Category: Technology

The News/Media Alliance took aim at Google today after the tech company’s announcement at its I/O showcase that AI Mode will be rolling out to all US search users. This feature more closely integrates an AI chatbot into Google search. Ostensibly, AI Mode can help people get better answers to their queries, but it also serves to keep users on a Google property rather than clicking through to get information from other publications.

“Links were the last redeeming quality of search that gave publishers traffic and revenue. Now Google just takes content by force and uses it with no return, the definition of theft,” said News/Media Alliance President and CEO Danielle Coffey. “The DOJ remedies must address this to prevent continued domination of the internet by one company.”

This isn’t the first time the organization has fired shots at Google; it filed an amicus brief earlier this month looking for remedy in the antitrust case about Google’s monopoly control over search. The group argued that publishers should be able to opt out of letting search engines use their content for retrieval augmented generation.

Google has also taken an aggressive stance toward publishers as it develops more AI-driven services. The company’s recent attitude can be seen in Bloomberg‘s discovery of an internal document showing that the company decided not to give publishers a choice to opt out of AI training if they wanted their material to appear in search results.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/newsmedia-alliance-calls-googles-ai-mode-theft-223128521.html?src=rss 

Devices running Android 16 will pick up a new trick when the software update rolls out later this year: The ability to run a desktop-style interface while connected to an external display. An early version of the idea was spotted for phones in betas of Android 16, but as 9to5Google noticed, Google made the feature official during its developer keynote.

According to the presentation, the new windowing and external display feature was created in collaboration with Samsung, “building on the foundation of Samsung DeX, to bring enhanced desktop windowing capabilities in Android 16.” Prior to this official support, Samsung DeX was a custom feature Samsung built into One UI that allowed certain Samsung phones and tablets to display a desktop-style interface while connected to a display.

Google’s implementation seems to be aiming for the same thing, with resizable windows and a dock for your most used apps. The company also appears open to the feature working on tablets and phones, too. In a blog post touting the advantages of developing adaptive apps, Google says that Android 16 offers “a true desktop-like experience on large screens and when devices are connected to external displays.” While Google’s language leaves things open-ended, support for this desktop experience could still hinge on phone makers enabling it and app developers making sure their apps play nice with resizable windows.

A developer beta of Android 16 is available to download on select phones and tablets right now. Assuming desktop windowing and support for external displays isn’t dropping in a later update, you’ll be able to try the new features for yourself when Android 16 launches in June.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/android-16-includes-a-desktop-interface-google-built-from-samsung-dex-213611668.html?src=rss 

Sonos’ speakers are known for their premium price tags, but if you’re looking for a more affordable entry-point to the ecosystem, you can get up to 25 percent off some of the company’s portable speakers and speaker bundles for Memorial Day. That includes $113 off the Sonos Move 2, which brings the speaker’s price down from $449 to $336.

The Sonos Move 2 was introduced in 2023 as the more expensive follow-up to the original Move, Sonos’ first “portable” speaker. You can argue over it’s portability — the Move 2 makes more sense as something your carry to your backyard than take on a hike — but the speaker packs a punch and lets you play music over both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. We liked the Sonos Move 2 when we originally reviewed it, but took issue with how expensive it was, so this sale helps make splurging on it more palatable.

If you’re looking for something even more portable and affordable, the Sonos Roam 2 is also on sale for $45 off. Like the Move 2, the speaker has the ability to connect to a smartphone over Bluetooth outside while still being able to hook into your larger Sonos sound system over Wi-Fi at home. The Sonos Roam 2 offers some key improvements to the original Roam’s design, too, like new colors and easier to understand buttons, while still providing the company’s signature sound profile and 10 hours of battery life.

On top of the two speakers, you could also buy a bundle of a speaker and an accessory, like the Sonos Roam 2 and an OtterBox case, or a bundle of multiple speakers. You can get two Roam 2’s for $268 or a Sonos Roam 2 and Sonos Move 2 for $479, for example.

Sonos has faced issues in the last year ironing out software problems — the bugs and missing features were so bad the company’s CEO stepped down — but the fundamentals of how the company’s speakers sound have remained great. With the ship mostly righted on the software side of things, a sale is a great time to see what all of the fuss is about.

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

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/speakers/sonos-portable-speakers-are-25-percent-off-for-memorial-day-185627228.html?src=rss 

The upcoming Switch 2 launch title Mario Kart World was originally intended for the OG Switch console, according to an interview with the game’s developers. This was the goal until the dev team realized that the console couldn’t handle it.

“It was difficult for us to incorporate everything we wanted, so we were always conscious of what we were giving up in return,” said programming director Kenta Sato. A big sticking point seemed to be that the original Switch would have had to run the game at 30FPS. Mario Kart games have always run at 60FPS, for obvious reasons. You can’t simulate speed without, uh, simulating speed.

