To commemorate PlayStation’s 30 years in the game, Sony revealed some nostalgia-tinged redesigns of both the PS5 and the forthcoming PS5 Pro. With that classic gray colorway and the old-school logo, there’s a similarly styled DualSense controller and even a chunky retro-designed cable wrapped around the typical USB-C connector.
The PS5 Pro bundle even includes a standard controller, a DualSense Edge and a retro cover for the optional disc drive and the charging stand. Even the PlayStation Portal is getting a 1994 colorway.
Pre-orders start on September 26 through the company and at participating retailers, launching on November 21. Sony has me trapped: Design it in the colors of my childhood gaming memories, and I will probably buy it — especially when early impressions of the PS5 Pro show it could be capable of some leaps in game engine performance.
Geeked Week also teased the spinoffs for Splinter Cell and Tomb Raider.
At its in-person fan event for Geeked Week this year, Netflix showed teasers and sneak peeks for the second season of Avatar: The Last Airbender as well as Squid Game season two, with last season’s protagonist, Lee Jung-jae, wearing his player 456 uniform again. There were also new clips for One Piece, Wednesday, Splinter Cell, Devil May Cry and more.
The video website now joins DirecTV, Sling TV and Hulu.
YouTube is turning paused videos into its newest ad space. The company first started looking at using ads on pause screens in 2023 with select advertisers. YouTube’s viewers are less enthusiastic. The new ads also pop up when you pause videos on the YouTube mobile app.
A YouTube rep told The Verge they’ve seen “strong advertiser and strong reviewer responses” since they “rolled out Pause ads to all advertisers.” Great.
A multi-year deal between Winfrey and the platform ended in 2022.
A documentary on Oprah Winfrey is no longer coming to Apple TV+. Because, well, Winfrey, herself, bought back the rights to it, PageSix reports. Allegedly, Winfrey and filmmaker Kevin Macdonald clashed on the final product, with the latter not making the requested edits. Winfrey was initially very involved in Apple TV+, even speaking at its launch. She signed a multi-year deal with the platform, launching shows such as The Oprah Conversation, but the agreement ended in 2022.
The Spirit Glaive is a new Halberd added in Elden Ring:Shadow of the Erdtree. This unique weapon has a really cool Ash of War skill attached to it, and can be a fantastic choice for Intelligence builds looking to add some melee flair to their kit.
Firewalk Studios, the dev behind massive PS5 flop Concord, is facing an uncertain future. Kotaku has revealed that game director Ryan Ellis (formerly Destiny 2 creative director at Bungie) has stepped down, and employees are bracing themselves for mass layoffs and even full studio closure.
Concord dev Firewalk is one of the ‘more expensive’ PlayStation Studios
Kotaku‘s sources have said that Firealk employees are in limbo ever since Sony took the unprecedented step of shutting Concord down within two weeks of launch. Like analysts and many in the gaming community, some Firewalk devs are also skeptical about Concord’s return.
The report further claims that some employees have already jumped ship while others are preparing to exit Firewalk. The team is expecting mass layoffs, with some going as far as anticipating potential closure because Firewalk is one of the “more expensive” developers in the PlayStation Studios family on a “per-head” basis.
It looks like Sony has yet to make a decision about both Concord and Firewalk, but Kotaku’s report suggests that employees have positive things to say about Ellis, noting that he genuinely believed in Concord and “poured a great deal of himself into the game.” “Regardless of there being things that could have been done differently throughout development, he’s a good human and full of heart,” they added.
The list of pointless PS5 remakesand remasters continues to grow, leaving players confused and unhappy. We’re not talking about Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, which is all but confirmed. Rumor has it that Sony has another unwanted remaster in the works, which may be announced very soon.
PS5 remasters and remakes make little sense as PlayStation Studios struggle with profits
Report of the unnamed remaster came from journalist Jeff Grubb, who seems convinced that September 2024’s PlayStation State of Play is happening next week. In an episode of Game Mess Mornings, Grubb added that Sony may announce a remaster other than Horizon Zero Dawn at the event, and it’ll be “less exciting.”
Grubb made the “less exciting” comment in reference to the overwhelmingly negative reactions to yesterday’s Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered ESRB rating. His report was met with even more negative reactions across social media and gaming forums.
“Horizon strikes me as a really pointless and non-exciting remaster in the first place, so I have no idea what that could mean,” wrote one player. “Less exciting than the Horizon remaster? That would be almost impressive,” wrote another.
Players have expressed their dissatisfaction with PlayStation Studios output, and it certainly beggars belief that Sony keeps pumping funds into these projects after CFO Hiroki Totoki admitted that PlayStation is struggling with profits despite hit releases.
PS5 is about to enter its fifth year and PS5 Pro is on the horizon, yet major first-party releases have been few and far between. To be clear, players aren’t opposed to remasters or remakes. Look no further than the Bloodborne fan community. Players are perplexed by what Sony chooses to remaster: Until Dawn, Horizon Zero Dawn, the billionth re-release of The Last of Us, to name a few.
It’s hard to disagree with the community here. PlayStation really needs to give players something to be excited about, and soon. All eyes are now on the next PlayStation event, but something tells me that we should keep our expectations in check.
