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The ThermoWorks Thermapen One instant-read food thermometer is on sale for $79, which is $30 off and nearly a record-low price. This is an Engadget exclusive so act quickly if you wanna snag one before the sale goes up in smoke on August 22. The typical price, after all, is a whopping $109.
Amazon and other retail outlets are filled with meat thermometers so what makes this one so special? It’s incredibly fast, offering precise temperature calculations in under a second. The display is bright and easy to read, and it rotates depending on how you’re holding the gadget so the temp will always be in view.

There are some other reasons why this thermometer made our list of the best grilling gear. There’s a sleep/auto-wake feature to help preserve battery life and this thing even boasts an IP67 rating to protect against spills. That last one is important, as food tends to splatter.
The Thermapen One also made our list of the best small kitchen gadgets, for similar reasons. We called it “the best your money can buy.” The only major downside to this thermometer is the price, especially when compared to some of its rivals. This deal helps alleviate some of that sticker shock, but only until August 22.
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/deals/our-favorite-thermoworks-instant-read-thermometer-is-on-sale-for-79-right-now-130028874.html?src=rss

The ThermoWorks Thermapen One instant-read food thermometer is on sale for $79, which is $30 off and nearly a record-low price. This is an Engadget exclusive so act quickly if you wanna snag one before the sale goes up in smoke on August 22. The typical price, after all, is a whopping $109.

Amazon and other retail outlets are filled with meat thermometers so what makes this one so special? It’s incredibly fast, offering precise temperature calculations in under a second. The display is bright and easy to read, and it rotates depending on how you’re holding the gadget so the temp will always be in view.

There are some other reasons why this thermometer made our list of the best grilling gear. There’s a sleep/auto-wake feature to help preserve battery life and this thing even boasts an IP67 rating to protect against spills. That last one is important, as food tends to splatter.

The Thermapen One also made our list of the best small kitchen gadgets, for similar reasons. We called it “the best your money can buy.” The only major downside to this thermometer is the price, especially when compared to some of its rivals. This deal helps alleviate some of that sticker shock, but only until August 22.

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/deals/our-favorite-thermoworks-instant-read-thermometer-is-on-sale-for-79-right-now-130028874.html?src=rss

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Marvel supervillain and Fantastic 4 foil Doctor Doom is everywhere these days. After appearing at Comic Con as Robert Downey Jr.’s latest role, the green-caped menace will be heavily featured in Fortnite’s Chapter 5 Season 4 as part of the Absolute Doom battle pass, Epic announced. 
“Wielding the ancient power of Pandora’s Box, Marvel’s armored despot Doctor Doom has transplanted his Latvarian domain to the Battle Royale Island and seized a foothold with his army of loyal henchmen,” according to Fortnite’s blog.

On top of Doom, you’ll get characters like War Machine, Gwenpool, Mysterio and, of course, the Fantastic Four. The island will also feature themed locations like Doomstadt and Castle Doom and Marvel-themed weapons are on tap, including Captain America’s shield (previously seen in Fornite’s 2019 Avenger’s Endgame event) and Doom’s own Arcane Gauntlets. 
It’s Fortnite’s second Marvel-themed season, with the previous August 2020 romp offering Iron Man, Storm and a different version of Doctor Doom. We’ve also seen Deadpool, various X-Force members and other Marvel heroes before. 
Along with its Marvel cast, Disney is also bringing its own villains and characters to the new season including Cruella de Vil, Captain Hook, Maleficent and The Incredibles. This is likely no coincidence, as Disney recently bought a $1.5 billion stake in Epic Games — so expect more of the same down the road. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/fortnites-second-marvel-season-puts-doctor-doom-center-stage-120027832.html?src=rss

Marvel supervillain and Fantastic 4 foil Doctor Doom is everywhere these days. After appearing at Comic Con as Robert Downey Jr.’s latest role, the green-caped menace will be heavily featured in Fortnite‘s Chapter 5 Season 4 as part of the Absolute Doom battle pass, Epic announced. 

“Wielding the ancient power of Pandora’s Box, Marvel’s armored despot Doctor Doom has transplanted his Latvarian domain to the Battle Royale Island and seized a foothold with his army of loyal henchmen,” according to Fortnite‘s blog.

On top of Doom, you’ll get characters like War Machine, Gwenpool, Mysterio and, of course, the Fantastic Four. The island will also feature themed locations like Doomstadt and Castle Doom and Marvel-themed weapons are on tap, including Captain America’s shield (previously seen in Fornite’s 2019 Avenger’s Endgame event) and Doom’s own Arcane Gauntlets. 

It’s Fortnite’s second Marvel-themed season, with the previous August 2020 romp offering Iron Man, Storm and a different version of Doctor Doom. We’ve also seen Deadpool, various X-Force members and other Marvel heroes before. 

Along with its Marvel cast, Disney is also bringing its own villains and characters to the new season including Cruella de Vil, Captain Hook, Maleficent and The Incredibles. This is likely no coincidence, as Disney recently bought a $1.5 billion stake in Epic Games — so expect more of the same down the road. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/fortnites-second-marvel-season-puts-doctor-doom-center-stage-120027832.html?src=rss

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Is the second time the charm for Google’s foldable? In this episode, Devindra chats with Senior Writer Sam Rutherford about his hands-on impressions of the new Pixel 9 Pro Fold. It has bigger screens and a sleeker design than its predecessor, but how does it compare to the other foldables out there? And why isn’t it called the Pixel Fold 2?!

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!

Topics

Thoughts on Google’s Pixel 9 Pro Fold and the rest of Google’s event – 1:39
Eric Schmidt blames work from home and work-life balance for Google’s loss of AI advantage – 31:07
U.S. Department of Justice considering breaking up Google after monopoly ruling – 33:32
Hackers may have leaked every American’s Social Security Number – 38:04
Meta officially shuts down CrowdTangle, a critical tool for monitoring misinformation on Facebook – 40:50
Apple is opening up its NFC to third-party developers – 43:12
Working on – 47:13
Pop Culture Picks – 49:07

Subscribe!

iTunes
Spotify
Pocket Casts
Stitcher
Google Podcasts

Livestream

Credits 
Hosts: Devindra Hardawar and Sam RutherfordProducer: Ben Ellman Music: Dale North and Terrence O’BrienThis article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/engadget-podcast-pixel-9-pro-fold-hands-on-thoughts-113024736.html?src=rss

Is the second time the charm for Google’s foldable? In this episode, Devindra chats with Senior Writer Sam Rutherford about his hands-on impressions of the new Pixel 9 Pro Fold. It has bigger screens and a sleeker design than its predecessor, but how does it compare to the other foldables out there? And why isn’t it called the Pixel Fold 2?!

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!

Topics

Thoughts on Google’s Pixel 9 Pro Fold and the rest of Google’s event – 1:39

Eric Schmidt blames work from home and work-life balance for Google’s loss of AI advantage – 31:07

U.S. Department of Justice considering breaking up Google after monopoly ruling – 33:32

Hackers may have leaked every American’s Social Security Number – 38:04

Meta officially shuts down CrowdTangle, a critical tool for monitoring misinformation on Facebook – 40:50

Apple is opening up its NFC to third-party developers – 43:12

Working on – 47:13

Pop Culture Picks – 49:07

Subscribe!

iTunes

Spotify

Pocket Casts

Stitcher

Google Podcasts

Livestream

Credits 

Hosts: Devindra Hardawar and Sam Rutherford
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O’Brien

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/engadget-podcast-pixel-9-pro-fold-hands-on-thoughts-113024736.html?src=rss

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Congress can’t get enough of the Meta boss. Nineteen members of Congress are now pressing Mark Zuckerberg to explain why Meta has allowed ads for cocaine, ecstasy and other drugs on both Facebook and Instagram. It comes after the Tech Transparency Project (TTP) used Meta’s ad library to find 450 Instagram and Facebook ads that included “photos of prescription drug bottles, piles of pills and powders or bricks of cocaine.”
In the letter addressed directly to Zuckerberg, the lawmakers wrote that they wanted details about Meta’s policies for enforcing rules against drug-related ads and about how many times people viewed and interacted with the ads. Congress gave Meta a deadline of September 6 to reply.
— Mat Smith
The biggest stories you might have missed
Arizona Sunshine Remake brings the undead back to VR with enhanced graphics
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12 review: Still the king of business laptops
Researchers claim most Google Pixel phones shipped with exploitable bloatware since 2017
​​You can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!

Kim Kardashian and Beats are back
Headphones in neutral skin tones.

The latest entry to the Beats x Kim line brings three neutral colors — Moon, Dune and Earth — to the Beats Studio Pro headphones. The limited collection is available from Apple and Amazon, and even with the Kardashian clout (klout?), they remain at their usual $350.
Continue reading.

Dyson OnTrac headphones review
When the basics aren’t enough.
Engadget
When you hear Dyson headphones, the first thing that comes to mind is likely the Bane-like Zone, its air-purifying wearable from 2022. Dyson is back with another version, and its sole purpose is to provide audio and active noise cancellation (ANC) for normal use. Customizable design aside, the price, audio quality and middling ANC make for a hard sell.
Continue reading.

Your Meta headset can now display the output of any HDMI or DisplayPort device
If you have the right capture card.

The Meta Quest HDMI Link app works with its Quest 2, Quest 3 and Quest Pro headsets and means you can connect any devices with HDMI or DisplayPort through to those VR headsets. Simple? Not quite. You’ll need a UVC and UAC compatible capture card to use the feature and connect it to the device you wish to view and a USB-C male cable to connect the card. Wireless options, like Quest Air Link or Xbox Cloud Gaming, are still available and a little easier to use.
​​Continue reading.

This guy hooked up 444 consoles to one TV
While I don’t have enough space to connect my Apple TV.
Engadget
Using switchers and an Excel spreadsheet, Ibrahim Al-Nasser loves cables. He also has a Sega 32x. 16-year-old Mat is very jealous of him.
Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-congress-asks-zuckerberg-why-drug-dealers-are-advertising-on-facebook-and-instagram-111630587.html?src=rss

Congress can’t get enough of the Meta boss. Nineteen members of Congress are now pressing Mark Zuckerberg to explain why Meta has allowed ads for cocaine, ecstasy and other drugs on both Facebook and Instagram. It comes after the Tech Transparency Project (TTP) used Meta’s ad library to find 450 Instagram and Facebook ads that included “photos of prescription drug bottles, piles of pills and powders or bricks of cocaine.”

In the letter addressed directly to Zuckerberg, the lawmakers wrote that they wanted details about Meta’s policies for enforcing rules against drug-related ads and about how many times people viewed and interacted with the ads. Congress gave Meta a deadline of September 6 to reply.

— Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

Arizona Sunshine Remake brings the undead back to VR with enhanced graphics

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12 review: Still the king of business laptops

Researchers claim most Google Pixel phones shipped with exploitable bloatware since 2017

​​You can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!

Kim Kardashian and Beats are back

Headphones in neutral skin tones.

The latest entry to the Beats x Kim line brings three neutral colors — Moon, Dune and Earth — to the Beats Studio Pro headphones. The limited collection is available from Apple and Amazon, and even with the Kardashian clout (klout?), they remain at their usual $350.

Continue reading.

Dyson OnTrac headphones review

When the basics aren’t enough.

When you hear Dyson headphones, the first thing that comes to mind is likely the Bane-like Zone, its air-purifying wearable from 2022. Dyson is back with another version, and its sole purpose is to provide audio and active noise cancellation (ANC) for normal use. Customizable design aside, the price, audio quality and middling ANC make for a hard sell.

Continue reading.

Your Meta headset can now display the output of any HDMI or DisplayPort device

If you have the right capture card.

The Meta Quest HDMI Link app works with its Quest 2, Quest 3 and Quest Pro headsets and means you can connect any devices with HDMI or DisplayPort through to those VR headsets. Simple? Not quite. You’ll need a UVC and UAC compatible capture card to use the feature and connect it to the device you wish to view and a USB-C male cable to connect the card. Wireless options, like Quest Air Link or Xbox Cloud Gaming, are still available and a little easier to use.

​​Continue reading.

This guy hooked up 444 consoles to one TV

While I don’t have enough space to connect my Apple TV.

Using switchers and an Excel spreadsheet, Ibrahim Al-Nasser loves cables. He also has a Sega 32x. 16-year-old Mat is very jealous of him.

