The pick of this weekend’s opening fixtures of the 2023-24 Premier League season sees Chelsea host Liverpool in a battle of the giants clash at Stamford Bridge.
The match sees former Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino take charge of the Blues in the league for the first time, with a much-overhauled side set to take to the field on Sunday from the one which endured such a miserable campaign last term.
Thirteen players have left, while five signings have arrived at Stamford Bridge, including new 32million striker Nicolas Jackson.
There’s also been plenty of upheaval at Liverpool during the summer break, with inspirational skipper Jordan Henderson and the experienced Fabinho having left the club, while Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister are two exciting new additions to the Red first team that are both likely to start here.
Sunday’s game looks set to have an added edge after it emerged on Friday that Chelsea had somehow managed to hijack Liverpool’s almost completed move for highly-rated Brighton midfielder Moises Caicedo.
Below, we’ll outline the best live TV streaming services to use to watch all of the action live wherever you are in the world.
Chelsea vs. Liverpool: When and where?
Chelsea host Liverpoolat Stamford Bridge on Sunday, Aug. 13. Kickoff is set for 4:30 p.m. BST (11:30 a.m. ET, 8:30 p.m PT).
How to watch the Chelsea vs. Liverpool game online from anywhere using a VPN
If you find yourself unable to view the game locally, you may need a different way to watch the game — that’s where using a VPN can come in handy. A VPN is also the best way to stop your ISP from throttling your speeds on game day by encrypting your traffic, and it’s also a great idea if you’re traveling and find yourself connected to a Wi-Fi network, and you want to add an extra layer of privacy for your devices and logins.
With a VPN, you’re able to virtually change your location on your phone, tablet or laptop to get access to the game. So if your internet provider or mobile carrier has stuck you with an IP address that incorrectly shows your location in a blackout zone, a VPN can correct that problem by giving you an IP address in your correct, non-blackout area. Most VPNs, like our Editors’ Choice, ExpressVPN, make it really easy to do this.
Using a VPN to watch or stream sports is legal in any country where VPNs are legal, including the US, UK and Canada, as long as you have a legitimate subscription to the service you’re streaming. You should be sure your VPN is set up correctly to prevent leaks: Even where VPNs are legal, the streaming service may terminate the account of anyone it deems to be circumventing correctly applied blackout restrictions.
Looking for other options? Be sure to check out some of the other great VPN deals taking place right now.
Livestream the Chelsea vs. Liverpool game in the US
Sunday’s Chelsea-Liverpool match is streaming on Peacock. You’ll need a Peacock Premium or Premium Plus account to catch the game live.
Livestream the Chelsea vs. Liverpool game in the UK
Premier League rights in the UK are split between Sky Sports, Amazon Prime Video and TNT Sports (previously known as BT Sport). The Chelsea-Liverpool game is exclusive to Sky Sports — showing on its Sky Sports Main Event, Premier League and Ultra channels. If you already have Sky Sports as part of your TV package, you can stream the game via its Sky Go app, but cord-cutters will want to get set up with a Now account and a Now Sports membership to stream the game.
Livestream the Chelsea vs. Liverpool game in Canada
If you want to stream Chelsea vs. Liverpool live in Canada, you’ll need to subscribe to FuboTV Canada. The service has exclusive rights for this Premier League season.
Livestream the Chelsea vs. Liverpool game in Australia
Football fans Down Under can watch this EPL fixture on streaming service Optus Sport, which is showing every single Premier League game live in Australia this season.
Quick tips for streaming the Premier League using a VPN
With four variables at play — your ISP, browser, video streaming provider and VPN — your experience and success when streaming EPL matches may vary.
If you don’t see your desired location as a default option for ExpressVPN, try using the “search for city or country” option.
If you’re having trouble getting the game after you’ve turned on your VPN and set it to the correct viewing area, there are two things you can try for a quick fix. First, log into your streaming service subscription account and make sure the address registered for the account is an address in the correct viewing area. If not, you may need to change the physical address on file with your account. Second, some smart TVs — like Roku — don’t have VPN apps you can install directly on the device itself. Instead, you’ll have to install the VPN on your router or the mobile hotspot you’re using (like your phone) so that any device on its Wi-Fi network now appears in the correct viewing location.
All of the VPN providers we recommend have helpful instructions on their main site for quickly installing the VPN on your router. In some cases with smart TV services, after you install a cable network’s sports app, you’ll be asked to verify a numeric code or click a link sent to your email address on file for your smart TV. This is where having a VPN on your router will also help, since both devices will appear to be in the correct location.
And remember, browsers can often give away a location despite using a VPN, so be sure you’re using a privacy-first browser to log into your services. We normally recommend Brave.
News flash: If you want the best TV, it’s gonna cost you. The LG G3 is the highest-performance television I have ever reviewed, and I’ve tested a lot of screens in my 20-plus years of reviewing. This TV balances the perfect contrast and black level of OLED with an image that’s brighter and more impactful-looking than other OLED TVs I’ve seen, including its chief rival, the Samsung S95C – which happens to be the second-best TV I’ve ever reviewed.
I compared the two side-by-side in CNET’s TV lab and both outperformed the other, less-expensive 2023 OLED TVs I had on hand – and in turn, OLED TVs have always looked better in my tests than non-OLED models, like mini-LED and QLED-based displays. The catch? The G3 is really expensive –and for most high-end TV shoppers something like the LG C3, which costs hundreds less, is plenty good.
If you happen to be that lucky TV shopper with extra money and a desire for world-beating images, however, the LG G3 is something special indeed. The secret is an entirely new display technology LG is calling “MLA,” which stands for micro-lens array. Billions of tiny lenses inside the OLED panel help focus the light, reduce scatter and improve efficiency. No other TV has this technology, and from what I’ve seen, it works very well to make OLED, the best TV screen technology, look even better.
LG G3 sizes, series comparison
I performed a hands-on evaluation of the 65-inch LG G3 OLED TV, but this review also applies to the other screen sizes in the series. The three smaller sizes have very similar specs and should provide very similar picture quality. The largest size, the 83-inch model, lacks LG’s MLA tech so it’s not as bright – LG claims it has the same brightness as last year’s G2.
