Tech

It feels like Microsoft adds AI features to Office on a weekly basis, and now one of the company’s main executives in charge of those efforts is getting tired of AI slop generated at work. Ryan Roslansky, who took over leading the Office org at Microsoft last year, posted a warning on LinkedIn last week about AI slop “happening in the day to day of work,” after he received a fully AI-generated document from a colleague. Roslansky also oversees the group responsible for LinkedIn, which recently added an AI slop reporting button that’s proving to be rather popular.

With PlayStation Vue long gone, Sony added a new FAST package today for PlayStation 5 owners in the US and soon in Canada, available under the Media section.

AB 1856 redefines an “operating system provider” to exclude open-source software from the state’s age-gating law, set to go into effect on January 1st, Tom’s Hardware reports. It follows a similar exemption added to Colorado’s age verification bill earlier this year.

The San Antonio Express-News reports that a request from Pflugerville, TX, resident Sam Aly found that hundreds of unauthorized agencies were searching the city’s Flock data, even though the company claims only two agencies were improperly included. The City Council canceled Flock’s contract last week and covered its cameras.

It’s the top navigation app on Apple’s and Google’s app stores after it took a stance against renaming Lake Ontario to “Lake America.” Google Maps changed the name of the Great Lake over the weekend, while Apple Maps may make the switch following the company’s chat with President Trump, according to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.

The Mate XT was the world’s first trifold smartphone when it launched last year but the sequel has debuted with a major change. Instead of the original’s Z-shaped arrangement of folding panels, the Huawei Mate XT 2’s side panels each fold inwards meaning you can only use its larger screen when the device is fully unfolded. Preorders are now open in China, but full pricing won’t be known until September 7th.

In a lawsuit filed on Friday, AT&T claims Charter misuses the word “fiber” in its “Spectrum Fiber Broadband Network” service to “hide the fact that its network mainly connects to customers’ homes using copper wire:”

Google is pitching its AI tools as a way to streamline production and visual effects, but the effort faces pushback from union workers and creators concerned about copyright, job displacement, and artistic control.

Its conversational AI agent is called ThinQ Claw (a riff on OpenClaw) and builds on its acquisition of Homey. LG says it can “understand user intent and context and help complete tasks by connecting and coordinating relevant services and devices,” be they LG appliances or third-party products. It’s being demoed for the first time at the big IFA tech show kicking off later this week.

According to Mark Gurman, the company built a stubbier Apple Pencil that magnetically attached to the side of the phone for storage and charging. But it was awkward in certain positions and could leave marks on the delicate foldable screens. Ultimate Gurman says:

The privacy-focused browser will now let users create decoy addresses to sign up for services. Brave will still forward messages from those services to your primary email, so you won’t miss out on important updates. But it adds a layer of protection, making it harder for big tech to track you.

I guest-starred on the Expedition: Handheld podcast this week and brought LOTS of show-and-tell. It’s almost like an extended version of Today I’m Toying With, though it’s on audio podcast platforms as well! Let me know what you think?

The company’s latest virtual synth is focused entirely on the low end. It’s purpose-built for EDM wubs, tuned 808 thumps, and even some heavy gabber kicks. It’s not a subtle instrument, that’s for sure. But it’s plenty of fun if you like rattling the walls.

Even if it’s Trump, stepping away from your company’s all-hands to take a call from the president makes sense. But it’s very funny, as Wired reports, that NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang was still mic’d up when he stepped away, letting some staffers hear Trump’s voice on the call.

How can Xbox possibly get to a billion users per day while cutting studios? Oh, just by obtaining three more hits as big as Minecraft, Call of Duty and Candy Crush. “We’ve got three billion-dollar annual franchises every year. I think we should have six to eight in the coming years,” she tells BBC News.

Data center developers typically have to apply for permits to install generators that create local air pollution. The DataOne facility in New Jersey is the latest project accused of violating federal law by running on gas-fired generators without approval.

The version 5.07 update will allow you to “add and adjust more metrics” to workouts you manually log, as well as view these changes more quickly in workout summaries. Google also says the Health app’s built-in map now has faster load times and smoother rendering.