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Apple and Google speak out against tech bills

The statements arrive before a Thursday Senate debate on an antitrust bill targeting the tech industry.

Apple sent a letter on Tuesday to Senate Judiciary Committee members warning against two antitrust bills that could impact the tech industry. Separately, Google released a blog post on Tuesday titled, «The harmful consequences of Congress’s anti-tech bills.» Apple’s letter and Google’s blog post arrive less than two days before a scheduled senate debate over S.2992, the American Innovation and Choice Online Act.

The legislation targets companies operating «covered platforms,» which essentially refers to a platform that has millions of monthly users and a market cap in the billions, and is a «critical trading partner for the sale or provision of any product or service offered on or directly related to the online platform.» One platform that would fall into this category is the App Store.

Right now, iPhone and iPad users can only access apps through the App Store. If S.2992 passes into law, iPhone users might be able to access third-party apps outside of the App Store. The letter from Apple details the privacy issues that could affect users by making it difficult for Apple to oversee the collection and management of user data by apps downloaded outside of the App Store. Apple wrote that the bills would let predators and scammers completely sidestep Apple’s protections.

«After a tumultuous year that witnessed multiple controversies regarding social media, whistleblower allegations of long-ignored risks to children and ransomware attacks that hobbled critical infrastructure, it would be ironic if Congress responds by making it much harder to protect the privacy and security of Americans’ personal devices,» Apple wrote.

Google’s blog post did not call out any bills by name. Instead, it referred to «anti-tech bills» and «antitrust law,» saying these measures could «break» online services like Google Search, Maps and Gmail. The post also detailed how the bills could degrade the security and privacy of Google services and harm US technological leadership.

The American Innovation and Choice Online Act was announced on October 14, 2021 and introduced by US Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Chuck Grassley.

«As dominant digital platforms — some of the biggest companies our world has ever seen — increasingly give preference to their own products and services, we must put policies in place to ensure small businesses and entrepreneurs still have the opportunity to succeed in the digital marketplace,» Sen. Klobuchar said.

The US Senate debate on the American Innovation and Choice Online Act is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 20, at 9 a.m. ET.

Technologies

The Final Supermoon of 2025 Is December’s Cold Moon

It’ll be earning its name as temperatures across the US are expected to be lower than average.

Your last chance to see a supermoon in 2025 is approaching quickly. December’s full moon is scheduled to appear on Dec. 4, exactly one week after Thanksgiving. Even if you don’t make plans to see it, you’ll probably see it anyway, as it’ll be the brightest thing in the night sky.


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December’s Cold Moon is the third of four consecutive supermoons and the last one of 2025. Supermoons tend to come in packs of four thanks to how the moon orbits the Earth. The orbit is elliptical, meaning the moon is closer during some months and farther away in others. When it’s close to Earth, it’s referred to as perigee, and full moons during perigee are considered supermoons. 

Since it is closer, the moon will be slightly bigger and brighter in the night sky. According to NASA, a supermoon is 14% larger and 33% brighter than a micro moon, which occurs during full moons when the moon is at its farthest point from Earth, a phenomenon known as apogee. Thus, it is the best time to view a full moon outside of special events like blood moons or lunar eclipses.

When is December’s full moon?

The Farmer’s Almanac reports that December’s full moon will take place on the evening of Dec. 4. It’ll reach peak illumination at 6:14 p.m. ET. Thanks to the recent daylight saving time change, it should be dark enough to see for most of the US, but if it isn’t, it’ll remain full all night. Those who can’t see it due to the weather can see a moon that is more than 90% full from Dec. 2-6. 

You won’t need any special equipment to see the moon, as it’ll be the brightest thing in the night sky by a wide margin. Those who want to see more detail can certainly use a telescope or binoculars if they choose, which will make the moon’s various craters and textures easier to see. 

December’s full moon is often referred to as the Cold Moon, as it typically occurs when the weather starts to become quite chilly. The moon is earning its name this time around, as a polar vortex is scheduled to hit the US during Thanksgiving and will stick around for a while afterward. The polar vortex will drive down temperatures in much of the US during the week of Dec. 1, so if you do go outside, make sure to bundle up. 

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Technologies

Anthropic’s New Claude Opus 4.5 AI Model Is Designed for Coding and Office Work

The new reasoning model can also power the Claude for Chrome AI browser extension.

Anthropic’s newest version of its most powerful generative AI model could upend how you manage your spreadsheets. The company said Claude Opus 4.5, announced Monday, is aimed at things you do on the job, like coding and office work.

Google unveiled its powerful new Gemini 3 model last week, and OpenAI released GPT-5.1 the week before. Now it’s Anthropic’s turn. The company, which is popular with businesses and software workers, said Opus 4.5 is focused on getting work done, not generating content.

Claude Opus 4.5 will be available everywhere and will be a default model for Pro (starting at $17/month), Max (starting at $100/month) and Enterprise users.

Opus 4.5 is built to produce documents, spreadsheets and presentations and can automate menial office tasks by using your computer and browser. That includes its deployment in Claude for Chrome, a browser extension that lets Claude do internet tasks for Max users.

This release puts all three Claude models in the 4.5 generation. Anthropic released Sonnet 4.5, its midlevel model, in September and Haiku 4.5, its smallest model, in October.

Advanced reasoning models like Opus are designed to handle complex, demanding tasks. While a smaller, cheaper large language model will provide an answer based on the probabilities in its training data, a reasoning model will rerun and refine its operations to get a better or more complete answer. This takes longer, but it means the AI can handle more difficult operations.

Reasoning models are particularly useful for complicated programming projects or intensive research. The downside is they are slower and more expensive to run, which is why companies often restrict them to paid plans or have strict limits on usage.

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Technologies

New Spotify Feature Pulls Playlists Straight From Other Music Services

Moving to Spotify used to mean manually recreating your playlists or relying on third-party tools. Now, it’s seamless.

I use Spotify for hours every single day: on commutes, while cooking, during workouts, when walking my dog. Essentially, whenever life grants me a spare minute, I’m streaming Spotify. But even with all that listening, I’ve always wished the app had an easy way to scoop up the playlists I’d built on other music services. I’d call myself a Spotify loyalist, but there are some songs, such as covers or live versions, that are only available on other platforms. 

Spotify finally delivered by recently rolling out a built-in feature that lets you import playlists from rival platforms directly into your library. 

Read also: You Can Have ChatGPT Make You a Spotify Playlist. But Why Would You?


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Spotify’s new playlist transfer feature

Spotify announced late last week that it’s launching a new «Import your music» option in its mobile app. This feature, powered by TuneMyMusic, enables listeners to seamlessly import entire playlists from competing services directly into their Spotify library. 

At launch, Spotify supports transfers from major platforms including Apple Music, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Tidal, Deezer, Pandora, SoundCloud and more. 

The original playlists remain intact. Spotify doesn’t delete or alter them from the source app when it makes a copy in your Spotify account. 

Read also: How to Find Your Spotify Wrapped All Year Round

Why this matters for Spotify users

  • No more rebuilding your playlists from scratch: Previously, moving to Spotify meant manually recreating your playlists or relying on third-party tools. With this integration, Spotify handles the heavy lifting.
  • Unlimited transfers: Unlike some free third-party services that limit the number of songs or playlists you can transfer, Spotify’s in-app solution supports unlimited transfers. 
  • Better personalization: Once your playlists are in Spotify, they feed directly into Spotify’s recommendation algorithms. That means personalized features like Daylist and Release Radar start getting smarter right away. 
  • More to do with your music: After importing, you can remix your playlists by inviting friends to collaborate, designing custom cover art or adding transitions between songs if you’re a Premium user. 

Read more: Spotify’s Recaps Feature Helps You Return to Audiobooks You’ve Already Started

How to transfer your playlists to Spotify

Here’s a quick how-to so you can bring your favorite playlists over:

  1. Open the Spotify mobile app on your phone.
  2. Go to Your Library.
  3. Scroll to the bottom. You should see a new option title, «Import your music». Tap that. 
  4. Follow the prompts to connect to TuneMyMusic. You’ll need to authenticate your account for the service you’re importing from. 
  5. Choose the platform you’re moving from (Apple Music, YouTube Music, SoundCloud, etc.).
  6. Select the playlists you want to import.
  7. From there, Spotify will copy them into your library. Once complete, you’ll find them in your Spotify «Playlists» list.
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