By Moinak Pal A new FCC ruling bans approvals for future DJI drones, citing security risks, but current devices remain usable.
The post Are you buying a drone soon? Here’s how the FCC’s move affects you appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source:: Digital Trends

Google is suing SerpApi, a web-scraping company that provides its customers with an API that mimics human searching, the latest salvo in the battle over access to data for training and operating AI large language models.

Many of the large language models powering AI services today were trained on data scraped from websites, often without the knowledge or permission of the sites’ owners. Now, copyright holders are fighting back, suing AI companies or their suppliers, and striking licensing deals worth millions or even billions of dollars.

Google is on both sides of that fight: collecting and curating one of the world’s largest datasets, while simultaneously training its own family of LLMs, Gemini, and integrating them into its services — including search.

Now other companies are seeking to access that dataset to build competing AI products, and Google sees it as a threat.

SerpApi is “circumventing security measures protecting others’ copyrighted content that appears in Google search results,” Google General Counsel Halimah DeLaine Prado wrote in a blog post announcing the lawsuit. “We did this to ask a court to stop SerpApi’s bots and their malicious scraping, which violates the choices of websites and rightsholders about who should have access to their content,” she wrote.

While Google obtains most of its search results by scraping websites itself, Prado said Google’s lawsuit specifically targets SerpApi’s access to content Google has licensed or created. “SerpApi deceptively takes content that Google licenses from others (like images that appear in Knowledge Panels, real-time data in Search features and much more), and then resells it for a fee. In doing so, it willfully disregards the rights and directives of websites and providers whose content appears in Search,” she wrote.

SerpApI denied wrongdoing, saying that it provides developers, researchers, and businesses with access to public search data that is the same information anyone can access from their browser. “We believe this lawsuit is an effort to stifle competition from the innovators who rely on our services to build next-generation AI, security, browsers, productivity, and many other applications,” it said in a written statement. “As we state on our website, ‘The crawling and parsing of public data is protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.’ We work closely with our attorneys to ensure our services comply with all applicable laws, including fair use principles. SerpApi stands firmly behind its business model and will vigorously defend itself in court.”

Google must be particularly concerned about the help that its competitors are receiving from SerpApi. In August, The Information reported that OpenAI and Perplexity were customers of SerpApi. 

No free ride

Some see the lawsuit as an indication that the free ride for AI firms is coming to an end.

“AI development is moving extremely fast precisely because the legal framework around content usage is unclear,” said Martin Jeffrey, founder of AI search optimization consultancy Harton Works. “Companies are optimizing for AI discovery now rather than waiting for permission or clarity, and maybe this is why Google is making these kinds of moves.”

Matt Hasan, CEO of AI marketing firm aiResults, concurs. “The period where AI developers could move quickly with little pushback from content providers is clearly ending. As legal and regulatory constraints tighten, we should expect a slowdown in experimentation, more cautious product development, and a shift toward defensible, licensed, or vertically integrated data strategies. That doesn’t stop AI progress, but it does reshape who can afford to participate and how fast they can move.”

Google’s action will certainly help the company with the continuing development of its own AI offering, said Jeffrey. “Google fell behind a bit with Gemini. They’re catching up now and are implementing Gemini into everything,” he said. He’s curious to see what Google does after its action against SerpApi: “If they win that, will they tackle larger firms? It looks like they’re going after the small guy first; it’s a shot across the bow.”

There are already signs that some of Gemini’s competitors are beginning to be impacted by Google’s strides in the AI market. Earlier this month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman declared a ‘Code Red’ alert in his attempt to maintain its market leading position against Google’s incursions into the market. 

The lawsuit against SerpApi is not Google’s first attempt to limit the use its AI rivals can make of its data. In October it limited search queries to just 10 results per request, where previously it would provide up to 100. This action forced companies scraping its site to considerably scale up their crawling efforts to achieve the same results.

Source:: Computer World

The Italian competition authority, Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato, has fined Apple more than $116 million (€98.6 million) for abusing its dominant position in the market for app distribution to iOS users.

