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Google Messages starts rolling out sensitive content warnings for nude images

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Google Messages has started rolling out sensitive content warnings for nudity after first unveiling the feature late last year. The new feature will perform two key actions if the AI-based system detects message containing a nude image: it will blur any of those photo and trigger a warning if your child tries to open, send or forward them. Finally, it will provide resources for you and your child to get help. All detection happens on the device to ensure images and data remain private. 

Sensitive content warnings are enabled by default for supervised users and signed-in unsupervised teens, the company notes. Parents control the feature for supervised users via the Family Link app, but unsupervised teens aged 13 to 17 can turn it off in Google Messages settings. The feature is off by default for everyone else. 

With sensitive content warnings enabled, images are blurred and a "speed bump" prompt opens allowing the user to block the sender, while offering a link to a resource page detailing why nudes can be harmful. Next, it asks the user if they still want to open the message with "No, don't view," and "Yes, view" options. If an attempt is made to send an image, it provides similar options. So, it doesn't completely block children from sending nudes, but merely provides a warning. 

The feature is powered by Google's SafetyCore system which allows AI-powered on-device content classification without sending "identifiable data or any of the classified content or results to Google servers," according to the company. It only just started arriving on Android devices and is not yet widely available, 9to5Google wrote. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/google-messages-starts-rolling-out-sensitive-content-warnings-for-nude-images-130525437.html?src=rss



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motang
12 hours ago
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White House calls NPR and PBS a “grift,” will ask Congress to rescind funding

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The Trump White House is proposing to eliminate most federal funding for National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and issued a statement yesterday alleging that NPR and PBS "spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as 'news.'"

"The NPR, PBS grift has ripped us off for too long," the White House statement said.

White House budget director Russ Vought drafted a memo for a rescission plan that would eliminate funding already approved by Congress, according to multiple news reports. This includes $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), or about two years' worth of funding for the nonprofit group that provides money to public broadcasting stations.

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motang
6 days ago
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1 public comment
JayM
7 days ago
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Grrrr. Moving $10/month to $50/month. *sigh*
Atlanta, GA
LinuxGeek
6 days ago
Write your congress people. They're *supposed* to be in control of the purse strings.

Fun and productivity in Linux

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Today is gonna be all good vibes. Here's a fun, happy article showcasing the value of the Linux desktop for common, everyday purposes, including gaming - DOS-era titles on 4K displays and Windows-only titles via Steam Proton compatibility layer and WINE, offline music sync to iPhone with VLC and KDE Connect, offline, no-cloud upscaling of photos with Upscayl and ImageMagick, writing of complex history book using LibreOffice, reuse of old hardware by running frugal distros, audio and video creation and editing using KDEnlive and ffmpeg, other cool activities and usecases, and more. Enjoy.
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motang
11 days ago
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Mario Kart World’s $80 price isn’t that high, historically

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Last week, Nintendo made waves across the game industry by announcing that Mario Kart World would sell for a suggested price of $80 in the US. That nominal price represents a new high-water mark both for Nintendo and for the game industry at large, which has generally reserved prices above $70 for fancy, trinket-laden collectors' editions or Digital Deluxe Editions that include all variety of downloadable bonuses.

Console gaming's nominal price ceiling has gone up pretty consistently in the last 40+ years. Credit: Kyle Orland / Ars Technica
After adjusting for inflation, an $80 price level doesn't seem all that out of the ordinary. Credit: Kyle Orland / Ars Technica

When you adjust historical game prices for inflation, though, you find that asking $80 for a baseline game in 2025 is broadly in line with the prices big games were commanding 10 to 15 years ago. And given the faster-than-normal inflation rates of the last five years, even the $70 nominal game prices that set a new standard in 2020 don't have the same purchasing oomph they once did.

The data

A yellowed print advertisement for video game cartridges.
$34.99 for Centipede on the Atari 2600 might sound cheap, but that 1983 price is the equivalent of roughly $90 today. Credit: Retro Waste
A yellowed print advertisement for home video game consoles and accessories.
Check out the premium pricing for Zelda titles above other NES games in the 1988 Sears catalog. Credit: Hughes Johnson
A 1990s advertisement for home video game consoles and accessories.
If you wanted Streets of Rage 2 from Electronics Boutique in 1993, you'd better have been ready to pay extra. Credit: Hughes Johnson

To judge Mario Kart World's $80 price against historical trends, we first needed to figure out how much games cost in the past. To do that, we built off of our similar 2020 analysis, which relied on scanned catalogs and retail advertising fliers for real examples of nominal console game pricing going back to the Atari era. For more recent years, we relied more on press reports and archived digital storefronts to show what prices new games were actually selling for at the time.

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motang
13 days ago
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Pickles by Brian Crane for Mon, 07 Apr 2025

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Pickles by Brian Crane on Mon, 07 Apr 2025

Source - Patreon

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motang
14 days ago
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lol
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The rise of ‘Frankenstein’ laptops in New Delhi’s repair markets

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Spare laptop accessories stacked inside a Nehru Place shop that specializes in laptop and mobile repairs.

In a dimly lit, cluttered workshop in Delhi’s Nehru Place, the air hums with the sound of whirring drills and the crackle of soldering irons. Sushil Prasad, a 35-year-old technician, wipes the sweat off his brow as he carefully pieces together the guts of an old laptop. It is a daily ritual — resurrecting machines by stitching together motherboards, screens, and batteries scavenged from other trashed older laptops and e-waste — to create functional, low-cost devices.

“India has always had a repair culture … but companies are pushing planned obsolescence”

“Right now, there is a huge demand for such ‘hybrid’ laptops,” Prasad says, his hands swapping out a damaged motherboard. “Most people don’t care about having the latest model; they just want something that works and won’t break the bank.”

Across India, in metro markets from Delhi’s Nehru Place to Mumbai’s Lamington Road, technicians like Prasad are repurposing broken and outdated laptops that many see as junk. These “Frankenstein” machines — hybrids of salvaged parts from multiple brands — are sold to students, gig workers, and small businesses, offering a lifeline to those priced out of India†…

Read the full story at The Verge.

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motang
14 days ago
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