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This sale spans almost an entire week, and it's full of fake "deals." We hunted to find truly good prices on gear we've tested.
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A jury in New Mexico has found Meta liable for violating the state's consumer protection laws in a high-profile civil trial over child exploitation and other safety issues. One day after closing arguments in the weeks-long trial concluded, the jury ruled against Meta on every count and ordered the company to pay $375 million.
The case was brought by New Mexico's attorney general in 2023 and centered around allegations that Meta knew its platform put children at risk of exploitation and mental health harms and failed to put safety measures in place. In the end, the jury ruled that Meta was liable for both counts of violating New Mexico's consumer protection laws for misleading people in the state about the safety of its services. It imposed a penalty of $375 million, the maximum amount under the law based on the number of violations.
During the trial, jurors were shown numerous internal documents throughout Meta's history. These included the results of research into mental health issues facing teens, and email exchanges in which Meta executives discussed safety problems like sextortion, self harm content and grooming. Prosecutors argued that these documents showed Meta knew children were experiencing harms on its apps, despite public statements that it prioritized safety.
In a statement, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said the company would appeal the verdict. "We respectfully disagree with the verdict and will appeal. We work hard to keep people safe on our platforms and are clear about the challenges of identifying and removing bad actors or harmful content," he said. "We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously, and we remain con
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 OpenAI today said that it is ending support for its Sora AI video app just six months after it initially launched.
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 Apple is testing a standalone Siri chatbot app for iOS 27, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple plans to debut a chatbot version of ?Siri? that will compete with Claude and ChatGPT, and the new ?Siri? could be accessible through a dedicated app.
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NEW RESOURCES Arizona Luminaria: Arizona teen builds website to help families find dual-language schools. "Meaning ‘navigator' in English, the site supports families with questions about dual-language programs and details the model used. […]
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 Akai just revealed specs and other details about the MPC Sample after teasing the gadget earlier this month. This is a portable sampler and groovebox that looks eerily similar to Teenage Engineering's EP series. It also resembles some legendary Akai gadgets from decades past, including the MPC3000 and MPC60. In other words, it's easy on the eyes and sort of looks like a Super Famicom.
It seems pretty capable. The Sample has 16 velocity-sensitive MPC pads with poly aftertouch, which should please finger drummers. It can handle 32 stereo voices of polyphony and there's a sequencer for making actual beats.
Akai
As for sampling, there's an easily accessible chop mode, in addition to time-stretching and repitching capabilities. Samples can be edited via waveform, thanks to a full-color LCD display. The machine can resample internally with FX, letting creators make some unique soundscapes. The MPC Sample boasts access to four effects engines and 60 effect types.
The gadget ships with over 100 factory drum kits, but users can easily add whatever they want. It comes with just 8GB of internal storage, but there's a microSD slot for more. It can, of course, connect to MIDI keyboards for playing melodic samples. The Sample also hooks up to DAWs.
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NEW RESOURCES Santa Barbara Independent: Chasing the Superbloom: New Map Helps Campers Time Wildflower Trips. "The California Superbloom Forecast pulls from roughly five years of research-grade observations submitted through the community science […]
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Accessibility Shortcuts can help stop motion sickness or turn your iPhone into a grayscale e-reader.
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Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has been sharing every incremental update about what Apple's long-awaited Siri overhaul will and won't include. His latest article claims that the AI assistant will have a standalone app and will introduce an "Ask Siri" feature that could mark a decidedly different direction in how users will interact with the platform.
Gurman reports that Siri is being designed to leverage personal data from messages, emails and notes to complete requests. Siri will also allegedly be able to execute tasks within apps, access news and conduct web searches. The "Ask Siri" angle means people will be able to make their requests in conversational, natural language formats by either text or voice, which has not been an option in Apple's platform and appears to confirm that the company wants Siri to function akin to other AI chatbots. These improvements are still expected to be a part of the iOS 27 and macOS 27 updates.
The official announcement of the reimagined Siri is expected to happen during WWDC 2026. Apple's summer showcase is happening over June 8-12, with the keynote and Siri news likely happening on June 8. There have already been so many delays, even just in the past two
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 Just when you thought Apple was done with product announcements for a little while, this week saw one last drop with the AirPods Max 2 making their appearance.
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NEW RESOURCES DELIAH: Database of female and non-cisgender comedians active in the 21st-century Anglophone world. "DELIAH is pleased to announce the launch of a research database documenting over 500 female and non-cisgender […]
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Essentially, all software is built using open source. By Synopsys' count, 96% of all codebases contain open-source software.
Lately, though, there's been a very disturbing trend. A company will make its program using open source, make millions from it, and then — and only then — switch licenses, leaving their contributors, customers, and partners in the lurch as they try to grab billions. I'm sick of it.
The latest IT melodrama baddie is Redis. Its program, which goes by the same name, is an extremely popular in-memory database. (Unless you're a developer, chances are you've never heard of it.) One recent valuation shows Redis to be worth about $2 billion — even without an AI play! That, anyone can understand.
To read this article in full, please click here
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