With the Tetris movie hitting Apple TV+ this week, we chat with the game’s creator, Alexey Pajitnov, and Henk Rogers, the man who helped bring it out of the Soviet Union. We discuss just how realistic the film is (it definitely takes plenty of liberties), the impact of Tetris on gaming and where it could be headed in the future. Also, Cherlynn and Devindra dive into the recent letter from the Future of Life Institute, which was signed by Elon Musk and other tech leaders, and called for a pause on AI development beyond GPT4. It turns out that wasn’t entirely altruistic.
Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!
Interview with Tetris designer Alexey Pajitnov and Tetris publisher Henk Rogers – 1:17
The open letter asking for a 6-month pause of AI development is more suspicious than you think – 16:57
Do the proposed U.S. DATA and RESTRICT acts reach too far in trying to ban TikTok? – 26:48
Pres. Biden bans the use of commercial spyware – 36:20
Microsoft is focused on security, AI and a light processor friendly version in Windows 12 – 39:11
Google unveils AI planning tool to help beat extreme heat due to climate change – 43:21
Apple’s WWDC dates announced: June 5 to 9 – 45:12
Working on – 57:39
Pop culture picks – 1:02:16
Livestream
Credits Hosts: Cherlynn Low and Devindra Hardawar Guests (Audio): Alexey Pajitnov and Henk Rogers Producer: Ben Ellman Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien Livestream producers: Julio Barrientos Graphic artists: Luke Brooks
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://ift.tt/eJ2EHPs
from Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics https://ift.tt/eJ2EHPs
It’s a day of reality catching up with the chatbot boom. In the last 24 hours alone, we’ve had hoaxes, FTC complaints and… ads. Hooray. We’ll get into how Microsoft is bringing ads to its Bing chatbot – bound to happen – while OpenAI may have to halt ChatGPT releases in the face of FTC complaints.
The nonprofit research organization, Center for AI and Digital Policy (CAIDP), says OpenAI’s models are "biased, deceptive" and threaten privacy and public safety. The CAIDP says OpenAI also fails to meet Commission guidelines calling for AI to be transparent, fair and easy to explain. There's no guarantee the FTC will act on the complaint. If it does set requirements, though, the move would affect development across the AI industry.
– Mat Smith
The Morning After isn’t just anewsletter– it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, bysubscribing right here.
Over the past few days, users have reported seeing ads inside Microsoft’s Bing chatbot experience. Based on the limited examples we've seen, the GPT-4-powered chatbot embeds relevant ad links in response to users' actual questions. Ads don't seem to appear for most people (including us) yet, but they'll most likely pop up more frequently and in more places soon. In a post on the Bing blog, Microsoft Corporate VP for Search and Devices Yusuf Mehd, explained that ads would come in the form of a linked citation, along with additional links in a "Learn More" section below Bing's response to their query. In the future, Microsoft could add functionality where hovering over a link from an advertiser would display more links from its website to drive more traffic to it.
The tool had been used to fake images of Trump and the Pope, among others.
Midjourney CEO, David Holz, announced on Discord that the company is ending free trials due to "extraordinary demand and trial abuse." New safeguards haven't been "sufficient," and you'll have to pay at least $10 per month to use the image generator going forward. As The Washington Post reported, Midjourney has picked up unwanted attention in recent weeks. Users relied on the company's AI to build deepfakes of Donald Trump being arrested, and Pope Francis wearing a trendy coat.
The Polestar 3 was recently showcased in New York for its North American debut, so we had to check it out. It might just be the best-looking new SUV in 2023. The Polestar 3 is built on the same platform as the Volvo EX90, but the company has made some significant changes that ensure there won’t be confusion between the two. Instead of three rows of seats, the Polestar 3 maxes out at two, with slightly less rear storage in favor of a more spacious cabin.
T2 is led by former Twitter employees who want to recreate Twitter’s “public square.”
With “legacy” Twitter checkmarks about to disappear (tomorrow!), one Twitter alternative hopes to lure some of those OG verified users to its platform. T2, an invite-only service led by two former Twitter employees, says it will allow accounts to carry over their “legacy” Twitter verification to its site. T2 is part of a growing crop of Twitter alternatives that have sprung up after Musk’s takeover. Founder Gabor Cselle has been clear that he intends to create “a pretty straightforward copy of Twitter with some simplifications”.
Hidden code references games on TV in the Netflix app.
Netflix might have started (or is at least looking to start) testing games for TV, based on code within its app that developer Steve Moser shared with Bloomberg. Moser reportedly found hidden references to games played on television, as well as additional code that indicates the possibility of using phones as controllers to play them. One line from within the app apparently reads: "A game on your TV needs a controller to play. Do you want to use this phone as a game controller?" The streaming giant launched several games on Android, iPhones and iPads in 2021, but on the Netflix app for TV, these games were notably absent.
The weekend and the end of the month are both quickly approaching, and this means it’s time for our updated PS Plus Extra game list for April 2023. The number of PS5 and PS4 games on the PlayStation Plus Extra tier has decreased a little for this month. While there were more games added to the service, there were a few more losses. Here’s the complete list of PS Plus Extra games available in Europe and the Americas at the start of April 2023.
