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Meta has taken a step towards achieving its goal of making Horizon Worlds more accessible by bringing it to the web and to mobile devices. The company has announced that Super Rumble, the first game out of its in-house studio Ouro Interactive, is now available to a small number of mobile users through the Meta Quest app on Android. It’s also making its way to the app on iOS devices in the coming weeks, while those who want to play on desktop can access it — or request access to it — through Horizon’s official website. 

When Meta launched the first-person shooter, it said that Super Rumble would be one of the first worlds to be available when its new app comes out. It also said that the game will feature cross-platform play, so people can enjoy it with their friends, whether they’re also on mobile, the web or a VR headset. It looks like Meta has stayed true to its word. The company also announced that it’s rolling out more worlds over the next few months to give people a way to hang out, chat and even enjoy free concerts in the metaverse, regardless of what device they’re using. 

Meta explained: “The metaverse should be available to everyone — no matter what device they’re on. And while Quest headsets are the most immersive way to access the metaverse, we believe there should be multiple entry points. Bringing Worlds to more surfaces is a step toward delivering on that vision and opening up the experience to more people.”

Since each device has a different interface, though, Meta had to optimize the game’s controls like mute and pause for mobile devices and computer. It’s unclear how the experiences across platforms differ from each other, but Super Rumble on mobile and the web is still in the testing phase, so players could encounter bugs and other issues.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-starts-testing-horizon-worlds-on-mobile-and-the-web-114028350.html?src=rss 

European authorities have found that Twitter had violated General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules when it comes to how it processes its younger users’ personal data. Along with its decision, the regulator has revealed that it has slapped the social network with a €345 million ($368 million) fine. As the regulating body where TikTok is headquartered and where its first data center is located, the Irish Data Protection Commission investigated whether TikTok adhered to its privacy protection obligations for users between 13 and 17 years old between July 31 and December 31, 2020.

The regulator said it found that TikTok set child users’ — or users that fall within the aforementioned age bracket — profiles to public by default. That means their information was easily accessible, especially since the videos they posted were also made public by default and anybody could comment. Further, TikTok didn’t make Duet and Stitch opt in features for their accounts, so anybody could take parts of their videos to create new ones. 

In addition, the regulator found that TikTok allowed child users’ accounts to be paired with adult users’, without verifying whether that person is their parent or guardian. It even allowed that adult user to enable direct messaging for both of them, when the feature shouldn’t be available for the underage user. 

The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) fined TikTok £12.7 million ($15.75 million) earlier this year for misusing children’s data, as well. To be exact, it found that the service allowed 1.4 million UK children to sign up even when they were under the age of 13. The Irish Data Protection Commission didn’t establish whether TikTok had violated GDPR rules with regards to letting kids under 13 sign up. However, it did find that TikTok was in violation of GDPR for not implementing the proper measures and allowing anybody, regardless of their age and including kids 12 and below, to view content on its platform.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/european-regulators-fine-tiktok-368-million-over-failing-to-protect-the-data-of-young-users-120008357.html?src=rss 

This week, Cherlynn gives us her on-the-ground thoughts from Apple’s iPhone 15 launch event. It turns out the iPhone 15 Pro’s titanium case is actually noticeably lighter! We’re all also intrigued by Apple’s new double-tap gesture in the Watch Series 9. (Don’t be surprised if it ends up training us how to use the Vision Pro’s gesture commands!)

Also, Engadget reporter Malek Saleh joins to discuss her review of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6, as well as Dyson’s ridiculous Zone air filter mask/headphones.

Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you’ve got suggestions or topics you’d like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcast, Engadget News!

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Topics

iPhone 15 and Apple Watch Series 9 hands-on – 1:05

Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 review – 37:40

The U.S. v Google antitrust trial is underway – 45:50

Intel officially unveils Thunderbolt 5 – 48:57

Unity’s per-install fee upsets indie game devs – 55:21

Dyson Zone personal air filter review – 1:02:22

Working on – 1:14:32

Pop culture picks – 1:15:47

Credits
Hosts: Devindra Hardawar and Cherlynn Low
Guest: Malak Saleh
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O’Brien

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/engadget-podcast-iphone-15-apple-watch-series-9-hands-on-123032507.html?src=rss 

X has launched government ID verification for paid X Premium subscribers, after clues emerged in August that the feature was coming, TechCrunch has reported. The service, which appears to be optional, has launched in “numerous countries” including the US, but is not available for now in the European Union (EU), the European Economic Area (EEA), and the United Kingdom. 

