Technology

The New York Times reports: A coalition of Canada’s biggest news organizations is suing OpenAI, the maker of the artificial intelligence chatbot, ChatGPT, accusing the company of illegally using their content in the first case of its kind in the country. Five of the country’s major news companies, including the publishers of its top newspapers, newswires and the national broadcaster, …

San Francisco’s Fox affiliate reports: Three people died early Wednesday and one person was taken to the hospital in a fiery Cybertruck crash in Piedmont, a day before Thanksgiving. Police Chief Jeremy Bowers told KTVU that the tragic scene was called in at 3:08 a.m. When officers arrived, they found a Cybertruck fully engulfed in flames. The mangled wreck came …

Ars Technica reports: US Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Congressman Jerry Nadler of New York have called on government bodies to investigate what they allege is the “predatory pricing” of .com web addresses, the Internet’s prime real estate. In a letter delivered today to the Department of Justice and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, a branch of the …

CNBC reports: The Department of Justice is calling for Google to divest its Chrome browser, following a ruling in August that the company holds a monopoly in the search market. Chrome, which Google launched in 2008, provides the search giant with data it then uses for targeting ads. The DOJ said in a filing on Wednesday that forcing the company …

Ars Technica reports: Elwood Edwards, the voice behind the online service America Online’s iconic “You’ve got mail” greeting, has died at age 74, one day before his 75th birthday, according to Cleveland’s WKYC Studios, where he worked for many years. The greeting became a cultural touchstone in the 1990s and early 2000s in the early Internet era; it was heard …

The New York Times reports: A team of nearly 100 Times journalists, engineers, statisticians, data experts and researchers are collaborating to deliver up-to-the-minute results, displayed live on nytimes.com with a full array of interactive maps and charts so that you can see what is happening in the most important races of the night. That data also feeds into the Needle, …

ABC News reports: SpaceX pulled off the boldest test flight yet of its enormous Starship rocket on Sunday, catching the returning booster back at the launch pad with mechanical arms. A jubilant Elon Musk called it “science fiction without the fiction part.” At the flight director’s command, the first-stage booster flew back to the launch pad where it had blasted …

Axios reports: Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled a self-driving vehicle with no steering wheel or pedals Thursday night, saying it would go into production before 2027. Musk has been teasing the robotaxi for years, but the so-called Tesla Cybercab took a step closer to becoming a reality when it dropped Musk off at the stage for the company’s “We, Robot” …

The Washington Post reports: Chinese hackers have breached at least three major U.S. telecommunications providers in what appears to be an audacious espionage operation likely aimed in part at discovering the Chinese targets of American surveillance, according to U.S. officials. The investigation by the FBI, U.S. intelligence agencies and the Department of Homeland Security is in its early stages. The …

ABC News reports: Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill Saturday that would have required new cars to beep at drivers if they exceed the speed limit. California would have become the first to require such systems for all new cars, trucks and buses sold in the state starting in 2030. The bill, aimed at reducing traffic deaths, would have mandated …

The Associated Press reports: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis urged EV owners this week to get their vehicles to higher ground before Hurricane Helene arrived. Although the problem is rare, there have been a number of instances in recent years of electric vehicles igniting after hurricanes. Keeping electric vehicles out of standing water is the best way to avoid the possibility …

Mashable reports: Apple’s newly announced hearing aid capability is officially the first over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aid software to be approved by the FDA. And it should be available on devices soon. The federal agency formally ushered in the tech giant’s new “Hearing Aid Feature” (or HAF, as the agency refers to it) mere days after the company’s keynote “Glowtime” event, …

Reuters reports: Apple on Monday unveiled its artificial intelligence-boosted iPhone 16, showing off the long-awaited phone hours after Chinese rival Huawei’s tri-fold phone began racking up orders. “The next generation of iPhone has been designed for Apple Intelligence from the ground up. It marks the beginning of an exciting new era,” Chief Executive Tim Cook said at a product launch. …

Futurism reports: In a pitch deck to prospective customers, one of Facebook’s alleged marketing partners explained how it listens to users’ smartphone microphones and advertises to them accordingly. As 404 Media reports based on documents leaked to its reporters, the TV and radio news giant Cox Media Group (CMG) claims that its so-called “Active Listening” software uses artificial intelligence (AI) …

The Hill reports: Tom Hanks is warning his fans to “not be fooled” or “swindled” by what he describes as fake, artificial intelligence (AI)-generated ads featuring his likeness. “There are multiple ads over the internet falsely using my name, likeness, and voice promoting miracle cures and wonder drugs,” Hanks wrote to his more than 9 million followers in an Instagram …

CNN reports: The war of words over Delta’s massive service meltdown, set off by CrowdStrike’s disastrous software update, has grown ugly. In a letter sent Thursday to CrowdStrike’s attorneys written by Delta’s high-powered lawyer, David Boies, the airline lashed out at the cybersecurity company, which has apologized for introducing a bug that led to a global tech outage. Boies, hired …

Tulsa’s ABC affiliate reports: The Tulsa Fire Department has shared a video showing a dog getting a hold of and chewing on a lithium-ion battery that appeared to be in some type of charger. The dog chewed on it until the battery exploded, causing a dog bed to catch fire. Two dogs in the home got away from the fire …

Mashable reports: The explosion of nonconsensual deepfake imagery online in the past year, particularly of female celebrities, has presented a difficult challenge for search engines. Even if someone isn’t looking for that material, searching for certain names can yield a shocking number of links to fake explicit photos and videos of that individual. Google is trying to tackle that problem …

CNBC reports: Meta agreed to pay a record $1.4 billion to settle a lawsuit by the state of Texas over the Facebook owner’s unauthorized use of biometric data by users, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Tuesday. The suit, filed by Paxton in February 2022, accused Meta of capturing and using the biometric data of millions of Texas residents — …

NBC News reports: Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian apologized and offered frequent flyer miles to travelers for thousands of flight cancellations as the carrier struggled to recover from Friday’s globe-spanning IT outage, disruptions that sparked criticism from Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. The Atlanta-based airline canceled more than 4,600 flights from Friday through Sunday, more than any other airline, according …