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Dec 08, 2024
I've been finding myself consistently impressed by the experiences developers have managed to cram into the Playdate. It's not that I expected little of the handheld and its potential offerings when I first impulsively pre-ordered it way back when, but I guess I didn't really know what to expect beyond the crank-focused games Panic first teased ahead of its release, which seemed geared toward short bursts of play. Over the past few months, I've played lots of those and thoroughly enjoyed them, but I've also spent hours solving puzzles and exploring intricate maps in games with a surprising amount of substance. Echo: The Oracle's Scroll, which recently came to the Playdate Catalog, may be one of the best yet.
Created by developer bumbleborn, Echo: The Oracle's Scroll is a metroidvania, but don't let that scare you off if combat isn't your thing; it's non-violent, putting the emphasis instead on tricky platforming, puzzles and finding your way around sprawling caverns. The map feels huge for a Playdate game — there over 250 rooms spread between its four levels, according to the developer.
In Echo: The Oracle's Scroll, a sickness known as the Blight threatened to wipe out all life, forcing the inhabitants of three kingdoms to escape underground. Humans live on the bottom-most level, in a kingdom called Bottomrock. As the child protagonist of the game,
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Dec 08, 2024
As spotted by a Reddit user this weekend, Panic is now selling a macaroni yellow charging brick to go with the yellow cable that comes with the distinctively yellow Playdate. Say yellow again. The good news for anyone who wants a complete set of matching accessories is that it's only $5 — the bad news is that shipping costs almost double that at its cheapest, so it's kind of hard to justify buying on its own.
Also note that the 10W power adapter has a USB-A connection so it'll work with your existing Playdate charging cable, but it's otherwise kind of behind the times considering the general shift toward the USB-C connection. At the moment, Panic is only selling a version that's compatible with the 2-prong plug type that's standard in North America and Japan. It goes without saying that absolutely no one needs this — our Playdates have been charging just fine without it so far — but if you're already on the site
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Dec 08, 2024
Apple is being sued by victims of child sexual abuse over its failure to follow through with plans to scan iCloud for child sexual abuse materials (CSAM), The New York Times reports. In 2021, Apple announced it was working on a tool to detect CSAM that would flag images showing such abuse and notify the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. But the company was hit with immediate backlash over the privacy implications of the technology, and ultimately abandoned the plan.
The lawsuit, which was filed on Saturday in Northern California, is seeking damages upwards of $1.2 billion dollars for a potential group of 2,680 victims, according to NYT. It claims that, after Apple showed off its planned child safety tools, the company "failed to implement those designs or take any measures to detect and limit" CSAM on its devices, leading to the victims' harm as the images continued to circulate. Engadget has reached out to Apple for comment.
In a statement to The New York Times about the lawsuit,
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Dec 08, 2024
On Saturday, a new image generator called Aurora became available for some Grok users, many of whom shared the tool's results on X touting their photorealism. But as of Sunday afternoon, Aurora appears to be gone. While it briefly showed up as an option in Grok's model selection menu as "Grok 2 Aurora (beta)," it's since been replaced with "Grok 2 Flux (beta)." It looks like Aurora may have gone public before it was meant to. In a tweet replying to one user who shared images of Tesla's Cybertruck created with Aurora, Elon Musk said, "This is our internal image generation system. Still in beta, but it will improve fast."
1. Ray Romano and @AdamSandler on a sitcom set pic.twitter.com/2V491RdjMF
— Matt (@EnsoMatt) December 7, 2024
It comes a few days after X made Grok 2 free to use, albeit with limitations for non-paying users. Grok's previous image generator has been called out for lacking certain restrictions around the types of content it can produce, like offensive images of politicians and celebrities, and Auror
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Dec 08, 2024
Apple and Sony have quietly been working on bringing PlayStation VR2 controller support to the Apple Vision Pro, Mark Gurman reports in the Power On newsletter. Gaming isn't exactly the Vision Pro's strong suit, thanks in part to the fact that it doesn't support typical VR controllers. But Apple has reportedly approached Sony in hopes to remedy that. According to Gurman, the two partnered up earlier this year, and Sony has been working on the project for months.
Apple and Sony planned to have support for PS VR2's Sense controllers ready by now, but the launch has been delayed as they iron out a few issues, Gurman notes — like the fact that Sony doesn't produce and sell the controllers separately from its headset at the moment. Barring a scenario in which the project is "abruptly scrapped," though, Gurman reports that we should still expect to see it happen. The ability to use Sony's controllers with the Vision Pro headset would bring benefits beyond its gaming potential too, allowing for more precise input for tasks like media editing than is currently possible with its eye and gesture-based controls.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/apple-vision-pro-could-soon-work-with-playstation-vr2-controllers-161547953.html?src=rss
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Dec 07, 2024
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on Friday said it has ordered federal supervision of Google Payment Corp. after determining that it meets the legal requirements for such oversight. The CFPB monitors banks, credit unions and other financial institutions, and recently finalized a rule to supervise digital payment apps. In the order, which focuses on the Google Pay app and its peer-to-peer (P2P) payment service (discontinued in the US earlier this year), the CFPB said it has "reasonable cause to determine that Google has engaged in conduct that poses risks to consumers." Google filed a lawsuit shortly after the announcement to challenge the decision,
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Dec 07, 2024
Senators Richard Blumenthal and Marsha Blackburn announced on Saturday that they've made changes to the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) with help from X to "strengthen the bill while safeguarding free speech online and ensuring it is not used to stifle expression." The Senate passed the bill in July with a vote of 91-3, but it's since stalled in the House, and its proponents are pushing for it to be passed before the end of the year. X's CEO Linda Yaccarino also posted about the collaboration, and called for Congress and the House to pass the bill.
"After working with the bill authors, I'm proud to share that we've made progress to further protect freedom of speech while maintaining safety for minors online," Yaccarino wrote in a post on X that was shared by the two senators. KOSA is meant to protect minors from "addictive" social media features and potentially dangerous content by placi
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Dec 07, 2024
New releases in fiction, nonfiction and comics that caught our attention this week.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/what-to-read-this-weekend-family-dysfunction-at-the-end-of-the-world-and-the-woman-who-challenged-victorian-medicine-200144632.html?src=rss
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Dec 07, 2024
A new game mode called Ballistic is coming to Fortnite in early access on December 11, bringing a 5v5 tactical first-person shooter experience. In Ballistic mode, one team will be tasked with planting a Rift Point Device — which will detonate 45 seconds after it's placed — and the other team will have to stop that from happening. There will be one map (Skyline 10) to start and a limited selection of weapons and items, but more will be added down the line in "major updates" to come, according to a Fortnite blog post.
"Ballistic is a no-build mode," the Fortnite team says. "All saved presets from your Locker will carry over into Ballistic, which supports existing Fortnite Outfits, Back Blings, Kicks, Wraps, Sprays, and Emotes! Pickaxes, Contrails, Instruments, Vehicles, and Jam Tracks are not used/supported." If you get taken out during a round, you won't be able to respawn. But, you'll come back in the next round. The teams' roles will swap after six rounds, and the match will end once one team has won seven rounds. You'll be able to play Ranked or Unranked.
Ballistic mode will be available everywhere you can play Fortnite, except in South Korea and Russia, but the team says it's "working to make Ballistic available in both regions." Since it's early access, players' feedback will be used to improve the experience as it expands.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/fortnite-is-getting-a-5v5-first-person-shooter-mode-162200195.html?src=rss
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Dec 07, 2024
Spotify's 2024 Wrapped results arrived this week, and while the whole package seems a bit thin compared to previous years, we're still getting a kick out of seeing our listening habits laid bare. Apple Music also dropped its annual Replay, and Tidal's 2024 Rewind has landed, so non-Spotify users have some data to pore over too. For those among us who don't use any of the big streaming apps, well, it's still a nice time to reflect on personal favorites from this year.
Here are some of the Engadget team's most listened-to songs, artists and albums in 2024 (and how we feel about those picks).
Spotify Wrapped
I hate to add to the list because of all the controversy around Spotify recently, but I have to say that the layoffs at the company do seem to have impacted how accurate I found my Wrapped report to be. While I certainly have listened to a lot of Ariana Grande in 2024 (I even wrote about it for our site!), I felt that the sections on what I was listening to in August were inaccurate. According to Spotify I was vibing to Rose and Bruno Mars' APT in August, but didn't that song get release
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Dec 06, 2024
Now you've got one less thing you have to fish for in your pocket or purse at the airport. Starting today, Google Wallet can carry a digital copy of your US passport and use them at Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) checkpoints.
If you want to add your passport to Google's virtual wallet, first you'll need to download the Google Wallet app and log into your account or create one. Check the prompt "create an ID pass with your US passport" and follow the instructions. The app will ask you to take a video selfie to verify your identity and scan the security chip in your passport. It should only take a few minutes for Google to confirm your identity.
Your digital passport won't work at every airport. Currently, there are 27 states (and Puerto Rico) with at least one airport that accepts digital forms of identification. The TSA website can show you which states and airports accept digital IDs.
Google has been testing the use and storage of digital passports in Google Wallet for some time. Several states have started accepting digital IDs just in the last few months. New Mexico is the newest state to accept digital IDs including driver's licenses and state IDs in Apple Wallet and Google Wallet.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/google-wallet-can-now-hold-your-us-passport-215133683.html?src=rss
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Dec 06, 2024
SpaceX completed its first Starlink direct-to-cell satellite constellation this week. On Wednesday, the company launched 20 satellites aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, 13 of which can communicate directly with cell phones without extra equipment.
The completed constellation follows the FCC's approval of a deal between SpaceX and T-Mobile last week. The companies announced the partnership in 2022, touting plans for a future where phones can be connected to the world even in the middle of the ocean. SpaceX says the satellite constellation acts "like a cellphone tower in space, allowing network integration similar to a standard roaming partner."
On Thursday, SpaceX posted on X that the direct-to-cell satellites will "immediately connect over laser backhaul to the Starlink constellation, eliminate dead zones and provide peace of mind when customers need it
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Dec 06, 2024
It seems increasingly likely that Apple's fourth-generation iPhone SE will feature the first 5G modem the company has built in-house. A new report from Bloomberg both confirms earlier reporting from 9to5Mac and clarifies that Apple's first modem won't be quite as capable as the chips the company is trying to leave behind.
The new modem, reportedly called "Sinope" won
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Dec 06, 2024
The first Escape Simulator solved the biggest problem with VR puzzle games. Once you've solved everything, the game's over. Unless you can erase specific memories a la Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind style, there's zero replayability.
Pine Studio's Escape Simulator added a custom builder mode where the community could build and share their own escape rooms with other players. Since the Internet has some of the most imaginative and insane minds on the planet creating custom games for the world, Escape Simulator is one of the few virtual puzzle games that you can keep playing. Now, Escape Simulator 2 is heading our way on Steam, and it's got some new and potentially cool worlds to get stuck in by yourself or with friends.
