The hackers targeting the Treasury are dubbed Silk Typhoon, and previously mass-hacked thousands of corporate email servers.
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For me, skateboarding has always been about getting into a flow state. Much like playing Tetris, Iβm at my best when Iβm skating almost subconsciously, not thinking and acting in the moment. Itβs not an easy zone to get into, and music has always been my shortcut. So the greatest compliment I can give to Skate City: New York is that Iβve spent the past week fine-tuning the perfect playlist, all so that I can also perfect my runs in the game.
New York is a sequel to the original Skate City; both are available through Apple Arcade, though the first game was eventually ported to consoles as well. It comes from Snowman, the studio behind the Alto series, and the shift to New York is a lot like the move from Altoβs Adventure to Altoβs Odyssey. Itβs not an entirely new experience but, rather, one that changes the setting and adds some seemingly small β but very impactful β tweaks.
What makes the series so well suited to mobile is the way it balances approachability and depth. Skate City is extremely easy to pick up. Itβs a side-scrolling game, so youβre always moving left to right, and all of the various tricks and moves are performed either by a swipe, tap, or hold. It all feels...
One last chance before the divest-or-ban law takes effect on January 19th.
TikTok has just over a week before itβs forced to either separate from its Chinese parent company ByteDance or functionally cease operations in the US. An appeals court upheld a divest-or-ban law, but the Supreme Court offers one final chance for the company and its users to make their case. The court is expected to issue a decision quickly after its January 10th oral arguments on whether to at least temporarily block the law.
President Joe Biden signed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act β which passed with bipartisan support β last year, but it will take effect just one day before he hands power to President-elect Donald Trump, who has made frequent but nebulous promises to avoid a ban. Trump filed a surprise brief urging the Supreme Court to delay enforcement until he could broker a deal β though itβs unclear if the Chinese government would approve one.
If you have an iPhone 14 or later, you can send text messages via satellite where cellular service is unavailable. This can be particularly valuable in emergency situations like the Los Angeles wildfires, where cellphone masts have been damaged or destroyed.
T-Mobile and Starlink have now teamed up to offer the same capability to owners of phones without this feature β¦
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Google has teamed up with the Linux Foundation to establish a new initiative called the "Supporters of Chromium-Based Browsers." At the moment, most of the money that keeps Chromium, the open-source web browser project that produced the codebase powering Chrome, comes from Google. The company says it has no intention of reducing its contribution going forward, but it also continues to "welcome others stepping up to invest more."Β
Under the Linux Foundation's management, the new initiative aims to fund the open development of Chromium projects and ensure proper support for contributions that could lead to technological advancements. It's also meant to provide a "neutral space" where developers, members of the academia and big industry players can work together. Aside from Google, Microsoft, Meta and Opera have also pledged their support for the initiative.Β
Google said it established the new program after hearing from "many companies and developers about how critical the Chromium project is to their work" and how they would like to give it more than direct engineering support over the years. Chrome is just one of the browsers built on Chromium β Microsoft's Edge and Opera are also based on the project's codebase, so their involvement in the initiative doesn't really come as a surprise.Β
It's worth noting that the Department of Justice called for the breakup of Google last year, including a sale of the Chrome web browser. Google said in its announcement that it intends to continue supporting the Chromium project, but only time will tell if selling off Chrome will affect its contributions.Β
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/a-new-initiative-will-fund-and-support-open-source-chromium-projects-143028118.html?src=rss
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A lawyer for Elon Musk has called on the California and Delaware attorneys-general to force OpenAI to auction off a large stake in its business, intensifying a bitter fight with the companyβs chief executive Sam Altman.
In a letter to the statesβ top law officers seen by the Financial Times, Muskβs attorney Marc Toberoff said he was writing on behalf of big artificial intelligence investors who wanted to participate in an open and competitive bidding process for the OpenAI stake.
OpenAI had no plans for such an auction, according to a person with knowledge of the ChatGPT-makerβs thinking. Muskβs camp simply βwant more chaos,β they added.
Β© Getty Images | Anadolu
CES is a TV show. And a car show. And a wearables show. And this year, oddly, kind of a pool-vacuum show? It is the biggest, most elaborate, most bizarre tech show of the year, during which practically the whole industry flies to Las Vegas to show off new stuff and make big deals.
