"Intel is gearing up to go to a war with Nvidia," writes Slashdot reader labloke11. "They have their OneAPI and their GPU. It will be interesting... For me, I like competition." Phoronix reports: While Intel Alder Lake is dominating today's news cycle, Intel and Microsoft also announced today that they have brought oneAPI Level Zero and Intel OpenCL support to Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL2) while employing Intel graphics hardware acceleration. Similar to NVIDIA bringing CUDA and their accelerated GPU support to WSL2 as well as similar efforts by AMD on the Radeon side, Intel and Microsoft are now having Intel graphics compute working within the Linux confines on Windows 11 or Windows 10 21'H2. Hardware-accelerated oneAPI Level Zero, OpenVINO, and OpenCL on Intel graphics hardware can now be enjoyed within the WSL2 environment when using the latest updates and drivers. Like with the rest of the WSL2 stack and capabilities from other GPU vendors, this is at a near-native level of performance. More information can be found via the Microsoft Command Line blog and Intel blog.

A flagship framework used by Google and scores of other advertisers for gathering claimed consent from web users for creepy ad targeting looks set to be found in breach of Europe's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). TechCrunch reports: A year ago the IAB Europe's self-styled Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF) was found to fail to comply with GDPR principles of transparency, fairness and accountability, and the lawfulness of processing in a preliminary report by the investigatory division of the Belgian data protection authority. The complaint then moved to the litigation chamber of the DPA -- and a whole year passed without a decision being issued, in keeping with the glacial pace of privacy enforcement against adtech in the region.

But the authority is now in the process of finalizing a draft ruling, according to a press statement put out by the IAB Europe today. And the verdict it's expecting is that the TCF breaches the GDPR. It will also find that the IAB Europe is itself in breach. Oopsy. The online advertising industry body looks to be seeking to get ahead of a nuclear finding of non-compliance, writing that the DPA "will apparently identify infringements of the GDPR by IAB Europe," and trying to further spin the finding as "fixable" within six months (it doesn't say how, however) -- while simultaneously implying the breach finding may not itself be fixed because other EU DPAs still need to weigh in on the decision as part of the GDPR's standard cooperation procedure (which applies to cross-border complaints).

In terms of timing, a final verdict on the investigation is still likely months off -- and may not emerge 'til deep into 2022. Appeals are also almost inevitable. But the tracking industry's problems are starting to look, well, appropriately sticky. In the short term, the IAB says it expects a draft ruling to be shared by Belgium with other EU DPAs in the next two to three weeks -- at which point they get 30 days to review it and potentially file objections. If DPAs don't agree with the lead authority's finding and can't agree among themselves, the European Data Protection Board may need to step in and take a binding decision -- such as happened in another cross-border case against WhatsApp (which led to a $267 million fine, a larger penalty that the lead DPA in that case had originally proposed).

Amazon's Kuiper Systems asked U.S. regulators for permission to launch another 4,538 satellites that would bolster its constellation as it competes with Elon Musk's SpaceX for broadband-from-space customers. From a report: The additions would bring Kuiper's constellation to 7,774 satellites, the company said in a filing Thursday with the Federal Communications Commission. The companies are joining a rush to offer internet service from orbits near the Earth, spurred in a part by decreasing launch costs. Low orbits offer minimal lag time for data to bounce between a user on the ground and the spacecraft. Kuiper's request was among nine applications, submitted under an FCC deadline, that requested authorization for a total of more than 35,000 spacecraft. That's more than seven times the number aloft today. Those figures don't include nearly 30,000 additional satellites proposed by segment leader SpaceX, which already has launched more than 1,700 of its Starlink spacecraft.

Two U.S. senators have introduced bipartisan legislation that seeks to make it harder for Amazon and other tech giants to make acquisitions. From a report: The office of Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel, said on Friday that she and Republican Tom Cotton had introduced a bill targeting such companies as Alphabet's Google and Facebook. The bill would make it easier for the government to stop deals it believes break antitrust law by requiring the companies to prove to a judge that the deals are good for competition, and therefore legal. A similar bill, introduced by Democratic Representative Hakeem Jeffries and others, has been approved in the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee and awaits a vote by the full House. Traditionally it is up to the government in antitrust enforcement to show a particular transaction would cause prices to rise or is illegal for other reasons. "We're increasingly seeing companies choose to buy their rivals rather than compete," Klobuchar said in a statement. "This bipartisan legislation will put an end to those anticompetitive acquisitions by making it more difficult for dominant digital platforms to eliminate their competitors and enhance the platform's market power."