PS Plus Extra Games List for April 2023
PS5 and PS4 games in the Americas and Europe
11-11 Memories Untold
2Dark (leaving on April 18)
8-Bit Armies
9 Monkeys of Shaolin
Absolver
ABZU
Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown
Ace of Seafood
Adr1ft
Adventure Time: Pirates of the Enchiridion
Age of Wonders: Planetfall
Agents of Mayhem
Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX (PS4/PS5)
ALIENATION
AO Tennis 2
Aragami
Ash of Gods Redemption
Ashen
Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag
Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China
Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India
Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: Russia
Assassin’s Creed Freedom Cry
Assassin’s Creed III
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Assassin’s Creed Origins
Assassin’s Creed Rogue Remastered
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate
Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection
Assassin’s Creed Unity
Assetto Corsa Competizione (PS4/PS5)
Astebreed
AVICII Invector
Back 4 Blood (PS5/PS4)
Bad North
Balan Wonderworld (PS4/PS5)
Battle Chasers: Nightwar
Bee Simulator
Ben 10: Power Trip (PS4/PS5)
Black Mirror
Blasphemous
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Bomber Crew
Borderlands 3 (PS4/PS5)
Bound
Brawlout
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back
Bugsnax (PS4/PS5)
Caladrius Blaze
Call of Cthulhu
Car Mechanic Simulator
Carmageddon: Max Damage
Cartoon Network: Battle Crashers
Celeste
Chess Ultra
Chicken Police: Paint It Red!
Chicory: A Colorful Tale
Child of Light
Children of Morta
Chocobo’s Mystery Dungeon EVERY BUDDY!
Chorus (PS4/PS5)
Chronos: Before the Ashes
Cities: Skylines
Clouds & Sheep 2
Concrete Genie
Concrete Genie: Digital Deluxe Edition
ConnecTank
Control: Ultimate Edition (PS4/PS5)
Cris Tales (PS4/PS5)
Croixleur Sigma(leaving on April 18)
Crysis Remastered
Damascus Gear: Operation Tokyo HD Edition
Dandara: Trials of Fear Edition
Dangerous Golf
Darksiders Genesis
Darksiders III
DCL – The Game
Dead By Daylight (PS4/PS5)
Dead Cells
DEAD OR ALIVE 5 Last Round
Death end re;Quest
Death end re;Quest2
Death Squared
DEATH STRANDING
DEATH STRANDING: DIRECTOR’S CUT (PS5)
Deathloop (PS5)
Defense Grid 2
Deliver Us the Moon (PS4/PS5)
DEMON’S SOULS (PS5)
Descenders
Desperados III
Destruction Allstars (PS5)
Devil May Cry 5: Special Edition (PS5/PS4)
Disaster Report 4 Plus: Summer Memories
DISGAEA 5: ALLIANCE OF VENGEANCE
DOOM
Dragon Ball FighterZ
Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot
Dragon Quest Builders
Dragon Quest Builders 2
Dragon Quest Heroes
Dragon Quest Heroes II
Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age – Definitive Edition
Dragon Star Varnir
Dreamfall Chapters
Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires
Eagle Flight
Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair
Earth Defense Force 5
Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain
Earth Defense Force: World Brothers
El Hijo – A Wild West Tale
Elex
Embr
Empire of Sin
Enter the Gungeon
Entwined
Erica
EVERSPACE
Everybody’s Golf
Evil Genius 2 (PS5/PS4)
Fade to Silence
Fallout 76
Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon: Classic Edition
Far Cry 3: Classic Edition
Far Cry 4
Far Cry 5
Far Cry New Dawn
Far Cry Primal
FIA European Truck Racing Championship
FIGHTING EX LAYER – Standard Version
Final Fantasy IX
Final Fantasy Type-0 HD
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VII Remake
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade (PS5)
Final Fantasy VIII Remastered
Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age
Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster
FLUSTER CLUCK
For Honor
For The King
Foreclosed (PS4/PS5)
Friday the 13th: The Game
Frostpunk: Console Edition
Fury Unleashed
Gabbuchi(leaving on April 18)
GAL GUNVOLT BURST
Get Even
GHOST OF TSUSHIMA: DIRECTOR’S CUT (PS4/PS5)
Ghostrunner (PS4/PS5)
Ghostwire Tokyo (PS5)
Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams – Director’s Cut
Gigantosaurus: The Game
Gods will Fall
Golf with Your Friends
Goosebumps: The Game
Grand Ages: Medieval
Graveyard Keeper
Gravity Rush 2
GRIP: Combat Racing
GUNVOLT CHRONICLES LUMINOUS AVENGER IX
Haven (PS4/PS5)
Hello Neighbor
Hohokum
Hollow Knight: Voidheart Edition
Homefront: The Revolution
Horizon Forbidden West (PS4/PS5)
Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition
Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number
Hotshot Racing
How to Survive 2
How to Survive: Storm Warning Edition
Hue
Human Fall Flat (PS4/PS5)
I am Bread
I am Dead (PS4/PS5)
I am Setsuna
Ice Age: Scrat’s Nutty Adventure (PS4/PS5)
Immortals Fenyx Rising (PS4/PS5)
Indivisible
inFAMOUS First Light
inFAMOUS Second Son
Infinite Minigolf
Injustice 2
Inside
Jett: The Far Shore (PS5/PS4)
Joe Dever’s Lone Wolf: Console Edition
John Wick Hex
Jotun: Valhalla Edition
Journey to the Savage Planet
Judgment (PS5/PS4)
Jumanji The Video Game
Just Cause 4: Reloaded
KeyWe (PS4/PS5)
KILLZONE SHADOW FALL
Kingdom Come: Deliverance
Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX
Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue
Kingdom Hearts III
Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory
Kingdom: New Lands
Kingdom Two Crowns
