Amazon has a bit of a hold on the e-reader industry. Like Kleenex did with tissues before it, Kindle has become so synonymous with e-readers that it’s easy to forget there are other brands out there. That’s a bit of a shame, because it’s only with companies like Rakuten that you’ll find more experimental features like color e-ink.

Rakuten’s latest e-readers, the Kobo Libra Colour and the Kobo Clara Colour, aren’t the first color e-readers to hit the market. But since Rakuten is the Pepsi to Amazon’s Coca-Cola, they offer a familiar, Kindle-like form factor and an extensive e-book ecosystem. They’re a prime example of the kind of innovation a second place manufacturer needs to make to stick out, but their niche use cases and multiple drawbacks show why Amazon has yet to follow suit.

Kobo Libra Colour

A premium color e-reader from Rakuten

$219.99 at Amazon

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$219.99 at Amazon

Why color e-ink?

There’s more to the Kobo Libra and Clara Colour than their color screens, but the screens are certainly the standout difference here, especially because Kobo is the biggest e-reader company to use a color screen thus far. For most devices, buying the color version has always seemed like a no-brainer. A color TV can display more lifelike imagery, and a color Game Boy can give the player clearer visuals. For e-readers, upgrading to color isn’t so clear cut.

That’s because books are, for the most part, black-and-white anyway. Dune will read the same on paper as it does on Kindle as it does on a computer monitor, barring each medium’s individual quirks. You’re not losing out on information by going for black-and-white, except maybe on the cover. That’s why Rakuten’s been focusing on two use cases in its marketing for the Kobo Libra and Clara Colour: comics and notetaking.

The first is pretty cut and dry. Most western comics publish in color, so reading them on a black-and-white e-reader just isn’t comparable to reading them on a tablet or on the page. It won’t make much of a difference for manga readers, since those stories usually publish in black-and-white anyway, but color e-ink finally makes e-readers viable for fans of Marvel and DC. It should also help with more traditional books that have color elements, like textbooks, children’s books, or cookbooks.

The second is notes. The Kobo Libra Colour also functions as an e-note, meaning it has a notebook feature for use with a compatible stylus. Color e-ink allows note takers to jot down doodles and handwriting in multiple colors, or for highlighters to mark up e-books with proper color coding. (The Clara Colour does not work with a stylus, but still has color highlighting.)

Overall, color is the type of feature that won’t be necessary for many users, acting more as a bonus than a must-have. Still, if you can afford it, why not spring for the option to use it when needed, right? Well, the downside is that the inclusion of color e-ink here causes standard black-and-white content to look worse.

How does color e-ink work, and what are its problems?

Rakuten’s color e-readers use a 7-inch E Ink Kaleido 3 display, which means they work much like a traditional black-and-white e-reader, but have an additional layer in their screen that produces color by filtering content through a red, green, and blue mosaic that is too small for the human eye to resolve. By controlling which pixels shine through where, the e-reader can produce up to 4,096 colors and up to 16 levels of grayscale. More traditional tablet screens can show billions of colors, so you’ll definitely sacrifice some vividness, but the result will look more like a printed page than an iPad or computer screen.

Unfortunately, the color filter’s presence raises a number of issues for black-and-white content, especially when it comes to having a paper-like display. Chief among these are contrast and the rainbow effect.

While most modern e-readers come with a front light, to get a truly book-like experience, you’ll want to keep the light off and read with a lamp. With a black-and-white e-reader, this isn’t much of an issue, but color e-readers suffer from a lack of contrast, especially with their light off. This means text can tend to blend into the background, even if you point a lamp right at the screen.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

That’s because a color filter generally darkens the display even when it’s not being used, as your content still needs to pass through it. The background will just never be a perfect “paperwhite,” as Amazon likes to say, even with the front light on. Turning on the front light will help considerably, though, and is recommended for comfortable reading (as for why it helps when a lamp doesn’t, proximity to the screen and evenness of coverage certainly play a role).

Whether that’s an issue to you depends on what you want out of these devices. For some, needing to use the front light is an immediate red flag, going against the whole premise of a digital book. For others, the content being displayed with physical pigment rather than LEDs is enough.