Escape Simulator 2 has some impressive-looking environments that can hold up to eight players at once. So far, the game will have 12 brand new escape rooms. A new trailer that dropped today shows three of the new escape room environments including a stranded spaceship, Count Dracula's castle and a cursed pirate ship.
The room editor mode also has a bunch of new toys, props and tools to create puzzles for the game's growing community of escape addicts. Pine Studio also announced that Escape Simulator 2's custom room maker has "a brand new lighting engine, building constructor and animation editor," according to a press release. There's no release date or price yet, but there's a Steam page for the game up right now.
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Dec 06, 2024
Is your weekend a bit bare-bones? Here's something that could entertain you for a minute or two. The chatbot Grok-2 is now free for everyone to fool around with on X. We knew this was coming and, well, now it's here. Grok it up baby.
There are some limitations for those who don't want to plunk down $8 (or more) each month for X Premium. The free tier only allows for ten messages in each two-hour period. There's also a hard cap on image analysis, at three requests per day. This Grok-2 beta will now be the only game in X town, as it's replacing the pre-existing Grok-2 mini chatbot.
It is very limited:
Can analyze 3 images a day
Can do 10 messages per 2 hours including images
X has also removed Grok 2 mini.
You can now only make queries to grok 2. pic.twitter.com/pHWsaLgewk
— ??? (@blankspeaker) December 6, 2024
Look. Grok isn't the most advanced chatbot on the planet. All LLMs make mistakes, but Grok is particularly prone to them. It says right on the chat page that users
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Dec 06, 2024
Meta's aggressive push to make its AI assistant a ubiquitous presence in its apps continues to pay off. Meta AI is on the verge of passing its next major milestone, with "nearly" 600 million monthly users, Mark Zuckerberg shared in an update. Meta AI, which debuted last fall, passed 500 million users back in October.
The update came alongside the release of Meta's latest Llama 3.3 70B model. According to Meta, the latest text model has "similar performance to the Llama 3.1 405B model," but comes "at a fraction of the cost." Ahmad Al-Dahle, VP of generative AI at Meta posted a chart on X that showed Llama 3.3 scored higher on several benchmarks compared with Google's Gemini Pro 1.5 and OpenAI's GPT-4o.
— Ahmad Al-Dahle (@Ahmad_Al_Dahle)
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Dec 06, 2024
There's a new TMNT game in town, and it's unlike anything the franchise has attempted before. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown, as the name suggests, is a turn-based strategy RPG. This means that players will control characters on a grid-based map, with each turn representing movement or an action of some sort.
There's one thing that sets this game apart from its SRPG cousins. Battles take "minutes" to complete, which is a far cry from the time-consuming affairs found in games like Unicorn Overlord. From the trailer, the fights look even zippier than the Mario Rabbids series. Also, players control each turtle independently on a solo campaign before teaming up to take on a boss.
The graphics look cartoony and on-brand, bringing to mind a tabletop session with D&D miniatures. It looks like all of the turtle's favorite hang out spots are represented here, from the sewers to the NYC subway system. This could be a neat way to bring new players into the genre.
Paramount Game Studios
This is a unique entry in the TMNT franchise, but it's also a new type of game for developer Scaffold Games. This is the compan
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Dec 06, 2024
Three judges shot down ByteDance's petition to overturn a law that could ban TikTok in the US. On Friday, The New York Times reported that the judges upheld the new law, which requires the company to sell the app to a non-Chinese company by January 19 or face a ban.
ByteDance argued that the law unfairly targets TikTok and that a ban would violate users' First Amendment rights. The company has said a sale is impossible because the Chinese government would block it. In 2020, the country updated export control rules to give it more say over a potential transaction.
In a statement to Engadget, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) said it was disappointed in the decision. "Restricting the free flow of information, even from foreign adversaries, is fundamentally undemocratic," an EFF spokesperson wrote. "Until now, the U.S. has championed the free flow of information and called out other nations when they have shut down internet access or banned online communications tools like social media apps."
ByteDance's options from here include appealing to the US Supreme Court (although there's no guarantee they would take the case) or hoping President-elect Donald Trump follows through on a vague promise to "deliver" on a plan to save the app. ByteDance suggest
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Dec 06, 2024
Donald Trump has picked a crypto bull to advise him on AI and cryptocurrency policy. On Thursday evening, the president-elect took to Truth Social to share that he was appointing former PayPal COO David Sacks to serve as his "White House A.I. & Crypto Czar." Trump said Sacks would also lead the Presidential Council of Advisors for Science and Technology.
"David will guide policy for the Administration in Artificial Intelligence and Cryptocurrency, two areas critical to the future of American competitiveness. David will focus on making America the clear global leader in both areas," Trump wrote, adding Sacks would "safeguard Free Speech online, and steer us away from Big Tech bias and censorship."
As an appointee to one of the president's advisory councils, Sacks does not need to go through the usual Senate confirmation process required for cabinet picks and federal agency leads. Sacks does not have previous government experience. Trump instead highlighted his business credentials, pointing to his tenure at PayPal and later Yammer, which Sacks founded in 2008 and Microsoft acquired in 2012 for $1.2 billion. Sacks is also a close confidant of Elon Musk and provided part of the funding Musk used to buy Twitter for $44 billion in 2022. Sacks has broadly advocated for smaller government and less regulation, though he also pushed hard for the Biden administration to intervene when Silicon Valley Bank became insolvent in 2023.
— Sam Altman (@sama)
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Dec 06, 2024
Google has delivered a surprise holiday gift to folks with a Pixel 6, Pixel 7 or Pixel Fold. The company says it will give those devices two extra years of OS upgrades. The handsets were originally slated to get three years of OS updates and five years of security patches, but now it's five for each, starting from when the devices first hit the Google Store in the US.
As the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro debuted in October 2021, Android 15 was slated to be the last big OS update for those smartphones. However, they'll now get an extra two years of fresh features, giving them an extended lease on life. The move might work against Google's business interests to a degree, as it could dissuade those who are clinging onto a Pixel 6, 6a, 6 Pro, 7, 7a, 7 Pro or Fold from upgrading anytime soon.
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Dec 06, 2024
Riot just announced a trading card game (TCG) based on League of Legends. It's called Project K and looks like a whole lot of fun. The cards look exquisitely-drawn and pull from IPs throughout the wider LoL universe, including the Netflix hit Arcane.
Project K is not a physical version of the pre-existing digital card game Legends of Runeterra, though it does use some characters and locations from that one. It's a brand-new thing that the creators say is designed "for everyone who loves card games, collecting and connecting with friends across the table."
To that end, there are multiple game modes to suit different types of players. Like many trading card games, players can form unique decks that encourage particular playstyles. For instance, a Jinx deck, from Arcane, is useful for causing "as much mayhem as possible." That's kind of her whole thing.
If this seems familiar, that's because Riot teased a card game for China earlier this year, called Rune Battleground. This looks like it could be the very same game, based on some of the art accompanying the back of the cards as seen in both trailers.
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Dec 06, 2024
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are in the rear-view mirror, but some of the better deals from the onslaught of sales are still available. Both PlayStation 5 consoles are still $75 off, for instance, while the
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Dec 06, 2024
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are in the rearview mirror, but you can still find great deals this holiday season. Case in point: Apple's AirPods 4 with active noise cancellation (ANC) have dropped to their lowest price to date. You can pick up a pair for $139, which is $40 off the list price.
While we think the AirPods Pro 2 are the best AirPods overall, the ANC-enabled AirPods 4 are still a solid choice. We gave them a score of 86 in our review.
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Dec 06, 2024
Google Photos just unveiled a yearly recap feature, which is a play on stuff like Spotify Wrapped and PlayStation Wrap-Up. This is a highlight reel of notable photos culled from the entire year, along with "fun graphics and cinematic effects." I can't wait to see snazzed-up photos of my cats.
In addition to random graphics and effects, the system will also generate captions to help denote two important events from the year for each user. These captions will be generated by Gemini, though users have to opt in. Google gave us examples of attending a wedding and taking a trip to Seoul.
Google
The Recap feature will even provide "insights" in the form of tidbits about a particular user's photo-taking habits. This could detail anything from a favorite color to the person a user smiles the most with. Google also promises that Recap will detail a user's "2024 vibes." The vibes of 2024? Yikes.
Just like rival yearly recap tools, folks can easily share everything to social media platforms. There's also a little bit of a competitive element here, as each link will include data as to a particular user's longest photo streak. Nothing creates more bragging rights than saying "you only took 560 photos this year, whereas I took 570."
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Dec 06, 2024
As part of a deal it struck with Microsoft last year, iFixit has started selling genuine Xbox parts and offering repair guides, according to changes on its Microsoft Repair Hub spotted by The Verge. It now offers parts for Xbox Series S and X (digital and disk drive) models ranging from cases to power supplies to motherboards, along with toolkits, thermal paste and more.
iFixit announced its partnership with Microsoft in 2023 when it began offering official replacement parts for Microsoft Surface laptops. As part of that, it offered disassembly videos and step-by-step guides to help simplify relatively complex repairs.
It's doing the same with Xbox, showing guides on replace motherboards for each console, detailing each step and providing a list of parts and tools required. Motherboard repair, for instance, requires 29 steps for installation along with additional steps to reassemble everything. However, so far, the company hasn't released any videos as it did for Surface devices.
iFixit has similar agreements with other tech giants, offering replacement parts for Google Pixel tablets and Google Pixel Fold devices. If also works with accessory manufacturer Logitech, offering repair parts for two of its
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Dec 06, 2024
Last week, Brazil's antitrust regulator CADE ordered Apple to allow users to download apps and make purchases from outside its App Store, with a 20-day deadline and fines for not complying. Now, a Brazilian federal court has overturned that injunction, ruling that it was "disproportionate and unnecessary," 9to5Mac reported.
Cade ordered Apple to allow third-party developers to tell users about alternative ways to make in-app purchases (subscriptions, etc.) so developers wouldn't be forced to pay Apple a commission. It also demanded that Apple open up its ecosystem to other stores or allow sideloading. If Apple didn't comply within 20 days, it faced a fine of 250,000 Real (around $43,000) per day.
Apple appealed that ruling on the grounds that the changes would be too difficult to implement within that time frame and the court agreed. "[The] technical complexity of the changes and the global regulatory impacts in similar decision in other regions, such as the European union, reinforce the need for such changes to be discussed in greater depth," a judge ruled.
CADE began investigation following a complaint by local e-commerce company Mercado Libre, which accused Apple of anticompetitive behavior. The regulator can appeal the ruling and still force Apple to comply.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/brazilian-judge-overturns-ruling-that-forced-apple-to-open-up-its-store-130039766.html?src=rss
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Dec 06, 2024
Google DeepMind has just revealed Genie 2, a world-modelling AI capable of creating 3D worlds and sustaining those environments for significantly longer. Genie 2 isn't a game engine. It's a diffusion model that generates images as the player (either a human being or another AI agent) moves through the world the software is simulating. All it needs to start is a single image prompt either generated by AI or from a real-world photo.
There are limitations: DeepMind says the model can generate "consistent" worlds for up to 60 seconds, with the majority of the examples the company shared on Wednesday running for significantly less time — most videos are between 10 to 20 seconds long. Image quality also softens and comes undone the longer Genie 2 needs to maintain the illusion of a consistent world.
— Mat Smith
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The biggest tech stories you missed
Overwatch 2 will test 6v6 role queue matches starting December 17
Android's latest round of AI features improves accessibility, file sharing and more
Samsung's One UI 7 is out in beta, and it's chock full of security features
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Dec 06, 2024
Let's be honest: shopping for a gaming monitor can feel like wading through mud. As soon as you decide to buy a display for gaming instead of regular productivity use, a whole host of new considerations come into the equation. Should you go for an LCD or OLED monitor? What about the differences between NVIDIA G-Sync and AMD FreeSync? How about refresh rates?
Those are just some of the questions this guide aims to answer. In the process, my hope is to help you find the perfect gaming monitor for your budget.
Best gaming monitors for 2024
How we test gaming monitors
While I've not used every product recommended in our list, I have extensively tested dozens of ga
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Dec 05, 2024
If you've been on the fence about buying the urban landscape sim Cities: Skyline II (and given the response following its launch, who could blame you?), here's your chance to take it for a free test run. Paradox Interactive announced on Bluesky that players can play the city building game for free for a limited time.
Cities: Skylines II is available to play from now until December 9. The free version is available to download and play for free on Steam and GeForce NOW.
Colossal Order and Paradox's sequel to its hit city construction experience got off to a very rocky start more than a year ago. Despite having a dedicated base of fans who provided a lot of insight into the development of Cities: Skylines II, the response to its release was far from positive.
Fans were upset that Cities
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Dec 05, 2024
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle has no business being as entertaining as it is. Outside of the superhero genre, there aren't many high-quality licensed games out there, and this one comes with decades of film lore to live up to. And, frankly, it's a little bit of a mess on Xbox Series S. Some of its scenes are stunning, but it's also infested with resolution issues, mechanical glitches and silly animation bugs. In most other games, the combination of these problems would make me throw down the controller and uninstall.
And yet, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is endlessly endearing. The game's tone is pitch-perfect, it offers moments of earnest beauty and Troy Baker's Harrison Ford impersonation is a treat to witness, let alone embody. In fact, every actor in the game is fabulous, and its writing, audio and direction feel like classic Spielberg and Lucas fare — but this time it's all in first-person, interactive form, courtesy of Wolfenstein studio MachineGames.
I can't speak highly enough of the writing in The Great Circle. Indy feels like an authentic extension of the film character, and his sassy remarks and dad-like frustration spill out in hilarious bursts throughout the game. His companion, Gina, is just as witty, mysterious and independent as Dr. Jones himself, expertly portrayed by actor Alessandra Mastronardi. The main bad boy, a Nazi archaeologist named Emmerich Voss (played by Marios Gavrilis), is supremely unsettling as he manipulates his troops and monologues at his captors, every word dripping with a dark sense of
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Dec 05, 2024
California is introducing new requirements aimed at protecting young passengers traveling alone in taxis and rideshares. The California Public Utilities Commission is requiring drivers to pass a fingerprint background check in order to provide a ride to an unaccompanied minor. According to TechCrunch, transit companies will also be responsible for the cost of these background checks. Companies will have 30 days to comply with this policy.
This ruling will mostly impact Uber, which began rolling out teen accounts last year and added further safety features to the accounts this year. Uber for Teens, which allows minors between the ages of 13 and 17 to hail a ride without their parent or guardian present, although an adult has to provide consent for the teen to use the app.
Uber has historically pushed back against fingerprinting drivers, arguing that
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Dec 05, 2024
Nightdive Studios, the developer behind remasters of Star Wars: Dark Forces and System Shock 2, have surprise-launched a remaster of 2002 cult-hit The Thing. The upgraded game is available now for PC, Xbox One and Series X/S, PlayStation 4 and 5, Nintendo Switch, and to stream through NVIDIA GeForce Now.
Originally developed by Computer Artworks, The Thing is a third-person shooter that acts a direct sequel to John Carpenter's 1984 film The Thing, following a United States Special Forces team that's sent into the film's arctic base to investigate what happened there. Outside the source material, the game is best known for its trust, fear, and infection systems. How you play can impact whether in-game characters trust you, think you're The Thing or turn into The Thing themselves.
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Dec 05, 2024
NASA announced a new schedule for its upcoming Artemis missions to send astronauts to the moon. This is the second delay to these crewed missions after NASA's postponed the timeline in January of this year. The agency said it now aims to launch the Artemis 2 mission in April 2026, as well as pushing back the Artemis 3 mission to mid-2027.
The delay was partly caused by issues with the Orion spacecraft's heat shield during the uncrewed Artemis 1 test flight. During that mission, charred material on the heat shield wore away in an unexpected manner. Data from inside the capsule showed that if crew had been present during that flight, the temperatures would still have been safe even though the heat shield performed differently to expectations. But that's the sort of thing you don't want to take chances with once astronauts are aboard.
"Victor, Christina, Jeremy and I have been following every aspect of this decision and we are thankful for the openness of NASA to weigh all options and make decisions in the best interest of human spaceflight," said Reid Wiseman, the NASA astronaut who will head the Artemis II mission. "We are excited to fly Artemis 2 and continue paving the way for sustained human exploration of the Moon and Mars." The other three Arte
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Dec 05, 2024
What happens when you combine the satiric spirit of filmmaker Mel Brooks and cram into a parody of the galaxy exploring No Man's Sky? You get something like Journey to the Savage Planet, a funny, world conquering blaster fest that proves Ian Malcolm's chaos theory of colonization while also providing a healthy dose of good, ol' fashioned fart jokes.
Unfortunately, the game's original studio Typhoon Studios got swallowed up and spat out when Google closed down its Stadia Games and Entertainment division and all of its studios in 2019. Fortunately for us, some of those developers got back together, formed a new outfit called Raccoon Logic, raised some investment money from Tencent and took back the rights to their game for a brand new adventure.
A sequel called Revenge of the Savage Planet is on its way to PC, Xbox Series X/S and PS5 in May of next year and a trailer just popped up during the PC Gaming Show.
Revenge of the Savage Planet appears to be sticking to its roots as a comedy adventure game about ruthless corporations battling the forces of nature across the galaxy for more territory it can call its own. The trailer features the return of Martin Tweed, the ruthless CEO of Kindred Technologies. There's also a new FMV character in the trailer called Gunther Harrison, another ruthless CEO from a rival corporation called Alta Interglobal, who looks like a cross between Megamind
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Dec 05, 2024
New Mexico is joining states like California and Ohio in supporting digital driver's licenses and state IDs in Apple Wallet and Google Wallet. New Mexico residents are still required by law to carry their physical IDs for law enforcement and age-verification use, but at businesses and TSA checkpoints that have adopted New Mexico's NM Verifier app, you'll be able to tap your smartphone rather than pull out a card.
Digital licenses can be added to Apple and Google's apps now by scanning the front and back of your physical ID, capturing a scan of your face and submitting your digital application to be verified. Once added, digi
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Dec 05, 2024
Brendan Greene is largely credited with making the iconic PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, also known as PUBG, and inventing the entire battle royale genre. We knew he left PUBG's publisher to form an independent studio back in 2021, but now we know what he's been working on the past few years.
His studio, PlayerUnknown Productions, is prepping a handful of titles, which it refers to as "an ambitious three-game plan." First up, there's Prologue: Go Wayback!, which is described as "a single-player open-world emergent game within the survival genre." It uses the developer's "in-house machine-learning-driven terrain generation technology" to create "millions of maps." These maps are also easy on the eyes, as seen below.
PlayerUnknown Productions
We don't know much about the gameplay, beyond the description and the aforementioned terrain generation technology. However, it's available to wishlist right now on Steam. The company says it'll launch as an early access title sometime in the first half of next year, following a series of playtests.
There's also a nifty-looking tech demo
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Dec 05, 2024
Get ready to have that Will Smith song stuck in your head for the rest of the day because the autonomous taxi company Waymo is going to Miami. Yeah, sorry about that.
Waymo announced its plans to Miami on its official Waypoint blog. The expansion will start early next year as the company gets its fleet of self-driving Jaguar I-PACE EVs familiar with Miami's streets and intersections. Then in 2026, Waymo plans to start offering rides to customers through the Waymo One app.
Waymo is also partnering with the African startup Moove as part of its expansion plans. Moove provides vehicles for ride-sharing services. Waymo wants Moove to manage its "fleet operations, facilities and charging infrastructure" first in Phoenix and eventually in Miami.
The Waymo One app currently operates in parts of San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Austin, according to Google support. Waymo secured $5.6 billion in funding in October to expand to Austin and Atlanta by the early part of next year.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/waymo-announces-its-expanding-to-miami-204504533.html?src=rss
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Dec 05, 2024
Threads' latest test could help creators and others understand more about how their posts are performing on the platform. The company is testing an expanded version of its analytics feature, which will show users stats for specific posts, Adam Mosseri said in an update.
Up to now, Threads has had an "insights" feature, but it showed aggregated stats for all posts, so it was hard to discern which posts were performing well. Now, insights will be able to surface detailed metrics around specific posts, including views and interactions. It will also break down performance among followers and non-followers.
"Now that your posts will be shown to more people who follow you, it's especially important to understand what's resonating with your existing audience," Mosseri wrote. Threads recently updated its highly criticized "for you" algorithm to surface more posts from accounts you follow, rather than random unconnected accounts.
The change could also address criticism from creators on Threads, who have said they often
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Dec 05, 2024
World models — AI algorithms capable of generating a simulated environment in real-time — represent one of the more impressive applications of machine learning. In the last year, there's been a lot of movement in the field, and to that end, Google DeepMind announced Genie 2 on Wednesday. Where its predecessor was limited to generating 2D worlds, the new model can create 3D ones and sustain them for significantly longer.
Genie 2 isn't a game engine; instead, it's a diffusion model that generates images as the player (either a human being or another AI agent) moves through the world the software is simulating. As it generates frames, Genie 2 can infer ideas about the environment, giving it the capability to model water, smoke and physics effects — though some of those interactions can be very gamey. The model is also not limited to rendering scenes from a third-person perspective, it can also handle first-person and isometric viewpoints. All it needs to start is a single image prompt, provided either by Google's own Imagen 3 model or a picture of something from the real world.
These types of large-scale foundation world models could enable future agents to be trained and evaluated in an endless number of virtual environments. ?… pic.twitter.com/qHCT6jqb1W
— Google DeepMind (@GoogleDeepMind) Decembe
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Dec 05, 2024
A new season starts for Overwatch 2 next week, but one of the special modes we'll be getting in the near future is a throwback to the past. For a limited time during season 14, there will be a 6v6 role queue mode, bringing back the original game's composition of two tanks, two damage and two support. This mode will be available from December 17 through January 6.
