What is oral chlamydia? How is oral chlamydia caused and what are the symptoms? How to prevent oral chlamydia
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US Copyright Office opens public comments on AI and content ownership
The US Copyright Office (USCO) wants your thoughts on generative AI and who can theoretically be declared to own its outputs. The technology has increasingly commanded the legal system’s attention, and as such office began seeking public comments on Wednesday about some of AI’s thorniest issues (viaArs Technica). These include questions about companies training AI models on copyrighted works, the copyright eligibility of AI-generated content (along with liability for infringing on it) and how to handle machine-made outputs mimicking human artists’ work.
“The adoption and use of generative AI systems by millions of Americans — and the resulting volume of AI-generated material — have sparked widespread public debate about what these systems may mean for the future of creative industries and raise significant questions for the copyright system,” the USCO wrote in a notice published on Wednesday.
One issue the office hopes to address is the required degree of human authorship to register a copyright on (otherwise AI-driven) content, citing the rising number of attempts to copyright material that names AI as an author or co-author. “The crucial question appears to be whether the ‘work’ is basically one of human authorship, with the computer merely being an assisting instrument, or whether the traditional elements of authorship in the work (literary, artistic, or musical expression or elements of selection, arrangement, etc.) were actually conceived and executed not by man but by a machine,” the USCO wrote.
Although the issue is far from resolved, several cases have hinted at where the boundaries may fall. For example, the office said in February that the (human-made) text and layout arrangement from a partially AI-generated graphic novel were copyrightable, but the work’s Midjourney-generated images weren’t. On the other hand, a Federal judge recently rejected an attempt to register AI-generated art which had no human intervention other than its inciting text prompt. “Copyright has never stretched so far [...] as to protect works generated by new forms of technology operating absent any guiding human hand, as plaintiff urges here,” US District Judge Beryl Howell wrote in that ruling.
The USCO also seeks input on increasing infringement claims from copyright owners against AI companies for training on their published works. Sarah Silverman is among the high-profile plaintiffs suing OpenAI and Meta for allegedly training ChatGPT and LLaMA (respectively) on their written work — in her case, her 2010 memoir The Bedwetter. OpenAI also faces a class-action lawsuit over using scraped web data to train its viral chatbot.
The USPO says the public comment period will be open until November 15th. You can share your thoughts until then.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://ift.tt/QNW63zivia engadget.com
Shure's new Aonic 50 headphones have spatial audio and double the battery life
Shure may not have changed much of the design of its Aonic 50 headphones for the second-generation version, but it did a lot of work on the inside to massively upgrade all-around performance. The company announced the new model today, a set of $349 premium noise-canceling wireless headphones that now offer spatial audio, improved active noise cancellation (ANC) and twice the battery life of the previous version.
In terms of sound quality, Shure says the new Aonic 50 has its spatial audio tech onboard that leverages an "acoustical modeling and critical listening" algorithm to offer immersion without compromising the original audio. There are three modes here — Music, Cinema and Podcast — which the company explains are tailored to each use case. Music mode offers the experience of listening with "high-end speakers" while Cinema mode adds more low-end tone to give the effect of being in a theater, maintains clarity and offers "natural sounding" dialog. Podcast mode positions the host's voice closer to the user's ears. This is all powered by 50mm dynamic drivers and Snapdragon Sound with aptX Adaptive, allowing you to stream music in AAC, SBC and LDAC codecs.
Rather than keep the ANC setup from the previous version, tech simply described as "adjustable," Shure opted for a new hybrid active noise cancellation system. Like hybrid ANC on other headphones, the company uses microphones on the inside and the outside of the ear cup to monitor environmental clamor. Shure also allows you to control the amount of noise blocking and ambient sound with four modes: Light, Moderate, Max and MaxAware. The last of which is a new option the company describes as "perfect balance between blocking unwanted noise and maintaining awareness of your surroundings." There's also an Enhanced Environment mode that allows you to adjust those levels with a slider rather than relying on presets.
Shure has more than doubled the battery life for the second-gen Aonic 50. It now offers up to 45 hours of listening time on a charge, up from the 20 hours on the previous version. There's also a quick-charge feature on the new model that gives you five hours of use in 15 minutes. The company is also touting "superior" call quality thanks to beamforming mics with automatic gain control. Shure says the six built-in microphones adjust automatically to combat ambient noise, which it claims provides "unmatched" clarity. Companies make lofty promises about voice performance all the time, and since mileage varies greatly on those, we'll have to reserve judgement here until we can complete our own testing.
The Aonic 50 (2nd gen) will be available in September.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://ift.tt/GFiyTvavia engadget.com
Samsung launched its AI-powered recipe app called Food
Samsung wants to make cooking dinner easier, thanks to artificial intelligence. Recipe ideas, appliance control, and meal plans, all from an AI-powered app.
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WhatsApp's new Mac app supports group video calls for up to eight people
Several months after WhatsApp released a Windows desktop client, Mac users are getting to join the party with their own dedicated app for the service. The formal arrival of the client (which had been in beta since January) on Apple's desktops and laptops means users can take part in WhatsApp group calls on their Mac for the first time.
WhatsApp for Mac supports up to eight people in video calls and as many as 32 in audio-only chinwags. You can hop into a group call after it's already started, view your call (and chat) history and opt to receive notifications about incoming calls even if you don't have the WhatsApp client open. Sharing files should be a cinch too, as you'll be able to simply drag and drop them into a conversation.
The WhatsApp team has spent quite some time making sure that the service supports end-to-end encryption (E2EE) across multiple devices with cross-platform syncing. So, it's not super surprising that WhatsApp for Mac includes E2EE protection for your chats and calls. The app is available from the WhatsApp website and it'll hit the Mac App Store soon.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://ift.tt/PK1Luq4via engadget.com
Samsung's 85-inch outdoor Terrace TV costs $20,000
Samsung made backyard barbecues a bit more fun when it unveiled the Terrace outdoor TV line in 2020 — now, it's going bigger and brighter. Today, the company announced an 85-inch Terrace Full Sun set which will retail for an eye-watering $20,000. For the money, you'll get a Neo QLED screen which should remain bright in direct sunlight, as well as "Direct-Sun Protection" to keep the TV safe. Samsung claims it's protected "up to six hours in sunlight at 700 watts and 104 degrees Fahrenheit," but it may decrease brightness to deal with higher temperatures and sun conditions.
That heat threshold might seem high, but given that more than a dozen Southern US cities broke their high temperature records this year, it may not be enough to protect your $20,000 TV. The 85-inch Terrace also features an improved IP56 rating to deal with water and dust. (Maybe just think twice about having a movie night during a heat wave or summer storm.)
If you don't need such an enormous screen outside, you've also got some other options from Samsung. The 65-inch Full Sun Terrace is now on sale for $6,500, while the 75-inch goes for $9,000. You can also save a bit more with Partial Sun Terrace sets, which are meant for shaded areas and start at $3,000 for the 55-inch model.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://ift.tt/C20R1jtvia engadget.com
iRobot’s latest Roombas can vacuum and mop for cheaper
iRobot announced two new combo vacuum / mop combo robots today. The Roomba Combo j5+ and Combo i5+ provide some of the dual-mode features of the $1,1099 Roomba j7+ but for more affordable prices. However, there are some tradeoffs in selling these models for $799 (j5+) and $549 (i5+), including having to swap out their bins when it’s time to switch between vacuuming and mopping.
