Companies are increasingly using AI to craft and aim ads for users. A new essay in The Atlantic argues that the use of AI for advertising is “poisoning” society, and some experts agree that there are reasons for concern. “Data getting in the hands of the wrong people can cause personal harm to real people,” AI expert Sameer Maskey told Lifewire in an email interview. Mind Control? Ayad Akhtar, a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, recently attacked the practice of AI advertising in his essay in The Atlantic, suggesting the things we like are no longer up to us but are instead chosen for us so companies can profit....

Airbnb has had enough of all this blatant revelry, and they just announced “anti-party technology” to stop it. That’s right. Throwing reckless parties at your latest Airbnb pad is about to be a thing of the past. In other words, you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here. Here’s how the tech works. Airbnb has integrated a number of algorithms into the booking platform. These algorithms identify “high-risk reservations” by looking at review histories, the distance to the listing, weekend stays, length of time on the platform, and many other factors....

With its edge-to-edge OLED screen, glass frame, and new technology such as Face ID, the iPhone X looked little like previous versions of the iPhone. Add the huge 5.8-inch screen—the largest of any iPhone to that point—and the specs made it a stand-out device. Is the iPhone X Discontinued? Apple no longer makes the iPhone X, but the company still supports it. iPhone X runs iOS 15 and should be compatible with iOS 16 when released....

Until this week, the basic Kindle, which is the lowest—and therefore, default—option in its e-reader lineup, had a pitifully low 167 PPI screen resolution and an old micro USB charging/syncing port. MicroUSB, for those who can’t be bothered to keep track of the names, is the most annoying of all USBs, usually taking at least three tries to insert the right way around. The new model fixes these problems but is neither cheap enough nor good enough to beat the competition....

Earlier this month, AMD and Microsoft announced plans to fix the slowdown cropping up between some AMD processors and Windows 11. Now, as promised, we have a couple of new patches that should take care of the problem. A recent update on AMD’s initial report of the problem now shows resolutions for both primary causes of these performance drops. The L3 cache latency issue, which would cause the cache to take up to three times longer to access, is being addressed by a new Windows 11 22000....

The Radeon RX 6600 XT looks to be targeting PC gamers with older hardware and provides a decent upgrade for 1080p users, but has nowhere near enough power for a 4K rig. It might sound counter-intuitive, but as The Verge points out, it was mostly 1080p gaming displays that sold last year. A card like the RX 6600 XT would be a great fit for those displays, as it would be able to run popular AAA games at 1080p with maximum settings....

The company just formally announced the Ryzen 5800X3D CPU, touting it as the “ultimate gaming processor,” according to an official blog post. AMD first previewed this beast back in January at the annual Consumer Electronics Show, but now it’ll be available for the general public. And the specs certainly look promising. The Ryzen 5800X3D boasts an eight-core Zen 3 processor with proprietary memory-stacking technology that boosts the L3 cache to a whopping 96MB, which is triple the cache found in the previous generation....

But how do new televisions work? This overview should shed some light on the difference between past and current TV technologies. CRT Technology Although you can’t find new CRT TVs on store shelves anymore, a lot of those old sets are still operating in households. CRT stands for “cathode ray tube,” which is essentially a large vacuum tube, which is why CRT TVs are so big and heavy. To display images, a CRT TV employs an electron beam that scans rows of phosphors, line by line, to produce an image....

Animal Crossing fans had to wait nearly seven years for a new console release, but New Horizons didn’t disappoint. Delays pushed the game’s release to March 2020, and in the year since I have dutifully tested it for over 700 hours. New improvements to the setting, gameplay, and graphics have made New Horizons the most irresistible Nintendo Switch game yet. Setting/Plot: Your goal is to have fun Tom Nook has big dreams in Animal Crossing: New Horizons....

The 8th generation iPad 10.2-inch doesn’t shake things up as much as its predecessor, but it introduces a few important improvements under the hood. The biggest change in the 2020 iPad is the inclusion of the A12 Bionic chip that was previously seen in the iPad Air 3. It also boasts improved battery life and better screen sensitivity when used with the Apple Pencil, among a handful of other tweaks....

Slightly more than 20 years after its initial launch in January 2001, Apple’s digital music platform (originally iTunes, now Apple Music) is celebrating a library of one hundred million songs. And because there’s no way a mere mortal could listen to all that music, Apple is kicking off a new way to recommend music to you—one song at a time. Apple claims it’s “More music than you can listen to in a lifetime, or several lifetimes,” but is that actually true?...

While not overtly stated, it’s likely Apple’s decision to make the adjustment is related to its recent court settlement. 9to5Mac points out that dialing back the aggressive targeted advertising is a sensible move, given the tech giant’s currently under scrutiny for antitrust concerns. Until now, Apple’s Personalized Ads (aka targeted ads) have been turned on by default. Users have had to plumb the depths of their iOS device’s settings to find the opt-out toggle, and even then still had to know to look for it in the first place....

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg knows that. He’s already telling Meta staffers that the company is on a collision course with Apple over what he says is “a competition of philosophies and ideas,” stopping short of saying what that means. He did suggest that Meta wants “a much larger ecosystem” than Apple, but what that translates to is very different if the past is any indication. “Zuckerberg believes that the metaverse is essentially a VR space....

With the holiday season fast approaching, it’s possibly the worst time of year to have to deal with supply chain issues—let alone decide which popular smart device to prioritize. However, that’s exactly what Apple has had to do, resulting in a reduction in iPad manufacturing to keep producing as many iPhone 13s as possible. The approach makes sense from a business standpoint as the iPhone has consistently been Apple’s most popular device, but it does leave fans of the iPad in the lurch....

What Is an ASP File? A file with the .ASP file extension is most likely an Active Server Page file, which is an ASP.NET web page provided by a Microsoft IIS server. The server processes scripts within the file and then generates HTML to display the page in the browser. These files are also called Classic ASP files, and normally use the VBScript language. Newer ASP.NET pages are saved with the ASPX file extension and are often written in C#....

Multiple Mac users are reporting issues when trying to install macOS Monterey, with the process typically rendering their machine unusable (i.e., “bricking”). It seems something is going wrong with the post-installation restart process, causing some systems to simply give up on turning on at all. According to MacRumors, the problem seems to be affecting older machines like the Mac mini, iMac, and some models of the MacBook Pro. For the time being, it seems as though this problem doesn’t affect silicon-based Macs, which only go back as far as 2020 and all use Apple’s M1 chip....

However, there are some things you should be aware of that makes VoIP different from regular phone calls. VoIP Pros and Cons Sending your voice over the internet is an amazing feat, which is why there are some great benefits that come with it, but there are also some downfalls. If you want to make free calls using your mobile device (phone, tablet, PC, etc.), you need a connection to some type of data service....

“Allows you to insure up to 10 lines at one time.” Best Budget: Square Trade at squaretrade.com “You pay for coverage, not per device, so you don’t have to update your plan every time you get a new phone.” Best for Families: AT&T at att.com “Offers great coverage options at an affordable price.” Best for Samsung Devices: Samsung Premium Care at Samsung “All repairs are serviced with original Samsung parts by licensed technicians....

The Eastwood Hybrid Turntable ($99) and The Canvas ($79) look, well, cool. However, despite their vintage looks these turntables don’t give up all modern conveniences. They spin 33 1/3, 45, and 78 RPM discs, but also allow you to stream music from your smart device, or play your records through any external Bluetooth speaker. Twee? Perhaps, but there’s something enormously appealing in this backward-looking tech. In an age where nearly every song ever recorded can be downloaded or streamed with a click, using physical records could be the antidote to music fatigue....

The QuietComfort 45 headphones are intended to replace the QuietComfort 35 II by way of improved functions, a new “AWARE” mode, and better battery life. This is good because Bose’s new 45 headset costs about $30 more than the 35 II. According to the official announcement, QuietComfort 45 headphones utilize a new electronic active noise cancellation system for better sound control. QUIET Mode can identify and adjust for mid-range frequency sounds to block out background noises like commuter trains or loud cafes....