Technology

jeudi 4 août 2022

The best noise-canceling headphone deals

*You can currently buy the AirPods Max for around $449 instead of $549.* | Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge

With more people working from home than they used to, owning a good pair of noise-canceling headphones has become more appealing than ever. However, they can be expensive and difficult to shop for due to the range of available models, many of which cater to different lifestyles and priorities. Some are better suited for long-haul flights, for instance, while others are ideal for multitasking and marathon listening sessions.

That’s why we’ve curated this list of the best deals on noise-canceling headphones. Here, you’ll find sales on all kinds of on-ear and over-ear headphones, all of which are designed to eliminate outside noise but come with their own strengths and weaknesses. And if you want to do even more research before making a buying decision, we’ve put together a guide to the best noise-canceling headphones, which can help you determine which is right for you.

*Bose QuietComfort 45s are our pick for the most comfortable noise-canceling headphones.*

Bose QuietComfort 45 deals

Bose QuietComfort 45s, our pick for the most comfortable noise-canceling headphones, are a pair frequent travelers will surely appreciate. They’re lightweight and foldable, so you can easily carry them around with you, and ear fatigue is unlikely, thanks to their oval ear cups. Battery life now sits at 24 hours as well, meaning you needn’t worry about constantly having to charge them. The new transparency mode, meanwhile, comes in handy when you need to be more aware of your surroundings, like when you’re about to cross the street, while a firmware update introduced earlier this year allows you to customize the bass, mid-range, and other aspects of the EQ. The USB-C-equipped headphones don’t offer the same bassy response as Sony’s 1000XM4s, but if comfort is what you’re after, the QC45 offer it in spades.

The Bose QuietComfort 45s retail for $329, but right now you can buy them for $279, an all-time low, from Amazon, Best Buy, and Bose. Bose will also take 15 percent off when you buy two QC45s, two Sport Earbuds, or one pair of QC45 and one pair of Sport Earbuds, applying the discount to the item of equal or lesser value. Just note you must buy the two devices within the same order. Read our review.

*The AirPods Max is a good pick for those deeply embedded in the Apple ecosystem.*

Apple’s AirPods Max deals

If you’re looking for the best sound quality you can get in a pair of noise-canceling headphones, we recommend the AirPods Max. The headphones pair seamlessly with other Apple devices and they sound superb, especially combined with Apple’s spatial audio feature, which allows for a more immersive experience when listening to or watching compatible content. They also tout the best transparency mode of all the headphones on our list, and they boast incredible build quality thanks to a luxe design that opts for aluminum, steel, and fabric over plastic.

With an MSRP of $549, the AirPods Max can be pretty expensive, but many retailers have been discounting them as of late. Right now, for instance, the headphones are currently on sale at Amazon in black, silver, and blue for $449.99 (discount applies at checkout). If you live close to a Micro Center, you can also pick them up in all colorways for $474.99. Read our review.

*Bose’s Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 are great for voice calls.*

Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 deals

If you plan to frequently use your headphones for voice calls, Bose’s Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 are the best option on this list for doing so. They boast excellent voice call quality, meaning everybody on your Zoom call will be able to hear you loud and clearly, and they offer great noise cancellation with satisfactory sound. Like the QC45, the over-ears can also connect to two devices simultaneously, but they can’t be folded and only offer 20 hours of battery life, which is also less than other headphones on this list provide.

We’ve seen several discounts on the 700s over the past year or so, and right now Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, and Target are all currently selling them for $299 instead of $379 – an all-time low. Read our review.

*Sennheiser’s Momentum Wireless 3 headphones offer a retro-inspired design and terrific sound.*

Sennheiser Momentum Wireless 3 deals

If you’re a non-Apple user looking for a pair of noise-canceling headphones that sound fantastic, Sennheiser’s Momentum Wireless 3 is your best option. We found that they boast detailed, bass-rich sound, a stylish, retro-inspired design, and are extremely comfortable to wear — even when you’re donning glasses. Although their noise cancellation might not rival other models on our list, they make up for it with convenient software features like ambient passthrough and a customizable EQ. Plus, unlike many other headphones, they integrate with the location tracking device, Tile.

The Momentum Wireless 3 typically retail for $399.99, but we’ve seen them drop to as low as $241 in select instances. Right now, you can buy them at Best Buy for around $250, which is just $9 shy of their best price to date. Read our review.

A photo of Shure’s Aonic 50 headphones, the best noise-canceling headphones for sound quality. — *Shure’s Aonic 50 boast bass-rich, vibrant sound.*

Shure Aonic 50 deals

Shure’s Aonic 50 are some of the best noise-canceling headphones available at a lower price point, offering first-class sound quality, adequate noise cancellation, and support for advanced Bluetooth codecs like apt-X HD and LDAC. They’re also comfortable to wear, boast detailed, bass-rich sound, and offer features like ambient passthrough and a customizable EQ. Normally $299.99, the Aonic 50 are on sale right now for around $249 at Amazon, GameStop, and B&H Photo, which is just $10 more than their best-ever price.

*Microsoft’s Surface Headphones 2 are great for multitasking.*

Microsoft Surface Headphones 2 deals

Multitaskers will appreciate Microsoft’s Surface Headphones 2 given they offer terrific multipoint Bluetooth support, which allows you to pair them with multiple devices and switch back and forth between them with ease. The headphones also offer intuitive dial controls for both volume and noise cancellation, as well as improved sound quality and battery life over their predecessor. While Microsoft’s noise-canceling tech isn’t quite as effective as Bose’s and Sony’s, the Surface Headphones 2 still adequately silence outside noises so you can focus.

During Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Microsoft’s Surface Headphones 2 dropped to around $162, which is almost half their typical asking price of $249.99. We’re not currently seeing any deals that steep right now, however, you can buy them in black on Amazon for $189.99 and from Microsoft for just $199.99. Read our review.

*The Beats Studio 3 are nearly half off and thus a good alternative if you’re looking for a more budget-friendly pair of headphones.*

Beats Studio 3 Wireless deals

While we couldn’t recommend these to anybody outside of the Apple ecosystem, the Beats Studio 3 Wireless could be a decent alternative if you want a pair of over-ear headphones from Apple but find the AirPods Max to be too expensive. The Beats Studio 3 are comfortable to wear, fold inward for easy stowing, and feature Apple’s last-gen W1 wireless chip, which still allows you to quickly connect and switch between Apple devices. Note, however, that unlike those built with Apple’s newer H1 chip, the headphones lack hands-free Siri support. They also charge via a Micro USB port instead of a Lightning port or USB-C.