One of the biggest differences between the two new models is that the Roomba j5+, the higher-end one, can identify “No Mop Zones” to avoid rugs and carpeted rooms and learn your overall cleaning preferences. In addition, only the j5+ has advanced obstacle avoidance and can steer clear of “over 80” common floor hazards, including solid pet waste. The more expensive model also adds iRobot’s P.O.O.P. promise, which vows to replace your device if it fails to avoid pet messes.
iRobot
Apart from those differences that make the i5+ $250 cheaper, the two have much in common. They both run iRobot OS, provide control through the iRobot Home app and have self-emptying dustbins / charging stations. Each will automatically switch between vacuuming and mopping when you attach the corresponding bin. (According toThe Verge, they have 360ml dustbins and 210ml mopping tanks.) The machines also work with voice assistants, letting you control them with Alexa, Siri or Google Assistant devices. And although the cheaper i5+ won’t learn specific carpeted / rugged areas, you can still label room names and program it to target specific ones.
The $799 Roomba Combo j5+ and $549 Roomba Combo i5+ are available for pre-order today in North America on iRobot’s website ahead of retail availability on September 3rd. Meanwhile, European customers can buy the i5+ today, with the j5+ arriving in September. iRobot says it will roll out to other international markets throughout 2023 and into early next year.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://ift.tt/pK4YUlVvia engadget.com
Libby is making it easier to access magazines for free with a supported library card
A library card is one of the most useful things you can have in your wallet. Libby offers free access to ebooks and audiobooks if you have a supported library card (some 90 percent of public libraries in North America now use OverDrive's app). Not only that, you can also use Libby to read a host of magazines for absolutely zilch. Some updates are coming to the app next month that should make it easier to read the likes of The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Bon Appetit and Wired for free.
Libby says there will be streamlined access to magazines, which will seemingly be easier to subscribe to and receive an alert when there's a new issue. There will be improved discovery, while you'll be able to start reading with a single tap.
The company notes that the app includes access to more than 4,000 magazines with up to three years of back issues. Unlike audiobooks, ebooks and other Libby offerings, there's no circulation cap on magazines and no restrictions on how many users can read them at once, so you won't have to wait — unless, that is, you still need to sign up at your local library first.
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Synchron's BCI implants may help paralyzed patients reconnect with the world
Dr. Tom Oxley visibly stiffens at the prospect of using brain-computer interface technology for something as gauche as augmenting able-bodied humans. “We're not building a BCI to control Spotify or to watch Netflix,” the CEO of medical device startup Synchron tersely told Engadget via videocall last week.
“There's all this hype and excitement about BCI, about where it might go,” Oxley continued. “But the reality is, what's it gonna do for patients? We describe this problem for patients, not around wanting to super-augment their brain or body, but wanting to restore the fundamental agency and autonomy that [able-bodied people] take for granted.”
Around 31,000 Americans currently live with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) with another 5,000 diagnosed every year. Nearly 300,000 Americans suffer from spinal cord paralysis, and another approximately 18,000 people join those ranks annually. Thousands more are paralyzed by stroke and accident, losing their ability to see, hear or feel the world around them. And with the lack of motor control in their extremities, these Americans can also lose access to a critical component of modern life: their smartphone.
“[A smartphone] creates our independence and our autonomy,” Oxley said. “It's communicating to each other, text messaging, emailing. It's controlling the lights in your house, doing your banking, doing your shopping, all those things.”
“If you can control your phone again,” he said. “you can restore those elements of your lifestyle.”
So while Elon Musk promises an fantastical cyberpunk future where everybody knows Kung Fu and can upload their consciousness to the cloud on a whim, startups like Synchron, as well as Medtronic, Blackrock Neurotech, BrainGate and Precision Neuroscience and countless academic research teams, are working to put this transformative medical technology into clinical practice, reliably and ethically.
The Best Way to a Man’s Mind Is Through His Jugular Vein
Brooklyn-based Synchron made history in 2022 when it became the first company to successfully implant a BCI into a human patient as part of its pioneering SWITCH study performed in partnership with Mount Sinai Hospital. To date, the medical community has generally had just two options in capturing the myriad electrical signals that our brains produce: low-fidelity but non-invasive EEG wave caps, or high-fidelity Utah Array neural probes that require open-brain surgery to install.
Synchron’s Stentrode device provides a third: it is surgically guided up through a patient’s jugular vein to rest within a large blood vessel near their motor cortex where its integrated array of sensors yield better-fidelity signal than an EEG cap without the messy implantation or eventual performance drop off of probe arrays.
“We're not putting penetrative electronics into the brain and so the surgical procedure itself is minimally invasive,” Dr. David Putrino, Director of Rehabilitation Innovation for the Mount Sinai Health System, explained to Engadget. “The second piece of it is, you're not asking a neurologist to learn anything new ... They know how to place stents, and you're really asking to place a stent in a big vessel — it's not a hard task.”
“These types of vascular surgeries in the brain are commonly performed,” said Dr. Zoran Nenadić, William J. Link Chair and Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of California, Irvine. “I think they're clever using this route to deliver these implants into the human brain, which otherwise is an invasive surgery.”
Though the Stentrode’s signal quality is not quite on par with a probe array, it doesn’t suffer the signal degradation that arrays do. Quite the opposite, in fact. “When you use penetrative electrodes and you put them in the brain,” Putrino said, “gliosis forms around the electrodes and impedances change, signal quality goes down, you lose certain electrodes. In this case, as the electrode vascularizes into the blood vessel, it actually stabilizes and improves the recording over time.”
A Device for Those Silent Moments of Terror
“We're finally, actually, paying attention to a subset of individuals with disabilities who previously have not had technology available that gives them digital autonomy,” Putrino said. He points out that for many severely paralyzed people, folks who can perhaps wiggle a finger or toe, or who can use eye tracking technology, the communication devices at their disposal are situational at best. Alert buttons can shift out of reach, eye tracking systems are largely stationary tools and unusable in cars.
“We communicate with these folks on a regular basis and the fears that are brought up that this technology can help with,” Putrino recalls. “It is exactly in these silent moments, where it's like, the eye tracking has been put away for the night and then you start to choke, how do you call someone in? Your call button or your communication device is pushed to the side and you see the nurse starting to prepare the wrong medication for you. How do you alert them? These moments happen often in a disabled person's life and we don't have an answer for these things.”
With a BCI, he continued, locked-in patients are no longer isolated. They can simply wake their digital device from sleep mode and use it to alert caregivers. ”This thing works outside, it works in different light settings, it works regardless of whether you're laying flat on your back or sitting up in your chair,” Putrino said. “Versatile, continuous digital control is the goal.”