Facebook researchers have found that 1 in 8 of its users report engaging in compulsive use of social media that impacts their sleep, work, parenting or relationships, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. From the report: These patterns of what the company calls problematic use mirror what is popularly known as internet addiction. They were perceived by users to be worse on Facebook than any other major social-media platform, which all seek to keep users coming back, the documents show. A Facebook team focused on user well-being suggested a range of fixes, and the company implemented some, building in optional features to encourage breaks from social media and to dial back the notifications that can serve as a lure to bring people back to the platform. Facebook shut down the team in late 2019. A company spokeswoman said Facebook in recent months has begun formulating a new effort to address what it calls problematic use alongside other well-being concerns, such as body image and mental health. The company has been public about its desire to address these problems, said Dani Lever, the spokeswoman, in a statement. Some people have struggles with other technologies, including television and smartphones, she said.

The suit, filed by the now defunct photo start-up Phhhoto, accused the social network of stalling on a deal and then putting it out of business. From a report: Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's chief executive, downloaded a popular new app, Phhhoto, on Aug. 8, 2014, and took a selfie. Other Facebook executives and product managers soon followed suit. The social network then made overtures to integrate Phhhoto. But the interest of Facebook's top executives in Phhhoto was just a show, according to a lawsuit filed on Thursday in the Eastern District of New York by the start-up, which is now defunct. Instead, Facebook simply wanted to squash the competition, according to the suit, which accused the company of antitrust violations. In the suit, Phhhoto's founders -- Champ Bennett, Omar Elsayed and Russell Armand -- claim that after Mr. Zuckerberg and other Facebook executives downloaded their app and approached them about a partnership, no deal materialized. Facebook instead launched a competing product that mirrored Phhhoto's features. Facebook also suppressed Phhhoto's content within its photo-sharing app, Instagram, the suit says.

Phhhoto is represented by Gary L. Reback, a well-known lawyer. In the 1990s, Mr. Reback persuaded the Justice Department to sue Microsoft for violating antitrust laws, a case that Microsoft ultimately settled in 2001. Phhhoto's suit seeks unspecified monetary damages from Facebook. The lawsuit stands out because of Mr. Zuckerberg's personal involvement, Mr. Reback said in an interview. He called Mr. Zuckerberg "the monopolist's C.E.O" and said the Facebook founder had engaged in "anticompetitive conduct to an extent not seen since Bill Gates," one of the founders of Microsoft.

The Information today shared alleged details about future Apple silicon chips that will succeed the first-generation M1, M1 Pro, and M1 Max chips, which are manufactured based on Apple chipmaking partner TSMC's 5nm process. MacRumors adds: The report claims that Apple and TSMC plan to manufacture second-generation Apple silicon chips using an enhanced version of TSMC's 5nm process, and the chips will apparently contain two dies, which can allow for more cores. These chips will likely be used in the next MacBook Pro models and other Mac desktops, the report says. Apple is planning a "much bigger leap" with its third-generation chips, some of which will be manufactured with TSMC's 3nm process and have up to four dies, which the report says could translate into the chips having up to 40 compute cores. For comparison, the M1 chip has an 8-core CPU and the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips have 10-core CPUs, while Apple's high-end Mac Pro tower can be configured with up to a 28-core Intel Xeon W processor.

One of Mark Zuckerberg's first steps toward building the metaverse may be physical instead of virtual. From a report: Meta, the social media company formerly known as Facebook, has discussed opening retail stores that will eventually span the world, said people with knowledge of the project and company documents viewed by The New York Times. The stores would be used to introduce people to devices made by the company's Reality Labs division, such as virtual reality headsets and, eventually, augmented reality glasses, they said.

These devices are gateways to the metaverse, a futuristic digital world where people move from virtual to augmented versions of reality almost seamlessly. Mr. Zuckerberg, Facebook's founder and chief executive, last week renamed his company Meta and laid out a vision for pursuing the metaverse as the next social platform. The stores would help show people that virtual reality and augmented reality can be fun and exciting, exactly the way Mr. Zuckerberg sees it. The aim of the stores is to make the world "more open and connected," according to the company documents viewed by The Times. They are also intended to spark emotions like "curiosity, closeness," as well as a sense of feeling "welcomed" while experimenting with headsets in a "judgment free journey," according to the documents.

Thelasko shares a report from Business Insider: Facebook announced last week that it's changing its name to Meta. But the transition might not be without obstacles. A company is already after the "Meta" trademark -- and was well before Facebook rolled out its new moniker. Arizona-based startup Meta PC founder Zach Shutt told Insider the company filed for the "Meta" trademark in August. The Patent and Trademark Office website confirms the filing, which states that Meta PC first began using the brand for its range of products in November 2020. [Founders Zach Shutt and Joe Darger] said they're willing to stand down if CEO Mark Zuckerberg pays them $20 million, TMZ reported. However, Shutt declined to confirm the amount, or that it made such a proposal.

