Pluto TV, the free streaming service found on Samsung, Sony and Vizio TVs, is expanding. In a new partnership announced Thursday, the service will now be available on Comcast’s Xfinity X1 cable box.  The streaming service was already available on the cable provider’s Xfinity Flex, a $5-per-month streaming box that doesn’t include a cable subscription. The …

Spotify is morphing its Your Library section, saying the new design will make it easier to find the music you’re looking for quickly and help discover new podcasts, according to a blog post Thursday. The company says music will be organized in a more personalized way to find what you’re looking for quicker, and podcast will be easier to discover and …

San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón says the city is using artificial intelligence to remove racial bias from the process of deciding whom to charge with crimes. A new AI tool scans police reports and automatically redacts any race information. It’s part of an effort to remove implicit bias caused by social conditioning and learned associations, Gascón’s office said in a press …

The US Public Broadcasting Service faces challenges beyond the Trump administration’s efforts to defund it. Paula Kerger, CEO of the nonprofit broadcaster, says PBS has now encountered an obstacle from Apple. Kerger said Tuesday that a new restriction from the iPhone maker will limit how PBS can work with third-party developers and will ultimately harm the PBS Kids app. She made the …

The Toronto Raptors lead the Golden State Warriors three games to two, but let the possible series-clinching Game 5 slip away at home, blowing a six-point lead with less than 4 minutes to go. The NBA Finals shift back to Oakland for the last game ever at Oracle Arena (the team will open next season in their new digs across the bay in …

Microsoft’s Edge browser will block ads that are deemed too intrusive, a new sign that browsers have begun competing to make the web better for you even if businesses might not like it. It’s a significant development for Microsoft’s new Chromium-based Edge, an overhauled app now available for Windows, MacOS, Android and iOS that’s based on Google’s open-source browser technology. …

Kickstarter has told its users to avoid using dubious and exaggerated claims when marketing their projects to potential backers. This includes “puffery” like world’s best, smallest, fastest, first, ultimate, unrivaled and revolutionary. The global crowdfunding platform has helped projects like a smart cheesemaker, a Dungeons & Dragons animated series and ketchup slices get off the ground, but now Kickstarter is …

Samsung missed the April release date of the Galaxy Fold to fix problems with the device, but that delay is causing issues for customers, retailers and carriers. Now AT&T is adding to the bad news, sending cancellation notices to those who preordered the foldable phone.  Those AT&T emails on canceling Galaxy Fold preorders were reported on earlier Thursday by Tom’s Hardware. …

Digital bank Monzo has taken the UK by storm, thanks to its app-based, customer-centric tools and brand. And now it’s coming to the US. Monzo announced Thursday that it would be setting up shop in Los Angeles this summer, and invited potential customers to sign up on its wait list in order to get their hands on one of its …

Deepfakes of world leaders may be easier to debunk ahead of the 2020 US presidential election with a new detection method. The rest of us are still out of luck, though. And the technique works only for a specific style of talking-head-style deepfake. Oh, and it’s only a matter of time before manipulators figure out how to dodge this kind of …

New technology can improve our lives, but it can also come with unforeseen pitfalls. Cameras are now smaller, better and smarter than ever before, and that, warns the American Civil Liberties Union, could be an issue in the future. The nearly 50 million surveillance cameras in the US could be used to police people as smart technology improves, according to …

China’s ambassador to the UK has warned Britain’s government that barring the use of Huawei equipment from the country’s 5G network could hurt trade relations and investment. It’s yet another twist in the international relations saga as the US puts pressure on its allies to avoid dealing with the telecommunications equipment maker. “It will send a very bad message not …

Google isn’t trying to kill ad blockers. That’s the message in a pair of Google blog posts published Wednesday in response to criticism of the search giant’s plan to improve extensions in its Chrome web browser. “We are not preventing the development of ad blockers or stopping users from blocking ads,” said Devlin Cronin in a post on the Google …

Samsung’s The Wall TV is finally going to be available for consumers to purchase. At least those wealthy enough to afford its still unknown, but likely insanely expensive, price tag. Available globally in July, The Wall Luxury is Samsung’s first consumer Micro LED display. The scalable, modular technology can be configured and customized to a variety of sizes, from 73-inches in …

Social media companies like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter weren’t anywhere near a US House hearing on deepfakes Thursday, but they were still the stars of the show. The hearing, which focused on how manipulated media like deepfakes could threaten democracy, repeatedly harped on the social networks’ role in the threat, with experts suggesting policies sure to give those companies pause.  One crucial suggestion? …