Reaching that goal is still at least half a decade away. “Our goal over the next five years is to get market approval and then we’ll be ready to scale up that point,” Oxley said. The rate of that scaling will depend on the company’s access to cath labs. These are facilities found in both primary and secondary level hospitals so there are thousands of them around the country, Oxley said. Far more than the handful of primary level hospitals that are equipped to handle open-brain BCI implantation surgeries.
A Show of Hands for Another Hole in Your Head
In 2021, Synchron conducted its SWITCH safety study for the Stentrode device itself, implanting it in four ALS patients and monitoring their health over the course of the next year. The study found the device to be “safe, with no serious adverse events that led to disability or death,” according to a 2022 press release. The Stentrod “stayed in place for all four patients and the blood vessel in which the device was implanted remained open.”
Buoyed by that success, Synchon launched its headline-grabbing COMMAND study last year, which uses the company’s entire brain.io system in six patients to help them communicate digitally. “We’re really trying to show that this thing improves quality of life and improves agency of the individual,” Putrino said. The team had initially expected the recruitment process through which candidate patients are screened, to take five full years to complete.
Dr. Putrino was not prepared for the outpouring of interest, especially given the permanent nature of these tests and quality of life that patients might expect to have once they're in. “Many of our patients have end-stage ALS, so being part of a trial is a non-trivial decision,” Putrino said. “That's like, do you want to spend what maybe some of the last years of your life with researchers as opposed to with family members?”
“Is that a choice you want to make for folks who are considering the trial who have a spinal cord injury?” asked Putrino, as those folks are also eligible for implantation. “We have very candid conversations with them around, look, this is a gen one device,” he warns. “Do you want to wait for gen five because you don't have a short life expectancy, you could live another 30 years. This is a permanent implant.”
Still, the public interest in Synchron’s BCI work has led to such a glut of interested patients, that the team was able to perform its implantation surgery on the sixth and final patient of the study in early August — nearly 18 months ahead of schedule. The team will need to continue the study for at least another year (to meet minimum safety standards like in the previous SWITCH study) but has already gotten permission from the NIH to extend its observation portion to the full original five years. This will give Synchron significantly more data to work with in the future, Putrino explained.
How We Can Avoid Another Argus II SNAFU
Our Geordi LaForge visor future seemed a veritable lock in 2013, when Second Sight Medical Products received an FDA Humanitarian Use Device designation for its Argus II retinal prosthesis, two years after it received commercial clearance in Europe. The medical device, designed to restore at least rudimentary functional vision to people suffering profound vision loss from retinitis pigmentosa, was implanted in the patient’s retina and converted digital video signals it received from an external, glasses-mounted camera into the analog electrical impulses that the brain can comprehend — effectively bypassing the diseased portions of the patient’s ocular system.
With the technical blessing of the FDA in hand (Humanitarian Use cases are not subject to nearly the same scrutiny as full FDA approval), Second Sight filed for IPO in 2013 and was listed in NASDAQ the following year. Seven years after that, the company went belly up in 2020, declared itself out of business and wished the best of luck to the suckers who spent $150k to get its hardware hardwired into their skulls.
“Once you're in that [Humanitarian Use] category, it's kind of hard to go back and do all of the studies that are necessary to get the traditional FDA approvals to move forward,” Dr. An Do, Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology at University of California, Irvine, told Engadget. “I think the other issue is that these are orphan diseases. There's a very small group of people that they're catering to.”
As IEEE Spectrum rightfully points out, one loose wire, one degraded connection or faulty lead, and these patients can potentially re-lose what little sight they had regained. There’s also the chance that the implant, without regular upkeep, eventually causes an infection or interferes with other medical procedures, requiring a costly, invasive surgery to remove.
“I am constantly concerned about this,” Putrino admitted. “This is a question that keeps me up at night. I think that, obviously, we need to make sure that companies can in good faith proceed to the next stage of their work as a company before they begin any clinical trials.”
He also calls on the FDA to expand its evaluations of BCI companies to potentially include examining the applicant’s ongoing financial stability. “I think that this is definitely a consideration that we need to think about because we don't want to implant patients and then have them just lose this technology.”
“We always talk to our patients as we're recruiting them about the fact that this is a permanent implant,” Putrino continued. “We make a commitment to them that they can always come to us for device related questions, even outside the scope of the clinical trial.”
But Putrino admits that even with the best intentions, companies simply cannot guarantee their customers of continued commercial success. “I don't really know how we safeguard against the complete failure of a company,” he said. “This is just one of the risks that people are going to take coming in. It's a complex issue and it's one I worry about because we're right here on the bleeding edge and it's unclear if we have good answers to this once the technology goes beyond clinical trials.”
Luckily, the FDA does. As one agency official explained to Engadget, “the FDA’s decisions are intended to be patient-centric with the health and safety of device users as our highest priority.” Should a company go under, file bankruptcy or otherwise be unable to provide the services it previously sold, in addition to potentially being ordered by the court to continue care for its existing patients, “the FDA may also take steps to protect patients in these circumstances. For example, the FDA may communicate to the public, recommendations for actions that health care providers and patients should take.”
The FDA official also notes that the evaluation process itself involves establishing whether an applicant “demonstrates reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness of the device when used as intended in its environment of use for its expected life … FDA requirements apply to devices regardless of a firm’s decision to stop selling and distributing the device.”
The Synchron Switch BCI, for its part, is made from biologically inert materials that will eventually be reabsorbed into the body, “so even if Synchron disappeared tomorrow, the Switch BCI is designed to safely remain in the patient’s body indefinitely,” Oxley said. “The BCI runs on a software platform that is designed for stability and independent use, so patients can use the platform without our direct involvement.”
However, this approach “is not sufficient and that, given BCIs’ potential influence on individuals and society, the nature of what is safe and effective and the balance between risk and benefit require special consideration,” argued a 2021 op-ed in the AMA Journal of Ethics. “The line between therapy and enhancement for BCIs is difficult to draw precisely. Therapeutic devices function to correct or compensate for some disease state, thereby restoring one to ‘normality’ or the standard species-typical form.” But what, and more importantly who, gets to define normality? How far below the mean IQ can you get before forcibly raising your score through BCI implantation is deemed worthwhile to society?
The op-ed’s authors concede that “While BCIs raise multiple ethical concerns, such as how to define personhood, respect for autonomy, and adequacy of informed consent, not all ethical issues justifiably form the basis of government regulation.” The FDA’s job is to test devices for safety and efficacy, not equality, after all. As such the authors instead argue that, “a new committee or regulatory body with humanistic aims, including the concerns of both individuals and society, ought to be legislated at the federal level in order to assist in regulating the nature, scope, and use of these devices.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://ift.tt/QcPbptIvia engadget.com
Apple's new iPad Pro will have an OLED display and new keyboard, report says
Apple is working on a new generation of iPad Pro devices, and it might be one of the biggest updates the company's tablet has received in years.
According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the new iPad Pro devices, which are likely to be launched in the spring or summer of 2024, will have OLED displays. Currently, the 11-inch iPad Pro has an LCD display, while the larger, 12.9-inch model has a mini-LED display; switching to OLED displays should provide deeper blacks, more accurate colors, higher brightness, and (perhaps) improved battery life.
