Meta has finally pulled the curtain back on what its plans for third-party chats in WhatsApp and Messenger will look like. The change, which is coming for users in the European Union, introduces new options to put Messenger and WhatsApp messages in the same inbox as third-party chats or keep them separate. It’s building new notifications into Messenger and WhatsApp as well, which will let users know when they can link chats from newly supported apps. Meta says it has “gone above and beyond the ‘basic’ features required for interoperable messaging” and will offer rich messaging features, like reactions, direct replies, typing indicators, and read receipts. It will also start including the option to create...

For a nation struggling to deal with an epidemic of mass shootings in a culture that seems dedicated to deprioritizing gun control, it was a hugely experimental case. But now, six months after the convictions in Michigan of first Jennifer and then James Crumbley, the parents of the Oxford High School shooter, it’s clear that a precedent has been set for holding the parents of school shooters criminally responsible in extraordinary cases where negligence factors into gun violence. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation on Thursday arrested Colin Gray, the father of the alleged Apalachee High School shooter, on charges including two counts of second-degree murder. The move marks a continuation and arguable expansion of the movement begun in the Michigan case: an effort by law enforcement to hold parents responsible for gifting their child with a gun, especially those kids who have been experiencing violent urges and making online threats. The September 4 shooting resulted in the deaths of two students and two teachers. At least nine other people were injured. Prior to the shooting, Gray’s son had reportedly struggled with his mental health and had been “begging for help” for months, according to a statement his aunt gave the Washington Post.  Gray’s son had been the subject of a 2023 tip to the FBI over shooting threats he allegedly made in a Discord server, using an account name that appeared to reference the Sandy Hook school shooter. Police spoke to both father and son during the investigation. At the time, Gray had claimed his son, then 13, had no “unfettered” access to weapons; he seemed skeptical that his son was behind the threats despite police tracing the account that made them to an email his son allegedly owned. The allegation was eventually found to be unsubstantiated. Despite this incident and despite having “knowledge he was a threat to himself and others,” just seven months after the FBI tip and investigation, Gray allegedly gave his son an AR-15-style rifle, according to Gray’s arrest warrant. Sources close to the investigation told CNN Gray had admitted to giving the gift as a holiday present. In Georgia, it’s illegal for a minor to buy a rifle but not illegal for them to possess one; had Gray not given his son a weapon, it likely would have impeded his son’s efforts to get one on his own. Gray’s son was charged with four counts of felony murder and could receive additional charges. Gray faces charges of second-degree murder as well as involuntary manslaughter and cruelty to children. Father and son were arraigned in court together on Friday morning in Barrow County. Neither asked for bond. If sentenced on the most serious charge of second-degree murder, Gray could be sentenced to between 10 and 30 years in prison; if convicted on every count, he could face up to 180 years in prison. His son’s charges carry a mandatory sentence of life in prison, possibly without parole. In both the Georgia and the Michigan cases, the alleged shooter’s parents ignored alarming warning signs and arguably enabled their son’s violence In separate trials held earlier this year, Jennifer and James Crumbley were each found guilty of four counts of involuntary manslaughter, after their son opened fire in the hallways of his school, Oxford High School, in Michigan on November 30, 2021 —  just hours after school administrators had summoned the Crumbleys to campus in order to alert them that their son seemed to be having violent fantasies.  The similarities between the Grays and the Crumbleys are eerie. In both cases, the parents allegedly ignored their son’s deteriorating mental health as well as signs he was experiencing violent fantasies. In both cases, the parents gifted their son a gun despite clear warning signs, and despite it being illegal in both states for minors to purchase the kinds of weapons they received. In both cases, authorities found evidence after the shooting that the shooter had kept writings expressing violent ideation.  Prosecutors had argued in the Michigan case that the Crumbleys, both gun enthusiasts, enabled their son to commit the shooting in three key ways: by ignoring what should have been warning signs regarding his mental health, by purchasing a firearm they intended for him to own even though possession of such a firearm by a minor is illegal in Michigan, and by failing to secure the gun away from him — even after school officials alerted them to the problem just hours before the shooting took place. For months prior, the Crumbleys’ son repeatedly asked his parents for help handling his mental health and showed signs of depression and mental illness. In texts sent to them, for example, he exhibited growing paranoia and complained multiple times of seeing ghosts or demons in their home when he was alone. The Crumbleys appeared to ignore or dismiss his concerns. Four days before the shooting, James Crumbley took his son with him to buy a gun that prosecutors argued they intended for their son’s personal use, despite his being under 18, the legal age for gun ownership in Michigan.  Two days before the shooting, after their son was disciplined at school for looking up bullets, his mother joked that he needed to “learn not.to.get caught.” The morning of the shooting, a teacher found disturbing violent gun fantasies the son had drawn, and the school summoned the parents for a conference to discuss their son’s concerning behavior. Despite these indicators, neither James nor Jennifer alerted the school to the fact they had just purchased a gun similar to the one shown in the drawing. They left him at the school and went back to their jobs, without returning home to make sure the gun was still secured. School administrators neglected to search the son’s backpack, where the gun was still hidden.  A few hours after this meeting, the Crumbleys received reports of the school shooting and immediately began frantically messaging him. “He must be the shooter,” Crumbley texted her boss.  By then, however, it was too late to intervene.  In April, the Crumbleys were each sentenced to 10–15 years for their roles in the crime. Their son, who was 15 years old at the time of the shooting, was sentenced to life in prison without parole.  At the time, the facts that led to the Crumbleys’ precedent-setting convictions seemed likely to limit that precedent’s reach. The case was so extraordinary that the possibility of it being repeated seemed rare. Another case, though, has emerged with the same hallmarks of parental negligence, arguable neglect, and a child whose alleged violent ideation went unchecked. There were additional stressors on Colin Gray’s son: The Grays were in contact with local child protection services and had undergone a messy divorce prior to the shooting; his mother has an extensive criminal record and, according to relatives, his father may have been emotionally and verbally abusive. The cases highlight the complex factors that lead to teen violence and the frustrating weaknesses of the systems that are meant to prevent it within a permissive gun culture. In the Crumbleys’ case, the school district failed to prevent the shooting, in part because they failed to search the shooter’s backpack to locate the gun he had with him the day of the shooting, but in large part due to his parents’ unconcern despite the school’s repeated attempts to alert them to their son’s escalating behavior. In the Grays’ case, law enforcement was unable to do anything about the online threats other than talking to Gray and his son — a conversation that apparently left no serious impression on the father, given his subsequent gun gift. In sentencing the Crumbleys in April, Michigan Judge Cheryl Matthews stated she hoped the lengthy sentences they were given would prove a deterrent to future school shootings. While it’s impossible to know how many families heeded this warning and stepped in before their child escalated to violence, we now have yet one more example of a worst-case scenario: A father who didn’t just dismiss but allegedly enabled his son’s gun fixation.  The decision to hold Gray responsible, not just for involuntary manslaughter but for second-degree murder, arguably reflects Georgia prosecutors’ belief that this shooting could have been prevented had the alleged shooter’s parents kept the weapon out of his hands. According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 384 mass shootings in the US so far in 2024, a total that seems unthinkable — but a number that highlights the urgent need for parents to pay attention to warning signs before they escalate. Hopefully, in the wake of Gray’s arrest, even more parents will take notice.

