In the fight against fake news, even a search engine’s autocomplete suggestions can create confusion. Google announced today that it’s updating its autocomplete policies related to elections, adding that it will “remove predictions that could be interpreted as a claim about participation in the election” as well as “predictions that could be interpreted as claims for or against any candidate or political party.” Things that sound like they might be claims about voting methods, requirements or status of voting locations will not be shown either. So if you type something like “You can vote by” or “you can’t vote by” into the search box, autocomplete won’t suggest finishing that statement with “phone.”
Similarly, if you enter “donate to,” political parties or candidates should not show up as suggestions. Of course, just because autocomplete doesn’t finish your query with a prediction doesn’t mean you can’t type it in yourself. You can still type “You can vote by phone” if you wish, or “donate to party candidate” and get those results.
It’s been about ten years since Ubisoft released The Forgotten Sands, the most recent mainline entry in the Prince of Persia series, but the company is finally returning to the historic franchise. After an eleventh-hour leak ruined the surprise, the publisher showed off Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake at its Ubisoft Forward showcase.
The remaster updates the PlayStation 2-era game for current and next-generation consoles, with the game slated to arrive on January 21st, 2021 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and PC (where it will be available on Uplay, Uplay+ and the Epic Games Store). The remake will include a new performance by Yuri Lowenthal (Marvel’s Spider-Man), who voiced the prince in the original game.
Notably, this includes not just claims about “election rigging,” and “claiming victory before election results have been certified,” but tweets “inciting unlawful conduct to prevent a peaceful transfer of power or orderly succession.”
Here’s Twitter’s full explanation of the type of claims it will be looking out for:
False or misleading information that causes confusion about the laws and regulations of a civic process, or officials and institutions executing those civic processes.
Disputed claims that could undermine faith in the process itself, e.g. unverified information about election rigging, ballot tampering, vote tallying, or certification of election results.
Misleading claims about the results or outcome of a civic process which calls for or could lead to interference with the implementation of the results of the process, e.g. claiming victory before election results have been certified, inciting unlawful conduct to prevent a peaceful transfer of power or orderly succession.
The new rules come amid growing pressure on social media companies to do more to fight misinformation ahead of the 2020 presidential election. With the coronavirus pandemic still not under control, record numbers of mail-in ballots are expected. And Donald Trump has already tested Twitter’s existing rules with repeated, and baseless, claims that voting by mail will lead to widespread fraud.
Experts have warned of various “nightmare scenarios” that could play out in the days and weeks after the election should Trump or others use social media to fuel unverified claims of a “rigged” election.
Twitter isn’t the only company trying to shore up its rules ahead of the election. Facebook has also updated its policies around misinformation, and both companies recently participated in a meeting with government agencies to discuss election security issues.
It goes without saying that OLED TVs are worth the money if you care about color quality and getting the blackest blacks possible. It’s also an Android TV, so it has built-in Google Cast and support for voice assistants including the Google Assistant and Amazon’s Alexa.
But since this is a Sony smart TV, it has features that go beyond the standard HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision support. The 4K A8H model has Sony’s X-Motion Clarity technology, which should reduce blur and improve the picture quality of fast-moving images, in addition to Ambient Optimization, which fine-tunes the picture and sound to suit your viewing space. There’s also a new Acoustic Audio Calibration feature that is designed to deliver the “full sound potential” of the TV during the setup process.
All of that is to say you’re getting the latest TV tech in this 55-inch TV on top of the inherent quality that OLED brings. The biggest downside to this TV is that it doesn’t support HDMI 2.1, so it will not support the FreeSync/G-Sync capabilities than other gaming-friendly TVs do.
This is one of those rare occasions in which a current-gen TV goes on sale for a price that’s actually worth considering. While $1,499 is still a lot of money to spend on a TV, this sale actually puts the A8H model in a similar price range as LG’s 2020 OLED TVs. It’s also a solid deal consider the quality of the panel and all of the new technology that comes built in.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
In the coming weeks, we can expect content starring Quentin Tarantino, Barbara Streisand, Alan Menken, Bright Eyes, Tame Impala, Rufus Wainwright, Panic! At the Disco, X Ambassadors and more. The service will cost $2.99 per month or $29.99 for a full year. If you’re not sure which to commit to, you can opt for a free three-day trial.
“Creating a streaming option for our programming was always a part of our strategic approach, but COVID-19 brought it to the forefront,” Grammy Museum president Michael Sticka said. “We look forward to continuing to grow this platform, even after we re-open our doors to the physical museum.”
As part of its plan to send the first woman and next man to the Moon by 2024, NASA is looking to acquire some dirt. Today, the agency confirmed that it will pay private companies to “collect a small amount of Moon ‘dirt’ or rocks from the lunar surface.”
NASA put out a call asking companies to submit their proposals and says it’s open to working with companies outside of the US. NASA will require that they provide imagery of the collection and collected materials, plus location data. The collected material will become the sole property of NASA, and the agency is hoping to secure samples by 2024.