Shadow of the Erdtree, the one and only DLC for Elden Ring, adds Aspects of the Crucible: Thorns, a new, powerful Incantation for those looking to damage multiple enemies at once, and looking awesome doing it.
Intel is turning its foundry business, which manufactures chips for other companies, into an independent subsidiary. The company has revealed its plan in a note to employees from its CEO Pat Gelsinger, published over a month after Intel disclosed that it's cutting 15 percent of its workforce. Intel is laying off more than 15,000 people as part of its $10 billion cost-reduction plan to regain financial stability following a second-quarter net loss of $1.6 billion. Gelsinger explained in his new memo that turning the foundry into a subsidiary "will unlock important benefits," particularly the ability to evaluate and take external funding directly.
Gelsinger said that there will be no changes to the foundry's leadership, but the subsidiary will establish its own operating board with independent directors to govern it. According to CNBC, Intel is even considering making the foundry a separate publicly traded company. Intel is in the midst of modernizing its existing fabs and building new ones for its foundry business, which is costing the company billions of dollars, in an effort to catch up to its chipmaking rivals like TSMC and Samsung. The company has reportedly spent around $25 billion a year on its foundry business over the past two years, but that has yet to translate into profit.
In April, the company revealed in a presentation to investors that the business posted $7 billion in operating losses for 2023, even larger than the $5.2 billion in losses that it incurred the previous year. It had a revenue of $18.9 billion, down 31 percent from its 2022 revenue of $27.49 billion. Gelsinger warned investors at the time that Intel expects its foundry business' operating loss for 2024 to be even bigger and that it doesn't expect to break even until 2027. The foundry's finances aren't the division's only problem: Its next-gen manufacturing process referred to as "18A" reportedly failed crucial tests to prove that it's ready to be used for mass production.
In addition to announcing that the foundry business will become a subsidiary, Gelsinger also disclosed in the memo that Intel will be selling part of its stake in Altera, another chipmaker that it purchased for $16.7 billion in 2015.
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Sony has revealed the preliminary batch of games leaving PS Plus Extra and Premium in October 2024. The departures include an older first-party game as well as a title that players had already predicted was going to leave the service. Check out the full list below, but as always, bear in mind that Sony adds games to PS Store‘s ‘Last Chance to Play’ section throughout the month, and sometimes removes games with little or no notice, so check back for updates.
List of games leaving PS Plus Extra, Premium in October 2024 (as of September 17)
The following games have been added to the Japanese PS Store’s ‘Last Chance to Play’ section. Expect U.S. and EU lists to be similar.
LittleBigPlanet 3
Gotham Knights
The Evil Within
Ultra Street Fighter IV
Dragon Quest XI S
Dragon Quest Builders
Dragon Quest Builders 2
Dragon Quest Heroes
Dragon Quest Heroes 2
Square Enix franchises continue to be yanked off the service. Star Ocean series has already been removed, and Dragon Quest games are up next.
What’s perplexing about this list is the removal of The Evil Within just ahead of Halloween. A little over two weeks ago, the game was removed from PS Plus without a warning, and just yesterday we reported that it was stealthily added back in time for the spooky season. Looks like Sony has other plans, though, so you’ll want to finish The Evil Within ASAP.
Horror game returns to PS Plus just in time for Halloween 2024
The Evil Within’s sudden departure particularly irked players who were in the middle of their campaigns. The de-listing/re-listing is sure to frustrate those who ended up making a purchase to finish the game, but The Evil Within is currently 75% off ($4.99) until September 26, so it’s not a major loss.
As for why it was pulled, some players suspected licensing issues while others brought up compatibility issues on the PS5 due to a warning label that appears on The Evil Within’s PS Store page. However, the latter is false because all PS4 games carry the same notice regarding potential backwards compatibility problems on the PS5’s storefront. The Evil Within’s PS Store page also displays that notice despite its return.
Whatever the case, The Evil Within is back just in time for Halloween so those who temporarily suspended their campaigns can wrap things up now.
Gaming forums were ablaze over the weekend as report emerged that the PS5 Pro was shown running a game at 864p resolution in an official reel last week. According to Digital Foundry, who analyzed the videos, Remedy Entertainment’s Alan Wake 2 was running at 864p/60fps and 1260p/30fps in the two modes shown, leaving players confused.
Remedy Entertainment responds to rumor of PS5 Pro running Alan Wake 2 at low resolution
The Digital Foundry analysis that sparked the controversy is paid Patreon content which folks circulated on sites like Reddit and ResetEra. No context was provided beyond a bullet-point summary of the paywalled content and Digital Foundry itself didn’t address the hoopla.
With that out of the way, some tech-minded folks have said that the reactions to Digital Foundry’s claim are premature because: a. The outlet was analyzing a YouTube video rather than actual gameplay, and b. The PS5 Pro’s PSSR will be used to upscale lower resolutions to 4K.
However, some have disputed the latter, arguing that the render resolution should be higher than 864p on the PS5 Pro.