The switch to five players on a team when Overwatch 2 launched was one of the more controversial choices at the time, we heard rumblings recently that Blizzard might walk back the decision. The current season included a full-on nostalgia trip mode where you could play 6v6 with only the original heroes as they were designed at launch. Yes, back in the days of self-healing Bastion mowing down everybody and Mercy undoing it all with full-team rez. The season 14 approach to 6v6 will be for the heroes as they exist now, with the current balance design in full effect. Blizzard said in October that they would explore how the community felt about the increased team size and consider if six-player teams should have more of a presence in the live game based on the player reactions.
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Dec 05, 2024
Gearheads, rejoice! Forza Motorsport for PC is getting a graphics update on Monday that adds a new realistic lighting system to the game. Nvidia announced that Ray-Traced Global Illumination (RTGI) will be part of the PC-only upgrade for Turn 10's driving simulator.
RTGI simulates how light interacts with surfaces in a virtual environment to create more realistic looking images. The upgrade for Forza Motorsport on PC will be able to create "more accurate indirect lighting and occlusion across tracks and cars in real-time, amping up visual fidelity and realism," according to Nvidia's post.
The new RTGI lighting will be applied across all modes, cinematics and features in Forza Motorsport for PC. You'll be able to take super sleek photos of your McLaren 720S Spider executing a perfect power slide in Photo Mode, marvel at your favorite cars in your H
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Dec 05, 2024
OpenAI kicked off its "12 Days of OpenAI" series of livestreams with the announcement of a new, more expensive tier for its flagship chatbot. Starting today, ChatGPT users can pay $200 per month for ChatGPT Pro. Included in the package is unlimited access to the company's latest model, o1, which following a limited preview earlier in the year, is now faster and 34 percent less likely to produce a major error when answering difficult real-world questions.
ChatGPT Pro also comes with access to GPT-4o, o1-mini and the company's Advanced Voice mode, but the reason most power users are likely to splurge is the addition of an o1 "pro mode" that gives the chatbot additional compute power to reason through the most complex problems. "In evaluations from external expert testers, o1 pro mode produces more reliably accurate and comprehensive responses, especially in areas like data science, programming, and case law analysis," OpenAI says of the feature.
Our testing shows that o1 outperforms o1-preview, reducing major errors on difficult real-world questions by 34%.
— OpenAI (@OpenAI) December 5, 2024
In the future, OpenAI says it will add more "powerful, compute-intensive productivity features" to ChatGPT Pro, with some of those enhancements arriving as early a
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Dec 05, 2024
The fizzy, hot pink writing appears to be on the wall for Foamstars. Square Enix said on Thursday that the next season of the 4x4 "party shooter" will be its last. To be fair, all the game's online services will remain available after the final season's conclusion, and there will be events for those who hang around. But with development winding down (after switching to a free-to-play model in October), it's hard to imagine the Splatoon-meets-Fortnite shooter will be long for this world.
The final season of Foamstars, the loudly capitalized "PARTY GOES ON!", will run from December 13 to January 17. You'll be able to customize each character's shots in the "concluding update" (never an encouraging phrase). After the final season is a wrap, Square Enix will bring back all season passes for you to switch between at any time. This will let you obtain all seasons' items and rack up the full collection.
Foamstars launched this past February on PlayStation Plus. The game has unique mechanics like spraying bright foam to build terrain, sliding on top of it and… dancing on a duck's head to push it toward a finish line (as one does).
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Dec 05, 2024
Over the last year or so, electric vehicle makers have been a little friendlier to each other, at least when it comes to their charging networks. Many automakers are now supporting Tesla's North American Charging System (NACS), which is fast becoming the industry standard. Now Rivian's opening its doors to drivers of other brands' EVs.
For the first time, drivers of non-Rivian EVs will be able to top up their batteries at the company's charging locations. This pertains to next-gen Rivian Adventure Network charging locations. The first of these opens today at Joshua Tree Charging Outpost in California. Before the year is out, Rivian plans to open more charging locations in Texas, Colorado, Illinois, Montana, Pennsylvania, Michigan and New York.
The stations offer rapid charging up to 900 volts and have CCS connectors that work with NACS vehicles that have an adapter. Rivian says support for native NACS connectors will become available later.
This isn't entirely an altruistic step, of course. Rivian sees it as a way to generate revenue from EV drivers who perhaps happen to be closer to one of its charging stations than any other. The chargers have a tap to pay option and the Rivian app isn't required.
Rivian plans to have more than 3,500 DC fast chargers in its A
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Dec 05, 2024
EA has just made 23 accessibility patents open-source, as reported by Game Developer. This means that other developers throughout the industry can use the technology at no cost. The news comes after EA made a pledge back in 2021 not to sue rival companies for co-opting these types of tools.
As of today, third parties can openly use a whole lot of patented tech to improve accessibility for users. This includes new speech recognition tools, simplified speech tech in games and the ability to create personalized speech detection algorithms. EA says other devs can use this technology to "make it possible for those players' speech to be more effectively recognized and reflected in-game in a way that is representative of their age, emotion, language and speaking style."
There's also an internal plugin for Unreal Engine 5 that went into the open-source pile. This one incorporates EA's photosensitivity analysis tech, called IRIS, and should allow developers to quickly catch potential problems that could impact players with certain health issues related to vision or the nervous system.
Kerry Hopkins, EA's SVP of global affairs, says this new group of open-source patents "encourages the industry to work together to make video games more inclusive by removing unintended barriers to access." The company also says that this is just the beginning of its efforts to improve accessibility across the industry, as it's going to start running accessible design workshops and expanding its testing
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Dec 05, 2024
Meta is expanding its feature that helps users avoid "Facebook jail." Earlier this year, the company began allowing Facebook creators to complete in-app "educational training" for first-time rule violations in order to avoid strikes on their accounts. Now, the company is expanding the feature to all Facebook users and opening it up to creators on Instagram.
As Engadget noted back in August, the idea of the feature is a bit like going to traffic school. People who violate one of the company's rules for the first time will have the option to complete a "a short educational program" in Facebook or Instagram's app in order to avoid a "strike" on their account and any restrictions that may come with it.
Users will be able to take advantage of the process once in a 12-month period for most first-time offenses. The process to "remove the warning" on an account will be available to anyone on Facebook, as well as creators on Instagram (a broader rollout for Instagram is expected "soon," according to the company.) Meta won't allow people to remove strikes for more "serious" offenses, including posts about sexual exploitation or drug sales.
Meta has described the strike-removal feature as part of its effort to reform its penalty system, which has long been frustrating and confusing for users who often get caught up in it unintentionally. In a blog post, Meta said that the in-app education features have already shown some signs of success with Facebook creators. "What we've already seen from our initial launch this summer has been promising — those who successfully removed their first strikes for violating a policy were more l
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Dec 05, 2024
Microsoft is rolling out a preview for one of the experimental AI features it previewed in October. Copilot Vision, which scans your web browsing and has a chat with you about it, is available for testing in Copilot Labs.
Copilot Vision has strict limits, at least at first. It only works in Microsoft Edge and only on "a select set of websites." (The company says it will carefully expand that list over time.) Even the trial has restrictions: It's only available to a limited number of Copilot Pro ($20 monthly) subscribers in the US. Like the available websites, Microsoft will expand access to more users over time.
Microsoft says Copilot Visions sessions are "opt-in and ephemeral," so you'll have to activate it manually, and each session's data is wiped as soon as you're done. The company says the feature only interprets text and images from browsed websites and doesn't process content beyond that or train on web publishers' data.
The cautious approach seems to be a course correction from the company's sloppy Recall launch. That
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Dec 05, 2024
If you're an Android user, today is your lucky day; Google has announced a swath of new AI features for the entire ecosystem. Broadly speaking, the features make Android devices more accessible, but there's something here for everyone.
For instance, one of the new enhancements, Expressive Captions, automatically generates subtitles that attempt to capture the emotion and intensity of what's being said. So, let's say you're video chatting with a friend who groans after you make a lame dad joke. The feature will not only transcribe what they said, but it will also include "[groaning]" in the transcription. This works for other subtleties of human speech, too, such as when someone gasps or whispers something, and is compatible across Android, including streaming and social media apps. Per Google, Expressive Captions are available on Pixel 6 and newer Pixel phones, as well as "other compatible" Android devices.
Separately, Google has enhanced Android's Image Q&A in Lookout feature. The latest version of the tool makes use of the company's Gemini 1.5 Pro model to provide more helpful image descriptions. Image Q&A is primarily designed to assist blind and low-vision users, but in reality, anyone can use the feature to get Android to describe a picture in a natural-sounding voice.
Speaking of Gemini, Google is supercharging the AI agent with new extensions that provide better integration with some of the most popular Android apps. For instance, a new Spotify plugin allows Gemini to play your favorite songs for you and find playlists that suit your current mood. In the future, the company is promising tighter integration with Google Maps and even smart home devices that ar
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Dec 05, 2024
Samsung's One UI 7 operating system is finally out in the wild, albeit in a beta format. The updated UI focuses a lot of its improvements on security and privacy, which is never a bad thing in today's world.
There's further integration with the company's Knox Matrix security protocol, which began popping up in Samsung devices back in 2023. Knox Matrix continually monitors devices via a "secure private blockchain" and shows all connected gadgets on a dashboard.
This dashboard lets users instantly see the security status of various Samsung smart devices, including other Galaxy handsets, tablets, TVs and appliances. If a device shows as green in the dashboard, that means that it's "up to date and no risks are detected." If something is at risk, Knox Matrix will provide actionable recommendations. All Samsung devices will soon fall under the One UI umbrella, which should make this integration more seamless.
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Dec 05, 2024
It's Thursday, which means that Epic Games has a fresh pair of PC games on its storefront for folks to claim for free. One of this week's options is a humdinger. Until 11AM on December 12, you can snap up Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga for exactly zero dollars.
This is easily the best Lego game I've played, and probably the best Star Wars title. You don't have to start with The Phantom Menace if that name still causes you anguish 25 years later, though you'll play through the stories of all nine core Star Wars films. The game has that trademark Lego brand of silly humor with clever (and often very funny) riffs on famous moments from the movies. As you might imagine, Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is packed with Easter eggs. It looks terrific too. There are a lot of reasons why this was one of my favorite games of 2022.
Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is not perfect, though. Reports that developers at TT Games were pushed to work long hours to finish the game cast a dark shadow over it. In addition, the collectathon aspects may start to feel like a slog if you plan to reach 100 percent completion. Still, there's potentially dozens of hours of family fun here, and you'll be able to hop in gratis.
There's one other free title on the Epic Games Store this week in the form of Bus Simulator 21 Next Stop. I hope that's also a fun game for people who check it out, but I'll never know myself!
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/lego-star-wars-the-skywalker-saga-is-free-on-the-epic-games-store-160712375.html?src=rss
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Dec 05, 2024
Oura is moving a respiratory sickness detection feature out of beta and rolling it out to Ring Gen 3 and Ring 4 wearers. Users with an active subscription should be able to take advantage of Symptom Radar by December 9.