The authority considers that Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) policy, introduced in 2021, inhibits competition. The policy requires third-party developers to obtain double permission from users to collect and link data for advertising purposes, while Apple itself is not similarly affected.

The investigation, coordinated with the European Commission and other authorities, concluded that the rules are unilaterally imposed, disproportionate to Apple’s alleged privacy purpose, and harm app developers, advertisers and advertising networks by limiting their ability to use data for personalized advertising.

In a statement to Ars Technica, Apple writes that the company plans to appeal the fine and defend App Tracking Transparency as a protection of user privacy on iOS.

More Apple news and insights:

The new Apple thinks different?

Apple preps for iPhone diversification

Memory efficiency: Apple’s new competitive advantage

Source:: Computer World

By Deepti Pathak Celebrate the holiday season with Epic Games, which is giving away free games to its players…
The post All Epic Games Holiday Free Games 2025 appeared first on Fossbytes.

Source:: Fossbytes

By Alexandru Stan My name is Alexandru Stan, and this article continues the dialogue I began following the acquisition of TNW. Following the recent transaction, TNW Spaces remains with the Financial Times, while we continue the mission of the website, the events, and the global community. We already have a dedicated team at tekpon operating the platform, events, and community initiatives. Our objective is to expand and strengthen the team as TNW accelerates its next chapter. TNW is already a global media platform with millions of readers. We’re not starting over. We are building forward. Why TNW matters today Technology is entering a…This story continues at The Next Web

Source:: The Next Web

By Omair Khaliq Sultan If you’ve been eyeing a pair of premium over-ear headphones but didn’t want to drop $300-plus, this is the moment. Best Buy has the Beats Studio Pro wireless noise-cancelling headphones for $149.99, which is a massive $200 price cut. You’re getting a flagship-level pair of cans with strong noise cancelling, long battery life, and a […] The post These Beats Studio Pros are down to $149.99 and finally feel like a no-brainer appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source:: Digital Trends

Something that appears to have started earlier than ever before, Apple is allegedly already test manufacturing of the next model of its basic smartphone, the iPhone 18.

This news follows speculation from multiple sources, including legendary Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who said, “Apple is expected to begin trial production of the iPhone 18 series in January, which is earlier than previous years.”

Apple seems right on target to do so. A report on 9-5Mac tells us test production of the iPhone 18 should begin next month, which suggests speculation Apple plans twin iPhone launches in 2026 may be correct. The intention will be to introduce Pro models next fall, with the entry-level and ‘e’-series models set to debut in the spring. It might simply be that the company wants to test production early, as it must make sure certain production processes are working correctly to support international rollout. The plan should help the company better manage component supply (particularly around memory), manufacturing, and logistics. 

The iPhone 17 series has been a huge success for Apple. And as the company widens the number of devices it sells, it must also diversify and expand its supply chain to meet demand, which is expected to rise. It should also widen the company’s addressable market, make its revenues more predictable, and enable it to offer a wider range of iPhones. 

The complex manufacturing supply chain

iPhones are currently manufactured in China and across India. Apple is accelerating the transition of manufacturing to India. Apple partner Foxconn has been investing deeply in the expansion of factories in India, hiring roughly 30,000 workers during the last nine months for its plant in Devanahalli. Apple is also looking to source more iPhone components locally.

Foxconn’s new factory is eventually expected to host up to a dozen iPhone assembly lines across its 250,000 square foot production floor. That’s interesting because the same factory first began testing iPhone 16 production in April and now also makes iPhone 17 Pro Max models.

We know a huge number of iPhones made in India (about 80%) are eventually sold in the US, and we can surmise a three- to six- month gap between test manufacture and shipping product. That timelines indicates a March or April introduction of the new iPhone 18, which also suggests Apple will introduce us to the other iPhone models it plans to launch then.

What iPhones will Apple introduce this spring?

Previous speculation claims Apple plans to introduce two Phones this coming spring: the iPhone 18 and the new iPhone ‘e’ models. These will be followed later by iPhone Pro models and the cutting-edge iPhone Fold. The new devices will be supported by Apple Intelligence and company partnerships with third-party AI services, and will be powered by Apple Silicon, which means iPhones can handle a growing number of tasks using AI on the device.

