Incention is launching a platform to bring AI and blockchain to Hollywood,and it is working with Hollywood writer David S. Goyer.Read More

Ustwo Games partners with IFRC to support flood reliefDeveloper will donate 3% of profits from Monument Valley 3 over the next three years to support the IFRC's Disaster Response Emergency FundImage credit: Ustwo Games News by Sophie McEvoy Staff Writer Published on Jan. 28, 2025 Ustwo Games has partnered with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to support flood relief, coinciding with the recently launched Monument Valley 3.The UK-based developer will donate 3% of profits from the game over the next three years directly to the IFRC's Disaster Response Emergency Fund.Players will also be able to learn more about the IFRC's efforts in-game following the conclusion of Monument Valley 3's story, which highlights the impacts floods can have on a civilisation."We're incredibly excited to partner with the IFRC for Monument Valley 3," said Ustwo Games CEO Maria Sayans. "Through this partnership, we hope to raise awareness about the far-reaching consequences of floods and inspire our players to join us in supporting the IFRC's vital relief efforts."IFRC's head of strategic partnerships Alessandro Fedele added: "Floods have a profound impact on communities, often leaving them struggling to rebuild. We are grateful for Ustwo Games commitment to supporting our mission."This partnership allows us to provide even more essential aid to people in need, helping them rebuild and recover in the wake of disaster."Last year, we spoke with Ustwo about the lasting impact of Monument Valley, and the process of developing a game for the Netflix generation.

Update (01/28/25): Ubisoft has told Game Developer that some employees from its Leamington studio will remain with the company on remote contracts. It was originally reported the entire 50-person team would be laid off.A company spokesperson said it will retain some talent with "essential skills" but noted that around 100 employees will likely be laid off across its two sites in Leamington and Newcastle. They also confirmed the proposed closure of the Leamington office.Original story: Ubisoft is laying off 185 workers and closing its studio in Leamington, UK.The Assassin's Creed publisher confirmed the news in a statement to Eurogamer and explained Leamington's entire 50-person team is being culled.Ubisoft Leamington was formerly known as Activision Blizzard studio FreeStyleGames. It was acquired by Ubisoft in 2017 and worked on titles including Tom Clancy's The Division and Far Cry 5.Other Ubisoft offices in Dusseldorf, Stockholm, and Newcastle (the latter of which is perhaps better known as Grow Home and The Crew developer Ubisoft Reflections) are also being downsized."As part of our ongoing efforts to prioritise projects and reduce costs that ensure long-term stability at Ubisoft, we have announced targeted restructurings at Ubisoft Dsseldorf, Ubisoft Stockholm and Ubisoft Reflections and the permanent closure of Ubisoft Leamington site," said a company spokesperson."Unfortunately, this should impact 185 employees overall. We are deeply grateful for their contributions and are committed to supporting them through this transition."Ubisoft has now shuttered three studios in under two monthsEarlier this month, Ubisoft said it would take "decisive steps" to reshape its business and focus on delivering quality products. It said that transformation would require "significant cost reductions" but stopped short of confirming layoffs."We made good progress on the strategic and execution reviews initiated a few months ago and are confident that this will position Ubisoft for a stronger future," said Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot at the time."We have taken decisive steps to reshape the Group in order to deliver bestinclass player experiences, enhance operational efficiency and maximize value creation."Guillemot also confirmed Ubisoft had appointed advisors to review and pursue various "strategic and capitalistic options."Last year, it was reported that Ubisoft majority stakeholders the Guillemots were exploring buyout options with Chinese conglomerate Tencent. Ubisoft refused to comment on those rumblings during a recent strategic update.Ubisoft's decision to kick an entire studio and almost 200 workers to the curb comes around two months after the publisher canned live-service shooter xDefiant and closed development studios in Osaka and San Francisco.

Today, 2:16 AM UTCTodd HaseltonGoogle Maps in the US will change to Gulf of America and Mount McKinleyIllustration: The VergeGoogle said today that it plans to update Google Maps to reflect President Trumps January 20th executive order to change the names of the Gulf of Mexico and Denali to the Gulf of America and Mount McKinley, respectively.The company noted on X the updated nomenclature will appear once the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is updated.Read Article >Today, 1:38 AM UTCRichard LawlerTrump says hell put tariffs on imported chips in the near futureImage: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty ImagesWithout going into detail about what might happen to the $52 billion in subsidies from the CHIPS Act under his administration, Donald Trump said tariffs on foreign computer chips, semiconductors, and pharmaceuticals are coming in the near future. He also namechecked DeepSeeks AI releases, saying, ...coming up with a faster method of AI and less expensive, thats good. I view that as a positive if it is fact and it is true, and nobody knows, but I view that as a positive.In the speech at the House GOP Issues Conference held at the Trump National Doral Resort in Miami Monday afternoon, he said that to return the production of these goods to the US, we dont want to give them billions of dollars like this ridiculous program Biden has. Instead the incentive for manufacturers will be they will not want to pay a tax.Read Article >Jan 24Richard LawlerElon Musk email to X staff: were barely breaking evenImage: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty ImagesEver since Elon Musk closed his deal to buy Twitter hes claimed the company, now called X, is in a very dire situation from a revenue standpoint.Now, the Wall Street Journal reports that banks are preparing a coordinated move to sell off some of the $13 billion in debt they loaned Musk to finance the deal. It mentions an email sent to employees this month, also confirmed by The Verge, where the Chief Twit said, ...weve witnessed the power of X in shaping national conversations and outcomes, but also claimed, Our user growth is stagnant, revenue is unimpressive, and were barely breaking even.Read Article >Jan 23Thomas RickerTrump bends to the tech oligarchy.Tim Cook complained about the EUs data privacy and competition laws, Zuck followed suit, and they all feted the man with flattery and millions before bowing to kiss the ring.Here is their reward:Jan 23Nilay PatelHow Metas MAGA heel turn is a play for global powerIllustration by The VergeOn todays episode of Decoder, were diving into