News Announcing the speakers for TED2025: Humanity ReimaginedPosted by: TED Staff January 9, 2025at 3:00 pm ESTToday we are announcing the first batch of speakers who will take the stage at TED2025: Humanity Reimagined, happening April 7-11, 2025, in Vancouver, BC, Canada.Together with seven brilliant guest curators, were assembling a truly spectacular lineup representing everything from our dazzling digital futures and the cutting edge of AI to freedom, progress and the boundless expression of human creativity. TEDs commitment to amplifying voices that provoke novel thinking, inspire curiosity and bridge divides is stronger than ever.View the TED2025 lineup >>Speakers include:Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAIYoshua Bengio, Deep learning pioneerLei Cheng, JournalistAmaury Guichon, Pastry chef, chocolatierErin Teague, Chief product officer lead at Character.AIWhitney Wolfe Herd, Founder and executive chair of BumbleWell be adding (many) more speakers to the lineup soon, and we hope youll join us this April for TED2025 in Vancouver, where youll have the opportunity to dream, expand your sense of wonder and envision new paths forward.

The Netherlands Has Published a List of 425,000 Suspected Nazi CollaboratorsIn the past, the names could only be viewed in person. But due to expiring access restrictions, theyre now available to anyone with an internet connection People suspected of collaborating with the Nazis were rounded up afterAmerican troops liberated the Dutch town of Nijmegen at the end of World War II. Bettmann / Getty ImagesNearly 80 years after the end of theHolocaust, the names of suspected Nazi collaborators have been digitized and published online in the Netherlands.The digital archive includes the names of roughly 425,000 people accused of helping the Nazis duringWorld War II. The majority of the people on the list have since died, reportsReuters Charlotte Van Campenhout.The names include the roughly 20,000 Dutch individuals who enlisted in the German armed forces, as well as those who were suspected of joining the Dutch Nazi party, according toBBC News Aleks Phillips. Roughly 15 percent of those accused appeared before a court, and the cases of some 120,000 individuals were dropped.Martijn Eickhoff, who directs the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies in Amsterdam, is urging the public to proceed with caution when reviewing the records.It is important to look at this archive carefully, Eickhoff tells theGuardians Senay Boztas. Because it contains so many personal documents, this affects people enormously.Experts say its unlikely that anyone on the list would face legal consequences today. But the digitization will undoubtedly ripple through the Netherlands, which is still reckoning with this dark period of its history.The Nazis occupied the Netherlands from May 1940 to May 1945. More than 100,000 Dutch Jews perishedroughly 75 percent of the countrys Jewish population. The Netherlands had the highest proportion of Jewish victims of any country in Western Europe.The country has long struggled to grapple with its role in the Holocaust, but thats started to change in recent years. In March, the nation opened the new National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam. The Dutch government has also issued a formal apology for its failure to protect Jews during the war.By opening up the archives, researchers and descendents will learn about the complexities of decision-making during the Holocaust, Amy Simon, a historian and Jewish studies scholar at Michigan State University, tellsNPRs Rachel Treisman.Simon notes that Dutch people living under Nazi occupation had different motivations for collaborating with the Germans, which ranged from self-protection to antisemitism. Simon also points out the very thin line between cooperation and coercion, as NPR writes.The recently digitized names come from the Central Archives of the Special Jurisdiction, which include roughly 30 million pages of information. Its the largest archive of World War II records in the Netherlands.The list was released through the War in Court project, which is spearheaded by the Huygens Institute, a Dutch history organization, and other groups. The project received $18.5 million from the Dutch government to digitize the archive, reportsNBC News David Hodari.Previously, the names could only be viewed in person at the Netherlands National Archives in the Hague, per NPR. Now, after the expiration of a law that restricted access to the files, theyre available to anyone with an internet connection.This archive contains important stories for both present and future generations, per the Huygens Institutes website. Without digital access, this archive does not exist for many, especially younger generations. Only large-scale and easy access will keep this important archive with all facets of the war relevant, and allow us to continue learning from the past.The Central Archives of the Special Jurisdiction includes more than just namesit also contains photographs, personal documents, reports and full dossiers on those accused of collaborating with the Nazis. However, after the groups working on the project received a warning from the Dutch Data Protection Authority, they decided to only publish the list of names, per Reuters.Some in the Netherlands have opposed the digitization, while others feel it's time for the country to grapple with its past.For years, the whole theme of collaboration has been a kind of taboo, Edwin Klijn, the War in Court project leader, told theNew York Times Nina Siegal in 2023. We dont talk about collaboration that much, but were now 80 years further and its time for us to face this dark part of the war.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Archives, Crime, European History, Germany, Historical Documents, History, Holocaust, Law, Nazis, Netherlands, World War II

A composite of enhanced color images of Pluto (lower right) and Charon (upper left), taken by NASAs New Horizons spacecraft on July 14, 2015. NASA / JHUAPL / SwRIThe demoted dwarf planet Pluto and its largest moon Charon make an unusual pair, and for decades, scientists have been discussing how the binary systemin which each mutually orbits the othercame to be. With Charon being half Plutos size, experts have struggled to explain how it ended up in the dwarf planets domain.Now, a team of researchers has suggested that Pluto may have secured Charon through a newly described kiss and capture mechanism that challenges previous theories. Their work was published on Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience.The new theory suggests that billions of years ago, Pluto and Charon collided in the far reaches of the outer solar system. Rather than obliterating each other, the two bodies joined together in a spinning snowman shape (the kiss) for 10 to 15 hours before separatingbut ultimately, they remained trapped in each others orbits (the capture). Despite the collision, the dwarf planet and moon would have remained mostly intact.Most planetary collision scenarios are classified as hit and run or graze and merge. What weve discovered is something entirely differenta kiss and capture scenario where the bodies collide, stick together briefly and then separate while remaining gravitationally bound, says planetary scientist Adeene Denton, a NASA postdoctoral fellow at the University of Arizonas Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and lead author of the study, in a statement.I had always assumed that any collision between planetary bodies that were hundreds of kilometers across would destroy the smaller one, if captured, David Rothery, a planetary geoscientist at the Open University in England who was not involved in the study, tells New Scientists Alex Wilkins. The proposed kiss and capture of Charon by Pluto, shown hours after the collision, at the time of separation Robert Melikyan and Adeene DentonPreviously, scientists