OpenAI has submitted a policy proposal to the U.S. government urging a ban on AI models developed by PRC-affiliated entities. The company singled out Chinese AI lab DeepSeek, labeling it as “state-controlled” and raising concerns over security risks and potential […]
Publicis Groupe has snagged The Coca-Cola Company's U.S. media and data business from incumbent WPP, two sources with knowledge of the matter told ADWEEK. The result came after the beverage company held a competitive closed door review with both holding companies, which ADWEEK reported on last week. It means a crucial piece of The Coca-Cola...
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has requested additional information and documents ahead of Omnicom Group's proposed takeover of Interpublic Group (IPG). In a corporate blog post, Omnicom said the request formed "a standard part of the regulatory process." However, the FTC's second request for information could be a sign the government agency is reviewing...
It's both a great and bad week for Apple. In this episode, we dive into Devindra's review of the excellent M4-equipped MacBook Air (and briefly chat about the new Mac Studio). We also discuss Apple's surprise announcement that it's delaying its smarter, AI-infused Siri, which may not arrive until next year. Did Apple over-promise last year, or is it wise to hold off on advanced AI features until they're ready? After all, Apple doesn't want a fiasco like Microsoft's Recall announcement.
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!
The MacBook Air M4 refresh maintains Apple’s seat on the ultraportable throne – 1:40
…but the delay on a Siri upgrade could spell trouble long-term – 15:32
Xbox’s first handheld might not be made by Microsoft – 34:29
The White House turns into a Tesla dealership – 41:30
Meta attempts to block unflattering expose book already on sale – 45:52
Around Engadget: Ninja Swirl and Eero Pro 7 router reviews – 46:38
Working on – 49:21
Pop culture picks – 50:26
Credits
Hosts: Devindra Hardawar and Cherlynn Low Producer: Ben Ellman Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/engadget-podcast-macbook-air-m4-review-apple-delays-smarter-siri-113018766.html?src=rss
Back in 2020, when the COVID pandemic was still new, everyone was "sheltering in place" and bingeing films and television. Pandemic-related fare proved especially popular, including the 1995 medical disaster-thriller Outbreak, starring Dustin Hoffman. Chalk it up to morbid curiosity, which some researchers have suggested is an evolved response mechanism for dealing with threats by learning from imagined experiences. Outbreak turned 30 this week, making this the perfect time to revisit the film.
(Spoilers for Outbreak abound below.)
Outbreak deals with the re-emergence of a deadly virus called Motaba, 28 years after it first appeared in an African jungle, infecting US soldiers and many others. The US military secretly destroyed the camp to conceal evidence of the virus, a project overseen by Major General Donald McClintock (Donald Sutherland) and Brigadier General William Ford (Morgan Freeman). When it re-emerges in Zaire decades later, a military doctor, Colonel Sam Daniels (Hoffman), takes a team to the afflicted village to investigate, only to find the entire town has died.
The U.K. government’s secret order to Apple demanding it backdoor the end-to-end encrypted version of its iCloud storage service has now been challenged by two civil rights groups, Liberty and Privacy International, which filed complaints Thursday. They called the order “unacceptable and disproportionate” and warned of “global consequences” as the access order is thought to […]
If you've ever loved dad jokes, there's a new show dedicated to celebrities telling them--and brands get the last laugh. Digital video network Culture Genesis premiered Celebrity Dad Jokes this week on the All Def channel on YouTube, which tapped Nick Cannon as an executive producer and the host. The show, which Culture Genesis describes...
President Trump’s family has been weighing an investment in Binance.US, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. The investment would come just a couple of years after Binance’s U.S. arm pleaded guilty to violating anti-money laundering regulation. As part of that guilty plea, Binance’s founder Changpeng Zhao, better known as CZ, paid a […]
Apple released a new version of the basic $349 iPad this week, though you could be forgiven for not noticing. The new 11th-generation iPad (also known as the "iPad (A16)" or just plain-old "iPad") looks identical to the previous version, it was introduced in a single paragraph buried in the middle of an iPad Air announcement, and the company didn't offer to send any to reviewers. The one I have I bought myself for our 5-year-old, whose hand-me-down 2019 iPad Air 3 is slightly older than he is and a little worse for wear.
There's nothing exciting or even particularly interesting about this tablet. The design is recycled from 2022's 10th-generation iPad, which was itself a lower-rent version of the 2020 iPad Air design. It's powered by a variant of the Apple A16, originally an iPhone chip from 2022. It still doesn't support the regular Apple Pencil or Pencil Pro or the same keyboard accessories as other iPads. It still doesn't have an anti-reflective screen coating, and the screen doesn't feel as nice to use as an iPad Air's or Pro's.
But for all that, this is still probably the purest expression of what the iPad is: a cheap Internet-connected screen for reading and watching things. I say this as someone who has tried every new piece of hardware and software that Apple has introduced to try and make the iPad a powerful and versatile laptop replacement—it still feels like trying to make a square peg fit into a round hole. The more expensive iPads are nice, but I don't end up using them much differently from how I use this bare-bones tablet.
The UK, France, Sweden, and EU have made fresh attacks on end-to-end encryption. Some of the attacks are more “crude” than those in recent years, experts say.
iPhone and Android users will be able to exchange end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) RCS messages in the near future thanks to newly updated RCS specifications. The GSM Association announced that the latest RCS standard includes E2EE based on the Messaging Layer Security (MLS) protocol, enabling interoperable encryption between different platform providers for the first time.
The GSM Association said it had started working to enable E2EE on messages sent between Android and iPhone in September last year. E2EE is a privacy and security feature that prevents third parties, such as messaging providers or cell carriers, from viewing the content of your texts. The GSMA says the new RCS standard was developed in collaboration with “mobile operators, device manufacturers, and technology providers,” including Apple.
“End-to-end encryption is a powerful privacy and security technology that iMessage has supported since the beginning, and now we are pleased to have helped lead a cross industry effort to bring end-to-end encryption to the RCS Universal Profile published by the GSMA,” said Apple spokesperson Shane Bauer. “We will add support for end-to-end encrypted RCS messages to iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS in future software updates.”
Apple introduced RCS support to iPhones as part of an iOS 18 update in September. While Apple’s proprietary iMessage system already supported E2EE, this wasn’t extended to RCS messaging because the previous RCS standard didn’t provide cross-platform support. Google Messages also enabled E2EE by default for RCS texts, but only conversations between Google Messages users were E2EE, and not those exchanged with iMessage users or users of other RCS clients on Android.
“We’ve always been committed to providing a secure messaging experience, and Google Messages users have had end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) RCS messaging for years,” Google spokesperson Ed Fernandez told The Verge. “We’re excited to have this updated specification from GSMA and work as quickly as possible with the mobile ecosystem to implement and extend this important user protection to cross-platform RCS messaging.”
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