Google says it will overhaul Search in Europe to comply with the EU's Digital Markets Act, giving more prominence to comparison services like Expedia and Hotels.com while stripping some real-time features from hotel, airline, and restaurant results. "These changes degrade the user experience for Europeans -- boosting online intermediaries at the expense of local businesses, and removing helpful features people rely on every day," said Nick Fox, senior vice-president of knowledge and information at Google. The company claims its past search changes for DMA compliance were tied to a 30% decrease "in free, direct booking traffic to European businesses." Engadget reports: That sanction was the latest salvo between the EU government and a US tech company for infringing on its Digital Markets Act. The debate centers on the DMA requirement that major tech brands "must not treat their own services more favorably in ranking than third-party services." [...] According to Reuters, Google's revised search results "will highlight one specialized search engine at the top of the page, followed by two others with fewer details. A carousel of hotels, airlines and restaurants, for example, will sit below them with key features such as real-time prices stripped out." Those specialized engines include sites like Expedia or Hotels.com, also known as vertical search services, so European users may soon see those aggregators and comparison sites prioritized more highly than individual businesses' websites in their results. Reuters noted that "the rankings will be determined by Google's algorithm," meaning the tech company still holds a lot of control over how results are displayed. The EC had given Google 60 days to comply with its rules, but the company has not specified an exact timeline for when European users will start seeing the changes.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Razer change de stratégie avec la Prio. Après avoir multiplié les manettes mobiles imposantes, la marque de périphériques de jeux lance un modèle qui mise tout sur la compacité. Une fois pliée, la Razer Prio tient dans un espace à peine plus grand qu’une carte bancaire. Une idée séduisante pour...

Depois de ser processada pela Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) — agência do governo americano responsável por fiscalizar o cumprimento das leis federais sobre discriminação trabalhista — sob a alegação de prática de discriminação religiosa, a Apple firmou um acordo judicial e concordou em pagar cerca de US$150 mil para encerrar o caso na Justiça.

A ação envolvia um funcionário Genius da Apple Reston, localizada no estado da Virgínia (Estados Unidos), com 16 anos de casa e boas avaliações de desempenho. Em agosto de 2023, ele se converteu ao judaísmo e solicitou adequações de escala à rotina da sua religião, não trabalhando durante as sextas-feiras e os sábados (período do Shabat). Depois de alguns meses solicitando esses ajustes de maneira contínua, ele foi demitido.

Do montante total, US$80 mil correspondem a salários retroativos (sujeitos, portanto, aos devidos descontos tributários) e os US$70 mil restantes são relativos a juros e indenizações. A Apple tem até 30 dias para realizar o pagamento.

Essa mesma Apple Store, vale lembrar, foi palco de outra polêmica, na ocasião envolvendo questões sindicais: em 2022, a gerência da loja foi acusada de dissuadir e “constranger” funcionários que se mobilizavam pela sindicalização. Líderes da Maçã teriam usado ainda o exemplo do fechamento das lojas sindicalizadas no Starbucks como um incentivo para a desarticulação dos trabalhadores.

via 9to5Mac

The new GNOME Boxes app for accessing virtual systems has reached beta, announced This Week in GNOME. There's also been more work on the Sushi file previewer for Nautilus, and Papers 51 Beta can now add visual signatures to PDF documents. But Phoronix noted one more announcement. "Germany's Sovereign Tech Agency announced earlier this year a new fellowship program and now as part of that, for the next two years GNOME has a fellow dedicated to working on design and community management... paid to help developers with design feedback and reviews, mock-up creation, and other GNOME design related efforts..." From the blog post by GNOME Design Team member Philipp Sauberzweig: I have been contributing to GNOME design as a volunteer for several years... I believe that it's essential for a free and democratic society to ensure free and independent access to these technologies. To achieve this goal, end-user devices based on free and open-source software are key, and the GNOME desktop and its app ecosystem offer a powerful alternative to proprietary platforms... This two-year fellowship is a great honor and marks a significant change in my life. It is a unique opportunity for me to devote my skills and experience entirely to a project I strongly believe in. During my two-year fellowship, I will support GNOME maintainers and developers with design feedback and reviews, create mockups, and coordinate efforts to standardize design patterns. My other activities focus on lasting improvements through two strategic initiatives: expanding the design community to increase capacity and enhancing our design tooling to reduce overhead and simplify onboarding... To attract new contributors, I will increase the visibility of design work by writing regular blog posts, giving presentations, and running workshops at conferences and hackathons. New contribution opportunities for newcomers will be created with clear instructions for independent activities such as collecting state-of-the-art examples, running accessibility and user tests, and creating mockups. Design reviews will be used as mentorship opportunities, pairing regular design contributors with experienced designers for peer review and knowledge sharing... If you're interested in contributing to GNOME design, check out the Design Team page on the Welcome to GNOME website, familiarize yourself with the Human Interface Guidelines, and join our Matrix channel. If you're a GNOME developer feel free to reach out to me via Matrix and involve me in design reviews. Jakub Beránek from the Rust compiler and infrastructure team also earned a fellowship in Germany's Sovereign Tech program, focusing on improving the Rust toolchain's tooling and infrastructure for Rust's developers. Other fellows include Pablo Neira Ayuso (Linux kernel maintainer for the Netfilter subsystem), CPython core developer Stan Ulbrych, and Python core developer Hugo van Kemenade, FreeBSD contributor Alexander Ziaee.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Voir le Soleil disparaître en plein jour est aujourd'hui un spectacle fascinant. Pendant des millénaires, ce phénomène était pourtant interprété comme un terrible présage. Les découvertes archéologiques et les textes anciens révèlent que, d'un continent à l'autre, les civilisations ont imaginé...

