An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Google has sued one of its former engineers in Texas federal court, accusing him of stealing trade secrets related to its chip designs and sharing them publicly on the internet. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday (PDF), said that Harshit Roy "touted his dominion" over the secrets in social media posts, tagging competitors and making threatening statements to the company including "I need to take unethical means to get what I am entitled to" and "remember that empires fall and so will you."

Google hired Roy in 2020 to develop computer chips used in Google Pixel devices like smartphones. Google said in the lawsuit that Roy resigned in February and moved from Bangalore, India to the United States in August to attend a doctorate program at the University of Texas at Austin. According to the complaint, Roy began posting confidential Google information to his X account later that month along with "subversive text" directed at the company, such as "don't expect me to adhere to any confidentiality agreement." The posts included photographs of internal Google documents with specifications for Pixel processing chips.

The lawsuit said that Roy ignored Google's takedown requests and has posted additional trade secrets to X and LinkedIn since October. Google alleged that Roy tagged competitors Apple and Qualcomm in some of the posts, "presumably to maximize the potential harm of his disclosure." Google's complaint also said that several news outlets have published stories with confidential details about Google's devices based on the information that Roy leaked. Google asked the court for an unspecified amount of monetary damages and court orders blocking Roy from using or sharing its secrets.

The latest Steam client drops support for operating systems older than Windows 10 or macOS 10.15 Catalina. "That means Mac users can't run 32-bit games anymore, as all macOS versions from Catalina onward only run 64-bit binaries," reports The Register. From the report: [I]f you have a well-specified older Mac, here is another reason to check out Open Core Legacy Patcher. For now, macOS 10.15 Catalina will do but we suspect it won't for long. This version of Steam uses the equivalent to Chrome 126: "Updated embedded Chromium build in Steam to 126.0.6478.183." However, versions since Chrome 128 require macOS 11 or newer. For now, Catalina will work -- but the next significant Steam update will update Chromium as well, and there's a high probability that that will drop support for 10.15.

So, if you're using OCLP to install a newer macOS, you should probably go directly to Big Sur. In The Reg FOSS desk's testing, we found that Big Sur ran reasonably well on a machine with Intel HD 520 graphics, although the same hardware ran very poorly with macOS 12 Monterey. Unfortunately, the inevitable end is in sight for older Macs. That said, the November 2024 Steam client update brings several "wins," including a built-in Game Recording feature, an upgraded Chromium browser engine, and the new "Scout" Linux runtime environment for improved compatibility and performance, especially on the Steam Deck and Linux distros. Additionally, it delivers bug fixes and enhancements for modern OS users.

An anonymous reader shares a report: OpenAI is preparing to launch a frontal assault on Google. The ChatGPT owner recently considered developing a web browser that it would combine with its chatbot, and it has separately discussed or struck deals to power search features for travel, food, real estate and retail websites, according to people who have seen prototypes or designs of the products.

OpenAI has spoken about the search product with website and app developers such as Conde Nast, Redfin, Eventbrite and Priceline, these people said. OpenAI also has discussed powering artificial intelligence features on devices made by Samsung, a key Google business partner, similar to a deal OpenAI recently struck with Apple, according to people who were briefed about the situation at OpenAI.

Apple's restrictions on mobile browsers are limiting innovation and holding back new features that could benefit iPhone users, according to provisional findings published today by the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). From a report: In its report, the CMA's independent inquiry group determined that Apple's Safari browser policies prevent competing browsers from implementing certain features, such as faster webpage loading technologies. The investigation also revealed that many UK app developers would prefer to offer progressive web apps as an alternative to App Store distribution, but Apple's current iOS limitations make this impractical.

Adding to competitive concerns, the regulator highlighted a revenue-sharing agreement between Apple and Google that "significantly reduces their financial incentives to compete" in the mobile browser space on iOS. The CMA also found that both companies can manipulate how users are presented with browser choices, making their own offerings appear as the clearest or easiest options.