suggested Charon had formed through another scenario: A celestial body catastrophically smashed into Pluto, generating a massive amount heat from the impact that would have made the bodies behave in a fluid-like manner, like silly putty or blobs in a lava lamp. Scientists widely agree thatEarths moon formed in a similar way.Pluto and Charon, however, are very different from our Earth and moon. While the moon clearly orbits Earth, Pluto and Charon orbit each other. Charon is HUGE relative to Pluto, to the point where they are actually a binary, Denton explains to Space.coms Robert Lea. [Charon is] half Plutos size and 12 percent of its mass. Our moon, for comparison, is about27 percent of Earths size. (But thats still closer to Charon and Pluto than other moon-planet pairings in our solar systemJupiters largest moon, Ganymede, is 1/28 the size of the gas giant.)The differences dont end therethe researchers also argue that Pluto and Charon are less likely to behave like fluid during a collision. The dwarf planet and its moon are quite small, so the assumption that they are fluid bodies probably no longer applies, Denton tells New Scientist. They are also mostly made of rock and icefeatures that provide structural strengthwhich previous studies had overlooked.The team ran advanced computer simulations of the Pluto-Charon impact and included these key structural features. In turn, their models revealed the novel kiss and capture cosmic collision mechanism for the first time.Weve found that if we assume that Pluto and Charon are bodies with material strength, Pluto can indeed capture Charon from a giant impact, Denton explains to Space.com. We were definitely surprised by the kiss part of kiss-and-capture, she continues. There hasnt really been a kind of impact before where the two bodies only temporarily merge before re-separating!The model accurately predicted the binary systems orbit today, lending further confidence in its reliability.Because Pluto is rotating rapidly prior to the collision, and because Charon lies mostly outside of their corotation zone, it is able to push Charon off, and Charon starts to slowly migrate out, Denton tells the Guardians Nicola Davis. She adds that the impact could have marked the start of a new geological era for Pluto, whose surface we observed in 2015 with the New Horizons space probe.Among other things, the team now hopes to investigate how the new scenario might have impacted the bodies geologyincluding potential subsurface oceansas well as whether the kiss and capture mechanism might be responsible for other binary systems in the universe.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Astronomy, Moon, New Research, Outer Space, Planets, Solar System

Mountaintop Studios announced a new developer update video for Spectre Divide, offering a sneak peek at Flashpoint, the titles first major seasonal content update. Its coming in mid-February along with a version of the game for console players.The three-versus-three multiplayer tactical shooter will debut worldwide on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S early next year. The game had an unusual anime art style and interesting tactics where players had a second body that they could deploy and move to during a match. But the launch was tough. In addition to quality-of-life optimizations for PC players, Mountaintop has focused on controller support development for both PC and console versions. Weekly playtests for the functionality are currently underway, and interested players can sign up here to participate.Skyway Cyberlord in Spectre Divide.Spectre Divide looked promising as it showed off the game in the summer and launched the title on August 1. But it had a lot of bugs, including some that caused system crashes. The team had a layoff but there are still a lot of folks working on it and trying to improve the experience for players, said Nate Mitchell, CEO of Mountaintop, in an interview with GamesBeat.Mitchell, who was a cofounder of Oculus, started Mountaintop in 2020 with game designer Lee Horn and the title has been in the works for four years. Mountaintop raised$30 millionand then went quiet as the team figured out what to make. They built a team of 70 people, and enlisted the help of gaming influencer Shroud, an expert player who helped them with features that players would love. Their goal was to build a tactical shooter game that people would play for 10,000 hours.I played the game and it was reminiscent of Counter-Strike, a game that the team loved. But it had a twist. In Spectre Divide, Mountaintop created Duality, where you have two bodies controlled by one player. You can play as one character in a 3v3 match, and then place your second character in a strategic or secret spot by tossing a puck at the spot. Then you can instantly switch between characters. If one of the spectres is killed, you automatically switch to the other one. You get the benefit of one mind, two bodies. Its an innovation that just might enable the game to grab its own audience of dedicated fans in the highly competitive FPS market.A rough startNate Mitchell is CEO of Mountaintop.It launched in early September, but, as noted, there were numerous problems. On September 26, the company laid off 13 of its people.Its no secret, we got off to a bumpy start. The game went down on launch day. That was brutal, especially for players who were super excited to play. We had performance issues, especially on a wider diversity of hardware than we tested, Mitchell said. In the beta, we had more regions online, more people with networking challenges, connection challenges. We werent running servers all over the world. We heard that feedback loud and clear.In the wake of the layoffs, Mitchell said the company has had to do the fixes with a smaller team. Its goal is to focus on getting to profitability, which is a must for an indie studio that is self-publishing, he said.We have to make ends meet. We hope thats better than break even on running the studio and running the game, but ultimately, weve got to make some profit, and so thats really the focus for us. Into the next year we are looking at how we make sure that we can sustain the team we have.There was also pricing feedback as well. The bones are the same, the core is the same, but everything really has been tuned up and improved based on what players want to see, Horn said.On Steam, the number of players has been about a million so far. The concurrency is low with about 1,000 players playing, compared to a peak of 81,000 four months ago, as the company has slowed its marketing and is in the midst of fixing the game. The team considered taking the game off the market but it saw there are players who were having fun and running tournaments and so it didnt make sense to take the game away from them, Mitchell said.Horn said, We really want players to know that we believe in the game and we are trying to improve it. And so by continuing to update it like were here on Discord, they can chat with us, and were not going anywhere. We are improving it every day.RegroupingSniper fighting in Spectre DivideThe teams goal was to make the title feel like a brand new game when players came back for Season 1, Horn said in an interview with GamesBeat.Its not just a couple of tweets here and there. Weve spent a lot of time after launch listening to player feedback. And part of the reason we did this is were going to take some more time to do Season 1, Horn said. It was clear we needed to do it in a big way that really hit on all the feedback and felt like that substantial change.One of the biggest changes that were very excited about is were adding sprint, Horn said. Anytime theres a new movement mechanic, that is a major game shift. One of the pieces of feedback we got was that it was slow to rotate and felt sluggish. We actually found that sprint just opens up the game.He added, You actually get more team play out of it, which