OpenAI has banned the accounts of a group of Chinese users who had attempted to use ChatGPT to debug and edit code for an AI social media surveillance tool, the company said Friday . The campaign, which OpenAI calls Peer Review, saw the group prompt ChatGPT to generate sales pitches for a program those documents suggest was designed to monitor anti-Chinese sentiment on X, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and other platforms. The operation appears to have been particularly interested in spotting call

It's not clear that anyone was asking for a company to build a muscular, sinewy robot or to see a video of it dangling, helpless from a hook, but life is full of surprises and this YouTube video of Clone Robotics' Protoclone is here all the same. The Protoclone appears to be a prototype version of the Clone robot the aptly named Clone Robotics is working to build. The video shows the Protoclone flexing its arms and legs, with visible artificial muscle fibers moving underneath its white skin. Bas

While 20th-century heists involved scoping out a location, recruiting a person on the inside and having a daredevil getaway driver waiting outside, the 21st-century version looks more like what Bybit experienced today. A hacker stole nearly $1.5 billion in Ethereum and staked Ethereum from one of the exchange's offline wallets, nabbing the largest cryptocurrency haul ever. One blockchain security expert said it's likely the all-time biggest heist of any kind, not just crypto. Bybit CEO Ben Zhou

Fortnite just announced the availability of Chapter 6: Season 2, which has been dubbed Lawless . As the name suggests, this update is all about being a criminal and performing robberies. Fortnite hasnt dabbled in this kind of GTA-esque tomfoolery since Chapter 4: Season 4 , which also included heists. Starting today, players will be able to perform all kinds of nefarious activities, like robbing banks, stealing armored cars and breaking into luxury locations. The popular battle royale will even

Apple is set to give News+ subscribers more than a soupon of fresh material. When iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 arrive in April, the company will add a Food section to News+. This will include tens of thousands of recipes, along with stories curated by Apple News editors about healthy eating, restaurants, kitchen essentials and so on. Apple says he world's top food publishers including Allrecipes, Bon Apptit, Food & Wine, Good Food and Serious Eats will supply the recipes and stories. One notable

The General Services Administration plans on shutting down federal EV charging infrastructure in the coming weeks and offloading EVs purchased by the previous administration, The Verge reports . Since the GSA oversees government buildings, shutting down chargers will impact personal electric vehicles owned by government employees and government-owned EVs. As GSA has worked to align with the current administration, we have received direction that all GSA owned charging stations are not mission cr

On March 3, Mobile World Congress will kick off in Barcelona, Spain. While its not the premier show it once was, many of the smartphone industrys leading players still attend the conference and frequently launch new devices there. Typically, we hear from companies like Lenovo, Arm, Xiaomi, Dell and more at the conference, as well as standards organizations like the GSMA on developments in areas like 5G or SIM technology. And judging by the event agenda on the MWC website , we will be seeing at l

Meta has offered up a lucrative new executive bonus plan, according to a company filing released Thursday . Under the new plan, executives could earn a yearly bonus of 200 percent of their base salary, which is up from 75 percent. This comes just after Meta announced sweeping layoffs impacting five percent of its workforce . A committee for Metas board of directors approved the change on February 13, on the grounds that the target total cash compensation for its executives was at or below the 15

After creating a stir with the $200 Neo , DJI is back at it with another innovative drone, the Flip. It has a first-of-a-kind folding design and shrouded propellers to keep people safe. It also integrates 3D infrared obstacle detection to track subjects and has a long list of impressive features. With a camera borrowed from the Mini 4 Pro , the Flip can take high-quality 4K 60p video indoors or out with little risk. It comes with vlogger-friendly features like Direction Track and Quickshots for

The rumors are true : Apple confirmed today that the Vision Pro will get Apple Intelligence features in April with the arrival of visionOS 2.4. A developer beta is also rolling out today for the less patient. As we've seen on other devices, Apple is starting out the Vision Pro's AI rollout with basic features. Those include Writing Tools, which can help you summarize, rewrite and proofread text, as well as generate text with ChatGPT; Image Playground for creating AI imagery; and Genmoji

