The Morning After: Apple will adopt RCS in 2024

Apple has announced it will begin supporting the RCS messaging standard at some point next year. RCS, or Rich Communication Services, was developed by the mobile industry as an upgrade on SMS and MMS. But Apple has been resistant to adopt it both because it prefers its home-grown iMessage platform, and because it’s not secure by default. It doesn’t help that Google has used RCS as a cudgel in its own text-message–bubble-color culture war with the iPhone maker.

In a statement, presumably typed through gritted teeth, Apple said RCS would offer better interoperability compared to SMS and MMS. But added that iMessage, which, unlike RCS, is end-to-end encrypted by default, remains the “best and most secure messaging experience.” It’s likely the change was, in part, motivated by the European Union, which has been turning its attention to the ways the technology industry makes life harder for consumers.

— Dan Cooper

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Lucid’s Gravity electric SUV will have a max range of 440 miles

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Amazon will start selling Hyundais next year

You can click and collect (from your local dealership).

Amazon

It’s hard to tell if there’s magic in buying a car, or if the dealership just puts on a show to make you think there is. We’ll find out for ourselves next year when Amazon enables direct car sales on its platform. The first automaker to sign up is Hyundai, who is, in return, adding Alexa to its 2025-era vehicles.

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YouTube’s first AI-generated music tools can clone artist voices and turn hums into melodies

John Legend and Charli XCX will let you use their vocal stylings.

YouTube’s newest feature uses an AI to cook up 30-second backing tracks using the voices of high-profile artists. With Dream Track, users specify a general idea for the system to knock out music and lyrics in the style of a selected star. That includes Charli XCX and John Legend, who have both signed up to lend their simulated pipes to your next short clip.

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Unity launches a suite of AI tools intended to simplify game creation

Unity Muse costs $30 a month.

Unity is now making its suite of AI-enhanced game development tools available to everyone for $30 a month. It’s designed to take a lot of the hard work out of making a new title, by automating the coding process. In the future, you can expect to see tools to create game graphics, set NPC behaviors and animate characters, which could be a very big deal indeed.

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Hackers use a new SEC rule to snitch on the company they infiltrated

Who’d have thought?

Earlier this year, the SEC mandated companies had four days to notify regulators if they suffer a material cybersecurity breach. So, when hackers accessed fintech company MeridianLink and saw the SEC hadn’t been notified, they took matters into their own hands. Reporting was a way to force the company to negotiate, but it’s still wild to think they reported their own hack to regulators.

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Kia’s latest EV concepts go big on geometrics and cabin vibes

Retro-futurism never looked so boxy.

Kia

Kia’s concept vehicles merit attention because so many features wind up carrying over to the production model. So, if you’re curious about what a next-generation Kia will look like, take a gander at this gallery. Hope you love boxy shapes and straight lines.

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Judge rejects attempt by X to nullify FTC privacy settlement

In May 2022, just months before Elon Musk acquired Twitter (now X), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) hit the platform with a $150 million fine and consent decree that imposed stipulations for safeguarding users' personal data. The ruling was imposed after the FTC found that Twitter had violated a previous consent decree by inappropriately sharing user phone numbers and email addresses with advertisers.

After acquiring Twitter, Elon Musk went to court in an attempt to overturn that consent decree, arguing that the FTC had increased scrutiny on X and pressured a third-party assessor to find fault with its security practices. In a post on X at the time, Musk called the FTC's actions "a shameful case of weaponization of a government agency for political purposes and suppression of the truth."

However, a federal judge just rejected that motion, ruling that his court lacked the authority to block the FTC's court order, while also blocking Musk's request to avoid a deposition that's part of a separate investigation, The Washington Post reported. In other words, X must still adhere to the strict privacy reporting standards imposed by the FTC last year. 

The judge listed other issues with X's argument, noting that the FTC had good reason to increase scrutiny on X after Musk took over. "The government says this increase in investigative activity should not be surprising because Musk directed at least five rounds of terminations, layoffs or other reductions in X Corp.’s workforce, which affected the security, governance, risk and compliance team," he wrote in the ruling. 

He added that the third-party assessor said he faced steady delays due to executive turnover at X. Finally, the judge ruled that Musk can't avoid being deposed by the FTC, as "the government argues that the major changes to the company appear to have been initiated by Musk himself." 

Musk's FTC problems started shortly after his acquisition of X, when key executives on Twitter's privacy and security teams departed. Still, Musk seemed willing to comply with the rules, telling employees at the time that "Twitter will do whatever it takes to adhere to both the letter and spirit of the FTC consent decree." 