The Justice Department wants to learn more about Google’s AI strategy in order to determine what kinds of changes it will ask for to resolve Google’s monopoly in search. The request came during a hearing on Friday in a federal court in Washington, DC, where Google and the DOJ met before Judge Amit Mehta, who recently ruled in favor of the DOJ and agreed that Google is an illegal monopolist. Mehta’s decision officially ended the first phase of the trial, which focused on whether Google is liable under antitrust law. Now the parties are moving onto the remedies phase, where the government will propose solutions to correct the illegal behavior and restore competition to the market. DOJ attorney David Dahlquist told the court that the...

Somehow, the animated Beetlejuice has returned.

The AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme is the chip inside the Asus ROG Ally X, Asus ROG Ally, and Lenovo Legion Go — and in early 2025, AMD will announce its successor, the Z2 Extreme, for future PC gaming handhelds. That’s the word from Digital Trends’ Jacob Roach, who heard AMD computing and graphics boss Jack Huynh say it’s targeting a 2025 release on an IFA stage in Berlin; I just confirmed with AMD spokesperson Stacy MacDiarmid that the company plans to announce it in early 2025, though AMD’s declining to say any more about it today. The only other things we’ve heard: AMD says it’s working with multiple partners, so the chip may already be in handheld makers’ hands. And it’s probably based on AMD’s Strix Point; so say Jez Corden’s sources over...

