The Outer Worlds 2 will be Microsoft’s big game to showcase this Summer, with the company having confirmed it as the focus of a dedicated Direct presentation accompanying the annual Xbox Games Showcase in June. Ahead of that, Microsoft has also showcased an extensive chunk of new gameplay footage for the title. Shared via IGN, Microsoft and developer Obsidian Entertainment have released close to a dozen minutes of gameplay footage. The footage shows a mission that tasks the player with making their way through an enemy-controlled facility, which, of course, means there’s plenty of action and combat shown off, in addition to glimpses of dialogue choice mechanics, visual improvements over the first game, and more. Check out the video below.  The Outer Worlds 2 is due out sometime this year for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC, with a specific launch date yet to be announced. Stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks and months.

Anthropic launches new Claude Max subscription tiers at $100 and $200 monthly, challenging OpenAI's premium offerings while targeting power users who need expanded AI assistant capabilities.Read More

Next week, Waymo’s driverless vehicles will begin testing on public roads in Japan for the Alphabet company’s first international trip. Waymo has yet to confirm whether it will eventually launch a commercial robotaxi service in the country, but the company is still celebrating the excursion as a “significant milestone.”Waymo describes it as a simple “road trip” for collecting data about the nuances of Japanese driving, including left-hand traffic and navigating a dense urban environment. The vehicles will be driven manually for the purposes of gathering mapping data and will be managed by a local taxi fleet operator, Nihon Kotsu. About 25 vehicles are being sent, with the first already having been spotted in a parking lot in Tokyo. As noted by the LinkedIn user who posted the pictures, Waymo’s engineers will have their work cut out for them. Tokyo has its share of idiosyncratic environments, including “tight, winding roads” and thousands of pedestrians and cyclists seamlessly merging with vehicle traffic. The vehicles will be driven manually for the purposes of gathering mapping dataWaymo says trained drivers employed by Nihon Kotsu will manually navigate the vehicles across seven central Tokyo wards, including Minato, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Chiyoda, Chūō, Shinagawa, and Kōtō. Waymo operates manually when first arriving in a new city so its engineers can collect data on local traffic patterns and road features. Even though the company’s vehicles have only just arrived, Waymo says it’s already been laying the groundwork, training drivers and fleet managers from GO, a popular taxi app in Japan. The company has also been coordinating with local officials, government agencies, and first responders for the test. “In Tokyo, we are abiding by the same steadfast principles that guide us in the U.S. — commitment to safety, dedication to earning trust in communities where we operate, and collaboration with local officials and community groups here in Tokyo,” said Nicole Gavel, head of business development and strategic partnerships at Waymo, in a statement.Waymo currently operates a commercial robotaxi service in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Austin, with imminent plans to expand to Silicon Valley, Atlanta, Miami, and Washington, DC. The company has also said it will conduct road trip tests in San Diego and Las Vegas.As Waymo tests its vehicles in Japan, the country directly to the west of the island nation is ramping up its own driverless operations. China’s Apollo Go robotaxi service says it completed 1.1 million paid driverless rides in the fourth quarter of 2024 and is expanding to Hong Kong soon. Like Waymo, Apollo Go says it is performing an average of 200,000 paid trips each week. See More:

Google AI recently announced Agent2Agent (A2A), an open protocol designed to facilitate secure, interoperable communication among AI agents built on different platforms and frameworks. By offering a standardized approach to agent interaction, A2A aims to streamline complex workflows that involve specialized AI agents collaborating to complete tasks of varying complexity and duration. A2A addresses a key challenge in the AI domain: the lack of a common mechanism for agents to discover, communicate, and coordinate across vendor ecosystems. In many industries, organizations often deploy multiple AI systems for specific functions, but these systems do not always integrate smoothly. A2A is intended to close