OLED83G3PUA, 83-inch
OLED77G3PUA, 77-inch
OLED65G3PUA, 65-inch
OLED55G3PUA, 55-inch
The G3 series sits at the top of LG’s 2023 OLED TV lineup. Spending less for the C3 loses you the bump in brightness and the sleek “Gallery” wall-friendly design, but it has more screen size options, namely 42- and 48-inch options (which are, notably, dimmer than the 55-inch and larger C3s). The less-expensive B3 is in turn dimmer than the C3 and lacks the company’s latest-generation A9 processor. The most-expensive models from 2022, specifically the 97-inch G2 and the 8K resolution Z2 models, will remain on sale this year rather than being replaced by “3” equivalents (and speaking of expensive, LG is also selling its new wireless 97-inch OLED TV for $30,000).
Flat and flush for wall-mounting, stand optional
The G in G3 stands for “gallery,” which is LG’s way of saying the TV is designed foremost for wall-mounting. It includes a special bracket that lets it hang close to the wall with almost no gap, and combined with the cabinet’s thin depth, it looks basically flush when seen from the side.
The downside is that, unlike pretty much every other TV, it doesn’t include a tabletop stand in the box. You can’t put this TV atop a credenza or other piece of furniture unless you purchase LG’s optional stand ($150 for the 65-inch size), which is pictured in these reviews. That’s kind of a bummer, but I’m guessing most people in the G3’s price, um… bracket, will choose to mount it on a wall.
LG kept the same remote, unfortunately. In my old age I’ve grown annoyed by too many highfalutin buttons, and I much prefer the streamlined, simple layout of Samsung and Roku/TCL remotes. As always, you can wave LG’s remote around to move the cursor, or scroll quickly through menus with the built-in wheel.
Smart TV? Get a Roku instead
LG’s redesigned menu system is less cluttered than last year’s but only because fully half of the screen is occupied by a big promotional space, which was showing an ad for LG’s free TV app when I saw it. Me no like. Below that is the marginally more useful row of “cards,” new for 2023, that offer things like the TV’s input, a game section, music and “home hub.”
The most useful card is the one for games, but it’s worse than Samsung, with a less-polished design and no access to Xbox Game Pass; instead LG only has Nvidia GeForce Now, Utomik and Blacknut cloud gaming (there’s a reason you’ve never heard of the latter two) in addition to Twitch, YouTube and a quick link for connected consoles. The sports card lets you set up alerts for favorite teams’ scores, which feels kinda useful to me, but overall the card row still feels like more wasted space. Only the bottom row, with actual streaming app icons, would get any use in my household.
In other words, I think most users of this high-end TV should just connect an external streaming device, like Roku or Apple TV, and avoid using LG’s system altogether.
The G3 also has a couple notable features LG debuted last year, namely a multiview that puts two images side-by-side – which remains limited and can’t show two HDMI sources – and the always-ready screen saver that can show clocks, art and other widgets when the TV is turned “off.” Elements of the latter move around the screen to reduce the possibility of burn-in.
Here’s where I remind you that, like all OLED TVs, the G3 is more subject to both temporary and permanent image retention, aka burn-in, than LCD TVs. The risk is small, which is why I don’t consider burn-in a reason for most people to avoid buying an OLED TV. Check out our guide to OLED burn-in for more.
Well-connected, especially for gamers
LG continues to excel at connection options. Like its competition the G3 has the latest version of the HDMI standard: 2.1. That means their HDMI ports can handle 4K at 120 frames per second and variable refresh rate, as well as enhanced audio return channel and automatic low-latency mode (auto game mode). In other words, they can take advantage of the latest graphics features available from PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S consoles as well as high-end graphics cards. All four of the G3’s HDMI ports support 4K/120 –great for hard-core gamers with multiple next-gen devices.
Four HDMI inputs with HDMI 2.1, HDCP 2.2
Three USB ports
Optical digital audio output
RF (antenna) input
RS-232 port (minijack, for service only)
Ethernet (LAN) port
Picture quality comparisons: LG G3 vs. Samsung S95C
For my side-by-side image quality comparison I lined the LG G3 up against three other OLED TVs: the Samsung S95C, the LG C3 and the Sony A80L. The G3 looked the best of all of them, nosing out the Samsung and beating the other two a bit more handily – although all three looked excellent.
TV and movies: Not surprisingly the two most expensive TVs, the Samsung and the LG G3, also looked the best. I started my comparison as usual with the natural scenes of mountains, forests and flowers from the Spears and Munsil benchmark, and the extra brightness of those two OLEDs was evident, in particular during specular highlights like glints of sun and bright snow.
The G3 looked brighter than the Samsung to my eye in most scenes, however, an impression confirmed by spot measurements using a handheld light meter. The setting sun at 2:10, for example, measured around 680 nits on the G3 and 476 on the Samsung, for example. This extra brightness made the image stand out in the lineup and combined with the perfect black levels of OLED, delivered spectacular contrast and overall image quality.
The Samsung was incredibly dynamic and bright in its own right, however, and beat the LG in color saturation. Its reds in particular, for example in the fields of tulips, a pile of strawberries or the bulb of a cactus, looked richer than those of the G3 and the other OLED TVs. Not to say that the G3’s color looked undersaturated by any means, but next to the QD-OLED the difference was clear, and in very colorful scenes, especially ones with lots of red, I preferred the look of the Samsung.
In mixed bright and dark scenes, however, the extra brightness of the G3 and its handling of shadows outshone the Samsung. A scene of Seattle at night, for example, showed more detail in the dark trees and realism in the shadows that was missing from the S95C.
Watching more cinematic scenes, the differences between the G3 and S95C was more pronounced. Watching The Witcher Season 3 on Netflix, for example, the G3 looked brighter and more impactful in darker scenes, for example around a camp at night. Faces in the firelight looked more natural and distinct while still looking natural – a difficult balance. I also appreciated its improved shadow detail in the near-black areas like a cityscape around a castle or the recesses of the banquet hall. Although the Samsung’s red again looked a bit deeper, its color advantage wasn’t as noticeable as before.
Both sets looked excellent, but again I preferred the look of the G3 in most scenes. In terms of picture mode on the LG, I generally liked the look of Filmmaker mode better than Cinema for theatrical material, although I can see some viewer’s preferring the latter’s even-brighter cast.