Mozilla has warned that the Justice Department's proposed breakup of Google could harm independent web browsers, pushing back against a key element of the government's antitrust remedy.

The maker of Firefox browser said in a statement the DOJ's blanket ban on search revenue-sharing deals would disproportionately impact smaller players that rely on such agreements, while failing to meaningfully increase competition in search.

Firefox and similar browsers account for a small share of US search queries but provide crucial alternatives for privacy-conscious consumers, Mozilla said. The DOJ's wide-ranging proposal, submitted to a federal court in Washington, includes forcing Google to sell its Chrome browser and prohibiting the company from paying other firms to set Google as their default search engine.

The plan follows an August ruling that found Google illegally monopolized the search market. In a statement, Mozilla argued that rather than an outright prohibition on search agreements, remedies should focus on "addressing the barriers to competition and facilitating a marketplace that promotes competition and consumer choice."

An anonymous reader quotes a report from PYMNTS: The Justice Department's proposal to resolve its antitrust case over online search against Google reportedly would force the tech giant to unwind its partnership with artificial intelligence (AI) company Anthropic. A recommendation in the Justice Department's court filing Wednesday (Nov. 20) that Google be barred from partnerships with companies that control where consumers search for information, is intended to apply to the company's investment in Anthropic, Bloomberg reported Thursday (Nov. 21). [...]

It was reported in October 2023 that Google had invested $500 million in Anthropic and agreed to contribute another $1.5 billion over time. During that same month, PYMNTS reported that Anthropic's commitment to building and deploying what the company said are generative AI capabilities with stronger built-in guardrails, differentiated it from other foundational AI models on the market. On Tuesday (Nov. 19), the U.K.'s competition watchdog, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), cleared Google's partnership with Anthropic, saying that it had determined that the deal between the tech giant and the AI startup did not warrant additional investigation. "The CMA does not believe that Google has acquired material influence over Anthropic as a result of the partnership," the regulator said in its assessment of the arrangement. U.S. regulators also call for a sale of Google's Chrome browser and restrictions to prevent Android from favoring its own search engine.

"DOJ had a chance to propose remedies related to the issue in this case: search distribution agreements with Apple, Mozilla, smartphone OEMs and wireless carriers," Google said in a Thursday blog post. "Instead, DOJ chose to push a radical interventionist agenda that would harm Americans and America's global technology leadership."

Google is introducing "Restore Credentials," a feature that simplifies transferring app credentials when switching Android devices to keep you logged into your apps. The Verge reports: While some apps already did this, Google is making it easier for developers to include this experience by implementing a "restore key" that automatically transfers to the new phone and logs you back into the app. [...] Restore Credentials requires less work than the previous approach on Android, and can automatically check if a restore key is available and log you back in at the first app launch. A restore key is a public key that uses existing passkey infrastructure to move about your credentials.

Restore keys can also be backed up to the cloud, although developers can opt out. For that reason, transferring directly from device to device will still likely be more thorough than restoring from the cloud, as is the case with Apple devices today. Notably, Google says restore keys do not transfer if you delete an app and reinstall it.

The Trade Desk, one of the largest publicly traded advertising technology companies in the world, is building a connected television operating system. Axios reports: Existing OS providers, like Roku, Amazon's Fire TV and Google's Android TV, have a conflict of interest because they own content, [CEO and founder Jeff Green] said. Green believes that conflict of interest has muddled the advertising ecosystem for everyone. "We're looking at a concentration around a handful of players that lack objectivity," Green said. "We think we're in a unique position to make the ecosystem better." [...]

Ventura, a nod to the company's headquarters in Ventura, California, will be rolled out to the market in the second half of 2025, Green said. The company has been working to build the system quietly for three years. While some OS developers, such as Google, Amazon and Roku, have also developed their own hardware devices to service their operating systems, Green said The Trade Desk has "no intention of getting into the hardware business." Rather, it will partner with other hardware companies, such as smart TV manufacturers, as well as various television distributors, such as airlines, hotel chains, and gaming companies, to bring its OS to their devices.

