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This overlooked 1999 film isn’t technically a horror film, but it’s probably the scariest movie Martin Scorsese has ever made.

Upcoming gaming laptops should feature a lot of updates, but it’s possible that they won’t be next-gen all across the board.

Last week, the Video Game History Foundation (VGHF) released a statement expressing its regret that the US Copyright Office’s refused to grant an exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to help preserve rare video games. However, the VGHF continued by saying it won’t back down and will continue advocating for improved video game preservation.

For some context, the VGHF had been a longtime supporter of the Software Preservation Network’s (SPN) petition to receive a DMCA exemption for the sake of preserving video games, especially for researchers who need access to them and can’t do so due to unavailability. As the only currently legal way is to get a legitimate hard or soft copy of the game and play it on its corresponding console, researchers are encountering difficulties in progressing in their studies. Piracy would be illegal, of course, which is why the SPN is fighting for an exemption. However, there are those who don’t see things this way.

Despite not convincing the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and the US Copyright Office, the VGHF doesn’t regret supporting the SPN’s petition for a DMCA exemption. Its goal, and that of several like-minded organizations (as mentioned by Rock Paper Shotgun), is to help preserve out-of-print and obscure video games for future generations to enjoy. The petition sought to allow researchers to access these games remotely from libraries and archives.

The ESA pushed hard against the petition, refusing to allow any remote game access whatsoever. ESA members have even ignored calls for comment on the situation, IGN reports. As the VGHF says, researchers are now forced to use “extra-legal methods to access the vast majority of out-of-print video games that are otherwise unavailable.”

Three years of fighting for a cause and not giving up shows that the VGHF remains committed to video game preservation. The organization ended its statement by calling game industry members to support its cause.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-video-game-history-foundations-fight-for-game-preservation-isnt-over-135817436.html?src=rss

The iPhone 16 lineup, Apple Watch Series 10 and other devices Apple announced this fall are banned from sale in Indonesia. That’s because Apple has failed to meet its local investment commitments by around $15 million.

It’s said to have invested 1.48 trillion ($94 million) of the 1.71 trillion rupiah ($109 million) it pledged to plow into local sourcing and/or infrastructure to meet Indonesia’s requirements. Due to Apple not meeting the investment threshold, the Ministry of Industry has not issued the certifications that are required for Apple’s latest products to be sold there. The ban doesn’t impact older Apple devices, which the company can still sell in the country.

Under Indonesia’s local content rules, certain devices sold there have to contain at least 40 percent “domestic content.” This can be reached by, for instance, using materials sourced in the country, having manufacturing plants or employing local workers. Apple has established four developer academies in Indonesia and, as of earlier this year, it was looking at setting up a manufacturing facility there. Samsung and Xiaomi are among the smartphone makers that now have factories in the nation.

By not investing the remaining $15 million needed to meet the threshold, Apple can’t sell its latest products in Southeast Asia’s largest economy, which may prove to be shortsighted. While it’s hardly the most popular smartphone brand in Indonesia (it’s not in the top six, Bloomberg notes), Apple has room to grow there. Indonesia is said to have a $1 trillion economy and a youthful population that’s becoming increasingly tech-savvy. The government has also reported that there are 350 million active mobile phones in the country, which has a population of 270 million.

According to officials, there are around 9,000 iPhone 16 units in Indonesia. These have been mailed to the country or brought in by crew and passengers by hand. Bloomberg reports that personal use of the phones is permitted, but they can’t be resold. Since 2020, any mobile phones that are bought overseas and brought in are subject to a tax and have to be registered with the Indonesian government.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/the-iphone-16-is-banned-from-sale-in-indonesia-after-apple-fails-to-invest-enough-locally-133907141.html?src=rss

I only hopped on the headphone trend earlier this year after being a forever earbud devotee, and they’re truly life changing. They’re so expensive, though, so a sale — especially a big one — can make all the difference. Right now, the Beats Studio Pro are just $169, down from $350 — a 51 percent discount. This all-time low price is available in Black, Sandstone, Deep Brown and Navy, though every other colorway but one is close at 46 percent off. 

We gave the Beats Studio Pro an 81 when they came out last year, thanks to improved sound quality and spatial audio with dynamic head tracking. It offers “near-zero” distortion, even at the highest volumes, which provides it with an 80 percent improvement from the Studio 3. That heavy bass that Beats was once known for is long gone here, only appearing when a track actually calls for it. The headphones also have transparency mode and new USB-C EQ modes: Signature, Conversation and Entertainment. Plus, they have up to 40 hours of battery life. 

There are some drawbacks worth mentioning when discussing the Beats Studio Pro. They are not the most comfortable headphones on the market, so you might not want to wear them for extended periods of time. They also have no automatic pausing or multipoint connectivity for iOS. 