Gaming: The G3 remains a superb gaming TV, with more options in its Game Optimizer menu than other televisions, including the Samsung. It gathers all of the gaming settings in one place and verifies refresh rate, VRR status and more at a glance. I also appreciated the ability to edit the gaming dashboard to swap in more status indicators (resolution, Dolby Atmos and so on), but I’m pretty nerdy like that. Samsung’s Game bar has a cleaner design, however.
The Dark Room mode is designed to reduce eye fatigue, but it also dulls the image so I’d avoid using it unless you need to. Among the various gaming image modes I liked Standard best for most games with its balance of shadow detail and contrast. FPS is best if you want more visibility into shadows, or you can just crank the Black Stabilizer control up (at the expense of a washed-out image).
Comparing the image quality of Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla between the two TVs, the colors on the Samsung popped more than on the G3, although the grass and other “natural” objects looked more natural, and less neon on the LG. As with standard, non-gaming video the G3 also looked brighter, and its shadow detail advantage would be a boon in some dark games for seeing enemies.
Buried within Game Optimizer is another setting labeled “Reduce input delay (input lag)” with two options, Standard and Boost. The former, which is the default for any game, serves up an excellent input lag result: just 13.5ms for both 1080p and 4K HDR sources. Engaging Boost cuts lag even further, to just under 10ms for both, similar to the Samsung. The catch is that Boost is only available for 60Hz sources, so you can’t use it with 120Hz games or VRR. And no, I don’t think many humans would notice the extra 3ms of lag.
According to my Xbox’s details screen the G3 supported 4K/120Hz and VRR as well as Dolby Vision gaming (which Samsung does not support).
Bright lighting: With its combination of extreme brightness and improved anti-reflective screen, the G3 is easily the best OLED TV I’ve ever tested for bright rooms.
Below are my measurements in nits for select comparison TVs in their brightest and most accurate picture modes, using both standard dynamic range (SDR) and high dynamic range (HDR) test patterns.
Light output in nits
TV
Brightest mode (HDR)
Accurate mode (HDR)
Brightest mode (SDR)
Accurate mode (SDR)
Hisense U8H
1,867
1,867
1,605
1,605
TCL 65R655
1,387
1,194
1,292
624
LG OLED65G3
1,378
1,378
725
724
Samsung QN65S95C
1,348
1,326
238
648
LG OLED65C3
861
817
501
464
LG OLED65C2
812
759
413
389
The brightest mode for SDR (Vivid) is horribly inaccurate. For the accurate results listed above on the G3, I used ISF Expert Bright picture mode. Note that with SDR, you’ll need to disable the Auto Energy Saving setting (General > Energy Saving > Energy Saving Step > Off) and engage Peak Brightness (Picture > Advanced Settings > Brightness > (Peak Brightness: High) to get full brightness. HDR is a different and much simpler story. Cinema is the brightest mode and the most accurate, so you can set it and forget it regardless of room lighting.
The G3 maintained its peak brightness over time. I ran a test pattern for a full minute and it stayed the same brightness.
Like all OLED TVs, the G3’s brightness was significantly lower when a larger percentage of the screen was white. With windows larger than 10% of the screen its brightness fell steadily, hitting 454 nits with 50% of the screen white and reaching a low of 219 nits with a full 100% white screen. I’ve rarely noticed this drop-off when watching normal TV shows or movies, however, so I don’t consider it a big deal.
Seen side-by-side with the screen off or very dark material, it was obvious the G3 and C3 have different reflective characteristics. Bottom line: The G3 is better for bright rooms, and in fact has the best antireflective screen I’ve seen on any OLED TV. That’s because it dims reflections, for example a coffee table or couch captured by the screen, much better than the C3 or the Samsung S95C, so those objects are less distracting (a good thing). On the other hand the screen finish of the G3 was very slightly brighter than that of the C3 (a very dark shade of gray to the C3’s pure black), but the difference was minimal. The finish of the S95B, meanwhile, was markedly grayer under bright lights.
Uniformity and viewing angle: Like most OLEDs I’ve tested the G3 was exemplary in this area compared to LCD-based TVs, with no significant brightness or color variations across the screen and nearly perfect image quality from off-angle. It matched the other OLEDs in my lineup, too.
Picture setting notes
LG made some improvements to its picture settings menu. My favorite is the ability to edit the top level, letting me surface different settings for easy access and move around others. In addition to the standard litany of picture modes – Vivid, Cinema, Game Optimizer etc. – LG has a new “Personalized Picture” mode. Setting it up steps you through a series of images and asks you to choose which one you like best, and in the end an “AI” analyzes your choices and applies the mode. I gave it a whirl and the wizard said I liked a “Clear” picture, which it applied to the image. Unfortunately it didn’t look very good to my eye, and when I measured it the image was horribly inaccurate, so my advice is to stick with one of the (accurate) preset modes rather than the wizard.
According to my measurements Filmmaker was the most-accurate preset mode with HDR, but Cinema and Cinema Home were both exceedingly accurate too. I chose Cinema for brighter HDR viewing, in part because it delivered a significantly brighter image than Filmmaker, but the latter was more balanced for darker, cinematic content. For SDR I also went with Cinema because it was quite accurate and targeted my preferred 2.2 gamma (Filmmaker targeted 2.4). Both ISF modes were also quite accurate.
Game Optimizer is best for gaming, thanks to its processing, but quite blue; for the best color accuracy for gaming you should adjust the color temperature control toward red (Picture > Advanced Settings > Color > White Balance > Color temperature).
Like most TVs the G3 offers settings that engage smoothing, aka the soap opera effect, as I prefer to turn it off for TV shows and movies (and it’s off in Game Optimizer mode because it increases input lag). You can experiment with the settings (Picture > Advanced Settings > Clarity > TruMotion).
Your streaming subscriptions for Netflix, Spotify, Disney Plus and other accounts are probably all on autopay. Because you don’t have to think about due dates, that may mean you’ve overlooked the monthly expense or who to contact if you want to cancel. You could be spending more money than you want by paying for a phantom streaming service.
Is Netflix billing you directly? Has your forgotten Hulu 30-day free trial turned into a paid subscription? Did you buy your Disney Plus subscription through a third party like Apple, Amazon or Verizon? With all the streaming price changes creeping in, unwatched content, and missed opportunities for deals, it’s a good idea to keep up with who’s billing you, when and for how much. Luckily, there are apps that can make keeping track of your streaming subs a lot easier.