The Beats Studio 3 are certainly showing their age at this point — the headphones launched in 2017, after all — but they are currently on sale on Amazon for $199.95 in select colorways. Read our review.

HBO Max will be replaced next year by a new service combined with Discovery Plus

HBO Max isn’t dead...yet. But come the summer of 2023 it will be, and there will be a new service replacing both HBO Max and Discovery Plus, Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav said on an earnings call today.

“HBO Max has a competitive feature set, but it has had performance and customer issues,” Zaslav said, being much more polite than I would be about the app, which regularly struggles to stream when people tune in for big appointment shows like Euphoria and Succession. He went on to claim Discovery Plus has a better tech stack and would become the core of the new service which will combine the content of HBO Max with the content and tech of Discovery Plus.

“We think that product is going to be superb,” Zaslav said later in the call, after assuring listeners that the company would not be going on an HBO Max-focused cancellation spree. This news comes after a week of anxiety for users. Early in the week, the company made the decision to remove the nearly complete Batgirl from the release calendar and shuttle it off to the vault. Additional films exclusive to HBO Max disappeared from the service—but are still available to buy or rent. The Wrap then reported that things were looking dire for HBO Max and the creative development teams working there.

Zaslav made efforts to calm those fears during the call and insisted the HBO Max programming overall was good and supported by the company at large. During the question and answer segment of the call Zaslav said HBO Max has started to become a brand in and of itself—and one specifically associated with quality. It’s not clear what Warner Brothers Discovery will call the new combined service, but it’s certain we will be hearing more as Zaslav shuffles his new company even more in the year to come.

Musk Says Twitter Committed Fraud in Dispute Over Fake Accounts

Musk Says Twitter Committed Fraud in Dispute Over Fake Accounts The billionaire, in a high-profile legal fight, was sued by the company after he said he wanted to back out of a $44 billion deal to acquire it.

How to minimize distractions when you work from home

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge | Photography by Robert Nickelsberg / Getty Images

I’ve been working from home for close to 15 years. I also have ADHD. And a lot of streaming subscriptions. And a PlayStation. And hundreds of books. And a partner who also sometimes works from home and is equally aware of the presence of said streaming subscriptions, PlayStation, and books.

The point is that my home is full of distractions. Yours probably is, too. Maybe different distractions from mine, but distractions nonetheless. And, like many workers, it may have taken you a pandemic to discover that it can be hard to avoid these distractions when working from home. (Work itself provides plenty of distractions already, if you’re not careful— the continuous pings of emails and Slacks can make you feel like you’re working all the time but never actually getting anything done.)

Sure, there are productivity and project management apps. But Todoist isn’t going to help you resist the siren call of TikTok, and Trello isn’t going to play catch with the dog. At a certain point, you can only manage your distractions by managing yourself.

Accept your distractibility

The first step to mitigating distractions when working from home is to accept that you become distracted because humans are distractible. It is part of your nature. And that’s okay.

Take, for instance, someone who keeps oversleeping because they hit the snooze button on their alarm nine times before finally getting up. Seasoned oversleepers know that one way to overcome this is to keep the alarm clock several feet from the bed — requiring the would-be oversleeper to get out of bed and walk across the room to hit the snooze button each time the alarm goes off. At a certain point, it becomes more restful to just stay awake.

You can do the same thing with distractions — by setting yourself up to be distracted from your distractions when you inevitably succumb to them (if not beforehand).

Let’s say that your weakness is television, and you know if you decide to “take a quick break” in front of the TV, it’s an even-money shot that you’ll still be on the couch three hours later.

If you can’t resist the siren call of your Vizio, then set yourself up for, if not success, minimal failure. Don’t risk getting sucked into a binge-worthy hour-long drama with eight episodes to go — and if you do, don’t wait to pull out until the end of an episode, when you’ll probably be at your most desperate to see what happens next. Instead, put on something simple that gets in and out of a story fast. A kids’ cartoon that’s separated into six-minute installments. A documentary series that takes only five minutes to explain how baseball gloves are made before moving on to medical electrodes. A daytime talk show that settles questions of a child’s paternity or a lover’s fidelity between commercials for mesothelioma lawyers. Something that will quickly leave you ready to move on to something new.

Or let’s say your weakness is a particular phone app. You might benefit from some kind of barrier to getting sucked into it. My editor Nathan tells me that he’s had success logging out of, or outright deleting, addictive apps if he’s on deadline. Personally, I like to leave my phone in the next room sometimes. (After all, the phone is there for my convenience, not other people’s.

Set daily limits

But let’s say you don’t want to go quite that far, either because you have the kind of job that requires you to frequently have or be using your phone or because you’ve got a bad case of nomophobia. You can set daily time limits for individual apps in Android and iOS.

In Android

Digital Wellbeing & parent controls Android page — *Tap the chart to set your timers*

Set app timer page — *Choose your app and set your timer.*

Go to Settings > Digital Wellbeing & parental controls
Tap the chart
Tap Set timer next to the app you want to limit
Select the time limit you want to set, then tap Set

In iOS

Screen Time page iOS — *Screen Time lets you set limits.*

Choose apps display for screen time — *Choose which apps you want to limit.*

Go to Settings > Screen Time
Make sure Screen Time is turned on
Go to App Limits
Tap Add Limit
Select app categories or individual apps that you want to limit
Tap Next
Select the time limit you want to set (Optional: You can tap Customize Days to set time limits for specific days)
Tap Add

(Oh, and don’t forget to disable push notifications.)

If you live with someone sufficiently kind and understanding (and especially if they work from home, too), try the buddy system. Know each other’s bad habits. Then, if one of you catches the other “stuck” in some distraction, gently call it to the other’s attention in a bid to snap them out of it. A simple “Hey. You’re stuck. Get unstuck” can work wonders if you’re both committed to doing better.

To be clear, the goal isn’t to avoid non-work at all costs. The goal is to manage distractions. Sometimes, that means leaning in.

Schedule everything

While recovering from a car accident years ago, my occupational therapist told me not only to take frequent breaks as I worked from home but also to schedule those breaks on my calendar — and to stick to them as religiously as if they were a work call or a deadline. Ditto for household chores, walks outside, and just about anything else that wasn’t “work.” Even eating had to go in the calendar.

I smiled and nodded and ignored this advice. I continued to struggle.