In the midst of the heated debate, Remedy’s head of communications Thomas Puha popped into ResetEra with the following statement:
Remedy’s games and resolution discussion pops up every once in a while. Image quality matters more than resolution, not that I’m confirming anything. We’ll drop some details on the PS5 Pro version of Alan Wake 2 in the coming weeks with some assets too. I think the version will be a pleasant surprise, but hard to tell these days.
In other words, wait for the official information.
To be able to afford something means more than just having the money that it costs. It also means having the requisite desire and perceived need to convince yourself its cost is commensurate with its value. When I say I can’t afford to take a $40 Uber home from the office but then spend $60 on Uber Eats when I get…
Hey Connectioneers, it’s time for the Sunday scramble! Puzzling can become a little obsessive for some people. Not “Disney adults dropping $400K large to get unbanned from a cultish sounding dinner club” obsessive, but a little crazy nonetheless.
Welcome to the weekend, puzzlers! There’s a rugged game of Connections waiting for you today. If you’re a foodie or a gamer, you’ll think you’ve got it all figured out, but then … Maybe not. Regardless, it’s a great wakeup call for your brain—much better than diving back into the wild debate about the pros and cons of…
Sam Altman has told OpenAI staff members during their weekly meeting that the company is changing its rather convoluted non-profit corporate structure next year, according to Fortune. The CEO said OpenAI will move away from being controlled by a non-profit entity and will transition into a more traditional for-profit organization. He didn't delve into the specifics of how the company will achieve that goal and what OpenAI's corporate structure will look like exactly. A spokesperson only told Fortune that it remains "focused on building AI that benefits everyone" and that non-profit is "core to [its] mission and will continue to exist."
OpenAI started as a non-profit organization in 2015 that relied on money from donors. In a page explaining its structure, it said that it only raised $130.5 million in total donations over the years, which it says made it clear that "donations alone would not scale with the cost of computational power and talent required to push [its] core research forward." The then-purely non-profit organization created a for-profit subsidiary in order to solve that problem. As Fortune explains, OpenAI's non-profit entity currently controls its for-profit arm, which in turn controls a holding company that takes investments from companies like Microsoft.
Under this structure, the profit that can be allocated to investors, including Microsoft, has a cap. Anything OpenAI makes beyond the cap will go to its non-profit division. And the company's revenue is booming, according to a report by The Information published in June. OpenAI reportedly doubled its annualized revenue in the first half of the year, thanks to the subscription version of ChatGPT.
The company's complex structure also allowed OpenAI's non-profit board of directors to oust Altman in 2023, because they "no longer [have] confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI." Five days later, however, the board was disbanded and replaced, while Altman was reinstated as CEO.
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It used to go by at least two different names — Oculus Connect and then Facebook Connect — but whatever the moniker, Meta’s fall event is still a big showcase for the company’s latest and greatest achievements in the virtual reality and mixed reality space. Much like last year, we can likely predict the biggest news coming out of Meta Connect 2024 with just two acronyms: AI and AR.
Like every other big tech firm this year, Meta will be desperate to demonstrate how it plans to stay relevant in a future powered by AI. And now that we're seven months beyond the launch of Apple's Vision Pro, which arrived alongside a short-lived spike in interest in augmented reality (AR), Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is likely eager to show off his own plans to make AR a reality.
While Zuckerberg isn't as hot on the metaverse as he was when he renamed his company, the union of AI and AR is one way he can still make the dream of persistent virtual worlds come true. It might look less like Ready Player One, but if AR glasses actually take off, they could still let Meta control another piece of our digital world. And to help get them there, delivering an updated inexpensive VR headset couldn’t hurt.
With all of that in mind, here are a few things we expect to see at Meta Connect 2024, which kicks off virtually on September 25 and runs for two days.
Orion AR glasses
After reportedly killing a pricey next-generation mixed reality headset, which was meant to compete with the Apple Vision Pro, Meta is instead focusing on a pair of augmented reality glasses, codenamed Orion, as its next innovation. As seen in the background of one Mark Zuckerberg photo (above) , and later somewhat confirmed by him, Orion resembles a pair of chunky hipster frames.
Unlike the Quest 3, which fully consumes your vision and uses cameras to show you a low-quality view of the world, Orion could let you see the real world like a normal pair of glasses. But, like Magic Leap and Microsoft's HoloLens before it, Meta’s glasses could layer holographic imagery on top of your reality. The key difference, of course, is that it appears to be far less cumbersome than those devices.
“The glasses are, I think, going to be a big deal,” Zuckerberg said in an interview on the Blueprint Podcast (via RoadtoVR). “We’re almost ready to start showing the prototype version of the full holographic glasses. We’re not going to be selling it broadly; we’re focused on building the full consumer version rather than selling the prototype.”
Back at Meta Connect 2022, Zuckerberg showed off how the company was thinking of AR glasses, together with an intriguing wrist-based controller:
"It’s probably our most exciting prototype that we’ve had to date," Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth told The Vergelast year. "I might get myself in trouble for saying this: I think it might be the most advanced piece of technology on the planet in its domain. In the domain of consumer electronics, it might be the most advanced thing that we’ve ever produced as a species."
