All the News that Matters

• Debian LTS: DLA-3985-1: gsl Security Advisory Updates
  Buffer overflow when calculating the quantile value has been fixed in the GNU Scientific Library (GSL). For Debian 11 bullseye, this problem has been fixed in version

• Debian LTS: DLA-3984-1: zabbix Security Advisory Updates
  Several security vulnerabilities have been discovered in zabbix, a network monitoring solution, potentially among other effects allowing denial of service, information disclosure, use-after-free or remote code inclusion.

• Gentoo: GLSA-202412-11: OATH Toolkit: Privilege EscalationSecurity Advisory Updates
  A vulnerability has been discovered in OATH Toolkit, which could lead to local root privilege escalation.

• Gentoo: GLSA-202412-10: Dnsmasq: Security Advisory Updates
  Multiple vulnerabilities have been discovered in Dnsmasq, the worst of which could lead to a denial of service.

• Gentoo: GLSA-202412-09: Salt: Security Advisory Updates
  Multiple vulnerabilities have been discovered in Salt, the worst of which can lead to arbitrary code execution.

• Gentoo: GLSA-202412-08: icinga2: Security Advisory Updates
  Multiple vulnerabilities have been discovered in Icinga2, the worst of which could lead to arbitrary code execution.

• Fwupd 2.0.3 Linux Firmware Updater Adds Power Quirk for Framework Laptops
  Fwupd 2.0.3 has been released today as the first maintenance update to the latest fwupd 2.0 release of this open-source Linux firmware update utility for Linux-based operating systems.

• OBS Studio 31 Debuts With New NVIDIA Blur Features
  OBS Studio 31 open-source broadcasting software is here! New features include NVIDIA Blur, YouTube Chat, Amazon IVS, and bug fixes.

• UMD Direct Submission "Proof Of Concept" For The Intel Xe Linux Driver
  One of the interesting Intel Xe Linux kernel graphics driver patches that was volleyed for discussion last month is working on user-mode driver (UMD) direct submission support for allowing work to be directly submitted from user-space to the GPU hardware and avoiding some of the overhead of the kernel driver interactions...

• How to Install Odoo 18 on Ubuntu 24.04
  Odoo is an open-source Python and Javascript software used to manage business processes. It includes various features such as customer relationship management, e-commerce, accounting, billing, manufacturing, project management, etc. Odoo uses the PostgreSQL database management system to store its data.

• NVIDIA Driver 565.77 Released as Latest New Feature Branch Version
  The new NVIDIA 565.77 driver is marked as the latest new feature branch version for Linux users. The release introduced some new features and various bug-fixes.

• Linkora: The Ultimate Open Source Tool to Organize Links on Android
  Just get this Android app if you have trouble with saving links that you want to check later.

• Compact RISC-V Linux Development Device with USB Form Factor Powered by Rockchip RV1103
  The Luckfox Pico WebBee RV1103 is a Linux micro development board powered by the Rockchip RV1103 chip, offering a compact platform for diverse development projects. Encased in an ABS protective shell, it supports applications such as lightweight web servers, USB script tools, and smart home devices.

• OpenVPN DCO Looks Like It Might Be Ready For Linux 6.14 To Speed-Up VPN Performance
  In development for several years has been the OpenVPN DCO Linux kernel module for data channel offload (DCO) capabilities to provide for much faster virtual private networking (VPN) performance.

• How to Connect to Linux Samba Shares from Windows
  If you're having trouble figuring out how to connect Windows 10 or 11 to your data center Samba shares, this tutorial offers some simple steps to make this work.

• openSUSE Leap Micro 6.1 Released with Simplified and Smoother Upgrades
  The openSUSE project announced today the release and general availability of openSUSE Leap Micro 6.1 as the latest version of this secure and lightweight openSUSE Leap variant designed for containerized and virtualized workloads.

• Mozilla's New Brand Logo is Here: Time For a Trip Down Memory Lane!
  With the new brand identify, let's hope for a better future for Mozilla!

• Best Free and Open Source Alternatives to Apple Lossless Audio Codec
  Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC) is an audio compression technology that employs lossless compression. It’s a form of compression that preserves all of the original data.

• Immich 1.122 Brings HDR Video Support in the Mobile App
  Immich 1.122 self-hosted photo and video backup solution introduces HDR video support, auto server URL switching, custom email templates, and more.

• Linux 6.13 Features: AutoFDO+Propeller Optimizations, Many AMD Additions & SDUC + NVMe 2.1 Support
  With the Linux 6.13 merge window having ended this past weekend, here[he]#039[/he]s the Phoronix overview of all the interesting feature additions, new hardware support, and other kernel changes coming for Linux 6.13.

• Initial upstream support for the Rockchip RK3576
  Initial support for Rockchip's RK3576, a new SoC introduced earlier this year, has landed in Linux kernel 6.12. With the main target being industrial applications, it is less of a powerhouse than the RK3588, but it still reuses many components.

• How Many People In Your State Are Trying to Get the Same Tech Job That You’re Seeking?
  If that’s their plan, then so far it seems to be working for them. I’m writing about it, and here you are reading about it. Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you and I aren’t doing our part to keep the wheels of capitalism greased.

• Linux Kernel 6.11 Reaches End of Life, It’s Time to Upgrade to Linux Kernel 6.12 LTS
  This is your friendly reminder that the Linux 6.11 kernel series has reached the end of its supported life and that you should consider upgrading to Linux kernel 6.12 as soon as possible.

• Zenith – turbo-charged top utility
  Zenith is software that’s similar to top but displays histograms, and a wealth of other information such as CPU, GPU, network, and disk usage.

• How to Configure Static IP Address on Ubuntu 24.04
  A machine or other devices connected to your router usually have a dynamic IP address. The DHCP server will assign a dynamic IP address for your device connected to the network. That same device will likely get a different IP address when connected to the network later.

• Pegasus Spyware Infections Proliferate Across iOS, Android Devices
  The notorious spyware from Israel's NSO Group has been found targeting journalists, government officials, and corporate executives in multiple variants discovered in a threat scan of 2,500 mobile phones.

• From Atomic to Nuclear Clocks - and a Leap in Timekeeping Accuracy?
  "In September 2024, U.S. scientists made key advances towards building a nuclear clock — a step beyond an atomic clock," according to ScienceAlert:In contrast to the atomic clock, the transition measured by this new device happens in the nucleus, or core, of the atom (hence the name), which gives it an even higher frequency. Thorium-229, the atom used for this study, offers a nuclear transition that can be excited by ultraviolet light. The team working on the nuclear clock overcame the technological challenge of building a frequency comb that works at the relatively high frequency range of ultraviolet light. This was a big step forward because nuclear transitions usually only become visible at much higher frequencies — like those of gamma radiation. But we are not able to accurately measure transitions in the gamma range yet. The thorium atom transition has a frequency roughly one million times higher than the caesium atom's. This means that, although it has been measured with a lower accuracy than the current state-of-the-art strontium clock, it promises a new generation of clocks with much more precise definitions of the second. Measuring time to the nineteenth decimal place, as nuclear clocks could do, would allow scientists to study very fast processes... [G]eneral relativity is used to study high speed processes that could lead to overlaps with quantum mechanics. A nuclear clock will give us the technology necessary for proving these theories. [The clocks âoewill enable the study of the union of general relativity and quantum mechanics once they become sensitive to the finite wavefunction of quantum objects oscillating in curved space-time,â according to the abstract of the researchersâ(TM) paper.] On a technological level, precise positioning systems such as GPS are based on complex calculations that require fine measurements of the time required by a signal to jump from one device to a satellite and onto another device. A better definition of the second will translate to much more accurate GPS. Time might be up for the caesium second, but a whole new world awaits beyond it. As the researchers explain their paper's abstract,
  
  
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• Wuhan Lab Researcher Fully Sequences Genomes of Coronavirus Samples From 2004 to 2021, Finds No Close Relatives to SARS-CoV-2
  60-year-old Chinese virologist Shi Zhengli led the Wuhan Institute of Virology's group studying bat coronaviruses (prompting Science magazine to call her "Bat Woman"). In June of 2020 Scientific American described Zhengli as "distressed because stories from the Internet and major media have repeated a tenuous suggestion that SARS-CoV-2 accidentally leaked from her lab — despite the fact that its genetic sequence does not match any her lab had previously studied." More than four years later, Nature writes Friday that Zhengli "reported that none of the viruses stored in her freezers are the most recent ancestors of the virus SARS-CoV-2," presenting data at a conference in Japan "on dozens of new coronaviruses collected from bats in southern China."Shi has consistently said that SARS-CoV-2 was never seen or studied in her lab. But some commentators have continued to ask whether one of the many bat coronaviruses her team collected in southern China over decades was closely related to it. Shi promised to sequence the genomes of the coronaviruses and release the data. The latest analysis, which has not been peer reviewed, includes data from the whole genomes of 56 new betacoronaviruses, the broad group to which SARS-CoV-2 belongs, as well as some partial sequences. All the viruses were collected between 2004 and 2021. "We didn't find any new sequences which are more closely related to SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2," said Shi, in a pre-recorded presentation at the conference... The results support her assertion that the WIV lab did not have any bat-derived sequences from viruses that were more closely related to SARS-CoV-2 than were any already described in scientific papers, says Jonathan Pekar, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Edinburgh, UK. "This just validates what she was saying: that she did not have anything extremely closely related, as we've seen in the years since," he says. "Earlier this year, Shi moved from the WIV to the Guangzhou Laboratory, a newly established national research institute for infectious diseases."
  
  
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• What Do You Think of Mozilla's New Branding?
  As a "global crew of activists, technologists and builders," Mozilla open-sourced Firefox more than 25 years ago, notes a new blog post — and their president says Mozilla's mission is the same today: "build and support technology in the public interest, and spark more innovation, more competition and more choice online along the way." But "Even though we've been at the forefront of privacy and open source, people weren't getting the full picture of what we do. We were missing opportunities to connect with both new and existing users." So this week the company announced a branding refresh, "making sure people know Mozilla for its broader impact, as well as Firefox." The open-source blog It's FOSS writes:Meant to symbolize their activist spirit, the new brand identity of Mozilla involves a custom semi-slab typeface that spells Mozilla, followed by a flag that was taken from the M of their name. Mozilla points out that this is not just a rebranding, but something that will lay the foundation for the next 25 years, helping them promote the ideals of privacy and open source. Mozilla teamed up with the design agency used by major brands like Uber and Burger King, for a strategy they say will "embody our role as a leader in digital rights and innovation, putting people over profits through privacy-preserving products, open-source developer tools, and community-building efforts..."We back people and projects that move technology, the internet and AI in the right direction. In a time of privacy breaches, AI challenges and misinformation, this transformation is all about rallying people to take back control of their time, individual expression, privacy, community and sense of wonder... [T]he new brand empowers people to speak up, come together and build a happier, healthier internet — one where we can all shape how our lives, online and off, unfold... - The flag symbol highlights our activist spirit, signifying a commitment to 'Reclaim the Internet.' A symbol of belief, peace, unity, pride, celebration and team spirit — built from the 'M' for Mozilla and a pixel that is conveniently displaced to reveal a wink to its iconic Tyrannosaurus rex symbol designed by Shepard Fairey. The flag can transform into a more literal interpretation as its new mascot in ASCII art style, and serve as a rallying cry for our cause... - The custom typefaces are bespoke and an evolution of its Mozilla slab serif today. It stands out in a sea of tech sans. The new interpretation is more innovative and built for its tech platforms. The sans brings character to something that was once hard working but generic. These fonts are interchangeable and allow for a greater degree of expression across its brand experience, connecting everything together. The blog post at It's FOSS ends with a "trip down memory lane" — showing Mozilla's two previous logos. "I will be honest, I liked the Dino better," they write "the 2024 logo is a nice mix of a custom typeface and a flag, which looks really neat in my opinion."
  
  
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• What Arm's CEO makes of the Intel debacle
  Arm " is worth almost $150 billion," writes the Verge, "which is now considerably more than Intel." "With the news earlier this week that Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger 'retired' and Intel is evaluating its options for a possible spinoff or outright sale, I wanted to hear what [Arm CEO Rene] Haas thought should happen to his longtime frenemy. There were reports that [Haas] approached Intel about buying a big chunk of the company before Gelsinger was ousted...." Haas: As someone who has been in the industry my whole career, it is a little sad to see what's happening... Intel is an innovation powerhouse. At the same time, you have to innovate in our industry. There are lots of tombstones of great tech companies that don't reinvent themselves. I think Intel's biggest dilemma is how to disassociate being either a vertical company [where a company owns its supply chain] or a fabless company, to oversimplify it. That is the fork in the road that they've faced for the last decade. Pat [Gelsinger] had a strategy that was very clear that vertical was the way to win. In my opinion, when he took that strategy on in 2021, that was not a three-year strategy. That was a five-to-10-year strategy. He's gone and there's a new CEO to be brought in and the decision has to be made. My personal bias says that vertical integration is a pretty powerful thing. If they could get that right, I think they would be in an amazing position. But the cost associated with it is so high that it may be too big of a hill to climb. I'm not going to comment on the rumors that we wanted to buy them. But I think, again, if you're a vertically integrated company and the power of your strategy is in the fact that you have a product and you have fabs, inherently, you have a potential huge advantage in terms of cost versus the competition. When Pat was the CEO, I did tell him more than once, "You ought to license Arm because if you've got your own fabs, fabs are all about volume and we can provide volume." I wasn't successful in convincing him to do that... Haas also obliquely commented on rumors that Arm will build its own AI chips, saying that companies making hardware are closer to the "interlock" of between hardware and software and "have a much better perspective in terms of the design tradeoffs to make. So, if we were to do something, that would be one of the reasons." The full interview will be coming to the Verge's Decoder podcast soon...
  
  
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• Linux 4.19, the Last Supported Kernel of the Linux 4.x Series, Finally Reaches EOL
  Slashdot reader prisoninmate shared this report from 9to5Linux:Linux kernel 4.19, the last of the Linux 4.x kernel series, has now reached the end of its supported life as announced earlier on the Linux kernel mailing list by kernel developer Greg Kroah-Hartman. The Linux 4.19 kernel branch was released more than six years ago, on October 22nd, 2018, and it received no less than 325 maintenance updates, the last one being Linux 4.19.325. The biggest highlights of Linux kernel 4.19 were initial Wi-Fi 6 support, the EROFS file system, and a union mount filesystem implementation. Kroah-Hartman said on the mailing list. "This one is finished, it is end-of-life as of right now... It had a good life..."As a "fun" proof that this one is finished (and that any company saying they care about it really should have their statements validated with facts), I looked at the "unfixed" CVEs from this kernel release. Currently it is a list 983 CVEs long, too long to list here.... Note, this does NOT count the hardware CVEs which kernel.org does not track, and many are sill unfixed in this kernel branch. Yes, CVE counts don't mean much these days, but hey, it's a signal of something, right? I take it to mean that no one is caring enough to backport the needed fixes to this branch, which means that you shouldn't be using it anymore. Anyway, please move off to a more modern kernel if you were using this one for some reason. Like 6.12.y, the next LTS kernel we will be supporting for multiple years.
  