Finally, I gave in — scheduling things like laundry, snacks, and exercise such that I was never working for more than 55 uninterrupted minutes (and usually less). A typical day in my calendar would have 30- to 55-minute work blocks punctuated by chore breaks, food breaks, exercise breaks, rest breaks, and errands. Every minute during my scheduled workday was accounted for.

And sure enough, my physical condition gradually improved. (I’m better now, by the way.) But there was a curious side effect: I was way more productive. Scheduling my distractions and my other non-work into my day, compelling myself to engage in them as forcefully as I would any “work” task, made me more efficient at and more focused on my work. And sticking to a strict schedule for mundanities like “watch TV” and “do laundry” helped me manage my ADHD symptoms — without it ever feeling grueling.

(I also got more laundry done.)

It turns out this resembles the Pomodoro Technique — a time-management method developed in the 1980s, whereby you work in 25-minute intervals punctuated by short breaks. And my routine even more closely resembles the 52/17 rule — a Pomodoro variation proposed by the Draugiem Group, makers of the productivity app DeskTime. In 2014, the company reported finding that DeskTime’s most productive users would work for 52 minutes at a time, then break for 17 minutes, and so on. Their breaks became more “effective” because they would be 100 percent dedicated to taking a break during those 17-minute allotments — and, by extension, more dedicated during their 52 minutes of work.

The takeaway here is that breaks need to happen, so put them on your calendar. To the extent practicable, schedule everything during your work-from-home workday. Everything. From that phone call you need to make to your doctor’s office to the time you’d like to spend playing Fortnite. (And, of course, your actual work.)

Ditto for meeting the needs of your cohabitants. Roommates, partners, family, pets — anyone you live with is going to want something from you from time to time. You’ll need to get really good at saying no if you want to minimize distractions (learning to say no goes beyond the scope of this article), but there are things you’re going to have to say yes to. At some point, the kids will need to be picked up, the trash will need to go out, dinner will have to be made / ordered, etc. Schedule as much as you can in advance. And if you both work from home, tag-team responsibilities (e.g., “I’ll take toddler duty during the even hours, you take toddler duty during the odd hours.”)

Also, don’t forget negative scheduling. Sometimes, distractions are even more unwelcome than usual (such as when you’re on a video call, working on a complicated problem, or rushing to get a project finished). Just as you would do (or, at least, should do) with your remote coworkers, be communicative. Let those you live with know in advance that 1:30-2:30PM tomorrow is off-limits. Or that if your door is all the way closed, don’t come a-knockin’.

The corollary of all of this is that, to avoid distractions while working from home, you also have to avoid work distractions while living from home. Unless you truly have the kind of job where you have to be available 24/7, make sure that when you’re off the clock, you’re off the clock — whether for dinnertime, bedtime, family time, or alone time. You can’t make the most of your work if you’re making the least of your life.

Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker sequel planned for release in October 2024

*Joaquin Phoenix in Joker.* | Screenshot: Joker

The sequel to 2019’s Oscar-winning Joker is planned for release on October 4th 2024, Deadline reports. Director Todd Phillips previously confirmed the sequel was moving ahead in June under the title Joker: Folie à Deux, which literally translates to “madness for two.”

Joaquin Phoenix, who won the Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal of the character in the first movie, is expected to return for the sequel, Variety reports, while Lady Gaga is reportedly in talks to star alongside him, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The speculation is that Gaga may play Joker’s long-standing partner Harley Quinn (previously played by Margot Robbie in the DCEU), and that Gaga’s potential involvement could even lead the film to incorporate more musical elements.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Todd Phillips (@toddphillips)

Although Joker had originally been intended as a standalone film, its success at the box office and the Academy Awards (where it received 11 nominations including for Best Picture) made a sequel an obvious choice. That’s especially the case given the bumpy performance of Warner Bros. films based on titles from DC Comics. Although this year’s The Batman was widely considered to be a success (with a sequel quickly greenlit), Ezra Miller’s solo outing as The Flash has been mired in difficulties, and last year’s The Suicide Squad flopped at the box office.

Production on the Joker sequel is due to kick off in December, Deadline reports.

Best podcasts of the week: How one of history’s biggest call centre scams was exposed

In this week’s newsletter: Follow the team who uncovered a $300m plot to rob ordinary people of their savings over the phone in Chameleon: Scam Likely. Plus: five of the best women’s football podcasts

Don’t get Hear Here delivered to your inbox? Sign up for the full article here

Chameleon: Scam Likely
Apple Podcasts, episodes weekly

Van that detects if drivers are holding a mobile phone trialled in UK

Stationary roadside vehicle can also tell if passing drivers are not wearing seatbelt

A van with technology that can automatically detect drivers holding a mobile phone at the wheel or not wearing a seatbelt is being trialled in the UK for the first time.

National Highways are working with Warwickshire police to try out the “sensor test vehicle” on motorways and major A roads, and drivers who are caught may be prosecuted.

Uber bookings hit all-time high in past three months as workers return to offices

Passengers took 1.87bn trips during the spring and early summer, company says, a 24% increase compared with same time last year

Uber’s bookings hit an all-time high in the last three months as anxiety over Covid-19 eased and workers headed back to the office.

Passengers took a total of 1.87bn trips on Uber during the spring and early summer, the company reported on Tuesday, a 24% increase compared with the same time last year. That’s about 21m trips a day, on average.

mercredi 3 août 2022

Perils of Preaching Nationalism Play Out on Chinese Social Media

Perils of Preaching Nationalism Play Out on Chinese Social Media Many users mocked the government for not taking military action to stop Nancy Pelosi’s Taiwan trip, saying it hadn’t lived up to its tough rhetoric.

The Rotom Phone is finally getting a second camera

*While a largely iterative upgrade, the new Rotom Phone gets a couple new features.* | Image: The Pokémon Company

The Rotom Phone is getting a big upgrade. Following its introduction in the Galar region three years ago, the updated version of the smartphone-that’s-inhabited-by-a-Pokémon is finally making the jump from one back camera to two. The handset will soon be available in the new Paldea region as well.

It’s difficult to tell exactly what kind the second lens is for — all I can really see is that the main lens remains blue while the new second lens is black. I don’t think that’s enough information to make an informed guess about whether this new lens is a telephoto, an ultrawide, or something else, though I’m hoping I’ll be able to use that second camera to take pictures of the new best boy Fidough.

