud gaming space.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/netflix-starts-testing-game-streaming-on-select-devices-smart-tvs-and-desktop-browsers-175241762.html?src=rss 

Amazon announced a new generative AI feature today that summarizes product reviews. Available initially to “a subset of mobile shoppers in the U.S. across a broad selection of products,” the artificial intelligence tool creates a recap paragraph highlighting common themes from customer feedback. The company first confirmed in June it was testing an AI-powered summarization tool, but it now begins its official rollout. CEO Andy Jassy said earlier this month that AI is “at the heart of what we do.”

The idea behind the ML-generated summary is to let shoppers get the gist of their peers’ impressions without having to file through a swath of reviews manually. The wrap-up includes a short paragraph describing customer consensus: It’s a bit like an AI-powered version of the “Critics consensus” and “Audience says” blurbs you’d find on Rotten Tomatoes. “Customers like the stability, ease of use, and performance of the digital device,” one example summary shared by Amazon reads. “They mention that it’s way faster, the picture / streaming speed is excellent, and it’s a simple device to get connected. They also appreciate the performance, saying that it performs as expected and works great with LG 3D smart TV.”

The summary is followed by clickable tags showcasing relevant themes and common words from customer reviews. (It’s similar to an existing keyword feature in the company’s reviews.) Clicking on one will bounce you to full reviews addressing the chosen theme.

The elephant in the room is Amazon’s reputation with fake reviews. Although the retailer says it “proactively blocked over 200 million suspected fake reviews” in 2022 alone — and it’s known to sue culprits (and get a hand from the FTC in extreme cases) — that hardly means the company detects and blocks all of them. There’s also the question of whether AI-powered fake reviews (using ChatGPT or similar tools) are more challenging for Amazon to spot than human-written ones.

The company’s strategy includes only unleashing the summarization tool on verified purchases while using AI models that allegedly detect sketchy reviews — and calling in human investigators when needed. “We continue to invest significant resources to proactively stop fake reviews,” Amazon Community Shopping Director Vaughn Schermerhorn said. “This includes machine learning models that analyze thousands of data points to detect risk, including relations to other accounts, sign-in activity, review history, and other indications of unusual behavior, as well as expert investigators that use sophisticated fraud-detection tools to analyze and prevent fake reviews from ever appearing in our store. The new AI-generated review highlights use only our trusted review corpus from verified purchases, ensuring that customers can easily understand the community’s opinions at a glance.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-begins-rolling-out-ai-generated-review-summaries-164510165.html?src=rss 

Ubisoft is shaking up a busy calendar of big fall game releases by bringing forward one of several games it has on the docket. Assassin’s Creed Mirage will now arrive on October 5th, one week earlier than previously expected.

The move gives the game a bit more distance from another major open-world action-adventure game in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (which is set to hit PS5 on October 20th). However, Assassin’s Creed Mirage will now be going up against Detective Pikachu Returns, which will debut on Switch on October 6th.

Ubisoft is taking Assassin’s Creed back to its roots with Mirage. It has a smaller scope than recent entries, the last of which (Assassin’s Creed Valhalla) can take around 60 hours to beat — fully completing that game typically takes well over 100 hours. Ubisoft’s internal playtests indicate that Mirage takes around 20-23 hours to beat and roughly 25-30 hours to fully complete.

Mirage is set two decades before Valhalla and it takes place primarily in ninth-century Baghdad. There will be a bigger focus on stealth and parkour than in recent Assassin’s Creed games, while main character Basim Ibn Ishaq can slow down time to help you plan assassinations. Additionally, Mirage will have a full Arabic-language dub and subtitles, which could help the game feel more immersive.

Ubisoft has a busy few months ahead. Along with Mirage, The Crew Motorfest will arrive on September 14th while Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is dated for December 7th. XDefiant, Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR and mobile title Tom Clancy’s The Division Resurgence are all slated to arrive by the end of the year too. Skull and Bones still exists somewhere.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/assassins-creed-mirage-will-arrive-one-week-early-on-october-5th-170039341.html?src=rss 

Along with making the Playdate and some Mac apps, Panic is also a well-regarded games publisher with Firewatch and Untitled Goose Game under its belt. However, it’s been a few years since Panic released a game outside of titles made specifically for the Playdate. Panic is ramping up its publishing efforts and we’ll soon get a peek at what’s in the pipeline when the company hosts its first games showcase. You can watch it on Panic’s YouTube channel at 1PM ET on August 29th.

The stream will run for around 20 minutes and it will include more details on previously announced games Nour: Play With Your Food and Despelote. In addition, Panic will show off some new games and reveal fresh partnerships. You’ll get behind-the-scenes looks at some titles too. “We thought it’d be fun to put on a little show and let the world know about the wonderful games we’ve been working on publishing, from amazing developers all around the world,” Panic co-founder Cabel Sasser said.

One thing you shouldn’t expect from the showcase is any Playdate news. On a positive note, Panic will show off some of the games featured in the showcase at both Gamescom and PAX West.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/panic-will-host-its-first-games-showcase-on-august-29th-155822871.html?src=rss 

Many of Amazon’s Echo smart speakers are on sale right now, including the biggest of the bunch, the Echo Studio. It’s down to $160, which is 20 percent off and just $5 more than it sold for during Prime Day last month. That discount was only for Prime members, but anyone can take advantage of this deal. The Echo Dot and the standard Echo are also on sale, for $35 and $65, respectively. Neither matches its Prime Day low, but these are still 30 to 35 percent discounts. 

We mention the Echo Studio in our guide to the best smart speakers as an alternative to the Sonos Era 100 for those who already rely on Alexa. It’s the largest smart speaker Amazon makes, weighing in at 7.7 pounds, and it uses that heft to deliver better audio quality than any other Echo. We gave it an 88 in our review, and noted the quality, hi-res sound that does justice to HD and lossless music — but also makes regular old Spotify tracks sound pretty good. 

The second best deal in the sale is on Amazon’s flagship Echo, which is $65 instead of its usual $100 after a 35 percent discount. That’s about $10 more than it went for during Prime Day, but again, this price is open to anyone, not just people who pay for a Prime membership. We should note that it went for even less during Black Friday last year, and may do so again. But if you need another (or your first) Alexa speaker right now, this is a decent savings. 

Amazon’s most popular speaker, the Echo Dot is currently $35, which we named our favorite smart speaker under $50. The price is $12 more than during July’s sale, when it was half price. The diminutive sphere puts out better audio than you’d think for its size and, like every Echo device, gives you access to Alexa’s skills, jokes and smart home controls. 

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/amazons-latest-smart-speaker-sale-includes-the-echo-studio-for-160-151937377.html?src=rss