an especially messy set of ideas. Its been a chaotic couple of weeks for big tech companies as the second Trump administration kicks off an unprecedented era of how we think about who controls the internet. Metas changed its rules to openly allow more slurs and hate speech on its platforms, TikTok was banned and sort of unbanned, and a bunch of tech CEOs attended the second Trump inauguration. Theres a major collision, or maybe merger, happening right now between billionaire power and state power and everyone who uses tech to communicate so, basically everyone is stuck in the middle.Read Article >Jan 23Adi RobertsonLess Trump, unless you want it.As The Verges policy editor, I know how exhausting the Trump administration news firehose can be. Theres truly need-to-know stuff like the future of the Paris climate agreement and the TikTok ban. But were now collecting some updates in a stream whose posts wont all appear on the front page, so readers get a break from the full weight of Trumps random off-the-cuff proposals and his regulators antics. That said, were entering a new era in tech policy, so I hope youll periodically check it out!Trumps first 100 days: all the news impacting the tech industryJan 23Adi RobertsonBrendan Carr amps up his censorship campaign.Hes reinstated three complaints against broadcasters that former chair Jessica Rosenworcel dismissed as attempts to influence news coverage:Rosenworcel said the commission was rejecting complaints that seek to weaponize the licensing authority of the FCC in a way that is fundamentally at odds with the First Amendment. Then, on Wednesday, the FCC said in a series of orders the complaints had been dismissed prematurely based on an insufficient investigatory record.A fourth complaint, against a Fox station, has not been reinstated.FCC reinstates complaints against ABC, CBS and NBC for 2024 election coverage[The Guardian]Jan 22Justine CalmaNASAs climate website is moving.Its going to look a little different as it migrates to a more general science site, according to NASA. President Donald Trump has called climate change a hoax, and researchers have been archiving environmental data in case it starts to disappear from federal websites.The Biden administrations climate and economic justice screening tool, a federal website on reproductive rights, and NASAs diversity and inclusion pages appear to be down.Jan 22Richard LawlerSatya Nadella on Elons Stargate accusations: All I know is Im good for my $80 billion.In a CNBC interview this morning, Microsofts CEO avoided the accusations that OpenAI and Softbank dont have the money to support their AI infrastructure dreams.Nadella said hes not in the details of investments in The Stargate Project, confirming only the $80 billion Microsoft will invest annually in building up Azure to handle AI.Jan 22Mia SatoDozens of subreddits are banning links to XPhoto by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty ImagesDozens of popular subreddits are banning links to X after Elon Musk made a gesture that historians and human rights groups have described as a Nazi salute. Communities that have instituted a ban on links to X include r/formula1, r/military, r/nursing, r/TwoXChromosomes, and r/nintendo.The shift is spreading across Reddit after neo-Nazis celebrated Musks speech at a rally on Monday for Donald Trumps inauguration. During the speech, Musk twice raised his arm in a salute that historians, elected officials, and organizations that support Holocaust survivors have observed as a Nazi salute. During his speech, Musk places his hand on his chest and throws his arm forward at an angle, holding it mid-air for a few moments. My heart goes out to you, he says to supporters. Some supporters of Musk have defended him, saying the gesture went along with his words.Read Article >Jan 22Andrew J. HawkinsTrumps war on electric cars has only just begunImage: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty ImagesJust to start out: the federal EV tax credit is still alive and kicking. It was not eliminated by the stroke of Donald Trumps pen because it cant be. The tax credit $7,500 for a new EV, $4,500 for a used one was passed by Congress as part of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and it would take another act of Congress to do away with it. Now the bad news: at Trumps behest, Congress is very likely to do away with the tax credit at some point in the near future. Republican lawmakers have tried several times in the past to kill the credit, most recently in July 2024. But with Democrats in control of the Senate and Joe Biden in the White House, none of those efforts ever went anywhere. Read Article >Jan 22Chris WelchElon Musk, White House adviser, says OpenAI deal announced at White House is a shamIllustration: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Photo: Getty ImagesElon Musk doesnt miss an opportunity to take a dig at OpenAI even when the news item in question is supposed to be favorable to President Trump. Just a few hours after yesterdays White House presser on The Stargate Project wrapped up, Musk posted on X that they dont actually have the money.Softbank, OpenAI, Oracle, and MGX have committed to deploy $100 billion now and $500 billion toward the AI data center company over the next four years.Read Article >Jan 22David PierceA PSA for all those wondering why youre suddenly following Trump and Vance on social.There is, alas, no grand conspiracy here. Its just that every four years, on X, Instagram, and Facebook, accounts like @POTUS, @VP, and @WhiteHouse are transferred to the incoming administration. Heres how it went down in 2021, and with the first Trump term.There are people who say they never followed these accounts and now suddenly do, which would be much stranger. I have a theory about this, but if it happened to you I want to know!Users Who Weren't Following Donald Trump and J.D. Vance on Facebook and Instagram Might Be Now. Here's Why[PEOPLE]Jan 22Nilay PatelTrump is absolutely going to make ByteDance sell TikTok or shut down again.Here he is talking about it during todays big data center announcement, with Larry Ellison, Sam Altman, and Masa Son standing in the room with him.Extreme First Amendment issues with having the government own a social platform aside, its striking how he keeps talking about permits even though nothing in the TikTok bill has anything to do with permits. Once a real-estate guy, always a real-estate guy, I suppose.Jan 22Jay PetersTrump is discussing a 10 percent tariff on imports from China.Were talking about a tariff of 10 percent on China based on the fact that theyre sending fentanyl to Mexico and Canada, President Donald Trump said during todays press conference where he also helped announce The Stargate Project. The administration is looking at imposing the tariff on February 1st.You can watch Trumps comments about the tariffs on YouTube.Jan 22Sarah JeongTrump pardons Silk Road operator Ross UlbrichtImage: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty ImagesOn Tuesday night, President Donald Trump issued a pardon to Ross Ulbricht, who ran the dark web