Feed aggregator

• "News briefs" will appear on the Google TV For You page
• Will recommend related videos of "top news stories"
• Only in the US, and only being tested with some users

Google is experimenting with AI-powered news summaries and recommendations that you'll be able to see on your Google TV. This seems like a very bad idea.

The feature, called News Briefs, was spotted by Android Authority on the Google support pages. It will use "Gemini models and human evaluation" to provide narrated overviews of top news stories and "related YouTube videos from trusted news sources."

So far it's only being tested with selected users, and it's only being tested in the US. And I hope that at the end of the test, they kill it with fire.

The Google TV platform already has Gemini built-in, but evidently we're doing to get more of it. (Image credit: Google) The problem with AI news is simple

The thing about AI is that, for want of a better description, it's a massive miscommunication machine. To take a pretty innocuous example, Apple's AI headlines have been a disaster, and its AI summaries on my iPhone are often hilariously wrong.

Again and again we see very clear evidence that AI can't be trusted currently. Sometimes it's funny – as the Associated Press found in the summer of 2024, Gemini will happily tell you that astronauts have played with cats on the moon – but sometimes it's much more serious; the same report notes that Google's AI shared the conspiracy theory that Barack Obama is muslim.

The problem with AI is that what we're told is AI… isn't. It's like a very high-powered autocorrect, a prediction machine, and when its data is bad – and it often is – then it produces bad information with great confidence. And online there's an entire ecosystem based on making bad information and feeding it into social media such as YouTube.

Given YouTube's track record in recommendations – NBC News is one of many organizations that demonstrated a political and religious bias in the content being recommended to people, for example – having AI-powered news recommendations pushed to us even when we haven't asked to see new sounds terrifying.

And on top of that, I get plenty of nightmarish news delivered to me all day, every day on my phone – perhaps if I've turned on my TV it's to escape, or be distracted, or entertained. Some people love to watch rolling news (or news-style) networks all day, but some of us use our TV to focus elsewhere.

There's enough bad news in the world right now. I really hope Google TV isn't going to add more of it.

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• Apple has removed claims that CarPlay 2 will arrive in 2024 from its website
• The company has confirmed it’s still working with “several” car makers
• But there’s no indication of when CarPlay 2 might launch

Apple’s CarPlay 2 system is designed to help you manage maps, media and more inside your car. It was meant to arrive in 2024, yet for one reason or another, that never happened. And now, we’ve finally had official word from Apple on what we can expect to see in the future.

In an official statement provided to MacRumors, Apple said that “several” car manufacturers would be incorporating CarPlay 2 into their vehicles, and that each company would share more details at the appropriate time. However, there was no indication of when that might be.

In full statement Apple said: "The next generation of CarPlay builds on years of success and insights gained from CarPlay, delivering the best of Apple and the automaker in a deeply integrated and customizable experience. We continue to work closely with several automakers, enabling them to showcase their unique brand and visual design philosophies in the next generation of CarPlay."

In a similarly vague style, Apple added that "each car brand will share more details as they near the announcements of their models that will support the next generation of CarPlay".

Apple also confirmed to MacRumors that it is committed to the current generation of CarPlay, which it says is available in over 98% of new cars sold in the United States.

Stuck in traffic

(Image credit: Apple)

Several weeks into 2025, Apple’s CarPlay website was still claiming that CarPlay 2 would launch in 2024 – something that clearly wasn’t possible. Interestingly, Apple has only just updated its site to remove the 2024 reference.

We don’t know what exactly caused the delay to CarPlay 2, but there were signs of trouble long before the most recent announcement. In 2023, for example, Apple promised it would reveal which automakers would be supporting CarPlay 2 that year – in the end, it did so in December, right before the deadline.

That said, it’s clear that Apple is still working on CarPlay 2. Earlier in January, images leaked on X depicting an updated dashboard that’s presumably destined for the auto system.

And with the latest announcement, Apple has confirmed CarPlay 2 is still on the way – but if you were hoping its arrival would be imminent, you’ll have to be patient a while longer.

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• OpenAI's new reasoning model o3-mini is launching soon
• Sam Altman has now confirmed it will be available to free tier users
• ChatGPT Plus users will get "tons of o3-mini usage"

OpenAI announced the upcoming rollout of its incredibly smart new reasoning model earlier this week, and now we've got even better news: o3-mini will be available for free.

Sam Altman confirmed the news on X yesterday, stating "Big news: the free tier of ChatGPT is going to get o3-mini!" The OpenAI CEO also confirmed that Plus members, those paying $20/£20/$AU30 a month will get "tons of o3-mini usage", which is great for those who want to take full advantage of the new model.

o3 and o3-mini were unveiled in December as part of OpenAI's "12 Days of OpenAI" event, which also saw the official release of Sora in the US, OpenAI's AI video generation tool.

o3-mini is a substantial upgrade to the o1-mini reasoning model released last year, allowing users to get answers to complex scientific and math problems. There's no exact timeframe on when o3-mini will be available, but Altman confirmed on January 17 that it will launch in API and ChatGPT in "a couple of weeks."

Once o3-mini does become available (to free, Plus, and Pro users) you'll be able to get help with questions that require thought and reasoning. In the new model you'll even be able to adjust the thinking time to give the AI model more time to work out an answer. There will be a "low compute" option for quick responses and a "high compute" option for tasks that require extra thinking power.

big news: the free tier of chatgpt is going to get o3-mini!(and the plus tier will get tons of o3-mini usage)January 23, 2025

o3-mini is free for all

When OpenAI announced the new model in December, my first thought was "how long will we have to wait to try this for free?" Luckily, Altman and co has given free users a nice surprise to kick off 2025 with this announcement that o3-mini will in fact be free.

We don't have any more info on how many prompts you'll be able to ask o3-mini for free, but hopefully there's a decent amount of free usage so that everyone can take advantage of the future of AI reasoning models.

o3-mini hits the perfect sweet spot between a reasoning model and a more general usage model, and OpenAI hopes this new middle ground will break through into the mainstream and become a daily tool for the average consumer. As soon as we get access to o3-mini we'll be putting it through its paces, so stay tuned to TechRadar for all the upcoming ChatGPT o3-mini news.

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• The first Android 16 public beta is now here
• You can install it now if you have a newer Pixel phone
• Live Updates is one of the new features

Google has pushed out the first public beta version of Android 16, which means early adopters can give it a spin: and among the new features already spotted by users is Android's take on Live Activities in iOS.

As announced by Google (via Android Police), the Android equivalent of Live Activities is Live Updates. These persistent updates on screen "help users monitor and quickly access important ongoing activities" Google says.

Right now, the updates are "suggested only for ride sharing, food delivery, and navigation use cases", but we can expect more categories to be added over time. Eventually, any developer who wants to should be able to take advantage of them.

As we've seen on iPhones, these kinds of live updates can be handy for everything from sports scores to audio recorders. They mean you can keep up to date with something without having the app open, and they'll be a welcome addition to Android.

More to come

Live Activities on iOS (Image credit: Apple)

There's quite a lot more in the first Android 16 public beta, including improved support for apps on larger screens: If you use a larger display (like the one on the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold), you should see less in the way of letterboxing.

Then we have improved support for high-resolution video recording and editing, a more consistent predictive back experience (where you see a preview of the screen you're going back to), and preparations for deeper Gemini integration.

We can look forward to plenty more in the way of new features as the Android beta testing phase continues – numerous upgrades have already been rumored, including changes to notifications. A full launch of Android 16 is expected in June.

Right now, if you want to give the beta a try, you need to have a Pixel phone (a Pixel 6 or later) and be enrolled in the Android Beta Program (which is free). As always with betas, expect bugs and crashes – we wouldn't recommend doing this on a phone you rely on.

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• Apple is facing a class-action lawsuit over its Apple Watch bands
• The lawsuit alleges that Apple "hides" the existence of PFAS in its products, claiming this is false advertising
• Apple has hit back, saying its bands are safe to wear

Apple has been hit with a class-action lawsuit alleging that some of the company's best Apple Watch bands contain dangerous levels of "forever chemicals."

The suit was filed in California on January 21, on behalf of customers who've bought Apple's Watch Sport Band, Ocean Band for the Apple Watch Ultra 2, and the Nike Sport Band. It states that Apple "advertises these Products as designed to support and further human health and wellness, environmentally sustainable, and suitable for everyday use and wear. However, in truth, they contain excessive levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (“PFAS”), which are toxic to human health and the environment."

The suit has been filed in the wake of a University of Notre Dame study that found elevated levels of these 'forever chemicals' in smartwatch bands.

The study found that "many" bands advertised to contain fluoroelastomers also contained high concentrations of PFAS, with some very high concentrations, particularly in more expensive bands.

Based on the study's findings, this suit alleges that Apple knows its products contain PFAS, and knows they're harmful to consumers (the company is phasing them out), but does not inform consumers which products contain the harmful chemicals.

The suit continues: "Instead, in respect of watches, Defendant continues to hide the existence of PFAS at the point of purchase and otherwise. They also affirmatively promise the opposite: that these Products are specifically designed to aid human health and are environmentally friendly. Consumers therefore reasonably would have no way of knowing the products are laced with harmful chemicals and instead believe what Defendant falsely promises."

The suit also alleges that Apple could have chosen not to use these materials, but elected to put them in the bands to give it an advantage over its competition.

Apple's response – is your Apple Watch band dangerous?

Fluoroelastomer bands are very popular with smart watch accessory makers (Image credit: Future)

In response to the suit, Apple told TechRadar: "Apple Watch bands are safe for users to wear. In addition to our own testing, we also work with independent laboratories to conduct rigorous testing and analysis of the materials used in our products, including Apple Watch bands."

Apple also pointed us to its history of removing harmful chemicals from products and manufacturing, and noted that its own restrictions often go beyond the relevant regulations when it comes to protecting human health.

The suit alleges that the aforementioned study found elevated levels of PFAS in bands "including" Apple's, a claim that is not immediately supported by the study results. As we mentioned in our initial story reporting the study, the public data does not indicate which manufacturers' bands were found to have high levels of chemicals; they're not identified by name, but by a sample ID. Tested brands included Apple, CASETiFY, Fitbit, Google, and Samsung.

PFAs and their risk

(Image credit: Future)

The presence of PFAS in consumer products is a complicated issue. Research indicates that PFAS are linked to increased risk and incidences of certain types of cancer, and the chemicals are dubbed "forever chemicals" because their structure is so durable that they don't degrade or break down over time.

However, there are other caveats. There's only a small body of research on the risk of absorption of PFAS through the skin, with some specialists suggesting that absorbing a significant amount through the skin is unlikely.

Furthermore, the testing in the aforementioned study involved chemically extracting the compounds in the band to confirm levels, which doesn't replicate the experience of someone wearing a smartwatch.

As for the suit, it's seeking the usual swathe of relief, injunctions requiring Apple to change its business practices, and monetary compensation for affected users. You can read the lawsuit in full here.

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