O Apple TV viu algumas de suas produções vencerem os Critics Choice Super Awards, versão do prêmio focada em categorias temáticas, com destaque para duas séries cujas primeiras temporadas chegaram ao serviço neste ano.

A mais premiada da Maçã foi “O Segredo de Widow’s Bay” (“Widow’s Bay”), que faturou os prêmios de “Melhor Série, Minissérie ou Filme feito para a TV”, “Melhor Ator” (para Matthew Rhys) e “Melhor Atriz” (Kate O’Flynn) no gênero terror.

O outro destaque foi para “Pluribus”, vencedora nas categorias de “Melhor Série, Minissérie ou Filme feito para a TV” e de “Melhor Atriz” (Rhea Seehorn) em produções com a temática ficção/fantasia.

Tanto “Widow’s Bay” quanto “Pluribus” vêm se destacando bastante em premiações neste ano — inclusive nos prêmios Emmy, nos quais as duas séries receberam 19 e 18 indicações contemplando às categorias mais importantes), respectivamente.

A lista completa de vencedores dos Critics Choice Super Awards pode ser conferida aqui.

O Apple TV está disponível no aplicativo Apple TV em mais de 100 países e regiões, seja em iPhones, iPads, Apple TVs, Macs, dispositivos Android, smart TVs ou online — além de também estar em aparelhos como Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast com Google TV, consoles PlayStation e Xbox. O serviço custa R$29,90 por mês, com um período de teste gratuito de 7 dias. Por tempo limitado, quem comprar e ativar um novo iPhone, iPad, Apple TV ou Mac ganha 3 meses do Apple TV. Ele também faz parte do pacote de assinaturas da empresa, o Apple One.

NOTA DE TRANSPARÊNCIA: O MacMagazine recebe uma pequena comissão sobre vendas concluídas por meio de links deste post, mas você, como consumidor, não paga nada mais pelos produtos/serviços usando os nossos links de afiliado.

Long-time Slashdot reader Qbertino writes: The northern German City of Hamburg is currently in the process of replacing one of its bridges in one single gigantic piece. The new replacement weighs 3700 metric tons and was carefully moved into place over a stretch of 500 meters, requiring extreme patience and precision maneuvering. Some places leave only 40 cm of room to neighbouring buildings.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

ChatGPT Search and Roblox could face stricter EU oversight, audits, and transparency rules under the Digital Services Act.

President Trump threatened a "substantial" new tariff on the European Union after Brussels fined Google more than $1 billion over alleged illegal trade practices. "The European Union will pay a very big price for this illegal and highly unethical conduct, which I have consistently warned them about," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "The penalties will be entirely reversed and, we anticipate, a substantial TARIFF to be placed on them at the earliest possible moment." Politico reports: The president's threat came just a day after U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer warned that the EU's action against Google -- two fines totaling over $1 billion -- could imperil the bloc's relationship with the White House. At risk: the Turnberry deal, which Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen signed last fall, that capped U.S. tariffs on EU exports at 15 percent. [...] But the president's social media post could signal a coming breach. "The United States of America is not a 'PIGGYBANK' for Europe, nor will we allow it to be!" Trump wrote.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

A medida temporária tem como objetivo colmatar as lacunas existentes até que seja estebelecido um novo enquadramento jurídico de longo prazo para prevenir e combater o abuso sexual infantil online, avança o Conselho da UE, sendo aplicável até ao dia 3 de abril de 2028.

The post Extensão do controlo de conteúdos de abuso sexual de crianças com “luz verde” do Conselho da União Europeia appeared first on Tek Notícias.

A group of 25 U.S. lawmakers has sent a letter to President Trump calling on his administration to confront the European Union’s digital regulations, which they describe as discriminatory policies aimed at American technology giants.

In the letter, obtained by Reuters, the Republican lawmakers – including key members of the House trade subcommittee – urged the president to consider launching Section 301 investigations under U.S. trade law. Such probes could pave the way for tariffs or other retaliatory measures against the EU if talks fail to resolve the issues.

The central target of the complaint is the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), which designates major U.S. companies – including Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Booking Holdings – as “gatekeepers” subject to strict behavioral rules. Lawmakers argue the rules unfairly burden American firms while sparing European and Chinese competitors.

Key concerns raised in the letter:

• Cloud services: The likely inclusion of Amazon Web Services and Microsoft’s cloud business under DMA oversight would impose “unprecedented regulatory burdens” not faced by European or Chinese rivals.