On this episode of The Vergecast, a special live edition of the show from the Brooklyn Bowl in Las Vegas, we talk through as much of it as we can. (Thanks to everyone who came out, by the way! So much fun to get to see and hang out with all of you.) We actually begin the show with a story that didnβt start at CES but took over the week anyway: Metaβs about-face on fact-checking and content moderation. After that, we get into Samsungβs new Frame Pro TV, the end of Dellβs XPS brand, Sonyβs bizarrely expensive Afeela car, and more.
After that, The Vergeβs Allison Johnson, Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, and Victoria Song join us onstage to talk about what they saw at the show. We talk about phone toasters, robot vacuums, smart locks, smart glasses, Max Ink Mode, and lots more. Will anything we saw this week ever ship, and will any of it be any good? Who knows! But thatβs the fun of CES. Itβs a fever dream, a...
Sports in the streaming era is a messy affair, and Venu Sports is a prime example of that. The planned new streaming bundle from Disney, FOX, and Warner Bros was going to launch last fall, but itβs now been canceled before even having the chance to arrive.
moreβ¦Apple likes to celebrate the Chinese New Year with a specially-commissioned Shot on iPhone video, and an unofficial copy of this yearβs short film has been posted ahead of the official reveal expected later today. The lunar new year begins on January 29.
The 12-minute short musical film entitled I Want to Listen to You is directed by Michael Gracey, who previously directed the Hollywood musical film The Greatest Showman β¦
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Meta knowingly used pirated materials to train its Llama AI models β with the blessing of company chief Mark Zuckerberg β according to an ongoing copyright lawsuit against the company. As TechCrunch reports, the plaintiffs of the Kadrey v. Meta case submitted court documents talking about the company's use of of the LibGen dataset for AI training.Β
LibGen is generally described as a "shadow library" that provides file-sharing access to academic and general-interest books, journals, images and other materials. The counsel for the plaintiffs, which include writers Sarah Silverman and Ta-Nehisi Coates, accused Zuckerberg of approving the use of LibGen for training despite concerns raised by company executives and employees who described it as a "dataset [they] know to be pirated."
The company removed copyright information from LibGen materials, the complaint also said, before feeding them to Llama. Meta apparently admitted in a document submitted to court that it "remov[ed] all the copyright paragraphs from beginning and the end" of scientific journal articles. One of its engineers even reportedly made a script to automatically delete copyright information. The counsel argued that Meta did so to conceal its copyright infringement activities from the public. In addition, the counsel mentioned that Meta admitted to torrenting LibGen materials, even though its engineers felt uneasy about sharing them "from a [Meta-owned] corporate laptop."
Silverman, alongside other writers, sued Meta and OpenAI for copyright infringement in 2023. They accused the companies of using pirated materials from shadow libraries to train their AI models. The court previously dismissed some of their claims, but the plaintiffs said their amended complaint supports their allegations and addresses the court's earlier reasons for dismissal.Β
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/lawsuit-says-mark-zuckerberg-approved-metas-use-of-pirated-materials-to-train-llama-ai-141548827.html?src=rss
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Β© picture alliance via Getty Images
Small-scale, hyper-efficient living has always appealed to me, so I was overjoyed to step into numerous examples of sustainable tiny homes this week at CES 2025. There were EV RVs, trailers geared for camping and deliverable, turn-key, self-sustaining living pods. I want one of each to create a little eco village somewhere, preferably within walking distance to a bakery, coffee shop and Thai food.Β
While none of these are cheap, some actually fall under what I would expect, compared to the market at large. And the suite of features employed represent some of the best sustainability capabilities available at the moment β solar power, gray water recycling, atmospheric water generation and boss-level insulation. Plus they're all very pretty.Β
The camping/recreational bent of these models is great β but the fact that most wouldn't require a permit could help address a small corner of the housing crisis, especially as more cities loosen restrictions on additional dwelling units (ADUs). One of these could easily set up in a backyard or driveway as a studio apartment for a college student, aging parent and happily single folk. I've got some planning to do. After CES. And a long nap.Β
I'll get this out of the way: the Haus.me Microhaus Pro was my favorite of the bunch. It's a deliverable, ready-to-use, 120 square-foot pod that's capable of setting up on any flat surface β grass, concrete, sand, dirt, atop cinderblocks, you name it. If it's flat, it fits. It can suck water out of the air (and I was assured that includes low-humidity locales). It plugs into a standard extension cord, so the power can come from the grid, a solar setup or something else entirely and the integrated battery will run everything for four days without being hooked up to power.Β
Inside, it's posh and lovely with every space maximized. A queen-sized Murphy bed flips up to reveal a table and two bench seats. It has a small fridge, microwave and sink in the kitchen, a full-sized shower in the bathroom, and a TV in the living space. The Pro model is fully appointed, complete with Siri Homepod voice control, fancy dishware, linens and includes the aforementioned battery. That model is geared towards Airbnbs and rentals and goes for just under $90,000. The Lite knocks thirty grand off the price as it foregoes the battery, dishes and a few other features and is intended for personal use. All models of the microhaus are available to order now.Β
The most tony unit I saw was from AC Future. The AC Future Ai-THd is a full-sized EV RV on display at the Las Vegas convention center. This is one of three models the company will make. There's also the Ai-THt, a trailer version and the Ai-THu which, like the microhaus, is a deliverable unit. That last one is the cheapest of the three models and the one that intrigued me the most. All three are based on the same transformable design (TH stands for transformable home) that expands three ways from 120 square feet to a 400 square-foot one bedroom apartment.Β
Each model will be customized to order and the available tech is impressive. Solar panels will generate 25 kWh of power daily and it also comes with atmospheric water generation to the tune of up to 15 gallons per day. There's a full-sized fridge, a washer/dryer, dishwasher, stand-up shower and, because 2025, a whole-home AI assistant called Futura to manage things on your behalf. Pre-orders opened up at CES and AC Future plans to start production as soon as the madness of CES is behind them.Β
I only got to peek inside the RollAway, but my colleague Jessica Conditt got to fully tour the rentable EV RV. It combines high-end hotel luxuries, from plush linens to Malin+Goetz toiletries. There's a convertible queen-sized bed, dual-burner stovetop, shower, panoramic roof and an included projector. The RV itself has a range of more than 270 miles and a fast-charging option. Sustainability tech includes rooftop solar panels, a waterless toilet, and low-waste water systems. That should allow for some off-grid trips but the RollAway is also compatible with standard RV site hookups.Β
To complete the hotel-like vibes, a 24/7 concierge is on hand to help plan your trip, give you directions, make side quest suggestions and keep your space equipped on the road. RollAway just started booking trips and is nearly fully reserved for 2025. Reservations go for around $400 a night and for now is just available around San Francisco Bay, but more cities are coming soon.
My colleague Sam Rutherford saw the prototype Pebble Flow EV trailer at last year's CES (and his pictures are always much better than mine). I checked out the production model the company brought to the show this year. The differences are slight but meaningful. Basically, Pebble asked prospective customers to tour the prototype and tell them what they should change. One directive was "more windows" so a skylight was added, along with a larger window at the back. The cupboards are now easier to access. And the overall shape is now more aerodynamic, which should make pulling the trailer easier even easier.Β
Being easy to pull was already one of the Flow's selling points. The 24-foot trailer can be outfit (for a price upgrade) with a dual-motor drivetrain that helps propel itself to reduce drag on the towing vehicle. That upgrade also includes a remote control option that lets you park and hitch the trailer via the app. Again, there's a Murphy queen bed that becomes a workspace and the dinette table folds down to accomodate two more sleepers. There's a full kitchen, a shower/bath stall with glass doors that change from opaque to clear with a button push. There's a 45 kWh battery and 1.1 kW solar array. It starts at $109,500 and bumps up to $135,500 with the motor upgrade. The first deliveries should be available in spring of this year.Β
Fun fact: Lightship is the only not-exclusively California company on this list. The California and Colorado-based company makes the AE.1 Cosmos, another solar-powered all-electric trailer that also with a motor-assist feature. In addition to the motor, the Cosmos also collapses down by four feet when it's in "road mode" to reduce drag. Inside there's a full kitchen with dishwasher, refrigerator, microwave, convection oven and induction cooktop. Two sleeping areas accommodate up to four and both convert to living areas (a dinette and a daybed/couch). Everything is powered by a 1.8 kWh solar array and battery banks.Β
Lightship had the Cosmos set up in the lot just outside the convention center. The space was decked out with a pebble gravel floor complete with scrubby desert plants and a starry night backdrop that blocked out the convention center itself. If I squinted, I could pretend I was out in the desert somewhere, with everything I needed just over there. It was a bit of a downer to leave it and return to the chaos that is CES. But now the sad bit: Only 50 will be produced. Each one will be manufactured in the company's Broomfield, Colorado facility and will sell for $250,000 each, with units shipping this summer.Β
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Β© Amy Skorheim / Engadget
