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The Google TV Streamer now costs $50 more

2026-08-31T18:32:51-04:00

Google raised the price of its 4K streaming box to $149, up $50 from its original $99 price. The new price is currently live at the Google Store and Best Buy, but Amazon appears to still be offering the original price.

The price hike comes just a couple of weeks after Google launched its new lineup of Pixel 11 phones with a $100 price hike over their Pixel 10 counterparts.

The Google TV Streamer originally launched in 2024 and doubles as a smart home hub. It isn't the only streaming device getting more expensive - component shortages have been driving up prices on everything from laptops to game consoles. Earlier this month, Amazon incre …

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JMGO’s very bright all-in-one projector looks ideal for gamers and sports

2026-08-31T18:34:58-04:00

JMGO’s Iris Ultra Max 4K 120Hz Google TV projector. | Image: JMGO

JMGO's 4K 120Hz Iris Ultra Max all-in-one Google TV projector is now available outside China. It gets its name from a new dual-iris system that lets it produce an impressive 10,000:1 native contrast, according to JMGO. It boosts the contrast - always an issue with projectors - by placing two separate physical apertures (irises) along different points of the internal optical path to control light scatter and brightness far more aggressively than a single iris can. It also promises to produce a very bright 6,500 ISO lumen image from its triple-laser light engine.

Last year at IFA, 6,000 lumens from an all-in-one projector was breaking new gro …

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FTC lawsuit alleges Amazon has been ‘secretly and systematically’ overcharging for ads

2026-08-31T18:45:57-04:00

The FTC and 22 state attorneys general are suing Amazon for allegedly using a "secret ad surcharge" to drive up prices for ads on its website and app. FTC chairman Andrew Ferguson claims in a blog post on the lawsuit that the higher advertising prices "were largely passed on to American consumers." According to the complaint, Amazon violated the FTC Act and over a dozen state laws. This lawsuit comes almost a year after Amazon agreed to pay $2.5 billion to settle an earlier FTC lawsuit over Prime subscription practices.

In Amazon's "second price" auctions for ads on its platform, the winning bidder is supposed to only pay one cent more tha …

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Car owners want tech they can ignore

2026-08-31T13:11:17-04:00

Automakers keep shoving more tech into their cars, despite evidence that consumers are increasingly fed up with huge screens and glitchy software. In fact, the features that car owners appreciate the most happen to be the ones they barely notice, according to the latest tech survey from JD Power.

The consumer research firm surveyed 68,084 owners of new 2026 model-year vehicles after 90 days of ownership. The survey touched on 40 automotive technologies covering comfort and convenience; connected vehicles; driver assist; electric vehicles; and smart vehicles.

The features that scored the highest were the ones that were the most inconspicuo …

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Phil Schiller is leaving his biggest jobs at Apple

2026-09-01T01:17:39-04:00

Longtime Apple executive Phil Schiller is stepping down from his role as the head of the App Store and Apple events, according to a report from Bloomberg. Following the change, Schiller will keep his Apple Fellow title and continue "working on unspecified initiatives," Bloomberg reports.

Schiller initially joined Apple in 1987 and became the company's head of marketing in 1997. He helped launch the App Store alongside Steve Jobs in 2008, but only started heading up the store in 2015. Over the years, Schiller has played a role in the development of many of Apple's products, including the iPhone, iPad, iPod, and Macs, and has presented severa …

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Markiplier is now GoPro’s biggest shareholder

2026-08-31T19:24:22-04:00

YouTuber Mark "Markiplier" Fischbach has invested enough in GoPro to become its single largest shareholder, with an 8.5 percent stake in the company, Bloomberg reports. Speaking to Bloomberg, Fischbach said he thought GoPro "seems undervalued" and sees his investment as "part of a larger mission to make filmmaking more accessible," following the release of his first feature film, Iron Lung, earlier this year.

Fischbach posted a video last week praising GoPro's new Mission 1 ILS camera and comparing it to the pricier Red Komodo-X, saying he plans to use the Mission 1 ILS in future movies. It includes an affiliate code for the new camera, bu …

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Debian won’t ban AI code from its Linux distribution

2026-08-31T11:38:13-04:00

Debian voted to allow developers to use AI tools in their contributions to the Linux distribution's "development, maintenance, [and] documentation." The new policy on AI acknowledges that "responsible" use of AI can improve developers' productivity, and goes on to say, "generative AI is neither exempt from nor subject to special rules beyond the standards already expected of Debian contributors."

The project's voting developers considered several other proposals on how to handle AI, including some that would have banned contributions made using AI tools. As It's FOSS reports, some users and contributors aren't happy with the policy, includi …

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New York governor to 3D-printed gun leader: ‘tell Cody I will get ahead of him’

2026-08-31T10:38:24-04:00

Cody Wilson, the creator of the first 3D-printed gun, announced a tool last week aimed at skirting a New York law that prevents 3D printers from making firearms - and taunting governor Kathy Hochul in the process. But Hochul isn't having it.

In this week's episode of Decoder, Hochul responded to Wilson's "Hochulization" tool, warning she isn't going to let it defeat the state's efforts:

You can tell Cody I will get ahead of him next. I can't always be on the forefront when I see someone intentionally thwarting a law. It is the law that you cannot have 3D-printed guns in the state of New York. And if you think it's okay to have someone in …

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ChatGPT to face tougher regulation in the EU

2026-08-31T10:17:34-04:00

OpenAI will soon be held accountable for mitigating risks related to ChatGPT's impact on minors, user mental health, and the spread of illegal content in the European Union. That's because ChatGPT is now considered a Very Large Online Search Engine under the EU's Digital Services Act, a set of laws regulating major online services and platforms.

Along with ChatGPT, the European Commission also announced that Reddit and Roblox are considered Very Large Online Platforms, subjecting them to the same rules. The DSA restricts platforms from targeting ads to minors or using a person's sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, or political beliefs. …

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Instagram cracks down on AI accounts pretending to be human

2026-08-31T09:16:39-04:00

“AI creator” accounts like Aitana Lopez will get a new “AI-generated profile” label. | Image: Aitana Lopez

Instagram is finally taking steps to address the rise of fake AI-influencer accounts that have gotten harder to spot. It's also renaming the "AI creator" label to "AI-generated profile" to make it clear when a profile features an AI-generated person that's not a real human being.

"We've heard that people don't like seeing a profile that seems human, only to find out later that the person featured is AI-generated," said Instagram in a blog post. "They want to know when a profile features an AI-generated person."

A look at how Instagram will deal with accounts that don't self-label their AI-generated profiles. | Image: Instagram" data-portal-copyright="Image: Instagram">

To that end, Instagram will be hunting down accounts that don't self-label their AI-generated profiles, and penalize them by limi …

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