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-congress-asks-zuckerberg-why-drug-dealers-are-advertising-on-facebook-and-instagram-111630587.html?src=rss

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Our lives are full of screens in this digital age but sometimes you can’t access them or you need a bigger one for your tired eyes. Meta announced a new app called Meta Quest HDMI Link for its Quest 2, Quest 3 and Quest Pro headsets that can connect any of your devices with HDMI or DisplayPort and send their output to your VR.
The HDMI Link app is available to download to your headset now from Meta’s App Lab.
HDMI Link lets you watch videos, look at your computer and play games on the headset in your Quest headset from any device with a HDMI or DisplayPort output. You’ll need a UVC and UAC compatible capture card to use the feature and connect it to the device you wish to view and a cable ending in USB-C male to connect the card to your headset.
Wireless options like Quest Air Link or Xbox Cloud Gaming are still available on the Quest headsets and a little easier to use. However, HDMI Link can be useful if you’re in a space where you don’t have access to a solid Wi-Fi connection and can link up to devices that wouldn’t normally play nicely with a Meta Quest headset.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/your-meta-headset-can-now-display-the-output-of-any-hdmi-or-displayport-device-230714344.html?src=rss

Our lives are full of screens in this digital age but sometimes you can’t access them or you need a bigger one for your tired eyes. Meta announced a new app called Meta Quest HDMI Link for its Quest 2, Quest 3 and Quest Pro headsets that can connect any of your devices with HDMI or DisplayPort and send their output to your VR.

The HDMI Link app is available to download to your headset now from Meta’s App Lab.

HDMI Link lets you watch videos, look at your computer and play games on the headset in your Quest headset from any device with a HDMI or DisplayPort output. You’ll need a UVC and UAC compatible capture card to use the feature and connect it to the device you wish to view and a cable ending in USB-C male to connect the card to your headset.

Wireless options like Quest Air Link or Xbox Cloud Gaming are still available on the Quest headsets and a little easier to use. However, HDMI Link can be useful if you’re in a space where you don’t have access to a solid Wi-Fi connection and can link up to devices that wouldn’t normally play nicely with a Meta Quest headset.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/your-meta-headset-can-now-display-the-output-of-any-hdmi-or-displayport-device-230714344.html?src=rss

Read More 

Dystopian shooters with strong echoes of Doom are a dime a dozen. But when the people behind the recent entries for that hellishly good franchise are the ones making a new game, it’s worth taking a look. Today the trailer dropped for a new game called Defect from a new studio called Emptyvessel. 
Think multiplayer Doom gameplay with a heavy layer of Dredd. The game is set in a city governed by a sinister AI and rocked by violence as different factions trying to secure power. The trailer is mostly setting the atmosphere and showcasing shiny graphics courtesy of Unreal Engine 5. But it does include a few snippets of pre-production gameplay that show some of the arsenal. The one that stands out is a weapon with a screen showing highlighted enemies, even ones behind walls. The gadget indicates that there will be a strategic side to the gameplay on top of the gory destruction. Defect also promises multiple objectives with different finales for each of the matches.
Emptyvessel boasts veterans from many of the heavy-hitting titles in AAA game development. There’s a lot of alumni from Doom, as well as experienced creatives from Call of Duty, Uncharted, Tomb Raider and The Last of Us.
One notable team member is Mick Gordon, previously responsible for a ripping and tearing soundtrack in the rebooted Doom games, who is the composer for the project. But you’d know that from the sudden urge to start headbanging as you watch the trailer. And since he and leadership at id Software had a very public falling out after Doom Eternal, fans will be happy to have him attached to a new franchise.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/doom-meets-dredd-in-defect-a-squad-based-shooter-with-a-mick-gordon-soundtrack-221144042.html?src=rss

Dystopian shooters with strong echoes of Doom are a dime a dozen. But when the people behind the recent entries for that hellishly good franchise are the ones making a new game, it’s worth taking a look. Today the trailer dropped for a new game called Defect from a new studio called Emptyvessel. 

