Monday, November 22, 2021

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Personalized warnings could reduce hate speech on Twitter, researchers say

Posted: 22 Nov 2021 03:00 AM PST

A set of carefully-worded warnings directed to the right accounts could help reduce the amount of hate on Twitter. That's the conclusion of new research examining whether targeted warnings could reduce hate speech on the platform.

Researchers at New York University's Center for Social Media and Politics found that personalized warnings alerting Twitter users to the consequences of their behavior reduced the number of tweets with hateful language a week after. While more study is needed, the experiment suggests that there is a "potential path forward for platforms seeking to reduce the use of hateful language by users," according to Mustafa Mikdat Yildirim, the lead author of the paper.

In the experiment, researchers identified accounts at risk of being suspended for breaking Twitter's rules against hate speech. They looked for people who had used at least one word contained in "hateful language dictionaries" over the previous week, who also followed at least one account that had recently been suspended after using such language.

From there, the researchers created test accounts with personas such as "hate speech warner," and used the accounts to tweet warnings at these individuals. They tested out several variations, but all had roughly the same message: that using hate speech put them at risk of being suspended, and that it had already happened to someone they follow.

"The user @account you follow was suspended, and I suspect this was because of hateful language," reads one sample message shared in the paper. "If you continue to use hate speech, you might get suspended temporarily." In another variation, the account doing the warning identified themselves as a professional researcher, while also letting the person know they were at risk of being suspended. "We tried to be as credible and convincing as possible," Yildirim tells Engadget.

The researchers found that the warnings were effective, at least in the short term. "Our results show that only one warning tweet sent by an account with no more than 100 followers can decrease the ratio of tweets with hateful language by up to 10%," the authors write. Interestingly, they found that messages that were "more politely phrased" led to even greater declines, with a decrease of up to 20 percent. "We tried to increase the politeness of our message by basically starting our warning by saying that 'oh, we respect your right to free speech, but on the other hand keep in mind that your hate speech might harm others,'" Yildirim says.

In the paper, Yildirim and his co-authors note that their test accounts only had around 100 followers each, and that they weren't associated with an authoritative entity. But if the same type of warnings were to come from Twitter itself, or an NGO or other organization, then the warnings may be even more useful. "The thing that we learned from this experiment is that the real mechanism at play could be the fact that we actually let these people know that there's some account, or some entity, that is watching and monitoring their behavior," Yildirim says. "The fact that their use of hate speech is seen by someone else could be the most important factor that led these people to decrease their hate speech."

Epson's excellent Home Cinema 4100 4K Pro projector is $500 off right now

Posted: 22 Nov 2021 01:49 AM PST

With features like a 3-chip design that delivers a full RGB color signal with no weird "rainbow" patterns, Epson's Home Cinema 4010 4K Pro is one of the best projectors available under $2,000. If you've been looking at one to get a true cinema experience, it's now on sale for $1,500 on Amazon, for a savings of $500 or 25 percent off the regular price. 

Buy Epson Home Cinema 4010 4K Pro at Amazon - $1,500

The Home Cinema 4010 4K Pro made our list of Best Projectors for 2021, thanks to features like 2,400 lumen brightness, a dynamic iris for crisper blacks, a motorized 2.1X zoom, focus and lens shift. It delivers in picture quality as well, offering both HDR10 and HLG, while covering 100 percent of the DCI-P3 color space in cinema mode. 

Short throw projectors might have all the buzz, but regular long throw projectors still have their place — especially if you'd rather mount the projector and screen on the ceiling. The only drawbacks are Epson's pixel-shifting technology that yields a bit less than 4K resolution, and a lack of support for 60Hz 4K due to the HDMI 1.4 ports. Still, it delivers where it counts with color accuracy and brightness, and the $1,500 price tag makes it a very attractive option. 

Get the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers by visiting our deals homepage and following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter.