Green believes hardware companies will be excited about the opportunity to partner because, in a competitive streaming environment, more hardware companies will need to build advertising businesses to scale. [...] Because The Trade Desk's goal is ultimately to improve a murky marketplace, Green said he isn't looking to make money from the OS directly. Ventura will be successful if it drives more pricing transparency and stronger measurement for the CTV advertising ecosystem writ large, he said. "Ultimately, the measure of success will be, do we have an ad auction that is so transparent that we can predict outcomes?" The Trade Desk will benefit financially from a more transparent ecosystem because it lacks a conflict of interest, Green said.

AndroidAuthority: Android Authority has learned that Google has canceled the Pixel Tablet 2, the presumed name of Google's second-generation Pixel Tablet. This is disappointing for Pixel fans who were waiting for Google to refresh its first-generation Pixel Tablet with a newer chipset, a better camera, and, more importantly, an official keyboard accessory.

It's also surprising to hear because it might suggest that Google is giving up on its tablet ambitions entirely, considering a separate report published yesterday claimed that Google is also killing the Pixel Tablet 3. However, we have reason to believe that the device cited in yesterday's report is actually the Pixel Tablet 2, and not the third-generation tablet after all. Let me break down how we know.

In a 23-page document (PDF) filed late Wednesday, U.S. regulators asked a federal judge to break up Google after a court found the tech giant of maintaining an abusive monopoly through its dominant search engine. As punishment, the DOJ calls for a sale of Google's Chrome browser and restrictions to prevent Android from favoring its own search engine. The Associated Press reports: Although regulators stopped short of demanding Google sell Android too, they asserted the judge should make it clear the company could still be required to divest its smartphone operating system if its oversight committee continues to see evidence of misconduct. [...] The Washington, D.C. court hearings on Google's punishment are scheduled to begin in April and Mehta is aiming to issue his final decision before Labor Day. If [U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta] embraces the government's recommendations, Google would be forced to sell its 16-year-old Chrome browser within six months of the final ruling. But the company certainly would appeal any punishment, potentially prolonging a legal tussle that has dragged on for more than four years.

Besides seeking a Chrome spinoff and a corralling of the Android software, the Justice Department wants the judge to ban Google from forging multibillion-dollar deals to lock in its dominant search engine as the default option on Apple's iPhone and other devices. It would also ban Google from favoring its own services, such as YouTube or its recently-launched artificial intelligence platform, Gemini. Regulators also want Google to license the search index data it collects from people's queries to its rivals, giving them a better chance at competing with the tech giant. On the commercial side of its search engine, Google would be required to provide more transparency into how it sets the prices that advertisers pay to be listed near the top of some targeted search results. The measures, if they are ordered, threaten to upend a business expected to generate more than $300 billion in revenue this year. "The playing field is not level because of Google's conduct, and Google's quality reflects the ill-gotten gains of an advantage illegally acquired," the Justice Department asserted in its recommendations. "The remedy must close this gap and deprive Google of these advantages."

An anonymous reader quotes a report from 404 Media: Instagram is flooded with hundreds of AI-generated influencers who are stealing videos from real models and adult content creators, giving them AI-generated faces, and monetizing their bodies with links to dating sites, Patreon, OnlyFans competitors, and various AI apps. The practice, first reported by 404 Media in April, has since exploded in popularity, showing that Instagram is unable or unwilling to stop the flood of AI-generated content on its platform and protect the human creators on Instagram who say they are now competing with AI content in a way that is impacting their ability to make a living.

