|
Two stories about the Claude maker Anthropic broke on Tuesday that, when combined, arguably paint a chilling picture. First, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is reportedly pressuring Anthropic to yield its AI safeguards and give the military unrestrained access to its Claude AI chatbot. The company then chose the same day that the Hegseth news broke to drop its centerpiece safety pledge.
On Tuesday, Anthropic said it was modifying its Responsible Scaling Policy (RSP) to lower safety guardrails. Up until now, the company's core pledge has been to stop training new AI models unless specific safety guidelines can be guaranteed in advance. This policy, which set hard tripwires to halt development, was a big part of Anthropic's pitch to businesses and consumers.
"Two and a half years later, our honest assessment is that some parts of this theory of change have played out as we hoped, but others have not," Anthropic wrote. Now, its updated policy approaches safety relatively, rather than with strict red lines.
Anthropic's quotes in an
|
|
During its Unpacked event today, Samsung announced three new Galaxy S-series phones as well as the latest generation of its earbuds, the Galaxy Buds 4 and Galaxy Buds 4 Pro. Pre-orders are now open and the new devices are set to ship March 11. As expected, this year's models aren't drastically different from last year's, but all the phones are equipped to better handle the Galaxy AI experiences such as Now Nudge that offers suggestions based on your activities and a more conversational assitant in Bixby (or Gemini or Perplexity depending on your preferance).
Engadget's own Sam Rutherford is on-site in San Francisco for the new hardware launch and will have hands-on impressions. We'll follow that up with official reviews in the next week. But if you can't wait for our final verdict, here's how to pre-order Samsung's Galaxy S26 phones and the Galaxy Buds 4 today.
|
|
Samsung isn't waiting a full year to reveal its latest Galaxy Buds. The company debuted the Galaxy Buds 4 and
|
|
Commentary: This new Galaxy S26 feature gives me hope for this year's batch of AI integrations on smartphones.
|
|
 As we prepare to leave the winter months, Samsung announced another family of Galaxy S flagships for those looking to upgrade. As usual, the company put its best components and features into the Galaxy S26 Ultra, but it also added more to the base S26 and S26 . The company has hit its groove with its smaller (and cheaper) flagships, delivering solid devices with increasingly better cameras, occasionally even offering feature parity with its most expensive smartphone.
In 2026, that's what we're getting, with the 6.3-inch S26 ($899) and 6.7-inch S26 ($1,099). Both phones are more expensive than last year, and it's often a game of spot-the-difference when it comes to showing what's new.
Fortunately, the best parts have been retained, too. Samsung has unified the design style across the entire S26 series, with the same corner ratios, curved edges and other design touches. While I tested both phones, I'll focus on the S26. Barring screen differences and battery size, they're identically specced.
This year's S26 color selection has a premium Samsung ‘mood' to it that I can't quite explain. Does purple mean Samsung to my brain? Maybe. Cobalt Violet is the particular shade I'm talking about, but there are also blue, black and white colors. Additional silver and pink-gold options will be available as online exclusives. There's not much else to say about the design: it's another Galaxy S flagship, and if it ain't broke…
Mat Smith for Engadget
Samsung has increased the battery capacity to 4,300 mAh on
|
|
 Apple is expected to unveil its long-rumored lower-cost MacBook next week. Given it will be more affordable, this MacBook model will obviously have some reduced specs and compromises compared to the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro.
|
|
 The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max will have a smaller Dynamic Island, according to Bloomberg. Over the past year, there have been mixed rumors about whether the ?iPhone 18? Pro models will continue to feature a ?Dynamic Island? or have a hole punch camera with under screen Face ID and no ?Dynamic Island?, but the latest information suggests we're not getting rid of the ?Dynamic Island? just yet.
|
|
NEW RESOURCES Columbia University: Complete Obama Presidency Oral History Archive Is Now Available. "Today, just 10 years after President Barack Obama left office, Columbia University's Incite Institute opens the full Obama Presidency […]
|
|