Oura started publicly testing the feature earlier this year. The idea is that Symptom Radar looks at metrics including resting heart rate, skin temperature, sleep data and breathing rate to see if there are any differences from your baseline stats. If there are, Oura may let you know that it has detected possible common cold- or flu-like symptoms and offer suggestions on how to rest up and recover, such as putting your device into rest mode so you aren't prompted to meet activity goals.
Following feedback from beta testers, Oura has added a couple of extra features to Symptom Radar. It now has a history graph showing wellness trends and whether the daily Symptom Radar result has been recorded (this should happen when a ring syncs with the Oura app each morning). There's also a breakdown of each biometric input for those who wa
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Dec 05, 2024
Bitcoin has passed the $100,000 threshold for the first time. At approximately 9:39PM ET this evening, the cryptocurrency's value hit six figures, moving it past the milestone for the first time in its nearly 16-year history. As of the morning of December 5th, the price has stayed well above that $100,000 mark, and Bitcoin's value has generally been steadily increasing over the past month or so. That's no guarantee it'll stay where it is, but it's clearly having a moment.
That also means the legendary Bitcoin pizza order is now worth $1 billion. For those not in the loop, a Florida man — because, of course it was a Florida man — paid 10,000 BTC for two Papa John's pizzas over 14 years ago in what's considered the cryptocurrency's first commercial transaction.
"I'll pay 10,000 bitcoins for a couple of pizzas … like maybe 2 large ones so I have some left over for the next day," Laszlo Hanyecz posted in a crypto forum on May 18, 2010. Four days later, a British man took him up on the offer. That amount was only worth $45 at the time. (And the UK man only paid Papa John's $25!) But only nine months later, the transaction's value had skyrocketed to $10,000.
Hanyecz
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Dec 05, 2024
You know that feeling when the snow is falling outside but you're inside curled up or cooking something warm as music plays around you? That movie moment is reason enough to invest in a good speaker but, by invest, I mean shop a great deal on one of our favorite Bluetooth speakers for 2024. Marshall's Emberton II Portable Bluetooth Speaker is currently down to $100 from $170 — a 41 percent discount.
Marshall's Emberton II Speaker is one of our top picks thanks to its 360-degree sound that provides a good quality listening experience for any small gathering (or solo dance party). It offers 30 hours of battery, charges up in only three hours and is IP67 dust and water resistant so you don't have to be
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Dec 05, 2024
We've got a little bit longer to wait until Secret Level, the gaming-inspired animated anthology series from the Love, Death and Robots team, debuts on Prime Video. But Amazon is ramping up to the launch by offering some solid freebies for Prime members on many of the games that inspired episodes in Secret Level. Roguelike masterpiece Spelunky and story-laden space adventure The Outer Worlds are must-haves if they aren't already in your library. Here's the full list of free titles:
Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition (GOG code)
Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition (GOG code)
Necromunda: Hired Gun (Epic Games Store)
Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition (GOG code)
The Outer Worlds (GOG code)
Space Hulk: Deathwing - Enhanced Edition (Amazon Games App)
Spelu
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Dec 05, 2024
Telegram is taking a significant step to reduce child sexual abuse material (CSAM), partnering with the International Watch Foundation (IWF) four months after the former's founder and CEO Pavel Durov was arrested. The French authorities issued 12 charges against Durov in August, including complicity in "distributing, offering or making available pornographic images of minors, in an organized group" and "possessing pornographic images of minors."
The UK-based IWF works with social media platforms, tech companies, governments and more to prevent the spread of CSAM. Telegram's membership to the IWF grants it access to the organization's tools that block links to CSAM content and "non-photographic depictions," including AI-created images. It also provides Telegram with hashes of known CSAM content and any harmful content the organization detects. The IWF reports having found thousands of confirmed instances of CSAM on Telegram since 2022.
Telegram has previously refused to join any programs that could help limit CSAM. In a release, Telegram's Head of Press and Media Relations Remi Vaughn claimed the platform "removes hundreds of thousands of child abuse materials each month" through reports and moderation through AI, hash-matching and more. Though Vaughn conceded IWF's support will strengthen the company's ability to delete CSAM before it reaches anyone.
Telegram has taken other steps since Durov's arrest, announcing in September that it would hand over IP addresses an
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Dec 05, 2024
Its universally derided AI pin was a flop, so Humane now pivoting to software. The company just released a video showing how its CosmOS software could work in other devices like a car, TV and smart speaker as "an AI operating system built for a universe of connected devices." The only problem is that the software was a big part of what made the AI pin bad, and much of what Humane shows are "simulated experiences" for "illustrative purposes" rather than the AI in actual use.
The video starts out with a person talking to CosmOS in a car (with the brand blurred out), asking for takeout restaurant suggestions and when guests are coming over, and commanding it to turn up the thermostat. Once at home, the user asks an unknown smart speaker (again, blurred out) for a recipe and a soccer player's scoring stats from their smart TV. "I didn't have to specify the player," the person states. "CosmOS is just using the context of what's on the screen to answer."
Then, this AI-empowered individual notes that he has CosmOS on his phone, and asks it to read an email and tell him if he needs to follow up with anything. After some to-and-fro, the AI finds space on the user's calendar and schedules an appointment with an RSVP.
Humane notes that CosmOS is
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Dec 05, 2024
After nearly a decade, Master & Dynamic has updated a classic. The company's new ME05 wired earphones take the familiar formula from the original, like an elegant brass design with audiophile sound. But the new model is more compatible with today's (headphone-jack-less) mobile devices with a bundled USB-C adapter (with DAC). Fortunately, the 2024 model costs the same $199 as its now-discontinued 2015 predecessor.
The updated ME05 has the same solid brass design and in-line volume remote as the old version. But Master & Dynamic says the new model has an "updated dynamic sound," thanks to "acoustic refinements." Some of that comes from a switch from 8mm titanium drivers in the 2015 original to high-excursion 8mm bio-cellulose in the 2024 model.
Maybe the most notable change in this generation is the inclusion of a 3.5mm to USB-C adapter with a Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) for listening on modern mobile devices. The bundled DAC supports up to 32-bit / 384kHz resolution, which — unless you have Daredevil-esque super-hearing — should be way beyond what your ears can perceive.
The new ME05 comes with two sizes of foam ear tips and five sizes of silicone ones. Master & Dynamic says the tips provide an "impeccable fit and seal for a wide range of ear shapes."
Another welcome update for our modern technology is an improved microphone setup. The company also promises clear calls, even in windy environments.
The 2024 Master & Dynamic ME05 is available to order today in a gold and black version from
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Dec 05, 2024
Uber is rebranding its local delivery service, formerly Uber Connect, in time for the holidays. Launched in 2020, it now has a name that better clarifies its purpose: Uber Courier.
The service launched with support for sending and receiving items to and from local addresses. Since then, it's expanded to include pickups of pre-purchased items from local stores. So, if traffic is a nightmare, you're on a tight schedule and you can spare an extra expense, tap the Courier button in the Uber app and have an Uber delivery person head to, for example, the Best Buy pickup counter to grab something you ordered online and bring it to you (or take it to someone else).
Uber Courier can also pick up and deliver your packages to the post office. That may be worth the cost to avoid the existential dread of standing in a long line of impatient people under fluorescent lighting, waiting for burned-out and underpaid government employees to weigh your package and ring you up.
Ube
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Dec 05, 2024
Uber is rebranding its local delivery service, formerly Uber Connect, in time for the holidays. Launched in 2020, it now has a name that better clarifies its purpose: Uber Courier.
The service launched with support for sending and receiving items to and from local addresses. Since then, it's expanded to include pickups of pre-purchased items from local stores. So, if traffic is a nightmare, you're on a tight schedule and you can spare an extra expense, tap the Courier button in the Uber app and have an Uber delivery person head to, for example, the Best Buy pickup counter to grab something you ordered online and bring it to you (or take it to someone else).
Uber Courier can also pick up and deliver your packages to the post office. That may be worth the cost to avoid the existential dread of standing in a long line of impatient people under fluorescent lighting, waiting for burned-out and underpaid government employees to weigh your package and ring you up.
Ube
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Dec 05, 2024
A $16 deck of cards based on the Balatro design is up for pre-order on Fangamer, and it's expected to ship in March. The mockups show subtly pixelated cards that mimic the art style of the game. They have a red design on the rear — the red deck is the default set in the game.
But what of the jokers, the cards that make Balatro a lot more than a poker spin-off? You only get four: Joker, Juggler, Blueprint and Gros Michel. One of those is the popular banana card, at least. It's a little frustrating they're not available to buy now. For other people, I mean, for the holiday. Yes. For me? No.
— Mat Smith
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Dec 05, 2024
They (regulators) said it couldn't be done (originally) but Three is finally approved for a merger. The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has given the go ahead for a merger between Three and Vodafone, first proposed by the companies in June 2023. The decision follows an independent inquiry group's investigation into the move's impact.
CMA is allowing the deal to proceed as long as "both companies sign binding commitments to invest billions to roll out a combined 5G network across the UK," a release states. "The network commitment would be supported by shorter term customer protections which would require the merged company to cap certain mobile tariffs and offer preset contractual terms to mobile virtual network operators, for a period of three years." CMA and UK communication services regulator Ofcom will both oversee these commitments and the merged company must produce an annual implementation report.
Chair of the independent inquiry group, Stuart McIntosh, explained, "We believe the merger is likely to boost competition in the UK mobile sector and should be allowed to proceed — but only if Vodafone and Three agree to implement our proposed measures."
Three tried to merge with O2 in 2015, but the European Commission (yes, this was pre-Brexit) block
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Dec 05, 2024
You don't need to spend a fortune to stay on top of your health goals while tracking your fitness. These days, even cheap fitness trackers come packed with features that help you monitor your heart rate, track your steps and even analyze your sleep stages. Many budget options now include GPS tracking for those outdoor runs, real-time heart rate tracking to keep you in the right zone during workouts and, thankfully, most work with both iPhone and Android devices.
Some even go beyond basic metrics, providing insights on daily readiness to help you decide if you're up for an intense workout or need a lighter day. From simple step counters to more advanced running watches, affordable fitness trackers offer plenty to support your journey toward better health without breaking the bank.
What to look for in a cheap fitness tracker
All of the best fitness trackers should have at least three features: a program to track workouts or movement of some sort, the option to monitor and collect sleep stages data and the ability to do things like heart rate tracking and blood oxygen level monitoring (though, the readings might not be super accurate). Don't set your sights too high and expect metrics like blood pressure monitoring; for that, you'd need to invest in a more expensive wearable like a Samsung Galaxy Watch, which will set you back over $400.
Fitness features
A cheap workout tracker can be great for someone looking to keep tabs on small, achievable goals like 10,000 steps before sundown or 30 minutes of a HIIT workout to get your heart rate peaking. An experienced long-distance runner looking to train for a triathlon might opt for a more expensive device that can measure cadence or ground contact time, and can track more customizable workouts, offer different sports modes or give deeper insights into p
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Dec 04, 2024
Bitcoin has passed the $100,000 threshold for the first time. At approximately 9:39PM ET this evening, the cryptocurrency's value hit six figures, moving it past the milestone for the first time in its nearly 16-year history.