Good to see Rotom Phone got the second camera upgrade pic.twitter.com/ceMdYFXPhQ
— Joe Merrick (@JoeMerrick) August 3, 2022

Beyond that, it seems like this new Rotom Phone is a largely iterative upgrade from the previous one. One new feature is a mysterious glowing blue ring in the middle of the device. Maybe that’s for wireless charging? The ring is set pretty much exactly where you’d expect a wireless charging coil to be, after all. Though I don’t remember ever having to charge the Rotom Phone in Galar, I guess it’s nice that wireless charging could be an option while I’m at one of Paldea’s trainer schools.

Disappointingly, the large points on the top and bottom of the Rotom Phone have stuck around for this next generation. That means it’s probably still not comfortable to slip into your pocket, but in Paldea, backpacks seem to be all the rage — I guess I’ll have to pick one up as a place to stash my phone. (Maybe someday we’ll get a Rotom Phone Mini.)

*Who needs a selfie stick when your Rotom Phone can float?*

No word on 5G support, which could make it easier to stay in touch with your friends while you’re traveling across Paldea. But I really hope the race to 5G doesn’t become a thing in Paldea like it has in other regions.

The company that makes the Rotom Phone confirmed in a press release that the Pokédex and a map will once again be loaded on the device. But we’ll have to wait and see what other new functionality might be available until we can try the new Rotom Phone for ourselves on November 18th.

You can now preorder the Steam Deck in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan

Valve is expanding Steam Deck shipments to some regions that could take the handheld PC-meets-console to new heights. The company just announced that reservations are now open in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan through Komodo, a site that also sells Valve’s Index VR headset for PC among other games and gaming merchandise. If you visit steamdeck.com in one of those regions, you should be rerouted to Komodo’s site soon, or you can click here and select your language. Valve spokesperson Kaci Aitchison Boyle tells The Verge that the first batch of new reservations will be fulfilled later this year.

Pour one out for our friends in Australia, though, who are still waiting on news of a launch after Valve name-dropped the country during its November 2021 developer summit.

In Japan, the Steam Deck will be priced starting at 59,800 yen (roughly $447), ranging up to 99,800 yen (roughly $746) for the premium 512GB model. In the US, those models cost $400 and $650, respectively. Like before, you only have to pay a tiny refundable amount now to secure your reservation: 1,000 yen (around $7.50).

Valve credits its recent upswing in production for making this big expansion possible, and it notes that serving these additional countries will not push back delivery estimates for those who have already reserved a Deck.

If you’re in Kyoto this weekend for the annual BitSummit gaming conference, Valve will apparently have some sort of presence there with Steam Deck as well as at the Tokyo Game Show in September 2022.

Handheld gaming is popular around the globe but particularly so in places like Japan in which huge swaths of the population commute in and out of major cities every day by rail. While access to Steam is nothing new in these regions, having the option to purchase a moderately powerful, well-built, and relatively compact handheld (while huge, compared to the Nintendo Switch) where they can play those PC games is a big deal.

The past couple of months have delivered a lot of good news regarding Deck availability, most prominently that you can reserve one right now and probably get it by the end of the year. Valve announced in late June that it would begin doubling shipments of the Steam Deck, which in turn could lead to many people getting their Deck hardware earlier than anticipated. And more recently, in late July, Valve shared that it was ramping up production to better meet demand after it had cleared some supply chain issues.

Top 10 books about cybercrime | Dan Malakin

From the real story of a virus that took out Iran’s urianium centrifuges to a surprisingly good Dan Brown novel, these are some of the best stories of our new era of ill online deeds

A generation ago cybercrime was as esoteric a subject to write about as quantum mechanics or fluctuations in the derivatives market. Now it’s a central feature of many novels.

Whether it’s criminal gangs phishing to steal sensitive data to sell on the dark web, or that creep from college catfishing people on Facebook, or the daily texts asking us to click a link to claim a prize or verify a payment, we are under continuous attack. Pension scams, identity thefts, all those strangers following our children on TikTok, everywhere we turn, someone is trying to turn the technology on which we rely against us.

YouTube Automation Sprouts Cottage Industry That Promises Fast Money

YouTube Automation Sprouts Cottage Industry That Promises Fast Money A cottage industry is persuading people to spend thousands to create video businesses on YouTube. Disclaimer: It is harder than it looks.

Instagram rolls back some changes to app after user backlash

Reversal includes toning down algorithm that resulted in users’ feeds being deluged with videos from accounts they do not follow

Instagram is reversing some changes to the app following a user backlash that saw influencer royalty Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian turning on the platform.

The photo and video sharing app was accused of mimicking TikTok at the expense of its most loyal users, after user anger at a series of changes boiled over this week. Instagram said on Thursday it was rolling back some of the changes including a test version of the app that gave a full-screen display to posts.

mardi 2 août 2022

AT&T’s 3G shutdown catches blame for a major election headache in Michigan

Some Michigan counties can’t immediately report Tuesday night’s election results due to a confusing mix of federal vote reporting guidance and AT&T’s decision to retire its 3G networks this past February.

In a website alert, the Wayne County clerk’s office confirmed that 65 of Michigan’s 83 total counties “are no longer modeming unofficial election results.” Wayne County is where Detroit is located, and it’s the state’s biggest county by population with about 1.8 million residents. It’s unclear how many are due to county officials that did not upgrade their own modems, or if this is due to U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) guidelines advising against using modems. Elsewhere in Michigan, Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum told The Verge that to be cyber security conscious, “we have never modemed results. So this did not change our process in Ingham County.”

In section 14.2-E, the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG) 2.0 established in February 2021 advised against connecting voting systems to the internet. The guidelines cited the risk of ransomware, the ability for attackers to view files within the system, or modify files within it that have to do with election results and ballot records.

“This has significantly delayed the reporting process,” the Tuesday night Wayne County alert read. “We do not have a definitive time of when we will reach 100 percent reporting, but will continue to work throughout the evening and morning until this is achieved.”

AT&T did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

After announcing its plans to end its 3G wireless network in 2019, the provider officially sunset the service this past February.

The office of Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson confirmed the widespread issue and said reporting delays “were expected” in a statement to WDIV ClickOnDetroit late Tuesday night. “Many Michigan counties are in the process of or have already phased out the use of modems to transmit election results from cities and townships to their county clerk’s office,” the statement said.

Election Results Update

Based on the recommendation of the Voluntary Voting Systems Guideline 2.0 issued by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, coupled with AT&T’s decision in March 2022 to no longer support 3G modems, 65 out of 83 Counties in Michigan are no longer modeming unofficial election results. This has signficantly delayed the reporting process. We do not have a definitive time of when we will reach 100 percent reporting, but will continue to work throughout the evening and morning until this is achieved.

