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YouTube is teaming up with one of the world’s largest talent agencies, CAA, to help its high-profile actors and athletes monitor their AI likenesses. “Through this collaboration, several of the world’s most influential figures will have access to early-stage technology designed to identify and manage AI-generated content that features their likeness, including their face, on YouTube at scale,” YouTube wrote on its official blog.

The video platform plans to begin testing its “likeness management technology” with unnamed award-winning actors and top NBA and NFL athletes, all clients of CAA (Creative Artists Agency). The system will surface AI-generated content that depicts their likeness and provide easy access to submit requests for removal through its privacy-complaint process. 

Through CAA and its influential client list, YouTube says it will gain insight before releasing it more widely to other creators and artists. Down the road, it will announce further testing for top YouTube creators, creative professionals and other talent agencies. 

CAA is an ideal first partner to test its likeness management tech, YouTube wrote. The agency has been on the forefront of AI and digital rights, via its CAAvault talent-focused serivce that scans, captures and securely stores clients’ digital likeness including face, body and voice. 

Technology platforms like YouTube have been at odds with creators over the use of AI, particularly when it comes to training large language models (LLMs) on copyrighted text, artworks and the likenesses of famous people. The issue is particularly contentious in Hollywood; some stars have agreed to let AI replicate their voices under license, but many have railed against its use. 

Last week in a podcast interview with Armchair Expert, Friends actor Lisa Kudrow called the use of digital versions of Tom Hanks and Robin Wright in the film Here an “endorsement” of AI. “What will there be left for, forget actors, but what about up-and-coming actors? They’ll just be licensing and recycling. What work will there be for human beings?”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/youtube-is-helping-high-profile-actors-and-athletes-monetize-their-ai-likenesses-133029330.html?src=rss 

You can now access Apple’s answer to Google Street View on the web. As 9to5Mac reports, Apple has enabled Look Around for the beta version of Apple Maps on the web, letting you literally look around and explore the cities where it’s available. The company has a full list of “Look Around” locations on its website, and it includes select cities in the US, Japan and several countries in the European Union. To start exploring a place on your desktop, you only have to click on the binocular icon at the bottom left corner of the map. Like on Street View, you’ll be able to virtually fly across roads and drag the screen to show more of the place with the feature’s 360-degree images. 

Apple launched the beta version of Maps for the web in July, with a number of limitations. Access was limited to certain devices and browsers. While you could already use it to look up directions and guides, it didn’t roll out with Look Around, though Apple promised to add more features in the coming months. Although Look Around’s coverage is pretty limited at the moment, MacRumors previously reported finding clues in Apple Maps suggesting that the company is working on expanding its availability. Apple apparently has plans to add smaller cities and rural areas to the Look Around network, as well as to add more countries, such as Egypt, China and Mexico.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/apple-maps-look-around-is-now-available-on-the-web-035431088.html?src=rss 

A new hard drive based on the long-promised heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) technology is almost here. Tom’s Hardware reported that a new sales page popped up on the Seagate website announcing a new Exos M 30TM and 32TB hard disk drive (HDD) featuring 3TB per platter with three times the power efficiency per terabyte compared to other hard drives.

The new hard drive is based on Seagate’s new Mozaic 3+ platform and is its first HDD to use HAMR. HAMR refers to a magnetic storage process in which localized heat is applied to the disk material during writing, which allows for smaller regions and more space per platter. These and other breakthroughs could someday pave the way to a 50TB HDD. Here’s a video from our Upscaled series that breaks down the entire process and what it means for the future of HDD storage.

There’s no official release date yet for the Exos M. You can stay up to date by email of its pending release on Seagate’s product page.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/seagate-teases-its-first-hamr-based-hard-drive-001519503.html?src=rss 

Wizards of the Coast is shutting down the online servers for Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance early next year. According to the updated store listings, the game will no longer be available for purchase and its servers will go down for good on February 24, 2025. “The base game and all DLC are still available to play in offline single player by anyone who currently owns it,” the notice from the company adds.

