Meta, X, TikTok, Snap and Discord CEOs will testify before the Senate over online child safety

Social media's negative impact on children's and young adults' mental health has been a growing cause of concern for parents and lawmakers. Now, the CEOs of Meta, TikTok, Snap, Discord and X are set to testify in front of the US Senate Judiciary Committee on "their failure to protect children online." Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew are willing participants. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, Discord CEO Jason Citron and X CEO Linda Yaccarino are testifying after being subpoenaed.

Senator Dick Durbin, chair of the Judiciary Committee, and Senator Lindsey Graham, its ranking member, released a statement expressing their frustration with Snap, Discord, and X's initial refusal to have their CEOs participate and even accept the subpoenas. In Discord's case, US Marshals visited their offices to serve the document. 

The senators further shared a feeling of hypocrisy at these platforms wanting a say in policy but fighting against getting involved in discussions. "When we held our first hearing on protecting children online with experts and advocates earlier this year, Big Tech griped about not getting an invitation. We promised them that their time would come," Durbin and Graham stated. "We've known from the beginning that our efforts to protect children online would be met with hesitation from Big Tech. They finally are being forced to acknowledge their failures when it comes to protecting kids. Now that all five companies are cooperating, we look forward to hearing from their CEOs. Parents and kids demand action." 

The Judiciary Committee has focused on this issue a great deal throughout the year, approving bills that would force online platforms to take more responsibility in protecting children (and be more transparent in their efforts) and improve reporting of online child sexual exploitation, among other steps. The hearing with the CEOs from the five tech giants was originally set for December but will now take place on January 31, 2024, at 10 AM ET. 

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United Auto Workers seeks to unionize Tesla, BMW and other carmakers

Fresh off successful contract negotiations with Ford, GM and Stellantis, the United Auto Workers (UAW) is seeking to unionize 150,000 workers across 13 automakers including Tesla, BMW, Mercedes Benz and Hyundai, it announced. "To all the autoworkers out there working without the benefits of a union: now it’s your turn," said UAW president Shawn Fain. 

The UAW said the organizing drive covers "more than a dozen" non-union automakers. It notes that many use a mix of full-time, temporary and contract employees "to divide the workforce and depress wages." The union cited one example of a Hyundai assembly plant employee who worked for a subcontractor for eight years starting at $9.25 an hour before finally becoming a full-time Hyundai employee. 

Non-union automakers, including VW, Nissan, Hyundai, Honda, Toyota and Subaru raised wages after the UAW's negotiations with the big three. VW, for one, bumped them to $23.42 an hour, rising to a maximum of $32.40. However, they "lag far behind UAW autoworkers in wages, benefits and rights on the job," the union said.

The UAW helped workers win a 25 percent raise over four years with the big three automakers, with the highest-paid Ford workers now earning $83,000 per year for a 40-hour work week (around $42 per hour). The union also gained reinstatement of cost-of-living allowances, shorter progression periods to top wages and a quicker conversion of temporary to in-progression (full-time) employees. 

Tesla employees have attempted to unionize the company before, and some alleged that the company fired them for that — though that claim was recently dismissed by the US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The NLRB has previously found that Tesla violated labor law by prohibiting employees from talking about workplace matters. Back in 2022, Elon Musk challenged the UAW to hold a vote at Tesla's California factory.

Other automakers aren't exempt from worker complaints, including startup Rivian. "The company likes to tell us we’re making the plane while flying it, and that explains a lot about the problems we have," said one Rivian chassis worker. "We have all sorts of safety issues. Turnover is terrible. Every group has a story about a new employee who did not make it to first break. The lack of safety, the low pay, the forced overtime, there are so many reasons we need to be union." 

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Skull and Bones New Release Date Reportedly Leaked

Let’s try this again: a new release date for Ubisoft‘s Skull and Bones has apparently leaked. After countless delays, a known insider has claimed that the game is set for February 16, 2024, with three days of early access for those who fork out some extra cash.

Skull and Bones early access release date is reportedly February 13, 2024

The leak comes from none other than Insider Gaming’s Tom Henderson, who claims that Ubisoft plans a “premium” version of Skull and Bones that’ll come with the aforementioned early access bonus. The report adds that the Premium version will cost approximately $15-$20 more than the standard edition, which is listed for $60 on the Ubisoft Store. Skull and Bones is listed on the PlayStation Store but without a price since pre-orders were pulled.