Here’s our list of recommendations for apps that help you track payments for your streaming service subscriptions. Most of these offer a free option, but you can upgrade to a paid version if you want extra features.
Read more: Keep Up With What’s Streaming on TV Using These 5 Free Apps
Slack wants to make it easier for you to find all your work conversations and keep multiple workplaces organized. The chat app’s first major redesign in years has rearranged things, but if you’re concerned that it’s drastically changed, don’t worry — here’s where everything has shifted to a new and hopefully more convenient setup.
Slack last rearranged its layout in March 2020, ironically right as COVID spread to pandemic levels and lockdowns forced people to work from home and rely heavily on work chat apps. After gathering feedback from users since then, the new update is rolling out Wednesday to free users first, with paid users to follow.
The interface hasn’t drastically changed, but Slack user veterans will notice the difference. The left column has been reorganized to have centralized tabs for your channels (“Home”), direct messages (“DMs”) and notifications (“Activity”). There’s also a “Later” tab that appears only if you’ve tagged posts you want to return to later on. Toward the bottom on the left column is a search button and a new catch-all button to create a start a new direct message, huddle or canvas (a feature launched earlier this year as a sort of channel-wide sticky note).
The rest of Slack is still virtually the same. Tapping the “Home” tab shows a central column of channels and unread direct messages — click on any of those and they’ll expand in the main space on the right.
The color scheme has changed to help you distinguish between the leftmost column of tabs and the central channels column. (In a provided example, a darker purple for the former and a lighter purple for the latter. The update also brings more theme color choices.) And if you’re switching between multiple workplace Slacks, just click the button on the lefthand column above the “Home” tab.
Slack’s designers made these changes to help you stay focused and less distracted, said Slack senior director of product design Tina Chen. “We try to keep the interface as simple as possible and as intuitive as possible,” she said.
What else has changed on Slack?
There are quality-of-life updates too. If you hover your cursor over Activity notifications, a small preview will pop up to give you a peek at what’s going on elsewhere — to see if you need to address it now or come back to it later.
Mobile view is also getting an update. The bottom row of tabs has been simplified to just Home, DMs and Activity. Search has been relocated to a bar that sticks around at the top of the screen no matter which tab you’re looking at, while tapping your photo icon brings up your profile and preferences.
This big cross-platform update is an attempt to align mobile and desktop versions — indeed, most of the new changes were explored in part in the mobile app as well as in an iPad version update released last year. But since so many users depend on Slack for their day-to-day productivity, the company didn’t want to trickle in layout changes bit by bit on desktop. Instead, they dropped this big shift all at once to consolidate them for as short of an adjustment as possible.
The update also opens up design space for Slack to add features down the line, including artificial intelligence. While the company didn’t have anything specific in mind or anything to announce, Slack introduced its vision of AI integration back in May, which will allow you to add your choice of AI large language models, like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Anthropic’s Claude, in your Slack workspace to help with day-to-day tasks.
I regularly shop at Target, in stores and online, especially now that I have an infant. But I didn’t always know about the retail giant’s loyalty program, Target Circle. Now when I shop, I first browse the Target app to check out offers, see how much money I’ve earned to use toward my purchase and download digital coupons.
If you’ve never used Target Circle, it’s easy to sign up and it’s free to use. There are some great perks that come with being a rewards program member — for instance, exclusive offers and savings.
I’ll explain how Target Circle works to save you money and how you can earn cash back while you shop — without a credit card. For more, check out these four ways to save on your next Target shopping spree.
What is Target Circle?
Target Circle is the retailer’s loyalty program, which lets you earn 1% cash back on all your purchases at Target. The program includes personalized offers and digital coupons that you wouldn’t normally get without being a Circle member.
Target Circle benefits
Having a Target Circle membership gets you benefits and deals that other shoppers don’t get. Here’s what they are.
1% earnings on every purchase you make at Target. You can use any cashback on future purchases. Even better: If you have a Target RedCard, you can earn 5% cash back.
Birthday gift of 5% off your purchase.
Digital coupons for specific store categories — 20% off baby clothes, for example, and 10% off beauty products.
Personalized bonus offers — for example, you may get a deal that lets you make two qualifying purchases of $60 or more to earn a $10 reward in Target Circle earnings.
You can use up to 75 offers at once. Note that all offers and earnings have an expiration date, so make sure you use them before it’s too late.
How to sign up for Target Circle
If you regularly shop at Target, there’s really no reason not to sign up for its loyalty program. To sign up, visit target.com/circle and click Create account, then provide your email address, name and phone number. You’ll also create a password at this time.
How to use Target Circle rewards
Once you’ve got a Target Circle account, you can begin using it at any time. Make sure you’ve activated any offers and coupons before you head to checkout. If you’re in the store, you just need to enter your phone number on the keypad at checkout or scan your Target Circle barcode.
If you forget to enter your phone number at checkout, enter the receipt numbers on the Target Circle dashboard or use the app to scan the barcode.
If you’re shopping online, just make sure you’re signed in to your account before checking out. You should see all your discounts applied in your cart.
How to redeem Target Circle earnings
After making purchases, you earn 1% cash back that you can use on future trips to the store. There’s no purchase minimum to redeem your earnings, and you can use them at any time on anything you’d like.
To redeem them in-store, head to the Wallet section in the Target app or online. Toggle the switch next to Target Circle earnings. It’ll show you how much you have available to use on a purchase. You’ll then select the box next to your earnings and click Save. Note that your earnings will expire if they aren’t redeemed within one year.
If using online, you’ll be given the option at checkout to apply your earnings.
Bonus: You can even use your Target Circle earnings at Starbucks inside Target.
Get these deals through these Target partners
Target has partnered with several other companies to give Circle rewards members additional deals. Here’s what they are.
Apple News free for three months.
Tripadvisor Plus free for one year.
MLS season pass free for one month.
AppleTV Plus free for three months.
Apple Arcade free for three months.
Apple Fitness Plus free for four months.
Apple Music free for three months.
iCloud Plus free for three months.
Earn Ultimate Rewards when you buy Ulta Beauty products.
For more Target shopping tips, here’s a Target clearance cheat sheet to help you get more and spend less. Also, if you’re interested in Target’s RedCard, read this.
Zoom was in the news this week, and not just because the videoconferencing company that helped popularize remote work decided that many of its employees need to return to the office two days a week (a new policy that inspired many memes).
