Category: Technology

Accounts Center is a single space allowing users to manage their Facebook, Instagram and (even) Meta Quest log-ins. Today, Meta has announced that WhatsApp is joining the list of supported apps, enabling you to reshare statuses and posts across all of your platforms. In addition, you can use single sign-on to log back into your WhatsApp account.

Meta has announced the change today, but it will take time before WhatsApp support is added to everyone’s Accounts Center, so patience may be required. In addition, Meta has pledged to add more features that can be shared across multiple platforms, like AI stickers, avatars and its AI-crafted selfie creations. Those worried about whether this may affect WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption may rest easy, as Meta has said none of these changes will impact your messages’ privacy and security.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-lets-users-add-whatsapp-to-their-main-accounts-center-150023247.html?src=rss 

The Super Bowl is just around the corner, and there’s no better way to enjoy the game at home than watching them on a large TV — particularly an OLED, thanks to its color accuracy. The 65-inch LG C3 OLED TV is again at the lowest price that we saw during last year’s holiday season. It’s currently 20 percent off and down to $1,197. While this is the older C3 model from 2023, the newer C4 model costs more, and it remains a good choice if getting the absolute latest model isn’t a priority.

The LG C3 OLED TV supports Dolby Vision and HDR10, perfect for streaming shows and movies. The 4K panel also has a 120Hz refresh rate, which is great for console gaming, especially with a PS5 or Xbox Series X/S. To make the gaming experience smoother, there’s NVIDIA G-Sync, AMD FreeSync Premium and VRR to prevent screen tearing. There’s a reason we selected it as one of the best gaming TVs, and it still holds true even with newer models on the horizon.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-65-inch-lg-c3-oled-tv-is-cheaper-than-ever-right-now-143040370.html?src=rss 

Marvel Snap is back online in the US after it shut down alongside TikTok, Second Dinner has announced. The game’s developer also said on X that it’s partnering with a new publisher and working to bring more services in-house to “make sure this never happens again.” This weekend, Marvel Snap went offline along with the other apps developed by or affiliated with ByteDance, including video editing tool CapCut, social media app Lemon8 and, of course, TikTok. The collectible card game was published by Nuverse, which is a subsidiary of ByteDance, for Android, iOS and Windows. 

We still couldn’t find the app for download when we looked it up, but Second Dinner said in a response on X that it’s still working on restoring the game on Google Play and the App Store. “It may take some time,” the developer added. It also said that it’s still working on resolving the in-app purchasing errors that fans who already have the game installed are getting. For now, players can purchase credits, boosters, passes and packages from the Marvel Snap web shop as Second Dinner works on fixing the issue. 

TikTok was the first ByteDance app that went back online. It was down for less than a full day in the US before announcing that it was restoring its service in the country “in agreement with [its] service providers.” CapCut and Lemon8 are still not available as of this writing. Shortly after taking office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order putting a 75-day pause on the law that banned TikTok in the country. Trump, who also sought to ban TikTok in the US during his term, said that the enforcement’s timing “interferes with [his] ability to assess the national security and foreign policy implications of the Act’s prohibitions before they take effect.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/marvel-snap-comes-back-online-in-the-us-064635041.html?src=rss 

That didn’t take long. Soon after taking office, President Donald Trump signed a swathe of executive orders. Among them was a temporary pause on the law that banned TikTok in the US.

With the executive order, Trump’s Justice Department will not enforce the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act for 75 days, effectively extending the amount of time the company has to reach a deal. In a statement, Trump said that the “unfortunate timing” of the law, which went into effect during President Joe Biden’s last hours in office, “interferes with my ability to assess the national security and foreign policy implications of the Act’s prohibitions before they take effect.” 

He wrote that he would review “sensitive intelligence” related to the national security concerns raised by the app’s critics and “evaluate the sufficiency of mitigation measures TikTok has taken to date.” The company previously undertook a years-long effort, known as Project Texas, to move US user data to servers hosted by Oracle. The arrangement was made after years of negotiating with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), but those talks halted last year.

