Meta has said it’s going to utilize facial recognition technology in a bid to crack down on celebrity scam ads that plague its Facebook and Instagram platforms.

The move comes three years after Meta removed facial recognition smarts from Facebook following a backlash against the technology. Meta will be hoping that the implementation of the system, and the reason for bringing it in, will be better received by its online communities this time around.

“Scammers often try to use images of public figures, such as content creators or celebrities, to bait people into engaging with ads that lead to scam websites, where they are asked to share personal information or send money,” Meta explained in a post announcing the move to reintroduce facial recognition technology.

Meta already has a system in place for detecting scam ads involving celebrities, but it’s now aiming to make it more robust. Moving forward, if it suspects an ad to be a potential scam and it contains the image of a public figure at risk of celeb-bait, it will deploy facial recognition technology to compare faces in the ad to the public figure’s Facebook and Instagram profile pictures. If it confirms a match and concludes that the ad is a scam, Meta will block it.

In a bid to steer clear of the same kind of criticisms that prompted Meta to ditch a form of facial recognition technology three years ago that involved automatic photo-tagging of Facebook users, the company said it will delete any facial data generated from ads for the one-time comparison, regardless of whether its system finds a match, adding that it won’t use the data for any other purpose.

The company said that early testing with a small group of celebrities and public figures shows promising results. Next, it will enroll a wider pool of celebrities that have been used in celeb-bait scams. Those selected will be notified, and they can opt out of the system at any time.

Regaining access to accounts

Google continues to work on making Gemini the ultimate AI-powered assistant for mobile devices. Lately, the service has been gaining features that were previously only available on the classic Google Assistant. New findings suggest that Gemini may soon receive the ability to manage calls and messages on locked devices.

Both Gemini and Google Assistant are capable of making calls and sending text messages via voice commands. However, currently, only Google Assistant can do so on phones with the screen locked. A new Gemini option that enables such actions from the lock screen could soon change that.

You could then make calls and send messages with Gemini from locked devices

Gemini is already capable of offering responses to requests via voice commands with the screen locked, but the call and message management function is still missing. That is one of the features that keeps Google Assistant “alive.” However, Android Authority has enabled a switch to trigger calls and messages from Gemini on locked devices in the latest Google app beta (v15.42.30.28.arm64).

You can access the switch from the same section where you grant Gemini permission to perform other actions while the screen is locked. Still, the feature will require you to unlock the device under certain conditions. “Gemini will still ask you to unlock when a response contains personal content, such as your Gmail messages, from apps you use,” the option says.

New minimalist floating overlay and extension categories

The source has identified a few additional potential changes for Gemini. First, it seems that Google wants to make the assistant’s floating overlay much more minimalistic. To achieve this, they are significantly reducing the size of the floating overlay, a move that makes sense as it allows for a larger percentage of the background UI to remain visible. The floating overlay will expand according to the number of words your prompt contains.

Additionally, Google is rearranging the Gemini extensions into different categories. Initially, the few Gemini extensions available made it possible to have them all in one list, in no apparent order. However, as the service is receiving more and more extensions, it is more convenient to include an organizational system. This will help you find current and future extensions more easily. There are categories like “communication,” “device control,” “travel,” “media,” and “productivity.”

There are no details on when Google might push these new features to Gemini. It’s even possible that we will never see some of the spotted changes implemented.

Alarmo is the quintessential Nintendo product: It’s a fun and quirky spin on a bedside alarm clock (with a motion sensor!) that mines your love for everything Nintendo. It’s a $100 device entirely meant to surprise and delight you. But there are also usability issues that make me think the company’s engineers haven’t encountered any modern gadgets over the past decade (which is how long they’ve been developing Alarmo).

Here’s an example: There’s no easy way to input your Wi-Fi password if you ever want to download new themes. Instead you have to patiently spin its bulbous top button until you land on the character you need, then press it down like Mario squashing a Goomba. That may not sound like much of an issue, especially since you may only need to do it once, but it’s needlessly frustrating if you have a complex password with multiple letter cases, numbers and symbols. My password is all lowercase letters, thankfully, but it still took me three minutes to punch it in. Instead of getting some rest, it just made me want to throw Alarmo out of my window(-o).