this gap by providing a universal set of rules for agent interoperability, such that agents created by different teams or companies can work in tandem without custom integrations. A prominent feature of A2A is its enterprise-grade focus. The protocol supports long-running tasks that extend over days, weeks, or even months—such as supply chain planning or multi-stage hiring. It also accommodates multimodal collaboration, so AI agents can share and process text, audio, and video in a unified workflow. By using Agent Cards in JSON format, agents can advertise their capabilities, security permissions, and any relevant information required to handle tasks. This approach allows each agent to quickly assess whether it can perform a given task, request additional resources, or delegate responsibilities to other capable agents. Security is another central aspect of A2A. AI systems frequently deal with sensitive data, such as personal information in hiring or customer records in finance. To address these requirements, A2A aligns with OpenAPI-level authentication standards, enforcing role-based access control and encrypted data exchanges. This approach aims to ensure that only authorized agents, possessing the correct credentials and permissions, can participate in critical workflows or access protected data streams. How A2A Works To guide its development, A2A is built around five core design principles: Agentic-first: Agents do not share memory or tools by default. They operate independently and communicate explicitly to exchange information. Standards-compliant: The protocol uses widely adopted web technologies, such as HTTP, JSON-RPC, and Server-Sent Events (SSE), to minimize friction for developers. Secure by default: Built-in authentication and authorization measures are intended to safeguard sensitive transactions and data. Handles short and long tasks: A2A supports both brief interactions (like a quick information request) and extended processes that require ongoing collaboration. Modality-agnostic: Agents can handle text, video, audio, or other data types by sharing structured task updates in real time. From a technical standpoint, A2A can be seen as complementary to other emerging standards for AI multi-agent systems. For instance, Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol (MCP) focuses on how different language models handle shared context during multi-agent reasoning. A2A’s emphasis lies in the interoperability layer, ensuring agents can securely discover one another and collaborate once models are ready to exchange data or coordinate tasks. This combination of context sharing (MCP) and inter-agent communication (A2A) can form a more comprehensive foundation for multi-agent applications. An example of a real-world application for A2A is the hiring process. One agent might screen candidates based on specific criteria, another could schedule interviews, while a third might manage background checks. These specialized agents can communicate through a unified interface, synchronizing the status of each step and ensuring that relevant information is passed along securely. Google has open-sourced A2A to encourage community involvement and standardization across the AI industry. Key consulting and technology firms—including BCG, Deloitte, Cognizant, and Wipro—are contributing to its development, with the goal of refining interoperability and security features. By taking this collaborative approach, Google aims to lay the groundwork for a more flexible and efficient multi-agent ecosystem. Overall, A2A offers a structured way for organizations to integrate specialized AI agents, enabling them to exchange data securely, manage tasks more effectively, and support a broad range of enterprise requirements. As AI continues to expand into various facets of business operations, protocols like A2A may help unify disparate systems, fostering more dynamic and reliable workflows at scale. Check out the Technical details and Google Blog. All credit for this research goes to the researchers of this project. Also, feel free to follow us on Twitter and don’t forget to join our 85k+ ML SubReddit. Asif RazzaqWebsite |  + postsBioAsif Razzaq is the CEO of Marktechpost Media Inc.. As a visionary entrepreneur and engineer, Asif is committed to harnessing the potential of Artificial Intelligence for social good. His most recent endeavor is the launch of an Artificial Intelligence Media Platform, Marktechpost, which stands out for its in-depth coverage of machine learning and deep learning news that is both technically sound and easily understandable by a wide audience. The platform boasts of over 2 million monthly