Gurman also says that the larger iPad Pro will measure 13 inches, a small but noticeable upgrade. Notably, the report doesn't mention the previously rumored, extra-large iPad Pro. It also echoes a 2022 report from analyst Ross Young, who claimed that Apple will launch slightly larger iPad Pro devices with OLED displays in 2024.
The new iPad Pro models will reportedly have Apple's new M3 chip, as well as the optional Magic Keyboard with a larger trackpad and other improvements.
The iPad Pro definitely needs a breath of fresh air. The current variant has been updated in 2022 but the changes were minor. And while it's unclear when, exactly, the new iPad Pro is coming, Gurman is quite certain that it won't be part of Apple's upcoming September event, where the company will probably launch new iPhones.
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Judge tosses Republican lawsuit against Google over Gmail spam filters
Last year, the Republican National Committee (RNC) filed a lawsuit against Google accusing it of political bias over its Gmail spam filters. Now, a federal judge has dismissed that lawsuit, noting that Google was effectively protected by Section 230 of US law, and that the RNC had not "sufficiently pled that Google acted in bad faith" by filtering out campaign emails, The Washington Post has reported.
According to the lawsuit, Google intentionally marked "millions" of RNC emails as spam, so the group sought reimbursement for "donations it allegedly lost as a result" of that. As evidence, it cited a study finding that Gmail was more likely than Yahoo and other mail systems to mark Republican emails as spam. (One of the study's authors told the Post last year that its findings were cherry-picked.)
Calling the lawsuit a "close case," US District Court judge Daniel Calabretta said the RNC had "failed to plausibly allege its claims" that Google's spam filtering was done in bad faith. Google said that the emails in questions were likely flagged as spam because of user complaints, and cited RNC domain authentication issues and frequent mailouts as other potential issues.
The court also decided that RNC emails could be deemed "objectionable" based on the CAN-SPAM Act, and the fact that Google flagged them as such was covered by Section 230, which provides immunity to online platforms from civil liability based on third-party content. All that said, the judge said Republicans could still amend the lawsuit to better establish a lack of good faith by Google.
Interestingly, during last year's mid-term US elections, Google created a loophole allowing political campaigns to dodge Gmail spam filters. However, the RNC reportedly didn't take advantage of the program. Google has since ended the experiment, following largely negative feedback from the public.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://ift.tt/sF8PbH5via engadget.com
Wordle today: Here's the answer and hints for August 28
New day, new wek, new Wordle puzzle to solve — and would you look at that? It's the 800th one. Where did the days go? It seems like only yesterday we were being confused by those green and yellow squares popping up on what used to be Twitter. Sigh. We're still here for you, as we are every day, with some tips and tricks to help you figure out the solution.
If you just want to be told today's answer, you can jump to the end of this article for August 28's Wordle solution revealed. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
Where did Wordle come from?
Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once.
Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing.
Not the day you're after? Here's the Wordle answer for Aug. 27.
What's the best Wordle starting word?
The best Wordle starting word is the one that brings you the most joy. But if you like being strategic in your approach, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N.
What happened to the Wordle archive?
The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles used to be available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it. Unfortunately, it has since been taken down, with the website's creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times.
Is Wordle getting harder?
It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn't any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle's Hard Mode if you're after more of a challenge, though.
Why are there two different Wordle answers some days?
Though usually Wordle will only accept one correct solution per day, occasionally it has rebelled against the norm and deem two different answers acceptable. This is due to changes the New York Times made to Wordle after it acquired the puzzle game.
The Times has since added its own updated word list, so this should happen even less frequently than before. To avoid any confusion, it's a good idea to refresh your browser before getting stuck into a new puzzle.
Here's a subtle hint for today's Wordle answer:
It's closely related to how you play Wordle.
Does today's Wordle answer have a double letter?
Not today!
Today's Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with...
Today's Wordle starts with the letter W.
What's the answer to Wordle today?
Get your last guesses in now, because it's your final chance to solve today's Wordle before we reveal the solution.
Drumroll please!
The solution to Wordle #800 is...
WRITE.
Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.
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'Quordle' today: Here are the answers and hints for August 28, 2023
If Quordle is a little too challenging today, you've come to the right place for hints. There aren't just hints here, but the whole Quordle solution. Scroll to the bottom of this page, and there it is. But are you sure you need all four answers? Maybe you just need a strategy guide. Either way, scroll down, and you'll get what you need.
What is Quordle?
Quordle is a five-letter word guessing game similar to Wordle, except each guess applies letters to four words at the same time. You get nine guesses instead of six to correctly guess all four words. It looks like playing four Wordle games at the same time, and that is essentially what it is. But it's not nearly as intimidating as it sounds.
Is Quordle harder than Wordle?
Yes, though not diabolically so.
Where did Quordle come from?
Amid the Wordle boom of late 2021 and early 2022, when everyone was learning to love free, in-browser, once-a-day word guessing games, creator Freddie Meyer says he took inspiration from one of the first big Wordle variations, Dordle — the one where you essentially play two Wordles at once. He took things up a notch, and released Quordle on January 30. Meyer's creation was covered in The Guardian six days later, and now, according to Meyer, it attracts millions of daily users. Today, Meyer earns modest revenue from Patreon, where dedicated Quordle fans can donate to keep their favorite puzzle game running.
How is Quordle pronounced?
“Kwordle.” It should rhyme with “Wordle,” and definitely should not be pronounced exactly like "curdle.”
Is Quordle strategy different from Wordle?
Yes and no.
Your starting strategy should be the same as with Wordle. In fact, if you have a favorite Wordle opening word, there’s no reason to change that here. We suggest something rich in vowels, featuring common letters like C, R, and N. But you do you.
After your first guess, however, you’ll notice things getting out of control if you play Quordle exactly like Wordle.
What should I do in Quordle that I don’t do in Wordle?
Solving a Wordle puzzle can famously come down to a series of single letter-change variations. If you’ve narrowed it down to “-IGHT,” you could guess “MIGHT” “NIGHT” “LIGHT” and “SIGHT” and one of those will probably be the solution — though this is also a famous way to end up losing in Wordle, particularly if you play on “hard mode.” In Quordle, however, this sort of single-letter winnowing is a deadly trap, and it hints at the important strategic difference between Wordle and Quordle: In Quordle, you can't afford to waste guesses unless you're eliminating as many letters as possible at all times.
Guessing a completely random word that you already know isn't the solution, just to eliminate three or four possible letters you haven’t tried yet, is thought of as a desperate, latch-ditch move in Wordle. In Quordle, however, it's a normal part of the player's strategic toolset.
Is there a way to get the answer faster?
In my experience Quordle can be a slow game, sometimes dragging out longer than it would take to play Wordle four times. But a sort of blunt-force guessing approach can speed things up. The following strategy also works with Wordle if you only want the solution, and don’t care about having the fewest possible guesses:
Try starting with a series of words that puts all the vowels (including Y) on the board, along with some other common letters. We've had good luck with the three words: “NOTES,” “ACRID,” and “LUMPY.” YouTuber DougMansLand suggests four words: “CANOE,” “SKIRT,” “PLUMB,” and “FUDGY.”
