Ofcom has slapped 4chan with a £20,000 ($26,700) fine for failing to comply with the internet and telecommunications regulator’s request for information under the UK’s Online Safety Act of 2023. The regulator has released an update for 11 of the investigations it opened after the first of its online safety codes became enforceable in March this year. Apparently, 4chan has ignored its requests for a copy of its illegal harms risk assessment and to provide information about its qualifying worldwide revenue. This is the first fine Ofcom has handed down under the new law, which was designed to prevent children from accessing harmful content online and which has prompted websites like Reddit and X to put up age verification measures.

When the regulator launch its probe into 4chan in June, it said it received complaints about illegal content on the anonymous online board. It doesn’t exactly come as a surprise that 4chan refuses to give the regulator information about the risks of illegal content on its website: Back in August, the service filed a lawsuit against Ofcom, arguing that the enforcement of the UK’s Online Safety Act violates Americans’ freedom of speech. “This fine is a clear warning to those who fail to remove illegal content or protect children from harmful material,” said Liz Kendall, the UK Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology. The regulator is also imposing an additional penalty of £100 ($133) per day on 4chan until it complies with its requests for information.

Ofcom has announced the results of other investigations, as well, such as finding “serious compliance concerns” with two file-sharing services that have now deployed an automated tool that can detect and quickly remove uploads with child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Four other file-sharing services that were also under investigation for CSAM chose to geoblock access from UK IP addresses instead, so the regulator closed their cases.

After debuting on the Pixel 10 (version 10.0), Google is rolling out the Pixel Camera 10.1 update to older devices with a handful of Material 3 Expressive tweaks.

On the viewfinder, the capture button is now a solid circle with a transparent ring. The two buttons flanking it are now rounded squares, with the preview of your last image getting a new animation that’s reminiscent of a photo booth.

Google has reduced how many icons are themed with Dynamic Color. There are font size tweaks throughout the UI, including the zoom shortcuts.

Old vs. new

Advertisement – scroll for more content

Inactive controls in “Photo Settings” are also now rounded squares, while what’s selected is placed in a circle. The “General” and “Pro” top tabs get a similar treatment. The “More settings” button at the bottom has been moved to the top-right corner of the sheet with an ellipsis icon. This shrinks the panel’s height for improved one-handed reachability.

The “Camera settings” page makes use of Material 3 Expressive containers to group related preferences and the latest toggle style. This list is device-dependent, but on a Pixel 8 Pro you have:

• General: Save location, Camera sounds, Device storage, Camera scan suggestions
• Composition: Framing hints, Grid type, Keep selfies as seen, Guided Frame
• Fast access: Quick access controls, Volume key action, Palm timer
• Photo: Rich color in photos, Ultra HDR, Social media depth features, Frequent faces, Astrophotography, RAW / JPEG control
• Video: Video stabilization, Audio zoom, Store videos efficiently, Optimize FPS*
• Advanced capture: Timer light, Show dirty lens warning, (Pixel 9+: Underwater photography and video) 
• Help & feedback: Send feedback, Help 

*Optimize FPS — “Automatically adjust from 60 FPS to 30 FPS to optimize the recording experience when needed” — is new to the Pixel 8 Pro and Pixel 9 after debuting on the Pixel 10.

Google removed the “Advanced” menu and redistributed things so that there’s just one main Settings list, with the groupings making thematic sense.

Pixel Camera 10.1 is slowly rolling out now via the Play Store. (We got it on a Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 8 Pro.) You can also sideload, but be aware it’s 1.47 GB download.

M3 Expressive

Old

More on Material 3 Expressive:

Microsoft is continuing to roll out in-house AI models, further decreasing its reliance on long-standing partnership with OpenAI. Today, the company introduced MAI-Image-1, its first internally-developed image-generating AI model. According to the blog post, MAI-Image-1 is particularly good for creating photorealistic results, and can generate natural lighting and landscapes. For now, the model is being tested on LMArena, and Microsoft said it plans to roll out MAI-Image-1 to Copilot and its Bing Image Creator “very soon.” 

Over the summer, Microsoft made its first break from collaborating with OpenAI when it unveiled its first two in-house trained models, MAI-Voice-1 and MAI-1-preview. At that time, Microsoft AI division leader Mustafa Suleyman said in an interview that the company had “an enormous five-year roadmap that we’re investing in quarter after quarter.” So far, it’s at least setting a solid clip of releases.

The monthly “Google System Release Notes” primarily detail what’s new in Play services, Play Store, and Play system update across Android phones/tablets, Wear OS, Google/Android TV, Auto, and PC. Some features apply to end users, while others are aimed at developers.

The following first-party apps comprise the “Google System”:

A feature appearing in the changelog does not mean it’s widely available. Some capabilities take months to fully launch.

Google Play services v25.40 (2025-10-13)

Developer Services

Advertisement – scroll for more content

• [Phone] New developer features for Google and third party app developers to support Maps related processes in their apps.

Device Connectivity

• [Phone] With this update, you can now pair LE Audio devices with multiple parts that don’t communicate internally.

Security & Privacy

• [Phone] A new page now shows apps that ask for Advanced Protection state.

Google Play Store v48.4 (2025-10-13)

• [Phone] With notification feedback, you can indicate your preferences for a more personalized notification experience.

Google Play services v25.39 (2025-10-06)

Account Management

• [Phone] You can now use Quick Start with supervised accounts.
• [Phone] You’ll now experience updated themes across user journeys related to supervision.
• [Phone] With this update, the profile picture now has a new design.

Developer Services

• [Phone] New developer features for Google and third party app developers to support Account Management and Security & Privacy related processes in their apps.

Safety & Emergency

• [Phone] With this update, Sensitive Content Warnings feature in Google Messages can now detect explicit nude media in shared videos.
• [Phone] You’ll get an improved experience with Driving Do Not Disturb mode.

Google Play Store v48.3 (2025-10-06)

• [Auto, PC, Phone, TV, Wear] You’ll now get updated icons in some Google Play Protect notifications.

Those on a tight budget and those who prefer open-ear AirPods will want to check out the latest discount on the AirPods 4. Apple’s entry-level wireless earbuds are down to $89 even now after October Prime Day has come and gone. That’s 30 percent off their normal rate and the lowest we’ve seen them.

When Apple updated its standard AirPods in 2024, it released two models: one with active noise cancellation (ANC) and one without. We consider the non-ANC models to be the best budget AirPods you can get, so they’re an even better buy at this sale price. The ANC versions are also discounted at the moment, so you can pick them up for $119 instead of the usual $180.

Apple

Save 30 percent on Apple’s open-ear wireless earbuds.

$89 at Amazon

The AirPods’ H2 chip brings a bunch of Pro-adjacent features to the standard model. That list includes Adaptive Audio, Conversation Awareness, Transparency, Personalized Spatial Audio and wireless charging. For calls, it supports Voice Isolation, which helps filter out background noise and make it easier for you to be heard. And if that call is via FaceTime, it supports Apple’s 48kHz “cinema-quality” audio.

Sound is improved over the AirPods 3. “There’s more low-end tone than the previous model right out of the gate, and the punchier treble opens the sound stage so it’s wider and more immersive,” Engadget’s Billy Steele wrote. “The improved frequency response is on full display with Dolby Atmos content (movies, music, and TV), but the AirPods 4 are also more sonically adept with non-spatial tunes and video.”

You can expect around five hours of battery life on a single charge. With the ANC model, that estimate drops to around four hours with the marquee feature activated. With either version, you can drop them in the charging case to extend their total time to around 30 hours. And hey, it’s good to give your ears a rest now and then anyway.