Innehållsförteckning för #674 från AppleMagazine

For decades, video games have relied on scripted, stilted interactions with non-player characters to help shepherd gamers in their journeys. But as artificial intelligence technology improves, game studios are experimenting with generative AI to help build environments, assist game writers in crafting NPC dialogue and lend video games the improvisational spontaneity once reserved for table-top role-playing games. In the multiplayer game “Retail Mage,” players help run a magical furniture store and assist customers in hopes of earning a five-star review. As a salesperson — and wizard — they can pick up and examine items or tell the system what they’d like to do with a product, such as deconstruct chairs for parts or tear a page from a book to write a note to a shopper. A player’s interactions with…

A high-powered U.N. advisory body said that global governance of artificial intelligence is “imperative” and urged the United Nations to lay the foundations for the first inclusive global institutions to regulate the fast-growing technology. In a 100-page report, the group said AI “is transforming our world,” offering tremendous potential for good from opening new areas of science and accelerating economic growth to improving public health, agriculture and optimizing energy grids. But left ungoverned, it said, AI’s benefits could be limited to a handful of countries, companies and individuals, while even more powerful systems than exist today “could upend the world of work,” create autonomous weapons, and pose risks to peace and security. The advisory body outlined principles that should guide formation of new institutions to govern AI including international law,…

Apple is giving more people the chance to test a software update that will implant artificial intelligence into its virtual assistant Siri and automate a variety of tedious tasks on the latest iPhone coming out. The free update was made available this week to an audience that has signed up to test Apple’s software before it’s released to all iPhone owners next month. Only two premium iPhones that came out last year contain the souped-up processor required to power the AI features included in the update, but that changed last Friday (20) when four new iPhone 16 models reach store shelves. All the iPhone 16 models, with starting prices ranging from $800 to $1,200, are equipped to handle the new technology, which the company is marketing as “Apple Intelligence.” That…

When Mykail James was 19 and working a holiday job at Victoria’s Secret, she took out a store credit card with a $2,000 credit line. When her school break was over, she realized she could no longer afford the payments. After missing a few, she paid off the card only to find that her credit score had decreased dramatically, affecting her ability to access other types of credit. “I didn’t get an actual bank credit card until I was 21, just because of that fear,” said James, who is now a financial expert and creator of The Boujie Budgeter. “Because of how it impacted my credit and also made it harder for me to buy a car a couple of months later.” With holiday shopping season around the corner, experts…

Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government. “The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years,” said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company’s first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria. The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers. Google counters that the government’s case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand…

As the use of artificial intelligence is expands, more small firms say they’re harnessing AI to help their businesses. In a survey by The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Teneo, nearly every small business — 98% — said they are utilizing a tool that is enabled by AI. Forty percent said they’re using generative AI tools like chatbots and image creation, nearly double from last year’s survey. Small business owners say finding the right AI tools helps them save on personnel costs and frees up time. But they also stress that human oversight is still a necessity. “AI allows small businesses — who many times do not have the staff or resources of their competitors — to punch above their weight,” said Jordan Crenshaw, senior vice president of the U.S.…

At this year’s September Event, Apple unveiled the Apple Watch Series 10, a device set to redefine the smartwatch landscape with its sleek design, advanced display, and innovative health, fitness, and connectivity features. As the world’s bestselling watch, the Apple Watch has evolved in appearance and ability to enhance lives; Series 10 takes that to new heights! STUNNING DISPLAY Although this year’s upgrades to the Apple Watch weren’t perhaps as dramatic as some had hoped, the Series 10 is the thinnest Apple Watch to date boasting a refined design that is nearly 10% slimmer than its predecessors. This new form factor improves comfort and complements the modern aesthetic that Apple products are known for. The watch features a metal back that integrates the antenna into the device’s housing, giving it…

A strike by more than 1,000 workers at a Samsung India Electronics plant has entered its third week, and management is at an impasse over their demands for recognition of the employees’ union and higher pay, a workers union spokesman said, The employees strike in the plant near Chennai, the capital of the southern state of Tamil Nadu, started on Sept. 9 with a key demand for a 25-30% pay hike in the average monthly salary of 30,000-35,000 rupees ($425), said K.C. Gopi Kumar, the spokesman for the Samsung India Electronics workers union. “Our foremost demand is recognition of the union and its rights by the management,” Kumar said. A Samsung official said that management was prepared to discuss the workers’ demands. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity…

Francis Ford Coppola believes he can stop time. It’s not just a quality of the protagonist of Coppola’s new film “Megalopolis,” a visionary architect named Cesar Catilina ( Adam Driver ) who, by barking “Time, stop!” can temporarily freeze the world for a moment before restoring it with a snap of his fingers. And Coppola isn’t referring to his ability to manipulate time in the editing suite. He means it literally. “We’ve all had moments in our lives where we approach something you can call bliss,” Coppola says. “There are times when you have to leave, have work, whatever it is. And you just say, ‘Well, I don’t care. I’m going to just stop time.’ I remember once actually thinking I would do that.” Time is much on Coppola’s mind.…

Hollywood’s actors union called a strike against the popular multiplayer online game “League of Legends” on Tuesday, arguing the company that produces the game attempted to get around the ongoing video game strike by hiring nonunion actors to work on a union title. The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists said the company, Formosa Interactive LLC, tried to “cancel” an unnamed video game affected by the strike shortly after the start of the work stoppage. The union said that when Formosa learned it could not cancel the game, the company “secretly transferred the game to a shell company and sent out casting notices for ‘non-union’ talent only.” In response, the union’s interactive negotiating committee voted unanimously to file an unfair labor practice charge against the company with…

School districts in California will have to create rules restricting student smartphone use under a new law Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed this week. The legislation makes California the latest state to try to curb student phone access in an effort to minimize distractions in the classroom and address the mental health impacts of social media on children. Florida, Louisiana, Indiana and several other states have passed laws aimed at restricting student phone use at school. “This new law will help students focus on academics, social development, and the world in front of them, not their screens, when they’re in school,” Newsom said in a statement. But some critics of phone restriction policies say the burden should not fall on teachers to enforce them. Others worry the rules will make…

The U.S. Justice Department has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Visa, alleging that the financial services behemoth uses its size and dominance to stifle competition in the debit card market, costing consumers and businesses billions of dollars. The complaint filed this week says San Francisco-based Visa penalizes merchants and banks who don’t use Visa’s own payment processing technology to process debit transactions, even though alternatives exist. Visa earns an incremental fee from every transaction processed on its network. According to the DOJ’s complaint, 60% of debit transactions in the United States run on Visa’s debit network, allowing it to charge over $7 billion in fees each year for processing those transactions. “We allege that Visa has unlawfully amassed the power to extract fees that far exceed what it could charge…

The Commerce Department said this week it’s seeking a ban on the sale of connected and autonomous vehicles in the U.S. that are equipped with Chinese and Russian software and hardware with the stated goal of protecting national security and U.S. drivers. While there is minimal Chinese and Russian software deployed in the U.S, the issue is more complicated for hardware. There are more Chinese parts on U.S. vehicles than software, and software can be changed much faster than physical parts. Replacing hardware also could require complex engineering and assembly line changes. That’s why Commerce officials said the prohibitions on the software would take effect for the 2027 model year and the prohibitions on hardware would take effect for the model year of 2030, or Jan. 1, 2029, for units…