Category: Technology

Elon Musk says he plans to ask Tim Cook to adjust the App Store fees X pays on subscriptions as part of a plan to boost creators earnings on the platform that was, until recently, known as Twitter. The remarks are the latest example of Musk calling out the “App Store tax” Apple takes from in-app purchases.

Musk framed the ask as part of a broader effort to help creators get paid more for paying subscribers. “While we had previously said that 𝕏 would keep nothing for the [first] 12 months, then 10%, we are amending that policy to 𝕏 keeps nothing forever, until payout exceeds $100k, then 10%,” he tweeted. “Apple does take 30%, but I will speak with @tim_cook and see if that can be adjusted to be just 30% of what 𝕏 keeps in order to maximize what creators receive.”

It’s unclear if Musk’s request has any chance of success. Cook seems unlikely to make such a concession, as he’s long ducked criticism from numerous other developers about the App Store’s fees and the policies surrounding them. Apple and X didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

However, it’s not the first time Musk has publicly called out Apple’s App Store policies. He previously complained about Apple’s “secret 30% tax” on in-app purchases, and reportedly delayed the launch of Twitter Blue to avoid the fees. He’s also accused the iPhone maker of threatening “to withhold” Twitter’s from the App Store, though he later said that was a “misunderstanding” after a private meeting with Cook.

Regardless, Musk and X would greatly benefit from a boost in paying subscribers, which seems to be the motivation for Musk again calling attention to the issue. The company’s ad revenue is down more than 50 percent as many advertisers have yet to return to spending at the same level as before he took over Twitter. Generating more subscribers— via creators and Twitter Blue — could help the company become less reliant on ad revenue, though the company would need tens of millions of subscribers, if not more, to make up the deficit.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/elon-musk-says-hell-ask-tim-cook-to-lower-app-store-fees-for-x-subscriptions-223952210.html?src=rss 

Keychron is one of the better-known names in the customizable keyboard space, but it hasn’t directly targeted gamers — until now, that is. The company has launched a gaming division, Lemokey, whose first product is the crowdfunded L3 keyboard. The full-length peripheral supports a 2.4GHz wireless connection with a responsive 1,000Hz polling rate, but the real attraction is a tough, customizable aluminum body that can reportedly survive the rigors of competitive gaming.

You can choose from three different keycap color schemes, remap any key and create macros for both any key command layer as well as a dedicated macro column. You can easily remove and replace components to tailor them to your liking. The Lemokey L3 can pair with up to three devices over Bluetooth 5.1, but there’s also a wired option if low latency is your main priority.

The company currently expects to deliver the Lemokey L3 in October. You need to pledge at least $189 for the barebones kit (no caps or switches), but you’ll more realistically want to commit $209 for a fully assembled version. The project has already met its funding goals.

The L3 won’t be appealing if you prefer 60 percent keyboards or are otherwise more interested in space saving than a compact footprint. This won’t necessarily appeal to top-tier esports players, either, as they may insist on a wired link or use a favorite design. For many other gamers, though, Lemokey’s offering might strike a balance between personalization and performance.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/keychrons-first-gaming-keyboard-is-the-customizable-lemokey-l3-204239893.html?src=rss 

Most taxpayers will have the option of going entirely paperless starting with the 2024 filing season. The IRS said today that it aims to “achieve paperless processing for all tax returns” by 2025. The agency says the IRS Paperless Processing Initiative will “eliminate up to 200 million pieces of paper annually, cut processing times in half and expedite refunds by several weeks.” The project is funded by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.

The IRS expects the changes will solve the annoyance of transmitting digital documents in some cases but still having to mail paper ones in others. “For decades, taxpayers had to respond to notices for things like document verification through the mail, and IRS employees had to manually enter numbers from paper returns into computers one digit at a time, creating significant delays for taxpayers and challenges for IRS staff,” the US Treasury Department wrote today.