Think multiplayer Doom gameplay with a heavy layer of Dredd. The game is set in a city governed by a sinister AI and rocked by violence as different factions trying to secure power. The trailer is mostly setting the atmosphere and showcasing shiny graphics courtesy of Unreal Engine 5. But it does include a few snippets of pre-production gameplay that show some of the arsenal. The one that stands out is a weapon with a screen showing highlighted enemies, even ones behind walls. The gadget indicates that there will be a strategic side to the gameplay on top of the gory destruction. Defect also promises multiple objectives with different finales for each of the matches.

Emptyvessel boasts veterans from many of the heavy-hitting titles in AAA game development. There’s a lot of alumni from Doom, as well as experienced creatives from Call of Duty, Uncharted, Tomb Raider and The Last of Us.

One notable team member is Mick Gordon, previously responsible for a ripping and tearing soundtrack in the rebooted Doom games, who is the composer for the project. But you’d know that from the sudden urge to start headbanging as you watch the trailer. And since he and leadership at id Software had a very public falling out after Doom Eternal, fans will be happy to have him attached to a new franchise.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/doom-meets-dredd-in-defect-a-squad-based-shooter-with-a-mick-gordon-soundtrack-221144042.html?src=rss

Read More 

The first VR Games Showcase has delivered a deluge of new VR titles like the Arizona Sunshine Remake and Trombone Champ: Unflattened, but two new (and very similar) titles caught my eye: Action Hero and Vendetta Forever. They both appear to be slow motion action games like the brilliant Superhot VR that will let you live out your John Wick firefight fantasies without risking serious bodily injury or your health insurance premiums.

In Fast Travel Games’ Action Hero, you’re an action movie hero starring in a series of five fictional movies including an Indiana Jones-esque Nazi killing adventure, a high tech heist thriller and a Jurassic Park ripoff. Each movie has four different film sequences and you supply all the hot, gun flinging, boulder dodging, raptor punching (yes, you get to punch velociraptors in the face) action. The action moves slow so you can add some style to the scene like firing two high-caliber machine guns at once, pulling off some sweet hand to hand combat and not flinching during powerful explosions.

Vendetta Forever from Meta Space Interactive also puts you in the middle of slow moving action sequences against waves of anonymous enemies. It claims to have an “all-new lo-kill motion mechanic” so you can sidle up to the bad guys or dodge incoming fire like an Olympic gymnast. The style is a little closer to Superhot’s blank canvas scenes but with slightly more detail. 
Vendetta Forever proclaims itself to be an homage to “cult action” movies that are highly stylized and full of heart pumping music and moves like a virtual remake of the PC action sandbox Maximum Action. A demo of the game is available now on Meta’s game store for the Quest 2 and Quest 3.
Action Hero will be available sometime later this year on the Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3 and Meta Quest Pro. Vendetta Forever will be available in October on the PS VR2 as well as the Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3 and Meta Quest Pro.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/two-action-movie-simulators-action-hero-and-vendetta-forever-are-headed-to-vr-214608480.html?src=rss

The first VR Games Showcase has delivered a deluge of new VR titles like the Arizona Sunshine Remake and Trombone Champ: Unflattened, but two new (and very similar) titles caught my eye: Action Hero and Vendetta Forever. They both appear to be slow motion action games like the brilliant Superhot VR that will let you live out your John Wick firefight fantasies without risking serious bodily injury or your health insurance premiums.

In Fast Travel Games’ Action Hero, you’re an action movie hero starring in a series of five fictional movies including an Indiana Jones-esque Nazi killing adventure, a high tech heist thriller and a Jurassic Park ripoff. Each movie has four different film sequences and you supply all the hot, gun flinging, boulder dodging, raptor punching (yes, you get to punch velociraptors in the face) action. The action moves slow so you can add some style to the scene like firing two high-caliber machine guns at once, pulling off some sweet hand to hand combat and not flinching during powerful explosions.

Vendetta Forever from Meta Space Interactive also puts you in the middle of slow moving action sequences against waves of anonymous enemies. It claims to have an “all-new lo-kill motion mechanic” so you can sidle up to the bad guys or dodge incoming fire like an Olympic gymnast. The style is a little closer to Superhot’s blank canvas scenes but with slightly more detail. 