Developers pecked away at the “tough situation” until finally deciding to create more DLC for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as a way to bide time as the team figured out what to do.

“As we’d decided to release Mario Kart 8 Deluxe — Booster Course Pass, we thought that would give us a bit more time to continue development,” said producer Kosuke Yabuki. “That’s when the conversation of moving it to the Nintendo Switch 2 system came up, and this suddenly opened up a bunch of possibilities on what we could do. It was truly a ray of hope.”

This interview also revealed that the game has been in development since 2017, which is a heck of a long time. However, it makes a certain amount of sense given that the original Mario Kart 8 came out in 2014.

The upcoming racer was always set in an open world and it was never going to be called Mario Kart 9. The developers wanted to “take the series to the next level.” The big, connected world seems to do just that.

“I felt that in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, we were able to perfect the formula that we’d been following in the series up to that point, where players race on individual courses,” Yabuki continued. “That’s why, this time, we wanted the gameplay to involve players driving around a large world, and we began creating a world map like this.”

I personally think the company made the right call by delaying this game until the Switch 2. Recent first-party Switch titles have experienced massive framerate issues, and there’s no way the console could have handled races with 24 participants. In any event, we only have a couple of weeks until we get to play Mario Kart World, if you’ve successfully reserved the Switch 2 for the June 5 launch.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/mario-kart-world-was-initially-planned-for-the-original-switch-174704456.html?src=rss 

Sony is opting out of its PlayStation Stars loyalty program. Starting today, you can no longer sign up for the program. If you’re a member and cancel your membership, you won’t be able to sign up again.

Current members can still earn points and digital collectibles and level up their status until July 23 at 9:59 PM ET. After that, all campaigns and rewards will be kaput. The program will be entirely discontinued on November 2. But if you keep your membership until then, you can still redeem your points after that, provided they haven’t expired.

Sony launched PlayStation Stars in 2022. The company’s first loyalty program lets you earn points by playing games and making purchases on the PlayStation Store. You can redeem points for items like PSN wallet funds and select store products.

The company will now “refocus” its approach to rewards. (How, we don’t know.) “We want to thank all of our players for supporting PlayStation Stars since the launch in 2022,” Sony wrote on the PlayStation Blog. “As we explore new ways to evolve our loyalty program efforts for the future, we’ll continue to celebrate all of our players through the various community activities we have planned.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/sony-is-ending-its-playstation-stars-loyalty-program-164514310.html?src=rss 

OpenAI is buying Jony Ive’s startup, io, for $6.5 billion, as first reported by The New York Times. The company confirmed the news in a blog post on its website headlined by the photo you see above, which is apparently real and not AI generated. As part of the deal, Ive and his design studio, LoveForm, will continue to work independently of OpenAI. However, Scott Cannon, Evans Hankey and Tang Tan, who co-founded io with Ive, will become OpenAI employees. 

OpenAI has not disclosed whether the deal would be paid for in cash or stock. The company has yet to turn a profit. According to reporting from The Information, OpenAI has agreed to share 20 percent of its revenue with Microsoft until 2030 in return for the more than $13 billion the tech giant has invested into it.  

Developing…

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-buys-jony-ives-design-startup-for-65-billion-173356962.html?src=rss 

According to a report by The Verge, Microsoft says Apple‘s App Store rules are to blame for the continued delay of the Xbox mobile app store it announced last summer. The store would have allowed users to buy Microsoft mobile games through the Xbox web store on iOS. In an amicus brief filed this week, Microsoft expressed support for Epic Games in the companies’ long-running bout against Apple. The company also expressed concern that Apple could succeed in overturning the injunction that has opened the floodgates for payments outside of apps that circumvent Apple’s 30 percent fee.

Apple filed an appeal against the injunction earlier this month, and just a few days later it asked the Ninth Circuit to halt enforcement of the original ruling while it works through its appeal. Microsoft, for its part, is urging the court to enforce the injunction while the courts handle the appeal. The company points out that Apple itself has said that the policy changes it made in response to the injunction “can be undone,” raising concern that without firm enforcement by the courts, Apple could pull the rug at any given moment.

As of this writing, Microsoft’s filing is not yet publicly available, but The Verge has details on the brief’s contents. It reads, in part: “The district court’s injunction allows Apple to maintain its in-app exclusivity but at least should have enabled Microsoft to offer consumers a workable solution by launching its own online store — accessible via link-out — for in-app items to be purchased off-app and used in games or other apps. And that is what Microsoft wants to do. But even this solution has been stymied by Apple.”

While things are moving quickly, with apps like Fortnite already returning to the App Store in the US, Microsoft remains in a holding pattern awaiting a firm outcome in the case. It seems they want to avoid a situation where the Xbox mobile store is released, only to be taken down should Apple win on appeal.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/microsoft-blames-apple-for-xbox-mobile-store-delays-162413207.html?src=rss