Month: November 2023

Enlarge / Anker's latest MagGo portable charger, already Qi2 equipped, will soon be able to charge iPhones, Androids, and other devices at 15 W. (credit: Anker)

Qi2 is either a big step forward or a "Wait, that's it?" moment, depending on what kind of wireless charging you're used to using.

If you've only ever used standard Qi chargers with devices that don't have their own schemes, the Wireless Power Consortium's announcement today of the first Qi 2.0 devices being ready to launch before the holidays, with more than 100 in the queue behind them, is great. Qi2 sports a "Magnetic Power Profile" (MPP), created with help by Apple's MagSafe team, to help align devices and chargers' coils for faster, more efficient charging. Qi2-certified devices set onto Qi2 chargers can achieve 15 W charging, up from 7.5 W in the standard Qi scheme.

That brings Qi2 devices up to the same speed as iPhones on MagSafe chargers, and it clears up some consumer confusion about how fast a device might charge on Qi, MagSafe, or proprietary chargers. Should a phone and charger be Qi2 certified, you can now expect about 15 W out of it, regardless of whatever Google, Apple, or third party is behind them. Android and iPhone users alike are no longer beholden to their primary hardware vendor if they want 15 W of wireless juice.

Enlarge / The Microsoft Copilot logo. (credit: Microsoft)

On Wednesday, Microsoft announced that Bing Chat—its famously once-unhinged AI chatbot—has been officially renamed "Microsoft Copilot." The company also announced it will support OpenAI's recently released GPTs, which are custom roles for its ChatGPT AI assistant.

The rebranding move consolidates Bing Chat into Microsoft's somewhat confusing "Copilot" AI assistant naming scheme, which has a lineage that began with GitHub Copilot in 2021. In March this year, Microsoft announced Dynamics 365 Copilot, Copilot in Windows, Microsoft Security Copilot, and Microsoft 365 Copilot. Now Bing Chat is just "Microsoft Copilot"—its sixth copilot so far. Pretty soon, Microsoft will need a Branding Copilot to keep them all straight.

Regarding the naming scheme, Microsoft customer Amit Malik took to X and wrote, "I love Microsoft, but this whole copilot thing is becoming more confusing than it should be. Microsoft Copilot, Windows Copilot, M365 Copilot, then all the m365 apps, D365 copilot and so on. AI was supposed to simplify, not otherwise." Note that Malik wrote that in September—nearly two months before the recent announcement.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Yuichiro Chino)

The Federal Communications Commission today approved rules that prohibit discrimination in access to broadband services, rejecting fervent opposition from Internet service providers and Republicans. The broadband industry is likely to sue the FCC in an attempt to block the rules.

The digital discrimination rules were approved in a 3-2 party-line vote. "Under these rules, the FCC can protect consumers by directly addressing companies' policies and practices if they differentially impact consumers' access to broadband Internet access service or are intended to do so, and by applying these protections to ensure communities see equitable broadband deployment, network upgrades, and maintenance," an FCC announcement today said.

The rules and a related complaint process will ensure that the FCC "can investigate possible instances of discrimination of broadband access, work with companies to solve problems, facilitate mediation, and, when necessary, penalize companies for violating the rules," the agency also said.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Yuichiro Chino)

The Federal Communications Commission today approved rules that prohibit discrimination in access to broadband services, rejecting fervent opposition from Internet service providers and Republicans. The broadband industry is likely to sue the FCC in an attempt to block the rules.

The digital discrimination rules were approved in a 3-2 party-line vote. "Under these rules, the FCC can protect consumers by directly addressing companies' policies and practices if they differentially impact consumers' access to broadband Internet access service or are intended to do so, and by applying these protections to ensure communities see equitable broadband deployment, network upgrades, and maintenance," an FCC announcement today said.

The rules and a related complaint process will ensure that the FCC "can investigate possible instances of discrimination of broadband access, work with companies to solve problems, facilitate mediation, and, when necessary, penalize companies for violating the rules," the agency also said.

Enlarge / Anti-satellite weapons from Mission Shakti are displayed during Republic Day Parade on January 26, 2020 in New Delhi, India. (credit: Ramesh Pathania/Mint via Getty Images)

More than two dozen private space companies have signed on to a statement that supports an end to destructive anti-satellite testing in space.

The statement comes two years after Russia shot down one of its older satellites, Kosmos 1408, with a Nudol missile launched from the ground. The test, intended to demonstrate Russia's capability to shoot down assets in space, showered more than 1,500 pieces of debris into low-Earth orbit. This has forced the International Space Station and Chinese Tiangong station to perform avoidance maneuvers, along with many private and government-owned satellites.

Russia is not the only country to perform such tests. India recently did so, and in the more distant past, China and the US have also demonstrated such capabilities.

Enlarge / Anti-satellite weapons from Mission Shakti are displayed during Republic Day Parade on January 26, 2020 in New Delhi, India. (credit: Ramesh Pathania/Mint via Getty Images)

More than two dozen private space companies have signed on to a statement that supports an end to destructive anti-satellite testing in space.

The statement comes two years after Russia shot down one of its older satellites, Kosmos 1408, with a Nudol missile launched from the ground. The test, intended to demonstrate Russia's capability to shoot down assets in space, showered more than 1,500 pieces of debris into low-Earth orbit. This has forced the International Space Station and Chinese Tiangong station to perform avoidance maneuvers, along with many private and government-owned satellites.

Russia is not the only country to perform such tests. India recently did so, and in the more distant past, China and the US have also demonstrated such capabilities.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

On Tuesday, YouTube announced it will soon implement stricter measures on realistic AI-generated content hosted by the service. "We’ll require creators to disclose when they've created altered or synthetic content that is realistic, including using AI tools," the company wrote in a statement. The changes will roll out over the coming months and into next year.

The move by YouTube comes as part of a series of efforts by the platform to address challenges posed by generative AI in content creation, including deepfakes, voice cloning, and disinformation. When creators upload content, YouTube will provide new options to indicate if the content includes realistic AI-generated or AI-altered material. "For example, this could be an AI-generated video that realistically depicts an event that never happened, or content showing someone saying or doing something they didn't actually do," YouTube writes.

In the detailed announcement, Jennifer Flannery O'Connor and Emily Moxley, vice presidents of product management at YouTube, explained that the policy update aims to maintain a positive ecosystem in the face of generative AI. "We believe it’s in everyone’s interest to maintain a healthy ecosystem of information on YouTube," they write. "We have long-standing policies that prohibit technically manipulated content that misleads viewers ... However, AI’s powerful new forms of storytelling can also be used to generate content that has the potential to mislead viewers—particularly if they’re unaware that the video has been altered or is synthetically created."

Enlarge / A Starlink satellite dish in Oriximiná, Brazil on August 9, 2023. (credit: Getty Images | Tarcisio Schnaider)

The Starlink bug that locked some users out of their accounts last week was caused by overzealous fraud detection that falsely flagged legitimate accounts as fraudulent. Affected users yesterday received an email titled "False Positive Fraud Account Correction," but not everyone has been able to get back into their accounts yet.

"We had an account issue that led us to falsely flag your account as fraud. We are working to make this right and fix any account modifications over the last week," the email from the SpaceX-owned ISP said. "Please allow until the end of the week to see any account changes be reverted before filing a ticket. Next week, if you are still having an account issue, sign in to your account below to contact Customer Support."

As we previously reported, some customers received an email on November 9 saying their accounts had been reset and that "all pending orders and deposits have been refunded." The bug affected some new users who had ordered Starlink service but had not yet set up their dishes, making it hard for them to start the Internet service.