Vendetta Forever proclaims itself to be an homage to “cult action” movies that are highly stylized and full of heart pumping music and moves like a virtual remake of the PC action sandbox Maximum Action. A demo of the game is available now on Meta’s game store for the Quest 2 and Quest 3.

Action Hero will be available sometime later this year on the Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3 and Meta Quest Pro. Vendetta Forever will be available in October on the PS VR2 as well as the Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3 and Meta Quest Pro.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/two-action-movie-simulators-action-hero-and-vendetta-forever-are-headed-to-vr-214608480.html?src=rss

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As the US government weighs its options following a landmark “monopolist” ruling against Google last week, online publications increasingly face a bleak future. (And this time, it’s not just because of severely diminished ad revenue.) Bloomberg reports that their choice now boils down to allowing Google to use their published content to produce inline AI-generated search “answers” or losing visibility in the company’s search engine.
The crux of the problem lies in the Googlebot, the crawler that scours and indexes the live web to produce the results you see when you enter search terms. If publishers block Google from using their content for the AI-produced answers you now see littered at the top of many search results, they also lose the privilege of including their web pages in the standard web results.
The catch-22 has led publications, rival search engines and AI startups to pin their hopes on the Justice Department. On Tuesday, The New York Times reported that the DOJ is considering asking a federal judge to break up parts of the company (spinning off sections like Chrome or Android). Other options it’s reportedly weighing include forcing Google to share search data with competitors or relinquishing its default search-engine deals, like the $18 billion one it inked with Apple.
Google uses a separate crawler for its Gemini (formerly Bard) chatbot. But its main crawler covers both AI Overviews and standard searches, leaving web publishers with little (if any) leverage. If you let Google scrape your content for AI Overview answers, readers may consider that the end of the matter without bothering to visit your site (meaning zero revenue from those potential readers). But if you block the Googlebot, you lose search visibility, which likely means significantly less short-term income and a colossal loss of long-term competitive standing.
iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens told Bloomberg, “I can block ClaudeBot [Anthropic’s crawler for its Claude chatbot] from indexing us without harming our business. But if I block Googlebot, we lose traffic and customers.”
Google
Another problem with combining the two is that it gives Google an immeasurable advantage over smaller AI startups. The company gets a plethora of free training data from publishers eager to remain visible in search. In contrast, AI companies are forced to pay publishers for access to their data — and, even then, it wouldn’t add up to the motherlode Google gets (essentially) for free.
From that perspective, it isn’t surprising to read that, according to Bloomberg, Google is spurning publishers that try to negotiate content deals. (Reddit has been the lone exception.) Why waste money on content deals when they get all the training data they want in exchange for the search results most publishers need to survive?
“Now you have a bunch of tech companies that are paying for content, they’re paying for access to that because they need it to be able to compete in any kind of serious way,” Alex Rosenberg, CEO of AI startup Tako Inc., told Bloomberg. “Whereas for Google, they don’t really have to do that.”
It comes down to leverage, which Google wields over desperate publishers. On top of the industry’s existing financial troubles (online ad revenue has fallen off a cliff over the past eight years), AdWeek reported in March that Google’s AI-generated search answers could lead to a 20 to 60 percent drop in organic search traffic.
The ball is now in the Justice Department’s court to figure out where Google — and, to an extent, the entire web — goes from here. Bloomberg’s full story is worth a read.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/online-publishers-face-a-dilemma-allow-ai-scraping-from-google-or-lose-search-visibility-202246891.html?src=rss

As the US government weighs its options following a landmark “monopolist” ruling against Google last week, online publications increasingly face a bleak future. (And this time, it’s not just because of severely diminished ad revenue.) Bloomberg reports that their choice now boils down to allowing Google to use their published content to produce inline AI-generated search “answers” or losing visibility in the company’s search engine.

The crux of the problem lies in the Googlebot, the crawler that scours and indexes the live web to produce the results you see when you enter search terms. If publishers block Google from using their content for the AI-produced answers you now see littered at the top of many search results, they also lose the privilege of including their web pages in the standard web results.

The catch-22 has led publications, rival search engines and AI startups to pin their hopes on the Justice Department. On Tuesday, The New York Times reported that the DOJ is considering asking a federal judge to break up parts of the company (spinning off sections like Chrome or Android). Other options it’s reportedly weighing include forcing Google to share search data with competitors or relinquishing its default search-engine deals, like the $18 billion one it inked with Apple.