According to a leaked Meta roadmap, the company plans to release a new pair of Ray-Ban smart glasses next year which would add a small built-in screen alongside its existing camera, speaker and microphone. That would be followed by Meta’s first pair of consumer AR glasses in 2027. It makes sense that we'll see some sort of concept device this year. Much like Apple’s Vision Pro was effectively that company’s version of an AR/VR concept car to introduce developers to its notion of "spatial computing," Meta will need to give developers a way to use its platform so they can build their own AR experiences.
Meta via Gary_the_mememachine/Reddit
A cheaper Quest 3 variant
Instead of an upgraded headset, all signs point to Meta releasing a stripped-down version of the Quest 3 called the Quest 3S, reports Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. Recent leaked images from Meta’s own Quest Link application has confirmed the headset’s existence. According to Gurman, the company is aiming to make it much cheaper than the current version, reportedly considering price points of $300 or $400, while still delivering an experience close to the Quest 3. It could potentially replace the Quest 2, which remains in the product line priced at $299 long after its 2020 release.
So why would Meta do this? There’s a huge performance gap between the Quest 3 and Quest 2, which makes life difficult for developers. With a cheaper device that’s similar to the Quest 3, potentially using the same processor, it would be easier to build games that can scale across two price points. According to Bloomberg’s Gurman, Meta has also considered releasing some models of the new headset without any bundled controllers, which would push the price down even further.
More AI, of course
Expect Meta to show off even more ways it’s taking advantage of AI across its Quest headsets and the Ray-Ban smart glasses. The company rolled out multi-modal AI search capabilities on those glasses in January, which allowed you to ask the Meta AI about objects or landmarks you were looking at, or for a quick translation. Based on our testing, though, those features were surprisingly half-baked.
Meta will likely discuss ways it’s improving those existing features by implementing its Llama 3.1 large language model (LLM), which it’s positioning as an open source competitor to Google and OpenAI’s LLMs. In particular, the company notes that Llama 3.1 offers dramatically improved translation, math and general knowledge capabilities. There’s certainly room for Meta to introduce new AI capabilities powered by Llama 3.1 in the Ray-Ban smart glasses, but given their limited processing power and battery life, we’ll probably have to wait for an updated model before we see anything truly groundbreaking.
Karissa Bell contributed to this report.
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OpenAI has unveiled yet another artificial intelligence model. This one is called o1, and the company claims it can perform complex reasoning tasks more effectively than its predecessors. Apparently, o1 was trained to “spend more time thinking through problems before they respond.” According to the company: “[the models] learn to refine their thinking process, try different strategies and recognize their mistakes.”
That more considered response means it’s significantly slower at processing prompts than GPT-4o. And while it might be thinking more, o1 hasn’t solved the problem of hallucinations — a term for AI models making up information. OpenAI’s chief research officer Bob McGrew told The Verge, “We can’t say we solved hallucinations.”
The FixHub is a USB-C powered soldering iron designed to help fix whatever’s on your workbench (and be easily fixable itself). The iron includes a 55Wh battery pack, which acts as a stand and temperature control. Founder Kyle Wiens told Engadget FixHub was born of frustration with soldering irons and their limits. So his company tried to fix those.
Elgato has introduced the Stream Deck Studio, a new version of its creative control tech targeting professionals. This 19-inch rackmount console has 32 LCD keys and two rotary dials. Oh, and a $900 price tag.
A decade — and countless clones — later, the original Flappy Bird is coming back. If you don’t recall the 2014 hit mobile game, you’d tap the screen to flap the bird’s wings and squeeze it through gaps between pipes. The game debuted in May 2013, but it didn't blow up until the following January. Developer Dong Nguyen soon revealed the game was raking in $50,000 per day from advertising. He decided to remove the game, but clones of his creation persisted. Under the banner of the Flappy Bird Foundation, some dedicated fans acquired the rights to the game, officially, so now it’s flapping back.
Much like terrifying alien births, creepy children are a horror movie staple. There’s something about the juxtaposition between their tiny innocence and their menacing actions that is very unsettling—whether they are possessed by something supernatural or just born that way.
Fortnite has released Week 4’s batch of quests for you to complete in Chapter 5, Season 4. As usual, this week’s quest brings in five new challenges, and if you complete all of them you can earn up to 100K XP. This guide will detail everything you need to know about completing Week 4's quest.
The Nintendo Switch is now over seven years old and due for a refresh, even if the storied console maker isn’t chasing technical specs, like its rival. Nintendo Switch 2 rumors (again, I’d wager real money it won’t be called that) have been bouncing around for years, even. Sometimes they teased DLSS, NVIDIA’s “deep learning supersampling” upscaling tech to add polish and higher resolution to existing Switch games. Other times, rumors just ended up being the OLED Switch — largely the same console as the original.
Will this be something like the Wii? Another left turn, console wise? Or something evolutionary, like the Wii U or GameBoy Color. It’s unlikely the company will ditch the hybrid form-factor as it effectively married home and portable consoles together — and is probably a huge reason for the Switch’s success.
