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Commentary: Meta's pushing its metaverse platform almost entirely to phones. It's the latest sign of a massive shift in the company's focus.
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Google has announced that with the help of AI, it blocked 1.75 million apps that violated its policies in 2025, significantly down from 2.36 million in 2024. The lower numbers this year, it said, are because its "AI-powered, multi-layer protections" are deterring bad actors from even trying to publish bad apps.
Google said it now runs more than 10,000 safety checks on every app and continues to recheck them after they're published. Its use of the latest generative AI models helps human reviewers discover malicious patterns more quickly, it added. The company also blocked 160 million spam ratings, preventing an average 0.5-star rating drop for apps targeted by review bombing. Finally, Google stopped 255,000 apps from gaining excessive access to sensitive user data in 2025, down from 1.3 million the year before.
Meanwhile, Google Play Protect, the company's Android defense system, sniffed out over 27 million new malicious apps, either warning users or preventing them from running. The company added that Play Protect's enhanced fraud protection now covers 2.8 billion Android devices in 185 markets and blocked 266 million risky "side-loading" installation attempts.
"Initiatives like developer verification, mandatory pre-review checks, and testing requirements have raised the bar for the Google Play ecosystem, significantly reducing the paths for bad actors to enter," the company said its blog. "This year, we'll continue to invest in AI-driven defenses to stay ahead of emerging threats and equip Android developers with the tools they need to build apps safely."
Google has steadfastly justified its relatively high fees on app purchases and subscriptions by touting its investments in app safety. However, its Play store has been under pressure from regulators in Europe a
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K-Lite Codec Pack Update is a free cumulative update for the latest version of the popular K-Lite Codec Packs. [License: Freeware | Requires:
11|10|8|7 | Size: 28 MB ]
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The Artemis 2 launch is edging closer as NASA has now set a target date for the 10-day mission to get underway. The agency is aiming to launch as soon as March 6 following a successful wet dress rehearsal on Thursday. The first attempt, which took place in early February, failed due to a hydrogen leak.
During Thursday's rehearsal, NASA was able to fuel the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with more than 700,000 gallons of liquid propellant and complete two runs of terminal count — the final step of the launch countdown — at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. While there was a hiccup due to a loss of ground communications, NASA was able to move to a backup system before the regular comms channels were back in operation. The agency said engineers pinpointed the equipment that caused the problem.
"Following that successful wet dress yesterday, we're now targeting March 6 as our earliest launch attempt," Dr. Lori Glaze, NASA's Moon to Mars program manager, said at a press conference on Friday. Glaze added that there's still much that has to be done before launch, including an analysis of the wet dress, a flight-readiness review and work on the launch pad.
The four Artemis 2 astronauts are expected to go into quarantine later on Friday in preparation fo
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 Apple tested color options for the 2022 MacBook Air redesign that are said to be similar to the finishes planned for its forthcoming low-cost MacBook, according to a Chinese leaker.
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 Sony's 1000X series has been the benchmark for consumer-grade noise-cancelling earbuds for years, sitting at the very top of the premium audio market, alongside Bose and Apple. So when leaks and rumors about the WF-1000XM6 began circulating a few months back, expectation
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Remember the astronauts who were stranded in space for months? NASA says it's close to identifying the "true technical root cause" of the spaceship malfunctions.
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Los Angeles County has sued Roblox for "unfair and deceptive business practices," claiming the platform's moderation and age-verification systems are inadequate. "Roblox portrays its platform as a safe and appropriate place for children to play," the complaint states. "In reality, and as Roblox well knows, the design of its platform makes children easy prey for pedophiles."
Representatives accused Roblox of failing to implement adequate platform safety features to prevent child endangerment. "Specifically, Roblox has not effectively moderated game content or enforced age-appropriate restrictions and warnings established by the creators, allowing the predatory and inappropriate language and interactions between users to persist," the County stated. It also said the platform failed to disclose any danger to children, including sexual content and the risk of predators.
Roblox rejected the allegations, saying the platform was built around safety. "We have advanced safeguards that monitor our platform for harmful content and communications, and users cannot send or receive images via chat, avoiding one of the most prevalent opportunities for misuse seen elsewhere online," the company told the AFP.
The LA county complaint is the latest in a string of lawsuits from US regions including Florida, Texas and Kentucky. The Attorney General in Louisiana also accused the company of having a "lack of safety protocols" that endanger the safety of children in favor of "gr
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Meta is formally sectioning off Horizon Worlds, the closest thing it has to a metaverse, from its Quest VR platform, according to a new blog post from Samantha Ryan, Meta's VP of Content, Reality Labs. While the decision runs counter to Meta's original plan to own an immersive virtual world that could serve as the future home for all online interaction, it fits with the recent cuts it made to its costly Reality Labs division, and Mark Zuckerberg's public commitment to focus the company on AI hardware like smart glasses going forward.
"We're explicitly separating our Quest VR platform from our Worlds platform in order to create more space for both products to grow," Ryan writes in the blog post. "We're doubling down on the VR developer ecosystem while shifting the focus of Worlds to be almost exclusively mobile. By breaking things down into two distinct platforms, we'll be better able to clearly focus on each."
Meta has been developing mobile and web versions of Horizon Worlds in parallel with its VR app since at least 2023. Switching Worlds to being a mobile-first software platform isn't good for VR diehards, but it does make it a more natural competitor to something like Roblox or Fortnite, which also offer user-created and monetizable worlds and games.
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 Amazon this week has a pair of discounts on a few AirPods models, including the AirPods 4 and AirPods Max. You can get the AirPods 4 for $99.00, down from $129.00.
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 A major UK consumer lawsuit alleging that Qualcomm inflated iPhone prices through its patent licensing practices will be withdrawn with no payment (via Reuters).
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 Apple today released new public beta firmware for the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3, and AirPods 4. The firmware is limited to developers and public beta testers at the current time, and it has a build number of 8B5034f. Apple first provided this firmware last week, but it was only available to developers at the time.
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 Apple today provided developers with the first betas of upcoming watchOS 26.4, tvOS 26.4, and visionOS 26.4 betas for testing purposes. The software comes a few days after Apple launched the 26.3 versions of each platform.
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If you need a little help with your New Year's resolution to be more active, you can save on the latest Apple Watch right now. The Apple Watch Series 11 is on sale for $299 for Presidents' Day, which is $100 off and the lowest price we've seen. A number of other Apple devices are on sale for the holiday as well.
We named the Apple Watch Series 11 as our choice for best smartwatch overall. It scored a
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