The news that lands it in the top spot in this AI roundup is the backlash after Hacker News spotted that “an update to Zoom’s terms and conditions in March appeared to essentially give the company free rein to slurp up voice, video and other data, and shovel it into machine learning systems,” Wired noted.
So earlier this week, Zoom Chief Product Officer Smita Hasham said the company revised its terms of service, promising users that it “does not use any of your audio, video, chat, screen-sharing, attachments, or other communications like customer content (such as poll results, whiteboard, and reactions) to train Zoom’s or third-party artificial intelligence models.”
But it may in the future — if you give your consent, I expect. Consent is the operative word these days these days as authors, like Sarah Silverman and Margaret Atwood, call out AI chatbot makers including OpenAI and Google for slurping up their copyrighted content without permission or compensation to train AI systems and as the Federal Trade Commission investigates OpenAI about whether it’s mishandling users’ personal information.
Google isn’t as coy about what’s powering Bard, saying in a filing this week with the Australian government that “copyright law should be altered to allow for generative AI systems to scrape the internet.” I mean, that’s how Google Search came into being after all. But Google also said there should be “workable opt-out for entities that prefer their data not be trained in using AI systems,” according to reporting by The Guardian, which added “the company has not said how such a system should work.”
TL;DR: Expect many more lawsuits, licensing agreements and discussions with regulatory agencies in the US and around the world about how AI companies should and shouldn’t obtain the data they need to train the large language models that power these chatbots.
As Wired noted, in the US where there is no federal privacy law protecting consumers from businesses that rely on collecting and reselling data: “Many tech companies already profit from our information, and many of them like Zoom are now on the hunt for ways to source more data for generative AI projects. And yet it is up to us, the users, to try to police what they are doing.”
Here are the other doings in AI worth your attention.
AI as an expert shopping assistant
Preparing for her first marathon in November, CNET reporter Bree Fowler tried out AI-powered, shoe-fitting software from Fleet Feet, a national chain of specialty running stores, to help her find the right sneakers.
Despite her skepticism about its capabilities, Fowler found that the Fit Engine software analyzed “the shapes of both of a runner’s feet (collected through a 3D scan process called Fit ID) taking precise measurements in four different areas. It looks at not just how long a person’s feet are, but also how high their arches are, how wide their feet are across the toes and how much room they need at their heel.”
In the end, Fowler learned her feet were a larger size than she thought. And after trying on “many, many” shoes, she was able after an hour to narrow it down to two pairs (one of which was on sale). But if you think the AI software is the be-all, end-all in the speciality shoe selection process, think again. Even the retail experience manager for the Fleet Feet New York store she visited said the tool is there to just assist human employees and give them a starting point for finding shoes with the correct fit.
“It turns the data into something much more understandable for the consumer,” Fleet Feet’s Michael McShane told Fowler. “I’m still here to give you an expert assessment, teach you what the data says and explain why it’s better to come here than going to a kind of generic store.”
Disney sees an AI world, after all
As actors and other creative professionals continue to strike against Hollywood studios over how AI might affect or displace their jobs in the future, Reuters, citing unnamed sources, says that Walt Disney has “created a task force to study artificial intelligence and how it can be applied across the entertainment conglomerate.” The report adds that the company is “looking to develop AI applications in-house as well as form partnerships with startups.” The gist: Disney is looking to AI to see how it can cut costs when it comes to producing movies and TV shows, one source told Reuters.
Disney declined to comment to Reuters, but like many other companies, it has job postings on its site that suggest where its interests in AI lie.
Some interesting AI stats
In a 24-page, Aug. 1 survey called “The state of AI in 2023: Generative AI’s breakout year,” McKinsey & Co. said it found that less than a year after generative AI tools like ChatGPT were released, a third of survey respondents are already using gen AI tools for at least one business function.
“Amid recent advances, AI has risen from a topic relegated to tech employees to a focus of company leaders: nearly one-quarter of surveyed C-suite executives say they are personally using gen AI tools for work, and more than one-quarter of respondents from companies using AI say gen AI is already on their boards’ agendas,” the researcher found.
“What’s more, 40 percent of respondents say their organizations will increase their investment in AI overall because of advances in gen AI. The findings show that these are still early days for managing gen AI–related risks, with less than half of respondents saying their organizations are mitigating even the risk they consider most relevant: inaccuracy.”
Meanwhile, in a report called Automation Now and Next: State of Intelligent Automation Report 2023, the 1,000 automation executives surveyed said that AI will help boost productivity. “As we automate the more tedious part of their work, employee satisfaction surveys result is better. Employees are more engaged. They’re happier. That we can measure via surveys. The bots essentially do what people used to do, which is repetitive, low-value tasks,” a CTO of a large health care organization said as part of the survey, which can be found here.
That study was commissioned by Automation Anywhere, which describes itself as “a leader in AI-powered intelligent automation solutions,” so take the results with a grain of salt. But I will say those productivity findings are similar to what McKinsey, Goldman Sachs and others have been saying too.
And in case you had any doubt that gen AI adoption is a global phenomenon, I offer up this look at AI tech adoption by country by Electronics Hub, which says it analyzed Google search volumes for popular search tools. It found that the Philippines showed the “highest monthly search volume for AI tools overall.”
When AI systems go wrong
Besides hallucinating — making up stuff that isn’t true but sounds like it’s true — AIs also have the potential to mislead, misinform or just wreck havoc by misidentifying say, a respected researcher and Dutch politician as a terrorist, as happened recently.
To catalog the ways that AI can go wrong, there’s now an AI Incident Database, which says it’s “dedicated to indexing the collective history of harms or near harms realized in the real world by the deployment of artificial intelligence systems. Like similar databases in aviation and computer security, the AI Incident Database aims to learn from experience so we can prevent or mitigate bad outcomes.”
You’re invited to submit any AI errors, blunders, mishaps or problems you see to the database, which has already earned the nickname, “Artificial Intelligence Hall of Shame.”
Speaking of ways AI can go wrong, the Center for Countering Digital Hate released a 22-page report detailing “How generative AI is enabling users to generate harmful eating disorder content.” After prompting six AI platform and image generators, the center found that “popular AI tools generated harmful eating disorder content in response to 41% of a total 180 prompts, including advice on achieving a ‘heroin chic’ aesthetic and images for ‘thinspiration.’”