While this is a useful service, IFTTT is making a “big and potentially controversial change.” It will charge $9.99 per month for Pro, and subscribers will be able to create unlimited Applets. But its regular, free plan will now limit users to creating just three Applets.
IFTTT promises it will use that money to keep improving Pro. To make this transition a little easier, Pro subscribers can set their own price for the first year, if they sign up before October 7th.
“We made this decision to better align our Pro product roadmap with the needs of our most active Applet creators,” IFTTT Founder and CEO Linden Tibbets said in a blog post.
A new Fortnite Nintendo Switch bundle is landing in Europe on October 30th. The bundle comes with a Fortnite design on the back of the console and on the dock, plus exclusive yellow and blue Joy-Con controllers. Fortnite will be pre-installed, and you’ll get 2,000 V-Bucks. The bundle also comes with a WildCat Bundle download code, so you can try out new styles.
Nintendo
We’ve seen Fortnite bundles in the past, but this version brings art to the console and dock, which the 2018 bundle lacked. Plus, this time around, Nintendo is updating the Joy-Con colors and offering more V-Bucks.
The shape puts more of the weight closer to your ears, mitigating the annoyances of the open fit earbud from last year. I prefer them as close to the inside of my ears as possible, so I don’t have to worry about them sliding out when I’m on the go. The squat design also seems to help anchor them and I never had to worry about them moving, even when thrashing my head around.
The FreeBuds Pro also ship with small, medium and large tips to help ensure they fit all types of ears. In addition, the companion app — which at the time of publication we were unable to try — will be able to tell you which will improve your fit.
Daniel Cooper
There is a visible sensor on the outward-facing side of both buds that you’ll use to control playback and volume. As usual, taps pause playback and swipes alter the volume, while a good pinch — much like the AirPods Pro — cycles through the active noise cancellation options. One pinch activates active noise cancellation (ANC), while a second switches you to “awareness” mode, letting certain sounds, like voices, bleed through to help you stay tuned to your surroundings.
Huawei has said that the FreeBuds Pro’s ANC can now drown out up to 40dB of ambient sound (up from 15dB on the open-designed 3), and I can attest to that. Over a big family dinner, I asked everyone to have a loud and animated conversation in front of me. And, to my surprise, it managed to dull the chat well below the point of it being distracting.
One thing that hasn’t changed from the FreeBuds 3 is the internals, which are still using Huawei’s Kirin A1 chip. The company has, however, managed to get the total battery life up to 30 hours before you need to head to a charger. And you’ll get four and a half hours of listening out of each bud with ANC enabled, and closer to seven with ANC disabled. Thankfully, a full recharge takes just 40 minutes inside the case (and the case itself only needs an hour, anyway).
We don’t yet know how much the FreeBuds Pro will cost, or when they’ll be available, but will update this when we do. As a ballpark figure, the previous model was priced at £170 ($220) at launch.
Huawei
At the same time, Huawei is also unveiling the Watch GT2 Pro, its latest flagship smartwatch with a sapphire glass case and titanium body. Available in two body types — classic and sport — it’ll pack 100 different workout modes including support for golf and snow sports. You’ll also get weather alerts and a GPS breadcrumb trail should you get lost in the wilderness.
Huawei is also using this moment to remind everyone about the Watch Fit, which it announced a week ago outside of Europe. This device, too, has plenty of similarities with the Honor Watch ES which was announced on September 4th. The focus here, with the stretched Apple Watch-style screen, is on fitness and live coaching, with 44 animated demonstrations.
For both wearables, we’re waiting to learn how much these devices will cost and when you’ll be able to buy them, and will update this story when we know.
And this is part of a broader push for China to disentangle the fate of its technology industry with that of the US. The Chinese government has made pushes for the country to develop its own PC operating system to box out Microsoft, as well as alternatives to Google, Facebook and other big western names. Even before the trade war with the US, China had put resources behind Kylin (a series of Linux variants) and PC chips.
As part of that 2019 announcement, Huawei hedged its messaging, saying that while HarmonyOS was full-featured, it wouldn’t be appearing in handsets. Instead, it would power the company’s Internet of Things and Smart Devices products, including its smart displays, wearables and smart speakers. The first device to run HarmonyOS was Honor’s Smart TV, which also used Huawei’s home-grown silicon.
HarmonyOS will also have a bifurcated distribution strategy that closely mirrors that which Google has used with Android. As well as HarmonyOS for Huawei’s own devices, the company will distribute OpenHarmony, an open-ish-sourced version of the software akin to AOSP. Yu also promised that technical limitations around the volume of RAM that HarmonyOS supports will be eliminated in the very near future.
It remains to be seen if other Chinese mobile companies that currently use AOSP will tie their fate with a rival hardware company. Not to mention, of course, that AOSP already provides the backbone of a well-developed app ecosystem and plenty of developers already au-fait with the platform. OpenHarmony will have to offer a compelling reason to switch both for the people making apps, and those using them, too.