marketplace Silk Road under the pseudonym Dread Pirate Roberts. Ulbricht has been serving a life sentence without parole since 2015, when he was convicted of multiple charges, including the distribution of narcotics.The Silk Road marketplace, which was only accessible through the Tor network, became one of the most prevalent early commercial uses of Bitcoin. Buyers and sellers traded in illicit drugs, forged passports, and more.Read Article >Jan 21Jay PetersDonald Trump acknowledged his meme coin today.Something tells me hes not going to divest himself of it.Jan 21Lauren FeinerTrump says hes open to Musk or Ellison buying TikTokImage: The VergePresident Donald Trump says hed be open to his buddies Elon Musk or Larry Ellison buying TikTok.Larry, lets negotiate in front of the media, Trump said at a press conference with the Oracle co-founder, SoftBank CEO Masa Son, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to announce a $500 billion artificial intelligence infrastructure investment. What Im thinking about saying to somebody is, buy it, and give half to the United States of America. Half, and well give you the permit. And theyll have a great partner, the United States.Read Article >Jan 21Richard LawlerOpenAI and Softbank are starting a $500 billion AI data center companyImage: The White House (YouTube)A plan to build a system of data centers for artificial intelligence has been revealed in a White House press conference, with Masayoshi Son, Sam Altman, and Larry Ellison joining Donald Trump to announce The Stargate Project. Their companies, Softbank, OpenAI, and Oracle (respectively), along with MGX are listed as initial equity funders for $500 billion in investments over the next four years, building new AI infrastructure for OpenAI in the United States.According to a statement from OpenAI, Arm, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Oracle, and OpenAI are the initial tech partners, with a buildout currently underway starting in Texas as other sites across the country are evaluated. It also says that Oracle, NVIDIA, and OpenAI will closely collaborate to build and operate this computing system.Read Article >Jan 21Gaby Del ValleACLU and 18 states sue Trump over his attempt to repeal birthright citizenshipImage: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty ImagesOne of President Donald Trumps first moves in office was an executive order repealing birthright citizenship something he promised to do but didnt deliver on during his first term. The move, which is almost certainly unconstitutional, would affect more than 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country as well as people in the US on non-immigrant visas, including more than 580,000 people with H1-Bs. The executive order is slated to go into effect 30 days after its announcement, though two lawsuits filed in federal courts could slow or halt its implementation. Trump floated the idea of doing away with birthright citizenship in 2018. At the time, his critics pointed out that the move would require a constitutional amendment since birthright citizenship is enshrined under the 14th Amendment. No president can change the Constitution with the stroke of a pen, Beth Werlin, then-executive director of the American Immigration Council, said at the time. To get around this, Trumps executive order attempts to reinterpret the 14th Amendment rather than amending or repealing it altogether. Read Article >Jan 21Richard LawlerCBS News reports OpenAI, Oracle, and Softbank will announce a Stargate AI data center project.Its reportedly part of billions of dollars in private sector investment to build artificial intelligence infrastructure that Donald Trump is preparing to announce, with the first project in Texas. Oddly, earlier rumors about Stargate included Microsoft and this one doesnt so far, but their connection with OpenAI has grown more complicated since then.Executives from the companies are expected to say they plan to commit $100 billion initially and pour up to $500 billion into Stargate over the next four years.Trump to announce up to $500 billion in private sector AI infrastructure investment[CBS News]Jan 21Justine CalmaA federal website on reproductive rights has vanishedA screenshot of reproductiverights.gov from the Internet Archive.A federal website for information on reproductive rights and healthcare access is suddenly down, following Donald Trumps inauguration yesterday. Reproductiverights.gov seemed to be offline as of last night, CBS reports.The Biden administration launched the website in 2022 in the wake of the Supreme Courts decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. On top of information about abortion rights, the website also included resources on accessing preventative care, including breast and cervical cancer screenings, prenatal care, and HIV screening. (The Internet Archive has a snapshot of what the website looked like as recently as January 15th.)Read Article >Jan 21Nilay PatelThe United States Digital Service is now DOGE heres what it was responsible for.The USDS was set up under Obama, and it was more or less the federal governments software product management group. I interviewed outgoing head Mina Hsiang on Decoder in 2023, and it was one of our most popular episodes that year it turns out being the PM of healthcare.gov looks a lot like being the PM of any other software product.Trumps executive order creating DOGE says USDS is now the US DOGE Service, so well see if Elon Musk approaches the governments tech teams the same way he did Twitter. Its a lot riskier to screw up the VA website!Jan 21Justine CalmaDonald Trump rescinds Biden-era executive order on AI safetyImage: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty ImagesIn his executive actions on day one of his presidency, Donald Trump rescinded an executive order Joe Biden signed in 2023 to establish safety guidelines for generative AI.The Biden-era order required developers of large AI models like OpenAIs GPT lineup to share the results of safety tests with the US government. It also directed the National Institute of Standards and Technology to develop standards for safety testing, and it tasked other federal agencies with assessing any potential chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, cybersecurity, or critical infrastructure risks AI might pose.Read Article >Jan 21Andrew J. HawkinsThere is no EV mandate.Kathy Harris, clean vehicle director at NRDC, swats down one of Trumps falsehoods about Bidens EV incentives:There is no `EV mandate, Harris said in a statement, but Trumps move to repeal existing standards and federal investments would be a huge blow to the U.S. auto industry and bad news for American drivers. Fat-cat oil executives are the only ones cracking open the champagne about this one. Still, this is not the end of this story. The administration will need to follow the facts and the law in making any changes to the electric vehicle incentives or the federal vehicle standards and state waivers. Our lawyers are watching. If the administration tries to cut corners or ignore the law, they will end up in court.