We’re expecting it to be backwards compatible with the Switch’s game library, while Nintendo’s account system management should make it smoother to swap between console generations than in the past. Crucially, when will it launch? While it’s mostly speculation, Nintendo’s next console could arrive March 2025, but couch that with the necessary levels of skepticism.
We’ve pulled together all the reports, leaks and rumors right here.
You’ll be able to create AI clips from text, still images and existing video.
Adobe’s Firefly AI video generation tools will arrive in beta later this year. Like many things related to AI, the examples are equal parts mesmerizing and terrifying as the company slowly integrates tools built to automate much of the creative work done by folks who buy its software. The company, of course, reiterates that these tools are supplementary. Of course!
With even Fox News and senior Republican figures admitting Vice President Kamala Harris won Tuesday night’s presidential debate, some supporters of former president Trump are chasing the same old conspiracy theories: an earpiece used during debates. A tale as old as 2012, the same accusations were cast at President Joe Biden in 2020, at Hillary Clinton in 2016 and at Barack Obama in 2012. However, internet sleuths’ finds boiled down to a Kickstarter startup called Nova and earring-styled earpieces that never quite made it beyond vaporware. We detangle the nonsense.
PS5 system software update 24.06-10.00.00 is rolling out now, patch notes for which reveal major new features including 3D audio profiles, adaptive DualSense controller charging, and the Welcome Hub. These features were in beta for a while, and are now available to all players. Do note, however, that adaptive charging is only available for specific console models.
PS5 system software update 24.06-10.00.00 patch notes (September 12, 2024)
Complete patch notes for today’s PS5 firmware update are as follows:
The Welcome hub is now available in the home screen. For users in North America, this enhancement replaces the Explore hub.
You can customize the Welcome hub with widgets and backgrounds.
Widgets display information like storage, battery levels, online friends, and more.
Widgets can be added, removed, resized, and moved one by one. You can also choose from preset widget layouts based on your preferences.
A limited number of users will receive the Welcome hub in this update. All users worldwide will receive this enhancement within 1-2 months.
You can now create a personalized 3D audio profile for your headphones that’s optimized to each user’s ears. This allows for a more immersive 3D audio experience than ever before.
Each 3D audio profile is uniquely optimized for each user, created by taking detailed measurements of how you hear 3D audio through headphones.
To create a personalized 3D audio for your headphones, go to Settings > Sound > 3D Audio (Headphones).
You can still select from 3D audio presets like before.
Adaptive charging for your controller is now available for when your PS5 (CFI-2000 model group)is in rest mode.
Adaptive charging allows the duration of power supply during rest mode to adjust depending on how much battery your controller has left, helping save power.
To use adaptive charging, go to Settings > System > Power Saving > Features Available in Rest Mode, and then select Supply Power to USB Ports > Adaptive.
Adaptive charging is supported on the PS5 CFI-2000 model group, using the USB Type-C port. Adaptive charging works with the DualSense wireless controller, DualSense Edge wireless controller, PS VR2 Sense controllers, and Access controller.
After your PS5 enters rest mode, if a controller isn’t connected, the power supply to the USB port will stop after a certain period of time.
When you’re in a party, you can now share a link to that party. Share the link with players using other services to invite them to that party.
This feature will be gradually rolled out after this system software update is released.
You can now set which users can connect to the PS5 using Remote Play.
Go to Settings > System > Remote Play > Enable Remote Play, and select the users who can access your console through Remote Play.
The restore licenses feature has been improved, and you can now restore one license at a time.
Go to Settings > Users and Accounts > Other > Restore Licenses to select the license that you want to restore.
To restore a license from the home screen or Game Library, go to the game, press the options button, and then select Restore License from the menu.
We’ve added a friendly recommendation about your storage space that you’ll sometimes see in Settings > Storage.
We’ve made it simpler to access the most popular activities from game hubs.
Game hubs now only display activities that are currently in progress.
To play a specific activity, start the game first and find it using in-game menus.
The Invite to New Game option, which is available from multiple locations, is no longer available when sending game invites.
To invite friends to a game session, start the game first, then send the invitation to the session.
We’ve updated the device software of the DualSense and DualSense Edge wireless controllers, PlayStation VR2 Sense controllers, and Access controller to improve stability.
We’ve improved system software performance and stability.
We’ve improved the messages and usability on some screens.
The US government has noticed the potentially negative effects of generative AI on areas like journalism and content creation. Senator Amy Klobuchar, along with seven Democrat colleagues, urged the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Justice Department to probe generative AI products like ChatGPT for potential antitrust violations, they wrote in a press release.
"Recently, multiple dominant online platforms have introduced new generative AI features that answer user queries by summarizing, or, in some cases, merely regurgitating online content from other sources or platforms," the letter states. "The introduction of these new generative AI features further threatens the ability of journalists and other content creators to earn compensation for their vital work."
The lawmakers went on to note that traditional search results lead users to publishers' websites while AI-generated summaries keep the users on the search platform "where that platform alone can profit from the user's attention through advertising and data collection."
These products also have significant competitive consequences that distort markets for content. When a generative AI feature answers a query directly, it often forces the content creator—whose content has been relegated to a lower position on the user interface—to compete with content generated from their own work.
The fact that AI may be scraping news sites and then not even directing users to the original source could be a form of "exclusionary conduct or an unfair method of competition in violation of antitrust laws," the lawmakers concluded. (That's on top being a potential violation of copyright laws, but that's another legal battle altogether.)
Lawmakers have already proposed a couple of bills designed to protect artists, journalists and other from unauthorized generative AI use. In July, three senators introduced the COPIED Act to combat and monitor the rise of AI content and deepfakes. Later in the month, a group of senators introduced the NO FAKES Act, a law that would make it illegal to make digital recreations of a person's voice or likeness without their consent.
AI poses a particularly large risk to journalism, both local and global, by removing the sources of revenue that allow for original and investigative reporting. The New York Times, for one, cited instances of ChatGPT providing users with "near-verbatim excerpts" from paywalled articles. OpenAI recently admitted that it's impossible to train generative AI without copyrighted materials.
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from Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics https://ift.tt/hGNzwQb
Believe it or not, the Sega Dreamcast turns 25 years old today. When I think back on my formative years playing games, and more importantly Tim Walz’s youth, it’s the first console that comes to mind. I’m positive that if I were to go looking through one of my closets right now, I’d be unable to earth mine, on which I…
A SpaceX Dragon capsule carrying the four private astronauts of the Polaris Dawn mission has launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in the early hours of September 10 after a few weeks of delays. The mission was scheduled to lift off at the end of August but was postponed first due to technical issues, then because of poor weather conditions forecasted for the crew’s return. On board are Jared Isaacman — the billionaire who funded the mission — retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Scott “Kidd” Poteet, and SpaceX engineers Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon. They’ll attempt several firsts during the five-day flight, including the first-ever commercial spacewalk.
That attempt will also mark the first spacewalk from a Dragon capsule. Among Polaris Dawn's other goals is to send its crew farther than anyone has traveled since the Apollo program, targeting an altitude of about 870 miles from Earth. The journey will take the capsule and its crew briefly into the Van Allen radiation belt.
The @PolarisProgram’s Polaris Dawn mission will be the first crew to perform a spacewalk from Dragon, fly higher in Earth’s orbit than anyone since the Apollo program, test laser-based @Starlink communications, and conduct research to help provide insight on human health during… pic.twitter.com/RW387QWShY
Polaris Dawn is meant to be the first of three human spaceflight missions under Isaacman’s Polaris Program. Its crew will put SpaceX’s new Extravehicular Activity space suit to its most important test yet, as they’ll all wear it for protection against the vacuum of space when the Dragon’s doors open for the spacewalk. The spacewalk will take place at an elliptical orbit roughly 435 miles above Earth’s surface, and two crew members will leave the capsule.
It looks like someone got a hold of marketing material for PS5 Pro, revealing its price, editions, and release date. The mid-gen upgrade has been Sony’s worst-kept secret — from its existence down to its planned reveal. But we’ll finally hear about the console in an official capacity today at 8 a.m. PT / 11 a.m. ET. However, some important information seems to be out there already.
PS5 Pro may have 2 editions, the release dates for which might be a few weeks apart
Known leaker billbil-kun, who accurately revealed PS5 Pro’s design, sparked some speculation that the console might only have a digital edition because they didn’t find any evidence of a disc edition at the time. Enter a random X user BrianTheInsider (via Reddit) who has been sharing info about PS5 Pro since August, much of which has now been confirmed.
BrianTheInsider was the only person to have accurately leaked not only the PS5 Pro presentation date but also its runtime, which leads us to believe that he has marketing material for the console. According to him, the PS5 Pro’s digital edition will launch first on November 14 (possibly staggered by region) and its disc edition will launch around December 5. This possibly explains why billbil-kun could only verify the existence of the digital version last week.
As for the prices, BrianTheInsider suggested a £499.99 price tag for the digital model, and £589.99 for the disc edition. It remains to be seen what this translates to in other regions. Bear in mind that we can’t simply convert these prices into other currencies. Based on Sony’s history, we’re looking at about $500 for the digital model and $600 for the disc model.
Last but not least, the insider claims that PS5 Pro will come packed with a DualSense that offers enhanced triggers and better battery life. Additionally, PS5 Pro will support HDR10+ and Dolby Vision on select streaming services and physical media.
Google has lost a seven-year battle with the European Commission as the EU's highest court upheld a $2.7 billion antitrust fine against the search giant, Reuters reported. Antitrust regulators originally levied the penalty against Google in 2017 for favoring its own shopping service against local rivals.
"Google's strategy for its comparison shopping service wasn't just about attracting customers by making its product better than those of its rivals," EU commissioner Margrethe Vestager said at the time. "Instead, Google abused its market dominance as a search engine by promoting its own comparison shopping service in its search results, and demoting those of competitors."
Google lost its first appeal with a lower court in 2021, sending the appeal to Luxembourg's Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The company argued that it was being punished for its dominant position in the market and that the original decision "erred in law by treating quality improvements... as abusive."
However, the CJEU judges upheld the lower court's decision that the company is allowed to have a dominant position but not to abuse it. "In particular, the conduct of undertakings in a dominant position that has the effect of hindering competition on the merits and is thus likely to cause harm to individual undertakings and consumers is prohibited," they noted.
Google is also fighting a legal battle in the EU that could force it to sell parts of its adtech businesses over similar arguments that it favors its own services over those of competitors. The EU commission found preliminarily that since Google is unlikely to change its behavior, only the "mandatory divestment" of part of its services would address competition concerns. All told, Google has accumulated 8.25 billion euros ($9.12 billion) in EU antitrust fines over the last ten years.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://ift.tt/h4KRAp6
from Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics https://ift.tt/h4KRAp6
By most accounts, Astro Bot, the incredible PlayStation 5 platformer that pays a loving tribute to Sony’s (spotty) gaming legacy, is a pretty straightforward game. Team Asobi has created an excellent experience that is able to communicate a lot without words or hand-holding. However, we do have some tips to hopefully…
The next iPhone will be revealed later today at 1PM ET. Well, iPhones. We’re expecting four new devices: the base iPhone 16, a larger iPhone 16 Plus, the iPhone 16 Pro and another beastly iPhone 15 Pro Max. The Pro models might get slightly larger screens, with the regular Pro likely to move to 6.3 inches from 6.1 inches, while the Pro Max should hit 6.9 inches, an increase from 6.7 inches. The iPhone 16’s camera module could be getting a design refresh too.
While those are likely to be the stars, Apple doesn’t miss a chance to showcase even more of its hardware, especially if it ties to the iOS juggernaut. There are plenty of rumors of redesigned AirPods, as well as an updated Apple Watch.
Apple’s next standard smartwatch may have a bigger screen more in line with the Ultra. The company may also introduce a new band system with new connectors that are easier to swap out.
The event kicks off at 1PM ET. You can follow along on our liveblog, where we’ll also be highlighting our first impressions on all the new products.
It supports up to 8K at 60Hz for video and 4K at 120Hz for gaming.
A more future-proof Philips Hue Sync Box has arrived, with support for HDMI 2.1. The box plugs into your TV and creates a light show synced with your onscreen content. Now, it can match 4k at 120Hz, so it’s better suited to the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. The box can sync with up to 10 color-capable Hue lights. As with the previous model, you can tweak the brightness and intensity to your liking in the Hue app.
YouTube has pulled five right-wing political channels believed to be connected to the Department of Justice’s Russia-linked US media indictments this week. The platform pulled the channel of Tenet Media, the company reportedly implicated in the indictment. The DOJ accused Russian operatives of paying the media organization to spread disinformation designed to influence the 2024 US elections. On Wednesday, the DOJ indicted two employees of RT (formerly Russia Today), a Kremlin-backed media outlet. They were accused of illegally funding a Tennessee-backed media organization, now all but officially confirmed as Tenet Media.
This is LG’s Stretchable tech. It appeared as part of clothing and bag concepts at 2025 Seoul Fashion Week. Korean designers added displays to the front of garments, sleeves and clutch bags. LG had to tweak the tech, of course. It built the substrate material from a silicon similar to that used in contact lenses. Screens on clothing, though? Groundbreaking.
Plain and simple, I am a Beatles fan because of video games—prior to a specific game, I didn’t give two shits about one of the most influential acts in modern music history. But this week, the sole reason for my fandom, The Beatles: Rock Band, turns 15. Harmonix’s rhythm game masterpiece feels forgotten despite the…
Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Hermen Hulst has said that PlayStation’s portfolio of “great games” has become more diverse over the years, and the platform boasts a “bigger” community than ever before. Hulst made these comments during the latest episode of the official PlayStation podcast, where he and Team Asobi’s Nicolas Doucet talked about Astro Bot‘s successful launch.
Making PlayStation games in various genres is ‘massively important,’ says CEO
The podcast was focused on Astro Bot so it’s no surprise that Hulst didn’t bring up Concord, but the gaming community isn’t about to let that one go, especially since the podcast went live on the same day that Concord went dark… possibly for good.
“Game launches are massively important and they’re different for every team,” Hulst said while explaining his special interest in Astro Bot. “In my new role as a CEO of the Studio Business Group at SIE, I look a little bit more at the business aspect of a launch.”
Hulst went on to say that it’s very important for PlayStation Studios to target various genres, including the family market. “PlayStation has a bigger community than it’s ever had and I think our portfolio of great games is more diverse now,” Hulst continued. “But with the launch of Astro, I think what we’re doing is celebrating what PlayStation has made great over the years…it’s a celebration of joy and of collaboration.”
Players have been discovering potential references to unannounced Astro Bot DLC over the game’s launch weekend. Hawk-eyed users noticed that Astro Bot’s credits contain copyright notices for all the games that made an appreance during the campaign, but some of the games and studios Sony gave a shoutout to are currently absent.
Potential Astro Bot DLC leak points to a number of big crossovers
As collated by Reddit user Goldenboss6, here are the games that were mentioned in Astro Bot’s credits but weren’t featured in the base campaign:
Stellar Blade
Assassin’s Creed
Rise of the Ronin
Worms
Rayman
Beyond Good & Evil
Croc: Legend of the Gobbos
Interestingly, Astro Bot’s concept art also contains characters that aren’t currently in the game. As pointed out by VGC, the art shows Sweet Tooth (Twisted Metal) and Fat Princess bots.
Noticeably absent from all the leaks and lists are Square Enix franchises that are a significant part of PlayStation’s history. Players picked up on this almost instantly, but your guess is as good as ours on this one.
Team Asobi previously said that it’ll release free Astro Bot DLC, which will include speedruns, challenge missions, and more. Further details will be shared in due course.
A large number of players have reported losing their Astro Bot save files because the game utilizes a strange method of saving progress. We’re not sure if this is a design choice or a bug that needs to be patched, but the autosave feature doesn’t actually create a save file until players quit out to the main menu. If Astro Bot crashes or PS5 unexpectedly shuts down mid-game, the save data is lost for good.
How to avoid losing Astro Bot PS5 save data
The aforementioned issue has been widely reported on sites like ResetEra and Reddit, but the problem only becomes noticeable if you don’t/can’t quit Astro Bot properly. Until Team Asobi rolls out a patch, here’s how you can avoid the issue, as suggested by players:
Turn off automatic cloud saves (PS Plus required) for Astro Bot so your previous “good” save isn’t overriden in case you run into the issue.
When playing, make sure to stop every once in a while and quit out to the main menu. This is particularly important if you’re going for 100% completion. Quitting to the main menu will properly autosave your current progress.
Following the above, make sure to upload your save file manually to cloud.
We know this is a pain in the rear, but unfortunately, it’s all we have right now if you don’t want to wait for a patch.
We’ll update our readers when a fix is rolled out.
Boeing's Starliner capsule has undocked from the ISS at 6:04PM Eastern time on September 6 and has safely and gently landed at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico at 12:01AM on September 7. Calypso, as the capsule is called, didn't have a crew onboard despite flying to the ISS with astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore. NASA decided in late August that the astronauts will come home on a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule in February for safety reasons. Wilmore and Williams merely provided support for the capsule's trip back home and watched the coverage of its re-entry and landing. "You have got this. We have your backs, and you've got this. Bring her back to Earth," Williams told ground control.
The astronauts flew on the Starliner as part of its first crewed flight meant to prove that the spacecraft is ready to regularly ferry humans to the ISS alongside the SpaceX Crew Dragon. They were only supposed to stay on the orbiting laboratory for eight days, but the spacecraft's service module started leaking helium on their way there. Some of the module's thrusters had malfunctioned, as well. The Starliner uses helium to pressurize its fuel tanks and to push propellant to its thrusters that maneuver the spacecraft. Over the past three months, engineers on the ground conducted tests on Starliner with help from the astronauts, but NASA ultimately decided to have the Starliner fly back home uncrewed because it didn't have confidence with the certainty of the thrusters' performance.
During the Starliner's post-landing press conference, Boeing was noticeably absent, and three NASA officials talked about the landing instead. When asked why Boeing wasn't there and if the relationship between the agency and the company was affected by Starliner's issues, the representatives said that Boeing deferred to NASA to represent the mission. They said that all three of them talked to Boeing's managers and that the company is committed to working with the agency. Steve Stich, the manager for Commercial Crew Program at NASA Kennedy, also added that while all of them were happy with the landing, a part of them still wishes it would've gone the way they'd planned, with the astronauts coming home aboard the Calypso.
Stitch, Joel Montalbano (NASA's deputy associate administrator for Space Operations Mission Directorate) and Dana Weigel (NASA's manager for the International Space Station) all praised the Starliner for its successful docking and "bullseye landing." They said they learned a lot from the mission, which apparently achieved 85 to 90 percent of its objectives, and stressed that it's important to remember that things don't always go as planned when it comes to test flights.
It'll take around two weeks to get the Calypso back to NASA grounds and around a week after that to get all the data from the capsule. NASA and Boeing are planning to analyze the data the spacecraft gathered across its systems from its time in orbit until its undocking, reentry and landing. They will then use that information to design improvements for the spacecraft.
Unfortunately, they wouldn't be able to inspect the thrusters that malfunctioned on the flight to the ISS, as well as the "doghouses" that contained the spacecraft's propellant system where the helium had leaked. They had always planned to discard the service module that contained those elements upon re-entry, and it's now at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. NASA previously said that the issues cropped up because the propulsion equipment got hotter that expected while flying, causing container seals to loosen and to leak helium. In case of the thrusters, the heat apparently caused seals to bulge and restrict propellant flow, leading to outages.
Stitch said he wouldn't call those problems insurmountable — they just need some time to address them. They also can't tell at the moment if Starliner's next flight would have a crew onboard. For now, the agency is preparing for other missions. By the end of September, the SpaceX Crew-8 mission vehicle is scheduled to undock and come back to Earth, while the SpaceX Crew-9 mission is expected to launch. Crew-9 will fly with two astronauts instead of four to make room for Wilmore and Williams for its return flight in February.
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