If Apple gets the mix right, it is likely that iPhones will continue to dominate the smartphone category on a global basis. It’s also clear that part of the company’s plan is to try and grab a bigger chunk of the mid-range market, driven by the high performance but affordable iPhone 18e device. (Many Android makers in the sector will struggle to maintain price and profitability as memory costs increase.)

“Apple’s introduction of a more affordable iPhone 18e is a strategic move to capture the mid-range market, especially as Android manufacturers face rising component costs,” said CCS Insight analyst Ben Wood.

Later on, it’s possible the iPhone Fold will prompt millions of iPhone users to upgrade their devices sooner than thought once it does ship, spurring further growth in the second-user markets as people sell their old iPhones to help purchase the foldable. 

Second user or newly acquired, Apple’s services arm will certainly benefit, as new second user iPhone owners explore the platform experience. In doing so, it becomes more likely they will upgrade to a new iPhone in future. This is the energy Apple will unleash as it diversifies its smartphone platform next year – an energy which, alongside new products and a (hopefully) functional Siri, will likely form the foundations for the company’s next decade in tech.

You can follow me on social media! Join me on BlueSky,  LinkedIn, and Mastodon.

Source:: Computer World

By Varun Mirchandani HTC is leaning into a bet that your next pair of smartglasses shouldn’t force you into a single AI assistant. With its newly launched VIVE Eagle eyewear, the Taiwanese tech company is promoting an open AI strategy. As reported by Reuters, it lets wearers choose from multiple generative AI models, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and […] The post HTC’s AI Glasses Want to Let You Pick Your Brainy Buddy appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source:: Digital Trends

Google is now suing US data scraping company Serpapi for using hundreds of millions of fake search queries to bypass Google’s protection system and illegally obtain copyrighted material from search results, Reuters reports.

According to the lawsuit, Serpapi then resold the collected data to third-party customers. The company denies the allegations and says it will defend itself in court.

Serpapi says its service only provides information that is already publicly available through a standard web browser. According to the company, Google is trying to limit competition from companies building new AI and web services on open web data.

Earlier this year, Reddit also sued Serpapi, along with other data collectors, for scraping content for the purpose of training AI models. In a comment to Reuters, Reddit’s spokesperson said that the company supports Google’s lawsuit.

More Google news:

Google is now the best at AI — but is it enough?

Google releases fast AI model Gemini 3 Flash

Google tests an AI productivity agent that lives in your inbox

Google hit with $806M in penalties from US and French authorities over privacy issues

Source:: Computer World

By Deepti Pathak BGMI is one of the most popular battle royale games because of its exciting gameplay and…
The post BGMI Redeem Codes For Today: December 22 appeared first on Fossbytes.

Source:: Fossbytes

By Pranob Mehrotra OpenAI is rolling out new personality settings that let you fine-tune ChatGPT’s responses for warmth, enthusiasm, and more.
The post ChatGPT now lets you dial up the warmth or tone down the enthusiasm in its responses appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source:: Digital Trends

By Hisan Kidwai Free Fire Max is one of the most popular games on the planet, and for good…
The post Garena Free Fire (FF) Max Redeem Codes For Today: December 20 appeared first on Fossbytes.

Source:: Fossbytes

Earlier this year, Omdia told us the MacBook Air had become the world’s most popular business laptop. With that in mind, I spoke with Apple Director for Mac Product Marketing Colleen Novielli, about why she thinks this is the case.

The move in recent years to Apple Silicon in Macs delivered a major boost to the platform. Not only did the move massively increase processor power, but it did so at low energy levels — turning even entry-level Macs into viable tools for business. “The Mac product line really is the strongest it’s ever been,” said Novielli. 

There’s a Mac for everyone

What that means is choice, with a suitable Mac available for almost every task. “What we like to say right now is there truly is a Mac for every employee in business to choose,” she said. (It’s easy to speculate that the extent of the offer might expand with the introduction of lower-cost Macs next year.)

The growing prevalence of employee choice schemes means more and more workers are choosing Macs, rather than other platforms. Martin Lang, enterprise mobility leader at SAP recently told me that about 50% of his company’s employees — roughly 54,000 people — now use Macs.