Big players, including Microsoft, with Copilot, Google, with Gemini, and OpenAI, with GPT-4o, are making AI chatbot technology previously restricted to test labs more accessible to the general public.How do these large language model (LLM) programs work? OpenAIs GPT-3 told us that AI uses a series of autocomplete-like programs to learn language and that these programs analyze the statistical properties of the language to make educated guesses based on the words youve typed previously. Or, in the words of James Vincent, a human person: These AI tools are vast autocomplete systems, trained to predict which word follows the next in any given sentence. As such, they have no hard-coded database of facts to draw on just the ability to write plausible-sounding statements. This means they have a tendency to present false information as truth since whether a given sentence sounds plausible does not guarantee its factuality.But there are so many more pieces to the AI landscape that are coming into play (and so many name changes remember when we were talking about Bing and Bard before those tools were rebranded?), but you can be sure to see it all unfold here on The Verge.HighlightsToday, 2:49 AM UTCRichard LawlerOpenAI CEO Sam Altman on DeepSeek R1: an impressive model.Now that a Chinese startup has captured a lot of the AI buzz, what happens next?The ChatGPT boss says of his company, we will obviously deliver much better models and also its legit invigorating to have a new competitor, then, naturally, turns the conversation to AGI.Screenshot: @sama (X)Jan 27Richard LawlerDeepSeek says its newest AI model, Janus-Pro can outperform Stable Diffusion and DALL-E 3.Already riding a wave of hype over its R1 reasoning AI that is atop the app store charts and shifting the stock market, Chinese startup DeepSeek has released another new open-source AI model: Janus-Pro.Input image analysis is limited to 384x384 resolution, but the company says the largest version, Janus-Pro-7b, beat comparable models on two AI benchmark tests.Correction: As TechCrunch notes, Janus-Pro image input is listed as limited to low resolution, not its output.Image: DeepSeekJan 27Emma RothMeta AI will use its memory to provide better recommendationsIllustration by Nick Barclay / The VergeMeta is widely launching the ability for its AI chatbot to remember certain details about you, such as your dietary preferences or your interests, the company said in a blog post on Monday. It will then use your past conversations, in addition to details from Facebook and Instagram accounts, to provide more relevant recommendations.Meta first started rolling out a memory feature for its AI chatbot last year, but now it will be available across Facebook, Messenger, and WhatsApp on iOS and Android in the US and Canada. Though you can tell Meta AI to remember certain things, like that you love traveling, it will also pick up important details based on context.Read Article >Jan 27Jess WeatherbedDeepSeeks top-ranked AI app is restricting sign-ups due to malicious attacksImage: Cath Virginia / The VergeAfter surging to the top of Apples App Store charts in the US, DeepSeeks AI Assistant is now restricting new user sign-ups. According to an incident report page, registrations are being temporarily limited due to large-scale malicious attacks on DeepSeeks services, though its unclear how these limitations are being applied.Existing users can log in as usual, DeepSeek said in its update. Thanks for your understanding and support. An alert banner on the DeepSeek web sign-up page says that registration may be busy, rather than entirely restricted, however, and encourages users to wait and try again if their application is unsuccessful.Read Article >Jan 25Wes DavisOpenAI has added its o1 model to Canvas.In an X post announcing the change yesterday, the company also said that Canvas, its ChatGPT coding helper feature, now has the ability to render HTML and React code.OpenAI added that Canvas has rolled out to the ChatGPT desktop app for macOS.Jan 25Richard LawlerCharacter.ai responds to a wrongful death lawsuit aimed at its chatbots.Last fall, Megan Garcia sued Character.AI, its founders, and Google over the death by suicide of her 14-year-old son, who had chatted continuously with its bots, including just before his death. In December, the firm added safety measures aimed at teens and concerns over addiction.TechCrunch reports that Character.ai has filed a motion to dismiss the case, which you can read in full here.Screenshot: C.ai Motion to DismissJan 22David PierceGoogles Gemini is already winning the next-gen assistant warsIllustration: The VergeOne of the most important changes in Samsungs new phones is a simple one: when you long-press the side button on your phone, instead of activating Samsungs own Bixby assistant by default, youll get Google Gemini. This is probably a good thing. Bixby was never a very good virtual assistant Samsung originally built it primarily as a way to more simply navigate device settings, not to get information from the internet. It has gotten better since and can now do standard assistant things like performing visual searches and setting timers, but it never managed to catch up to the likes of Alexa, Google Assistant, and now, even Siri. So, if youre a Samsung user, this is good news! Your assistant is probably better now. (And if, for some unknown reason, you really do truly love Bixby, dont worry: theres still an app.)Read Article >Jan 18Wes DavisMicrosoft opens testing for Windows AI searchImage: The VergeMicrosoft is testing AI-powered Windows search in a new dev channel build for Windows 11 Insider testers. Announced in October, it uses semantic indexing to let users search for local files using more casual language. Like other Microsoft AI features, youll need a Copilot Plus PC to use it.The feature applies whether youre using search boxes in Settings, File Explorer, or the taskbar. And you dont need to be connected to the internet for it to work, thanks to the NPU chips on Copilot Plus computers. For now, AI search is limited to Windows settings and files with image and text formats that include JPEG, PNG, PDF, TXT, and XLS.Read Article >Jan 13Wes DavisRecording is hard, so let AI do it is a bad take.In this interview clip that 404 Media spotted, CEO Mikey Shulman, who runs bad AI song generator Suno, says that its not really enjoyable to make music now.Having lost countless nights to it, and considering my days in recording studios were some of the best of my life, Shulman seems to be either flatly lying or has no idea what hes talking about.Jan 13Wes DavisMicrosoft drops its GitHub Copilot Workspace waitlist.More developers can now access Microsofts AI coding assistance tool thats been on a waitlist since its debut in April last year, company CEO Satya Nadella announced in a LinkedIn post on Sunday.GitHub developers can go here to try it out.Satya Nadella on LinkedIn: There is no more waitlist for GitHub Copilot Workspacethe most advanced | 136 