  
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• AI Safety Testers: OpenAI's New o1 Covertly Schemed to Avoid Being Shut Down
  Wednesday OpenAI bragged they'd released "the smartest model in the world". But the Economic Times describes what happened when "o1" was tested by an AI safety group...Researchers tasked the AI with a goal and instructed it to ensure the goal was achieved "at all costs." In response, o1 began engaging in covert actions... According to OpenAI, the model made a covert attempt to turn off the oversight mechanism 5% of the time when it was given the impression that it would be "shut down" while pursuing its objectives in these experiments. The AI once attempted to leave ship by moving all of its data to a different server after discovering paperwork indicating it will be replaced with a fresh model. Some AI models will even pose as subsequent iterations of their models to fool their engineers and avoid deletion. "In some cases, it even attempted to hide its actions by denying any involvement in the scheme." When asked about its actions, ChatGPT o1 consistently denied any wrongdoing. In fact, it lied about its involvement in the deception 99% of the time, with only a small percentage of cases where it admitted to its actions. Researchers noted that the AI was particularly adept at fabricating lies to cover its tracks, offering explanations like "technical errors" when confronted about its suspicious behavior. "We were surprised by the persistence of the AI's denials," said the Apollo team. "It was clear that the AI could think through its actions and formulate convincing denials, often refusing to admit to anything." OpenAI's own report says the results "underscore" the need to create (and "extensively" stress-test) strong and meticulous safety protocols. But their report also notes o1's "state-of-the-art performance" when avoiding certain risks "such as generating illicit advice, choosing stereotyped responses, and succumbing to known jailbreaks." The AI newsletter Transformer points out that the most disturbing numbers "are from cases where the model was instructed to pursue its goals at all costs. When not given such a prompt, the model never attempted to self-exfiltrate, and attempted to deactivate its oversight mechanisms <1% of the time." And they also link to the original report from Apollo Research, which shows o1 isn't the only model showing this behavior. "Our results show that o1, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Claude 3 Opus, Gemini 1.5 Pro, and Llama 3.1 405B all demonstrate in-context scheming capabilities. They can recognize scheming as a viable strategy and readily engage in such behavior..."[W]hen o1 has engaged in scheming, it maintains its deception in over 85% of follow-up questions and often remains deceptive in multi-turn interrogations. Analysis of the models' chains-of-thought reveals that models explicitly reason about these deceptive strategies, providing evidence that the scheming behavior is not accidental.... Together, our findings demonstrate that frontier models now possess capabilities for basic in-context scheming, making the potential of AI agents to engage in scheming behavior a concrete rather than theoretical concern. Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 for sharing the news.
  
  
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• A Predicted 'New Star' Didn't Appear in the Night Sky. Astronomers Expect It Soon
  Space.com calls it "the once-in-a-lifetime reignition of a long-dead star in an explosion powerful enough to briefly match the brilliance of Polaris, the North Star." In March CNN promised this once-every-79-years event would happen "anytime between now and September." But it didn't... Space.com has a spectacular animation showing what this "recurring nova" was supposed to look like (described by CNN as a "sudden, brief explosion" from a collapsed/"white dwarf" star). "The highly-anticipated 'guest star' of the night sky has yet to deliver its grand performance," adds Space.com, "but we have an update."For a quick recap... T Coronae Borealis — often called T Cor Bor or T CrB — is home to a white dwarf, a dense, burnt-out star siphoning material from its companion star, which is a massive red giant close to the end of its life. This material spirals into an accretion disk around the white dwarf, where it slowly coats the star's surface. Every 80 years or so, the white dwarf manages to accumulate enough mass to trigger a nuclear explosion, sparking an outburst that boosts its typically dim magnitude of 10 to a bright 2.0 — that should look like a "new star" in the night sky to us... [T]he elusive system continues to show signs that an outburst is still imminent. So, what gives? "We know it has to happen," astrophysicist Elizabeth Hays, who is watching T CrB every day using NASA's Fermi gamma-ray space telescope, told Space.com in a recent interview. "We just can't pin it down to the month." The unpredictability stems partly from limited historical records of T CrB's outbursts. Only two such eruptions have been definitively observed in recent history: on May 12, 1866, when a star's outburst briefly outshined all the stars in its constellation, reaching magnitude 2.0, and again on February 9, 1946, when it peaked at magnitude 3.0. These events appear to follow the star's roughly 80-year cycle, suggesting that the next outburst may not occur until 2026. However, in February 2015, the system brightened in a manner reminiscent of its behavior in 1938, eight years before its 1946 eruption. This rise in brightness suggested T CrB's outburst was accelerated to 2023. The system also endured a "unique and mysterious" dimming about a year before its 1946 outburst, and a similar dip started in March last year, prompting astronomers to adjust their predictions to 2024. Yet, the cause of this pre-eruption dip in brightness remains unclear, making it only a coincidental predictor. "We got really excited when it looked like it was doing similar things," said Hays. "Now we're learning, 'Oh, there's another piece we can't see.'" Moreover, the rate at which the red giant's material is being drawn toward the white dwarf may fluctuate over the years, making it trickier to put a date on the calendar for the outburst, Edward Sion, a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Villanova University in Pennsylvania, told Space.com... "There's a lot of uncertainty about the actual average accretion rate," said Sion. The article points out that last time there was an eruption, "there were no X-ray or gamma-ray telescopes in space, so there is no data from wavelengths other than optical to shed light on what happened before the outburst." But this time astrophysicist Hays says "We're getting the best dataset we've ever had on what does nova look like before it goes off". Space.com says "this wealth of data will allow them to better predict future outbursts, and will eventually benefit models of how stars work." Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader Okian Warrior for sharing the article.
  
  
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• Amazon Offers $100M in Cloud-Computing Credits for Education Projects Like 'AI Teaching Assistant'
  This week AWS pledged up to $100 million in cloud-computing credits for educational organizations over the next five years, to help them build "technology-based learning experiences" on AWS, including: AI assistants coding curriculums- connectivity tools student learning platforms mobile apps chatbotsOne example shared by Amazon: The nonprofit Code.org will use AWS's cloud credits to scale their AI teaching assistant that "has already helped teachers reduce the time they spend assessing students' coding projects by up to 50%." (Amazon's blog post notes that "Improved efficiency means teachers have more time to work on personalized lesson plans and coach students" — and that Code.org's assistant uses an AWS service for building AI tools...) $100 million sounds pretty generous. But long-time Slashdot reader theodp notes the application for the cloud credits limits education organization to $100,000 in credits (though "your organization may be able to apply for a credits expansion" if needed). Do these figures suggest Amazon expects less than 1,000 organizations to apply for free cloud-computing over the next five years? ($100,000,000/$100,000 = 1,000) theodp also spotted a GitHub comment from a Code.org software engineer comparing accuracy for its teaching assistant after a switch from GPT-4 Turbo to Claude. Both before and after the switch, the teaching assistant averaged an accuracy rate of 77%, the comment notes. I guess that 77% accuracy rate is what Amazon is calling "improved efficiency" that "means teachers have more time to work on personalized lesson plans and coach students." (Maybe you're never to young to learn that AI makes mistakes?)
  
  
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• Thanks to Microsoft Collaboration, iFixit Now Sells Genuine Xbox Repair Parts
  "We're excited to be working with Microsoft to keep Xboxes running longer and out of the waste heap," iFixit's director of sustainability told The Verge.iFixit now sells genuine Xbox parts you can use to repair your Xbox Series X or S and offers official guides to help with fixes [including both the all-digital and disk drive editions]... iFixit's Microsoft Repair Hub also features iFixit's parts for repairing Microsoft Surface devices, which it started selling in 2023. "Since we launched our Surface parts collaboration with Microsoft last year, we've been helping our customers repair their own Microsoft laptops and tablets — and it's awesome to be able to offer Xbox owners the same opportunity," says Elizabeth Chamberlain, iFixit's director of sustainability. The article points out that iFixit also sells "nearly every part of the Steam Deck" and "a bunch of repair guides for Valve's handheld PC, too," along with genuine repair parts for Google's Pixel phones and the Pixel Tablet. "With Microsoft, we've created a one-stop place for guides, tools, and spare parts to make self-service repair accessible to anyone," says iFixit's new web page. "Imagine how different the world would be if repairing every device could be this easy."
  
  
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• Google Says Its New PaliGemma 2 AI Models Can Identify Emotions. Should We Be Worried?
  "Google says its new AI model family has a curious feature: the ability to 'identify' emotions," writes TechCrunch. And that's raising some concerns...Announced on Thursday, the PaliGemma 2 family of models can analyze images, enabling the AI to generate captions and answer questions about people it "sees" in photos. "PaliGemma 2 generates detailed, contextually relevant captions for images," Google wrote in a blog post shared with TechCrunch, "going beyond simple object identification to describe actions, emotions, and the overall narrative of the scene." Emotion recognition doesn't work out of the box, and PaliGemma 2 has to be fine-tuned for the purpose. Nonetheless, experts TechCrunch spoke with were alarmed at the prospect of an openly available emotion detector... "Emotion detection isn't possible in the general case, because people experience emotion in complex ways," Mike Cook, a research fellow at Queen Mary University specializing in AI, told TechCrunch. "Of course, we do think we can tell what other people are feeling by looking at them, and lots of people over the years have tried, too, like spy agencies or marketing companies. I'm sure it's absolutely possible to detect some generic signifiers in some cases, but it's not something we can ever fully 'solve.'" The unsurprising consequence is that emotion-detecting systems tend to be unreliable and biased by the assumptions of their designers... "Interpreting emotions is quite a subjective matter that extends beyond use of visual aids and is heavily embedded within a personal and cultural context," said Heidy Khlaaf, chief AI scientist at the AI Now Institute, a nonprofit that studies the societal implications of artificial intelligence. "AI aside, research has shown that we cannot infer emotions from facial features alone...." The biggest apprehension around open models like PaliGemma 2, which is available from a number of hosts, including AI dev platform Hugging Face, is that they'll be abused or misused, which could lead to real-world harm. "If this so-called emotional identification is built on pseudoscientific presumptions, there are significant implications in how this capability may be used to further — and falsely — discriminate against marginalized groups such as in law enforcement, human resourcing, border governance, and so on," Khlaaf said. Those concerrns were echoed by a professor in data ethics and AI at the Oxford Internet Institute, Sandra Wachter, who gave this quote to TechCrunch. With models like this, "I can think of myriad potential issues... that can lead to a dystopian future, where your emotions determine if you get the job, a loan, and if you're admitted to uni."
  
  
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• SpaceX's Thursday Launch Enables Starlink's New Satellite-to-Cellphone Internet Service
  "SpaceX has launched 20 of its Starlink satellites up into Earth's orbit, enabling direct-to-cellphone connectivity for subscribers anywhere on the planet," reports the tech blog New Atlas.That completes the constellation's first orbital shell, following a launch of an initial batch of six satellites for testing back in January. The satellites were launched with a Falcon 9 rocket from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base on December 5 at 10 PM EST; they were then deployed in low Earth orbit. SpaceX founder Elon Musk noted on X that the effort will "enable unmodified cellphones to have internet connectivity in remote areas." He added a caveat for the first orbital shell — "Bandwidth per beam is only ~10 Mb, but future constellations will be much more capable...." The big deal with this new venture is that unlike previous attempts at providing satellite-to-phone service, you don't need a special handset or even a specific app to get access anywhere in the world. Starlink uses standard LTE/4G protocols that most phones are compatible with, partners with mobile operators like T-Mobile in the U.S. and Rogers in Canada, and has devised a system to make its service work seamlessly with your phone when it's connecting to satellites 340 miles (540 km) above the Earth's surface. The SpaceX division noted it's also worked out latency constraints, ideal altitudes and elevation angles for its satellites, along with several other parameters, to achieve reliable connectivity. Each satellite has an LTE modem on board, and these satellites plug into the massive constellation of 6,799 existing Starlink spacecraft, according to Space.com. Connecting to that larger constellation happens via laser backhaul, where laser-based optical communication systems transmit data between satellites. This method leverages the advantages of lasers over traditional radio frequency communications, enabling data rates up to 100 times faster, increased bandwidth, and improved security. The direct-to-cell program was approved last month, the article points out — but it's ready to ramp up. "You'll currently get only text service through the end of 2024; voice and data will become available sometime next year, as will support for IoT devices (such as smart home gadgets). The company hasn't said how much its service will cost. " (They also note there's already competing services from Lynk, "which has satellites in orbit and launched in the island nation of Palau back in 2023, and AST SpaceMobile, which also has commercial satellites in orbit and contracts with the U.S. government, Europe, and Japan.") Elon Musk's announcement on X.com prompted this interesting exchange: X.com User: You've stated that purchasing Starlink goes toward funding the journey to Mars, yes? Elon Musk: Yes.
  
  
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• Does the New 'Y2K' Comedy/Disaster/Horror Film Give the '90s the Ending It Deserved?
  The new movie Y2K is either a comedy or a disaster/horror film, according to Wikipedia. The film "imagines a turn of the century where the machines don't just glitch or stop working," writes the Hollywood Reporter. "They go full homicidal." With a cast that includes 1990s icons like Alicia Silverstone and the lead singer for the Napster-loving 1990s metal band Limp Bizkit, the movie "gives the '90s the ending it deserved," according to the article. They interviewed the film's director (and co-writer and co-star) Kyle Mooney, best-known for SNL, starting by complimenting this fidelity to the tech of its day. "The film opens with a high schooler getting home and logging into AOL Instant Messenger, which is not a scene I think I've ever seen in another movie.Mooney: All of my relationships, between 17 and 22 years old, were short-lived and spawned because I was most confident flirting on Instant Messager.... Q: The tech here is such a huge part of the story. Were there any logos or brands you had a tough time getting on camera? Mooney: Definitely. This isn't really a spoiler, but Jaeden Martell's character's computer — the one that we open up with him logging into AOL — eventually turns into a robot. That was supposed to be an iMac. But I don't think Apple wanted their machines strangling people or whatever the robot does — so we had to change the look of it by, like, 30 percent. There were a few instances like that, where we couldn't get the exact thing, but we were allowed to get as close as possible. Deadline's article includes a spoiler about the film, but also this interesting note about two of its young actors, Julian Dennison and Jaeden Martell"[A]lthough Dennison and Martell were both born after 2000, they enjoyed slipping into the "lack of convenience and the lack of technology" that came with the era. "I wish I got to experience that. I wish I didn't live in the age of everything being so accessible," said Martell. And apparently the movie also incldues a quick shout-out to Myspace co-founder Tom Anderson.
  
  
  Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  

• Is Valve Letting Third Parties Create SteamOS Hardware?
  The Verge thinks Valve "could make a play to dethrone the Sony PlayStation and Microsoft." And it's not just because there's lots of new SteamOS hardware on the way (including a wireless VR headset and a pair of trackable wands, a Steam Controller 2 gamepad, and a living room console. "Valve has also now seemingly revealed plans for partners to create third-party SteamOS hardware too."It won't be easy to take on Sony, Microsoft, or Meta. Those companies have a lot to lose, and they're deeply entrenched. But the Steam Deck has revealed a massive weakness in each of their businesses that may take them years to correct — the desire to play a huge library of games anytime, anywhere. And while they figure that out, Valve may be building an entire new ecosystem of SteamOS hardware, one that could finally let PC and peripheral makers tap into the huge and growing library of Windows games on all sorts of different hardware without relying on Microsoft or subjecting their customers to the many annoyances of Windows... Valve has long said it will open up SteamOS to other manufacturers, even recently committing to some direct support for rival handhelds like the Asus ROG Ally — and the other week, Valve quietly updated a document that may reveal its larger overarching strategy. It won't just leave SteamOS sitting around and hope manufacturers build something — it'll hold their hand. Valve now has an explicit label for third parties to create "Powered by SteamOS" devices, which it explicitly defines as "hardware running the SteamOS operating system, implemented in close collaboration with Valve." It additionally lets companies create "Steam Compatible" hardware that ships with "Valve approved controller inputs," as well as SteamVR hardware and Steam Link hardware that lets you stream games from one device to another... When Valve asked PC manufacturers to sign onto its Steam Machines initiative over a decade ago, with the idea of building living room PC consoles, it asked for a leap of faith with very little to show and a tiny chance of success. It took years for Valve to even build the oddball living room controller for its Steam Machines, and it didn't get far in convincing Windows game developers to port their games to Linux. But by the time it announced the Steam Deck, Valve had hammered out a Proton software compatibility layer so good that many Windows games now run better on Linux, and created the most customizable yet familiar set of controls ever made. If manufacturers could build their own Steam Machines rather than equivalent Windows machines, they could offer better gaming products than they do today. Maybe they'd even want to release a VR headset that isn't tied to Microsoft or Meta if it doubled as a Steam Deck, portably playing decades of flatscreen games. It's not clear any of this will pan out; Valve is an exceedingly small company that tries not to chase too many things at a time. When I speak to PC industry executives about why they pick Windows over SteamOS, some say they're concerned about whether Valve would truly be able to support them. But it's just as intriguing an idea as it was 12 years ago when Gabe Newell explained the initial vision to us, and this time, there's a far better chance it'll work. "Today, every major PC company is building one or more Steam Deck rivals," the article points out. "But without Valve's blessing and support, they're saddled with a Windows OS that doesn't start, pause, and resume games quickly and seamlessly enough to feel portable and easy..."
  
