Month: August 2024
Best JBL Speakers
Check out our favorite wireless speakers from JBL, which has everything from a tiny micro Bluetooth speaker to jumbo party speakers at a variety of price points.
Check out our favorite wireless speakers from JBL, which has everything from a tiny micro Bluetooth speaker to jumbo party speakers at a variety of price points.
‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’ trailer teases an epic battle for the fate of Rohan
Anime film “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” tells the story of Rohan’s King Helm Hammerhand and his daughter Héra.
Anime film “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” tells the story of Rohan’s King Helm Hammerhand and his daughter Héra.
The telecom company that allowed a Biden deepfake scam will have to pay the FCC $1m
Lingo Telecom fined after allowing Life Corporation to call voters using a deepfake of President Biden.
Lingo Telecom has been ordered to pay a $1 million civil penalty by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) after it relayed a falsified robotic recording of a President Biden voice message urging voters not to turn up to the New Hampshire primary, labelling it a ‘bunch of malarkey’.
The FCC said Artificial Intelligence will likely play a significant role in 2024 election ads, and has already proposed a law which would require political ads broadcast on television and radio to disclose any AI generated content.
Lingo Telecom, previously known as Impact Telecom, Matrix Business Technologies, VarTec Telecom (and many, many more) is reported to have been carrying out illegal call operations for years. However, it only transmitted the calls – the organization which made the recording was the Life Corporation, a company that is no stranger to spreading misinformation, first cited for delivering ‘illegal prerecorded unsolicited advertisements’ in 2003.
A Warning to Telecoms
The specific ‘political consultant’ behind the scheme was Steve Kramer, who was working for the presidential campaign for Democratic candidate Dean Phillips – but NBC found no evidence that the Phillips campaign had any involvement. Kramer now faces criminal charges in New Hampshire and was hit with a $6 million fine.
The FCC hope that the fine will deter telecoms organisations from any similar disinformation campaigns.
“This settlement sends a strong message that communications service providers are the first line of defense against these threats and will be held accountable to ensure they do their part to protect the American public,” said FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Loyaan Egal.
Lingo agreed to follow FCC regulations strictly this time. The FCC maintains that voters deserve to know whether the caller’s identity is genuine, and that an AI generated content should be clearly communicated to the audience. The FCC does not have the authority to regulate streaming services or social media.
Via TechCrunch
More from TechRadar Pro
Despite AI robocalls existing for some time, the FCC has only just officially declared them definitely illegalTake a look at our pick of best VPNsThe FCC wants the AI voice calling you to say it’s a deepfake
The Epic Games Store’s latest freebies are The Callisto Protocol and the revived MOBA Gigantic
The best thing about the free games that the Epic Games Store offers is they’re genuinely yours to keep forever. They’re not locked behind a subscription of any kind. The only form of payment you provide is a little personal information in the form of your email address and whatever else is required to create an Epic account. It might be worth signing up if you haven’t already, as this week’s free games are pretty notable.
First up is The Callisto Protocol, a 2022 survival horror game from Dead Space co-creator Glen Schofield. It’s cut from the same cloth as Dead Space, but — stellar visuals aside — we didn’t like it much. (In fact, a Dead Space remake that arrived shortly afterward was much more warmly received.) Still, it can be yours for absolutely zilch right now.
What a week for FREE games!Whether you’re up for Gigantic: Rampage Edition’s 5v5 MOBA action or The Callisto Protocol’s futuristic take on pulse-pounding survival horror, now’s the time to claim them both.Just go here: https://t.co/HtftoaoJlW pic.twitter.com/zM7yGcbFe8— Epic Games Store (@EpicGames) August 22, 2024
The Callisto Protocol hit Epic’s free game lineup just as the studio behind it announced a spinoff called [REDACTED]. The upcoming title from Striking Distance, which is no longer led by Schofield after he stepped down last year, is a stylized, roguelike dungeon crawler in which you play as a prison guard.
You must try to survive the threat of infected inmates and escape a penitentiary on Callisto, an icy moon of Jupiter. [REDACTED] will arrive on October 31 on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
This week’s other Epic Games Store freebie is interesting too. It’s a MOBA-hero shooter hybrid called Gigantic that has a long and convoluted history. To keep things brief, the game debuted in 2017, was killed in 2018 after failing to gain enough traction and revived under a different studio this year. I played it for a bit and found the matches to be fun and chaotic.
The original Gigantic was free-to-play. While the revival — dubbed Gigantic: Rampage Edition — typically costs $20, it has zero microtransactions. So you won’t have to worry about being nickel-and-dimed after claiming this one.