KNACK
Kona (PS4/PS5)
Last Day of June
Last Stop (PS4/PS5)
Lawn Mowing Simulator (PS4/PS5)
Left Alive: Day One Edition
Legendary Fishing
Legends of Ethernal
LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham
Life Is Strange Complete Season
Life Is Strange: Before The Storm Complete Season
Life Is Strange 2 Complete Season
Life Is Strange: True Colors (PS4/PS5)
LittleBigPlanet 3
Little Big Workshop
Little Nightmares
Lost Sphear
Lost Words: Beyond the Page
Magicka 2
Mahjong
Malicious Fallen
Maneater (PS4/PS5)
Marvel Puzzle Quest (leaving on April 18)
Marvel’s Avengers (PS4/PS5)
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (PS4/PS5)
Marvel’s Spider-Man
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Game of the Year Edition
MARVELS SPIDER-MAN MILES MORALES (PS4/PS5)
MATTERFALL
MediEvil
Megadimension Neptunia VII
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor
Middle-Earth: Shadow of War
Mighty No. 9
Minit
Mitsurugi Kamui Hikae
Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight
Monopoly Madness
Monopoly Plus
Monster Jam Steel Titans 2
Monster Truck Championship (PS4/PS5)
Moonlighter
Mortal Kombat 11 (PS4/PS5)
Mortal Shell
Mortal Shell: Enhanced Edition (PS5/PS4)
Moving Out
Mudrunner
MX vs ATV All Out
My Friend Pedro
My Time at Portia
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4(leaving on April 18)
Naruto to Baruto: Shinobi Striker
NASCAR Heat 5
NBA 2K Playgrounds 2
Necromunda: Underhive Wars
Neo: The World Ends With You
Nidhogg
Nidhogg II
Nights of Azure
Nights of Azure 2: Bride of the New Moon
Nioh
No Straight Roads
Observation
Observer: System Redux (PS4/PS5)
Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty
Oddworld: Soulstorm – Enhanced Edition (PS5/PS4)
Omega Quintet
OMNO
OneeChanbara Origin
Oninaki
Outer Wilds (PS4/PS5)
Outriders (PS4/PS5)
Overcooked! 2
Overpass
Party Hard
Pathfinder: Kingmaker – Definitive Edition
Paw Patrol on a Roll!
Payday 2: Crimewave Edition
Pile Up! Box by Box
Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Ultimate Edition
Pixel Piracy
Portal Knights
Power Rangers: Battle For The Grid
Prey
Prison Architect
Pure Hold’em World Poker Championship
Pure Pool
Rabbids Invasion: The Interactive TV Show
RAGE 2
Raiden V: Director’s Cut
Rapala Fishing: Pro Series
Rayman Legends
ReadySet Heroes
Rebel Galaxy
Redeemer – Enhanced Edition
Reel Fishing: Road Trip Adventure
Relicta
RESOGUN
RETURNAL (PS5)
Rez Infinite
Risk Urban Assault
Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break
Rogue Stormers
Romance of The Three Kingdoms XIII
R-TYPE FINAL 2
Saints Row Gat out of Hell
Saints Row IV: Re-Elected
Scarlet Nexus (PS4/PS5)
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game – Complete Edition
Secret Neighbor
Shadow of the Beast
Shadow of the Colossus
Shadow Warrior 2
Shenmue III
Slime Rancher
Sniper Elite 4
Soulcalibur VI
South Park: The Fractured but Whole
South Park: The Stick of Truth
Space Crew: Legendary Edition
Space Hulk: Deathwing – Enhanced Edition
Space Junkies
Spirit of the North: Enhanced Edition (PS5)
Spiritfarer: Farewell Edition
Spitlings
Star Ocean First Departure R
Star Trek: Bridge Crew
Starlink: Battle for Atlas
Steep
Stellaris: Console Edition
Stranded Deep
Stray (PS4/PS5)
Street Fighter V Champion Edition
Sundered: Eldritch Edition
Surgeon Simulator: Anniversary Edition
Surviving Mars
Tchia
Tearaway Unfolded
Tekken 7
Telling Lies
Tennis World Tour 2 (PS4/PS5)
Terraria
Tetris Effect: Connected
The Artful Escape (PS4/PS5)
The Caligula Effect: Overdose(leaving on April 18)
The Crew
The Crew 2
The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope (PS4/PS5)
The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan (PS4/PS5)
The Division 2
The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (PS5/PS4)
The Escapists 2
The Fisherman – Fishing Planet
The Forgotten City (PS5/PS4)
The Gardens Between (PS5/PS4)
The LEGO Movie Videogame
The Long Dark
The Medium (PS5)
The Messenger
The MISSING: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories
The Pedestrian (PS5/PS4)
The Quarry (PS5/PS4)
The Surge
The Surge 2
The Technomancer
The Witch and the Hundred Knight: Revival Edition
The Wonderful 101: Remastered(leaving on April 18)
This is the Police
This is the Police 2
This War of Mine: The Little Ones
Thomas was Alone
Through the Darkest of Times
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction (PS4/PS5)
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege (PS4/PS5)
Tom Clancy’s The Division
TorqueL
Totally Reliable Delivery Service
Toukiden 2
Tour de France 2021 (PS4/PS5)
TowerFall Ascension
Townsmen – A Kingdom Rebuilt
Trackmania Turbo
Transference
Trials Fusion
Trials of Mana
Trials of the Blood Dragon
Trials Rising
Tricky Towers
Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince
TRON RUN/r
Tropico 5
TT Isle of Man: Ride on the Edge 2
Uncharted Legacy of Thieves Collection (PS5)
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
UNO
Untitled Goose Game
Unturned
Valiant Hearts: The Great War
Vampyr
Vikings – Wolves of Midgard
Virginia
Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor – Martyr
Warhammer: Chaosbane
Warhammer: Chaosbane – Slayer Edition (PS5)
Warhammer: Vermintide 2
WARRIORS ALL-STARS
Watch Dogs
Watch Dogs 2
Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood (PS4/PS5)
