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Author: Adriana Marais

Adriana Marais is a ReturnByte journalist with a passion for technology and world affairs. Follow her on Twitter at @adrianamarais
GM/Cruise/Honda News 

GM puts on hold the autonomous Cruise Origin shuttle van

Adriana Marais, ,

General Motors has decided to halt production of the autonomous Cruise Origin shuttle van. The company, which owns a majority stake in Cruise, announced that Cruise will now prioritize the development of the next-generation Chevy Bolt. Last year, GM discontinued the previous Bolt model due to a transition away from an outdated battery system, but did not disclose any plans for a new model at that time. According to a letter to shareholders from GM CEO Mary Barra, the indefinite delay of the van “relates to the regulatory uncertainty we…

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Intel News 

Intel has resolved its persistent desktop CPU instability problems

Adriana Marais

In late 2022, reports of instability problems with the 13th-gen Intel desktop CPUs began to surface shortly after their release. These issues continued, with users experiencing sudden crashes on PCs with the 14th-gen CPUs as well. Intel has now identified the cause of these crashes and failures and has committed to releasing a fix by next month. In its announcement, Intel said that based on an extensive analysis of the processors returned to the company, it has determined that the increased operating voltage caused instability problems. Apparently, it’s because the…

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iRobot News 

iRobot introduces first cleaning machine that automatically washes and dries its mopping pad

Adriana Marais,

iRobot introduced its latest high-end robot vacuum on Tuesday, the Roomba Combo 10 Max Robot + AutoWash Dock. This model automatically cleans and dries the mopping pad, a task that had to be done manually with previous combo vacuums. However, with a price tag of $1,399, many consumers may opt to wait for future generations of the product to offer similar features at a more affordable price. Cleaning robots exist to automate tasks that are a pain for us, and the Roomba Combo 10 Max Robot expands on that. iRobot…

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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a reduction in Basic Customs Duty on smartphone components from 20% to 15%. This move may help in making entry-level 5G smartphones more affordable.  News 

Don’t anticipate significant price drops for smartphones following Budget 2024

Adriana Marais

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced a reduction in Basic Customs Duty (BCD) on smartphone components in the Union Budget 2024. The BCD on items like printed circuit boards and mobile chargers will be decreased from 20% to 15%. While this move may suggest a potential decrease in smartphone prices in India, experts believe that the market may not see significant changes. Factors such as thin profit margins, rising chipset costs, currency fluctuations, and fierce competition in the smartphone market could limit the benefits passed on to consumers. Market leaders…

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ASSOCIATED PRESS News 

Google has decided not to eliminate third-party cookies in Chrome as previously planned

Adriana Marais,

Google announced on Monday that it will not be eliminating third-party cookies in Chrome as previously planned. Instead, the company will be introducing a new feature that will give users more control over their web browsing preferences. Google stated that removing cookies would have negative effects on online publishers and advertisers. This decision represents a major change from Google’s original goal of phasing out third-party cookies by 2025. “[We] propose an updated approach that increases user choice,” wrote Anthony Chavez, vice president of Google’s Privacy Sandbox initiative. “Instead of removing…

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ASSOCIATED PRESS News 

Apple accused of not fully reporting suspected CSAM on its platforms

Adriana Marais, ,

Apple is facing allegations of downplaying the extent of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on its platforms. According to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), a UK-based child protection charity, Apple only reported 267 suspected CSAM cases to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) globally last year. That pales in comparison to the 1.47 million possible cases reported by Google and the 30.6 million reported by Meta. Other platforms that reported more potential CSAM incidents than Apple in 2023 include TikTok (590,376),…

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A Bengaluru woman lost ₹1.2 crore in a cyber scam involving fake crime branch officials. (Pexels) News 

What happened to a Bengaluru woman who lost ₹1.2 crore in a cyber scam

Adriana Marais

A 77-year-old woman in Bengaluru was recently defrauded of Rs. 1.2 crore in an online scam. Lakshmi Shivakumar was contacted by an individual pretending to be a Telecom Department official, alleging that she was involved in illegal activities using a SIM card registered in her name. The caller also mentioned that a complaint had been lodged with the Mumbai crime branch. Shivakumar later received calls from persons claiming to be officers of the Mumbai Crime Branch. They accused him of money laundering and demanded information about his bank accounts and…

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Google short links support will end in 2025, but there are other alternatives that you can use. (AP) News 

Google will no longer support these short links by 2025: Learn about the impact and next steps for users

Adriana Marais

Google is discontinuing support for links created with the Google URL Shortener starting with ‘https://goo.gl/‘ after August 25, 2025. This means that clicking on these links will no longer redirect you to the intended page. However, this should not be a concern for many as Google officially shut down the URL shortener in 2019. However, those who still rely on shortened links should stop using them. “The time has come to shut down the serving portion of Google URL Shortener,” Google said, announcing the end of support in a blog…

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Microsoft has released an official tool to fix the damage caused by the CrowdStrike update. News 

Microsoft releases solution for CrowdStrike Windows issue, simple tool to restore PC functionality – Step-by-step guide to begin

Adriana Marais

Microsoft has promptly issued a solution to resolve the CrowdStrike outage impacting numerous Windows devices. The remedy is accessible as a tool that can be installed on a USB drive for restoring the affected computers. For those unfamiliar, the CrowdStrike outage on Friday affected office workers, airlines, healthcare, IT and more. This affected millions of Windows users who had CrowdStrike Falcon installed on their computers. The reason was a faulty update that led to the breakdown of global IT equipment and services. CrowdStrike released an update that promised to fix…

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Elon Musk highlights Microsoft's global outage in a new AI fashion show video, check details. (Elon Musk/ X) Gadgets 

Elon Musk pokes fun at Microsoft’s worldwide outage in AI fashion show video, with Tim Cook making a surprise appearance on the runway: Watch it here

Adriana Marais

Elon Musk has once again grabbed attention by sharing an AI fashion video that pokes fun at former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates. Musk is known for sharing skeptical memes on social media, including mocking recent tech events and scandals. In the latest video, an AI creation depicts Gates holding a board displaying the “Blue Screen of Death.” Find out more about the AI fashion show video and its content. Elon Musk shares AI fashion show video Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Motors, has shared a video on the…

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Sukeban Games Gaming 

Developer of VA-11 HALL-A creates cyberpunk RPG .45 PARABELLUM BLOODHOUND

Adriana Marais

Sukeban Games is currently developing a new game called .45 PARABELLUM BLOODHOUND, which they describe as a cyberpunk active time action game with a battle system reminiscent of Parasite Eve. The protagonist of the game is a mercenary named Reila Mikazuchi. Players will have to be on guard as enemies can attack from any direction while exploring the game’s environments. To counterattack, players must dodge and wait for their action bar to fill up. The speed at which the action bar fills is determined by the character and weapon stats,…

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Robert Way via Getty Images News 

X is developing a method to prevent links in responses

Adriana Marais

X is working on a new feature to combat spam posts on its platform, according to Nima Owji, an independent app researcher. The feature will allow users to disable links in replies, as shown in an image posted by Owji. Users can choose to prevent others from responding with a link to their posts by ticking a box for this option. X is working on the ability to let you disable links in the replies of your posts! pic.twitter.com/dddP0a8l5w — Nima Owji (@nima_owji) July 19, 2024 Christopher Stanley, X’s director…

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Google News 

Google will discontinue its goo.gl shortener links next year.

Adriana Marais

As of August 23, users clicking on a goo.gl link may encounter a warning message stating that the link will soon be inactive before being redirected to their intended website. Google discontinued its goo.gl URL shortening service in 2018, preventing users from generating new links. The company has now revealed that all existing goo.gl links will cease to be supported, resulting in a “404 page not found” error by August 25, 2025. Google is giving developers plenty of time to switch to other mitigations by displaying the aforementioned warning page…

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ESA/Hubble & NASA, F. Annibali Space 

How a ‘mundane’ galaxy could offer insights into the evolution of the universe

Adriana Marais, ,

NASA and the European Space Agency have unveiled a photo taken by the Hubble Space Telescope of a small irregular galaxy that initially appeared unremarkable. However, further analysis reveals a complex structure in NGC 5238, located 14.5 million light-years away in the Canes Venatici constellation. Scientists are conducting extensive research on the galaxy, suspecting that its star distribution may have been altered due to a past merger with another galaxy. They estimate that due to the stellar population of NGC 5238 (which Hubble is adept at helping to image), it…

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Ubisoft Montreal Gaming 

Ubisoft postpones release of Rainbow Six and Division mobile games until at least April 2025

Adriana Marais, ,

Ubisoft has unveiled its most recent financial report, which did not contain any groundbreaking announcements. However, there was a letdown for fans eagerly anticipating mobile adaptations of the Rainbow Six and The Division series. The company has stated that the teams working on Rainbow Six Mobile and The Division Resurgence require additional time to meet the high expectations of the competitive and expansive market. As such, both titles are no longer expected to debut in the publisher’s current fiscal year, which ends on March 31, 2025. This means yet another…

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Unsplash / Mariia Shalabaieva News 

Cash App Pay partners with Google Play to provide a wider range of options for the next generation of consumers.

Adriana Marais

Cash App Pay has partnered with Google Play to offer consumers an additional online purchasing option. This integration will be particularly beneficial for Android users, as Google Play is seamlessly integrated into the operating system. Cash App believes that this collaboration will provide “next generation consumers” with more choices, with a focus on the gaming industry. Cash App users can withdraw money from an existing balance or a linked debit card to pay for items on Google Play. Cash App currently has four million monthly active users, and the company…

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Google News 

Google has officially confirmed the Pixel 9 Pro’s large camera bump

Adriana Marais, ,

Google has confirmed the upcoming release of the Pixel 9 Pro smartphone before the Made By Google livestream event in August. The announcement comes after images and videos of the device were leaked earlier this week. The company confirmed the smartphone with an announcement video that could have waited until August 13. There aren’t many details in the video, but there is footage of the phone in action, confirming one of the big suspicions about the Pixel 9 Pro. The absolutely gigantic camera bump is real and ready to make…

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Nintendo Gaming 

Nintendo has released its first-party Joy-Con charging station

Adriana Marais, ,

Nintendo has revealed its own official Joy-Con controller charging station, set to launch on October 17. This will be a great benefit for fans of couch co-op gaming, as it allows for two Joy-Cons to be charging on the dock while another two can be charging through the console simultaneously. Additionally, Nintendo’s charging station is compatible with the company’s retro wireless NES gamepads, which are commonly used for Nintendo Switch Online games. The Joy-Con Charging Dock (bi-directional) is powered by the Switch’s dock, USB-C port, or any other power source.…

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YouTube/20th Century Studios News 

The latest trailer for Alien: Romulus is intense, gory, and impressive.

Adriana Marais

The recent Alien films have been generally well-received, but many fans feel they lack the intense, visceral tension of the original movies. The new trailer for Alien: Romulus suggests a return to the franchise’s dark and claustrophobic origins. Alien: Romulus features an all-new crew of doomed spacefaring souls who encounter a deadly Xenomorph in an abandoned spaceship. This time it’s a crew of space colonizers scavenging for resources from abandoned ships and stations. This Alien movie is written and directed by Fede Alvarez, the filmmaker behind cult horror movies like…

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FiiO / Starscream Communications News 

FiiO introduces a modern version of the classic portable CD player without the need for AA batteries

Adriana Marais

The resurgence of CD players is evident as Gen Z embraces 90s nostalgia with products like Nirvana, Tamagotchi, and wired headphones. FiiO, an audiophile brand, is seizing this trend with the release of their new portable CD player, the DM13. This device pays homage to iconic players like the Discman but incorporates modern features such as high-fidelity wireless and a built-in battery, eliminating the need for constant AA cell changes. The FiiO DM13 follows the retro reboots of the company’s vinyl record player and (for inexplicable reasons) cassette player. The…

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