Category: Technology

Facebook Dating has added two new AI tools, because clearly a large language model is what the search for love and companionship has been missing all this time. The social media platform introduced a chatbot called dating assistant that can help find prospective dates based on a user’s interests. In the blog post announcing the features, the example Meta provided was “Find me a Brooklyn girl in tech.” The chatbot can also “provide dating ideas or help you level up your profile.” Dating assistant will start a gradual rollout to the Matches tab for users in the US and Canada. And surely everyone will use it in a mature, responsible, not-at-all-creepy fashion.

The other AI addition is Meet Cute, which uses a “personalized matching algorithm” to deliver a surprise candidate that it determines you might like. There’s no explanation in the blog post about how Meta’s algorithm will be assessing potential dates. If you don’t want to see who Meta’s AI thinks would be a compatible match each week, you can opt out of Meet Cute at any time. Both these features are aimed at combatting “swipe fatigue,” so if you’re 1) using Facebook, 2) using Facebook Dating, and 3) are really that tired of swiping, maybe this is the solution you need.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/facebook-adds-an-ai-assistant-to-its-dating-app-225754544.html?src=rss 

Steam’s seasonal sales are usually the peak moments to add new software to your library, but right now, Valve is offering a notable hardware discount. The Steam Deck starter model is currently on sale for 20 percent off its usual $399 price tag. That means you can snag yourself the gaming handheld with an LCD screen and 256GB of storage for $319. Steam hasn’t set an end date for this offer, so it might be worth acting quickly if you want to get in on this particular sale.

The Steam Deck is still the go-to for most PC gamers who want a handheld. Its balance of power, portability and price have kept it one of our top recommendations, even three years after the product’s debut. But keep in mind before you add this to your cart that this iteration does have a few limitations compared to the higher end Steam Decks. The LCD screen doesn’t have the true blacks of the OLED option, and serious players may run up against the storage limits of this model pretty quickly. But if you’ve been curious about a Steam Deck and aren’t looking to have a full library of big AAA downloads available all at once, this is a good time to pick up one of your own. Besides, with the $80 you’ll save, you can also grab a copy of current indie darlings Hollow Knight: Silksong and Hades II and still have money leftover.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-lcd-steam-deck-is-20-percent-off-right-now-215238765.html?src=rss 

EventVPN, a new freemium VPN built by the same team and on the same infrastructure as ExpressVPN, launched on September 18 for iOS and macOS. It comes with unlimited free bandwidth, a relative rarity among free VPNs, and carries over ExpressVPN’s kill switch and post-quantum WireGuard protocol. Free users get 35 server locations and one device connection, while paid users get 125 locations and eight simultaneous connections.

EventVPN isn’t the first free VPN that actually aims to ensure user privacy — the free version of Proton VPN is also safe, as are a few others on our best VPN list, like hide.me and Windscribe. However, ExpressVPN isn’t wrong that free VPNs often don’t have their users’ interests at heart. The EventVPN announcement left me with one big question: what’s it doing to be safer, more private and/or better than other free options?

The most interesting feature of EventVPN — and one I can’t currently find duplicated on any other free VPN — is that it has no user data backend whatsoever. It uses Apple ID validation to manage accounts and connection tokens without storing any information itself. This doesn’t move the security needle much (Apple isn’t immune to data leaks either), but it does make it theoretically impossible for EventVPN to sell user information.

Of course, a clear privacy policy that EventVPN sticks to would accomplish the same thing. But just like with RAM-only servers automatically deleting user activity logs, it’s always nice to have an option other than trusting the VPN provider to keep its word. And to be fair, ExpressVPN has a clear privacy policy that it sticks to, so there’s good reason to believe EventVPN will do the same for its own policy.

There is one unfortunate cost to that relative privacy, though: EventVPN’s free plan requires you to watch ads. When I briefly tested it, I was shown one 30-second ad whenever I connected and another when I disconnected. It’s galling to be asked to watch ads for a service that also has a paid tier ($9.99 per month, or $69.99 for a year), since I’ve already named three other equally good freemium VPNs that don’t show ads at all. At least EventVPN anonymizes the ads, showing advertisers a masked identifier instead of any real info on you.

To sum up, EventVPN is a lot better than free VPNs that turn you into the product, but its ads put it a step behind ProtonVPN, hide.me, Windscribe and even TunnelBear. If ExpressVPN has always worked far better for you than any other provider, it might be worth using EventVPN as a backup free service. Otherwise, there are better options.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/vpn/heres-how-eventvpn-is-different-from-other-free-vpns-213014671.html?src=rss 

Stellantis — the parent of several auto brands including Dodge, Ram and Chrysler — said customers’ personal information was included in a data breach. The automaker said in a statement that “contact information” was procured, but not “financial or sensitive personal” data, as that is not stored on the third-party platform that was breached.

“We recently detected unauthorized access to a third-party service provider’s platform that supports our North American customer service operations,” Stellantis said. “Upon discovery, we immediately activated our incident response protocols, initiated a comprehensive investigation and took prompt action to contain and mitigate the situation. We are also notifying the appropriate authorities and directly informing affected customers.” The company encouraged customers to be on guard against phishing and social engineering attacks, and to be careful about sharing personal information with anyone who contacts them unexpectedly.

Stellantis has not disclosed what types of contact information were involved in the breach, how many customers were affected or whether it’s offering them privacy or credit protection services. A spokesperson told Engadget the automaker is “not providing any additional information beyond our statement.”