You’ll have until August 29 to snag those two games. There’s some good stuff to look forward to on the Epic Games Store next week as well. Starting on August 29, you can claim a Fallout bundle that includes Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics for free, along with an arcade-style football game called Wild Card Football.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/the-epic-games-stores-latest-freebies-are-the-callisto-protocol-and-the-revived-moba-gigantic-192403774.html?src=rss
The best thing about the free games that the Epic Games Store offers is they’re genuinely yours to keep forever. They’re not locked behind a subscription of any kind. The only form of payment you provide is a little personal information in the form of your email address and whatever else is required to create an Epic account. It might be worth signing up if you haven’t already, as this week’s free games are pretty notable.
First up is The Callisto Protocol, a 2022 survival horror game from Dead Space co-creator Glen Schofield. It’s cut from the same cloth as Dead Space, but — stellar visuals aside — we didn’t like it much. (In fact, a Dead Space remake that arrived shortly afterward was much more warmly received.) Still, it can be yours for absolutely zilch right now.
What a week for FREE games!
Whether you’re up for Gigantic: Rampage Edition’s 5v5 MOBA action or The Callisto Protocol’s futuristic take on pulse-pounding survival horror, now’s the time to claim them both.
Just go here: https://t.co/HtftoaoJlW pic.twitter.com/zM7yGcbFe8
— Epic Games Store (@EpicGames) August 22, 2024
The Callisto Protocol hit Epic’s free game lineup just as the studio behind it announced a spinoff called [REDACTED]. The upcoming title from Striking Distance, which is no longer led by Schofield after he stepped down last year, is a stylized, roguelike dungeon crawler in which you play as a prison guard.
You must try to survive the threat of infected inmates and escape a penitentiary on Callisto, an icy moon of Jupiter. [REDACTED] will arrive on October 31 on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
This week’s other Epic Games Store freebie is interesting too. It’s a MOBA-hero shooter hybrid called Gigantic that has a long and convoluted history. To keep things brief, the game debuted in 2017, was killed in 2018 after failing to gain enough traction and revived under a different studio this year. I played it for a bit and found the matches to be fun and chaotic.
The original Gigantic was free-to-play. While the revival — dubbed Gigantic: Rampage Edition — typically costs $20, it has zero microtransactions. So you won’t have to worry about being nickel-and-dimed after claiming this one.
You’ll have until August 29 to snag those two games. There’s some good stuff to look forward to on the Epic Games Store next week as well. Starting on August 29, you can claim a Fallout bundle that includes Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics for free, along with an arcade-style football game called Wild Card Football.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/the-epic-games-stores-latest-freebies-are-the-callisto-protocol-and-the-revived-moba-gigantic-192403774.html?src=rss
Google avoids “link tax” bill with deal to fund California journalism and AI
Critics say Google got off easy as it agrees to pay $55 million into news fund.
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Josh Edelson)
Google has agreed to fund local journalism and an artificial intelligence initiative in California as part of a deal that would reportedly result in lawmakers shelving a proposal to require Google to pay news outlets for distributing their content. But the deal’s state financing requires legislative approval as part of California’s annual budget process and is drawing criticism from some lawmakers and a union for journalists.
Governor Gavin Newsom is on board, saying that the “agreement represents a major breakthrough in ensuring the survival of newsrooms and bolstering local journalism across California—leveraging substantial tech industry resources without imposing new taxes on Californians.” The deal “will provide nearly $250 million in public and private funding over the next five years, with the majority of funding going to newsrooms,” said an announcement by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, a Democrat.
A “News Transformation Fund” would be created with funding from the state and Google and be administered by the UC Berkeley School of Journalism. The state would contribute $30 million the first year and $10 million in each of the next four years, according to a summary provided to Ars by Wicks’ office.
Google DeepMind staff call for end to military contracts
In May 2024, around 200 employees at Google DeepMind (representing roughly 5 percent of the division) signed a letter urging the company to end its contracts with military organizations, expressing concerns that its AI technology was being used for warfare, Time magazine reported.
The letter states that employee concerns aren’t “about the geopolitics of any particular conflict,” but it does link out to Time’s reporting on Google’s defense contract with the Israeli military, known as Project Nimbus. The letter also points to reports that the Israeli military uses AI for mass surveillance and to select targets in its bombing campaign in Gaza, with Israeli weapon firms mandated by the government to purchase cloud services from Google and Amazon.
The letter highlights tensions within Google between its AI division and its cloud business, which sells AI services to militaries. At the company’s flagship Google I/O conference earlier this year, pro-Palestine protestors chained together at the attendee entrance, protesting Lavender, “Where’s Daddy?” software, the “Gospel” AI program, and Project Nimbus.
