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AI might undermine one of the better alternatives to the Kindle

6 hours ago | engadget.com | Ian Carlos Campbell

Amy Skorheim for EngadgetKobo, a Rakuten subsidiary that sells ebooks and ereaders, has built its name on being a more open and author-friendly version of Amazon Kindle. However, a recent change to the company's self-publishing business has some writers worried that reputation might change. Last month, the company updated its Terms of Service for Kobo Writing Life, its publishing platform, which opened the door to AI features on the platform.
Elon Musk reportedly fired a key Tesla executive following another month of flagging sales

1 day ago | engadget.com | Ian Carlos Campbell

Elon Musk has reportedly fired Omead Afshar, Tesla's head of manufacturing and operations in North America and Europe, according to Forbes. Both CNBCand Bloomberg corroborated the report. Afshar's exit follows Milan Kovac, the head of engineering on Tesla's Optimus robot, who left the company in early June. Afshar was promoted to the role last year, Bloomberg reports, after working for multiple different Musk-owned companies since 2017.
Google tweaked its AI-powered Ask Photos feature and restarted its rollout

1 day ago | engadget.com | Ian Carlos Campbell

GoogleGoogle has improved its AI-powered Ask Photos feature and is restarting its rollout to eligible users in the US. The company paused the launch of Ask Photos in early June over issues with latency and the feature's interface. To make Ask Photos speedier, especially on simple searches for dogs or people, Google says its essentially combining the old Google Photos search with Ask Photos.
US senators reintroduce bill to open Apple and Google's app stores

2 days ago | engadget.com | Ian Carlos Campbell

REUTERS / ReutersSenators Marsha Blacburn (R-Tenn.), Mike Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) have reintroduced a bill that would force app store owners like Apple and Google to allow third-party payment systems and sideloading apps, among a collection of other developer-friendly changes.
AI-powered chat summaries are coming to WhatsApp

2 days ago | engadget.com | Ian Carlos Campbell

MetaMeta is adding a new Message Summaries feature to WhatsApp that uses AI to summarize unread messages in a few bullet points. The feature is built on the Private Processing technique Meta announced at Llamacon in April, and claims to let AI work with content in WhatsApp without exposing any of it to Meta itself. Once the feature appears in your app, you just tap on the onscreen banner over your unread messages with that says "Summarize privately" to receive a summary from Meta AI.
Tesla's first robotaxi rides are already running into a few bumps

4 days ago | engadget.com | Ian Carlos Campbell

TeslaTesla launched its robotaxi service over the weekend, with only a small number of cars and heavy human supervision on and off the road. While less impressive than previously promised, the company's caution ultimately seems for the best — at least one robotaxi attempted to drive on the wrong side of the road, based on a video posted to X and spotted by Bloomberg. The ride video shared by Rob Maurer is largely uneventful, with the Tesla navigating turns and lane merges with few issues.
Riot Games shuts down Hypixel Studios and ends development of Hytale

4 days ago | engadget.com | Lawrence Bonk

Here's a bit of sad news for gamers. Hypixel Studios is shutting down and ending development of Hytale. The game looked pretty nifty, combining action-RPG mechanics with Minecraft. Riot Games purchased the developer back in 2020, though it has been working on Hytale a lot longer than that.
Tesla’s first Robotaxi rides kick off in Austin, Texas

5 days ago | engadget.com | Mat Smith

TeslaThe June 22 launch of Tesla's robotaxis in Austin, Texas, actually occurred. It's a tentative first step for the company, however: a human "Tesla Safety Monitor" is accompanying the first riders. There are also only ten cars and rides are limited to certain Tesla users. Those early riders and influencers have been sharing their experiences on social media, mostly (surprise) on X.
Chinese company Netease is making an AAA action-adventure game called 'Blood Message'

1 week ago | engadget.com | Mariella Moon

NetEase, the Chinese video game company that published Marvel Rivals and Bungie's Destiny: Rising, has announced its first single-player AAA game. It's a story-driven third-person action-adventure game called Blood Message, and as Polygon notes, it's in the vein of Uncharted and Assassin's Creed. The story is set in the final years of the Tang Dynasty, which ruled imperial China from 618 to 907.
Apple is reportedly considering the acquisition of Perplexity AI

1 week ago | engadget.com | Mariella Moon

Kevin Carter via Getty ImagesApple's executives are thinking of acquiring Perplexity AI both to get more talent and to be able to offer an AI-based search engine in the future, according to Bloomberg. Adrian Perica, Apple's head of mergers and acquisitions, has reportedly already talked about the idea with services SVP Eddy Cue and the company's top decision-makers with it comes to its AI efforts.