It’s safe to say Apple and the European Commission aren’t exactly bosom buddies. The two sides have been at loggerheads over Apple’s compliance — or alleged lack thereof — with the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), a law designed to rein in the power of major tech companies.

Apple said last week it would delay the rollout of certain features in the European Union, including Apple Intelligence AI tools, over concerns “that the interoperability requirements of the DMA could force us to compromise the integrity of our products in ways that risk user privacy and data security.” As it turns out, the EU is not exactly happy about that decision.

The call to push back the rollout of Apple Intelligence in the EU is a “stunning, open declaration that they know 100 percent that this is another way of disabling competition where they have a stronghold already,” EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said at a Forum Europa event, according to Euractiv. Vestager added that the “short version of the DMA” means companies have to be open for competition to keep operating in the region.

Not to leap to the defense of Apple here, but these comments are sure to raise an eyebrow or two, especially after Vestager also said she “was personally quite relieved that I would not get an AI-updated service on my iPhone.” Apple does intend to bring Apple Intelligence to Europe more broadly, but it’s taking a cautious approach with the tech in that region due to “regulatory uncertainties” and ensuring it won’t have to compromise on user safety.

As it stands, the European Commission is carrying out multiple investigations into the company over possible violations of the DMA. This week, it accused Apple of violating the law’s anti-steering provisions by blocking app developers from freely informing users about alternate payment options outside of the company’s ecosystem. If it’s found guilty, Apple could be on the hook for a fine of up to 10 percent of its global annual revenue. Based on its 2023 sales, that could be a penalty of up to $38 billion. The percentage of the fine can double for repeated violations.

Earlier this year, before the DMA came into force, the European Commission fined Apple €1.8 billion ($1.95 billion) over a violation of previous anti-steering rules. According to the Commission, Apple prevented rival music streaming apps from telling users that they could pay less for subscriptions if they sign up outside of iOS apps. Apple has challenged the fine.

There are plenty of Lego sets that feature astronauts, but now there are Lego bricks made out of the stuff that astronauts find out there in the void. The Danish brickmaker has teamed up with the European Space Agency (ESA) to make Lego pieces from actual meteorite dust. Pretty cool, right? They are on display at several Lego store locations until September 20, including the big 5th Avenue branch in Manhattan.

This project isn’t just for giggles, though it is pretty fun. It’s a proof of concept to show how astronauts could use moondust to build lunar structures. Consider the sheer amount of energy and money required to haul up building materials from Earth to the Moon. It would be a game changer to, instead, build everything from pre-existing lunar materials.

There’s a layer of rock and mineral deposits at the surface of the Moon, which is called lunar regolith. It’s long been thought that regolith of some kind would be required to build our first off-world colonies. It’s readily available and there are several prospective methods to transform it into building materials. After all, humans have been making structures out of dirt, soil and sand for thousands of years.

However, there isn’t too much lunar regolith here on Earth for folks to experiment with. ESA scientists made their own regolith by grinding up a really old meteorite. The dust from this meteorite was turned into a mixture that was used to 3D print the Lego pieces. Voila. Moon bricks. They click together just like regular Lego bricks, though they only come in one color (space gray obviously.)

“Nobody has built a structure on the Moon, so it was great to have the flexibility to try out all kinds of designs and building techniques with our space bricks. It was both fun and useful in scientifically understanding the boundaries of these techniques,” said ESA Science Officer Aidan Cowley.

Humanity is actually getting closer than ever before to our first real lunar base. NASA has teamed up with the Italian Space Agency and the Thales Alenia Space Corporation to build the first permanent human outpost on the Moon, though it won’t happen until at least the 2030s. Recent designs for lunar habitats have ranged from something resembling a mobile home to full-fledged inflatable villages.

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When Apple revealed Apple Intelligence at WWDC 2024 in June, it made it clear that the artificial intelligence (AI) system would be free to use, with no paid-for tiered options like you find in rivals such as ChatGPT. But while that’s the situation for now, a new report suggests it might not last.

In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman has hinted at Apple’s future plans. In the article, Gurman explains that “though Apple Intelligence will be free to start, the long-term plan is to make money off [its] capabilities.”

This could be achieved by keeping the base Apple Intelligence model free and launching something akin to “Apple Intelligence+” alongside it. This would have “extra features that users pay monthly fees for, just like iCloud,” Gurman says.

It might not be the only way Apple tries to make money off Apple Intelligence. The company will also “get a cut of the subscription revenue from every AI partner that it brings onboard,” Gurman believes. 

With OpenAI already signed up and Google Gemini now allegedly on the way, that could be a nice little earner for Apple.

The next iCloud

It makes sense that Apple is seeking to make some sort of revenue from Apple Intelligence. The system is being woven into almost every aspect of Apple’s mobile and desktop operating systems, with a huge number of features set to debut when iOS 18 and macOS 15 launch this fall. 

No doubt Apple will have spent a princely sum researching and developing these features and will want to recoup some of the cost. Beyond that, Apple is also firing up a large network of servers that will help power Apple Intelligence. That alone will be expensive to not only build but also maintain in the long run.

With that in mind, it makes sense for Apple to expand Apple Intelligence to as many products as it can in an effort to entice users to upgrade their devices. According to Gurman, the company is looking to bring Apple Intelligence to the Apple Vision Pro at some point in 2025. Its main obstacles are building a user-friendly interface for the AI and ensuring its servers are not overloaded by the extra demand.