TikTok (and other ByteDance apps) went offline late Saturday ahead of the law taking effect on Sunday. The TikTok outage only lasted a matter of hours, however. Service was gradually restored after Trump pledged to sign an executive order to suspend the law after he was sworn in on Monday. He affirmed that there would be “no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order.” Trump also proposed a joint venture that would see US interests take a 50 percent stake in TikTok.

Earlier on Monday, China (where ByteDance is based) signaled an openness to striking a deal with the US that would allow TikTok to remain active there for the long run, despite previously saying it would block a forced sale of the app. “When it comes to actions such as the operation and acquisition of businesses, we believe they should be independently decided by companies in accordance with market principles,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said. “If it involves Chinese companies, China’s laws and regulations should be observed.”

During his first administration, Trump sought to ban TikTok in the US. He signed executive orders to that effect, which included an attempt to force ByteDance to sell its US business. That didn’t come to pass at the time. But pressure on TikTok mounted during the Biden Administration, with the former president signing a bill last year that called for ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a ban in the US. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/trump-delays-tiktok-ban-for-at-least-75-days-via-executive-order-014523110.html?src=rss 

At a rally following the inauguration ceremonies, President Trump had a desk brought out on stage where he signed a number of executive orders. The first of the evening took aim at 78 of the Biden administration’s orders, including the October 2023 guidelines for AI. 

“The revocations within this order will be the first of many steps the United States Federal Government will take to repair our institutions and our economy,” the text reads. There’s no explanation for any of the selections, just a long list with “the following actions are hereby revoked” as an introduction. Some were related to the on-going response COVID-19 pandemic while others concern immigration, climate change and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). 

Biden’s executive order outlined an ambitious plan to establish protections for the general public and best practices for the federal government with regard to artificial intelligence. More specifically, the EO sought new standards for safety and security in addition to protocols for AI watermarking and both civil rights and consumer protections. It also laid out plains to mitigate the impact on workers from businesses using AI as well as launched a new federal jobs portal seeking “more AI talent.” 

In singular executive orders on Monday, Trump also withdrew the US from the Paris climate agreement for the second time. He did so during his first term, but Biden reinstated US participation when he took office.  

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/trump-executive-order-rescinds-bidens-ai-framework-012825311.html?src=rss 

When President Biden took office back in 2021, he issued several executive orders to address climate change. Now, the reverse is happening. President Trump is in charge now and he is signing EOs at a fevered pace. Many of these actions seek to limit or reverse any changes made by the Biden administration, taking the oft-used “head in the sand” approach to climate policy. Trump’s first step was to withdraw the US from the Paris climate agreement… again.

Trump began the executive order deluge by rescinding 78 of the Biden administration’s EOs, including one on AI guidelines, before implementing a federal hiring freeze and mandating no new regulations. Keep in mind that an EO cannot change a law or regulation, but that won’t stop Trump from trying. In other words, some of this stuff will end up mired in lengthy legal battles.

Trump withdrew the US from the Paris climate agreement during his first term and then Biden reinstated it. Now, history repeats itself. The president has once again taken the US off the agreement roster. This puts the US as one of the few nations that aren’t part of the 2015 accord, joining Iran, Libya, South Sudan, Eritrea and Yemen.

This also means that the US is likely dropping any pledges it made under the pact, including a promise of climate aid for developing nations and a commitment to cut emissions up to 66 percent by 2035. The Trump administration has to notify the United Nations in writing of its intention to withdraw from the accord, which will take a year to become official.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/president-trump-withdraws-the-us-from-the-paris-climate-agreement-again-002803951.html?src=rss 

The filmmakers behind The Brutalist, a likely Oscar contender currently being distributed by A24, used AI to alter actor’s dialogue and create images used in the film’s epilogue, the film’s editor Dávid Jancsó shared in an interview with RedShark News. 

The epic drama follows a fictional Hungarian architect (as played by Adrien Brody) who struggles to make art under the fickle system of American capitalism (and the weirdos that run it). To make Brody and his costar Felicity Jones’ Hungarian pronunciation as accurate as possible, Jancsó says the production used AI from a company called Respeecher to alter the actor’s speech.