Google uses a separate crawler for its Gemini (formerly Bard) chatbot. But its main crawler covers both AI Overviews and standard searches, leaving web publishers with little (if any) leverage. If you let Google scrape your content for AI Overview answers, readers may consider that the end of the matter without bothering to visit your site (meaning zero revenue from those potential readers). But if you block the Googlebot, you lose search visibility, which likely means significantly less short-term income and a colossal loss of long-term competitive standing.

iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens told Bloomberg, “I can block ClaudeBot [Anthropic’s crawler for its Claude chatbot] from indexing us without harming our business. But if I block Googlebot, we lose traffic and customers.”

Another problem with combining the two is that it gives Google an immeasurable advantage over smaller AI startups. The company gets a plethora of free training data from publishers eager to remain visible in search. In contrast, AI companies are forced to pay publishers for access to their data — and, even then, it wouldn’t add up to the motherlode Google gets (essentially) for free.

From that perspective, it isn’t surprising to read that, according to Bloomberg, Google is spurning publishers that try to negotiate content deals. (Reddit has been the lone exception.) Why waste money on content deals when they get all the training data they want in exchange for the search results most publishers need to survive?

“Now you have a bunch of tech companies that are paying for content, they’re paying for access to that because they need it to be able to compete in any kind of serious way,” Alex Rosenberg, CEO of AI startup Tako Inc., told Bloomberg. “Whereas for Google, they don’t really have to do that.”

It comes down to leverage, which Google wields over desperate publishers. On top of the industry’s existing financial troubles (online ad revenue has fallen off a cliff over the past eight years), AdWeek reported in March that Google’s AI-generated search answers could lead to a 20 to 60 percent drop in organic search traffic.

The ball is now in the Justice Department’s court to figure out where Google — and, to an extent, the entire web — goes from here. Bloomberg’s full story is worth a read.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/online-publishers-face-a-dilemma-allow-ai-scraping-from-google-or-lose-search-visibility-202246891.html?src=rss

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Nineteen members of Congress are pushing Mark Zuckerberg to explain why Meta has allowed ads for cocaine, ecstasy and other drugs to be shown on Facebook and Instagram. The letter comes after the Tech Transparency Project (TTP) uncovered hundreds of such ads on the company’s platform.
The letter points to the TTP’s report last month, which used Meta’s ad library to find 450 Instagram and Facebook ads “selling an array of pharmaceutical and other drugs.” Many of those ads included “photos of prescription drug bottles, piles of pills and powders, or bricks of cocaine,” and directed viewers to outside apps like Telegram. Since then, the TTP has been posting additional examples of such ads on X, including one it found yesterday.
“Meta appears to have continued to shirk its social responsibility and defy its own community guidelines,” the lawmakers write in the letter, which is addressed directly to Zuckerberg. “What is particularly egregious about this instance is that this was not user generated content on the dark web or on private social media pages, but rather they were advertisements approved and monetized by Meta. Many of these ads contained blatant references to illegal drugs in their titles, descriptions, photos, and advertiser account names, which were easily found by the researchers and journalists at the Wall Street Journal and Tech Transparency Project using Meta’s Ad Library. However, they appear to have passed undetected or been ignored by Meta’s own internal processes.”
The letter requests details about Meta’s policies for enforcing rules against drug-related ads, as well as information about how many times the reported ads were viewed and interacted with. It gives Meta a deadline of September 6 to reply. A spokesperson for Meta said the company plans to respond to the letter and directed Engadget to a prior statement, published by The Wall Street Journal, in which the company said it rejects “hundreds of thousands of ads for violating our drug policies.”This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/congress-asks-mark-zuckerberg-to-explain-why-drug-dealers-are-advertising-on-facebook-and-instagram-200541467.html?src=rss

Nineteen members of Congress are pushing Mark Zuckerberg to explain why Meta has allowed ads for cocaine, ecstasy and other drugs to be shown on Facebook and Instagram. The letter comes after the Tech Transparency Project (TTP) uncovered hundreds of such ads on the company’s platform.

