The Morning After: Apple and Google team up to combat Bluetooth tracker stalking

Apple and Google have announced a partnership to tackle unwanted tracking through the likes of AirTags and Tile devices. The companies have proposed industry standards "to help combat the misuse of Bluetooth location-tracking devices for unwanted tracking."

Apple and Google submitted the draft specification to the Internet Engineering Task Force, a notable standards development organization. Over the next three months, interested parties will review the documentation and weigh in on it. Beyond Apple and Google, the proposal has received backing from Samsung, Tile, Chipolo, Anker's Eufy brand, Pebblebee, and several safety and advocacy groups.

– Mat Smith

The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

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No Pornhub for Utah

The company behind Pornhub is challenging age verification laws.

Utah's age verification law, which targets publishers distributing material deemed to be "harmful to minors on the internet," has gone into effect. As a response, MindGeek, parent company to multiple adult sites, has blocked everyone in the state from accessing its websites, including Pornhub. As Motherboard reports, if somebody with a Utah IP address accesses Pornhub, they'll now get a video of adult performer Cherie DeVille. In it, DeVille explains the company believes requiring users to submit their government IDs isn't the most effective solution to protecting its users and could even put their privacy at risk.

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Watch the first ‘Gran Turismo’ movie trailer

‘Days of Thunder’ meets ‘War Games’ meets a tired-looking Orlando Bloom.

Sony

If you like cars and Gran Turismo, this might be the movie for you. This is not your standard video game adaptation – it’s pretty much grounded in reality and a world obsessed with the racing sim. Even weirder? This is all based on a true story. Even weirder again? It features Geri Halliwell Horner, AKA Ginger Spice. Now you’re going to watch it out of morbid curiosity, aren’t you?

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Hollywood writers are officially on strike

Streaming services have led to a "gig economy" for writers, the union said.

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has called for a strike starting today, largely over streaming productions, saying studios are effectively creating a "gig economy" within the union. On the other side of the table, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) said the WGA was "unwilling" to compromise on key issues, like mandatory staffing. We’ll feel the effects of the breakdown in negotiations immediately, with talk shows like The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel Live! already shutting down. The strike will also freeze film and TV production, affecting hubs like Los Angeles, New York and Atlanta.

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Ford's upgraded Mustang Mach-E offers more range at a lower price

More importantly, there's actually a chance you can buy one.

The crossover SUV's starting price has dropped $3,000 to $42,995 (before a $3,750 federal tax credit) for an RWD Standard Range trim, with a matching price cut for its $45,995 all-wheel drive (AWD) counterpart. Ford says it’s also scaling up Mustang Mach-E production for the second half of the year to help better meet demand.

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Shark's self-emptying WiFi robot vacuum is half off for today only

Reddit makes easier to share and view linked posts on social media sites

Admitting that "we didn't make it easy to" share posts on other social media platforms, Reddit has announced that it's rolling out new features to fix that issue. Those include an updated "shared link" preview for text posts shared via messaging services, new sharing for Instagram Stories, one-tap screenshot sharing and more. The improvements arrive on the heels of other user-friendly features like an updated interface, improved comment searching and more.

In the past, sharing a Reddit post on a messaging app like WhatsApp forced the recipient to click the link to see what was going on. Now, you get a visual preview of the content, along with the subreddit name, total upvotes and comments. 

Another new trick is the ability to share Reddit content directly to Instagram stories without the need to screenshot or download content to your phone. And much like with apps like Google Photos, a new custom "share sheet" pops up showing your most-used social channels, so you can quickly publish without leaving the Reddit app. There's also a one-tap screenshot sharing experience that allows you to share content without saving images to your device. That provides a direct link to the content rather than just a screenshot.

Finally, Reddit has introduced a new embedding toolbox that makes it easier to embed tweets in articles or CMS platforms like WordPress. Again, that allows users to not only show Reddit content on a website, but also link to it directly. That brings it in line with other social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, which have had the capability since forever.

It's hard to believe that Reddit has existed so far without these features, but the company evidently felt that it stood alone and didn't need the extra reach. The sharing follows other updates designed to make the app and websites easier to use, like the ability search within post comments, the addition of new text browsing feeds including Read and Watch, a revised, decluttered interface and more. At the same time, Reddit recently made API access a paid feature, ostensibly due to AI training concerns. 