is pretty crazy to say from a mechanic, but the net result is your team is together more youre able to support your team. You can flank and get into position, you can rotate and get behind. Were very excited about sprint, and that is like a great example of a feature that takes some time to refine. We dont want to just jam it in there.New Flashpoint Season 1 ContentBack to back fighting in Spectre Divide.Like in The Hunger Games, there are sponsors in the game that can send you things to give you an advantage in battle. The new one for the update is Monark Tactical, and theres a new map coming called Canal, which will let the team show off more of its sci-fi worldbuilding, Horn said.There are also new characters, weapon skins, and cosmetics. Horn said the sponsor will give you a combat escape, which is a shield that can protect you as you activate it.The company said the Season 1 Battle Pass offers tons of value including more than 70 total rewards. Players can earn more than a dozen free items including four character outfits, two weapon skins, and 10 additional goodies.There are updates to the original maps to create better lanes around where you expect enemies to be and more readability. And there will be a major reduction in the price of cosmetics. Horn said that the controller gameplay has been in the works for a long time and team plays with it all of the time now. The company decided its ready and so the controller can be used for the console or the PC versions. Horn said the team has good backend tools and it can see crash rates and performance on different hardware specs. That helps identify problems. The company also communicates with players on Discord and Reddit. It also has a group of trusted playtesters who have been helping for a couple of years. The team has responded to thousands of Steam reviews. Overall reviews among the 18,740 reviews is mixed, with a rating of three out of five stars.More information on Flashpoint and Console launch will be shared in future updates, coming early next year. Under developmentDefusing a bomb in Spectre Divide.Heres a full list of the changes currently under development. They include game health and quality of life updates, meaning fewer crashes. Theres also a new sprint movement mechanic, fresh sandbox rebalancing, new economy tuning (where cosmetics will cost a lot less per item than in the past), existing maps updated to improve gunplay and updated and improved base facial models.On top of that, there will be a long awaited Careers tab, infrastructure improvements, client and server performance upgrades, improved networking and new server regions world-wide, thousands of fixes shipped since launch based on player feedback, faster and snappier combat and movement and visual overhauls for a more vibrant game. Anti-cheat has undergone months of tuning and advancements making major gains in detection and banning. And the observer mode has launched. Were trying to be transparent with players. Weve been sort of quiet. We did a post that basically said, Hey, were going to really focus on adding to the game. So the dev video is really to say, Check out all the things were doing. Its a pretty extensive list,' Mitchell said.Daily insights on business use cases with VB DailyIf you want to impress your boss, VB Daily has you covered. We give you the inside scoop on what companies are doing with generative AI, from regulatory shifts to practical deployments, so you can share insights for maximum ROI.Read our Privacy PolicyThanks for subscribing. Check out more VB newsletters here.An error occured.

Honda released one of the more interesting concepts at last years CES with two Honda Zero prototypes: the Saloon and the Space-Hub. It promised to come back in a year with something a little closer to production. But rather than temper those space-age design elements, Honda leaned into them. Way in. The Honda 0 Saloon and Honda 0 SUV retain a lot of what made the concepts so weird and different and not necessarily in an off-putting way. But its definitely not the electric CR-V that customers have been begging the company to make for years. In fact, Honda seems to be saying to all those people who want normie-looking EVs, We see you. We hear you. We dont care.Much has already been said about the similarities between these Honda Zero prototypes and certain iconic vehicles from the 70s and 80s, like the Lamborghini Countach, AMC Gremlin, Aston Martin Lagonda Shooting Brake, and (h/t Jason Torchinsky) the Brubaker Box. My theory is that Honda is reaching for these design inspirations as a way to offset the future shock of an ultra-minimalist interior and all the marketing speak about software-defined vehicles. After all, Hondas real announcement this year was the operating system it developed in-house, named after its iconic Asimo robot. The Zero EVs mostly feel like a lot of window dressing for the actual product, which is software. What better way to draw people into listening to a TED talk about high-performance system-on-a-chip than to stand in front of a car that looks like it should be floating in low orbit? Honda 0 Saloon1/61/6One of the things I noticed about the Saloon was the lack of a rear window that rounded rectangle in the back isnt transparent. The depth effect is very impressive, but its not obscuring an incognito window. Its just the taillight. Something else that caught my attention was the lack of sideview mirrors. Honda is using cameras instead. Drivers who want to check their blind spots will need to use two screens embedded at either end of the long piece of glass that spans the length of the dashboard. Of course, US safety regulations require regular old sideview mirrors, so this seems mostly aspirational. Honda 0 SUV1/81/8The SUV is less out there than the Saloon, and that probably means were likely to see some version of it on US roads before the sedan. Theres definitely a rear window, and the airiness of the greenhouse seems to allude to Honda Zeros design principles of thin, light, and wise.We dont have any specs for either vehicle, though Honda has said that its Zero EVs will draw from the automakers Formula 1 racing experience. The automaker is also aiming for optimum battery efficiency through its e-Axle system consisting of a motor, inverter, and gearbox that convert electric power into energy for driving. Each EV is expected to have around 300 miles of range, which translates to an 8090kWh battery. Other important details include an effort to consolidate electronic control units, similar to Rivians recently relaunched R1 vehicles. By reducing the number of components and wiring, Honda is clearly trying to limit its costs in an environment where the price of production seems to be on the rise. Interior1/61/6The absence of anything remotely resembling a physical knob or dial inside either vehicle is a pretty good sign that automakers continue to ignore the pleas of customers to stop porting every last bit of functionality through its digital interfaces. Yes, Im an old man yelling at clouds, but for the love of god, give me something to twist or push. Trying to adjust the heat by tapping blindly at a smooth pane of glass while careening down a highway at 75mph isnt exactly my idea of a good time. The yoke is... a yoke. Automakers love their steering yokes! But when it comes time to actually put something into production, they mostly retreat back to wheel shapes. The moonroof is another one of those features that suggest thin principles. And obviously, Hondas promise that its Zero vehicles will come with Level 3 autonomy, also known as hands-off, eyes-off driving, needs a lot more explanation. Whats the handoff between autonomous system and driver look like? And how will it account for our very human tendency to zone out when were not actively engaged in driving?There are a lot of questions swirling around these vehicles! Will they ever go into production? Theres a nonzero chance.

