An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Drive: While General Motors has announced that it plans to phase out CarPlay in its EVs starting in 2024, Ford has just doubled down on long-term CarPlay compatibility. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Ford CEO Jim Farley laid it bare: "In terms of content, we kind of lost that battle 10 years ago," Farley said. "So like get real with it, because you're not going to make a ton of money on content inside the vehicle."

Farley's argument is extremely sound. He is contending that since most people bring their smartphones into their cars with them, that people want the infotainment to be an extension of their phones and not another thing to deal with. On another level, embracing CarPlay and Android Auto cost automakers money to license but that cost is amortized over a large production run. The possibility of having a CarPlay-only infotainment is distant and highly unlikely, as automakers do need their own interface for the high-tech gadgets of today's cars.

And let's be real: CarPlay is one of the best things to happen to modern cars. It simplifies driving, keeps people less distracted by vastly reducing the learning curve, and is just more convenient. Ford is embracing it.

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT and DALL-E 2, is launching developer APIs for the AI chatbot and the Whisper speech-transcription model. It also changed its terms of service to let developers opt out of using their data for improvements while adding a 30-day data retention policy. Engadget reports: The new ChatGPT API will use the same AI model ("gpt-3.5-turbo") as the popular chatbot, allowing developers to add either unchanged or flavored versions of ChatGPT to their apps. Snap's My AI is an early example, along with a new virtual tutor feature for the online study tool Quizlet and an upcoming Ask Instacart tool in the popular local-shopping app. However, the API won't be limited to brand-specific bots mimicking ChatGPT; it can also power "non-chat" software experiences that could benefit from AI brains. The ChatGPT API is priced at $0.002 per 1,000 tokens (about 750 words). Additionally, it's offering a dedicated-capacity option for deep-pocketed developers who expect to use more tokens than the standard API allows. The new developer options join the consumer-facing ChatGPT Plus, a $20-per-month service launched in February.

Meanwhile, OpenAI's Whisper API is a hosted version of the open-source Whisper speech-to-text model it launched in September. "We released a model, but that actually was not enough to cause the whole developer ecosystem to build around it," OpenAI president and co-founder Greg Brockman told TechCrunch on Tuesday. "The Whisper API is the same large model that you can get open source, but we've optimized to the extreme. It's much, much faster and extremely convenient." The transcription API will cost developers $0.006 per minute, enabling "robust" transcription in multiple languages and providing translation to English. Further reading: OpenAI Is Now Everything It Promised Not To Be: Corporate, Closed-Source, and For-Profit (Motherboard)

An anonymous reader quotes Motherboard: On Friday video-conferencing software Zoom issued an update to its iOS app which stops it sending certain pieces of data to Facebook. The move comes after a Motherboard analysis of the app found it sent information such as when a user opened the app, their timezone, city, and device details to the social network giant.

When Motherboard analyzed the app, Zoom's privacy policy did not make the data transfer to Facebook clear.

"Zoom takes its users' privacy extremely seriously. We originally implemented the 'Login with Facebook' feature using the Facebook SDK in order to provide our users with another convenient way to access our platform. However, we were recently made aware that the Facebook SDK was collecting unnecessary device data," Zoom told Motherboard in a statement on Friday....

"We sincerely apologize for this oversight, and remain firmly committed to the protection of our users' data," Zoom's statement concluded.

An anonymous reader writes from a report via Ars Technica: Soylent has ventured in a new direction with its latest beverage: breakfast. Called Coffiest, the new offering has the same ingredient makeup, nutritional mix, and 47/33/20 percent fat/carb/protein calorie distribution as the 2.0 premixed version, but it also adds coffee flavoring, 150mg of caffeine per serving, and 75mg of the nootropic L-Theanine. According to Soylent founder Rob Rhinehart, a bottle of Coffiest supplies the drinker with about 400 kilocalories and about 20 percent of the daily recommended values for "all essential vitamins and minerals." "A lot of people are skipping breakfast," Rhinehart told Ars in a phone interview. "We wanted to provide a convenient and also really tasty option for them to enjoy in the morning." Additionally, the company will also be releasing a nutrition bar, called the Soylent Bar. This one will deliver 250 kilocalories per bar, and has a macronutrient breakdown of 38/43/19 percent fat/carb/protein. "Coffee flavor is extremely complex," Rhinehart told Ars. "The direction I gave was a little bit of a more darker, richer roast it's a little darker coffee. A little bit of cocoa powder, just a barely perceptible amount, but it rounds out the flavor nicely." "It was a huge challenge to develop a coffee flavor that would survive processing," he continued. "You can't take any risks with health or safety, so we have to eliminate any sources of contamination from the product and that involves heat. So we had some great food scientists and flavor scientists work out a flavor system that combines natural coffee extracts with an artificial flavor system. And it turned out pretty great." As for the toots, neither Coffiest nor the Soylent Bar will cause consumers to erupt with "horse-killing farts," a complaint made by many of Soylent's customers as well as Ars Technica writer Lee Hutchinson. For those interested in Soylent's latest concoction, Coffiest is available for purchase today at the Soylent site for about $40 for a pack of 12 servings (or $37.05 with a recurring subscription). The Soylent Bar will launch later for about $2 per bar. You can view Coffiest's nutrition facts here.

benrothke writes There is a not so fine line between data dashboards and other information displays that provide pretty but otherwise useless and unactionable information; and those that provide effective answers to key questions. Data-Driven Security: Analysis, Visualization and Dashboards is all about the later. In this extremely valuable book, authors Jay Jacobs and Bob Rudis show you how to find security patterns in your data logs and extract enough information from it to create effective information security countermeasures. By using data correctly and truly understanding what that data means, the authors show how you can achieve much greater levels of security. Keep reading for the rest of Ben's review.

I suspect most of you are not aware that Slashdot has an editorially independent counterpart in Japan. After the recent Quake and Tsunami, I asked my counterpart over there, Shuji Sado, if he would share with us something from Slashdot.jp. What follows is a collection of translated reader comments from your parallel selves in Japan. I want to wish all the Slashdot JP employees and readers the best of luck. Know that you have friends here. Hit the link below to read what it's like there right now.

Frequent Slashdot contributor Bennett Haselton writes "A simple experiment shows that it's easy to find the IP addresses used by the UltraSurf anti-censorship program, and block traffic to all of those IP addresses, effectively stopping UltraSurf from working. But this is not a fault of UltraSurf; rather, it demonstrates that an anti-censorship software program can be successful even if it's relatively trivial to block it." Read on for Bennett's analysis.

John Suda writes "It's been over five years in the making and its nearly perfect. No, Im not referring to Microsoft's vast new operating system named Windows Vista, but to the reference book Windows Vista: the Missing Manual, by author David Pogue. The book is the latest, and perhaps best, in the Missing Manual series published by Pogue Press / O'Reilly Media, Inc. The Missing Manual series is the benchmark of quality for computer manuals. Unless youre a system administrator, programmer, or uber-geek, this is probably the only reference source you'll need to learn Microsofts Vista." Read below for the rest of John's review.

In a genre filled with lookalikes and ripoffs, the Burnout series stands as a very different kind of racer. Burnout 3: Takedown was a significant departure from previous games in the series. The sense of speed and impact that made Burnout 3 a landmark game of 2004 have returned in the next game in the series, Burnout: Revenge. By maintaining the good things about the last game, losing some of the annoying stuff, and adding new twists to the gameplay Criterion has given us another chance to make things go fast and fly far. Read on for my impressions of Burnout: Revenge.

Hardcore gaming gets a lot of press attention for the intense graphics and the meaningless violence. Despite this, there are millions of gamers who enjoy their entertainment in a more casual vein. One of the champs of the casual PC market is Maxis behemoth The Sims 2. The sequel to the original, much expanded, Sims is now working its way through a series of content additions of its own. The most recent expansion for Sims 2 is "Nightlife". This out-and-about addition incorporates much of the "Hot Date" material from the original game, with a generous helping of extras. Read on for my impressions of the latest attempt by Maxis to improve your virtual person's social life.

Last week we requested questions for Mozilla Chief Lizard Wrangler Mitchell Baker. A lightly-edited interview transcript is posted below. You also have the option of downloading and listening to an MP3 of the phone conversation itself.

Announced at the European Computer Trade Show in September of 2001, before Warcraft III had even reached retail shelves, Blizzard's Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game has commanded attention for years. World of Warcraft is a fantasy game like no other, with a unique spin on the genre and an intense attention to detail. The game was released last week after a six month long beta test capped off with a tremendous 500,000 person open testing period. Read on for my impressions of World of Warcraft as the game stands at Launch.

Mark Burroughs writes "Leave it to a SubGenius preacher to take normally mundane subjects, like software maintenance, and expose the unholy conspiracy behind them. I think the following quote from the introduction sums up the tone of the book nicely: 'Rather than shield your eyes from the sordid realities of the software industry, I am going to dust off my old 8mm films and let you take a good look at the uncensored truth for yourself. You may want to keep a paper bag handy in case you get sick.'" You know you want to read on for the rest of Burrough's review.

We sent 10 of your questions to usability guy Joe Clark, and he took it upon himself to go a bit beyond simply answering them. In his reply he said, "Answers attached in a valid XHTML file. I would suggest at least retaining the id attributes. I copy-edited all the questions, but the words are all the same; they are now merely spelled and capitalized correctly. I think all the links work." Whatever. We left Joe's formatting intact. It's a little different from our usual style, but variety is the spice of Slashdot.

oxgoad writes "Sun Microsystems, Federal Express, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory -- what do they have in common? All have used, or are currently using, the programming language Forth in critical subsystems of their products or processes. 'What is this language Forth?' you ask. Forth has been called 'One of the best-kept secrets in the computing world.' Read on for a review of the book Forth Application Techniques authored by Elizabeth D. Rather."

An assortment of Napster news. Napster put out a press release, mirrored below, talking about their plans for the subscription Napster service to include strong copy protection - so you can pay Napster in subscription fees, storage space and bandwidth for files you can't use, and you can transmit them to other people who can't use them either. What a great business plan! The RIAA submitted their proposal for the injunction against Napster - it isn't pretty. Napster may have to block all 2.5 million of the RIAA's songs, as soon as the RIAA can figure out all their names. And Lessig sounds the battle cry for peer to peer - nothing you haven't heard before, but perhaps inspiring nonetheless.

chromatic is back with a mini-compendium of introductory Linux texts -- and yes, they have the famously protected "Dummies" trademark. Don't scoff at the nature of these books, though; the skill of translating the arcana of any computer topic (and boy are they all arcane to the uninitiated!) into language that mom, kids and the guy down the street can understand is not a common one. If you don't know what a root prompt (or an editor) is, or why you might want one, it's hard to do much else with your system.

I've gotten lots of e-mail asking, "Where are Douglas Adams' answers to our questions? Has he forgotten us?" Obviously, no one was forgotten, but the man had a screenplay on deadline and had to work, work, work. Yes, if we had a hall of fame category for "Longest time between interview questions and responses to them," this one would be #1, but it was worth waiting for. Obviously there was never any cause for panic, but all true Douglas Adams fans already knew that, right?

Chris Johnson writes: "When you think about PalmPilots or the new crop of wearable computers or, perhaps, even computers themselves, you could sum it up with a single nonword - Borgification. By this, I refer to the way computers can extend a person's abilities, in the same way that wearing clothing can extend a person's ability to survive hostile climates, or standing on ladders can extend a person's ability to reach high-up things. This is a central theme of computer use, and the development of GUI speaks eloquently toward how far a computer's interactions can be bent to make them look like human interactions." Keep reading (below). Chris has lots more to say, and it's all good. He'll get you thinking, whether you agree with him or not.

We got a bunch of questions for Illiad (of User Friendly fame) Monday, let the Moderators (you know who you are) decide which of them were worthy, and sent the chosen ones off to the wilds of British Columbia. Here are Illiad's answers...