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Fewer football-related incidents last season; More suspects prosecuted

The number of incidents during and around professional football matches decreased for the second year in a row, the

Crime and Courts Read on NL Times
Feds arrest man who allegedly participated in hack of the SEC’s X account, boosting Bitcoin’s price

Eric Council Jr. and unnamed co-conspirators were allegedly behind the hack of the official @SECGov account on X.

Crime and Courts Read on TechCrunch
News Image Google is replacing the exec in charge of Search and ads

Google is making a big change to company leadership. In a memo to staff posted on Thursday, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced that Prabhakar Raghavan, the senior vice president in charge of search, ads, and other important segments, will now take on the role of chief technologist. “Prabhakar has decided it’s time to make a big leap in his own career,” Pichai writes. “After 12 years leading teams across Google, he’ll return to his computer science roots and take on the role of Chief Technologist, Google. In this role, he’ll partner closely with me and Google leads to provide technical direction and leadership and grow our culture of tech excellence.” Raghavan has been in charge of ads and commerce since 2018 and was promoted to the head...

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EU considers calculating X fines by including revenue from Musk’s other firms

European Union regulators warned Elon Musk's X platform that it may calculate fines by including revenue from Musk's other companies, including SpaceX, according to a Bloomberg article published today. X was previously accused of violating the Digital Services Act (DSA), which could result in fines of up to 6 percent of total worldwide annual turnover. That fine would be levied on the "provider" of X, which could be defined to include other Musk-led firms. Bloomberg writes that "regulators are considering whether sales from SpaceX, Neuralink, xAI and the Boring Company, in addition to revenue generated from the social network, should be included to determine potential fines against X, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified because the information isn't public." Bloomberg's report says that Tesla "sales would be exempt from this calculation because it's publicly traded and not under Musk's full control." Read full article

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Beyond the hype: Why Tesla’s robotaxi future faces regulatory roadblocks

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility! Kirsten is still out doing Kirsten things, so I (Rebecca Bellan) will continue to pass along all the tech mobility news that’s fit to print. It’s been […]

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News Image The EU may fine Elon Musk’s other companies for X violations

The European Union has reportedly warned X that it could use the revenue of several companies owned by Elon Musk to calculate fines levied against the platform for violating social media laws. European regulators may take the annual revenues of Musk’s other companies — including SpaceX, Neuralink, xAI, and the Boring Company — into account to calculate fines, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. X is being investigated for potentially violating several provisions of the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), a sweeping law that requires major platforms to remove posts that contain illegal content — and holds them financially accountable if they don’t. Under the DSA, which was passed in 2022, regulators can fine companies as much as...

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News Image Universal Studios’ Epic New Theme Park Finally Has an Opening Date

Epic Universe—featuring Universal Monsters, How to Train Your Dragon, Nintendo, and more—opens May 22, 2025.

Entertainment Read on Gizmodo
Android 15’s security and privacy features are the update’s highlight

Android 15 started rolling out to Pixel devices Tuesday and will arrive, through various third-party efforts, on other Android devices at some point. There is always a bunch of little changes to discover in an Android release, whether by reading, poking around, or letting your phone show you 25 new things after it restarts. In Android 15, some of the most notable involve making your device less appealing to snoops and thieves and more secure against the kids to whom you hand your phone to keep them quiet at dinner. There are also smart fixes for screen sharing, OTP codes, and cellular hacking prevention, but details about them are spread across Google's own docs and blogs and various news site's reports. Here's what is notable and new in how Android 15 handles privacy and security. Read full article

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News Image The best smartphone you can buy for under $500

You can’t have everything at this price, but you can get a great smartphone. Whether you want an iPhone, a 120Hz screen, or water resistance, you’ve got options.

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The 14 biggest take-private PE acquisitions so far this year in tech

A roundup of the year's billion-dollar take-private deals in the technology sector.

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ChatGPT comes to Windows

ChatGPT is now on Windows. Today, OpenAI announced that it’s begun previewing a dedicated Windows app for ChatGPT, its AI-powered chatbot platform. Currently only available to ChatGPT Plus, Team, Enterprise, and Edu users, the app is an early version, OpenAI says, arriving ahead of a “full experience” later in the year. “With the official ChatGPT […]

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Waymo offers $3 credit for San Francisco riders going to public transit stations

For the next month, Bay Area riders of Waymo robotaxis can earn a $3 credit whenever they travel to and from certain public transit stations. Riders will be able to take advantage of the offer through November 15, and they can use the credits earned toward future robotaxi rides from now until December 31, the […]

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News Image DHS Warns Law Enforcement Election Deniers May Attempt to Bomb Drop Boxes

In a series of reports reviewed by WIRED, analysts at the Department of Homeland Security warn of a “heightened risk” of right-wing extremists carrying out attacks around the election.

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News Image Xbox’s Fall partner showcase 2024: All the news, trailers, and previews

Xbox is putting on a 20-minute “no fluff, all games” showcase from third-party studios.

Entertainment Read on The Verge
News Image The best wireless earbuds to buy right now

The best from Apple, Bose, Samsung, Sony, Beats, Google, and more.

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Apple Music’s latest feature lets artists create dedicated playlists for concerts and tours

Apple Music introduced a new feature for artists on Thursday to enable them to create playlists tied to their recent concert set lists.  Dubbed “Set List,” the feature acts as a promotional tool for musicians to engage with their fans. It allows artists to turn their set list from a single show, residency, or entire […]

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News Image Hacker arrested for the fake SEC tweet that caused a Bitcoin price spike

The FBI has arrested an Alabama man who is accused of hacking the Securities and Exchange Commission’s X account in January. The indictment (PDF) alleges that 25-year-old Eric Council Jr. worked with co-conspirators to take control of the account and post a fake message from SEC Chair Gary Gensler about Bitcoin ETFs that caused the price of Bitcoin to jump by more than $1,000 momentarily. To carry out this scheme, Council is accused of creating a fake ID using the information belonging to the person in control of the SEC’s X account. He then allegedly tricked AT&T into providing a SIM card with the victim’s phone number and install it into a new iPhone he purchased. Finally, Council was able to gain control of the SEC’s account using...

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Teen on bike killed in collision with truck in Maassluis

A child on a bicycle died in a collision with a truck in Maassluis on Thursday morning, the Rotterdam police said on X

Crime and Courts Read on NL Times
News Image The Battle for Gotham City Is On in Mid-Season Penguin Trailer

Colin Farrell and Cristin Milioti star in the DC Batman spinoff series, streaming on Max.

Entertainment Read on Gizmodo
News Image The EU’s Fines Against Elon Musk May Be Much Larger Than Anticipated

The European Union is making a decision that may cause any potential fines against Musk to skyrocket.

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News Image YouTube Premium Lite Is Coming Back, but There’s a Catch

This tier costs half as much as the regular Premium but doesn't offer most of the perks.

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Feds test whether existing laws can combat surge in fake AI child sex images

Cops aren't sure how to protect kids from an ever-escalating rise in fake child sex abuse imagery fueled by advances in generative AI. Last year, child safety experts warned of thousands of "AI-generated child sex images" rapidly spreading on the dark web around the same time the FBI issued a warning that "benign photos" of children posted online could be easily manipulated to exploit and harm kids. So far, US prosecutors have only brought two criminal cases in 2024 attempting to use existing child pornography and obscenity laws to combat the threat, Reuters reported on Thursday. Meanwhile, as young girls are increasingly targeted by classmates in middle and high schools, at least one teen has called for a targeted federal law designed to end the AI abuse. Read full article

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