Werewolves Within
Wheel of Fortune
What Remains of Edith Finch (PS4/PS5)
Wild Guns Reloaded
Windbound
Wolfenstein: The New Order
World of Final Fantasy
Worms WMD
Wreckfest (PS4/PS5)
Wytchwood (PS4/PS5)
XCOM 2
Yakuza 0
Yakuza 6: The Song of Life
Yakuza Kiwami
Yakuza Kiwami 2
Yakuza: Like a Dragon (PS5/PS4)
Yet Another Zombie Defense
Ys IX: Monstrum Nox
Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA
ZOMBI
Zombie Army 4: Dead War
PS4 games exclusive to the Americas
Dark Rose Valkyrie
HARVEST MOON LIGHT OF HOPE SPECIAL EDITION
Harvest Moon: Mad Dash
Harvest Moon: One World
Touhou Genso Rondo: Bullet Ballet
Umbrella Corps
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
PS4 games exclusive to Europe
428: Shibuya Scramble(leaving on April 18)
Fire Pro Wrestling World
Flatout 4: Total Insanity
Stein;s Gate Elite(leaving on April 18)
Zanki Zero: Last Beginning(leaving on April 18)
There are now 438 PS Plus Extra games available on PS4 and/or PS5 in the Americas and Europe at the start of April 2023. There are then seven games only available in the Americas and there are five games only available in Europe. There haven’t been any surprise additions aside from the games that we were expecting. There will be more additions to the list on April 18, although Sony is yet to announce what these will be.
No surprise removals hit the big list either, just the nine that we knew were disappearing between March 13-16. Be aware, though, that there are ten PS Plus Extra games due to leave on April 18, 2023, so make sure to finish those up if you’re currently playing them.
Today is World Backup Day (March 31st), meant to remind everyone to protect their precious data. Amazon is having a large storage sale to commemorate the occasion with discounts of up to 67 percent on hard disks, memory cards, SSDs and more. Some standout deals include the WD Black 2TB NVMe SSD for PS5 consoles for $170 (43 percent off), the SanDisk 2TB Extreme Pro Portable SSD for $175 (24 percent off) and SanDisk's 1TB Extreme microSDXC memory card for $100, a full two-thirds off the regular price.
WD's Black Gen4 PCIe NVMe 2TB SSD can hold up to 50 games on your PS5 and delivers read/write speeds of 7,000MB/s and 5,300MB/s respectively, allowing for seamless gameplay. It'll work equally well for your PC, particularly for content creation. The 2TB model is an incredible deal at $170, considering the regular price is $300. But if you want to spend a bit less and don't need as much storage, the 1TB model is also on sale for $125 for a savings of 31 percent.
If it's backup storage you're after, Amazon has you covered here as well. The SanDisk 2TB Extreme Pro portable SSD, with speeds up to 2,000MB/s (USB 3.2 Gen 2x2) is $175, for a savings of $24 percent. You can also pick up the 1TB version for $130 (58 percent off), and the 4TB model is $400, a whopping $500 off the regular price — though you'll actually spend less by getting two 2TB models.
The final product of note is SanDisk's 1TB microSDXC card, on sale for just $100, or 67 percent ($200) off the regular price. You'll also see a stellar deal on the 512GB version, which can be found for $48 or 56 percent off (again, it's cheaper to get two of these than a single 1TB card, though the latter may be more convenient).
International Data Corporation (IDC) claims that PSVR 2 sales will flop and has recommended a price cut should Sony want to avoid a disaster. The company claims that only 270,000 PSVR 2 units will be sold by March 31.
Sony remains optimistic about PSVR 2
Speaking to Bloomberg, IDC’s vice president of data and analytics Francisco Geronimo said that PSVR 2 came at a time of economic uncertainty around the globe.
“Consumers around the world are facing rising costs of living, rising interest rates and increasing layoffs,” Geronimo said. “VR headsets are not top of mind for most consumers under the current economic climate.”
While PSVR 2 does seem like a novelty, Sony has remained optimistic about the headset’s sales. The company previously rubbished Bloomberg reports that it was looking to cut PSVR 2’s production and has said on numerous occasions that it believes the headset will outpace its predecessor.
Reviewers unanimously praised PSVR 2 as a major leap forward in VR but expressed concerns about its library.
Sony has yet to reveal official sales data so we’ll find out in due course just how well the PSVR 2 has sold. The headset launched on February 22nd for $549.99.
Apple has set the dates for WWDC 2023, which will run between June 5th and June 9th. It's still an online-only affair, but there will be a "special experience" at Apple Park on the 5th for developers and students.
While we expect to see software-centric upgrades, with iOS, macOS and the rest, this could also be when Apple finally debuts its mixed-reality headset. Rumors suggest it could be called Reality Pro or Reality One, and it’s believed to be a standalone device with an M2 chip, dual 4K displays, advanced body tracking and controller-free input. It could be a pricey piece of hardware, even by Apple’s standards, with some reports suggesting it’ll cost $3,000.
– Mat Smith
The Morning After isn’t just anewsletter– it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, bysubscribing right here.
