Hasta La Gadget!

Snap has accused New Mexico’s attorney general of intentionally looking for adult users seeking sexually explicit content in order to make its app seem unsafe in a filing asking the court to dismiss the state’s lawsuit. In the document shared by The Verge, the company questioned the veracity of the state’s allegations. The attorney general’s office said that while it was using a decoy account supposed to be owned by a 14-year-old girl, it was added by a user named Enzo (Nud15Ans). From that connection, the app allegedly suggested over 91 users, including adults looking for sexual content. Snap said in its motion to dismiss, however, that those “allegations are patently false.”

It was the decoy account that searched for and added Enzo, the company wrote. The attorney general’s operatives were also the ones who looked for and added accounts with questionable usernames, such as “nudenude_22” and “xxx_tradehot.” In addition, Snap is accusing the office of “repeatedly [mischaracterizing]” its internal documents. The office apparently cited a document when it mentioned in its lawsuit that the company “consciously decided not to store child sex abuse images” and when it suggested that it doesn’t report and provide those images to law enforcement. Snap denied that it was the case and clarified that it’s not allowed to store child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) on its servers. It also said that it turns over such materials to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The New Mexico Department of Justice’s director of communications was not impressed with the company’s arguments. In a statement sent to The Verge, Lauren Rodriguez accused Snap of focusing on the minor details of the investigation in an “attempt to distract from the serious issues raised in the State’s case.” Rodriguez also said that “Snap continues to put profits over protecting children” instead of “addressing… critical issues with real change to their algorithms and design features.”

New Mexico came to the conclusion that Snapchat’s features “foster the sharing of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and facilitate child sexual exploitation” after a months-long investigation. It reported that it found a “vast network of dark web sites dedicated to sharing stolen, non-consensual sexual images from Snap” and that Snapchat was “by far” the biggest source of images and videos on the dark web sites that it had seen. The attorney general’s office called Snapchat “a breeding ground for predators to collect sexually explicit images of children and to find, groom and extort them.” Snap employees encounter 10,000 sextortion cases each month, the office’s lawsuit said, but the company allegedly doesn’t warn users so as not to “strike fear” among them. The complaint accused Snap’s upper management of ignoring former trust and safety employees who’d pushed for additional safety mechanisms, as well.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/snap-calls-new-mexicos-child-safety-complaint-a-sensationalist-lawsuit-140034898.html?src=rss

Black Friday is finally upon us, willing us to purchase some much-needed tech with some degree of a discount. Our Black Friday hub has been collecting the best deals available, so you can save a bundle in the run-up to the holidays. And while there have been some tasty deals in the last few days, the real blockbusters have now dropped.

That includes $75 off the PlayStation 5 Slim, with a decent chunk sliced off the price of a PS5 wireless DualSense controller. Sony has also knocked $100 from the price of its class-leading XM5 headphones, which you can snag for $298. Not to mention, you can grab the brand-new M4 Mac Mini with 16GB RAM and 256GB storage for $500.

There are plenty more where that came from, which is why we have the Black Friday hub. So go and get all the biggest and best deals without having to lift a finger.

— Dan Cooper

Get this delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!

News In Brief

• Avowed preview: Classic Obsidian fantasy on a AAA budget
  From the people who made Fallout: New Vegas.

• Chemists have created the world’s thinnest spaghetti
  Finally, science does something useful.

• Threads will prioritize accounts you follow instead of randos
  It’ll probably still feel like a haunted mall full of LinkedIn power users, though.

• Australia introduces a bill to ban children under 16 from social media
  With severe penalties for infringements.

• Meta says it’s taken down 2 million accounts linked to ‘pig butchering’ scams
  These scams are huge business.

• Spotify drops a bunch of new tools for audiobooks, including a sleep timer
  You can also make audiobook-specific playlists.

WhatsApp adds voice message transcripts

Oh, thank [your deity of choice].

WhatsApp

Voice messages: You either love them or feel you’re being forced to listen to the world’s least engaging podcast. Someone at WhatsApp must feel similarly given the platform has now added a way to transcribe the voice messages you receive. The feature is rolling out globally in the coming weeks, with more languages incoming.

Continue Reading.

Report: Amazon is likely to face an EU antitrust investigation next year

Did it promote its own products ahead of its competitors?

Amazon may face an EU antitrust investigation next year, with regulators curious if it promoted its own products at the expense of competitors. The continent has stringent rules around big tech platforms that act as both the marketplace and a player in the same space. If found to have given its own gear preferential treatment, the fines under the Digital Markets Act can be hefty.

Continue Reading.

The New York Times says OpenAI deleted evidence in its copyright lawsuit

OpenAI blamed a glitch.

The New York Times and OpenAI are battling it out in court, with the former accusing the latter of plagiarism. During the discovery phase, OpenAI created two virtual machines that the NYT’s lawyers could examine to gather evidence. But after 150 hours of research, some of that data was erased, which OpenAI blamed on a glitch.

Continue Reading.

Neuralink gets approval to start human trials in Canada

It’s the first country outside the US to approve trials.

Neuralink

Canada has given its blessing for Neuralink to conduct human trials of its brain implant in the country. The Elon Musk-owned company has already opened the door for would-be trialists to apply to be the first Canadian to receive the implant. It’s asking for volunteers with quadriplegia caused either by a spinal cord injury or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Continue Reading.