A man made millions unlocking T-Mobile phones with stolen passwords

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

A jury has found Argishti Khudaverdyan, a former owner of a T-Mobile store, guilty of using stolen credentials to unlock “hundreds of thousands of cellphones” from August 2014 to June 2019 (via PCMag). According to a press release from the Department of Justice and an indictment filed earlier this year, Khudaverdyan made around $25 million from the scheme, which also involved bypassing carrier blocks put on lost or stolen cell phones.

For years, he reportedly used several tactics to acquire the T-Mobile employee credentials needed to unlock phones, including phishing, social engineering, and even getting the carrier’s IT department to reset higher-ups’ passwords, giving him access. The DOJ says he accessed over 50 employees’ credentials, and used them to unlock phones from “Sprint, AT&T and other carriers.”

According to the indictment, Khudaverdyan was able to access T-Mobile’s unlocking tools over the open internet until 2017. After the carrier moved them onto its internal network, Khudaverdyan would allegedly use stolen credentials to access that network via Wi-Fi at T-Mobile stores.

The DOJ says that Khudaverdyan co-owned a T-Mobile store called Top Tier Solutions Inc for a few months in 2017, though the carrier ended up terminating the store’s contract because of suspicious behavior. (The other co-owner, Alen Gharehbagloo, was also accused of fraud and illegally accessing computer systems and has plead guilty.) Throughout the years, the DOJ says that Khudaverdyan marketed his unlocking services via email, brokers, and various websites, telling customers that they were official T-Mobile unlocks.

Khudaverdyan’s indictment describes a few of the purchases he and Gharehbagloo made with the money they got from unlocking phones; properties in California, a $32,000 Audemars Piguet Royal Oak watch, and a Land Rover. Gharehbagloo and Khudaverdyan are accused of leasing a Mercedes-Benz S 63 AMG and aFerrari 458, respectively. A Rolex Sky-Dweller was also seized from one of the properties.

Khudaverdyan isn’t the only person who’s gotten in trouble with the law for unlocking devices, or otherwise skirting around manufacturer-imposed limits. Last year, a man named Muhammad Fahd was sentenced to 12 years in prison for unlocking around 2 million AT&T phones, and a man named Gary Bowser was recently sent to prison (and charged a $10 million fine) for his role in a company that sold mods for the Nintendo Switch.

In some ways, these types of crimes are sympathetic — it’s hard to feel bad for companies losing out on revenue that they would’ve earned by restricting what customers can do with their devices. I’m not going to be shedding tears because the DOJ says that Khudaverdyan’s unlocks “enabled T-Mobile customers to stop using T-Mobile’s services and thereby deprive T-Mobile of revenue generated from customers’ service contracts and equipment installment plans.”

Of course, the fact that such unlocks are illegal means that it’s difficult to run an unlock scheme without getting your hands dirty. Defrauding T-Mobile employees for their credentials isn’t great, nor is potentially unlocking phones phones for thieves who want to sell them on the black market. But it’d be hard for people like Khudaverdyan or Fahd to build lucrative and shady businesses doing this kind of thing if carriers made it far easier for customers to do it themselves.

Khudaverdyan is facing at least two years in prison for aggravated identity theft, and up to 165 years for the counts related to wire fraud, money laundering, and accessing a computer without authorization. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for October 17th.

The best Sonos speaker and soundbar deals

*The Sonos Roam launched last year is now available in refurbished condition for $139.* | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Most would agree that Sonos offers some of the best speakers and soundbars currently available. That’s because Sonos makes speakers that — more often than not — boast great sound quality, support for all the major streaming platforms, and simple multi-room functionality. Unfortunately, however, those perks often come at a high price. Sonos products aren’t cheap, and, outside of the occasional rogue discount, they rarely go on sale. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean there aren’t ways to save at least a few dollars on Sonos gear.

If you’re comfortable buying refurbished, for example, you could save a decent amount. We also occasionally see sales on Sonos’ collaborative series with Ikea and discounted bundles that include Sonos products, which makes it easier to set up an entire home audio system while saving money. And, if you’re a student, Sonos offers a program you can join to get a 15 percent discount when you spend up to $2,500 on full-priced speakers and accessories.

Regardless of their existence, these discounts can be hard to find. That’s why we’ve curated this list of the best Sonos deals you can currently take advantage of. Here, we’ll guide you through the best sales available, helping you to get the best bang for your buck.

*The portable Roam offers the best water resistance of any speaker in the Sonos lineup.*

Sonos Roam deals

The Sonos Roam is one of the clearest, most pleasant portable speakers we’ve ever used, and we’d recommend it as a personal speaker for small gatherings. It offers a rugged design, a relatively durable build, wireless charging, and support for both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. It’s also compatible with Apple’s AirPlay 2, which lets you stream music from an iPhone, iPad, or Mac over your home network. Plus, it’s the first Sonos speaker with an IP67 dust and water resistance rating, which means you could use it in the bathroom or near pools.

Note, however, Sonos won’t let you pair two in stereo when listening over Bluetooth, unlike similar speakers, though you can play Bluetooth audio over your entire Sonos system. The Roam also only offers around 10 hours of battery life, which isn’t that great, and it can be challenging to use the speaker’s Wi-Fi features outside of your home.

Nevertheless, it’s a good portable speaker you can currently buy in refurbished condition from Sonos and Best Buy for around $139 instead of $179, the price you’d normally pay for a new model. Sonos also is selling a couple of discounted bundles containing the Roam if you’re interested in purchasing multiple devices, one of which contains two Roams for $338 ($20 off) and another that pairs a Roam with the recently-released Sonos Ray for $433 ($35 off). Finally, if you don’t mind picking up a Roam without a microphone, you can buy the Roam SL — which is otherwise identical to the Roam — in new condition for $159.

*The small Sonos One supports a range of music services and comes with a good microphone.*

Sonos One (second-gen) and Sonos One SL deals

The second-generation Sonos One is a small smart speaker with a good microphone for voice control. It emits balanced, full-bodied sound that’s impressive for its size while integrating well with existing Sonos products. The 2017 speaker also works with a range of music services and supports both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, however, the process for setting up voice assistants can be complicated. The One offers touch controls, too, as well as support for AirPlay 2 thanks to a post-launch software update.

