Scott J Mulligan writes for MIT Technology Review: Roblox plans to roll out a generative AI tool that will let creators make whole 3D scenes just using text prompts, it announced today. Once it's up and running, developers on the hugely popular online game platform will be able to simply write "Generate a race track in the desert," for example, and the AI will spin one up. Users will also be able to modify scenes or expand their scope -- say, to change a daytime scene to night or switch the desert for a forest. Although developers can already create similar scenes like this manually in the platform's creator studio, Roblox claims its new generative AI model will make the changes happen in a fraction of the time. It also claims that it will give developers with minimal 3D art skills the ability to craft more compelling environments. The firm didn't give a specific date for when the tool will be live.

[...] The new tool is part of Roblox's push to integrate AI into all its processes. The company currently has 250 AI models live. One AI analyzes voice chat in real time and screens for bad language, instantly issuing reprimands and possible bans for repeated infractions. Roblox plans to open-source its 3D foundation model so that it can be modified and used as a basis for innovation. "We're doing it in open source, which means anybody, including our competitors, can use this model," says [Anupam Singh, vice president of AI and growth engineering at Roblox]. Getting it into as many hands as possible also opens creative possibilities for developers who are not as skilled at creating Roblox environments. "There are a lot of developers that are working alone, and for them, this is going to be a game changer, because now they don't have to try to find someone else to work with," says [Marcus Holmstrom, CEO of The Gang, a company that builds some of the top games on Roblox].

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: The U.S. Commerce Department said Monday it is proposing to require detailed reporting requirements for advanced artificial intelligence developers and cloud computing providers to ensure the technologies are safe and can withstand cyberattacks. The proposal from the department's Bureau of Industry and Security would set mandatory reporting to the federal government about development activities of "frontier" AI models and computing clusters. It would also require reporting on cybersecurity measures as well as outcomes from so-called red-teaming efforts like testing for dangerous capabilities including the ability to assist in cyberattacks or lowering barriers to entry for non-experts to develop chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear weapons. External red-teaming has been used for years in cybersecurity to identify new risks, with the term referring to U.S. Cold War simulations where the enemy was termed the "red team." [...] Commerce said the information collected under the proposal "will be vital for ensuring these technologies meet stringent standards for safety and reliability, can withstand cyberattacks, and have limited risk of misuse by foreign adversaries or non-state actors." Further reading: Biden Signs Executive Order To Oversee and Invest in AI

Apple announced today that it's adding sleep apnea detection to the Apple Watch, including the Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10, and Apple Watch Ultra 2. The Verge reports: Sleep apnea is a disorder that causes you to stop breathing as you sleep. Sleep apnea is a feature that wearables makers have been working on for some time, with Samsung getting cleared by the FDA for sleep apnea tracking with the Galaxy Watch earlier this year. Apple says it's using the accelerometer on its watches to monitor a new metric that it calls "breathing disturbances." You'll be able to see your nightly breathing disturbance values in the Health app.

The company expects to get FDA clearance for its sleep apnea detection feature soon, and it plans to launch the feature in more than 150 countries and regions. The company says its sleep detection was validated in a study that was "unprecedented" in size for sleep apnea technology.

CrowdStrike CFO Burt Podbere says the cybersecurity firm has not faced lawsuits over July's global IT outage. Speaking at a conference, Podbere emphasized efforts to shift customer focus from legal threats to business discussions. The Register: There were dark rumblings from Delta Air Lines last month, for example, threatening litigation over alleged gross negligence. At the time, CrowdStrike reiterated its apologies, saying: "Public posturing about potentially bringing a meritless lawsuit against CrowdStrike as a long-time partner is not constructive to any party." During his time at the Citi conference, Podbere admitted: "We don't know how it's all going to shake out.

"Everything we're doing and trying to do is take the legal discussion away from our interaction with customers and move it to the business discussion. "And as time goes on, that does get easier because we're moving further away from the Sun, right? And that's how we think about it."

James Earl Jones, the beloved actor best known for his roles in "Field of Dreams," "The Lion King," and "Star Wars," has died at the age of 93. Deadline reports: Widely regarded as among the world's great stage and screen actors Jones is one of the few entertainers to have won the EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony), though his Academy Award was Honorary. Jones has received two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Daytime Emmy, a spoken-word Grammy Award in 1977 and three Tony Awards.

The actor amassed nearly 200 screen credits during his brilliant 60-year career, starting some early-'60s TV guest roles and Stanley Kubrick's 1964 classic Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964). He probably is best known for his voice role as the dastardly Darth Vader in George Lucas' original Star Wars trilogy: Star Wars (1977) The Empire Strikes Back, 1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983). He also reprised the villainous role in Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith (2005), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars: Episode IX -- The Rise of Skywalker (2019) and TV's Obi-Wan Kenobi and Star Wars: Rebels.

