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 In a statement shared with Bloomberg on Wednesday, Apple confirmed that its software design chief Alan Dye will be leaving. Apple said Dye will be succeeded by Stephen Lemay, who has been a software designer at the company since 1999.
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Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Dec. 5.
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 Russia has blocked Apple's FaceTime video calling app in an ongoing effort to eliminate private communication methods, reports Reuters. Russia claims ?FaceTime? is being used for criminal activity, and that blocking the app is a legitimate law enforcement measure. Social network Snapchat and multiplayer gaming platform Roblox were also banned this week.
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First, the news: In its announcement that the Brad Pitt blockbuster F1: The Movie will make its debut on Apple TV in December, Apple casually noted that as of now, Apple TV isn't Apple TV anymore.
"Apple TV is now simply Apple TV, with a vibrant new identity," Apple's press release reads. What's the new identity, you ask? Aside from a new and multicolor Apple TV logo, that's hard to say.
Those of us who follow the streaming industry greeted the news with furrowed brows. So Apple TV the streaming service is now on Apple TV, the streaming box? Isn't that kind of confusing? Yes, the Apple TV streaming player is officially known as "Apple TV 4K," but still.
Well, it's details like the " " and the "4K" that cause headaches when it comes to clear and consistent branding, and the truth is most folks haven't bothered with the "plus" for a long time. Severance, The Studio, The Morning Show, Ted Lasso—those are all Apple TV shows, according to everyday streamers.
Sometimes, simplicity and familiarity are best. Take HBO Max, which went through a three-year-old rebranding drama that saw the service renamed as "Max," a change that was mainly driven by the now-unraveling alliance between the former WarnerMedia and Discovery.
Warner Bros. Discovery likely spent a fortune trying to get the Max branding to stick, but most subscribers just kept calling it HBO Max. Finally, the entertainment giant stopped swimming against the ti
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Meta is facing its biggest existential threat in its history. Years after the Federal Trade Commission first sued the social network in an attempt to unwind its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, the trial that will shape its future is finally underway. FTC v. Meta began last month when CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the stand, and is expected to last for several weeks.
The FTC is hoping to prove to US District judge James Boasberg that Meta's acquisitions of its one-time rivals were anticompetitive and hurt US consumers. Meta, meanwhile, has argued that Instagram and WhatsApp were only able to grow to the billion-user services they are because of its investment into them over the last decade or more.
While the case is unlikely to be fully settled anytime soon, the trial has successfully uncovered tons of new details about the inner workings of Meta and its approach to potential competitors. And testimony from former execs like Instagram cofounder Kevin Systrom and longtime COO Sheryl Sandberg have shed new light on the company's past.
Instagram's former CEO speaks
Facebook's 2012 acquisition of Instagram is a central part of the FTC's case against Meta. The government has argued that Mark Zuckerberg bought Instagram in order to neutralize it as a competitor
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In a development that can only be seen as positive, non-consensual deepfake porn site Mr. Deepfakes has shut down for good, reports 404 Media. This news comes due to the site losing one of its service providers.
"A critical service provider has terminated service permanently. Data loss has made it impossible to continue operation," a notice on the site reads. "We will not be relaunching. Any website claiming this is fake. This domain will eventually expire and we are not responsible for future use. This message will be removed around one week."
As sites continued to crack down on non-consenual deepfake porn, Mr. Deepfakes became an open space for it. Users could upload videos and connect with creators to commission videos. People also used it as a way to collaborate on new techniques, share their methods and provide datasets. All of it was with the goal of creating this non-consensual media, sometimes with a strong likeness to real people.
The creator of Mr. Deepfakes is still technically anonymous. However, German newspaper Der Spiegel reportedly tracked down one of the individuals behind it, a 36-year-old in Toronto.
Governments across the world have been taking steps to make sexually explicit deepfakes illegal. Last week, the
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