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The EU has effectively vanquished a TikTok feature that Europe's digital commissioner described as "toxic" and "addictive as cigarettes." Owner ByteDance said on Wednesday that TikTok Lite's reward-to-watch feature would be suspended. It's been a brutal day for TikTok as President Biden signed a bill (also on Wednesday) forcing ByteDance to sell the platform's US operations or face a ban.
TikTok Lite, launched earlier this month in France and Spain, lets users earn rewards by watching and liking videos. They can then exchange their points for real-world perks like Amazon vouchers or in-app ones like TikTok's virtual currency, which is used to tip creators. The EU Commission said the "task and reward" feature can stimulate "addictive behavior" in children.
"Our children are not guinea pigs for social media," EU commissioner Thierry Breton posted on X (Twitter) on Wednesday. "I take note of TikTok's decision to suspend the #TikTokLite ‘Reward Program' in the EU."
However, he added a parting shot to remind ByteDance it isn't out of the woods: "The cases against TikTok on the risk of addictiveness of the platform continue."
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It's a Merseyside derby with major implications for both ends of the table.
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 Apple today released several open source large language models (LLMs) that are designed to run on-device rather than through cloud servers. Called OpenELM (Open-source Efficient Language Models), the LLMs are available on the Hugging Face Hub, a community for sharing AI code.
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 The Volkswagen California 6.1 was never the best-looking California in history, dragged down by its oversized double-stacked grille, but it did usher in its fair share of new innovations to the iconic nameplate. Now, Volkswagen is preparing it for retirement, starting production on a 1,500-model "Last Edition" that will see the 6.1 era out and welcome in the innovative new California T7, set to debut in just a few weeks.
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What every TikTok user needs to know about a new potential ban of the viral-video app, including when it could disappear and how to save your data.
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 It's a classic Elon Musk move. Tesla released some pretty grim first-quarter numbers on Tuesday, showing that net income dropped more than 50% from last year. During the earnings call, however, Musk floated his "new" vision for the electric car company. Tesla is now focused on building an AI-powered fleet of…
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 Tired of the so-called AI PCs already? Buckle up because we, or perhaps the artificial intelligence, haven't even begun to peak. More power-efficient ARM-based CPUs don't get nearly as much limelight as the x86 type. Still, chipmaker Qualcomm is trying to turn your eyes toward its latest Snapdragon chips by promising…
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Let's face it: Processor naming schemes have become ridiculously complex. AMD launched its with an actual decoder ring, and the names still don't make sense. But Intel began this nonsense more than five years ago, when trying to figure out what the 10th-gen Core chip names meant necessitated its own story.
Now it's Qualcomm's turn. And boy, is it a doozy. (Qualcomm also released a list of the four Snapdragon X Elite and Plus processors, complete with names and clock speeds — which it hasn't done before. Unfortunately, before we list those, we have to explain what the names and numbers mean. We apologize in advance. Take note of the similarity to the name of Elon Musk and singer Grimes' child: X Æ A-12.)
How to talk about the Snapdragon X Series to your teens
Let's face it: The Snapdragon X1E-78-100 will never be mentioned in polite society. It will not appear in a sonnet, or in a card you send to your spouse for your anniversary. If it is ever mentioned that evening, it will be in
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