Back in March, though, the FTC stepped up its probe into Musk's actions in an effort to get more information about the company’s handling of layoffs, X Premium subscriptions, the "Twitter Files" and other issues. 

Meanwhile, the platform can't seem to stay out of the news, as IBM recently said it would pull advertising on X after discovering its ads were being placed next to pro-Nazi content. Musk himself faced criticism after he appeared to endorse an antisemitic post on the platform. 

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YouTube will now let breastfeeding and twerking videos be monetized

YouTube videos that feature breastfeeding content can now earn money on the platform, so long as they meet a certain set of criteria. The website has updated its policy to allow monetization of breastfeeding videos that show the mother's areola, as well as those wherein the person in the video is demonstrating how to use a breast pump with nipples visible. Those videos, however, must include contextual reference to breastfeeding and must include a child in the scene. Otherwise, they still won't be able to earn money from ads. 

Breastfeeding videos with exposed nipples previously couldn't earn money on the website. A spokesperson told TechCrunch that YouTube reconsidered after getting feedback on how helpful they are for those navigating that particular stage of parenthood. 

In addition, YouTube has also changed its guidelines when it comes to what it calls "non-sexually graphic dancing." Creators can now earn money for videos with dance moves such as twerking and grinding, unless those videos were made to deliberately focus on the dancers' "extreme minimal clothing" or on their breasts, butt and genitalia. They also won't be earning any money if they use moves that mimic sexual acts, such as grabbing a partner's genitalia while dancing. Showing "fleeting minimal clothing" is fine, though, as well as "fleeting caresses of sexual body parts" and doing moves that mimic or simulate sexual acts in a professional setting, such as a dance studio. TechCrunch says the website is now reviewing existing content that could be eligible for monetization under the new rules and will switch on their ads if they'd actually adhered to its advertiser-friendly content guidelines. 

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Three in ten US adults still get their news from Facebook

Even though Facebook has been moving away from providing its users with easy access to news over the past year, it apparently still remains a go-to source for current affairs in the US. According to Pew Research, three out of ten adults in the country still regularly get their news from Facebook, which has outpaced all the other social media websites in the center's study. YouTube comes next in the list, with 26 percent of US adults getting news from the video hosting website, while Instagram takes third place with 16 percent. While apparently not as popular as the first three when it comes to news, TikTok (14 percent), X (12 percent) and Reddit (8 percent) also serve as news sources for the US populace. 

When it was reported a year ago that Meta will no longer be paying publishers to run their content on Facebook's News Tab, a spokesperson said "[m]ost people do not come to Facebook for news, and as a business it doesn't make sense to over-invest in areas that don't align with user preferences." But according to the study, 43 percent of users still get their news regularly from the platform. That is, however, admittedly smaller than the 54 percent of users who used to go to the social network to keep themselves updated and read about the latest events back in 2020. Meanwhile, 43 percent of TikTok users say they're getting news from the app now, compared to 22 percent three years ago. Out of all the social networks in the study, though, X (formerly known as Twitter) has the highest percentage of users (53 percent) who go to the website for news. 

Based on the study's responders, men mostly rely on Reddit to keep them abreast of current events, followed by Twitter and YouTube. Meanwhile, women consume news from Nextdoor the most, followed by Facebook and Instagram. In addition, most of the people who get their news from social media are Democrats or lean Democratic, though "there is no significant partisan difference among news consumers on Facebook, X or Nextdoor." Bottom line is, a lot of people still look to social media websites to read about the latest happenings and new information as they come out. These companies will have to continue keeping a close eye on the spread of misinformation on their platforms, even if they do decide not to focus on news anymore. 

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Threads introduces 'tags' to help users categorize posts

Tags are a key way to seek out content on social media, but so far they've been missing on Meta's fledgling Threads platform. That's changing soon, however, as the feature is now in testing on Threads in Australia "with more countries coming soon," Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a new thread.

You create a tag in the usual way by placing a hash before a word, which then displays in blue text without the hash — much as mentions work in Facebook. To seek out topics, type a hash plus a keyword into the search field to see a list of relevant posts, as one does on Instagram. So far, it's limited to a single tag per post, likely to discourage hashtag spamming — though that may change, as Meta said the feature is still a work in progress.