That’s not unique, said Novielli. “We’re seeing tremendous momentum around Mac in the enterprise,” she said. “We’re seeing this amazing spectrum of adoption across the Mac range.”

The company isn’t sitting back. It knows hundreds of thousands of Windows PCs need to be replaced by something else now that Windows 10 has run out of standard support. That something else could well be a Mac, and the decision to introduce M4 chips inside the MacBook Air formed part of Apple’s response. 

MacBook Air: Value and performance

“The M4 MacBook Air offers tremendous value and performance for enterprises as well as consumers,” Novielli said, noting its included 16GB memory, dual display support and 13- and 15-in. sizes as part of the appeal. Mainly, of course, with Apple Silicon, it’s a performance story.

The M4 MacBook Air has “all the performance that many employees need to get their work done and be their most productive all day and every day,” she said. Apple also offers computers with even more built-in performance, scaling up all the way to current and existing M5-powered Macs, beginning with the 14-in. MacBook Pro. 

This is driving more businesses to deploy Apple hardware. Capital One recently deployed thousands of MacBook Airs across the entire company, for example.

Macs are being deployed at scale in business

Novielli shared a couple of additional examples:

In China, leading mobility company Hello Incorporated has thousands of employees and recently deployed Macs company-wide, using them for research, product development, AI functions in their biking and carpooling divisions and taxi hire. Hello Incorporated has already updated to the M5 MacBook Pros “because they see the value in the performance and AI capabilities” the platform brings.

Food retail company Haidilao has also invested heavily in Mac, with systems now in place across 1,300 stores worldwide. The company is leaning into cutting-edge retail technology using these machines, including intelligent, AI-augmented guest servicing. That means obvious things such as monitoring for table churn, insuring orders are taken in a timely fashion and served correctly, and tracking safety measures in the kitchen and other parts of business management.

“They shared with us that this has led to a 78% energy savings from, you know, the things that they’re looking at from the efficiency of the actual buildings themselves,” she said, adding the systems have delivered 52% cost savings at the company.

Consumer simple is an enterprise superpower

“We have our amazing technology, which we create for the end user, which is the consumer, but also the enterprise,” she said. Of course, consumer-simple doesn’t mean consumer-dumb, which means that for enterprise users, the ease-of-use translates into getting tasks done faster, more efficiently and with less stress. 

The result? 

“We’re hearing more and more that our enterprise customers think that Mac is easier to use than ever,” Novielli said. “It’s more affordable than ever before and provides even more value. And it’s more compatible than ever before, even in this environment that is increasingly complicated from an IT perspective. There’s many great examples of customers who have deployed Mac and are really seeing the difference throughout the business, both from the impact it’s having on employees and their productivity, their daily lives, and also on their bottom line.”

You can follow me on social media! Join me on BlueSky,  LinkedIn, and Mastodon.

Source:: Computer World

By Alex Circei Most engineering leaders cannot answer the one question their CFO is about to ask: “Can you prove this AI spend is changing outcomes, not just activity?” Every December, roadmaps get locked, budgets get approved, and board decks are polished until everything looks precise and under control. Underneath, many CTOs and VPs are still working with partial visibility. They have a feel for their teams, but not a reliable view of how work moves through the system, how AI is really changing delivery, or where time and money actually go. For a while, that was survivable. Experience, pattern recognition, and cheap…This story continues at The Next Web

Source:: The Next Web

By Pranob Mehrotra Google is expanding Gemini’s AI content detection capabilities to include video content.
The post Gemini can now help you spot AI-generated videos appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source:: Digital Trends

By Pranob Mehrotra Google is rolling out an update for its Androidify app that lets users turn their custom avatars into watch faces.
The post Androidify now lets you turn your custom Android Bot into a watch face appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source:: Digital Trends

By Deepti Pathak ChatGPT has received a major update that improves how users create and edit images. The update…
The post ChatGPT Brings Major Update for Image Creation and Editing appeared first on Fossbytes.