That also means the legendary Bitcoin pizza order is now worth $1 billion. For those not in the loop, a Florida man — because, of course it was a Florida man — paid 10,000 BTC for two Papa John's pizzas over 14 years ago in what's considered the cryptocurrency's first commercial transaction.
"I'll pay 10,000 bitcoins for a couple of pizzas … like maybe 2 large ones so I have some left over for the next day," Laszlo Hanyecz posted in a crypto forum on May 18, 2010. Four days later, a British man took him up on the offer. That amount was only worth $45 at the time. (And the UK man only paid Papa John's $25!) But only nine months later, the transaction's value had skyrocketed to $10,000.
Hanyecz told The New York Times in 2013 that he had no regrets about the then-$6 million pizza order. "It wasn't like Bitcoins had
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Dec 04, 2024
Peloton is continuing to expand into products other than stationary bikes and treadmills with a new strength training app called Peloton Strength . The iOS-only app will give current and future Peloton subscribers access to audio-guided strength workouts that can be performed at the gym.
The fitness company initially started testing a beta version of the app in September, which Peloton says informed features like bookmarking custom workouts and the ability to swap and reorder movements. The final version also includes a tool for generating new workouts based on how much time you have, your experience level, or available equipment, instructional how-to videos and "in-ear coaching" to keep you on track while you're working out. Like many other fitness apps, Strength can also connect to an
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Dec 04, 2024
OpenAI has partnered with defense startup Anduril Industries to develop AI for the Pentagon. The companies said on Wednesday that they'll combine OpenAI's models, including GPT-4o and OpenAI o1, with Anduril's systems and software to improve the US military's defenses against unpiloted aerial attacks.
The deal comes less than a year after OpenAI softened its stance on using its models for military purposes. Although the ChatGPT maker's policies still prohibit its models from developing or using weapons, it deleted a line in January that explicitly banned integrating its tech into "military and warfare" use. The company said at the time it was already working with DARPA on cybersecurity tools. In October, the company
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Dec 04, 2024
With the end date for Windows 10 less than a year away, people still using that operating system will need to start preparing to enter the Windows 11 era. And Microsoft is placing a hardware requirement on the current OS that could pose a problem for those of us using older machines.
Windows 11 will require computers to have TPM 2.0. Also known as a Trusted Platform Module, this is a dedicated chip or firmware used for device security, and the 2.0 version offers several useful features for improved cryptography and encryption. A blog post from Microsoft outlines all of the benefits and why it's being made a core part of Windows 11 installations. Notably, the latest TPM can help future-proof the three-year-old operating system "by helping to protect sensitive information as more AI capabilities come to physical, cloud, and server architecture."
That's all well and good, but many older machines don't have TPM 2.0. That version became the hardware standard for Windows computers
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Dec 04, 2024
Just when it seemed like PC support was Sony's final word on the PlayStation VR2, the company is showing off hand tracking for the virtual reality headset. As spotted by UploadVR, Sony has been demoing controller-free hand-tracking support on the PSVR2 at SIGGRAPH Asia 2024, an academic conference and tradeshow focused on "computer graphics and interactive techniques."
Sony hasn't released any official announcement explaining the new feature, but a published description of what it's presenting at SIGGRAPH does mention that hand-tracking support is "available with the latest development kit of PlayStation 5."
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Dec 04, 2024
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is known for having one of the best character creation systems around, and now everyone can experience it without dropping $60. EA just announced that it has made the tools free for all users, as part of a larger Dragon Age Day celebration.
It's available right now for all platforms. There's no time limit, so have at it. Additionally, the character carries over to the main game, so consider it a demo of sorts. The software also allows players to choose their class and faction, which also transfer to the game. The only caveat here is that the platform you use to create your character must be the same one you play the actual game on. There will be no mixing of PCs and consoles here.
This character creator is very good, and it actually started picking up kudos even before the game was released. As for Dragon Age: The Veilguard, well, it's also pretty dang good. We called it "beautiful in every way" in our official review, noting it was one of Bioware's most-polished titles. If the devs put this kind of love into the next Mass Effect, we are in for a treat.
Dragon Age Day isn't just about this free character creator. EA and Bioware have also released new artwork for the game and put armor inspired by
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Dec 04, 2024
When we took a look at Xreal's Air 2 Ultra AR glasses earlier this year at CES in Las Vegas, we had positive first impressions but also noted that its success would "ultimately boil down to the range of apps." Xreal may have come up with a novel way to address this problem with its new One Series of AR glasses: make them connectable to more devices through USB-C.
Xreal unveiled its new One Series AR glasses that can create customizable cinematic displays with three degrees-of-freedom (3DoF) rotational tracking and spatial computing. The new AR glasses can also create and control displays from "iPhones, Androids, Steam Deck, PC, MacBooks and just about any device with video-out over USB-C," according to Xreal's announcement.
Previous Xreal glasses needed an Xreal Beam or Beam Pro adapter to create spatial displays for USB-C devices. The One Series puts its spatial capability in the glasses themselves with a custom silicon chip called the X1 that delivers "incredibly low motion-to-photon (M2P) latency of only ~3ms at 120Hz," according to the announcement.
The Xreal One Series also offers a huge display area with 1080p full HD for each eye. The Xreal One uses a triangular birdbath lens design that can produce a 50-degree field-of-view and a 20.7-percent larger display than the Xreal Air 2 series. The Xreal One Pro is the first set of AR glasses with a flat-prism lens design that can create a 57-degree field-of-view. Both the Xreal One and One Pro also can deliver fine-tuned audio with Sound by Bose.
The glasses themselves are still fairly big, as are most AR spectacles like the Meta Orion AR glasses
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Dec 04, 2024
When Helene made landfall in Florida earlier this year, 234 people lost their lives to the worst hurricane to strike the US mainland since Katarina in 2005. It's natural disasters like that, and their growing intensity due to climate change, that have pushed scientists to develop more accurate weather forecasting systems. On Wednesday, Google's DeepMind division announced what may go down as the most significant advancement in the field in nearly eight decades of work.
In a post on the Google Keyword blog, DeepMind's Ilan Price and Matthew Wilson detailed GenCast, the company's latest AI agent. According to DeepMind, GenCast is not only better at providing daily and extreme weather forecasts than its previous AI weather program, but it also outperforms the best forecasting system in use right now, one that's maintained by the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). In tests comparing the 15-day forecasts the two systems generated for weather in 2019, GenCast was, on average, more accurate than ECMWF's ENS system 97.2 percent of the time. With lead times greater than 36 hours, DeepMind's was an even better 99.8 percent more accurate.
"I'm a little bit reluctant to say it, but it's like we've made decades worth of improvements in one year," Rémi Lam, the lead scientist on DeepMind's previous AI weather program, told The New York Times. "We're seeing really, really rapid progress."
GenCast is a diffusion model, which is the same tech that powers Google's generative AI tools. DeepMind trained the software on nearly 40 years of high-quality weather data curated by the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forec
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Dec 04, 2024
Meta is taking another important step toward making Threads interoperable with the fediverse. The app now allows users to follow accounts from Mastodon and other fediverse apps directly from Threads, Mark Zuckerberg said in an update.
Since the early days of Threads, Meta has promised to bake-in support for ActivityPub, the open-source protocol that powers Mastodon and other decentralized services that make up "the fediverse." Eventually, the goal is for Threads users to be able to seamlessly interact with other users on Mastodon or other sites that use ActivityPub.
With the latest change, Threads users who have previously opted into fediverse sharing in the app will now be able to view profiles and follow accounts from Mastodon and other services directly in Threads. The update is a significant move toward making Threads compatible with the wider Activity Pub ecosystem.
That said, there are still some significant limitations to Threads' fediverse support. There's currently no way to search for users on other servers, so the
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Dec 04, 2024
If your group chat is anything like Engadget's Slack, Balatro probably comes up several times a week. The indie poker-style title is one of the most talked-about games of the year for good reason: it's endlessly compelling. But what if you don't have a laptop, phone, Steam Deck, Switch or other console nearby and you need your fix, goshdarnit? That's where a physical deck of Balatro playing cards may come in handy.
A $16 deck is up for preorder on Fangamerand it's expected to ship in March. The mockups show subtly pixellated cards that ape the game's art style. They have a red design on the rear — Balatro players will know that the red deck is the default set in the game.
But what of the game-changing jokers? I'm afraid you only get four of those: Joker, Juggler, Blueprint and Gros Michel. Plus, they're just regular ol' jokers here. That's a little disappointing, given how important jokers are in Balatro, but at least my personal favorite banana card is here. The same goes for the apparent lack of tarot, planet and spectral cards, which greatly modify each run.
It's fun that there's a physical Balatro deck on the way, but it's a bit of a bummer that it's a standard set of cards that doesn't really play into the convention-breaking ethos of the video game. Perhaps a board game along those lines
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Dec 04, 2024
There's a huge gap between serious racers like Gran Turismo and arcade-style stuff like Mario Kart. That's where the soon-to-be-released My First Gran Turismo comes in. This is a streamlined version of the iconic Sony racing game that's intended "for those who have yet to experience Gran Turismo." The free-to-play title launches for both PS4 and PS5 on December 6.
Sony promises that the game is perfect for anyone aged "7 to 77." I'm not sure what my 78-year-old dad would say about that, but whatever. There's a trailer to help folks get the gist, which shows off a selection of real-world vehicles and graphics that don't stray too far from the mainline games. It looks pretty fun.
All told, there are 18 cars to choose from and three tracks to race around. For comparison, the most-recent entry Gran Turismo 7 includes more than 400 vehicles and around 40 dedicated tracks. It's also a full-priced game, though likely on sale for the holidays, whereas My First Gran Turismo is free as a bird.
The cars in this kid-friendly version have Mario Kart-style charts to show off various specs and there's a nifty game mode called Music Rally. This makes players race along to the beat of a song. Other modes include time trials and license tests.
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Dec 04, 2024
OpenAI will start announcing new features and demos tomorrow for 12 days through livestreams. Sources familiar with the matter told The Verge that these new products will allegedly include OpenAI's long-awaited text-to-video tool, Sora, and a new reasoning model.
The announcement for "12 Days of OpenAI", as the company puts it, was made public on X yesterday. The first livestream will broadcast tomorrow, but the announcements themselves remain unconfirmed That said, in addition to the sources that spoke more recently with The Verge, the Wall Street Journal previously reported Sora was likely to come out before the end of 2024.
Sora was revealed early this year, and shared with a small group of testers. But 20 or so of those artists leaked the model to the public in protest of "unpaid labor," The Washington Post reported. OpenAI has broadly been the subject of criticism regarding the provenance of data supporting its language models, and Sora has been no different. The company has yet to directly address if Sora has scraped public YouTube videos — something
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Dec 04, 2024
As Rust Cohle famously put it in HBO's True Detective, "Time is a flat circle." So it's maybe not a huge surprise that Max is the latest service to bring cable-style linear channels to a premium streaming service.