The letter points to the TTP’s report last month, which used Meta’s ad library to find 450 Instagram and Facebook ads “selling an array of pharmaceutical and other drugs.” Many of those ads included “photos of prescription drug bottles, piles of pills and powders, or bricks of cocaine,” and directed viewers to outside apps like Telegram. Since then, the TTP has been posting additional examples of such ads on X, including one it found yesterday.

“Meta appears to have continued to shirk its social responsibility and defy its own community guidelines,” the lawmakers write in the letter, which is addressed directly to Zuckerberg. “What is particularly egregious about this instance is that this was not user generated content on the dark web or on private social media pages, but rather they were advertisements approved and monetized by Meta. Many of these ads contained blatant references to illegal drugs in their titles, descriptions, photos, and advertiser account names, which were easily found by the researchers and journalists at the Wall Street Journal and Tech Transparency Project using Meta’s Ad Library. However, they appear to have passed undetected or been ignored by Meta’s own internal processes.”

The letter requests details about Meta’s policies for enforcing rules against drug-related ads, as well as information about how many times the reported ads were viewed and interacted with. It gives Meta a deadline of September 6 to reply. A spokesperson for Meta said the company plans to respond to the letter and directed Engadget to a prior statement, published by The Wall Street Journal, in which the company said it rejects “hundreds of thousands of ads for violating our drug policies.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/congress-asks-mark-zuckerberg-to-explain-why-drug-dealers-are-advertising-on-facebook-and-instagram-200541467.html?src=rss

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California is the latest state to make its driver’s licenses mobile. Today, Governor Gavin Newsom’s office announced that both Apple Wallet and Google Wallet will be adding support for California driver’s licenses and state IDs. The release clarified that residents still need to carry a physical copy of their identification, but that the mobile option would make age verification faster during air travel and at participating businesses.
“We’re partnering with two iconic California companies – Apple and Google – to provide convenient, private and secure driver’s licenses and ID cards directly on people’s phones,” Newsom said. “This is a big step in our efforts to better serve all Californians, meeting people where they’re at and with technology people use every day.”
The addition of licenses to these tech companies’ wallet apps is part of a bigger program by California’s Department of Motor Vehicles. The mobile Drivers License (mDL) pilot introduced a proprietary wallet app from the state agency that gave California residents the same capabilities to upload their driver’s licenses to their smartphones. More than 500,000 residents have done so to date in the mDL program.
Arizona was the first state to bring driver’s licenses to Apple Wallet in 2022, although both iOS and Android were exploring the technology years before. Maryland, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia and Ohio have also adopted support for mobile identification. And any news about identification is a good reminder that Real ID laws, which require more documentation to board a plane or enter some government facilities, are slated to take effect in 2025.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/california-state-ids-can-now-be-stored-in-apple-wallet-and-google-wallet-200021839.html?src=rss

California is the latest state to make its driver’s licenses mobile. Today, Governor Gavin Newsom’s office announced that both Apple Wallet and Google Wallet will be adding support for California driver’s licenses and state IDs. The release clarified that residents still need to carry a physical copy of their identification, but that the mobile option would make age verification faster during air travel and at participating businesses.

“We’re partnering with two iconic California companies – Apple and Google – to provide convenient, private and secure driver’s licenses and ID cards directly on people’s phones,” Newsom said. “This is a big step in our efforts to better serve all Californians, meeting people where they’re at and with technology people use every day.”

The addition of licenses to these tech companies’ wallet apps is part of a bigger program by California’s Department of Motor Vehicles. The mobile Drivers License (mDL) pilot introduced a proprietary wallet app from the state agency that gave California residents the same capabilities to upload their driver’s licenses to their smartphones. More than 500,000 residents have done so to date in the mDL program.

Arizona was the first state to bring driver’s licenses to Apple Wallet in 2022, although both iOS and Android were exploring the technology years before. Maryland, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia and Ohio have also adopted support for mobile identification. And any news about identification is a good reminder that Real ID laws, which require more documentation to board a plane or enter some government facilities, are slated to take effect in 2025.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/california-state-ids-can-now-be-stored-in-apple-wallet-and-google-wallet-200021839.html?src=rss

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