Author: News Room

Since 2012, the British literary magazine Granta has published the regional winners of the annual Commonwealth Short Story Prize. This year, however, there was something off about one of the selections for the prestigious award: It appears to have been written by AI.Jamir Nazir’s “The Serpent in the Grove” has many of the hallmarks of LLM-generated prose — mixed metaphors, anaphora, lists of threes. (I’m aware this, too, is a list of threes, and I promise I wrote this post myself, unassisted, as I write all things.) I’ll admit I was initially unconvinced by the allegation that Nazir’s story had…

Google officially filed its appeal of the federal ruling deeming it an illegal search monopolist, arguing the decision “crashed” through legal guardrails. “Google just prevailed in the marketplace fair and square,” it writes in its legal filing.Google had already said it would appeal the ruling, which includes both the August 2024 decision about its illegal monopolization and the September 2025 remedies decision that ordered it to share some search data with competitors. The appeal brief filed Friday gives more insight into how the company plans to fight Judge Amit Mehta’s ruling.“We are asking the court to overturn this flawed decision…

Spotify has announced a partnership with record label Universal to enable fans to generate AI-powered covers and remixes of their favourite tracks via the music streaming service. The forthcoming paid add-on for Spotify Premium subscribers will require the opt-in consent of artists who will then be compensated when their music is tampered with by listeners. It’s not exactly clear what these “fan-made covers” will entail. Whether users will be able to ask for a song in the style of another artist, or whether they’ll be able to add their own voice to a song. The remixes part is pretty self…

Sonos speakers including the portable Sonos Roam 2 are on sale for the Memorial Day holiday weekend in the United States. Both Amazon and Sonos are offering the Sonos Roam 2 for $134, which is a 25% saving on the $179 asking price. That’s a $45 saving. Delivery is free for Amazon Prime members and you can choose from the black and white options. Sonos is also offering free delivery, but not quite as fast, with more colour options including red, blue and green. The handy second-generation speaker enables users to bring the party anywhere they, ahem, Roam with ten…

Meta’s new Forum app for iPhones takes Facebook Groups and moves them to a dedicated app with a dedicated AI chatbot to go with it, like an AI revamp of the ill-fated Groups app Facebook shut down in 2017.Rather than going to ChatGPT or tacking “Reddit” onto the end of a Google search, Forum users can view, search for, and post advice directly in their Facebook groups, with optional help from Meta’s AI.After logging in with my Facebook account, Forum automatically pulled in the groups I was part of on Facebook and populated my feed with posts from those groups,…

Google’s expansion of AI Overviews within Google Search has broken some pretty essential functionality, such as the ability to search for the word ‘disregard’ and receive a quick definition. With the AI Overview appearing at the top of the page, Google seems to have got the idea that every instruction is a request for an AI overview to get in on the act. Right now if you Google the word ‘disregard’ you’ll see an AI Overview that reads: “Understood. Let me know if there’s anything else I can help you with!” And that’s just ridiculous. Since time immemorial (one for…

With Memorial day weekend kicking off the travel season, we’re seeing a lot of deals pop up on travel gadgets, from portable power banks to noise-canceling headphones. One of the best right now is Twelve South’s AirFly Pro 2 Bluetooth adapter, which lets you use your wireless headphones with in-flight entertainment systems so you can enjoy your flight a little more. It’s currently down to $49.99 ($10 off) at Amazon and directly from Twelve South, which is one of its best prices to date.The Bluetooth transmitter lets you ditch the airline’s wired earbuds in favor of your own Bluetooth headphones…

The Formula 1 motor-racing season recommences this weekend with the Canadian Grand Prix. Usually viewers in the United States require a subscription to Apple TV to tune into the practices, qualifying sessions and the race itself, but this weekend Netflix subscribers will be able to steam the racing action. As part of an accord with Apple, that involves the latest season of the hit Netflix reality show Drive To Survive being aired on Apple TV, the Canadian Grand Prix will be simulcast on both platforms this weekend. Here’s the schedule: Free Practice: Friday, May 22, 12 PM ETSprint Qualifying: Friday,…

They say that Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer. I have my doubts given the less-than-balmy weather in many parts of the US this weekend, though that doesn’t mean it’s not an appropriate time to pick up some summer essentials — including a portable speaker / smart lamp like Govee’s Table Lamp 2 Pro. Right now, it’s matching its all-time low of $134.99 ($45 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Govee’s online storefront ahead of the holiday on May 25th.Govee currently has several color-changing table lamps in its stable, with the Lamp 2 Pro being the most capable…

Apple has announced that the Apple TV broadcast of Saturday night’s LA Galaxy and Houston Dynamo FC Major League Soccer match will be captured completely by its iPhone 17 Pro smartphone. In what Apple is calling the first professional sports event shot completely on iPhone, the latest flagship will provide all the footage for this weekend’s live stream. Why should viewers care about this? If the cameras are approaching the ability to replicate the quality of larger purpose-made TV cameras then we won’t notice any difference. However, Apple says the iPhone’s smaller form factor will offer “dynamic new perspectives that…

Google’s AI Overviews are running into an interesting problem right now. As of this writing, if you search for the term “disregard,” instead of showing the usual AI-generated summary of search results, the AI Overview section instead includes a response like what you’d see from a more traditional AI chatbot, as called out by a post on X.To one Verge colleague searching “disregard”:Got it! Let me know if you need help with anything else.Nothing else followed in the AI Overview portion of the results page.No problem at all! How can I help you today?I searched for “disregard” again later and…

Hot on the heels of its Royal Pop collaboration with Swatch, Audemars Piguet has revealed a new Royal Oak Concept Flying Tourbillon, made in partnership with Yoon Ahn and Verbal, the creative duo behind Tokyo fashion label AMBUSH. The result is one of the most visually striking limited editions watches in years. Yoon and Verbal have built a reputation for work that sits at the intersection of fashion, music, and design. Verbal is also a serious watch collector, and the original Royal Oak Concept from 2002 is reportedly one of his most treasured pieces. The watch looks amazing. It’s built…