At the moment, there are no deals available for the second-gen Sonos One. However, you can buy the Sonos One SL for less. It’s basically the same as the Sonos One and features identical sound quality, however, it lacks an always-on microphone and voice assistant support. The Sonos One SL typically sells for $199.99 new, but right now you can buy a pair in new condition for $378 ($20 off) from Sonos; you can also buy the black model in refurbished condition from Best Buy for $179.99. Alternatively, you can pick up the One SL in new condition from B&H Photo with a Sonos Ray for $643.10 instead of $676.95.

*The Sonos One SL is similar to the second-gen Sonos One, but without the always-listening microphones and voice controls.*

Photo by Nilay Patel / The Verge

The Sonos Arc works well as both a home theater soundbar and music speaker.

Sonos Arc deals and Sonos Arc SL deals

The Sonos Arc is an all-in-one home theater soundbar that pairs quite nicely with large TVs, but works well as a music speaker. The 45-inch soundbar boasts powerful, immersive sound and is compatible with Dolby Atmos and a range of other audio formats, including TrueHD (for external Blu-ray players), Dolby Digital Plus, and Dolby Digital.

Like the Sonos Roam, it also offers built-in support for Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, and Apple’s AirPlay 2. One drawback, however, is that you may need a recent 4K TV — likely something released after 2017 — that supports Atmos over HDMI ARC to hear it at its best. We also noticed surround sound doesn’t always work well in large rooms, which means it’s not particularly apartment-friendly, especially when coupled with its size.

The Arc usually starts at $899.99, but you can buy the black model in refurbished condition from Best Buy for $809.99. If you’re into bundles (and don’t mind spending a lot more), Best Buy is selling the Arc with two Sonos One SL speakers and the third-gen Sonos Sub, a subwoofer that takes care of the low-end while you watch TV shows and movies, for $1,946 ($103.96 off). You also can buy the Arc with two One SLs without the Sonos Sub at Best Buy for $1,237 ($62.97 off), or the Arc with just the Sonos Sub for $1,568 ($80 off) from Sonos.

*The newer Sonos Five sounds exactly like its fantastic predecessor, the Play:5.*

Sonos Five (2020) deals

The Sonos Five replaced the Play:5 music speaker in 2020 but is actually nearly identical to its excellent-sounding predecessor. It shares the same six custom-designed drivers inside, so it should offer the same high-quality listening experience as the Play:5, which was ideal for large rooms or parties. Other than that, however, there aren’t many noticeable differences. Compared to the Play:5, Sonos says its successor offers increased memory and processing power, as well as a new wireless radio. There are also all-black or all-white options. Note, however, that the Sonos Five lacks a built-in microphone and support for Alexa and Google Assistant — something most other speakers in the Sonos lineup offer.

The Sonos Five starts at $549, though you can buy it in refurbished condition at Best Buy right now for $467.99 in white and $494.99 in black. You can also buy a set of two in new condition for around $1,048 instead of $1,098 from Sonos, B&H Photo, and Best Buy. Sonos is additionally selling a Turntable set, which includes the Sonos Five and a Pro-Ject T1 Phono SB Turntable, for $948 ($50 off).

*The last-gen Sonos Beam offers great TV sound quality but, unlike the second-gen model, lacks support for Dolby Atmos.*

Sonos Beam (first-gen and second-gen) deals

Sonos’ previous entry-level soundbar, the first-gen Sonos Beam, functions as both a smart speaker and a soundbar for smart TVs equipped with HDMI ARC. We praised how well it improves TV sound quality in our 2018 review, as well as how simple and easy it is to set up and use. It’s not as great as other standalone speakers in the Sonos lineup for just playing music, but as a general-purpose speaker, it’s a good buy overall, especially if you’re adding it to an existing Sonos setup. The Sonos Beam also offers touch controls and support for Apple’s AirPlay 2, Amazon Alexa, and Google Assistant, allowing for hands-free commands.

The first-gen model lacks the second-gen Beam’s support for Dolby Atmos and an eARC HDMI port. Nevertheless, it remains a competent soundbar that’s currently available in refurbished condition from Sonos for $319 instead of $399, which is the price it sold for when it was new and more readily available.

*The Sonos Immersive Set comes with the second-gen Sonos Beam, which supports Dolby Atmos and HDMI eARC.*

You can also buy a second-gen Sonos Beam — which offers better performance than its first-gen predecessor, supports Dolby Atmos, and comes with HDMI eARC — for $404.99 in refurbished condition at Best Buy instead of $449, the price it sells for new. Keep in mind that only the white model is available in refurbished condition at the moment, however.

As for discounted bundles, both Best Buy and Sonos currently have a few on offer. The Sonos Immersive Set, for example, contains the second-gen Beam, two Sonos One SL speakers, and a Sonos Sub. Normally $1,596, Best Buy is selling the four-piece set for $1,499.96 ($100 off) while Sonos is selling it for $1,506 ($90 off). Sonos is also selling the second-gen Beam with a One SL for $807 ($40 off), as well as a second-gen Beam with a third-gen Sub for $1,138 ($60 off).

*The Sonos Move is powerful but tall and relatively heavy for a portable speaker.*

Sonos Move deals

The Sonos Move offers a loud, powerful sound similar to the Sonos One, but with slightly more volume. Unlike the One, however, you don’t need to find the right spot in your home for it to hear it well, given it’s better at distributing sound throughout a room. We also found that it sounds terrific no matter whether you’re in the living room or outside at the park.

However, while the Move was Sonos’ can certainly function as a portable speaker, it's better suited for moving about your home. That’s especially true when compared to the newer Sonos Roam, namely because the 10-inch speaker weighs 6.6 pounds and is a bit more challenging to lug around while traveling. Additionally, the fact that its battery can only last 10 hours on a single charge — which is noticeably less than many other Bluetooth speakers on the market — means this doesn’t make for the best portable speaker.

That said, it is a great buy if you want an excellent-sounding Sonos speaker you can pick up and take into your garage, living room, patio, or any other room in your home. It also comes with features like IP56 weatherproofing and support for Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple’s AirPlay 2, not to mention seamless integration with other Sonos devices.

If the Move seems like a better fit for you than the Roam, you can buy a refurbished model from Best Buy right now for $319.99 instead of $399.99, the price it sells for new. You can also buy both the Roam and a Move for $548 from Sonos. Alternatively, Sonos is selling the Move with a Sonos One for $588 instead of $618, as well as the Move and the Arc for $1,238 ($60 off).

The God of War comes to Xbox, sort of

*Kratos, God of Warning.* | Image: *War Gods Zeus of Child’s* Xbox Store listing

The big God of War sequel is one of the year’s most anticipated video games, and you can now play it on Xbox. Yes, that’s right, War Gods Zeus of Child, which stars Sony’s video game character Kratos and a horde of identical and generic monster baddies, is currently available for just $4.09 on the Xbox store.