Source:: Fossbytes

A warning for WhatsApp users: cybercriminals have discovered an alarmingly simple way to access a user’s conversations in real time by manipulating the app’s device pairing or linking routine.

Termed ‘GhostPairing’ by researchers at security company Gen Digital (owner of Norton, Avast, Avira, and AVG), no passwords or account details are needed to execute the attack, which was recently detected in Czechia.

All the attacker has to do is persuade a user to click on a malicious link sent to them as a WhatsApp message purporting to reveal a Facebook photo.

In the most common variant of the attack, this throws up a fake page which asks the user to verify themselves by entering their mobile number. This number is then forwarded by the attackers to WhatsApp to initiate the ‘link device via phone number’ feature which adds new devices to an account.

WhatsApp generates an 8-digit pairing code, which is intercepted and forwarded to the user. The user, who sees a new pairing prompt in WhatsApp, enters this code to confirm the pairing. Unfortunately, this adds the attacker’s browser session as a ‘trusted device.’

Unless the user becomes suspicious, it’s game over: the attacker now has full access to their account, messages, and message history, as well as the ability to view messages as they are sent and received.

“After their device is linked, the attacker does not need to exploit anything else. They have the same capabilities that any user has when connecting WhatsApp Web on their own computer,” said Gen Digital’s researchers. “Everything happens inside the boundaries of the feature set that WhatsApp intended.”

Worse, the attackers can also send messages that impersonate the user to spread the campaign to the victim’s contacts and WhatsApp groups.

E2EE bypass

GhostPairing is an example of an attack that exploits one of WhatsApp’s biggest draws: signing up, connecting to other users, and adding up to four additional devices to an account is incredibly convenient. It’s one reason why WhatsApp has become so popular. All users need to join is a phone number, with no username or password to remember.

Another draw is that the app is built on end-to-end encryption (E2EE) privacy in which the private keys used to secure messages are stored on the device itself. This should make it impossible to eavesdrop on private messages without either having physical access to the device or remotely infecting it with malware.

GhostPairing demonstrates that a social engineering attack can bypass this. Interestingly, although still possible, the attack is less practical when asking users to pair via QR codes. That offers some reassurance for users of messaging apps such as Signal, which only allows pairing requests via QR Codes.

Defending WhatsApp

Users can check which devices are paired via WhatsApp via Settings > Linked Devices. A rogue device link will appear here. Despite having access to a user’s WhatsApp account, the attacker can’t revoke their device access, which must be initiated by the primary device. Another tip is to enable two-step PIN verification. This won’t stop the attacker accessing messages but will mean they can’t change the primary email address.

The threat to enterprises is that large numbers of employees use WhatsApp as well as communicating in larger employee discussion groups. The risk is that many of these won’t be documented and will therefore be overlooked by security teams.

The recommendation is to assume that multiple groups do exist and educate users to report suspicious phishing or spam from unknown numbers. The message should be clear: WhatsApp messaging might look private, but the app itself has gaps that attackers can exploit.

GhostPairing comes only weeks after university researchers uncovered a major WhatsApp flaw that allowed them to discover the mobile numbers of the app’s 3.5 billion global user base. Earlier this year, Meta discovered a weakness in the WhatsApp Desktop app that could be used to target Windows users.

And it’s not only WhatsApp; researchers recently uncovered a hack affecting the company that created a modified version of Signal for use by senior US politicians.

This article first appeared on CSOonline.com.

Source:: Computer World

Imagine it’s possible to balance regulatory desires to limit Apple’s market power with the welfare of the company’s existing customer base. Imagine a regulatory environment characterized by mutual respect and a willingness to collaborate on solutions, a place where Apple is forced to change some of its business practices, but in ways that benefit both competitors and customers.

That’s what you get in Japan.

How has Apple changed the App Store in Japan?

Following years of resistance and in order to bring its service in line with the Japanese equivalent of Europe’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) — Japan’s Mobile Software Competition Act (MSCA) — Apple has introduced a variety of changes to the way it runs its App Store. Described in depth on Apple’s own developer page, the changes made to iOS in Japan include:

App distribution

App Store payment options on the App Store

Distribution on alternative app marketplaces

Creation of an alternative app marketplace

Prioritization of child safety with alternative payments on the App Store

New business terms

iOS capabilities

Browser and search engine choice screens

Default app controls

Alternative web browser engines

Side button access for voice-based

Conversational apps

Requests for additional interoperability.

