November 9, 2023

IN THIS ISSUE

🎥 Actors strike ends after nearly 4 months

🗳️ Microsoft to help politicians fight AI deepfakes

🚗 Ford's F-150 Lightning excels on many levels, but ...

📱 Can this Android phone replace my iPhone?

UP FIRST

The actors is strike is finally over

It's great news for the industry and also for entertainment fans

After 118 days of action, the actors strike has been officially called off.

The SAG-AFTRA union representing screen actors along with TV and radio artists has approved a tentative agreement with Hollywood studios that ends the strike today.

The deal brings the first-ever protections for actors against artificial intelligence and a historic pay increase, among other wins, Variety reported.

SAG-AFTRA said in an email to its members said that “many thousands of performers now and into the future will benefit” from the deal.

Responding to the agreement that it helped to negotiate, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers said it “looks forward to the industry resuming the work of telling great stories.”

Union members still need to vote to ratify the agreement, but the strike has been called off and therefore actors can now return to work.

ELECTION PROTECTION

Microsoft to help politicians fight AI deepfakes

With the U.S. presidential election only a year away, tools like this can't come soon enough

Misinformation is already a serious challenge when it comes to democratic elections, but the recent arrival of advanced generative AI tools means that such malevolent content can look more convincing than ever.

In a bid to tackle the issue, a new Microsoft tool will let politicians add digital watermarking credentials to their videos and photos so that audiences know they’re genuine.

“These watermarking credentials empower an individual or organization to assert that an image or video came from them while protecting against tampering by showing if content was altered after its credentials were created,” Microsoft president Brad Smith said in a blog post.

Microsoft will offer the tool for free to political candidates and then possibly make it available to other groups after the 2024 election, according to Bloomberg ...

ELECTRIC PICKUPS

Ford's F-150 Lightning excels on many levels

It's a faultless electric pickup ... almost

The Ford F-150 Lightning electric truck has plenty to shout about besides its much-loved F-150 design and impressive size.

It’s also fast, with some variants zipping from 0 to 60 miles per hour in under 4 seconds. Better still, it can cope with heavy loads of up to 10,000 pounds, depending on the model.

There are some neat touches, too, like the frunk that includes a drain hole so you can use a cooler or ice chest and hose it out to clean, and numerous power outlets for connecting electric tools.

But there's one particular issue that may make you think twice about buying one ...

EXPERIENCE by Bryan M. Wolfe

Can an Android phone replace my iPhone? I found out

'I have no significant complaints about this Samsung phone, but some areas gave me pause'

As an avid Apple fan, I was surprised when I received the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE for review and found myself loving it. Could Samsung continue to impress me? That’s what I wanted to find out when I received the Galaxy S23 FE. This “fan edition” smartphone offers many of the same features as the other Galaxy S23 models but at a slightly lower price.

My handset of choice has always been the latest iPhone Pro. This usually means purchasing the Pro Max model, which I did again this year with the iPhone 15 Pro Max. I didn’t expect the Galaxy S23 FE to match up to my new iPhone, as the Apple device is double the price and offers much better specs.

But I was nevertheless interested to see how well the Samsung device held up ...

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