While Apple's new iPhone 16e may be the big tech news of the week, it's one of Google's Pixel phones that leads our latest weekly deal roundup. More specifically, the Pixel 9 Pro our pick for the best Android handset is down to $799 at several retailers, a $200 drop that represents the lowest price we've tracked for an unlocked model. If you don't need a new phone, a few other gadgets we recommend are also on sale, including Crucial's X9 Pro portable SSD, Apple's AirTag trackers, ASUS' ROG Zep

Elon Musk's chainsaw has been swinging through the federal government over the last few weeks, with his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) chopping down budgets and excising staff at a number of agencies. Among those affected is the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which is said to be losing about 10 percent of its relatively small headcount through buyouts and firings. According to The Washington Post , between 70 and 80 people are departing the agency, which is r

Apple users in the UK can no longer access one of the company's most powerful data protection tools, as first reported by Bloomberg . The feature, Advanced Data Protection (ADP), allows iPhone users to add optional end-to-end encryption to a variety of iCloud data. The move comes amid an ongoing dispute between Apple and the UK over a government order that would require the company to build a backdoor to allow British security officials to access the encrypted data of users globally. ADP pro

Coinbase says that the SEC has agreed to end an enforcement case that accused it of illegally running an unregistered securities exchange. This could signal a major change in how the US government will enforce the crypto market now that Trump is in office. The lawsuit, which was filed during the Biden administration , has long-been considered an attempt to bring the crypto industry under the same investor-protection rules that govern stocks and other securities. Coinbase had been fighting the la

Here's a great deal on one of our favorite power banks. You can pick up the skinny Baseus Blade for $47.59 with the help of our exclusive code. That's 52 percent off the regular price of $100. The power bank is on sale for $70 on Amazon. To get the full discount, you'll need to clip the 10 percent coupon on the store page. Then, at checkout, be sure to use the code BGAEY8HX to get the full discount. The Baseus Blade is our pick for the best budget laptop power bank . Thanks to the slim form fact

The most surprising thing about Moroi is its sense of humor. Moroi is a top-down, dual-stick action and puzzle game set in a dungeon of surreal horrors, where each cell contains a unique and grotesque vignette. In the first area of the map, theres a cell containing a sentient meat grinder that craves human flesh. In another, a dead man is strapped to a feeding tube thats still pumping slop into his bulbous, pulsing stomach. The next room over, you meet a talking duck with far too many human teet

Deals on music streaming services tend to be few and far between. But right now, you can snag one of the best deals we've seen, period, on Apple Music . Six months of access is down to just $3 right now and no, that's not a typo. The cost is typically $11 per month, so this sale represents a savings of more than $60. The usual caveats apply. This is an enticement to bring in new subscribers, so current members are out of luck (myself included.) Its also not available for those who currently qual

Earlier this week, Apple's cheapest iPhone got a refresh and an unexpected name change. Instead of the widely anticipated iPhone SE 4, the company unveiled the new iPhone 16e , which shifts to a full-screen design with Face ID while putting Apple Intelligence on an entry-level model for the first time. It also sports the Action button, which debuted on the iPhone 15 Pro . Pre-orders for the iPhone 16e are now open, with models starting at $599 , and the phone will be more widely available on Feb

Operator is now out in Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, the UK and most places where ChatGPT is also available, OpenAI has announced. The company launched Operator in the US back in January, introducing it as an agent that can go to the web to perform tasks for the user. Operator can handle various browser-based tasks for users, such as filling out forms, making restaurant reservations and ordering groceries. At the moment, it's still a research preview in its

Well we didn't get the iPhone SE fourth-gen this week instead Apple debuted the iPhone 16e, a $599 model based on the iPhone 14's design. It has a 6.1-inch OLED screen and the A18 chip for Apple Intelligence, but should we really consider it a cheap iPhone? In this episode, Devindra and Cherlynn dive into the iPhone 16e and how it compares to the rest of the iPhone 16 family. Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the s

