Copyright Office tells Congress: ‘Urgent need’ to outlaw AI-powered impersonation

The U.S. Copyright Office has issued the first part of a report on how AI may affect its domain, and its first recommendation out of the gate is: we need a new law right away to define and combat AI-powered impersonation. “It has become clear that the distribution of unauthorized digital replicas poses a serious […]
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Kamala Harris gets support of more than 100 VCs and tech execs in online pledge

In an online pledge on Wednesday, more than 100 tech investors and entrepreneurs said they’re supporting Kamala Harris in her presidential bid.

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Nvidia shares soar 11% after Microsoft quells fears that AI buildout is too fast

Microsoft plans to spend even more on Nvidia-based infrastructure next year than it did this year.

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Microsoft Says Ransomware Groups Are Exploiting the Newly-Patched VMware ESXi Flaw

The CVE-2024-37085 vulnerability is present in ESXi hypervisors and can be used to deploy data-extortion malware.

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Australian Organisations Experiencing Highest Rate of Data Breaches, Reports Rubrik

Rubrik research finds data breaches were 50% more common in Australia than the global average in 2023.

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How to enable Apple Intelligence on your iPhone

If you are on the developer beta, you can only use Apple Intelligence features if your language is set to U.S. English and region is set to U.S.
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This Week in AI: Companies are growing skeptical of AI’s ROI

Hiya, folks, welcome to TechCrunch’s regular AI newsletter. This week in AI, Gartner released a report suggesting that around a third of generative AI projects in the enterprise will be abandoned after the proof-of-concept phase by year-end 2025. The reasons are many — poor data quality, inadequate risk controls, escalating infrastructure costs and so on. […]
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Fortnite players are going after Elon Musk’s Cybertrucks

Fortnite players are teaming up to hunt Elon Musk’s Cybertrucks in the battle royale.
The new in-game vehicle has not received the fanfare that Tesla was expecting but has certainly become a focus for some players.
Fortnite is no stranger to big collaborations. Recently they have been futuristic with Fallout’s dystopian weapons and armor on display and a Wasteland expansion based on Mad Max.
The most recent to join the digital avatar battle royale is the merc with a mouth, Deadpool, and his six-clawed pal, Wolverine. Just in time for the cinematic debut of Deadpool 3.
The Cybertruck, designed by Tesla has been much maligned in the media across the last year. From brake issues to product recalls and the firing and re-hiring of the Tesla supercharger team, it seems the carmaker is never far away from the spotlight. Neither is the billionaire at the helm of the company, Elon Musk.
Musk cuts a very controversial character in the real world, so love him or hate him, Tesla’s latest creation will be a talking point for new players.
Tesla Cybertruck in Fortnite
Epic Games posted the new wheels via X (formerly Twitter) in a small video displaying some fan-favorite characters:

Pulls
Catch a ride in the @tesla Cybertruck in Fortnite tomorrow! pic.twitter.com/CA8xuYQreS
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) July 22, 2024

The new content dropping hasn’t gone down too well with all fans of Fortnite. Even former employees of Epic and well-known Fortnite faces like Kyle Wynn, who was a producer on the title came out in response to the announcement on X.
Wynn said. “Reminder that:

Voting with your wallet works and sentiment on social media is a tangible factor.
Companies are composed of lots of different people with their own unique opinions.
That truck looks f***ing silly and the CEO of that company is a piece of s**t.”

Wynn’s venomous response was echoed by some fans who wanted to immediately send those players who powered up the Tesla car back to the lobby. User @KaiuswithaK, said “there’s an unspoken rule amongst a lot of players that they will drop whatever they’re doing to force a cybertruck user back to the lobby. it’s your civic duty to uphold this honor code.”
There will be no shortage of trolls taking this as an ample opportunity to enrage players. @Kippgames, responded to Kaius on X saying:

I’m buying this now just so I can make people angry, then die
— Kippgames2 (@Kippgames) July 22, 2024

Fortnite recently collaborated with Metallica and no doubt the seminal ‘Seek and Destroy’ song by the Californian kings of heavy metal will be blaring whilst the hunt is on.
Image: Epic Games.
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Spotify restores its lyrics feature for free users

In an unusual twist, the people who don’t pay for a Spotify subscription will once again be able to see the lyrics for any song they choose to listen to.
While it’s usually the opposite, with restrictions often added for those on the free level, Spotify has done a reversal.
In May, the streaming service stopped people from seeing the lyrics to songs unless they paid for one of the plans.
The cheapest of which, reserved only for students, costs $5.99. The Premium Individual plan sets people back $11.99 a month.
In a conversation with publisher Engadget, a Spotify spokesperson put the brief lyric blackout down as a testing situation. These lyrics are supposed to pop up on the screen when a song is played, allowing users to sing along or simply see the words.
“At Spotify, we’re always testing and iterating. This means the availability of our features can vary across tiers and between markets and devices.
“Over the coming weeks, we’ll be expanding Lyrics availability for Spotify Free users so more people can enjoy viewing more lyrics, globally.”
Spotify faced backlash on social media after taking away the lyrics feature
The continued rollout of the once-free and now free-again lyrics has been met with happiness from users which was a contrast from the previous few months.

LYRICS ARE BACK ON SPOTIFY LETSGOOOOOOOO pic.twitter.com/UtA8o4mxHx
— The Player (@GD_Player23) July 31, 2024

In July, a user called P4rttipoopr took to X to say: “Why is Spotify making people pay for lyrics I’m broke brah.”
Another, who goes by the moniker Merry Nation, said: “Spotify is broke asf like wdym I have to pay up to look at ready-made lyrics WHAT.”
Others have questioned why it was even removed in the first place: “Spotify is bringing back lyrics to their free users after removing it a couple of months ago. Why even remove it in the first place?”
In defiance, other social media users have reported refusing to pay for the upgrade. The feature can be easily accessed elsewhere as there are numerous dedicated websites for showing the lyrics of millions of songs.
Image Credit: Via Ideogram
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Is Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions crossplay or have cross progression?

Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions isn’t just a single player affair, you’ll be able to hop online and battle it out against other Potterheads for the Golden Snitch.
Because of this, many are wondering if the game is crossplay so they’re able to take to the skies with their friends on other platforms.
Additionally, you might want to purchase the game for different systems too, so it’s integral you learn whether cross progression is a feature, or whether you have to start from scratch.
Here, we answer both of those questions, giving you the full rundown on if Quidditch Champions has them and how they work.
Does Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions have crossplay or cross progression functionality?
The short answer is yes, Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions does allow crossplay between all supported platforms.
This means that if you’re on PC you’re able to play with Nintendo Switch owners, PS5 gamers, so on and so forth.
This is amazing for the overall player base and should allow for the online portion of the game to stay healthy for as long as possible.
Moving to cross progression, Quidditch Champions has that also, meaning if you own the game on different platforms, you take your journey over there too.
Portkey Games has stated that “everything you earn goes with you” suggesting that it’s not only the XP that’s carried over, it’s any Gold, or if you’ve unlocked other aspects of the game too.
This is perfect for those who play on Xbox for example and then want to take their Quaffle throwing on the go with the Steam Deck, granting instantaneous pick up and play functionality.
All in all, the developers have really made the effort to make it as easy as possible for you to play with Harry Potter lovers no matter what device they own, something you don’t see too much since more complex titles require serious balancing that is no easy task.
Other Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions articles you may like

Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions Legacy Pack explained and how to get
Is Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions free to play?
Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions release date and more
Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions playable characters
Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions system requirements

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