Yet you shouldn’t expect Apple Intelligence to land on the HomePod, Gurman cautions. Apple Intelligence requires at least 8GB of memory, but the HomePod mini only has a mere 1GB of RAM. The regular HomePod, meanwhile, is “too low-volume a product to waste the engineering time,” Gurman says.

Instead, Apple is planning to bring it to “an entirely new robotic device with a display that includes Apple Intelligence at its core.” That sounds a lot like a device we’ve seen rumored before, albeit with an AI twist.

With Apple planning to deploy Apple Intelligence in so many different devices, it’s unsurprising that the AI system could turn into the next iCloud, with a subscription option placing more powerful tools at your fingertips. And according to Gurman, Apple Intelligence will get more frequent updates than iCloud, potentially making it one of the most tempting options among Apple’s varied subscription services – and potentially a part of the Apple One bundle.

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FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has drafted a series of letters to nine major telecom companies, including AT&T and Comcast, to ask if they’re actually doing anything about AI political robocalls. AI-generated voices are getting pretty good at mimicking humans and we’ve already seen this technology in action, when an audio deepfake urged voters to skip the New Hampshire Democratic primary.

“We know that AI technologies will make it cheap and easy to flood our networks with deepfakes used to mislead and betray trust. It is especially chilling to see AI voice cloning used to impersonate candidates during elections. As AI tools become more accessible to bad actors and scammers, we need to do everything we can to keep this junk off our networks,” wrote Rosenworcel.

It’s worth noting that all AI robocalls were banned back in February, political or not, but the big telecom companies have yet to announce any enforcement plans. The mandate, however, does give State Attorneys General the ability to prosecute those involved in the robocalls.

Rosenworcel has also been trying to force political campaigns to disclose whether or not they used AI in TV or radio ads, as reported by US News & World Report. The proposed plan, however, has faced opposition from the Republican chair of the Federal Election Commission. Chairman Sean Cooksey wrote in a letter to Rosenworcel that the plan would overwrite the authority of the FEC to enforce federal campaign law, prompting a legal challenge.

Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, which acquired the movie rental service Redbox in 2022, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Deadline reports. The company recently disclosed net losses of $636.6 million for 2023 in a SEC filing, and Deadline reported just a few days ago that it had suspended medical benefits and missed payroll, leaving employees without their paychecks for a week already. In a message to employees on Saturday, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment said it had applied for a debtor-in-possession loan in an attempt to remedy the situation.

“Upon court approval, we expect payroll to be funded early in the week and funding for this upcoming week’s payroll to also be secured,” the message said, per Deadline. “We also expect to have the funds to reinstate medical benefits back to May 14, 2024 and going forward.” The $375 million deal to acquire Redbox brought with it a ton of debt, and according to The Verge, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment owes money to a slew of retailers, studios, and streaming platforms — including Walmart, Universal and Sony — as well as other creditors.

Its total debts come to about $970 million. Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment also owns the streaming service Crackle and a few other film and TV brands, in addition to selling the long-running self-help books it’s best known for.

Swedish audio brand Nocs Lab has announced a new high-end speaker based on its flagship Monolith, and it’s the Monolith x Aluminium (via our friends at Wallpaper). It looks like no other speaker: CNC-cut from a single block of aluminum and then sand-blasted and anodized, it “embodies a harmonious blend of minimalist design, audio excellence and environmental responsibility,” according to Nocs Lab. 

The environmental angle is clearly important to the firm: aluminum is recyclable, and using it in this version of the Monolith (there’s another, larger version) enabled the firm to avoid the use of any plastics: that zen-like design means there’s no unnecessary frills or wasted materials. Nocs Labs says it’s also designed to be fully repairable too, to ensure an extra long life.

Thankfully, it’s a lot smaller than it looks in the photos, which suggest some kind of 2001-style giant: it’s small enough to carry in a reasonable-sized bag, and weighs a surprisingly light – for a big metal block – 4kg / 8.8 lbs.

Monolith Aluminium speaker: key features, pricing and availability

The Monolith x Aluminium takes the same design cues as its bigger sibling, the $1,500 Monolith, but instead of having the five drivers prominently assembled on the front they’re all concealed inside that aluminum casing. 

The frequency response is from 39Hz to 23kHz, and there are two full-range two-inch drivers with dual neodymium magnet motors, two 4-inch woofers with vented dual neodymium magnets and ferro-fluid cooling, and a 0.8-inch tweeter. They’re driven by closed-loop Class D amps, delivering 45W to each speaker, for a total 225W. The rechargeable lithium-ion battery is 5,000mAh with a claimed life of up to 15 hours of continuous playtime, which is lower than many the best Bluetooth speakers, but not bad.

Wireless is dual-band 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0 with AAC and SBC, and it streams over Bluetooth, via Spotify Connect and via Tidal Connect. Nocs says that more streamers will be added soon. It’s a bit disappointing that there’s no aptX or other Hi-Res Audio support wirelessly, but it doesn’t matter too much if it sounds good.

The Monolith x Aluminium will be shipping in November 2024 and pre-orders are open now with early customers getting an alcantara sleeve to protect it. The price is $1000 / £850 / AU$1,405 and you can choose between silver and matte black finishes. 

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