Category: 4. Technology

The goal of professional sports has always been to win. Looking good while doing it? That’s just a bonus for the gawkers and connoisseurs of human form and motion.

In professional tennis, the “beauty factor” has come to focus on one stroke in particular: the one-handed backhand. The vintage stroke, so named because of its reliance on just one hand, is gradually disappearing from the professional game, as coaches, club pros and parents increasingly opt to teach beginners the more effective two-handed backhand.  

That’s because the two-hander is far more suited to the modern game for beginners and professionals alike, experts say. 

And, when it comes to acquiring the technical skills required of a sport like tennis, it’s a case of: teach them while they’re young. Rui Li, associate clinical professor and director of the exercise science program at Northeastern University, says that motor learning and skill acquisition peak during childhood years, which is the best time to pick up a racquet.   

Li examined the kinetics of both backhand strokes. She says that the two-handed backhand engages more large muscle groups — including the core, back, shoulder and triceps — to provide stability. Because the stroke involves multiple muscle groups, requiring “refined motor control and neural coordination,” the two-handed backhand can be more challenging to pick up later in life. 

“It takes longer to develop the automation of the kinetic chain, which involves reflexes and complex motor skill development,” she says. 

Joel Drucker, a leading tennis writer and historian-at-large, says the two-handed backhand is a more effective stroke, given the range of physical demands modern tennis places on players.

And the reason, he says, is simple: two hands are better than one. 

“It’s like chopping wood,” Drucker says. “You have more stability, you have power. Players, when they learn younger, are able to learn a proficient stroke that is incredibly effective the way Chris Evert, Jimmy Connors and Bjorn Borg pioneered starting in the ’70s.” 

Evert, Connors and Borg were early adopters of the now ubiquitous stroke — and the most successful examples before the technique exploded in popularity during the ’80s and ’90s.

For a variety of reasons, the two-handed backhand is advantageous in the modern game, which is characterized by baseline rallies, increased spin and greater pace of shot.

Compared to a one-handed backhand, the two-handed backhand also offers greater maneuverability on the return of serve because, among other things, the non-dominant hand provides that added support, reducing some of the challenges faced by single-handed players, Drucker says. (Players with a one-handed backhand often “chip,” or slice, the return of serve on that wing because of the extreme grip change required to strike the ball flat or with topspin.)

“It [the two-handed backhand] can generate more power, more leverage, more disguise — everything,” Drucker says. 

“You can be more forceful from the baseline with a two-handed backhand, and because of that, those who learn with a two-handed backhand tend to play more from the baseline compared to net rushers,” he says. 

Players who grew up using the one-handed backhand — if they were taught correctly, Drucker says — would have learned also to rely on the backhand slice, a shot designed to slow the pace of a rally by generating backspin, which can throw an opponent off their rhythm. For that reason, those players may be able to slice the ball more effectively compared to their double-handed counterparts, who generally prefer to drive the ball rather than vary spins.  

And, he says, the one-handed backhand, the backhand volley and slice share many of the same technical elements. That can be a boon to beginners who decide to take up the single-hander: the precision and timing required to execute such a complex stroke carry over, to some degree, to other shots.

“The slice backhand technique is almost a sibling of the backhand volley,” he says.

Of course, the one-handed backhand is far from dead: younger generations of players continue to find examples of the stroke in mastered form thanks to social media. And those who manage to break through at the highest level with the old-school technique — like Lorenzo Musetti in recent years — inevitably bring renewed attention to it.

But, as players today strike the ball with more spin and speed than ever, Drucker sees the evolution of the modern game progressing — as it always had — toward the maximization of “leverage, proficiency and power” by all available means. 

“It’s about scalability and sustainability,” Drucker says. “This was as true in the wood racquet era as it is today. That’s the game. It’s about scalability and sustainability. That’s what makes greatness.” 

Warner Bros. Discovery is suing a prominent artificial intelligence image generator for copyright infringement, escalating a high-stakes battle involving the use of movies and TV shows owned by major studios to teach AI systems.

The lawsuit accuses Midjourney, which has millions of registered users, of building its business around the mass theft of content. The company “brazenly dispenses Warner Bros. Discovery’s intellectual property” by letting subscribers produce images and videos of iconic copyrighted characters, alleges the complaint, filed on Thursday in California federal court.