Dark Alliance launched in 2021 with a single-player mode and an option for up to four-player co-op. It marked the first time WotC had published a video game from the hugely popular D&D universe. The project was meant to follow in the lineage of the Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance games that were released in the 2000s, but the title made by Tuque Games didn’t receive the same high praise as those predecessors. For some context, Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance has an 87 score on Metacritic and Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance 2 has a 78. Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance sits down at a decidedly middling 53.

At least Larian Studios’ excellent Baldur’s Gate 3 is still thriving and getting new patches for your D&D-inspired video game needs.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/dungeons–dragons-dark-alliance-servers-will-shut-down-in-february-233454799.html?src=rss 

Threads is previewing yet another significant new feature before the end of the year. The app will “soon” begin testing the ability for users to schedule posts ahead of time, according to an update from Meta exec Adam Mosseri.

Mosseri shared a screenshot of the upcoming feature, which shows a simple tool to set a date and time for a post to go live in Threads’ post editor. Interestingly, Mosseri said that users will only be able to schedule new posts, not replies to existing posts because the company wants to continue to prioritize “real-time conversation.” Though he didn’t give any indication of when the tool may roll out more broadly, he said that the feature had been in the works “for months,” so it’s likely Meta plans on releasing it more widely at some point.

The ability to schedule posts will be particularly useful for brands, creators and others who use the service to manage professional accounts. Though there are already third-party tools that enable post scheduling, many require a paid subscription.

Post scheduling is the latest sign that Meta is looking to add more features geared toward brands, businesses and other social media professionals to the 300 million-user app. The service also began testing post analytics earlier this month. Both features could come in handy when Meta decides to flip the switch on advertising for the platform — a change rumored to be coming next month.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/threads-is-working-on-scheduled-posts-215537909.html?src=rss 

Grubhub has agreed to pay $25 million to settle charges from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Illinois Attorney General. The company was accused of a laundry list of sketchy behavior, including misleading customers about delivery charges, deceiving delivery drivers about income and listing restaurants on the platform without consent. Last month, the food delivery startup Wonder bought Grubhub for one-tenth of what it was worth during the pandemic.

Under the proposed settlement, Grubhub has to make changes to remedy the problems. The requirements read like a “stop doing that” list, one per charge. This includes notifying customers of full delivery costs, being honest with drivers about pay and listing restaurants only with their consent.

The FTC says Grubhub, to appear more robust than it was, added as many as 325,000 unaffiliated restaurants to the platform without permission since at least 2019. Customers ordering from those businesses discovered added fees and “numerous ordering problems.” Meanwhile, the agency says the restaurants “bore the brunt of diners’ ire,” leading to damaged reputations and lost money.

The company also allegedly added junk fees after advertising to customers that they’d pay a low-cost, flat rate for deliveries. The FTC says Grubhub labeled them “service fees” or “small order fees,” but they were simply delivery fees under another name. The agency quotes a former Grubhub executive as calling it a “pricing shell game.”

The FTC also accused the company of blocking customers’ accounts with large gift card balances, leaving them no way to regain access. The agency said diners who complained to the company either weren’t told their accounts were blocked or weren’t given any meaningful way to contest the ban.

The false pay allegations include advertising that Grubhub drivers could make up to $40 hourly in the New York area. In reality, the median driver pay in that area was around $10 hourly — and only 0.1 percent of drivers are said to have made the advertised rate. And in Chicago, an ad promised earnings of up to $26 hourly when the median was $11.

Grubhub denies the allegations but says it settled to put the matter behind it. “At Grubhub, we’re committed to transparency so that every single day diners, restaurants and drivers can make well-informed choices to do business with us,” the company wrote in a statement. “While we categorically deny the allegations made by the FTC, many of which are wrong, misleading or no longer applicable to our business, we believe settling this matter is in the best interest of Grubhub and allows us to move forward.”

“Our investigation found that Grubhub tricked its customers, deceived its drivers, and unfairly damaged the reputation and revenues of restaurants that did not partner with Grubhub — all in order to drive scale and accelerate growth,” FTC Chair Lina M. Khan wrote in a statement. “Today’s action holds Grubhub to account, putting an end to these illegal practices and securing nearly $25 million for the people cheated by Grubhub’s tactics. There is no ‘gig platform’ exemption to the laws on the books.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/grubhub-settles-with-the-ftc-over-adding-restaurants-without-their-consent-221006330.html?src=rss