In a new help center page, X said the verification is for “safety and security purposes” and to “prevent impersonation.” It may also be used to screen age appropriate content in the future. Meanwhile, users will receive benefits like prioritized support, along with a visible label that shows your identity has been verified (though only if someone clicks on the blue checkmark). Down the road, X plans to expedite Premium reviews for users who verify with ID. 

The social network partnered with Au10tix, an Israeli-based company specializing in identity verification. X requires you to check a consent form allowing “X and Au10tix [to use] images of my ID and my selfie, including extracted biometric data, to confirm my identity and for X’s related safety and security purposes, including preventing impersonation.” Au10tix may store such data for up to 30 days. 

After Elon Musk purchased X (then Twitter), he announced that the verification program would be revamped and badges only given to paid users. The new program experienced problems from the get-go, though, thanks to issues like rampant impersonation and checkmarks being assign to scammers and bots. The program was later modified to give verification marks to large organizations and users with millions of followers. 

X doesn’t conduct ID checks itself, apart from safeguards for verified organizations. Meanwhile, Au10tix advertises “8-second verification without even partial human involvement” and “first-of-a-kind tech detecting synthetic fraud patterns globally.” The company says it has previously worked with companies like Google, PayPal and Uber.

Last month X changed its policy adding the ability to capture certain user information, but it has a checkered history in terms of privacy. The FTC recently said that Elon Musk “may have jeopardized data privacy and security” at X and has reportedly been investigating the company and Musk since March.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/x-attempts-to-fight-impersonation-with-government-id-verification-104016771.html?src=rss 

Threads was missing a few features when it launched for the web back in August. One of those is the ability to quote other people’s post, which would be the equivalent of a retweet in a pre-X world. Now, Instagram chief Adam Mosseri has announced that Meta has rolled out the ability to quote posts on desktop. All they need to do is click on the familiar repost icon at the bottom of a post, and then choose the option “Quote.” By doing so, they can repost someone else’s thread while adding commentary of their own. 

In addition, Mosseri has announced that users can now follow the responses for a specific thread on mobile by turning on notifications for 24 hours. To do that, they only have to tap on the bell icon at the top-right corner of a post.

Meta released Threads from the start with a bunch of missing features, at an opportune time when X users were getting frustrated by the company’s attempts to make the service less useable for non-paying members. It’s only earlier this month, two months after the service went live, that Meta added the ability to search keywords and find content. Even so, this latest update shows Meta is working to add the features people want, which it frankly needs to do if it’s looking to get the users who’ve lost interest in the social network to come back.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/threads-now-lets-you-quote-posts-on-the-web-083759052.html?src=rss 

The US Senate Armed Services Committee is investigating Elon Musk’s decision to not extend Starlink satellite internet coverage to enable a Ukraine attack on Russian warship near Crimea, Bloomberg has reported. “The committee is aggressively probing this issue from every angle,” said chairman Jack Reed in a statement, adding that the incident exposed “serious national-security liability issues.” The panel is still gathering information, and has not yet launched a formal investigation. 

The Ukraine Starlink incident was revealed in an Elon Musk biography by Walter Isaacson, via a disputed excerpt stating that Musk deactivated Starlink access close to the Crimean coast to prevent a Ukrainian attack on the fleet. 

However, Musk said that Starlink was not active in those areas because of US sanctions on Russia, so SpaceX had nothing to disable. In a recent podcast, he said would have extended Starlink to Crimea if President Biden had ordered him to do so — but he didn’t receive any such order.

Rather, Musk said he denied Ukraine’s request to activate Starlink all the way to Sevastopol. “If I had agreed to their request, then SpaceX would be explicitly complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation,” Musk wrote on X. (The disputed excerpt will be changed in future copies of the book.)

Nevertheless, senators questioned why the decision was made by Musk, rather than government officials. “Neither Elon Musk, nor any private citizen, can have the last word when it comes to US national security,” Reed said. At the time of Ukraine’s request, SpaceX received no US payments for its Ukraine Starlink operations, but it now has Pentagon funding. 

The probe was announced just ahead of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to the US and meeting with President Biden, set for next week. On top of Starlink, SpaceX is a major US contractor, launching spy satellites for the Defense Department . 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-us-senate-wants-answers-over-starlinks-ukrainian-satellite-internet-denial-091047225.html?src=rss