“The heart of what we do is develop stories and characters to entertain our audiences, bringing to life the vision and passion of our creative partners,” said a Warner Bros. Discovery spokesperson in a statement. “Midjourney is blatantly and purposefully infringing copyrighted works, and we filed this suit to protect our content, our partners, and our investments.”

With the lawsuit, Warner Bros. Discovery joins Disney and Universal, which earlier this year teamed up to sue Midjourney. By their thinking, the AI company is a free-rider plagiarizing their movies and TV shows.

In a statement, Disney said it’s “committed to protecting our creators and innovators” and that it’s “pleased to be joined by Warner Bros. Discovery in the fight against Midjourney’s blatant copyright infringement.”

Added NBCUniversal, “Creative artists are the backbone of our industry, and we are committed to protecting their work and our intellectual property.”

For years, AI companies have been training their technology on data scraped across the internet without compensating creators. It’s led to lawsuits from authors, record labels, news organizations, artists and studios, which contend that some AI tools erode demand for their content.

In the lawsuit, Warner Bros. Discovery points to Midjourney generating images of iconic copyrighted characters. At the forefront are heroes who’re at the center of DC Studios’ movies and TV shows, like Superman, Wonder Woman and The Joker; others are Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry and Scooby-Doo characters who’ve become ubiquitous household names; more are Cartoon Network characters, including those from Rick and Morty, who’ve emerged as something of cultural touchstones in recent years.

Midjourney, which has four tiers of paid subscriptions ranging from $10 to $120 per month, returns characters owned by Warners even in response to prompts like “classic comic book superhero battle” that don’t explicitly mention any particular intellectual property, the complaint alleges.

As evidence that Midjourney trained its AI system on its intellectual property, Warner Bros. Discovery attaches dozens of images showing the tool’s outputs compared to stills from its movies and TV shows. When prompted with “Batman, screencap from The Dark Knight,” the service returns an image of Christian Bale’s portrayal of the character featuring the costume’s Kevlar plate design that differentiated it from previous iterations of the hero that appears to be taken from the movie or promotional materials, with few to no alternations made. One of the more convincing examples highlights a 3D-animated Bugs Bunny mirroring his adaptation in Space Jam: A New Legacy.

The lawsuit argues Midjourney’s ability to return copyrighted characters is a “clear draw for subscribers,” diverting consumers away from purchasing Warner Bros. Discovery-approved posters, wall art and prints, among other products that must now compete against the service.

Like OpenAI, the content used to train Midjourney’s technology is a black box, representing an obstacle for some creators who’ve sued AI companies for copyright infringement. Rightsholders have mined public statements from AI company C-suites for clues. In 2022, Midjourney founder David Holz said in an interview that his employees “grab everything they can, they dump it in a huge file, and they kind of set it on fire to train some huge thing.” The specifics of the training process will be subject to discovery.

Warner Bros. Discovery seeks Midjourney’s profits attributable to the alleged infringement or, alternatively, $150,000 per infringed work, which could leave the AI company on the hook for massive damages.

The thrust of the studios’ lawsuits will likely be decided by one question: Are AI companies covered by fair use, the legal doctrine in intellectual property law that allows creators to build upon copyrighted works without a license? On that issue, a court found earlier this year that Amazon-backed Anthropic is on solid legal ground, at least with respect to training.

The technology is “among the most transformative many of us will see in our lifetimes,” wrote U.S. District Judge William Alsup.

Still, the court set the case for trial over allegations that the company illegal downloaded millions of books to create a library that was used for training. Anthropic, which later settled the lawsuit, faced potential damages of hundreds of millions of dollars stemming from the decision that may have laid the groundwork for Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney and Universal to get similar payouts depending on what they unearth in discovery over how Midjourney obtained copies of thousands of films and TV shosws that were repurposed to teach its image generator.

Still on the sidelines in the fight over generative AI: Paramount Skydance, Amazon MGM Studios, Apple Studios, Sony Pictures and Lionsgate. Some have major AI ambitions.

Alex Karp, the CEO of defense tech and software company Palantir, thinks the value of skilled workers is spiking, even as Big Tech companies, possibly his own, may shrink.