Nintendo

Alarmo brings a dose of Nintendo fun into your bedroom, with sleep noises and motion sensing alarms featuring classic Nintendo characters. It’s expensive, though, and its sleep tracking is mostly useless.

Advertisement

Pros

• Adorable design
• Fun alarm options
• Helpful sleep sounds
• Motion sensing makes getting up fun

Cons

• Expensive
• Limited selection of themes
• Difficult Wi-Fi setup
• No companion app
• Useless sleep tracking

$100 at Nintendo

But then I had it lull me to sleep with the sounds of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. At 6:30am, rascally Koroks roused me from my slumber and made their telltale noises as I shuffled around my bed. And once I got up, they performed Hestu’s traditional celebratory dance, much to the chagrin of my sleeping cats. All was forgiven.

So, what is Alarmo?

Nobody actually needs Alarmo (officially dubbed the “Nintendo Sound Clock: Alarmo”), but its appeal to Nintendo fans is obvious. It wouldn’t be out of place as a prop in Mario Odyssey, with its cartoonishly round, red case, nubby feet and prominent control knob (which glows, naturally). Its 2.8-inch screen is surprisingly small and square, not round like some of Nintendo’s promotional videos make it seem, and its speakers are loud enough to fill even large bedrooms with undistorted nostalgia bombs. Controlling it is relatively simple: Twist and push the knob, or use the back button to return to the previous screen. You can also view notifications, like updates on your sleep cycle, by tapping the message button.

I’ll admit my bias: I was practically raised on Nintendo consoles, so it’s almost as if Alarmo was built specifically for someone like me. I don’t really mind that Alarmo’s large red case doesn’t really fit with the clean aesthetic of my bedroom. But I’m sure it’ll be a tougher sell if you’re sharing a bed with someone less Nintendo-pilled. (More on that below.)

While Alarmo is mostly pitched as an alarm clock with Nintendo themes — at launch, there are sounds and characters from Mario Odyssey, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Splatoon 3, Pikmin 4 and (strangely enough) Ring Fit Adventure — it also adds a bit of Nintendo charm throughout your day. Alarmo can produce hourly chimes, and also play “Sleepy Sounds” related to your theme. For Breath of the Wild, that includes the crackling of a campfire, nocturnal animals and delightful snippets of the game’s score. (I could be mistaken, but it also sounds like there’s a bit of score from the moments before a Blood Moon arrives. I hope Nintendo snips that out eventually — nobody wants to go to bed dreading a Blood Moon.)

Does Alarmo actually work?

As an alarm clock, Alarmo gets the job done. It managed to wake me up successfully every day over the past week, and it did so far less jarringly than my iPhone’s blaring speaker. It simply felt pleasant to be welcomed into the world by Koroks and Mario. Every toss and turn triggered more sound effects, which slowly nudged me awake. In its default “Steady Mode,” Alarmo also gets progressively louder the longer you stay in bed, and more nefarious characters like Bowser might make an appearance. But if you just want things to stay super chill, there’s also a “Gentle Mode” that doesn’t escalate noise. Alarmo also responds to the mere act of getting out of bed with a huge celebration — honestly, it’s about time someone recognized the effort.

While Nintendo provides some rudimentary sleep statistics, based on Alarmo’s motion sensing and your alarm settings, they’re mostly useless. I think my numbers may have been skewed by my three cats, who sleep on my bed for most of the day, and may be triggering the device’s motion sensor. I certainly wish I could have slept for the 17 hours it recorded at one point. (I’m lucky to get six hours these days.) Even if Alarmo’s sleep-tracking was functional, there’s not much you can do with the data, since it’s all stuck on the device. That’s one of many areas where having a separate app would have been useful. (You’d think it would work with Pokemon Sleep, but no!)

Another issue? Alarmo’s unique motion sensing technology is only made for a single sleeper (just like Google’s latest Nest Hub). If you’re in bed beside a partner or unruly kids, Nintendo recommends switching to “Button mode,” where you have to tap the top knob to disable the alarm. At least it’s easy to change Alarmo’s modes, and if you leave the sensor on by mistake, it’s not the end of the world when it actually goes off. You’ll hear a bit more noise than usual, but you can still hit the top button to quiet things down.

Setting up Alarmo

There are only three things inside Alarmo’s box: The device itself, a USB Type A to USB-C cable and a small instruction booklet. Notably missing is a USB power adapter. That’s something we’ve grown used to with smartphones and some of Nintendo’s handhelds, but not bundling one is still a pain for anyone who doesn’t have spare power adapters. I can just imagine a parent trying to set up Alarmo for their eager child, only to be delayed for a day because they need to run out and buy a separate adapter. That’s not surprising and delightful, Nintendo. It’s just annoying.

The actual onboarding process is pretty straightforward. Once you plug it in, Alarmo teaches you how to use its top dial and button, and explains how the back button works. You can also rotate the dial to adjust its volume and the device directs you to wave your hand in front of it to test its motion sensing. You have to direct Alarmo’s orientation towards your bed and make sure it has a clear view of your sleeping area at the edge of a nightstand or table. The motion sensing won’t work if it’s too high.

To finish off the setup process, you have to lay down and make sure Alarmo can actually detect your movement. That worked without much fuss on my end, but when it asked me to sit up and lean in a specific direction, there was a delay of a few minutes before it noticed correctly when I was leaning to the right.

At the very least, Nintendo didn’t force me to connect to Wi-Fi during the initial setup. Instead, that’s triggered when you choose to update its themes, and the entire process required is just frustrating, as I described above. Now, it’s not as if Nintendo hasn’t learned to use QR codes via websites and apps to simplify logins. You also have to sign in to your Nintendo account once Alarmo is connected to Wi-Fi, but I was thankfully able to use a QR code to do so over my iPhone.

I suppose Nintendo wanted to have a simpler onboarding experience for Alarmo, one that didn’t require external authentication or an additional app. But that desire for simplicity still leads to needless frustration.

It would be nice to see a wider selection of themes, as well. I’m not sure many Nintendo fans are clamoring to re-experience the characters and music from Ring Fit Adventure, after all. Where’s Kirby? Where’s Mario Kart? If there’s room for Splatoon and Pikmin, there should be room for Nintendo’s more iconic franchises.

Is Alarmo worth it?

I’m no stranger to tech-infused alarms. My nightstand is already overloaded with gadgets, including an Amazon Echo Dot (which I use to play radio stations), an older Phillips SmartSleep rise light, a Homedics white noise machine, my iPhone 15 Pro Max (charging on a Belkin MagSafe stand) and a Hatch Baby video monitor. As much as I appreciated having bits of Nintendo magic in my bedroom, I didn’t love it enough to replace any of the devices I’m already using.

But my daughter Sophia is another story. We’ve played through most of Tears of the Kingdom together, and I’ve done my best to teach her in the ways of Nintendo. (I’ll save the issues with the company’s extreme litigiousness for when she’s older.) She’s eager to use Alarmo to wake up on her own, without my early-morning badgering. She also loves Koroks, so I’m pretty sure the Zelda theme will be permanently enabled. At least, until Kirby arrives.

I’m not going to try and justify the need for a $100 alarm clock. If you’re a big enough Nintendo fan, you’ve probably already locked in your pre-order. And there’s a chance it’ll become more compelling over time, if Nintendo manages to add themes and drive down the price. For now, though, it’s a reminder that Nintendo can do more than just churn out consoles and games. There’s still room for the company to take weird swings, it’s just too bad Alarmo is expensive and imperfect.

Presented by Xsolla

During the latest GamesBeat Live session, Dean Takahashi, lead writer for GamesBeat, sat down with Berkley Egenes, chief marketing and growth officer at Xsolla, to dig into the latest Xsolla news. They spoke about the company’s newly launched Parental Controls solution which is now certified with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA) and GDPR-K and designed to keep gaming safe for young players while ensuring regulatory compliance. They also explored the latest in Xsolla’s Web Shop solutions, which have powered the successful launch of over 400 web shops. Finally, they touched on the recent expansion of payment methods in Cambodia and Indonesia.