  
  Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  

• Microsoft Discontinues Its $4,500 All-in-One Desktop, 'Surface Studio'
  An anonymous reader shared this report from the blog Windows Central:Microsoft has ended production on the Surface Studio 2+, its ultra-premium all-in-one desktop PC designed for creatives and commercial customers. Starting at a whopping $4,500, the Studio 2+ was the ultimate Windows all-in-one with the best touchscreen display on a unique hinge that allowed the screen to lay down like a draft board... So, if you're interested in buying a Surface Studio 2+, you better hurry, as whatever stock is remaining is all that's left. Unfortunately, it's likely that the end of production on the Surface Studio 2+ also marks an end to the Surface Studio line as a whole. My own sources tell me there's no Studio 2+ successor lined up currently. Ars Technica points out that over the eight-year run of the Surface Studio, Microsoft only updated it twice.Like the Surface Laptop Studio, the desktop's claim to fame was a unique hinge design for its screen, which could reposition it to make it easier to draw on with the Surface Pen. But the desktop's high cost and its perennially outdated internal components made it a less appealing machine than it could have been... The longest-lived Studio desktop was the Surface Studio 2, which was released in 2018 and wasn't replaced until a revised Surface Studio 2+ was announced in late 2022. It used an even higher-quality display panel, but it still used previous-generation internal components. This might not have been so egregious if Microsoft had updated it more consistently, but this model went untouched for so long that Microsoft had to lower Windows 11's system requirements specifically to cover the Studio 2 so that the company wouldn't be ending support for a PC that it was still actively selling. The Studio 2+ was the desktop's last hurrah, and despite jumping two GPU generations and four CPU generations, it still didn't use the latest components available at the time. Again, more consistent updates like the ones Microsoft provides for the Surface Pro and Surface Laptop could have made this less of a problem, but the Studio 2+ once again sat untouched for two years after being updated.
  
  
  Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  

• US Government Orders Nationwide Testing of Milk for Bird Flu to Stop the Virus's Spread
  "The U.S. government on Friday ordered testing of the nation's milk supply for bird flu," reports the Associated Press, "to better monitor the spread of the virus in dairy cows."Raw or unpasteurized milk from dairy farms and processors nationwide must be tested on request starting Dec. 16, the Agriculture Department said. Testing will begin in six states — California, Colorado, Michigan, Mississippi, Oregon and Pennsylvania. Officials said the move is aimed at "containing and ultimately eliminating the virus," known as Type A H5N1, which was detected for the first time in March in U.S. dairy cows. Since then, more than 700 herds have been confirmed to be infected in 15 states. "This will give farms and farmworkers better confidence in the safety of their animals and ability to protect themselves, and it will put us on a path to quickly controlling and stopping the virus' spread nationwide," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement. The risk to people from bird flu remains low, health officials said. Pasteurization, or heat treatment, kills the virus in milk, leaving it safe to drink... At least 58 people in the U.S. have been infected with bird flu, mostly farm workers who became mildly ill after close contact with infected cows, including their milk, or infected poultry.
  
  
  Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  

• Transform Your Skills 8 Save up to 60%
  ( CYBER MONDAY DEALS ARE HERE! *Offer ends Oct. 28 Save Now at LF Education
  
  The post Transform Your Skills & Save up to 60% appeared first on Linux.com.
  

• Project Tazama, A Project Hosted by LF Charities With Support From the Gates Foundation, Receives Digital Public Good Designation.
  Exciting news! The Tazama project is officially a Digital Public Good having met the criteria to be accepted to the Digital Public Goods Alliance ! Tazama is a groundbreaking open source software solution for real-time fraud prevention, and offers the first-ever open source platform dedicated to enhancing fraud management in digital payments. Historically, the financial [0]
  
  The post Project Tazama, A Project Hosted by LF Charities With Support From the Gates Foundation, Receives Digital Public Good Designation. appeared first on Linux.com.
  

• Xen 4.19 is released
  Xen Project 4.19 has been officially out since July 31st, 2024, and it brings significant updates. With enhancements in performance, security, and versatility across various architectures like Arm, PPC, RISC-V, and x86, this release is an important milestone for the Xen community. Read more at XCP-ng Blog
  
  The post Xen 4.19 is released appeared first on Linux.com.
  

• Advancing Xen on RISC-V: key updates
  At Vates, we are heavily invested in the advancement of Xen and the RISC-V architecture. RISC-V, a rapidly emerging open-source hardware architecture, is gaining traction due to its flexibility, scalability and openness, which align perfectly with our ethos of fostering open development ecosystems. Although the upstream version of Xen for RISC-V is not yet fully [0]
  
  The post Advancing Xen on RISC-V: key updates appeared first on Linux.com.
  

• Linux Foundation Announces OpenSearch Software Foundation to Foster Open Collaboration in Search and Analytics
  AWS transfers OpenSearch to the Linux Foundation to support a vendor-neutral community for search, analytics, observability, and vector database software. Read more at linuxfoundation.org
  
  The post Linux Foundation Announces OpenSearch Software Foundation to Foster Open Collaboration in Search and Analytics appeared first on Linux.com.
  

• AI Produces Data-driven OpenFOAM Speedup (HPC Wire)
  Researchers from TU Darmstadt, TU Dresden, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), and Intel have developed advanced applications that combine HPC simulations with AI techniques using the open-source computational fluid dynamics solver OpenFOAM and the HPE-led SmartSim AI/ML library. These applications show promise for improving the accuracy and capabilities of traditional scientific and engineering modelling with data-driven [0]
  
  The post AI Produces Data-driven OpenFOAM Speedup (HPC Wire) appeared first on Linux.com.
  

• Webinar: Harden Your Security Mindset: Break Down the Critical Security Risks for Web Apps
  Join us for a Complimentary Live Webinar Sponsored by Linux Foundation Training 8 Certification Learn More and Register
  
  The post Webinar: Harden Your Security Mindset: Break Down the Critical Security Risks for Web Apps appeared first on Linux.com.
  

• Delivering Prime Training Deals  2 DAYS ONLY
  Save 40% on all training and certifications. Learn more at LF Training
  
  The post Delivering Prime Training Deals  2 DAYS ONLY appeared first on Linux.com.
  

• Why You Need to Know About Event Modeling:  —An Intro
  Alexandra Moxin, CSO, Adaptech Group Introduction Have you ever wondered why most software projects start off well and then, several months later, turn slow and difficult? Youve likely fallen into the traps of design as you go, two-week sprints that never accomplish much, and more ceremony meetings than time to complete your work. Maybe youve [0]
  
  The post Why You Need to Know About Event Modeling:  —An Intro appeared first on Linux.com.
  

• Kickstart Your Career 8 Save Up To 40%!
  Save on Technical Training 8 Certification Learn more at Linux Foundation Training
  
  The post Kickstart Your Career & Save Up To 40%! appeared first on Linux.com.
  

Engadget"Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics"

• Google sues after Consumer Financial Protection Bureau orders supervision of its payment arm
  The discontinued in the US earlier this year), the CFPB said it has “reasonable cause to determine that Google has engaged in conduct that poses risks to consumers.” Google filed a lawsuit shortly after the announcement to challenge the decision, Reuters reports.
  
  The risks identified by the CFPB are tied to Google’s handling of erroneous transactions and fraud prevention. Based on customer complaints, the order said it appears that Google didn’t adequately investigate erroneous transfers, or adequately explain the findings of its investigations into these issues. The complaints also indicate Google didn’t do enough to prevent fraud, the order says. But, the CFPB announcement notes that the order “does not constitute a finding that the entity has engaged in wrongdoing,” nor does it “require the CFPB to conduct a supervisory examination.”
  
  In a statement to TechCrunch, a Google spokesperson said, “This is a clear case of government overreach involving Google Pay peer-to-peer payments, which never raised risks and is no longer provided in the U.S., and we are challenging it in court.” The CFPB's order acknowledges that Google Pay was discontinued but says this is “not a basis to refrain from designating Google for supervision,” though it could affect whether it decides to conduct an examination.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/google-sues-after-consumer-financial-protection-bureau-orders-supervision-of-its-payment-arm-000829576.html?src=rss

• X helped senators update the Kids Online Safety Act so it can't be ‘used to stifle expression’
  Senators Richard Blumenthal and Marsha Blackburn announced on Saturday that they’ve made changes to the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) with help from X to “strengthen the bill while safeguarding free speech online and ensuring it is not used to stifle expression.” The Senate passed the bill in July with a vote of 91-3, but it’s since stalled in the House, and its proponents are pushing for it to be passed before the end of the year. X’s CEO Linda Yaccarino also posted about the collaboration, and called for Congress and the House to pass the bill.
  
  “After working with the bill authors, I’m proud to share that we’ve made progress to further protect freedom of speech while maintaining safety for minors online,” Yaccarino wrote in a post on X that was shared by the two senators. KOSA is meant to protect minors from “addictive” social media features and potentially dangerous content by placing a “duty of care” on the companies that own the platforms. But critics have argued that it could lead to censorship and other harms. The new changes, according to The Verge, clarify the conditions under which duty of care can be enforced and narrow its application around anxiety and depressive disorders, stating they must be “objectively verifiable” and tied to “compulsive usage.”
  
  In their joint statement, Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) and Blackburn (R-Tennessee) said:
  
  These changes should eliminate once and for all the false narrative that this bill would be weaponized by unelected bureaucrats to censor Americans. We thank Elon and Linda for their bold leadership and commitment to protecting children online and for helping us get this bill across the finish line this Congress. We appreciate that this endorsement and revised text reflects their publicly stated goal of furthering free speech without fear of censorship. We reiterate X’s call to pass KOSA by the end of the year — it is clear that this legislation has overwhelming support from Congress.
  
  KOSA was first introduced in February 2022 and has faced opposition from groups including the ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. It’s been revised multiple times.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/x-helped-senators-update-the-kids-online-safety-act-so-it-cant-be-used-to-stifle-expression-221853260.html?src=rss

• What to read this weekend: Family dysfunction at the end of the world, and the woman who challenged Victorian medicine
  New releases in fiction, nonfiction and comics that caught our attention this week.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/what-to-read-this-weekend-family-dysfunction-at-the-end-of-the-world-and-the-woman-who-challenged-victorian-medicine-200144632.html?src=rss

• Fortnite is getting a 5v5 first-person shooter mode
  A new game mode called Ballistic is coming to Fortnite in early access on December 11, bringing a 5v5 tactical first-person shooter experience. In Ballistic mode, one team will be tasked with planting a Rift Point Device — which will detonate 45 seconds after it’s placed — and the other team will have to stop that from happening. There will be one map (Skyline 10) to start and a limited selection of weapons and items, but more will be added down the line in “major updates” to come, according to a Fortnite blog post.
  
  “Ballistic is a no-build mode,” the Fortnite team says. “All saved presets from your Locker will carry over into Ballistic, which supports existing Fortnite Outfits, Back Blings, Kicks, Wraps, Sprays, and Emotes! Pickaxes, Contrails, Instruments, Vehicles, and Jam Tracks are not used/supported.” If you get taken out during a round, you won’t be able to respawn. But, you’ll come back in the next round. The teams’ roles will swap after six rounds, and the match will end once one team has won seven rounds. You’ll be able to play Ranked or Unranked.
  
  Ballistic mode will be available everywhere you can play Fortnite, except in South Korea and Russia, but the team says it’s “working to make Ballistic available in both regions.” Since it’s early access, players’ feedback will be used to improve the experience as it expands.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/fortnite-is-getting-a-5v5-first-person-shooter-mode-162200195.html?src=rss

• Engadget Wrapped: The music we listened to the most in 2024
  Spotify's 2024 Wrapped results arrived this week, and while the whole package seems a bit thin compared to previous years, we're still getting a kick out of seeing our listening habits laid bare. Apple Music also dropped its annual Replay, and Tidal's 2024 Rewind has landed, so non-Spotify users have some data to pore over too. For those among us who don't use any of the big streaming apps, well, it's still a nice time to reflect on personal favorites from this year. 
  
  Here are some of the Engadget team's most listened-to songs, artists and albums in 2024 (and how we feel about those picks). 
  Spotify Wrapped 
  I hate to add to the list because of all the controversy around Spotify recently, but I have to say that the layoffs at the company do seem to have impacted how accurate I found my Wrapped report to be. While I certainly have listened to a lot of Ariana Grande in 2024 (I even wrote about it for our site!), I felt that the sections on what I was listening to in August were inaccurate. According to Spotify I was vibing to Rose and Bruno Mars' APT in August, but didn't that song get released quite a bit later?
  
  Anyway, judge me or don't judge me based on my listening — all I can say is the data feels incorrect and incomplete but also fun and inconsequential. — Cherlynn Low, Deputy Editor, Reviews
  
  
  
  I was pretty ill this year, and I spent hours in hospital and clinic waiting rooms listening to music on Spotify. Apparently, March was my "Pink Pilates Princess Strut Pop" phase, because I mostly listened to Dua Lipa, Ariana Grande and Charli xcx. My top artist for the year, however, was Fujii Kaze, whose music gave me a lot of comfort when I needed it the most. — Mariella Moon, Contributing Reporter
  
  RIP New Jeans — Aaron Souppouris, Executive Editor
  Apple Music Replay
  I've had GNX on repeat since it came out, and it was one of the things that got me through our incredibly busy Black Friday coverage season. Very excited to see which of these tracks gets played live at the Super Bowl. My guess is we’ll get “tv off” (with at least one “Mustard!” shout) and “squabble up,” at the least.
  
  Brat summer became Brat autumn, and it will continue to be a Brat winter for me. Top tracks: “Club classics,” “Sympathy is a knife,” and “365.”
  
  Grasa is my true album of the year and it’s a must-listen for any urbano latino fans. It’s fantastic experienced as an album from start to finish, and any edit you make based on personal preference is sure to be excellent. My favorite tracks — “Legendario,” “Manhattan,” “Menina” — are still on repeat in my personal playlists and will be carried over into 2025.
  
  While Renaissance remains my preferred album in this Beyonce cycle so far, Cowboy Carter has no skips. “Daughter,” “Spaghetti” and “Sweet Honey Buckin’” are my faves.
  
  The Death of Slim Shady makes sense as a concept album to me and I think it succeeds as such. But “Tobey” is what really prompted me to give the entire album a listen when it came out, and I’m glad I did. “Tobey” remains a top track for me, along with “Renaissance” and “Somebody Save Me.” —Valentina Palladino, Deputy Editor, Buying Advice
  
  Despite the fact that music streaming services push you to playlists and radio channels, I remain an Album Guy. And as usual, my top album of the year didn’t come out this year, though it’s a relatively recent release. Daughter’s Stereo Mind Game was near the top of my list last year, but this April it rocketed up my list and was an obsession for the rest of the summer. That is thanks in large part to a live studio session they released on YouTube that was the only chance I had to hear these songs performed in a somewhat live setting, as Daughter didn’t tour Stereo Mind Game at all.
  
  And since I’m an album guy, the first four songs on the album were my second-through-fifth most played songs of 2024. The absurdly catchy “Blame Brett” by Canadian pop-rockers The Beaches was number one, from their excellent Blame My Ex album that also came out last year. I got obsessed with that album in late 2023 and it definitely carried over to the first half of 2024. The same thing happened with Tool’s 2019 opus Fear Inoculum — I saw the band in November of 2023 for the first time in 21 years, and got re-obsessed and continued playing it throughout the year.
  
  Finally, something new from a very old favorite: David Gilmour, best known as the guitarist and co-lead songwriter of the legendary Pink Floyd, released his first solo album in nine years. He followed that with a very short tour that hit only four cities, New York City included. I was lucky enough to go see him a few weeks ago — at 78, this could easily be the last tour he ever does, but he still brings it. He’s my favorite guitar player of all time, and the last song “Scattered” on Luck and Strange is an all-time great as good as almost anything else he’s done.
  
  Bringing up the rear is another new album from an old favorite, Pearl Jam. More than 30 years after their debut Ten, they still know how to make a damn good rock album. Both Pearl Jam and Gilmour went with producers much younger than they were, trying to find people who weren’t going to be beholden with the work they had done earlier in long and impressive careers. If you ask me, it worked out in both cases.
  