It's starting to test such channels in the US. Some ad-free subscribers will see a Channels option on the homepage of adult profiles. This will take you to a selection of 24/7 feeds of HBO programming, including HBO and HBO 2 simulcasts. Other channels will showcase prestige drama, comedy and classic HBO shows, movies and documentaries.
The channels work pretty much like any linear TV network in the modern age. You can restart shows, rewind and fast-forward. On select devices, you'll be able to switch between channels directly in the player, without having to go back to the channels hub.
This initial rollout lays the groundwork for more themed channels, which will start arriving next year. According to The Verge, Max may even offer personalized streaming channels down the road.
These channels could help you avoid wasting time instead of scrolling through Max while figuring out what to watch. If you're in the mood to laugh, maybe just turn on HBO Comedy. Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) will surely be hoping that channels increase engagement and keep people using the streaming service. After all, lots of folks simply switch on the likes of CBS because they want to watch something and they trust the network's brand enough to deliver a show that suits them.
Max already offers linear channels in Europe. Crave, a Canadian streaming service that has exclusive rights to the HBO library in that m
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Dec 04, 2024
Google has begun rolling out private access to its Veo and Imagen 3 generative AI models. Starting today, customers of the company's Vertex AI Google Cloud package can begin using Veo to generate videos from text prompts and images. Then, as of next week, Google will make Imagen 3, its latest text-to-image framework, available to those same users.
With Veo's rollout, Google says it's the first hyperscale cloud provider to offer an image-to-video model. To that point, OpenAI's Sora model is still only available to select artists, academics and researchers — though that could change quickly with the company
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Dec 04, 2024
Washington, DC's Attorney General Brian Schwalb is suing Amazon for allegedly excluding certain ZIP codes from enjoying Amazon Prime's speedy delivery. Schwalb claims that, beginning in 2022, Amazon stopped using its in-house delivery systems for Wards 7 and 8 while still charging those customers the same amount for a Prime subscription. According to Census Reporter, Ward 7 and Ward 8 are 83 percent and 82 percent Black, respectively.
According to the suit, instead of using its own trucks, Amazon relied on UPS and USPS carriers to make deliveries — a decision that resulted in longer delivery times. Only 24 percent of packages to these Wards were delivered within two days. Schwalb also alleged that Amazon didn't notify any Ward 7 and Ward 8 residents about these changes.
Worryingly, this isn't the first time Amazon has been called out for excluding majority-Black neighborhoods from the full benefits of a Prime membership. A damning 2016 report in Bloomberg indicated the practice was common across several metro areas. Amazon has since provided Prime Free Same-Day Delivery to Boston's Roxbury neighborhood, Chicago's South Side and the Bronx in New York City.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/amazon-sued-for-alleged-prime-delivery-disparities-in-two-majority-black-dc-neighborhoods-150049496.html?src=rss
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Dec 04, 2024
I don't know about you but I plan to spend the next three months tucked away watching movies, reading books and playing games under a warm blanket. Black Friday and Cyber Monday might have come and gone, but there are still plenty of worthwhile deals out there that I will be perusing in pursuit of my gaming goals.
If you have the same idea then let me point you toward a great sale currently on: The three month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is down to $29 from $50 on Woot. The deal comes courtesy of a 32 percent discount and an additional $5 off at checkout with the code GAMEPASS. The Xbox Game Pass is one of our favorite Xbox accessories and comes as a digital code.
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Dec 04, 2024
RPG fans who love Hironobu Sakaguchi's work may be familiar with Fantasian, a 2021 Apple Arcade exclusive. Now, Fantasian is coming to Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch and PC on December 5.
As The Verge puts it, Fantasian is Final Fantasy in all but name. The port to these platforms is called Fantasian Neo Dimension and doesn't differ much from the original apart from added voice acting. The addition of voices will elevate the experience, and you'd be pleased to know that Square Enix is publishing this port, which ensures it gets the best treatment before release.
One unique mechanic Fantasian has is the Dimengeon, a portmanteau of dimension and dungeon. If you activate this device in-game, the random battles will be stored and waiting for you to fight. The Dimengeon has a limit, which means you'll have to face your foes eventually.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/fantasian-an-apple-arcade-rpg-is-now-coming-to-consoles-and-pc-141543706.html?src=rss
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Dec 04, 2024
My hand is cramping. It's not carpal tunnel or some other dubious reason that's causing the pain. It's an analog ache that is oddly satisfying in a nostalgic way. In the last few days, I've held a pen and written more words for a much longer time than I have ever done in years. As I pushed myself to handwrite large parts of this review to spend more time with the 2024 Kindle Scribe's stylus and note-taking tools, I started to feel a sensation I hadn't remembered since my teens.
I often feel the urge to jot down thoughts and lists, but I never really wanted to spend longer than 15 minutes writing. And yet, Amazon's new AI features for the Kindle Scribe seem to cater more to those who labor over essays or missives that they ultimately need to share with others. The Summarize and Refine tools for
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Dec 04, 2024
Ubisoft's first-person shooter XDefiant, which launched less than six months ago with some success, will shut down on June 3, 2025. As part of that, the studio will close three production studios and lay off 277 employees.
New downloads, player registrations, and purchases will no longer be available starting today, However, Season 3 will launch as planned and servers will remain online until June 3. Players who purchased the Ultimate Founders Pack or bought anything in the last 30 days will automatically receive full refunds within eight weeks.
"Despite an encouraging start, the team's passionate work, and a committed fan base, we've not been able to attract and retain enough players in the long run to compete at the level we aim for in the very demanding free-to-play FPS market," said
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Dec 04, 2024
There's a chill in the air, lights have been strung through the trees and winter coats are a daily need. All this can only mean one thing: it's Spotify Wrapped season. Today, Spotify Wrapped begins rolling out to users across the globe with a slew of new features powered by Google's AI-powered NotebookLM.
To be honest, some of it is, let's say, interesting. Notably, Spotify is releasing a My Wrapped AI Podcast with two hosts discussing all your listening preferences for the year. These hosts in question are powered by the same technology that NotebookLM uses to make audio overviews. The podcasts should last three to six minutes, are shareable and available for free and premium users in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland and Sweden for a limited time. If you love listening to AI then maybe this is exciting for you but, personally, I'm happy with my usual roundup. Spotify does caveat that it might not "provide a comprehensive overview" and could mispronounce words or use inappropriate language if its in a song title, for example.
Then there's the AI DJ, which brings you through the music you listened to and provides commentary. Yes, this sounds a bit like the AI podcast, but it should focus more on the actual music and how you used the DJ. It should also touch on aspects like your top artists and most listened to songs. However, this feature and a wrapped version of Spotify's AI Playlist are only available to premium subscribers.
As always, you can also see how your listening choices measure up agains
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Dec 04, 2024
Apple has wrapped up all your listening stats in a bow with its annual recap of your entire year in music streaming. This time, you can view the full Replay experience in the Apple Music app via the home, new and search tab — yes, no need to go to a microsite for your vital listening statistics. You can save a playlist of your most-played songs in 2024, though that and your stats will be cemented in January — if you're looking to kick out a particularly embarrassing song that's wormed its way into your head, you could spam other tracks? You can even access your Replays from previous years (something Spotify doesn't offer with Wrapped).
More widely, the most-listened-to song on Apple Music overall this year was Kendrick Lamar's "Not Like Us," his most recent Drake-diss track. Benson Boone's "Beautiful Things," meanwhile, was the most identified song on Shazam. Beautifully hard to identify.
— Mat Smith
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The biggest tech stories you missed
Walmart completes its $2.3 billion purchase of Vizio
China has banned certain metal exports in retaliation for the US chip restrictions
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Dec 04, 2024
The connected fitness boom of pandemic-era lockdowns is long behind us (hopefully), but Growl, a new startup, is still looking to bolt a workout to the wall of your home. Think of Tonal, except instead of resistance training, it's a boxing-inspired heavy bag session.
The wall-mounted Growl is, according to the company, powered by AI and Unreal Engine and appears to have overhead projectors, which beam the image of a life-sized coach onto the convex punching surface. 3D motion tracking technology claims to gather information about your form and technique and provide insights.
Besides the projection, the bag has an interactive coaching system to help motivate users. It also supposedly supports side-by-side training, which works great for training partners.
Growl isn't available yet, but pre-sales are likely to open in April 2025. Pricing is projected to be between $150 and $190 a month, putting it on the steeper end of fitness devices, if it ever ships. And keep in mind you'll need to install this thing into a wall that can withstand hours of punching.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/this-new-startup-wants-to-be-your-ai-powered-boxing-coach-120022634.html?src=rss
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Dec 04, 2024
As with any overly marketed products, the claims around virtual private networks (VPNs) can be fishy. Phrases like "military-grade encryption" or "total anonymity" aren't verifiable, and certainly won't help you decide which services suit your browsing needs best. As more of these companies embrace influencer marketing to sell their products, the obscure lingo has only grown, making it a confusing field to navigate, despite VPNs' importance for online security.
We tested nine of the most popular VPN services available now to come up with our top picks, and lay out what you should know before paying for one. Our top pick remains ProtonVPN thanks to its easy-to-use interface, no-logs policy and open-source framework. While we think that's the best VPN for most people, there are other good options you can consider, too.
Table of contents
Best VPNs of 2024
What is a VPN?
Are VPNs worth it?
How we tested VPNs
Other VPN services our experts tested
VPN FAQs
Best VPNs of 2024
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Dec 03, 2024
MSI has two new versions of the MSI Claw after the original landed with a thud earlier this year. The company's $900 MSI Claw 8 AI and $800
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Dec 03, 2024
Meta has confirmed its plans to use nuclear power to fuel US data centers. The company announced that it's accepting proposals from nuclear energy developers to work on the project, with the goal of adding between one and four gigawatts of nuclear energy capacity "starting in the early 2030s."
The company's request for proposals states that Meta is seeking partners that have experience with "either Small Modular Reactors (SMR) or larger nuclear reactors." Axios reports that the company is "geographically agnostic" about the location of potential nuclear sites. The company previously had plans to build a nuclear-powered data center, The Financial Times reported
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Dec 03, 2024
Former cryptocurrency leader Alex Mashinsky has pleaded guilty to two fraud charges. The founder and CEO of Celsius Network was indicted on seven criminal counts in 2023, including charges of fraud, conspiracy and market manipulation. He entered a not guilty plea at the time, but in a hearing today, Mashinsky pled guilty to two of those original counts. The first is commodities fraud and the second is a fraudulent scheme to manipulate the price of his company's in-house crypto token CEL. Reuters reported that as part of a plea deal, Mashinsky has agreed not to appeal any sentence of 30 years or less.
Mashinsky's case is one of several fraud cases being pursued against leaders of cryptocurrency operations. The most well-publicized charges are those brought against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who was found guilty on seven counts of fraud in 2023.
National agencies began a push into fraud charges for cryptocurrency schemes in 2022, when several notable companies filed for bankruptcy as token prices plummeted in response to rising interest rates and high inflation. That year, the Federal Trade Commission said that victims of crypto schemes had lost more than
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Dec 03, 2024
Vizio is now a member of the Walmart corporate empire. The retail company announced the completion of its $2.3 billion acquisition of the TV manufacturer on Tuesday.
Walmart didn't just buy a TV brand. It now owns a new advertising platform. Vizio's SmartCast OS collects huge amounts of data from its 19 million active accounts, and the company makes the majority of its money from the platform. Walmart's new partnership with Vizio and its other smart TV brand Onn is sure to stir up the lucrative competition for advertising revenue, according to the
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Dec 03, 2024
This is not a drill, people: Tetris for the NES will join the Nintendo Switch Online library on December 12. Nintendo of America announced this exciting arrival out of the blue today on X. The NES port of Tetris initially launched all the way back in 1989, so it's been a very long time coming for this classic title to return to Nintendo hardware.
That's not to say there haven't been many other ways to get your tetrimino fix. Tetris is a perennially popular puzzle game, with many official releases and plenty of knockoffs. And plenty of them, like the dazzling Tetris Effect, are extremely good. But the NES version is the one most frequently hailed as the best of the bunch. It's the iteration primarily used in the fascinating competitive Tetris circuit, and even after more than three decades, a player only just managed to 'beat' the game by, well, breaking its little computer brain. For those of us who missed out on the NES era, or those whose NES hardware bit the dust long ago, finally having a modern-day way to play this iconic version of Tetris is very exciting news.
The Switch Online service has gotten a couple notable updates in the past few weeks. A trio of Sega Genesis games joined the online Switch library, and Nintendo also released
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Dec 03, 2024
When an established company enters a new product category, there's a lot of pressure on it to immediately impress the masses, especially when it has a proven track record in its industry. That's what Cambridge Audio faced this year when it debuted its first wireless headphones, the Melomania P100 ($279). It had already made the
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Dec 03, 2024
Despite Intel's recent woes, I didn't expect to see CEO Pat Gelsinger joining 15,000 or so of his colleagues being shown the door. Gelsinger is a storied engineer and business success who laid down an exhaustive rescue plan when he took the helm of the beleaguered chipmaker in 2021. It was never going to be a quick fix, given the company's long legacy of missteps. Gelsinger may be the public face of Intel's current malaise, but the problems started long before his tenure and will likely keep going.
How Intel got here
Gelsinger was tasked with addressing almost two decades' worth of bad decisions, all of which have compounded. Intel became an industry-swallowing behemoth as one half of the Wintel alliance, producing chips that went hand-in-glove with Microsoft Windows. The vast profits that flowed from this partnership meant there was an institutional reluctance to look too hard at new business ventures that could distract from its golden goose, still going strong all these years later.
In 2005, then-CEO Paul Ottellini turned down the chance to make the iPhone's system-on-chip. It would have been easy for Intel, since it already made XScale ARM chips for mobile devices. You could find an Intel ARM chip inside popular phones like the BlackBerry Pearl 8100 and Palm Treo 650. A year later, it would sell XScale to Marvell, believing it would be able to shrink its x86 chips to work on smartphones. The
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Dec 03, 2024
Indonesia's investment minister, Rosan Roeslani, said that the country is expecting $1 billion from Apple as an investment. It's important to note that Indonesia has banned iPhone 16 sales locally because the smartphones must contain at least 40 percent locally-made parts. Apple doesn't have any manufacturing facilities in Indonesia, so it cannot meet this requirement.
Roeslani further said that Apple should invest even more in the future if it intends to make Indonesia a part of its supply chain. He also remarked on how an Indonesian Apple plant can create jobs.
Previously, Apple had proposed to invest $100 million in building an accessory and component plant in Indonesia. The Indonesian government rejected it due to not meeting "principles of fairness."
While Apple still doesn't have local plants to meet the 40 percent local content requirement, it does have application developer academies in Indonesia. That was why older iPhone models could be sold in the country. They remain on sale as of now, and there's been no indication that Indonesia is looking to ban them currently.
Reuters had contacted Apple for comment on the situation but has yet to receive a reply.
This article originally appeared on Engadg
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Dec 03, 2024
It's that festive time of year again. All of the algorithm elves living inside our favorite music-streaming apps have begun cranking out personalized "best of" lists in the vein of Spotify Wrapped and Apple Music Replay. This year, however, there's a new kid on the block. Amazon Music just rolled out its own version of a yearly recap.
It's called Amazon Music Delivered, which I guess is a play on the fact that the company delivers lots of packages in real life? In any event, the yearly recap displays all of your favorite songs, artists and podcasts from throughout the year. The tool will even show off "the top request you've made with Alexa." Uh oh. I asked Alexa to sing that horrible, yet catchy, song about cats like 25 times this year. Will that count?
The feature is available to all Amazon Music customers. This includes Prime members who use the basic version and those who sprang for the monthly Unlimited subscription. Just head to the Library page and tap on the banner that says "2024 Delivered." You can access a playlist by asking good ole Alexa about your top songs of 2024.
Amazon also says that Alexa might play "an exclusive, special message" from one of your top artists, though the company didn't note how many artists took part in this promotion. It just says that "
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Dec 03, 2024
Apple Music users have had access to the Replay feature throughout 2024, but now Apple has wrapped up all of your stats in a bow with its annual recap of your entire year in streaming. This time, you'll be able to view the full Replay experience in the Apple Music app via the home, new and search tabs. You'll need to be on iOS 18.1 or later to see it there. In previous years, you had to go to a microsite to get the Replay lowdown, though that's still an option on the web.
As always, you can save a playlist of your most-played songs in 2024, though that and your stats will be finalized in January. Also, if you missed them or want a point of comparison, you can still access your Replays from previous years (something Spotify doesn't offer with Wrapped).
Along with the usual details about your top artists, songs, albums, genres and playlists — as well as the total number of minutes you've listened to Apple Music — there are some new features this year. You'll now see if you're in an artist's top 500 or 1,000 listeners, expanding beyond the top 100 limit from previous years. You can check out the longest streak of consecutive days you've streamed from Apple Music. There's the option to view your top song, artist and album by month. You'll also see the first date that you listened to your top artist, song and album of the year.
Artists, meanwhile, have access to their own version of Replay for the first time. Via the dashboard, they can see the total number of minutes that subscribers have listened to their music, total listeners, top cities and most-shazamed song.
The most-listened to song on Apple Music overall this year was Kendrick Lamar's "Not Like Us," the hook-la
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Dec 03, 2024
Remember when it was nearly impossible to get your hands on a PS5? Those days are over now, which is only a good thing for gamers and those looking to get the console for the first time. Cyber Monday may be over, but discounts on the PS5 are still around. You can still get the PS5 Slim for $75 off at Amazon,
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Dec 03, 2024
There's a good chance you've heard of a white elephant gift exchange before, even if you have yet to participate or even know where the tradition originated. According to legend, the King of Siam would give a white elephant to courtiers who had upset them rather than having them executed. But this was a far more devious punishment. The recipient had no choice but to accept the opulent gift with gratitude, even though they knew they could not afford the upkeep for such an animal. Inevitably, this would lead them to financial ruin.
This story is almost certainly untrue, but it has led to a modern holiday staple: the white elephant gift exchange. Picking the right white elephant gift means toeing a fine line: the goal isn't simply to buy something terrible and make someone take it home. Rather, it should be just useful or amusing enough that it won't immediately get tossed into the trash. So here are a few suggestions that will not only get you a few chuckles, but will also make the recipient feel (slightly) burdened.
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Dec 03, 2024
As of today, Chinese gallium, germanium and antimony are no longer being exported to the US. Germanium and gallium exports had already ceased in October, and antimony exports have dropped by 97 percent since September. This official declaration comes a day after the US announced it would further tighten technological exports to China, particularly referring to computer chips.
This ban includes materials that have "potential military applications," as per Reuters.
The Chinese export ban primarily concerns what the government calls "dual-use items," which are objects both the military and civilians can use. Due to this ban, graphite exports to the US from China must also undergo stricter reviews. However, they aren't outright banned from exporting yet.
Gallium and germanium are used to make semiconductors, and the latter can also be found in fiber optic cables and solar cells. As for antimony, you may find it in shotgun shells, nuclear weapons, night vision goggles and some batteries.
These export bans are significant because China has been outputting 48 percent of globally mined antimony, 59.2 percent of refined germanium and 98.8 percent of refined gallium production. The US must now scramble to locate new deposits containing these materials, as the ban has already affected prices. Antimony trioxide has been 228 percent more expensive since the beginning of this year.
China has been finding ways to be technologically independent since the US banned exports to the Central Nation. The result of such efforts include
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Dec 03, 2024
The Twitch subscriber crown is back in Kai Cenat's hands, with the creator ending his month-long subathon at almost 727,700 subscribers, CNBC reports. He more than doubled the record of 326,650 subscribers VTuber Ironmouse set in September, who had, in turn, overtaken Cenat's number one spot — a competition I am suddenly very invested in.
Cenat not only streamed every day during "Mafiathon 2" in November, but did so 24 hours a day. He was joined by a cast of characters that feels like the lead up to a bad joke: What do Snoop Dogg, Bill Nye the science guy and Kevin Hart all have in common? They were guests on Cenat's livestream — I warned you it would be bad. But, seriously, he managed to stream for 30 days thanks to these guests and takeovers from his team that allowed him to sleep or go to the bathroom without a camera joining.
Twitch subscribers pay $5 for ad-free viewing and exclusives and, even with Twitch taking a serious cut, Cenat likely made upwards of $3 million. He stated that 20 percent of his proceeds will go towards a school he's building in Nigeria. Cenat currently holds 15.4 million followers on Twitch and 6.79 million followers on YouTube. We'll have to wait and see whether Ironmouse tries to reclaim the crown.
This article originally appear
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Dec 03, 2024
Intel's second-generation Xe2 Arc GPUs are real, and once again, they could be compelling options for gamers looking for capable video cards under $250. Confirming leaks from the past week, Intel today unveiled the $249 Arc B580 and the slightly less capable $219 B570, both of which target 1,440p gaming. They feature the company's new XeSS2 AI capabilities (which are also coming to the older Arc cards), including Super Resolution upscaling (like the original XeSS), frame generation and low latency modes. The goal, according to Intel, is to deliver more performance per dollar compared to NVIDIA's $299 RTX 4060 and AMD's Radeon 7600.
It's a noble pitch, but one that's also a repeat of what Intel attempted with its previous Arc GPUs. We liked those cards well enough, and the company was diligent about rolling out driver updates, yet that hasn't stopped its overall GPU market share from falling to zero percent. I'd wager many gamers didn't want to take a chance on Intel's hardware and software when NVIDIA and AMD's offerings were battle tested and just a bit more expensive.
Intel
The power bump fr
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