All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Rolls-Royce's all-electric airplane smashes record with 387.4 MPH top speed

Posted: 22 Nov 2021 12:28 AM PST

Just two months after its maiden flight, Rolls-Royce's "Spirit of Innovation" has hit a top speed of 387.4 MPH, tentatively smashing the speed record for electric airplanes, Gizmodo has reported. It also claimed the top speed of 345.4 MPH over a 3 kilometer (1.86 mile) course and lowest time to a 3,000 meter (9,843 feet) altitude (202 seconds). The records have yet to be certified, but if the 345.5 MPH speed stands, it would beat the current record of 213 MPH — held by a Siemens-powered Extra 330LE — by an impressive 132 MPH. 

Rolls-Royce (the aviation, not the car company), conducted the tests on November 16th. To have the records certified, it's submitting the trials to the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), the body in charge of world aviation records. If confirmed, the speeds would be pretty impressive considering that the plane only made its maiden flight in September — suggesting that with more time, it could go even faster.

The Spirit of Innovation is an old-school "tail-dragger" airplane (steering at the rear) with the canopy pushed way back, and looks as fast as it goes. It's powered by a 400 kW (535 HP), 750 volt motor. Rolls-Royce said it uses the "most power-dense propulsion battery pack ever assembled in aerospace," with 6,480 cells. 

As Engadget detailed in an explainer, electric airplanes aren't practical since current batteries are 50 times less energy dense than jet fuel. However, they do hold some promise for very short trips, like a 30 minute jaunt between Vancouver and Victoria in Canada. And unlike non-turbocharged ICE engines, electric motors retain full power as an airplane climbs, making them ideal for time-to-altitude record attempts — as the Spirit of Innovation has just shown. 

'Hey, Disney' voice assistant comes to Disneyland in 2022

Posted: 21 Nov 2021 02:09 PM PST

You won't have to book a trip to Florida to try Disney's Amazon-based voice assistant. Disney has revealed that "hey, Disney" is coming to Disneyland hotel rooms sometime in 2022. As in Walt Disney World, it'll be available alongside Alexa in your room's Echo speaker and handle request ranging from amenities through to stories and jokes.

Guests will also see some more technology when they're visiting the park itself, as MagicBand+ wearables will also reach Disneyland in 2022. You can use the wristband to enter the park, make purchases and otherwise go touch-free, but they'll also use a mix of lights, haptic feedback and gesture control to enliven your experiences in certain areas. The interactions will be specific to Disneyland, so you won't have to worry about rehashed 'magic' moments.

Both additions could save time and may be helpful as a lingering pandemic still leaves some people jittery about physical contact. And to some degree, this is about updating the image of the parks themselves. Disney clearly wants to portray the parks as tech-savvy, and the combo of voice control with wristworn devices might help.

Haunting soft synth has a visualizer that stares back

Posted: 21 Nov 2021 01:12 PM PST

Love Hultén's fondness for strange synthesizers has taken a new, more modern-looking turn. The artist has unveiled Synth#boi, a hybrid soft synth and "interactive visualizer" built with help from the designer Lirona. The blocky, austere art project translates input from a MIDI keyboard to an Intel NUC PC with an S-Engine MKII sound module, a circular display and an eerie humanoid visualizer. The more you play, the more the 'person' in the visualizer lights up — it's as if the device is staring back at you and judging your performance.

And unlike many of Hultén's projects, this is something you can buy. The creator is selling 10 examples of Synth#boi as "physical NFTs" through Dissrup starting on November 22nd at 10AM Eastern. While there's no mention of pricing, we'd expect the limited run and novelty to carry a premium. It might be worthwhile, though, if you're determined to have a conversation piece that also satisfies your music-making impulses.

El Salvador plans to create an entire city based on Bitcoin

Posted: 21 Nov 2021 11:08 AM PST

El Salvador's government is throwing even more of its weight behind Bitcoin. Coindesk and BBC News report President Nayib Bukele has unveiled plans to build a "Bitcoin City" near a volcano along the Gulf of Fonseca, between La Unión and Conchagua. The metropolis will have its own geothermal power plant to help support crypto mining, and there will be no capital gains, income, payroll or property taxes, just value added tax.

The city will be shaped like a coin. While it should include the full amenities you'd expect from a city, people in La Unión could travel to work in the new development.