Movie fans will remember such chilling, immortal Vader quotes as "When I left you, I was but the learner -- now I am the master," "I find your lack of faith disturbing" and, of course, "No, I am your father."

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times: For years, Google has faced complaints about how it dominates the online advertising market. Many of the concerns stem from the internet giant's suite of software known as Google Ad Manager, which websites around the world use to sell ads on their sites. The technology conducts split-second auctions to place ads each time a user loads a page. The dominance of that technology has landed Google in federal court. On Monday, Judge Leonie Brinkema of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia will preside over the start of a trial in which the Department of Justice accuses the company of abusing control of its ad technology and violating antitrust law (Warning: source may be paywalled; alternative source).

It would be Google's second antitrust trial in less than a year. In August, a federal judge ruled in a separate case that Google had illegally maintained a monopoly in online search, a major victory for the Justice Department. The new trial is the latest salvo by federal antitrust regulators against Big Tech, testing a century-old competition law against companies that have reshaped the way people shop, communicate and consume information. Federal regulators have also filed antitrust lawsuits against Apple,Amazon and Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, saying those companies have also abused their power. Google's vice president for regulatory affairs, Lee-Anne Mulholland, said in a blog post on Sunday that the Justice Department was "picking winners and losers in a highly competitive industry."

"With the cost of ads going down and the number of ads sold going up, the market is working," she said. "The DOJ's case risks inefficiencies and higher prices -- the last thing that America's economy or our small businesses need right now."

Apple says AirPods Pro 2 will receive a software feature "soon" that will turn the wireless earbuds into "clinical-grade" hearing aids. "This includes a hearing protection mode being enabled by default, offering passive noise cancellation in loud environments," adds 9to5Mac. From the report: Firstly, users can take a clinically-validated hearing test. The hearing test uses your AirPods and iPhone, and can be conducted by a user in under five times. The result of your hearing test can be viewed securely in the Health app. If hearing loss is detected, the hearing aid mode is then available to use. The AirPods will make it easier to hear sounds from the world around you. A custom hearing profile is automatically applied when listening to audio, like music or podcasts.

The hearing aid feature is currently making its way through the FDA and other regulatory bodies. Apple said the functionality will be available in more than 100 countries. The feature will be enabled through a free software update coming later this year to AirPods Pro 2.

Steven Levy, writing for Wired: My first story for WIRED -- yep, 31 years ago -- looked at a group of "crypto rebels" who were trying to pry strong encryption technology from the government-classified world and send it into the mainstream. Naturally I attempted to speak to someone at the National Security Agency for comment and ideally get a window into its thinking. Unsurprisingly, that was a no-go, because the NSA was famous for its reticence. Eventually we agreed that I could fax (!) a list of questions. In return I got an unsigned response in unhelpful bureaucratese that didn't address my queries. Even that represented a loosening of what once was total blackout on anything having to do with this ultra-secretive intelligence agency. For decades after its post-World War II founding, the government revealed nothing, not even the name, of this agency and its activities. Those in the know referred to it as "No Such Agency."

In recent years, the widespread adoption of encryption technology and the vital need for cybersecurity has led to more openness. Its directors began to speak in public; in 2012, NSA director Keith Alexander actually keynoted Defcon. I'd spent the entire 1990s lobbying to visit the agency for my book Crypto; in 2013, I finally crossed the threshold of its iconic Fort Meade Headquarters for an on-the-record conversation with officials, including Alexander. NSA now has social media accounts on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. And there is a form on the agency website for podcasters to request guest appearances by an actual NSA-ite.

So it shouldn't be a total shock that NSA is now doing its own podcast. You don't need to be an intelligence agency to know that pods are a unique way to tell stories and hold people's attention. The first two episodes of the seven-part season dropped this week. It's called No Such Podcast, earning some self-irony points from the get-go. In keeping with the openness vibe, the NSA granted me an interview with an official in charge of the project -- one of the de facto podcast producers, a title that apparently is still not an official NSA job posting. Since NSA still gotta NSA, I can't use this person's name. But my source did point out that in the podcast itself, both the hosts and the guests -- who are past and present agency officials -- speak under their actual identities.

An anonymous reader shares a report: It seems like Apple is already moving on from FineWoven. After introducing the FineWoven brand with a series of very bad cases and accessories last year, it appears as though Apple opted not to release new cases featuring the material for the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro. Apple has stopped offering FineWoven cases for the iPhone 15 lineup on its website, too. Apple launched FineWoven, which had a microtwill material, as a replacement for its leather cases. But the cases quickly accumulated visible wear and tear and picked up bits of lint, which could make them look dirty relatively quickly.

