Did you know the product was previously called “Messages by Google?” I didn’t until I read this 9to5Google article about the recent name change.
Just don’t get Google Messages and Google Chat confused.
In a Friday SEC filing providing an update on its investigation of a recent security incident (that it will not call a breach, based on justifications that remain unclear), 23andMe says a bad actor was able to access 0.1 percent of the company’s accounts through credential stuffing. According to TechCrunch’s estimates, that 0.1 percent figure translates to around 14,000 accounts.
However, those accounts were used to access a “significant number of files containing profile information about other users’ ancestry” that users share when opting in to its DNA Relatives feature. How many is “significant”? 23andMe didn’t say.
[www.sec.gov]
I can’t believe it didn’t have one already. Google says the feature is available on Android and rolling out now on iOS.
Instagram boss Adam Mosseri says letting users see search results chronologically “would create a substantial safety loophole.” I’ve replied to ask exactly what he means by that. Perhaps it’s so that Meta can always algorithmically sort search results and root out the bad stuff? I do hope Mosseri reconsiders this position, as chronological search results on X (formerly Twitter) can be pretty useful.
On Thursday, Meta expanded Threads’ keyword search feature to more languages.
According to a thread from Bluesky’s safety account, it’s introducing “more advanced automated tooling” to flag content to its moderation team before users see it and letting users once again report their own posts for mislabeled content. And sometime “soon,” users will be able to set controls for who can reply to a post.
You still can’t view Bluesky posts unless you have an account (that feature is “realistically” arriving “mid month,” a Bluesky developer said Friday), so if you can’t see the posts yourself, TechCrunch has a good summary of what’s changing.
We have a service that is financially viable, meaning it makes money, in Game Pass. We’ve put a lot of money into the market, over a billion dollars a year supporting third-party games coming into Game Pass.
Spencer also says that the company “has no plans to bring Game Pass to PlayStation or Nintendo;” earlier this week, Xbox CFO Tim Stuart said that Microsoft is interested in bringing Game Pass to “every screen that can play games” including “what we would have thought of as competitors in the past like PlayStation and Nintendo,” as reported by GameSpot.
Windows Central’s full interview with Spencer is worth reading, if you have a few minutes.
Showrunner Craig Mazin said in a Variety panel that production begins on February 12th. The date’s not a total surprise, as HBO and Max content chief Casey Bloys recently said that production would start in early 2024, but now we know exactly when it starts.
Now we just need to know who is going to play Abby. Hopefully we’ll find out soon, given that the role has apparently already been cast.
The new trailer debuts on December 4th at 12PM ET, according to a post on X. I’m hopeful it’s something big, but given that the image is styled almost exactly like Rockstar’s GTA VI trailer announcement and Fall Guys’ subsequent trailer announcement, maybe Microsoft is just getting in on the memes.
Android Authority reports that there’s code in the Microsoft Phone Link app that “suggests that the company is working on letting your Android phone provide a video stream to your Windows PC.” Sounds handy — and potentially like a Windows-ified version of Apple’s Continuity Camera feature.
[Android Authority]