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White House proposes 30 percent tax on electricity used for crypto mining

The Biden administration wants to impose a 30 percent tax on the electricity used by cryptocurrency mining operations, and it has included the proposal in its budget for the fiscal year of 2024. In a blog post on the White House website, the administration has formally introduced the Digital Asset Mining Energy or DAME excise tax. It explained that it wants to tax cryptomining firms, because they aren't paying for the "full cost they impose on others," which include environmental pollution and high energy prices. 

Crypto mining has "negative spillovers on the environment," the White House continued, and the pollution it generates "falls disproportionately on low-income neighborhoods and communities of color." It added that the operations' "often volatile power consumption " can raise electricity prices for the people around them and cause service interruptions. Further, local power companies are taking a risk if they decide to upgrade their equipment to make their service more stable, since miners can easily move away to another location, even abroad. 

It's no secret that the process of mining cryptocurrency uses up massive amounts of electricity. In April, The New York Times published a report detailing the power used by the 34 large scale Bitcoin miners in the US that it had identified. Apparently, just those 34 operations altogether use the same amount of electricity as three million households in the country. The Times explained that most Bitcoin mining took place in China until 2021 when the country banned it, making the United State the new leader. (In the US, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation that restricts crypto mining in the state last year.) Previous reports estimated the electricity consumption related to Bitcoin alone to be more than some countries', including Argentina, Norway and the Netherlands. 

As Yahoo News noted, there are other industries, such as steel manufacturing, that also use large amounts of electricity but aren't taxed for their energy consumption. In its post, the administration said that cryptomining "does not generate the local and national economic benefits typically associated with businesses using similar amounts of electricity."

Critics believe that the government made this proposal to go after and harm an industry it doesn't support. A Forbes report also suggested that DAME may not be the best solution for the issue, and that taxing the industry's greenhouse gas emissions might be a better alternative. That could encourage mining firms not just to minimize energy use, but also to find cleaner sources of power. It might be difficult to convince the administration to go down that route, though: In its blog post, it said that the "environmental impacts of cryptomining exist even when miners use existing clean power." Apparently, mining operations in communities with hydropower have been observed to reduce the amount of clean power available for use by others. That leads to higher prices and to even higher consumption of electricity from non-clean sources. 

If the proposal ever becomes a law, the government would impose the excise tax in phases. It would start by adding a 10 percent tax on miners' electricity use in the first year, 20 percent in the second and then 30 percent from the third year onwards. 

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The Morning After: The Godfather of AI leaves Google amid ethical concerns

Geoffrey Hinton, nicknamed the Godfather of AI, told The New York Times he resigned as Google VP and engineering fellow in April to freely warn of the risks associated with the technology. The researcher is concerned Google is giving up its previous restraint on public AI releases to compete with ChatGPT, Bing Chat and similar models. In the near term, Hinton says he’s worried that generative AI could lead to a wave of misinformation. You might "not be able to know what is true anymore," he says. He's also concerned it might not just eliminate "drudge work," but outright replace some jobs – which I think is a valid worry already turning into a reality.

– Mat Smith

The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

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Someone posted the entire ‘Super Mario Bros. Movie’ on Twitter

Another nine million views, but no box office takings.

Over nine million people watched The Super Mario Bros. Movie over the weekend — on Twitter. A Twitter user uploaded the entire movie to the platform – and kept it there for the weekend. A handful of copyrighted movies have repeatedly spent a few days on Twitter since Elon Musk took over, but Blue subscribers have also gained the ability to upload videos that are 60 minutes long, making it an easier task. Scrutinizing copyright for the team at Twitter is also a challenge when the company’s fired most of your safety and compliance staff…

Continue reading.

Apple releases its first rapid-fire security updates for iPhone, iPad and Mac

The rollout hasn't been completely smooth, however.

Engadget

Apple promised faster turnaround times for security patches with iOS 16 and macOS Ventura, and it's now delivering on that claim. The company has released its first Rapid Security Response updates for devices running iOS 16.4.1, iPadOS 16.4.1 and macOS 13.3.1. As usual, they're available through Software Update but are small downloads that don't require much time to install. Engadget and others have received an error warning that iOS can't verify the update as the device is "no longer connected to the internet,” so you may have to check for the patch at another time.

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SpaceX's Starship didn't immediately respond to a self-destruct command

It finally exploded after a 40-second delay.

