Author: GT

Pet products and services giant Petco disclosed a data breach on Wednesday in a filing with California’s attorney general, which the company says involves the personal information of its customers. The state published a sample of the notification letter that Petco is sending to customers affected by the breach. In the letter, Petco said that it identified “a setting within one of our software applications that inadvertently allowed certain files to be accessible online,” adding that the company discovered the issue on its own, and “immediately took steps to correct the issue and to remove the files from further online…

The European Commission (EC) has imposed its first fine under Europe’s landmark Digital Services Act (DSA), and it’s against Elon Musk’s X. The EC is taking issue with the fact that X has been allowing anyone to buy a “blue checkmark,” the platform’s long-standing symbol which used to indicate that a user has been verified to be who they are claiming to be. Calling the design of the blue checkmark system “deceptive,” the European Union’s executive arm on Friday imposed a fine of €120 million (about $140 million) on X, saying the company had breached its transparency obligations under the…

Nearly a decade ago, when the energy storage market was in its infancy, an industry organization set a dreamy goal: By the end of 2025, the U.S. would deploy 35 gigawatts of batteries connected to the grid. So how’d the storage industry do? In the third quarter, 4.7 gigawatts of batteries were installed. In sum, more than 40 gigawatts have been deployed, and the year isn’t over, Canary Media reported. In eight years, energy storage went from a tiny player to one of the largest sources of new power on the U.S. grid. What’s more, that’s nearly half of all…

Meta has signed commercial AI data agreements with news publishers to offer real-time global, entertainment, and breaking news on Meta AI, its AI chatbot. Now, when users ask Meta AI news-related questions, it will surface information and links that draw from different content sources to help users discover timely and relevant content, the company announced on Friday. These responses will also include links to articles, so users can visit publishers’ websites to learn more. The company says this will allow its partners to reach new audiences. Meta is partnering with CNN, Fox News, Fox Sports, Le Monde Group, the People…

The New York Times filed suit Friday against AI search startup Perplexity for copyright infringement, its second lawsuit against an AI company. The Times joins several media outlets suing Perplexity, including the Chicago Tribune, which also filed suit this week. The Times’ suit claims that “Perplexity provides commercial products to its own users that substitute” for the outlet, “without permission or remuneration.”  The lawsuit — filed even as several publishers, including The Times, negotiate deals with AI firms — is part of the same, ongoing years-long strategy. Recognizing the AI tide cannot be stopped, publishers use lawsuits as leverage in…

The launch of Hamlet was quite personal for Sunil Rajaraman. Back in 2022, he ran for city council in a small California town. He lost, but the moment forever changed the way he saw the place — and local governments, for that matter. “I was trying to become a better candidate,” he recalled to TechCrunch. “I wanted to understand how my city actually worked, what decisions had been made, why, who said what. And I couldn’t figure it out. It’s a total black box, and almost intentionally opaque.” Since COVID, towns across the nation have started recording and posting their…

The latest expansion to Grand Theft Auto Online includes robotaxis from a fictional-yet-familiar company dubbed “KnoWay,” whose sole purpose appears to be wreaking havoc. A trailer released Friday shows KnoWay vans adorned with lidar sensors swerving through city streets, wrecking other cars, and crashing through a billboard for the made up company. While that’s all far more chaotic and destructive than even some of the worst behavior that Waymo’s robotaxis have been guilty of, the in-game autonomous vehicles nonetheless resemble the company’s earlier-generation Chrysler Pacifica vans. The expansion is called “A Safehouse in the Hills” and is available starting December…

NEW YORK (AP) — Netflix’s $72 billion deal to acquire Warner Bros. studio and its film and television operations drew quick reactions Friday.Film and television industry entities including guilds and the lobbying group for movie theater owners criticized the deal, warning it would harm consumers and cinema owners.In announcing the deal, Warner Bros. and Netflix executives touted the deal’s benefits. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said the deal “will ensure people everywhere will continue to enjoy the world’s most resonant stories for generations to come,” while Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said it would “give audiences more of what they…

The logo for Google LLC is seen at the Google Store Chelsea in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., November 17, 2021. Andrew Kelly | ReutersA U.S. judge on Friday finalized his decision for the consequences Google will face for its search monopoly ruling, adding new details to the decided remedies.Last year, Google was found to hold an illegal monopoly in its core market of internet search, and in September, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled against the most severe consequences that were proposed by the Department of Justice. That included the proposal of a forced sale of Google’s Chrome browser, which provides data that…

As a technology, eSIM has been around for a decade now. However, global eSIM adoption was around 3% last year and will only cross 5% this year. Despite these figures, analysts, eSIM-providing startups, and investors are bullish about eSIM’s upward trajectory, largely thanks to travel. Device compatibility One of the key factors for that is phone makers launching devices with eSIM features. The first batch of smartphones with eSIM arrived in 2017 and 2018, with the Pixel 2 and the iPhone XR among the most notable phones. In 2022, Apple ditched the physical SIM slot to go eSIM-only for the…