‘Baby Reindeer’ Creator Richard Gadd Breaks Silence on Fiona Harvey’s Lawsuit

Gadd responded to Harvey’s lawsuit against Netflix in a new court filing, in which he insisted that ‘Baby Reindeer’ is not ‘an attempt at realism.’

Gadd responded to Harvey’s lawsuit against Netflix in a new court filing, in which he insisted that ‘Baby Reindeer’ is not ‘an attempt at realism.’ 

Google Maps will show you where to enter your destination

If you’re a dedicated Google Maps user like me, then you know its not perfect. But, Google is now announcing some improvements with a range of new features for Maps and Waze. One of the things I find most exciting is the additional guidance on entering buildings and where to park. In the coming weeks, Maps will start lighting up the destination and entrance to it as you approach, so you (hopefully!) don’t have to circle it three times in the dark. 

Google is also now making it easier to report incidents while using Maps, increasing the size of these icons so you can share quickly — and safely — while on the go. You can also tap to confirm a previously reported incident after approaching it. 

Waze is getting three updates, including new camera alerts. Now, Waze will be able to alert you if a camera is approaching and tell you what it’s monitoring, whether it be speed, seat belts or accurate carpool lane use. Waze will also notify you if there’s a traffic event nearby or close to one of your starred locations. You can then send an alert to a friend or family member. Both of these updates are rolling out now on iOS and Android. Rounding out Waze’s updates is the ability to get navigation guidance even when your phone is locked. This feature will launch globally on Android soon, while it will arrive on iOS in the fall. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-maps-will-show-you-where-to-enter-your-destination-130021496.html?src=rss 

Google makes it easier to remove explicit deepfakes from its search results

Google has rolled out updates for Search with the intention of making explicit deepfakes as hard to find as possible. As part of its long-standing and ongoing fight against realistic-looking manipulated images, the company is making it easier for people to get non-consensual fake imagery that features them removed from Search. 

It has long been possible for users to request for the removal of those kinds of images under Google’s policies. Now, whenever it grants someone’s removal request, Google will also filter all explicit results on similar searches about them. The company’s systems will scan for any duplicates of the offending image and remove them, as well. This update could help alleviate some of the victim’s fears if they’re worried about the same image popping up again on other websites. 

In addition, Google has updated its ranking systems so that if a user specifically searches for explicit deepfakes with a person’s name, the results will surface “high-quality, non-explicit content” instead. If there are news articles about that person, for instance, then the results will feature those. Based on Google’s announcement, it seems it also has plans to school the user looking for deepfakes by showing them results that discuss their impact on society. 

Google doesn’t want to wipe out results for legitimate content, like an actor’s nude scene, in its bid to banish deepfakes from its results page, though. It admits it still has a lot of work to do when it comes to separating legitimate from fake explicit images. While that’s still a work in progress, one of the solutions it has implemented is to demote sites that have received a high volume of removals for manipulated images in Search. That’s “a pretty strong signal that it’s not a high-quality site,” Google explains, adding that the approach has worked well for other types of harmful content in the past.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-makes-it-easier-to-remove-explicit-deepfakes-from-its-search-results-130058499.html?src=rss 

Save 15 percent on Disney+ streaming gift cards today only

Streaming services are expensive, especially with many companies cracking down on sharing passwords. Gift cards are a great way to help someone save some money, especially when you don’t even have to pay full price. For today only, Best Buy is running a 15 percent off sale on Disney+ gift cards.

That’s right: currently, you can get a Disney+ gift card worth $25 for $21.25, $50 for 42.50, and $100 for $85. The gift cards are only good for monthly subscriptions to Disney+ in the United States that are billed by Disney (rather than a third party). They also applies to the Disney Bundle, which includes Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+.

A typical Disney+ subscription’s price varies by tier. Disney+ Basic (with ads) is $8 per month, while an ad-free viewing experience is $14 per month. Disney+ bundles range in price from $10 monthly for the Disney Bundle Duo Basic (Disney+ and Hulu with ads) to $24 monthly for the Disney Bundle Trio Premium (Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ with no ads). 

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/save-15-percent-on-disney-streaming-gift-cards-today-only-133245598.html?src=rss 

Simone Biles & Suni Lee Started Planning Funny TikToks Right After Winning Olympic Gold

The Olympic champions were reportedly overheard working out their endearing TikTok videos right after finding out they won gold.

The Olympic champions were reportedly overheard working out their endearing TikTok videos right after finding out they won gold. 

Meta explains why its AI claimed Trump’s assassination attempt didn’t happen

Meta has explained why its AI chatbot didn’t want to respond to inquiries about the assassination attempt on Trump and then, in some cases, denied that the event took place. The company said it programmed Meta AI to not answer questions about an event right after it happens, because there’s typically “an enormous amount of confusion, conflicting information, or outright conspiracy theories in the public domain.” As for why Meta AI eventually started asserting that the attempt didn’t happen “in a small number of cases,” it was apparently due to hallucinations. 