CME Group announced a 10-year-partnership with Google Cloud this morning, with Google saying it would also invest $1 billion in the exchange giant -- currently the world's most valuable. Fortune reports: Prima facie, it's an odd deal: A search giant is investing in a financial services company that had its start well over a century ago. Despite the age difference, what is perhaps more surprising is that this kind of a deal -- investing in a customer -- within the cloud giants is not that rare. Microsoft for instance invested in the $2 billion funding round of autonomous car company, Cruise, becoming an investor and a vendor for the startup's cloud needs. [...] And now, with the CME deal, Google seems intent on honing in on the financial services industry, which has historically shied away from cloud migration over regulatory and privacy concerns. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal (paywalled), Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian called the investment "a reflection of our commitment to the transformation of the financial system, not just to one company's infrastructure."

Scientists identified a specific gene that doubles the risk of respiratory failure from Covid-19 and may go some way to explaining why some ethnic groups are more susceptible to severe disease than others. From a report: Researchers from the University of Oxford found that a higher-risk version of the gene most likely prevents the cells lining airways and the lungs from responding to the virus properly. About 60% of people with South Asian ancestry carry this version of the gene, compared with 15% of people with European heritage, according to the study published Thursday. The findings help explain why higher rates of hospitalization and death may have been seen in certain communities and on the Indian subcontinent. The authors cautioned that the gene cannot be used as a sole explanation as many other factors, such as socioeconomic conditions, play a role. Despite a significant impact from the virus to people with Afro-Caribbean ancestry, only 2% carry the higher-risk genotype. People with the gene, known as LZTFL1, would particularly benefit from vaccination, which remains the best method of protection, the authors said. The findings raise the possibility of research into treatments specific to patients with this gene, though no tailored drugs are currently available.

Alphabet's Google said on Thursday it plans to allow third-party payment systems in South Korea to comply with a new law, marking the first time the U.S. tech giant has amended its payment policy for a specific country. From a report: Google's announcement comes after a Korea Communications Commission's (KCC) request for Google and Apple to come up with compliance plans for the new law, which bans major app store operators from forcing software developers to use their payments systems. Most of the new law went into effect in mid-September. The curb is the first such move by a major economy on the likes of Apple and Google, which face global criticism for requiring the use of proprietary payment systems that charge commissions of up to 30%.

In late August, parliament passed an amendment to South Korea's Telecommunications Business Act - dubbed the "anti-Google law" - banning big app store operators, such as Google and Apple from forcing developers to use their payment systems, effectively stopping them from charging commission on in-app purchases. "We respect the decision of the National Assembly, and we are sharing some changes to respond to this new law, including giving developers that sell in-app digital goods and services the option to add an alternative in-app billing system alongside Google Play's billing system for their users in South Korea," Google said in a statement.

Fox plans to double down on its investments in blockchain technology by introducing more NFTs (non-fungible tokens) and digital collectibles for its shows and franchises in the coming months, a top executive tells Axios. From a report: Fox Entertainment was the first major TV studio to debut its own blockchain division in May. At the time, the company said it would put at least $100 million behind the effort to build what it hopes will become a major part of its top line revenue growth in the years ahead. "This is a revenue generating business," said Scott Greenberg, the CEO of Fox's Blockchain Reality Labs division. "There's a huge opportunity in tokenizing content."

Citing the success of gaming companies like Fortnite parent Epic Games and Roblox, he also noted, "there's a notion of creating digital economies around brands that we think that can apply." "Imagine earn-to-watch," he said. What the gaming world has shown is that "you can turn your time spent into earnings." Greenberg came to Fox in 2019 through Fox's acquisition of Bento Box Entertainment, the animation studio behind major animated hits, including "Bob's Burgers" and "The Great North." Fox put Greenberg in charge of its blockchain division, given Bento Box's expertise in digital art.

Google owner Alphabet has launched an artificial intelligence company to discover new drugs. From a report: UK-registered Isomorphic Labs will use technology from its sister company DeepMind to "to accelerate drug discovery, and ultimately, find cures for some of humanity's most devastating diseases," said Demis Hassabis, the head of DeepMind, in a blog post. He added that he would also become the chief executive of Isomorphic Labs. Scientists around the world were awed in July when DeepMind unveiled how its AlphaFold2 technology could be used to predict the shape of every protein in the human body with almost perfect accuracy.

