When it goes live, iOS 18.4 will allow some users to set a default navigation app other than Apple Maps. The software of choice can be set from the Settings app by going to Apps, then to Default Apps, then to Navigation. This way, users can opt for a program like Google Maps or Waze to be automatically opened when you're getting directions.
This sounds like a useful update that lots of iPhone owners would appreciate. But not all of them will be able to take advantage. Default navigation choice will only be available in the EU. The change was previously noted by Apple earlier in the month as part of its broader response to the bloc's Digital Markets Act.
There are some preferences iPhone owners in the US can set for default programs. Currently, Americans get options for setting the to-go apps for email, messaging, calling, call filtering, browser, passwords and codes, contactless and keyboards. And they've been thrown a bone in iOS 18.4, with the added choice to set a default translation app.
Across the Atlantic, however European users can make more impactful choices around their Apple use. Most notably, they can use alternative app stores. Some features that were sparked by compliance with the Digital Markets Act have been rolled out in other markets, such as third-party access to the near-field communication that powers functions like tap-to-pay. Having an international consumer base will often lead to situations where different laws and regulations create different user experiences around the world. But at the rate EU users are getting a better experience, either initially or permanently, over Apple's home market, these instances are feeling more like an accepted strategy rather than edge cases.
iOS 18.4 is still in beta; the final version is expected to release in April.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/ios-184-introduces-a-new-default-navigation-app-choice-but-only-in-europe-223408294.html?src=rss
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Drinking alcohol is bad in many ways; raising a glass can raise your risks of various health problems, such as accidental injuries, liver diseases, high blood pressure, and several types of cancers. But, it's not all bad—in fact, it's surprisingly good for your cholesterol levels, according to a study published today in JAMA Network Open.
Researchers at Harvard University led the study, and it included nearly 58,000 adults in Japan who were followed for up to a year using a database of medical records from routine checkups. Researchers found that when people switched from being nondrinkers to drinkers during the study, they saw a drop in their "bad" cholesterol—aka low-density lipoprotein cholesterol or LDL. Meanwhile, their "good" cholesterol—aka high-density lipoprotein cholesterol or HDL—went up when they began imbibing. HDL levels went up so much, that it actually beat out improvements typically seen with medications, the researchers noted.
On the other hand, drinkers who stopped drinking during the study saw the opposite effect: Upon giving up booze, their bad cholesterol went up and their good cholesterol went down.
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Sonos has canceled plans to release a streaming box, The Verge reported today. The audio company never publicly confirmed that it was making a streaming set-top box, but rumors of its impending release have been floating around since November 2023. With everything that both Sonos and streaming users have going on right now, though, a Sonos-branded rival to the Apple TV 4K wasn’t a good idea anyway.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman was the first to report on Sonos’ purported streaming ambitions. He reported that Sonos’ device would be a black box that cost $150 to $200.
At first glance, it seemed like a reasonable idea. Sonos was facing increased competition for wireless speakers from big names like Apple and Bose. Meanwhile, Sonos speaker sales growth had slowed down, making portfolio diversification seem like a prudent way to protect business.
© Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty Images
After a little over three months, Intel has a new CEO to replace ousted former CEO Pat Gelsinger. Intel's board announced that Lip-Bu Tan will begin as Intel CEO on March 18th, taking over from interim co-CEOs David Zisner and Michelle Johnston Holthaus.
Gelsinger was booted from the CEO position by Intel's board on December 2 after several quarters of losses, rounds of layoffs, and canceled or spun-off side projects. Gelsinger sought to turn Intel into a foundry company that also manufactured chips for fabless third-party chip design companies, putting it into competition with Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC), Samsung, and others, a plan that Intel said it was still committed to when it let Gelsinger go.
Intel said that Zisner would stay on as executive vice president and CFO, and Johnston Holthaus would remain CEO of the Intel Products Group, which is mainly responsible for Intel's consumer products. These were the positions both executives held before serving as interim co-CEOs.
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Meta has spent more than a year advocating for new laws requiring app stores to give parents control over kids’ app downloads, and just saw an early victory in the states. But Google charges that it’s really just a misguided effort to “offload” Meta’s own responsibility to keep kids safe.
