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Twitch and Amazon hit with lawsuit for training AI with streamers’ content
A Twitch streamer has filed a class action lawsuit against Twitch and its parent company, Amazon, alleging that his streams and videos were used without consent to train Amazon’s AI models. Warren Pandiscia, based in Connecticut, brought the suit after Courthouse News first reported the complaint, accusing the companies of breach of contract for treating…
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Is it safe to use a USB-C laptop charger on your phone?
Using a USB-C laptop charger to top up a phone is generally safe, thanks to the USB Power Delivery (USB-PD) standard that governs how modern chargers and devices communicate before power is transferred. Rather than the charger forcing electricity into the phone, the device itself negotiates and “pulls” only the amount of power it can…
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Devolution powers, Arriva bus strike returns, Zelensky corruption questions
Burnham pushes new mayoral powers over housing; Arriva North London drivers to strike again next week; Fedorov says Zelensky faces corruption questions; plus OpenAI’s cyber-attack warning and the Swans’ return.
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Is a liquid-cooled PC worth it?
Liquid cooling systems have become popular among high-end PC builders for their striking appearance, but they carry a higher price tag than traditional air coolers, prompting the question of whether they’re worth the extra cost. Both cooling types perform the same essential job of drawing heat away from a computer’s processor, but they use different…
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TechCrunch Mobility: The custom chip driving Waymo’s robotaxi ambitions
Waymo has revealed that a custom-built silicon chip is central to its sixth-generation self-driving system, offering a clearer picture of how the company plans to make its robotaxi business commercially viable. The disclosure comes as Waymo opens its next-generation Ojai robotaxi to all riders in Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Francisco, and follows the firm’s…
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These modern smartwatches are in their last year of updates
Several popular smartwatches from Apple, Google and Samsung will lose software support during 2026, marking the end of new features and, in some cases, security updates for these devices. The watches will keep working for basic tasks like step tracking and notifications, but the loss of security patches raises concerns for anyone using them for…
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After more than 15 years of laptops in the classroom, do Australian schools need a rethink?
Australia is reconsidering its heavy reliance on laptops and personal devices in classrooms, after federal education minister Jason Clare suggested children need a “digital detox” and Victoria announced it will scrap bring-your-own-device programmes in primary schools from January. The debate has gained momentum following disappointing Naplan results, which some commentators have labelled a “national tragedy”,…
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Illicit deeds have just gotten a new Halloween video game banned in Australia – and it’s not because of the violence
The upcoming multiplayer game Halloween: The Game has been refused classification in Australia, meaning it cannot legally be sold in the country. The ban stems not from its graphic violence, which includes brutal killings inspired by the horror film franchise, but from a mechanic allowing players to smoke marijuana to reveal the location of villain…
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Legal status of AI training on copyrighted books remains unsettled
Legal experts say the question of whether AI firms can legally train models on copyrighted books remains unsettled, despite a landmark ruling last year. Judge William Alsup ordered Anthropic to pay a $1.5 billion settlement to authors, but ruled that the AI training itself was lawful, comparing an AI’s ingestion of text to a writer…
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China postpones Chang’e 7 lunar mission until 2027
China’s Chang’e 7 lunar mission has been postponed until 2027 after the China Manned Space programme announced it “does not meet the conditions for launch” this year, scrapping a planned Sunday liftoff from the Wenchang Space Launch Site. No official reason was given, but the delay was most likely caused by Typhoon Narra battering the…