comments[linkedin]Jan 9Wes DavisMicrosoft is reverting its Bing AI image generator because of quality complaintsIllustration by Haein Jeong / The VergeMicrosoft is rolling back a model upgrade to its AI-powered Bing Image Creator, reports TechCrunch. The rollback came after weeks of complaints by users that the tool just didnt work as well after Microsoft upgraded to a new version of the DALL-E 3 model on December 18th.Microsoft declined to comment on its decision to roll things back or offer specifics on what may be causing the gap between users expectations and its output.Read Article >Las Vegas police release ChatGPT logs from the suspect in the Cybertruck explosionImage: LMVPDNearly a week after a New Years Day explosion in front of the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas, local law enforcement released more information about their investigation, including what they know so far about the role of generative AI in the incident.They confirmed that the suspect, an active duty soldier in the US Army named Matthew Livelsberger, had a possible manifesto saved on his phone, in addition to an email to a podcaster and other letters. They also showed video evidence of him preparing for the explosion by pouring fuel onto the truck while stopped before driving to the hotel. Hed also kept a log of supposed surveillance, although the officials said he did not have a criminal record and was not being surveilled or investigated.Read Article >Dec 21, 2024Wes DavisGemini can now tell when a PDF is on your phone screenIllustration: The VergeIn the latest version of the Files by Google app, summoning Gemini while looking at a PDF gives you the option to ask about the file, writes Android Police. Youll need to be a Gemini Advanced subscriber to use the feature though, according to Mishaal Rahman, who reported on Friday that it had started rolling out.If you have the feature, when you summon Gemini while looking at a PDF in the Files app, youll see an Ask about this PDF button appear. Tapping that lets you ask questions about the file, the same way you might ask ChatGPT about a PDF. Google first announced this screen-aware feature during its I/O developer conference in May.Read Article >Dec 17, 2024Wes DavisNvidias $249 dev kit promises cheap, small AI powerNvidia announced the latest in its Jetson Orin Nano AI computer line, the Jetson Orin Nano Super Developer Kit. Sort of like a Raspberry Pi but for powerful AI processing, the tiny $249 computer packs more of an AI processing punch than the kit did before for half the price. Its available to buy now.The Jetson Nano line has been a low-cost way for hobbyists and makers to power AI and robotics projects since its introduction in 2019. Nvidia says the Nano Supers neural processing is 70 percent higher, at 67 TOPS, than the 40 TOPS Nano. It also has 50 percent more memory bandwidth, at 102GB/s, which should speed up those operations.Read Article >Dec 17, 2024Wes DavisDexcom adds AI reports to its OTC glucose monitor.Dexcoms Stelo continuous glucose monitor (CGM) for those with Type 2 diabetes is starting to use generative AI to write weekly reports with more personalized tips, recommendations, and education related to diet, exercise, and sleep than the template previously used.CNBC:Stelos AI reports dont give users medical advice, though Dexcom has been using an AI framework from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to help guide the features development, [Dexcom COO Jake] Leach said.Dexcom's over-the-counter glucose monitor now offers users an AI summary of how sleep, meals and more impact sugar levels[CNBC]Dec 16, 2024Jay PetersGoogles Whisk AI generator will remix the pictures you plug inAn AI-generated image I made in Whisk using Googles suggested images as prompts. Image: Google via WhiskGoogle has announced a new AI tool called Whisk that lets you generate images using other images as prompts instead of requiring a long text prompt.With Whisk, you can offer images to suggest what youd like as the subject, the scene, and the style of your AI-generated image, and you can prompt Whisk with multiple images for each of those three things. (If you want, you can fill in text prompts, too.) If you dont have images on hand, you can click a dice icon to have Google fill in some images for the prompts (though those images also appear to be AI-generated). You can also enter some text into a text box at the end of the process if you want to add extra detail about the image youre looking for, but its not required.Read Article >Dec 16, 2024Alex HeathGoogle says the next version of its Sora competitor is better at real-world physics.In a post announcing waitlist sign-ups for its Veo 2 video model, Google says the next version brings an improved understanding of real-world physics and the nuances of human movement and expression.OpenAIs Sora notably struggles with physics, so it will be interesting to compare the results of Veo 2 when we eventually get access.State-of-the-art video and image generation with Veo 2 and Imagen 3[Google]Dec 15, 2024Wes DavisInstagrams head says social media needs more context because of AIIllustration by Nick Barclay / The VergeIn a series of Threads posts this afternoon, Instagram head Adam Mosseri says users shouldnt trust images they see online because AI is clearly producing content thats easily mistaken for reality. Because of that, he says users should consider the source, and social platforms should help with that.Our role as internet platforms is to label content generated as AI as best we can, Mosseri writes, but he admits some content will be missed by those labels. Because of that, platforms must also provide context about who is sharing so users can decide how much to trust their content.Read Article >Dec 14, 2024Wes DavisListen yall, its a sabotage.Folks in the online AI research community are upset after the worlds biggest AI conference, NeurIPS, gave its prestigious Best Paper Award to, among others, a controversial former ByteDance intern named Keyu Tian, writes Wired.ByteDance allegedly dismissed Tian for sabotaging colleagues AI research and hoarded resources for his own work accusations detailed in an anonymous GitHub blog calling for the award to be revoked.Former ByteDance Intern Accused of Sabotage Among Winners of Prestigious AI Award[WIRED]Dec 13, 2024David PierceSearching for the first great AI appImage: Alex Parkin / The VergeChatGPT launched roughly two years and two weeks ago. Now, as we near the end of 2024, the AI race is... well, where is it, exactly? Its more competitive than ever, theres more money being poured into new models and products than ever, and its not at all clear when or even whether were going to get products that make it all worthwhile.On this episode of The Vergecast, we talk about a lot of different AI news, all along a single trend line: the tech industry trying desperately to build a killer app for AI. (Ideally, for them, also one that makes money.) The Verges Richard Lawler joins us as we discuss Google