Apple plans to release the next versions of iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS to the general public on September 16, the company announced via its website following its iPhone-centric product event earlier today. From a report: We should also see updates for tvOS and the HomePod operating system on the same date. The new releases bring a number of new features and refinements to Apple's platforms: better texting with Android devices thanks to support for the RCS standard, iPhone Mirroring that allows you to interact with your iPhone via your Mac, more UI customization options for iPhones and iPads, and other improvements besides. What won't be included in these initial releases is any hint of Apple Intelligence, the batch of generative AI and machine learning features that Apple announced at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June. Apple is testing some of the Apple Intelligence features in betas of iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS 15.1, updates that will be released later this fall.

Apple announced the iPhone 16 Pro lineup at Monday's product event. The company's new flagship smartphones have slightly bigger screens across both models: 6.3 inches on the iPhone 16 Pro and 6.9 inches on the iPhone 16 Pro Max (up from 6.1 inches and 6.7 inches, respectively, on the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max). The Verge: The bodies of the phones are once again made from titanium. It comes in four colors: black, white, natural, and a new "desert titanium." Apple also claims that the iPhone 16 Pro Max has "the best iPhone battery life ever." The iPhone 16 Pro lineup comes with the A18 Pro chip, with a 16-core Neural Engine that it says will offer "amazing performance" for Apple Intelligence features, including 15 percent faster performance than the iPhone 15 Pro. It also has improved graphics performance thanks to a 6-core GPU that's 20 percent faster than the iPhone 15 Pro's A17 Pro.

The iPhone 16 Pro starts at $999, whereas the iPhone 16 Pro Max starts at $1,199.

Sharks are deserting their coral reef homes as the climate crisis continues to heat up the oceans, scientists have discovered. From a report: This is likely to harm the sharks, which are already endangered, and their absence could have serious consequences for the reefs, which are also struggling. The reef sharks are a key part of the highly diverse and delicate ecosystem, which could become dangerously unbalanced without them. The researchers tagged and tracked more than 120 grey reef sharks living on the remote coral reefs of the Chagos archipelago in the central Indian Ocean from 2013 to 2020. As reefs became more stressed, particularly during the major ocean-warming El Niño event of 2015-16, the sharks spent significantly less time there. They failed to return to normal residency for up to 16 months after a stress event.

However, the sharks actually spent more time on a minority of the coral reefs. These reefs were healthier and more resilient, due to factors including the eradication of invasive rats and higher populations of birds, which help fertilise the reef. The researchers said this showed that increasing the protection of coral reefs from human-caused damage may help sharks remain on their home reefs. Sharks are cold-blooded and their body temperature is linked to water temperature. "If it gets too hot, they're going to need to move," said Dr David Jacoby, a lecturer in zoology at Lancaster University and the leader of the research project. "We think many are choosing to move into offshore, deeper and cooler waters, which is concerning. Some of the sharks were disappearing entirely from the reef for long periods of time. Reef sharks are already absent from nearly 20% of coral reefs globally, partly through [overfishing], and this new finding has the potential to exacerbate these trends."

A month before its planned delivery after years of delay and cost growth, RTX's $7.6 billion ground network to control GPS satellites is still marred by problems that may further stall its acceptance by the US Space Force, congressional auditors said Monday. From a report: RTX's system of 17 ground stations for current and improved GPS satellites was supposed to be ready by October, when it would undergo a series of intense Space Force tests to assess whether it can be declared operational by December 2025. The system continues to draw the ire of lawmakers because it's running more than seven years late in a development phase that's about 73% costlier than initial projections.

Two rounds of testing by the company have been "marked by significant challenges that drove delays to the program's schedule," the Government Accountability Office said Monday in a broad review of the US military's GPS program, including improvements intended to block jamming by adversaries.

The Next Generation Operational Control System, known as OCX, is intended to provide improvements, including access to more secure, jam-resistant software for the military's use of the GPS navigation system, which is also depended on by civilians worldwide. "The program faces challenges from product deficiencies" that "create a risk of further delay," the Pentagon's Defense Contract Management Agency told the GAO, adding that it expects RTX at the earliest to deliver OCX by December.

Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) cases have been reported in five U.S. states this year, including a fatal case in New Hampshire last month. The rare mosquito-borne illness, which has no known cure, kills 30-40% of those infected and often causes permanent neurological damage in survivors.

Public health officials are monitoring the situation closely. Massachusetts has implemented insecticide spraying in high-risk areas and issued advisories for residents to limit outdoor activities during peak mosquito hours.

Climate change may be contributing to EEE's spread, as warmer, wetter conditions favor mosquito breeding. Researchers note the virus has advanced into northern regions where it was previously undetected. From 2003 to 2019, the Northeast saw an increase to 4-5 cases per year on average, up from less than one annual case between 1964 and 2002.