The use of AI in warfare has spread rapidly, pushing some technologists who build related systems to speak out. But Google also made a specific commitment: when it acquired DeepMind in 2014, the lab’s leaders required that their AI technology would never be used for military or surveillance purposes.
“Any involvement with military and weapon manufacturing impacts our position as leaders in ethical and responsible AI, and goes against our mission statement and stated AI Principles,” the letter that circulated inside Google DeepMind says.
As Time reports, the letter from DeepMind staff urges leadership to investigate claims that Google cloud services are being used by militaries and weapons manufacturers, to cut off military access to DeepMind’s technology, and to establish a new governance body to prevent future use of the AI by military clients.
Time reports that despite employee concerns and calls for action, they’ve seen “no meaningful response” from Google so far.
In May 2024, around 200 employees at Google DeepMind (representing roughly 5 percent of the division) signed a letter urging the company to end its contracts with military organizations, expressing concerns that its AI technology was being used for warfare, Time magazine reported.
The letter states that employee concerns aren’t “about the geopolitics of any particular conflict,” but it does link out to Time’s reporting on Google’s defense contract with the Israeli military, known as Project Nimbus. The letter also points to reports that the Israeli military uses AI for mass surveillance and to select targets in its bombing campaign in Gaza, with Israeli weapon firms mandated by the government to purchase cloud services from Google and Amazon.
The letter highlights tensions within Google between its AI division and its cloud business, which sells AI services to militaries. At the company’s flagship Google I/O conference earlier this year, pro-Palestine protestors chained together at the attendee entrance, protesting Lavender, “Where’s Daddy?” software, the “Gospel” AI program, and Project Nimbus.
The use of AI in warfare has spread rapidly, pushing some technologists who build related systems to speak out. But Google also made a specific commitment: when it acquired DeepMind in 2014, the lab’s leaders required that their AI technology would never be used for military or surveillance purposes.
“Any involvement with military and weapon manufacturing impacts our position as leaders in ethical and responsible AI, and goes against our mission statement and stated AI Principles,” the letter that circulated inside Google DeepMind says.
As Time reports, the letter from DeepMind staff urges leadership to investigate claims that Google cloud services are being used by militaries and weapons manufacturers, to cut off military access to DeepMind’s technology, and to establish a new governance body to prevent future use of the AI by military clients.
Time reports that despite employee concerns and calls for action, they’ve seen “no meaningful response” from Google so far.
DeepMind workers urge Google to drop military contracts
Google DeepMind workers have signed a letter calling on the company to drop contracts with military organizations, according to a report by Time. The document was drafted on May 16 of this year. Around 200 people signed the document, which amounts to five percent of the total headcount of DeepMind.
For the uninitiated, DeepMind is one of Google’s AI divisions and the letter states that adopting military contracts runs afoul of the company’s own AI rules. The letter was sent out as internal concerns began circulating within the AI lab that the tech was allegedly being sold to military organizations via cloud contracts.
According to Time, Google’s contracts with the United States military and the Israeli military allow access to services via the cloud, and this reportedly includes AI technology developed by DeepMind. The letter doesn’t linger on any specific military organization, with workers emphasizing that it’s “not about the geopolitics of any particular conflict.”
Reporting since 2021 has slowly revealed the scope of tech supplied by Google (and Amazon) to the Israeli government via a partnership known as Project Nimbus. This is far from the first instance of Google employees openly protesting their work being used to support politically fraught military aims — the company fired dozens of staffers who spoke out against Project Nimbus earlier this year.
“Any involvement with military and weapon manufacturing impacts our position as leaders in ethical and responsible AI, and goes against our mission statement and stated AI principles,” the DeepMind letter says. It’s worth noting that Google’s slogan used to be “don’t be evil.”
The letter goes on to ask DeepMind’s leaders to deny military users access to its AI technology and to set up a new in-house governance body to prevent the tech from being used by future militaries. According to four unnamed employees, Google has yet to offer a tangible response to the letter. “We have received no meaningful response from leadership,” one said, “and we are growing increasingly frustrated.”
Google did respond to Time’s reporting, saying that it complies with its AI principles. The company says that the contract with the Israeli government “is not directed at highly sensitive, classified or military workloads relevant to weapons or intelligence services.” However, its partnership with the Israeli government has fallen under plenty of scrutiny in recent months.
