Enlarge / Control Center has a whole new customization interface. (credit: Samuel Axon) iOS 18 launched this week, and while its flagship feature (Apple Intelligence) is still forthcoming, the new OS included two significant new buckets of customization: the home screen and Control Center. We talked about home screen a few days ago, so for our next step in our series on iOS 18, it’s now time to turn our…

Enlarge / An Anker 334 MagGo Battery (PowerCore 10K) on an iPhone. (credit: Anker) Anker is recalling three models of MagSafe iPhone batteries due to a fire risk, it said yesterday. The models being recalled are the Anker 334 MagGo Battery (PowerCore 10K, model number A1642), Anker Power Bank (model number A1647), and Anker 334 MagGo Battery (model number A1652). In its recall notice, Anker said that some of the…

Enlarge / The Windows App runs on Windows, but also macOS, iOS/iPadOS, web browsers, and Android. (credit: Microsoft) Microsoft announced today that it’s releasing a new app called Windows App as an app for Windows that allows users to run Windows and also Windows apps (it’s also coming to macOS, iOS, web browsers, and is in public preview for Android). On most of those platforms, Windows App is a replacement…

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) A coalition of law-enforcement agencies said it shut down a service that facilitated the unlocking of more than 1.2 million stolen or lost mobile phones so they could be used by someone other than their rightful owner. The service was part of iServer, a phishing-as-a-service platform that has been operating since 2018. The Argentina-based iServer sold access to a platform that offered a host of phishing-related…

Enlarge (credit: gremlin via Getty Images) For the past few years, a conspiracy theory called “Dead Internet theory” has picked up speed as large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT increasingly generate text and even social media interactions found online. The theory says that most social Internet activity today is artificial and designed to manipulate humans for engagement. On Monday, software developer Michael Sayman launched a new AI-populated social network app…

Enlarge / An image from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, where in 1874, the newest thing was not software or genetic compositions, but shutter fastenings from H.L. Norton. (credit: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images) The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to consider two bills Thursday that would effectively nullify the Supreme Court’s rulings against patents on broad software processes and human genes. Open source and Internet freedom advocates are…

Enlarge (credit: Benj Edwards / Malte Mueller via Getty Images) On Wednesday, AI video synthesis firm Runway and entertainment company Lionsgate announced a partnership to create a new AI model trained on Lionsgate’s vast film and TV library. The deal will feed Runway legally clear training data and will also reportedly provide Lionsgate with tools to enhance content creation while potentially reducing production costs. Lionsgate, known for franchises like John…

Enlarge / A promotional image for Amazon’s 4-Series Fire TVs. (credit: Amazon) A lawsuit is seeking to penalize Amazon for allegedly providing “fake list prices and purported discounts” to mislead people into buying Fire TVs. As reported by Seattle news organization KIRO 7, a lawsuit seeking class-action certification and filed in US District Court for the Western District of Washington on September 12 [PDF] claims that Amazon has been listing Fire…

Enlarge / iPads running iPadOS 18. (credit: Apple) Apple has temporarily paused the rollout of the iPadOS 18 update for M4 iPad Pros. The company has stopped signing the update for these iPads, meaning it will no longer be offered to users when they check, and Apple’s servers won’t activate the update if it’s installed some other way. Apple confirmed to Ars that it had “temporarily removed” the update in order…

Enlarge / Under C2PA, this stock image would be labeled as a real photograph if the camera used to take it, and the toolchain for retouching it, supported the C2PA. But even as a real photo, does it actually represent reality, and is there a technological solution to that problem? (credit: Smile via Getty Images) On Tuesday, Google announced plans to implement content authentication technology across its products to help…