SpaceX

SpaceX's founder, Elon Musk, shared more details about what went awry during the first fully integrated Starship rocket and Super Heavy booster launch in April. In a Twitter audio chat on Saturday, he revealed the self-destruct setting took 40 seconds to work. It should have been relatively instantaneous. The FAA has already announced it's investigating the events and will ground Starship until "determining that any system, process or procedure related to the mishap does not affect public safety." Even with all of that, Musk called the launch "successful" and "maybe slightly exceeding my expectations."

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Nextdoor is using a generative AI to encourage users to ‘rephrase’ mean posts

Nextdoor is introducing its first generative AI feature, an in-app “assistant” that can help users rewrite “potentially unkind” posts on the neighborhood social network. The new feature is rolling out “over the next several weeks.”

It’s far from the first time the company has experimented with ways to remind users to keep conversations “neighborly.” The company, which has at time struggled to fight the perception that its platform can be toxic, began using “kindness reminders” in 2019 and last year introduced pop-ups reminding users to be more “empathetic.” The app has also served up more targeted nudges to promote anti-racist language and less heated political discussions.

The new “assistant” takes the approach a step further. Instead of preemptive reminders, the assistant will prompt users to “rephrase potentially unkind comments” and suggest new wording for the post. “It's great to tell people, ‘hey, be a little bit more constructive,’ or ‘you don't always have to respond,’” Nextdoor CEO Sarah Friar says. “But now you're actually helping them reframe it in a way they might not have thought of.”

Friar notes that the assistant-written posts are optional and that users are free to make changes to the text it suggests. “It’s saying ‘when you word things this way,’ or when you maybe just add a few more sentences or add some context or an emoji, you can help someone hear you,” Friar says. “They may not agree with you, but at least they can begin to hear you.”

The assistant itself relies on the same OpenAI models used by ChatGPT, and has also been trained on “all of the data we've collected over our almost 10 years of life,” according to Friar. She says this allows the assistant to provide more tailored suggestions for other kinds of posts on the platform. In an example provided by the company, the assistant rewrites a post from a user looking for landscaping work with new phrasing the app says may “get a better response” than the original.

While the assistant is Nextdoor’s first use of generative AI, it likely won’t be the last. Friar says she’s particularly interested in how generative AI can be used for recommendations to help small businesses using the platform.

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Pornhub blocks access in Utah to challenge age verification law

Utah's age verification law, which targets publishers distributing material deemed to be "harmful to minors on the internet," has gone into effect. As a response, MindGeek has chosen to block everyone in the state from being able to access its websites, including Pornhub. As Motherboard reports, if somebody with a Utah IP address accesses Pornhub, they'll now be met with a video of adult performer Cherie DeVille. In it, DeVille explained that the company believes requiring users to submit their government IDs isn't the most effective solution to protecting its users and could even put their privacy at risk. 

She continued that "mandating age verification without proper enforcement" has driven users to other sites with fewer safety measures in states with the same law. MindGeek believes that the most effective solution to identify users is by doing so through their device. "Until a real solution is offered, we have made the difficult decision to completely disable access to our website in Utah," DeVille said, ending the video with a plea for residents in the state to contact their representatives and demand device-based verification solutions. 

In January, a law requiring adult websites to deploy age verification measures and ensure their visitors are 18 or older went into effect in Lousiana. Pornhub, however, didn't block all users in the state, and is currently verifying people's ages using Lousiana's digital wallet app for driver's licenses. According to Axios, Utah doesn't have a similar tool that websites like Pornhub could use, making it much difficult to comply with the law. We asked Pornhub if it would consider unblocking Utah residents if the state creates its own wallet app for driver's licenses. 

Laurie Schlegel, the Republication representative who spearheaded the age verification law in Lousiana, explained she championed the bill because she believes that the digital world needed adult-only zones, such as bars where patrons are asked for IDs. At least two dozen states, including Utah, followed Louisiana's example by introducing age verification legislation over the past year. So, even if Pornhub finds a way to unblock Utah residents, a lot of people elsewhere in the US might find themselves having to verify their ages on the website using a government ID.

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Hollywood writers are officially on strike

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has called for a strike starting today largely over streaming productions, saying that studios are effectively creating a "gig economy" within the union. On the other side of the table, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) said the WGA was "unwilling" to compromise on key issues like mandatory staffing. 

"The Board of Directors of the @WGAwest and the Council of the @WGAeast, acting upon the authority granted to them by their memberships, have voted unanimously to call a strike, effective 12:01 AM, Tuesday, May 2," the WGA wrote in a tweet. "The decision was made following six weeks of negotiating with @Netflix, @Apple, @ Disney, @wbd, @NBCUniversal, @Paramountplus and @Sony under the umbrella of the AMPTP." 