Addressing compliance and safety challenges

Direct-to-consumer strategies like web shops are becoming more common – and so are compliance and safety challenges. Breaking free of traditional platforms brings huge opportunities, but also requires developers to handle the complexity of regulatory demands. Younger players are especially vulnerable to the temptation of easy microtransactions and excessive spending, Egenes says. To address these challenges, Xsolla partnered with PRIVO last year to develop a robust suite of Parental Control tools.

“As a parent myself, it’s a super important initiative that we all need to address together within the industry as developers shift to become more direct-to-consumer focused,” he explains. “These compliance standards don’t just help parents manage that gaming experience and ensure that the developers provide a great experience, but meet those global standards and requirements that are needed in every country, in every region, that they want to distribute and sell in, and ultimately offer a great user experience and great gameplay.”

New Xsolla Parental Controls tools include age gating to protect minors from unauthorized transactions; guardian consent and real-time notifications and approval; a comprehensive transaction history; and spending limits. These tools are seamlessly integrated into the Payments dashboard, so developers can easily manage their compliance standards along with the rest of their web shop tools and services.

The new features will be demonstrated at upcoming game conferences to showcase all the ways these features solve key challenges – especially those that are often overlooked during the course of game development. That includes the need to ensure you have compliance measures in place for all player age groups, even if your game is specifically targeted toward adults, because younger players are undoubtedly playing your game too.

Xsolla Web Shop continues to gain traction

“We’ve been doing Web Shops for over three years, and we continuously upgrade our solution, our offering because of what we hear from our developer partners,” Egenes says. “Listening, getting into the room, with a lot of whiteboard conversations, we’ve designed a solution that meets the needs of any developer, no matter how big or small, wherever they’re located, to provide that quick setup and fully customized web shop.”

With Instant Web Shop, developers can quickly set up their online one-stop-shop for players, including features like personalization, promotions to enhance user engagement and revenue, and deep linking.

With LiveOps tools, developers can dig into A/B testing, and launch player favorites like featured offers, first-purchase offers, secret-shop promotions, coupons, promo codes and both time-limited and number-limited offers to help user engagement boom, facilitate the transition of players from the game to the web and back again, all with the goal of maximizing revenue streams. To cut costs without cutting quality, the low-code Xsolla Backend is an accessible, scalable way to build multi-player, cross-platform games faster and for less.

“Many of our partners have generated significant profits for their game that they’ll be able to reinvest into the game, additional patch updates or part two of their game, but then also able to apply that to the rest of their business for their mobile games,” he adds. “We’re seeing folks like our partners over at Tilting Point say that over 50% of their business comes from their Warhammer web shop.”

Xsolla is also seeing conversion rates skyrocket for customers offering these seamless player experiences. Because it’s so easy to log in and make repeat purchases, players are motivated to keep coming back for more. It’s easy for developers to keep store offerings fresh, and in return, players keep buying.

Opening up the Southeast Asia market

To help developers expand their reach around the world, Xsolla has turned its attention to the Southeast Asia market, including Cambodia and Indonesia, adding nearly 60 new payment methods to the 700-plus already in its roster.

“Some people may call it an emerging market. We call it an important market for us in engagement from the player perspective,” Egenes says. “We’re having more developers coming to us saying they want to engage and have players purchase their games from those countries, but be able to pay in their method of choice — covering over 90% of the payments market in each country we operate in.”

In Cambodia, the company has introduced eight new payment methods, such as internet banking options and digital wallets, covering up to 90% of the payments market and enabling game developers to reach nearly 2 million gamers in Cambodia.

In Indonesia, approximately 80% of consumers are unbanked or underbanked, and alternative payment methods (APMs) are the most preferred option. By integrating these APMs, such as e-wallets, bank transfers, cards and cash, as well as popular payment platforms, Xsolla covers up to 90% of the market.

“If you simplify the transaction process, then it removes the barriers, decreases cart abandonment and allows developers to reach more of those players and drive continuous growth in many of these vibrant markets around the world,” Egenes says.

Sponsored articles are content produced by a company that is either paying for the post or has a business relationship with VentureBeat, and they’re always clearly marked. For more information, contact sales@venturebeat.com.

Even though India isn’t at the forefront of the global AI innovation battle, demand for AI in the country is growing as businesses seek efficiencies and tech companies promote AI developments as a cure-all. The South Asian nation is projected to have an AI market touching $17 billion by 2027, according to a joint report by the IT industry body Nasscom and consulting firm BCG.

Neysa, an Indian startup led by seasoned tech entrepreneur Sharad Sanghi, aims to leverage this growth opportunity by offering its AI solutions to local and multinational businesses in the country.

The Mumbai-based startup provides AI and machine learning infrastructure and platform as a service to enterprise customers based on their requirements. It also includes dedicated machine learning operations and infrastructure consulting teams to help customers find the relevant size for their infrastructure, and to fine-tune or customize the models they choose.

Before founding Neysa with his former colleague Anindya Das in 2023, Sanghi spent over 27 years at his previous venture and data center provider, Netmagic, which Japan’s NTT Data acquired in 2016. He told TechCrunch that he intended to focus on cloud infrastructure and AI in 2022 but was unable to do so. He resigned as the managing director and CEO of Netmagic in June 2023 to start fresh with Neysa.

“I started at Neysa with a view of providing infrastructure as a service, platform as a service, inference as a service, the services layer around ML, as well as the platforms that we need for developers,” he said in an interview.

Neysa initially started as an infrastructure service provider and launched its flagship platform, Velocis, in July to provide on-demand access to computing infrastructure. However, it plans to expand the product lineup by launching its developer platform and inference-as-a-service before the year-end. The startup is also working on developing an “observability for better management” of its infrastructure and securing AI workloads, Sanghi said.

With its entire suite of offerings getting ready, Neysa is looking to compete with global hyperscalers, including the typical cloud service providers such as AWS, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure, as well as the new-age contenders like CoreWeave and Lambda Labs. Sanghi asserted that the startup differentiates from the existing players by offering “flexibility” in its models.

“We can offer both public cloud and private clusters. It’s also the open-source nature of our offering. All our platforms are built on open-source platforms… so there’s no lock-in for clients,” he stated.

The startup’s consultation service also aims to attract local businesses, which often find it challenging to get the appropriate infrastructure without spending thousands of dollars.

“Very often, clients come to us and say that they want so many GPUs… and when we really look at the requirement, they don’t need half the amount they had asked,” Sanghi said.

Neysa has raised $30 million in an all-equity Series A round co-led by its existing investors NTTVC, Z47 (formerly called Matrix Partners India), and Nexus Venture Partners. This follows up the startup’s $20 million seed round earlier this year.

The fresh funding, Sanghi said, will augment Neysa’s infrastructure, enhance its R&D, and broaden go-to-market. The funds will also set the base for the startup to launch its integrated Gen AI acceleration cloud service.

The startup currently has a headcount of 55 people, which it will grow by adding more engineers and staff to expand direct and indirect sales.

Neysa currently has around 12 paying customers and runs about six large proof-of-concepts. As much as 70 percent of its entire customer base has opted for the private cluster, while the remaining 30 percent is on a public cloud, Sanghi said.

While Sanghi didn’t disclose the names of Neysa’s customers, he said the startup caters to broadly three categories: research institutes, AI-native startups, and enterprise customers, initially in the banking, manufacturing, and media sectors.

Neysa’s current customer base is in India, though Sanghi said the startup does plan to enter global markets with its next round of funding — talks for which have already started, and it is expected to close in the next six to nine months.

He did not reveal the exact amount Neysa seeks to raise in its next round, though he stated that it would be “in an order of magnitude more than what we’ve currently raised.” The startup also plans to raise debt to fulfil the growing GPU and other infrastructure requirements.