An AI “hallucinates” when it generates false or misleading responses to questions that require factual replies due to various factors like inaccurate training data and AI models struggling to parse multiple sources of information. Meta says it has updated its AI’s responses and admits that it should have done so sooner. It’s still working to address its hallucination issue, though, so its chatbot could still be telling people that there was no attempt on the former president’s life. 

In addition, Meta has also explained why its social media platforms had been incorrectly applying the fact check label to the photo of Trump with his fist in the air taken right after the assassination attempt. A doctored version of that image made it look like his Secret Service agents were smiling, and the company applied a fact check label to it. Because the original and doctored photos were almost identical, Meta’s systems applied the label to the real image, as well. The company has since corrected the mistake. 

Trump’s supporters have been crying foul over Meta AI’s actions and have been accusing the company of suppressing the story. Google had to issue a response of its own after Elon Musk claimed that the company’s search engine imposed a “search ban” on the former president. Musk shared an image that showed Google’s autocomplete suggesting “president donald duck” when someone types in “president donald.” Google explained that it was due to a bug affecting its autocomplete feature and said that users can search for whatever they want anytime. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-explains-why-its-ai-claimed-trumps-assassination-attempt-didnt-happen-120002196.html?src=rss 

The Morning After: Google dismisses Elon Musk’s claim that autocomplete interfered in the election

Google has responded to allegations it “censored” searches about Donald Trump after Elon Musk baselessly claimed the company had imposed a “search ban” on the former president. Google explained the bugs in its autocomplete feature caused the issues. But Musk’s tweet, viewed more than 118 million times, has forced the search giant to publicly explain one of its most basic features.

Google added that the strange suggestions for “president donald” were due to a “bug that spanned the political spectrum.” It also affected searches related to former President Barack Obama and other political figures.

— Mat Smith

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Perplexity will put ads in its AI search engine

And share revenue with publishers.

Perplexity will start sharing revenue with some publishers as part of an advertising platform it plans to launch around the end of September. The Perplexity Publishers’ Program comes less than two months after the startup, valued at $3 billion, came under fire from Forbes, Wired and Condé Nast for allegedly scraping content without permission.

Continue reading.

Samsung tests its Galaxy Z Flip phones as police bodycams

A pilot scheme is expanding to 25 metro police departments across five states.

Samsung

A new blog post from Samsung highlights how law enforcement is adopting its Galaxy Z Flip series devices. The line of foldable mobile devices was part of a pilot program, two years ago, in Kimberling City Police and Indian Point Police in Missouri, to test how the phones might improve daily operations. According to Samsung, the program was the first time police used a foldable device as a bodycam. The foldables were customized in collaboration with Visual Labs, a company that repurposes mobile devices as body and dash cameras.

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This robot dog has a vacuum to clean up trash

It uses AI to pick cigarette butts up from Italy’s beaches.

IIT

Italian scientists have built a quadruped robot that can identify litter and pick up the smaller bits with its leg-mounted vacuums. The group published a paper in April’s Journal of Field Robotics on VERO’s development. Discarded butts release toxic chemicals and microplastics into the ocean as they break down. It’s also the “second most common undisposed waste worldwide” in areas that are hard to reach for most robots. VERO picked up 90 percent of the cigarette butts identified in testing.

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-google-dismisses-elon-musks-claim-that-autocomplete-interfered-in-the-election-111558485.html?src=rss 

Nothing just announced the Phone 2a Plus, a minor refresh of a pre-existing model

Nothing just announced a relatively surprising hardware update for its Phone 2a smartphone. The Phone 2a Plus is a modest upgrade, but still significant, being as how the original 2a was just released back in March.

Most notably, the 2a Plus has a faster chip than the OG 2a. The original’s Mediatek Dimensity 7200 Pro maxed out with a clock speed of 2.8GHz. The 2a Plus boasts a Mediatek Dimensity 7350 Pro that can hit 3.0GHz. Beyond that, the new model features a slightly quicker wired charging speed, at 50W instead of 45W.

Nothing

That’s about it. Every other aspect is nearly identical to the 2a. It has the same camera system, the same battery, the same display and similar aesthetics. This isn’t a bad thing. We loved the Phone 2a in our official review, calling it “a budget phone that’s packed with personality.”

Now onto the bad news. This phone will technically be available to US customers via the company’s beta program, though there are some caveats. American customers can only buy the gray version and not the black one. Even more important, the 2a Plus doesn’t offer true 5G connectivity with many of the major US carriers. This includes both AT&T and Verizon.

The Nothing Phone 2a Plus costs $400 and that gets you 12GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. Nothing Beta members will be able to order the phone on August 3. UK residents can scoop it up directly from the company on the same day. Nothing says we’ll have to wait until September to find out more details regarding global availability.

Nothing

The company also released a few tidbits about the upcoming Nothing OS 2.6. There will be an updated Game Dashboard with new features and the ability to block third-party app notifications.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nothing-just-announced-the-phone-2a-plus-a-minor-refresh-of-a-pre-existing-model-093049030.html?src=rss 

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