Bleeping Computer says a group called ShinyHunters claimed credit for the breach. The group told the publication it obtained more than 18 million records, containing contact details and names, from Stellantis’ Salesforce instance. ShinyHunters has reportedly stolen data from other Salesforce clients over the last several months, including Google, Qantas, Adidas and LVMH.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/stellantis-confirms-data-breach-involving-customers-contact-information-194136744.html?src=rss 

SpaceX’s lunar lander has run into a snag and may not be ready for a mission to the moon that was scheduled for 2027, according to a report by Space News. The company’s Starship Human Landing System (HLS) is a variant of the typical Starship spacecraft that has been designed to transport astronauts between lunar orbit and the surface of the moon.

“The HLS schedule is significantly challenged and, in our estimation, could be years late for a 2027 Artemis 3 moon landing,” said NASA safety analyst Paul Hill following a visit to SpaceX’s Starbase facility.

The underlying issue seems to be regarding cryogenic propellant transfer, as the SpaceX team has yet to figure out a way to refuel Starship in low Earth orbit before it heads to the moon. This will be the first version of the vehicle capable of such transfers and the work has been slowed down by ongoing engine redesigns.

There’s no timetable as to when the team will get this sorted. SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell recently expressed hope that the project won’t be “as hard as some of my engineers think it could be.”

This delay has caused some to speculate that it could give China the upper-hand when it comes to manned lunar missions. The country has developed its own lunar vehicle called Lanyue that could land on the surface by 2030.

Also, this isn’t the first time the Elon Musk-owned SpaceX has missed deadlines regarding a return to the moon. The company said in 2023 that it would attempt in-orbit refueling by early 2025. That didn’t happen. Musk said earlier this month that SpaceX will “demonstrate fuel reusability next year” which also isn’t happening.

The Artemis 2 launch, however, is still on track for early 2026. This mission will send four astronauts around the moon, but not onto the surface. It has been over 50 years since the US put boots on the lunar surface. The last manned mission to the moon was in 1972.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/spacexs-lunar-lander-could-be-years-late-for-a-planned-2027-mission-to-the-moon-180001024.html?src=rss 

NVIDIA will invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI as the ChatGPT maker sets out to build at least 10 gigawatts of AI data centers using NVIDIA chips and systems. The strategic partnership announced today is gargantuan in scale. The 10-gigawatt buildout will require millions of NVIDIA GPUs to run OpenAI’s next-generation models. NVIDIA’s investment will be doled out progressively as each gigawatt comes online.

The first phase of this plan is expected to come online in the second half of 2026, and will be built on NVIDIA’s Vera Rubin platform, which NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang promised will be a “big, big, huge step up,” over the current-gen Blackwell chips.

“NVIDIA and OpenAI have pushed each other for a decade, from the first DGX supercomputer to the breakthrough of ChatGPT,” said Jensen Huang in a press release announcing the letter of the intent for the partnership. “Compute infrastructure will be the basis for the economy of the future, and we will utilize what we’re building with NVIDIA to both create new AI breakthroughs and empower people and businesses with them at scale,” said Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI.

NVIDIA has made a number of strategic investments lately, including making a $5 billion investment in Intel, shortly after the United States government took a 10 percent stake in the American chipmaker. The company also recently spent more than $900 million to license AI technology from startup Enfabrica and hire its CEO and other key employees.

OpenAI has also formed other strategic partnerships over the last few years, including a somewhat complicated arrangement with Microsoft. This summer it struck a deal with Oracle to build out 4.5 gigawatts of data center capacity using more than 2 million Oracle chips. That deal was part of The Stargate Project, the strategic partnership between SoftBank, OpenAI, NVIDIA, Oracle, Arm and Microsoft with a promise to spend $500 billion in the US on AI infrastructure.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/nvidia-is-investing-up-to-100-billion-in-openai-to-build-10-gigawatts-of-ai-data-centers-175159134.html?src=rss 

Gemini is officially available on Google TVs, now that the TCL QM9K series TVs are out in stores. At the moment, they’re the only television models that feature Google’s AI assistant, but Gemini will be available on more devices later this year. Google says it will make its way to the Google TV Streamer, Walmart’s onn 4K Pro streaming device, certain Hisense TV models and more TCL TVs. The company also intends to add more Gemini capabilities for televisions in the future.

Google introduced Gemini integration for TVs when it presented an early look at new software and hardware upgrades coming to the product category at CES in January. If you’ve ever used a Google-powered streaming device or television, you’d know that they already have Google Assistant that you can use for search. But Gemini on TV, like its counterpart everywhere else, enables free-flowing conversations using natural language. You can activate it with a “Hey, Google” or by pressing the mic button on the remote. 

The company says you can ask Gemini to find you something to watch based on your preferences. For example, you can say: “Find me something to watch with my wife. I like dramas, but she likes lighthearted comedies.” You can also ask it to summarize the events in the previous season of a show you’re watching if you need a refresher before you start the next one. You can also ask Gemini to show you reviews for a particular show, or even ask it vague questions, such as “What’s the new hospital drama everyone’s talking about?” 

You’re not just limited to asking questions about TV shows and movies, either. When Google demonstrated the AI assistant at CES, a company rep asked Gemini on TV to “explain the solar system to a third grader.” The AI assistant did, and it also suggested relevant YouTube videos. You can ask it questions if you’re learning a new skill, as well as recipes, to get answers with video suggestions you can follow. And after it’s done answering your first query, you can make follow-up questions for clarity and more information. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/gemini-arrives-on-google-tv-160003839.html?src=rss