Category: Technology

In the latest blow to what was generally a functional government, President Donald Trump wants to eliminate the independent agency in charge of issuing recalls and protecting US citizens from harmful products. The Office of Management and Budget has suggested the responsibilities of the Consumer Product Safety Commission should be folded into “a nonexistent division within the Department of Health and Human Services,” according to a joint letter from lawmakers. And to seemingly start the process, Trump has fired the commission’s three Democratic members without cause, The Washington Post reports.

Following a meeting with the Department of Government Efficiency, Commissioners Mary Boyle and Richard Trumka Jr. received emails on May 8 informing them they’d been fired. A third commissioner, Alexander Hoehn-Saric wasn’t formerly fired, but shared via a statement on May 9 that the Acting Chairman of the commission was “preventing [him] from executing [his] duties.” 

Commissioners in agencies like the CPSC, FCC or the FTC are appointed by the President, approved by the Senate and normally serve out their term in its entirety. Removing a commissioner requires the President to determine that they’ve neglected their duty or are credibly accused of wrongdoing.

That Constitutionally protected standard has not been Trump’s concern since he took office. The Democratic members of the FTC say they were illegally fired in a similar fashion back in March, and are now suing the US government. CPSC Commissioner Trumka has announced that he plans to take his case to court, too. The US Supreme Court is considering a case that could determine whether Trump can actually fire members of independent agencies, but until that verdict is reached, we’re in limbo.

Eliminating the CPSC or at the very least, its Democratic wing, means businesses will receive a lot less scrutiny over the products they sell. Plenty of companies would prefer not to deal with the hassle of recalls and fines. Amazon even proposed in March that the CPSC was too powerful and called the agency “unconstitutionally constructed.” Under the Trump administration, those complaints are apparently being heard and acted upon.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/trump-plans-to-shut-down-the-consumer-product-safety-commission-214635181.html?src=rss 

While the company might be pulling back some of its investments in the infrastructure that makes it run, Microsoft remains, at least publicly, intensely focused on AI and Copilot. The company’s annual Microsoft Build developer conference runs from May 19 to 22 and typically touches on all of the company’s various platforms, but it seems like AI will once again be the star.

Microsoft Build is typically a pretty dry affair — Azure comes up a lot — but in the last few years the company has also used the conference to introduce new AI features that eventually make their way into consumer products. Since Microsoft recently released a new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop, too, the event should be all about software.

You’ll be able to watch the opening Build Keynote hosted by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and CTO Kevin Scott on the Build website, or if you want the highlights as they happen, follow along with Engadget’s liveblog. In the meantime, we can make some educated guesses as to what Microsoft might touch on.

Adding more AI to Windows 11

Microsoft talked up agents — AI that can take action on your behalf — a lot at Microsoft Build 2024, and the ways AI is automating work in Windows will likely come up this year, too. Microsoft has announced plans to introduce an agent into the Settings app that can make adjustments to your computer for you. An in-depth look at the feature or a tease of other agents coming to Windows 11 seems like obvious subject for the keynote to touch on. The company will likely get in to how third-party developers can build agents into their own apps, too.

Microsoft has also shared that its making changes to File Explorer to let you find and tweak files without jumping into another app, and upgrading the start menu so you can find and download apps without having to open the Microsoft Store. Both features could be highlighted at Build.

Letting Copilot see your desktop

One of the most impressive features Microsoft has demoed for Copilot is the ability for the AI assistant to selectively see what you’re doing and talk to you about it. Copilot Vision, as the feature is called, is already available on mobile, and Microsoft has teased an expanded version of the feature that can see your desktop or select app windows. Windows Insiders can already use Copilot Vision, but Microsoft hasn’t shared when it’ll come to normal users. Detailing the feature in-depth and expanding where it works seems like a natural things that could come up during Build. 

Microsoft introduced a new “Researcher” tool to Copilot in March 2025 that uses OpenAI’s o3 reasoning model, but limited the feature to Microsoft 365 subscribers. The tool can perform research on your behalf, compiling information from multiple sources, like data from your OneDrive and web searches. Microsoft didn’t announce plans to bring Researcher to the free version of Copilot in Windows, but it could do that at Build 2025.

Everything else

Microsoft maintains multiple platforms that act as the backbone of the world’s other gigantic businesses. AI is more interesting to the average person, but the company will likely have more to share on Azure, .NET and GitHub at Build 2025, too.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/microsoft-build-2025-what-to-expect-from-copilot-windows-11-and-ai-agents-204521927.html?src=rss 

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) wants eyes on everyone leaving the country by vehicle. Wired reported this week that the agency plans to photograph every person in cars going to Mexico or Canada by land, including backseat passengers.