• Google fines: An expected European Commission fine against Google this week for alleged DMA violations ignores the company’s significant changes to its search services.

• Inconsistent enforcement: Apple, Meta, and Amazon have been labeled gatekeepers based on user numbers in Europe, while Chinese platforms like Temu and AliExpress have been excluded.

“We write to bring to your attention the many ways the EU continues to pursue anti-competitive acts, policies, and practices as a tool of economic extraction and regulatory coercion against American firms,” the letter states. It warns that EU access to the U.S. market “is not guaranteed” if the discriminatory practices continue.

The pressure on the issue predates Trump’s return to the White House. In October 2024, even before the election, Apple CEO Tim Cook personally called then-candidate Trump to voice concerns over EU fines and regulations affecting the company, including the Digital Markets Act and a major tax ruling. Trump later publicly referenced the call, signaling his willingness to push back against what he viewed as unfair European penalties on U.S. firms.

The European Commission has not yet responded to the letter. It maintains that its rules apply neutrally to promote fair competition and do not single out any country.

This latest congressional push aligns with President Trump’s long-standing criticism of EU digital policies and could signal a more aggressive U.S. trade posture toward Brussels in the coming months. Lawmakers emphasized that dialogue should be attempted first, but “all available tools” – including tariffs – remain on the table if needed.

The move highlights ongoing transatlantic tensions over technology regulation, data privacy, and market access that have persisted for years and are now poised to test the new Trump administration’s approach to international trade.

MacDailyNews Take: Good. The DMA does far more harm than good.

The European Union arose because the Europeans couldn’t compete on their own with the rest of the world, so they each lined up to surrender their national sovereignty, unique cultures, and dignity for an undemocratic, opaque, wasteful, bloated, bureaucratic quasi-governmental blob – and, even with the EU’s thumbs all over the scale, they still can’t compete. – MacDailyNews, March 4, 2024

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The post U.S. lawmakers urge President Trump to strike back against EU tech regulation with trade probes appeared first on MacDailyNews.

En pleine vague de chaleur, un sapeur-pompier volontaire a avoué avoir déclenché un incendie dans la forêt de Fontainebleau. Ce fait divers relance les interrogations sur la pyromanie, un trouble du comportement aussi rare que déroutant. Entre quête d’adrénaline, fascination morbide, recherche...

Google is rolling out Gemini in Chrome to UK users, adding cross-tab summaries, Google service integrations, image tools, and new privacy questions.

O Banco de Portugal é um dos Bancos Centrais Nacionais envolvidos no projeto-piloto do euro digital, que deverá ter início no segundo semestre de 2027. A ele juntam-se ainda o Banco Comercial Português, a Caixa Geral de Depósitos e a UNICRE enquanto prestadores de serviços de pagamento.

The post Projeto-piloto do euro digital avança em 2027. Portugal vai participar nos testes appeared first on Tek Notícias.

En levant les yeux vers le ciel nocturne dans la nuit de lundi à mardi, peut-être avez-vous eu la chance d’apercevoir une brève mais intense traînée de lumière. Mais de quoi s’agissait-il ?

Norway will restrict generative AI in schools, nearly banning it for elementary pupils as Europe debates children’s digital safety.

The European Parliament's economic committee has backed a digital euro designed to reduce Europe's dependence on US-controlled payment networks such as Visa and Mastercard. The ECB-backed currency is targeted for launch by 2029 after a full parliamentary vote and negotiations with EU member states. Euronews reports: Under the proposal, consumers would be able to hold digital euros in a dedicated wallet, subject to a holding limit that has yet to be determined. The system would support both online and offline payments and is intended to offer a high degree of privacy, with the ECB unable to directly identify users from their payment data. The ECB would provide the underlying infrastructure, while commercial banks and payment service providers would offer digital euro services to customers. Financial institutions are expected to be compensated for their participation in the scheme, while merchants will pay fees that are expected to be lower than those associated with current card transactions. How that compensation should be structured remains one of the most contentious issues ahead of negotiations with EU member states, according to three sources familiar with the discussions. [...] The European Parliament is expected to formalise the committee's position during a plenary vote in Strasbourg in early July. Negotiations with the EU's 27 member states would then begin, with lawmakers aiming to reach a final agreement before the end of the year.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

A comissão de Assuntos Económicos e Monetários do Parlamento Europeu deu luz verde à sua posição negocial sobre o euro digital, descrito como um meio de pagamento seguro, gratuito e soberano, apresentando-se como alternativa europeia à Visa e à Mastercard.

The post Parlamento Europeu aprova posição sobre o euro digital para garantir soberania financeira appeared first on Tek Notícias.

A presidência do Conselho da União Europeia e os representantes do Parlamento Europeu chegaram hoje a um acordo provisório sobre a atualização das regras europeias de direito penal relativas ao abuso sexual de crianças e à exploração sexual de menores, incluindo para os casos em que são usadas tecnologias como IA.

The post União Europeia reforça regras contra abuso sexual de crianças e passa a abranger uso de IA e casos com deepfakes appeared first on Tek Notícias.