Insider Gaming is unsure when Ubisoft will announce the new release date but since it’s not too far off, the earliest Henderson expects to hear something is The Game Awards 2023 in early December unless Ubisoft has planned a separate announcement.

If Henderson’s report is correct and Ubisoft has no further change of plans, Skull and Bones will finally be released more than five years after it was supposed to launch.

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Beyond Good & Evil 20th Anniversary Edition Will Come With Updated Trophies

Following a rating board leak in August, Beyond Good and Evil 20th Anniversary Edition has been confirmed by a now-deleted Xbox Store listing. The game actually became playable for Ubisoft+ subscribers briefly before the publisher realized the blooper and pulled it.

Beyond Good & Evil 20th Anniversary Edition listing mentions “updated” trophies/achievements

BG&E 20th Anniversary Edition will come with updated graphics, a new mode, and updated “achievements,” according to the Xbox Store. This presumably means we’ll get updated trophies as well. The original release didn’t come with trophies since it launched on the PS2, but BG&E’s HD version on the PS3 did come with them sans a Platinum trophy. Here’s hoping the latest entry — which is supposed to be released on both the PS4 and PS5 — will come with a Platinum.

Other bells and whistles include a new Speedrun mode, support for 4K and 60 fps, improved graphics and controls, enhanced audio, and brand-new autosave and cross-save features. “Enjoy exclusive new rewards as you explore the planet and discover more about Jade’s past in a new treasure hunt throughout Hillys,” reads the deleted Xbox listing. “Put your skills to the test thanks to the new speedrun mode and updated trophies, and learn more about the game’s development and secrets in the anniversary gallery!”

Beyond Good & Evil – 20th Anniversary Edition Xbox page at Microsoft https://t.co/0mEk1c4iAe pic.twitter.com/FP5ZnkEBfx

— Lbabinz ?? (@Lbabinz) November 29, 2023

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Spider-Man 2 PS5 Players Intentionally Crashing Game to Play as Venom

A crafty Spider-Man 2 PS5 player has found a new way to play as Venom after Insomniac Games patched the previous exploit. This new exploit actually gives players more freedom as Venom than the previous one, but there’s a catch: you have to intentionally crash your game to get it to work, which understandably isn’t advisable.

How Spider-Man 2 PS5 fans are playing as Venom

We expect Insomniac Games to patch this exploit quickly like it did the last one, but in the meantime, you can check out some Venom action courtesy of Reddit user UnderTheHood788. Beware of potential spoilers if you haven’t played and/or finished Spider-Man 2 yet.

Boys I did it again
byu/UnderTheHood788 inSpidermanPS4

So how does this exploit work? According to UnderTheHood788, there’s a specific cutscene (spoilers) that has players switch to Peter. Playing in the Fidelity mode, as soon as the screen goes blank upon switching, they unplugged their PS5. They did this in Fidelity mode as it takes longer to render, allowing players some extra time to pull this off. Upon reloading the last save, players get a mission without an objective called Don’t Be Scared.

“What you wanna do is go to an unidentified target mission/talon drone mission and wait a little bit, then it should change you to Venom,” the Redditor explained. “Simply reload and it will put you at night as Venom, with crimes against hunters, the flame, thugs, and even symbiotes. You can even do bases.”

Here’s hoping we get a Venom spin-off or DLC.

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Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1 Update Fixes Trophies

Konami has released an update for all titles included in Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1, fixing trophy issues that plagued the PS4 version. The publisher also said that it is currently investigating all known issues not included in the update, so expect another patch in due course.

Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1 update 1.3.1 patch notes

Complete patch notes for the November 27, 2023 update are as follows:

METAL GEAR SOLID 2: Sons of Liberty – Master Collection Version

• Changed the in-game browser to Microsoft Edge (Xbox Series X|S)
• Fixed an issue where sometimes trophies weren’t properly unlocked (PlayStation®4) 
• Please note that some trophies cannot be unlocked immediately upon loading save data even if the requirements have previously been met. The requirements of these trophies must be met again in order for them to be unlocked.
• Fixed some minor issues and made additional adjustments (Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation®4)

METAL GEAR SOLID 3: Snake Eater – Master Collection Version

• Changed the in-game browser to Microsoft Edge (Xbox Series X|S)
• Fixed an issue where sometimes trophies weren’t properly unlocked (PlayStation®4) 
• Please note that some trophies cannot be unlocked immediately upon loading save data even if the requirements have previously been met. The requirements of these trophies must be met again in order for them to be unlocked.
• Fixed some minor issues and made additional adjustments (Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation®4)

Metal Gear & Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake – Master Collection Version

• Changed the in-game browser to Microsoft Edge (Xbox Series X|S)
• Fixed an issue where sometimes trophies weren’t properly unlocked (PlayStation®4) 
• Please note that some trophies cannot be unlocked immediately upon loading save data even if the requirements have previously been met. The requirements of these trophies must be met again in order for them to be unlocked.
• Fixed some minor issues and made additional adjustments (Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation®4)

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Starfield Isn’t Boring Actually, Bethesda Tells Steam Reviewers

The meta-narrative around Starfield just took a very weird turn. Steam reviews for the sprawling sci-fi RPG recently fell to “mixed” on Valve’s storefront, and now Bethesda employees are arguing with players in the comments about why the game isn’t as boring and soulless as some of them claim.

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Kotaku Asks: What Is The Best Video Game Sequel?

I assume most of you reading this have played at least a few video game sequels in your life and while you might have enjoyed them all, this week at Kotaku we want to know: What do you think is the best video game sequel of all time?

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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Eredin Helmet PureArts Replica Revealed, Available for Preorder

PureArts and CD Projekt Red are collaborating on another installment in PureArts’ Witcher line of replica items. This time, in the form of a 1/1 scale Eredin helmet from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

The Eredin Helmet replica faithfully recreates the skull-shaped helmet of the King of the Wild Hunt and acts as a great display for fans of the series. The helmet sits upon a replica of Eredin’s sword hilt as well and also features a removable face plate for those who might want to display it without any face.

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Eredin Helmet replica is limited to under 1,000 units

The latest replica comes in at 10 x 12 x 23 inches in height, and weighs a hefty 7.7 pounds. Preorders for the replica are available now, with the helmet retailing for $499. A special PureArts Exclusive Edition, limited to just 150 pieces, also comes with a special metal replica of Eredin’s brooch from the game.

For those looking to snag the non-exclusive version, the helmet itself is limited to 850 pieces.

“The skull-shaped helmet of the King of the Wild Hunt inspires fear and strengthens the legend of the Winter Queen and her Wild Hunt and is the perfect display piece for fans of The Witcher!” reads the description. “Featuring a removable face plate, the highly detailed Eredin Helmet Replica rests atop Eredin’s sword hilt. The Exclusive Edition, limited to only 150 units and available only on PureArts.com, includes a metal replica of Eredin’s brooch.”

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Cult of the Lamb is getting a major free update called Sins of the Flesh in early 2024

The beloved action-adventure roguelike Cult of the Lamb is getting some much-awaited new content next year in an update called “Sins of the Flesh,” and many fans are hoping it’ll be the “sex update” they’ve been (jokingly? semi-seriously?) asking for. But, the team behind the game is being characteristically coy about whether that’ll actually be the case. “Sins of the Flesh,” announced in a tweet this week, will be free and “packed with new features, stories, and more.”

📢ANNOUNCING📢

🐍SINS OF THE FLESH🔴

our next FREE MAJOR CONTENT UPDATE! 🔥

Loyal Cultist, your patience has not gone unseen.

Coming very early next year, this update is packed with new features, stories, and more! 🙏 pic.twitter.com/RYT4UJp9Tq

— Cult of the Lamb (@cultofthelamb) November 23, 2023

Per the tweet, the update will be available “very early next year.” The official X account also teased the release of more information in the weeks to come. Art shared alongside the announcement shows the cutesy cult members dancing nearly nude around a fire. Further fueling the “sex update” speculation, the team also posted a zoomed in crop of the art on Sunday showing two characters laying on the ground, embracing, and tweeted, “This could be us.”

Amidst the celebration and some concern online over the possible sex update, though, a community manager for developer Massive Monster wrote on Steam that people are “really running with” the sex update joke, and that “the age rating hopefully won’t change after this update,” suggesting it won't dip too far into more explicit territory. Yet, responding on X to a PC Gamer article that said the expansion won’t be the sex update, the Cult of the Lamb account posted, “Says who?” So really, who knows at this point. In a game that already has cannibalism and ritual sacrifice, everything is on the table.

This could be us. pic.twitter.com/XbmWvfaFHM

— Cult of the Lamb (@cultofthelamb) November 26, 2023

Cult of the Lamb last got some new DLC back in April and announced a crossover with Don’t Starve Together over the summer. If you missed the boat when the game first dropped in 2022, there’s plenty of time to start playing and catch up before the new content is released... new content that may or may not involve sex.