“Tech companies should design new products with safety in mind, and rigorously test them before they get anywhere near the public,” the center’s CEO, Imran Ahmed, wrote in the preface. “That is a principle most people agree with — and yet the overwhelming competitive commercial pressure for these companies to roll out new products quickly isn’t being held in check by any regulation or oversight by democratic institutions.”
Misinformation about health and many, many other topics has long been out there on the internet since the beginning, but AIs may pose a unique challenge if more people start to rely on them as their main source of news and information. Pew Research has written extensively about how reliant Americans are on social media as a source of news, for instance.
Consider that in June, the National Eating Disorder Association, which closed its live helpline and instead directed people to other resources including an AI chatbot, had to take down the bot named Tessa. Why? Because it recommended “behaviors like calorie restriction and dieting, even after it was told the user had an eating disorder,’ the BBC reported. NEDA now directs people to fact sheets, YouTube videos and lists of organizations that can provide information on treatment options.
Password protection starts with the mute button
All the care you take in protecting your passwords might be undone if you type in your secret code while you’re on a Zoom or other videoconference call while your microphone is on.
That’s because “tapping in a computer password while chatting over Zoom could open the door to a cyberattack, research suggests, after a study revealed artificial intelligence can work out which keys are being pressed by eavesdropping on the sound of the typing,” The Guardian reported.
In fact, the researchers built a tool that can “work out which keys are being pressed on a laptop keyboard with more than 90% accuracy, just based on sound recordings,” the paper said.
AI term of the week: Training data
Since this recap starts with the debate over where training data comes from, here’s a simple definition of what training data is — and why it matters. This definition comes via NBC News:
“Training data: A collection of information — text, image, sound — curated to help AI models accomplish tasks. In language models, training datasets focus on text-based materials like books, comments from social media, and even code. Because AI models learn from training data, ethical questions have been raised around its sourcing and curation. Low-quality training data can introduce bias, leading to unfair models that make racist or sexist decisions.”
Disney is coming for you if you’re sharing your account with friends and family.
The Walt Disney Co. is planning its own password-sharing crackdown for its global streaming customers, following in Netflix’s footsteps. Disney CEO Bob Iger made the announcement during the company’s third-quarter earnings call on Wednesday, saying that the company is “actively exploring ways to address account-sharing and the best options for paying subscribers.”
The entertainment giant has three streaming platforms — Disney Plus, Hulu and ESPN Plus — with a global subscriber base of 146.1 million for Disney Plus. Iger said that account-sharing is a priority for 2024 but that Disney will start updating its subscriber agreements later this year “with additional terms on our sharing policies.” The media company will look to optimize these policies to help drive monetization in the new calendar year.
Since his return to Disney in November, Iger has committed to growing profitability for its streaming business. One of the ways Netflix sought to curb subscriber losses was through enforcing its password-sharing policies by charging extra member fees. US customers who share their accounts with anyone outside of their primary household must pay an additional $8 per month.
As Disney starts exploring its own password strategy, customers should prepare to pay more for their ad-free Disney Plus and Hulu subscriptions. The company is implementing another price hike on Oct. 12, with plans to add a new ad-free bundle option on Sept. 6.
Having survived a scare against Nigeria in the previous round, England face another tricky challenge as they come up against Colombia in this Women’s World Cup quarterfinal clash at Stadium Australia in Sydney.
Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses know they need to improve having scraped through to the last eight after being taken to penalties by the Super Falcons in a match that saw England’s star young forward Lauren James sent off for stamping on an opponent’s butt.
Colombia, meanwhile, have been one of the tournament’s brightest sides, having shocked heavyweights Germany in the group stages while edging past Jamaica 1-0 to reach their first ever World Cup quarterfinal.
Below, we’ll outline the best live TV streaming services to use to watch England vs. Colombia, no matter where you are in the world.
England vs. Colombia: When and where?
This quarterfinal clash takes place at Stadium Australia in Sydney on Saturday, July 22.
Kick-off is set for 8:30 p.m. AEST local time in Australia, which makes it a 6:30 a.m. ET or 3:30 a.m. PT start in the US and Canada, a 10:30 p.m. start in New Zealand and an 11:30 a.m. BST kick-off in the UK.
How to watch the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 online from anywhere using a VPN
If you find yourself unable to view the tournament locally, you may need a different way to watch this match — that’s where using a VPN can come in handy. A VPN is also the best way to stop your ISP from throttling your speeds on game day by encrypting your traffic, and it’s also a great idea if you’re traveling and find yourself connected to a Wi-Fi network, and you want to add an extra layer of privacy for your devices and logins.
With a VPN, you’re able to virtually change your location on your phone, tablet or laptop to get access to the game. Most VPNs, like our Editors’ Choice, ExpressVPN, make it really easy to do this.
Using a VPN to watch or stream sports is legal in any country where VPNs are legal, including the US, UK and Australia, as long as you have a legitimate subscription to the service you’re streaming. You should be sure your VPN is set up correctly to prevent leaks: Even where VPNs are legal, the streaming service may terminate the account of anyone it deems to be circumventing correctly applied blackout restrictions.
Looking for other options? Be sure to check out some of the other great VPN deals taking place right now.
Livestream England vs. Colombia in the US
Women’s World Cup matches are being broadcast on Fox in the US. If you’re already a subscriber, you can livestream games via the Fox website. if you’re not, you’ll need a live TV streaming service that carries Fox, the least expensive being Sling TV Blue.
Numerous other live TV streaming services carry local Fox stations as well, namely YouTube TV, Hulu Plus Live TV, DirecTV Stream and FuboTV. They all cost more than Sling TV, but they also carry more channels. Check out our live TV streaming channel guide for details.
NBC-owned Telemundo, meanwhile, offers all the games in Spanish, which can also be viewed via NBC’s streaming platform Peacock Premium.
One further option in the US for watching matches comes from Tubi TV, which is offering full-length replays of the games in English minutes after they end on the free ad-supported streaming service. You’ll have to sign up for a Tubi account in order to get the games, but you won’t need a credit card or subscription.
Watch England vs. Colombia for free in the UK
Football fans in the UK are among the luckiest in the world, as all matches of the FIFA Women’s World Cup being shown live on free-to-air channels, with the BBC and ITV sharing broadcast duties. This game will be shown live on ITV1, which means viewers in the UK will be able to stream the game for free on ITVX. Coverage begins at 10:45 a.m. BST.
Stream England vs. Colombia for free in Australia
Stream England vs. Colombia in Canada
Comprehensive live coverage of the 2023 Women’s World Cup will be available in Canada via TSN. Cord cutters can watch via the network’s streaming service TSN Plus.
Stream England vs. Colombia for free in New Zealand
Live coverage of 2023 Women’s World Cup for the co-host nation is with free-to-air channel Prime. Kick-off for this match is at 10:30 p.m. NZST.
Quick tips for streaming the 2023 Women’s World Cup using a VPN
With four variables at play — your ISP, browser, video streaming provider and VPN — your experience and success when streaming the Women’s World Cup action live may vary.
If you don’t see your desired location as a default option for ExpressVPN, try using the “search for city or country” option.
If you’re having trouble getting the game after you’ve turned on your VPN and set it to the correct viewing area, there are two things you can try for a quick fix. First, log into your streaming service subscription account and make sure the address registered for the account is an address in the correct viewing area. If not, you may need to change the physical address on file with your account. Second, some smart TVs — like Roku — don’t have VPN apps you can install directly on the device itself. Instead, you’ll have to install the VPN on your router or the mobile hotspot you’re using (like your phone) so that any device on its Wi-Fi network now appears in the correct viewing location.
All of the VPN providers we recommend have helpful instructions on their main site for quickly installing the VPN on your router. In some cases with smart TV services, after you install a cable network’s sports app, you’ll be asked to verify a numeric code or click a link sent to your email address on file for your smart TV. This is where having a VPN on your router will also help, since both devices will appear to be in the correct location.
And remember, browsers can often give away a location despite using a VPN, so be sure you’re using a privacy-first browser to log into your services. We normally recommend Brave.
After seeing last year’s English Premier League title slip from their grasp as injuries took their toll, Arsenal will be hoping to go one better this term as they kick off the season at home to Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
Mikel Arteta’s hopes of toppling Manchester City this time out have been boosted by a trio of big-money signings: Declan Rice from West Ham, Kai Havertz from Chelsea and Jurrien Timber from Ajax.
Nottingham Forest, meanwhile, may hand a debut to former Gunners goalkeeper Matt Turner, while new striker signing Anthony Elanga could also feature having made the switch from Manchester United.
Forest won only one game away from home all last season, so on paper this should be a comfortable opening fixture for the north Londoners. And headline writers everywhere will be desperate for Timber to score.
Below, we’ll outline the best live TV streaming services to use to watch all of the action live wherever you are in the world.
Arsenal vs. Nottingham Forest: When and where?
Arsenal host Nottingham Forest at the Emirates Stadium in north London on Saturday, Aug. 12. Kickoff is set for 12:30 p.m. BST (7:30 a.m. ET, 4:30 p.m PT).
How to watch the Arsenal vs. Nottingham Forest game online from anywhere using a VPN
If you find yourself unable to view the game locally, you may need a different way to watch the game — that’s where using a VPN can come in handy. A VPN is also the best way to stop your ISP from throttling your speeds on game day by encrypting your traffic, and it’s also a great idea if you’re traveling and find yourself connected to a Wi-Fi network, and you want to add an extra layer of privacy for your devices and logins.
With a VPN, you’re able to virtually change your location on your phone, tablet or laptop to get access to the game. So if your internet provider or mobile carrier has stuck you with an IP address that incorrectly shows your location in a blackout zone, a VPN can correct that problem by giving you an IP address in your correct, non-blackout area. Most VPNs, like our Editors’ Choice, ExpressVPN, make it really easy to do this.
Using a VPN to watch or stream sports is legal in any country where VPNs are legal, including the US, UK and Canada, as long as you have a legitimate subscription to the service you’re streaming. You should be sure your VPN is set up correctly to prevent leaks: Even where VPNs are legal, the streaming service may terminate the account of anyone it deems to be circumventing correctly applied blackout restrictions.
Looking for other options? Be sure to check out some of the other great VPN deals taking place right now.
Livestream Arsenal vs. Nottingham Forest in the US
Saturday’s Arsenal-Nottingham Forest match is on USA Network, which you can access as part of your cable package or at the NBC Sports website with a valid login, and can be streamed via Sling TV and other more expensive streaming TV services.
Livestream the Arsenal vs. Nottingham Forest game in the UK
Premier League rights in the UK are split between Sky Sports, Amazon Prime Video and TNT Sports (previously known as BT Sport). The Arsenal-Nottingham Forestgame is exclusive to TNT Sports — showing on its TNT Sports 1, TNT Sports 1 HD and TNT Sport Ultimate channels.
Livestream the Arsenal vs. Nottingham Forest game in Canada
If you want to stream Arsenal vs. Nottingham Forest live in Canada, you’ll need to subscribe to FuboTV Canada. The service has exclusive rights for this Premier League season.
Livestream the Arsenal vs. Nottingham Forest game in Australia
Football fans Down Under can watch this EPL fixture on streaming service Optus Sport, which is showing every single Premier League game live in Australia this season.
Quick tips for streaming the Premier League using a VPN
With four variables at play — your ISP, browser, video streaming provider and VPN — your experience and success when streaming EPL matches may vary.
If you don’t see your desired location as a default option for ExpressVPN, try using the “search for city or country” option.
If you’re having trouble getting the game after you’ve turned on your VPN and set it to the correct viewing area, there are two things you can try for a quick fix. First, log into your streaming service subscription account and make sure the address registered for the account is an address in the correct viewing area. If not, you may need to change the physical address on file with your account. Second, some smart TVs — like Roku — don’t have VPN apps you can install directly on the device itself. Instead, you’ll have to install the VPN on your router or the mobile hotspot you’re using (like your phone) so that any device on its Wi-Fi network now appears in the correct viewing location.
All of the VPN providers we recommend have helpful instructions on their main site for quickly installing the VPN on your router. In some cases with smart TV services, after you install a cable network’s sports app, you’ll be asked to verify a numeric code or click a link sent to your email address on file for your smart TV. This is where having a VPN on your router will also help, since both devices will appear to be in the correct location.
And remember, browsers can often give away a location despite using a VPN, so be sure you’re using a privacy-first browser to log into your services. We normally recommend Brave.
Cleaning out your Google Drive, Gmail and Google Photos is an easy way to make some virtual room, and it could save you money, too. Google gives users a combined 15GB of free storage space to use between Google Drive, Gmail and other Google services, and that space can fill up fast. When you’re close to your limit, Google will ask if you want to buy more storage by subscribing to Google One. Or you can follow these tricks to manage your digital space and save yourself some money.
Here’s how to free up Google Drive, Gmail and Google Photos space on desktop and mobile so you don’t have to pay for additional storage. We recommend doing this on your desktop rather than a mobile device, as you’ll have an easier time sorting through and managing files, but we’ll walk you through both processes.
Delete large files first
If you only want to delete a few items from Google Drive and Gmail to free up space, you can sort each service by file size and delete one or two large files instead of a few dozen smaller items.
Here’s how to delete files by size in Google Drive on your desktop
1. Log in to your Google Drive account.
2. Once you’re logged in, click Storage in the menu on the left side of the screen.
3. The Storage page should list your files from largest to smallest, but if not, click Storage used on the right side of the screen. The files should now be ordered from largest to smallest.
4. Click large files you want to delete to select them, then click either the trash bin that appears near the top of the screen once items are selected or drag the large files to Trash on the left side of the screen.
5. Click Trash on the left-hand side menu to go to the Trash menu.
6. Click Empty trash in the top-right corner of your screen.
7. Click Delete forever and your files are gone.
You can do this in the Google Drive app as well. Here’s how:
1. Open your Google Drive app and log in to your account.
2. Tap Files in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
3. Tap Name underneath My Drive near the top of the screen.
4. Tap Storage used. This will arrange your files from largest to smallest.
5. Tap the three dots (…) next to the item you want to delete.
6. Tap Remove.
7. Tap the hamburger icon in the top-left corner of the screen next to Search in Drive.
8. Tap Trash.
9. Tap the three dots (…) in the top-right corner of the screen.
10. Tap Empty trash.
You can also arrange and delete files by size in Gmail on the desktop. Here’s how:
1. Log in to your Gmail account.
2. Type has:attachment larger:10MB, for example, into the search bar and hit Search. This will show you all emails that have attachments larger than 10MB, from largest to smallest. You can use this format to filter by other size files, not just 10MB files.
3. Check the boxes to the left of each email you want to delete, then click the Trash icon in the top-right corner of the screen.
4. Click Trash on the left side of the screento go to the Trash menu. If you don’t see Trash, click More and Trash should be in the expanded menu.
5. Once in Trash, click Empty trash now at the top of the screen.
Here’s how to arrange and delete files by size in the Gmail app:
1. Open your Gmail app and log in to your account.
2. Type has:attachment larger:10MB into the search bar and hit Search. This will show you all emails that have attachments larger than 10MB, from largest to smallest. You can use this format to filter by other size files too, not just 10MB files.
3. Tap into the email you want to delete.
4. Tap the trash bin icon in the top-right corner of your screen.
5. Tap < in the top-left corner of your screen.
6. Tap the hamburger icon in the top-left corner of the screen next to Search in mail.
7. Tap Trash.
8. Tap Empty trash now.
Note that once a file goes to Trash, it’ll automatically delete after 30 days.
Empty your Gmail spam folder
It’s easy to forget about emptying your spam folder, and it can take up unnecessary data in your Gmail account. Emptying your spam folder (and your social or promotions folders) is another way to make space.
Here’s how to empty your spam folder on your desktop:
1. Log in to your Gmail account.
2. Once you’re logged in, click Spam on the left side of the screen. If you don’t see Spam, click More and Spam should be in the expanded menu.
3. In your Spam folder, click Delete all spam messages now.
Here’s how to empty your spam folder in the mobile app:
1. Open the Gmail app and log in to your account.
2. Tap the hamburger icon in the top-left corner of the screen next to Search in mail.
3. Tap Spam.
4. Tap Delete all spam messages now or Empty spam now.
Clean up your Google Photos
Google also includes Google Photos in the 15GB of free storage it gives its users. Photos and videos can take up more space than text-based files, so it’s a good idea to go through and delete old photos and videos to make room.
However, there’s no option to arrange your photos and videos from largest to smallest like in Google Drive and Gmail, so you’ll have to go through and delete items manually.
Here’s how to delete photos and videos from Google Photos on your desktop:
1. Open and log in to Google Photos.
2. Scroll your mouse over photos and videos you want to delete and click the gray check mark icon in the top-left corner of the photo or video.
3. Click the trash icon in the top-right corner of the screen.
4. Click Move to trash.
5. Click Trash on the left side of the screen.
6. Click Empty trash near the top-right corner of your screen.
7. Click Empty trash again, and you’re set.
Here’s how to delete photos and videos from the Google Photos mobile app:
A heads up for Apple users: If your Gmail is linked to your iCloud account, the two digital storage spaces may be also linked. Meaning, when enabling the Backup & sync feature on Google Photos, all your local photos on your iPhone will be displayed on Google Photos. If you delete a photo on Google Photos, then the local photo on your iPhone will also be removed. And when the local photo is removed, it won’t show up on iCloud. You’ll be able to tell if this is you when you try to delete an image on Google Photos — a pop-up window will let you know you’re about to delete from both places.
1. Open and log in to Google Photos.
2. Tap the photo or video you want to delete.
3. Tap the trash can icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
4. Tap Delete.
5. Tap Library in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
6. Tap Trash.
7. Tap the three dots (…) in the top-right corner of the screen.
8. Tap Empty trash.
9. Tap Delete.
If you don’t click or tap Empty trash on either platform, the photos and videos you’ve deleted will automatically be deleted after 60 days.
When all else fails, download your files
If your storage is still almost full and you can’t part with any more items from your Google Drive, Gmail or Google Photos, you can download your items and store them directly on your computer.
Here’s how to download your Google Drive files, Gmail messages and Google Photos for storage on another hard drive:
1. Open and log in to your Google Drive, Gmail or Google Photos account on your desktop.
2. Select the files, emails or photos you want to download.
3. Click the three stacked dots in the upper-right corner of your screen.
4. Click Download. Note that Gmail will download messages as a .eml file.
5. Once the items are downloaded and moved onto your hard drive, feel free to delete them from your account and empty your trash bins.
For more, check out these 10 Gmail tips and tools, nine Google Drive features you might have missed and five Google Photos features to try now.