What’s noteworthy about all these changes is that while Apple inevitably sees almost all of them as potentially threatening the existing App Store experience, the way in which they are being applied at least recognizes the need to protect customers.

That’s because, unlike in Europe, Apple says conversations with regulatory authorities have been constructive and collaborative, with respect given to the needs of customers, Apple’s own need to protect and benefit from its own IP, and the needs of competitors. 

The problem with Europe

European regulators, on the other hand, seem determined to apply the DMA in the toughest way possible and seem completely oblivious to what customers want and the need to maintain a unique platform experience. 

As a result, Apple believes the MSCA does a significantly better job protecting consumers than what other regulators have done.

There are significant examples that illustrate this.

Take the idea of “additional interoperability.” In Europe, whenever Apple introduces a new feature, it must now make access to those features available to third parties from day one. It cannot control what is done by those companies with those features, and cannot prevent access in the event a developer abuses such access to the detriment of customers. It’s different in Japan; there developers can request access to Apple APIs. That means Apple can deny access to developers (such as Meta) who seek access to people’s private data for advertising or worse.

When it comes to app distribution, while developers can choose to use Apple’s systems, their own systems, or a combination of systems — and have great freedom in terms of payment systems, web links and more — all apps made available to iOS must go through Apple’s App Notarization process. While this process isn’t as rigorous as App Store review, it does provide some oversight.

In-app payments: It is always possible for customers to default to Apple’s payment system, no matter what system they have used before, while developers continue to pay fees for apps they sell. (Apple says 87% of developers distributing apps via the Japanese App Store pay nothing today, and will continue to do so). 

Child safety in the digital age is a major issue for most parents. That’s why it’s such a surprise that the EU’s DMA introduces no explicit protection for children, while the MSCA allows Apple to try to protect kids. That means in Japan, age ratings mut be included for apps distributed outside the App Store, software in the Kids category can’t include transaction links, and Apple will integrate parental control in in-app purchases from all sources in future. Europe’s children have no such protection, though I suppose some clumsy legislation will deliver yet more damage to the existing user experience.

There are many additional differences between the collaborative Japanese approach and the fanatical steps put in place in Europe, Apple has pointed out. In Europe, regulators have adopted the toughest possible adoption of the rules, and have refused to even consider consumer welfare, says Apple. And while it is true that the company never wanted to accept these changes and still thinks they risk customer privacy and security, it also seems much more satisfied that even if they didn’t agree, the regulators in Japan were prepared to listen, learn, and develop positive compromise.

For the benefit of everyone?

Apple characterizes Japanese regulators as accepting the need to strike a balance between loosening Apple’s market power with the needs of customers. That’s not the same in Europe, where the hardline approach means some features might never appear as larger competitors seek to use the DMA to undermine Apple’s privacy and security protections. 

That’s the nub, really, as the European approach means only a very small number of wealthy competitors are really seeing any benefit, while customers suffer weaker privacy, security, and erosion of the user experience they chose. 

Perhaps the EU should adopt the Japanese approach? Doing so might not make Apple much happier, particularly as it doesn’t seem to have any intention to extend any of the changes to other jurisdictions unless forced. But it would at least deliver a better compromise between the needs of Apple, well-financed competitors and their political lobbyists, and consumers. Though it’s possible that once different approaches are in place in different markets, it will become easier to see which models deliver the best overall results.

It seems unlikely that benefit will come from Europe.

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Source:: Computer World

By Pranob Mehrotra OpenAI introduced apps in ChatGPT earlier this year as a way to help users interact with third-party services without leaving the chat window. The feature launched with support for a handful of apps but has steadily expanded to include options like Peloton and Tripadvisor. Now, Apple Music has joined the lineup. 9to5Mac reports that, much […] The post ChatGPT now lets you discover songs and create playlists in Apple Music appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source:: Digital Trends