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The Week's Best Gaming Stories, From Pokimane to Adults-Only N64

From mergers to memes, the landscape of interactive entertainment is always in motion. Here’s your cheat sheet for the week’s most important stories in gaming.

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The Week's Hottest Takes, From Scott Pilgrim To TLOU 2

Gamers are a passionate bunch, and we’re no exception. These are the week’s most interesting perspectives on the wild, wonderful, and sometimes weird world of video game news.

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PlayStation Portal May Have Been in the Works Since as Early as 2015

A rediscovered Sony Interactive Entertainment patent application suggests that PlayStation Portal may have been conceived as a PS4 remote player. The patent in question was filed way back in 2015 and made rounds on gaming forum NeoGAF in 2017. It was also reported on by a number of gaming publications. The illustrations within the filing look an awful lot like the newly released handheld.

Could Sony have planned the PlayStation Portal for PS4?

The aforementioned illustration, which can be viewed below, was evidently designed with the DualShock 4 in mind, but the layout is pretty much the same as the PS5’s Portal. We have reported on a number of interesting patents over the years, so this one simply got lost in time, and no one thought of it over the last six months until Reddit user kasual7 somehow stumbled upon it.

Image: Sony Interactive Entertainment

At the time, the patent was widely referred to as Sony’s attempt at a “Switch-like” console or a successor to the beloved PS Vita. We got a basic remote player instead.

Sony has said that it may consider adding more features to the Portal in the future, including cloud streaming. Currently, the handheld can only play games installed on the PS5.

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The Morning After: Google's Bard AI is getting better at understanding YouTube

Google has updated its Bard AI chatbot, so you can use it to parse YouTube videos. In its most recent experiment update log, the company has announced it has expanded the capabilities of Bard’s YouTube extension, so when it’s enabled, the generative AI can “understand some video content.” For example, Google said you’d be able to ask Bard how many eggs were used in a video for an olive oil cake recipe.

Bard first gained the ability to pull data from YouTube in September after an update integrated it with other Google products, including Docs, Maps, Lens, Flights and Hotels. At that point, it couldn’t parse a video’s contents though.

Google claims people have been asking for “deeper engagement with YouTube videos” — but I guess that entails watching them less.

And Happy Thanksgiving, all! It’s a short, but sweet TMA today, but expect a tidal wave of Black Friday deals landing tomorrow — I suggest keeping an eye on this page.

— Mat Smith

​​You can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!

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Look at this cute solar-powered microvan

This EV seats two and is coming to the US in 2025.

HW Electro

Japanese EV automaker HW Electro (HWE) says its Puzzle van will come to the US in 2025. It has rooftop solar panels and equipment for commercial disaster relief — including a crowbar… on the outside of the vehicle. It’ll be HWE’s first vehicle available in the US.

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Self-proclaimed ‘gay furry hackers’ breach nuclear lab

They want research into creating catgirls. You read that right.

The nuclear research hub Idaho National Laboratory (INL) confirmed it was hacked earlier this week. SiegedSec, a group of self-proclaimed “gay furry hackers,” took responsibility for the attack and claimed they accessed sensitive employee data, like social security numbers, home addresses and more. The hacktivist group SiegedSec conducted a high-profile attack on NATO last month, leaking internal documents as a retaliation against those countries for their attacks on human rights.

“We’re willing to make a deal with INL. If they research creating irl (in real life) catgirls we will take down this post,” SiegedSec wrote in a post announcing the leak on Monday.INL has, unsurprisingly, promised nothing in the way of catgirls.

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Teenage Engineering reveals its feature-rich K.O. II groovebox

And it’s only $300.

Teenage Engineering

Teenage Engineering just announced the EP-133 K.O. II, a portable sampler with many tricks and the usual TE aesthetic. It’s also $300 — a bargain in TE terms. The K.O. II boasts 64MB of memory, which isn’t a lot, but TE products typically come with some tradeoffs. It should be enough for a bunch of samples and a few projects. There are 999 slots for samples and an internal microphone for making your own. Though this is, first and foremost, a sampler, it ships pre-filled with drum hits, synths and other sounds.

Continue reading.

