Lady Gaga Rehearses for Paris Olympic Games Opening Ceremony: Photos

The powerhouse pop artist was photographed on stage rehearsing for her upcoming performance at the opening ceremony, which takes place on Friday, July 26.

The powerhouse pop artist was photographed on stage rehearsing for her upcoming performance at the opening ceremony, which takes place on Friday, July 26. 

The 10th-generation iPad is back down to $300, plus the rest of this week’s best tech deals

As we’ve seen in years past, once Amazon’s Prime Day ends, many of the deals evaporate. But one week after the sale frenzy (both from Amazon and other retailers) we’re still seeing quite a few deals that have either stayed true to their event pricing or have come up with a fresh discount after the fact. Right now, the budget pick in our iPad guide is just $1 more than the low it hit last week. Our favorite pair of budget earbuds is also just a buck more than the Prime Day low. And, as of this writing, Amazon is still offering a free $300 gift card if you order the new Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 that just started shipping on Wednesday. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.   

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/the-10th-generation-ipad-is-back-down-to-300-plus-the-rest-of-this-weeks-best-tech-deals-155930268.html?src=rss 

Here’s how to stop Grok’s AI models using your tweets for training

There’s word going around that X just enabled a setting that lets it train Grok on public tweets, as well as any interactions they have with the chatbot. That’s not entirely true: a help page instructing users how to opt-out of X using their data to train Grok has been live since at least May. X just never exactly made it crystal clear that it was opting everyone into this, which is a sketchy move. If you don’t want a bad chatbot to use your bad tweets for training, it’s thankfully easy to switch that off.

You just need to uncheck a box from the Grok data sharing tab in the X settings. If that link doesn’t work, you can go to Settings > Privacy and Safety > Grok. For the time being, the setting isn’t accessible through X’s mobile apps (the company says it will be soon), so you’ll have to uncheck the box on the web for now. It’s also worth noting that Grok isn’t trained on any tweets from private X accounts. 

All X users have the ability to control whether their public posts can be used to train Grok, the AI search assistant. This option is in addition to your existing controls over whether your interactions, inputs, and results related to Grok can be utilized. This setting is…

— Safety (@Safety) July 26, 2024

One of X’s selling points for Grok when it rolled out the chatbot was that it had the advantage of using real-time information that’s published on the platform — in other words, users’ tweets. That only works if users opt-in or are automatically enrolled into sharing their data with the chatbot. But X isn’t exactly the pinnacle of truth and accuracy. It’s full of pranksters, and lifting their jokes might be one of the reasons why Grok keeps on getting stuff wrong. In any case, it’s not exactly uncommon for AI models to be trained on material without explicit permission from the original creators.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/heres-how-to-stop-groks-ai-models-using-your-tweets-for-training-161041266.html?src=rss 

Apple agrees to stick by Biden administration’s voluntary AI safeguards

Apple has joined several other tech companies in agreeing to abide by voluntary AI safeguards laid out by the Biden administration. Those who make the pledge have committed to abide by eight guidelines related to safety, security and social responsibility, including flagging societal risks such as biases; testing for vulnerabilities, watermarking AI-generated images and audio; and sharing trust and safety details with the government and other companies.

Amazon, Google, Microsoft and OpenAI were among the initial adoptees of the pact, which the White House announced last July. The voluntary agreement, which is not enforceable, will expire after Congress passes laws to regulate AI.

Since the guidelines were announced, Apple unveiled a suite of AI-powered features under the umbrella name of Apple Intelligence. The tools will work across the company’s key devices and are set to start rolling out in the coming months. As part of that push, Apple has teamed up with OpenAI to incorporate ChatGPT into Apple Intelligence. In joining the voluntary code of practice, Apple may be hoping to ward off regulatory scrutiny of its AI tools.

Although President Joe Biden has talked up the potential benefits of AI, he has warned of the dangers posed by the technology as well. His administration has been clear that it wants AI companies to develop their tech in a responsible manner.