Oh, you thought I was talking about a different game? Nope, War Gods Zeus of Child is definitely an approved and legitimate entry in one of Sony’s most valuable franchises being sold on a competing console platform.

I promise you’ll want to play it just based on the game’s description:

War Gods Zeus of Child is a great war game. Destroy all enemies and creatures with the Zeus War Gods of challange [sic]. Kill them all with your gun. Launch attacks with various combos. Reach the highest monster kills without dying. Feel the power of the warning god.

And if that didn’t sell you on it, check out this gameplay video from the YouTube channel Red Bandana Gaming:

Alright, I’ll stop joking around now. War Gods Zeus of Child is pretty clearly some kind of God of War ripoff that somehow slipped through the cracks and was published on the Xbox store. I know Sony has been open about wanting to release more games on mobile and PC, but I can’t imagine it has any plans to bring a God of War game to Xbox. And while Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has said that God of War Ragnarok, the actual God of War sequel, is the game he most wants to play next, I don’t think he’d approve of this knockoff game, either.

If the poorly written description and extremely rough video didn’t clue you in, as spotted by Eurogamer, War Gods Zeus of Child’s developer is a company named Dolaka Ltd. that has snuck another blatant ripoff onto the Xbox store: a Fall Guys lookalike called Dinasaur Falling Survival (yes, “dinasaur”).

*The Xbox Store page for* Dinasaur Falling Survival.

Microsoft’s strict certification processes typically don’t allow knockoffs to make it to the store (like we sometimes see on mobile app stores), but Eurogamer speculates that Dolaka’s titles might be sold through the Xbox Creators Program, which lets Xbox developers bypass the typical processes required to publish games. “If your game integrates Xbox services and follows our standard Store policies, you are ready to publish,” Microsoft says on the Xbox Creators Program website.

You don’t have to read far to find an example of how both of Dolaka’s games would violate those standard Store policies, though. Both titles feature characters that are obviously ripoffs of Kratos and a Fall Guys bean, and while I’m definitely not a lawyer, that would seem to violate section 10.1.1: “your product must not use a name, images, or any other metadata that is the same as that of other products unless the product is also published by you.”

We’ve asked Microsoft what might be going on here and if the games will remain for sale. In the meantime, I’m going to watch the trailer for the real God of War sequel again.

Google earnings signal company weathering slowdown better than expected

Parent company Alphabet reports second-quarter revenue of $69.69bn, 13% higher than a year ago

Alphabet only narrowly missed estimates for its quarterly revenue on Tuesday, a sign the tech giant may weather an industry-wide slowdown better than expected.

Alphabet reported second-quarter revenue of $69.69bn, 13% higher than same period a year ago, and nearly in line with the average expectation of $69.88bn among investment researchers tracked by Refinitiv.

lundi 1 août 2022

F.T.C. Chair Lina Khan Upends Antitrust Standards by Suing Meta

F.T.C. Chair Lina Khan Upends Antitrust Standards by Suing Meta Lina Khan may set off a shift in how Washington regulates competition by filing cases in tech areas before they mature. She faces an uphill climb.

Google Search’s built-in timer has disappeared and no one’s saying why

*Google Search’s timer feature in 2013 when it was first introduced.* | Image: Google

Until recently, one of the most convenient ways to set a timer was to simply search for one on Google. Punch in a query like “10 minute timer” and, hey presto, you’d get a ten minute timer. But last month, reports started to emerge that this feature had disappeared from Google without warning. SEORoundTable was among the first to cover the missing timer on July 20th, citing tweets from around July 18th.

Although there are no shortage of timers elsewhere on the web (or provided as stock apps on iOS and Android) Google’s built-in version was a simple, accessible alternative. And, as well as the timer, there was also a stopwatch feature built into the same widget for when you need to count up rather than down. The feature dates back almost a decade, having been introduced in 2013.

We're still checking on it.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) July 27, 2022

Google is yet to formally acknowledge the removal of the feature, so it may be the case that an accidental bug has caused it to disappear. Google’s public search liaison Danny Sullivan first said he’d look into the issue on July 21st, and almost a week later on July 27th said the team was “still checking on it.” If its disappearance is a bug, then it’s one that may be proving hard to squash. A spokesperson from Google did not immediately return The Verge’s request for comment.

Intentionally removing the feature would be a strange move for Google, given it’s spent much of the last decade building more features natively into its search results page. What started out as a simple list of hyperlinks now include everything from rich snippets that attempt to answer your search query directly, to a dedicated box for news stories, and even more specific features like a built-in price comparison tool for airplane flights. None of these appear to be going anywhere.

And, in case you’re wondering, Google Search’s built-in metronome is still alive and ticking, thank goodness.

‘I’m doing puzzles that may take 10 years to solve’: Animal Well, a mysterious video game time capsule

In an industry notorious for neglecting its past, one developer is trying to make a game that will be playable (and enigmatic) long into the future

In January 2020, players of Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time stumbled on a buried spaceship: a fully functional “Arwing” fighter from another classic Nintendo game, Star Fox 64. The Arwing was added as a programmer’s shortcut to, essentially, teach a dragon how to fly. Once the dragon was airborne, the ship was hidden away in Ocarina of Time’s source code, where hackers unearthed it 22 years later.

“It’s amazing to me that it was there all this time – it just took a lot of digging to find it,” says Billy Basso, a game developer from Chicago. “It’s completely inessential, but it helps people bond with how games are made, the creators behind them and the time and place. It connects you to history in a way.” Basso hopes to foster similar connections with Animal Well, an eerie pixel-art cave system which its creator hopes will have plenty of secrets left to uncover a decade from now.

Animal Well will debut on PlayStation 5 and Steam; release date to be confirmed

Bear and Breakfast review – a cute management sim … if you bear with it

PC (version tested); Gummy Cat/Armor Games Studios
There is delightful presentation as you set up a dysfunctional B&B – but in a genre that usually keeps players busy, this requires real patience

One day while running an errand, Hank the bear and his friends happen upon a derelict cabin and turn it into pretty terrible B&B: they’ve got the bed part figured out, just not the breakfast. But humans immediately come flocking to it as if they had just spent two years quarantined in their homes and will welcome any new sight. Your first guest eagerly takes pictures of the nearby gas station and leaves a five-star review.