Most of the alphabet is now eliminated, and you’ll only have the ability to make one or two wrong guesses if you use this strategy. But in most cases you’ll have all the information you need to guess the remaining words without any wrong guesses.
If strategy isn't helping, and you're still stumped, here are some hints:
Are there any double or triple letters in today’s Quordle words?
One word has a double letter.
Are any rare letters being used in today’s Quordle like Q or Z?
No.
What do today’s Quordle words start with?
P, A, F, and F.
What are the answers for today’s Quordle?
Are you sure you want to know?
There’s still time to turn back.
OK, you asked for it. The answers are:
-
PAINT
-
ALLOY
-
FORTY
-
FIBER
via IFmashable.com
The Republican email lawsuit against Google has been dismissed
Last year, Republicans sued Google, alleging that Gmail unfairly filters their fundraising messages to the spam folder. Less than 12 months later, it's basically a wrap.
U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Calabretta dismissed the Republican National Committee's lawsuit on Thursday, per the Washington Post. According to Calabretta, it was a "close case" but there wasn't sufficient evidence on the RNC's part to prove that Google had acted in bad faith. Calabretta did allow the RNC to amend and refile the case, which the organization said it would do, according to the Post.
In case you missed the lawsuit when it first popped up last October, the specific accusation was that conservative fundraising emails get sent to the spam filter in Gmail more than liberal ones. It was based on a study from North Carolina State University, whose authors later claimed that the Republicans had taken the results out of context.
Mashable has done some of our own reporting on this and found that Gmail spam filtering has a lot more to do with sender behavior than political affiliation. In short, sending a lot of unopened emails in a short period of time increases your chance at getting sent to the spam folder. It's not a stretch to imagine that's what's happening to these fundraising emails.
via IFmashable.com
Charge 3 Apple devices with this $19 cable
TL;DR: As of Aug. 27, you can get the three-in-one USB-C, iPhone, and Apple Watch Lightning charging cable for just $18.99 (reg. $39.99) in the Mashable Shop — a savings of 52%.
Whether you’re at work or on the road, it can be really annoying to need a separate charger for each of your devices. A simpler alternative is just to carry one charger that can connect to all your daily tech. And iOS users could get a whole lot of mileage out of the three-in-one USB-C, iPhone, and Apple Watch Lightning charging cable. Plus, it’s 52% off.
Apple gave iPads a USB-C port but hasn’t done the same for iPhones yet, so now you can’t use the same cable for your tablet and your phone. Add in an Apple Watch, and that’s three separate chargers unless you have one of these. Power all three of your devices with this one cable that has connectors for Lightning, USB-C, and Apple Watch.
This three-headed cable is 48 inches long with a sturdy build that might put your fraying stock Apple cables to shame. The build quality is especially important when you’re relying on one cable for all your devices. This one is designed to be heat-resistant and is made from braided nylon, TPE plastic, and an aluminum shell. Plus, it’s lightweight, and the charger heads only split close to the end to limit tangles.
Whether you’re packing up for vacation or getting ready for a long workday, you should only need to bring one charger to power your iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch.
For a limited time, get the three-in-one USB-C, iPhone, and Apple Watch Lightning charging cable on sale for $18.99 (reg. $39).
Prices subject to change.
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Credit: Tech Zebra
via IFmashable.com
This email management and backup tool is on sale for 72% off
TL;DR: The Mail Backup X Individual Edition is on sale for £39.39, saving you 72% on list price.
The widespread importance of email is often overlooked. Despite the rise of instant messaging and video chatting apps, like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom, email still remains king of the business world. Half of the global population — almost 4 billion people — use it, and you can reach virtually anyone from any place in the world. What would happen if, suddenly, your email was hacked and you could no longer access your archives, going back decades?
With Mail Backup X, an email solution trusted by over 42,000 businesses and home users, you’ll never have to worry about an email disaster occurring. This seamless tool offers simple management and backup for your email and safeguards you against potential hacks, crashes, or other mishaps. It works with all major mail clients, including Apple Mail, Microsoft Outlook, and Office 365, plus all major mail services, including Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo. You can even mirror your backup to popular cloud storage solutions (Google Drive, One Drive, Dropbox, etc.) or a USB drive.
Add military-grade AES 256-bit encryption and your own private key to your backups, whether on the cloud or locally stored offline. That way you don’t have to worry about your precious emails being seen by the wrong eyes. It’s 100 percent private and can only be unlocked by you.
Mail Backup X has rave reviews across the web. And when you stop to think about how much we all rely on email to make it through the workday, it’s easy to see why. Save 72% and snag a lifetime individual license to this one-stop solution for mail backup, archiving, email management, and mail conversion for just £39.39 for a limited time.
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Credit: Mail Backup X
via IFmashable.com
'Quordle' today: Here are the answers and hints for August 27, 2023
If Quordle is a little too challenging today, you've come to the right place for hints. There aren't just hints here, but the whole Quordle solution. Scroll to the bottom of this page, and there it is. But are you sure you need all four answers? Maybe you just need a strategy guide. Either way, scroll down, and you'll get what you need.
What is Quordle?
Quordle is a five-letter word guessing game similar to Wordle, except each guess applies letters to four words at the same time. You get nine guesses instead of six to correctly guess all four words. It looks like playing four Wordle games at the same time, and that is essentially what it is. But it's not nearly as intimidating as it sounds.
Is Quordle harder than Wordle?
Yes, though not diabolically so.
Where did Quordle come from?
Amid the Wordle boom of late 2021 and early 2022, when everyone was learning to love free, in-browser, once-a-day word guessing games, creator Freddie Meyer says he took inspiration from one of the first big Wordle variations, Dordle — the one where you essentially play two Wordles at once. He took things up a notch, and released Quordle on January 30. Meyer's creation was covered in The Guardian six days later, and now, according to Meyer, it attracts millions of daily users. Today, Meyer earns modest revenue from Patreon, where dedicated Quordle fans can donate to keep their favorite puzzle game running.
How is Quordle pronounced?
“Kwordle.” It should rhyme with “Wordle,” and definitely should not be pronounced exactly like "curdle.”
Is Quordle strategy different from Wordle?
Yes and no.
Your starting strategy should be the same as with Wordle. In fact, if you have a favorite Wordle opening word, there’s no reason to change that here. We suggest something rich in vowels, featuring common letters like C, R, and N. But you do you.
After your first guess, however, you’ll notice things getting out of control if you play Quordle exactly like Wordle.
What should I do in Quordle that I don’t do in Wordle?
Solving a Wordle puzzle can famously come down to a series of single letter-change variations. If you’ve narrowed it down to “-IGHT,” you could guess “MIGHT” “NIGHT” “LIGHT” and “SIGHT” and one of those will probably be the solution — though this is also a famous way to end up losing in Wordle, particularly if you play on “hard mode.” In Quordle, however, this sort of single-letter winnowing is a deadly trap, and it hints at the important strategic difference between Wordle and Quordle: In Quordle, you can't afford to waste guesses unless you're eliminating as many letters as possible at all times.