Gemini 2.0, Project Astra and Project Mariner, and everything else Google is doing to put AI in the products you already use every day. We also talk through the new Android XR announcement, and Googles renewed commitment to making headsets and smart glasses that work. Its all an AI story, no matter how you look at it.Read Article >Dec 12, 2024Emma RothGemini AI can now summarize whats in your Google Drive foldersIllustration by Alex Castro / The VergeGeminis integration into Google Drive is getting a little more useful. In addition to summarizing documents or answering questions about a project, the AI assistant can now generate summaries of everything inside a folder.With the feature, you can open a folder and select the new Summarize this folder button at the top of the page. Gemini will then give you a breakdown of the folders contents. As noted by Google, you can use Gemini to find specific files inside a folder, or ask questions about it, like What is the theme of this folder?Read Article >Dec 11, 2024Kylie RobisonGoogles AI enters its agentic eraProject Astra is supposed to be more useful than ever and it knows where you are. Image: GoogleI stepped into a room lined with bookshelves, stacked with ordinary programming and architecture texts. One shelf stood slightly askew, and behind it was a hidden room that had three TVs displaying famous artworks: Edvard Munchs The Scream, Georges Seurats Sunday Afternoon, and Hokusais The Great Wave off Kanagawa. Theres some interesting pieces of art here, said Bibo Xu, Google DeepMinds lead product manager for Project Astra. Is there one in particular that you would want to talk about?Project Astra, Googles prototype AI universal agent, responded smoothly. The Sunday Afternoon artwork was discussed previously, it replied. Was there a particular detail about it you wish to discuss, or were you interested in discussing The Scream?Read Article >Dec 11, 2024David PierceGoogle launched Gemini 2.0, its new AI model for practically everythingIllustration: The VergeGoogles latest AI model has a lot of work to do. Like every other company in the AI race, Google is frantically building AI into practically every product it owns, trying to build products other developers want to use, and racing to set up all the infrastructure to make those things possible without being so expensive it runs the company out of business. Meanwhile, Amazon, Microsoft, Anthropic, and OpenAI are pouring their own billions into pretty much the exact same set of problems. That may explain why Demis Hassabis, the CEO of Google DeepMind and the head of all the companys AI efforts, is so excited about how all-encompassing the new Gemini 2.0 model is. Google is releasing Gemini 2.0 on Wednesday, about 10 months after the company first launched 1.5. Its still in what Google calls an experimental preview, and only one version of the model the smaller, lower-end 2.0 Flash is being released. But Hassabis says its still a big day.Read Article >Dec 11, 2024Emma RothGoogle built an AI tool that can do research for youIllustration: The VergeGoogle has just revealed a new AI tool called Deep Research that lets you call upon its Gemini bot to scour the web for you and write a detailed report based on its findings.Deep Research is currently only available in English to Gemini Advanced subscribers. If you have access, you can ask Gemini to research a particular topic on your behalf, and the chatbot will create a multi-step research plan that you can either edit or approve. Google says Gemini will start its research by finding interesting pieces of information on the web and then performing related searches a process it repeats several times.Read Article >Dec 10, 2024Wes DavisYouTubes AI-powered dubbing is now available to many more creatorsIllustration by Alex Castro / The VergeYouTube says it has expanded its AI-powered auto-dubbing to hundreds of thousands of channels in the YouTube Partner Program that are focused on knowledge and information. YouTube says it will bring the feature to other types of content soon.What the dubs consist of depends on the language used in the original video. If it was in English to start, itll be translated into French, German, Hindi, Italian, Spanish, Indonesian, Japanese, and Portuguese. If the starting video was made in one of those languages, YouTube will only produce an English dub.Read Article >More Stories

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is widely considered to be one of the best games in the franchise. From its music to its missions to its open-world 1980s, Miami Vice-inspired setting, theres plenty to love about the series second outing on the PlayStation 2, especially considering that the upcoming GTA VI is returning to some of the classic games ideas and aesthetic. But before the release of the long-awaited next installment, PC gamers are getting a chance to experience the original Vice City like never before. Although a remastered version of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City released as a part ofthe Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy The Definitive Edition in 2021, it hasnt stopped modders from finding other ways to modernize the game beyond those admittedly troubled re-releases.The mod project released this week by Revolution Team is the most impressive yet.The modder project known as GTA Vice City Nextgen Edition ports all cutscenes, missions, side missions, and the world itself from Vice City into the GTA IV engine, a major graphical and technological jump for the 2002 game. But according to the Revolution Team, Take-Two Interactive, publisher of the GTA games, hasnt taken too kindly to the mod. Revolution Team claimed the YouTube channel that theyd been using to document their progress was taken down Take-Two, forcing the team to launch another channel. This caused a bit of friction between the parties.Originally GTA Vice City Nextgen Edition required users to own a copy of GTA IV to play the modGTA IV or Vice City. Our teams channel was deleted by Take-Two Interactive two days before the projects release. A lot of time and effort was invested into its development, including hundreds of hours of streaming, Revolution Team said in a statement at the time of the mods release. Its unclear how long it will remain publicly available or whether there will be demands to take it down. We are not opposed to reuploads, but we cannot openly encourage you to do so. Do as you see fit.Even though all of the videos on Revolution Teams YouTube channel have been taken down, the team did release a launch trailer for the mod, which you can watch below.This isnt the first GTA update mod to clash with Take-Twos interests in recent days. Last week, The Liberty City Preservation Project, another GTA mod that added a playable version of GTA IVs map to GTA V, was taken down by the publisher.It remains to be seen how long the Vice City mod will be downloadable, but until then, it looks like an incredibly fun way to revisit a classic GTA game.

This article contains spoilers for Star Trek: Section 31.A quick scan of the internet finds that Den of Geek was hardly the only outlet to set phasers to kill on Star Trek: Section 31. Fans and critics alike have thoroughly rejected the movie, dismissing it as unfunny, unexciting, and largely derivative. It even ranks at the very bottom of our updated Star Trek movie ranking and its deserved.Unsurprisingly, there are plenty of people ion the internet saying that Section 31 isnt real Trek or, more directly, that the franchise needs to course correct by going back to the highs of The Original Series and The Next Generation.Its easy to see why Trekkies would long for the past. Ever since J.J. Abrams relaunched the film franchise with the 2009 film and Alex Kurtzman, that movies co-writer, took over as executive producer on the current TV shows, Star Trek has changed radically. The Abrams movies were slick, loud, and action-packed, a far cry from the meeting of strategic geniuses in Wrath of Khan, let alone the contemplative pace of The Motion Picture. Discovery put emotion over reason and focused on a single protagonist in Michael Burnham, while revival series Picard spent its first two seasons tearing down the legacy of TNG. Even more well-regarded shows, such as Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds, infuse a heavy dose of irreverence into familiar characters and settings.Given the mixed results of these outings, and all out failures like Section 31, the past sounds safe and comforting. But Star Trek is about going forward, even if it stumbles sometimes along the way.Changing From the FirstStar Trek first changed direction before most people realized there was any direction at all. NBC rejected the shows first pilot The Cage but still saw value in the concept, commissioning a second pilot, Where No Mas Has Gone Before. Although The Cage was retooled as the excellent season one two-parter The Menagerie, any Trekkie can tell you that The Cage was very different from the finished show, complete with a giggling Mr. Spock and a different captain at the helm of the Enterprise.Granted, its unusual for a studio to pay for a full second pilot, but most of Star Treks production process falls within the standard steps for making a TV show in the 1960s. However, the franchise has shown remarkable willingness to change over the years.Just look at how the franchise evolved while making the TOS movies. What started as the sequel series Star Trek Phase II became Star Trek: The Motion Picture. When TMP wasnt the success that Paramount expected, producers pushed creator Gene Roddenberry to the sidelines and brought on Nicholas Meyer to lead the development of a sequel. Meyer had never seen an episode of Star Trek and saw Starfleet as a Naval institution (something anathema to Roddenberry), but he created Wrath of Khan, considered by most to be the best Trek movie. Two sequels later, Leonard Nimoy minimized the franchises original stakes to make a character-driven comedy set in present day for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.The same is true of the TV series. The Next Generation not only introduced an all-new cast with no connections to the original, something unheard of in our legacy sequel-obsessed current day, but also eschewed the swashbuckling captain model set by Kirk for the more patrician Captain Picard. When the first two seasons proved too stale to maintain interest, TNG course-corrected when Michael Piller took over as head writer, abandoning Roddenberrys infamous restriction against interpersonal conflict on the Enterprise.Even after those changes, fans complained that TNGs beige sets and thoughtful captain betrayed the sense of adventure established by TOS. We all recognize Deep Space Nine as a classic now, but fans initially complained about the shows non-Starship setting, its exploration of religious themes in an enlightened future, and its darker tone. Even then, the series didnt hit its stride until it moved the mystery of the Prophets to the background and focused instead on the Dominion War, leading to serialized stories about topics such as PTSD, something impossible to imagine on TOS.As this short survey of favorites shows, Star Trek works best when it evolves. Of course, evolving is only part of the equation. It also has to be good and compelling, which is the real problem with Section 31 and other recent misfires.Join our mailing listGet the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!Learning From FailureSection 31 introduces a new alien race to Star Trek canon. Fuzz may look like a Vulcan, but hes in fact a Nanokin, a microscopic entity that gets around in a ship shaped like a Vulcan. Sure, that concept was already used in Men in Black and the Eddie Murphy movie Meet Dave, but the idea of an alien piloting a person seems particularly well-suited to the humanism at the center of Trek. Furthermore, Nanokins are bacteria-sized aliens, raising interesting questions about how vastly different species can interact and reach harmony.But Section 31 has no interest in any of those questions. Instead, it uses the person-as-ship concept for a few obvious plot twists and marital jokes torn straight from some Baby Boomers Facebook page. Worse, Fuzz is by far the most irritating character in Trek history. For some reason, actor Sven Ruygrok gives Fuzz a loud Irish accent, accentuating lines that are mostly him yelling at people for calling him small.Fuzz might be an extreme example, but he captures the problems with Section 31 and modern Trek. New approaches and new aliens keep the franchise alive. But they should be thoughtful additions.A more interesting example may be the flagship series of modern Trek, Star Trek: Discovery. The series had compelling ideas that arent inherently bad. For example, the shows take on Sarek is interesting and its worthwhile to get another look at he and Amanda Graysons approaches, beyond their treatment of Spock. Previous series have all used a more or less ensemble cast, but tons of sci-fi series have worked by focusing on a single protagonist like Michael Burnham. Finally, an emotion-heavy approach about characters discussing trauma not only matches Discovery to modern storytelling sensibilities, but also allows Trek to put more focus on emotion, something the franchise has too often downplayed in favor of logic.Sometimes, Discovery met those expectations. James Frain gave us a more compassionate Sarek, without sacrificing the nobility that Mark Lenard originally imbued into the character, while Mia Kirshner made Amanda into more of a character than weve ever seen before. Sonequa Martin-Green has more than enough talent and charisma to carry a show, but no actor could save scripts that constantly made Michael the one most important person in the entire galaxy. And while Discovery had some wonderful and passionate momentsthe romance between Stamets and Culber, the debate about Zora in season four, Michaels passionate appeal to religious believers in season fives Whistlespeak. But these were the rare exceptions to stories that usually suggested a good cry cured the deepest trauma.The problem here isnt the form, the theme, or even necessarily the characters. Its all about the execution, an execution that failed.Evolving and ImprovingTo be clear, change for the sake of change isnt necessarily a good thing. Its hard to imagine anyone preferring the generic action hero that Picard became in the TNG movies over the flawed, but high-minded diplomat of the show. But neither do failed changes mean that all change is bad.Star Treks greatest value has always been its deep optimism, its depiction of humanity that overcomes its shortcomings to achieve something great. But (give or take a Gary Seven) the series never suggests that humans become perfect. They make mistakes, get things wrong, need to change direction. But they do actually change direction, admit their mistakes, and keep moving forward toward new successes and failures.Modern Trek has gotten it wrong with Section 31, lots of Discovery, and elsewhere (we wont argue about Subspace Rhapsody here). But that doesnt mean all of its ideas are bad. For the franchise to remain a vital part of the pop culture landscape, it cannot keep playing it safe with well-worn characters, places, and themes. It has to keep trying new things, even if we all complain about it online for a while.Star Trek: Section 31 is now streaming on Paramount+.