Regardless, there’s no escaping the rainbow effect. While the color mosaic is too small for your eye to make out the individual red, blue, and green dots, it’s not invisible, either. This means you’re likely to see grid-like artifacting in some of your content, ranging from a slight glittery texture in the background to a full-on spectrum of color.

None of this is unique to Kobo, but it’s important to note before buying that, unlike other devices, a color screen is more of a lateral move on an e-reader than a straight upgrade.

What are the Kobo Libra Colour’s specs?

While companies like Boox and Pocketbook have previously released color e-readers, Rakuten is the largest company to do so yet. That means the Kobo Libra and Clara Colour come with full access to its extensive store and intuitive UI, plus they work with the optional Kobo Plus subscription.

Rakuten knows how to make an e-reader, and when it comes to the basics, the Libra Colour, which is what I tested for this review, is excellent. Its 1,264 x 1,680 resolution means text is never fuzzy, its 2,050 mAh battery can last weeks at a time before shutting off (I never dipped below 90% while testing), and its front light is both plenty bright and can display various levels of warmth.

It’s also comfortable in the hands. Being a premium e-reader, the Libra Colour comes with an extended side panel with buttons and an ergonomic grip, giving you something to hold onto like with a Kindle Oasis. The Clara Colour doesn’t have this side panel, and though I didn’t get a review model for it, if it’s like past Rakuten e-readers, it should be about as comfortable to hold as equivalent Kindle models without a side panel.

There’s also Bluetooth support for headphones and audiobooks, but maybe the best reason to opt for a Rakuten e-reader over an Amazon one is that it gets you out of the Kindle ecosystem. That means a wider support for e-reader formats, including EPUB, which makes it easier to share files across devices and read free content. Kindle notably does not include EPUB support, and while there are ways to convert unsupported files for reading on Kindle, they don’t always work out. It can also be difficult to convert Kindle files for use on non-Amazon e-readers.

Throw in an extensive default font library and a large print mode for visually impaired readers, and it’s clear Rakuten made about the best color e-readers it could.

The question, then, is if color itself is worth it.

Testing the Kobo Libra Colour

It’s hard to really visualize the pros and cons of color e-ink without trying it out in person, so I tested a number of titles—including traditional books, comic books, and manga—on both the Libra Colour and my personal current generation Kindle Paperwhite. Technically, the premium Kindle Oasis would be a fairer comparison, although it’s been discontinued (and I don’t have one). Still, the Paperwhite’s display is comparable in size and resolution.

Starting with what I’ve been reading lately, I preferred Dune on the Kindle. My fiancé and I disagree on this, but it all comes down to the rainbow effect for me.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

He says he doesn’t notice much of a difference, but whereas I see a smooth background while reading on the Kindle, the Kobo looks like Edward Cullen standing in sunlight to me—glitters everywhere. Yes, even with the front light off, since the rainbow effect is more of a matter of how the screen reflects ambient light than anything else. There’s a “reduce rainbow effect” option in the Kobo’s settings, although I didn’t notice much of a difference with it on.

I also appreciated that the Kindle made it easier to read without a front light, but what will likely matter to you more is how sensitive you are to the “texture” of the page. My fiancé likes to compare the glittering to the grain on real paper, but it seems far too uniform to have the same effect for me. In certain lighting conditions, reading plain text on the Libra Colour almost feels like reading on graph paper. It’s possible, but distracting enough to be night and day next to a purely black-and-white e-reader.

Onto something that actually takes advantage of the color, I read a number of comics across both devices. I’m of two minds here.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

First, I was impressed by the image quality. For color content, the Kobo has to cut its PPI (pixels per inch) in half to achieve its effect (meaning less dense pixels), but everything still looks like it’s been drawn on the page. There’s occasional jagged edges that don’t show up on more traditional screens, but for the most part, the look is natural and detailed. It’s pretty special, too—short of real paper, there’s nothing else like it. A modern Kindle can do this as well (older models had issues with resolution), but without a color screen differentiating hues, color comics blend together so much that they’re pretty much illegible (assuming you would even want to try to read a color comic in black-and-white).