Google purchased DeepMind back in 2014, but under the promise that its AI technology would never be used for military or surveillance purposes. For many years, DeepMind was allowed to operate with a good amount of independence from its parent company, but the burgeoning AI race looks to have changed that. The lab’s leaders spent years seeking greater autonomy from Google, but were rebuffed in 2021.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/deepmind-workers-urge-google-to-drop-military-contracts-190544509.html?src=rss
Google DeepMind workers have signed a letter calling on the company to drop contracts with military organizations, according to a report by Time. The document was drafted on May 16 of this year. Around 200 people signed the document, which amounts to five percent of the total headcount of DeepMind.
For the uninitiated, DeepMind is one of Google’s AI divisions and the letter states that adopting military contracts runs afoul of the company’s own AI rules. The letter was sent out as internal concerns began circulating within the AI lab that the tech was allegedly being sold to military organizations via cloud contracts.
According to Time, Google’s contracts with the United States military and the Israeli military allow access to services via the cloud, and this reportedly includes AI technology developed by DeepMind. The letter doesn’t linger on any specific military organization, with workers emphasizing that it’s “not about the geopolitics of any particular conflict.”
Reporting since 2021 has slowly revealed the scope of tech supplied by Google (and Amazon) to the Israeli government via a partnership known as Project Nimbus. This is far from the first instance of Google employees openly protesting their work being used to support politically fraught military aims — the company fired dozens of staffers who spoke out against Project Nimbus earlier this year.
“Any involvement with military and weapon manufacturing impacts our position as leaders in ethical and responsible AI, and goes against our mission statement and stated AI principles,” the DeepMind letter says. It’s worth noting that Google’s slogan used to be “don’t be evil.”
The letter goes on to ask DeepMind’s leaders to deny military users access to its AI technology and to set up a new in-house governance body to prevent the tech from being used by future militaries. According to four unnamed employees, Google has yet to offer a tangible response to the letter. “We have received no meaningful response from leadership,” one said, “and we are growing increasingly frustrated.”
Google did respond to Time’s reporting, saying that it complies with its AI principles. The company says that the contract with the Israeli government “is not directed at highly sensitive, classified or military workloads relevant to weapons or intelligence services.” However, its partnership with the Israeli government has fallen under plenty of scrutiny in recent months.
Google purchased DeepMind back in 2014, but under the promise that its AI technology would never be used for military or surveillance purposes. For many years, DeepMind was allowed to operate with a good amount of independence from its parent company, but the burgeoning AI race looks to have changed that. The lab’s leaders spent years seeking greater autonomy from Google, but were rebuffed in 2021.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/deepmind-workers-urge-google-to-drop-military-contracts-190544509.html?src=rss
Turn your napkin doodles into high art with this AI image generator
Ideogram 2.0 launches upgraded AI image generator and mobile app.
AI image generators are having a moment right now with a recent rush of upgrades to many of the options out there. Ideogram is the latest synthetic image developer to join the trend this week with the launch of Ideogram 2.0. The new iteration of the image generator promises to outshine its predecessor as well as its competitors with several new and improved features, as well as a new iOS app and searchable library of the more than a billion images generated by users over the past year.
Ideogram 2.0 ‘s text-to-image engine gives the user much more control over shaping the AI-generated image. That includes a collection of several distinct styles to choose from. The Realistic style is undeniably the most interesting, as it produces images that closely resemble real photographs. The skin, hair, and other details are much better than those of the earlier Ideogram model.
The Design style, on the other hand, focuses on text accuracy within images, a notoriously difficult area for AI models to master. With Ideogram 2.0, users can generate graphic designs with long, stylized text that is still readable. The other options are fairly self-explanatory, with 3D making three-dimensional objects that could be rotated in real space, while Anime goes for that distinctive animated style and General avoids slanting the image to any particular look.
Ideogram on the go
Ideogram 2.0 has also improved upon its Magic Prompt and Describe tools. Magic Prompt expands upon an initial prompt from a user, while Describe reverses the usual setup and creates a text prompt from an image. They are now better at working out how to fill in details from an initially short text prompt and at explaining an image using words, respectively.
Ideogram paired its new model with the launch of its iOS app. The app allows users to create and customize images directly from their mobile devices. An Android version is also in the works. In addition to the mobile app, Ideogram AI has introduced the beta version of its API so that you might open another app or website that has an AI image generator and actually be using Ideogram’s model. It’s similar to how Microsoft uses OpenAI’s DALL-E or how X embedded Flux into the Grok AI chatbot. All of them and more are Ideogram’s rivals, and while there’s no sense of which, if any, will win out in the space, there’s no denying the final picture will be crisp and photorealistic, with words anyone can read.
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Premier League Soccer: Livestream PSG vs. Montpellier From Anywhere
Paris Saint-Germain looks to make it two wins in a row as they host La Paillade.
Paris Saint-Germain looks to make it two wins in a row as they host La Paillade.