Despite still not being in Europe, Threads has shown consistent growth and now counts nearly 100 million monthly active users, Zuckerberg wrote last month. The app recently gained a few key features like the ability to delete your threads profile without killing your Instagram account and avoid automatically sharing Threads posts with Facebook and Instagram. It also added pinned posts, and Instagram boss Adam Mosseri hinted that DMs may (or may not) be done via Instagram's inbox. 

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Sega faces unfair labor practice complaint for planned mass layoff of union members

Workers at Sega of America are accusing the video game company of "bad faith bargaining with workers" for its plan to lay off dozens of temporary workers. The publisher known for franchises that include Sonic the Hedgehog and Yakuza is now facing an unfair labor practice complaint filed by the Communications Workers of America (CWA). In April, 200 people in various departments across the company overwhelmingly voted in favor of unionization and formed the Allied Employees Guild Improving Sega (AEGIS-CWA) under the CWA. Now, Sega allegedly intends to lay off 80 of those unionized workers.

In its complaint, the CWA explained that it's been in bargaining with Sega since September. On November 6, Sega apparently presented the organization with a proposal to phase out of all its temporary employees by taking their work offshore to the company's offices in Europe and Japan by February 2024. Those temporary employees make up 40 percent of the union's bargaining unit and mostly work in quality assurance and localization, which the group describes as "critical to Sega's success."

The afternoon after their meeting, the CWA said Sega presented its proposal to the affected employees through captive audience meetings. "We believe this is a clear case of bad faith bargaining," the CWA wrote in its complaint, since Sega dealt directly with the union members and "violated status quo" by telling them they're losing their jobs. 

"Sega will not be allowed to get away with this unlawful behavior," Elise Willacker, Senior QA Tester Temp, said in a statement. "We call on the company to make all temporary employees permanent and return to the bargaining table in good faith. There is no other just alternative." As Kotaku notes, the organization's complaint is now in the hands of the National Labor Relations Board, but it may take a while to resolve and may not prevent the layoffs from taking place. 

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The Morning After: iMessage comes to Nothing’s Android phones (for now)

In the US, Apple’s iMessage is so popular that the fact it shows texts from non-iOS handsets in a different color is a big deal. This status anxiety is so great, the Android world has begged regulators to force Apple to… change the color of a text bubble. Now, Nothing is taking matters into its own hands, partnering with unified messaging platform Sunbird to hide that shame. Sunbird uses your Apple ID to route comms between your Nothing phone and your friends’ iPhones through a server farm of Mac Minis. If it works as well as promised, it means your friends won’t know you own an Android handset… until the next time you see them in person.

Of course, none of this is happening with Apple’s blessing, so it needs a workaround. You need to hand over your credentials to a third party and risk the fallout should Apple decide to intervene. Nothing CEO Carl Pei believes Apple can’t risk the bad PR if it shuts Sunbird down, but that’s not a bet I’d like to take. It’s worth saying this is almost unique to the US — most of the world just uses third-party platforms like WhatsApp. Not to mention if your friends give you grief because of the phone you own, they aren’t your friends.

— Dan Cooper

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The 16 best gift ideas for remote workers

Make life easier when you’re WFH-ing.

Will Lipman Photography for Engadget

Working from home makes you happier, healthier, more productive and helps you keep on top of things outside of office life. It’s no surprise people enjoying those benefits are keen to improve their domestic working environment. Today’s guide is a list of handy gifts for home workers, including productivity timers, ergonomic mice, extra monitors and more.

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Opal’s Tadpole proves webcams don’t need to be big or boring

It’s so small, but mighty.

Photo by James Trew / Engadget

Opal makes ultra-premium webcams in surprisingly small bodies. Its latest, the Tadpole, is absolutely for laptop users. James Trew put the dinky device through its paces, and he thinks it might be a winner. Picture quality is pretty good, but the directional audio helps screen out enough unwanted audio that it deserved extra praise.

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AI is starting to outperform meteorologists

But can an LLM make cheesy jokes on the news?

A machine-learning algorithm that can predict weather patterns is causing a storm in the meteorological community. DeepMind’s GraphCast can predict 10 days of patterns in under a minute and, according to one study, vastly outperform the existing technology. It’s already borne fruit, too, successfully predicting when Hurricane Lee would land on Long Island 10 days before it happened.

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Uber is cracking down on users who give bad ratings just to get refunds

It’s to prevent drivers being blamed for things out of their control.

Uber says it wants to make the platform better for riders and drivers alike and will now clamp down on users who give bad reviews just to score a refund. The company is targeting those negative nellies and will discard or downrank their complaints to protect the ratings of otherwise good drivers.

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