views, illustrating its popularity among audiences.Asif Razzaqhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/6flvq/OpenAI Introduces the Evals API: Streamlined Model Evaluation for DevelopersAsif Razzaqhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/6flvq/Salesforce AI Released APIGen-MT and xLAM-2-fc-r Model Series: Advancing Multi-Turn Agent Training with Verified Data Pipelines and Scalable LLM ArchitecturesAsif Razzaqhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/6flvq/A Code Implementation to Use Ollama through Google Colab and Building a Local RAG Pipeline on Using DeepSeek-R1 1.5B through Ollama, LangChain, FAISS, and ChromaDB for Q&AAsif Razzaqhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/6flvq/A Step-by-Step Coding Guide to Building a Gemini-Powered AI Startup Pitch Generator Using LiteLLM Framework, Gradio, and FPDF in Google Colab with PDF Export Support

Lenovo just kicked off the best deals we've seen this year on official Xbox Series X wireless controllers. Starting today, the Pulse Red and Shock Blue colors cost only $34.99 after you apply coupon code "SPRINGGAMES". The Carbon Black, Velocity Green, Astral Purple, Electric Volt, and Deep Pink colors are $39.99 after you apply coupon code "SPRINGBACK". Not only are these the best controllers for the Xbox at this price, they're also one of the best PC gaming controllers.Update: Some colors are going out of stock.Xbox Controllers From $34.99Pulse RedXbox Wireless ControllerVelocity GreenXbox Wireless ControllerCarbon BlackXbox Wireless ControllerElectric VoltXbox Wireless ControllerDeep PinkXbox Wireless ControllerShock BlueXbox Wireless ControllerAstral PurpleXbox Wireless ControllerAesthetics aside, these Xbox wireless controllers are identical to the one that's bundled with the Xbox Series X and S console. Standard features include textured grips, hybrid D-pad, button mapping with the Xbox app, a 3.5mm audio jack that works with any wired headset, and a Share button to upload screenshots and video.The controller supports both Xbox wireless and Bluetooth connectivity. That means you can use it for your PC or mobile device. In fact, we think this is the the best PC controller you can get. If your PC doesn't have Bluetooth, you can still use it in wired mode with a USB Type-C cable or go out and buy a Bluetooth or Xbox wireless adapter.Check out more of the best Xbox deals and the best IGN deals of today.Why Should You Trust IGN's Deals Team?IGN's deals team has a combined 30+ years of experience finding the best discounts in gaming, tech, and just about every other category. We don't try to trick our readers into buying things they don't need at prices that aren't worth buying something at. Our ultimate goal is to surface the best possible deals from brands we trust and our editorial team has personal experience with. You can check out our deals standards here for more information on our process, or keep up with the latest deals we find on IGN's Deals account on Twitter.Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.

Body-scanning startup Neko Health has opened its largest clinic yet, continuing its expansion in London — just six months after launching its first site in the city. The futuristic new facility expands access to Neko’s high-tech health vision. Blending body scans, lidar sensors, and AI with blood tests, eye pressure checks, and strength tests, the startup maps millions of data points in minutes.  The findings can reveal warning signs about the skin, heart, blood vessels, and inflammation. A human doctor then immediately takes the user through the findings. Within an hour of arriving, they’re on their way out of the clinic. The system is the brainchild of Spotify CEO Daniel Ek and his business partner Hjalmar Nilsonne. The duo want to shift healthcare systems from reactive to proactive. After launching Neko in their native Sweden in 2023, they began expanding the service to London last year, starting with a new health centre in the chic neighbourhood of Marylebone. Register here The second London facility dramatically expands the company’s capacity. Located in the buzzy Spitalfields Market, the centre covers a roomy 7,466 square feet, with capacity for up to 30,000 scans annually. “This health centre is built for scale, and we’re doubling down in London,” said Nilsonne. London calling Neko The new centre has a suitably space-age design, which echoes the aesthetic of the inaugural London site. Neko already has plans to open two more clinics in the UK’s capital, with launches in other cities in the country also targeted for this year. A spokesperson for the company told TNW that