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 OpenAI plans to start testing ads inside of ChatGPT "in the coming weeks." In a blog post published Friday, the company said adult users in the US of its free and Go tiers (more on the latter in a moment) would start seeing sponsored products and services appear below their conversations with its chatbot. "Ads will be clearly labeled and separated from the organic answer," OpenAI said, adding any sponsored spots would not influence the answers ChatGPT generates. "Answers are optimized based on what's most helpful to you."
OpenAI says people won't see ads appear when they're talking to ChatGPT about sensitive subjects like their health, mental state of mind or current politics. The company also won't show ads to teens under the age of 18. As for privacy, OpenAI states it won't share or sell your data with advertisers. The company will also give users the option to disable ad personalization and clear the data it uses to generate sponsored responses. "We'll always offer a way to not see ads in ChatGPT, including a paid tier that's ad-free," OpenAI adds. Users can dismiss ads, at which point they'll be asked to explain why they didn't engage with it.
Users will be able to ask follow-up questions about sponsored content. OpenAI"Given what AI can do, we're excited to develop new experiences over time that people find more helpful and relevant than any other ads. Conversational interfaces create p
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 This week's best Apple deals include big discounts on AirTag, AirPods Max, and Mac mini. We're also tracking great sitewide sales at Satechi, Samsung, and Best Buy, with discounts on everything from Mac-compatible monitors to TVs, headphones, and more.
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 X seems to be working again after struggling with an outage that took the service offline and made it slow to load for much of the morning. According to X's developer platform page, there is an ongoing incident related to streaming endpoints that's caused increased errors. The incident started at 7:39AM PT, according to the page.
That roughly coincides with a spike in reports at Down Detector. The issues seemed to be somewhat intermittent. At some points, X's website loaded partially and only showed older posts. At other times, the app and website failed to load at all.
As of 9:30AM PT, X's Explore and trending pages were loading, but the "following" tab wasn't showing posts and instead suggested users "find some people and topic to follow" (as shown in the screenshot below).
Posts aren't loading.XAs of 11:15AM PT, X's developer site was still indicating ongoing issues, so there may still be some lingering problems even though the website seems to be functioning normally again. Reports on Down Detector have also dropped off considerably.
X didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the outage. As TechCrunch
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 Apple's foldable iPhone will share the same next-generation A20 Pro chip as the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max models when it debuts this September, according to industry analyst Jeff Pu.
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Google has filed its appeal to the Department of Justice's antitrust case that ended with a federal judge ruling that the company was maintaining a monopoly with its search business. While the company goes through the appeals process, it's also asking that implementation of the remedies from the case, which include a requirement that Google share search data with its competitors, also be paused.
"As we have long said, the Court's August 2024 ruling ignored the reality that people use Google because they want to, not because they're forced to," Google said in a statement. "The decision failed to account for the rapid pace of innovation and intense competition we face from established players and well-funded start-ups. And it discounted compelling testimony from browser makers like Apple and Mozilla who said they choose to feature Google because it provides the highest quality search experience for their consumers."
The company says that the requirement that it "provide syndication services to rivals" and share search data is a privacy risk and could "discourage competitors from building their own products." Both remedies where compromises based on what the Justice Department originally proposed, which included forcing Google t
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 Apple recently announced that its environmental chief Lisa Jackson would be retiring this month, and today she was removed from the company's leadership page.
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Enjoy 25% off a membership, 40% off, plus an additional 10% off annual plans, and more deals to save at Vimeo.
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Although X removed Grok's ability to create nonconsensual digitally undressed images on the social platform, the standalone Grok app is another story. It reportedly continues to produce "nudified" deepfakes of real people. And now, Ashley St. Clair, a conservative political strategist and mother of one of Elon Musk's 14 children, has sued xAI for
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Canada has agreed to drastically reduce its tariffs on imported Chinese EVs from 100 percent to 6.1 percent as part of a new deal between the two countries. In return, China will be reducing tariffs on Canadian canola seeds from 84 percent to about 15 percent.
