Google rolls out tool for publishers to opt out of AI data training, but not search

Drowsy driving can have deadly results, so Tesla is rolling out a Driver Drowsiness Warning that will alert drivers if the car thinks they're dozing off.

Lords of the Fallen patch notes 1.1.203 are here for the update on Wednesday, October 18, as developer Hexworks announces, “Our bug kill count has reached its highest to date.” The team also says it has “begun to implement more substantial performance issues,” which should improve performance for any graphics cards being pushed to their limits by the game’s current state.

New World ’s latest update is set to go live overnight, bringing the return of Nightveil Hallow, and opportunities to fight Baalphazu once more. In addition to the Halloween event, the update has a whole bunch of fixes and improvements across the board.

Still remember Threads, Mark Zuckerberg’s competitor to Twitter? The app is finally getting an edit button for posts. But unlike Twitter/X, users won’t have to pay for it. 

The shift to a hybrid work environment has led to the emergence of online communication platforms such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and more. While most of these existed before the sudden demand for them during the COVID-19 pandemic, there is now healthy competition to become the number one workspace provider in the market. Consequently, developers keep rolling out new features to keep users from switching to alternate platforms. Earlier this year, Google Meet brought 1080p video calling to one-on-one video chats, and now this feature is being introduced in group calling as well.

Google's Sundar Pichai raised concerns years before he became the company's chief executive officer that its deal with Apple Inc. had bad “optics” because there was no choice of which search engine to use in the company's web browser.

Elon Musk's acquisition of X (formerly Twitter) has resulted in a myriad of changes on the platform, the majority of which have drawn flak from users. Consequently, many of them have switched to alternate platforms such as Mastodon, Threads, and Bluesky Social. While the former two platforms are accessible to everyone, Bluesky Social still follows an invite-only protocol, meaning only those who have invite codes can get onto the platform. Despite this, Bluesky last month announced that it had amassed 1 million users on its platform. To keep users engaged safely and securely on its platform, Bluesky Social has announced new safety features on its platform as part of the new update.

In a bold move, the Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF) is taking on Google's stranglehold on the AdTech industry. ADIF has released a statement wherein it is raising concern about the lack of fairness, transparency, and healthy competition in the digital advertising realm, alluding to Google's outsized influence. AdTech, a complex ecosystem governing digital advertising, was designed to ensure a level playing field for advertisers and publishers. However, Google's overwhelming market presence and questionable practices have skewed this balance, endangering fundamental principles of fairness and competition.

ASUS has started rolling out its brand new AMD AGESA 1.0.8.0 BIOS for AM5 motherboards which adds support for upcoming Ryzen "Phoenix" APUs.

Amazon's festive day sale is around the corner and the e-commerce website is offering huge Kickstarter deals on electronics across various categories and brands. You can find huge discounts on laptops, smartphones, home appliances, tablets, and more. If you are waiting for the festive sale to kick off, then check out massive price cuts on the best laptops from top electronics brands like Asus, Dell, Xiaomi and more.

Today’s tech companies may have already scraped your web content to train their chatbots. But even so, Google has a new tool to help publishers opt out of the company’s own AI training. 

Reddit is removing the ability to opt out of ad personalization based on app activity.