When it comes to finding a device to read ebooks, you have a few options to choose from. You can always buy a tablet or use your phone, but those devices are multipurpose and can be used for a ton of things, like surfing the web or doom-scrolling on X. If you are looking for something to strictly read books, e-readers, while niche, are designed to store all of your books in a virtual library with limited functionality. Amazon, one of the pioneers of the e-reader, has dominated the space for years with its ever-expanding Kindle lineup, which consists of several unique models with their own pros and cons. The bulk of the devices function as simple ebook readers; however, with the Kindle Scribe, Amazon is moving beyond books and into the realm of writing something that should make future Kindles function more akin to physical paper.Below, weve listed each model currently available. Sometimes there isnt a deal for one or even any of the products, but in those cases, weve listed the most recent sale price. RelatedThe entry-level Kindle remains the smallest e-reader Amazon offers, one thats available in either black or green. Image: AmazonThe best Kindle (2024) dealsWhat does it mean when a Kindle is ad-supported?Amazon Kindle e-readers come in different storage configurations, but there is also an additional option that allows you to buy the e-reader with or without ads. Ad-supported Kindles will display personalized advertisements on the lock screen when it is in sleep mode or at the bottom of the homescreen when the device is connected to Wi-Fi. Typically, you save about $20 by buying the ad-supported version, but if you decide to remove ads later, you can make a one-time payment to cover the difference and remove the ads.In case you missed it, Amazon announced a new entry-level Kindle in October, one that was designed to replace the outgoing 2022 model. The latest Kindle which starts at $109.99 boasts a brighter 94-nit display, improved contrast levels, and slightly faster page turns. It also comes in a matcha green instead of denim, just in case youre not a fan of the default black color. Otherwise, though, its nearly identical to its predecessor, with the same six-inch 300ppi screen, support for USB-C, and 16GB of base storage.In the past, Amazons newest ad-supported Kindle has dropped to as low as $84.99 ($25 off) with three months of Kindle Unlimited. Right now, however, you can only buy the Kindle at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target for its full retail price of $109.99.Kindle (2024) $110Amazons new entry-level Kindle retains a six-inch, 300ppi display and USB-C. Its both brighter and faster than its predecessor, however, and features longer battery life.The best Kindle Kids (2024) dealsAmazon also updated its kid-friendly Kindle in late 2024. The new Kindle Kids is identical to the standard model but comes with several accessories and provides age-appropriate content for younger readers who prefer digital books. Like the last-gen Kindle Kids, the latest model retails for $20 more than the base model, bringing the MSRP to $129.99.RelatedIn terms of add-ons, the new Kindle Kids edition consists of four items: the device, a protective case, a two-year extended replacement guarantee (in the event the device breaks), and six months of Amazon Kids Plus. The latter is the biggest selling point of the device aside from the kid-friendly patterns and lack of ads, as it allows parents to grant their child access to games, videos, and books including those in thePercy Jackson andHarry Potterseries at no additional cost.In the past, weve seen the new Kindle Kids sell for as low as $94.99 ($35 off). Right now, however, you can only buy the e-reader at its full price of $129.99 at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target.Kindle Kids (2024)$130Amazons Kindle Kids is identical to the standard Kindle meaning it packs a 300ppi display and support for USB-C charging but comes with a case, an extended two-year warranty, and six months of Amazon Kids Plus.The Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition is identical to the standard model but features wireless charging and a sensor to automatically adjust the backlight.The best Kindle Paperwhite (2024) dealsThe latest Kindle Paperwhite, which launched last year, is Amazons 12th-gen model. Considering its one of the companys higher-end configurations, it offers all the features found in the entry-level Kindle, including USB-C charging and a crisp 300ppi display. That being said, its noticeably faster than Amazons base ebook reader and features IPX8 waterproofing, a larger seven-inch display, and longer battery life. RelatedLike other Kindles, the new Paperwhite is available in a few different configurations. Theres an ad-free Signature Edition for $199.99, which is identical to the standard model but comes with 32GB of storage, Qi wireless charging, and a backlight that will automatically adjust when needed. Theres also a Paperwhite Kids for $179.99, which comes bundled with a kid-friendly cover, a two-year extended replacement guarantee, and six months of Amazon Kids Plus.In the past, weve seen the Paperwhite drop to as low as $129.99. Unfortunately, the standalone model is currently only available at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target starting at $159.99 (its full retail price). If youre okay with purchasing a bundle, you can also grab it at Amazon with a power adapter and a black, green, or pink fabric cover for $196.97 ($20 off) or with a plant-based black, green, or pink leather cover for $202.97 ($20 off).Read our Kindle Paperwhite (2024) review.Kindle Paperwhite (2024)$160Amazons latest Paperwhite features a larger seven-inch display and noticeably faster performance. It also boasts longer battery life than the previous model, retains IPX8 waterproofing, and includes a USB-C port.$197$197$2179% offThe seven-inch Kindle Paperwhite features a larger display and faster performance than Amazons entry-level ebook reader. You can also buy it in a bundle with a cover and a USB-C charger. $197 at Amazon (fabric cover)$203 at Amazon (leather cover)As for the ad-free Signature Edition, its available at Amazon and Best Buy right now for $199.99 its regular retail price. You can also grab it at Amazon with a wireless charging dock and a black, green, or pink fabric cover starting at $251.97 ($25 off) or with a plant-based black, green, or pink leather cover for $257.97 ($25 off).Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition (2024)$200The premium Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition offers the same design and performance as the standard model but with more storage and support for wireless charging.$200 at Amazon $200 at Best Buy $252$252$2779% offAmazons step-up Kindle Paperwhite bundle includes a Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition, a wireless charging dock, and your choice of either a fabric or plant-based cover.