Technology

Google announced updates to its Gemini family of AI models at I/O, the company’s annual conference for developers, on Tuesday. It’s rolling out a new model called Gemini 1.5 Flash, which it says is optimized for speed and efficiency.

“[Gemini] 1.5 Flash excels at summarization, chat applications, image and video captioning, data extraction from long documents and tables, and more,” wrote Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, in a blog post. Hassabis added that Google created Gemini 1.5 Flash because developers needed a model that was lighter and less expensive than the Pro version, which Google announced in February. Gemini 1.5 Pro is more efficient and powerful than the company’s original Gemini model announced late last year.

Gemini 1.5 Flash sits between Gemini 1.5 Pro and Gemini 1.5 Nano, Google’s smallest model that runs locally on devices. Despite being lighter weight then Gemini Pro, however, it is just as powerful. Google said that this was achieved through a process called “distillation”, where the most essential knowledge and skills from Gemini 1.5 Pro were transferred to the smaller model. This means that Gemini 1.5 Flash will get the same multimodal capabilities of Pro, as well as its long context window – the amount of data that an AI model can ingest at once – of one million tokens. This, according to Google, means that Gemini 1.5 Flash will be capable of analyzing a 1,500-page document or a codebase with more than 30,000 lines at once. 

Gemini 1.5 Flash (or any of these models) aren’t really meant for consumers. Instead, it’s a faster and less expensive way for developers building their own AI products and services using tech designed by Google.

In addition to launching Gemini 1.5 Flash, Google is also upgrading Gemini 1.5 Pro. The company said that it had “enhanced” the model’s abilities to write code, reason and parse audio and images. But the biggest update is yet to come – Google announced it will double the model’s existing context window to two million tokens later this year. That would make it capable of processing two hours of video, 22 hours of audio, more than 60,000 lines of code or more than 1.4 million words at the same time.

Both Gemini 1.5 Flash and Pro are now available in public preview in Google’s AI Studio and Vertex AI. The company also announced today a new version of its Gemma open model, called Gemma 2. But unless you’re a developer or someone who likes to tinker around with building AI apps and services, these updates aren’t really meant for the average consumer.

Catch up on all the news from Google I/O 2024 right here!

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/googles-new-gemini-15-flash-ai-model-is-lighter-than-gemini-pro-and-more-accessible-172353657.html?src=rss

Enlarge / A Waymo self-driving car in downtown San Francisco on Bush and Sansome Streets as it drives and transports passengers. (credit: JasonDoiy | iStock Unreleased)

Crashing into parked cars, drifting over into oncoming traffic, intruding into construction zones—all this "unexpected behavior" from Waymo's self-driving vehicles may be violating traffic laws, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said Monday.

To better understand Waymo's potential safety risks, NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) is now looking into 22 incident reports involving cars equipped with Waymo’s fifth-generation automated driving system. Seventeen incidents involved collisions, but none involved injuries.

Some of the reports came directly from Waymo, while others "were identified based on publicly available reports," NHTSA said. The reports document single-party crashes into "stationary and semi-stationary objects such as gates and chains" as well as instances in which Waymo cars "appeared to disobey traffic safety control devices."

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Google is inserting more of its Gemini AI into many of its product and the next target in its sights is Photos. At its I/O developer conference today, the company's CEO Sundar Pichai announced a feature called Ask Photos, which is designed to help you find specific images in your gallery by talking to Gemini. 

Ask Photos will show up as a new tab at the bottom of your Google Photos app. It'll start rolling out to One subscribers first, starting in US English over the upcoming months. When you tap over to that panel, you'll see the Gemini star icon and a welcome message above a bar that prompts you to "search or ask about Photos."

According to Google, you can ask things like "show me the best photo from each national park I've visited," which not only draws upon GPS information but also requires the AI to exercise some judgement in determining what is "best." The company's VP for Photos Shimrit Ben-Yair told Engadget that you'll be able to provide feedback to the AI and let it know which pictures you preferred instead. "Learning is key," Ben-Yair said.

You can also ask Photos to find your top photos from a recent vacation and generate a caption to describe them so you can more quickly share them to social media. Again, if you didn't like what Gemini suggested, you can also make tweaks later on.

For now, you'll have to type your query to Ask Photos — voice input isn't yet supported. And as the feature rolls out, those who opt in to use it will see their existing search feature get "upgraded" to Ask. However, Google said that "key search functionality, like quick access to your face groups or the map view, won't be lost."

The company explained that there are three parts to the Ask Photos process: "Understanding your question," "crafting a response" and "ensuring safety and remembering corrections." Though safety is only mentioned in the final stage, it should be baked in the entire time. The company acknowledged that "the information in your photos can be deeply personal, and we take the responsibility of protecting it very seriously."

To that end, queries are not stored anywhere, though they are processed in the cloud (not on device). People will not review conversations or personal data in Ask Photos, except "in rare cases to address abuse or harm." Google also said it doesn't train "any generative AI product outside of Google Photos on this personal data, including other Gemini models and products."

Your media continues to be protected by the same security and privacy measures that cover your use of Google Photos. That's a good thing, since one of the potentially more helpful ways to use Ask Photos might be to get information like passport or license expiry dates from pictures you might have snapped years ago. It uses Gemini's multimodal capabilities to read text in images to find answers, too.

Of course, AI isn't new in Google Photos. You've always been able to search the app for things like "credit card" or a specific friend, using the company's facial and object recognition algorithms. But Gemini AI brings generative processing so Photos can do a lot more than just deliver pictures with certain people or items in them.

Other applications include getting Photos to tell you what themes you might have used for the last few birthday parties you threw for your partner or child. Gemini AI is at work here to study your pictures and figure out what themes you already adopted.

There are a lot of promising use cases for Ask Photos, which is an experimental feature at the moment and that is "starting to roll out soon." Like other Photos tools, it might begin as a premium feature for One subscribers and Pixel owners before trickling down to all who use the free app. There's no official word yet on when or whether that might happen, though.

Catch up on all the news from Google I/O 2024 right here!

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ask-google-photos-to-get-help-making-sense-of-your-gallery-170734062.html?src=rss

Dead by Daylight fans can check out the Dungeons and Dragons chapter starting today, but Behaviour Interactive teased another high-profile crossover during an anniversary showcase on Tuesday. A Castlevania chapter is on the way to DbD. There aren't any details yet about what that will include, but you just might get to play as Alucard or Simon Belmont in the fog. Behaviour plans to divulge more info about the Castlevania tie-up, which will arrive later this year, in August.

As for the Dungeons and Dragons chapter, which brings a dark fantasy element to DbD for the first time, Behaviour spilled the beans on that during the stream. PC players will be able to try out the chapter on the public test build today before it goes live for everyone on June 3.

Behaviour Interactive

The new killer is Vecna (the D&D version rather than the Stranger Things baddie) and stalwart video game actor and Critical Role mastermind Matt Mercer is voicing the character. The latest survivor is actually two identities in one. It's a bard character that you can opt to play as an elf female or human male, bringing a slight element of D&D-style character creation to DbD.

The chapter will also include a new map, which (surprise, surprise) is a dungeon. Whenever you're up against Vecna, you'll be able to find treasure chests which will trigger a roll of a 20-sided die when opened. Rolling a one will net you a nasty surprise while getting a 20 grants you a powerful magical item. Roll any number in between and you'll get a helpful item.

Speaking of maps, there will be larger ones to check out in an upcoming new mode. DbD has long pitted four survivors against one killer. A pair of killers will soon be able to team up and hunt eight survivors. They'll be able to take advantage of team powers too.

There will be a lot of changes for this 2 vs. 8 mode, which will be around for a limited time at first. Perks will be jettisoned in favor of a class system, and there won't be any hooks. Downed survivors will instead go straight to a cage. If a survivor is caged three times, they're out of the game. Behaviour sees this as more of a party mode as opposed to the competitive nature of 1 vs. 4. The 2 vs. 8 mode is slated to arrive later this summer, and you can expect to find out more about it in July.

Behaviour also had some news about several DbD spinoff games that are in the works. The Casting of Frank Stone is a single-player, narrative-focused game set in the DbD universe and developer Supermassive has released the first gameplay trailer.

The spinoff tells the story of a group of young people who venture into a condemned steel mill in 1980 while attempting to film their own horror movie. There, they discover evidence of crimes committed by serial killer Frank Stone.

The gameplay sounds very familiar for those who have experience of previous Supermassive games like Until Dawn and The Quarry. The direction of the story will shift based on your narrative decisions and how you handle environmental puzzles and quick-time events. The Casting of Frank Stone, which is said to be about five to seven hours long, is slated to arrive later this year.

An untitled co-op shooter spinoff from Midwinter Entertainment is still in early development, but it now has a codename: Project T. It'll be a third-person game and unlike the survivors in DbD, you'll actually be able to fight back against enemies using guns. Fans who want to find out more can sign up for an insider program, which will include updates, closed playtests and the chance to provide feedback.

That's not all though, as Behaviour announced yet another DbD spinoff. What the Fog is a two-person co-op roguelike that it developed in-house. The premise is that DbD survivors Claudette and Dwight are sucked into a cursed board game, Jumanji-style. The game is mainly played in third-person, but if you die you'll move into a bird's-eye support mode, where you can help your teammate survive. Just like in DbD, you'll need to interact with a hook to revive your ally. There's a single-player mode, while Feng Min is an unlockable character.

Behaviour Interactive

What the Fog shares some elements with DbD. You'll need to pick up tokens called blood points by roaming the map and killing enemies. These let you activate generators so you can escape a room. You'll get a buff from each generator and acquire a weapon upgrade after each round. There are bosses to take down too. What the Fog also has a more cartoony look than DbD's more realistic art style.

I've played a few rounds of the single-player mode and I'm enjoying it quite a bit so far. The metal soundtrack and monster-slaying chaos actually reminds me a bit of the Doom series. After unlocking a door, I'd suggest sticking around in the room a while longer to kill some more enemies and snag a bunch of blood points. That way, you'll be able to repair the next room's generators quickly and power up before taking on a fresh army of monsters.

What the Fog is available now on Steam. The first 2 million copies are available for free, though you'll need a Behaviour account to claim one. If you're not quick enough to snag a free copy or just feel like giving Behavior a few bucks, the game costs $5.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/castlevania-is-coming-to-dead-by-daylight-later-this-year-164509826.html?src=rss

Apple’s M1 iPad Air has dropped to a new low price of $399, just as the latest model prepares to hit store shelves. This sale is from Amazon and it doesn’t include every color, though both blue and purple are covered by this steep discount. The other colors are also on sale, but the deals aren’t quite as spicy. Amazon’s sale is for the base 64GB model.

This device tops our list of the best iPads, though that’s likely to change once the new models enter the chat. No matter what happens with our list in the future, however, this is still a powerful and highly capable tablet with plenty of bells and whistles. We love the gorgeous screen, which is a serious step up from the bottom rung 10th-gen iPad. This one also gets you a more powerful chip.

We also enjoyed the form factor. It’s called the iPad Air and it shows. This is a lighter-than-average tablet that’s easy to hold and maneuver, even for long periods of time. The M1 chip is powerful enough to handle just about any app or game you throw at it and the 10.9-inch display is bright, sharp and accurate. It’s pretty much the Platonic ideal of a tablet. We even called it “the closest to being universally appealing and the best iPad for most people.” 

There’s no Face ID, which isn’t a huge deal by my estimation as tablets are harder than phones to wrangle into that sweet spot for a quick facial scan. The 64GB of available storage is also on the smaller side, making this device more of a content consumption machine than anything else. The only major downside is that the new iPad Air is a hair better in just about every aspect, though it’s also at least $200 more expensive.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apples-m1-ipad-air-drops-to-a-new-low-of-399-155816959.html?src=rss

Microsoft has unveiled the next round of Xbox Game Pass arrivals. The marquee attraction is Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, which launches as a day-one Game Pass title on May 21. But the second May batch also includes Humanity (one of the best PlayStation games from last year), hockey sim EA Sports NHL 24, magical first-person shooter Immortals of Aveum, the heartfelt classic Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons and more.

First up is Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, the 2013 puzzle-adventure game that returns to Game Pass today after several years off the platform. Engadget’s review from yesteryear described the game as “an essential treasure” that makes up for its bland and redundant title with a unique control scheme (a thumbstick for each bro), beautiful visuals (although dated today), clever puzzles and a touching story that weaves together nicely with its action. The game is available for Game Pass members today (Tuesday) for console, PC and cloud players.

The long-awaited Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II arrives on Game Pass on May 21. Announced way back in 2019 alongside the Xbox Series X, the game sends the hero to Iceland, where she tries to find the Vikings who have invaded her hometown. Developer Ninja Theory promises more “perception puzzles led by [Senua’s] experiences of psychosis,” one of the highlights of the 2017 original. You can play it on the cloud, PC and console (Xbox Series X / S) when it lands on Game Pass next week.

Humanitytha LTD.

Humanity, the innovative puzzler that launched on PlayStation and Steam in 2023, heads to Game Pass on May 30. From Rez creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi, the game puts you in charge of a Shiba Inu guiding herds of Lemmings-like humans across an impressive 90 stages, including boss fights. It also includes a level-creator tool that lets you make your own or try others’ constructions online.

Meanwhile, Immortals of Aveum borrows first-person shooter mechanics but swaps guns for a little hocus pocus. The single-player, narrative-driven game comes from independent developer Ascendant Studios but manages to look and feel like a big-budget game. Wield otherworldly magic at your fingertips as you step into the Everwar, taking on the Rasharnian Army. The 2023 game comes to Game Pass (cloud, PC and current-gen consoles) on May 16.

Other titles arriving in the second half of May and beyond include the 2014 action RPG Lords of the Fallen (May 30 - cloud, PC, console), EA Sports NHL 24 (May 16 - Xbox Cloud Gaming via EA Play!), puzzle-adventure title Chants of Sennar (May 15 - cloud, console, PC), Moving Out 2 (May 28 - cloud, console, PC) and Firework (June 4 - PC). Several day-one launch titles coming to Game Pass soon include Galacticare (May 23 - cloud, PC, console), Hauntii (May 23 - cloud, console, PC), and Rolling Hills (June 4 - cloud, console, PC).

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/senuas-saga-hellblade-ii-highlights-the-next-round-of-may-game-pass-titles-155216691.html?src=rss

Amazon's Prime Video is riding a high after the success of Fallout and it has more video game-related projects lined up. The streaming service has ordered a Tomb Raider series with Phoebe Waller-Bridge of Fleabag fame set as writer and executive producer. The show was rumored to be happening as far back as January 2023 and now it's official.

“If I could tell my teenage self this was happening I think she’d explode. Tomb Raider has been a huge part of my life and I feel incredibly privileged to be bringing it to television with such passionate collaborators," Waller-Bridge said in a statement. "Lara Croft means a lot to me, as she does to many, and I can’t wait to go on this adventure. Bats ‘n all."

Few other details about the "epic, globetrotting" project have been revealed (it's not yet known who's playing Lara Croft, for one thing), though it stems from a deal between Amazon MGM Studios and Crystal Dynamics to develop shows and movies based on Tomb Raider. There's no release window for the series as yet, but Amazon says it will premiere in more than 240 countries and territories. The company's games division is also publishing Crystal Dynamics' next Lara Croft adventure, while a long-awaited animated Tomb Raider series is slated to hit Netflix this year.

Prime Video has also lined up a docuseries about EA's blockbuster Madden NFL games. EA Sports will open up its vault of rare and unreleased footage for the project. A documentary crew will follow the development of the next game in the series.

These are just some of the many announcements that Prime Video is making today as it tries to win over advertisers at its upfront event. A pop culture version of Jeopardy! is on the way to the service, which will host its first NFL Wild Card Playoff game in January. A Legally Blonde prequel series called is coming too.

Elsewhere, Prime Video renewed its hit show The Boys for a fifth season, announced a live-action Spider-Man Noir show starring Nicolas Cage and revealed the first trailer and release date for the second season of Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. In addition, a documentary following the last 12 days of Roger Federer’s professional tennis career is coming to Prime Video on June 20.

One final serve. FEDERER: Twelve Final Days, June 20. pic.twitter.com/yKhsTKOgMu

— Prime Video (@PrimeVideo) May 14, 2024

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/a-tomb-raider-series-from-phoebe-waller-bridge-is-on-the-way-to-prime-video-153636273.html?src=rss

The Roku Streaming Stick 4K is on sale via Amazon for just $34, which is a savings of 32 percent and one of the best prices we’ve seen all year. As the name suggests, this is a streaming stick that provides 4K visuals and ships with a voice remote that works with Siri, Alexa and Hey Google. Of course, this remote also has buttons.

The stick easily made our list of the best streaming devices, for a great many reasons. We were impressed by the sheer amount of free and live content available via Roku’s ecosystem. There’s a diverse array of free linear channels and video-on-demand (VOD) services here, with thousands of series and films to choose from. Not having to pony up for yet another subscription is always nice.

The Roku Streaming Stick 4K can also access all of those paid subscription services, from Disney+ to Peacock and beyond. The interface is uncluttered and easy to navigate, with a simple content list at the left and an app grid on the right. In addition to 4K, the device supports HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. The player even supports Apple AirPlay 2 for streaming audio and video from a tablet or phone.

If we had to nitpick, and that’s pretty much our job, the device’s What to Watch menu prioritizes the aforementioned free content over titles pulled from paid apps. It’d be nice if things were a bit even, just in case people need a little reminder to finish Sugar on Apple TV+ or Shogun on Hulu. However, it’s tough to be too miffed, as free content is where this Roku device really shines.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/one-of-our-favorite-roku-streaming-sticks-is-on-sale-for-only-34-145718364.html?src=rss

Enlarge (credit: Getty)

A study analyzing Apple, Microsoft, and SpaceX suggests that return to office (RTO) mandates can lead to a higher rate of employees, especially senior-level ones, leaving the company, often to work at competitors.

The study (PDF), published this month by University of Chicago and University of Michigan researchers and reported by The Washington Post on Sunday, says:

In this paper, we provide causal evidence that RTO mandates at three large tech companies—Microsoft, SpaceX, and Apple—had a negative effect on the tenure and seniority of their respective workforce. In particular, we find the strongest negative effects at the top of the respective distributions, implying a more pronounced exodus of relatively senior personnel.

The study looked at résumé data from People Data Labs and used "260 million résumés matched to company data." It only examined three companies, but the report's authors noted that Apple, Microsoft, and SpaceX represent 30 percent of the tech industry's revenue and over 2 percent of the technology industry's workforce. The three companies have also been influential in setting RTO standards beyond their own companies. Robert Ployhart, a professor of business administration and management at the University of South Carolina and scholar at the Academy of Management, told the Post that despite the study being limited to three companies, its conclusions are a broader reflection of the effects of RTO policies in the US.

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Amazon's Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power was both extremely successful and extremely divisive in the LOTR fan community. (Separate question, has any recent adaptation or new content in a beloved franchise not been divisive? Thoughts for another time.) Lots of people whined about how Amazon should just trash the first season and start over, but clearly that was never going to happen. What is happening is that season two of The Rings of Power has its first trailer and an August 29 release date.

I'm a pretty big Lord of the Rings fan and found season one enjoyable if not essential, but I like the looks of how things are ratcheting up here for season two. We get plenty of teases of epic battles and creepy creatures as Sauron reveals himself and begins to tighten the noose on all of Middle-earth; there are also looks at him in his "fair" form as he forges the titular Rings of Power with Celebrimbor. 

Amazon says the first three episodes will arrive on August 29, with subsequent entries following every week. Like the first season, this one will consist of eight episodes total. 

This announcement comes less than a week after Warner Bros. Discovery announced it would release a new live-action Lord of the Rings film in theaters in 2026. Tentatively titled The Hunt for Gollum, the film is directed by and will star Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies. That project will be set in the same universe that Jackson built, while Amazon's series is an entirely separate entity. There is some shared DNA, though — the first season of The Rings of Power was shot in New Zealand, like Jackson's films, and composer Howard Shore wrote the main credits theme for Amazon's show after scoring all six of the Middle-earth films. 

Oh, and Lego just dropped this incredible Barad-Dur set — it's a big week for Lord of the Rings across the board!

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/lord-of-the-rings-the-rings-of-power-trailer-reveals-season-two-release-date-142522261.html?src=rss

Your experience while taking a flight comes down to many random factors, including who sits next to you. Your seatmate has plenty of ways to bother you — you've lived them, we don't need to remind you how — but now there's a whole new option. Meta has announced a new feature called Travel Mode for its Quest 2 and 3 headsets that lets people use the devices while on a plane.

Meta claims it has "specially tuned" its algorithms, so the experience remains stable, even if you direct it out the window. Users can try Travel Mode out for themselves by visiting the experimental features section in settings. They can quickly turn the feature on and off in quick settings and should also get a prompt to activate it while flying on some airlines — though Meta doesn't specify which ones.

In general, if someone is traveling on a flight with Wi-Fi, then they can access entertainment like movies, games, and messages, but, as Meta's photo indicates, it definitely could go into the next person's space (or at least mean their seatmate is flailing their arms all around. However, Meta is also partnering with Lufthansa to offer Quest 3 headsets with custom content and entertainment on select flights' Business Class Suites. As usual, getting any dedicated space on a plane costs a lot of money. 

Interestingly, Meta decided to introduce Travel Mode on planes and not something more stable (read: moving on the ground), but it plans to expand the feature to trains and other modes of transportation.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-encourages-you-to-disregard-your-seat-mates-and-use-vr-headsets-on-a-plane-141942620.html?src=rss

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Andriy Onufriyenko)

Billy Restey is a digital artist who runs a studio in Seattle. But after hours, he hunts for rare chunks of bitcoin. He does it for the thrill. “It’s like collecting Magic: The Gathering or Pokémon cards,” says Restey. “It’s that excitement of, like, what if I catch something rare?”

In the same way a dollar is made up of 100 cents, one bitcoin is composed of 100 million satoshis—or sats, for short. But not all sats are made equal. Those produced in the year bitcoin was created are considered vintage, like a fine wine. Other coveted sats were part of transactions made by bitcoin’s inventor. Some correspond with a particular transaction milestone. These and various other properties make some sats more scarce than others—and therefore more valuable. The very rarest can sell for tens of millions of times their face value; in April, a single sat, normally worth $0.0006, sold for $2.1 million.

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As if it wasn’t already clear enough that streaming is basically just cable by another name at this point (though it's arguably less expensive for now), many of the top services are banding together to create bundles. A package combining Peacock, Netflix and Apple TV+ is expected to debut later this month. This StreamSaver bundle will be available to Comcast customers, according to CEO Brian Roberts.

While Roberts didn’t reveal how much the package will cost or what tiers of each service it will include, he said StreamSaver will offer them “at a vastly reduced price to anything available today.” According to Variety, he told attendees at MoffettNathanson’s Media, Internet and Communications Conference that the aim was to “add value to consumers” and take dollars away from competing streaming services.

The StreamSaver announcement comes a few days after it emerged that a bundle of Disney+, Hulu and Max is coming this summer. A super-sized sports bundle featuring ESPN, Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox services is also slated to arrive later this year, though critics such as FuboTV have claimed that the offering is anti-competitive. No pricing for either package has been announced.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/a-vastly-reduced-netflix-peacock-and-apple-tv-bundle-is-coming-this-month-135815744.html?src=rss

The United States is taking additional measures to quash China’s influence on its economy. The White House has announced a tremendous increase in tariffs on $18 billion worth of Chinese imports, including semiconductors, steel, aluminum and EVs. The latter’s tariff is set to increase fourfold, from 25 percent to 100 percent—a move that the White House claims “will protect American manufacturers.” The announcement further reported that China’s EV exports grew 70 percent between 2022 and 2023.

Other tariff increases, such as the jumps from 25 percent to 50 percent for semiconductors and solar cells, are also significant. Then there are batteries, which are getting a tariff raise from 7.5 percent to 25 percent. Medical products are also a part of this hike, with tariffs on needles and syringes increasing from zero percent to 50 percent.

The Biden administration stresses that American companies need a real shot at competing against Chinese imports. “China’s unfair trade practices concerning technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation are threatening American businesses and workers. China is also flooding global markets with artificially low-priced exports,” the White House stated in a release. Biden’s decision builds on tariffs implemented by his predecessor and current election opponent, Donald Trump.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/biden-administration-quadruples-import-tariff-for-chinese-evs-130047911.html?src=rss

In recent years, outdoor pizza ovens have become popular options for upping your culinary game at home. Whether it’s on the deck, patio, porch or anywhere else in your backyard, these products are more versatile and easily stored than a permanently installed setup. All the options I’ve selected in this guide are portable, though you might need some help lugging a few of them around due to their size and weight. These pizza ovens are versatile options for aspiring pie pushers with limited space or those who want to take their skills on the road as needed. And if the great indoors is your domain, I’ve got a candidate on this list for you too. But before you make a purchase, here are a few things you’ll want to consider ahead of time.

What to look for in a pizza oven

When shopping for a home pizza oven, you’ll first want to consider what types of pies you plan to make. Most portable outdoor pizza ovens from the likes of Ooni, Solo Stove and others use wood and are primarily designed for the high-heat cooking required for light and airy Neapolitan-style pizzas. We’re talking high temperatures up to 900 degrees Fahrenheit. These units can certainly cook different styles at cooler temperatures, but the learning curve is easiest when you’re running them wide open with a full load of wood.

You'll also want to consider alternate fuel types. If you purchase a propane or natural gas burner, you can adjust temperatures easily by turning a knob. For this reason, I recommend you spend the extra $100 or so on that accessory. This dual-fuel option makes your pizza oven a lot more versatile and gives you the option to still have a freshly fired pie when you don’t feel like messing with wood or charcoal. If you only want to cook with gas, there are models available that only use propane or natural gas.

The other key consideration for aspiring pizza makers is size. Most companies make ovens that fit 12-inch pizzas, a perfect size for a personal pan pizza. They’re also great for pizza parties, since people can customize their own without having to pick off toppings they don’t like. If you want to make larger pizzas or plan to use your oven for other things (pans, etc), consider a larger version that can accommodate more than just small pies. The interior dimensions – or at the very least the pizza stone size – will be listed on most product pages.

Photo by Billy Steele/Engadget Plan for success

Making quality pizza at home requires a considerable amount of counter or table space. You’ll need room to stretch and prep your pizza dough, lay out your mozzarella, other cheeses and toppings and load pies onto a peel. Of course, some folks will be comfortable working in the tight confines of a small kitchen, but I’ve found it much easier to use extra space to make sure I’m not constantly moving things around during the various steps in the process.

It’s also less hassle to set up your pizza-making station in close proximity to your oven. As a pizza-baking beginner, I did the running back and forth from the kitchen to the back porch. It’s far from ideal. It’s difficult to maintain your fire (if using wood or charcoal) when you’re unable to watch it closely. The good news is a patio table can be easily converted into a pizza station with a large cutting board. This also gets your oven off the ground so it’s easier to access.

Ooni sells tables for its ovens that also offer shelving and storage for peels and other accessories. Solo Stove has a rolling stand for its Pi oven too, with small side shelves and a spot for your propane tank underneath. Of course, you can find other tables and stands to suit your needs, just make sure they can withstand any heat that may radiate from the bottom of the oven while cooking. Most ovens are either well insulated or don’t project too much excess heat toward the table, but you can never be too careful. For that reason, a stainless steel or metal surface is a good choice to set up an outdoor model.

Most of these ovens cook quickly at high heat, especially if you’re making Neapolitan pizza. Having everything you need nearby so you can keep tabs on the oven and quickly make the next pizza will ease a lot of unnecessary headaches. When your cook time is two minutes or less, you don’t want to venture too far.

Best outdoor pizza ovens in 2024

Best indoor pizza ovens in 2024

Let me preface this section by saying you probably already have an indoor option that you can use to make some great pizza. Whether that’s the main oven in your kitchen or a multi-function countertop unit, with some affordable accessories, you can easily up your game without spending $1,000 on a dedicated appliance. For example, my Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer has a convection pizza setting that automatically adjusts cook time based on the size, oven temperature and whether the pie is fresh or frozen. A key consideration here is size. These things are massive, about the size of a large microwave, so you likely won’t want to keep them out all the time unless you have a huge kitchen.

The best pizza accessories for the oven you already have

If you want to make good homemade pizza that rivals that of your favorite pizzeria (and without spending hundreds of dollars on a dedicated oven), you can definitely do it with the oven you already have in your kitchen. With a few gadgets, you can improve your game without splurging on a Breville, Ooni or Solo Stove. First, I’d recommend a high quality baking steel or stone.

Baking stones are great for getting better browning on the bottom of your pies than a pizza or sheet pan. You can also use them for bread, cookies and other items. The stone absorbs heat to cook pizza quickly, like the inside of a brick oven, which leads to a charred crust. They’re also more affordable compared to baking steels. Those metal slabs do have one key advantage: higher heat conductivity. This means a steel will cook your pizzas faster since it can absorb more heat from your oven. While baking steels can be used as griddles on your stovetop and for other types of baking, they’re not ideal for some leavened breads.

The second item you’ll want is a pizza peel. These come in all shapes and sizes, made out of a variety of materials. I typically use a bamboo or wooden peel when topping and launching my pizzas and then a metal one for retrieving them. I’ve found that dough doesn’t stick as easily to bamboo during prep and the metal resists the high heat of the oven when turning or retrieving a finished pizza (bamboo will burn). There are also perforated peels which allow both steam and excess flour to escape. A peel is a great tool for loading and turning pizzas, getting them in the back of the oven, and since you’ll typically be cooking them with your oven at 500 degrees or hotter, using something like parchment paper to move them around won’t work.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/best-pizza-oven-141550352.html?src=rss

Apple’s new iPad Pro is one of the most divisive (and thinnest) devices the company has made in years. Sure, it’s an undeniable feat of engineering and thinner than an iPod nano. Apple squeezed a new M4 chip and “tandem” OLED panel into its latest flagship tablet.

The new OLED enables more brightness and improved HDR performance compared to the old iPad Pro—standard screen brightness is up to 1,000 nits, compared to 600 nits for the last model. It’s so powerful and so beautiful. But this cutting-edge tech makes it more expensive than ever, putting it out of reach of most and pitting it against flagship laptops, price-wise.

As Nathan Ingraham explains in his review, the iPad Pro lineup has always been about showing off just how good an Apple tablet can be, but this one truly is without compromise. For the rest of us, there's the new iPad Air.

Later today, Google I/O’s big keynote will reveal the company’s latest AI ambitions. We’ll be reporting live, later today.

— Mat Smith

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What to expect at Google I/O 2024: Gemini, Android 15, WearOS and more details

Meta’s next hardware project might be AI-infused headphones with cameras

iOS 17.5 has support for web-based app downloads in the EU

iPad Air (2024) review: This is the iPad to get

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OpenAI’s free GPT-4o model can talk, laugh, sing and see more like a human And it looks like a big ole black hole. OpenAI

OpenAI on Monday announced GPT-4o, a brand-new AI model the company says is one step closer to “much more natural human–computer interaction.” The new model accepts any combination of text, audio and images as input and can generate output in all three formats. It also sounds a lot more like digital assistant Samantha from the movie Her. During the presentation, OpenAI showed GPT-4o translating live between English and Italian, helping a researcher solve a linear equation in real time on paper and providing guidance on deep breathing. OpenAI’s demonstrator even used the smartphone’s camera to show how GPT-4o would describe the room they were in. It could infer they were in a studio, filming video or possibly a livestream. OpenAI is making the new model available to everyone, including free ChatGPT users, over the next few weeks.

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Google teases new camera-powered AI feature a day ahead of I/O The feature looks like an AI-infused version of Google Lens.

Not to be outdone, ahead of Google I/O (kicks off later today — stay tuned for all the news right here), Google teased its own incoming AI camera features. It’s not exactly clear what the feature is, but it bears some similarities to Google Lens, the company’s camera-powered search feature. What’s shown in the teaser video, however, appears to be working in real-time and responding to voice commands.

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Dyson’s first dedicated hard-floor cleaner doesn’t suck The Wash G1 is your upgrade from the humble mop. Dyson

It’s a new direction for Dyson: a floor cleaner without mention of suction, cyclone technology or any of its usual vacuum vocabulary. The Wash G1 is the company’s debut hard-floor cleaner, and it swaps suction for high-speed rollers, water and nylon bristles. It’ll go on sale later this year for $700 — we got to test it at Dyson HQ, ahead of launch.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-our-verdict-on-the-new-ipad-pro-111537244.html?src=rss

Sony Interactive Entertainment (SEI) has announced a new leadership structure that puts two people in charge of different parts of its business. Hideaki Nishino, who is currently serving as the SVP for the Platform Experience Group, will become the CEO of SIE's Platform Business Group starting on June 1. On the same day, Hermen Hulst will take on the role of CEO for SIE's Studio Business Group after serving as SVP and Head of PlayStation Studios. 

The two executives are stepping into their roles after Jim Ryan decided to leave his seat as SEI's CEO in March. When he announced his departure, he said he was finding it "increasingly difficult" to juggle his home life in the UK and his job that's located in the US. Ryan helped establish the company's presence in Europe and oversaw the launch of the PlayStation 5 in the midst of the pandemic. Both Nishino and Hulst will report to interim CEO Hiroki Totoki, who will take a step back and continue his role as Chairman of SIE as as well as President, COO and CFO of Sony Group Corporation. 

Nishino currently leads the team that develops all the experiences and tech for PlayStation services and products. He'll continue being responsible for those, but he will also oversee the company's work with third-party publishers and developers. Nishino will be in charge of SIE's commercial operations, including sales and marketing for all PlayStation hardware, services and peripherals, as well. Meanwhile, Hulst has been heading efforts for content development across PlayStation consoles and PCs. He's also in charge of the development of video game adaptations for movies and TV, such as The Last of Us. In the future, he will be "responsible for the development, publishing, and business operations of SIE's first-party content."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sony-playstation-will-soon-have-two-ceos-090041004.html?src=rss

Lawmakers from opposites sides of the aisle are looking to sunset Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, because it has "outlived its usefulness." House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers and ranking member Frank Pallone, Jr. have released a bipartisan draft legislation introducing their proposed bill, which is seeking to render the provision ineffective after December 31, 2025. In the op-ed piece the lawmakers wrote for The Wall Street Journal, they admitted that Section 230 "helped shepherd the internet from the 'you've got mail' era into today's global nexus of communication and commerce." However, they said that big tech companies are now exploiting the same law to "shield them from any responsibility or accountability as their platforms inflict immense harm on Americans, especially children."

They added that the lawmakers who previously tried to address issues with Section 230 didn't succeed because tech companies refused any meaningful cooperation. Their bill would compel tech companies to work with government officials for 18 months to conjure and enact a new legal framework to replace the current version of Section 230. The new law will still allow for free speech and innovation, but it will also encourage the companies "to be good stewards of their platforms." Rodgers and Pallone said that their bill will give companies the choice between ensuring the internet is "a safe, healthy place for good" and losing their Section 230 protections altogether. 

Section 230 shields online publishers from liability when it comes to content posted by their users. Companies like Meta and Google have repeatedly used it in the past to get lawsuits dismissed, but it has come under intense scrutiny in recent years. Last year, a bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill that would amend the section to require big platforms to pull down content within four days if they were deemed illegal by courts. Another bipartisan group also proposed a "No Section 230 Immunity for AI Act," which seeks to hold companies like OpenAI liable for harmful content, such as deepfake images or audio created to ruin somebody's reputation. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/a-bipartisan-bill-is-looking-to-end-section-230-protections-for-tech-companies-055356915.html?src=rss

It’s a new direction for Dyson: a floor cleaner without mention of suction, cyclone technology or any of its usual vacuum vocabulary. The Wash G1 is the company’s debut hard-floor cleaner, and it swaps suction for high-speed rollers, water and nylon bristles. It’ll go on sale later this year for $700/ £600, which is expensive but still cheaper than Dyson’s top-of-the-line Gen 5 vacuum. I got to test out the Wash G1 at Dyson’s HQ, a few hours west of London in the UK. 

The product was born from the increased presence of hard floors in our lives. Dyson says there are fewer and fewer carpeted rooms in homes around the world. However, hard-floor cleaning (industrial processes aside) has remained a pretty manual process, usually involving mops (or Swiffer cloths, you monster) that leave smears and streaks. Typical mopping also leads to wiping diluted dirt and stains around your floors after the first dunk.

Photo by Mat Smith/Engadget

Dyson’s method keeps the fresh and dirty water separate as you clean, with dual microfiber rollers that apply the water, mechanically removing stains and dirt. The company dabbled with this on its V15 Detect Submarine, which had a dedicated cleaning head with (much smaller) water compartments built in. The Wash G1 pulls dirty liquid up into its own container, capturing any physical debris into a slim tray with a mesh filter.

The rollers rotate in opposite directions, which helps lift stains and dirt. While testing it, the rollers also gave the cleaner a floaty sensation as I swished it around. The high-density microfiber cloths then absorb and trap both liquids and solid dirt, while hardened nylon bristles pull away bigger dirt and objects into a tray. The dirty water is also squeezed out of the rollers and pulled upwards into the machine.

The Wash G1 has 26 hydration points to “precisely” soak the microfiber rollers, ensuring they’re hydrated enough to tackle stains and dried dirt. The company claims there’s enough water in a single tank to clean the surface area equivalent to a tennis court – but that will depend on the machine’s settings.

There are three hydration levels, while an additional max setting drains the tank much faster, applying as much water as possible for the most stubborn stains. This doesn’t notably affect battery power, as the maximum setting would on a vacuum, because the Wash G1 isn’t pushing the engines harder – it’s just using more water. To reach floor edges, Dyson shifted the roller’s engines to one side so the right side can closely brush up against walls and edges.

Photo by Mat Smith/Engadget

The Wash G1 can even perform a self-clean, using half of the clean water tank to flush out the system and clean the brushes. There’s no heating feature, but the rotation should wring out most of the water. This is all done while the Wash G1 is docked and charging, which, instead of the typical cable or rack that Dyson’s other vacuums use, is a flat surface that plugs into the wall.

After using up the clean water tank, it was straightforward to remove and refill – much easier than a coffee machine. The unit with both containers clicks out of the body so you can tip away the dirty stuff and refill it with clean water. The container for the filthy water has a wide mouth, so it’s easy to clean without touching the accumulated dirt.

One issue though: The dirty water tank is… gross. I understand the satisfaction of seeing the dirt and muck as you clean your floors, but a container of cloudy beige mystery is, in person, rather icky. Perhaps Dyson could make it out of a smoky plastic that obfuscates the dirty water, at least a little?

The way Dyson separates out liquid and solid mess also reduces the amount of sludgy muck you’ll get from cleaning floors with water (not to brag, but I may have cleaned a carpet or two in my life). It does this by ensuring that solids aren’t in the water for too long. Dirty water is pulled into its removable container through a pressure differential, meaning there’s also no chance for the dirt to meddle with motors, filters and other delicate parts.

A final microfiber roller then takes up any residual water, and Dyson says it buffs the floor to avoid a streaky finish. During my brief time with the Wash G1, it was still leaving a streaky finish, but maybe Dyson will fix this. After all, there’s plenty of time before this ships to consumers. In the UK, the company is aiming for a fall (well, Autumn) launch, with the Wash G1 coming to the US later this year. The demo space was also a reflective marble surface – arguably a more challenging surface to clean perfectly. My hardwood floors at home probably wouldn’t have shown streaks.

Photo by Mat Smith/Engadget

This is Dyson’s first attempt at dedicated hard floor cleaning, and I still have a lot of questions about how well the filtration tray works. How much can you cram into such a slender little thing? We hope to get more answers when we take a closer look ahead of launch later this year.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/dysons-first-dedicated-hard-floor-cleaner-doesnt-suck-230124850.html?src=rss

Enlarge / A glass of fresh raw milk in the hand of a farmer. (credit: Getty | Pierre Crom)

To drink raw milk at any time is to flirt with dangerous germs. But, amid an unprecedented outbreak of H5N1 bird flu in US dairy cows, the risks have ratcheted up considerably. Health experts have stepped up warnings against drinking raw milk during the outbreak, the scope of which is still unknown.

Yet, raw milk enthusiasts are undaunted by the heightened risk. The California-based Raw Milk Institute called the warnings "clearly fearmongering." The institute's founder, Mark McAfee, told the Los Angeles Times this weekend that his customers are, in fact, specifically requesting raw milk from H5N1-infected cows. According to McAfee, his customers believe, without evidence, that directly drinking high levels of the avian influenza virus will give them immunity to the deadly pathogen.

Expert Michael Payne told the LA Times that the idea amounts to "playing Russian roulette with your health." Payne, a researcher and dairy outreach coordinator at the Western Institute for Food Safety and Security at UC Davis, added that "Deliberately trying to infect yourself with a known pathogen flies in the face of all medical knowledge and common sense."

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