The iOS App Store is awash with apps using subscriptions and in-app payments, but our attention has been drawn to a brand new release that goes back to the old way of doing things charging a one-off payment. Its such a rare approach, the company has even drawn attention to it in the apps top features list.The app is Practice Pro, a release from developers Dynamic App Design, and it is made to help musicians practice and improve with use. The studio claims its suitable for professional and amateur musicians due to its clever modular design. Using different widgets, the app can be set up to only include the practice tools relevant to you, a better option than either using multiple apps, or having a cluttered, unfocused menu.Recommended VideosThere are eight widgets available in total including a metronome, an auto increase metronome, pitch playback, a recorder, a chromatic tuner, a timer, and a repetition counter. Different pages can be created to manage different practice stages and activities, and the app can be customized to look exactly how you want. If you practice in a group, the app has a share feature built in, so everyone can work from the same practice sheet.Please enable Javascript to view this contentWhile the app itself has somewhat niche appeal, its great to see an established developer Dynamic App Design has been making apps since 2011 and has six million downloads under its belt decide against making the app free and then charging individually for the widgets, and potentially adding a subscription too. Instead, the app costs $10, but for the week after its February 7 launch it will be available for $1.The company says, This upfront price point means that once you download the app, there are zero ads, no additional in-app purchases, and no subscription fees.Data collected by researchers at Statista in 2022 shows how rare paid-for downloads are across the top sections in the App Store, with freemium titles dominating gaming, social, and health and fitness apps at over 77% of all apps using the model. Paid-for downloads accounted for just 2.4% of games, which was the highest percentage of any category.Practice Pro is available to download now for $1.Editors Recommendations

The e-commerce giant is pulling ahead of rivals in the AI investment race with plans for more than $100 billion in capital expenditures this year.

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Bill Gates (right) and Paul Allen, his childhood friend and Microsoft co-founder in the late 1960sLakeside SchoolSource CodeBill Gates (Allen Lane)There are few people in the world of technology with more interesting stories to tell than Bill Gates. The entrepreneur and co-founder of Microsoft has seen computers morph from hulking machines that fill entire rooms and cost thousands of dollars a day to use to tiny, handheld devices that can be picked up for comparative pennies. He has seen, and changed his mind on the importance of, the rise of the internet and

Mer de Glace, Frances largest glacierJulia Roger-Veyer/OnewaterThese striking images highlight Earths vanishing ice and the fight to save it. A staggering two-thirds of glaciers may disappear by the end of the century, threatening ecosystems and global water supplies. The images took some of the top prizes in the Walk of Water competition, run by UNESCO and Onewater. UNESCO has designated 2025 as the International Year of Glacier Preservation.Julia Roger-Veyer received second place in the European category for her atmospheric shots of the Mer de Glace, Frances largest glacier, at Chamonix. The image above was shot from within a moulin, a huge hole carved into the glacier by meltwater, while the photo below peers inside a cave created by glacial retreat. Roger-Veyer climbs and photographs the Mer de Glace each autumn. Each year, the glacier retreats roughly 40 metres. In an announcement about her win, she said she expects she will probably be a helpless witness to its disappearance.Julia Roger-Veyer/OnewaterAdvertisementMichele Lapini captured first prize in the Europe category for his shot documenting the effort to save Presena Glacier in northern Italy (below). Vital to the alpine ecosystem, the glaciers surface area decreased from 68 hectares to 41 between 1993 and 2003, according to Lapini.Michele Lapini/OnewaterIn 2008, conservationists began spreading textile sheets over the glacier each summer to prevent melt. The photo shows a worker unhooking sheets during autumn before the first snow. The effort may have reduced ice melt by two-thirds, but cannot pause ice loss. As Lapini writes, climate change cannot be mitigated through localized quick fixes alone.The contests global prize is sponsored by MPB, its regional Asia prize is sponsored by Asian Development Bank, and its regional European prize by the city of Burghausen.Topics:

