Enlarge (credit: Maria Korneeva via Getty Images) On Wednesday, US Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.), Marsha Blackburn (R.-Tenn.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and Thom Tillis (R-NC) introduced the Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe (NO FAKES) Act of 2024. The bipartisan legislation, up for consideration in the US Senate, aims to protect individuals from unauthorized AI-generated replicas of their voice or likeness. The NO FAKES Act would create legal recourse…

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) A familiar debate is once again surrounding Cloudflare, the content delivery network that provides a free service that protects websites from being taken down in denial-of-service attacks by masking their hosts: Is Cloudflare a bastion of free speech or an enabler of spam, malware delivery, harassment and the very DDoS attacks it claims to block? The controversy isn’t new for Cloudflare, a network operator that has…

Enlarge / A marketing image by Microsoft for the desktop version of Skype. (credit: Microsoft) If you’ve used Microsoft’s Skype in recent years, you’ve probably noticed that the user experience is less than ideal because of the pervasiveness of ads in the software. Fortunately, that’s going to change in a new update coming to all platforms in the near future. In the latest release notes for Skype Insider build 8.125,…

Enlarge (credit: Tim Goode/PA Images via Getty Images) Reddit CEO Steve Huffman is standing by Reddit’s decision to block companies from scraping the site without an AI agreement. Last week, 404 Media noticed that search engines that weren’t Google were no longer listing recent Reddit posts in results. This was because Reddit updated its Robots Exclusion Protocol (txt file) to block bots from scraping the site. The file reads: “Reddit…

Enlarge / A stock photo of a robot whispering to a man. (credit: AndreyPopov via Getty Images) On Tuesday, OpenAI began rolling out an alpha version of its new Advanced Voice Mode to a small group of ChatGPT Plus subscribers. This feature, which OpenAI previewed in May with the launch of GPT-4o, aims to make conversations with the AI more natural and responsive. In May, the feature triggered criticism of…

Enlarge A mysterious family of Android malware with a demonstrated history of effectively concealing its myriad spying activities has once again been found in Google Play after more than two years of hiding in plain sight. The apps, disguised as file-sharing, astronomy, and cryptocurrency apps, hosted Mandrake, a family of highly intrusive malware that security firm Bitdefender called out in 2020. Bitdefender said the apps appeared in two waves, one…

Enlarge / iOS 17.6 installing on an iPhone 13 Pro. (credit: Samuel Axon) Apple has some minor updates for all its operating systems, and the releases include iOS 17.6, iPadOS 17.6, tvOS 17.6, watchOS 10.6, and macOS Sonoma 14.6. Apple’s notes for these updates simply say they include bug fixes, security updates, or optimizations. However, there are a few hidden features. macOS 14.6 reportedly enables multi-display support in clamshell mode…

Enlarge (credit: Moor Studio via Getty Images) On Tuesday, AI-powered search engine Perplexity unveiled a new revenue-sharing program for publishers, marking a significant shift in its approach to third-party content use, reports CNBC. The move comes after plagiarism allegations from major media outlets, including Forbes, Wired, and Ars parent company Condé Nast. Perplexity, valued at over $1 billion, aims to compete with search giant Google. “To further support the vital…

Enlarge (credit: Getty) Logitech CEO Hanneke Faber recently discussed the possibility of one day selling a mouse that customers can use “forever.” The executive said such a mouse isn’t “necessarily super far away” and will rely on software updates, likely delivered through a subscription model. Speaking on a July 29 episode of The Verge’s Decoder podcast, Faber, who Logitech appointed as CEO in October, said that members of a “Logitech…

Enlarge / Wikipedia’s decades of content can be a light to you in dark places, and now you can choose the dark for yourself. (credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images | Wikipedia) Dark mode, night mode, light-on-dark design, or whatever you want to call the version of computer content that doesn’t feel blindingly bright at night, had something of a peak moment around 2019–2020. That’s when Android and iOS designed…