Bukele didn't provide a timeline for the city's creation. However, he simultaneously unveiled a $1 billion US "Bitcoin bond" where half would be used to build energy and mining infrastructure, with the rest used to buy more of the digital currency. The strategy chief for bond developer Blockstream, Samson Mow, said El Salvador would start selling crypto holdings after five years and pay an extra dividend to bond holders. With an initial 6.5 percent yield, this could represent a significant windfall for the country if all goes well.

The move is a huge gamble for a company with a gross domestic product of just over $24.6 billion in 2020. Bukele's administration is counting on Bitcoin to spur economic growth, independence and investment, but this also assumes the monetary format remains on an overall upward trajectory. It's also unclear if would-be residents and investors will flock to a Bitcoin-oriented city even with tax incentives. This is new territory for cryptocurrency, and it's not certain if there's enough support to help the project thrive.

Netflix renews 'Arcane' for a second season

Posted: 21 Nov 2021 10:29 AM PST

It didn't take long for Netflix to greenlight more Arcane. Deadlinereports Netflix has renewed the League of Legends-based series for a second season now in production. Core stars Ella Purnell (Jinx), Hailee Steinfeld (Vi) and Katie Leung (Caitlyn) are already set to reprise their roles.

There's no mystery behind the decision: the show is a success. Co-creators Christian Linke and Alex Yee said they were "beyond happy" with the reaction. The numbers also back them up — the first season of Arcane racked up nearly 34.2 million viewing hours in its first week on Netflix's new top 10 chart, making it the second-most popular TV series in any language behind Narcos: Mexico (almost 50.3 million).

The popularity isn't a shock. Both Netflix and League creator Riot Games heavily promoted the show, to the point where LoL included multiple crossovers. You knew Arcane was available if you were even vaguely interested in the game that inspired it. And yes, it helps that Arcane happens to be well-received by many accounts.

The renewal doesn't necessarily hint at a new wave of game-inspired Netflix shows. It does, however, suggest that relatively high-budget game productions have a healthy future at the streaming pioneer. Don't be surprised if Netflix takes more chances on projects like this.

Adele got Spotify to remove the shuffle button from album pages

Posted: 21 Nov 2021 09:38 AM PST

Artists have a lot of clout at streaming music services, but Adele might have more power than most. BBC Newsreports Spotify has removed the shuffle button from all album pages after Adele pressed the company to make the change in sync with the launch of 30. Albums should be listened to "as [artists] intended" as they tell "a story," the singer explained in a follow-up on Twitter.

You can still shuffle an album using the controls for individual songs. This mainly adds an extra step and pushes you to choose a first track. Rivals like Apple Music still let you tap a "shuffle" button from an album page.

There's no question some albums are meant to be played in order, including 30. It weaves a narrative around an important time in Adele's life. However, critics have already raised concerns about removing a feature to please an artist. It's one thing to recommend playing albums a certain way, but it's another to take control away from listeners to dictate that order — and what about artists who are happy to allow shuffle play?

Spotify has an incentive to make changes like this, at least. Adele's lead single for 30, "Easy On Me," broke a single-day Spotify streaming record previously held by K-pop megagroup BTS. While Spotify hasn't outlined its rationale, the company probably isn't eager to antagonize one of its most important musicians and risk losing customers.

Meta delays full Facebook and Instagram message encryption to 2023

Posted: 21 Nov 2021 08:42 AM PST

Meta's push for a more private experience will take longer than the company initially hoped. According to The Guardian, safety head Antigone Davis wrote a commentary for The Telegraph warning that the rollout of default end-to-end encrypted messaging in Facebook Messenger and Instagram was delayed to "sometime in 2023." The social media firm had originally planned for the move to wrap up as soon as 2022, but it wanted the extra time to "get this right," Davis said.

The extra privacy is already enabled in WhatsApp, but Facebook Messenger and Instagram still require that you start an encrypted chat ("Secret Conversations" in Messenger). Meta, then Facebook, started a broader push toward encryption and other privacy features in 2019.

The delay could lead to awkward timing, at least in the UK. The country is enacting a safety law in 2023 that will require tech companies to prevent abuse and safeguard children. While it doesn't require encryption backdoors, current UK home secretary Priti Patel hasn't been shy about opposing default encryption — she claimed it would "severely" limit law enforcement's ability to pursue criminals. Meta might face pressure to change its plans by the time the law takes effect.

Davis said Meta would still have the power to detect abuse through a combination of unencrypted info and user reports. The delay might also offer time to reassure governments and head off potential conflicts. Chat encryption isn't under immediate threat, then, but the longer timeframe adds some uncertainty.

Apple Watch SE and Fitbits drop to all-time low prices at Amazon

Posted: 21 Nov 2021 06:58 AM PST

Today could be a very good day to buy wearable tech as a gift. Amazon is discounting a few smartwatches and fitness trackers, most notably the Apple Watch SE. Apple's 'starter' wristwear is on sale for an all-time low price of $219, a full $60 off. You'll have to buy a 40mm GPS model with a silver aluminum case and Abyss Blue Sport Band to reach that price, and you'll have to act quickly — this could sell out soon.

Buy Apple Watch SE on Amazon - $219Buy Fitbit Sense on Amazon - $200Buy Fitbit Charge 5 on Amazon - $130

There are also discounts to be had if you're either an Android user or not particularly attached to Apple's wearables. The Fitbit Sense smartwatch is also on sale for an all-time low price of $200 (normally $300), while the Fitbit Charge 5 tracker is down to $130 (typically $180).

The Apple Watch SE at this price is an easy choice if you have an iPhone. It only costs slightly more than the old Series 3, but it boast a much larger screen, speedier performance and more powerful software. You won't get the always-on display or advanced health tech of models like the Series 7, but that won't matter if you're just looking for a good smartwatch to track workouts, answer calls or check the weather.

Fitbit's devices, meanwhile, are fine choices if you're focused on health. The Sense is a bit sluggish and and may take some time to learn, but its extensive health features (including stress tracking) could easily make it worthwhile. The Charge 5, meanwhile, offers many smartwatch-level perks in a tracker-level design. Just remember that Fitbit's data doesn't directly funnel into third-party platforms like Apple Health.

Get the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers by visiting our deals homepage and following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter.

Nintendo bundles 'Mario Kart 8' with the Switch for Black Friday

Posted: 21 Nov 2021 06:00 AM PST

We all know that Nintendo doesn't discount its games often, so Black Friday ends up being one of the few times you can snag a great deal on its consoles and first party games. This year we're looking at a nice bundle for the Nintendo Switch itself nearly identical to the one it offered last year, which packages a Switch with a digital copy of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and three months of Nintendo Switch Online. 

Mario, Link, Isabelle, Squid Girl
Nintendo

Those two freebies will normally cost you $68 by themselves, but they come included in this package for the standard Switch console price of $300. Take note that this is the regular Switch and not the OLED edition, which still costs $50 more (if you can find one) and doesn't come with a free game.

Buy Nintendo Switch bundle at Amazon - $300Buy Nintendo Switch bundle at Best Buy - $300

Also on sale are a slew of first-party titles from Nintendo, including the recent classic Breath of the Wild alongside other great titles like New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, Splatoon 2, Super Mario Maker 2, Paper Mario: The Origami King and Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition. Also included? Engadget staff faves like Astral Chain and Fire Emblem: Three Houses, which both made our year-end best-of list back in 2019.

However, the two heavy-hitters to look out for are Ring Fit Adventure and Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit. Engadget senior editor Devindra Hardawar and editor-in-chief Dana Wollman had pretty nice things to say about the former, which was perennially out of stock in 2020 as players stuck at home used it to stay in shape.

Buy Ring Fit Adventure at Amazon - $55Buy Ring Fit Adventure at GameStop - $55Buy Ring Fit Adventure at Best Buy - $55
Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit
Nintendo

Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, essentially a remote control vehicle that lets you turn your home into a real-life Mario Kart course, gets the biggest discount of all: Normally it's a $100 game, but this week it's down to a tidy $60 at selected retailers.

Buy Mario Kart Live Home Circuit at Amazon - $60Buy Mario Kart Live Home Circuit at GameStop - $60Buy Mario Kart Live Home Circuit at Best Buy - $60

Get the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers by visiting our deals homepage and following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter.

All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
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