EU’s new right-to-repair rules force companies to repair out-of-warranty devices
The European Union has adopted a right-to-repair directive that will make it easier for consumers to get their devices fixed. The new rules extend a product’s guarantee if it breaks under warranty, while obliging manufacturers to repair devices no longer covered. The law still needs to be approved by member…
Proton Mail’s paid users will now get alerts if their info has been posted on the dark web
Proton Mail has introduced Dark Web Monitoring for its paid users, which will keep them informed of breaches or leaks they may have been affected by. If anything’s been spotted on the dark web, the feature will send out alerts that include information like what service was compromised, what personal…
EU criticizes Meta’s ‘privacy for cash’ business model
The European Union doesn’t think you should have to choose between giving Meta and other major players your data or your money. In a statement, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) stated that “consent or pay” models often don’t “comply with the requirements for valid consent” when a person must…
ISPs roll out mandatory broadband ‘nutrition’ labels that show speeds, fees and data allowances
You can now ensure that you’re not going to be hit by hidden fees and taxes before you sign up with an internet service provider (ISP). Starting today, big ISPs with more than 100,000 subscribers will be required to display “nutrition labels” both in store and online under a new…
The best VPN service for 2024
Virtual private networks (VPNs) are notoriously difficult to work with. Maybe you’re a remote worker who has to sign in to one each day to access company services, or you tried it once because you heard you could use it to access international content, but were met with laggy service…
Google will start showing AI-powered search results to users who didn’t opt in
If you’re in the US, you might see a new shaded section at the top of your Google Search results with a summary answering your inquiry, along with links for more information. That section, generated by Google’s generative AI technology, used to appear only if you’ve opted into the Search…
Bluesky will let users run their own moderation services
Bluesky, the open-source Twitter alternative, is about to start testing out one of its more ambitious ideas: allowing its users to run their own moderation services. The change will allow Bluesky users to and developers to work together to create custom labeling tools for the budding social media platform. The…
Activision Blizzard’s ex-CEO Bobby Kotick reportedly wants to buy TikTok
Bobby Kotick, the former CEO of Activision Blizzard who stepped down at the end of last year, is apparently interested in buying TikTok as a new bill in the US threatens to ban the app or force its sale. According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, Kotick mentioned…
Google fires engineer who protested at a company-sponsored Israeli tech conference
Google has fired a Cloud engineer who interrupted Barak Regev, the managing director of its business in Israel, during a speech at an Israeli tech event in New York, according to CNBC. “I’m a Google software engineer and I refuse to build technology that powers genocide or surveillance!” the engineer…
Anthropic says its new Claude 3 AI chatbot scores better on key benchmarks than GPT-4
The battle between AI chatbots is more than a two-horse race. Anthropic, the company formed by several ex-OpenAI employees, claims its new Claude 3 language model outperforms ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini in several key industry benchmarks. It even hit “near-human” levels on some tasks, the company wrote in a blog. …