“Workers become more valuable,” Karp said on Thursday on “TBPN,” a tech talk show live from Palantir’s customer conference, AIP Con 8. “The person at the top is actually crazy valuable. People with technical expertise are crazy valuable.”

As skilled workers become essential to tech companies like his own, Karp thinks they’ll also get more expensive. “Artist-shaped people are going to be incredibly valuable, and they’re going to demand to be very highly paid,” he added. (Karp and Palantir employees sometimes refer to the company’s culture as “an artist colony.”)

And after an AI frenzy of a summer, higher pay isn’t all that surprising. With that said, as the chosen few AI researchers netted hundred-million-dollar paydays from Big Tech behemoths like Meta, most techies sat on the sidelines. Some were booted from the game entirely, with thousands laid off from Big Tech companies like Microsoft.

While Palantir crushed analysts’ estimates for second quarter earnings — notching over $1 billion in revenue for the first time and nearly doubling US commercial revenue from the same quarter last year — Karp hinted that his company may follow the lean teams trend that’s on the up in Silicon Valley.

“Our revenue is going up; our sales force is going down,” he said. “The number of people we plan to have in the future is less than now.”

While top talent may soon get top dollar, they may have to subscribe to tech’s hardcore culture reset: “We don’t do holidays,” Karp said of Palantir. “I’m working all the time.”

iPhone 17 Pro battery life: Apple’s widely awaited iPhone 17 Pro series is going to have some significant upgrades this year, a last-minute leak reveals, highlighting improved battery life and performance.

A trusted Chinese leaker Instant Digital, indicates that the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max will offer longer-lasting batteries, improved heat control, and greater power efficiency, a combination guaranteed to thrill Apple enthusiasts, as per BGR.

iPhone 17 Air: The Thinnest iPhone Yet

The iPhone 17 Air, which will likely be released on Apple’s September 9 event along with the Pro models, will be the thinnest iPhone to date, which is expected to be 5.5mm, according to the report. It is not without trade-offs, though, like a single camera on its back and a smaller battery, so the Pro units are the ones to get those features, so that would be a better option to get the best iPhone experience, as reported by BGR.
ALSO READ: iPhone 17 Air price leak: 256GB at $1,099, while massive 1TB model hits $1,499

Meet the New A19 Pro Chip Powering the iPhone 17

The iPhone 17 Pro devices, as per the leak, will come with the new A19 Pro chip, not just optimized to provide speed but also to better handle power, according to the report. This will ensure the devices can hold higher screen brightness for extended hours, particularly on those hot summer days when individuals spend more time outdoors, as per BGR. Gamers will benefit as well, with the Pro devices set to hold smoother frame rates for longer durations of gaming without heating up, reported BGR.

ALSO READ: iOS 26 Update: How is Apple protecting iPhone users from text message scams?

Big Battery Boost Coming to iPhone 17 Pro

Battery life is also seeing a major boost as the iPhone 17 Pro Max is said to carry a 5,000 mAh battery, Apple’s first such inclusion in an iPhone, as per the BGR report. The Pro Max may reportedly last significantly longer than its predecessor in actual use, particularly when performing resource-intensive activities like 4K video recording at 60 frames per second, as per the BGR report.ALSO READ: Apple quietly fixes the most annoying AirPods problem with this hidden iPhone update

How Apple Plans to Keep iPhone 17 Cool

Better heat management appears to be a key focus for Apple this year, as per the report. The new Pro models might feature advanced OLED panels capable of higher brightness levels while staying cool, according to BGR. This is crucial not only for everyday use but also for creators who film high-quality video outdoors in warm conditions, as per the report.

Though earlier leaks had referred to vapor chamber cooling systems in the Pro models, that information wasn’t confirmed by this latest report. Vapor chambers, which Android manufacturers have utilized for years, are used to prevent devices from overheating during intense usage, as per BGR.

ALSO READ: Leaked: iPhone 17 Pro Max internal design shows game-changing metal battery, hints at big redesign

Apple has also experienced its own heat management issues in recent years, with the iPhone 15 Pro needing a software solution for overheating, according to the report. The iPhone 16 Pro did not experience such issues but did not feature vapor chamber technology, as per the BGR report. If the iPhone 17 Pro releases do feature such cooling technologies, this could be a significant step forward for performance and the user experience.

