Technologies

Adobe and LinkedIn Are Teaming Up to Help Creators Verify Images’ Authenticity

The partnership allows the new Adobe content authenticity app to verify that a creator is who they say they are.

Adobe’s next step forward in its content authenticity efforts is here. The Adobe content authenticity app is now in public beta, available for anyone to try. With the app, you can attach content credentials to all your digital images and photos.

Content credentials are a kind of invisible digital signature that’s added after a project is finished. Right now, you can add them to images, with support for videos and audio coming soon. Besides your name, content credentials can include your social media handles, personal website and can disclose any AI usage. You can also use these credentials to signify that you don’t want your work to be used to train AI models.

One of the best parts about the app is that you don’t need a Creative Cloud subscription to use it. So even if you don’t want to pay for Adobe programs, you can quickly sign up for a free Adobe account and use the app to create content credentials and apply them to your digital work.

Creators who post their work online know that it’s all too easy for people to steal, misattribute or erase the original creator from a piece of work. That’s where the new partnership with LinkedIn comes in to give content credentials a little more security.

Currently, LinkedIn offers three types of verifications on its platform: identity, workplace and educational. You likely already have at least one if you’re a semiregular LinkedIn user. You can get a workplace verification by using your work email, or you can get an identity verification using a form of government-issued ID. LinkedIn’s new «Verified on LinkedIn» program will help people use these verifications in other corners of the internet. If you’re verified on LinkedIn, those credentials will appear in your Adobe content credentials account. You’ll also be able to apply your LinkedIn verifications on TrustRadius, G2 and UserTesting.

«Using Verified on LinkedIn, users will be able to use the verifications they’ve completed on LinkedIn to show who they are across the different online platforms they use, boosting trust, confidence and credibility,» Oscar Rodriguez, vice president of trust at LinkedIn, said in a statement.

When you’re inside the content authenticity app, you can batch apply credentials to up to 50 images at a time — a highly requested feature that came out of the private beta, Andy Parsons, senior director of content authenticity at Adobe, told CNET in an interview. You can also use the content credentials app to inspect tags added to other images. The content credential browser extension is also available, if you want the ability to view credentials wherever you scroll online.

Content provenance, or how we know where a piece of content originates, is more important than ever in the age of AI. The content credential app is the result of Adobe’s involvement with a larger group called the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity, or C2PA. The group advocates for an open technical standard to help people easily see where an image, video or another piece of content came from. Other members include Google, Meta and OpenAI — all heavyweights in the generative AI market. LinkedIn is now also joining, but its parent company, Microsoft, is a longtime member.

For more, check out our hands-on testing of the new Photoshop iPhone app and the fight between Adobe and creators over the future of AI.

Technologies

Adaptive Power in iOS 26 Is Boosting Your iPhone Battery in the Background

We all want more battery life in our phones, and a semi-hidden AI setting in the latest iPhone system is helping to achieve that.

Other Apple Intelligence features get all the attention, but in iOS 26 one of my favorite tools does its thing quietly in the background. On iPhone models that are capable of running Apple’s AI tech, the Adaptive Power setting is at work behind the scenes to extend battery power, even on many older iPhones.

Currently, the iPhone uses as much power as it needs to perform its tasks. You can extend battery life by taking a few simple steps, such as reducing screen brightness and disabling the always-on display. Or, if your battery is running low, you can turn on Low Power Mode, which limits background activity, like fetching mail and downloading data, and dims the screen to help extend battery life. Low Power Mode also kicks in automatically when the battery level reaches 20%.

If Low Power Mode is the hammer that knocks down power consumption, Adaptive Power is the scalpel that intelligently trims energy savings here and there as needed. Based on Apple’s description that accompanies the control, the savings will be felt mostly in power-hungry situations such as recording videos, editing photos or even playing games.

Apple says Adaptive Power takes about a week to analyze your usage behavior before it begins actively working. And it works in the background without needing any management on your part.

Here’s how Apple describes it in the iPhone user guide: «It uses on-device intelligence to predict when you’ll need extra battery power based on your recent usage patterns, then makes performance adjustments to help your battery last longer.»

Which iPhone models can use Adaptive Power?

The feature uses AI to monitor and choose when its power-saving measures should be activated, which means only phones compatible with Apple Intelligence get the feature. These are the models that have the option:

• iPhone 17
• iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max
• iPhone Air
• iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus
• iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max
• iPhone 16e
• iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max

Although some iPad and Mac models support Apple Intelligence, the feature is only available on iPhones.

How to turn Adaptive Power on

Adaptive Power is on by default on the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max and iPhone Air. For other models, you must opt in to use it. In iOS 26, you’ll find the Adaptive Power toggle in Settings > Battery > Power Mode. To be alerted when the feature is active, turn on the Adaptive Power Notifications option.

Adaptive Power sounds like an outgrowth of Gaming Mode, introduced in iOS 18, which routes all available processing and graphics power to the frontmost app and pauses other processes in order to deliver the best experience possible — at the notable expense of battery life.

What does this mean for your charging habits?

Although we all want as much battery life as possible all the time, judging by the description, it sounds as if Adaptive Power’s optimizations will not always be active, even if you leave the feature on. «When your battery usage is higher than usual» could include a limited number of situations. Still, considering that according to a CNET survey, 61% of people upgrade their phones because of battery life, a feature such as Adaptive Power could extend the longevity of their phones just by updating to iOS 26.

I also wonder whether slightly adjusting display brightness could be disruptive, but in my experience so far, it hasn’t been noticeable. Because the feature also selectively de-prioritizes processing tasks, the outward effects seem minimal. When it’s activated on my iPhone 16 Pro, the only indication was the Adaptive Power alert that appeared.

We’ll get a better idea about how well Adaptive Power works as more people adopt iOS 26 and start buying new iPhone models. Also, remember that shortly after installing a major software update, it’s common to experience worse battery life as the system optimizes data in the background; Apple went so far as to remind customers that it’s a temporary side effect.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Feb. 7, #972

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for Feb. 7 #972

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle is super-tricky. You’ll need to know your symbols to match them up accordingly. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Roll those bones.

Green group hint: Math time.

Blue group hint: A comma is one.

Purple group hint: Not uppercase.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Pips on a die.

Green group: Symbols used in arithmetic.

Blue group: Punctuation marks.

Purple group: Lowercase letters.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

First, here’s that grid full of symbols again.

And here are the answers, sorted into groups.

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is pips on a die. The four answers are five, four, three and two.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is symbols used in arithmetic. The four answers are divided by, equals, minus and plus.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is punctuation marks. The four answers are colon, ellipsis, period and quotation mark.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is lowercase letters. The four answers are I, L, T and X.

Technologies

Black Ops 7 Double XP Weekend and Free Trial Are Live Now

Whether you already own Black Ops 7 or you’re taking advantage of the free weekend, level up your account twice as fast during this double XP weekend.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 developer Treyarch is letting new players try the game for free this weekend with a new multiplayer free trial. Even if you haven’t bought Black Ops 7, you can try out the game’s Zombies and Multiplayer modes during this time. If you’re already knee-deep in the latest Call of Duty game, there’s still something to get excited over — a double XP weekend is running in tandem with the free weekend, letting you level up twice as fast as you cut down new and returning players.

The latest double XP weekend is live now, featuring a sole double account level XP boost this time around. This double XP weekend runs from Thursday, Feb. 5, to Monday, Feb. 9. Anyone playing Black Ops 7 during the event period has a universal double account XP earn rate applied to their account. If you log in now, you can hop into battle and reap the rewards of this double XP weekend right away.

Unlike other double XP weekends, this event doesn’t feature the Quad Feed boost. That means players won’t be able to benefit from all four customary double XP weekend boosts at the same time. Your double XP tokens will also be locked for the duration of the event.

Here’s everything you need to know about this double XP weekend. If you’re looking for something else to play, see our recommendations for the best game subscription services.

When does the double XP weekend start in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7?

This double XP weekend kicked off Thursday at 1 p.m. ET and is live now.

Not sure when the double XP weekend went live for you? Here’s when the event started in your time zone:

ET: Feb. 5 at 1 p.m.
CT: Feb. 5 at noon.
MT: Feb. 5 at 11 a.m.
PT: Feb. 5 at 10 a.m.

It’s always worth starting your game before your gaming session, if possible. As with every Black Ops 7 patch, the update will require you to download new content and restart the application.

When does the double XP weekend end in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7?

Some double XP «weekends» are much longer events, lasting five to seven days. The current double XP weekend isn’t nearly that long. This double XP weekend will end on Monday. Your double XP tokens will once again unlock after this time.

Here’s when the double XP weekend will end in your time zone:

ET: Feb. 9 at 1 p.m.
CT: Feb. 9 at noon.
MT: Feb. 9 at 11 a.m.
PT: Feb. 9 at 10 a.m.

Does Call of Duty Warzone have double XP this weekend?

Call of Duty Warzone has a double XP weekend running in tandem with Black Ops 7. That means Warzone players will also be able to benefit from this boost by leveling up their accounts, weapons and battle passes at twice the normal speed.

New players have a chance to level up the weapons they unlock from the new and improved Warzone Armory, and returning players can continue unlocking new attachments for the suite of Black Ops 7 weaponry added to Warzone.