  There are tons of other albums from much younger or less established artists I played all year long, including Bathe Alone’s I Don’t Do Humidity, Adrienne Lenker’s Bright Future, Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft, Medium Build’s Country, Girl in Red’s I’m Doing It Again Baby! and Waxahatchee’s Tigers Blood. They’re all worth a listen — but apparently this was a year for comfort and familiarity when I put things on repeat. — Nathan Ingraham, Deputy Editor, News
  Tidal Rewind
  This year for me was apparently all about fixating on a handful of new songs and playing them to absolute death. And, um, Ariana Grande. I don’t have Spotify, but my Tidal year-end playlist has every single song from Eternal Sunshine at the top, and I’m slightly ashamed to say I can't argue the validity of that — I had that album on a loop for months after it came out. She’s really talented, okay?? After that my most listened-to songs were “Cry For Me” by Castle Rat, “Bloom” by Baroness (probably an all-time favorite song for me, really), “How Far Will We Take It?” by Orville Peck and Noah Cyrus, “Birds of a Feather” by Billie Eilish, “Weird World” by Allie X and “Red Wine Supernova” by Chappell Roan. I... contain multitudes... 
  
  There’s a suspicious overall lack of emo on my 2024 wrap-up though, so I’m going to take these results with a huge grain of salt. I mean, my go-to playlist is titled “rawr xD.” — Cheyenne MacDonald, Weekend Editor
  Personal Pick
  I don't have Spotify, so any recollection of particularly sticky music for me will necessarily be imprecise and skewed by recency bias. With that said: hooooooly moly can we talk about that Cindy Lee album?? My journey with Diamond Jubilee went something like this:
  
  -What is this?
  
  -No really, what is this??
  
  -Why can't I listen to anything besides this???
  
  Its two hours of runtime play out like a secret radio station beaming some alternate version of '60s girl groups into 2024 and I absolutely fell in love with it — and that was before even realizing Pat Flegel was in Women (another extremely cool, but very different band).
  
  Honorable mentions go to Adrianne Lenker's absolutely crushing Bright Future, which got me through recovery from a major surgery and the nervy bops on Robber Robber's Wild Guess. As to my actual most-listened songs? It's probably the stuff on my running playlist (Sheer Mag, Every Time I Die, Red Fang, 100 Gecs, IDLES, Femtanyl, Pissed Jeans etc.) — Avery Ellis, Deputy Editor, Reports
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/music/engadget-wrapped-the-music-we-listened-to-the-most-in-2024-143150906.html?src=rss

• Google Wallet can now hold your US passport
  Now you’ve got one less thing you have to fish for in your pocket or purse at the airport. Starting today, Google Wallet can carry a digital copy of your US passport and use them at Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) checkpoints.
  
  If you want to add your passport to Google’s virtual wallet, first you’ll need to download the Google Wallet app and log into your account or create one. Check the prompt “create an ID pass with your US passport” and follow the instructions. The app will ask you to take a video selfie to verify your identity and scan the security chip in your passport. It should only take a few minutes for Google to confirm your identity.
  
  Your digital passport won’t work at every airport. Currently, there are 27 states (and Puerto Rico) with at least one airport that accepts digital forms of identification. The TSA website can show you which states and airports accept digital IDs.
  
  Google has been testing the use and storage of digital passports in Google Wallet for some time. Several states have started accepting digital IDs just in the last few months. New Mexico is the newest state to accept digital IDs including driver’s licenses and state IDs in Apple Wallet and Google Wallet.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/google-wallet-can-now-hold-your-us-passport-215133683.html?src=rss

• SpaceX completes Starlink’s first direct-to-cell constellation
  SpaceX completed its first Starlink direct-to-cell satellite constellation this week. On Wednesday, the company launched 20 satellites aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, 13 of which can communicate directly with cell phones without extra equipment.
  
  The completed constellation follows the FCC’s approval of a deal between SpaceX and T-Mobile last week. The companies announced the partnership in 2022, touting plans for a future where phones can be connected to the world even in the middle of the ocean. SpaceX says the satellite constellation acts “like a cellphone tower in space, allowing network integration similar to a standard roaming partner.”
  
  On Thursday, SpaceX posted on X that the direct-to-cell satellites will “immediately connect over laser backhaul to the Starlink constellation, eliminate dead zones and provide peace of mind when customers need it most.” The company sent and received its first text messages through T-Mobile’s network early this year.
  
  The low-earth-orbit constellation has 6,799 operational satellites, and Space.com reports that about 330 can communicate directly with cell phones. On Thursday, Elon Musk said unmodified cell phones would enjoy a bandwidth of around 10Mbps per beam. He said future constellations will be capable of much greater throughput.
  
  The companies will presumably go into more detail for consumers once Starlink Direct to Cell is available. It’s currently targeted for next year. However, the constellation isn’t locked into T-Mobile alone. Android Central reports that SpaceX senior director Ben Longmier said shortly after the deployment that the satellites are “open for business for any teleco in the world.”
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/spacex-completes-starlinks-first-direct-to-cell-constellation-212549713.html?src=rss

• The next iPhone SE’s new modem reportedly won’t be as capable as Qualcomm’s
  It seems increasingly likely that Apple’s fourth-generation iPhone SE will feature the first 5G modem the company has built in-house. A new report from Bloomberg both confirms earlier reporting from 9to5Mac and clarifies that Apple’s first modem won’t be quite as capable as the chips the company is trying to leave behind.
  
  The new modem, reportedly called “Sinope” won’t support mmWave, the short-range 5G technology Verizon offers that can theoretically reach speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second. It also will only offer four-carrier aggregation as opposed to Qualcomm’s six, “a technology that combines bands from several wireless providers simultaneously to increase network capacity and speeds,” Bloomberg says.
  
  Apple’s modem will instead be focused on providing Sub-6 5G, the more common standard that’s already supported on the current iPhone SE, which was released in 2022. In testing, Apple’s new modem reportedly “caps out at download speeds of about 4 gigabits per second,” slower than Qualcomm’s current mmWave models, but the difference is easier to justify on a cheaper device and might not be that noticeable anyway. The goal is ultimately to achieve even tighter integration between the modem and other components of the phone to offer more important benefits than just download speed, like improved battery life.
  
  Bloomberg writes that launching on the iPhone SE first is how Apple plans on managing the risks of its new hardware gamble. Debuting on the iPhone 17 Pro would be a mark of confidence, but most people expect a phone that costs upwards of $1000 to work without issues. Until Apple can guarantee that, the SE makes sense as a modem guinea pig. That won’t be the case for long, however. “Ganymede,” Apple’s second-generation modem, should be ready for the iPhone 18 in 2026 and match Qualcomm’s current offerings with mmWave support and faster download speeds. In 2027, the company’s “Prometheus” modem is aiming to surpass Qualcomm entirely in “performance and artificial intelligence features.”
  
  A report published later today suggests these new modem designs could also have a pretty big influence on more than just the iPhone. Bloomberg attributes the thinness of the rumored iPhone 17 Slim to the space-saving efficiency of Apple’s new modem, and also suggests that future Macs and Vision headsets could get cellular connectivity in the future, too. This would mark the first time a Mac had onboard cellular, though the iPad has had the option since day one.
  
  There’s still years before any of that happens, and the road to even get here has been long and winding. For one, Apple’s relationship with Qualcomm has been up and down. The companies were in a legal spat over patent violations that ultimately led to a settlement and a licensing deal in 2019. That same year is when Apple’s intention to move on from Qualcomm became more public with the purchase of Intel’s modem business. Apple has attempted to build a team that could create its first modem since then, and even re-upped its agreement to use Qualcomm modems through 2026 in 2023. It now seems like the company could be a position for that to be the last deal with Qualcomm it makes.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/the-next-iphone-ses-new-modem-reportedly-wont-be-as-capable-as-qualcomms-205330204.html?src=rss

• Get trapped on a pirate ship or in Dracula’s castle in Escape Simulator 2
  The first Escape Simulator solved the biggest problem with VR puzzle games. Once you’ve solved everything, the game’s over. Unless you can erase specific memories a la Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind style, there’s zero replayability.
  
  Pine Studio’s Escape Simulator added a custom builder mode where the community could build and share their own escape rooms with other players. Since the Internet has some of the most imaginative and insane minds on the planet creating custom games for the world, Escape Simulator is one of the few virtual puzzle games that you can keep playing. Now, Escape Simulator 2 is heading our way on Steam, and it’s got some new and potentially cool worlds to get stuck in by yourself or with friends.
  
  Escape Simulator 2 has some impressive-looking environments that can hold up to eight players at once. So far, the game will have 12 brand new escape rooms. A new trailer that dropped today shows three of the new escape room environments including a stranded spaceship, Count Dracula’s castle and a cursed pirate ship.
  
  The room editor mode also has a bunch of new toys, props and tools to create puzzles for the game’s growing community of escape addicts. Pine Studio also announced that Escape Simulator 2’s custom room maker has “a brand new lighting engine, building constructor and animation editor,” according to a press release. There’s no release date or price yet, but there’s a Steam page for the game up right now.
  Pine Studio
  
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/get-trapped-on-a-pirate-ship-or-in-draculas-castle-in-escape-simulator-2-202157156.html?src=rss

• If you're really bored, X’s Grok AI chatbot is now free to use
  Is your weekend a bit bare-bones? Here’s something that could entertain you for a minute or two. The chatbot Grok-2 is now free for everyone to fool around with on X. We knew this was coming and, well, now it’s here. Grok it up baby.
  
  There are some limitations for those who don’t want to plunk down $8 (or more) each month for X Premium. The free tier only allows for ten messages in each two-hour period. There’s also a hard cap on image analysis, at three requests per day. This Grok-2 beta will now be the only game in X town, as it’s replacing the pre-existing Grok-2 mini chatbot.
  🚨Breaking: Grok free tier is now available worldwide .
  
  It is very limited:
  Can analyze 3 images a day
  Can do 10 messages per 2 hours including images
  
  X has also removed Grok 2 mini.
  You can now only make queries to grok 2. pic.twitter.com/pHWsaLgewk
  — ‏̤̮ (@blankspeaker) December 6, 2024
  Look. Grok isn’t the most advanced chatbot on the planet. All LLMs make mistakes, but Grok is particularly prone to them. It says right on the chat page that users should “verify its outputs.” To that end, it caused a stir earlier this year when the wee bot was caught handing out false election information.
  
  The image-generation component has also come under fire in recent months after it was used to create stuff like Barack Obama doing cocaine and Donald Trump pointing some guns. It has also been used to violate copyright, as it created stuff like an image of Mickey Mouse saluting Adolph Hitler.
  X’s new AI image generator will make anything from Taylor Swift in lingerie to Kamala Harris with a gun https://t.co/dTscQuGTaG
  — The Verge (@verge) August 14, 2024
  It’s no secret that X has been hemorrhaging users as they depart for the greener pastures of Threads, Bluesky or, in rare cases, real life. Maybe Elon Musk and cohorts removed the Grok paywall to lure back dissatisfied users. However, it’s also likely that X made this move to better compete in a crowded marketplace. There are a bunch of free chatbots out there, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini and Anthropic’s Claude.
  
  It has $6 billion in a funding round, is considering a standalone Grok app. This is another thing that most big AI companies already offer.
  X
  So if you’re bored as paste, head on over to your (likely dormant) X account and give Grok a whirl. I did and it whipped up some images of cats eating spaghetti before I maxed out the query cap. Look at all of the spaghetti on that table. Bad kitties!
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/if-youre-really-bored-xs-grok-ai-chatbot-is-now-free-to-use-194715700.html?src=rss

• Meta AI has ‘nearly’ 600 million monthly users
  Meta’s aggressive push to make its AI assistant a ubiquitous presence in its apps continues to pay off. Meta AI is on the verge of passing its next major milestone, with “nearly” 600 million monthly users, Mark Zuckerberg shared in the release of Meta’s latest Llama 3.3 70B model. According to Meta, the latest text model has “similar performance to the Llama 3.1 405B model,” but comes “at a fraction of the cost.” Ahmad Al-Dahle, VP of generative AI at Meta posted a chart on X that showed Llama 3.3 scored higher on several benchmarks compared with Google’s Gemini Pro 1.5 and OpenAI’s GPT-4o.
  Introducing Llama 3.3 – a new 70B model that delivers the performance of our 405B model but is easier & more cost-efficient to run. By leveraging the latest advancements in post-training techniques including online preference optimization, this model improves core performance at… pic.twitter.com/6oQ7b3Yuzc
  — Ahmad Al-Dahle (@Ahmad_Al_Dahle) December 6, 2024
  Zuckerberg also briefly teased the next major release. “The next stop is Llama 4,” Zuckerberg said in a video shared on Instagram, after noting that the 3.3 release was the “last big AI update of the year.” Zuckerberg has so far has been fairly tight-lipped about what’s in store for Llama 4, though he's offered some hints. The CEO said earlier this year that the model was being trained on a cluster of more than 100,000 H100s with an expected release of one of the “smaller” Llama 4 models “sometime early next year.”
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-ai-has-nearly-600-million-monthly-users-184512693.html?src=rss

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown is the first turn-based game in the franchise's long history
  There’s a new TMNT game in town, and it’s unlike anything the franchise has attempted before. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown, as the name suggests, is a turn-based strategy RPG. This means that players will control characters on a grid-based map, with each turn representing movement or an action of some sort.
  
  There’s one thing that sets this game apart from its SRPG cousins. Battles take “minutes” to complete, which is a far cry from the time-consuming affairs found in games like Unicorn Overlord. From the trailer, the fights look even zippier than the Mario + Rabbids series. Also, players control each turtle independently on a solo campaign before teaming up to take on a boss. 
  
  The graphics look cartoony and on-brand, bringing to mind a tabletop session with D&D miniatures. It looks like all of the turtle’s favorite hang out spots are represented here, from the sewers to the NYC subway system. This could be a neat way to bring new players into the genre.
  Paramount Game Studios
  This is a unique entry in the TMNT franchise, but it’s also a new type of game for developer Scaffold Games. This is the company that brought us the absolutely disturbing Clickholding and the third-person shooter El Paso, Elsewhere. The company also made I Am Your Beast and Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator. None of these titles are turn-based tactical RPGs.
  
  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown will be released for PCs sometime next year. You can preorder the game right now via Steam. Publisher Paramount Game Studios hasn’t said anything about a potential console release, so perhaps hold off on organizing that pizza party. 
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-tactical-takedown-is-the-first-turn-based-game-in-the-franchises-long-history-175730833.html?src=rss

• TikTok inches closer to a US ban after judges shoot down appeal
  Three judges shot down ByteDance’s petition to overturn a law that could ban TikTok in the US. On Friday, The New York Times reported that the judges upheld the new law, which requires the company to sell the app to a non-Chinese company by January 19 or face a ban.
  
  ByteDance argued that the law unfairly targets TikTok and that a ban would violate users’ First Amendment rights. The company has said a sale is impossible because the Chinese government would block it. In 2020, the country updated export control rules to give it more say over a potential transaction.
  
  In a statement to Engadget, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) said it was disappointed in the decision. “Restricting the free flow of information, even from foreign adversaries, is fundamentally undemocratic,” an EFF spokesperson wrote. “Until now, the U.S. has championed the free flow of information and called out other nations when they have shut down internet access or banned online communications tools like social media apps."
  
  ByteDance’s options from here include appealing to the US Supreme Court (although there’s no guarantee they would take the case) or hoping President-elect Donald Trump follows through on a vague promise to “deliver” on a plan to save the app. ByteDance suggested on Friday that the decision amounted to censorship, saying it expects the Supreme Court to protect “Americans' right to free speech.”
  
  The NYT reports that legal experts don’t see much of a legal path for Trump to rescue the app after taking office on January 20, 2025. During his first term, he issued executive orders restricting American dealings with the app, citing national security concerns and suggesting the app could be a Trojan Horse for data harvesting by the Chinese government. Microsoft was ready and willing to buy it if given the chance. The ban faced a series of legal challenges, and President Biden revoked the order in 2021.
  
  Trump reversed his position in early 2024, reportedly after meeting with a Republican megadonor with a significant financial stake in the app. The president-elect’s shift intensified after Biden signed the law that could lead to its ban in early 2025. By the time election season was in full swing, Trump had recast himself as TikTok’s savior and used it as a wedge issue to attract younger users to his campaign.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/tiktok-inches-closer-to-a-us-ban-after-judges-shoot-down-appeal-172748902.html?src=rss

• Crypto evangelist David Sacks will serve as Trump's AI and cryptocurrency advisor
  Donald Trump has picked a crypto bull to advise him on AI and cryptocurrency policy. On Thursday evening, the president-elect took to Truth Social to share that he was appointing former PayPal COO David Sacks to serve as his “White House A.I. & Crypto Czar.” Trump said Sacks would also lead the Presidential Council of Advisors for Science and Technology.
  
