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Apple suspends the Siri program where people listened to your questions

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Just last week a report by The Guardian dug into a program where third-party contractors listened in to anonymized recordings of Apple users asking Siri questions to judge the assistant’s responses, and now Apple has shut it down. In a statement to TechCrunch, the company said that while it conducts a “thorough” review, it’s suspending the program globally. This comes shortly after Google announced it would temporarily shut down a similar effort, but only for users in the EU.

While Apple has touted the privacy built into its products and derided models that mine user data for advertising, just like Amazon and Google it relies on real people to improve its AI assistant. However, as The Guardian’s report indicated, listening in on real-world recordings could mean picking up all kinds of situations, including criminal activities and sexual encounters. As TechCrunch notes, its terms of service indicate that these programs exist, but exactly how much end-users understand about the possibility of being overheard by a real person — even if less than one percent of queries are ever reviewed — is unclear.

While we don’t know what will happen with the program or when it may restart, according to Apple a future software update will give users the option to explicitly choose whether they want to participate in grading.

Apple:

We are committed to delivering a great Siri experience while protecting user privacy. While we conduct a thorough review, we are suspending Siri grading globally. Additionally, as part of a future software update, users will have the ability to choose to participate in grading.

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SNK promises ‘next gen’ Neo Geo hardware to follow its Mini console

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Amid the retro gaming console fad, last year’s release of the Neo Geo Mini didn’t attract as much attention as others, but SNK is back this summer with a $140 Samurai Shodown edition to celebrate the release of Samurai Shodown on PS4 and Xbox One. Unfortunately, according to reviews, despite a reshuffled list of included games this version of the console still suffers from subpar video output over HDMI. The good news is that fans of the arcade/home gaming system may have something better to look forward to.

Ahead of the EVO 2019 event this weekend, SNK tweeted that “A Next-Gen NEOGEO hardware is coming after NEOGEO Mini.” It promises a modern design and the ability to link to the Mini. The last time we saw modular hardware in this family was with the Neo Geo X, and really all we can hope for is that things are a little better executed this time around.



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StockX forced password resets after ‘suspicious activity’ alert

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For all the sneakerheads and hypebeasts out there, if you received an email from StockX asking you to reset your password, then it was probably authentic. The online marketplace told Engadget in a statement that it was “recently alerted to suspicious activity involving our platform.”

Exactly what that included is unspecified, but “out of an abundance of caution,” it’s updated security and is asking users to reset their passwords while an investigation continues. As usual, we’d hope you aren’t sharing passwords across different services, and if you haven’t already set up a password manager or started using two-factor authentication wherever available, this is a great time to start.



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DoorDash buys food delivery app Caviar from Square

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“We have seen a lot of opportunities to strengthen both these ecosystems but those opportunities require more focus and more investment,” said Dorsey during the earnings call. “To increase our focus, we decided to sell our Caviar business to DoorDash.”

Caviar, which first launched in San Francisco in 2013, aimed to offer a more premium experience than other food delivery platforms at the time, such as Grubhub and Seamless. Instead of typical delivery fare such as fast food, pizza or Chinese, Caviar targeted upscale restaurants that didn’t normally offer delivery. It was one of the first food-delivery platforms to employ its own “food messengers” rather than rely on delivery drivers employed by the restaurant.

DoorDash is hardly the first food-delivery platform to buy up one of its rivals. Grubhub, which merged with Seamless in 2013, has since acquired Eat24, AllMenus, MenuPages, LevelUp and Tapingo, the campus food delivery platform. Both Grubhub and UberEats were once the biggest players in the food delivery game, but DoorDash may soon top them. Explosive growth this year has lead to it outperforming its competitors in consumer spending and coverage area.

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Razer’s Viper mouse uses optical switches to get that perfect headshot

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That might all sound like marketing hype — and even Razer reps admitted that you probably won’t even feel the difference between optical and mechanical switches — but for aspiring esports players, the key feature will be peace of mind. If a mouse can give you a fraction-of-a-second advantage over your enemies, it’ll be worth it. The company is also partnering with competitive CS:GO champion Epitácio “TACO” de Melo, who’s been using the Viper throughout the past year, to prove that it’s esports-worthy.

Aside from the new switch technology, the Viper is simply a comfortable gaming mouse to use. It has an ambidextrous design that’s easy to hold, along with two buttons on each side, and a DPI toggle on the bottom. You can program your own DPI settings and store it right on the mouse, which is useful if you’re hopping across different machines. The Viper is also surprisingly light, clocking in at 69 grams, and even though it’s a wired mouse, Razer’s “Speedflex” cable never gets in the way.

During a brief CS:GO training session with TACO, the Viper helped me perfect my headshot technique. Swiping around felt incredibly smooth, and I was able to stop on a dime when I needed to. I typically use a Logitech MX Master, a wireless mouse that isn’t purely gaming focused, but one I’ve grown to love over the years. I’m not ready to throw that out for the Viper yet, but I could see how a lighter and more responsive mouse could be useful if I ever decide to give up tech blogging and start playing Overwatch professionally.

The Razer Viper is available now for $80, and you can snag it in Best Buy stores starting on August 2nd.

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Netflix and Charlize Theron team up on a stunt driving reality TV show

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The ten-episode series is executive produced by Charlize Theron, whose street racing credentials include The Italian Job, Fast and the Furious 9 and Mad Max: Fury Road. Theron told Entertainment Weekly that she had wanted to be involved in a reality show for a long time.” It combines my love of cars and competition while maintaining that human element that I love about reality TV,” said the actress about the show.

The show will be hosted by Lindsay Czarniak, Rutledge Wood, Mike Hill and Michael Bisping. Hyperdrive hits Netflix on August 21st. It’ll no doubt appeal to fans of competitive reality series that feature extreme sports — such as Ultimate Beastmaster and Bear Grylls’ interactive You vs. Wild. It joins a fresh crop of reality shows hitting the streaming service this month, including Styling Hollywood, as well as new seasons of Rust Valley Restorers, Million Pound Menu and Droppin’ Cash. You can watch the trailer below.

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Amazon will disconnect Dash Buttons on August 31st

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“Since sales of Dash Button devices ceased earlier this year, we have seen continued growth of other shopping options to meet customer needs, including Virtual Dash Button, Dash Replenishment, Alexa Shopping, and Subscribe & Save With this [in] mind, starting August 31, 2019, customers will no longer be able to place orders through Dash Button devices globally.

Customers can continue reordering products using their free virtual Dash Buttons on the Amazon.com website and mobile app, which are available for the same great brands customers love from Dash Button devices. Customers will see that virtual Dash Buttons have already been created to replace current physical Dash Button devices.”

When Amazon released Dash buttons in 2015, they served a useful purpose, but one that’s now filled quite easily by other products and services. Smart devices weren’t nearly as ubiquitous back then. Many of us have one now and it’s all too easy to simply ask Alexa to send us something from Amazon. As such, we don’t really need the buttons to instantly order the likes of instant coffee, toilet paper, underwear, popcorn or razors any longer.

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Sony plans to make everyone with a PS4 a competitive gamer

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The PS4 Tournaments: Challenger Series will kick off with Mortal Kombat 11 on August 6th. Each tournament will run for a few weeks and be broken into stages. In the first round, you’ll have to win at least three out of four matches to advance to stage two. That should improve your odds compared to a single elimination structure. The tournaments will be seasonal, so you’ll have multiple chances to play each title. After Mortal Kombat 11 wraps up, Sony will launch FIFA 20, Battlefield V and Warface tournaments. Other titles should be announced later this year.

It may be coincidental, but earlier this week, Sony revealed that its PS4 sales dropped to 17.8 million, down 1.2 million from 2017. It expects sales to decline in 2019, too. Sony may be hoping the tournament-style online gaming draws more users to the console and helps generate buzz for the next-gen PS5, expected in fall 2020. After all, esports tournaments are hugely popular right now. There are likely users who want to give competitive play a try — even if Sony hasn’t revealed exactly how much it’s going to offer in prizes.

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Google temporarily stops Assistant audio transcriptions in the EU

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A Google spokesperson told CNBC that it paused the practice shortly after the audio was leaked, back in July. “We are in touch with the Hamburg data protection authority and are assessing how we conduct audio reviews and help our users understand how data is used,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement.

Last spring, Google announced that it would roll out support for Google Assistant in 80 different countries and 30 languages. The leaked conversations were from the Netherlands and Belgium, where Google Assistant has only been available since the end of 2018. The audio was sourced from both Google Home smart speakers and the Google Assistant smartphone app. Shortly after the leak, the company published a blog post that explained that it employs language reviewers to review and transcribe a small set of queries to better understand different languages.

Google has defended the practice, saying that it transcribes only a small fraction (0.2 percent) of the audio snippets, and they’re not associated with user accounts. It said that its voice assistant only sends audio to Google after the user triggers it in some way, such as by saying “Hey Google.” But the VRT investigation suggests this claim isn’t entirely true — it unearthed a total of 153 conversations recorded in cases in which the user didn’t prompt the voice assistant.

Some privacy scholars believe the practice by Google Assistant is in violation of the EU’s GDPR rules. Other voice assistants are facing scrutiny as well. Amazon recently admitted that it stores its Alexa recordings indefinitely, which critics argue violates GDPR rules that say personal data cannot be stored by companies for longer than necessary.

Google’s suspension of the practice will last for at least three months, reported the Associated Press. The European data protection authorities are still investigating the matter and still hasn’t ordered action.

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Trump announces more tariffs on goods made in China

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The latest levy is likely to intensify a trade war with China, which seems likely to respond with tariffs of its own. The 10 percent tariff effectively means all Chinese goods coming into the States will be taxed, and that cost will surely be passed onto consumers. So, devices made in China might well be more expensive for the foreseeable future.

Sony, for instance, has warned that tariffs may force it to increase the price of PlayStations, while some other giants such as Google and Nintendo are reportedly moving production to other parts of Asia. Foxconn has said it could make iPhones bound for the US outside of China too.



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