Guessing a completely random word that you already know isn't the solution, just to eliminate three or four possible letters you haven’t tried yet, is thought of as a desperate, latch-ditch move in Wordle. In Quordle, however, it's a normal part of the player's strategic toolset.
Is there a way to get the answer faster?
In my experience Quordle can be a slow game, sometimes dragging out longer than it would take to play Wordle four times. But a sort of blunt-force guessing approach can speed things up. The following strategy also works with Wordle if you only want the solution, and don’t care about having the fewest possible guesses:
Try starting with a series of words that puts all the vowels (including Y) on the board, along with some other common letters. We've had good luck with the three words: “NOTES,” “ACRID,” and “LUMPY.” YouTuber DougMansLand suggests four words: “CANOE,” “SKIRT,” “PLUMB,” and “FUDGY.”
Most of the alphabet is now eliminated, and you’ll only have the ability to make one or two wrong guesses if you use this strategy. But in most cases you’ll have all the information you need to guess the remaining words without any wrong guesses.
If strategy isn't helping, and you're still stumped, here are some hints:
Are there any double or triple letters in today’s Quordle words?
No.
Are any rare letters being used in today’s Quordle like Q or Z?
No.
What do today’s Quordle words start with?
V, B, S, and S.
What are the answers for today’s Quordle?
Are you sure you want to know?
There’s still time to turn back.
OK, you asked for it. The answers are:
-
VOWEL
-
BLUNT
-
STOKE
-
SHADY
via IFmashable.com
Wildlife officials say SpaceX launch left behind significant damage
SpaceX's Starship launch this past April was a big success. Yes, the rocket ship exploded, which at the time was the focus of most criticism. But, as experts have explained, that was a planned part of Elon Musk's highly-subsidized space exploration company's milestone achievement.
The real failure of SpaceX's Starship, however, is now coming fully to light in the months following the launch.
According to a new report by Bloomberg, the Starship launch left behind devastating destruction to the local environment, as reported by U.S. Wildlife officials following an investigation of the site shortly after the launch. These reports by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists were obtained by the news outlet via a Freedom of Information Act request.
Wildlife officials note that upon surveying the scene after Starship's launch, they found chunks of concrete across the area and foot-deep craters on the tidal flats. The report states that four acres of the nearby Texas state park were burned. A group of blue land crabs and seven bobwhite quail eggs were "incinerated" by the launch.
Overall, the explosion from the launch "left a 385-acre debris field that flung concrete chunks as far as 2,680 feet from the launchpad and sparked a 3.5-acre fire."
There had been concern for years about the proximity of SpaceX's rocket base to endangered species, including a loggerhead sea turtles nesting beach. A group of environmental groups sued the FAA following SpaceX's April launch, claiming the agency failed to perform an adequate environmental review. As for the harmed species, U.S. wildlife biologists did not find any deceased endangered animal life.
However, biologists note that their investigation into this matter was greatly hindered by SpaceX. Wildlife officials were not allowed into the site area until a whole 48 hours after Starship's launch. This means that any possible animal life that was killed could've been previously removed from the site, washed away by the currents, or eaten by other animals before experts could properly document the aftermath.
Much of the damage was caused by a purposeful decision from SpaceX that seemingly baffled experts in the documents. SpaceX did not use flame-suppression technology like a flame diverter or flame trench, a standard in the industry that redirects energy away from the rocket ship. Without it, Starship blew a hole in the ground underneath it, subsequently destroying its launchpad.
The FAA is currently reviewing an investigation into the launch and has temporarily grounded further attempts. But one Wildlife official noted in the documents that it's likely SpaceX won't be ready for another launch anytime soon.
"Pad site was totally destroyed and will likely force them to re-design the whole thing," the official wrote. "Probably won't see another launch for a while."
via IFmashable.com
Tech billionaires are buying up land in San Francisco to build their own utopia
For years, a little-known company by the name of Flannery Associates has been buying up undeveloped land directly northeast of San Francisco in Solano County. Hundreds of landowners who have received offers for their properties, many times more than what the land is actually valued, have wondered exactly who is behind these real estate purchases — now thousands of acres of rolling hills.
A new report from the New York Times details what's going on here: A group of tech elites have come together to buy up land in an attempt to create a city of their own. The group includes tech billionaires like Marc Andreessen of the VC firm Andreessen Horowitz, and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. (The firm Andreessen Horowitz itself is also an investor.) Other notable names like Chris Dixon, who leads Andreessen Horowitz's crypto fund, as well as the founders of the payment company Stripe have invested. Even Laurene Powell Jobs, Steve Job's politically-active widow, is involved.
According to the report, the mastermind behind Flannery Associates is a 36-year-old former Goldman Sachs trader named Jan Sramek. A quick search of Sramek's name pulls up a flurry of glowing articles on the former investment banker from about a decade ago. In those days he was in his 20s, and for a moment he was a sort of golden child in the finance world.
A 2017 pitch from Flannery Associates breaks down what the company claims its looking to do: "Take an arid patch of brown hills cut by a two-lane highway between suburbs and rural land, and convert [it] into a community with tens of thousands of residents, clean energy, public transportation and dense urban life."
In light of its agreeable stated intentions, it's odd that Flannery Associates' has chosen to keep the locals living in the area in the dark about what it's attempting until very recently. The company has been operating in such secrecy that even local Congresspeople couldn't figure out the identity of those behind it.
However, the company lifted its cloak of anonymity just this past week, reaching out to public officials and requesting meetings to discuss its plans.
Why? The reason is likely because Flannery Associates has been mostly buying up farmland and other property that's not actually zoned for residential use. That means it's going to need to lobby officials and convince the locals to vote on a rezoning effort. The company is hoping the promise of jobs, new homes and public spaces will win them over.
But current residents just need to look dozens of miles south at Silicon Valley to see who a city that caters to the whims of the tech elite ends up actually being for.
via IFmashable.com
'Quordle' today: Here are the answers and hints for August 26, 2023
If Quordle is a little too challenging today, you've come to the right place for hints. There aren't just hints here, but the whole Quordle solution. Scroll to the bottom of this page, and there it is. But are you sure you need all four answers? Maybe you just need a strategy guide. Either way, scroll down, and you'll get what you need.
What is Quordle?
Quordle is a five-letter word guessing game similar to Wordle, except each guess applies letters to four words at the same time. You get nine guesses instead of six to correctly guess all four words. It looks like playing four Wordle games at the same time, and that is essentially what it is. But it's not nearly as intimidating as it sounds.
Is Quordle harder than Wordle?
Yes, though not diabolically so.
Where did Quordle come from?
Amid the Wordle boom of late 2021 and early 2022, when everyone was learning to love free, in-browser, once-a-day word guessing games, creator Freddie Meyer says he took inspiration from one of the first big Wordle variations, Dordle — the one where you essentially play two Wordles at once. He took things up a notch, and released Quordle on January 30. Meyer's creation was covered in The Guardian six days later, and now, according to Meyer, it attracts millions of daily users. Today, Meyer earns modest revenue from Patreon, where dedicated Quordle fans can donate to keep their favorite puzzle game running.