London was “a strategic choice” for Neko’s international expansion beyond Stockholm. “It represents the global market in a way; offering a lot of health tourism and a very competitive space when it comes to private healthcare,” they said. “If we can break into this market we have a chance to do it elsewhere. Additionally, London is a global healthcare hub, with world-class medical institutions and research centres.” The city also evidently has enough people prepared to pay the £299 that each body scan costs. The Marylebone centre attracted lengthy waitlists. Across the London and Stockholm sites, 80% of members book and prepay a scan for the following year at the end of their appointment, Neko said. Between the two centres, Neko has now completed over 15,000 scans. Earlier this year, TNW added one more to the total. During the doctor’s consultation, we were advised to seek a further review. Once we finally have our appointment with the NHS, we’ll reveal all the details about our experience — and Neko’s findings. If you want to try the scan out for yourself, you can sign up to the waitlist here. The future of healthcare on the agenda for TNW Conference, which takes place on June 19-20 in Amsterdam. Tickets for the event are now on sale. Use the code TNWXMEDIA2025 at the check-out to get 30% off the price tag. Story by Thomas Macaulay Managing editor Thomas is the managing editor of TNW. He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers. Away from work, he e (show all) Thomas is the managing editor of TNW. He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers. Away from work, he enjoys playing chess (badly) and the guitar (even worse). Get the TNW newsletter Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week. Also tagged with

President Trump may have announced a 90-day tariff pause on most countries earlier today, but China isn’t one of them. In fact, the China tariff increased from 104% to 125%, effective immediately. In case you haven’t been keeping track, the China tariff started off at 20%. Then, in a matter of a week, it became 54%, then 104%, and now 125%. Impact of Trump’s tariff on China China isn’t the only country that Apple relies on for its supply chain. Vietnam, India, and some others are critical players as well. However, China remains the largest one. These made up calculations mean one thing: if you need a new Apple product, or were eyeing an upgrade – you should buy it now. There isn’t a world where Apple can afford to sell China-imported products with a 125% tariff without increasing prices to some degrees. For example, the iPhone 16 Pro 256GB costs $580 to produce, factoring in parts, testing, and final assembly. With a 125% tariff applied, the cost once it hits the US (prior to any Apple profit margin) would be around $1305. Even if Apple decided to take close to no margin, and sell the phone for $1399 – that would still be a $300 price hike from the current price point of an iPhone 16 Pro 256GB. Apple does produce a number of iPhones in India, so it’s possible that Apple shifts things around to soften the blow as much as possible. Those numbers were just to emphasize the potential severity of tariffs. So, if you need a new Apple product, I’d recommend you don’t wait around and see what the potential price impacts are. If you aren’t in a rush, don’t panic buy – this recommendation is only for those who need it. Apple products at normal pricing iPhones: iPhone 16e – $599 on Apple.com iPhone 16 – $799 on Apple.com iPhone 16 Plus – $899 on Apple.com iPhone 16 Pro – $999 on Apple.com iPhone 16 Pro Max – $1199 on Apple.com iPads (all models on sale): iPad (A16) – $329 on Amazon iPad mini (A17 Pro) – $474 on Amazon iPad Air 11″ (M3) – $549 on Amazon iPad Air 13″ (M3) – $747 on Amazon iPad Pro 11″ (M4) – $948 on Amazon iPad Pro 13″ (M4) – $1192 on Amazon Macs (most models on sale): Mac mini (M4) – $529 on Amazon Mac mini (M4 Pro) – $1338 on Amazon iMac (M4, 2 ports) – $1179 on Amazon iMac (M4, 4 ports) – $1384 on Amazon MacBook Air (M4, 13-inch) – $974 on Amazon MacBook Air (M4, 15-inch) – $1169 on Amazon MacBook Pro (M4, 14-inch) – $1449 on Amazon MacBook Pro (M4 Pro, 14-inch) – $2159 on Amazon MacBook Pro (M4 Pro, 16-inch) – $2249 on Amazon MacBook Pro (M4 Max, 16-inch) – $3149 on Amazon Products like AirPods and Apple Watch are excluded from this list as they’re regularly manufactured in Vietnam. My favorite Apple accessories on Amazon: Follow Michael: X/Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed.  FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Here's where Waymo's self-driving vehicles are available now -- and where they're arriving soon.

Image: NintendoThere has been all sorts of commentary about Nintendo's $80 price tag on Mario Kart World and how this could potentially impact the industry and consumers going forward, and now the former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden has shared his thoughts. Appearing on the 'PlayerDriven' YouTube channel and podcast recently, Layden linked Nintendo's game price increase back to the relevance of "exclusives" and how "the only place you can play Mario" and other Nintendo IP is on a Nintendo platform. He also thinks fans often "want that content so bad" it effectively "mitigates the sticker shock". Shawn Layden: "Right here you see, ‘wow, that’s kind of a hefty price hike from Switch 1 to Switch 2 and, wow, 80 bucks for a game?’ But if it’s the only place where you can play Mario, then you get your wallet out and you buy into it… and Donkey Kong and Zelda. That first-party exclusivity kind of mitigates the sticker shock, if you will, of these price hikes, because you want that content so bad" Layden has previously mentioned how exclusives can still play an important role from a marketing perspective, creating a 'FOMO' effect (aka the fear of missing out). Nintendo has justified its Switch 2 price hikes with claims the new entry in the Mario Kart series will offer more than ever before thanks to its new open-world design. It will also be hosting a dedicated Mario Kart Direct broadcast on 17th April, where it plans to share new details about the game. "Whenever we look at a given game, we just look at what is the experience" "If they pull it off, others will follow" Our predictions for Switch 2's biggest launch game How do you feel about the price of Mario Kart? Do you think the fact it's an exclusive helps justify the cost? Tell us in the comments. [source youtu.be, via gonintendo.com] Related Games See Also Share:0 0 Liam is a news writer and reviewer for Nintendo Life and Pure Xbox. He's been writing about games for more than 15 years and is a lifelong fan of Mario and Master Chief. Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment... Related Articles Upgrade Pack Price For Zelda: BOTW And TOTK Has Been Confirmed A pleasant surprise! Nintendo Confirms US Price For 'Switch 2 Welcome Tour' Quick, act surprised! Switch 2 GameChat Choppy Frame Rate Explained By Nintendo It's about ensuring the "game experience" is at its best

The number of “operator VCs” — former founders turned VCs — in Europe in recent years. This is common in the U.S., where the majority of VCs are former founders. The reverse is true in Europe, where most come from banking or finance. Recent examples in Europe include Wise founder Taavet Hinrikus, Glovo founder Oscar Pierre (Yellow Fund), and Pitch founder Christian Reber. After exiting MuleSoft to Salesforce in 2018 for a cool $6.5 billion, founder Ross Mason set up DIG Ventures initially as a family office and later transitioning it to VC. He did this with co-founder and general partner Melissa Klinger, the former U.K. sales lead at MuleSoft. DIG has now launched its second — and first institutional — fund closing out at $100 million, to invest in B2B SaaS, AI, and cloud infrastructure startups, at pre-seed and seed stages, mainly across Europe, but also considering startups located in Israel and the U.S. The new fund is backed by LPs including The Hillman Company, Granite Capital, Sofina, and Grove Street. The round also drew participation from Datadog founder Olivier Pomel and a number of MuleSoft executives, among others.  With the idea that it is a fund built by former startup operators, DIG positions itself as a hands-on, operator-led fund capable of a range of things, such go-to-market strategy and execution. Mason and Klinger are joined by: Rytis Vitkauskas, founder of YPlan (acquired by Time Out) and former partner at Lightspeed; and Scott Grimes, co-founder of Stackin’ and Uproxx (acquired by Warner Music). The portfolio currently includes People.ai and Karat, as well as Bubble, ComplyAdvantage, PlanetScale, Rasa, Taktile, Rossum, Flock, and Prophecy.  This second fund has already started deploying capital from the fund, investing in such companies as observability platform Dash0, AI orchestration platform Nexos.ai, and enterprise middleware offering PolyAPI. “After MuleSoft, I saw a big opportunity to come back to Europe and build an operator-led fund,” Mason told TechCrunch. “And we managed to figure out a strategy where we could pick and meet founders quicker and earlier than most other funds.” “Founders tell us that we just engage with them on a conversational level, because we’ve come out of MuleSoft … We like taking very technical products and selling them well. And that is half the battle in this space,” Klinger added. She said highly technical products are the fund’s sweet spot, but that “go to market” is also something DIG knows intimately. “Going from zero to one and actually helping package that and selling it is not something any VC can do — but we can,” Klinger said. Mason said he sees the next big shift being in enterprises building their own AI. “It’s a new arms race, especially with LLMs being built and run within enterprises … The foundation layer isn’t done yet, even though every vendor would love you to think it is. A lot will become packaged Open Source because they don’t want to send their data off to an LLM in the cloud where they have no control over where the information goes.” Klinger said she thinks Europe has unrealized strengths in AI. “I think Europe’s a real dark horse in AI. We’ve got the talent at half the cost of the US. A lot of the brilliant research is coming out of our universities. The challenge we have is raising the amount of money that some of these AI-driven plays will need.” In the U.S., former founders/operators (e.g. Peter Thiel, Paul Graham, Marc Andreessen) have become highly influential venture capitalists. And with geopolitics playing havoc with economies at the same time as strong early-stage momentum appearing in Europe, this might well become the “operator VC” market.