DeepMind's model can solve one of the trickiest problems in biology by taking a sequence of amino acids and mapping the twists and turns of its shape. The algorithm could help replace or enhance painstaking laboratory work to identify the structures of proteins, which dictate how they behave. Pharmaceutical companies and academic researchers are eager to use the tool -- which DeepMind has made available on an open source basis -- to discover new targets for drugs. Its speed could cut the time to discovering innovative treatments, although the process of clinical trials is still likely to take several years. DeepMind said it would use the technology to try to find treatments for Chagas disease and Leishmaniasis, two of the most deadly diseases in the world.

Microsoft has started warning Windows 11 users that certain features in the operating system are failing to load due to an expired certificate. The certificate expired on October 31st, and Microsoft warns that some Windows 11 users aren't able to open apps like the Snipping Tool, touch keyboard, or emoji panel. From a report: A patch is available to fix some of the issues, but it's currently in preview, meaning you have to install it manually from Windows Update. The patch, KB4006746, will fix the touch keyboard, voice typing, emoji panel, and issues with the getting started and tips sections of Windows 11. You'll be able to find this patch by checking for updates in the Windows Update section of Settings in Windows 11. Microsoft's patch doesn't address the problems with the Snipping Tool app, though. "To mitigate the issue with Snipping Tool, use the Print Screen key on your keyboard and paste the screenshot into your document," recommends Microsoft. "You can also paste it into Paint to select and copy the section you want."

Proposed European regulation that could force Apple to allow iPhone users to install software from the web would open '"Pandora's box" and could pose threats to entire networks of computers, Apple software senior vice president Craig Federighi said in a speech on Wednesday. From a report: The remarks at Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal represent an escalation in Apple's rhetoric about what could go wrong if Apple is forced to change its App Store policies. [...] "European policymakers have often been ahead of the curve," Federighi said. "But requiring sideloading on iPhone would be a step backward. Instead of creating choice, it could open up a Pandora's Box of unreviewed malware and software."

The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, presented the Digital Markets Act last December. The Act is designed to stop companies like Apple, Google and Meta, the company previously known as Facebook, from abusing their power. It contains a series of rules that would require them to open up their platforms to competitors. Failure to comply could result in fines as high as 10% of the companies' worldwide annual revenue. In a report filed with the U.S. SEC last month, Apple specifically named the Digital Markets Act and said that, if enacted, it could require changes to Apple's App Store that might harm the company's financial results. On Wednesday, Federighi didn't address the potential financial impact to Apple. Instead, he argued sideloading would cause users to be tricked into downloading malware. "Even if you have no intention of sideloading, people are routinely coerced or tricked into doing it," Federighi said, citing malware on Google's Android, which allows sideloading. Google warns users against doing so in system messages and pop-ups, however. Federighi argued that although technically skilled people might be able to identify malware on the internet, their parents or children might still be fooled, making everyone's iPhone data less secure.

23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki wants to make drugs using insights from millions of customer DNA samples, and doesn't think that should bother anyone. From a report: A few months ago, on the morning 23andMe Holding Co. was about to go public, Chief Executive Officer Anne Wojcicki received a framed sheet of paper she hadn't seen in 15 years. As she was preparing to ring in the Nasdaq bell remotely from the courtyard of her company's Silicon Valley headquarters, Patrick Chung, one of its earliest investors, presented her with the pitch document she'd shown him when she was first asking for money, reproduced on two pieces of paper so she could see both sides. The one-sheet outlined a radical transformation in the field of DNA testing. Wojcicki's plan back then was to turn genetics from the rarefied work of high-end labs into mainstream health and quasi entertainment products.

First she'd sell tastemakers on her mail-in spit kits as a way to learn sort-of-interesting things about their DNA makeup, such as its likely ancestral origins and the chance it would lead to certain health conditions. Eventually she'd be able to lower prices enough to make the kits broadly accessible, allowing 23andMe to build a database big enough to identify new links between diseases and particular genes. Later, this research would fuel the creation of drugs the company could tailor to different genetic profiles. 23andMe would become a new kind of health-care business, sitting somewhere between a Big Pharma lab, a Big Tech company, and a trusted neighborhood doctor.

Some of this still sounds as far off now as it did during the Bush years. Improbably, though, 23andMe has rounded second base and is heading for third. Wojcicki did sell millions of people on DNA test kits -- 11 million and counting -- and bring such tests to the mainstream, with some help from Oprah's holiday gift guide. An estimated 1 in 5 Americans have turned over their genetic material to 23andMe or one of its competitors. Now that she's got the data, Wojcicki is working on the drugs. Her company is collaborating on clinical trials for one compound (and nearing trials for another) that could be used for what's known as immuno-oncology, treatments that attempt to harness the body's complex immune system to beat cancer. 23andMe says it's also exploring drugs with potential use in treatments for neurological, cardiovascular, and other conditions, though it declined to specify them. Last month the company bought Lemonaid Health, a telehealth and drug delivery startup that offers treatment and prescriptions for a select group of conditions, including depression, anxiety, and STDs.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Vox: Facebook says it will stop using facial recognition for photo-tagging. In a Monday blog post, Meta, the social network's new parent company, announced that the platform will delete the facial templates of more than a billion people and shut off its facial recognition software, which uses an algorithm to identify people in photos they upload to Facebook. This decision represents a major step for the movement against facial recognition, which experts and activists have warned is plagued with bias and privacy problems. But Meta's announcement comes with a couple of big caveats. While Meta says that facial recognition isn't a feature on Instagram and its Portal devices, the company's new commitment doesn't apply to its metaverse products, Meta spokesperson Jason Grosse told Recode. In fact, Meta is already exploring ways to incorporate biometrics into its emerging metaverse business, which aims to build a virtual, internet-based simulation where people can interact as avatars. Meta is also keeping DeepFace, the sophisticated algorithm that powers its photo-tagging facial recognition feature.

"We believe this technology has the potential to enable positive use cases in the future that maintain privacy, control, and transparency, and it's an approach we'll continue to explore as we consider how our future computing platforms and devices can best serve people's needs," Grosse told Recode. "For any potential future applications of technologies like this, we'll continue to be public about intended use, how people can have control over these systems and their personal data, and how we're living up to our responsible innovation framework."

Ana Diaz writes via Polygon: Jack Morrison logs on to stream, he doesn't boot up Twitch, Streamlabs OBS, or speak into a fancy microphone. Instead, he grabs a basic circular mirror and sets it in front of his desktop monitor, facing the screen. Then he sits in front of his monitor, as usual, and plays the game, propping up his cell phone to face him and setting his camera live. When he boots up Apex Legends, viewers see the gameplay reflected in the mirror as they watch him play. This makeshift setup might have been surprising just a year ago, in an industry that seems to be more and more concerned with having the latest streaming technology. But it's become a rather common practice on TikTok, where video game streaming has picked up in the past few months. In September, the company said that one billion people in total use the app each month, and jokes and sounds riffing on video games have long proliferated widely across TikTok. Now, Morrison (JackMorrisonTV on TikTok) and other streamers with similarly crude setups have taken over the app's "LIVE" section, capturing as many as 2,400 viewers at a time.

These streamers are using low-key setups, in comparison to the complex (and expensive) setups that dominate Twitch, where a DSLR camera and the capture card to use it can cost over $800. The exact build of each TikToker's setup varies, but nearly all of them capture video via an external camera that's focused on a screen, or in Morrison's case, a reflection of a screen. A brief scroll through the gaming section of TikTok's live content shows these streamers' ingenuity; some will stream videos of tablets or phones as they play mobile games, while others will just put the camera in front of a screen. The games also vary widely, with people playing games like Snake, Minecraft, and Wordscapes in addition to shooters like Valorant.

The number of live streams is much smaller than the wave of short-form videos being pushed out every single day on the app, making them stand out more. It also feels like a more accessible platform, especially for people who are just getting started with streaming. TikTok streamers are using more basic technology, such as mirrors, cell phone stands, and the like. It's also less competitive than Twitch, which has over seven million unique streamers go live each month. [...] TikTok is also testing monetization features that might make it more appealing for streamers to use. [...] For now, streams seem like a quick and easy way to take advantage of TikTok's massive audience. Whether or not bona fide TikTok streaming stars will emerge on the platform or find a sustainable home there remains to be seen.

Waymo will start driving its autonomous Chrysler Pacifica vans in New York City on November 4th. Engadget reports: This and a later wave of Jaguar I-Pace EVs will rely on human drivers to map streets and learn from the environment, and there aren't any immediate plans to offer driverless rides to passengers. However, Waymo clearly hopes to use this knowledge for its long-term autonomy goals in various cities. The rollout will focus on Manhattan below Central Park (aka midtown and lower Manhattan), including the financial district and a portion of New Jersey through the Lincoln Tunnel. All tests will operate during daylight.

The dry run will help Waymo's Driver AI cope with New York City's notoriously heavy traffic, of course, but the company is particularly interested in weather testing. Like many northern cities, NYC has its fair share of ice and snow, both of which remain huge challenges for driverless cars. This test will give Waymo further opportunities to test its navigation in winter conditions, not to mention the heavy rainfall more common in the region.