The move is a break from the United States, which maintains a 100 percent tariff on EVs from China, effectively banning them in the country. Mexico currently tariffs the vehicles at 50 percent after increasing its rate last year.
Under the agreement, which Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called "preliminary," Canada will allow up to 49,000 Chinese EVs into the country, with that number rising to 70,000 after five years. Until now the three major North American trading partners had been aligned in trying to protect their domestic electric vehicle manufacturing. Chinese EV companies benefit from state subsidies, and as such can often be priced at a far better value than domestic alternatives.
"Our relationship has progressed in recent months with China. It is more predictable and you see results coming from that," Carney said to reporters. A warmer relationship may be forming in response to the Trump administration's
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One way to read more in the new year is to incorporate audiobooks as part of your reading habit. Audible is having a sale right now that makes that easier and cheaper to do: you can get three months of access for only $1 per month, or a total of $3. The promotion runs through January 21.
An Audible subscription grants one audiobook per month to keep. This can be selected from a massive catalog of new releases and bestsellers. The collection here has just about everything.
However, it's easy to plow through a single book in a month. Users also get streaming access to thousands of curated titles. Think of it l
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Enjoy 20% off your first order with a Brooks coupon code, plus top discounts and deals on our favorite Brooks running shoes.
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 OpenAI today announced that its lower-priced ChatGPT Go subscription tier is now available worldwide, with U.S. pricing set at $8 per month.
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 While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are not expected to launch for another eight months, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices.
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 Apple is confronting a newly intensified supply-chain challenge for future chips as the AI boom has created a global shortage of a key material, Nikkei Asia reports.
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The AG said that "the avalanche of reports detailing the non-consensual, sexually explicit material that xAI has produced" is shocking.
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 Apple and other smartphone manufacturers are resisting an Indian government proposal that would require them to hand over source code for security review, reports Reuters.
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 2026 could be a bumper year for Apple's Mac lineup, with the company expected to announce as many as four separate MacBook launches. Rumors suggest Apple will court both ends of the consumer spectrum, with more affordable options for students and feature-rich premium lines for users that seek the highest specifications from a laptop.
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Elon Musk's Grok AI chatbot restricts the service to paid subscribers after outcry over images of undressed women and children. Critics say that is profiting from the problem.
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Baseball teams can now analyze complete swing mechanics in normal training environments using Theia's markerless AI system that processes standard high-speed footage.
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What's not a given is paying full retail price. Yep, you can snag discounts on Windows 11. How much you'll save depends on your circumstances (and your stomach for hassle), but if you're lucky, you could technically get it for free. Legitimately for free, since installing Windows without ever activating it doesn't count as a full, sanctioned copy of the software. (Ahem.)
Here's how, in several different ways. These strategies often apply for Windows 10 licenses too, but that operating system got the axe on October 14. Your better bet will be Windows 11, as it'll get feature updates.
Simple upgrade: Trade up from Windows 10 to Windows 11
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Conventional power strips suck because they have lined-up outlets, meaning your chunkier plugs and adapters get in the way of each other and sometimes even cover up neighboring outlets. But with this one, the six AC outlets are spaced out and oriented away from each so your plugs never collide or overlap. That's plenty for all your devices, monitors, PCs, accessories, and whatever else needs tethered power.
But what takes this power strip a step further is the inclusion of two USB-A and two USB-C ports along the bottom edge, allowing you to charge your phones, tablets, laptops, earbuds, etc. without taking up valuable AC outlet vacancies. (The USB-C ports deliver up to 20W and the USB-A ports up to 12W, so they aren't blazingly fast but fast enough.)
Other nice details include the 5-foot power cable so you can position this almost anywhere, the flat profile plug that easily reaches behind furniture, and a built-in 8-point safety system to protect your devices from surges, short circuits, excess heat, overloads, fires, and more.
This is a pretty crazy get for just $19.99, allowing you to streamline your charging station setup for years to come. Get this 10-in-1 Anker power strip on sale while you can before this deal expires!
Save on Anker's 10-in-
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