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  • Trump’s January 6th Twitter lawsuit settled for ‘about $10 million’
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    Elon Musks X has agreed to pay President Donald Trump about $10 million to settle his lawsuit against Twitter, reports The Wall Street Journal. The settlement would come on top of an estimated $250 million that Musk, who now seemingly has broad authority over government agencies as the head of DOGE, put toward helping Trump get elected last year.Trump sued Twitter, Facebook, and Google over his account suspensions following the January 6th, 2021, riot at the US Capitol, and a judge dismissed this lawsuit in 2022, rejecting arguments that the company was a state actor or that Section 230 is unconstitutional.While Trumps case against Google is still pending, Meta decided to settle with Trump for $25 million late last month.Before that, ABC News agreed to settle Trumps defamation lawsuit for $15 million. And last month, the Journal reported Paramount Global was considering caving on Trumps $10 billion lawsuit over the editing of a Kamala Harris 60 Minutes interview.
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  • You can now get one of Apples best Macs for just over $500
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    Apple has just added its redesigned Mac Mini to the Certified Refurbished store and is knocking as much as $210 off some base models. To begin with, you can get the M4 (non-Pro) base model with 16GB of RAM for just $509, a $90 discount from the $599 retail price of the brand-new one. That price sweetens the deal for what we already consider to be Apples best value Mac today.According to Apple, the products in its Certified Refurbished store are put through the same factory process as its new products. They come with full warranties and are eligible for AppleCare protection. The only noticeable difference is that refurbished units generally come in less fancy packaging.The $210 discount is available on the base Mac Mini M4 Pro (24GB RAM, 512GB SSD), which usually goes for $1,399 new but can be had for just $1,189 refurbished. If you decide to get a higher-end configuration, you could land more savings for example, the maxed-out Mac Mini M4 Pro (14-core CPU and 20-core GPU, 64GB RAM, 8TB SSD, 10 Gigabit Ethernet) comes with a $710 discount, going from $4,699 to $3,989.
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  • Returnal studio Housemarque is back with a haunting new shooter
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    Housemarque, the PlayStation-owned studio that made the excellent sci-fi roguelike Returnal, has just announced its next game: Saros. The game will launch on PS5 in 2026.Heres a brief description of the game from its reveal trailer:Set on the planet Carcosa under the threat of an ominous eclipse, take on the role of Arjun Devraj, a powerful Soltari Enforcer searching for answers on a lost off-world colony.SAROS features permanent progression systems, where every death reshapes the world while offering new upgrades to overcome challenges. With a haunting story, deep third-person action, and a grounded performance by Rahul Kohli, SAROS presents the next evolution in Housemarques gameplay-first experience.In a blog post, Housemarques Gregory Louden provided a tad more detail:A key gameplay distinction between Saros and Returnal is permanent resources and progression making every death valuable. After every death you will face a changed world, but in Saros you will be able to choose and permanently upgrade your loadout from an evolving set of weapons and suit upgrades to come back stronger to overcome the challenges you face on Carcosa.Im personally very much looking forward Saros; Returnal is one of my favorite games ever, and I look forward to seeing what Housemarque brings to its next title.
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  • PS5 State of Play February 2025: the best trailers and biggest reveals
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    Sony is starting out 2025 by sharing exactly what it has in store for the PlayStation 5 this year. The company will be streaming a 40-minute State of Play event on February 12th, which is aimed at showcasing upcoming PS5 titles, so you can expect a mix of new reveals and closer looks at previously announced games. That likely means names like Ghost of Ytei, Monster Hunter Wilds, and Assassins Creed Shadows along with the odd surprise like, just maybe, the long-awaited Bloodborne remaster.Whatever Sony does decide to show, you can keep up with everything right here.
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  • Elizabeth Holmes sentenced to 11 years in prison for her Theranos fraud
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    Elizabeth Holmes, the founder and CEO of disgraced blood-testing company Theranos, has been found guilty on three counts of wire fraud, as well as a count of conspiracy to commit fraud along with her co-founder Sunny Balwani.On November 18th, 2022, she was sentenced to 135 months, or about 11 and a half years, in prison for defrauding 10 victims out of $121 million. She is appealing the ruling. However, a judge has determined that she and Balwani owe the victims of their fraud $452 million.On May 30th, Holmes reported to prison to begin serving her sentence.Theranos was once valued as high as $9 billion, and Holmes was a darling of Silicon Valley, sporting black turtlenecks that prompted comparisons to Steve Jobs.That changed after John Carreyrous expos was published in The Wall Street Journal. In that article, Carreyrou wrote that Theranos was using its own device for only a handful of tests and that other employees were concerned that the device wasnt accurate.Then it came out that Theranos labs werent up to par, and its partnerships with Safeway and Walgreens fell apart. Also, Theranos junked two years worth of test results. Eventually, Holmes was banned from operating labs, and Theranos dissolved in 2018.Jul 11, 2023Thomas RickerElizabeth Holmes prison sentence reduced by two years.The disgraced Theranos founder and CEO has had her prison sentence reduced from 11 years and 3 months to 9 years and 7 months. No reason has been given, but could be on account of behavioral considerations like following orders and completing rehabilitation courses.Nevertheless, as The Guardian notes:People convicted of federal offenses must serve 85 percent of their mandated sentence, even if they get time shaved off for good conduct.Her new release date is now 29 December, 2032. Image: Website of the Bureau of PrisonsMay 30, 2023Richard LawlerTheranos co-founder Elizabeth Holmes has reported to prison.Elizabeth Holmes will begin serving her 11-year federal prison sentence for defrauding investors in her blood testing company. She is still appealing her conviction.John Carreyrou, whose Wall Street Journal article seemed to initiate her undoing, tweeted the video of her walking in with the caption Bad Blood, the final final chapter.May 17, 2023Richard LawlerTheranos founder Elizabeth Holmes must report to prison on May 30th.US District Court Judge Edward Davila has denied Holmes request to stay out of prison while she appeals her fraud conviction and 11 year sentence, saying she must report to prison by 2PM ET on May 30th, 2023.Separately, a ruling on Monday set the restitution owed by Holmes and former Theranos CEO Ramesh Sunny Balwani at $452 million. Despite the years and the dollars, however, as Elizabeth Lopatto wrote last year: Elizabeth Holmes verdict wont change Silicon Valley.The victims owed restitution by Holmes and Balwani. Image: US District CourtApr 11, 2023Richard LawlerJudge denies Elizabeth Holmes latest attempt to stay out of jail.Judge Edward Davila denied the Theranos founders request to go free while appealing her fraud conviction(s), according to a report by NPR.Holmes 11-year sentence is scheduled to begin on April 27th. However, as Yahoo Finance points out, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco could decide that she can remain free on bail for now.Image: US District Court, San JoseJan 10, 2023Richard LawlerThe judge who sentenced Elizabeth Holmes explains the reasoning behind his decision.In November, Judge Edward Davila sentenced Theranos co-founder Elizabeth Holmes to 135 months, or just over 11 years, in prison for defrauding investors.NPR reporter Bobby Allyn points out that hes issued his full order explaining the decision (PDF), noting that Holmes was sentenced based on only about 10 percent of the money Theranos actually raised.@BobbyAllyn[Twitter]Dec 7, 2022Mitchell ClarkFormer Theranos executive Sunny Balwani is sentenced to almost 13 years in prisonPhoto: Getty ImagesRamesh Balwani has been sentenced to 155 months, or just under 13 years, in prison, according to The New York Times. Like his former business partner, Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, hes due another three years of supervised release after he gets out. Balwani will have to surrender to custody on March 15th.In July, Balwani, also known as Sunny, was convicted on 10 counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for his actions while he was president and COO of Theranos. Unlike Holmes, who was found guilty of only defrauding investors, Balwani was found guilty of deceiving both investors and patients.Read Article >Nov 18, 2022Mitchell ClarkElizabeth Holmes has been sentenced to over 11 years in prisonIllustration by Laura Normand / The VergeElizabeth Holmes has been sentenced to 135 months, or just over 11 years, in prison, according to journalist John Carreyrou. She will have to report to prison on April 27th, 2023, and will have an additional three years of supervised release once shes out, according to Yahoo Finances Alexis Keenan.Judge Edward Davila, who has overseen the case, declared that the charges she had been found guilty of made her responsible for defrauding 10 victims out of $121 million, according to The New York Times Erin Griffith. Davila said that Holmes refusal to accept responsibility for the fraud counted against her in his sentencing decision, according to The Wall Street Journal.Read Article >Nov 8, 2022Richard LawlerElizabeth Holmess bid for a retrial has been denied.As reported by the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, the Theranos co-founders sentencing is now scheduled for November 18th.Holmes was found guilty on three counts of wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit fraud. Each count carries a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison.Elizabeth Holmes found guilty of defrauding investorsNicole Wetsman and Elizabeth LopattoJan 4Jan 7, 2022Mariya AbdulkafIs Elizabeth Holmes guilty verdict a wake-up call for startups?After a long trial, former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes has been found guilty of four out of the 11 charges brought against her, including three counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud investors in her now-defunct blood testing company. The verdict caps a journey filled with both promises and disappointments, one that ultimately led to the downfall of what could have been one of the most successful companies, and entrepreneurs, to come out of Silicon Valley in over a decade.While the verdict is a milestone in holding startup founders accountable for false promises, it actually further complicates the difference between fraud and the fake it til you make it mindset of many startups. The Verges deputy editor Liz Lopatto breaks down the outcome of the trial and what to expect in the months to come. With Holmes business partner, Sunny Balwani, getting ready to stand trial later this month, the story is far from over.Read Article >Jan 5, 2022Elizabeth LopattoElizabeth Holmes verdict wont change Silicon ValleyThere is no doubt in my mind that former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes will appeal the four charges she was convicted of: conspiracy to defraud investors and wire fraud. She still has the Silicon Valley mindset, after all: reality can be bent to your will. But what have we learned from the Theranos trial? Almost nothing.Holmes was found guilty on four of 11 counts after about 50 hours of deliberation. Those counts could be grouped, roughly, into defrauding patients and defrauding investors. The jury found her not guilty of defrauding patients or conspiracy to defraud patients.Read Article >Jan 4, 2022Elizabeth Holmes found guilty of defrauding investorsElizabeth Holmes deliberately misled investors about the capabilities of the blood testing technology at Theranos and is guilty of three counts of wire fraud, a jury found today. She is also guilty of conspiracy to defraud investors with her co-defendant, Sunny Balwani.She faces up to 20 years in prison for each of the counts. The jury found her not guilty of two counts of defrauding patients and not guilty of conspiracy to defraud patients. The jury did not return a verdict on three more counts of defrauding investors.Read Article >Dec 18, 2021Nicole WetsmanThe story of Elizabeth Holmes now belongs to the juryPhoto by Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesFrom the beginning, Elizabeth Holmes knew how to tell a good story. She launched her blood testing company, Theranos, with a tale of a powerful vision to revolutionize health care and change an old, outdated industry. She presented herself as Steve Jobs, part two. She sketched out a picture of someone in control.That Holmes, and that story, is what prosecutor John Bostic worked to reset back to during his rebuttal argument, the last word before the case went to the jury on Friday afternoon. It wasnt reasonable to think the CEO of a company didnt know exactly what impression she was giving to investors, Bostic said. It was clear she knew about problems with the Theranos tests. Holmes knew that the technology wasnt working as intended, and that Theranos might not be able to change the world. When that story started to fall apart, she tried anything she could to try and keep it together.Read Article >Dec 17, 2021Nicole WetsmanThe Holmes trial is about moneyProsecutor Jeffrey Schenk opened his closing arguments in the case against Elizabeth Holmes by talking about a banker. Holmes knew Theranos, the company she founded, was running out of money, and she was on the phone asking her banker to clear a check early. Holmes had a choice to make, Schenk said. She could figure out a way to raise funds to keep the company moving, or risk seeing it wither away. And her choice, he said, was to raise the funds through fraud. Read Article >Dec 9, 2021Elizabeth LopattoElizabeth Holmes was always in controlIllustration by Joseph GoughControl and image are important to Elizabeth Holmes. They were important to the PR effort around Theranos when she was portrayed as the second coming of Steve Jobs. They were important when she delegated reprimands to maintain her friendly image. And they are important now as a jury is about to decide whether shes guilty of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.Since September, shes walked to the courthouse holding hands with someone usually her mother. I have watched Holmes sit bolt upright at the defense table as her lawyers slowly wilt. Shes dressed in business attire sheath dresses with structured blazers or skirt suits. Sensible kitten heels. A coterie of expensive blondes and men in fancy loafers have filled her side of the courtroom, especially as she has testified. (Occasionally, there is even a brunette.) Holmes is presenting an image of herself as a former CEO, surrounded by friends and family.Read Article >Dec 8, 2021Elizabeth LopattoElizabeth Holmes smiles on the stand as her trial nears an endPhoto by Vjeran Pavic / The VergeI expected more fireworks from a cross-examination of former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes. Instead, today was a disjointed day of questions without a clear narrative throughline. I dont know why the government chose to send an assassin who didnt know when to twist the knife.The defense presented a strong narrative on its direct examination. Holmes was a young CEO who believed in Theranos technology and had some very credentialed advisors who led her to believe it was real. There was real intellectual property. Holmes never sold her shares. And while she hadnt done anything wrong, she was also being abused by her boyfriend, Theranos president Sunny Balwani, and maybe that clouded her judgment. (Balwani is Holmes co-defendant, but he is being tried separately.)Read Article >Dec 1, 2021Elizabeth LopattoElizabeth Holmes admits that she was CEO of Theranos, the company she foundedGettyNo one was more invested in Theranos than CEO and founder Elizabeth Holmes, she testified today. She owned the most stock. She could even fire the entire board of directors and basically anyone else at the company.Is that fair? Prosecutor Robert Leach asked Holmes in his cross-examination. The buck stops with you?Read Article >Nov 30, 2021Elizabeth LopattoElizabeth Holmes says Theranos former president abused herGettyToday, Elizabeth Holmes cried on the stand as she recounted being raped at Stanford. It was part of the reason she dropped out of college, she testified. I decided I was going to build a life by building this company, she said on the witness stand today. When she started dating Sunny Balwani, her co-defendant who is being tried separately, he said I was safe now that I had met him.Then, she said, he abused and raped her. Read Article >Nov 24, 2021Elizabeth LopattoElizabeth Holmes admitted to a key part of the case against herPhoto by Ethan Swope/Getty ImagesWho added the Schering-Plough and Pfizer logos to the Theranos-produced lab reports that investors received? Why, none other than Elizabeth Holmes.This work was done in partnership with those companies and I was trying to convey that, she said on the stand today. She added the logos before sending the memos to Walgreens, which Theranos would later partner with. Holmes wasnt trying to fool anyone, she said. I wish Id done it differently.Read Article >Nov 22, 2021Elizabeth LopattoElizabeth Holmes tells the jury that at least some of Theranos was realPhoto by AMY OSBORNE/AFP via Getty ImagesSo far, Elizabeth Holmes defense has been at pains to show us that Theranos had a real device and worked with real pharmaceutical companies. That actually hasnt been in question, particularly in the time period the defense was asking about. Still, the point seems to be hey, look, some things at Theranos were real.But today, in her wire fraud trial, we saw a science-y presentation not actual science, just the marketing version. We saw the guts of Theranos devices. We heard about the company iterating on the device. We saw emails with pharma companies. Read Article >Nov 20, 2021Elizabeth LopattoIn her Theranos fraud case, Elizabeth Holmes is speaking for herselfPhoto by Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesElizabeth Holmes, her hair down and her makeup muted relative to her Theranos days, spelled her name for the court. After the prosecution rested its case in the morning, the defense called her as their third witness, about an hour before the end of the day. She wore a navy blazer with a white blouse not one of the famous black turtlenecks has made an appearance in court during the months the case against her has dragged on.Holmes is facing 11 counts of wire fraud from her time as founder and CEO of Theranos. Though her testimony today is the first time shes spoken for herself, weve heard her voice already in the recordings of Fortune journalist Roger Parloff. In those recordings, she lies confidently about her devices capabilities. And the lies Parloff recorded were consistent with the lies her investors testified that she told them.Read Article >Nov 15, 2021Elizabeth LopattoElizabeth Holmes will take your $1.2 million but not your phone callsJane Tyska/Digital First Media/The Mercury News via Getty ImagesLately I have been reflecting on Alan Eisenman, Theranos investor and human cowboy boot. Hes wealthy, the kind of character Matthew McConaughey will play in about 15 years; on the stand, his hair was almost as white as his shirt, which was unbuttoned at the top. (No tie, of course.) He seemed like someone that would be fun to drink a whiskey with, as long as he got to do all the talking.In court, his sense of grievance was palpable: this man feels he has been done wrong. I think there was business fraud, Eisenman said. I think I was lied to and taken advantage of.Read Article >Nov 10, 2021Elizabeth LopattoElizabeth Holmes hired a bunch of experts so she could ignore themHeres the thing about prostate-specific antigen: you do not expect to find it in blood test results for most women, because most women dont have prostates. So when Theranos former lab director, Kingshuk Das, found that Theranos devices kept reporting that women had detectable PSA levels, he assumed that meant there was something wrong with the devices.Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes had an alternative explanation, he said. It was that these women had a rare kind of breast cancer. That explanation seemed implausible, he testified today in US v. Elizabeth Holmes. Das was one of a parade of experts weve heard from in this trial, who it seems were hired primarily to be ignored.Read Article >Nov 3, 2021Elizabeth LopattoHappy Halloween! Theranos showed up in a Pfizer costumeGettyToday we learned more about Theranos kink for corporate cosplay. The company liked to dress up its own reports in pharmaceutical companies logos, to use the present tense when the future tense would be more appropriate, and to reiterate its favorite buzzwords in PowerPoint slide after PowerPoint slide.Elizabeth Holmes lawyers, in defending her against the wire fraud charges that the government has brought, resumed cross-examination of Lisa Peterson, who worked for the DeVos family offices and was involved in approving their investment in the company. (Family offices are a rich people thing an investment arm for all that sweet, sweet money.) The defense tried to discredit Petersons testimony from last week about a key Pfizer memo, which she said was crucial to thinking the company was onto something big.Read Article >Oct 27, 2021Nicole WetsmanTheranos FOMO kept the DeVos family from doing its investment homeworkTheranos said a lot of things to Lisa Peterson that made the company seem credible when she evaluated it on behalf of the crazy-wealthy DeVos family. One of the things that stood out as a reason to trust Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes? Its devices didnt need FDA approval. That made it seem more credible that the machines worked, said Peterson, who works on investments for the DeVos clan (including former secretary of education Betsy DeVos), and who testified today during US v. Elizabeth Holmes.Read Article >Oct 1, 2021Elizabeth LopattoDelaying Elizabeth Holmes Theranos fraud trial is paying off for the defenseGetty ImagesHuman memory is fallible. Thats why defense lawyers like to age their cases and why prosecutors were so frustrated with the multiple delays in trying Elizabeth Holmes for her role at the failed blood-testing company Theranos. Given enough time, people forget things. That can open the door for reasonable doubt. Several times on Friday, his fourth day of testimony, former Theranos lab director Adam Rosendorff was asked about details in meetings and didnt remember them. But Lance Wade, defense attorney for Elizabeth Holmes, was able to produce minutes from a meeting, a Powerpoint presentation, and old emails that made Rosendorff look less reliable.Read Article >More Stories
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  • OpenAI lays out plans for GPT-5
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    OpenAI CEO Sam Altman detailed plans for the companys GPT-4.5 and GPT-5 AI models in a roadmap published on X on Wednesday.In the post, Altman also acknowledged that OpenAIs product lineup has gotten complicated and says that the company wants to do a much better job simplifying its offerings. We hate the model picker as much as you do and want to return to magic unified intelligence, Altman says.The company plans to ship GPT-4.5, which he says was called Orion internally, will be OpenAIs last non-chain-of-thought model. The Verge reported on some details about Orion last year.OPENAI ROADMAP UPDATE FOR GPT-4.5 and GPT-5:We want to do a better job of sharing our intended roadmap, and a much better job simplifying our product offerings.We want AI to just work for you; we realize how complicated our model and product offerings have gotten.We hate Sam Altman (@sama) February 12, 2025Following GPT 4.5, a top goal for us is to unify o-series models and GPT-series models by creating systems that can use all our tools, know when to think for a long time or not, and generally be useful for a very wide range of tasks, Altman says.With both ChatGPT and OpenAIs API, the company plans to release GPT-5 as a system that integrates a lot of our technology, including o3, Altman says, adding that we will no longer ship o3 as a standalone model. OpenAI first teased o3 in December and launched o3-mini in January.When GPT-5 is available, Altman says that free ChatGPT users will get unlimited chat access at the standard intelligence setting. Plus subscribers will be able to use GPT-5 at a higher level of intelligence and Pro subscribers getting an even higher level of intelligence.Altman didnt say exactly when GPT-4.5 and GPT-5 might be released, but he did give a vague estimate of weeks / months.This week, Elon Musk offered to buy OpenAIs nonprofit arm for $97.4 billion, but OpenAIs board of directors plans to reject the bid.
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  • New trailer for The Handmaids Tales final season teases the war to come
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    Though the hype around Hulus adaptation of The Handmaids Tale gradually faded as time went on, the shows final season looks like its going to be a sobering and timely reminder of what made Margaret Atwoods story so powerful in the first place.Though June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss) seemed ready to put Gilead behind her in The Handmaids Tales season 5 finale, a new trailer for the shows sixth season finds her back in the belly of the beast quietly rallying other women to strike back at their Christofascist oppressors. While Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd) and Serena Joy Waterford (Yvonne Strahovski) dont seem to know exactly how June plans to destroy everything theyve built, they can feel that theres a new subversive energy coursing through Gileads population of subjugated handmaids.That doesnt appear to be an immediate concern for Commander Joseph Lawrence (Bradley Whitford) as he achieves a new level of power within Gilead. But the trailers shots of handmaids arming themselves with switchblades makes it seem like theyre way past ready to burn everything down if thats what it takes to be free. When The Handmaids Tale first premiered in 2017, it seemed so dystopian that it was easy for some to dismiss it as pure speculative fiction. But given the ongoing push to further limit womens access to reproductive healthcare in the US, the show is probably going to feel that like even more of a plausible vision of the future when it returns on April 8th.
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  • The Titans implosion: the latest news on the Titanic wreckage tourist sub
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    On June 18th, 2023, a small sub called the Titan was lost about an hour and forty-five minutes into its voyage carrying five people on a tourist visit to the wreckage of the Titanic. After days of searching in the North Atlantic, the Coast Guard confirmed it found debris showing the sub suffered a catastrophic implosion.The US Coast Guard had been searching beneath the ocean floor with remotely-operated vehicles (ROVs) while sonar from planes overhead, buoys on the surface, and expedition ships pinged the bottom of the ocean looking for signs of the sub.However, on June 22nd, the Coast Guard reported an ROV found debris from the Titan about 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic. This led search crews to believe that the sub imploded shortly after its departure, killing all five passengers.The sub carried 58-year-old British billionaire Hamish Harding, who flew on a Blue Origin suborbital flight in June 2022, Pakistani billionaire Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman Dawood, a 77-year-old French explorer named Paul-Henry Nargeolet, and the CEO of OceanGate, Stockton Rush, who was 61 years old.The Titan was a small, five-person submersible that is designed to reach depths of 4,000 meters for site survey and inspection, research and data collection, film and media production, and deep sea testing of hardware and software, according to its operator OceanGate.On the inside, it was little more than a tube with a single viewport, a small toilet, touchscreens for viewing sonar and controlling the sub, as well as a screen for viewing the external 8K cameras feed. The experimental vessel was also controlled by a Logitech game controller. Eight-day trips, including the submersible dive to the Titanic, cost a reported $250,000 per seat.HighlightsToday, An hour agoAndrew LiszewskiThe NOAA has released audio of the Titan subs implosion.Captured by one of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations passive acoustic recorders moored approximately 900 miles away, the audio clip includes sounds believed to be the acoustic signature of OceanGates Titan submarines implosion on June 18th, 2023The clip was released through the US Department of Defenses DVIDS website late last week and mostly features static briefly interrupted by a deep reverberating rumble of the submarines final moments.The audio is mostly static but includes a deep rumble suspected to be the sound of the Titan submarines implosion. Screenshot: DVIDSSep 20, 2024Andrew LiszewskiOceanGates ill-fated Titan sub relied on a hand-typed Excel spreadsheetImage: OceanGateA former OceanGate contractor, Antonella Wilby, testified before a US Coast Guard panel on Friday that the companys Titan submarine, which imploded last year during a dive to the Titanics wreckage, relied on an incredibly convoluted navigation system.As Wilby described it during the US Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation hearing, the Titans GPS-like ultra-short baseline (USBL) acoustic positioning system generated data on a subs velocity, depth, and position using sound pings.Read Article >Sep 17, 2024Justine CalmaNew image of Titan submersible wreck released by US Coast GuardU.S. Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation Chair Mr. Jason Neubauer speaks at a press conference ahead of the Titan submersible hearing in North Charleston, South Carolina, on September 15th. Photo: US Coast GuardAn eerie image of the sunken Titan submersible was made public this week by the US Coast Guard, which opened an investigation into the vessels demise.The submersible was attempting to ferry tourists to the wreckage of the Titanic when it vanished on June 18th of last year. After days of scouring the Atlantic, the Coast Guard determined that the Titan had suffered a catastrophic implosion. Read Article >May 27, 2024Richard LawlerOne year after OceanGates Titan implosion, rich people are still getting into makeshift deep-sea subs.The Wall Street Journal describes how the June 18th, 2023 disaster that killed five people on a trip to the Titanic hasnt entirely stalled the industry:As [Triton Submarines CEO Patrick Lahey] and his peers see it, OceanGates problems werent broader submersible problems. They say classed subs are considered exceptionally safe modes of transportation thanks to rigorous testing of designs and materials.In that sense, OceanGate didnt make the industry look bad, says McCallum. It made us look good.Sep 29, 2023Emma RothA movie about the failed Titan submersible is already in the worksImage: OceanGateIts only been months since the implosion of OceanGates Titan tourist submersible, but Hollywood producers are already working on a film based on the incident. MindRiot Entertainment will make the film, with E. Brian Dobbins (The Blackening, Black-ish) serving as co-producer, according to a report from Deadline.The movie will follow the events that took place before, during, and after the Titans implosion, Deadline reports. In June, the Titan submersible set off on a journey to tour the wreckage of the Titanic at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. After losing contact with the surface, the US Coast Guard found that the Titan experienced a catastrophic implosion on the way down, killing all five passengers on board, including the CEO of OceanGate, Stockton Rush.Read Article >Jul 6, 2023Richard LawlerThe company behind the doomed Titanic tourist submersible has suspended all exploration and commercial operations.Yeah, that seems like a logical next move for OceanGate after the Titan vessels implosion killed five people, including OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, as they traveled to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean to visit the remains of the Titanic (via CNN).The companys website still advertises $250,000 trips to the Titanic or hydrothermal vents in the Azores.OceanGates website as of July 6th, 2023. Image: OceanGateJun 28, 2023Emma RothCrews have begun recovering debris from the Titan submersible.Photos published by CBS give us our first look at what remains of the Titan as crews work to bring debris from the sub to land. The tourist sub imploded last week during a journey to the Titanics wreckage, killing all five people on board.Jun 26, 2023Richard LawlerMr. Beasts Titan sub blue bubble mystery solved.Over the weekend, YouTuber and burger entrepreneur Mr. Beast tweeted that he had been invited to take a ride on the doomed Titanic tour submersible. However, one weird thing about his tweet was that while it clearly showed a screen capture from iMessage, it was a text from the sender, not the receiver.He explained it later, saying it was a screenshot taken by the friend who originally invited him, who is probably also glad they didnt take that particular trip.Jun 25, 2023Wes DavisCBS published an extended look at the Titan submersible.CBS published a video today with more video from David Pogues November 2022 story about the Titan submersible, along with damning expert analysis of the flaws that likely led to the subs implosion.The video shows a stark contrast between that analysis and the apparent overconfidence of OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who frequently pushed back on criticism and calls to seek safety certification of the sub.Jun 25, 2023Wes DavisMrBeast says he was invited to join the disastrous June OceanGate Titan trip.YouTube creator MrBeast claimed in a tweet today that he was invited to join the Titan trip that disappeared on June 18th and was later determined to have imploded.Curiously, the included screenshot of the invitation shows what appears to be a blue iMessage bubble. (Sent iMessages show as blue on the senders phone, not the receivers).Update June 26, 8:25AM ET: He later tweeted that the screenshot was from the friend who invited him.Jun 24, 2023Wes DavisThe Titan submersibles hull was apparently made of expired carbon fiber.Travel Weekly EIC Arnie Weissman wrote a series of articles about a May trip he almost took aboard the OceanGate Titan (via Insider).He says OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush told him the subs hull used discounted Boeing carbon fiber that was past its shelf life for use in airplanes and claimed Boeing, NASA, and the University of Washington (UW) were involved in Titans design and testing.Boeing and UW have both denied involvement, and NASA says it only served in a consulting capacity, per Insider.Mission Titanic, Part 2: Delays and an unsettling statement from the OceanGate CEO[www.travelweekly.com]Jun 24, 2023Wes DavisText messages show OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush hard-selling Vegas billionaire Jay Bloom.The texts, which Bloom posted to Facebook, show Rush offering a cut-rate deal at just $150,000 per seat for a trip on the Titan. Bloom said he wasnt able to go because of a scheduling conflict, and the slots went to Shahzada Dawood and his son, Sulemon, who were on the sub when it imploded.In the texts, Bloom said his son was concerned about danger, but Rush waved him off:While theres obviously risk its way safer than flying in a helicopter or even scuba divind. There hasnt been even an injury in 35 years in a non-miltary sub.Jun 24, 2023Wes DavisA submarine expert tried to warn OceanGates CEO Stockton Rush his sub was flawed.In 2019, after taking a trip on the ill-fated OceanGate Titan, submersible expert Karl Stanley said he heard an increasingly loud cracking sound over the two-hour trip down, according to The New York Times. He tried to warn Rush:In the April 2019 email to Mr. Rush, Mr. Stanley said the loud cracking sounds that they had heard during their dive sounded like a flaw/defect in one area being acted on by the tremendous pressures and being crushed/damaged. He wrote that the loud, cracking noise signaled there was an area of the hull that is breaking down.Stanley said experts confronted Rush about the safety of his sub at a 2018 crewed submersible conference, but he was determined to build it anyway. Shortly after, over three dozen industry experts wrote Rush, urging him to put his sub through certification.Submersible Expert Raised Safety Concerns After 2019 Trip on Titan[The New York Times]Jun 23, 2023Richard LawlerJames Camerons perspective on the Titan implosion as a member of the submergence community.Director James Cameron has given another interview, had a lot to say to CNN about the Titan, including that theres an indication the sub dumped ballast and started to ascend before ever reaching the sea floor. He also apparently knew of the implosion sounds picked up by Navy listening devices as early as Monday.However, despite OceanGates claims that they could detect any problems in the carbon fiber-based hull using real-time (RTM) hull health monitoring, Cameron said that well-known issues with composite materials and the risks of progressive degradation made it the wrong choice for constructing a submersible.Jun 23, 2023Emma RothThe US Navy thinks it heard the Titans implosion.After the Titan lost contact with the surface, the WSJ reports that the US Navy conducted an analysis of acoustic data from a top-secret detection system.It later found what it believes was the sound of the Titans implosion near the Titanics wreckage on Sunday, but officials decided to continue the search and rescue mission to make every effort to save the lives on board.WSJ News Exclusive | U.S. Navy Heard What It Believed Was Titan Implosion Days Ago[WSJ]Jun 22, 2023Emma RothJames Cameron compares the Titan to the Titanic.The Titanic director, who visited the remains of the 1912 shipwreck several times, responded to the news of the Titan tourist subs catastrophic implosion during an interview with ABC News:A number of the top players in the deep submergence engineering community even wrote letters to the company [OceanGate], saying that what they were doing was too experimental to carry passengers and that needed to be certified.So Im struck by the similarity of the Titanic disaster itself. The captain was repeatedly warned about ice ahead of his ship, and yet he steamed at full speed into an ice field on a moonless night.Jun 22, 2023Emma RothTitan submersible suffered catastrophic implosionImage: OceanGate via TwitterThe Titan submersible, which disappeared after setting off to tour the wreckage of the Titanic on Sunday, experienced a catastrophic implosion, US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger announced during a press conference on Thursday afternoon.This morning, an ROV, or remote-operated vehicle from the vessel Horizon Arctic discovered the tail cone of the Titan submersible approximately 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic on the seafloor, Mauger stated. The ROV subsequently found additional debris. In consultation with experts from within the unified command, the debris is consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber.Read Article >Jun 22, 2023Emma RothA debris field has been found near the Titanic shipwreck.The Coast Guard will hold a press briefing at 3PM ET to discuss its findings from the debris field that a remote-operated vehicle (ROV) uncovered at the bottom of the ocean near the Titanic.The Titan tourist submersible began its journey toward the shipwreck on Sunday before losing contact with its support ship. The subs 96 hours supply of oxygen was expected to run out this morning.Jun 21, 2023Emma RothThe missing Titanic sub seems to be having an impact on this horror games sales.Iron Lung, an $5.99 indie game for the PC and Switch, puts you inside a compact submarine where you must navigate an eerie ocean of blood using only the grainy pictures taken from outside the vessel.The games developer, David Szymanski, saw sales spike on June 20th just a couple of days after OceanGates tourist submersible lost contact with the surface. The sub, which is controlled using a simple Logitech gamepad, was supposed to journey toward the Titanics shipwreck that lies about 13,000 feet at the bottom of the ocean.Submarine game spikes on Steam as search for OceanGate vessel continues[Polygon]Jun 21, 2023Wes DavisCrews searching for the Titan submersible heard a banging sound early Tuesday.A Canadian search aircraft with underwater detection capabilities picked up banging sounds coming from the depths around the HMS Titanic wreckage about every 30 minutes, per a US government memo obtained by CNN.Rolling Stone, who first reported it, said an email to the Department of Homeland Security from the research group Explorers Society read:It is being reported that at 2 a.m. local time on site that sonar detected potential tapping sounds at the location, implying crew may be alive and signaling.Knocking was heard 4 hours later when additional sonar was deployed.Searchers detected banging while scouring the Atlantic for a manned submersible now running out of oxygen | CNN[CNN]Jun 20, 2023Richard LawlerThe missing Titanic tour sub is steered with a simple Logitech gamepadOn Sunday morning, an OceanGate submarine vessel with five people aboard went missing in the Atlantic about an hour and forty-five minutes into a planned trip to explore the wreckage of the RMS Titanic. Made of carbon fiber and titanium, the vessel has enough air for 96 hours; however, as word of the emergency has spread, theres also shock at the wireless Logitech F710 gamepad used for steering.The Titan advertises state-of-the-art lighting and sonar navigation systems plus internally and externally mounted 4K video and photographic equipment, and this CBS News Sunday Morning segment from David Pogue, taken last summer, showed the reporter laughing as he was shown its controls. OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush holds up the F710, saying, We run the whole thing... with this game controller. The reporter refers to the MacGyver jury-riggedness of the whole thing, using many off-the-shelf parts, as Rush said, certain things, you want to be button down, noting work with Boeing and NASA.Read Article >Jun 19, 2023Monica ChinAn underwater tourist vessel carrying five people, which was bound for the wreckage of the Titanic, has gone missing.The vessel lost contact with its research vessel an hour and 45 minutes into its descent on Sunday morning. A search is underway approximately 900 miles east of Cape Cod.The five occupants have between 70 and 96 hours of oxygen available, Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger said at a press conference earlier today.Submersible vanishes near Titanic wreck; search for 5 aboard underway[Washington Post]
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  • Google will use machine learning to estimate a users age
    www.theverge.com
    Google will soon use machine learning to estimate the age of its users. In an update on Wednesday, Google said its testing a machine learning model in the US to help determine whether someone is under 18, allowing it to provide more age-appropriate experiences across its platforms.YouTube CEO Neal Mohan first revealed the change in an annual letter published on Tuesday. The age estimation model will use existing data about users, including the sites they visit, what kinds of videos they watch on YouTube, and how long theyve had an account to determine their age. When it detects a user may be under 18, Google will notify them that it has changed some of their settings and will offer information about how users can verify their age with a selfie, credit card, or government ID.Google will apply its existing safety features to underage accounts, including its SafeSearch filter that helps remove explicit content from search results. It will also restrict content on YouTube that might not be appropriate for users under 18. Google plans to bring its age estimation technology to more countries over time.We will continue to explore additional opportunities to provide increased transparency to users about age estimation at the account level, Google spokesperson Matt Bryant said in a statement to The Verge.The change likely comes in response to the heightened attention surrounding online child safety in the US. In addition to the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and COPPA 2.0, tech giants are contending with the Kids Off Social Media Act (KOSMA), which aims to prevent kids under 13 from accessing social media. KOSMA proposes having online platforms guess users ages, though this form of age verification isnt always accurate.Meta has also started using AI to scan for signals that a user might be under 18.In the next week, Google will let parents limit calls and message notifications on their childs phone and tablet during school, something it first announced last year. Starting next month, parents will be able to add contacts to their childs phone through the Family Link app, limiting phone calls and texts to only those numbers. Additionally, Google says it will soon allow parents to add and manage payment cards in their childs Google Wallet.The company plans to give teens access to its NotebookLM AI-powered note-taking app and its Learn About educational AI tool.
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  • Samsung Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus review: incredibly iterative
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    Samsungs Galaxy S-series is in its software era. Maybe the whole smartphone industry is, too, save for a few phones with hinges (Samsungs included). But overall, we have exited the hardware-driven innovation cycle and are firmly in the midst of a software-based one. If you want proof, the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus are a good place to start.These are great phones, which is no surprise. They look, feel, and operate like devices worthy of their $799 and $999 price tags. Theyre slated to get seven years of OS upgrades, which amounts to a damn good return on that investment. I used both to take nice photos, play my little games, and generally go about my day without a hitch. 8Verge Score$800The GoodThe last reasonably sized Android phoneSeven years of OS upgradesVery good cameraThe BadSamsung software is as cluttered as usualAI is still a mixed bagHow we rate and review products8Verge Score$1000The GoodBig screen for people who love big screensSeven years of OS upgradesVery good cameraThe BadSamsung software is as cluttered as everAI is still a mixed bagHow we rate and review productsThis was all true of the S24 and S24 Plus and the S23 and S23 Plus. I couldnt give you a good reason why the S25 stands out compared to Samsungs last three generations of S-series phones. I dont think Samsung can, either, because its entire sales pitch for the S25 revolves around software and AI capabilities much of which will almost certainly be ported to previous S-series phones in short order.Heres the kicker: the software improvements arent all that great, either. AI can do a few handy things, like turning a chaotic page of notes into something readable. But much of it is still too unpredictable to rely on. One UI 7.0 includes nice interface updates, but lots of Samsung phones will get that upgrade soon. The list of reasons to upgrade to an S25 aside from my current phone stopped working and I need a new one is awfully thin.The Galaxy S25 (left) and S25 Plus (right) dont exactly break the mold.Maybe this says more about what passes for a small phone in 2025, but the Galaxy S25 is secretly the best small Android phone you can buy in the US. Thats probably not intentional more like a victory in a war of attrition. Googles phones since the Pixel 5 only come in big and bigger, and niche small phone options like the Asus Zenfone have dropped out of the race. By merely continuing to exist with a 6.2-inch screen, the smaller S-series model has become the default option if you dont want a huge Android phone.The effect is almost comical after a week using the gargantuan S25 Ultra. If you like a smaller device and I sure do its a relief to fit the S25 into a coat pocket comfortably and to reach my thumb across the screen to tap something while using the phone one-handed. A smaller battery is a concern with a tinier device, but the S25s 4,000mAh got me through a full day of moderate use.Of course, theres a bigger option. The S25 Plus has all the screen real estate to satisfy the big phone fans. It comes with a 6.7-inch panel and a bump up to 1440p resolution from the 1080p on the S25, which is a good thing; the extra resolution is necessary with such a big display. Likewise, the 4,900mAh battery goes all day, even with more pixels to light up. The design is basically the same as the last go-around: flat edges, curved corners, and Samsungs signature stoplight rear camera arrangement. I still appreciate Samsungs move to flat edges here, since it makes the phone feel more secure in my hand especially when I pick it up off a table. The flat edge design makes it easier to grab the phone off a table.Samsung is still using Galaxy AI as a key selling point. This collection of starter kit AI features includes new additions, like natural language search in the settings menu, background noise cancellation in video clips, and Pixel Best Take-like face swapping. Theres also a new voice assistant at the wheel: Gemini. Googles AI-imbued assistant is now the default rather than Samsungs Bixby, and it gains the ability to work across apps. This capability was the one I was most excited to try on the S25, and its not even a Galaxy AI feature its available anywhere you can use Gemini, including on iOS and the web. I went into much more detail about using Gemini in my Galaxy S25 Ultra review, but the tl;dr is that its promising but not consistent enough to rely on yet. But credit where its due: Samsungs artificial intelligence tools which it refers to broadly as Galaxy AI do a good job of adding structure to a bunch of chaotic notes. I typed out a list of my kids symptoms before a trip to the pediatrician, and AI organized it with sensible subheadings. It even accurately titled it Childs illness progression, even though I hadnt expressly written that. Samsungs One UI 7.0 software is a significant update that introduces a Dynamic Island-like Now Bar, a split notification and quick settings shade, and some subtle design updates throughout. As with any Galaxy phone, it still takes me a minute to de-Samsung the software to my liking, but overall, its a welcome refresh.Samsung Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus camera specsMain: 50-megapixel f/1.8 with OISTelephoto: 10-megapixel f/2.4 3x zoom with OISUltrawide: 12-megapixel f/2.2Selfie: 12-megapixel f/2.2 with autofocusEver seen a photo with a sky so blue, it practically jumps off the screen? Then youve seen a picture taken with a Samsung phone. Samsung is staying true to its oversaturated colors in the S25 series and continues another tradition: a damn good portrait mode. It doesnt always nail subject isolation, but when its good, its good. Its the same camera system as the one in the S24 series, minus some software tweaks. It doesnt have the upgraded ultrawide in the S25 Ultra, but thats not a huge loss. I noticed instances where the S25s camera insisted on focusing in the foreground rather than in the distance where I wanted. The depth of field is shallow enough that this makes a difference, so I wound up with two unusably soft photos. It wasnt a persistent issue, but it came up enough that Id keep an eye on it in the future.1/10Maybe its the hardware cycle slowing down. Maybe its software season. Maybe weve just reached peak phone. A combination led us to the iterative S25 series. But does that matter if youre ready to trade in your S21 and you just want something familiar that works?If you fit that description, the S25 or S25 Plus will do the job. The Galaxy S25 is the last full-featured, sensibly sized Android phone you can buy in the US. And the S25 Plus has the big screen that people apparently want. The cameras are good, battery life is fine, and the software updates will flow for seven years. If this is peak phone, its not a bad place to be.The Galaxy S25 presents an attractive image of what useful AI could look like on our phones. Telling your AI assistant to add the dates from an email to your calendar? Screenshotting a recipe and adding the ingredients to a shopping list? That sounds great. The trouble is that it doesnt work consistently right now, and its unclear when that might change. Galaxy phones from the past few years will get these updates, too. If youre happy with your current S-series phone, I dont see any compelling reason to upgrade to the S25. And thats just fine its a software era, after all.Photography by Allison Johnson / The VergeAgree to Continue: Samsung Galaxy S25 and S25 PlusEvery smart device now requires you to agree to a series of terms and conditions before you can use it contracts that no one actually reads. Its impossible for us to read and analyze every single one of these agreements. But we started counting exactly how many times you have to hit agree to use devices when we review them since these are agreements most people dont read and definitely cant negotiate.To use the Samsung Galaxy S25 or S25 Plus, you must agree to:Samsungs Terms and ConditionsSamsungs Privacy PolicyGoogles Terms of Service (including Privacy Policy)Google Plays Terms of ServiceAutomatic installs (including from Google, Samsung, and your carrier)There are many optional agreements. If you use a carrier-specific version, there will be more of them. Here are just a few:Sending diagnostic data to SamsungSamsung services, including auto blocker, customization service, continuity service, nearby device scanning, personal data intelligence, and smart suggestionsGoogle Drive backup, location services, Wi-Fi scanning, diagnostic dataBixby privacy policy (required to use Bixby), plus optional for Bixby options like personalized content, data access, and audio recording reviewThere may be more. For example, Samsungs Weather app also has its own privacy policy that may include sharing information with Weather.com.Final tally: there are five mandatory agreements and at least 10 optional ones.See More:
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  • Elden Ring Nightreign takes a big swing at a bigger audience
    www.theverge.com
    Its inaccurate and reductive to call Elden Ring Nightreign a Dark Souls take on Fortnite. And yet, if pressed for an extremely brief elevator pitch say, the kind youd give to your friends who are curious about soulsborne games but are put off by all the discussions of their difficulty its about as best as you could do. In my hands-on time with the game, I was compelled to ask my team at the outset of our very first run, Well where we droppin boys? as we flew over the map in the claws of spectral birds. The similarity to Fortnite and other battle royale games was so striking, the reference simply had to be made. But once we got on the ground, Fortnite took a big ol backseat and Elden Ring reemerged as the foremost game Nightreign compares to.Nightreign strips out the combat and visual aesthetics of Elden Ring and lays them over gameplay that combines multiplayer battle royale action with roguelike live, die, repeat mechanics. Matches will take place over three days. During daylight, players will assault a Limgrave-like map (called Limveld), either solo or in teams of three, beating regular enemies and mini-bosses for powerful weapons, accessories, and runes to level up their characters. As daylight turns to night, a destructive, HP-draining storm called Nights Tide shrinks the map, forcing the players to a tiny arena where theyll face a major boss. Defeat the boss to begin the next day, when the cycle repeats and the match ends by defeating the final boss on the third night.Hark, fellow Nightfarers! Where shall we deploy? Image: FromSoftwareInstead of building bespoke characters from the ground up, Nightreign lets you choose from a roster of new classes, each with their own unique abilities, including one extremely powerful ultimate ability. For the hands-on preview, I was given four classes to try out: Wylder, Guardian, Recluse, and Duchess. The classes are somewhat analogous to typical warrior, mage, rogue archetypes but arent straight-up one-to-one recreations. The Guardian absorbs big attacks with their shield while the Recluse slings spells and has all the fortitude of wet tissue paper. Meanwhile, the Duchess delivers brutally quick knife attacks alongside the jack-of-all-trades Wylder.Characters level up at Sites of Grace as usual, but instead of choosing which stats you wanna pump up, the game does it for you. You dont have to worry about how much dexterity or faith you have, only that, no matter your class, each level up makes you stronger and hardier.In addition to leveling up, death mechanics have also gotten a bit of a revamp for Nightreign. When you die, you still lose all your runes, but you will also lose a level. However, hitting 0 HP doesnt mean you immediately die. If you fall in battle, your allies attacks fill a meter that, once full, restores you with a little bit of health. (It is so very like FromSoftware and also deeply funny to make hurting your allies the method to heal them. Excellent touch.) If all three party members fall, the game restarts the day.It is hilarious that in order to raise downed enemies like this, you have to hit them more. Image: FromSoftwareHaving two extra players around made combat relatively simple to a point. My party and I roamed the Limveld streets like a band of vicious murderers, but once anything more substantial than a soldier or a blighted dog showed up, things got dicey and fast. In typical FromSoftware fashion, a lot of enemies were much tougher than they looked even for three-on-one (which, also in typical FromSoftware fashion, never remained three-on-one as enemies liked to pop out of nowhere). Combine that with the knowledge that the map might start to close in on you at any time, and every battle became a potentially life-threatening, run-ending situation. There were often times when my party had to choose between abandoning much-needed treasure or risk getting caught in the encroaching storm, and that friction was seriously fun. It already feels good to triumph over Elden Rings hard-hitting monsters. It felt twice as good doing that with so much additional danger heaped on top. And despite the relative ease of fighting regular enemies, the bosses were no joke. In the five to six hours I had with the hands-on, I was only able to successfully complete two days, and Im pretty sure nobody in my cohort of previewers was able to beat a run outright.Nightreign also adds new ways to traverse the map, which might sound inconsequential, but when youre playing a game as visually rich as Elden Ring, it means a lot. Much like Shadow of the Erdtree, Limvelds map contains a ton of verticality, but you dont have your trusty Torrent to navigate it. Instead, there are nightsprings that act like giant springboards to propel you to higher sections of the map. You can also hitch a ride on Spectral Hawks to take you to another corner of the map much faster than by foot. Since so much of the Lands Between are seen from the ground up, it was so cool to get it from a different perspective.And thats what so much of Nightreign is actually about: offering a different perspective on a game youve seen before. Its a big risk to take a beloved game and add multiplayer elements to it, and that might upset some Elden Ring diehards. But if you want a new, ever-changing way to play an old game you love, Nightreign is definitely worth checking out.Elden Ring Nightreign releases on May 30th on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC. See More: Uncategorized
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  • Elden Ring: all of the updates about FromSoftwares open-world hit
    www.theverge.com
    PinnedJun 22, 2024Ash ParrishEven Elden Rings game director knows Erdtree is too hardImage: Bandai NamcoAs I work my way through Shadow of the Erdtree, the new DLC for Elden Ring, I cant help but think that game director Hidetaka Miyazaki is trolling the shit outta me.Speaking with him at Summer Game Fest two weeks ago, Miyazaki said that Erdtree is by far the biggest in scale in volume than any other FromSoftware DLC before it. But he also said Erdtree is about the same volume as the Limgrave part of the base game, the starting area of Elden Ring, containing slightly more content. Read Article >Today, 20 minutes agoAsh ParrishElden Ring Nightreign takes a big swing at a bigger audienceImage: FromSoftwareIts inaccurate and reductive to call Elden Ring Nightreign a Dark Souls take on Fortnite. And yet, if pressed for an extremely brief elevator pitch say, the kind youd give to your friends who are curious about soulsborne games but are put off by all the discussions of their difficulty its about as best as you could do. In my hands-on time with the game, I was compelled to ask my team at the outset of our very first run, Well where we droppin boys? as we flew over the map in the claws of spectral birds. The similarity to Fortnite and other battle royale games was so striking, the reference simply had to be made. But once we got on the ground, Fortnite took a big ol backseat and Elden Ring reemerged as the foremost game Nightreign compares to.Nightreign strips out the combat and visual aesthetics of Elden Ring and lays them over gameplay that combines multiplayer battle royale action with roguelike live, die, repeat mechanics. Matches will take place over three days. During daylight, players will assault a Limgrave-like map (called Limveld), either solo or in teams of three, beating regular enemies and mini-bosses for powerful weapons, accessories, and runes to level up their characters. As daylight turns to night, a destructive, HP-draining storm called Nights Tide shrinks the map, forcing the players to a tiny arena where theyll face a major boss. Defeat the boss to begin the next day, when the cycle repeats and the match ends by defeating the final boss on the third night.Read Article >Nov 14, 2024Ash ParrishLo-fi beats to chill / Waterfowl Dance to.If video game soundtracks are what you use to get through the workday, then FromSoftware has a gift for you. The soundtrack for Shadow of the Erdtree is now streaming in all the regular (and not so regular) places including Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, something called Deezer, and more.ELDEN RING SHADOW OF THE ERDTREE ORIGINAL SOUND TRACK[lnk.to]Sep 11, 2024Ash ParrishShadow of the Nerf-tree.Bandai Namco has released a new patch for Shadow of the Erdtree. The majority of the patch notes contains the usual bug fixes and weapon tweaks with one very notable exception: the DLCs final boss has been seriously nerfed. This is good news for all the players struggling with a fight thats generally perceived as the hardest in the game if not in all of FromSoftwares history.Elden Ring Patch Notes Version 1.14[Bandai Namco Europe]Jul 4, 2024Ash ParrishHow am I supposed to beat Messmer now?I knew this was coming, I just didnt expect it so soon. FromSoftware has released a patch for Shadow of the Erdtree. Among the casualties...I mean bug fixes is a nerf to super busted but super satisfying perfume bottle build that basically turned anyone who used it into a walking nuke. How dare you FromSoftware, over a long holiday weekend no less?!Jul 2, 2024Ash ParrishShadow of the Erdtrees new perfume weapons are seriously broken and seriously funImage: Bandai NamcoImagine if those aggressive salespeople at the Macys perfume counter were shoving napalm in your face instead of Chanel No. 5: thats what it feels like playing with the new perfume bottle weapons in Shadow of the Erdtree.The early days after any Souls game release are always some of the best. The speedrunners and content creators have found the best / most busted builds, while the developers havent had the time to nerf them yet. People post all kinds of wild videos of bosses melting within seconds, going down so fast they dont even have time to trigger their second or third phases. It happened in vanilla Elden Ring with Hoarfrost Stomp, and its happening again with Erdtrees perfume bottles.Read Article >Jul 1, 2024Jay PetersGeorge R.R. Martin on a potential Elden Ring adaptation:Oh, and about those rumors you may have heard about a feature film or television series based on ELDEN RING I have nothing to say. Not a word, nope, not a thing, I know nothing, you never heard a peep from me, mum mum mum. What rumor?Lose One, Win One[Not a Blog]Jun 26, 2024Ash ParrishErdtree gets a little easier with new Elden Ring updateImage: FromSoftwareShadow of the Erdtree is gonna get easier. Bandai Namco has seemingly heard the great hue and cry from reviewers and players alike that Erdtree is far too difficult. In response, the publisher is implementing a calibration update that will reduce the level of difficulty by making players stronger. According to the patch notes for this update:The key to understanding this update is the Scadutree Fragments. They are DLC-specific upgrade materials that increase a players attack and defense. The fragments are scattered throughout the map, requiring considerable exploration to find, but the increased power they grant makes them a high-priority resource.Read Article >Jun 21, 2024Andrew WebsterLive-action turtle pope.Its Shadow of the Erdtree day, and Bandai Namco has released a new live-action trailer for the Elden Ring expansion. Crucially, the short video shows what Miriel, Pastor of Vows would look like IRL. He, too, apologizes for the unseemly state of affairs.Jun 20, 2024Ash ParrishHere are some small but helpful tips for starting Shadow of the ErdtreeImage: FromSoftwareBefore Shadow of the Erdtree finally goes live, Bandai Namco has implemented a patch that adds a couple of small features and updates just in time for the DLCs launch in a few short hours. FromSoftware also shared a new launch trailer to herald the DLCs arrival, but its chockful of spoilers, so beware. The update isnt particularly earth-shattering, but it does include some things worth keeping in mind before all you Tarnished get your head beat in by the vicious monsters patrolling the Shadow Lands.Firstly, we get new hair options! I was pretty down on Elden Rings character creator for its lack of Black hairstyles. It just didnt make sense that the character creator was so robust and detailed but lacked hairstyles that represent a good chunk of the human population. There are five new styles to choose from, with two of them being dreadlocks. I chose the loose loc option so my Tarnished can finally get rid of her abhorrent pigtails. Im not sure if the white hairs option was present in the base game or a new addition with this patch, but I really like how it adds gray to my locs, reminding me of when I started picking out errant gray hairs when I had locs.Read Article >Jun 20, 2024Jay PetersElden Ring has an issue on Steam Deck right now.Leaving your Steam Deck inactive for more than 5 minutes may stop the game from accepting inputs, according to the Elden Ring X account. A hotfix is in the works. Some users are also unexpectedly seeing an inappropriate activity detected warning when they try to play.Not great timing given the new update and Shadow of the Erdtrees imminent launch!Jun 18, 2024Ash ParrishShadow of the Erdtree reintroduced me to Elden Ring by kicking my assImage: FromSoftwareIn my first moments with Shadow of the Erdtree, I found myself in a graveyard dotted with incorporeal gravestones and puddles of glowing blood. By the time I remembered what those bloodstains meant and the imminent danger I was in, I was ripped to shreds by a man I did not see or hear coming, leaving behind a new little blood puddle to mark the occasion.I have not stopped grinning since. Read Article >Jun 14, 2024Jay PetersGreat haircut, Tarnished.Elden Ring is getting an update on June 20th one day ahead of the release of Shadow of the Erdtree that adds five new hairstyles and a bunch of other handy new features. You can read more about whats coming on X.The Elden Ring X account also shared the global release schedule for the expansion and updated minimum and recommended PC specs.Jun 12, 2024Ash ParrishAnd most of em still havent beaten Mohg.To prepare us for Shadow of the Erdtree FromSoftware has released a The Journey So Far video. The company has also announced that Elden Ring itself has sold 25 million copies. But honestly, considering that in order to even access Shadow you need to beat Shardbearer Mohg a feat only 38% of Steam players have achieved FromSoftware would have been better off releasing a How to beat Mohg video.May 21, 2024Ash ParrishElden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtrees new trailer is a dramatic call to armsWith only a month until release day, theres a new story trailer for Shadow of the Erdtree, and the Elden Ring lore hounds have their work cut out for them.FromSoftware has been slowly teasing Shadow of the Erdtree and its story beats ever since the gameplay trailer was released back in February. All we knew then was the DLC would take place in the Land of Shadow and feature a bunch of new horrors straight from the slightly warped imagination of game director Hidetaka Miyazaki.Read Article >May 21, 2024Ash ParrishThe Shadow of the Erdtree looms.Bandai Namco has announced that it will debut the story trailer for Shadow of the Erdtree today at 11 AM ET / 8 AM PT. Theres exactly one month until the highly anticipated DLC to 2022s Game of the Year finally launches and there are a whole lot of messed up lil dudes FromSoftware has to show off between then and now.May 17, 2024Ash ParrishFromSoftware just debuted their bloodiest monster yet.FromSoftwares monster designs have really nailed the inherent horror of living in ambulatory sentient meat sacs and this new one from Shadow of the Erdtree is just...That is a uterus, yall and if it means Shadow of the Erdtree will tread the transformative horrors of childbirth like Bloodborne did, I am so on board. I cannot wait for June 21st, my uterus is ready.Image: Bandai NamcoApr 1, 2024Richard LawlerApril Fools 2024: Elden Ring expansion.They didnt say DLC (Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree wont be here until June 21st); they said expansion. And they delivered.Feb 21, 2024Ash ParrishWhile you were studying the Erdtree, I studied the blade.They got some Sekiro in my Elden Ring.Tamoor Hussain from GameSpot noticed that the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC has incorporated elements from Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. In a part of the new trailer, it looks like a monster (or a Tarnished, cant tell) is doing some flippy-dippy martial arts nonsense. Turns out its a move taken from one of the mini-bosses in Sekiro. Every FromSoftware game incorporates elements from its siblings and its neat to see those influences proliferate throughout.I cant wait for this DLC to ruin me.Feb 21, 2024Ash ParrishElden Rings Shadow of the Erdtree trailer is full of new ways to dieWake up, Tarnished. Its time to visit the Shadow of the Erdtree.In Shadow, it looks like were going to a darker part of the Lands Between, and of course, there are all sorts of new lil freaks to fight. But the biggest news is that the DLCs main antagonist appears to be Miquella, the twin brother of Malenia, meaning Let me solo her might have to change his name soon.Read Article >Feb 21, 2024Ash ParrishIm at the combination Nintendo Direct / Elden Ring DLC trailer announcement.The first of todays big video game announcement events is the Nintendo Direct happening at 9 AM ET. Then, shortly after what Nintendo says will be a 25-minute presentation, FromSoftware will release the first trailer for Elden Rings first DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree at 10 AM ET.Its gonna be a big day.Feb 20, 2024Richard LawlerGet your first look at Elden Rings Shadow of the Erdtree expansion on Wednesday morning.Its been almost a year since FromSoftware announced it was working on DLC for the 2022 hit Elden Ring, and now we have a date and time for the first Shadow of the Erdtree gameplay reveal trailer: February 21st, 10 AM ET / 7AM PT / 4PM CET.The 3-minute presentation will be available on YouTube with subtitles in your preferred language.Image: FromSoftware (X)Jul 12, 2023Ash ParrishTarnished on Tour.Bandai Namco has announced that its launching an Elden Ring concert tour. Dubbed a symphonic adventure, the concert will feature a live orchestra and choir synced up to visuals and sound effects from the game. The tour starts in Paris with tickets to go on sale at 10 AM EST tomorrow.Oct 13, 2022Ash ParrishHuge Elden Ring update will seemingly make players a lot harder to killImage: FromSoftwareElden Ring, the game that feels like it was released several years ago but was in fact launched just this February, has announced a massive update. According to Bandai Namco on the games website, the patch intends to encourage more versatility in terms of gameplay if encourage also means make you a nigh unkillable god in single player. A lot of weapons and spells were buffed, very few things were nerfed, and it seems like its going to get a lot harder to kill your friends in PVP. The patch notes are indeed massive, but Ive picked out a few highlights.Glintstone Pebble / Shard Spiral: increased attack powerRead Article >Apr 4, 2022Adi RobertsonAll hail Elden Rings ever-growing mapOne of Elden Rings most polarizing features is its willingness to withhold information. While its less arcane than earlier FromSoftware titles like Dark Souls, the game constantly hands you items, quests, and mechanics with very little explanation. But after 130 hours and counting in the Lands Between, Im in love with how well it sometimes deploys that obscurity. And theres no better example than Elden Rings map, which has transcended a simple open-world convention to become one of my very favorite pieces of the game.If youre still in the early areas of Elden Ring, you might want to skip this post because Im going to talk about a mechanic that relies on mystery. But if youve played a bit of the game, you might know what Im talking about. Elden Rings map offers a constant give-and-take of showing players new spaces to explore, then pulling back a curtain to more places that they didnt even realize could exist. It withholds information only to reveal it in a way thats delightful, satisfying, and entirely in keeping with the worlds vast scope. Its not just an interface element its a meta-game in its own right.Read Article >Mar 15, 2022Ash ParrishElden Ring speedrunners race to the bottomImage: Bandai NamcoElden Ring is just so massive and its bosses are so tough that the average player will probably take over 60 hours to beat it. But speedrunners, assisted by some traditional speedrunning tricks and the games own open design, have somehow managed to beat the sprawling game in under 30 minutes.For a speedrunning enthusiast, the first days of a games release are extremely exciting. New techniques and optimizations are constantly being discovered, as boss behaviors and the runners own luck work with or against them, making almost every run a possible world record. While every runner is ostensibly competing against the clock, two runners have emerged in the Elden Ring speed community, each racing to post lower and lower times.Read Article >
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  • Adobes Sora rivaling AI video generator is now available for everyone
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    Adobes text- and image-to-video AI generator has been released for anyone to try online. Generate Video is available starting today in public beta following a limited early access testing period last year. The beta tool can be accessed via the re-designed Firefly web app, alongside new image generation and translation capabilities, and AI credit subscription tiers for creators.Adobe started launching tools powered by its generative AI Firefly Video Model in October, starting with the Generative Extend tool in beta for Premiere Pro that can be used to extend the end or beginning of footage. The Generate Video tool rolling out today over two months after OpenAI launched its own text-to-video generator, Sora adds some minor improvements since it was first teased in September.Generate Video consists of two features: Text-to-Video and Image-to-Video. As those names imply, Text-to-Video allows users to generate footage using text description, while Image-to-Video lets you add a reference image alongside the prompt to provide a starting point for the video. Generate Video includes various options that refine or guide the results, such as simulating styles, camera angles, motion, and shooting distances.The Image-to-Video feature lets you add a starting point for the generated video to reference alongside text prompts. GIF: AdobeVideo is now output in 1080p at 24 frames per second, up from the original 720p quality. Both Text-to-Video and Image-to-Video take 90 seconds or longer to generate clips at a maximum length of five seconds shorter than the 20-second duration available to Sora users. Adobe says its also working on both a faster, lower-resolution ideation model and a 4K model, which are coming soon.Adobe has also updated the Firefly web app that hosts many of its generative AI tools. Alongside sporting a new UI, it now integrates with Creative Cloud apps including Photoshop, Premiere Pro, and Express, making it easier to move and edit AI-generated assets. And because Firefly is trained on public domain and licensed content, its safe for commercial use. Adobe even describes its Generate Video tool as production-ready to entice users who want to use AI-generated videos in films without the risk of violating copyright protections.Adobe faces growing competition in the AI video market. In addition to Sora, Google is testing the second generation of its Veo AI video model, which looks more impressive than OpenAIs model judging by early demo examples. ByteDance and Pika Labs have also recently announced new video-focused generative AI tools. Adobes main advantage is Fireflys commercial viability, but it will still need to keep up with the quality and features its competitors are offering.Two additional tools will also be available in public beta on the Firefly web app starting today but these arent free to use. Scene to Image lets users create their own references for AI-generated images using built-in 3D and sketching features seemingly built on the Project Scenic experiment that Adobe announced in October. The Translate Audio and Video tool is pretty self-explanatory, allowing users to translate and dub audio into over 20 languages while preserving the original speakers voice.Adobe is launching two new Firefly subscription plans which provide credits that can be spent to use Adobes Firefly models. Firefly Standard starts at $9.99 per month for 2,000 video/audio credits and provides up to 20 five-second 1080p video generations. The pricier Firefly Pro plan starts at $29.99 for 7,000 credits and up to 70 five-second 1080p video generations. A notable perk is that both plans include unlimited access to Firefly imaging and vector features.See More:
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  • Wacoms new Intuos Pro drawing tablet reinvents the wheel
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    Wacom has completely overhauled its Intuos Pro drawing tablets to make them more compact, convenient, and customizable for creative professionals. This is the biggest redesign for the Intuos Pro lineup since its introduction in 2013, featuring a new layout that relocates user controls from the side to the top of the tablet and replaces the previous touch ring with mechanical dials. Its a huge change, but one I quickly welcomed in the short time I had to test it myself.The Intuos Pro is Wacoms pen tablet targeting industry creatives like 3D artists, illustrators, and photo editors who prefer to work on their own (typically calibrated) displays. Unlike Wacoms Cintiq or One range, the Intuos Pro doesnt have a built-in screen, making it easier to throw into a bag and connect to computing devices.There are three sizes available: Small (269.99), Medium (399.99), and Large (549.99). Ill update with US pricing when it goes live later today. Each model is actually smaller than its equivalent predecessor, yet feature larger active areas that make better use of that space. For example, the 2025 Medium measures 11.5 x 8.1 inches versus 13.2 x 8.5 inches for the 2017 version, yet features a drawing area of 10.4 x 5.8 inches compared to 8.7 x 5.8 inches for the previous model. Theyre slimmer overall too, featuring a new 0.16-0.28 inch (4-7mm) sloping design instead of the previous 0.3-inch (8mm) thickness.The most noticeable change, however, is the layout. Where all previous Intuos Pro models had user controls like customizable buttons and touch-sensitive wheels on the side, these have now been shifted to the top of the tablet. That both greatly reduces the space on either side of the active pen area and makes it easier for left-handed or ambidextrous users to configure for their workflows. The touch wheel has also been replaced by tactile mechanical dials one on the Small, two on the other sizes which provide more precision when scrolling through the tools and actions users allocate to them. The customizable express keys have also been updated to a round space-saving design, with five buttons on the Small and ten on the two larger models.Heres a size comparison for each version next to the Pro Pen 3. Image: WacomThe Intuos Pro lineup works with devices running Windows 10 or macOS 13 or later. It supports both a wired USB-C to USB-A connection and wireless via Bluetooth 5.3, the latter providing up to 16 hours of battery life when fully charged, according to Wacom. Users can jump between USB and Bluetooth via a switch on the side of the tablet, allowing it to pair with two devices simultaneously.It comes with the same customizable Wacom Pro Pen 3 stylus that ships with Wacoms Cintiq Pro and Movink display tablets, which features adjustable thickness and buttons. One perk if you already own these tablets is that the Pro Pen 3 can switch between devices, which is useful if youre working across multiple tablets. The new Intuos Pro is also compatible with previous-gen Wacom Pro Pens and EMR styluses from Pilot, Dr Grip, LAMY, and Staedtler.Using the same pen across multiple Wacom tablets is a blessing if like switching between display and non-display models. Image: WacomI was able to handle a pre-production sample for a short time. While a full review will come later when I can test a final version, the slimmer design felt well-constructed and wasnt flimsy. The slope wasnt significant enough to feel noticeably more comfortable but I wasnt using it for lengthy durations like many creative professionals do. The new layout is a welcome improvement compared to having the buttons and wheel on the sides where my wrist may accidentally activate something, and it didnt take long to adjust to the delightfully tactile mechanical dial.See More:
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  • Samsungs Galaxy A56 leaked from every angle
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    Leaker Evan Blass has shared a set of spinning GIFs of Samsungs midrange Galaxy A56 that show the phone in four colors and a host of different angles. The Galaxy A56 is rumored to launch in March, right around the same time as rival devices from Apple and Google.The new animations from evleaks show the A56 in silver, pink, black, and a pale green. They show a phone with flat edges, a chunky display bezel thats thicker at the bottom, and a redesigned camera island that mounts the three lenses together with a black backing. The other things that stand out literally are the power and volume buttons, which now sit on an island that rises slightly out from the phones edge, rather than lying flush.Image: evleaksThis isnt the first time weve seen this design. Android Headlines shared renders showing a similar look in November 2024, and Samsungs own renders were found on Chinas TENAA certification site, so were confident that this is what the A56 will look like. As for the specs, were not quite as certain. An early Geekbench score believed to belong to the A56 suggests it will be powered by Samsungs own Exynos 1580 chipset. Certification leaks point to a 5,000mAh battery and 45W wired charging which would be a little surprising only because the flagship Galaxy S25 is still limited to slower 25W speeds. GalaxyClub reports that the rear cameras will be similar to the last two generations, with a 50 megapixel main shooter joined by a 12MP ultrawide and 5MP macro, though the selfie camera is at least getting an upgrade to a new 12MP sensor.The Galaxy A56 is likely to arrive alongside more affordable A36 and A26 models. Samsung released the last four generations in mid-March, so thats when were expecting to see these phones too. The big question for the A56 is whether it will launch Stateside; we were mostly fans of the $449 Galaxy A54 two years ago, but the A55 skipped the US entirely.This year Samsung may want to ensure it has a presence in the US market. Apple is expected to announce a new version of its similarly priced iPhone SE either this week or next, and Googles midrange Pixel 9a has also been tipped for a March launch, months earlier than prior generations summer announcements.See More:
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  • The Trump administration restores federal webpages after court order
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    The Trump administration brought webpages back online, meeting a court-ordered deadline at 11:59PM on February 11th. Doctors for America (DFA), which represents physicians and medical students, filed suit last week against the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) for taking health data off government websites.A federal judge granted a temporary restraining order, setting a deadline for those agencies to make that information available again online. The order includes more than a dozen CDC and FDA webpages that were specifically mentioned in the lawsuit. That includes the social vulnerability index and environmental justice index, for example, which are tools that show whether particular populations might face disproportionate health risks.Doctors for America (DFA), which represents physicians and medical students, filed suitDFA alleges that the agencies violated the Administrative Procedure Act and the Paperwork Reduction Act by removing public access to the webpages without giving adequate notice in advance. The CDC, FDA, and HHS didnt immediately respond to requests for comment from The Verge. The agencies started taking webpages down after President Donald Trump signed an anti-trans executive order, Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government, on his first day in office. The CDCs main data portal went down briefly before going live again with a note saying, Data.CDC.gov is temporarily offline in order to comply with the executive order. The court order says webpages are supposed to be restored to versions as of January 30th. The Verge wasnt able to immediately verify whether the restored pages have the same content they had on January 30th.The plaintiffs claim that removing the data forced DFA members to scramble in search of alternative resources to guide how they treat patients; slowed their clinical practices or reduced the amount of information they can convey to patients in time-limited visits; and paused or slowed their vital research. They say a temporary restraining order is necessary to protect their practices and public health while the lawsuit determines whether the defendants actions were lawful or not.Beyond the webpages named in the lawsuit, the defendants are also supposed to work with DFA to identify any other resources that need to be restored, setting a February 14th deadline for those webpages to become available again.See More:
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  • FCC to investigate Comcast for having DEI programs
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    Federal Communications Chair Brendan Carr has asked his agency to investigate Comcasts Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) practices, reports Newsmax. We have received an inquiry from the Federal Communications Commission and will be cooperating with the FCC to answer their questions, Comcast spokesperson Joelle Terry confirms to The Verge.According to Newsmax, Carr said that FCC is looking for signs that the companys initiatives have violated federal employment law, writing: I expect that this investigation into Comcast and its NBCUniversal operations will aid the commissions broader efforts to root out invidious forms of DEI discrimination across all of the sectors the FCC regulates. Since taking control of the FCC last month, Carr has threatened to pull broadcast licenses of companies like Disney and CBS for airing content thats not friendly to Trump and conservatives. He has also ordered investigations into NPR and PBS for airing commercials, which fellow Commissioner Anna Gomez told The Verge was a Trump administration effort to weaponize the power of the FCC. Carr was a Trump appointee, and he wrote the Project 2025 chapter on how the FCC should rein in big companies.In addition to its cable, wireless, and internet services, Comcast owns a swath of broadcasters, including NBC Universal, streaming service Peacock, and many others. (Disclosure:Comcast is also an investor in Vox Media, The Verges parent company.)Under the new Trump administration, many companies are proactively winding down their DEI programs seemingly to avoid becoming targets. By the time an executive order on January 20th declared DEI was a corrupting force creating a divisive and dangerous preferential hierarchy, Meta had already disbanded its diversity team and Amazon had wound down some DEI programs; Google joined them less than a week ago.
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  • Thomson Reuters wins an early court battle over AI, copyright, and fair use
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    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:
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  • Trump administration illegally allowed DOGE to access workers data, lawsuit alleges
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    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:
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  • Google announces the dates for I/O 2025
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    Mark your calendars for Googles next developer conference.Googles next I/O developer conference will take place on May 20th and May 21st, the company announced today. The event will be open to everyone online and will include livestreamed keynotes and sessions, according to an FAQ. Like past years, there will also be an in-person component at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California.The news comes after Google launched a fun puzzle game to help reveal the date of the event. (The company loves to release puzzles ahead of announcing its I/O dates.) This years show will run in the middle of Microsofts Build conference, which takes place from May 19th through May 22nd.The last Google I/O kicked off on May 14th, 2024. The event was packed with a ton of announcements, including new Gemini AI features and models, the Project Astra AI assistant, its Veo generative AI video model, and a big AI-focused overhaul for Google Search. The 2023 edition of I/O was filled with AI news, too, but at that show, Google also announced the Pixel Fold, Pixel Tablet, and Pixel 7A.
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  • Apple Maps now shows the Gulf of America
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    Apple is renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America in its Maps app. The company started rolling out the name change for US users this afternoon, and Bloomberg reports that it will soon display the name for users globally, too.Google Maps started showing the Gulf of America for users in the US on Monday. President Donald Trump signed an executive order for the name change in January, and the change entered the federal naming database, the Geographic Names Information System, this week. Unlike Apple, Google Maps displays different names depending on a users location. Users in Mexico will continue to see the body of water labeled as the Gulf of Mexico, and users in other countries will see Gulf of Mexico alongside Gulf of America in parentheses. Other mapping apps, like Microsofts Bing and MapQuest, continue to show the Gulf of Mexico.Apple currently offers its Maps app across the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and in beta on the web. The Verge reached out to Apple with a request for more information about the change but didnt immediately hear back.
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  • Shopify pulls Kanyes website offline over swastika merch
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    On Tuesday, Shopify shut down the Yeezy store run by Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) after it listed shirts with swastikas for sale. Ye advertised the site in a commercial shown during the Super Bowl on Sunday. It previously sold things like sneakers and t-shirts, but on Monday, the only item for sale was a $20 swastika shirt with the product name HH-01, which the ADL says is code for Heil Hitler. Ye had started posting antisemitic rhetoric on X, where hed been banned in 2022 for posting swastikas. Leading up to the Super Bowl ad, though, his account has been deactivated.Shopify tells Bloomberg and NBC News that it wasnt removed simply for listing the item, saying in a statement that This merchant did not engage in authentic commerce practices and violated our terms so we removed them from Shopify. Last year, the e-commerce platform removed a clause banning hateful content from its acceptable use rules, Bloomberg reports.
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  • Framework will reveal new gadgets on February 25th can you decipher its glyphs?
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    Nearly two years ago, Framework announced one of the most ambitious laptops ever live on a San Francisco stage, plus an AMD upgrade for its modular Intel machines. On February 25th, its promising an even bigger set of announcements, and that itll show everything that weve been working on for the last two years.What could that mean? Well, the modular repairable gadget company did raise $18 million last April to expand beyond the laptop, but its not at all clear thats what well see, and a spokesperson wouldnt comment when I asked. Instead, the companys choosing to tease us with some pictograms! Look:So were getting a beach ball downward facing dog, something Flash-y, and something worthy of a gamepad-only LAN party that serves knockoff Cheetos, yes?(In all seriousness, my moneys on that first one being a convertible Chromebook with a backflipping 360-degree hinge after all, Lenovos Yoga laptops famously cemented the convertible category.)What are your guesses?Three more things that caught my eye:We will be opening pre-orders on at least one new item that day, so if youre in the market for repairable, upgradeable, long-lasting consumer electronics products, you may want to create an account ahead of time to be ready.[W]ere ready to bring this mission and product philosophy to even more of the world, one category at a time.Framework fans willing to travel in the SF Bay Area can apply to attend in person.Heres the event page, with a live countdown and notify me button. Lastly, heres the pre-prepped livestream which should go live at 10:30am PT / 1:30pm ET. Oh, and Ill be there in person.
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  • LOreals nifty hair coloring wand is on sale for its lowest price to date
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    Wish there was a magic wand for quickly covering up your grays? LOreals Colorsonic might be as close as it gets, and today, its a little more affordable thanks to the skincare companys latest promo. For a limited time, you pick it up directly from LOreal Paris for $99 ($25 off), which matches its lowest price to date.RelatedOur reviewer, Victoria Song, was shocked by how easy the Colorsonic was to use. The whole process takes about 15 minutes just insert the cartridge, click the button, and brush though you might need to repeat the process several times if you find your gray hairs to be particularly stubborn. Even then, its not likely that all your grays will disappear. Its still a good option for dyeing your entire head or simple root touchups, though, especially since we found it to be nowhere near as messy a process as using over-the-counter box dyes.Unsurprisingly, LOreal currently only offers a fairly natural shade range, and youll have to buy the cartridges separately for about $20 apiece. That can add up quickly depending on how many you use per session, making the high-tech wand a relatively pricey endeavor. That being said, its still probably a cheaper and quicker alternative to visiting your local salon. Thats got to count for something, right?LOreal Colorsonic Hair Color Device$99$12521% off$99LOreals Colorsonic Hair Color Device is a unique high-tech hair wand that significantly cuts down the amount of time it takes to dye your hair. It doesnt cover all of your grays, but it does a good job of quickly hiding most of them.$99 at LOreal Paris$125 at TargetA few more deals worth checking outBest Buy is offering a rare deal on Apples black HomePod Mini, dropping it to just $79.99 ($20 off). The Siri-based smart speaker delivers good sound and a lot of bass for its size, along with deep integration with Apples ecosystem, allowing you to send texts via your iPhone or locate items youve set up via the Find My app. The speaker also features temperature and humidity sensing, as well as Matter compatibility, meaning it supports all major smart home platforms. Read our original review.Now through February 15th, Target is offering Circle members a 50 percent discount on a wide range of board games, movies, and books when they buy a second item of equal or greater value. Highlights include excellent tabletop games like Wingspan and Azul, as well as shows and films like The Last Of Us, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Lord of the Rings: Motion Picture Trilogy, and more.If you could use a (relatively) cheap gaming headset for PlayStation or PC, Sonys InZone H3 is on sale at Amazon, B&H Photo, and Best Buy for an all-time low of $48 ($42 off). The wired headset doesnt have noise cancellation or some of the more advanced features found in the rest of the InZone lineup, but it does feature a handy flip-to-mute mic, decent sound quality for the price, and earcups that allow you to comfortably game for up to 32 hours.See More:
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  • Leaked Pixel 9A renders show almost no camera bump
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    Apparent official renders of the Pixel 9A. | Image: <em><a href="https://www.androidheadlines.com/google-pixel-9a-renders-colors">Android Headlines</a></em>A new set of leaked Pixel 9A renders appears to confirm months of rumors that Google is virtually ditching the camera bump this year. The images, published by Android Headlines, also show the phone in four colors black (Obsidian), white (Porcelain), pink (Peony), and purple (Iris) will look like. Smartphones that lay flat on a table have mostly become a distant memory now that phone makers have embraced the camera bump. That makes these Pixel 9A renders especially exciting, even if theres still the barest hint of a bump when viewed from the side.The back cameras will include a 48-megapixel main shooter (down from 64 megapixels in the 8A), and a 13-megapixel ultrawide, and the phone will have a 13-megapixel selfie camera on the front, according to Android Headlines. The Pixel 9A will also apparently sport a 5,100mAh battery, up from the previous models 4,492 mAh.Android Headlines says the phone will cost $499 for the base 128GB model, $599 for the 256GB one, and that Google will officially announce it on March 19th ahead of a March 26th release date. Past rumors have also suggested the Pixel 9A will get a 6.3-inch screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, a Tensor G4 chip, 8GB of RAM, and that 256GB will be its maximum storage tier. The budget phone will likely have competition from Apples fourth iPhone SE, which is rumored to be announced any day now.
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  • Donald Trump reignites the lightbulb wars
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    President Donald Trump wants to make America incandescent again. He posted on his social media platform Truth Social that he plans to end Biden-era standards for lightbulbs that accelerated the adoption of LED lighting.According to that post, hell direct his appointee Lee Zeldin to go back to the common sense standards, for lightbulbs. Zeldin is the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, although Trump calls him secretary in his post. And while Trump singled out Zeldin, its the Department ofEnergythat sets efficiency standards for light bulbs and appliances.Trump said hes going to sign orders to reinstate standards that were in place during his first term. Along with lightbulbs, the president indicated he would weaken standards for sinks, showers, toilets, washing machines, and dishwashers.Trump has been crusading against more efficient lightbulbs since his first term as president, saying at the time you look better with incandescent lights and that of course being a vain person, thats very important to me.Of course being a vain person, thats very important to me.On a more serious note, his administration has taken aim atenergyefficiency initiativesas part of a broader effort to derail action onclimate changeand promote fossil fuels. He signed a sweepingexecutive ordercalled Unleashing American Energy on his first day in office that includes safeguard[ing] the American peoples freedom to choose from a variety of goods and appliances, including but not limited to lightbulbs.Oil and gas companies pumped more than $75 million into Trumps campaign and Republican efforts during the last election cycle, and now theyre reaping the rewards. Trump picked fossil fuel executive Chris Wright to lead the Department of Energy (DOE), which set higher efficiency standards for lightbulbs before he stepped into office.The US has been trying to phase out inefficient lightbulbs since 2007, when George Bush signed the Energy Independence and Security Act into law. Trump rolled back those standards in 2019. Then the Biden administration introduced stricter rules on energy efficiency that most incandescent bulbs couldnt meet.Old-school incandescent bulbs are far less efficient than their newer counterparts because they lose about 90 percent of their energy as heat. Household LEDs typically use at least 75 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs and can last up to 25 times longer. And while upfront costs for an LED bulb tends to be higher, an LED is supposed to save consumers money in the long run because of its longevity and through lower electricity bills. Its no wonder, then, that the LED is already the leading lighting technology in homes globally, according to the International Energy Agency.
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  • AI chatbots are distorting news stories, BBC finds
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    AI chatbots struggle with factual inaccuracies and distortions when summarizing news stories, research from the BBC has found. The study, which examined whether OpenAIs ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, and Perplexity can accurately summarize news, found more than half of all the AI-generated output had significant issues of some form.As part of the study, the BBC asked ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, and Perplexity to provide summaries of 100 BBC news articles, while journalists reviewed their answers. In addition to finding major issues in 51 percent of responses, the BBC found that 19 percent of answers citing the BBC included incorrect statements, numbers, and dates. Meanwhile, 13 percent of quotes from the BBC were either altered from the original source or not present in the article cited.The study highlighted some examples, including Gemini incorrectly stating that the UKs National Health Service (NHS) advises people not to start vaping, and recommends that smokers who want to quit should use other methods. However, the NHS actually recommends vaping to quit smoking. Another example: in December 2024, ChatGPT claimed Ismail Haniyeh was part of Hamas leadership even though he was assassinated in July 2024.Overall, the study found Geminis responses raised the most concerns, as 46 percent were flagged as having significant issues with accuracy. The Verge reached out to OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, and Perplexity with requests for comment but didnt immediately hear back.Last year, the BBC called out Apples new AI-powered news summaries for inaccurately rewriting one of its headlines. Apple responded by pausing summaries for news and entertainment apps, as well as making AI notification summaries more distinct from standard notifications.In a response to the study, Deborah Turness, the CEO of BBC News and Current Affairs, called on tech companies to address issues with inaccuracy. We live in troubled times, and how long will it be before an AI-distorted headline causes significant real world harm? Turness wrote. Wed like other tech companies to hear our concerns, just as Apple did. Its time for us to work together the news industry, tech companies and of course government too has a big role to play here.See More:
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  • What $200 of ChatGPT is really worth
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    Over the last few weeks, OpenAI has done the previously unthinkable: it has consistently shipped interesting new user-facing products. First there was Tasks, a way to engage ChatGPT in helping you get things done. Then there was Operator, a way for the chatbot to actually do things for you. And finally there was deep research, an extremely imperfect but still very interesting tool for generating deep dives.Subscribe: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Overcast | Pocket Casts | MoreFor now, Operator and deep research are both gated behind ChatGPTs most expensive subscription, the $200-a-month Pro tier. (Tasks is available on the $20 Plus plan.) So on this episode of The Vergecast, we paid up and got to testing. The Verges Kylie Robison joins the show to talk about her experience with the shiniest things about ChatGPT the good, the bad, the ugly, and the really, really, impossibly slow.After that, The Verges Liz Lopatto joins us for an update on Elon Musk and the DOGE takeover of the US government. Liz explains where things stand now, why this is all such a big deal, and where this crisis is really headed. Musk has long assumed, often correctly, that the rules si …Read the full story at The Verge.
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  • YouTube is now even bigger on TVs than phones
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    Its official: people are spending more time watching YouTube on their TVs than on their phones. In the platforms annual letter, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan revealed that viewers are watching more than 1 billion hours of YouTube content on their TVs every day.For the past two years, YouTube has maintained its position as the most-watched streaming service in the US, according to data from Nielsen and for good reason. The company has made some significant tweaks to its TV app that make the platform look like a full-blown streaming service.Last year, YouTube adjusted the layout of its TV app, allowing users to pull up a videos comments and descriptions on the right side of the screen while the video plays on the left. It also added seasons that make series of videos easier to flip through with a remote, along with a Watch With feature that lets creators add commentary to games and events in real time.For more and more people, watching TV means watching YouTube, Mohan wrote. But the new television doesnt look like the old television. Its interactive and includes things like Shorts (yes, people watch them on TVs), podcasts, and live streams, right alongside the sports, sitcoms and talk shows people already love.Meanwhile, YouTube TV which just went up in price has amassed more than 8 million subscribers, while YouTube Premium and Music subscriptions soared past 100 million (including trials). These numbers remain unchanged from the ones YouTube provided last year. Mohan said the company will continue to improve fan-favorite YouTube TV features, like Key Plays and multiview, and bring new benefits to YouTube Premium subscribers.
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  • Meta wants to teach kids how to spot predators online
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    Meta has partnered with the nonprofit organization Childhelp to create a curriculum that will teach middle schoolers how to recognize forms of online exploitation, such as sextortion scams and grooming. The curriculum was fully funded by Meta and is free for any school, parent, or organization to access.Meta says the curriculum consists of lesson plans, interactive classroom activities, and videos to help kids navigate both the online and offline world safely. It was developed with child safety experts from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, the Department of Homeland Security, the nonprofit organization Thorn, Purdue University, and the Crimes against Children Research Center.Childhelp is an organization that assists neglected and abused children. It also aims to increase awareness about child abuse.Meta has ramped up efforts to make its platforms safer for kids as lawmakers focus on child safety. Last year, Instagram started putting all teens into more private and restricted accounts and began automatically blurring nude images sent to minors. The platform also introduced new features to fight sextortion scams, including preventing users from screenshotting disappearing photos in private chats.At the same time, bills like the Kids Online Safety Act and COPPA 2.0 have made their way through the Senate, while the recently introduced Kids Off Social Media Act aims to prevent kids under the age of 13 from creating social media accounts. Some states have passed social media safety laws of their own, though most of them are facing legal challenges.At Meta, we continue to do all we can to protect young people on our apps, Antigone Davis, Metas global safety head, said in the press release. Those protections will be even more effective if teens also feel confident in spotting potential harms and know where to go for help.
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