Teach mode, Rabbit’s tool for automating R1 tasks, is now available to all users

Remember the Rabbit R1?

Photo by Devindra Hardawar / Engadget

The Rabbit R1 was a neat-looking pocketable AI doodad that sadly didn’t really do enough to justify buying one. Since it stumbled out of the gate, however, a raft of software updates has added many of the features initially promised at launch. The latest is Teach Mode, which lets users automate tasks on any website, which is nice.

Continue Reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-121559120.html?src=rss

If you’re in the market for a color ereader, one of Rakuten Kobo’s latest models is on sale for Black Friday. Today, you can order the Kobo Libra Colour, which has a seven-inch color e-ink screen and physical page-turn buttons, for $200. If you’re content with black-and-white reading, two of the company’s other models — the Sage and Elipsa 2E — are also discounted.

Although not everyone needs a pop of color while reading, the device can enhance the visual presentation of book covers, highlights and comics on its seven-inch 1,264 x 1,680 E Ink Kaleido 3 display. Unlike tablets such as the iPad, it doesn’t add glare from sunlight. The device includes Kobo’s ComfortLight Pro, which automatically adjusts the front light’s blue levels for a more comfortable reading experience. It also has a dark mode for night reading.

One way the device stands out from Amazon’s new Kindle Colorsoft is physical page-turn buttons. Although reaching your thumb slightly to tap the screen isn’t exactly a chore, I prefer the satisfying feel of physical buttons: Keep your thumb rested on it and press when it’s time to flip the page.

The Libra Colour supports note-taking, annotating and highlights — all in color — with the Kobo Stylus 2. Unfortunately, the pen-like accessory isn’t included in the box; you’ll need to pony up an extra $70 if you want a more notebook-like experience.

The ereader has 32GB of storage, enough for 24,00 ebooks or 150 audiobooks. Rakuten Kobo rates the device for up to 40 days of battery life, although that will vary with usage. The Libra Colour has an IPX8 rating, meaning it can handle immersion in over 6.5 ft of water for an hour. As a welcomed perk, the ereader is self-repairable through a partnership with iFixit.

On the black and white ereader front, Kobo’s Sage and Elipsa 2E are also on sale for Black Friday. The Sage has a larger eight-inch display with deep contrast and fast page turns. Typically ringing up for $270, it’s on sale for $240. Finally, the Kobo Elipsa 2E has a tablet-sized 10.3-inch screen and software built around note-taking (including handwriting conversion). It has a $400 MSRP but is discounted to $350.

Check out all of the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals here.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-kobo-libra-colour-ereader-is-20-off-in-this-black-friday-deal-150004882.html?src=rss

If you’re looking to stock up on PS5 controllers, now is the time. There’s an early Black Friday deal that discounts the wireless DualSense controller down to $55. These gamepads typically cost between $75 and $80, so this is quite the sale. Even better? The deal applies to a whole bunch of colorways to suit whatever wacky aesthetic you got going on, though some colors are selling for a bit more at $60. 

A brand-new PS5 ships with one of these controllers, but you need two to enjoy some sweet couch co-op. We called out the gamepad in our official review of the PS5, saying it had “some of the most advanced haptic controls” we’ve ever experienced.

The analog triggers can be manipulated to emulate various sensations, like pulling an arrow back or running out of ammo with a gun. It’s a gimmick, sure, but a fun one. The built-in haptics also allow for more realistic rumble, which is heads and shoulders above what the DualShock 4 offered.

There’s a built-in microphone, a headphone jack, a tried-and-true button layout and a pair of joysticks. It’s a really well-designed controller. It’s a DualSense. It is not, however, a DualSense Edge. That’s Sony’s ultra-premium controller that costs nearly $200. That one offers extra features like easy button remapping, multiple joystick nubs, customizable rear paddles and more.

Check out all of the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals here.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/ps5-dualsense-wireless-controllers-are-on-sale-for-55-for-black-friday-150028471.html?src=rss

If you’ve been eyeing the reMarkable 2 for a while, now is a great time to buy one. While the E Ink tablet itself isn’t on sale, reMarkable has discounted the two bundles it offers alongside the 2. Until the end of December 2, you can save $89 off the Type Folio and Book Folio bundles. Both include reMarkable’s Marker Plus stylus, which comes with an eraser feature not found on the regular Marker stylus. It’s also black instead of gray and four grams heavier. As for the two folios, the type one is the one to buy if you need a keyboard.

The reMarkable 2 is easily the best E Ink tablet you can buy right now. It’s the top pick in our E Ink tablet guide, and for good reason. It boasts a tremendous reading and writing experience, with a responsive, low-latency display that offers the closest pen-and-paper experience among the tablets Engadget tested. 

The reMarkable 2 makes accessing your favorite books and files easy, too. It includes support for both PDFs and ePUBs, and you can link your Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive and Dropbox to make transferring those files a cinch. Each new reMarkable 2 tablet also comes with a complimentary one-year subscription to Remarkable Connect, which is great for transferring any notes you write to your other devices.

One of the few downsides of the ReMarkable 2 is how expensive it is to buy. Although reMarkable hasn’t directly discounted the tablet, a folio cover and Marker Plus stylus are accessories most people will probably want to buy anyway, so this Black Friday promotion still makes the device more accessible. 

Check out all of the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals here.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/tablets/black-friday-deals-include-remarkable-2-bundles-for-89-off-210003470.html?src=rss