Starting next year (2024 filling season), taxpayers can digitally submit all correspondence — including many non-tax forms. The IRS says at least 20 additional e-File tax forms will be available digitally starting then. It estimates that over 94 percent of individual filers will never have to mail another tax form or document. The initiative will spare taxpayers from sending approximately 125 million paper documents annually.

By the 2025 filling season, “an additional 150 of the most used non-tax forms will be available in digital, mobile-friendly formats.” (The IRS cites research showing that around 15 percent of Americans rely solely on their phones for internet access.) It says all paper-filed tax and information returns — an estimated 76 million paper documents per year — will be processed digitally as soon as it receives them. Similarly, half of paper-submitted correspondence, non-tax forms and notice responses (another 60 million paper docs) will be recorded digitally. Finally, the IRS also plans to digitize up to one billion historical documents, making accessing older filing data easier for customer service agents and taxpayers.

The IRS says its Paperless Processing Initiative will help eliminate errors from manual data entry, speed up processing and let the agency pour more resources into taxpayer support. “Customer service employees do not currently have easy access to the information from paper returns and other correspondence submitted by mail,” the Treasury Department wrote. “Digitization and data extraction will give them access to that information they need to better serve taxpayers.”

The agency also expects digitization will help them to hold billionaires and corporations accountable. “When combined with an improved data platform, digitization and data extraction will enable data scientists to implement advanced analytics and pattern recognition methods to pursue cases that can help address the tax gap, including wealthy individuals and large corporations using complex structures to evade taxes they owe.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-irs-wants-to-phase-out-most-irl-tax-documents-by-2025-192105265.html?src=rss 

A newly published study in the the Lancet Oncology journal has found that the use of AI in mammogram cancer screening can safely cut radiologist workloads nearly in half without risk of increasing false-positive results. In effect, the study found that the AI’s recommendations were on par with those of two radiologists working together.

“AI-supported mammography screening resulted in a similar cancer detection rate compared with standard double reading, with a substantially lower screen-reading workload, indicating that the use of AI in mammography screening is safe,” the study found.

The study was performed by a research team out of Lund University in Sweden and, accordingly, followed 80,033 Swedish women (average age of 54) for just over a year in 2021-2022 . Of the 39,996 patients that were randomly assigned AI-empowered breast cancer screenings, 28 percent or 244 tests returned screen-detected cancers. Of the other 40,024 patients that received conventional cancer screenings, just 25 percent, or 203 tests, returned screen-detected cancers.

Of those extra 41 cancers detected by the AI side, 19 turned out to be invasive. Both the AI-empowered and conventional screenings ran a 1.5 percent false positive rate. Most impressively, radiologists on the the AI side had to look at 36,886 fewer screen readings than their counterparts, a 44 percent reduction in their workload.

“These promising interim safety results should be used to inform new trials and program-based evaluations to address the pronounced radiologist shortage in many countries, but they are not enough on their own to confirm that AI is ready to be implemented in mammography screening,” lead author, Dr Kristina Lång, warned in a release. “We still need to understand the implications on patients’ outcomes, especially whether combining radiologists’ expertise with AI can help detect interval cancers that are often missed by traditional screening, as well as the cost-effectiveness of the technology.”

Cancer detection has been an aspirational goal for computer vision researchers and AI companies for years now. I mean, who doesn’t want to be the company to build the tricorder that infallibly spots cancerous growths in their earliest stages? Machine vision systems designed for these screenings have improved steadily in recent years and in specific cases have shown to be as reliable as human clinicians, with the likes of IBM, Google, MIT and NVIDIA investing in similar cancer screening research in recent years.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai-assisted-cancer-screening-could-cut-radiologist-workloads-in-half-193427969.html?src=rss 

The unconventional sports sim What the Golf is officially coming to PS4 and PS5 consoles later this year. The release is set to include all current updates, which is always nice, and has been optimized for Sony consoles. This includes haptic-based DualSense support so you can really feel the impact of striking a ball, a cat or an entire planet toward a hole (it’s a weird and funny game.)

