Engadget News + Next

-SpaceX has lost contact with Starlink satellite 34343 after it suffered an unspecified anomaly on Sunday while it was in orbit, the company has announced on X. -Match Group and its subsidiary OkCupid has finally settled a lawsuit with the Federal Trade Commission that dates back to its alleged sharing of user data back in 2014. -A study published last week in The Astronomical Journal describes what's said to be the first observation of a comet reversing its spin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's a one-stop shop for the latest announcements from the Trump administration, cherry-picked statistics and even reporting people to ICE. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-A vice chancellor and leader of the Social Democratic Party of Austria said the government's efforts would include the new age restriction, improved media literacy and clear rules for social media platforms. Austrian lawmakers didn't detail what the upcoming rules would be, but the country is likely to follow in the footsteps of many others who have or are pursuing similar bans. -Bluesky's chief innovation officer Jay Graber said the new AI assistant called Attie, is designed to help users create custom feeds. Attie is an "agentic social app" that's built on its open-source framework called the AT Protocol. -Project Hail Mary has taken in over $300 million globally, making it the best showing for Amazon MGM yet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The technology can still be used to translate and refine, as long as there's human oversight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-Senator Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced the Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act. -Google has begun rolling out Search Live globally, a tool allows you to point your phone's camera at an object or scene and ask questions about what you see in front of you. -Apple has confirmed to Engadget that the Mac Pro, the desktop tower-shaped computer that was last updated in 2023, has been discontinued. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Creators can tag up to 30 products per video. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-OpenAI has "indefinitely" abandoned plans to release an a erotic chatbot for adults following concerns from employees and investors, the company confirmed to The Financial Times. -Spotify is testing a new tool to help real artists exercise more control over their profiles. The platform's Artist Profile Protection feature lets musicians review releases before they go live and become associated with their profiles. This should prevent AI slop from creeping in. -A jury in Los Angeles has found that Meta and YouTube were negligent in a closely-watched trial over social media addiction. The companies were ordered to pay $6 million in damages to the woman who said she was harmed by their addictive features as a child. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The company has been in a legal tussle with rivals Oura. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-Baltimore began a municipal lawsuit against xAI, arguing that Elon Musk's businesses violated the city's Consumer Protection Ordinance. -Starting Thursday, X will update its revenue-sharing incentives to give more weight to engagement from a user’s home region. -Sony Honda Mobility, the automotive venture from two of Japan’s most storied companies, has axed its EV project. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The London-based company has plans to expand to five major cities in the US in the next three years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-The Federal Communications Commission has released a notice today designating any consumer routers manufactured outside the US as a security risk. -This potential ad revenue from Apple's Map App could seriously bolster Apple's services business, which currently generates $100 billion a year for the company. This division accounts for around 25 percent of annual revenue but faces challenges in both the short-term and long-term -The drone delivery startup has been rapidly expanding to metro areas across the US, but is now targeting the tech-friendly Silicon Valley region. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Terafab project in Austin, Texas will be a joint venture between Tesla, SpaceX and xAI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-According to Reddit's CEO, Steve Huffman, the social media platform is exploring different ways to verify a user is human and not a bot. -In Cheyenne MacDonald’s Science column over the weekend, she wrote about how researchers in Germany have identified a trio of bacteria that can digest a common plastic additive, but only when working together. -The developer behind the open-world RPG Crimson Desert has issued an official apology after players discovered several instances of AI-generated art in the game. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Horizon Worlds for Quest will stick around for the "foreseeable future," according to the company's CTO. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-Rivr is based in Zurich and was valued at $110 million in a funding round from August 2024, which both Amazon and its CEO's Bezos Expeditions participated in. -An OpenAI spokesperson told the publications that OpenAI Chief of Applications Fidji Simo will lead the application revamp with assistance from OpenAI President Greg Brockman. -DoorDash has launched a new option for its gig economy workers to earn some extra cash. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The company shared that it would go "all-in" on the mobile version of the platform in February. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-A Meta employee used an in-house agentic AI to analyze a query from a second employee on an internal forum. The AI agent posted a response to the second employee with advice even though the first person did not direct it to do so. The second employee took the agent's recommended action, sparking a domino effect -Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) shared a discussion draft for codifying the executive order signed by President Donald Trump in December calling for an AI bill. Her stated goal is a policy that "protects children, creators, conservatives and communities from harm." -During a Senate hearing, FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed that his agency has bought information that could be used to track individuals' movement and location. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Nike Special Edition gives the earphones a shoe-inspired paint job. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-Arizona's Attorney General Kris Mayes said Kalshi may brand itself as a 'prediction ⁠market,' but what it's actually doing is running an illegal gambling operation ​and taking bets on Arizona elections, both of which violate Arizona law. -The Department of Defense said giving Anthropic continued access to its warfighting infrastructure would “introduce unacceptable risk” to its supply chains in a court filing submitted in response to the AI company’s lawsuit. -Apple has started providing small security updates to iOS, iPadOS and macOS devices. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The encyclopedia company's lawsuit also said ChatGPT cannibalizes traffic to the Britannica and Merriam-Webster websites. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-Three teenagers, who allege that photos of them were used by Grok to generate child exploitation material, have filed a class action lawsuit against xAI in California. -Senators Marsha Blackburn and Peter Welch wrote in a letter, "Seedance 2.0 poses a direct threat to the American intellectual property system and, more broadly, to the constitutional rights and economic livelihoods of our creative community." -Krafton must reinstate Ted Gill as CEO of Unknown Worlds Entertainment, according to a report by Bloomberg. The company fired Gill and two other co-founders last year as part of a shakeup involving the long-anticipated sequel Subnautica 2. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The agency anticipates about four launch opportunities between April 1st and 6th. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-To capitalize on Claude's recent spike in popularity, Anthropic is offering a limited-time promotion that doubles usage limits for anyone using its AI chatbot during off-peak hours. The promotion started last Friday and runs until March 27, users on Free, Pro, Max, and Team plans will get double the usage limits in a five-hour window when using Claude outside weekday hours between 8 AM and 2 PM ET. -A month after Seedance 2.0's launch in China sparked cease-and-desist letters from Disney and Paramount Skydance over its use of copyrighted materials, its developer ByteDance has reportedly hit pause on the release of the AI video tool in other regions. -Humans have taken some jobs back from AI. Embark Studios' CEO Patrick Söderlund recently told GamesIndustry.biz that the studio "re-recorded" some of the AI-generated voice lines in Arc Raiders with human voices. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Google's Gemini chatbot is now also available through the app. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-The International Data Corporation further cut its forecasts for the PC market in 2026, anticipating that global shipments would fall 11.6 percent. -The Teamsters are primarily concerned with how merging the two companies will consolidate power, and eliminate jobs in the process. -The TTP said that X's blatant disregard for U.S. sanctions law is concerning due to the fact that Elon Musk's companies have a contract with the Pentagon while X is actively profiting from U.S. adversaries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It has also established the Anthropic Institute, an AI research initiative. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-According to a new study from the Center for Countering Digital Hate, in partnership with CNN, 8 of the 10 most popular AI chatbots were willing to help plan violent attacks when tested by researchers. -Superhuman has taken its writing assistant Grammarly on quite the merry-go-round ride regarding its approach to AI tools. -Google Play has introduced a new feature called Game Trials, which will let you play a portion of paid games for free before you commit to buying them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Gemini-powered tools will handle routine tasks on unclassified networks, with classified access in the works. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-A whistleblower has claimed that a former software engineer from DOGE said he possessed two databases from the SSA and asked for help transferring the databases from a thumb drive "to his personal computer so that he could ‘sanitize’ the data. -Meta is snapping up Moltbook, a Reddit-like social network for AI agents that has been around since January and remains completely ridiculous. -Josh Wardle is back with a new game called Parseword. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Anthropic's CEO indicated last week it would fight back against the government's claims. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-The Oversight Board is once again urging Meta to overhaul its rules around AI-generated content. This time, the board says Meta should create a separate rule for AI content that's independent of its misinformation policy, invest in more reliable detection tools and make better use of digital watermarks among other changes. -The Netherlands’ military intelligence service and domestic intelligence agency have issued a join warning claiming that Russian hackers have launched "a large-scale global cyber campaign to gain access to Signal and WhatsApp accounts belonging to dignitaries, military personnel and civil servants." -Uber has expanded its program that helps pair women riders and drivers. The Women Preferences feature is now available nationwide, after being tested in several cities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-The Oversight Board is once again urging Meta to overhaul its rules around AI-generated content. This time, the board says Meta should create a separate rule for AI content that's independent of its misinformation policy, invest in more reliable detection tools and make better use of digital watermarks among other changes. -The Netherlands’ military intelligence service and domestic intelligence agency have issued a join warning claiming that Russian hackers have launched "a large-scale global cyber campaign to gain access to Signal and WhatsApp accounts belonging to dignitaries, military personnel and civil servants." -Uber has expanded its program that helps pair women riders and drivers. The Women Preferences feature is now available nationwide, after being tested in several cities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The government is trying to decide whether copyrighted material can be used to train AI algorithms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said that this "marks the first time a human-made object has measurably altered the path of a celestial body around the Sun." -Qualcomm, which purchased microcontroller board manufacturer Arduino last year, just announced a new single-board computer that marries AI with robotics. -OpenAI's robotics hardware lead is out. Caitlin Kalinowski, who oversaw hardware within the robotics division of OpenAI, posted on X that she was resigning from her role, while criticizing the company's haste in partnering with the Department of Defense without investigating proper guardrails. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New 'Transparency Tags' allow record labels to show that music was made with the help of AI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-The UK government is working on a controversial data bill that would allow AI companies like Google and OpenAI to train their models on copyrighted materials without consent. -Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said the company received a letter from the Defense Department, officially labeling it a supply chain risk. He said he doesn’t “believe this action is legally sound,” and that his company sees “no choice” but to challenge it in court. -Meta is facing a class action lawsuit for false advertising related to its AI glasses following reports about the company's use of human contractors to review footage captured from users' glasses. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some of these changes were proposed as part of its settlement with Epic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-Anthropic is reportedly trying to reach a new deal with the US Defense Department, which could prevent the government from labeling it a supply chain risk. -The White House announced that several major players in tech and AI have agreed to steps that will keep electricity costs from rising due to data centers. Under this Ratepayer Protection Pledge, companies are agreeing to practices that are intended to protect residents from seeing higher electricity costs as more and more businesses create power-hungry data centers. -Apple Music has now introduced "Transparency Tags" designed to show listeners if any elements were generated in whole or part by AI. The catch is that Apple is leaving it up to labels and distributors to create those tags. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's currently available for select users in the US on desktop. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-Over five days in December 2025, more than 200 simulated "grid events" tested a London data center’s ability to adjust its energy use on the fly. In each simulated grid event, the data center successfully adjusted its energy use to the requested level, reducing power draw by up to 40% -Meta has signed an AI licensing deal with News Corp that will allow the Meta AI maker to use content from The Wall Street Journal and other brands in its chatbot responses and for training of its AI models. -TikTok said that implementing the technology would prevent its safety teams or law enforcement from being able to read messages if needed. The ByteDance-owned app framed it as a deliberate decision, made in an effort to keep users, especially younger ones, safe on its platform. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Digital Home Key can unlock smart doors through your phone. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-OpenAI’s Sam Altman said the company will amend its deal with the Defense Department to explicitly prohibit the use of its AI system on mass surveillance against Americans. -On Monday, the US Supreme Court declined to hear a case about whether an artwork generated with the help of AI can be copyrighted. The refusal means that a lower court's decision to reject the copyright request will stand. -Starlink is getting ready to launch its second generation of satellites, and it's expected to match the speeds of a traditional terrestrial network. During a keynote at Mobile World Congress, Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Look, but don’t touch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-Anthropic may have lost out on doing business with the US government, but it's gained enough popularity to earn the number one spot on the App Store's Top Free Apps leaderboard. -A few hours after Trump ordered all federal agencies to "immediately cease all use of Anthropic's technology", the US conducted a major air attack on Iran with the help of Anthropic's AI tools, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. -Lenovo can make a robot, too. Alongside proof-of-concept foldable gaming PCs and modular laptops, it introduced the AI Workmate Concept at MWC 2026. With its own Intel Core Ultra processor, 64GB of memory and its own Pico projector, it’s an AI-laced “workmate” meant to streamline office tasks and collaboration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A “big week" that starts on Monday includes a March 4 event for press and creators. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-Despite an ultimatum from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei said that it can't "in good conscience" comply with a Pentagon edict to remove guardrails on its AI. -Block, helmed by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, is slashing its current staff of 10,000 to "just under 6,000." -Burger King, the chain that leans into creepy, is at it again. The Verge reported on Thursday that the company is rolling out a new voice-controlled AI chatbot for its workers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The AI assistant can be Brief, Chill or Sweet in its communications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-Will Shanklin reports that with two stories about the Claude maker Anthropic breaking on Tuesday paint a chilling picture. -Ian Carlos Campbell writes about Kalshi suspending a MrBeast video editor for insider trading. -Anna Washenko writes about Instagram adding a new alert for the parents of teen users of its social media platform. The network will alert the adult if their child repeatedly searches for terms about suicide or self-harm in a short time frame. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The new design uses air cooling and supposedly limits water to on-site kitchens. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-OpenAI has successfully convinced the court to dismiss the lawsuit filed by Elon Musk’s xAI, accusing the company of stealing its trade secrets. -Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will reportedly give Anthropic until Friday to drop certain guardrails for military use, as reported by Axios. -Uber is one step closer to going airborne. On Wednesday, the company previewed its air taxi booking service ahead of an expected launch in Dubai later this year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices