Author: Nick Gold

Apple and Meta are set to go toe-to-toe in another emerging area: AI-powered humanoid robots. Also: Apple ramps up development of a new external Mac display, ponders monetizing its maps app for the first time and is racing to bring AI features to China. In other product news, the company is hitting snags with the new Siri, releasing a TV+ app for Android phones and preparing a major Vision Pro software update.

Days after YouTube published a blog post saying it could lose Paramount content soon, it updated the post to announce a deal to keep it. The company posted on X that, as a result, channels such as CBS, CBS Sports, and Nickelodeon and add-ons like Paramount Plus, Showtime, and BET Plus will stick around after all.The company had said in its post on February 12th that it would offer an $8 credit if Paramount content was “unavailable for an extended period of time,” but updated the next day to say talks had been extended. YouTube TV didn’t elaborate further on…

OpenAI’s board of directors has responded to Elon Musk’s bid to buy the company. In a statement on X, OpenAI chair Bret Taylor said, “OpenAI is not for sale, and the board has unanimously rejected Mr. Musk’s latest attempt to disrupt his competition.”Taylor suggested that concession was off the board. “Any potential reorganization of OpenAI will strengthen our nonprofit and its mission to ensure AGI benefits all of humanity,” Taylor wrote.Correction, February 14th: A previous version of the article incorrectly quoted Sam Altman as saying he will buy Twitter for $97.4 billion. He said $9.74 billion.

Today marked a second weekend of scattered protests at Tesla showrooms, following a “TeslaTakeover” hashtag that has been trending on Twitter alternative Bluesky this week. Protestors’ messages largely focused on the divisive efforts of Tesla CEO Elon Musk as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency since the start of Donald Trump’s Presidency.The protests don’t appear to be especially large, but they are numerous, ranging from places like New York to lesser-known locales like Minneapolis, Minnesota suburb Golden Valley. A section of Action Network’s site for organizing protests shows rallies planned for cities in Ohio, Florida, Washington, New Mexico,…

Amazon won’t launch the AI-powered upgrade for Alexa for at least a month after its showcase at an event set for February 26th, according to The Washington Post. The delay is reportedly at least partly because the updated assistant has issues with giving inaccurate answers to test questions.An anonymous Amazon employee told the outlet that the upgrade won’t come “until March 31 or later” due to the issues. The new Alexa could be tied to a subscription, with features like “the ability to adopt a personality, recall conversations, order takeout or call a taxi,” and was originally set to launch…

The NBA has introduced a new AR feature for its Vision Pro app this week called Tabletop, which places a floating render of a basketball court in your space during “select” live games, according to an NBA help page describing the feature. On the court, digital avatars mirror the game’s actual players as they move, pass, and shoot — but only for live games that you can watch or listen to with NBA League Pass.The feature even works for local market games that are otherwise unavailable to stream video of in the app. It was about 45 seconds behind the…

Nearly 400 videos that were posted on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s YouTube page have been removed, as the Trump administration continues to pare back the agency, including its team of skilled technologists.The CFPB YouTube page, which has 15,000 subscribers and was created in 2011, has had every one of its videos removed as of Friday. An archived version of the page shows that as recently as February 8th, it hosted 386 videos. The archived page shows videos with titles like “Five tips for when you can’t pay your bills,” “How do I dispute an error on my credit report?”…

Google has disabled its Android earthquake detection feature in Brazil after many smartphone users in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro received false emergency alerts on Friday morning, Android Police reports. The alerts of a nonexistent 5.5 magnitude earthquake were sent to devices around 2AM this morning, and pinpointed earthquakes in the country’s Ubatuba and Baixada Santista regions.According to CNN Brasil, the Civil Defense of São Paulo, which manages an early warning system for disaster risk, said it “did not issue any alert and that there is no record of any occurrence related to the possible earthquake in the state.”In…

Starting on February 26th, 2025, Amazon is removing a feature from its website allowing you to download purchased books to a computer and then copy them manually to a Kindle over USB. It’s a feature that a lot of Kindle users are probably not aware of, given books can be more easily sent to devices over Wi-Fi, but it’s especially useful for backing up purchases or converting them to other formats compatible with non-Kindle e-readers.There are a few reasons why some Kindle users might miss this feature. It’s useful if you don’t have access to a Wi-Fi network, and although…

It looks like Xiaomi is soon launching a new flagship Ultra smartphone model that takes its Leica licensing beyond just the lens. Android Headlines has posted what appear to be official renders of a Xiaomi 15 Ultra, with Leica camera styling that includes duo-tone white and rough-finished black verticle strips down the rear of the phone.Held sideways, the large, round camera protrusion and Xiaomi branding in the corner make it look like a traditional Leica camera (at least from afar). These images match leaks posted to the Chinese social media site Weibo last week, which show a hand holding the…