How is Quordle pronounced?
“Kwordle.” It should rhyme with “Wordle,” and definitely should not be pronounced exactly like "curdle.”
Is Quordle strategy different from Wordle?
Yes and no.
Your starting strategy should be the same as with Wordle. In fact, if you have a favorite Wordle opening word, there’s no reason to change that here. We suggest something rich in vowels, featuring common letters like C, R, and N. But you do you.
After your first guess, however, you’ll notice things getting out of control if you play Quordle exactly like Wordle.
What should I do in Quordle that I don’t do in Wordle?
Solving a Wordle puzzle can famously come down to a series of single letter-change variations. If you’ve narrowed it down to “-IGHT,” you could guess “MIGHT” “NIGHT” “LIGHT” and “SIGHT” and one of those will probably be the solution — though this is also a famous way to end up losing in Wordle, particularly if you play on “hard mode.” In Quordle, however, this sort of single-letter winnowing is a deadly trap, and it hints at the important strategic difference between Wordle and Quordle: In Quordle, you can't afford to waste guesses unless you're eliminating as many letters as possible at all times.
Guessing a completely random word that you already know isn't the solution, just to eliminate three or four possible letters you haven’t tried yet, is thought of as a desperate, latch-ditch move in Wordle. In Quordle, however, it's a normal part of the player's strategic toolset.
Is there a way to get the answer faster?
In my experience Quordle can be a slow game, sometimes dragging out longer than it would take to play Wordle four times. But a sort of blunt-force guessing approach can speed things up. The following strategy also works with Wordle if you only want the solution, and don’t care about having the fewest possible guesses:
Try starting with a series of words that puts all the vowels (including Y) on the board, along with some other common letters. We've had good luck with the three words: “NOTES,” “ACRID,” and “LUMPY.” YouTuber DougMansLand suggests four words: “CANOE,” “SKIRT,” “PLUMB,” and “FUDGY.”
Most of the alphabet is now eliminated, and you’ll only have the ability to make one or two wrong guesses if you use this strategy. But in most cases you’ll have all the information you need to guess the remaining words without any wrong guesses.
If strategy isn't helping, and you're still stumped, here are some hints:
Are there any double or triple letters in today’s Quordle words?
One word has a twice-occurring letter.
Are any rare letters being used in today’s Quordle like Q or Z?
No.
What do today’s Quordle words start with?
L, S, B, and B.
What are the answers for today’s Quordle?
Are you sure you want to know?
There’s still time to turn back.
OK, you asked for it. The answers are:
-
LEASH
-
SMEAR
-
BASAL
-
BRIEF
via IFmashable.com
Trump evidently didn't sell Mar-a-Lago
Did Donald Trump quietly sell off his Mar-a-Lago estate for hundreds of millions of dollars just a few short weeks before being booked in Georgia for trying to steal the 2020 presidential election?
While many media outlets ran with the story, the claim is entirely based on a false record posted to Zillow. It appears to not be true.
On Friday, the UK outlet Daily Express reported that a real estate property located at 1100 S Ocean Blvd, Palm Beach, FL 33480 had sold earlier this month for a whopping $422 million. That's the address of former president Donald Trump's resort and personal residence, Mar-a-Lago.
The source for this sale was a sales history record posted on the popular online real estate platform Zillow that claimed the $422 million transaction closed on August 4.
This is how the Zillow listing for Mar-a-Lago appeared with the false sales data. Credit: Mashable Screenshot
Based on Florida's business records, the report also shared that Mar-a-Lago is currently owned by a company called Mar-A-Lago, Inc. with Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., listed as the registered agent. Some outlets speculated whether this meant that the reported sale was actually a secret transfer from Trump to a company led by his children.
However, in a statement provided to Mashable, Zillow says the information was "inaccurate."
"Zillow strives for accuracy on our site and if we become aware of inaccurate information, we will update it immediately," said a Zillow spokesperson. "After an investigation, it appears that the information provided was incorrect. We’ve corrected the information on this property." Zillow's correction simply removed the erroneous sales history entry.
Zillow updates its listings based on information from various different sources such as public records and other listing services. For example, previous sold history on the Mar-a-Lago property lists an April 1995 sale from the day Trump turned the residence into a member's only club. Zillow has that sale labeled with "public record" as its source.
However, the false listing from earlier this month is labeled as "agent provided," meaning the sale could've been erroneously entered by a real estate agent or another listing service. The exact source of the inaccurate information is unclear at this time as Zillow investigates.
Trump's children also released statements of their own denying the sale.
"Mar-a-Lago has absolutely not been sold nor will it ever be. This rumor is asinine," Eric Trump said to Newsweek. Trump Jr. released a similar denial of a sale to the New York Post.
via IFmashable.com
Confused about federal student loan forgiveness? Here's what you need to know.
With a cumulative federal student loan debt of $1.6 trillion held by more than 45 million borrowers — an almost unfathomable figure shared periodically by the federal government — the nation and its post-graduate borrowers are pining for some relief.
Student loan forgiveness has been a hot congressional topic, peaking in response to the added financial constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic and successive attempts by federal actors to alleviate, or continue, the often devastating loan burden.
As the nation's student loan debt is used as a political bargaining chip, the potential for confusion is high amid the changing programs, complex payment processes, and sheer volume of loans, payment plans, and economic policies — especially as promises of forgiveness are pledged and struck down.
Here's the rundown of where student loan forgiveness, and repayment, stand.
Are student loan repayments still paused?
On March 13, 2020, addressing rising concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic, Biden issued an official administrative forbearance, or pause, on federal student loan payments. The administration also set all interest, which would normally accrue even while loans were in a forbearance period, to zero percent. The pause did not apply to privately-held student loans.
In 2021, the administration and the acting secretary of education extended the student loan repayment pause and zero interest, writing, "Too many Americans are struggling to pay for basic necessities and to provide for their families. They should not be forced to choose between paying their student loans and putting food on the table." The U.S. Department of Education also extended the parameters of the forbearance to include some privately-held loans, such as those under the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program.
With this announcement, the continued forbearance applied to all federal Direct Loans (defaulted and nondefaulted), FFEL Program loans (defaulted and nondefaulted), Federal Perkins Loans (defaulted and nondefaulted), defaulted FFEL Program loans not held by the Department of Education, and defaulted loans through the Health Education Assistance Loans (HEAL) program.
The pause was extended several more times through 2022 and early 2023, despite continued pressure from congressional Republicans. In May, as part of a legislative deal to raise the national debt ceiling, the forbearance period was called to an end, and Biden was blocked from extending the period yet again.
Student loan interest will begin accruing again on Sept. 1, 2023. Student loan payments will restart in October.
What's the status of Biden's $400-billion forgiveness plan?
