The FTC is looking at fixing appliance repair, but it needs to go beyond manuals

Enlarge / The circuitry that’s increasingly inside every modern appliance adds another layer of complexity to fixing the things you own. (credit: Getty Images) The Federal Trade Commission is considering new rules that would require any appliances touting a familiar yellow EnergyGuide label to also include “information on how consumers can repair their products.” Citing…

UK watchdog warns against AI for emotional analysis, dubs ‘immature’ biometrics a bias risk

The UK’s privacy watchdog has warned against use of so-called “emotion analysis” technologies for anything more serious than kids’ party games, saying there’s a discrimination risk attached to applying “immature” biometric tech that makes pseudoscientific claims about being able to recognize people’s emotions using AI to interpret biometric data inputs. Such AI systems ‘function’, if…

Valence Security raises fresh capital to secure the SaaS app supply chain

Valence Security, a company securing business app infrastructure, today announced that it raised $25 million in a Series A round led by M12, Microsoft’s corporate venture arm, with participation from YL Ventures, Porsche Ventures, Akamai Technologies, Alumni Ventures and former Symantec CEO Michael Fey. The new capital brings the company’s total raised to $32 million,…

How to use Live Text in iOS 16.1

iOS 16.1 has arrived, and it comes packing a variety of new features including Live Activitities, iCloud Shared Photo Library, and new collaboration tools. It’s not all about new features, though, and the update also brings a huge update to iOS 15’s excellent Live Text feature that arrived last year. The clever feature became incredibly…

A Russian airport is selling a fake flight experience — with check-in, security, but no take-off — as the Ukraine war roils Russian aviation

A view of empty seats and spaces at Vnukovo International Airport after Western countries closed their airspace to Russia. The airport pictured is not Anapa Airport. Nuran Erkul Kaya/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images Russia’s Air Transport Agency suspended flights from some airports after the invasion of Ukraine. One started selling a bundle of pre-flight procedures…

White House officials thought they’d struck a secret oil deal with Saudi Arabia only for Biden to be humiliated when the kingdom abandoned it: NYT

US President Joe Biden meets Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah in July. Bandar Algaloud/Reuters White House officials believed they’d struck a secret oil deal with Saudi Arabia, per NY Times.  But Saudi leader Mohammed bin Salman then backtracked on it, taking them by surprise.  The Saudi decision to cut oil output before…

Adidas expects to lose $246 million in profit this year after cutting ties with Kanye West

David Livingston/Getty Images Adidas expects to lose $246 million in profit by the end of the year after cutting ties with Ye. Baird estimates Yeezy generated $1.7 billion in annual revenues for Adidas, or 8% of its 2021 total. Forbes estimates that the loss of the partnership would tank Ye’s net worth by around $1.5…