Respeecher was able to adjust the actor’s vocals to make them match a native Hungarian speaker’s pronunciation, though Jancsó says the process didn’t do anything you couldn’t achieve with traditional dialogue editing. “You can do this in ProTools yourself, but we had so much dialogue in Hungarian that we really needed to speed up the process, otherwise we’d still be in post.”

Generative AI was also used to help create architectural drawings used near the end of the film, according to Jancsó. Both decisions were made because of the budgetary constraints the production was under. The Brutalist is an over three-hour film with multiple stars, period-appropriate costuming, and elaborate sets, that was reportedly made for less than $10 million.

A little over a year after multiple Hollywood unions went on strike over the possibility of studios using AI to replace workers, it’s still highly controversial to use the tech, let alone be open about it. But the problem is undeniably complicated when there are so many different ways AI can be used. “The aim was to preserve the authenticity of Adrien and Felicity’s performances in another language, not to replace or alter them and done with the utmost respect for the craft,” Brady Corbet, the director of The Brutalist, told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement.

Respeecher was previously used to create new Darth Vader dialogue for Disney+’s Obi-Wan-Kenobi, and this likely won’t be the last time similar tools are used to cut costs. Making movies requires a lot of resources, and while companies are trying to get AI to catch on, using AI tools will likely remain a viable options to save time and money.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/oscar-hopeful-the-brutalist-used-ai-during-production-223016216.html?src=rss 

As part of sweeping plans to change immigration in the United States, the Trump Administration has removed functionality from the CBP One app, a US Customs and Border Protection app used by asylum seekers to pursue legal admission into the US along the southwest border. As of January 20, 2025 the app can longer be used to schedule an appointment for admission, and any existing appointments have been cancelled, according to the CBP website.

The CBP One app was introduced in 2020, and was expanded into a tool for asylum seekers in 2023, quickly becoming the only way migrants could “preschedule appointments for processing and maintain guaranteed asylum eligibility,” according to the American Immigration Council. The app “allowed 1,450 migrants a day” to schedule an appointment for admission, The New York Times writes, and has helped more than 900,000 people to enter the country since it was launched in 2023 through the end of 2024.

No warning was given to asylum seekers that the program was ending on January 20, and the Trump Administration hasn’t outlined what could replace it. Engadget has contacted US Citizenship and Immigration Services and US Customs and Border Protection for more information and will update this article if we learn more.

CBP One was revealed to be an issue for the new administration during the Vice Presidential debate, when now Vice President JD Vance claimed that there was an app that let illegal immigrants schedule an appointment and be granted legal status in the US. That’s not how CBP One works, and in fact the Biden Administration’s use of the app has been criticized for how dramatically it’s slowed down and complicated the process, leading some asylum seekers to wait up to six months for an appointment.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/the-trump-administration-is-no-longer-letting-asylum-seekers-make-appointments-with-the-cbp-one-app-204004060.html?src=rss 

I am the first to admit that I am quite clumsy, so I always buy extra care protection for my devices. However, I’m still always shocked by the price of fixing whatever inevitable water damage or cracked screen I bring in. So, it’s nice to see that Samsung Care+ with Theft and Loss has updated its plan to include $0 same day repairs for cracked screens and back glass. Samsung’s most expensive protection plan also includes unlimited repairs at authorized locations, so you don’t have to worry if it breaks again.

Previously, same day repairs cost $29 a pop. Care+ plan customers (the next tier down) have to pay $29 for cracked screen repairs and $99 for back glass repairs. 

However, even with the update, these “free” repairs don’t come cheap. The price of all Samsung Care+ plans vary based on the specific device, with each product broken into tiers. For example, a Galaxy S23 or S24 Ultra is currently in Tier 4 and would cost $18 per month or $349 for two years of Samsung Care+ with Theft and Loss. Whereas, a Galaxy A15 is in Tier 1 and would cost $8 per month or $129 for two years of the same plan. 

Samsung Care+ with Theft and Loss is only available for phones, tablets and watches — though watches will still cost $29 per repair or replacement. It also includes same day replacement and set up, Knox Guard Security and a max of three “lost, stolen, and/or unrecoverable claims” during a consecutive 12 months.  

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/samsung-care-now-offers-0-screen-repair-but-it-will-cost-you-160016109.html?src=rss