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-beats-studio-pro-headphones-are-back-on-sale-for-51-percent-off-131525350.html?src=rss

Fair or not, Apple has turned its AirPods into the default option for most iPhone owners casually shopping for a new pair of wireless earbuds. But if you’re one of the many people who use an Android phone, the options worth considering aren’t as obvious. Fortunately, we’re here to help. We’ve tested and reviewed dozens of wireless earbuds over the years and broken down our favorite options for Android users below. Whether you use a Galaxy phone or Pixel, and whether you want something for the gym or your morning commute, these are the best AirPods alternatives for Android.

Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget

What to look for in wireless earbuds for Android devices

For the most part, the features you want from a set of “Android earbuds” are the same as what you want from any headphones. Pleasing sound quality, a comfortable fit and sufficient battery life are still the foundations. Adequate water resistance is good for workouts, and nobody wants a crummy mic for making calls. Once you approach the $100 range, features like active noise cancellation (ANC), wireless charging, an ambient sound mode (which lets you better hear outside noise without turning off your music) and multipoint connectivity (the ability to pair with multiple devices simultaneously) should be expected.

For Android devices specifically, there are a few extras to consider. A dedicated app that makes it easy to switch sound modes, customize the audio profile, locate your earbuds if they ever get misplaced or adjust other settings is strongly preferred. Features like Google Fast Pair or NFC-based pairing, which can help you avoid having to dig through your Bluetooth menu to connect your earbuds for the first time, are also nice perks. Some Android devices can also utilize higher-quality Bluetooth codecs such as aptX Adaptive or Sony’s LDAC — these aren’t nearly as important to audio quality as the actual architecture of your earbuds, but they can help wring out a little more detail if the buds are capable enough and you’re streaming lossless files. AptX Adaptive can also help reduce latency, which is good for streaming video or gaming.

Diversity is Android’s greatest strength, but it also means that some wireless earbuds play nicer with certain devices, typically those made by the same company. Recent Samsung earbuds, for instance, come with a few perks that are only available if you use a Galaxy phone. We have a couple of recommendations related to this idea above.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/best-earbuds-for-android-devices-120015765.html?src=rss

It doesn’t take much to make your gaming stream look and sound professional — you just need the right tools, and then let your sparkling personality and on-screen skills take care of everything else. Here, we’ve collected more than a dozen of the best streaming gadgets that you can buy today, separated into five categories: microphones, headphones, cameras, lights and accessories. You won’t need everything on this list, but there’s a good starting point for most budgets under each heading.

Microphones

Headphones and headsets

Cameras

Lights

Accessories

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/best-game-streaming-gear-160012102.html?src=rss

Imagine going to the doctor, telling them exactly how you’re feeling and then a transcription later adds false information and alters your story. That could be the case in medical centers that use Whisper, OpenAI’s transcription tool. Over a dozen developers, software engineers and academic researchers have found evidence that Whisper creates hallucinations — invented text — that includes made up medications, racial commentary and violent remarks, ABC News reports. Yet, in the last month, open-source AI platform HuggingFace saw 4.2 million downloads of Whisper’s latest version. The tool is also built into Oracle and Microsoft’s cloud computing platforms, along with some versions of ChatGPT.

The harmful evidence is quite extensive, with experts finding significant faults with Whisper across the board. Take a University of Michigan researcher who found invented text in eight out of ten audio transcriptions of public meetings. In another study, computer scientists found 187 hallucinations while analyzing over 13,000 audio recordings. The trend continues: A machine learning engineer found them in about half of 100 hours-plus worth of transcriptions, while a developer spotted hallucinations in almost all of the 26,000 transcriptions he had Whisper create.  

The potential danger becomes even clearer when looking at specific examples of these hallucinations. Two professors, Allison Koenecke and Mona Sloane of Cornell University and the University of Virginia, respectively, looked at clips from a research repository called TalkBank. The pair found that nearly 40 percent of the hallucinations had the potential to be misinterpreted or misrepresented. In one case, Whisper invented that three people discussed were Black. In another, Whisper changed “He, the boy, was going to, I’m not sure exactly, take the umbrella.” to “He took a big piece of a cross, a teeny, small piece … I’m sure he didn’t have a terror knife so he killed a number of people.”

Whisper’s hallucinations also have risky medical implications. A company called Nabla utilizes Whisper for its medical transcription tool, used by over 30,000 clinicians and 40 health systems — so far transcribing an estimated seven million visits. Though the company is aware of the issue and claims to be addressing it, there is currently no way to check the validity of the transcripts. The tool erases all audio for “data safety reasons,” according to Nabla’s chief technology officer Martin Raison. The company also claims that providers must quickly edit and approve the transcriptions (with all the extra time doctors have?), but that this system may change. Meanwhile, no one else can confirm the transcriptions are accurate because of privacy laws. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openais-whisper-invents-parts-of-transcriptions–a-lot-120039028.html?src=rss

Just over a month since the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE came out, we’ve heard the first rumors about its follow up.