Back in 2017, Facebook unveiled plans for a brain-reading hat that you could use to text just by thinking. We're working on a system that will let you type straight from your brain, CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared in a post that year. Now the company, since renamed Meta, has actually done it. Except it weighs a half a ton, costs $2 million, and wont ever leave the lab. Still, its pretty cool that neuroscience and AI researchers working for Meta have managed to analyze peoples brains as they type and determine what keys they are pressing, just from their thoughts. The research, described today in two papers posted to the preprint server arXiv, is particularly impressive because the thoughts of the subjects were measured from outside their skulls using a magnetic scanner, and then processed using a deep neural network. As weve seen time and again, deep neural networks can uncover remarkable insights when paired with robust data, says Sumner Norman, founder of Forest Neurotech, who wasnt involved in the research but credits Meta with going to great lengths to collect high quality data. According to Jean-Rmi King, leader of Metas Brain & AI research team, the system is able to determine what letter a skilled typist has pressed as much as 80% of the time, an accuracy high enough to reconstruct full sentences from the brain signals. Facebooks original quest for a consumer brain-reading cap or headband ran into technical obstacles and, after four years, the company scrapped the idea. But Meta never stopped supporting basic research on neuroscience, something it now sees as an important pathway to more powerful AIs which learn and reason like humans. King says his group, based in Paris, is specifically tasked with figuring out the principles of intelligence from the human brain. Trying to understand the precise architecture or principles of the human brain could be a way to inform the development of machine intelligence," says King. That's the path. The new system is definitely not a commercial productnor on the way to becoming one. The magnetoencephalography scanner used in the new research collects magnetic signals produced in the cortex as brain neurons fire. But it is large, expensive and needs to be operated in a shielded room, since the Earths magnetic field is a trillion times stronger than the one in your brain. Norman likens the device to an MRI machine tipped on its side and suspended above the users head. Whats more, says King, the second a subject moves their head the signal is lost. Our effort is not at all towards products, he says. In fact, my message is always to say I dont think there is a path for products because its too difficult. The typing project was carried out with 35 volunteers at a research site in Spain, the Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language. Each spent around 20 hours inside the scanner typing phrases like el procesador ejecuta la instruccin" (the processor executes the instruction) while their brain signals were fed into a deep-learning system which Meta is calling Brain2Qwerty, in a reference to the layout of letters on a keyboard. The job of that deep-learning system is to figure out which brain signals mean someone is typing an a, which mean z and so on. Eventually, after it sees an individual volunteer type several thousand characters, the model can guess what key people were actually pressing on. In the first preprint, Meta researchers report that the average error rate was about 32%or nearly one out of three letters wrong. Still, according to Meta, its results are most accurate yet for brain-typing using a full alphabet keyboard and signals collected outside the skull. Research on brain-reading has been advancing quickly, although the most effective approaches use electrodes implanted into the brain, or directly on its surface. These are known as invasive brain computer interfaces. Although they require brain surgery, they can very accurately gather electrical information from small groups of neurons. In 2023, for instance, a person who lost his voice from ALS was able to speak via brain-reading software connected to a voice synthesizer, and did so at nearly a normal rate. Neuralink, founded by Elon Musk, is testing its own brain implant that gives paralyzed people control over a cursor. Meta says its own efforts remain oriented towards basic research into the nature of intelligence. And that is where the big magnetic scanner can help. Even though it isnt practical for patients, and doesnt measure individual neurons, it is able to look at the whole brain, broadly, and all at once. In a second preprint, also published today, and using the same typing data, the Meta team say they used this broader view to amass evidence that the brain produces language information in a top-down fashion, with an initial signal for a sentence kicking off separate signals for words, then syllables, and, finally, typed letters. The core claim is that the brain structures language production hierarchically, says Norman. Thats not a new idea, but Metas report highlights how these different levels interact as a system, says Norman. Those types of insights could eventually shape the design of artificial intelligence systems. Some of these, like chatbots, already rely extensively on language in order to process information and reason, just as people do. Language has become a foundation of AI, King says. So the computational principles that allow the brain, or any system, to acquire such ability is the key motivation behind this work.