According to our review of more than 1,000 AI-generated Instagram accounts, Discord channels where the people who make this content share tips and discuss strategy, and several guides that explain how to make money by "AI pimping," it is now trivially easy to make these accounts and monetize them using an assortment of off-the-shelf AI tools and apps. Some of these apps are hosted on the Apple App and Google Play Stores. Our investigation shows that what was once a niche problem on the platform has industrialized in scale, and it shows what social media may become in the near future: a space where AI-generated content eclipses that of humans. [...]

Out of more than 1,000 AI-generated Instagram influencer accounts we reviewed, 100 included at least some deepfake content which took existing videos, usually from models and adult entertainment performers, and replaced their face with an AI-generated face to make those videos seem like new, original content consistent with the other AI-generated images and videos shared by the AI-generated influencer. The other 900 accounts shared images that in some cases were trained on real photographs and in some cases made to look like celebrities, but were entirely AI-generated, not edited photographs or videos. Out of those 100 accounts that shared deepfake or face-swapped videos, 60 self-identify as being AI-generated, writing in their bios that they are a "virtual model & influencer" or stating "all photos crafted with AI and apps." The other 40 do not include any disclaimer stating that they are AI-generated. Adult content creators like Elaina St James say they're now directly competing with these AI rip-off accounts that often use stolen content. Since the explosion of AI-generated influencer accounts on Instagram, St James said her "reach went down tremendously," from a typical 1 million to 5 million views a month to not surpassing a million in the last 10 months, and sometimes coming in under 500,000 views. While she said changes to Instagram's algorithm could also be at play, these AI-generated influencer accounts are "probably one of the reasons my views are going down," St James told 404 Media. "It's because I'm competing with something that's unnatural."

Alexios Mantzarlis, the director of the security, trust, and safety initiative at Cornell Tech and formerly principal of trust and safety intelligence at Google, started researching the problem to see where AI-generated content is taking social media and the internet. "It felt like a possible sign of what social media is going to look like in five years," said Mantzarlis. "Because this may be coming to other parts of the internet, not just the attractive-people niche on Instagram. This is probably a sign that it's going to be pretty bad."

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Who up missing Musi?" a Reddit user posted in a community shocked by the free music streaming app's sudden removal from Apple's App Store in September. Apple kicked Musi out of the App Store after receiving several copyright complaints. Musi works by streaming music from YouTube -- seemingly avoiding paying to license songs -- and YouTube was unsurprisingly chief among those urging Apple to stop allowing the alleged infringement.

Musi was previously only available through the App Store. Once Musi was removed from the App Store, anyone who downloaded Musi could continue using the app uninterrupted. But if the app was ever off-loaded during an update or if the user got a new phone, there would be no way to regain access to their Musi app or their playlists. Some Musi fans only learned that Apple booted Musi after they updated their phones, and the app got offloaded with no option to re-download. Panicked, these users turned to the Musi subreddit for answers, where Musi's support staff has consistently responded with reassurances that Musi is working to bring the app back to the App Store. For many Musi users learning from others' mistakes, the Reddit discussions leave them with no choice but to refuse to update their phones or risk losing their favorite app. The app may remain unavailable for several months as the litigation unfolds. "After Apple gave in to the pressure, Musi sued (PDF) in October, hoping to quickly secure an injunction that would force Apple to reinstate Musi in the App Store until the copyright allegations were decided," reports Ars. "But a hearing on that motion isn't scheduled until January, making it appear unlikely that Musi will be available again to download until sometime next year."

Further reading: Google, Apple Drive 'Black Box' IP Policing with App Store Rules

Apple has pushed out security updates that it says are "recommended for all users," after fixing a pair of security bugs used in active cyberattacks targeting Mac users. From a report: In a security advisory on its website, Apple said it was aware of two vulnerabilities that "may have been actively exploited on Intel-based Mac systems." The bugs are considered "zero day" vulnerabilities because they were unknown to Apple at the time they were exploited.

[...] The vulnerabilities were reported by security researchers at Google's Threat Analysis Group, which investigates government-backed hacking and cyberattacks, suggesting that a government actor may be involved in the attacks.