Abstract of a paper by Clifford Asness of quant investor AQR Capital: Market efficiency is a central issue in asset pricing and investment management, but while the level of efficiency is often debated, changes in that level are relatively absent from the discussion. I argue that over the past 30+ years markets have become less informationally efficient in the relative pricing of common stocks, particularly over medium horizons. I offer three hypotheses for why this has occurred, arguing that technologies such as social media are likely the biggest culprit. Looking ahead, investors willing to take the other side of these inefficiencies should rationally be rewarded with higher expected returns, but also greater risks. I conclude with some ideas to make rational, diversifying strategies easier to stick with amid a less-efficient market.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Italy-based app company Bending Spoons, which owns Evernote and Meetup, is planning to lay off 75% of the staff of file transfer service WeTransfer, TechCrunch has learned. Bending Spoons acquired the Dutch company in July for an undisclosed amount.

The company confirmed the plans for the WeTransfer layoff to TechCrunch. The staff that is being let go will be informed after Bending Spoons goes through local regulations in different countries regarding lay offs. Dutch media reported that WeTransfer has over 350 employees.

Rising temperatures are threatening the future of Napa Valley's prized cabernet sauvignon, forcing winemakers to adapt to increasingly severe heat waves. Some vineyards are experimenting with heat-tolerant grape varieties to blend with cabernet, while others are investing in cooling technologies.

The shift poses significant risks for Napa's multibillion-dollar wine industry. U.S. regulations require wines labeled as cabernet to contain at least 75% cabernet grapes, and blends typically command lower prices in the market. Studies show the average temperature during the crucial ripening period in Napa has warmed almost 3 degrees Fahrenheit (1.7C) from 1958 to 2016. Extreme heat can damage molecules that produce a wine's color and aroma, potentially altering the renowned flavor profile of Napa cabernets.

Amazon's Audible will begin inviting a select group of US-based audiobook narrators to train AI on their voices, the clones of which can then be used to make audiobook recordings. From a report: The effort, which kicks off next week, is designed to add more audiobooks to the service, quickly and cheaply -- and to welcome traditional narrators into the evolving world of audiobook automation which, to date, many have regarded warily. Last year, Audible began offering US-based, self-published authors who make their books available on the Kindle Store the option of having their works narrated by a generic "virtual voice." The initiative has been popular. As of May, more than 40,000 books in Audible were marked as having made use of the technology. Under the new arrangement, rather than limiting the audio work entirely to company-owned synthetic voices, Audible will be encouraging professional narrators to get in on the action.

"Six years after sailing out of San Francisco with the ambition of developing the technology to rid the world's oceans of plastic, The Ocean Cleanup returned to San Francisco with the knowledge and know-how to relegate the Great Pacific Garbage Patch to the history books," according to a new announcement from the group.

As the Los Angeles Time describes it, "After three years extracting plastic waste from the notorious Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an environmental nonprofit says it can finish the job within a decade..." Twice the size of Texas, the mass of about 79,000 metric tons of plastic floating in the Pacific Ocean between California and Hawaii is growing at an exponential pace, according to researchers. At current levels, the cleanup would take a decade with a price tag of $7.5 billion, the Netherlands-based Ocean Cleanup said in a press release, announcing the group's intention to eliminate the garbage patch entirely. However, computer models suggest a more aggressive approach could complete the job in just five years and cost $4 billion.

The cleanup vessels deploy enormous u-shaped floating barriers to funnel trash toward a focal point where it can then be loaded aboard and brought to shore... In their three years at sea, the Ocean Cleanup vessels have removed more than a million pounds of trash, representing 0.5% of the total accumulation. "We have shown the world that the impossible is now possible. The only missing thing is who will ensure this job gets done," said Boyan Slat, founder and chief executive of the Ocean Cleanup.
Project founder Boyan Slat said in their statement that "Today's announcement is clear: clean oceans can be achieved in a manageable time and for a clear cost.

"Through the hard work of the past 10 years, humanity has the tools needed to clean up the ocean. We have shown the world that the impossible is now possible... [F]or the first time, we can tell the world what it costs, what is needed and how long it could take. It is time for action."

Next year the group will take "a one-year operational hiatus," according to the announcement — to deploy a new initiative mapping areas of intense plastic accumulation to make extractions "more impactful."

U.S. Justice Department officials "are turning to the 3D-printing industry to help stop the proliferation of tiny pieces of plastic transforming weapons into illegal homemade machine guns," reports the Associated Press: "Law enforcement cannot do this alone," [U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said Friday] during a gathering in Washington of federal law enforcement officials, members of the 3D-printing industry and academia. "We need to engage software developers, technology experts and leaders in the 3-D-printing industry to identify solutions in this fight...."

Guns with conversion devices have been used in several mass shootings, including one that left four dead at a sweet sixteen party in Alabama last year... Monaco on Friday also announced several other efforts designed to crack down on the devices, including a national training initiative for law enforcement and prosecutors.

The deputy attorney general is also launching a committee designed to help spot trends and gather intelligence.