While this happens, Hank hasn’t actually done much to make their stay more pleasant. He has traded trash with a possum for some decorative knick-knacks for the cabin (“humans just love knick-knacks!”), but then he’s off on an entirely different mission for the local mouse mafia.

Sensible Tech Advice for Back to School

We're coming up on another school year, so it's about time to start shopping for supplies. Let’s talk about some tech-related considerations. Then we’ll close with the product of the week, a new vacuum from LG. The post Sensible Tech Advice for Back to School appeared first on TechNewsWorld.

What does Tim Hortons think your data is worth? A coffee and donut, apparently

*Business sign of a Tim Horton’s cafeteria.* | Photo by Roberto Machado Noa/LightRocket via Getty Images

Tim Hortons, the Canadian fast food chain accused of using its mobile app to collect “vast amounts of sensitive location data” in violation of Canadian privacy laws, says it’s reached a proposed settlement in the resulting class action lawsuits, Vice reports. To make up for tracking users, recording their movements “every few minutes” even when the app was closed, the chain is proposing to give affected users… a free hot beverage and a free baked good worth a little under $9 CAD plus tax.

Customers started receiving emails detailing the proposed settlement on Friday, and screenshots were posted to Twitter by James McLeod. “You are receiving this email in connection with a proposed settlement, subject to Court approval, of a national class action lawsuit involving the Tim Hortons app and the collection of geolocation data between April 1, 2019, and September 30, 2020,” the email reads. “As part of the proposed settlement agreement, eligible app users will receive a free hot beverage and a free baked good.”

This has gotta go in a textbook or something. pic.twitter.com/ibSPFLl0km
— James McLeod (@jamespmcleod) July 29, 2022

As well as offering the drink and snack (which hold a retail value of $6.19 CAD and $2.39 CAD plus taxes respectively), Tim Hortons has also committed to permanently deleting all geolocation about group members. Crucially, however, the restaurant chain tells Global News that the proposed settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing, and that the allegations have not been proven in a court of law.

The allegations surfaced in a report from the National Post, when a reporter found that the app had tracked their location over 2,700 times in under five months. A subsequent investigation by Canadian privacy watchdogs said that although the app asked for location tracking permission, it misled users into thinking they would only be tracked while using the app. Instead, they were allegedly tracked throughout their day, allowing Tim Hortons to infer where they lived, where they worked, and to analyze when they visited competing restaurants or major sporting venues.

The company had initially planned to use this information for targeted advertising, but ended up using it to analyze user trends, like working out when they may have switched to rival coffee chains. “Tim Hortons clearly crossed the line by amassing a huge amount of highly sensitive information about its customers,” Canada’s privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien said when the report was released. “Following people’s movements every few minutes of every day was clearly an inappropriate form of surveillance.”

“We’re pleased to have reached a proposed settlement, subject to Court approval, in the four class action lawsuits in Quebec, British Columbia and Ontario involving the Tim Hortons app,” a spokesperson for the chain told Vice. “As part of the proposed settlement agreement, eligible app users will receive a free hot beverage and a free baked good.”

“All parties agree this is a fair settlement and we look forward to the Superior Court of Quebec’s decision on the proposal. We are confident that pending the Quebec court’s approval of the settlement, the courts in British Columbia and Ontario will recognize the settlement,” they said.

Landlords evicting tenants for Airbnb and holiday lets, report finds

Rachael Maskell, the York Central MP, has proposed a bill to tackle shortage of private rental housing

Landlords are evicting tenants and switching to Airbnbs and holiday lets because the money is better and they “do not have to worry about bad tenants”.

Research has found a boom in rental properties being used for short-term lets, caused by a rise in domestic holidays and increased regulations for long-term landlords.

After Pixar Ouster, John Lasseter Returns With Apple and ‘Luck’

After Pixar Ouster, John Lasseter Returns With Apple and ‘Luck’ John Lasseter was toppled five years ago by allegations about his workplace behavior. He’s back with an animated film and a studio that could be Pixar 2.0.

Robotic sensors could help transform prosthetics

Robotic sensors could help transform prosthetics A pioneering project to develop advanced sensors for use in robotic systems, could transform prosthetics and robotic limbs.

How Some Parents Changed Their Politics in the Pandemic

How Some Parents Changed Their Politics in the Pandemic They were once Democrats and Republicans. But fears for their children in the pandemic transformed their thinking, turning them into single-issue voters for November’s midterms.

dimanche 31 juillet 2022

The Vardy Effect: Going to court to deny something a rock could see is true

Rebekah Vardy probably isn’t buzzing at the ruling, a character assassination that has left her well and truly stung by libel

Oscar Wilde, Barbra Streisand, and now – Rebekah Vardy. When news broke that Vardy had lost her libel case against Coleen Rooney, she joined this heady roster of celebrities who have launched brain-bogglingly misguided and self-wounding legal cases. Like Wilde – who sued the Marquess of Queensberry for revealing his homosexuality – Vardy went to court to deny something that a rock could see was true: she’d passed on private stories about Rooney to the press. And like Streisand – who sued a website for featuring an image of her house, thereby drawing the world’s attention to it – she believed going to court was the best way to control her image. She was wrong.

Vardy traded private details of her husband’s colleagues and their wives in the hope of currying positive coverage in the media. And because of that, Mrs Justice Steyn delivered a verdict that was even more of a character assassination than Vardy’s own memorable description of Rooney to a Daily Mail journalist: “Arguing with Coleen Rooney would be as pointless as arguing with a pigeon: you can tell it that you are right and it is wrong, but it’s still going to shit in your hair.” Well, Rebekah, you’re covered in shit now.

Can artificial intelligence really help us talk to the animals?

A California-based organisation wants to harness the power of machine learning to decode communication across the entire animal kingdom. But the project has its doubters

A dolphin handler makes the signal for “together” with her hands, followed by “create”. The two trained dolphins disappear underwater, exchange sounds and then emerge, flip on to their backs and lift their tails. They have devised a new trick of their own and performed it in tandem, just as requested. “It doesn’t prove that there’s language,” says Aza Raskin. “But it certainly makes a lot of sense that, if they had access to a rich, symbolic way of communicating, that would make this task much easier.”

Raskin is the co-founder and president of Earth Species Project (ESP), a California non-profit group with a bold ambition: to decode non-human communication using a form of artificial intelligence (AI) called machine learning, and make all the knowhow publicly available, thereby deepening our connection with other living species and helping to protect them. A 1970 album of whale song galvanised the movement that led to commercial whaling being banned. What could a Google Translate for the animal kingdom spawn?