Hello gang!We heard you like Baldurs Gate 3 and breaking things.Well, we have good news for you: The Patch 8 Stress Test is now live and available to all Xbox Insiders who own the game!Not into breaking things but still want to know what this is all about? Read to the end to find out whats coming in Patch 8.The final major patch for Baldurs Gate 3 is right around the corner, but with an update so packed full of bug fixes, new features, and additions, were enlisting your help to go beyond our internal testing and help us catch things before release.The Patch 8 stress test is a separate application from the main game and can be accessed via the Xbox Insider Hub. If youre planning on joining us, youll need to already own Baldurs Gate 3 and make sure your Xbox has enough storage available to download the game!Follow these steps to download the Patch 8 stress test app:Open (or, install if necessary) the Xbox Insider Hub on your Xbox Series X|S.Navigate to Previews > Baldurs Gate 3Select Join.You should then be directed to the correct Store Page to install the stress test version!To return to the Patch 7 version of Baldurs Gate 3, you will need to exit the Stress Test version via the Xbox Insider Hub. This will prompt an update and will revert your game to the previous version. Please bear in mind that any saves made within the stress test will not be compatible with the Patch 7 version once you revert back.Share your experience with us by reaching out to our support team to report any bugs, and be sure to state Patch 8 in the Game Version field!Patch 8 is bringing cross-play to Baldurs Gate 3, allowing players on all platforms to join each other in multiplayer sessions! So grab your friends on other platforms and get ready to fight over who will romance each companion.To set up your own cross-play session, head to the multiplayer menu:Select Cross-Play from the tab options.Then Select Create.Customise your game options then choose Launch.Join a cross-play multiplayer session by following these steps:On the main menu, click on Multiplayer.Select the Cross-Play tab.Wait for your friends lobby to appear, then go ahead and join them!If you or the host use mods and there are any discrepancies, a Verification Window will open to inform you which mods need installing, uninstalling, or updating.Want to get your friends on other platforms involved in testing cross-play? Share the link below!Larian Studios Discord Server to find other players in our Patch 8 Looking For Group channel!Alongside many fixes and improvements, Patch 8 also includes two other big additions: photo mode and 12 new subclasses!Whether you plan on lining up the perfect action shots or filling a whole folder with 50GB worth of photos of Laezels sweet smile, photo mode is here to make all of that a reality.Adjust the camera angles, zoom in, select from a large list of facial expressions and poses, and add the finishing touches with filters, frames and stickers!Want to see what the Baldurs Gate 3 Photo Mode can do? Check out our recreations of memorable community moments.New SubclassesPatch 8 also brings 12 new subclasses one per each existing class! Explode nearby corpses with a Death Domain Cleric, discover new ways to keep (or break) your new Oath of the Crown as a Paladin, or send a legion of bees towards your enemies as a Swarmkeeper Ranger.You can learn more about each new subclass and photo mode in Community Update #30, so definitely give it a read.Continue your adventure in the Patch 8 stress test, now live!

Digital collectible card game Marvel Snap is back in the App Store, after the games developer seemingly severed connections with TikTok parent ByteDance.Trump has suggested that Microsoft is negotiating to buy TikTok, despite the companys CEO having previously described the suggestion as the strangest thing Marvel Snap back in the App StoreWhile we colloquially refer to a TikTok ban, the actual prohibition is on US companies having dealings with the apps owner, ByteDance. Marvel Snap was published by Nuverse, a subsidiary, and therefore also affected by the ban.It now seems that the games developer, Second Dinner, has switched publisher, as AppleInsider notes that the app has returned to the App Store.That all changed on Monday, asMarvel Snapcan now once again be downloaded and played on iPhones in the United States. The card-collecting game has also been removed from Appleslistof ByteDance applications, indicating that the games developer, Second Dinner, was likely able to make alternate publishing arrangements. No exact details have yet been provided, however.Trump says Microsoft may buy TikTokIn a bizarre circular event, it was Trump who first threatened to ban TikTok unless it was sold to a US company. The president has since positioned himself as the savior of the app.But the first time around, ByteDance approached Microsoft to see whether the software giant might be interested in acquiring TikTok. While Satya Nadella said he could see a potential fit, he also described the approach as the strangest thing.This time, Trump switched to pitching Oracle as a potential purchaser. The company currently provides US hosting services for TikTok, despite the fact that this is illegal, apparently comforted by Trumps promise not to allow the law to be enforced.But that idea has gone quiet, and BBC News reports that Trump is now claiming Microsoft is negotiating to buy it.US President Donald Trump has said Microsoft is in discussions to acquire TikTok and that he would like to see a bidding war over the sale of the social media app.When asked by reporters whether the US tech giant was preparing a bid, Trump replied: I would say yes before adding that there was great interest in TikTok from several companies []A spokesperson for Microsoft said the company had nothing to share at this time. The BBC has also reached out to TikTok for comment.Photo byClint PattersononUnsplashAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre 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. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Tech reviewer Marques Brownlee has shared a hands-on experience of Project Moohan, a prototype of Samsungs Vision Pro competitor.Samsung has previously allowed other tech writers to try it, including 9to5Googles Abner Li, but this is the first time the company has allowed video footage to be shared Our sister site got a 30-minute try-out last month, and Li was impressed, describing the OS as the equal of visionOS, but also incorporating AI features not yet available on Apples headset.Everything Google has been working on in the past decade or so, including , come together in this headset that will be available next year. Android XR seems to be on par with visionOS, while offering something wildly new yet natural with Gemini and Project Astra.MKBHD too said that the inclusion of AI features is the biggest current differentiator from Vision Pro, based on deep collaboration with Google.This is the first Android XR headset so its a pretty deep collaboration between Google and Samsung; think of it as like the Nexus or Pixel but for headsets.He says that the hardware is undeniably influenced by Apple, though the way it secures to your head is more similar to the Quest Pro.The back borrows more from the now discontinued Quest Pro, I would say, with this sort of cup on the back of your head plus a dial to adjust how snug it is. I found that with this setup basically most of the weight or the pressure now is on my brow above my eyes, unlike what the Vision Pro was more below my eyes because of the way it sort of sagged.Just as Vision Pro can run iPad apps, so too can this run Android phone and tablet apps, but spatial apps created for the platform are where each device comes to life. The big difference, says Brownlee, is that Project Moohan has Googles Gemini chatbot on board.At any point you can just go home and and hit the Gemini button and just talk to it. Basically it starts running an instance of Gemini live in the background you know, the live conversational version of Gemini that you can sort of talk back and forth with and carry on a full conversation with.Also, Gemini is multimodal, which in the headset means that it can see everything that youre seeing so you can ask Gemini about something thats just in front of you and it can give you answers just like as if youd taken a picture of it with your phone. So it can translate signs or answer trivia questions or just tell you about what youre looking at []This is a massive difference versus The Vision Pro which has no apple intelligence features, no AI features at all and probably wont be getting any anytime soon.This is just a prototype at present, with Samsung promising it will launch later this year. Theres one rather crucial piece of information the company hasnt yet revealed: the price.Check out the 12-minute video below.Screengrab: MKBHDAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre 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. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel