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Google has quietly increased the price of YouTube Premium by a significant $2 from $12 to $14, according to the updated signup page spotted by 9to5Google. The annual price jumped to $20, from $120 to $140 per month, a savings of about $28 over paying month-by-month. YouTube also increased the price of Music Premium from $10 to $11 per month, matching similar increases by Apple and Amazon. The price increases weren’t accompanied by any kind of official announcement.

On top of eliminating ads, YouTube Premium offers features like offline viewing and background playback (without it, your video will stop playing when the app is minimized or your phone screen is off). It also allows higher-quality 1080p streaming on some platforms. 

Last year, Google hiked the family Premium plan to $23 per month, and charged existing month-by-month subscribers the new fee the following month. Previously, the company was more generous — when it rebranded YouTube Red to Premium in 2018, it kept the former’s $10 price for subscribers and is still honoring it for some users, according to 9to5Google. 

At the same time that it’s boosting prices, YouTube has been cracking down on ad-blockers that lets you view videos without ads. Some users have seen a pop-up indicating YouTube will block their ability to play videos unless they disable their ad blocker or whitelist the site. “Ads allow YouTube to stay free for billions of users worldwide,” it reads. To go ad-free, the company tells users to get a YouTube Premium subscription so “creators can still get paid.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/youtube-premium-quietly-goes-up-in-price-to-14-per-month-100531473.html?src=rss 

Kevin Mitnick, who was once one of the world’s most wanted computer hackers, has passed away at 59 on July 16th. According to his obituary, Mitnick battled pancreatic cancer for more than a year and was undergoing treatment at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. “[M]uch of his life reads like a fiction story,” his obituary reads, and that’s perhaps the perfect way to describe his tale. The first time Mitnick infiltrated a computer system was way back in 1979, but it wasn’t until 1988 that he was convicted and sentenced to 12 months in prison for copying a company’s software.

He broke into Pacific Bell’s voicemail computers when he was under supervised release and then continued to hack into cell networks, as well as company and government websites, as a fugitive in the 90s. Mitnick was also involved in the theft of thousands of files and credit card numbers, but his obituary says he “never took one dime from any of his ‘victims.'” He was eventually caught in 1995 and charged with illegal use of a telephone access device and computer fraud. Apparently, authorities believed he had access to corporate trade secrets worth millions of dollars at the time.

Mitnick spent five years in prison, which he described as a “vacation” by the time he was freed. From there, he changed the course of his career and chose to become a White Hat hacker and cybersecurity consultant. In 2011, he became part owner and chief hacking officer of KnowBe4, which provides security awareness training and a simulated phishing platform to clients. Before all these happened, Mitnick figured out how to game LA’s public transportation system at 12 years old by memorizing bus schedules and punch cards and then obtaining his own punch tool systems so he could ride buses all day. Mitnick is survived by his wife, Kimberley Mitnick, and their unborn child.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/kevin-mitnick-formerly-the-worlds-most-wanted-hacker-has-passed-away-084912966.html?src=rss 

Every app has one flaw that is baffling in how unnecessarily complicated it is. For WhatsApp, that has always been the fact that you can only message people after first saving their contact. But the frustrating extra step is finally gone: A WhatsApp update is rolling out that lets you reach out to whoever you want without saving their information, WABetaInfo reported.

That’s right, no more contacts saved with “Lisa library” or “Paul apartment on South 4th” for people you communicate with over WhatsApp once and never speak to again. You can try out this new feature much in the same way you would start any message. Click on the new message button on your home screen (top right for Apple devices, bottom right for Android ones) and then type the number into the search bar. The number will appear under the category “Not in your contacts.” To the right of the person’s number and profile photo is the option to click “chat,” which brings you right into a conversation with them.

Until now, one of the only exceptions — if you can even call it that — has been responding to unsaved numbers in group chats. But, this still required you to enter one through a QR code or link or for a person with your contact saved to invite you into it. WhatsApp’s latest update is rolling out to all users, so you should see it in the next few days or maybe weeks. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/whatsapp-makes-it-easier-to-send-messages-to-unsaved-numbers-093511724.html?src=rss 

Google is testing a new AI technology codenamed “Genesis” that can generate news articles, according to The New York Times. The tech giant has reportedly demonstrated the tool not just for The Times, but also for executives at The Washington Post and News Corp, which owns The Wall Street Journal. Based on reports from people who witnessed the pitch, Genesis can whip up copy from the data fed to it, whether it’s current events or other types of information. Apparently, Google believes journalists could use it as some sort of an assistant to automate tasks and free them up for other things. 

Some of the people who saw the demonstration described it as “unsettling.” They also said that it seemed to disregard the kind of work that goes into writing accurate, digestible pieces. Jeff Jarvis, a journalist professor at the City University of New York, told The Times that journalists should use the tool “[i]f this technology can deliver factual information reliably.” Since Google has yet to launch Genesis, we can’t say if it actually can, or if it could easily lead to the dissemination of misinformation. As The Times notes, Google has been moving quickly to deploy AI technology in an effort to catch up with the Microsoft-backed company OpenAI. Its generative AI tech, Bard, was caught spouting misinformation as soon as it debuted on Twitter.

Recent attempts by some publications to use AI tools hadn’t ended up well. CNEThad to issue corrections after being made aware of substantial errors in most of 77 machine-written articles it published under the CNET Money byline. And just earlier this month, Gizmodo’s io9published a Star Wars piece full of errors attributed to the “Gizmodo Bot.” io9 deputy editor James Whitbrook said the website’s editorial team played no part in its publishing, and hence was given no chance to edit it for corrections before it went out. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-is-reportedly-testing-an-ai-tool-that-can-generate-news-articles-054602544.html?src=rss