Anker’s new 100W Nano Charger is about 60 grams lighter than the company’s last ultracompact 100W wall charger, but it has a big tradeoff. To make its smallest 100W power adapter yet, Anker had to sacrifice a couple of USB ports. The new 100W Nano Charger is available for preorder for $44.99 and ships in mid-September. The new frame is about 26 percent smaller and 30 percent lighter than Anker’s Prime 100W GaN charger, which is the smallest 100W power adapter the company previously sold with two USB-C ports and a single USB-A. To better put the Nano’s size into perspective, with its prongs folded, it’s only about 17 percent larger than the Apple AirPods Pro 2’s charging case, so the Nano should fit in any pocket you can squeeze AirPods...

During its time in orbit, the reusable spacecraft released mystery objects that appeared to emit some sort of signal.

Enlarge and its generic versions. This week, the DEA said it will increase the allowed production amount of lisdexamfetamine by roughly 23.5 percent, increasing the current 26,500 kg quota by 6,236 kg, for a new total of 32,736 kg. The DEA also allowed for a corresponding increase in d-amphetamine, which is needed for production of lisdexamfetamine. "These adjustments are necessary to ensure that the United States has an adequate and uninterrupted supply of lisdexamfetamine to meet legitimate patient needs both domestically and globally," the DEA said.

It’s been a minute since I checked in on our friends at Coinbase, and so when I saw Reuters noting that a class action suit would be going ahead, I thought perhaps we should all reflect together on Coinbase’s cruel summer. The company’s shares have fallen by more than a third in the last 6 months, to $147.95 as of this writing, from $238.55 on March 6th. On the company’s first day of trading, in April 2021, its closing price was $328.28. Quite a turn of fortune! Certainly some price fluctuation can be chalked up to the vagaries of the cryptocurrency market — Coinbase was trading at $153.98 at the start of this year, before a Bitcoin ETF got approved. When Bitcoin began a run in February, Coinbase also started trading up. Still, there...

Despite its limitations, the makers of MarioVGG think AI video could one day replace game engines.

He also claims he's already sold some tickets.

PlayStation's live-service hero shooter flop will keep its spot in the animated series Secret Level.

A "selfie" photo of China's Zhurong rover and the Tianwen-1 landing platform on Mars in 2021. China plans to launch two heavy-lift Long March 5 rockets with elements of the Tianwen-3 Mars sample return mission in 2028, the mission's chief designer said Thursday. In a presentation at a Chinese space exploration conference, the chief designer of China's robotic Mars sample return project described the mission's high-level design and outlined how the mission will collect samples from the Martian surface. Reports from the talk published on Chinese social media and by state-run news agencies were short on technical details and did not discuss any of the preparations for the mission. Public pronouncements by Chinese officials on future space missions typically come true, but China is embarking on challenging efforts to explore the Moon and Mars. China aims to land astronauts on the lunar surface by 2030 in a step toward eventually building a Moon base called the International Lunar Research Station.

The rapid expansion of Cancún since the 1970s has created a vastly unequal city, with overpopulated neighborhoods deprived of public space propping up the city's lavish tourist districts.

A shot from Agatha All Along, an upcoming Disney+ exclusive. said it looked over files leaked by a hacking group called Nullbulge that include "a range of financial and strategy information," apparent login credentials for parts of Disney's cloud infrastructure, and more. The leak includes over "44 million messages from Disney’s Slack workplace communications tool, upward of 18,800 spreadsheets, and at least 13,000 PDFs," WSJ said. "We decline to comment on unverified information The Wall Street Journal has purportedly obtained as a result of a bad actor’s illegal activity,” a Disney spokesperson told WSJ.

Enlarge The cost of renting cloud services using Nvidia’s leading artificial intelligence chips is lower in China than in the US, a sign that the advanced processors are easily reaching the Chinese market despite Washington’s export restrictions. Four small-scale Chinese cloud providers charge local tech groups roughly $6 an hour to use a server with eight Nvidia A100 processors in a base configuration, companies and customers told the Financial Times. Small cloud vendors in the US charge about $10 an hour for the same setup. The low prices, according to people in the AI and cloud industry, are an indication of plentiful supply of Nvidia chips in China and the circumvention of US measures designed to prevent access to cutting-edge technologies.