FAQs

How much bigger is the iPhone 17 Pro Max battery?
The leak suggests a 5,000 mAh battery, Apple’s biggest yet, which can let longer usage.

Is the iPhone 17 Air as powerful as the Pro models?
No, the Air is thinner but comes with compromises like a smaller battery and single rear camera.

If you’ve ever wished your phone didn’t protrude so much while in your pocket, then the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge might be made for you. Samsung’s ultra-slim Android phone features the same 6.7-inch OLED display as the Galaxy S25 Plus, but the device’s 5.8mm thick design makes it feel completely different. Right now, you can grab the S25 Edge with 256GB of storage in black, silver, or blue for an all-time low price of $699.99 ($400 off) at Amazon.

The S25 Edge is a big phone, but its slimmer, more lightweight design means you can actually slide it into your pocket or evening bag without it protruding out. In fact, when The Verge’s Allison Johnson reviewed the device, she encountered multiple instances where she thought she had left the phone behind, despite it sitting in her pocket.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: Surely the thinner design equals terrible battery life. Thankfully, that’s not the case. The Galaxy S25 Edge’s battery life doesn’t stretch as far as what you’ll get with the S25 Plus or Ultra, especially if you do a lot of mobile gaming, but it’ll still last you a full day of texting, email, web browsing, streaming music, and more.

The bigger tradeoff might be in the camera department. The S25 Edge comes with only two rear cameras — a 200-megapixel main camera and a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera. If a telephoto camera is a big deal to you, then you may want to skip this device. Otherwise, the S25 Edge can keep up with the other devices in the S25 lineup, with a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, IP68 dust and water resistance, and an OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate.

After it was spotted in initial testing last week, Threads has now officially launched its new text expansion option, which will enable users to attach an additional, in-stream text note of up to 10k words to your Threads updates.

As you can see in these example screens, Threads’ longer text attachment option, accessible via a new icon in the post composer, will take you through to a blog-style editor to create an additional text note. That separate text note will then be added to your post, and will be accessible to Threads viewers via a “Read more” prompt.

As explained by Threads:

“There are many ways to share your perspective on Threads, but we’ve noticed people expressing themselves with screenshots of longer content from books, articles, newsletters, podcast transcripts, and more when 500 characters isn’t enough. To address this, we’re rolling out a way to attach up to 10,000 characters of text to a post. Any attached text can be read directly in Threads to help you convey more complex perspectives, draw your audience in, and promote your work.”

Which is more like a blog post than a thread. In fact, the addition of longer text updates negates the concept of “threads” entirely, but that’s just being pedantic about the name.

In addition to this, Threads is also looking to make it easier to link to other sources from these additions:

“If you’re sharing or previewing content from other platforms on Threads, you can include a link to the full content in the body of your main post.”

Which is pretty much the opposite of X’s longer posting option, which is available to X Premium subscribers. X’s text expansion composer, which enables users to post text attachments up to an additional 25k characters, is designed to avoid off-platform links entirely, by prompting authors to post their full articles to the app.

Threads is seemingly looking to encourage external linking, while Threads has also noted several times that it doesn’t penalize the reach of posts with links, unlike other platforms.

As such, this new posting option could be another way to encourage broader discussion within the app, and drive more traffic back to your content. Which could be a good way to help bloggers and writers build their audience, both on and off platform, through expanded context to generate interest.

It’s an interesting addition, which could hold a lot of potential, depending on how Threads users adapt to it and adopt it. We don’t have any data on the performance of longer updates on X, so we don’t have a direct comparison. But if Threads users warm to these updates, that could help to drive all new user behaviors, while also giving the Threads algorithm more data to go on in relation to individual user preferences and interests.

It all depends on how the Threads audience responds, and how these longer text attachments drive behaviors. But it’s definitely a more valuable approach to such than text screenshots (which the Threads algorithm can’t read), which could have significant benefits.

The new longer text option is being rolled out to all users in the latest version of the app.

Results for the flu vaccine appear in Maps, but not COVID. The only working COVID results are hundreds of miles away.

Credit:
Ryan Whitwam

Ars reached out to Google for an explanation, receiving a cryptic and somewhat unsatisfying reply. “Showing accurate information on Maps is a top priority,” says a Google spokesperson. “We’re working to fix this technical issue.”