Meanwhile, the White House said in a statement that federal agencies have met all of the 270-day targets laid out in a sweeping Executive Order related to AI that Biden issued last October. The EO covers issues such as safety and security measures, as well as reporting and data transparency schemes. The White House says that agencies have met all the stipulated deadlines to date.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-agrees-to-stick-by-biden-administrations-voluntary-ai-safeguards-144653327.html?src=rss 

NASA’s Perseverance rover found a rock on Mars that could indicate ancient life

NASA’s Perseverance rover has been collecting samples from Mars since 2021, but one of its most recently collected rocks could help it achieve its goal of finding evidence of ancient life on the planet. Nicknamed Cheyava Falls after the tallest waterfall in the Grand Canyon, the 3.2 feet by 2 feet sample contains “chemical signatures and structures” that could’ve been formed by ancient microbial life from billions of years ago. 

Perseverance collected the rock on July 21 from what was once a Martian river valley carved by flowing water long ago. The sample, which you can see in close up below and from afar at the center of the image above, exhibits large white calcium sulfate veins running along its length. They indicate that water did run through the rock at one point. 

More importantly, it contains millimeter-size marks that look like “leopard spots” all over its central reddish band. On our planet, those spots could form on sedimentary terrestrial rocks when there are chemical reactions that turn hematite, one of the minerals responsible for Mars’ reddish color, to white. Those reactions can release iron and phosphate, which could’ve served as an energy source for microbes. 

The rover’s Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL) tool already determined that the black rings around the spots contain iron and phosphate. However, that doesn’t automatically mean that the rock truly did serve as a host for ancient microbes. 

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

The spots could’ve been formed by non-biological processes, and that’s something scientists will have to figure out. “We cannot say right now that we have discovered life on Mars,” Katie Stack Morgan, the deputy project scientist, said. “But what we are saying is that we have a potential biosignature, which is a set of features that could have a biological origin but do need further study and more data.” 

NASA still has to bring back the samples Perseverance had collected to our planet, including Cheyava Falls. As The New York Times notes, the Mars Sample Return mission is years behind schedule and would not be able to bring back rocks from the red planet until 2040 instead of in the early 2030’s like originally planned. NASA recently asked aerospace companies for alternative solutions on how to get the samples to Earth much sooner and will finance their studies due later this year. Scientists will also have to conduct extensive testing to rule out contamination and non-biological processes, as well as other possible explanations for how the leopard spots had formed, before they can proclaim that they’re indeed evidence of ancient Martian life. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nasas-perseverance-rover-found-a-rock-on-mars-that-could-indicate-ancient-life-150006064.html?src=rss 

The 65-inch LG C3 OLED TV is nearly half off for today only

The 65-inch LG C3 OLED TV is 48 percent off via Woot, which brings the price down to $1,298. That’s a savings of around $1,200 on the well-regarded OLED panel. There’s one major caveat. This deal is for today only, or until the stock runs out. To that end, there’s a limit of one per customer, but that’s probably not a huge deal unless you’re in the process of furnishing a mansion or something.

The LG C3 OLED is considered one of the best TVs for gaming, and with good reason. We loved this television’s high contrast and the deep blacks on offer. We also praised the low input lag, increased motion response and wide array of appropriate viewing angles. It follows HDR guidelines, works with all the major VRR formats and has four HDMI 2.1 ports that are capable of outputting 4K 120Hz with a gaming console or PC.

It supports all the major HDR standards, including Dolby Vision. This TV is available in sizes up to 83-inches, but the larger models aren’t on sale. I use a 65-inch OLED, though not this one, and it’s plenty big enough for TV and gaming.

Despite being a dang good value, this isn’t a perfect television. The WOLED panel doesn’t get quite as bright as a QD-OLED like the Samsung S90C. Also, it doesn’t support a 144Hz refresh rate, which could be a dealbreaker to picky PC gamers. Still, the price is definitely right. Just make sure you pick this up sooner rather than later.

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/the-65-inch-lg-c3-oled-tv-is-nearly-half-off-for-today-only-152153420.html?src=rss 

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