The Board of Directors of the @WGAwest and the Council of the @WGAeast, acting upon the authority granted to them by their memberships, have voted unanimously to call a strike, effective 12:01 AM, Tuesday, May 2.

— Writers Guild of America West (@WGAWest) May 2, 2023

The effects of the breakdown in negotiations will be felt immediately, with talk shows like The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel Live!set to shut down starting today. The strike will also freeze film and TV production, affecting hubs like Los Angeles, New York and Atlanta. The labor situation has already delayed the start of some programming, FilmLA president Paul Audley told Variety. The last writers' strike started in November 2007 and lasted 100 days.

Both sides have said they're willing to continue negotiations, but appear to be far apart on some issues. The "primary sticking points" according to the AMPTP, are the guild's demand for a TV staffing minimum ranging from six to 12 writers per show, along with a guaranteed minimum number of weeks of employment per season (10 to 52 weeks). The studios rejected both proposals and didn't make counter-offers. 

Other issues (laid out in a WGA document) include a demand for streaming residuals that take into account the success of shows. The WGA also wanted increases in minimums of up to 6 percent, and the AMPTP offered 4 percent at most. The guild also wants regulation of AI, proposing that it "can't write or rewrite literary material" or be used as source material. The AMPTP only agreed to study the AI issue, according to the WGA.

There were some areas of agreement, like guaranteed minimums for writers who earn less than a certain amount, and script fees for staff writers. However, both sides are dug in for what could be a long dispute. "The companies have broken this business," guild leadership said last night, calling the problem an "existential crisis writers are facing." 

Meanwhile, the AMPTP said it was "prepared to improve [compensation and residuals], but was unwilling to do so because of the magnitude of other proposals still on the table that the guild continues to insist upon."

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Mastodon simplifies sign-ups to attract new users

After Elon Musk took over Twitter, one of the alternatives to the social media website that users flocked to was Mastodon. It's a decentralized network where people can choose from multiple servers or "instances," with each one being independently operated. At the moment, there are 12,000-plus instances people can choose from, and the Mastodon team has realized that picking one could be overwhelming for casual users. As a result, the service has rolled out a new onboarding process that makes one of the instances it operates, mastodon.social, a default sign-up option. 

New users can still choose from any of the available servers upon signing up, but mastodon.social now gets a special button that makes creating account much easier, as The Verge notes. Those who choose to start on the service with mastodon.social can still leave it and join another instance later on. The Mastodon team reiterated that decentralization is "at the forefront of [their] mission." They explained, however, that if the service only attracts "people who already care about decentralization," then its "ability to make decentralization mainstream becomes that much harder." By helping new users quickly get past the hurdle of choosing an instance, Mastodon believes it could better showcase what decentralized social networks can offer. 

In addition to announcing its new onboarding process, Mastodon has revealed that it has just surpassed a billion posts per month. It also listed some of its newer features, including the ability to quote posts and its improved content and profile search. Plus, Mastodon mentioned its continuing work to improve content and profile discovery, which could help drum up conversations on the service, to refine its moderation tools and to remove friction from its decentralized service. 

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The Morning After: Apple drops lawsuit against former exec who accused the company of spying

After more than three years of litigation, Apple has quietly dropped its lawsuit against Gerard Williams III, a former chip executive the company accused of poaching employees. After over a decade at the company, in 2019, Williams left Apple to co-found Nuvia, a chip design firm later acquired by Qualcomm in 2021. When the tech giant first sued Williams, it accused him of “secretly” starting Nuvia and recruiting talent for his startup while he was still an Apple employee. Williams disputed Apple’s claims and accused the company of spying on his text messages. The case was dismissed, mired in a lot of legalese and multiple court documents.

Apple requested to dismiss the suit against Williams earlier this week. The request does not state the company’s reason for dropping the case, but in March, Apple wanted the recusal of Judge Sunil Kulkarni, because its legal team added lawyers from a company that Judge Kulkarni had previously worked at. So, conflicts of interest, initiated by Apple recruiting more legal firepower. Apple and Qualcomm, Williams' current employer, did not immediately respond to Engadget's request for comment.

– Mat Smith

The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

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Brazil lifts nationwide Telegram ban

The company still has to pay a daily fine.

On Saturday, a federal appeals court in Brazil lifted the country-wide ban on messaging app Telegram. Brazilian authorities wanted the app suspended after Telegram failed to hand over a full set of data on a pair of neo-Nazi groups on the app accused of inciting violence against schools. According to Reuters, judge Flávio Lucas ruled that a complete suspension of the messaging app was “unreasonable” given that thousands of people in Brazil rely on the platform. At the same time, he upheld the daily $200,000 fine on Telegram for failing to provide local authorities with the data they requested. This isn’t the first time Telegram has been briefly banned in Brazil. In 2022, the country’s highest court suspended the app for failing to freeze accounts accused of spreading disinformation ahead of the country’s recent presidential election. Similarly, that ban was lifted just days later.

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Sony WH-CH720N headphones review

Budget-friendly headphones with premium sound.

Engadget

On paper, the 2023 edition of Sony’s midrange headphones should continue the company’s reputation for solid headphones – and a viable alternative to the pricey flagship WH-1000XM5. The WH-CH720N has the same V1 chip as the M5, which powers both active noise cancellation (ANC) and overall sound quality. There’s also an updated design and a lower price ($130), following another early cut. The noise cancellation does a decent job, but it’s not the best, and you’ll have to make do without automatic pausing. Still, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better option at this price.

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Watch the trailer for the latest video-game adaptation: ‘Twisted Metal’

What, you don’t remember the 1995 PlayStation game?

After those sweet Super Mario Bros. Movie box office numbers, more companies want a piece. Streaming service Peacock is joining the video game adaptation wars with a live-action comedy based on the PS1-era vehicular warfare simulator Twisted Metal, and it just dropped the first trailer. The franchise arguably reached its pinnacle in 1996 with Twisted Metal 2, but when have clowns and car explosions not been cool?

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‘Vampire Survivors’ is getting an animated television series

There wasn’t much plot to the game, but hey, look at ‘Twisted Metal.’

Vampire Survivors

Yes, the addictive hit game Vampire Survivors is getting the animated TV show treatment.. Developer Luca Galante said in a (hopefully) cheeky tone, “The most important thing in Vampire Survivors is the story.” (Note: There really isn’t much of one.) Media company Story Kitchen will partner with Galante (founder of developer poncle), to make the series.

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Razer Blade 16 laptop review

A miraculous display in a laptop you can skip.

Engadget

The Razer Blade 16 is one of the most unique laptops we’ve ever seen. It can handle 4K gaming just as well as high-speed 1080p gameplay, thanks to a dual-mode screen. And it’s one of the fastest notebooks around, featuring Intel’s latest CPUs and NVIDIA’s newest GPUs. And notably, it can be configured with an RTX 4090. But it’s noticeably heavier than the Blade 15, and you’ll have to pay at least $3,300 to own one with the dual-mode display. It’s an additional cost that Razer devices didn’t need.

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Walmart's suppliers would rather negotiate with AI than a human

The chatbot is even helping Walmart save money.

Walmart is using a chatbot from Pactum AI to automatically negotiate some of its supplier deals. The technology saves an average of three percent on contracts and is even preferable to the vendors. Walmart says three out of four suppliers prefer haggling with the AI over a human. Pactum's system simply asks Walmart to set its budget and requirements, such as discounts and payment terms. It compares a supplier's demands with trends, commodity values and competitors' costs. After that, the AI can strike a deal in a matter of days, rather than the weeks or months of conventional talks.

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Someone posted the entire ‘Super Mario Bros. Movie’ on Twitter

Over nine million people watched The Super Mario Bros. Movie over the weekend — on Twitter, The Verge reported. On Friday, a Twitter user uploaded the entire movie to the platform, and it remained there, openly violating copyright laws, until Sunday. The movie was removed and the user suspended from Twitter — again, shy of ten million people already seeing it. 

Sure, copyrighted movies have repeatedly spent a few days on Twitter since Elon Musk took over (firing most your safety and compliance staff will do that for you). But, previous posts, like The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift or Avatar, were shared in two minute increments across lengthy threads. The Super Mario Bros. Movie required only two posts, one with the first hour of the movie and another with the final 32 minutes. 

Why hasn’t this happened before now? Well, Twitter Blue subscribers can upload videos up to 60 minutes long. It's only available on Twitter’s website though, with app users limited to 10-minute videos.

Regardless of mainstream illegal streaming, The Super Mario Bros. Movie has crushed at the box office, making over $1 billion globally, and holding the number one spot four weekends in a row across the US and Canada. If it has come and gone in your area, don't worry, it will probably be back on Twitter soon. 

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