$252 at Amazon (fabric cover)$258 at Amazon (leather cover)You can write in the Kindle Scribe and use its AI features to clean up the handwriting or summarize your notes.The best Kindle Scribe (2024) dealsLike its predecessor, the second-gen Kindle Scribe is Amazons biggest e-reader. It packs a 10.2-inch display with 300 dpi, along with the same great battery life for which Kindles have become known. What separates the Scribe from other Kindles, however, is that it comes with a stylus, which can be used to jot down notes or doodle in the ebook readers built-in notebook. With the latest Scribe, Amazon also introduced a new Active Canvas feature, so you can scribble notes directly on ebook pages, as well as a suite of AI-powered features that can summarize your notes and refine your handwriting.RelatedThe new Kindle Scribe starts at $399.99 with 16GB of storage, but right now, you can buy it at AmazonandBest Buy. for an all-time low of $324.99 ($75 off).Read our Kindle Scribe (2024) review.Kindle Scribe (2024)$325$40019% off$325$325$40019% offThe latest Kindle Scribe is a 10.2-inch e-reader with a stylus for taking notes. Its faster than its predecessor and offers a host of new features, including one that lets you jot notes directly in your book.The Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition is Amazons only color e-reader. Photos by Andrew Liszewski / The VergeThe best Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition dealsIn October, Amazon announced its first color e-reader, theKindle Colorsoft Signature Edition. Like the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition, it boasts a seven-inch display with a crisp 300ppi resolution, IPX8 water resistance, wireless charging, and 32GB of storage. However, unlike the Paperwhite, the e-reader offers a color mode, which cuts the resolution in half. Thankfully, its still vibrant for a color E-Ink screen despite the lower resolution, rendering it particularly ideal for reading comic books and manga.We have yet to see the Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition go on sale. Right now, you can only buy the standalone e-reader at Amazon and Best Buy for its full retail price of $279.99. However, you can save some money if you buy it as a part of a bundle for $327.97 ($35 off), which nets you a wireless charging dock and plant-based leather cover in black, pink, or green. You can also buy it with a premium leather cover in red or black for $349.97 ($35 off). Read our Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition review.$328$328$36310% offTheKindle Colorsoft Signature Edition is Amazons first color e-reader. It comes with wireless charging, IPX8 water resistance, and 32GB of storage. It retails for $279.99 by itself, but Amazon also sells it as part of a bundle that contains a wireless charging dock and one of two covers.$328 at Amazon (with plant-based cover)$350 at Amazon (with premium leather cover)

X launches Groks iPhone app in the USX launches Groks iPhone app in the US / Elon Musks AI chatbot became free for all users last month.By Emma Roth, a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO. Jan 9, 2025, 9:18 PM UTCShare this story Image: The VergexAI has released an iOS app in the US for its Grok chatbot, as spotted earlier by TechCrunch. The standalone app version of the chatbot, which xAI calls a beta, can perform the same functions as the one built into X, as it can field real-time information, answer questions, and generate images.xAI started testing Groks standalone iOS app in December in a handful of countries. Theres no word on when it may come to Android. Though Grok was initially only available to X Premium subscribers, the platform started letting all users access the chatbot last month, bringing it in line with other free-to-use chatbots like OpenAIs ChatGPT, Anthropics Claude, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot. As pointed out by TechCrunch, it seems xAI is also working on a dedicated Grok.com website that currently has a coming soon message on it. After raising $6 billion in June, xAI reported another $6 billion funding round, including from strategic investors like Nvidia and AMD.Most PopularMost Popular

Starting January 6, sign up to receive news and updates about Samsung's 2025 lineup of TVs and as a bonus, you'll receive a $100 credit good for any 2025 TV preorder. Since this isn't a commitment to preorder or buy, you don't need to place any kind of deposit. If you're planning to pick up one of these TVs as soon as they become available, there's no reason not to sign up and claim the discount.$100 Credit on a 2025 Samsung TV PreorderSign Up and Get $100 Credit With Your 2025 Samsung TV PreorderSee it at SamsungSamsung showcased several of their top models during CES 2025. Here's a quick rundown of the biggest highlights. At the moment, exact pricing for each model is unknown.OLED TVsThe new OLED TVs - the S95F, S90F, and S85F - feature several incremental upgrades over its predecessors. The S95F, Samsung's flagship model, boasts a new NQ4 AI Gen 3 processor, a faster 165Hz refresh rate, an improved anti-glare coating, and an upgraded QD OLED panel that promises up to 2,000 nits of brightness. The S90F will also feature the Gen 3 processor, 144Hz refresh rate with VRR, and a QD OLED panel with up to 1,300nits of brightness (for TV models 55" and up). The S85F remains the "budget" OLED TV with a Gen 2 processor.Art TVsThe Frame Pro will make its debut this year alongside the standard Frame TV. The Frame Pro finally features the superior Neo QLED Mini-LED panel for richer and brighter colors, a faster 144Hz refresh rate, the new anti-glare tech, and wireless hookups in the form of a "One Connect" box that can be stowed away discreetly. The standard The Frame TV will still be available too, at a significantly lower cost I assume.Mini LED TVsSamsung revealed a total of six Mini-LED TV models for 2025. The Neo QLED QN990F and QN900F are true 8K TVs with some incremental improvements like the new anti-glare tech, the One Connect wireless transmitter box, and access to Samsung's Art Store, which was previously retricted to the Frame TVs. The Neo QLED QN90F, QN85F, QN80F and QN70F will be the new 4K Mini-LED models. The highest end model is the QN90F and it will feature the same 165Hz refresh rate, Gen 3 processor, and anti-glare coating as the S95F. The mid-range QN85F will be Samsung's first 100" TV. Samsung QN90D (2024) Review by Jaron SchneiderSamsungs 2024 mini LED QN90D is a very nice television that refines the interface and adds a host of new features that increase the value of the offering. Its expensive, but the brightness, color quality, wealth of HDMI 2.1 ports, built-in gaming, and more make a solid argument to warrant the asking price.AI and Anti-Glare Tech Are the Highlights for SamsungLike just about everyone else in the industry, Samsung is going all in on AI. Samsung's new tech for 2025 is their "Vision AI", which can recognize the content you're watching, including specifics like the actors or setting, and display relevant personalized commentary in real-time. In addition, more TV models this year will be equipped with AI Upscaling Pro and AI Motion Enhancer Pro which work in tandem to optimize image quality on the fly. Other features include Active Voice Amplier Pro, which uses AI to isolate and enhance voices, AI Optimization, and AI Energy Mode.Samsung is also decisively moving many of their TV panels to the matte-like anti-glare coating we saw on the S95D in 2024. This anti-glare anti-reflective tech doesn't desaturate like we typically see with anti-glare coatings from other brands, and yet reflections are minimized to the point that you'll never notice them.For more big tech news for this month, check out our CES 2025 hub for all of the latest updates.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.