That gives the Kobo Libra Colour a key advantage, in that it’s a viable way to read content that the Kindle struggles with. But even with content that should be its bread and butter, the Kobo Libra Colour still falters in key respects, which means it may not necessarily be better than more traditional tablets.

The most obvious is in how vivid its colors are. While E Ink’s Kaleido 3 display promises 30% more saturation than previous iterations, everything here will still look a little dull and a little on the darker end. Older comics, which also had limitations on what could be printed on physical paper, fare better here, but bright and colorful modern works suffer a bit.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

That tradeoff might be worth it for those who love a hand-drawn look, but there are two things that truly stopped me from enjoying comics on the Kobo: text size and accessing my comics library.

It depends on the comic, but for stories with lots of text, the 7-inch screen just isn’t enough to easily read it. Kindles have a “panel view” mode that allows them to load images on a panel-by-panel rather than page-by-page basis, but there’s no such solution on the Kobo. The best you can do is zoom in manually with pinch motions or a slider, but the screen’s limited refresh rate can make this a slow process, which can be extra difficult if your comic doesn’t have uniform pages and you need to adjust the zoom for each new page.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

Maybe more annoying is that, because Kobo devices don’t use Android, you won’t be able to access any of the popular comics reading apps on the Libra Colour. I like to catch up on old comics using Marvel Unlimited, DC Infinite, and the Shonen Jump app, and none are available here. Instead, the most convenient way to get comics on a Kobo is to buy them piecemeal off the Kobo store, which is a much more expensive proposition. You could sign up for a Kobo Plus subscription, but then you’re locking yourself into what’s on the Kobo store, which may not be as extensive as what’s on publishers’ official apps. 

Alternatively, because of the more open format compatibility, you could sideload comics from elsewhere, but you’ll still need to get your files somewhere, which will probably cost you a pretty penny at some point (assuming you keep things legal).

Granted, Kindles also have this issue, but they don’t market themselves as comics readers. Even so, they might be a better way to read black-and-white comics, which is what I tested next.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

Reading Sailor Moon and Berserk on both the Kobo Libra Colour and my Kindle Paperwhite, I noticed some familiar issues rear their heads again. Notably, the rainbow effect was maybe more noticeable in these titles than in plain text.

That’s because the artifacting, when layered over a character’s face, can come across less as page texture and more as a straight-up defect. In negative space, it can bloom into full-on rainbows rather than small glitters.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

None of these issues were present on my Kindle, which, unlike with color works, is a pretty great way to read black-and-white comics. While turning the Kobo’s “Reduce Rainbow Effect” mode did actually seem to help here despite it not helping much with text, it also made images appear fuzzier and generally unpleasant to look at. Overall, the Kobo’s comics superiority doesn’t keep up when it comes to manga and other similar content.

Finally, I wanted to test the Libra Colour’s Dual 2.0 GHz CPU with a PDF, something that would require frequent zooming and reconfiguring. It wasn’t a great experience, which is to say, it was about on par with the Kindle and every other e-reader I’ve used. Don’t get an e-reader for PDFs.

Draw in color

There are a few benefits to color e-ink that come outside of the direct reading experience, and while none of them are system sellers, they’re all certifiably nice to have.

The most extensive update comes to highlighting and other types of markups, as the Kobo Libra Colour is able to draw notes and make highlights in various colors, both in documents and in dedicated notebooks. There are four color options for highlights (yellow, pink, light blue, and light green) and ten for drawings (black, red, brown, yellow, dark green, light green, pink, light blue, purple, and gray), as well as multiple options for pen size. The Clara Colour does not work with a stylus, but it can still highlight in color.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

The Kobo Libra Colour is not the first or only Kobo with e-note features, but markups are still snappy here, and the notebooks feature is robust, giving you the option between blank pages and ruled pages that can be populated with digital text and diagrams in addition to written notes and drawings. When starting with a blank page, you can also choose from backgrounds including anything from a grid to a storyboard layout, although you’ll need to start with a ruled page for help with diagrams.

Note that to use notebooks or draw in documents with the Libra Colour, you’ll need an MPP compatible pen. The Kobo Stylus 2 costs a princely $70, but third-party alternatives like the Renaisser Raphael 520 can go for much lower.

