February 12: Lantern Festival in China (2025); Lincoln's Birthday in some parts of the United States; Red Hand DayEdvard Munch's The Scream1691 A papal conclave convened to select a new pope after the death of Pope Alexander VIII.1924 George Gershwin's composition Rhapsody in Blue premiered at Aeolian Hall in New York.1994 Edvard Munch's painting The Scream (pictured) was stolen from the National Gallery of Norway.2003 Protesters in La Paz and the Bolivian government brokered a deal to end two days of rioting against a proposed salary tax.Ethan Allen (d.1789)Charles Darwin (b.1809)Bill Russell (b.1934)Anna Anderson (d.1984)More anniversaries: February 11February 12February 13ArchiveBy emailList of days of the yearAbout

LangChain evaluated a single AI agent to see if its performance degrades when given more context and tools, essentially overwhelming it.Read More

Cerebras and Perplexity AI launch ultra-fast Sonar search model running at 1,200 tokens per second, challenging traditional search engines.Read More

Krafton reports "all-time highs" in sales and operating profits in 2024"With our AI defining the future of gaming, we aim to evolve beyond game development," says CEO News by Vikki Blake Contributor Published on Feb. 11, 2025 Krafton has reported "record-breaking earnings" in 2024, with full-year revenue jumping 41.8% year-on-year to $1.85bn.Operating profit also increased, this time by 54% YoY to $825.7m, attributed to the "continued expansion and sustainability of the PUBG IP" and a 35.7% year-on-year boost in revenue from Battlegrounds Mobile India.Yearly net profits were similarly up 119% YoY.The strong performance is echoed in the firm's fourth quarter, with sales and operating profits up 16% and 31%, respectively, with inZOI, Dark and Darker Mobile, Subnautica 2, and Dinkum Together all cited as part of the firm's "key strategic lineup" going forward."While continuing to expand the PUBG IP, we will accelerate the discovery of a new franchise IP to further reinforce our competitive edge in the global gaming market," said CEO CH Kim."With our AI technology defining the future of gaming experiences, we aim to evolve beyond game development as a company that ultimately advances the global entertainment ecosystem."Back in August, Krafton acquired Tango Gameworks and the Hi-Fi Rush IP from Xbox as part of a "strategic agreement".

The Trump administration breached a federal privacy law by letting workers from Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) access information on millions of government workers, privacy advocates including the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) allege in a new lawsuit filed on behalf of two labor unions and a group of current and former federal employees.The groups allege that DOGE and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) violated the Privacy Act of 1974, which protects information maintained by federal agencies. OPM maintains information on tens of millions of current and former federal employees, contractors, and job applicants, including disabilities, background check information, and health records, the lawsuit says. The agency also has information on workers in highly sensitive roles for whom even acknowledging their government employment may be problematic, such as Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) workers, it adds. The labor groups allege Musk and his DOGE staffers were allowed to access OPM computer networks that stored this information before they were even considered government employees, putting workers sensitive information in jeopardy.DOGE lacks a lawful and legitimate need for such access to OPM files, the groups allege. Theyre asking the US District Court in the Southern District of New York to suspend DOGE staffers access to the system, and prevent them from using any information they allegedly illegally accessed already. They also want the court to order any copies of data unlawfully accessed to be destroyed.OPM is already facing a separate lawsuit from labor groups over the Trump administrations fork in the road offer of deferred resignation, which promised payment that Congress had not yet appropriated. A federal judge has s0 far delayed the deadline for federal workers to opt to take the offer, pending further consideration by the court.While the Trump administration has insisted that DOGE staffers have legally accessed information and have the necessary clearances to do so, they have not provided much detail on what those clearances are. Government workers have expressed skepticism that the inexperienced cadre of staffers at DOGE could have made it through the typically arduous clearance process to access sensitive information in the few weeks that Trump has been in office. The lawsuit insists that any exceptions to the Privacy Act, like for law enforcement purposes, are not applicable in this case.Increased access to OPM information could create new vulnerabilities for that data, experts fear. After all, OPM databases were breached in 2014, resulting in sensitive information on more than 20 million people being compromised.The labor unions and employees reasonably fear harmful consequences of the disclosure and use of information accessed by DOGE, the lawsuit claims. President Trump, DOGE director Elon Musk, and others have repeatedly threatened to fire government employees they view as disloyal. They have repeatedly and unlawfully purported to fire government employees and shutter entire departments. And they have affirmatively put in place policies that seek to terminate government employees based on their gender identity.The White House will continue to fight these battles in court, and we expect to be vindicated, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. The President has every right to exercise his executive authority on behalf of the American people, who gave him a historic mandate to govern on November 5th.The lawsuit is just one of several legal challenges to DOGEs infiltration and attempts to dismantle federal agencies. Others target the Treasury Department for allowing access to its sensitive payments system, and another has sought to halt the US Agency for International Development (USAID) from being thrown in the wood chipper, as Musk has said. While the cases make their way through the courts, Democratic lawmakers have struggled to find ways to slow what several of them have called an illegal coup, and the Trump administration has already reportedly shown tolerance for flouting court orders.Correction, February 11th: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified President Donald Trump as one of the defendants in the lawsuit. He is not directly named as a defendant. See More:

On Tuesday, US District Court of Delaware judge Stephanos Bibas issued a partial summary judgment in favor of Thomson Reuters in its copyright infringement lawsuit against Ross Intelligence, a legal AI startup. Filed in 2020, its one of the first cases that will deal with the legality of AI tools and how they are trained, often using copyrighted data scraped from somewhere else without license or permission.Similar lawsuits against OpenAI, Microsoft, and other AI giants are currently winding their way through the courts, and they could come down to similar questions about whether or not the AI tools can claim a fair use defense of using copyrighted material.RelatedIn a statement given to The Verge by Thomson Reuters spokesperson Jeff McCoy, the company said:We are pleased that the court granted summary judgment in our favor and concluded that Westlaws editorial content created and maintained by our attorney editors, is protected by copyright and cannot be used without our consent. The copying of our content was not fair use.However, as the judge noted, this case involved non-generative AI, not a generative AI tool like an LLM. Ross shut down in 2021, calling the lawsuit spurious but saying it was unable to raise enough funding to keep going while caught up in a legal battle.As reported previously by Wired, today Judge Bibas wrote in his decision, None of Rosss possible defenses holds water against accusations of copyright infringement, and ultimately rejected Rosss fair-use defense, relying heavily on the factor of how Rosss use of copyrighted material affected the market for the original works value by building a direct competitor. Thomson Reuters sued over Rosss use of its Westlaw search engine. Westlaw indexes a good deal of material that is not copyrightable (like legal decisions) but also intersperses it with its own content. For instance, Westlaw headnotes which are summaries of points of law written by human editors are a signature feature meant to make the very expensive Westlaw subscription attractive to lawyers.In building a legal research search engine, Ross turned the annotations and headnotes into numerical data about the relationships among legal words to feed into its AI, wrote Bibas. The ruling describes how, after Thomson Reuters rejected its attempt to license Westlaws content, Ross turned to another company, LegalEase, and purchased 25,000 Bulk Memos of questions and answers written by lawyers using the Westlaw headnotes that it used for training data.Ross CEO Andrew Arruda claimed the Westlaw data was added noise and that its tool aims to recognize and extract answers directly from the law using machine learning. However, after having compared how similar each of the 2,830 Bulk Memo questions, headnotes, and judicial opinions are, one by one, the judge said the evidence of actual copying was so obvious that no reasonable jury could find otherwise.See More:

Sony has never been one to shy away from pushing the boundaries of home theater innovation, and with the Bravia Theater Quad, the company is making its latest bold statement in the world of immersive audio. The Theater Quad is a four-speaker ensemble that takes the plug-and-play simplicity of a soundbar and blends it with the spatial prowess of a traditional home theater setup, making for a system that is both physically and audibly different from anything else you can buy today.Its also more expensive than most flagship offerings on the market today. But for its gargantuan $2,500 retail price, the Quad creates a soundstage that, thanks to its Dolby Atmos capabilities, spatial sound technologies, and overall detail, is one of the best weve heard to date. Its not perfect, especially when it comes to bass. But its an experience that you truly have to hear to believe. Sony Bravia Theater Quad PhotosSony Bravia Theater Quad Design and Features First, lets address the elephant in the room. The Bravia Theater Quad is physically different from any competing soundbar system on the market today. Instead of an ensemble built around a long, hefty soundbar with most of the systems drivers tucked inside, the Quad features four distinct speakers two accompanying your TV up front, and two filling out the rear of your listening space. Each of the four speakers are wall mountable, but will otherwise work best sitting on speaker stands, so be sure to factor that into how these fit into your room.SpecsPrice: $2,499.99Channels: 4.0.4Power: 504 watts, 16 total channelsDrivers: 16 total speakersConnections: HDMI eARC 2.1, Bluetooth 5.2 Audio formats: Stereo PCM, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Atmos (Dolby Digital Plus), Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Atmos (True HD), Multichannel PCM, Dolby Multichannel PCM, DTS Digital SurroundThe previous version of the Quad, Sonys HT-A9, had a cylindrical look to its quartet of speakers. With the Quad, Sony opted for a flattened-out iteration that presents a far more sleek aesthetic that blended subtly into our living room. The drivers inside the enclosures are also new and improved, moving from a two-way design to a three-way setup that includes a dedicated woofer, midrange driver, and tweeter. Plus, each of the four Quad speakers has its own upfiring driver for Dolby Atmos content and other 3D formats. There is no included subwoofer in this system, which seems like a miss at this price point (and from a performance perspective more on that later). The good news is that the Quad is compatible with either of Sonys wireless subwoofers, the SA-SW3 or the larger SA-SW5, though that will cost you an extra $400-700 depending on which model you opt for. Additionally, each speaker in the Quad communicates with the systems control box, which connects to your TV via HDMI and only HDMI. If you have an older display that needs an optical connection, you are out of luck with the Quad.Setting the Quad up was just as simple as getting a soundbar system up and running. Each speaker needs to connect to a power outlet, and the control box needs that aforementioned HDMI connection to your TV or display. From there, though, the speakers automatically sync with each other. All thats left is to download the Bravia Connect app to adjust aspects of the system to your personal tastes. The only bothersome part of the set up for some may be finding spots to place each of the Quad speakers; you wont be able to put the front speakers on your TV stand like you would a soundbar, and if you dont have speaker stands, you may have to get a bit creative with placement. As Sonys flagship home theater system, the Quad has absolutely no shortage of features in store. It uses Sonys 360 Spatial Sound Mapping technology to virtually place sound around your entire listening space, something well talk more about in a moment. It supports Dolby Atmos, DTS:X and 360 Reality Audio, and has streaming support for Spotify Connect, Apple AirPlay 2, and Bluetooth. Plus, when paired with a compatible Sony Bravia TV, the Quad can use its Acoustic Center Sync technology to outfit the TVs speakers to act as a center channel for the system. Theres tons more to explore in the realm of features including the Quads video format support for 4K HDR, 8K HDR, and Dolby Vision but weve buried the lede long enough. Lets dive into how the Quad sounds. Sony Bravia Theater Quad PerformanceI originally unboxed and set up the Bravia Theater Quad in my office, only to realize that this system needed a lot more room to breathe. So I relocated to my living room, which afforded the ability to properly place the system in the space the front speakers to the left and right of my TV, and the rear speakers at the back of the room. I set up the Quad in the Bravia Connect app, ran the speakers through the apps Sound Field Optimization feature (which adjusts the speakers to the environment theyre in), and went to work.Cards on the table: the Quad beats every soundbar system Ive ever heard. The three-way speakers are incredibly balanced and extremely detailed, and the soundstage that the system creates is absolutely unmatched. Part of it chalks up to being able to space out those front speakers to foster a wide, encompassing front stage, a feat that has proven far harder to achieve with soundbar systems. Perhaps the ace up the Quads sleeve, though, is the masterful way it virtually places sound. I watched The Worlds Greatest Beer Run which is starting to become a favorite for testing Dolby Atmos, both for its compelling audio mix and because Apple TV is one of the few remaining streaming services that doesnt reserve Atmos content for its highest-paying subscribers and was blown away by how the Quad adds three-dimensional sound to Chickie Donohues travels through the heart of the Vietnam War. Atmos aside, the Quad handles standard surround sound far better than every soundbar Ive tested. With four speakers and Sonys 360 Spatial Sound Mapping technology, it uses the entire space to virtually send sound from movies like Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire all around you with powerful precision, with the sounds of the mega monsters brawling it out perfectly matching their path across the screen. Its hard to quantify with words, but its an experience that will change the way you think about surround sound.On the music side of things, I employed Spotify Connect, my wife, and a living room that now fully resembles a demo space to do a bit of a blind listening taste. Using Spotify, I asked Mrs. Woodard to close her eyes as I swapped between the Quad, the Sonos Arc Ultra, and my personal home theater system consisting of Fluance towers, a Yamaha receiver and a JL Audio subwoofer. I didnt tell her which was which, but instead auditioned tracks like Chris Stapletons Joy of My Life, Macklemores Good Old Days, and Jelly Rolls I Am Not Okay among other songs on all three systems in succession until she felt confident to try and identify each sound source. She got the Arc Ultra right, since its great, but more centralized sound sticks out compared to the other two. But she mistook the detailed, full sound of the Quads for our bulky tower speakers, and ultimately said that the Quads sound signature was above and away her favorite of the three.I tend to agree, with one caveat. The Quads big missing puzzle piece is bass. It tries, and earnestly so, but it falls significantly behind in the bass department to both the Sonos Arc Ultra and my personal home theater. A dedicated subwoofer would definitely fill the gap here, and the Quad is compatible with both Sonys SA-SW5 subwoofer and its smaller SA-SW3 counterpart. But that would mean a substantial added cost to a system thats already one of the most expensive routes you can take, leaving me to wonder why such a high-end option is notably incomplete.Purchasing GuideThe Sony Bravia Theater Quad retails for $2499.99 and can be found at Amazon and Best Buy.Sony Bravia Theater Quad The CompetitionFor as unique of a product as the Quad is, its a bit difficult to pin down who, exactly, this powerful lineup of speakers is standing against. Sony almost undoubtedly built the Quad to be a soundbar killer, and it wears that hat extremely well. I prefer the sound of the Quad to both the Sonos Arc Ultra and Samsung HW-Q990D, although the bars themselves are punching out of their weight class in this instance. I would wager to say that pairing a Sonos Sub 4 ($800) and a pair of Sonos Era 100 speakers ($470) to the $1000 Ultra would create a system that rivals the sound quality of the Quad and easily eclipse it in terms of bass. But for the sake of standalone systems? Its the Quad, and its not close.Sony may have another, slightly more unintended competitor in this space: the traditional home theater system. As a longtime fan of the old school home theater, complete with dedicated speakers, a receiver, and a subwoofer, I came into testing the Quad skeptical of its ability to justify its price, which (give or take) rivals the total cost of my own system. I left testing having told my wife that if we could commit to the Quad, I would happily sell off my theater system and get rid of the towers that may not be the most aesthetically pleasing part of our home decor. The Quad is that good, from the way it blends detailed vocals and impeccable instrumentals in music to the unmatched way it places sound in your space for movies and TV. Dont get me wrong, I love the sound of my system. But it simply cannot do what the Quad is capable of. If Sony added a subwoofer output to its control box to allow folks to use their own subwoofer, I would be selling my speakers as we speak.

The next Mortal Kombat movie is on its way and we just got our first look at one of the films new faces: Johnny Cage.Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon shared a poster of Karl Urban (The Boys, Judge Dredd) as the Hollywood actor and Mortal Kombatant, Johnny Cage. The poster is designed to look like a fake Johnny Cage movie, complete with two whole motorcycles jumping out of flames.Mortal Kombat 2 is a direct sequel to the 2021 reboot movie starring Lewis Tan as Cole Young, Hiroyuki Sanada (Shogun) as Scorpion, and Joe Taslim (The Raid) as Sub-Zero. Urban is one of several new actors joining the cast that will also include Adeline Rudolph as Kitana, Tati Gabrielle as Jade, and Damon Herriman as Quan Chi.A fake movie poster for a Johnny Cage movie promoting the very real movie, Mortal Kombat 2. Credit: Warner Bros.The first movie centered around Tans Cole Young as he enters the world of Mortal Kombat and learns about the violent past between Scorpion and Sub-Zero. No word on the plot details for the sequel, but given Mortal Kombats extensive video game history, theres a lot of storylines they could potentially use for the new movie.The first movie was initially slated to be released in theaters before the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted theater releases worldwide. Instead, Mortal Kombat was one of the new movies distributed directly onto HBO Max. However the sequel will be receiving a theatrical release on October 24, 2025.We gave Mortal Kombat a 7 in our review, calling it a "spectacular display of blood, guts, and effects heavy martial arts battles.Matt Kim is IGN's Senior Features Editor. He enjoyed the Mortal Kombat movie.

Apple and Beats on Tuesday unveiled the much-anticipated Powerbeats Pro 2 wireless earbuds. Surprisingly, the new version of the Powerbeats Pro comes with features that arent even present in Apples AirPods. Luckily, we already know some of Apples plans for the future of the AirPods.Certainly one of the highlights of the new Powerbeats Pro 2 is the built-in heart rate sensor. This is the first accessory from Apple apart from the Apple Watch to include a health-related sensor and hints at even more health sensors coming to such devices in the future. Of course, Powerbeats Pro are workout-focused earbuds, but its still surprising to see Apple choosing to introduce such technology first in a Beats product.What about AirPods? Will they also get a heart rate sensor in the future? We dont need rumors to assume that they will, but multiple sources have already corroborated that Apple is working on AirPods with health-related sensors.The first and most obvious would be the same heart rate sensor built into the new Powerbeats Pro 2. More specifically, Apple has plans to include the sensor in the next generation AirPods Pro. We dont know when exactly Apple will launch AirPods Pro 3, but given that AirPods Pro 2 were launched in 2022, it probably wont be much longer. Possibly later this year.Bloombergs Mark Gurman reported last year that Apple has also been exploring sensors that can determine body temperature through the ear canal. The company is also working on camera sensors for AirPods, but these technologies wont be ready in time for AirPods Pro 3.What else can we expect? For AirPods Pro 3, a refreshed design, although theres little information about what it will look like. The entry-level AirPods model was recently updated with a new design and ANC, so its unlikely that a new version will be on the way any time soon. Apple also has no meaningful plans for AirPods Max after last years refresh with USB-C.What about you? What do you expect from future AirPods models? Let us know in the comments section below.Add 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

Apple on Tuesday announced a quiet but important update when it comes to the Apple Account. As of today, the company now allows users to migrate their purchases between different Apple Accounts so that people who have two accounts can consolidate them.Migrating purchases from one Apple Account to anotherYou can choose to migrate apps, music, and other content youve purchased from Apple on a secondary Apple Account to a primary Apple Account. The secondary Apple Account might be an account thats only used for purchases, Apple says.As noted by Stephen Hackett at 512 Pixels, Apple has published a new support article detailing how the process works. Users will have the option of migrating app purchases, music, and other content from one Apple Account to another. Unsurprisingly, the migration only works under multiple conditions.First, users must make sure that theyre signed in with their two Apple Accounts on the same iPhone or iPad. The secondary account with the purchases must be logged into the Media & Purchases settings, while the primary account must be logged into iCloud. Apple notes that the secondary account with purchases cant be part of a different Family Sharing group.In order for the process to work, you also need to turn off Purchase Sharing on the secondary account. Both accounts must be set to the same region and have two-factor authentication enabled. The secondary account cant have any balance remaining, rentals, or pre-orders. You also need to wait 15 days since your last purchase before starting the process.Once youre clear on all the conditions, heres how to migrate your purchases from one Apple Account to another:Open the Settings app on iOS.Tap your name, then tap Media & Purchases.Tap View Account (sign-in if needed).Tap Migrate Purchases.Review the information and follow the steps to complete the migration.When complete, youll see a message saying that Purchases Have Been Migrated.Sign out of the secondary Apple Account in the Media & Purchases settings and sign in with the primary account.After migrating purchases, the secondary account can no longer be used for media and purchases. The process aims to help people who for some reason have different accounts for iCloud and purchases on the App Store and Apple TV.You can find more details on how to migrate your purchases in this support article from Apple.Add 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