Google has warned websites they will be penalized for hosting marketing content designed to exploit search rankings, regardless of whether they created or outsourced the material. The crackdown on so-called "parasite SEO" targets websites that leverage their search rankings to promote unrelated content, such as news sites hiding shopping coupon codes or educational platforms publishing affiliate marketing material.

Chris Nelson from Google's search quality team said the policy applies even when content involves "white label services, licensing agreements, partial ownership agreements, and other complex business arrangements." The move follows Google's March announcement targeting site reputation abuse, which gained attention after Sports Illustrated was found publishing AI-generated product reviews through third-party marketing firm AdVon Commerce.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Nature: Google Scholar -- the largest and most comprehensive scholarly search engine -- turns 20 this week. Over its two decades, some researchers say, the tool has become one of the most important in science. But in recent years, competitors that use artificial intelligence (AI) to improve the search experience have emerged, as have others that allow users to download their data. The impact that Google Scholar -- which is owned by web giant Google in Mountain View, California -- has had on science is remarkable, says Jevin West, a computational social scientist at the University of Washington in Seattle who uses the database daily. But "if there was ever a moment when Google Scholar could be overthrown as the main search engine, it might be now, because of some of these new tools and some of the innovation that's happening in other places," West says.

Many of Google Scholar's advantages -- free access, breadth of information and sophisticated search options -- "are now being shared by other platforms," says Alberto Martin Martin, a bibliometrics researcher at the University of Granada in Spain. AI-powered chatbots such as ChatGPT and other tools that use large language models have become go-to applications for some scientists when it comes to searching, reviewing and summarizing the literature. And some researchers have swapped Google Scholar for them. "Up until recently, Google Scholar was my default search," says Aaron Tay, an academic librarian at Singapore Management University. It's still top of his list, but "recently, I started using other AI tools." Still, given Google Scholar's size and how deeply entrenched it is in the scientific community, "it would take a lot to dethrone," adds West. Anurag Acharya, co-founder of Google Scholar, at Google, says he welcomes all efforts to make scholarly information easier to find, understand and build on. "The more we can all do, the better it is for the advancement of science." Acharya says Google Scholar uses AI to rank articles, suggest further search queries and recommend related articles. What Google Scholar does not yet provide are AI-generated summaries of search query results. According to Acharya, the company has yet to find "an effective solution" for summarizing conclusions from multiple papers in a brief manner that preserves all the important context.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Perplexity is rolling out a new feature that will let Pro subscribers purchase a product without leaving its AI search engine. When searching for a product using Perplexity, Pro members based in the US can now choose a "Buy with Pro" button that will automatically order the product using saved shipping and billing information. Perplexity says all products purchased through Buy with Pro come with free shipping. For products that don't support Buy with Pro, Perplexity will redirect users to the merchant's website to complete their purchase. [...]

Users who aren't subscribed to Perplexity's $20 / month Pro option will still see other updated AI shopping features, including new product cards that will appear for product-related searches. For users in the US, these cards show a product image and its price, along with AI-written summaries of key features and reviews. Perplexity is also launching a new AI-powered "Snap to Shop" search tool that will let all users take a picture of a product and ask questions about it, similar to Google Lens. This feature will only be available to Pro users at launch. Perplexity also already lets Pro users make visual searches unrelated to shopping.

According to Bloomberg, the U.S. Justice Department wants Google to sell off its Chrome browser as part of its ongoing search monopoly case. The recommendations will be made official on Wednesday. 9to5Google reports: At the top of the list is having Google sell Chrome "because it represents a key access point through which many people use its search engine." There are many questions about how that works, including what the impact on the underlying Chromium codebase would be. Would Google still be allowed to develop the open-source project by which many other browsers, like Microsoft Edge use? "The government has the option to decide whether a Chrome sale is necessary at a later date if some of the other aspects of the remedy create a more competitive market," reports Bloomberg. Google, which plans to appeal, previously said that "splitting off Chrome or Android would break them."

Bloomberg reports that "antitrust officials pulled back from a more severe option that would have forced Google to sell off Android." However, the government wants Google to "uncouple its Android smartphone operating system from its other products, including search and its Google Play mobile app store, which are now sold as a bundle." Meanwhile, other recommendations include licensing Google Search data and results, as well as allowing websites that are indexed for Search to opt out of AI training.

Google is reportedly working on a multi-year project to migrate Chrome OS into Android, aiming to unify its operating systems and better compete with the iPad. This transition involves incorporating Chrome OS features like extensions and Linux app support into Android, with upcoming updates focused on improving desktop functionality and device compatibility. Android Authority reports: To better compete with the iPad as well as manage engineering resources more effectively, Google wants to unify its operating system efforts. Instead of merging Android and Chrome OS into a new operating system like rumors suggested in the past, however, a source told me that Google is instead working on fully migrating Chrome OS over to Android. While we don't know what this means for the Chrome OS or Chromebook brands, we did hear that Google wants future "Chromebooks" to ship with the Android OS in the future. That's why I believe that Google's rumored new Pixel Laptop will run a new version of desktop Android as opposed to the Chrome OS that you're likely familiar with.

While Google hasn't publicly confirmed its intentions to turn Chrome OS into Android, it did mention back in June that Chrome OS would become more like Android by "embracing portions of the Android stack, like the Android Linux kernel and Android frameworks." Chrome OS already makes use of some Android tech, such as the operating system's Bluetooth stack code-named "Fluoride," so the announcement that it would start to use even more of Android came as no surprise. However, Google's announcement didn't tell the full story, as we've since discovered that not only is Google building a new version of Chrome for Android with extensions support but also a Terminal to run Linux apps on Android. The former is intended to achieve feature parity between Chrome for Android and Chrome OS, while the latter is intended to deliver a Crostini-like experience when Chromebooks transition to Android.

However, there are still a lot of things that Google has to do to achieve feature parity between Android and Chrome OS. The desktop windowing changes that Google is introducing in the first quarterly platform release of Android 15 are just the beginning, as Google is working on a huge number of new Android features including improved keyboard and mouse support, external monitor support, multiple desktops, and more. All of these changes, we're told, are part of Google's internal Android-on-laptop project, though they'll also obviously benefit tablets like the upcoming Pixel Tablet 2.

The Belgian region of Flanders is rolling out personal data "pods" to 7 million citizens in a trial of World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee's vision for user-controlled data privacy.

Five Belgian hospitals have begun storing patient visit information in the data pods, developed by Berners-Lee's startup Inrupt over the past five years. The system aims to help compliance with European privacy regulations by giving citizens control over their personal information, from medical records to social media posts.

The initiative counters the current internet landscape dominated by major technology companies like Google and Meta, which store user data across their servers. Berners-Lee, who created the World Wide Web at CERN in 1989, advocates for returning data control to users through decentralized systems rather than leaving it vulnerable to harvesting by tech platforms and governments.

Donald Trump has named FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr to chair the U.S. communications regulator when he takes office in January 2025, citing Carr's stance against what Trump called "regulatory lawfare." Carr, a lawyer and longtime Republican who has served at the FCC under both Trump and Biden administrations, has emerged as a vocal critic of major social media companies' content moderation practices.

"Humbled and honored" by the appointment, Carr pledged on X to "dismantle the censorship cartel." As the FCC's senior Republican commissioner, Carr has advocated for stricter oversight of technology companies, pushing for transparency rules on platforms like Google and Facebook, expanded rural broadband access, and tougher restrictions on Chinese-owned TikTok. Trump praised Carr as a "warrior for free speech" while announcing the appointment. During his campaign, Trump has said he would seek to revoke licenses of television networks he views as biased.