The program would use facial recognition to match the pictures with travel documents like passports and visas. A CBP spokesperson told Wired that it wasn’t immediately apparent that the surveillance system would track self-deportations, but she wouldn’t rule out future use. “Not to say it won’t happen in the future, though, with the way self-deportation is going,” CBP spokesperson Jessica Turner said.

Among the Trump administration’s self-deportation moves have been offering $1,000 payouts to undocumented immigrants to leave the country voluntarily. It also listed 6,000 living immigrants with temporary parole as legally dead. That included canceling their Social Security numbers, effectively voiding their ability to work or collect benefits.

The outgoing border photography plan would mirror a program CBP is developing for incoming border crossings. A separate Wired report from earlier in the week revealed the agency asked tech companies to suggest how they would track everyone entering the country by vehicle, including those seated two or three rows back. It’s turning to Big Tech because its own attempts haven’t been up to snuff. A recent test of the system at a Texas-Mexico crossing showed that CBP’s cameras only met face-matching validation requirements 61 percent of the time.

The moves come amid souring immigration approval for President Trump. A late-April poll from WaPo-ABC News-Ipsos found his approval rating on immigration underwater by seven points. (In February, he had a net positive of two points on the topic.) Meanwhile, a late-April NYT-Sienna College poll found that 53 percent of registered voters said Trump has “gone too far” on immigration enforcement.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cameras/the-trump-administration-wants-to-photograph-everyone-leaving-the-us-by-car-200129593.html?src=rss 

Epic has officially submitted Fortnite to the US Apple App Store. If the game returns, it’ll be the first time in nearly five years that the battle royale shooter will be available on iOS devices.

This is happening after a judge ruled that Apple must stop collecting fees for purchases made outside of the App Store. Epic celebrated the ruling by announcing Fortnite’s imminent return, along with changes to its sales platform aimed at developers and publishers. The company will not charge a commission of any kind to publishers for the first $1,000,000 in revenue from an app per year.

Additionally, Epic announced the formation of standalone webshops, offering another way for devs to avoid Apple’s exorbitant App Store fees. The shops are powered by Epic Games Store and offer a platform for “out-of-app purchases, as a more cost-effective alternative to in-app purchases.” It also announced a higher rate of Epic Rewards when using its proprietary payment system.

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has stated that the company would return the game to the App Store worldwide, so long as Apple extends the court’s ruling across the globe. We don’t know where Apple stands on that one, but the company did appeal the ruling and filed an emergency motion to ask the federal appeals court to put a pause on any changes to how the App Store operates and collects fees.

Epic responded to this move by calling it a “last ditch effort to block competition and extract massive junk fees at the expense of consumers and developers.” Some companies, like Spotify, have already submitted updates that would let US customers pay outside the App Store.

Additionally, a group of developers have banded together to file a class action suit against Apple. The suit alleges that they have lost large amounts of money due to Apple’s failure to comply with the original court order that ordered it stop collecting fees for purchases made outside the App Store.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/epic-has-submitted-fortnite-to-the-us-app-store-185540630.html?src=rss 

Google has agreed to pay $50 million to settle a lawsuit that accused the tech giant of systemic racial bias against Black employees, as reported by Reuters. The preliminary settlement was filed earlier this week, but still requires a judge’s approval. The class action suit covers more than 4,000 employees.

Plaintiffs involved in the suit said that Google operates a “racially biased corporate culture” that steers Black employees to lower-level jobs. The suit also accuses the company of paying these employees less than other workers. The complaint goes on to say that Black employees comprised just 4.4 percent of its workforce and around three percent of its leadership in 2021. As a reference, Black Americans make up 14 percent of the population.

The initial plaintiff said that Google denied her promotions and stereotyped her as an “angry” Black woman. She was fired while preparing a report on the company’s alleged racial bias. The suit also alleges that managers denigrated Black employees, saying they weren’t “Googley” enough or lacked “Googleyness.”

Google still denies any wrongdoing, despite agreeing to settle. It has offered no additional comment.

This lawsuit began all the way back in 2022 when the California Civil Rights Department started looking into Google’s treatment of Black female employees. At that time, the plaintiff said that the company claimed to be in favor of increasing diversity, all the while “they were actually undervaluing, underpaying and mistreating their Black employees.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/google-settles-lawsuit-that-accused-it-of-fostering-systemic-bias-against-black-employees-181505849.html?src=rss 

Now that Apple has to stop collecting fees on non-App Store purchases, Epic is pouncing with a new incentive. Starting today, you’ll get 20 percent back in Epic Rewards when using the company’s payment system for in-app purchases in Fortnite, Rocket League and Fall Guys.