The missive follows the passage of Utah’s App Store Accountability Act, the first of its kind to advance to the governor’s desk, putting the onus on app store operators to keep kids from accessing inappropriate content. There are similar bills in more than a dozen states across the country in a growing trend of kids safety legislation, in the wake of the Kids Online Safety Act’s failure to become law last year, and ongoing legal battles over many other state laws.
While Meta, Snap, and X issued a joint statement praising the Utah bill’s passage, Google calls it “concerning.” Rather than protect kids and give parents more control, Google director of public policy Kareem Ghanem writes, the legislation “requires app stores to share if a user is a kid or teenager with all app developers (effectively millions of individual companies) without parental consent or rules on how the information is used. That raises real privacy and safety risks, like the potential for bad actors to sell the data or use it for other nefarious purposes.” Social media companies would be the real beneficiaries of the law, Ghanem writes, because they could “avoid that responsibility despite the fact that apps are just one of many ways that kids can access these platforms.” Both Meta and Google’s YouTube have come under fire in the past for allegedly not doing enough to keep its youngest users safe on their platforms by pushing videos of kids to potential predators or keeping teens in a content loop that makes them feel bad about themselves. Both companies have said they maintain robust policies and resources to create healthy experiences on their platforms.
“We welcome Google’s concession that they can share age information with app developers, and we agree this should be done in a privacy-preserving manner,” Meta spokesperson Jamie Radice says in a statement. “But with millions of apps on Google’s app store, and more added every day, it’s unclear how they’ll determine which apps are eligible to receive this data. The simplest way to protect teens online is to put parents in charge. That’s why legislation should require app stores to obtain parental consent before allowing children to download apps.” In the past, Meta has argued that the app store is the optimal place for parents to grant permission and to vet users’ ages before they ever download apps. This method would also protect users’ privacy, Meta global head of safety Antigone Davis wrote in 2023, because “by verifying a teen’s age on the app store, individual apps would not be required to collect potentially sensitive identifying information.” How exactly users’ ages get verified is a major concern for privacy advocates, but it’s one that’s not yet entirely worked out in some of the legislation. Utah’s, for example, says that app store operators can use either “commercially available methods that are reasonably designed to ensure accuracy,” or other methods to be determined and deemed acceptable by state regulators.
“Because developers know their apps best, they are best positioned to determine when and where an age-gate might be beneficial to their users”
Google believes it has “a better way.” To Google, that means that app stores should only provide age assurance securely to developers that “actually need them” — meaning only for apps that offer risky content, and probably not for something more mundane like a weather app. In that vein, Google proposes putting more discretion on app developers, rather than app stores, to determine the appropriate protections to put in place for a given age group. “Because developers know their apps best, they are best positioned to determine when and where an age-gate might be beneficial to their users, and that may evolve over time, which is another reason why a one-size-fits-all approach won’t adequately protect kids,” Ghanem writes. Google is also proposing “clear consequences for developers who violate users’ trust” by doing things like “improperly accessing or sharing the age signal.”
Apple has similarly raised concerns about potentially excessive data collection. In a white paper announcing steps it would take to help protect kids online, including letting parents share kids’ age ranges with developers, Apple emphasized the importance of collecting just the minimal amount of data to protect users’ privacy.
“Everyone wants to protect kids and teens online, and make sure they engage with age-appropriate content,” Ghanem writes, “but how it’s done matters.”
Researchers have discovered multiple Android apps, some that were available in Google Play after passing the company’s security vetting, that surreptitiously uploaded sensitive user information to spies working for the North Korean government.
Samples of the malware—named KoSpy by Lookout, the security firm that discovered it—masquerade as utility apps for managing files, app or OS updates, and device security. Behind the interfaces, the apps can collect a variety of information including SMS messages, call logs, location, files, nearby audio, and screenshots and send them to servers controlled by North Korean intelligence personnel. The apps target English language and Korean language speakers and have been available in at least two Android app marketplaces, including Google Play.
The surveillanceware masquerades as the following five different apps:
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Straining the limits of wall space and most reasonable people's budgets, Samsung is now selling a March Madness bundle of eight "premium Samsung TVs" that you can get for $10,000, a savings of more than $6,000. Samsung suggests the new "Buzzer Beater" bundle will let you dedicate a TV to each channel March Madness games will air on so that you don't have to fiddle with Multi View or keep your remote handy to stay on top of your favorite college basketball teams.