So far, we are not aware of other Maps searches that have been similarly affected. Google has yet to respond to further questions on the nature of the apparent glitch, which has wiped out COVID vaccine information in Maps while continuing to return results for other medical services and immunizations.

The sudden eroding of federal support for routine vaccinations lurks in the background with this bizarre issue. When the Trump administration decided to rename the Gulf of Mexico, Google was widely hectored for its decision to quickly show “Gulf of America” on its maps, aligning with the administration’s preferred nomenclature. With the ramping up of anti-vaccine actions at the federal level, it is tempting to see a similar, nefarious purpose behind these disappearing results.

At present, we have no evidence that the change in Google’s search results was intentional or targeted specifically at COVID immunization—indeed, making that change in such a ham-fisted way would be inadvisable. It does seem like an ill-timed and unusually specific “technical issue,” though. If Google provides further details on the missing search results, we’ll post an update.

Bitdefender Labs has identified a rapidly expanding malvertising campaign on Facebook targeting Android users with crypto-stealing malware disguised as a fake TradingView app.

The operation has reportedly been active since July and has surfaced at least 75 malicious advertisements appearing on Facebook. These adverts are designed to trick users into sideloading what is presented as a “TradingView Premium” Android application. Instead, what victims actually download is an evolved form of the Brokewell malware, characterised as both spyware and a remote access trojan (RAT).

Mobile targeting

While such campaigns traditionally targeted desktop users, Bitdefender’s findings suggest a marked shift towards mobile device exploitation. According to their analysis, the Android-specific strand of the campaign has already reached tens of thousands of users across the European Union, despite leveraging what many regard as a trusted social media platform.

When an Android device user clicks the malicious advertisement, they are redirected to a spoofed TradingView website (“new-tw-view[.]online”), where they are encouraged to download a trojanised .apk file. Upon installation, the app immediately requests accessibility permissions while obscuring its true intent behind a fake update prompt, ultimately gaining extensive control over the device.

Malware capabilities

This specific Brokewell variant demonstrates a broad spectrum of malicious capabilities. It scans for cryptocurrency wallet addresses – including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Tether (USDT) – as well as banking details and IBANs. The malware can also extract two-factor authentication (2FA) codes from applications such as Google Authenticator, facilitate account takeover through credential phishing overlays, log keystrokes, record the screen, activate the device’s camera and microphone, and track location via GPS.

Remote access is enabled through communication over the Tor network and WebSockets, allowing attackers to issue commands such as initiating calls, sending SMS messages, and uninstalling applications. Bitdefender notes the application’s multilingual interface, extensive obfuscation via native libraries, decrypted resources to hide its functions, and even self-removal of the dropper application to minimise evidence on compromised devices.

Global reach and deception

The campaign forms part of a wider global malvertising scheme that has previously impersonated a range of well-known brands including Binance, Bitso, Bybit, Exness, and public figures such as Donald Trump. Bitdefender points out the sophisticated use of hyper-localised content: advertisements mimic brands like Lemon.me in Latin America and Exness in Thailand. In the EU, TradingView is the primary tactic for targeting Android users. Local language, cultural adaptation, and device-specific targeting make both detection and removal more challenging for security teams.

Further complicating awareness and take-down, if the malicious links are accessed via non-targeted platforms such as desktops or iOS devices, users are shown non-harmful content, limiting traceability from those environments.

Security advice

Bitdefender recommends the following steps for mobile users: Don’t sideload apps, only install apps from official app stores like Google Play. Treat all ads with scepticism even on trusted platforms. Check URLs, as lookalike domains are common in malware campaigns. Scrutinise permissions, with accessibility access and lock screen PIN prompts being major red flags. Use protection, such as Bitdefender Mobile Security for Android, which detects and blocks threats like this one.

The company also suggests using tools such as Bitdefender Link Checker to examine suspicious links or consulting its AI-powered scam detection assistant, Scamio.

Changing tactics

This campaign demonstrates an evolution in malware distribution tactics, as malicious actors adapt to users’ shifting behaviours and increasing reliance on mobile devices for financial activity. According to Bitdefender, attackers are taking advantage of this change by targeting the mobile ecosystem with more precision and sophistication.

Bitdefender states it continues to monitor the campaign and will update its threat detection capabilities as the situation develops.