The offer isn’t limited to the App Store, so you’ll get the same 20 percent reward on PC, Android and the web. The reward balance will arrive 14 days after your purchase. You can redeem Epic Rewards inside the company’s games or on the Epic Games Store.

PC gamers who use Epic’s Store also get 20 percent back on all purchases. However, unlike the in-app purchase program, that incentive only runs for a limited time. It expires on August 31.

The rewards follow a legal ruling in Epic’s favor. Last week, Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, a federal district judge in Northern California, said Apple violated a previous ruling from 2021. That four-year-old injunction required the iPhone maker to let App Store developers direct users to alternative payment systems, bypassing Apple’s 30 percent fees.

However, after the 2021 ruling, Apple charged a 27 percent commission on external payments. (It was a lower 12 percent for iOS Small Business Program members.) The company also showed “scare screens,” discouraging users from using third-party payment systems due to decreased privacy and security. The judge scolded Apple in her ruling, saying it knew what it was doing and “at every turn chose the most anticompetitive option.”

After the ruling, Epic quickly announced that Fortnite would return to the App Store. Epic said on Friday that it submitted the game for review on Apple’s storefront.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/epic-launches-a-reward-program-to-lure-you-away-from-the-app-store-182027032.html?src=rss 

Arlo is expanding the AI features offered in its subscription security service as part of its new Arlo Secure 6 update. The updated system will offer improved video search, give cameras and doorbells a greater ability to identify possible emergency events and automatically create captions for anything your security system records when it starts rolling out later in May.

As part of Arlo Secure 6, cameras will not only be able to use object-detection to identify things like packages, but also send you a notification when they visually detect a flame. The list of things devices can detect via sound is also expanding to include gunshots, screams, barking and broken glass, making it easier to know when to call for help.

To make it easier to review footage, Arlo is now also using AI to generate captions for the clips your security system captures, that way you don’t need to watch everything to know what’s going on. And when you need to pull up a specific clip, Arlo Secure 6 will let you search for “specific keywords, descriptions, or time ranges” to find what you’re looking for.

Both Google and Amazon have explored similar AI-powered features in their Nest Aware and Ring Home services, automatically identify smoke alarms or letting you search for a specific person or thing in video search. This Secure 6 update makes Arlo’s service more competitive, while focusing on some specifics that neither Google or Amazon offer.

If you’re already pay for an Arlo Secure plan, you should get the new Arlo Secure 6 features starting this month. Arlo offers two versions of its Secure subscription, a Plus plan for either $8 per month (one camera) or $18 per month (unlimited cameras), and a Premium plan for $25 per month.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/arlo-updates-its-security-system-to-caption-what-cameras-see-and-detect-gunshots-183019334.html?src=rss 

Fitness tech company Whoop has announced a pair of new wearables, four years since its last product launch. The devices in question are the Whoop 5.0 and the Whoop MG, both of which require you to take up a subscription when you purchase. For those not aware, Whoop bands aren’t available as standalone devices. A membership unlocks their features.

Both new products are screenless, no-nonsense wearables with an estimated 14-day battery life and 10 times the power efficiency of their predecessor, the Whoop 4.0. The new devices are smaller than the 4.0 too, and both are designed to be worn 24/7 thanks to always-on sensors. The main difference between the Whoop 5.0 and the MG is the latter’s medical-grade ECG capabilities (hence the “MG” in the name) and daily blood pressure readings.

How much functionality you get from your Whoop wearable depends not only on the model you choose, but the membership plan you take up with it. The entry level $199-per-year “One” tier will provide “professional-grade fitness insights” that include the fitness tracker fundamentals, like sleep tracking, step count, heart rate zones and hormonal insights for women. With this plan you get the Whoop 5.0 and a basic charger, as well as a CoreKnit band.

Stepping up to the $239 “Peak” tier nets you everything on Whoop One, as well as real-time stress monitoring and the new Healthspan metric, which assesses your long-term health prospects by measuring your Whoop Age and Pace of Aging, and offers “guided insights and actionable recommendations” accordingly.

The premium tier is called “Life” and is exclusive to Whoop MG users and costs $359 a year. With this you can expect daily blood pressure insights, ECG readings and irregular heart rhythm notifications. Life members also receive a SuperKnit Luxe band and a waterproof wireless charger.

Whoop offers a one-month free trial of its previous Whoop 4.0 membership. You can then choose between the three new membership tiers and the devices attached to them after or before your trial ends. Current members can also choose to upgrade from today.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/whoops-latest-wearables-are-smaller-and-offer-14-day-battery-life-170525375.html?src=rss