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Instagram makes public Reels downloadable for everyone

Instagram launched the ability to download publicly viewable Reels in June, but it limited the feature's availability to users on mobile in the US. Now, Instagram head Adam Mosseri has announced on his broadcast channel that the feature is rolling out to all users worldwide. Anybody on the app can now download public Reels to their devices and not just save them for viewing later. They simply have to tap on the Share button and start their download from there. 

As TechCrunch reports, Mosseri explained during his broadcast that downloaded Reels will have the Instagram watermark with the account's username, similar to downloaded TikTok videos. In addition, Reels will only come with music if they're scored with original tracks. Instagram will strip their audio if they use licensed music as a background. 

TikTok's video downloading feature helps attract more users to the app, since it gives creators (and reposters) an easy way to share clips across platforms. People who don't have TikTok may decide to sign up if they find creators they want to follow or if they want to see more similar types of content. Instagram could be looking to replicate that strategy, though users will have the ability to prevent their Reels from being download. To change their download options, they'll have to go to Reels and Remix under Privacy in Settings and toggle off "Allow people to download your Reels."

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PlayStation Portal Outsold Xbox Series X|S in Spain Last Week

PlayStation Portal‘s launch week sales in Spain surpassed those of Xbox Series X|S combined. Sales data for the period between November 13-19 reveals that Sony‘s remote player sold 5,700 units — more than double the amount of Xbox Series X|S consoles sold (2,000 units).

Sony wants PlayStation Portal sales to be considered hardware sales

Although one week of sales in a single country (reported by Spain’s GameReactor) isn’t enough to gauge overall performance, data coming out of Europe shows that Xbox consoles continue to struggle in the region, sitting well behind the PS5. GamesIndustry.biz’s Christopher Dring says that despite faring better than Xbox One, the Series X|S has failed to gain momentum in Europe partly due to Microsoft starting off the generation with a lack of big exclusives.

“A lot of unreasonable pressure was put on Starfield, and it did cause some sales improvement, but it hasn’t been sustained,” Dring revealed to IGN. “PC and mobile are dominant platforms across Europe.”

Circana — the firm that tracks games industry sales in the U.S. — has revealed that Sony wants PlayStation Portal to be accounted for in hardware sales as opposed to PS5 accessories. In a now-deleted tweet, Circana’s Matt Piscatella said that the request came officially from Sony but didn’t elaborate further.

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The AI startup behind Stable Diffusion is now testing generative video

Stable Diffusion's generative art can now be animated, developer Stability AI announced. The company has released a new product called Stable Video Diffusion into a research preview, allowing users to create video from a single image. "This state-of-the-art generative AI video model represents a significant step in our journey toward creating models for everyone of every type," the company wrote. 

The new tool has been released in the form of two image-to-video models, each capable of generating 14 to 25 frames long at speeds between 3 and 30 frames per second at 576 × 1024 resolution. It's capable of multi-view synthesis from a single frame with fine-tuning on multi-view datasets. "At the time of release in their foundational form, through external evaluation, we have found these models surpass the leading closed models in user preference studies," the company said, comparing it to text-to-video platforms Runway and Pika Labs. 

Stable Video Diffusion is available only for research purposes at this point, not real-world or commercial applications. Potential users can sign up to get on a waitlist for access to an "upcoming web experience featuring a text-to-video interface," Stability AI wrote. The tool will showcase potential applications in sectors including advertising, education, entertainment and more. 

The samples shown in the video above appear to be of relatively high quality, matching rival generative systems. However, it has some limitations, the company wrote: it generates relatively short video (less than 4 seconds), lacks perfect photorealism, can't do camera motion except slow pans, has no text control, can't generate legible text and may not generate people and faces properly. 

The tool was trained on a dataset of millions of videos and then fine-tuned on a smaller set, with Stability AI only saying that it used video that was publicly available for research purposes. The origin of the data set is important, given that Stability AI was recently sued by Getty Images for scraping its image archives. 

Video is a key goal for generative AI, due to its potential to simplify content creation. However, it's also a tool with the most potential for abuse via deepfakes, copyright violations and more. And unlike OpenAI with its ChatGPT product, Stability has had less success commercializing its Stable Diffusion product and burned through cash at a high rate, TechCrunch noted. And last week, vice president of audio at Stability AI, Ed Newton-Rex, resigned over the use of copyrighted content to train generative AI models. 

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ChatGPT's voice chat feature is rolling out to free users

OpenAI introduced voice chats with ChatGPT on Android and iOS back in September, giving users the option to have actual back-and-forth conversations with the chatbot if they want to. The company only made the feature available to Plus and Enterprise subscribers back then, though, with the promise that it will eventually release it to other groups of users. Now, OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman has announced on X that voice conversations on ChatGPT have started rolling out to all free users on mobile. 

ChatGPT Voice rolled out for all free users. Give it a try — totally changes the ChatGPT experience: https://t.co/DgzqLlDNYF

— Greg Brockman (@gdb) November 21, 2023

When the company first introduced voice chats, it admitted that the capability to create "realistic synthetic voices from just a few seconds of real speech" presents new risks. It could, for instance, allow bad actors to impersonate public figures or anybody they want. As a result, it decided that ChatGPT's voice feature will focus on conversations. It's powered by a text-to-speech model that can generate "human-like audio from just text and a few seconds of sample speech." OpenAI worked with voice actors to create the capability and offers five different voices to choose from. 

We checked our ChatGPT app on Android and have yet to gain access to voice conversations, which indicates that the feature could take sometime before reaching everybody's accounts. It's not quite clear if users have to opt in to be able to access it, but paid subscribers had to enable it by going to Settings and then to New Features when voice chats rolled out. 

Brockman announced the capability's wide release after he had already left his seat as President of OpenAI. He quit of his own accord after the company's board fired Sam Altman as CEO, causing mayhem with senior staff members resigning in protest and the rest of the employees threatening to quit unless he's reinstated. Shortly after he made the announcement, OpenAI announced that Altman and Brockman had been reinstated and will be returning to their posts. 

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Ubisoft has suspended advertising on Elon Musk's X

Ubisoft is the latest company to join what seems to be a growing list of advertisers pulling their campaigns from Elon Musk's X, formerly known as Twitter. The company has confirmed to PCGamer and Axios that it has indeed paused its advertising on the website, possibly making it the first video game publisher to do so. While Ubisoft didn't elaborate on its reasoning behind the decision, X's advertisers have been suspending their advertising activities on the social network after Musk supported an antisemitic tweet and Media Matters published a research showing brands' advertisements next to Nazi content. 

IBM, Apple, Disney, Paramount, Warner Bros, Sony and Comcast have all paused their advertising on X. Lionsgate pulled its ads, as well, specifically citing Musk's tweet as the cause. Axios says Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Nexus VR ad campaign was still showing up for X users as recently as Monday morning, and it's unclear if it stopped advertising on the social network before or after Linda Yaccarino published a statement calling Media Matters' report "misleading and manipulated." 

X's CEO issued a call for users and advertisers to "stand with X," claiming that "not a single authentic user on [the website] saw IBM's, Comcast's, or Oracle's ads next to the content in Media Matters’' article." Shortly after that, X officially filed a lawsuit against the media watchdog, accusing it of "knowingly and maliciously manufactur[ing] side-by-side images depicting advertisers' posts on X Corp.'s social media platform beside Neo-Nazi and white national fringe content." In its complaint, X explained that Media Matters had to create the right conditions, which included following accounts that post fringe Neo-Nazi and white nationalist content, in order to see ads right next to antisemitic posts. 

Media Matters called the lawsuit "frivolous" and an attempt to "bully X's critics into silence" in a statement sent to Engadget. The organization also told us that it "stands behind its reporting and looks forward to winning in court."

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Google admits YouTube's war on ad blockers is resulting in 'suboptimal viewing' experiences

Some YouTube viewers who use Firefox or Edge instead of Chrome have reported having to wait around five seconds every time they try to load a video. In screen recordings shared on Reddit and other online forums, users show how their screen goes blank for a short period when they click on a YouTube video before the page loads. But when they switch to Chrome, that waiting period seemed to be non-existent. Android Authority and 404media, which reported on the users' complaints, weren't able to replicate the phenomenon. We also didn't notice any difference in loading times when we accessed YouTube on different browsers. 

Based on the code found by some YCombinator and Reddit posters, YouTube has implemented an anti-adblocker mechanism that's causing the delays. We did find the snippet of code cited in those threads, but it's not quite clear what it does. In a statement that Google has provided Android Authority, it admitted that it has implemented a system that's meant to urge viewers to uninstall their ad blockers. The company said that users who have ad blockers installed "may experience suboptimal viewing" no matter what browser they choose to use

"To support a diverse ecosystem of creators globally and allow billions to access their favorite content on YouTube, we've launched an effort to urge viewers with ad blockers enabled to allow ads on YouTube or try YouTube Premium for an ad free experience," the spokesperson said. "Users who have ad blockers installed may experience suboptimal viewing, regardless of the browser they are using."

YouTube started cracking down on ad blockers earlier this year, but it went all out earlier this month when it prevented viewers around the world from watching videos unless they disable their apps, add-ons and extensions. The video hosting website is hoping to entice users who couldn't stand watching ads to subscribe to its $14-a-month YouTube Premium service. Multiple ad-blocking companies have since reported experiencing an elevated number of uninstallations per day since then, but Google has yet to reveal whether YouTube Premium subscriptions have also gone up as a result.

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Starfield update brings DLSS support and a number of fixes

Starfield just received some key updates promised by Bethesda a couple of months ago, the developer announced. Version 1.8.86 comes with DLSS support that finally gives users with supported NVIDIA cards features including DLSS Super Resolution, Deep Learning Anti-aliasing (DLAA), Reflex Low Latency and DLSS frame generation. That should assuage numerous grumbling users, many of whom used a controversial DLSS mod to tide themselves over. 

Along with DLSS, the update includes GPU performance optimizations that will help users with higher-end cards. Bethesda has also addressed memory leaks and other related issues, improved renderer threading and made a number of other stability and performance improvements. On the graphics side, it added brightness and contrast controls (!), while addressing issues around ambient occlusion, shader compilation, HDR brightness (Xbox and Windows 11 only), material issues, crowd character eyes and more.

Update 1.8.86 has landed! 🚀

💻 DLSS Support
🥘 Consume button for food
🔧 Numerous fixes and improvements

Get all the details in our full update notes: https://t.co/7UYVNY0L6r #Starfield pic.twitter.com/P1VvN9fAET

— Starfield (@StarfieldGame) November 20, 2023

Gameplay also sees some welcome updates. You can now "eat the food placed in the world" via a "consume button" without having to add items to inventory, a nice quality-of-life fix. Bethesda also adjusted stealth to be more forgiving, resolved the problem of Andreja's head staying permanently cloaked, fixed an issue that could prevent players from firing weapons, resolved a problem with naked NPCs, fixed mouse issues and more. It also resolved quest problems that mostly revolve around inconsistent game play. 

Bethesda beta tested the new features earlier this month on Steam before deeming them fit for release. In September, it said that it's "working closely" with NVIDIA, AMD and Intel on driver support, possibly in response to a Digital Foundry technical report saying the game had "disproportionately poor NVIDIA and Intel performance." Starfield is among the best-selling games of 2023 (thanks in part to being free on Game Pass), with the company having reported 10 million players as of the end of September. 

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US Senator calls for the public release of AT&T ‘Hemisphere’ surveillance records

US Senator Ron Wyden wants the public to know about the details surrounding the long-running Hemisphere phone surveillance program. Wyden has written US Attorney General Merrick Garland a letter (PDF), asking him to release additional information about the project that apparently gives law enforcement agencies access to trillions of domestic phone records. In addition, he said that federal, state, local and Tribal law enforcement agencies have the ability to request "often-warrantless searches" from the project's phone records that AT&T has been collecting since 1987. 

The Hemisphere project first came to light in 2013 when The New York Times reported that the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) was paying AT&T to mine and keep records of its customers' phone calls. Four billion new records are getting added to its database every day, and a federal or state law enforcement agency can request a query with a subpoena that they can issue themselves. Any law enforcement officer can send in a request to a single AT&T analyst based in Atlanta, Georgia, Wyden's letter says, even if they're seeking information that's not related to any drug case. And apparently, they can use Hemisphere not just to identify a specific number, but to identify the target's alternate numbers, to obtain location data and to look up the phone records of everyone who's been in communication with the target. 

The project has been defunded and refunded by the government several times over the past decade and was even, at one point, receiving federal funding under the name "Data Analytical Services (DAS)." Usually, projects funded by federal agencies would be subject to a mandatory Privacy Impact Assessment conducted by the Department of Justice, which means their records would be made public. 

However, Hemisphere's funding passes through a middleman, so it's not required to go through mandatory assessment. To be specific, ONDCP funds the program through the Houston High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, which is a regional funding organization that distributes federal anti-drug law grants and is governed by a board made up of federal, state and local law enforcement officials. The DOJ had provided Wyden's office with "dozens of pages of material" related to the project in 2019, but they had been labeled "Law Enforcement Sensitive" and cannot be released to the public. 

"I have serious concerns about the legality of this surveillance program, and the materials provided by the DOJ contain troubling information that would justifiably outrage many Americans and other members of Congress," Wyden wrote in his letter. "While I have long defended the government’s need to protect classified sources and methods, this surveillance program is not classified and its existence has already been acknowledged by the DOJ in federal court. The public interest in an informed debate about government surveillance far outweighs the need to keep this information secret."

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The Morning After: Microsoft recruits recently fired OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman

OpenAI’s board of directors announced Friday it had fired CEO Sam Altman. But he’s doing okay. By Monday morning, he had joined Microsoft “to lead a new advanced AI research team,” according to the company.

Altman cofounded OpenAI with Elon Musk in 2015 as a nonprofit and served as the CEO for the for-profit arm since 2019. He was originally fired from OpenAI over “a breakdown in communication between Sam and the board,” according to an internal staff memo. Several key members also resigned, including co-founder Greg Brockman (who will now also join Microsoft) along with a few senior researchers. “Dozens” of OpenAI employees reportedly announced internally they’d be quitting too, with some expressing interest in joining a potential new Altman startup.

According to Bloomberg, the board had reportedly considered reversing Altman’s firing, though the ousted exec wanted the existing board to resign and issue a public apology — and I fully endorse all this drama, if true.

The company did not apologize, however.

— Mat Smith

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Following the news that iPhones will support Rich Communication Services next year, what exactly is RCS? Well, positioned as a next-generation replacement for SMS and MMS, it adds modern features you may already use on WhatsApp, including read receipts and the ability to send high-resolution images and more. We wrestle with what this means, and how iMessage fits into it all.

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SpaceX loses another Starship and Super Heavy rocket

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SpaceX's second test flight of its Starship spacecraft — which it hopes will eventually ferry humans to the Moon and Mars — ended in an explosion Saturday morning, minutes after taking off from the company's spaceport in Boca Chica, Texas. After completing stage separation, when the Super Heavy booster detached itself from Starship, the rocket's first stage exploded. Starship, however, continued for several more minutes, with a faint explosion heard around the eight-minute mark. Unlike its first test, Starship was able to reach space this time. The company is framing it as a success, even if it did… explode.

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Microsoft snatches Sam Altman and former OpenAI colleagues to form its own AI research team

In another twist on the OpenAI saga that raged over the weekend, Microsoft has swooped in and hired Sam Altman and Greg Brockman just after OpenAI confirmed Altman won't be returning, CEO Satya Nadella announced in a post on X. 

The pair, along with colleagues are joining Microsoft "to lead a new advanced AI research team." Nadella added that Microsoft "remain[s] committed to our partnership with OpenAI," but the move looks a giant hedge on that bet. It also means the much of OpenAI's talent may be moving to Microsoft, which may stall the latter's progress with its widely-used ChatGPT product. 

We remain committed to our partnership with OpenAI and have confidence in our product roadmap, our ability to continue to innovate with everything we announced at Microsoft Ignite, and in continuing to support our customers and partners. We look forward to getting to know Emmett…

— Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) November 20, 2023

Altman has largely remained quiet since news of his firing dropped Friday, other than thanking OpenAI colleagues for their support. However, he confirmed his hiring by Microsoft, saying on X that "the mission continues." In a reply to that post, Nadella said he was "super excited" to have Altman as CEO of the new group. "We’ve learned a lot over the years about how to give founders and innovators space to build independent identities and cultures within Microsoft, including GitHub, Mojang Studios…"

The appointment was announced just after it was suggested that Altman may return to OpenAI, following his sudden firing on Friday. That was preceded by an outpouring of support for Altman from OpenAI employees, many of whom shared hearts on social media. 

Talks between the parties broke down and OpenAI subsequently said that Altman (and co-founder Greg Brockman) would not return, according to reports. Instead, Twitch co-founder Emmett Shear was reportedly appointed as the new CEO. 

The story is likely far from over, as the confirmation of Altman's firing and subsequent hiring by Microsoft raise multiple questions. Microsoft has invested $13 billion and owns a 49 percent stake in the for-profit segment of OpenAI and recently unveiled its Copilot AI assistant that's powered by OpenAI's technology. 

However, OpenAI has an odd "capped-profit" corporate structure with both a for-profit and non-profit body. And despite Nadella's words, the partnership with OpenAI will no doubt be affected by Microsoft having its own AI research team — particularly since it will be led by OpenAI's former CEO. 

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