Calling all Elden Ring fans: a brand-new figure of Malenia Blade of Miquella is up for pre-order at IGN Store. Cited by many as the most difficult boss in Elden Ring, this is one formidable foe you can now add to your collection. Check out the details below, and be sure to get your pre-order in before orders close!Pre-Order S.H.Figuarts Malenia Blade of Miquella Figure NowElden Ring - Malenia Blade of Miquella - Action FigureSee it at IGN StoreStanding at approximately 7.5 inches tall, this Malenia figure is perfect for any Elden Ring fan's collection. In the box, you'll get Malenia, replacement wrist parts, prosthetic hand sword parts, a replacement slit skirt, an exclusive pedestal, and more. The S.H.Figuarts line allows you to customize your figure to your liking, so you can set Malenia in any of the iconic battle poses from the game. Elden Ring is one of the biggest games of the past decade, with the game outselling the entirety of the Dark Souls franchise. A second game in the franchise, Elden Ring Nightreign, is set to release in 2025, offering a multiplayer experience for players to take down bosses together. You can read more about this upcoming game in our first hands-on preview.Elden Ring - Malenia Blade of Miquella - Action FigurePre-orders for this highly anticipated figure close on January 30. Be sure to get your order in before it's too late!Noah Hunter is a freelance writer and reviewer with a passion for games and technology. He co-founded Final Weapon, an outlet focused on nonsense-free Japanese gaming (in 2019) and has contributed to various publishers writing about the medium.

The Monster Hunter series first launched on PlayStation 2 in 2004 and has since won over many fans, evolving at a dizzying pace alongside new developments in hardware. While it may sound like a clich to say that the whole world has been waiting for it, it's not an exaggeration to say that hunters from around the globe have eagerly awaited the next game in the series, Monster Hunter Wilds, releasing at last on February 28, 2025. The gameplay loop that hunters imagine when they hear about Monster Hunter has remained the same throughout the series even after 20 years. Hunt gigantic monsters, strip them of materials, create equipment, then head back into the next hunt. At the same time, though, it seems rare for the game design of a series to so directly reflect the benefits brought about by advances in hardware. Monster Hunter: World, released in 2018, did away with the segmented maps that players were used to seeing in the series, instead allowing them to roam about a single stage without loading times. It also made many other changes, both big and small, but veteran players remained as passionate as ever, helping it to gain global popularity.Gaining Confidence in Monster Hunter Via WorldPlayThe development team also continues to believe that the major turning point for the series in recent years was World, which did away with the fragmented map from previous titles. While Monster Hunter did already have lots of overseas fans, the proportion of them still wasn't very large compared to the Japanese fanbase. Wilds Director Yuya Tokuda has returned following his work on World, and he has the following to say about this phenomenon:"The gameplay loop for a game like Monster Hunter, where players repeatedly gather materials, is agricultural in nature, he tells IGN. Some people told me that they believed it would be hard for that to resonate with a global audience."The development team also continues to believe that the major turning point for the series in recent years was Monster Hunter World.At the time of World's creation, the development team did know that the global market was full of shooters and competitive multiplayer games. Kaname Fujioka, who acted as Director starting with the first Monster Hunter and is now Executive Director and Art Director for Wilds, says this was a period when he thought about what makes Monster Hunter fun, focusing on what to do in order to bring the game to a wider audience.Play"Cooperative games weren't part of the mainstream at the time, making World a major challenge for us, he says. If multiplayer cooperative play wasn't going to be big to begin with, we would have to reconsider the very form that Monster Hunter takes. But we had absolute confidence about the kind of fun that Monster Hunter provides, and it possessed a history as a series that grew in Japan to become what it was. We never believed that a Japanese sensibility wouldn't be able to land overseas."The rest of the world would surely understand the fun of Monster Hunter. Believing this, the development team decided not to fiddle with or change the central elements of the series, instead keeping the core of what makes it fun intact while trying to convey that enjoyment to a broader range of players. The development team then performed a thorough analysis of what makes Monster Hunter fun in order to do that.The change in the development team's environment must have also largely contributed to World's success. Ryozo Tsujimoto, long-time producer for the Monster Hunter series, tells IGN, "I think you can also credit the fact that it became easier to communicate with foreign fans starting with World. During World's development we developed a strong habit of looking into feedback that we received from overseas, investigating where the issues lay. By digesting what players tell us, regardless of where they're located, we're able to really think about what we're communicating and what's difficult to get across. I believe that this change of environment helped play a major role in changing our own awareness."PlayWorld gained the support of many players as a result, successfully gaining global popularity. Tokuda says that after seeing the reaction to World, he gained a redoubled confidence in the fundamental kind of fun found within the Monster Hunter games. "Thanks to World, we were able to reaffirm that we hadn't made any mistakes with the core elements of Monster Hunter, giving us confidence once more, says Tokuda. It's because of our experience with World that we've been able to feel assured as we take the next step with Wilds, further improving its core while creating an even more attractive game."The development team never bent, always believing in Monster Hunter's charm and the elements at the center of what makes it fun. They began developing Wilds with the success of World driving them forward once updates for World reached a pause. They say the team's mission at first was primarily to test out the available technology with a small team. Producer Tsujimoto tells us about those times.Play"We predicted that the platforms for the game would be more powerful by the time it was released (with new-generation consoles having come in), and so our mission was to depict the world of Monster Hunter with the technology that would be available at that point in time," he explains."We've always pictured game design that allows players to immerse themselves in hunts as hunters entering inside of Monster Hunter's carefully depicted ecosystems."What would be possible on new-generation platforms while still making use of their output from World? How could they use the possibilities opened up by new-generation consoles to further evolve the series? Fujioka makes repeated use of a key term when it comes to this: "immersion"."Throughout the Monster Hunter series, we've always pictured game design that allows players to immerse themselves in hunts as hunters entering inside of Monster Hunter's carefully depicted ecosystems, he says. Players bought into that sensation to some degree in World, and we tried to take it even further in Wilds."PlayThrough repeated technical verifications, it became clear that the team would be able to realize the image they've long held for Monster Hunter. Seamless map design, and an environment that changes with the passing of time. All of this would allow for an even deeper depiction of the ecosystem inhabited by massive monsters and the hunters who hunt them, generating further immersion. Depicting the world of Monster Hunter that has existed from the start of the series in greater depth and detail could allow for the surfacing of an ecosystem that includes the presence of humans in Wilds. "It's nature's two faces of being bountiful yet harsh, says Tokuda, explaining the world of Wilds. By depicting these two sides, we hoped to create a world that includes those who live in and become involved with it, like the hunters."Creating Dramatic Moments for All HuntersWhile Wilds retains the traditional gameplay loop of accepting a quest and going to hunt the relevant monster, Tokuda says that hunters will now need to be aware of what monsters have spawned in the world, hunting them at their discretion based on the state of these monsters.PlayAs an example, he explains one possible situation. You're after materials in order to craft a piece of equipment, and so you're sprinting through the Windward Plains on your Seikret. Just then, beyond a cloud of sand, you see a large monster that you aren't currently targeting. It's got several wounds, as it's likely already fought a number of other monsters. It's not as if you need its materials at this very moment, but the rewards would be vast. After a moment of hesitation, you turn back and go after the wounded monster. Hunters need the ability to adapt to their circumstances, and Wilds provides a world where players can experience just that.IGN First Monster Hunter Wilds Oilwell Basin Artwork"The design (in past Monster Hunter games) where you participate in one quest at a time does provide the benefit of a game that you can always play in a stable environment, but you can't help but feel this to be unnatural in ways for a game that depicts ecosystems in the wild, says Tokuda. It seems like a given that you'd face different monsters and winds from one day to the next, considering that nature-focused perspective."Scenes before your eyes will change from moment to moment, creating dramatic experiences and giving hunters a sense of immersion as though they're really alive in the game's world. As easy as that is to say, it's by no means simple to realize it in a gaming setting. "There are only a few dramatic scenes and events you get to encounter and experience in everyday life over the course of a year," Fujioka says. Rather than simply constructing a world, we ask what kinds of scenes he wants playing out in front of hunters and his philosophy on creating a game that anticipates these kinds of experiences.Play"You may only be able to see an evening's beauty for a few dozen minutes over the course of a day, but those moments leave an incredible impression on you, he replies. The team has constantly shared an awareness of how important it is to have these kinds of dramatic moments and experiences properly playing out before you in a game while also making sure that they don't appear unnatural. There's the risk of 'nothing happening' to a player within a large open world or with changes in circumstances like seamless shifts in weather. We discussed this concern many times during development, and I was quite aware as a designer to be compacting and connecting what we can do to make things more fun, creating dramatic twists that constantly play out before you."The developers never thought of themselves as making an open-world game.What's important isn't the form that the game takes, but the form of each individual experience encountered by the player. Ever since the announcement of Wilds, many players have seen its seamless stages, real-time environmental changes and other new elements, and called it an "open world Monster Hunter". In fact, I admit that those were the first words to come to my own mind the moment I heard the news about Wilds. But Tsujimoto says that the developers never thought of themselves as making an open world game."It's not as if the words 'open world' came out of any of our mouths during development, either, he says. We wanted players to be able to experience a seamless Monster Hunter, and this is the form we ended up with as we implemented what we wanted."PlayI ask what genre they would call Wilds if they had to give it one, and the three developers look at one another. Fujioka says that while he believes they used phrases like "seamless map" and "seamless stages" during World as well, he could only describe Wilds as a game that gives players "a seamless Monster Hunter experience". It seems that the development team consider the wide-open stages in Wilds as not their goal, but rather a result. According to Tokuda, "Creating large spaces wasn't the goal from the time we made World. It's more accurate to say that they became that large as well as seamlessly connected during the process of properly depicting Monster Hunter's world. More than its size, one of the things that makes Monster Hunter unique is its density of detail. We focused on adding enough density to our stages that just by walking through them, you'll make discoveries, notice interactable elements, and find so much in general, from targets of action to visual aspects. I think that level of detail is a part of depicting the world of Monster Hunter and its ecosystems."Making Monster Hunter More Accessible, Not EasierWhile the series continues to change with advances in hardware, its core gameplay has always stayed the same. This is because the developers have absolute confidence in what makes it fun. The changes made in World and the improvements found in Wilds have always come from a focus on finding ways to bring what makes Monster Hunter fun to an even larger audience.Play"We have data showing that many of the people who quit World partway through did so before reaching the part where you're really playing Monster Hunter, Tsujimoto says of the feedback they received from World. I think there are a lot of reasons for that, but maybe they couldn't find monsters, or they didn't know what to do once they reached them, or maybe the weapon they brought didn't suit them once it came time for action. We've been incredibly careful in Wilds to guide players to the fun of Monster Hunter without changing the core of the series."Mr. Fujioka explains that it's for this reason that the difficulty in Wilds generally follows suit from World."Monster Hunter is an action game, which means that you're always going to have some players who never complete the game no matter how much you adjust the numbers, he says. That's why we quite carefully analyzed the reasons players can't beat it, or why they can't make it to a hunt, then created a way for them to grow step by step. As you progress through the game, a moment will come when these skills that you've learned one at a time will suddenly all be required of you. At the end of the day, our goal with Monster Hunter is to create action that you can sink your teeth into, and the enjoyment of being able to finally defeat a monster by playing together with a team as one. We've had the goal in every title we've made for people picking up Monster Hunter for the first time to ultimately be able to reach the same skill level as veteran hunters."PlayGiven Fujiokas comments, it sounds as though the development team never even considered making monsters weaker in order to make the game more accessible. They believe in the hunters who decide to take on Monster Hunter, and they want to avoid at all costs lessening the fun that those hunters should eventually come to find. Instead of resorting to the simplest possible way to improve accessibility, they decided to think about a player's experience and design a game that matches it.Tokuda continues, "For Wilds, we conducted an even closer analysis of a player's growth curve. It's good that Great Jagras, the first large monster in World, could easily be hit from many different angles, but it had a broad range of attacks in return, making it feel difficult for those not used to action games. Chatacabra, the first monster in Wilds, has only focused attacks, while the next monster, Quematrice, has wider-ranging attacks. We've designed it in this way so that players will gradually learn how to respond as they get used to the game's action."Another Core: The Communication FactorThe developers also spoke about how one other element that helps define Monster Hunter is the communication between hunters. My first time playing Monster Hunter with others was with Monster Hunter Portable 3rd on the PlayStation Portable, but even back then there were already many veteran hunters who had come before me. I remember them taking me by the hand and guiding me through what I needed to bring on hunts and what to do when encountering a monster. But without those people around me, I doubt I ever would have ever become a hunter.Play"You didn't even know where to mine, right?" Tsujimoto laughs. "Networked communication wasn't as easy back in those days, so it was like whoever found something became a hero. That information and enjoyment would then spread from there. We even had monsters that we never officially announced in order to encourage more communication."Fujioka says these tricks existed within Monster Hunter from the very beginning."In the mission for Lao-Shan Lung, you're asked to simply repel the monster, but it's actually possible to kill it, he says. It's designed so that it can be properly defeated even if that isn't the goal. That information was never officially announced, though, so a player would get that experience and spread the information from there. We were intentional about putting that into the game."PlayMonster Hunter began as an action game that can be enjoyed with other players, communication included. That philosophy has remained consistent ever since its start in 2004."What we set out to create from the very start was action enjoyed with others, whether that's in the game's setting or in its gameplay, continues Fujioka. The focus is on how much fun we can bring players through its action, and just how solid the push and pull against monsters feels. I think that what makes Monster Hunter unique is that you can get a serious action experience whether you're playing alone or with three others."It may be a little early to ask, but now that Wilds nears its release, what do the developers see in Monster Hunters future? When I ask Fujioka this, he replies with a forced laugh. "The future, huh..." He then goes silent for a bit, as if to think back on his time developing the game, then continues, picking his words with care.Play"... Well, I think I've exhausted myself with Wilds, and it feels like it'll be difficult to take a broader view of the game until a while after its release, he admits. What I can say, though, is that there has been a dizzying amount of change in the last decade or two, like online games becoming the standard. Advances in hardware and technology are of course going to continue as well. It was a huge shock when the PSP came out and we saw the level of specs that portable games were now capable of. That would have been unimaginable 20 years before its release. All we can do is make games. But when something incredible that feels truly advanced comes along, we get so many ideas about what to do next with Monster Hunter. I think Monster Hunter is just going to keep changing to match the shifts and advances of the times."The interview left me with the powerful feeling that these creators firmly believe in how fun Monster Hunter is. At the same time, their faith is strong that hunters around the world will enjoy Monster Hunter. They leave the core fun of the games untouched while bringing hunters to new horizons made visible by advances in hardware. After the leap that was World, these creators now aim for even greater heights with Wilds. I can barely wait until the day that I get to hunt in the world they've created with it.Monster Hunter Wilds is scheduled for release on February 28. Check out our exclusive Oilwell Basin Ajarakan and Rompopolo gameplay videos, and look out for more exclusive interview articles and videos throughout January as part of IGN First.Shuka Yamada is a freelance writer for IGN Japan. This article was translated by Ko Ransom.