If you decide to go all-in, the Buzzer Beater bundle includes a 98-inch Crystal UHD 4K TV, a 65-inch Neo QLED 8K TV, three 65-inch Neo QLED 4K TVs and three 55-inch QLED 4K TVs. The image in Samsung's press release somehow imagines all of the TVs will fit on one giant wall, but however you arrange them, you'll want to be quick. Samsung is offering the deal while supplies last, and you'll want to find a way to get them all installed by March 18, when the first March Madness matches actually start.
Samsung's bundle gets you a sampler platter of the company's display technology, but if you're looking for a less expensive way to get a new TV, Samsung has several normal deals available, too, including on its Neo QLED TVs, which use Mini LEDs to offer and overall brighter and more contrast-y look. You can get a 43-inch Neo QLED TV for as low as $900, $600 off their usual $1,500 starting price.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/samsungs-new-march-madness-tv-bundle-pushes-the-boundaries-of-reason--and-walls-212310298.html?src=rss
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Intel has a new leader at the helm, hoping to change course after a challenging period for the chipmaker. The company announced today that Lip-Bu Tan will serve as its new CEO effective March 18. He assumes the mantle from interim Co-CEOs David Zinsner and Michelle (MJ) Johnston Holthaus, who took over after the abrupt retirement of Pat Gelsinger late last year.
"Intel has a powerful and differentiated computing platform, a vast customer installed base and a robust manufacturing footprint that is getting stronger by the day as we rebuild our process technology roadmap," Tan said. "I am eager to join the company and build upon the work the entire Intel team has been doing to position our business for the future."
As part of his appointment, Tan will also rejoin Intel's board of directors. He had previously been a board member, but quit after two years in August 2024. While the move was publicly credited as a personal decision by Tan, sources suggested he was frustrated by Intel's risk-averse strategy and culture.
Tan is a veteran of the semiconductor and software industries. He spent more than a decade as the CEO of Cadence Design Systems, as well as 19 years on the company's board of directors. Tan has a long history as a tech investor as a founding managing partner of Walden Catalyst Ventures and chairman of Walden International.
Intel attracted negative press in the past year for issues with CPU instability, followed by a huge number of layoffs. But the heart of its problems date much farther back, and it could take more than just a new CEO to fully right the ship.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/intel-names-lip-bu-tan-its-new-ceo-211216526.html?src=rss
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Cottman Avenue in northern Philadelphia is a busy but slightly down-on-its-luck urban thoroughfare that has had a strange couple of years.
You might remember the truly bizarre 2020 press conference held—for no discernible reason—at Four Seasons Total Landscaping, a half block off Cottman Avenue, where a not-yet-disbarred Rudy Giuliani led an farcical ensemble of characters in an event so weird it has been immortalized in its own, quite lengthy, Wikipedia article.
Then in 2023, a truck carrying gasoline caught fire just a block away, right where Cottman passes under I-95. The resulting fire damaged I-95 in both directions, bringing down several lanes and closing I-95 completely for some time. (This also generated a Wikipedia article.)
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On Wednesday, a ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee accused the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of "misusing law enforcement" to claw back climate funds and "humor" Donald Trump’s "vindictive political whims."
In a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) requested information about a supposed criminal investigation into the EPA's $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF).
Whitehouse alleged that there was no basis to freeze the funding. He claimed that Bondi and Patel "reverted to a pretextual criminal investigation to provide an alternative excuse to interfere" after "EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced via social media that he had 'found' $20 billion in EPA funds at Citibank and falsely suggested that the use of a financial agent agreement—a commonly used financial tool that presidential administrations have used for centuries—was improper."
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The United Kingdom’s mobile browser market is “not working well for consumers and businesses” according to a final report from Britain’s competition watchdog, which says that Apple and Google are largely to blame.
An independent inquiry group has concluded its mobile browsers investigation for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), identifying Apple’s policies around iOS, Safari, and WebKit as making it difficult for third-party web browser providers to compete and restricting the market as a result. Google’s Android mobile ecosystem is also complicit in impeding competition, according to the CMA report, albeit to a lesser extent.
The issues flagged by the investigation include Apple requiring all browsers on iOS to run on its WebKit browser engine, giving Safari preferential access to features compared to competing WebKit-based browsers, limitations placed on in-app browsing, and having Safari pre-installed and prominently displayed as the default browser on iPhones. While users can change the default iPhone web browsing app, investigators say that Safari’s designation as the pre-installed default on iPhones reduces user awareness of alternative apps.
Investigators found similar concerns regarding Chrome being pre-installed as the default web browser on the vast majority of Android devices. However, the report notes that both Apple and Google have taken steps to make it easier for users to switch to alternative browsers since the investigation announced its provisional findings in November, which have “addressed some, but not all, of the concerns relating to choice architecture.”
The investigation also found that revenue sharing arrangements that see Google paying Apple a significant share of search revenue in exchange for being the default search engine on iPhones was “significantly reducing their financial incentives to compete.”
Apple and Google have yet to respond to our request for comment on the CMA’s report.
The CMA has put forward potential remedies aimed at improving competition within the UK’s mobile browser market, which include forcing Apple to allow developers to use alternative browser engines on iOS, requiring Apple and Google to offer a browser choice screen during device setup, and prohibiting the Chrome revenue sharing arrangements between the two companies. These suggestions are currently unenforceable, however, that could change in the coming months.
In January, the CMA launched separate investigations into Apple and Google’s mobile ecosystems to decide whether to designate them as having strategic market status (SMS) under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCC). Much like the Digital Markets Act (DMA) law introduced by the European Union, the DMCC allows UK regulators to make select companies with “substantial and entrenched market power” meet stricter antitrust requirements.
SMS companies can be imposed with “conduct requirements” intended to address anticompetitive behavior, and risk fines of up to 10 percent of their annual turnover for violating DMCC rules. If Apple or Google are designated with SMS, the mobile browser investigation is encouraging the CMA to “consider imposing appropriate interventions,” similar to the suggestions it outlined. The SMS investigations into Google and Apple are currently ongoing and expected to conclude later this year.
“Following our in-depth investigation, we have concluded that competition between different mobile browsers is not working well, and this is holding back innovation in the UK,” said Margot Daly, Chair of the CMA’s independent inquiry group. “I welcome the CMA’s prompt action to open strategic market status investigations into both Apple and Google’s mobile ecosystems. The extensive analysis we’ve set out today will help that work as it progresses.”
Sure enough, AMD’s exciting Radeon 9070 and 9070 XT graphic card prices, quoted at $550/$600, are looking too good to be true. Newegg, Overclockers UK, and even Micro Center are among the outlets that have now quietly raised the prices on the supposedly entry-level MSRP models of these graphics cards by $50-$130. Last Thursday, AMD wouldn’t deny reports that its partners are explicitly allowed to rapidly increase those prices beyond MSRP, and a week later, that’s already coming to pass.
While it’s true that board partners like ASRock, Gigabyte, PowerColor, Sapphire, and XFX generally charge more for cards with fancier cooling solutions, those aren’t the cards we’re talking about today. We’ve been tracking prices on ten specific models of the AMD 9070 and AMD 9070 XT that were originally introduced at their $550 and $600 MSRPs.
None of those cards are currently in stock at any retailer we’ve checked — but some retailers have already modified their pricetags ahead of new shipments. Here are the changes we’ve seen:
Not every retailer has changed out the pricetags on every card. Best Buy, which only listed a single model of the 9070 and 9070 XT at MSRP to begin with, hasn’t changed those prices yet — though they’re admittedly still out of stock. (It also now lists a pair of out-of-stock Gigabyte cards at MSRP.) Micro Center also still lists three models of 9070 and four models of 9070 XT at MSRP, though all are out of stock.
On the Nvidia front, there doesn’t seem to be much retailer/board partner scalping going on yet, at least at major US retailers. We’re tracking six different models of $550 RTX 5070, three different models of $750 RTX 5070 Ti, and three different models of $1,000 RTX 5080 which were originally listed at MSRP prices. Best Buy, Newegg, and Micro Center are still listing the ones they stock at MSRP today.
Last week, AMD told us that “we expect cards to be available from multiple vendors at $549 / $599,” and that more cards are coming. AMD did not say which board partners or retailers would agree to offer cards at those prices, or how few those partners would have to sell at those prices before charging more.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei is worried about spies getting their hands on costly "algorithmic secrets" from the U.S.' top AI companies.
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