Google Photos for Chromebooks is getting a video editor and movie maker

Later this year, Google Photos is going to get a significant update that has the distinction of first arriving on Chromebooks. According to a Google blog post, Google Photos will get a new movie editor and video editing features this fall as part of an…

A Filipino politician wants to make ghosting a criminal offense

A lawmaker wants to punish people for ghosting, or abruptly cutting off communications with someone without explaining why. Arnolfo Teves Jr., a member of the Philippine House of Representatives, claimed in a note accompanying his bill that ghosting “can be likened to a form of emotional cruelty and should be punished as an emotional offense.”

Teves referred to studies that indicate social rejection activates the same neural pathways as physical pain. He argued that “ghosting is a form of spite that develops feelings of rejection and neglect” and claimed the emotional toll can impact productivity. The bill doesn’t propose specific penalties, but Teves suggested in an interview that community service would be appropriate.

The proposed legislation doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. It defines ghosting as something that happens when a person is “engaged in a dating relationship.” The document goes on to define a dating relationship as one where the parties live together without being married or are “romantically involved over time and on a continuing basis.” Teves claimed neither casual acquaintances nor “ordinary socialization” constitutes a dating relationship. If you’re being ghosted by someone you’re in more than a casual relationship with (especially a domestic partner!), then there are bigger problems to worry about.

Importantly, the bill does not account for blocking someone without explanation if they’re being creepy or threatening. As The Washington Post notes, the bill isn’t likely to pass as it stands. The legislature likely has more pressing concerns anyway.

The bill suggests ghosting occurs “for no apparent justifiable reason but solely to cause emotional distress to the victim.” That’s not really the case. People are busy! They don’t always have time to keep chatting to everyone who messages them on a dating app. Also, folks often feel they lack the communication skills to have open and honest conversations. Maybe the ghoster just thinks you’re boring and wants to let you down relatively gently.

Being ghosted sucks. But expecting someone you don’t really know to keep chatting with you isn’t smart. Proposing to punish people for ghosting after you’ve been burned too many times instead of going to therapy probably isn’t the answer either.

‘Grand Theft Auto VI’ reportedly has a female lead

Grand Theft Auto VI might reflect evolving social attitudes as much as it does gameplay. Bloombergsources claim Rockstar’s future open-world title will include the franchise’s first playable female lead character. The Latina woman will reportedly be part of a Bonnie and Clyde-inspired duo at the heart of the story. Developers are also trying to shake a past reputation for transphobia and won’t make jokes about marginalized groups, the tipsters said.

Rockstar’s attempt to avoid crunch time is also affecting both the scope and release date for the game, according to the sources. GTA VI was supposedly meant to cover large portions of North and South America, but was whittled back to a fictional version of the Miami area (presumably Vice City). And while financial analysts are predicting a release sometime between April 2023 and March 2024, Bloomberg‘s contacts believe the game is “at least” two years away.

The company has apparently overhauled its design and management structures to reduce the need for excessive work hours. It reportedly added team members, created more opportunities for time off and fired leaders who were allegedly abusive or difficult. While the insiders described problems with bureaucratic overhead and some frustration over a lack of progress, many employees were said to be happy with the reduced pressure.

There’s enough financial breathing room, at least. GTA V and GTA Online have enjoyed success for years. GTA V only left The NPD Group’s top 20 yearly bestsellers in 2020, and that was because NPD stopped tracking digital sales from Rockstar parent company Take-Two. GTAO, meanwhile, has been popular enough that Rockstar launched a GTA+ subscription service this year to profit from the game’s biggest fans. GTA VI may arrive more than a decade after its predecessor, but its creators won’t suffer much from the long wait.

The best smart speakers you can buy

When Amazon first introduced Alexa and the Echo speaker years ago, the idea of talking to a digital assistant wasn’t totally novel. Both the iPhone and Android phones had semi-intelligent voice controls — but with the Echo, Amazon took its first step t…

Spotify’s Car Thing player is no longer a thing

Spotify’s less-than-stellar quarter can be partly blamed on a decision to exit the hardware business. As part of its earnings data, the streaming service revealed that it stopped manufacturing its Car Thing player. In a statement to Engadget, a company spokesperson pinned the decision on “several factors” that included customer demand and supply chain problems. The withdrawal hurt Spotify’s gross profits.

Existing Car Thing units will still work as expected, Spotify said. The company said it still “unlocked helpful learnings” from the device despite its brief history, and that the car remained an “important place” for audio. You can still buy the Car Thing for $50 (down from the usual $90) as of this writing.

Spotify first shared word of Car Thing in 2019, but the finished product only reached the broader public early this year following several months of invitation-only sales. It was effectively a Spotify player for cars that didn’t have streaming functionality, and served as an informative experiment for the company. Low demand wouldn’t be surprising. Many cars can access Spotify through Android Auto, Apple CarPlay or built-in apps — Car Thing was mainly helpful for people with older vehicles who wanted a music streaming upgrade, but didn’t want to mount their phone.

The cancellation comes despite otherwise positive signs. Spotify’s free and paid listener bases are still growing (to 433 million and 188 million users respectively), and its shifts toward audiobooks and podcasts are paying dividends by lowering the relative cost of music label royalties. Car Thing’s demise theoretically helps Spotify focus on those successes and brace itself for a widely expected global recession.

Study finds judges are increasingly citing Wikipedia in legal decisions

It’s not just students and internet debaters who lean on Wikipedia in a pinch. MIT CSAIL researchers have conducted a study revealing that Wikipedia can influence the legal decisions of judges when there are articles covering relevant cases. The existence of a Wiki page for a case increased its citations by over 20 percent, the scientists said. The boost was pronounced when a case supported a judge’s argument, and the language of the articles sometimes manifested in the decisions.

The team conducted the study by having law students write over 150 articles on Irish Supreme Court decisions. Half of the pieces were randomly chosen to be uploaded where judges, lawyers and clerks could use them, while the rest were kept offline to help understand what would happen in the absence of a Wikipedia article. The randomized nature showed a true causal link between articles and citations, according to lead researcher Neil Thompson.

CSAIL also noted that the Irish legal system was an ideal testing ground. Higher courts’ decisions bind lower courts, as they do in the UK and US, but there aren’t nearly as many articles on Irish Supreme Court decisions as there are for its US counterpart. The researchers increased the number of relevant articles “tenfold” just by writing examples for the study.

As to why people might turn to Wikipedia? It might come down to a simple matter of time. The spike in citations mainly came from lower courts (the High Court) rather than the Supreme Court itself or the Court of Appeal. To CSAIL, that suggested judges and clerks were using Wikipedia to cope with busy court dockets — it was easier to find precedent-setting cases through a quick online search.

The findings are potentially problematic. While the cases themselves might be sound, Wikipedia isn’t always accurate. There’s a risk that a judge might issue a ruling based on a flawed article, or that malicious actors could manipulate entries to skew a trial’s outcome. Study co-author Brian Flanagan argued that the legal community should verify that any online analysis, whether it’s from Wikipedia or elsewhere, is both comprehensive and comes from expert sources.

Google’s second-gen Nest Hub is on sale for $55 right now

If you’ve been eyeballing a 2nd-generation Google Nest Hub but can’t stomach the regular $100 price tag, there’s good news. It’s now on sale for just $55 or 45 percent off at B&H Photo Video, matching one of the lowest prices we’ve seen to date. B&H also has other Nest devices on sale including the Google Nest Audio ($60 or $40 off), Nest Hub Max ($169 or $60 off) and Nest Mini at just $30, for a savings of $20. 

Buy Google Nest Hub at B&H Photo Video – $55

The Nest Hub earned a score of 89 in our review for good reason. It has a minimalist design, a bright 7-inch display, clearer and louder audio than its predecessor and faster performance as well. It’s just the right size to fit into any room and can act as a second screen for your video doorbell or even track your sleep from your bedside table. While it may not be as accurate as a slumber-focused wearable, the Nest Hub will show you sleep duration, quality, schedules and snoring data (if that’s something you’re after).

If it’s just a smart speaker you’re after and don’t need a screen, you may want the Google Nest Audio instead, on sale for $60 or 40 percent off. It has an unassuming yet attractive design, plus great audio quality that’s made even better if you pair two of them together and use them in stereo mode. It also functions as a Google Assistant device, giving you the forecast, control of smart home gadgets, music capabilities and more. 

Next up is the Nest Hub Max, available for $169 or $60 off. It’s the biggest of Google’s smart displays with the best sound quality, thanks to a 10-inch display large enough to comfortably watch YouTube or Netflix videos, or even take a Zoom call. Inside are stereo speakers that help the Hub Max sound better than any other Nest smart display, making it a good option if you want an all-in-one device to stream videos, listen to music and control devices like smart lights, cameras, thermostats and more.

And finally if budget is an issue, the Nest Mini is on sale for just $30, for a savings of $20. It offers the same functionality as Google Nest Audio, but without the same sound quality, of course. Still, it gives you a smart speaker with Google Assistant powers on the cheap for a spare or a kids room. 

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AMD’s Noise Suppression tool is its answer to NVIDIA Broadcast

In a piece examining what the NVIDIA Broadcast can do, we praised its noise removal capability for being “impressively adept” at stripping away everything but your voice. Now, AMD has launched a similar tool for computers powered by its chips, and it could vastly improve your gaming and live streaming experience or lead to cleaner recordings. AMD’s Noise Suppression tool can reduce background chatter and sounds in real time through the use of a deep learning algorithm. 

The feature works for both input and output devices, which means it can not only suppress noise captured on your mic, but also noise coming from someone else’s. It can help you stay focused if you’re in a meeting or attending online classes, for instance, because it can block the sounds of somebody’s barking dog or crying baby in the background.

That said, Noise Suppression is only available for computers with Ryzen 5000 series and newer processors, as well as for systems with Radeon RX 6000 series and newer graphics cards. If you know your computer has the components needed to access the feature, make sure to upgrade to the latest version of AMD Software before heading to the Settings page. 

Under Audio Settings in the Audio & Video tab, you’ll see a toggle to enable the feature. You can also choose to switch it on for either your input or your output device or for both of them at the same time. The next time you fire up a game or a communications app, such as Microsoft Teams or Slack, you can take advantage of the benefits of the noise suppression tool, so long as you select the “AMD Streaming Device” option as your input and/or output device.