Author: News Room

Apple has reportedly trained a custom AI model for the China market alongside domestic tech giant Alibaba, a rare cross-border partnership that cuts across growing tensions between Beijing and Washington.The China-focused large language model was developed in partnership with Alibaba and trained with the company’s support, Reuters reports, citing three unnamed people familiar with the matter.Developing a custom model of its own marks a departure from Apple’s previous strategy in the country and would give the company more control over its products in the competitive Chinese smartphone market. Historically, Apple has used domestic Chinese models to bring generative AI to…

Cards Against Humanity is gearing up to build “something that will annoy Elon Musk,” and it’s crowdfunding the project with its usual flavor of vulgarity. The company behind the card game announced plans to build “a grand monument” to Musk on the parcel of land it owns near Starbase, Texas, with the aim to “make him wonder, for a brief moment, ‘Wait, am I a sad little bitch with no friends?’”Cards Against Humanity is known for these kinds of stunts, having purchased the land in question back in 2017 specifically to disrupt President Donald Trump’s plans to build a US/Mexico…

Microsoft Copilot will no longer show its emotive yellow blob, Mico, when you use the chatbot’s voice mode. In a support page, Microsoft says it’s going to move Mico to its Learn Live platform, where the avatar will have “more to react to,” as reported earlier by GeekWire.Mico joins the long list of virtual helpers that Microsoft has retired over the years, like Clippy, Cortana, and Rover. “Mico helped us learn about warmth, expressiveness, and how people want to talk with AI,” Microsoft’s support page says. “Those learnings are shaping Copilot going forward.” Microsoft is removing Mico from Copilot “in…

Over the past several months, Flock and Ring explored whether their respective platforms could responsibly complement one another in support of public safety. Throughout those discussions, Flock engaged extensively with customers, public officials, and community stakeholders to understand expectations around accountability, transparency, and lawful use.Based on that engagement, Flock and Ring have chosen to cancel the planned integration. Read the full article here

In a new filing in its long-running legal dispute with Epic Games, Apple has proposed a structure that would allow it to collect fees on digital purchases made via external links that don’t use the company’s in-app purchase system. Epic has already responded, saying that Apple’s request is “far outside of the bounds” of the court’s guidance.Right now, Apple cannot take a commission on external purchases after California district court judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled in April 2025 that found the company “willfully” didn’t comply with her 2021 Epic Games v. Apple injunction. However, a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals…

Surveillance tech company Flock is rolling out updates to address reports of cops across the country abusing its tools to stalk ex-romantic partners and others. CEO Garrett Langley is delivering a mea culpa, and in an interview with The Verge, says he’s changed his mind on what responsibility Flock bears for how law enforcement uses it.Over the coming weeks, Flock will begin implementing updates that include requiring a previously optional feature called Audit Assistance, which flags “abnormal search behavior” and immediately locks out suspicious users until an administrator reviews their activity. All users will also be required to enter case…

One month after Epic Games and Google seemingly stopped fighting over the future of Android app distribution, they were back in a San Francisco courtroom today — where Judge James Donato just ordered Google to make it easier to install rival app stores on Android.It’s been nearly three years since a jury unanimously decided that Google had an illegal monopoly over Android apps, and almost two years since Judge Donato decided the best way of undoing that monopoly would be to crack open Android app distribution. Donato ordered Google to carry rival Android app stores inside its own Google Play…

Smart glasses have a bad rap right out of the gate and there are two factors in play. The inherent nature of a wearable device that can semi-secretly film people hands-free from the eye-level perspective, and the unfortunate reality that not everyone can be trusted to use them in a moral and ethical way that respects people’s privacy and personal safety. Whether it’s a fair depiction of the category currently dominated by Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses, they haven’t been dubbed ‘pervert glasses’ for no reason. If and when Apple enters the category, you feel, the long-time privacy oriented company will…

Microsoft is finally beginning to combine its consumer and commercial Copilot AI assistants into a single “super app” interface, starting with the Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot apps. Both personal and work accounts will be moved to the new unified app, which recycles the “Microsoft Copilot” name but features an updated app icon. The single app also means there won’t be two annoying Copilot icons in the system tray or taskbar anymore.“Starting with a fresh look, the updated app combines the best of Copilot chat and image creation, with the power of Microsoft 365 for your work,” Microsoft said in…

Apple’s iPhone Ultra might not be available everywhere at launch, as the company races against time to make enough of its first-generation foldable phone to satisfy the anticipated demand. According to a report from an Australian site, Apple will only release the handset in the United States at launch and it’ll be months before iPhone Ultra availability expands beyond the US border. Even then, it’ll be markets like China getting second dibs. The report does not mention whether the UK could be part of that second release wave, but the Aussies apparently are not. The ChannelNews report brings word from…

Matic, my current favorite robot vacuum, just got a big upgrade. The company has launched Matic Cues, which brings voice and gesture control to the robot. Now, you can talk directly to your vacuum to tell it what you want it to do, or just point at a mess to have it spot-clean.The feature launches today, August 13 at 2 pm ET, and will show as an option in the Matic app under Settings > Matic Cues. The update arrives just ahead of a planned price hike on September 9, which will see the WALL-E-style robot’s price go from $1,245…

Robot lawnmowers are finally good enough to take a lot of work out of maintaining a yard, but they’re still not set-it-and-forget-it machines. If you don’t want these autonomous cutting machines to tear up your lawn or go roaming in your neighbors’ yard, you’re still going to need to keep an eye on them. But with some oversight, they can take a big chore off your hands.This summer I tested five bots on my flat, three-quarter-acre, coastal South Carolina property with sandy soil, centipede grass, and lots of trees. Things went much better than last year’s trials and tribulations, thanks…