What the Golf takes the basic notions of a golf sim and upends them entirely. There are plenty of ludicrous golf-adjacent minigames and the rules change on a dime, leading to hilarious multiplayer matchups. Some levels take you to space, while others transform the golf ball into an office chair, among many other objects. The absurdity on display has made the game a hit, even among those who have little interest in golf.

The game originally released on Apple Arcade, but was eventually ported to the Nintendo Switch. To that end, the Switch version is getting a beefy update tomorrow, August 3rd, that features a crossover with murder/snitch simulator Among Us. The update includes a new overworld and 35 new levels. These levels already launched for Apple Arcade back in April, but this is the first time they’ll be available on a dedicated gaming console. The PC version is also getting some Among Us love.

Developer Triband has also announced seasonal updates dropping over the course of the next year. These will include new stages and other surprises, coinciding with holidays like Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day. All versions of the game will have access to these free updates, including Switch, PC, PS4 and PS5. It all starts with the Halloween-themed Beware of the Bogeyman, which is available from October 23rd until November 5th.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile-hit-what-the-golf-is-coming-to-playstation-soon-175141459.html?src=rss 

The original Sonos Move stood out as one of the few fully connected portable speakers when it debuted in 2019, but technology has moved on since then — and so, apparently, has Sonos. The Vergeclaims to have leaked details of a Move 2 speaker that promises major upgrades to the outdoor-friendly device. Most notably, it should upgrade from mono to stereo sound. If you thought the first version didn’t sound as good as conventional speakers, you may be happier this time.

The new speaker’s battery life reportedly leaps from 10 hours on the Move to a full 24 hours of playback You could easily host an all-day party without plugging in. The power pack is said to still be replaceable, and reduced idle power consumption could make it easier to use the speaker over the course of a weekend.

There will reportedly be smaller but still useful upgrades. Like the Roam, the Move 2 will let you share Bluetooth audio across the home. Bluetooth 5.0 and WiFi 6 support will also help the speaker keep up with modern devices. You’ll need a USB-C adapter (as with the Era 100) for line-in audio, but the same port can also charge your phone during a camping trip. The IP56 dust and water resistance hasn’t changed, but that’s still good enough to survive the rain or a windy day.

Other touches may include revised controls, a mic cutoff switch and a detachable power adapter on the base station. You can’t use Google Assistant for obvious reasons, but Alexa and Sonos’ own voice controls would be available.

Sonos is said to be launching the Move 2 at the end of September for $449, or $50 more than its predecessor. That makes it as expensive as the spatial audio-capable Era 300. As before, though, the portability might justify the premium. You’re buying a speaker that can be useful in both your living room and the backyard, saving you the trouble of getting two devices as long as you’re willing to haul a speaker around. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-sonos-move-2-will-reportedly-offer-stereo-audio-and-24-hour-battery-life-181950125.html?src=rss 

Google has reportedly been working for years to separate the Chrome browser from Chrome OS, that’s how entangled they are, and it looks like this project is ready to bear fruit. The solution seems to be a new-ish standalone Linux-based browser, named Lacros, that would replace the current Chrome OS-based browser. What’s more? Lacros is nearly ready for primetime, according to About Chromebooks.

Why does this matter? As it stands, you need a full Chrome OS update to make any changes to the browser. This isn’t the most efficient means to issue browser patches, thus the years-long search for a decoupling solution. Additionally, older Chromebooks lose access to system updates, so this move could potentially make these machines more secure.

You can already use Lacros, but it launches alongside the built-in Chrome browser and requires a fair bit of know-how to get going. About Chromebooks found some small code changes that suggest that Lacros is set to release as the default browser for Chromebooks, potentially eliminating the current browser altogether. This means that new Chromebooks would feature Lacros as the browser directly out of the box, allowing browser-specific patches and updates without involving the operating system.

Also, these changes look to be coming soon, like real soon. All points indicate the very next system update, Chrome OS 116, will bring Lacros into the mainstream. Chrome OS updates hit around once a month, so probably at the end of August or the beginning of September. It remains unclear if the system update will make Lacros the default browser or if it’ll just remove restrictions to using Lacros instead of the default browser.

In the meantime, recent Chrome OS updates have included Android app streaming and a robust video editor.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-could-be-taking-the-chrome-out-of-chromeos-164057852.html?src=rss 

It took several months, but you can finally play the Wii U versions of Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon online. Nintendo has confirmed that both titles will once again be available for multiplayer as of August 3rd. The company has fixed the security vulnerability that prompted the shutdown of online service in March.

Nintendo still hasn’t detailed the flaw. However, enthusiast and tinkerer OatmealDome claims the last-gen console is vulnerable to an “ENLBufferPwn” attack that lets intruders take over the console when it goes online. The company reportedly fixed the bug last year for affected Switch titles well as Mario Kart 7, but didn’t make a similar effort for the Wii U versions until now.

You’ll need to update both games to resume online play. The months-long wait isn’t completely surprising when the Switch has been Nintendo’s current system for several years, and is clearly more popular. Still, this is good news if you’re not in a rush to replace your Wii U — you won’t have to stop using the older system if you still enjoy the affected titles.

With that said, there’s little doubt that Nintendo wants to wean gamers off the earlier console. The company shut down the Wii U eShop this spring, limiting users to re-downloading existing purchases. Unless you grab physical copies, your game library is frozen in time unless you move to the Switch.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nintendo-brings-mario-kart-8-and-splatoon-for-wii-u-back-online-august-3rd-165434085.html?src=rss 

ByteDance is facing a class-action lawsuit over claims that its CapCut video-editing app is vacuuming up data from its more than 200 million active users without consent. Among other things, the lawsuit, which was filed in Illinois, claims that CapCut violates the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by collecting data like face scans and voiceprints without informing users or getting express permission.

The app also allegedly collects details about a user’s location, date of birth and gender as well as their photos and videos. Much of this is said to be in service of delivering targeted ads. In addition, the suit claims that the app is capable of harvesting data from user devices, including the MAC address and SIM serial number.

The lawsuit, which The Record unearthed, asserts that CapCut’s privacy policy was designed to make it hard for people to understand or to give the app “meaningful, express consent.” One plaintiff who started using the app while in the seventh grade was allegedly able to use CapCut without having to sign up for an account, reviewing a privacy policy or having parental consent.

Moreover, the suit points out that, since ByteDance is headquartered in Beijing, the company may be compelled to share CapCut data with the Chinese government. It claims that a former ByteDance official revealed publicly that the Chinese Communist Party can use a “backdoor channel code” to access data on users based outside of the country, including those in the US.

ByteDance, of course, owns TikTok, which has long been the subject of claims that the Chinese government can access US user data. The company has been trying to convince US regulators that TikTok doesn’t pose a threat to national security. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew claimed at a congressional hearing earlier this year that “ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country.”

Since last year, TikTok has been routing all US user data to Oracle servers based in the country. That initiative, called Project Texas, also included the goal of removing US users’ private TikTok data from ByteDance’s own data centers.

Nonetheless, Montana legislators have passed a bill to ban TikTok outright in the state. Many other jurisdictions, including the federal government, have prohibited the app on nearly all state-owned devices. The Justice Department is reportedly looking into claims that four ByteDance employees used TikTok to snoop on the locations of two US journalists.

The class-action suit asks a district court to block ByteDance from sending CapCut user data and content to China, and from collecting users’ biometric information and other data without consent. The plaintiffs asked the court to compel ByteDance to delete any user data and content it unlawfully obtained through CapCut as well. In addition, the suit seeks unspecified damages.

Engadget has asked ByteDance for comment.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/bytedance-sued-for-allegedly-collecting-biometric-data-without-consent-172411924.html?src=rss