Sony has unveiled its latest, and by far greatest vlogging camera to date: The full-frame ZV-E1. Equipped with the same backside-illuminated (BSI) 12-megapixel sensor as one of the company’s flagship cameras, the A7S III, it promises excellent low-light performance and 4K video at up to 120p. The $2,200 price tag also makes it enticing for vloggers as it offers features found on the $3,500 A7S III, thanks to a full-frame sensor. Crucially, for people like me obsessed with the older ZV-1 vlogging camera, it uses the same Z-batteries as larger Sony models, meaning more video capture without having to keep it plugged in or swapping out batteries. It goes on pre-order tomorrow, with shipping set to start in early April.
An open letter signed by tech leaders and prominent AI researchers has called for AI labs and companies to "immediately pause" their work. Signatories like Steve Wozniak and Elon Musk agree risks warrant a minimum six-month break from producing technology beyond GPT-4 to allow people to adjust and ensure they are benefiting everyone. The letter adds that care and forethought are necessary to ensure the safety of AI systems, and that may not be happening. Companies are racing to build complex chat systems that utilize the technology. Microsoft recently confirmed that its revamped Bing search engine has been powered by the GPT-4 model for over seven weeks, while Google also debuted Bard, its own generative AI system powered by LaMDA.
Natural gas is still the largest electricity source, however.
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) has determined that renewable power generation overtook coal in 2022, with 4,090 million megawatt-hours coming from solar, wind, hydroelectric, biomass and geothermal technology. The shift came through increased renewable capacity and coal's years-long decline. Wind was the dominant source of clean electricity, with the capacity jumping from 133 gigawatts in 2021 to 141 gigawatts a year later. However, natural gas still remains the top power source, with a 39 percent share.
The Lamborghini Revuelto, which translates to “scrambled,” can reach 6.2 miles from a full charge. That is likely not enough juice to get you to Costco and back, but this is a hybrid vehicle not exactly intended for all-electric usage. With that said, the combustion engine charges the rather minuscule 3.8kWh battery on its own in just six minutes. If you’re waiting on an all-electric Lamborghini, the company still plans to introduce one by 2030.
Reddit's transparency reports go beyond what most social media companies offer, providing copious data on content moderation and global legal requests. Now, the company has introduced a transparency center serving as a hub for safety, security and policy information. It also announced plans to release transparency reports biannually rather than just once per year and said that in 2022, it removed significantly more offensive content, including child abuse and revenge porn, than in 2021.
Last year, Reddit saw a big jump in moderation and legal requests, according to its 2022 transparency report. Government and law enforcement removal account information requests were up by 51 percent and 61 percent respectively, while copyright notices jumped 43 percent.
The story was similar on the moderation front. Last summer, the BBC reported that Reddit was still leaving up "thousands" of non-consensual intimate (NCII) images (aka revenge porn), despite making changes to its policy earlier in this year.
As a result, Reddit joined StopNCII.org, a database that aims to reduce the spread of revenge porn, operated by the nonprofit charity SWGfL's Revenge Porn Hotline. "We have already seen promising results from this tool and believe it will help us remove this content more quickly," a spokesperson told Ars Technica. To wit, it removed 244 percent more user accounts violating revenge porn policies than it did in 2021, and banned 473 percent more subreddits. The total number of NCII posts removed was 187,258 compared to around 88,000 the year before.
The site also removed 874 percent more child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) than it did in 2021. It achieved that by hiring more moderation staff and investing in proactive detection tools. By comparison, Twitter has reportedly been cutting its global moderation workforce and disbanded its Trust and Safety Council.
The aim with the transparency center, Reddit said, was to make it easier for user and "other interested parties like policymakers and the media" to find information about content moderation, legal requests and general platform safety. As such, there are sections for Reddit's terms & policies, guidelines for law enforcement, platform security updates, its bug bounty program and past transparency reports.
The company also said it would publish full transparency reports twice a year, rather than annually as it does now. Last year, it did publish its first mid-year transparency report, but it only focused on global legal requests. Going forward, however, the mid-year reports will cover both legal requests and content moderation data, exactly like the current year-end wrap-ups.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://ift.tt/pmWCtua
from Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics https://ift.tt/pmWCtua
Developer Arvore recently announced its upcoming virtual reality game Pixel Ripped 1978 at GDC 2023. I was given a sneak peek, and got some hands-on time, with the team’s first fully licensed addition to its line of Pixel Ripped games.
Both of the studio’s previous releases, Pixel Ripped 1989 and Pixel Ripped 1995, were loosely based on games from their relative time era, but couldn’t specifically name names due to licensing issues. Thanks to a partnership with Atari, this next addition to the series won’t be so vague.
Atari x Arvore
Atari first approached Arvore at the DICE Awards in 2022, the studio’s CEO Ricardo Justus tells me, with the veteran publisher outlining the possibility of collaborating on the next Pixel Ripped adventure. At this point, Pixel Ripped 1978 was already deep in the development process and almost ready to be announced, but this partnership opened the door to a world of possibilities.
Atari’s collaboration meant that Arvore was now allowed to incorporate almost anything from the Atari-owned library. The development team had to go back to the drawing board and start adding actual Atari references, rewriting the story so as to get as much Atari goodness in there as possible.
Putting on nostalgia goggles
This official licensing allows Pixel Ripped 1978 to really lean in on the nostalgia factor. Playing as Bug, the game developer that created the first Pixel Ripped game, you begin sitting in your work cubicle playing on the Atari 2600. In VR, I was transported back to nine-year-old me playing the same console at Christmas — only this time, I could jump straight into the games I was playing.
Thanks to the technical capabilities of the PSVR 2, the transition from a game developer sitting at a desk to a hero solving puzzles and shooting baddies is seamless and smooth. When you’re in a game, you’re controlling Dot, who’s tasked with repairing the Atari games that Bug is developing from the inside and restoring them to their full pixelated glory. For those that have played the previous Pixel Ripped titles, you’ll be reunited with familiar characters and meet colorful new ones in this VR game-within-a-game adventure.
The power of PSVR 2
Pixel Ripped 1978 is built for the next generation of VR systems, and that means the PSVR won’t be getting it, and even the Meta Quest 2 has to be tethered to a gaming PC to play it. The resolution that the PSVR 2 brings with it, as well as the processing power of the PS5, makes this VR game super smooth. The new controllers helped with immersion for the experience, and made grabbing things pretty easy.
When it comes to moving from point A to point B in the FPS part of the game, the developer uses a directed focus effect, which basically eliminates your peripheral vision while moving by sliding blinders on you, and eliminates any chance for motion sickness. That’s something that almost all VR developers are doing now with current-gen VR systems, and it’s a game changer.
Conclusion
I was allowed to play through the first chapter of the game for the demo, and the story is intriguing and entertaining, with some colorful character. The graphics were impressive in VR, with smooth transitions and smooth movements, showcasing the power of the PSVR 2 well. Its newfound partnership also makes this a nostalgic celebration of Atari-era games, something that those who — like me — grew up with old-school systems like the 2600 will greatly appreciate.
Pixel Ripped 1978 is releasing sometime this summer for the PSVR 2, PC VR, and the Meta Quest 2 while tethered.
With extreme weather events regularly flooding our coastal cities and burning out our rural communities, Google in its magnanimity has developed a new set of online tools that civil servants and community organizers alike can use in their efforts to stave off climate change-induced catastrophe.
Google already pushes extreme weather alerts to users in affected locations, providing helpful, easy-to-understand information about the event through the Search page — whether its a winter storm warning, flood advisories, tornado warnings, or what have you. The company has now added extreme heat alerts to that list. Googling details on the event will return everything from the predicted start and end dates of the heatwave to medical issues to be aware of during it and how to mitigate their impacts. The company is partnering with the Global Heat Health Information Network (GHHIN) to ensure that the information provided is both accurate and applicable.
Google
It's a lot easier to keep the citizenry comfortable in hot weather if the cities themselves aren't sweltering, but our love affair with urban concrete has not been amenable to that goal. That's why Google has developed Tree Canopy, a feature within the company's Environmental Insights Explorer app, which "combines AI and aerial imagery so cities can understand their current tree coverage and better plan urban forestry initiatives," per Wednesday's release.
Tree Canopy is already in use in more than a dozen cities but, with Wednesday's announcement, the program will be drastically expanding, out to nearly 350 cities around the world including Atlanta, Sydney, Lisbon and Paris. Google also offers a similarly-designed AI to help plan the installation of "cool roofs" which reflect heat from the sun rather than absorb it like today's tar paper roofs do.
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Lenovo carved out a niche with its Legion line of gaming smartphones featuring impressive specs and gimmicks like SSD RAID storage and pop-out cameras. Now, the company is exiting the gaming phone business completely, it told Android Authority.
"Lenovo is discontinuing its Android-based Legion mobile gaming phones as part of a wider business transformation and gaming portfolio consolidation. As a leader in gaming devices and solutions, Lenovo is committed to advancing the gaming category across form factors, as well as focusing on where it can bring the most value to the global gaming community," a spokesperson said.
Lenovo's gaming smartphone woes likely sprung from the fact that it failed to establish the Legion brand outside of China. It poached a number of employees from the ASUS ROG team at the beginning, so it was clearly committed to mobile gaming early on. Its last Legion-branded phone was the slightly lower-end Y70 announced last August, but the final flagship Y90 was released over a year ago in February 2022.
What makes Fortnite so engaging? Ask players what they love, and there’s a number of things they might mention about the hugely popular battle royale. The gameplay loop is fun, with solid third-person shooter controls and the unique complexity of its building mechanic nicely complicating the simple quest to be the…
Janey, Sabz, Avuhlie, and GuhRL are probably younger than you, but they’re definitely better at Apex Legends than you. The four young women, who range in age from 17 to 27, are esports organization TSM’s first all-women pro Apex squad—quite a feat when you consider the game’s notoriously high skill ceiling. Announced…
Final Fantasy 16‘s 60 FPS mode will be available to PS5 players, the game’s producer,
Naoki Yoshida, has confirmed. For those who opt for the FF16 Performance Mode and forgo 4K resolution, a smoother overall frame rate will be enabled.
Final Fantasy 16 to run at 60 FPS on PS5
Yoshida confirmed that Final Fantasy 16 will run at 60 FPS on PS5 during the game’s PAX East 2023 panel (via MP1st).
As explained by Yoshida, to achieve the 60 FPS target, FF16’s output resolution must be dropped from 4K (2160p) in “Quality” mode to 1440p in “Performance” mode. Players will be able to switch between the two modes at any point during gameplay.
The choice between resolution and frame rate is something that most current-gen players will be used to. Many games offer multiple graphics modes, giving players a choice on what they want to be prioritized.
As an action-heavy game, it seems like Performance for 60 FPS will be the best choice for the majority of players.
Another confirmed FF16 feature is New Game Plus, which is apparently more difficult than Devil May Cry 5.
Will FF16 also be 60 FPS on Xbox Series X|S? We’ll have to wait a while to find out, as this game is a timed PS5 exclusive due to Sony’s “generous support.”
Welcome to Exp. Share, Kotaku’s weekly Pokémon column in which we dive deep to explore notable characters, urban legends, communities, and just plain weird quirks from throughout the Pokémon franchise. This week, we’re looking at the history of Shiny Pokémon and how catching them became a huge pillar of the series’…
The controversy surrounding Dark and Darker, an MMO that stands accused of stealing not just assets but also staff from Korean publishers Nexon, escalated over the weekend when the game was delisted from Steam.
Good news, Arrested Development fans. You can continue watching the highly acclaimed sitcom on Netflix. As The Verge outlines, all five seasons of the show, including the two financed by Netflix, were set to leave the service on March 15th. However, the series is now staying put, thanks to a licensing agreement the company reached with Disney-owned 20th Century Fox, the show’s original rights holder.
The Bluths aren’t going anywhere!
Arrested Development is staying on Netflix! And there’s only one way to celebrate: pic.twitter.com/NlrSoBYk8t
According to Vulture, the new deal will see Netflix gain exclusive streaming rights to the series. As a result, the show’s first three seasons will not be available to watch on Hulu as of later this year. Notably, the deal reportedly gives Disney the option to sell the linear TV rights for all five seasons of Arrested Development. That means the show could end up on network television, much like BoJack Horseman did in 2018. Losing Arrested Development would have been a tough blow for Netflix. After Fox canceled the series in 2006, it found a home on the streaming service and was one of its early draws. It was also one of the first Netflix Originals after the company and Fox commissioned a new season in 2011.
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Elon Musk values Twitter at about $20 billion, according to an email seen by The Information and The New York Times. Musk shared the valuation, a significant drop from the $44 billion he paid to buy the company last fall, in a memo he sent to Twitter employees on Friday announcing a new stock compensation program. The billionaire reportedly warned Twitter’s significantly diminished workforce that the website was still in a precarious financial position. “Twitter is being reshaped rapidly,” he wrote, adding the company had, at one point, been four months away from running out of cash.
Comp increases will be based on X Corp stock. Current grants are based on a $20b valuation. Musk says he sees a “clear but difficult path” to $250 billion valuation which would mean current grants could 10x. 3/
According to Platformer’s ZoëSchiffer, Musk additionally told employees he sees a “clear but difficult path” to a $250 billion valuation, a hypothetical outcome that would make the company’s current stock grants worth 10 times as much in the future. Musk said Twitter would allow staff to sell stock every six months, a policy similar to one in place at SpaceX. According to Musk, the program would give employees “liquid stock” while shielding them from the “price chaos” that comes with equity at a publicly traded company.
To put Musk’s valuation in context, at $20 billion, Twitter would be worth more than Snapchat creator Snap, a company with nearly 140 million more daily active users. It’s also worth noting that the estimate likely reflects the difficulties Twitter has faced as a direct result of Musk’s decisions. At the start of 2023, the company’s daily revenue was reportedly down 40 percent from a year ago after more than 500 of its top advertising partners had paused spending on the platform. Many of those companies left following the firm’s messy relaunch of Twitter Blue, which saw verified trolls abuse the service to impersonate brands. Based on recent reporting from The Information, there were only about 180,000 Twitter Blue subscribers in the US at the beginning of February, suggesting the service is nowhere close to making up for the financial downturn Twitter has experienced since Musk’s takeover.
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The European Union has agreed to make a carveout for synthetic fuels in its proposed 2035 ban on the sale of new combustion engine cars. Per the Associated Press, the bloc made a deal with Germany on Saturday to allow automakers to sell new ICE cars past 2035, provided those vehicles run on climate-neutral fuels only. The agreement ends a dispute that had threatened to scuttle the EU’s signature climate change policy. At the start of March, the European Parliament delayed a vote that would have codified the proposed ban after Germany, with support from automakers, said it would not back the mandate without an exemption for synthetic fuels.
We have found an agreement with Germany on the future use of efuels in cars.
We will work now on getting the CO2-standards for cars regulation adopted as soon as possible, and the Commission will follow-up swiftly with the necessary legal steps to implement recital 11.
“We have found an agreement with Germany on the future use of e-fuels in cars,” Frans Timmermans, the executive vice president of European Green Deal, posted to Twitter on Saturday. “We will work now on getting the CO2 standards for cars regulation adopted as soon as possible.” Environmental group Greenpeace criticized the agreement. “This lazy compromise undermines climate protection in transport, and it harms Europe,” the organization wrote in a statement.
As The Guardian notes, making synthetic fuels is incredibly energy intensive. Moreover, without direct air capture tech, e-fuel cars produce almost as many greenhouse emissions as their conventional ICE counterparts. According to one estimate published before Saturday’s announcement, a carveout for synthetic fuels could result in as many as 46 million fewer cumulative EV sales in Europe by 2050 “without providing any additional CO2 savings.” It’s also worth noting that no company is producing synthetic fuels at scale yet. That’s a significant point because e-fuels are unlikely to save European drivers money. By 2030, Transport & Environment estimates the average EU driver will pay €782 a year more to fill their car's tank with synthetic fuel than conventional gas.
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The internet has connected nearly everybody on the planet to a global network of information and influence, enabling humanity's best and brightest minds unparalleled collaborative capabilities. At least that was the idea, more often than not these days, it serves as a popular medium for scamming your more terminally-online relatives out of large sums of money. Just ask Brett Johnson, a reformed scam artist who at his rube-bilking pinnacle, was good at separating fools from their cash that he founded an entire online learning forum to train a new generation of digital scam artist.
Johnson's cautionary tale in one of many in the new book, Fool Me Once: Scams, Stories, and Secrets from the Trillion-Dollar Fraud Industry, from Harvard Business Review Press. In it, Professor of Forensic Accounting at DePaul University, Dr. Kelly Richmond Pope, chronicles some of the 20th and 21st century's most heinous financial misdeeds — from Bernie Madoff's pyramid schemes to Enron and VW, and all the Nigerian Princes in between — exploring how the grifts worked and why they often left their marks none the wiser.
I was doing my morning reading before class, and a story about a reformed cybercriminal caught my attention. I always wanted to learn more about cybercrime, but I’d never interacted with a convicted cyber offender. Here was my chance.
I did a quick Google search and found his personal website. I reached out, explained my interest in his story, and waited. By evening, I had an email from gollum@anglerphish.com. I was immediately suspicious, but it was a legit address of Brett Johnson, the man from the article.
After a few email exchanges, we got on a call. He was super friendly and had the voice of a radio DJ. I invited him to come speak to my class at DePaul.
“I teach on Monday nights for the next eight weeks, so whatever works for you will work for me,” I said.
“How about I hop in my car and come visit your class this coming Monday?” he said.
I was a little shocked—Birmingham, Alabama was a long drive— but I immediately took him up on his offer.
Brett was born and raised in Hazard, Kentucky, “one of these areas like the Florida Panhandle and parts of Louisiana, where if you’re not fortunate enough to have a job, you may be involved in some sort of scam, hustle, fraud, whatever you want to call it,” he said.
Maybe there was something in the water because his entire family engaged in fraud. Insurance fraud, document forgery, drug trafficking, mining illegal coal. You name it, Brett’s family did it.
Young Brett was a natural liar. As he grew up, he participated in the family scams.
Eventually, he branched out on his own. His first scam: in 1994, he faked his own car accident. Second scam: eBay fraud.
He reached his peak in the mid-’90s, during the Beanie Baby heyday. The Royal Blue Peanut, essentially a cobalt stuffed elephant toy, sold for as much as $1,700. Only five hundred of the dolls were manufactured, making it one of the most valuable Beanie Babies.
Brett was trying to earn some extra money. A Beanie Baby scam seemed easy and quick.
He advertised on eBay that he was selling Royal Blue Peanut for $1,500. Except he was actually selling a gray Beanie Baby that he dipped in blue dye to look like Royal Blue Peanut for $1,500.
He accepted a bid and instructed the winner to send a US postal money order. “It protects us both,” he said via email. “As soon as I get that and it clears, I’ll send you your elephant.”
The bidder sent Brett the money order; Brett cashed it and sent her his version of the blue Beanie Baby. The phone rang almost immediately.
“This is not what I ordered!” yelled a voice on the other line.
Brett’s response was swift. “Lady, you ordered a blue elephant. I sent you a blue-ish elephant.”
Brett gave her the runaround for a few weeks until she finally disappeared.
This experience taught Brett two very important lessons about cybercrime:
Delay the victim as long as possible.
Victims rarely report the crime and eventually go away.
Brett continued to perfect his skills and graduated to selling pirated software. From pirated software, he moved to install mod chips (a small electronic device used to disable artificial restrictions of computers or entertainment devices) into gaming systems so owners could play the pirated games. Then he began installing mod chips in the cable boxes that would turn on all the pay-per-view on clients’ TV channels for free. Then it was programming satellite DSS cards (the satellite DSS card allows access to tv channels).
He was getting requests for his cable boxes from customers all over the United States and Canada. He was on a roll. Finally, it occurred to him: Why even fulfill the cable box order? Just take the money and run. He knew that no customer would complain about losing money in an illegal transaction. He stole even more money with this updated version of his cable box scam but soon worried that he’d get flagged for money laundering. He decided he needed a fake driver’s license so he could open up a bank account and launder the money through cash taken out of the ATM.
He found a person online who sold fake licenses. He sent a picture, $200, and waited. He waited and waited. Then reality punched him in the face: He’d been scammed. The nerve.
No one hates being deceived more than someone who deceives for a living. Brett was so frustrated he started ShadowCrew.com, an online forum where people could learn the ins and outs of cybercrime. Forbes called it “a one-stop marketplace for identity theft.” The ShadowCrew operated from August 2002 through November 2004, attracting as many as four thousand criminals or aspiring criminals. It’s considered the forerunner of today’s cybercrime forums and marketplaces; Brett is known as the Godfather of Cybercrime.
“Before ShadowCrew, the only avenue you had to commit online crime was a rolling chat board,” he told my students. “It’s called a IRC chat session and stands for Internet Relay Chat.” The problem with these rolling chat screens was that you had no idea if you were talking to a cop or a crook. Either was possible.
ShadowCrew gave criminals a trust mechanism. It was a large communication channel where people in different time zones could reference conversations. “By looking at someone’s screen name, you could tell if you could trust that person, if you could network with that person, or if you could learn from that person,” he said. The screen name on the dark web became the criminal’s brand name. They keep this brand name throughout their entire criminal tenure and it helps establish trust with others, so the screen name matters.
When Brett was in class, he showed my students how information ended up on the dark web. “You can find social security numbers, home addresses, driver’s license numbers, credit card numbers on the dark web for $3,” he explained. All the information is there, practically begging to be taken.
In 2004, authorities arrested twenty-eight men in six countries, claiming they had swapped 1.7 million stolen card numbers and caused $4.3 million in losses. But Brett escaped. He was placed on the Secret Service’s Most Wanted list. After four months on the run, he was arrested.
Brett has been in and out of prison five times and spent 7.5 years in federal prison. Today he considers himself a reformed white-collar offender.
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