If you couldnt stomach $800 for a new iPhone with Apple Intelligence, dont worry: Apple just announced the iPhone 16e . At $599, it strikes a balance on specs, which is the soft and cosy way to say it doesnt have everything. It has a lot, though. With a 6.1-inch screen, its a much bigger device than the 4.7-inch iPhone SE, with a notch for FaceID (no more TouchID), USB-C (adios, Lightning) and the companys A18 processor. Theres also an action button , which arrived with the iPhone 15 series, but

Foldable phones are no longer a gimmick theyre here to stay, and theyre better than ever. Whether you love the nostalgia of a flip phone or want the versatility of a near tablet-sized display that fits in your pocket, todays new foldable devices are packed with cutting-edge tech. Brands like Samsung, Google and Motorola are leading the charge, pushing the boundaries of what a smartphone can do with sleek designs, powerful AI features and seamless multitasking. Unlike traditional smartphones, fo

Most microSD cards are fast enough for boosting storage space and making simple file transfers, but some provide a little more value than others. If youve got a device that still accepts microSD cards whether its a gaming handheld , a dash cam, a drone or an Android tablet weve scoured the market and put more than a dozen top contenders through a number of benchmark tests. You can find our top recommendations below, alongside some general shopping advice before you grab one. Table of contents

We learned in December 2022 that a production company had signed on to turn Sloclap's excellent martial arts game Sifu into a film. Today, the news dropped that Netflix is involved with the project, which seems to have caused some personnel shuffling behind the scenes. The initial announcement saw Story Kitchen, which has since amassed a huge catalog of video game adaptations, securing a treatment of Sifu with John Wick creator Derek Kolstad attached as the writer. Story Kitchen is still working

Samwise Gamgee said, It's the job that's never started as takes longest to finish. But then, he hadn't been exposed to the world of video game development. Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game , a cozy take on the most idyllic pocket of Middle Earth, has been delayed. The new launch date is July 29. According to a post from the devs at Wt Workshop Game Studio, this delay is about ensuring that all the project's supported platforms can enjoy the same cozy experience. It is currently s

Elon Musk has a problem with Community Notes, the crowdsourced fact-checking feature that started as Birdwatch , and launched at scale after he purchased Twitter . Unfortunately @CommunityNotes is increasingly being gamed by governments & legacy media, Musk posted . Working to fix this... Based on the rant his tweet descends in to afterwards, his issue appears to be with how X's Community Notes contributors have been treating misinformation about President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the war in Ukra

iPhone 15 Pro owners will soon have one less reason to consider upgrading to an iPhone 16 series handset. Visual Intelligence , Apple's equivalent to Google Lens , is coming to the 2023 Pro-series flagships, according to Daring Fireball . Owners of the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro can trigger Visual Intelligence with a long press of their dedicated camera button. But like the recently announced iPhone 16e (which also supports the feature), the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max don't have a physical camera butto

ChatGPT has surpassed 400 million weekly active users. We feel very fortunate to serve 5 percent of the world every week, OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap said on X about the new audience stat. This figure is twice the weekly active user count reported by the company in August 2024 , which was double the figure it posted in November 2023. The latest milestone for the AI assistant comes after a huge uproar over new rival platform DeepSeek earlier in the year, which raised questions about whether the curr

The $599 iPhone 16e is many things, but don't you dare call it a budget phone . I hesitate to even call it cheap. As a successor to the $429 iPhone SE, it's hard not to see the 16e as a disappointment. Sure, it's $200 less than the vanilla iPhone 16 (which I argued was a great deal at launch ), and the 16e also packs in the latest A18 chip with support for Apple Intelligence. But it's no longer a small phone, and it pushes Apple's cheaper iPhone option well beyond $500. That's something we'll li

Among Us VR has proven itself to be a major hit since first being released back in 2022 . Now, developers Innersloth and Schell Games have announced they are rejiggering the virtual reality title for traditional PC players . Among Us 3D is playable without a headset and will be available via Steam in the near future. This title keeps the core gameplay loop from the original, but shifts to a first-person perspective. It's basically a new way to keep sabotaging your friends and family. Among U

The Action button is available on nearly every iPhone Apple sells, offering a quick way to access a feature, app or shortcut on your phone, just by pushing a button. It can be a flashlight, activate a smart home routine or let you access any number of custom shortcuts without having to unlock your phone and pick through apps. Apple added the Action Button on the iPhone 15 Pro as a replacement for the iPhone's original Ring / Silent switch, and it was an acknowledgement of sorts that lots of peop

The Amazon Appstore will no longer be available on Android as of August 20, 2025. After that date, apps from the digital storefront are not guaranteed to operate on Android hardware; however, they can continue to be used on devices like the Fire TV and Fire Tablets. The Coins program, Amazon's virtual currency for some Appstore app and in-app purchases, will also end on that same date. Coins will no longer be available for purchase beginning today. The Appstore was Amazon's effort to get in on t

After announcing its plan to end third-party fact-checking in January 2025, Meta's crowdsourced replacement is finally starting to take shape. You can now join a waitlist to be a Community Notes contributor on Facebook, Instagram and Threads when the feature rolls out in the coming months. Contributors are expect to provide context via a note when a post on one of Meta's platforms might be inaccurate or confusing, according to the company's sign-up page. Community Notes will be able to be added

A day after it was reported that Denis Villeneuve's third Dune movie starts shooting this summer, developer Funcom announced that its open-world MMO Dune: Awakening arrives on May 20 for PC. You can even get a jump on your journey through Arrakis with a character creator that's available today. Dune: Awakening draws inspiration from Frank Herbert's novels and the 2020s films . (Sorry, no speedo-clad Sting in this one.) However, it takes some detours from the established canon. In the game's vers

Its been ten long years since Avatar: The Legend of Korra aired its final episode and over 15 years since Avatar: The Last Airbender bowed out. Now, finally, Nickelodeon has greenlit a sequel series and it sounds pretty awesome. Deadline reports that Avatar: Seven Havens will be a 2D animated 26-episode followup that chronicles the rise of the next Avatar after Korra. Franchise creators Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko are developing the series, so we know it's in good hands. The plot s

Time (and perhaps a large check or two) heals all wounds. Amazon and the longtime producers and custodians of the James Bond movies have finally agreed on a way forward for the series. Amazon MGM Studios will form a joint venture with Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli that will hold the intellectual property rights and ensure they remain co-owners of the franchise. However, Wilson and Broccoli will be stepping back to focus on other projects, with Amazon gaining full creative control. The c

The Pokmon Company is hosting a morning livestream on February 27 at 9AM ET to share the latest news and updates from Pikachu and pals. You can stream it via the official YouTube channel . This is the yearly Pokmon Presents event that typically provides info on whats coming to empty our wallets throughout the year (and beyond.) So what can we expect this year? Both The Pokmon Company and Nintendo remain tight-lipped, but we can make some educated guesses. Pokemon Legends: Z-A , the follow-up to

The Google Pixel 8a mid-tier smartphone is back on sale for $399 via Amazon . This is close to a record-low price and represents a discount of 20 percent. Even better? The sale applies to multiple colorways, including mint green, light blue and white. This deal is for the 128GB model. This device topped our list of the best mid-range smartphones , and with good reason. Its a well-designed phone that gets the job done. It features a powerful Tensor G3 chip, offers support for Google Gemini AI too

While there's a new iPhone that's surely soaking up the attention of many Apple fans, it's often worth keeping an eye on the company's other products as you might find a decent deal. If you've been on the lookout for a discount on the latest Mac mini, you're in luck. The M4 Mac mini is back on sale as it has dropped to $549 . The deal is for the base model with 16GB of unified memory and 256GB of SSD storage. It's not the lowest price we've seen for this Mac mini it was $100 off during the Blac

On the Friday after Christmas, OpenAI published a blog post titled Why OpenAI's structure must evolve to advance our mission. In it, the company detailed a plan to reorganize its for-profit arm into a public benefit corporation (PBC). In the weeks since that announcement, I've spoken to some of the country's leading corporate law experts to gain a better understanding of OpenAI's plan, and, more importantly, what it might mean for its mission to build safe artificial general intelligence (AGI).

Twitch is putting a cap on how much storage a streamer can take up for their uploads and highlight videos. The streaming service has announced that starting on April 19, all uploads and highlights will count towards a new 100-hour storage limit for each streamer, whether the videos are published or not. To note, the cap doesn't apply to past broadcasts, which are previous livestreams saved to a streamer's account for on-demand viewing, or clips, which are minute-long segments that can be

If theres one downside to the sheer number of security cameras Ring makes, its the sheer darn volume of them . Joining the mob today is the Outdoor Cam Plus , packing a new high-quality lens and 2K imaging sensor promising a clear, colorful view even in near dark conditions. Its clad in a weather-resistant body and can run from mains power, via a rechargeable battery or with one of Rings custom solar panels. The company adds the Plus is just as comfortable working indoors as out in the open, and

Lenovo has already teased the second-gen version of its flagship gaming handheld . But that wont be out until much later this year, so in the meantime, its come out with the Legion Go S, a slightly sturdier and more portable way to frag while youre out and about. Now the tricky thing about this device is that it will be available in a bunch of different configurations including one that comes pre-installed with SteamOS a first for any portable PC not made by Valve. Frankly, thats the version we

If you're constantly losing your keys, wallet and other important stuff, Bluetooth trackers could be a big help. Attach them onto your things and you can monitor their location directly from your phone. Our current favorites are the Chipolo One trackers , and right now you can snag a pack of four for just under $68. Chipolo's having a sale that brings the pack down to $75, but you can use the code ENGADGET10 at checkout to get an extra 10 percent off and bring the price down to $67.50. That code

Shortly after introducing subject tracking with its latest smartphone gimbal , DJI has done the same with its new lightweight camera gimbal. The RS4 Mini is now available with DJI's RS Intelligent Tracking Module to keep a human subject in frame and also offers the latest features from its flagship RS4 gimbals like auto-axis locks and 4th-gen stabilization. The RS4 Mini is a major redesign from the previous RS3 Mini and is slightly heavier (2 pounds compared to 1.8 pounds) to accommodate some of

You can now access xAI's most advanced large language model, Grok 3 , even if you don't pay for a subscription on X. Grok 3 is available for free for a short time, according to xAI founder Elon Musk, though the company didn't say until what short time means exactly. When you go to Grok on X or the web, and when you launch the standalone app, you'll now see new Think and DeepSearch options that are only available with xAI's latest LLM family. Just make sure you're using Gr

The best gaming keyboards can make you feel in total control while sweating through an online shooter and more comfortable while taking in a 100-hour RPG. They may not always feel as luxurious for typing as a custom mechanical keyboard , but theyve become increasingly sophisticated with new features to improve your play, and the best of them are still huge upgrades over your everyday membrane board. If youre looking to buy one, Ive spent way too much time researching gaming keyboards over the pa

After much anticipation, Apple finally announced the iPhone 16e yesterday. Looking at its position in the company's lineup, the 16e is a headscratcher. My colleague Ian Carlos Campbell already wrote about how strange it is that the phone is missing MagSafe , a feature universally loved by Apple users. However, the omission that stands out the most to me is that the iPhone 16e doesn't come with more than a single rear camera, and no, 2x telephoto cropping doesn't count. Sure, if you p

Oppo is back with a new foldable, and the Find N5 is a technically impressive balance of thinness and power. Skipping over the whole unlucky number four thing (this is technically the fourth iteration of the Find foldable), the company claims its latest book-style foldable is the worlds thinnest at 8.92mm. That's not a lot thicker than a typical flagship phone. Despite that, the Find N5 has a 6.62-inch outer display and an 8.12-inch inner screen which, Oppo says, features multiple durability imp

Fair or not, Apple has turned its AirPods into the default choice for most iPhone owners in the market for new wireless earbuds . If youre one of the millions who have an Android phone, though, figuring out what set to grab isnt as obvious. If you need a hand, allow us to point you in the right direction. Weve tested and reviewed dozens of wireless earbuds over the years and broken down our favorite options for Android users below. Whether you use a Galaxy or a Pixel phone, and whether you want