I spent 15 hours on an overnight Amtrak train traveling from Denver to Salt Lake City.I've taken many overnight train trips, and this one provided one of the best experiences I've had.I was surprised to spend 15 hours in the same place in many different ways.Sleeper trains can be many things comfortable, cramped, bumpy, awe-inspiring, isolating, social, luxurious, and unbearable.Over the past four years, I've spent 140 hours traveling 3,950 miles on overnight trains in the US and Europe, and I've fallen in love with it.Overnight trains are my favorite way to travel because, unlike most things in my life, they force me to be still and enjoy the view. And even the most insufferable nights on the rails have helped me grow, get more comfortable on sleeper trains, and appreciate the good rides.My most recent ride was one of the best.On a frosty day in January, I boarded an overnight train in Denver for a 15-hour ride to Salt Lake City. The train was cozy and social, and the views were striking and diverse.Ride along with me.A double-decker sleeper train Amtrak's Superliner fleet has two levels. Joey Hadden/Business Insider The California Zephyr runs from Chicago to San Francisco on Amtrak's Superliner fleet, which comprises two-story coach and first-class sleeper cars, as well as a dining car and an observation car.I booked the lowest-tier accommodation in the sleeper car, a roomette, for $400.From Denver to Salt Lake City in a private sleeper cabin A peek inside the reporter's roomette. Joey Hadden/Business Insider The 23-square-foot space, enclosed by a sliding door, had two seats that folded out into a bed and another bunk up top. There was also a foldout table between the seats, a shelf, a mirror, and a thin closet.I also had access to four shared bathrooms and a shower in the sleeper car, and my ticket included meals.Hour 1: Boarding and breakfast Denver's Union Station on a snowy day. Joey Hadden/Business Insider On a snowy January morning, I arrived at Denver's Union Station at 8:30 a.m. for an 8:45 a.m. departure. I headed straight to the train, which was already waiting for me. The Amtrak train parked at the platform in Denver. Joey Hadden/Business Insider There were two boarding lines on the platform coach and first-class, which refers to sleeper accommodations.The coach line had about 10 people, but I whizzed through the empty first-class line and found my car easily, thanks to the big signage. Two sides of the reporter's roomette. Joey Hadden/Business Insider I stepped on board and found my cabin on the first floor. There wasn't much space to stand, but I easily stretched out by reclining both comfy seats and using one of them as a leg rest. The recently upgraded vinyl seats were cushy and more comfortable than any train seats I've booked in the US.My first-class attendant came by to introduce herself and let me know I could call her at any time with a button from my seat. She also took my lunch reservation (noon) and told me that breakfast in the dining car on the second floor ended at 9 a.m., so I needed to hurry. The reporter had French toast for breakfast. Joey Hadden/Business Insider The train took off at 8:45, just as I sat down for breakfast. A couple and I were the only remaining passengers to feed. As is typical on an Amtrak train, we were seated together.I ordered French toast with sausage, topped with syrup, powdered sugar, strawberries, and whipped cream. It was pretty decent for a train meal, and I noticed the strawberries tasted fresh.While waiting for my meal, I chatted with the couple headed to California after visiting their kids in Denver a 36-hour ride on their first overnight train.Hour 2: No WiFi, no worries Railroad views in Colorado. Joey Hadden/Business Insider By 10 a.m., I realized that this train route didn't have WiFi, and I had no signal. But none of that mattered to me once I looked out the window.The views heading west from Denver reminded me of the Swiss Alps. We went through several small tunnels that opened up to mountainous forests blanketed in snow.Around this time, the attendant asked if I wanted to make a reservation for the observation car, a communal space on the second floor with two rows of windows bleeding into the ceiling for optimal views.The observation car doesn't typically require reservations, but it gets crowded when the train passes through Rocky Mountain National Park in the early afternoons. Later, in the observation car, an attendant said managing the crowds with 30-minute time slots was easier. I took the 11:30 a.m. slot.Hour 3: Fresh air The train stops in Fraser, Colorado. Joey Hadden/Business Insider We stopped for the first time since I boarded at around 10:50 a.m. in Fraser, Colorado. The train didn't stop long enough to step outside very often, so I took the opportunity to get some fresh air.It was easy to spot who was continuing on the journey and who wasn't based on their baggage and attire. Some passengers came out in the snow in sweatshirts and shorts, while others were bundled up with suitcases in hand.It was sunny and crisp on the snow-covered platform. I stretched my legs and spotted others posing for pictures and checking their phones.After about five minutes, a whistle blew, signaling everyone to board.Hour 4: Epic views before lunch Inside the observation car on an Amtrak Superliner. Joey Hadden/Business Insider At 11:30 a.m., I headed upstairs to the observation car. It was much brighter than the other cars, especially since it was sunny. It was also packed to the brim. I was seated next to a quiet couple, with whom I spotted highland cows in a valley surrounded by forests. The reporter's lunch on the train. Joey Hadden/Business Insider The dining car was right next to the observation car. I strolled in at noon and was seated with a high-school student visiting her sister at college and a California-bound, older couple who had taken overnight trains before.We discussed our travels as I dined on a Caesar salad with grilled chicken. It was on par with good, budget-friendly restaurants I'd been to before, and it ended up being my favorite dish of the trip.Hour 5: Kicking back in the cabin The reporter reads on her way to Salt Lake City. Joey Hadden/Business Insider After a fulfilling lunch and conversation, I returned to my cabin for some downtime. The dramatic views continued as I read a book in my cozy chair.Hour 6: Time to stretch The Amtrak train stops in Glenwood Springs, Colorado Joey Hadden/Business Insider Just before 2:30 p.m., the train stopped for another break in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, for about 15 minutes.I had time to walk the length of the train. It was a bit warmer outside, so I stepped onto the platform without my jacket.Hour 7: A change of scenery Views from the train cabin. Joey Hadden/Business Insider By 3 p.m., the views started to transform. The snow melted as we passed rivers and streams, and the trees were smaller and more sparse in southwestern Colorado.My attendant came by during this time to ask when I wanted to have dinner. Since I was already getting hungry, I opted for the earliest slot: 5 p.m.Hour 8: Grateful for curtains and skincare The reporter utilizes the roomette's curtains. Joey Hadden/Business Insider Around 4 p.m., the sun started hitting my window in various locations along the length of the room. That's when I noticed how much the curtains came in handy.Blocking the sun wasn't limited like in a car with a visor. I could slide the two curtains back and forth, scrunch them up, and spread them out for optimal glare blockage. The reporter freshens up in her cabin. Joey Hadden/Business Insider Before dinner, I went to the bathroom to wash my face and noticed it had been cleaned since my last visit. Then, I returned to my cabin to moisturize using the mirror. The crisp, Southwestern air made my skin drier than usual.Hour 9: Dinner with a view Inside the dining car just before dinner. Joey Hadden/Business Insider I strolled into the dining car at 4:59 p.m. It was empty except for employees who appeared confused about my arrival."I'm here for my dinner reservation," I said."You're supposed to wait for the announcement," one of them called out. Oops.Seconds later, one employee welcomed guests to the dining car over the intercom, and another told me to sit at the first table. The reporter's dinner. Joey Hadden/Business Insider After a talkative breakfast and lunch, I wasn't feeling too social. Luckily, the trio of young women I shared the booth with seemed to have the same idea. We said hello to each other and then dined quietly. All of us took pictures of our meals when they arrived.The dinner was three courses. I had a Brie salad followed by a flat iron steak with mashed potatoes, steamed veggies, and a wine sauce. I was surprised by how flavorful the steak was; it was cooked perfectly for me.The dessert was a decent white chocolate blueberry cobbler cheesecake. It was no New York cheesecake, but it was tasty, and I ate nearly all of it.Hour 10: Providing my own turndown service The reporter converted the seats into a bed. Joey Hadden/Business Insider As soon as I finished dinner, I reclined the seats in my cabin to form the lower bunk. An hour later, the attendant announced they could provide turndown service. But I'm no stranger to converting train bunks. And since I'd be getting off the train just before midnight, I wanted to get a few hours of rest beforehand.The bunk was more spacious than most I've experienced on trains. And the cushions were surprisingly easy on my back.The blanket provided was extremely soft one side felt like velvet. The pillows were more dense and fluffy than most overnight train cabins I've experienced. I only needed to rest one under my head, as I do at home.Hour 11: TV in a cozy bed just like home The reporter watches TV from her train bunk. Joey Hadden/Business Insider Watching TV before bed brings me comfort.Earlier in the trip, when I had service, I downloaded a few episodes of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" for this very reason.I stretched out on the cot, put my headphones in, and soaked up the comedy as we rode through the night.Hours 12-14: Night naps The reporter relaxes in her bunk. Joey Hadden/Business Insider The last intercom announcement at 9:45 p.m. informed passengers that 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. are quiet train hours.After a few TV episodes, I put the screen down and drifted in and out of sleep for the final hours of my trip.Hour 15: A midnight arrival The train parked at the platform in Salt Lake City. Joey Hadden/Business Insider We arrived in Salt Lake City just before midnight. An attendant knocked on my door about 10 minutes before to let me know we were close. I was already up and started to gather my things.I exited the train at the back of a long platform, which was brightly lit despite the late hour. I watched other departing passengers greet their loved ones at the station as I called an Uber to take me to my next adventure.

Ukrainian companies are increasing the production of fiber-optic drones.The drones can't be jammed with traditional electronic warfare, making them a huge threat in combat.BI spoke with several people involved in the effort to scale up production to keep pace with Russia.Drones radically changed the Ukraine war. Soldiers then learned to fight back with electronic warfare. It's been a cat-and-mouse game since, and now, the fight is evolving once again.This time, a new breed of drones is the catalyst.George, an Eastern European drone pilot with Ukraine's International Legion, vividly recalls the first time he deployed one of these drones.It was last fall, and he had just received intelligence that five Russians were positioned in a cellar in the village of Hlyboke, an area where intense Russian jamming had made it almost impossible for Ukrainian forces to fly their drones.He flew his drone and its three-and-a-half-pound explosive payload through Russia's electronic shield. It slipped past the frequency jammers and into a hole in the target structure. Smoke engulfed the enemy position as a recon drone watched the scene from above.His team cheered as they observed the strike on a screen from miles away. George had just live-tested a fiber-optic drone that could bypass electronic warfare, and the implications were huge."That first time I used the fiber optic, I never wanted to go back to the regular. It just cannot compare," George, an Eastern European drone pilot with the International Legion, told Business Insider. For security reasons, he and several other sources asked to be identified only by their first names. BI verified their identities.Russians first brought fiber-optic drones to the war this past spring, and since then, Ukraine has been racing to develop and produce them at scale. The weapons became more prominent in the fall, especially in Russia's Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces launched a shock invasion in early August.BI spoke to executives at several Ukrainian companies producing fiber-optic drone supplies. Some said they're starting to close the gap with Russia, which had a head start."Whichever side adapts quicker and learns and transforms its capabilities, that side becomes dominant," George said. "Well, the Russians have been dominant. It's clear. No one can say otherwise."Ukraine's booming drone marketTroy Smothers, a US Marine veteran who runs the firm Drone Reaper, said his phone immediately lit up with calls from Ukrainian units after the footage of the strike in Hlyboke was posted online (there was some delay between the strike and the video post). Pilots who saw the demo wanted in on the tech, a simple fiber-optic kit. In Ukraine, many individual combat units procure their own parts for drone projects. A fiber-optic drone is seen before a test flight in the Kyiv region in December. Global Images Ukraine/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images "Ukrainian developers are actively ramping up the production of fiber-optic drones," Nataliia Kushnerska, a senior executive in Ukraine's defense industry, told BI. "There is a strong demand for this from the Ukrainian military, addressing a real need on the front lines where electronic warfare tools are increasingly disrupting drone operators' activities."Fiber-optic drones are regular first-person-view drones that can carry a small explosive payload. Instead of relying on a radio frequency signal connection, which can be jammed, they're equipped with spools of long, thin cables to ensure a stable link between the drone and its operator.Because of the fiber-optic cables, these drones are highly resistant to traditional electronic warfare systems like frequency jammers, making them dangerous and difficult to defend against. They produce high-quality video transmissions without bandwidth issues, allowing the operator to guide them for pinpoint strikes on enemy troops or vehicles."There is almost no defense against these drones," Max, the CEO of the Kyiv-based company BattleBorn, which develops and makes a range of drones, told BI. "They hit expensive equipment very often and efficiently." A Ukrainian serviceman demonstrates a fiber-optic drone at an undisclosed location in the Kyiv region on January 29. AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky BattleBorn is one of many Ukrainian companies producing fiber-optic drones. Alex, the COO, told BI that his drones have a range of up to 6.2 miles he expects this will soon increase to 9.3 miles and can carry anywhere from 3 to 17.6 pounds of explosives, depending on the size of the drone.There is a trade-off to relying on fiber-optic cable connections, though. Manufacturers have to make space on the drones for their spools, thus reducing the payload these platforms can carry. Alex said producing the coil which is quite fragile and can be vulnerable to damage is also a complicated technical process.Kushnerska, the chief operating officer of Brave1, a Ukrainian government platform that facilitates innovation within the country's defense industry, said dozens of teams across the country are working on fiber-optic drones.Some teams make their own spools domestically, while others source their hardware from overseas, mainly China. Kushnerska said that Ukrainian companies can produce thousands of fiber-optic drones a month, and the number of participating firms is only growing. Fiber-optic wires can be seen connected to a drone during a test flight in the Kyiv region in December. Global Images Ukraine/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images Krab Technologies, a company based in Kharkiv, custom-designed a spool kit that crams roughly 10 kilometers of fiber-optic cable onto a drone while only increasing its weight by less than 2.2 pounds. The company's owner, Vlad, said his firm uses a Chinese-produced 0.25mm fiber-optic cable about as thick as a coarse strand of human hair. That's about half as thin as the fiber optics that he said Russia's forces use."We're getting a big quantity of orders from military units," Vlad said. "We have more than 15,000 spools ordered."Vlad's fiber-optic drones cost about $350 at their cheapest. His most expensive offering is a 13-inch drone that can carry a seven-pound explosive payload and has a range of roughly 12.5 miles.That one costs $900. Regular hobby-style first-person view drones, which rely on signal connections, cost just a fraction of that price. But Ukraine will likely have little to no alternative as radio frequency jammers become more prolific on the battlefield."The moment you reach the zero line, you're jammed," said George, referring to the moment one crosses out of Ukrainian-held territory. A Ukrainian servicewoman in a headset operates a fiber-optic drone during a test flight in the Kyiv region on January 29. Global Images Ukraine/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images By his estimates, a typical day of fighting would see 70% of the regular first-person view drones fail to reach their targets. For pilots like him, operating on the field has become a slog of sending drone after drone at his target, hoping one will get through."It's not just about the video signal," he said. "It's incredibly hard to get through the signal disruptions because you can't control your drone anymore. You feel like it's being controlled by someone else."Vlad of Krab Technologies said that a common strategy in Ukraine is to use the more expensive fiber-optic drones to target the jammers first, then send in the regular loitering munitions to do the rest of the work.'This must be the priority'Fiber-optic drones aren't perfect the cable can snap or get hung up on obstacles but they offer options to punch holes in the formidable electronic warfare shields hindering front-line drone operations, especially as AI-driven autonomous systems still haven't come online.They can target advancing forces shielded by mobile electronic warfare, increasing the already high costs of enemy advances, as well as protected fixed positions.After observing Moscow's forces using fiber-optic drones this past Spring, Smothers, the US Marine veteran, and several friends reverse-engineered their own spool from photos of a downed Russian model discovered by Ukrainians in March 2024. Once they had a design, Smothers said, he then toured Ukraine with about 50 fiber-optic kits for four-and-a-half months, pitching the tech to drone units.A big part of wartime innovation, he said, is demonstrating that the tech works in battle."You take a guy like myself who doesn't have a drone background or even an electronic background, if I can deploy it, that means the average military member can use that design and be effective with it," he said. Smothers worked in the real-estate industry back home and was an infantry sergeant in the Marines. A fiber-optic drone is seen during a test flight in the Kyiv region in December. Global Images Ukraine/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images He returned to the US in the winter to procure 30- and 50-kilometer fiber-optic spools from an American defense firm. Since early January, he's been offering them to Ukrainian units.Ukrainian officials are pushing the defense industry to make more drones. In mid-January, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that 2025 "must be a record-breaking year" for drone production output. Kyiv has raised its annual manufacturing capacity to 4 million units, a significant increase from previous years.Meanwhile, the Ukrainian defense ministry recently announced that it will provide combat units with $60 million monthly to procure drones to quickly meet front-line needs. This initiative allows soldiers to sidestep slower, centralized purchasing.Since his fiber-optic strike in Hlyboke this past fall, George said he'd flown a few more wired drones in combat over Kharkiv. But he stressed that his unit still has too few of these platforms. Russian troops, on the other hand, have been hunting his comrades with fiber-optic drones for over a year."In probably a year or two, there will be something else coming up, something new," George said, "but right now, this must be the priority because this can actually do the work."

The team behind the popular football gaming series Football Manager has announced that the upcoming version, FM25, has been cancelled, in a move most fans had predicted would happen months agoNews07:28, 07 Feb 2025Updated 09:26, 07 Feb 2025The game has been cancelled(Image: SEGA)The latest edition of the Football Manager series, FM25, has been cancelled. After a series of cancellations and awkward silences from makers Sports Interactive and Sega, an announcement was made at 3am this morning to confirm what most fans of the series had already predicted.It was announced in October that it was being delayed by a few weeks until November 26 due to issues with creating the game using a brand new system but that was then delayed a further five months.And now in a move most had predicted, the game has been cancelled entirely, with developers claiming that they want to focus on whatever comes next, presumably Football Manager 26.Football Manager boss Miles Jacobson has been quiet since the game was delayed in November(Image: FIFA via Getty Images)Fans who pre-ordered the game have been offered a full refund, but no comment was made on whether or not they would update the current game version's database something SI had previously ruled out.In a lengthy statement, a spokesman said: Sports Interactive regret to inform that, following extensive internal discussion and careful consideration with SEGA, we have made the difficult decision to cancel Football Manager 25 and shift our focus to the next release.A lengthy statement went live at around 3am(Image: SEGA)We know this will come as a huge disappointment, especially given that the release date has already moved twice, and you have been eagerly anticipating the first gameplay reveal. We can only apologise for the time it has taken to communicate this decision. Due to stakeholder compliance, including legal and financial regulations, today was the earliest date that we could issue this statement.We have always prided ourselves on delivering the best value for money games that bring you countless hours of enjoyment, that feel worth every moment and every penny you spend. With the launch of FM25 we set out to create the biggest technical and visual advancement in the series for a generation, laying the building blocks for a new era.A rare glimpse of the now-cancelled game was leaked earlier this year(Image: SEGA)Due to a variety of challenges that weve been open about to date, and many more unforeseen, we currently havent achieved what we set out to do in enough areas of the game, despite the phenomenal efforts of our team. Each decision to delay the release was made with the aim of getting the game closer to the desired level but, as we approached critical milestones at the turn of the year, it became unmistakably clear that we would not achieve the standard required, even with the adjusted timeline.They went on to claim that after extensive evaluation they are too far away from the standards you deserve and did not want to release the game in its current state.Fans took to social media to fume about the decision, with one calling it the worst mess in gaming history, while FM streamer and YouTuber Zealand simply replied with lol.Some fans were more positive about the decision, saying: "Finally, the right decision, take the time to improve the product and just make it FM26". And another wrote: "Correct decision. Everyone take a breath and focus on moving forward."Article continues belowFor the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.

GTA 6 could suffer slippage but Take-Two insists there is no delayAdam StarkeyPublished February 7, 2025 10:15amUpdated February 7, 2025 10:15am GTA 6 is still on course for this year (Rockstar)There are no plans to delay GTA 6, according to publisher Take-Two, with the game slated to arrive later this year alongside Mafia: The New Country and Borderlands 4.After 2024 went by without any new trailer or update, theres been a growing expectation of some kind of delay for GTA 6.The last time we saw the highly-anticipated sequel was the first trailer in December 2023, and while publisher Take-Two has said has always said its still scheduled for autumn 2025, Rockstars history suggests a delay is very likely.However, Take-Two has once again insisted that GTA 6 is still on track to launch in autumn 2025, in whats set to be a stacked year for the publisher.As noted in its Q3 2025 earnings report, GTA 6 is listed for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in fall of calendar 2025. While this is a promising sign, its worth bearing in mind that its in Take-Twos interests to say it is on track, in order to keep shareholders happy.In the same report, the publisher says Mafia: The Old Country and Borderlands 4 are both on track for 2025 as well.Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take-Two, said: Looking ahead, this calendar year is shaping up to be one of the strongest ever for Take-Two, as we plan to launch Sid Meiers Civilisation 7 on February 11, Mafia: The Old Country in the summer, Grand Theft Auto 6 in the fall, and Borderlands 4.Zelnick reaffirmed this positive outlook for GTA 6 in an interview with IGN, although he did acknowledge that theres a risk of slippage.When asked how confident he was that Rockstar will launch GTA 6 this year, Zelnick replied: Look, theres always a risk of slippage and I think as soon as you say words like absolutely, you jinx things. So we feel really good about it.More TrendingIn the same financial report, Take-Two announced GTA 5 has now sold 210 million copies, an increase of five million units within the last three months of 2024. Meanwhile, Red Dead Redemption 2 has now surpassed 70 million copies sold.While some might be reassured by the commitment to the release window, the lack of a specific date still will likely concern publishers who are trying to avoid releasing games within the same timeframe.Many suspect that Nintendo is also trying to avoid it, given the unusual June release date speculated for the Switch 2.Despite having a trailer to analyse, we still know very little about GTA 6. The game will take place in the state of Leonida, which includes the return of Vice City, and will seemingly see two protagonists, in female lead Lucia and an unnamed male counterpart. Lucia and who? (Rockstar)Emailgamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below,follow us on Twitter, andsign-up to our newsletter.To submit Inbox letters and Readers Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use ourSubmit Stuff page here.For more stories like this,check our Gaming page.GameCentralSign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content.This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy