The move reportedly comes after US attorney general Pam Bondi reassured Apple and Google they would not be fined for hosting TikTok.

The social media company is attracting investor interest because of Elon Musks close ties to President Trump and a recent jump in revenue.

New renders of an iPhone 17 Pro Max with a massive camera bar are going around, and not only are they an incredible departure from Apple design, they're from unreliable sources.A render of the iPhone 17Apple is out of space for its camera system, so a camera bar that reaches across the back of the device may help provide more needed space. The idea of a camera bar isn't new, as Google Pixel employs one, and there's no way of knowing if Apple will actually implement one.That said, the current renders show an impractically large camera bar that is just an extended version of the camera bump. The latest hail from Jon Prosser and his current render artist Asher Dipprey. Rumor Score: B#$&(*it Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Anticipation forKingdom Come: Deliverance 2had hit a fever pitch in the lead-up to its release, and thats being reflected in the games early sales. Publisher Deep Silver announced that the open world action RPG had sold 1 million units on its first day upon launch last week. Since then, it has maintained solid momentum, and is nearing another milestone.Speaking during Deep Silver parent company Embracer Groups recent quarterly earnings briefing, CEO Lars Wingefors revealed thatKingdom Come: Deliverance 2is close to hitting 2 million units sold.We are excited to share that Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, the medieval role playing game released just over a week ago, has been initially successful, not only in terms of player and critic reception, but also in terms of performance, he said. This reflects the dedication and hard work of our development studio, Warhorse Studios, and our publisher, Deep Silver. The game sold over 1 million copies in the first 24 hours, and is fast approaching 2 million, with an especially strong performance on Steam with over 250,000 peak concurrent players. It is our strong belief that the game will continue to generate substantial revenues over the coming years, highlighting the exceptional quality, immersion and appeal of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2.Wingefors also briefly touched on the planned post-launch roadmap for the open world RPG, which is presumably going to help it continue selling at pace.Warhorse Studios has a robust roadmap, including updates and new content over the next 12 months, ensuring an engaging and continuously evolving experience for the community, he said.In our review of the game, we awarded it a score of 9/10, saying, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is a polished open-world RPG that outdoes its AAA competition at every turn. Some of the realism can bog down the gameplay, but the intricate dialogue choices and perk tree compel me to forgive some of the returning irritants. And the story, just wow. I cant say enough great things about the characterizations, dialogue, story twists, activities, and cinematography packed into KCD2s main quest; its simply the best in the genre. Read the full review through here.Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Check out an accolades trailer through here for more on what has endeared it to the masses.

Resident Evil is in fine form. In fact, it might be in the best shape of its life. For close to a decade, the franchise has had next to no missteps, instead having enjoyed a steady stream of games that have not only enjoyed widespread critical acclaim (often to a degree that most games can only ever hope for), but also commercial success to match, with the survival horror series consistently ranking as one of Capcoms biggest moneymakers year on year (alongside theMonster Hunterseries). And yet, even thoughResident Evilis clearly enjoying a golden era unlike any other, it cant escape one incontrovertible fact- it remains a complete and total multiplayer dud.That statement doesnt come without any caveats whatsoever, obviously, becauseResident Evilhas hadsomesuccess with its multiplayer attempts in the past. Pretty much all of those successes have, however, come through co-op offerings, while some of the series biggest and most disastrous failures have taken the form of PvP offerings. Most recently, we got that in the form ofResident Evil Re:Verse.After multiple delays and thoroughly underwhelming showings, the multiplayer third-person shooter finally released in 2022, and was instantly met with near-universal criticism. It was a hastily cobbled together mess that failed to capture anything that anyone actually liked aboutResident Evil,instead cynically and haphazardly throwing things together purely in the name of potential (and blatantly aggressive) monetization.Unsurprisingly,Resident Evil Re:Versefailed. In fact, there never really was any doubt that itwouldfail. Even back when it released, it released with little to no fanfare, and next to no hype or actual anticipation. When it launched, its player numbers were never anything to write home about (which is putting it mildly), and right from day one, there was nothing to suggest that the game was going to receive any kind of meaningful post-launch support- much less anything that could bring about a reversal of fortune for the ailing multiplayer shooter in any way, shape, or form. So when Capcom recently announced thatResident Evil Re:Versesdusty, rarely used servers were going to be fully shut down this June, there was virtually no one who was surprised (and definitely no one who was sad to see the game go).And yet, this is only the latest in a long list of multiplayer failures for Capcoms premier survival horror franchise. Just asRe:Verselaunched as an addendum toResident Evil Village,before it, Capcom released another PvPResident Evilgame,Resident Evil Resistance, to go along with 2020sResident Evil 3remake. And to be fair,Resistancesasynchronous multiplayer gameplay was at least conceptually better- though ultimately it, too, was way too rough of a product to be anything more than a passing distraction at best, and a downright broken game at worst.BeforeResistance,meanwhile, we got Umbrella Corps, which may very well have been an all time low for the series. Releasing back in 2016, it came out before the franchise had found its form again, which means tolerance for badResident Evilgames among the community was already at its absolute lowest- and yet, hadUmbrella Corpscome out even under much better circumstances, you cant imagine it would have been much better received. Its one of the worst reviewedResident Evilgames ever released, and as those unfortunate few who have played it will tell you, it deserved every last bit of that criticism. It was poorly designed, it was not at all fun to play, and it was, above all else, a transparent attempt to cash in on other similar multiplayer first-person shooters, to the extent that you couldnt help but be that much more annoyed by Capcoms cynical decision to call it aResident Evilproduct.All of which is to say,Resident Evilcant seem to stop tripping over itself where PvP multiplayer games are concerned. The closest the series has come to being halfway decent in this arena was on a conceptual level withResident Evil Resistance,and even thats a game that ultimately failed to do justice to its admittedly intriguing ideas. That should tell you something about how horrible the series track record with this type of game has been. When it comes to multiplayer,Resident Evilneeds to stop chasing after PvP trends and start focusing on the things that it is good at.Because, as I touched on earlier, the franchisehashad some success with a few of its multiplayer outings over the years. Essentially, anytime it has found any real degree of success on that front, it has been with co-op experience. The co-op campaigns found in the likes ofResident Evil 5andRevelations 2are standout experiences in their own right, even if theyre a far cry from the traditional single-playerREcampaign that one usually associates with the series. Hell, evenResident Evil 6can be plenty of fun when played co-op.And then you have theOutbreakgames. Releasing in 2003 and 2004, theOutbreakduology has gathered a sizeable (and dedicated) fan following over the years, and its easy to see why. Combining classic fixed cameras survival horror design with engaging and smartly balanced co-op gameplay, OutbreakandOutbreak: File 2set a blueprint for how to make a multiplayerResident Evilgame that hardcore series fans will actually show up for. And yet, frustratingly enough, thats a blueprint that Capcom refuses to follow.The return ofResident Evil Outbreakis something many series fans have begged to see for years at this point, but frustratingly, it doesnt look like Capcom has any intention of relenting. Whats particularly maddening is the fact that such a game could easily be designed around a viable live service model that players would actually like to engage with (if done well enough, of course). Capcom could keep adding to a hypothetical co-op game by bringing in locations, characters, and enemies from otherResident Eviltitles with regular updates, ensuring a steady stream of content that, presumably, would be comparatively easier to pump out with the series combined pipelines.Whether or not that will ever actually happen is anyones guess, but at the very least, wedoat least hope to see Capcom stop wasting its resources and our time with poorly thought out, hastily duct-taped together, aggressively monetized PvP multiplayerResident Evilgames. The sooner the company does that, the sooner itll be able to begin diverting those resources on better, more interesting projects. Obviously, the series is delivering plenty of those in the grand scheme of things with its single-player experiences, many of which are surely in the works even as we speak. But hopefully, on the multiplayer front, the famed survival horror series will soon develop the sense to stop chasing after ideas that consistently fail, and maybe instead try and pursue those that series fans have proven time and time again theyre actually interested in.Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Test-Time Scaling (TTS) is a crucial technique for enhancing the performance of LLMs by leveraging additional computational resources during inference. Despite its potential, there has been little systematic analysis of how policy models, Process Reward Models (PRMs), and problem complexity influence TTS, limiting its practical application. TTS can be categorized into Internal TTS, which encourages step-by-step reasoning through extended Chain-of-Thought (CoT) processes, and External TTS, which enhances performance using sampling or search-based methods with fixed models. The key challenge in External TTS lies in optimizing computational allocation for different tasks. Current methods employ PRMs to guide answer selection and scale test-time computation efficiently. However, a comprehensive evaluation of how factors impact TTS strategies remains unexplored, restricting the communitys understanding of optimal computation scaling for LLMs.Prior research has explored multiple strategies to enhance LLM performance, including majority voting, search-based approaches, and self-refinement techniques. Test-time methods such as CoT prompting, self-verification, and external tool integration have proven effective in improving reasoning without modifying model parameters. PRMs, which outperform Output Reward Models (ORMs), significantly refine LLM-generated outputs. Recent advancements in PRMs focus on efficient data collection methods, implicit rewards, and advanced ranking techniques to improve mathematical reasoning. Tools like ProcessBench and PRMBench have been developed to facilitate benchmarking and evaluate PRM effectiveness. The evolution of PRMs and TTS strategies underscores the need for systematic research to optimize inference-time computation and enhance LLM capabilities across diverse tasks.Researchers from Shanghai AI Laboratory, Tsinghua University, Harbin Institute of Technology, and BUPT investigate the impact of policy models, PRMs, and problem complexity on TTS through extensive experiments on MATH-500 and AIME24 tasks. Their findings show that compute-optimal TTS strategies depend on these factors, allowing smaller models (e.g., 1B, 3B, 7B) to outperform larger ones (e.g., 405B, GPT-4o, DeepSeek-R1) with greater efficiency. The study emphasizes the importance of reward-aware TTS for optimal scaling, demonstrating that strategic test-time computation significantly enhances LLM reasoning abilities across different architectures and task complexities.Compute-optimal TTS optimally distributes computational resources for each problem. Prior approaches rely on PRMs as verifiers, either trained on the same policy model (on-policy) or a different one (offline). On-policy PRMs yield more accurate rewards, while offline PRMs face out-of-distribution challenges. Given the high cost of training PRMs per model, a general approach is needed. Experiments show that rewards significantly influence TTS performance. Thus, a reward-aware strategy is proposed, integrating rewards into compute allocation. Additionally, problem difficulty is better assessed using absolute thresholds rather than quantiles for more effective scaling strategies.The study examines the effectiveness of Compute-Optimal TTS in enhancing the performance of small policy models compared to larger ones. Experiments assess whether TTS allows smaller models to outperform larger ones, improve upon CoT and majority voting, and surpass long-CoT methods. Findings reveal that small models using compute-optimal TTS can outperform significantly larger models on MATH-500 and AIME24 tasks. TTS improves efficiency by up to 256 compared to majority voting and boosts reasoning by 154.6% over CoT. Moreover, TTS outperforms several long-CoT-based methods, demonstrating its effectiveness in enhancing LLM reasoning capabilities.In conclusion, the study examines compute-optimal TTS across various policy models, PRMs, and task complexities. Findings highlight that smaller models can surpass larger ones using optimized TTS, with a 1B model outperforming a 405B model. A 7B PRM also effectively supervises a 72B policy model, emphasizing a shift towards weak-to-strong supervision. Future work should focus on improving supervision methods for enhanced reasoning. While results are based on mathematical tasks, expanding TTS to coding and chemistry remains unexplored. These insights underscore TTSs potential to refine LLM efficiency and adaptability across diverse challenges.Check outthePaper and Project Page.All credit for this research goes to the researchers of this project. Also,feel free to follow us onTwitterand dont forget to join our75k+ ML SubReddit. Sana HassanSana Hassan, a consulting intern at Marktechpost and dual-degree student at IIT Madras, is passionate about applying technology and AI to address real-world challenges. With a keen interest in solving practical problems, he brings a fresh perspective to the intersection of AI and real-life solutions.Sana Hassanhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sana-hassan/Meet OpenThinker-32B: A State-of-the-Art Open-Data Reasoning ModelSana Hassanhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sana-hassan/Stanford Researchers Introduce SIRIUS: A Self-Improving Reasoning-Driven Optimization Framework for Multi-Agent SystemsSana Hassanhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sana-hassan/Frame-Dependent Agency: Implications for Reinforcement Learning and IntelligenceSana Hassanhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sana-hassan/Advancing Scalable Text-to-Speech Synthesis: Llasas Transformer-Based Framework for Improved Speech Quality and Emotional Expressiveness [Recommended] Join Our Telegram Channel

This review contains spoilers for Invincible season 3, episode 4, "You Were My Hero"After a propulsive three-part premiere, Invincibles third season takes a small step back with You Were My Hero. Its far from a bad episode, but its shackled by some of the series most irksome tendencies: its occasional inability to balance its dueling narratives, and its tongue-in-cheek approach to intimacy. By the time Nolan (nice to see you again, Omni-Man) drops a bombshell about the coming Viltrumite invasion, the plot has moved forward but it comes at the expense of some emotional resonance. You Were My Hero is divided into three distinct parts. While the third plays like an entirely different episode more on that in a moment the first leads neatly into the second. Rex and Rays grocery run allows them to reflect on their early adulthood, before a villainous interruption yanks us back to Guardians HQ, where Mark/Invincible is investigating the explosive drone that nearly killed his family. We know this to be the work of Angstrom Levy, but the paranoid hero still suspects Cecil and the GDA. So, he acts rashly and violently in response a shot of him floating recalls his godlike father and he attacks the GDA at the Pentagon before flying off for his second date with Eve. Or rather, its his second first date since the last one was interrupted when duty called, though he doesnt have much better luck this time.It all feels a little rushed. Mark is whisked away to an apocalyptic future by a returning Dropkick and Fight Master, who beg him to deal with their despot king, whos quickly revealed to be a future Immortal. However, it turns out Immortal was placed in charge by none other than a future version of Mark, recalling last seasons alternate version of Invincible, who stood alongside Nolan and went full fascist dictator.This confrontation ends up slightly limp, even if it recalls the way Nolan nearly killed the immortal in the series premiere. Mark and Immortal dont have much of a relationship in the shows main timeline, so being forced to dispense with the elderly hero doesnt tug at the heart strings. It does, however, lead to the beginnings of an existential tailspin when he returns to the present and asks Eve if she believes hes a good person. But You Were My Hero doesnt let that sink in, either, quickly switching into date-montage mode instead. Even if Mark can stifle his crisis through his romance with Eve,its not something were allowed to see or feel especially since the show brings back the juvenile running joke of cutting away from a sex scene. (Some awkward narration hangs a lantern on the gag, but that doesnt make it any better.) Invincible is so brazen with its violence, but it cant muster the same boldness with anything sexual. Every IGN Invincible ReviewThis leads to a second half set entirely in space, where we finally get more Nolan this season. You Were My Hero pulls the trigger on Allen the Alien helping the reformed Viltrumite escape (with some surprise help from Battle Beast), though this extended action sequence is, once again, buoyed by excessive, verging on numbing, bloodshed. The shows previous episode used its gore to highlight some major impending conundrums for Mark and his younger brother, Oliver/Kid Omni-Man, whos taken to murdering his opponents, which factors into Marks Immortal dilemma this week. Unfortunately, Marks claim that he doesnt kill people slams into another scene where the violent excess lacks meaning, and thats a little deflating. (The image of Nolan and Allen punching the head of Viltrumite guard into pulp at the same time is cool as hell, though.) The tag on which the episode ends is a fun one, with Nolan revealing that his kingdoms obsession with blood quantum is because pure blooded Viltrumites are stronger, while those with mixed lineage are easier to defeat. And, with only 50 or so pure Vultrumites left, that gives them a fighting chance especially with Nolan finally on board, and finally on his way to accepting Allen as his friend.

As reported earlier today, Apple has officially partnered with Alibaba to enable Apple Intelligence for iPhone users in China. The country has strict regulatory requirements on artificial intelligence, which has led Apple to partner with Chinese companies for AI processing. Now a new report from Bloomberg details how Apple Intelligence will work in China.Apple Intelligence in ChinaIn China, local legislation requires data to be processed on Chinese serversinstead of being sent to third-party servers in other countries.Prior to todays confirmation, there were rumors about Apple negotiating with Alibaba and Baidu to power Apple Intelligence features in China. According to Mark Gurman, Apple has teamed up with both companies, which will help Apple enable different parts of Apple Intelligence for Chinese users.The partnership with Alibaba aims to create an on-device system that will analyze and modify Apples AI models for iOS and macOS. This system will filter and censor the AI output to ensure that it complies with the Chinese governments requirements. Sources say that the Chinese government will be able to request changes to AI models through Alibaba when it needs to change the information delivered to users.Apple devices will be able to detect when theyre running an outdated AI model and will automatically disable Apple Intelligence until new models are downloaded. This process will happen automatically in the background without users noticing.Baidu, on the other hand, will power features such as Visual Intelligence which currently relies on Google and OpenAI. Presumably it will also replace the ChatGPT integration in Siri.Some more complex Apple Intelligence requests are processed online in what Apple calls a Private Cloud Compute. In China, Apple may process these requests on servers operated by state affiliate GCBD, the company that already operates iCloud for Chinese users.Apple has already confirmed thatit will expand Apple Intelligence support to more languagesfor the first time with iOS 18.4. Among the new languages supported will be Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, and Vietnamese. Even so, the report says that Apple may wait until May to enable Apple Intelligence for users in China.Its worth noting that this censorship system will only apply to devices sold in China. iPhones, iPads, and Macs from other countries wont use the local AI system, even when brought into China.The first beta of iOS 18.4 is expected to be released to developers next week.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 today launches its next original film, The Gorge, streaming now exclusively on Apple TV+.The Gorge stars Anya-Taylor Joy and Miles Teller as operatives tasked with guarding a vast chasm, protecting the world from the evil within. The pair communicate via message boards and strike up a bond. As this film is debuting on Valentines Day, it is probably not a spoiler to suggest there is a romantic relationship underpinning this action film. Over the course of the film, the couples relationship strengthens and they enter the gorge themselves to control the secrets it contains. Alongside Taylor-Joy and Teller, the cast also headlines Sigourney Weaver. The film hails from director Scott Derrickson. The title has landed on Apple partly as a result of their studio partnership with Skydance.How to watch The GorgeYou can watch The Gorge exclusively with an Apple TV+ subscription. You can get a seven day free trial for new accounts. Apple TV+ is normally priced at $9.99 per month, and can be shared with up to six people through Family Sharing. You can also get TV+ as part of the Apple One bundle.Watch using the Apple TV app on a plethora of devices and platforms, including the just released app for Android phones and tablets. You can also watch in a web browser at tv.apple.com, or sign up to the channel through the Amazon Prime Video app. Also on Apple TV+The Gorge is the big new release on the service this week. However, Apple is bringing new content to TV+ all the time. Also streaming today on Apple TV+ is Goldie, a new kids animated series. Theres also new episodes of Severance, Mythic Quest, Love You to Death, and Prime Target to check out. Later in the month sees the return of drama Surface, the premiere of MLS soccer documentary Onside, and new German-language series Berlin ER.Apple TV+ shows and movies: Everything to watch on Apple TV PlusAdd 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

The following post contains SPOILERS for Captain America: Brave New World. If you are not brave about spoilers, stop reading now.Once upon a time, the Marvel Cinematic Universe ticked along like clockwork. Characters were teased,teams were introduced, and storylines were paid off in grand fashion.For a Marvel fan, thosedays are starting to feel likea long time ago.The films of Phase 5 of the MCU have been marked by scheduling delays, reshoots, and several notable firings and hirings. Some of these issues, like the Hollywood labor strikes of 2023, were out of Marvels control. Still, audiences dont want excuses when they pay $15 or $20 for a ticket; they want a satisfying, coherent movie. And those have been in short supply from Marvel in recent years. For everyDeadpool & Wolverine (which wasnt exactly The Avengersto begin with) theres been anEternals or The Marvels or now aCaptain America: Brave New World.Marvels latest effort has a few things going for it, namely a very winning performance from Anthony Mackie as the new Captain America, along with a few decent action scenes. The story and the script, on the other hand, area total mess of rambling subplots, bizarrevillain plans, and confusing cameos. Below, youll find11 of the most distracting and frustrating examples.(The 12th would be Why did Marvelmake the Red Hulk the focal point of every teaser, trailer, and poster for the movie if Brave New Worldwas going to treat it like a shocking twist? but thats not a mystery we can adequately solve.)Captain America: Brave New World Plot Details That Make No SenseThese Captain America plot holes are going to bug us. But maybe you can explain them to us.READ MORE: What One Man Learned Reading Every Marvel Comic Ever WrittenGet our free mobile appThe Best Marvel Movies Not Made By Marvel Studios