Pocket integration also benefits here, and is a unique advantage over the Kindle, as while the Kindle Scribe at least allows for black-and-white e-notes, all Kindles need to rely on older “Send to Kindle” tech for reading web articles. On the Kobo Libra Colour or Clara Colour, you can simply save an article using your phone’s Pocket app, then automatically find it on your Kobo later. And thanks to the color e-ink, you’ll be able to better appreciate any of the article’s art. There’s Google Drive and Dropbox integration as well, which are features also missing on the Kindle.

Menu navigation is also just generally a little nicer on the Kobo, as all of your book thumbnails will show up in full color, making them easier to navigate. Again, when reading a traditional book, you’ll be spending most of your time in black-and-white, but there’s less friction here for when you start reading.

Is a color e-reader worth it yet?

The Kobo Libra Colour is a solidly made e-reader that nonetheless shows that color e-ink just isn’t there for most people. Far from being a strict upgrade, it is instead more of a lateral move, with niche use cases and severe compromises in black-and-white content.

The ideal audience for the Libra Colour is someone who reads a lot of color comics, especially those that are light on text, and who also likes to take a lot of notes. Younger readers would probably do well here, enjoying picture books and text-light comics on the device, although it could also be good for students thanks to its more colorful notebooks system and Pocket integration.

Unfortunately, readers of traditional books as well as black-and-white comics will have to put up with a number of annoyances on the Libra or Clara Colour, including low contrast, occasional artifacting, and the rainbow effect. If you’re like me, you read a good mix of content, but these downsides might not be worth being able to read color comics on your e-reader.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

That said, the Kobo Libra Colour is about as good as a color e-reader can get right now, at least for a traditional, Kindle-like format. Alternatives from companies like Boox do offer larger screens and Android support, which can help with some pain points for comics readers, but they’re significantly more expensive. Also, while Android does give access to more comics apps, it can be generally slow to navigate with e-ink.

The truth is that there’s no perfect solution for color e-ink at the moment, so if there’s anything to take away from this review, it’s that it’s not as obvious an upgrade as color TV was. Still, there’s also nothing quite like it if you’re willing to deal with some compromises in exchange for spectacle. If you have limited space on your shelf for physical comics, or if you just generally prefer the convenience of an e-reader, the Kobo Libra Colour is a great way to read those stories digitally while still getting a hand-drawn look: something that undeniably feels special no matter how many asterisks you attach to it.

The Kobo Libra Colour costs $220 while the Clara Colour costs $150. For comparison, the current Amazon Kindle Paperwhite starts at $150.

Your TV can stream movies and shows, so why not video games? That’s what Xbox is looking to solve with its new Fire TV Stick app, which will allow players to stream cloud-enabled Xbox Game Pass games without a console.

Technically, this isn’t Xbox’s first time coming to TVs, as the Xbox TV app previously premiered on some Samsung Smart TV models in 2022. But the addition of Fire TV Stick compatibility means any TV with an HDMI port can now become an Xbox, in a way.

To get started, gamers will need either a Fire TV Stick 4K or a Fire TV Stick 4K Max. The latter has a slightly more powerful processor and supports the newer Wi-Fi 6E standard, but both will work with the Xbox app. Otherwise, you’ll just need a Bluetooth compatible controller—it doesn’t need to be an Xbox controller—and an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription. Oddly, the Xbox app is only coming to these two Fire TV Stick models for now, with no announced support for Fire TVs themselves.

There are some caveats, the most obvious being that the service is kicking off in just 25 countries to start. It won’t be available until July, according to an Xbox blog post, so neither Xbox nor Amazon have clarified which countries will have it yet.

The second issue is that cloud streaming has some limitations, and is technically still in beta for Xbox games. For casual access to single-player content, you should be OK, but your performance in multiplayer games could suffer from input lag. You might also notice some artifacting or quality issues when streaming from a remote server, as video will be compressed before making its way to you. 

Remember that the Fire TV Stick won’t actually be running your games, but instead sending your inputs to a server, where you’ll need to wait for them to be processed and for video to be sent back to your TV. It all happens in less than a second, but even that minute delay could make a game feel less responsive, especially if your wifi is experiencing issues.

You also won’t be able to play games not included with Game Pass, and you’ll need to keep your subscription up-to-date for every title except Fortnite. Some games also won’t work with cloud gaming yet, even if they’re included in your Game Pass Ultimate subscription.

If you want to try out Xbox cloud gaming before July but don’t have a Samsung TV yet, don’t worry. All Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can already stream games to a browser, an iPhone/iPad, an Android phone, or even an Xbox system.

Anyone who was hoping to turn their iPhone into a literal computer-in-their-pocket will have to walk away disappointed, as Apple has rejected two PC emulators from the App Store.

The move follows a recent rule change that allowed emulators of retro game consoles like the Super Nintendo and even the PlayStation on the App Store, finally giving developers clearer boundaries on what exactly is and isn’t allowed.

The apps in question were iDOS3, which allows your iPhone to run MS-DOS, and UTM SE, a general operating system emulator that includes ways to run Windows 7, Windows 10, various versions of Linux, and more.

iDOS3 developer Chaoji Li told The Verge that Apple’s reason for rejecting the app was that “Only emulators of retro game consoles are appropriate per guideline 4.7.”

Li said Apple refused to offer suggestions for changes, or to define what exactly entails a retro game console.

UTM posted a similar note to X, formerly Twitter, taking issue with Apple’s idea that a “PC is not a console” on the basis that “there are retro Windows / DOS games for the PC that UTM SE can be useful in running.”

Regardless of Apple’s resistance to allowing PC emulation, UTM SE faces an extra barrier in making it to the iPhone. A follow-up to the post noted that Apple is also refusing to notarize the app for third-party App Stores due to inclusion of just-in-time compilation, which would technically break a guideline that apps must be self-contained. UTM said the emulator does not include any code that violates these rules, but that it will not be fighting Apple on the decision.

In an email to The Verge, Li lamented that “as the sole rule maker and enforcer in [the] iOS ecosystem, they don’t need to be consistent at all.”

Apple did not immediately reply to Lifehacker’s request for comment. For now, those looking to play retro games on iOS will have to look to alternatives like Delta and Retroarch.

Just a day after charging Apple with violating the Digital Markets Act, the EU is continuing its crusade against big tech. Now, Microsoft also faces a potential multi-billion dollar fine, although for reasons unrelated to the DMA.

Remember when the United States sued Microsoft for bundling Internet Explorer with Windows? It was a bit more complicated than that, but what’s old is new again, because the EU is charging Microsoft for breaking antitrust rules by bundling Team with its Office subscriptions.

“We are concerned that Microsoft may be giving its own communication product Teams an undue advantage over competitors, by tying it to its popular productivity suites for businesses,” EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who heads up competition policy in Europe, said in a statement today.

Microsoft actually unbundled Teams from Office in Europe last year in an effort to comply with the EU’s policy, following a statement from the EU that it would be investigating the company. Earlier this year, the company also said it will be making the same changes globally, but according to the EU’s charges, these moves haven’t been enough.

The EU’s public-facing statement wasn’t entirely clear on what would be enough, although because existing Office users can continue to renew old bundles that already had Teams included, it’s possible the Commission concluded that competition is still being threatened.

Microsoft intends to cooperate with the EU and told the Financial Times that it’s working on solutions, with President Brad Smith saying, “Having unbundled Teams and taken initial interoperability steps, we appreciate the additional clarity provided today and will work to find solutions to address the Commission’s remaining concerns.”

The EU began its investigation into Microsoft following a complaint from Slack, which runs its own popular remote work suite. If Microsoft is found guilty, it could face a fine of up to 10% of its annual global turnover. Based on numbers from last year, this would amount to about $21.1 billion.

Microsoft did not immediately reply to Lifehacker's request for comment.

The EU is charging Apple with violating the Digital Markets Act, a move that could cost the company $38 billion if found guilty. The action follows complaints that the company isn’t doing enough to satisfy the region’s DMA regulations.

The DMA’s rules, which came into effect for Apple in March, are intended to encourage fair competition and more open markets. The law was supposed to require Apple to allow steering—a developer practice for directing users to payment methods outside the App Store—as well as third-party app stores. Apple has technically complied with these requirements, but developers have called out the company for violating the spirit of the law.

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has called Apple’s implementation of DMA policies “malicious compliance,” continuing a feud that began when a pre-DMA Apple pulled Fortnite from the App Store for steering users to Epic’s own payment methods. The developer called out the company’s “junk fees” for outside payments and third-party stores, and now it seems the EU agrees.

In a press release, the European Commission said it is formally charging Apple for violating its steering rules. The company currently only allows developers to link users to an outside website, which the EU says limits their ability to effectively market to or charge consumers. Further, it charges developers fees on digital purchases consumers make “within seven days after a link-out.”

EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who leads Europe’s competition policy, said that “Our preliminary position is that Apple does not fully allow steering.” In addition to the anti-steering charge, Vestager said the Commission has also opened proceedings to investigate compliance for third-party app store rules, with a focus on the company’s Core Technology Fee and the difficult process users must follow to install third-party app stores.

“For too long Apple has been squeezing out innovative companies—denying consumers new opportunities & choices,” EU Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton posted on X, formerly Twitter.

Apple is just the first company to enter the Commission's sights, as the DMA’s rules also apply to Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and ByteDance (TikTok). The Commission said it is also currently investigating Alphabet and Meta for non-compliance, as well as gathering “facts and information” on Amazon.

If Apple is found guilty of infringement, the EU could charge the company up to 10% of its annual global revenue, or around $38 billion based on last year’s earnings. The charge could jump to 20% for repeated offenses.

Apple did not immediately reply to Lifehacker’s request for comment, however Apple spokesperson Peter Ajemian told The Verge, “Throughout the past several months, Apple has made a number of changes to comply with the DMA in response to feedback from developers and the European Commission…we will continue to listen and engage with the European Commission.”

Apple has already been fined by EU antitrust regulators this year, paying about $2 billion in March following an antitrust complaint levied by Spotify in 2020.

YouTube has been experimenting with ways to disable ad blockers for a while now, and now it’s going after its own subscribers. Specifically, if you’ve used a VPN to purchase YouTube Premium for a cheaper rate than is available where you actually live, Google is coming after you.

In a statement to TechCrunch, the company said the following: “To provide the most accurate plans and offers available, we have systems in place to determine the country of our users. In instances where the signup country does not match where the user is accessing YouTube, we’re asking members to update their billing information to their current country of residence.”

The statement followed reports users had posted on Reddit that their YouTube Premium subscriptions had been suddenly canceled without warning.

YouTube Premium rates differ depending on your market. For example, while the service costs $13.99 in the U.S., it costs the equivalent of $1.54 a month in India.

Redditors who contacted customer service said agents told them their plans were canceled because they had “moved” to a different region. One U.K.-based redditor who had signed up for YouTube Premium with a Ukrainian IP address said they were told they would need to sign up for a new plan with a U.K. card, bumping them up from a £2.30/month payment to £12.99 a month.

"Confirmed it's a crackdown on cheap VPN subscriptions," the Redditor wrote. "Yikes..."

YouTube did not outright confirm that it canceled subscriptions for using a VPN at sign-up, although the company did tell PCMag that it has “initiated the cancellation of premium memberships for accounts identified as having falsified signup country information.”

While the move to force people to pay full price for Premium follows a months-long campaign against ad blocking, YouTube Premium also offers additional services, including video downloads and access to YouTube Music Premium.

Google introduced AI Overviews in search results shortly after Google I/O in May, but it wasn’t first to the AI search game. It had already given Gemini the ability to search the internet, and Meta and other competing AI companies had done similarly with their own models. One of the biggest players in this field was Perplexity, which markets itself as a “conversational search engine”—basically another chatbot with internet access, but with even more of a focus on summaries and current events. Unfortunately, Perplexity is now finding itself in hot water after breaking rules and, like Google, returning wrong answer after wrong answer.

On June 11, Forbes published an article accusing Perplexity of stealing its content for quickly rewriting original articles without sourcing, and passing them off as its own. The AI company went as fair as to adapt Forbes’ reporting to podcast form. Shortly after, Wired ran an exposé on Perplexity, accusing it of “bullshitting” and breaking a widely held internet rule (more on that shortly). Now, we’re learning a lot more about what kind of recent data an AI might be able to train on going forward, and why AIs often make so many mistakes when trying to sum up current events.

Perplexity is accused of breaking a longstanding internet rule

Bots aren’t anything new on the internet. Before AI scraped websites for training material, search engines scraped websites to determine where to place them in search results. This led to a standard called the Robots Exclusion Protocol, which allows developers to lay out which parts of their site they don’t want bots to access. Perplexity says it follows this rule, but, spurred on by the Forbes story and an accusation of rule breaking from developer Robb Knight, Wired conducted its own investigation. What it discovered wasn't flattering to Perplexity.

“Wired provided the Perplexity chatbot with the headlines of dozens of articles published on our website this year, as well as prompts about the subjects of Wired reporting,” Wired’s article reads. According to the investigation, the bot then returned answers “closely paraphrasing Wired stories,” complete with original Wired art. Further, it would summarize stories “inaccurately and with minimal attribution.”

Examples include the chatbot inaccurately accusing a police officer of stealing bicycles, and, in a test, responding to a request to summarize a webpage containing a single sentence with a wholly invented story about a young girl going on a fairy tale adventure. Wired concluded Perplexity’s summaries were the result of the AI flagrantly breaking the Robots Exclusion Protocol, and that its inaccuracies likely stemmed from an attempt to sidestep said rule.

According to both Knight and Wired, when users ask Perplexity questions that would require the bot to summarize an article protected by the Robots Exclusion Protocol, a specific IP address running what is assumed to be an automated web browser would access the websites bots are not supposed to scrape. The IP address couldn’t be tracked back to Perplexity with complete certainty, but its frequent association with the service raised suspicions.

In other cases, Wired recognized traces of its metadata in Perplexity’s responses, which could mean the bot may not be reading articles themselves, but accessing traces of it left in URLs and search engines. These wouldn’t be protected by the Robots Exclusion Protocol, but are so light on information that they’re more likely to lead to AI hallucinations—hence the problem with misinformation in AI search results.

Both of these issues presage a battle for the future of AI in search engines, from both ethical and technical standpoints. Even as artists and other creators argue over AI’s right to scrape older works, accessing writing that is just a few days old puts Perplexity at further legal risk.

Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas issued a statement to Wired that said “the questions from Wired reflect a deep and fundamental misunderstanding of how Perplexity and the Internet work.” At the same time, Forbes this week reportedly sent Perplexity a letter threatening legal action over “willful infringement” of its copyrights.

Just a little over half a year since it was fully released to all U.S. customers, Apple is shutting down its installment loan Apple Pay Later service. In a statement to 9to5Mac, the company said customers will now instead see installment loans “offered through credit and debit cards, as well as lenders” when checking out.

Apple Pay Later first started making its way to “randomly selected” customers in the U.S in March 2023 after being announced at WWDC a year prior. The feature existed directly in Apple Wallet, and though Apple said it allowed users to apply for a loan “with no impact to their credit,” fine print said loan and payment history “may be reported to credit bureaus and impact their credit” upon purchase.

The service followed the Apple Card’s launch in 2019, which included an arrangement with Goldman Sachs that Apple is apparently eager to get out of. Apple Pay Later was the company’s first attempt at handling its financial services itself via the Apple Financing LLC subsidiary, and followed in the wake of similar services like Klarna.

Buy now, pay later services have been called out in the past for hidden costs that might trap needy users into even more debt, which might have influenced Apple, with its generally friendly face, in exiting the sector.

“Our focus continues to be on providing our users with access to easy, secure and private payment options with Apple Pay, and this solution will enable us to bring flexible payments to more users, in more places across the globe,” Apple’s statement reads.

In addition to accessing loans from credit and debit cards, Apple Pay will also now allow access to loans from Klarna competitor Affirm, a recent Apple blog reads. Like Klarna, Affirm has also faced criticism in the past, with critics pointing out how high interest rates can lay in wait behind the service’s hip branding.