In 2022, Biden announced the biggest student loan forgiveness plan yet, pledging to forgive up to $20,000 for individual lower- to middle-income borrowers. The forgiveness plan relied on the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students (HEROES) Act of 2003, which gives the secretary of education authority to adjust student loans in response to a national emergency. Under this one-time plan, borrowers earning less than $125,000 annually would be eligible for $10,000 in loan forgiveness after applying. Borrowers who had taken out need-based Pell Grants could apply for an additional $10,000 cancellation, for a total loan forgiveness of $20,000.
Following an application period in October 2022, 16 million Americans were approved for the forgiveness plan, but the Biden administration's effort was quickly met by several legal challenges. Many borrowers were also confused by a series of emails that incorrectly identified eligible borrowers.
In February, two lawsuits issued against Biden's plan went to the Supreme Court, challenging Biden's use of the HEROES Act. The first case (Biden v. Nebraska) was issued collectively by six states: Nebraska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and South Carolina. The second (Department of Education v. Brown) is a Texas-based case issued on behalf of two individual borrowers.
In June, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the states in Biden v. Nebraska, deciding that federal law does not allow the Biden administration to unilaterally cancel student debt.
Because of this decision, the $400-billion forgiveness plan has been canceled. Student loan forgiveness cannot move forward under this plan, even if an individual submitted an application and was deemed eligible for forgiveness.
What is Biden's SAVE plan?
Immediately following the court decision, the Biden administration announced a new repayment plan, intended to create an affordable payment option for the majority of borrowers. Known as the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan, the income-driven repayment plan "will cut borrowers' monthly payments in half, allow many borrowers to make $0 monthly payments, save all other borrowers at least $1,000 per year, and ensure borrowers don't see their balances grow from unpaid interest," according to the White House.
Details of the plan include:
-
Borrowers earning under 225 percent of the federal poverty level — the annual equivalent of a $15 minimum wage, according to the Department of Education — will not have to make monthly payments.
-
Undergraduate loan payments will be cut from 10 percent to five percent of the borrower's discretionary income.
-
For borrowers with starting loans of $12,000 or less, remaining loan balances will be forgiven after 10 years of payments, rather than 20.
-
Borrowers won't be charged with unpaid monthly interest.
While student loan repayment begins in October, the new lowered payments under the SAVE plan will not go into effect until July 2024.
All student borrowers in repayment will be eligible to enroll in the SAVE plan. Borrowers already enrolled in a Revised Pay as You Earn (REPAYE) plan will be automatically enrolled in the new SAVE plan. To learn more, read through the SAVE plan fact sheet or visit the income-driven repayment plan site.
Interested borrowers can now apply for the SAVE plan under the updated income-driven repayment application.
Who is affected by the recent student loan settlements?
In addition to the ongoing efforts to cancel federal student loan debt for general borrowers, civil settlements might affect those with both federal and private loans.
On July 25, the Biden administration approved $14.7 billion in debt relief for 1.1 million student loan borrowers "whose colleges took advantage of them or closed abruptly." It also announced it would be forgiving $130 million in student debt for 7,400 borrowers who attended CollegeAmerica, a now-defunct private institution that was accused of misleading borrowers about loans.
In April, the U.S. Supreme Court gave the green light to a $6-billion student loan debt cancellation settlement brought forth by students of 151 for-profit educational and vocational institutions. After these institutions were found to be misleading their student borrowers and saddling them with higher debt, the Department of Education pledged to forgive the debts of affected borrowers.
Eligible borrowers who attended one of these colleges and applied for a borrower defense loan discharge — a federal claim on behalf of borrowers who allege they were defrauded by their schools — on or before June 22, 2022, are entitled to automatic relief. Some borrowers may also be reimbursed for previous payments.
Visit the Federal Student Aid or Department of Education sites to learn more about ongoing cases and recent borrower defense updates.
Are there any other forgiveness plans in the works?
In an announcement following the Supreme Court decision, Biden announced a potential path forward for nationwide student loan forgiveness under the Higher Education Act of 1965, a similar provision to the first law invoked for student loan forgiveness but with more expansive language, giving the secretary of education the authority to "compromise, waive, or release any right, title, claim, lien, or demand, however acquired, including any equity or any right of redemption." Some congressional Democrats, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have argued for using this law to grant widespread student loan forgiveness.
Tweet may have been deleted
As of July, the Biden administration has yet to provide further information about this route.
Status of Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plans
In April 2022, the Biden administration and Department of Education announced that the department would retroactively help borrowers who struggled to repay student loans due to poorly managed Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plans, following several investigative reports and lawsuits alleging administrative failures left borrowers in decades-long limbo. At the time, the department planned to apply a "one-time account adjustment" to give borrowers credit for any time spent in what it considers unjustifiably long forbearances. It would also provide immediate debt cancellation for at least 40,000 borrowers who now qualified for Public Service Loan Forgiveness under new guidelines. Several thousand borrowers would also qualify for debt cancellation under adjusted IDR.
In July, Biden formally announced an even larger IDR borrower pool, with a total of $39 billion in federal student loan debt relief. Borrowers are eligible if they have accumulated the equivalent of either 20 or 25 years of qualifying months, the U.S. Department of Education explains. Distribution of the automatic payments began in August for more than 804,000 borrowers, with eligible borrowers receiving notification directly from their loan servicer via email.
Assistance for the majority of federal student loan holders
Following the cancellation of Biden's student loan forgiveness plan, the Department of Education announced it would be instituting a 12-month "on-ramp" period for borrowers whose payments would resume in October. During this period — running from Oct. 1, 2023, to Sept. 30, 2024 — "financially vulnerable" borrowers will not be considered delinquent, reported to credit bureaus, placed in default, or referred to debt collection agencies if they miss a monthly payment.
Federal resources
For more information on the status of your personal loans, visit the Federal Student Aid (FSA) website, as well as the website of your loan servicer. Servicer information can be found on your Federal Student Aid profile.
For general information on federal student loans, visit the FSA Loan Repayment Page.
Learn more about how to avoid falling for student loan repayment scams as you revisit your repayment plans.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau also provides resources on student loans and repayment, including the basics on finding information on your personal loans, deciding between repayment options, and even a guide to key terms borrowers will come across.
Additional resources
While borrowers should turn towards the Department of Education, a Federal Student Aid site, or their own loan servicer directly for information, reputable third-party sites may provide additional context for student loan borrowing and payment.
Financial websites like NerdWallet publish a variety of student loan resources, including accessible guides to repayment plans; NerdWallet also hosts a podcast, Smart Money, that dives into the student loan debate.
The American Bar Association has published a list of organizations, like the National Consumer Law Center's Student Loan Borrower Assistance Project and Equal Justice Works, that provide both information and support for borrowers.
Advocacy groups and nonprofits like the Student Debt Crisis Center, which advocates for debt-free education and the cancellation of nationwide student debt, also provide resources for student loan borrowers.
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Mashable will update this story as the status of federal student loan forgiveness continues to change.
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UPDATE: Aug. 25, 2023, 2:30 p.m. EDT This story, originally published in July 2023, was updated in August 2023 with additional information on the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan and Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plans.
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