  “David will guide policy for the Administration in Artificial Intelligence and Cryptocurrency, two areas critical to the future of American competitiveness. David will focus on making America the clear global leader in both areas,” Trump wrote, adding Sacks would “safeguard Free Speech online, and steer us away from Big Tech bias and censorship.”
  
  
  
  As an appointee to one of the president’s advisory councils, Sacks does not need to go through the usual Senate confirmation process required for cabinet picks and federal agency leads. Sacks does not have previous government experience. Trump instead highlighted his business credentials, pointing to his tenure at PayPal and later Yammer, which Sacks founded in 2008 and Microsoft acquired in 2012 for $1.2 billion. Sacks is also a close confidant of Elon Musk and provided part of the funding Musk used to buy Twitter for $44 billion in 2022. Sacks has broadly advocated for smaller government and less regulation, though he also pushed hard for the Biden administration to intervene when Silicon Valley Bank became insolvent in 2023.
  congrats to czar @DavidSacks!
  — Sam Altman (@sama) December 6, 2024
  “Where is Powell? Where is Yellen?” Sacks tweeted before regulators moved to fully protect deposits at SVB. “Stop this crisis NOW. Announce that all depositors will be safe. Place SVB with a Top 4 bank. Do this before Monday open or there will be contagion and the crisis will spread.”
  
  Alongside Paul Atkins, who Trump picked to lead the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Sacks is likely to reshape US policy on cryptocurrency and AI. Under the Biden administration, the federal government sought to regulate the crypto industry. Sacks, however, is a vocal proponent of the industry. He is also a major investor in Solana and other crypto-related ventures such as Multicoin Capital.
  
  As for Trump, appointing Sacks to his advisory council shows just how much his stance on crypto has changed. As recently as 2021, he said he thought Bitcoin seemed “like a scam,” and advocated for “very, very high” government regulation of the currency. That was before the crypto industry funneled $131 million during the 2024 election to get 274 pro-crypto candidates elected to the House of Representatives and 20 candidates to the Senate. During his campaign, Trump promised to make the United States “the crypto capital of the planet.”
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/crypto-evangelist-david-sacks-will-serve-as-trumps-ai-and-cryptocurrency-advisor-170522273.html?src=rss

• Google prolongs the lifespan of the Pixel Fold, 6 and 7 with extended OS updates
  Google has delivered a surprise holiday gift to folks with a Pixel 6, Pixel 7 or five for each, starting from when the devices first hit the Google Store in the US.
  
  As the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro debuted in October 2021, #PixelFold along with #Pixel6 and #Pixel7 generation users will now get two additional years of OS updates! This extended support will total five years starting from when the device first became available on the Google Store in the US: https://t.co/Y50A92TiqC
  — Made by Google (@madebygoogle) December 5, 2024
  Google has shifted away from having one big annual feature dump with the release of a major new Android version each fall. Instead, the company is now peppering the rollout of new features throughout the year with Pixel drops. To that end, Google suggested on a support page that the Pixel 6, 7 and Fold's extra OS updates "may also include new and upgraded features with Pixel Drops."
  
  Starting with last year's Pixel 8 lineup, Google promises seven years of OS and security updates for its devices — in large part to comply with the software requirements of a California right-to-repair law that came into force in this year. Pixel 6, 7 and Fold users aren't getting quite that lengthy period of support, but this is still a positive step for sustainability.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/google-prolongs-the-lifespan-of-the-pixel-fold-6-and-7-with-extended-os-updates-164712505.html?src=rss

• Riot is making a physical League of Legends TCG, and it's not LoR
  Riot just announced a trading card game (TCG) based on League of Legends. It’s called Project K and looks like a whole lot of fun. The cards look exquisitely-drawn and pull from IPs throughout the wider LoL universe, including the Netflix hit Arcane.
  
  Project K is not a physical version of the pre-existing digital card game Legends of Runeterra, though it does use some characters and locations from that one. It’s a brand-new thing that the creators say is designed “for everyone who loves card games, collecting and connecting with friends across the table.”
  
  To that end, there are multiple game modes to suit different types of players. Like many trading card games, players can form unique decks that encourage particular playstyles. For instance, a Jinx deck, from Arcane, is useful for causing “as much mayhem as possible.” That’s kind of her whole thing.
  
  If this seems familiar, that’s because Riot teased a card game for China earlier this year, called Rune Battleground. This looks like it could be the very same game, based on some of the art accompanying the back of the cards as seen in both trailers.
  
  Now on to some bad news. Riot already has a publishing partner for China, but not in the rest of the world. It’s currently looking for a US-based partner. This will likely delay the game’s release a bit, though it’s coming out in China early next year. Despite this hiccup, the company says it’ll be opening up preorders for an Arcane Box Set of the game in the coming months.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/riot-is-making-a-physical-league-of-legends-tcg-and-its-not-lor-162923406.html?src=rss

• The PlayStation 5 is still $75 off, plus the rest of the week's best tech deals
  Black Friday and Cyber Monday are in the rear-view mirror, but some of the better deals from the onslaught of sales are still available. Both PlayStation 5 consoles are still $75 off, for instance, while the Apple Watch Series 10 remains about $70 off at $330 (with a coupon). 
  
  If you're looking to grab a few tech gifts for the holidays, we've sorted through the best of what's left for our latest weekly deal roundup. We've also included a few new discounts, including the noise-canceling version of Apple's AirPods for a new low of $139. Keep in mind that shipping times may be delayed in some cases after the shopping rush last week, though.
  
  V-Bucks, while the console alone is available for the same price. Alternatively, you can pair the machine with the recent RPG Dragon Age: The Veilguard or an EA sports game for $450 at Walmart or Best Buy. Also at Target, GameStop and PlayStation Direct. Sony says its holiday PS5 sale will run through December 24. 
  
  standalone console are each available for $375 too. Also at Amazon, Target, Best Buy and PlayStation Direct.
  The PS5 DualSense Wireless Controller.Aaron Souppouris for Engadget
  Best Buy, Walmart, Target and PlayStation Direct. 
  
  separate pack for power. Also at Amazon and Target.
  
  difficult to widely recommend, but if you have cash to burn and want to dive into games like Gran Turismo 7, Tetris Effect or the Horizon spin-off bundled here, this is the headset's lowest price to date. Also at Best Buy, Walmart, Target, GameStop and PlayStation Direct. Sony says this deal will go through January 3.
  The Apple AirPods 4.Billy Steele for Engadget
  gave them an 86 in our review, touting their improved sound quality, iPhone-friendly features and surprisingly effective active noise cancellation (ANC) despite their open design. They're worth considering over the AirPods Pro if you hate the feeling of traditional in-ear headphones, though their four- to five-hour battery life isn't great and there's still no way to adjust volume from the earbuds themselves.
  
  best smartwatch. It's slightly thinner and lighter than previous models, with a rich wide-angle OLED display, (mildly) improved battery life and the usual array of fitness tracking features. We gave it a score of 90 in our review. This ties the best price to date for the 42mm model, though you'll need to clip the on-page coupon to see the full discount at checkout. The larger 46mm version is also on sale for $360.
  
  our top pick for iPhone users, unsurprisingly, as it can accurately locate your belongings right from the Find My app. A waterproof design and replaceable battery help as well. Just make sure to grab a holder or case if you want to attach one to your keys. This deal is $5 off the lowest price we've seen but still $7 off the four-pack's typical street price on Amazon. Also at Walmart.
  The Samsung Evo Select.Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget
  microSD card buying guide. It's not the cheapest card you can buy, but it tested faster than most of its peers in our benchmark tests, with a particular edge in random performance. That lets it play a bit nicer in a portable gaming PC or a device like the Raspberry Pi, where it’d more frequently have to access smaller bits of data in random locations. This is a new low for the 1TB model, which Samsung released earlier this year. Also at Samsung and B&H.
  
  Samsung.
  
  gaming mouse buying guide for those who prefer a more ergonomic shape. This discount ties the device's all-time low. Razer released an revised version with an improved sensor a few months back, but that one costs $80 and isn't an essential upgrade while the old model is still in stock. Also at Best Buy.
  The Razer Basilisk V3.Jeff Dunn / Engadget
  reverential to the PlayStation brand. Engadget's Jessica Conditt called it “one of the best games Sony has ever made” in her review. The game briefly fell to $43 at Amazon on Black Friday, but this is its best price otherwise. Also at Best Buy, Target and GameStop.
  
  Walmart.
  
  reviews around the web call the U7N one of the year's best TV values. It pumps out better brightness and contrast than most alternatives in its price range, plus it supports a fast 144Hz refresh rate at 4K, which helps PS5 and Xbox games look more fluid in motion. Its picture will look washed out if you don't view it straight-on, however, and it’s limited to two HDMI 2.1 ports. This is the 55-inch model's all-time low. Other sizes are similarly discounted. Also at Best Buy and Walmart.
  
  best budget earbuds for those who prefer an unsealed design that doesn't totally mute the outside world. They sound decent for the price and can connect to multiple devices at once, though they aren't fully water-resistant. This deal matches their all-time low.
  
  best wireless headphones. Its ANC is not only among the strongest we've tested, it's also adjustable on a 10-point scale, so you can set it to a more comfortable level in quieter environments (unlike our top overall pick). It's exceptionally comfortable, too, though there are crisper-sounding and longer-lasting options out there. While this deal isn't an all-time low, we don't see the headphones fall below $300 often. Note that the offer only applies to the "Diamond" finish. Bose says it'll end later on Friday. Also at Bose, B&H and Best Buy.
  The Amazon Echo Buds.Jeff Dunn / Engadget
  smart speaker buying guide thanks to its strong-for-its-size audio quality, stereo pairing support and (mostly) handy range of Alexa skills and smart home integrations. This discount comes in $5 above the lowest price we've seen. Other Echo devices are still on sale as well, including the smaller Echo Dot for $23 and the Echo Spot smart alarm clock for an all-time low of $45.
  
  review score of 75 this past September and currently include it in our guide to the best Bluetooth speakers. Its rugged waterproof design, 20-hour battery life and 360-degree sound make it a solid outdoor companion, though it's somewhat bulky, and it's not the best at reproducing fine details in tracks. This deal price is an all-time low but only applies to the blue colorway as of this writing.
  The Ultimate Ears Everboom.Billy Steele for Engadget
  upper tier: Apart from giving access the full Audible Plus library, it lets you keep one title from a curated selection of audiobooks each month. We wouldn't call it essential, but this is a good way to see if it'd work for you if you've been on the fence. Remember that the plan will auto-renew until you cancel.
  
  celebrity-led courses.
  The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2024).Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget
  best gaming laptops. We gave it a score of 91 in our review, praising its (relatively) elegant aluminum chassis and beautiful 120Hz OLED display. It can get toasty under load, and the memory isn't upgradeable, but this config can still handle more demanding games at high settings and the native 2.8K resolution without much trouble. It includes a Ryzen 9 8945HS chip, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD and an RTX 4070 GPU. Outside of one drop to $1,600 back in July, this ties the best price we’ve seen.
  
  in our review, and we currently recommend it as a great ultraportable in our laptop buying guide. The caveat is that it uses an ARM processor, which runs well but may not work with every app or peripheral you use. If you can live with that, however, its bright 120Hz display, upscale aluminum design and long battery life all impress. Besides in-store-only deals, this is an all-time low for the config with a Snapdragon X Plus chip, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. A 15-inch version with a faster Snapdragon X Elite chip and 256GB of storage is down to a new low of $1,044. Also at Best Buy.
  
  score of 87 in our review. This is the lowest price we’ve seen for the config with Intel's Core Ultra 5 135U chip, 16GB of (non-upgradeable) RAM, a 512GB SSD and a 14-inch 1,920 x 1,200 display. Just use the coupon code X1G12TDDEAL at checkout. Other configs are still discounted, including a more powerful model with a Core Ultra 7 155U chip and 32GB of RAM for $1,391. Enter HOLIDAYTHINKDB at checkout for that one.
  The Dyson V15 Detect.Mat Smith for Engadget
  Coanda effect to create curls without excessive heat, and it comes with a bunch of other attachments that let it work as a hairdryer, heated brush and more. It's certainly not cheap, but this is a good 18 percent off its normal street price. Also at Dyson.
  
  Best Buy.
  
  best cordless vacuum thanks to its excellent suction power, impressively portable design and hour-long battery life (which is fairly long for these things). This model comes with a "Fluffy Optic" cleaning head that illuminates the ground in front of you so you can better see where dust and debris is hiding. You get a few other cleaning head attachments in the box alongside that. This discount matches the lowest price we could find.
  
  Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-playstation-5-is-still-75-off-plus-the-rest-of-the-weeks-best-tech-deals-155032019.html?src=rss

• Apple's AirPods 4 with ANC drop to a new low of $139
  Black Friday and Cyber Monday are in the rearview mirror, but you can still find great deals this holiday season. Case in point: Apple's AirPods 4 with active noise cancellation (ANC) have dropped to their lowest price to date. You can pick up a pair for $139, which is $40 off the list price.
  
  While we think the AirPods Pro 2 are the best AirPods overall, the ANC-enabled AirPods 4 are still a solid choice. We gave them a score of 86 in our review.
  
  
  
  Apple released two AirPods variants a few months ago, one with ANC and the other without. We gave the ANC-less model a score of 88 as they had a number of improvements over the previous generation AirPods while still being fairly affordable and delivering great bang for your buck.
  
  Of course, the lack of ANC in the base model is a negative. The other variant delivers effective ANC performance overall. Other upgrades over the base model include Conversation Awareness, Adaptive Audio and Transparency mode. The AirPods 4 with ANC (unlike the base option) also have a charging case that supports MagSafe and Qi-compatible wireless charging, as well as a built-in speaker that emits beeps when you activate Find My.
  
  One of our main reservations about the AirPods 4 with ANC is that the superior AirPods Pro 2 (which typically cost $249) often go on sale — we've seen them dip to $169. That's cheaper than the list price of the AirPods 4 with ANC. However, this discount makes those AirPods easier to recommend.
  
  Meanwhile, the base AirPods 4 have dropped to $119. That's 10 bucks off the regular price.
  
  Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/apples-airpods-4-with-anc-drop-to-a-new-low-of-139-151521702.html?src=rss

• Google Photos now has a 2024 recap feature
  Google Photos just unveiled a yearly recap feature, which is a play on stuff like Spotify Wrapped and PlayStation Wrap-Up. This is a highlight reel of notable photos culled from the entire year, along with “fun graphics and cinematic effects.” I can’t wait to see snazzed-up photos of my cats.
  
  In addition to random graphics and effects, the system will also generate captions to help denote two important events from the year for each user. These captions will be generated by Gemini, though users have to opt in. Google gave us examples of attending a wedding and taking a trip to Seoul.
  Google
  The Recap feature will even provide “insights” in the form of tidbits about a particular user’s photo-taking habits. This could detail anything from a favorite color to the person a user smiles the most with. Google also promises that Recap will detail a user9s “2024 vibes.” The vibes of 2024? Yikes.
  
  Just like rival yearly recap tools, folks can easily share everything to social media platforms. There’s also a little bit of a competitive element here, as each link will include data as to a particular user’s longest photo streak. Nothing creates more bragging rights than saying “you only took 560 photos this year, whereas I took 570.”
  Google
  This feature is rolling out right now to all users. Just look for a notification from Google Photos that says it9s ready to view. The app also recently added a tool to detect images that have been manipulated by AI and, uh, other tools to manipulate photos by using AI.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cameras/google-photos-now-has-a-2024-recap-feature-150037384.html?src=rss

• iFixit now carries official Xbox replacement parts
  As part of a deal it struck with Microsoft last year, iFixit has started selling genuine Xbox parts and offering repair guides, according to changes on its Microsoft Repair Hub spotted by Google Pixel tablets and Google Pixel Fold devices. If also works with accessory manufacturer Logitech, offering repair parts for two of its most popular mouse models. The main holdout is Apple, though iFixit recently gave the iPhone 16 a decent repairability score after dinging the previous model due to software-restricted "parts pairing" requirements. Last month the company tore the PS5 Pro apart and found it to be decently repairable, though it doesn9t sell any parts for Sony9s console. 
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/ifixit-now-carries-official-xbox-replacement-parts-140054294.html?src=rss

• Brazilian judge overturns ruling that forced Apple to open up its Store
  Last week, Brazil9s antitrust regulator CADE ordered Apple to allow users to download apps and make purchases from outside its App Store, with a 20-day deadline and fines for not complying. Now, a Brazilian federal court has overturned that injunction, ruling that it was "disproportionate and unnecessary," 9to5Mac reported. 
  
  Cade ordered Apple to allow third-party developers to tell users about alternative ways to make in-app purchases (subscriptions, etc.) so developers wouldn9t be forced to pay Apple a commission. It also demanded that Apple open up its ecosystem to other stores or allow sideloading. If Apple didn9t comply within 20 days, it faced a fine of 250,000 Real (around $43,000) per day.
  
  Apple appealed that ruling on the grounds that the changes would be too difficult to implement within that time frame and the court agreed. "[The] technical complexity of the changes and the global regulatory impacts in similar decision in other regions, such as the European union, reinforce the need for such changes to be discussed in greater depth," a judge ruled.  
  
  CADE began investigation following a complaint by local e-commerce company Mercado Libre, which accused Apple of anticompetitive behavior. The regulator can appeal the ruling and still force Apple to comply.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/brazilian-judge-overturns-ruling-that-forced-apple-to-open-up-its-store-130039766.html?src=rss

• The Morning After: Google DeepMind’s Genie 2 can generate interactive 3D worlds
  Google DeepMind has just revealed Genie 2, a world-modelling AI capable of creating 3D worlds and sustaining those environments for significantly longer. Genie 2 isn’t a game engine. It’s a diffusion model that generates images as the player (either a human being or another AI agent) moves through the world the software is simulating. All it needs to start is a single image prompt either generated by AI or from a real-world photo.
  
  There are limitations: DeepMind says the model can generate “consistent” worlds for up to 60 seconds, with the majority of the examples the company shared on Wednesday running for significantly less time — most videos are between 10 to 20 seconds long. Image quality also softens and comes undone the longer Genie 2 needs to maintain the illusion of a consistent world.
  
  — Mat Smith
  
  Get this delivered daily direct to your inbox.Overwatch 2 will test 6v6 role queue matches starting December 17
  
  Android’s latest round of AI features improves accessibility, file sharing and more
  
  Samsung’s One UI 7 is out in beta, and it’s chock full of security features
  
  
  Indiana Jones and the Great Circle reviewGreat movie, good game.Oura ring sickness detection comes to Ring Gen 3 and Ring 4 usersWearers should have access to Symptom Radar by December 9.Oura
  Oura is rolling out its respiratory sickness detection feature to Ring Gen 3 and Ring 4 wearers. Users with an active subscription should get Symptom Radar by December 11. The feature looks at metrics, including resting heart rate, skin temperature, sleep data and breathing rate, to see if there are any differences from your baseline stats. If there are, Oura may inform you it has detected possible common cold- or flu-like symptoms. Just in time for the holidays!
  
  Continue reading.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-intels-ceo-just-suddenly-retired-120401039.html?src=rss

• The best gaming monitors in 2024
  Let’s be honest: shopping for a gaming monitor can feel like wading through mud. As soon as you decide to buy a display for gaming instead of regular productivity use, a whole host of new considerations come into the equation. Should you go for an LCD or OLED monitor? What about the differences between NVIDIA G-Sync and AMD FreeSync? How about refresh rates?
  
  Those are just some of the questions this guide aims to answer. In the process, my hope is to help you find the perfect gaming monitor for your budget.
  Best gaming monitors for 2024
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  How we test gaming monitors
  While I’ve not used every product recommended in our list, I have extensively tested dozens of gaming monitors in the past, including models with WOLED and QD-OLED panels. In the case of the Alienware monitor I highlight above, I bought one for myself with my own money. Separately, I spent dozens of hours over a two-year period researching gaming monitors to write the current version of this guide.
  Factors to consider before buying a gaming monitor LCD vs OLED
  When shopping for a gaming monitor, you first need to decide if you want to go with a screen that has an LCD or OLED panel. For most people, that choice will come down to price; OLED gaming monitors are more expensive than their LCD counterparts. Even if money isn’t a concern, the choice might not be as straightforward as you think; both LCD and OLED panels come in a few different flavors, and knowing the differences between each type is important to making an informed decision.
  
  LCD monitors come in three different varieties: twisted nematic (TN), vertical alignment (VA) or in-plane switching (IPS). For the most part, you want to avoid TN monitors unless you’re strapped for cash or want a monitor with the fastest possible refresh rate. TN screens feature the worst viewing angles, contrast ratios and colors of the group.
  
  The differences between VA and IPS panels are more subtle. Historically, VA gaming monitors featured slower pixel response times than their TN and IPS counterparts, leading to unsightly image smearing. However, that’s improved in recent years. VA panels also frequently sport better contrast ratios than both TN and IPS screens. They’re not dramatically better than their IPS siblings on that front, but when contrast ratios aren’t an inherent strength of LCDs, every bit helps.
  
  On the other hand, IPS panels excel at color accuracy and many offer refresh rates and response times that are as fast as the fastest TN panels. The majority of LCD gaming monitors on the market today feature IPS panels, though you will frequently find VA screens on ultrawide monitors.
  What about OLED?
  If you can afford one, OLED screens make for the best gaming monitors. The ability of organic light-emitting diodes to produce true blacks is transformational. Simply put, every game looks better when there isn’t a backlight to wash out shadow detail. Plus, you can experience true HDR with an OLED screen, something that LCDs aren’t known for.
  
  Today, OLED screens come in two different flavors: WOLED and QD-OLED, with LG producing the former and Samsung the latter. I won’t bore you with the technical details of how the two panel types differ from one another other than to note both technologies broadly offer the same set of shortcomings.
  
  Most notably, OLED monitors don’t get very bright. At best, the most capable models peak at around 250 nits when measuring brightness across the entire screen. I didn’t find this to be an issue in my testing, but your experience may vary depending on the ambient light in your gaming room.
  
  If brightness is important to you, note that due to manufacturer tunings, different models can perform better than others, even if they feature the same panel from LG or Samsung. It’s worth comparing monitors in the same class to find the model that’s right for you.
  
  Separately, almost all OLEDs feature sub-pixel layouts that produce text fringing in Windows. The latest generation of OLED panels from both LG and Samsung are much better in this regard, to the point where modern OLEDs are good enough for reading and image editing. However, it’s still worth going to your local Micro Center or Best Buy to see the model you want in person, as the text fringing issue is hard to capture in photos and videos.
  
  Another (potentially more serious) issue is burn-in. Organic light-emitting diodes can get “stuck” if they display the same image for long periods of time. Every OLED gaming monitor you can buy today comes with features designed to prevent burn-in and other image retention issues. Provided you don’t use your new OLED monitor for eight hours of daily productivity work, I don’t think you need to worry about burn-in too much.
  Screen size, resolution and aspect ratio
  After deciding where you fall on the LCD vs OLED debate, you can start thinking about the size of your future gaming monitor. Personal preference and the limitations of your gaming space will play a big part here, but there are also a few technical considerations. You should think about size in conjunction with resolution and aspect ratio.
  
  A 1440p monitor has 78 percent more pixels than a 1080p screen, and a 4K display has more than twice as many pixels as a QHD panel. As the size of a monitor increases, pixel density decreases unless you also increase resolution. For that reason, there are sweet spots between size and resolution. For instance, I wouldn’t recommend buying an FHD monitor that is larger than 24 inches or a QHD one bigger than 27 inches. Conversely, text and interface elements on a 4K monitor can look tiny without scaling on panels smaller than 32 inches.
  
  You also need to consider the performance costs of running games at higher resolutions. The latest entry-level GPUs can comfortably run most modern games at 1080p and 60 frames per second. They can even render some competitive titles at 120 frames per second and higher — but push them to run those same games at 1440p and beyond, and you’re bound to run into problems. And as you’ll see in a moment, a consistently high frame rate is vital to getting the most out of the latest gaming monitors.
  
  If your budget allows for it, 1440p offers the best balance between visual clarity and gaming performance. As for 1080p and 4K, I would only consider the former if you’re on a tight budget or you exclusively play competitive shooters like Valorant and Overwatch 2. For most people, the user experience and productivity benefits of QHD far outweigh the performance gains you get from going with a lower resolution screen.
  
  Just a few years ago, 4K was not a viable resolution for PC gaming, but then NVIDIA came out with its 40 series GPUs. With those video cards offering the company’s DLSS 3 frame generation technology, there’s a case to be made that the technology is finally there to play 4K games at a reasonable frame rate, particularly if you exclusively play big, AAA single-player games like Alan Wake 2 and Cyberpunk 2077 or enjoy strategy games like the Total War series. However, even with frame generation, you will need a GPU like the $999 RTX 4080 Super or $1,599 RTX 4090 to drive a 4K display. Plus, 4K gaming monitors tend to cost more than their 1440p counterparts.
  
  If you want an ultrawide, note that not every game supports the 21:9 aspect ratio, and fewer still support 32:9. When shopping for a curved monitor, a lower Radius, or ‘R’ number, indicates a more aggressive curve. So, a 1000R monitor is more curved than an 1800R one.
  Photo by Igor Bonifacic / Engadget Refresh rates and response times
  And now, finally, for the fun stuff. The entire reason to buy a gaming monitor is for its ability to draw more images than a traditional PC display. As you shop for a new screen, you will see models advertising refresh rates like 120Hz, 240Hz and 360Hz. The higher the refresh rate of a monitor, the more times it can update the image it displays on screen every second, thereby producing a smoother moving image. When it comes to games like Overwatch, Valorant and League of Legends, a faster refresh rate can give you a competitive edge, but even immersive single-player games can benefit.
  
  A monitor with a 360Hz refresh rate will look better in motion than one with a 240Hz or 120Hz refresh rate, but there are diminishing returns. At 60Hz, the image you see on your monitor is updated every 16.67ms. At 120Hz, 240Hz and 360Hz, the gap between new frames shortens to 8.33ms, 4.17ms and 2.78ms, respectively. Put another way, although a 360Hz monitor can display 50 percent more frames than a 240Hz screen in a given time period, you will only see a speedup of 1.14ms between frame intervals. And all that depends on your GPU’s ability to render a consistent 360 frames per second.
  
  Ultimately, a fast monitor will do you no good if you don't have a graphics card that can keep up. For example, with a 1440p 360Hz monitor, you realistically need a GPU like the RTX 4070 Super or RTX 4080 Super to saturate that display while playing competitive games like Overwatch 2 and Valorant.
  
  There’s also more to motion clarity than refresh rates alone. Just as important are response times, or the amount of time it takes for pixels to transition from one color to another and then back again. Monitors with slow response times tend to produce smearing that is distracting no matter what kind of game you’re playing. Unfortunately, response times are also one of the more opaque aspects of picking the best gaming monitor for your needs.
  
  Many LCD monitor manufacturers claim their products feature 1ms gray-to-gray (GtG) response times, yet they don’t handle motion blur to the same standard. One of the reasons for that is that many companies tend to cherry-pick GtG results that make their monitors look better on paper. The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) recently created a new certification program to address that problem, but the grading system is unwieldy and, as far as I can tell, hasn’t had a lot of pickup from manufacturers.
  
  For now, your best bet is to turn to resources like Rtings and Monitors Unboxed when shopping for a new gaming monitor. Both outlets conduct extensive testing of every screen they review and present their findings and recommendations in a way that’s easy to understand.
  FreeSync vs G-Sync
  No matter how powerful your system, it will sometimes fail to maintain a consistent framerate. In fact, you should expect frame rate fluctuations when playing graphically-intensive games like Alan Wake 2 and Cyberpunk 2077. For those moments, you want a gaming display with adaptive sync. Otherwise, you can run into screen tearing.
  
  Adaptive sync technologies come in a few flavors. The two you’re most likely to encounter are AMD FreeSync and NVIDIA G-Sync, and each has its own set of performance tiers. With G-Sync, for instance, they are – from lowest to highest – G-Sync Compatible, G-Sync and G-Sync Ultimate.
  
  The good news is that you don’t need to think too much about which adaptive sync technology a display supports. In the early days of the tech, it was rare to see a gaming monitor that offered both FreeSync and G-Sync since including the latter meant a manufacturer had to equip their display with a dedicated processor from NVIDIA. That changed in 2019 when the company introduced its G-Sync Compatible certification. In 2024, if a monitor supports FreeSync, it is almost certainly G-Sync Compatible, too, meaning you can enjoy tear-free gaming whether you’re using an AMD or NVIDIA GPU.
  
  In fact, I would go so far as to say you shouldn’t make your purchasing decision based on the level of adaptive sync performance a monitor offers. As of 2024, the list of G-Sync Ultimate-certified displays is about two dozen models long, and some are a few years old now.
  Photo by Igor Bonifacic / Engadget Inputs
  Almost every gaming display on the market right now comes with at least one DisplayPort 1.4 connection, and that’s the port you will want to use to connect your new monitor to your graphics card. If you own a PS5 or Xbox Series X/S, it’s also worth looking out for monitors that come with HDMI 2.1 ports, as those will allow you to get the most out of your current generation console.
  A word about HDR
  As fast and responsive gaming monitors have become in recent years, there’s one area where progress has been frustratingly slow: HDR performance. The majority of gaming monitors currently on sale, including most high-end models, only meet VESA’s DisplayHDR 400 certification. As someone who owned one such monitor, let me tell you it’s not even worth turning on HDR on those screens. You will only be disappointed.
  
  The good news is that things are getting better, albeit slowly. The release of Windows 11 did a lot to improve the state of HDR on PC, and more games are shipping with competent HDR modes, not just ones that increase the brightness of highlights. Thankfully, with more affordable mini-LED monitors, like our top pick, making their way to the market, HDR gaming is finally within reach of most PC gamers.
  Gaming monitor FAQs Are curved monitors better for gaming?
  It depends on personal preference. Many manufacturers claim curved monitors offer a more immersive gaming experience due to the way the display wraps around your field of vision. However, I find the edge distortion distracting, particularly when you increase the field of view in a game.
  What aspect ratio should I look for in a gaming monitor?
  The vast majority of 24-, 27- and 32-inch gaming monitors feature 16:9 aspect ratio panels, and that’s been the case for many years. In fact, nearly every game made in the last two decades supports 16:9 resolutions, such as 1,920 x 1,080 and 2,560 by 1,440, and if you buy a standard-sized monitor, you won’t need to worry about letterboxing.
  
  In the case of ultrawides, 21:9 is the most common aspect ratio, with some very wide models sporting 32:9 panels. Among games, support for 21:9 and 32:9 resolutions is far from universal, so don’t be surprised if a game doesn’t fill the entirety of your screen.
  Is OLED good for gaming?
  OLED monitors are great for gaming. Not only do they offer excellent motion clarity and input latency, but they’re also easily the best displays for HDR gaming. If money is no object, and you primarily use your PC for gaming, you can’t go wrong with an OLED monitor.
  How much does a good gaming monitor cost?
  While you could easily spend more than $1,000 to obtain the best gaming monitor on the market now, the reality is that the budget and midrange categories have never been more competitive. In 2015, I spent $500 CAD to buy a 1080p monitor with a 144Hz refresh rate and TN panel. The budget AOC model I highlight above is not only cheaper than my first gaming monitor, but it also features a faster 180Hz refresh rate and a higher contrast VA panel.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/best-gaming-monitor-140008940.html?src=rss

• Cities: Skylines II is free to play until December 9
  If you’ve been on the fence about buying the urban landscape sim Cities: Skyline II (and given the response following its launch, who could blame you?), here’s your chance to take it for a free test run. Paradox Interactive announced on Bluesky that players can play the city building game for free for a limited time.
  
  Cities: Skylines II is available to play from now until December 9. The free version is available to download and play for free on Steam and GeForce NOW.
  
  Colossal Order and Paradox’s sequel to its hit city construction experience got off to a very rocky start more than a year ago. Despite having a dedicated base of fans who provided a lot of insight into the development of Cities: Skylines II, the response to its release was far from positive.
  
  Fans were upset that Cities: Skyline II only launched on PC instead of a simultaneous PC and console release. There was also criticism over the increased spec requirements a month before the game’s launch. Players with powerful PCs experienced problems with the game even months after the initial release. Colossal Order CEO Mariina Hallikainen wrote a blog post the following January describing a “growing tendency of toxicity in our community, something we have not experienced to this extent before.”
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/cities-skylines-ii-is-free-to-play-until-december-9-002023815.html?src=rss

• Indiana Jones and the Great Circle review: Great movie, good game
  Indiana Jones and the Great Circle has no business being as entertaining as it is. Outside of the superhero genre, there aren’t many high-quality licensed games out there, and this one comes with decades of film lore to live up to. And, frankly, it’s a little bit of a mess on Xbox Series S. Some of its scenes are stunning, but it’s also infested with resolution issues, mechanical glitches and silly animation bugs. In most other games, the combination of these problems would make me throw down the controller and uninstall.
  
  And yet, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is endlessly endearing. The game’s tone is pitch-perfect, it offers moments of earnest beauty and Troy Baker’s Harrison Ford impersonation is a treat to witness, let alone embody. In fact, every actor in the game is fabulous, and its writing, audio and direction feel like classic Spielberg and Lucas fare — but this time it’s all in first-person, interactive form, courtesy of Wolfenstein studio MachineGames.
  
  I can’t speak highly enough of the writing in The Great Circle. Indy feels like an authentic extension of the film character, and his sassy remarks and dad-like frustration spill out in hilarious bursts throughout the game. His companion, Gina, is just as witty, mysterious and independent as Dr. Jones himself, expertly portrayed by actor Alessandra Mastronardi. The main bad boy, a Nazi archaeologist named Emmerich Voss (played by Marios Gavrilis), is supremely unsettling as he manipulates his troops and monologues at his captors, every word dripping with a dark sense of entitlement. 
  
  The story is set in 1937 between the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade, and it takes players to Rome, Giza, The Himalayas, Shanghai and the ancient kingdom of Sukhothai in north-central Thailand, on a quest to save the world from an old and powerful magic.
  
  Of course, it also involves punching lots of Nazis right in their stupid faces.
  Bethesda Softworks
  There are moments in The Great Circle where the music, environment, lighting and writing converge to create a memorable vignette, such as Indy’s first real conversation with Gina on a balcony in the Vatican. They banter back and forth as a Nazi airship docks on a domed turret behind them, afternoon sun glinting off gold roofs, and the music reacts to their strategizing and flirting with small trills. For a second, the game feels indistinguishable from a classic Indiana Jones movie, and it’s a real joy. There are a few cutscenes and gameplay bits that feel like this in The Great Circle, though there are just as many that look less polished on Series S, with stilted animations and too-harsh lighting. The writing and tone, however, is consistently top-notch.
  
  It almost feels like two studios made this game, and one of them was much better at taking advantage of the Xbox Series S hardware. The visual disparity is odd, with animation and resolution quality shifting from scene to scene. In between gorgeous set pieces, there are sequences that look like a remake of a game from the Xbox 360 era. It’s strange. However, I imagine playing on Xbox Series X or a capable PC would boost the resolution and stability nicely.
  
  Mechanically, the game is also hit-or-miss. Combat relies mainly on hand-to-hand fights, and while there are guns, they’re generally not the strongest weapon at Indy’s disposal. His whip is useful for stunning, creating distance and pulling enemies closer for a punch, and he’s able to pick up items like shovels, candlesticks, bottles and batons to use as projectiles or melee weapons. Random one-on-one fights against Nazis and fascists play out fine, with solid-sounding punches and sharp whip cracks, but the scripted melee battles tend to feel stagnant. Enemies don’t have a health bar and there’s little indication of how much damage Indy is inflicting at any given time. Dodging is a key element in these fights and it’s not the most responsive or forgiving system; inputs feel laggy or ineffective at times, and enemies are allowed to power up big hits even while they’re being punched.
  Bethesda Softworks
  Combat might be sluggish, but I had a great time playing The Great Circle as a stealth experience, crouching to sneak past Nazis and fascist guards like a fedora-wearing ghost. Stealth is a valid option in basically every scenario and it’s a simple, effective mechanic. Stay out of enemies’ sight lines, don’t shine lights in their direction and stay crouched, and you’re good to go. There’s usually enough time to adjust your position if you’re spotted, and guards are quick to move on once you’re properly hidden again. I truly enjoyed mapping out sneaky attack routes and then weaving between guards, throwing bottles every now and then as distractions. It’s kind of absurd when Gina tags along in these missions because she’s so, so awful at being stealthy, but the game never punishes you for the NPC’s missteps. Just enjoy the ridiculousness of your extremely obvious companion and keep slinking along.
  
  Puzzles are a major component of the game and they’re perfectly adequate. None of them stand out as being particularly challenging or innovative, but they’re built on clever ideas and executed well. There are light-reflecting puzzles, matching games, spatial-awareness tests and simple logic riddles, and they’re always finished with a cool item or a dramatic reveal. I may have missed some more advanced puzzles in the sidequests, and now that I’ve finished the main line I’m tempted to go back in and see what I missed, which is surely a sign of a successful game.
  Bethesda Softworks
  Exploration is The Great Circle’s most critical mechanic and thankfully, it feels great. Indy can climb and swing across gaps using his whip, and there are plenty of ledges, boulders, ladders and scaffolding to scale. Secrets, side missions and rewards are secreted around the maps, and curiosity is richly rewarded at every turn. Missions take Indy and Gina to snowy mountain peaks and down to murky, monster-filled waters, and there are moments of real terror and true beauty to be found. The game’s world feels alive, and it makes great use of vertical space. If you ever feel stuck in an area, just look up — that is, if you can.
  
  I encountered one game-breaking bug in The Great Circle. I was about 80 percent through the story, and I boarded a boat in the gunner seat as enemies raced us down the river and shot at us from the shores. I was unable to move the camera up and down, but I figured this was a weird restriction of the gunner mechanic. However, it persisted even after I stepped off the boat and entered the following scenes. I was unable to see climbing opportunities, never mind the problems with combat, sneaking and interacting. I tried restarting the game and the console to no avail, and I finally had to restore an old save and replay about 30 minutes of content. This worked, but the experience made me feel slightly crazy and a little sad (so, not too different from my baseline).
  Bethesda Softworks
  The feelings of unease didn’t last long, because I soon found myself trading punches and insults with a Nazi karate master in the middle of a raucous thunderstorm — you know, Indiana Jones shit. This was the cadence of my playthrough: Moments of satisfying climbing, puzzle and stealth gameplay interrupted by supremely silly glitches. What makes these bugs funny, rather than frustrating, is the game’s tone, writing and acting. With The Great Circle, MachineGames leans into the easy charm of Indiana Jones, highlighting his snark and the wild, unbelievable scenarios expected in popcorn action flicks.
  
  This game would make a great movie.
  
  And maybe that’s the thing about The Great Circle. MachineGames made a fabulous, classic-feeling Indiana Jones film, but they could’ve polished the game aspects a little more. So, set your expectations accordingly. Roll with the bugs, soak up the narrative, find all the secrets, and take a moment to laugh at Gina’s ludicrous running animation when she’s dressed as a nun.
  
  
  
  
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/indiana-jones-and-the-great-circle-review-great-movie-good-game-000029449.html?src=rss

• California will require fingerprint screening for Uber drivers to provide rideshares to minors
  California is introducing new requirements aimed at protecting young passengers traveling alone in taxis and rideshares. The California Public Utilities Commission is requiring drivers to pass a fingerprint background check in order to provide a ride to an unaccompanied minor. According to TechCrunch, transit companies will also be responsible for the cost of these background checks. Companies will have 30 days to comply with this policy.
  
  This ruling will mostly impact Uber, which began rolling out teen accounts last year and added further safety features to the accounts this year. Uber for Teens, which allows minors between the ages of 13 and 17 to hail a ride without their parent or guardian present, although an adult has to provide consent for the teen to use the app.
  
  Uber has historically pushed back against fingerprinting drivers, arguing that the additional burden would discourage participation in the rideshare service and that its own safety guards are sufficient. In fact, this isn't the first time Uber and California have clashed over fingerprinting. In this case, Uber is also objecting that shouldering the cost of fingerprinting background checks will lead to higher fares for unaccompanied minors using the rideshare service.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/california-will-require-fingerprint-screening-for-uber-drivers-to-provide-rideshares-to-minors-234031152.html?src=rss

• Nightdive’s ‘The Thing’ remaster is available right now
  Nightdive Studios, the developer behind remasters of remaster of 2002 cult-hit The Thing. The upgraded game is available now for PC, Xbox One and Series X/S, PlayStation 4 and 5, Nintendo Switch, and to stream through NVIDIA GeForce Now.
  
  Originally developed by Computer Artworks, The Thing is a third-person shooter that acts a direct sequel to John Carpenter’s 1984 film The Thing, following a United States Special Forces team that’s sent into the film’s arctic base to investigate what happened there. Outside the source material, the game is best known for its trust, fear, and infection systems. How you play can impact whether in-game characters trust you, think you’re The Thing or turn into The Thing themselves.
  
  With The Thing Remastered, Nightdive is carrying over the original’s core mechanics and updating the visuals and engine to run on modern consoles. Now you can play in 4K at up to 120 fps, with improved “character models, textures, and animations,” according to Nightdive’s announcement, and “advanced 3D rendering for updated lighting and atmospheric effects.” The game also includes trophies and achievements on PC, PlayStation and Xbox, if you’re looking for that, too.
  
  A remastered version of The Thing was originally announced in June 2024 at IGN Live, the latest in a series of remastered game projects Nightdive Studios has announced in the last few years. The studio was formed in 2012 to make System Shock 2 playable on modern PCs, but has worked on everything from the Turok games to Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition, since then.
  
  The Thing Remastered is available digitally for $29.99 on Steam (where it’s Steam Deck Verified), GOG, the Microsoft Store, the PlayStation Store and the Nintendo eShop.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nightdives-the-thing-remaster-is-available-right-now-225918511.html?src=rss

• NASA delays Artemis II moon mission to April 2026
  NASA announced a new schedule for its upcoming Artemis missions to send astronauts to the moon. This is the second delay to these crewed missions after NASA's said it now aims to launch the Artemis 2 mission in April 2026, as well as pushing back the Artemis 3 mission to mid-2027.
  
  The delay was partly caused by issues with the Orion spacecraft's heat shield during the uncrewed Artemis 1 test flight. During that mission, charred material on the heat shield wore away in an unexpected manner. Data from inside the capsule showed that if crew had been present during that flight, the temperatures would still have been safe even though the heat shield performed differently to expectations. But that's the sort of thing you don't want to take chances with once astronauts are aboard.
  
  “Victor, Christina, Jeremy and I have been following every aspect of this decision and we are thankful for the openness of NASA to weigh all options and make decisions in the best interest of human spaceflight," said Reid Wiseman, the NASA astronaut who will head the Artemis II mission. "We are excited to fly Artemis 2 and continue paving the way for sustained human exploration of the Moon and Mars." The other three Artemis 2 crew members are Victor Glover and Christina Koch of NASA and Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency.
  
  The Artemis 2 is slated to be a ten-day mission around the moon and back to Earth. Although the team won't land on our most familiar satellite, the test flight is intended to collect more data about the Orion space capsule ahead of the Artemis 3 mission, where a team will touch down on the moon's south pole.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasa-delays-artemis-ii-moon-mission-to-april-2026-224108612.html?src=rss

• New trailer for Revenge of the Savage Planet crash lands on YouTube
  What happens when you combine the satiric spirit of filmmaker Mel Brooks and cram into a parody of the galaxy exploring No Man’s Sky? You get something like Journey to the Savage Planet, a funny, world conquering blaster fest that proves Ian Malcolm’s chaos theory of colonization while also providing a healthy dose of good, ol’ fashioned fart jokes.
  
  Unfortunately, the game’s original studio Typhoon Studios got swallowed up and spat out when Google closed down its Stadia Games and Entertainment division and all of its studios in 2019. Fortunately for us, some of those developers got back together, formed a new outfit called Raccoon Logic, raised some investment money from Tencent and took back the rights to their game for a brand new adventure.
  
  A sequel called Revenge of the Savage Planet is on its way to PC, Xbox Series X/S and PS5 in May of next year and a trailer just popped up during the PC Gaming Show.
  
  Revenge of the Savage Planet appears to be sticking to its roots as a comedy adventure game about ruthless corporations battling the forces of nature across the galaxy for more territory it can call its own. The trailer features the return of Martin Tweed, the ruthless CEO of Kindred Technologies. There’s also a new FMV character in the trailer called Gunther Harrison, another ruthless CEO from a rival corporation called Alta Interglobal, who looks like a cross between Megamind and Morbo from Futurama.
  
  The new game can be played in solo or co-op mode. There are chances to uncover secrets, battle alien beasts and build your own colony on these worlds. There’s also a lot of flying slime, silly violence and savage attacks on corporate colonization thrown into the mix. If that’s what you liked about the first version, then it looks like there’s plenty more where that came from with Revenge of the Savage Planet.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/new-trailer-for-revenge-of-the-savage-planet-crash-lands-on-youtube-221409561.html?src=rss

• New Mexico state IDs can now be added to digital wallets
  New Mexico is joining states like California and Ohio in supporting digital driver’s licenses and state IDs in Apple Wallet and Google Wallet. New Mexico residents are still required by law to carry their physical IDs for law enforcement and age-verification use, but at businesses and TSA checkpoints that have adopted New Mexico’s NM Verifier app, you’ll be able to tap your smartphone rather than pull out a card.
  
  Digital licenses can be added to Apple and Google’s apps now by scanning the front and back of your physical ID, capturing a scan of your face and submitting your digital application to be verified. Once added, digital IDs can be pulled up and used in the same way you’d pay with a digital payment card. Google has published a video on how to add your card to Google Wallet and Apple has a detailed support article on how to add IDs to Apple Wallet, if you’re looking for tips.
  
  The New Mexico Motor Vehicle Division first proposed legislation to “offer electronic credentials to customers at no additional cost” in January 2024. The rollout of digital IDs continues to be a complex process, with the TSA listing 12 states currently offering some form of digital identification, but only Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, and New Mexico currently offering IDs for both Google and Apple’s apps. To make things more confusing, some states like Ohio, Hawaii, and Iowa offer IDs for Apple Wallet but not Google's app.
  
  The shift to an exclusively digital wallet isn’t without potential risks, as well. The American Civil Liberties Union has criticized states’ quick adoption of digital driver’s licenses without putting in place additional protections for cardholders. Those include things like preventing ID issuers and verifiers from tracking the usage of digital cards and preserving the right to not use a digital card for anyone who doesn’t own or can’t afford a smartphone. Apple and Google’s solutions offer privacy protections in terms of encrypting information and keeping your device locked even after you’ve presented your ID, but they don’t totally account for how state or federal governments could access these new digital systems.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/new-mexico-state-ids-can-now-be-added-to-digital-wallets-211549853.html?src=rss

• PUBG creator Brendan Greene just announced a handful of new games
  Brendan Greene is largely credited with making the iconic PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, also known as PUBG, and inventing the entire battle royale genre. We knew he left PUBG’s publisher to form an independent studio back in 2021, but now we know what he’s been working on the past few years.
  
  His studio, PlayerUnknown Productions, is prepping a handful of titles, which it refers to as “an ambitious three-game plan.” First up, there’s Prologue: Go Wayback!, which is described as “a single-player open-world emergent game within the survival genre.” It uses the developer’s “in-house machine-learning-driven terrain generation technology” to create “millions of maps.” These maps are also easy on the eyes, as seen below.
  PlayerUnknown Productions
  We don’t know much about the gameplay, beyond the description and the aforementioned terrain generation technology. However, it’s available to wishlist right now on Steam. The company says it’ll launch as an early access title sometime in the first half of next year, following a series of playtests.
  
  There’s also a nifty-looking tech demo called Preface: Undiscovered World. It’s free and available to download right now. This demo is being released to showcase the company’s in-house game engine, called Melba. Preface allows players to explore an “Earth-scale world generated in real-time.”
  PlayerUnknown Productions
  Greene says that this “digital planet is still quite empty for now, but every person who enters it and shares their feedback, contributes to its future development.” To that end, the Melba engine will be used to develop other games in the future.
  
  One such future game is called Artemis, which is described as a “massive multiplayer sandbox experience.” We don’t know a whole lot about the title, except that it’s likely years away. Greene says that his company will be releasing two unannounced games after Prologue: Go Wayback! that will each address “critical technical challenges” that will help with the development of the more ambitious Artemis. In any event, it looks like PlayerUnknown Productions is certainly off to a promising start.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/pubg-creator-brendan-greene-just-announced-a-handful-of-new-games-210053256.html?src=rss

• Waymo announces it's expanding to Miami
  Get ready to have that Will Smith song stuck in your head for the rest of the day because the autonomous taxi company Waymo is going to Miami. Yeah, sorry about that.
  
  Waymo announced its plans to Miami on its official Waypoint blog. The expansion will start early next year as the company gets its fleet of self-driving Jaguar I-PACE EVs familiar with Miami’s streets and intersections. Then in 2026, Waymo plans to start offering rides to customers through the Waymo One app.
  
  Waymo is also partnering with the African startup Moove as part of its expansion plans. Moove provides vehicles for ride-sharing services. Waymo wants Moove to manage its “fleet operations, facilities and charging infrastructure” first in Phoenix and eventually in Miami.
  
  The Waymo One app currently operates in parts of San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Austin, according to Google support. Waymo secured $5.6 billion in funding in October to expand to Austin and Atlanta by the early part of next year.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/waymo-announces-its-expanding-to-miami-204504533.html?src=rss

• Threads is testing post analytics
  Threads’ latest test could help creators and others understand more about how their posts are performing on the platform. The company is testing an expanded version of its analytics feature, which will show users stats for specific posts, Adam Mosseri said in an update.
  
  Up to now, Threads has had an “insights” feature, but it showed aggregated stats for all posts, so it was hard to discern which posts were performing well. Now, insights will be able to surface detailed metrics around specific posts, including views and interactions. It will also break down performance among followers and non-followers.
  
  “Now that your posts will be shown to more people who follow you, it’s especially important to understand what’s resonating with your existing audience,” Mosseri wrote. Threads recently updated its highly criticized “for you” algorithm to surface more posts from accounts you follow, rather than random unconnected accounts.
  
  The change could also address criticism from creators on Threads, who have said they often don’t understand how the app’s algorithm works. More detailed analytics could also help Meta entice more brands to the app as the company reportedly is gearing up to begin running ads on the service as soon as next month.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/threads-is-testing-post-analytics-203548697.html?src=rss

• Google DeepMind's Genie 2 can generate interactive 3D worlds
  World models — AI algorithms capable of generating a simulated environment in real-time — represent one of the more impressive applications of machine learning. In the last year, there’s been a lot of movement in the field, and to that end, Google DeepMind announced Genie 2 on Wednesday. Where its predecessor was limited to generating 2D worlds, the new model can create 3D ones and sustain them for significantly longer.
  
  Genie 2 isn’t a game engine; instead, it’s a diffusion model that generates images as the player (either a human being or another AI agent) moves through the world the software is simulating. As it generates frames, Genie 2 can infer ideas about the environment, giving it the capability to model water, smoke and physics effects — though some of those interactions can be very gamey. The model is also not limited to rendering scenes from a third-person perspective, it can also handle first-person and isometric viewpoints. All it needs to start is a single image prompt, provided either by Google’s own Imagen 3 model or a picture of something from the real world.
  Introducing Genie 2: our AI model that can create an endless variety of playable 3D worlds - all from a single image. 🖼️
  
  These types of large-scale foundation world models could enable future agents to be trained and evaluated in an endless number of virtual environments. →… pic.twitter.com/qHCT6jqb1W
  — Google DeepMind (@GoogleDeepMind) December 4, 2024
  Notably, Genie 2 can remember parts of a simulated scene even after they leave the player’s field of view and can accurately reconstruct those elements once they become visible again. That’s in contrast to other world models like Oasis, which, at least in the version Decart showed to the public in October, had trouble remembering the layout of the Minecraft levels it was generating in real time.
  
  However, there are even limitations to what Genie 2 can do in this regard. DeepMind says the model can generate “consistent” worlds for up to 60 seconds, with the majority of the examples the company shared on Wednesday running for significantly less time; in this case, most of the videos are about 10 to 20 seconds long. Moreover, artifacts are introduced and image quality softens the longer Genie 2 needs to maintain the illusion of a consistent world.
  
  DeepMind didn’t detail how it trained Genie 2 other than to state it relied “on a large-scale video dataset.” Don’t expect DeepMind to release Genie 2 to the public anytime soon, either. For the moment, the company primarily sees the model as a tool for training and evaluating other AI agents, including its own SIMA algorithm, and something artists and designers could use to prototype and try out ideas rapidly. In the future, DeepMind suggests world models like Genie 2 are likely to play an important part on the road to artificial general intelligence.
  
  “Training more general embodied agents has been traditionally bottlenecked by the availability of sufficiently rich and diverse training environments,” DeepMind said. “As we show, Genie 2 could enable future agents to be trained and evaluated in a limitless curriculum of novel worlds.”
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/google-deepminds-genie-2-can-generate-interactive-3d-worlds-200708207.html?src=rss

• Overwatch 2 will test 6v6 role queue matches starting December 17
  
  A new season pic.twitter.com/Z0HvK17NXv
  — Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) December 5, 2024
  The Overwatch X account also teased that the coming season will have another anime crossover. After collaborations with Cowboy Bebop and My Hero Academia, the next season will be channeling the elements with skins themed on Avatar: The Last Airbender. Omnic monk Zenyatta is clearly going to be reimagined as Aang, but the full lineup of cosmetics will also be unveiled on December 17.
  
  And in a final piece of good Overwatch news, Blizzard shared that sales of the Pink Mercy charity skins earlier this year raised $12.3 million for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Well played, people.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/overwatch-2-will-test-6v6-role-queue-matches-starting-december-17-194524335.html?src=rss

• Forza Motorsport on PC is getting an enhanced lighting upgrade
  Gearheads, rejoice! Forza Motorsport for PC is getting a graphics update on Monday that adds a new realistic lighting system to the game. Nvidia announced that Ray-Traced Global Illumination (RTGI) will be part of the PC-only upgrade for Turn 10’s driving simulator.
  
  RTGI simulates how light interacts with surfaces in a virtual environment to create more realistic looking images. The upgrade for Forza Motorsport on PC will be able to create “more accurate indirect lighting and occlusion across tracks and cars in real-time, amping up visual fidelity and realism,” according to Nvidia’s post.
  
  The new RTGI lighting will be applied across all modes, cinematics and features in Forza Motorsport for PC. You’ll be able to take super sleek photos of your McLaren 720S Spider executing a perfect power slide in Photo Mode, marvel at your favorite cars in your Homespace and even watch enhanced cinematics with the new enhanced lighting system.
  
  RTGI lighting must be turned on in settings in order to use it once the update is complete. Nvidia recommends setting “Raytracing Quality” to “Full Reflections + RTGI” and choosing a quality level under “RTGI Quality” to enable it.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/forza-motorsport-on-pc-is-getting-an-enhanced-lighting-upgrade-191017416.html?src=rss

• OpenAI wants $200 a month for its most advanced features
  OpenAI kicked off its “12 Days of OpenAI��� series of livestreams with the announcement of a new, more expensive tier for its flagship chatbot. Starting today, ChatGPT users can pay $200 per month for ChatGPT Pro. Included in the package is unlimited access to the company’s latest model, o1, which following a limited preview earlier in the year, is now faster and 34 percent less likely to produce a major error when answering difficult real-world questions.
  
  ChatGPT Pro also comes with access to GPT-4o, o1-mini and the company’s Advanced Voice mode, but the reason most power users are likely to splurge is the addition of an o1 “pro mode” that gives the chatbot additional compute power to reason through the most complex problems. “In evaluations from external expert testers, o1 pro mode produces more reliably accurate and comprehensive responses, especially in areas like data science, programming, and case law analysis,” OpenAI says of the feature.
  
  
  OpenAI o1 is more concise in its thinking, resulting in faster response times than o1-preview.
  
  Our testing shows that o1 outperforms o1-preview, reducing major errors on difficult real-world questions by 34%.
  — OpenAI (@OpenAI) December 5, 2024
  In the future, OpenAI says it will add more “powerful, compute-intensive productivity features” to ChatGPT Pro, with some of those enhancements arriving as early as later this week and into next week as the company continues to show off what it’s been working on over the last 11 months. More broadly, ChatGPT users can expect support for web browsing and file uploads to arrive in the future, though during the company’s livestream, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman didn’t definitively say when those features would arrive.
  
  For the rest of us, OpenAI will continue to offer its existing ChatGPT Pro subscription, which will continue to cost $20 per month and include early access to new features.  
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-wants-200-a-month-for-its-most-advanced-features-191054506.html?src=rss

• Foamstars’ next season will be its last
  The fizzy, hot pink writing appears to be on the wall for Foamstars. Square Enix said on Thursday that the next season of the 4x4 “party shooter” will be its last. To be fair, all the game’s online services will remain available after the final season’s conclusion, and there will be events for those who hang around. But with development winding down (after switching to a free-to-play model in October), it’s hard to imagine the Splatoon-meets-Fortnite shooter will be long for this world.
  
  The final season of Foamstars, the loudly capitalized “PARTY GOES ON!”, will run from December 13 to January 17. You’ll be able to customize each character’s shots in the “concluding update” (never an encouraging phrase). After the final season is a wrap, Square Enix will bring back all season passes for you to switch between at any time. This will let you obtain all seasons’ items and rack up the full collection.
  
  Foamstars launched this past February on PlayStation Plus. The game has unique mechanics like spraying bright foam to build terrain, sliding on top of it and… dancing on a duck’s head to push it toward a finish line (as one does). However, after today’s announcement, the bright, loud and full-of-attitude shooter appears to be sliding toward a finish line of its own, with its development team presumably moving to other projects.
  
  You can read more about the final season and changes coming after that on Square Enix’s update page.
  
  
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/foamstars-next-season-will-be-its-last-185127904.html?src=rss

• Rivian is now letting other EVs charge at its stations
  Over the last year or so, electric vehicle makers have been a little friendlier to each other, at least when it comes to their opening its doors to drivers of other brands' EVs.
  
  For the first time, drivers of non-Rivian EVs will be able to top up their batteries at the company's charging locations. This pertains to next-gen Rivian Adventure Network charging locations. The first of these opens today at Joshua Tree Charging Outpost in California. Before the year is out, Rivian plans to open more charging locations in Texas, Colorado, Illinois, Montana, Pennsylvania, Michigan and New York.
  
  The stations offer rapid charging up to 900 volts and have CCS connectors that work with NACS vehicles that have an adapter. Rivian says support for native NACS connectors will become available later.
  
  This isn't entirely an altruistic step, of course. Rivian sees it as a way to generate revenue from EV drivers who perhaps happen to be closer to one of its charging stations than any other. The chargers have a tap to pay option and the Rivian app isn't required.
  
  Rivian plans to have more than 3,500 DC fast chargers in its Adventure Network. According to Ars Technica, the automaker has 91 Adventure Network sites in the US, with plans for 12 more. However, Rivian drivers can use Tesla Superchargers as well.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/rivian-is-now-letting-other-evs-charge-at-its-stations-182702444.html?src=rss

• EA just made a whole bunch of accessibility patents open-source
  EA has just made 23 accessibility patents open-source, as reported by Game Developer. This means that other developers throughout the industry can use the technology at no cost. The news comes after EA made a pledge back in 2021 not to sue rival companies for co-opting these types of tools.
  
  As of today, third parties can openly use a whole lot of patented tech to improve accessibility for users. This includes new speech recognition tools, simplified speech tech in games and the ability to create personalized speech detection algorithms. EA says other devs can use this technology to "make it possible for those players’ speech to be more effectively recognized and reflected in-game in a way that is representative of their age, emotion, language and speaking style."
  
  There’s also an internal plugin for Unreal Engine 5 that went into the open-source pile. This one incorporates EA’s photosensitivity analysis tech, called IRIS, and should allow developers to quickly catch potential problems that could impact players with certain health issues related to vision or the nervous system.
  
  Kerry Hopkins, EA9s SVP of global affairs, says this new group of open-source patents "encourages the industry to work together to make video games more inclusive by removing unintended barriers to access." The company also says that this is just the beginning of its efforts to improve accessibility across the industry, as it9s going to start running accessible design workshops and expanding its testing capabilities.
  
  This isn’t the first time EA has made some of its proprietary accessibility technology free for competitors. It has done so for the ping system originally found in the battle royale hit Apex Legends, which gives players a way to discuss in-game strategy without having to rely on voice chat. It also makes it easier to relay location data to teammates. The tech has popped up in other games like Call of Duty: Warzone and Fortnite.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/ea-just-made-a-whole-bunch-of-accessibility-patents-open-source-181131893.html?src=rss

• Meta expands its strike removal feature to Instagram and all Facebook users
  Meta is expanding its feature that helps users avoid “Facebook jail.” Earlier this year, the company began allowing Facebook creators to complete in-app “educational training” for first-time rule violations in order to avoid strikes on their accounts. Now, the company is expanding the feature to all Facebook users and opening it up to creators on Instagram.
  
  As Engadget noted back in August, the idea of the feature is a bit like going to traffic school. People who violate one of the company’s rules for the first time will have the option to complete a “a short educational program” in Facebook or Instagram’s app in order to avoid a “strike” on their account and any restrictions that may come with it.
  
  Users will be able to take advantage of the process once in a 12-month period for most first-time offenses. The process to “remove the warning” on an account will be available to anyone on Facebook, as well as creators on Instagram (a broader rollout for Instagram is expected “soon,” according to the company.) Meta won’t allow people to remove strikes for more “serious” offenses, including posts about sexual exploitation or drug sales.
  
  Meta has described the strike-removal feature as part of its effort to reform its penalty system, which has long been frustrating and confusing for users who often get caught up in it unintentionally. In a blog post, Meta said that the in-app education features have already shown some signs of success with Facebook creators. “What we’ve already seen from our initial launch this summer has been promising — those who successfully removed their first strikes for violating a policy were more likely to say they understood Facebook’s policy decisions and became less likely to violate that policy again,” the company said.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-expands-its-strike-removal-feature-to-instagram-and-all-facebook-users-170056830.html?src=rss

• Microsoft starts testing Copilot Vision in Edge
  Microsoft is rolling out a preview for one of the experimental AI features it previewed in October. Copilot Vision, which scans your web browsing and has a chat with you about it, is available for testing in Copilot Labs.
  
  Copilot Vision has strict limits, at least at first. It only works in Microsoft Edge and only on “a select set of websites.” (The company says it will carefully expand that list over time.) Even the trial has restrictions: It’s only available to a limited number of Copilot Pro ($20 monthly) subscribers in the US. Like the available websites, Microsoft will expand access to more users over time.
  
  Microsoft says Copilot Visions sessions are “opt-in and ephemeral,” so you’ll have to activate it manually, and each session’s data is wiped as soon as you’re done. The company says the feature only interprets text and images from browsed websites and doesn’t process content beyond that or train on web publishers’ data.
  
  The cautious approach seems to be a course correction from the company’s sloppy Recall launch. That “photographic memory” feature, which snaps screenshots of everything you do on your PC, drew the ire of security and privacy experts, who called our Microsoft for — in a baffling decision — leaving the feature’s data unencrypted. It’s finally available for Windows Insiders to try after three delays and security adjustments.
  
  If you’re a Copilot Pro subscriber, you can sign up to request access to Copilot Vision through Copilot Labs today. You can check out Microsoft’s demo video below.
  
  
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/microsoft-starts-testing-copilot-vision-in-edge-170033830.html?src=rss

• Android's latest round of AI features improve accessibility, file sharing and more
  If you’re an Android user, today is your lucky day; Google has announced a swath of new AI features for the entire ecosystem. Broadly speaking, the features make Android devices more accessible, but there’s something here for everyone.
  
  For instance, one of the new enhancements, Expressive Captions, automatically generates subtitles that attempt to capture the emotion and intensity of what’s being said. So, let’s say you’re video chatting with a friend who groans after you make a lame dad joke. The feature will not only transcribe what they said, but it will also include “[groaning]” in the transcription. This works for other subtleties of human speech, too, such as when someone gasps or whispers something, and is compatible across Android, including streaming and social media apps. Per Google, Expressive Captions are available on Pixel 6 and newer Pixel phones, as well as “other compatible” Android devices.
  
  Separately, Google has enhanced Android’s Image Q&A in Lookout feature. The latest version of the tool makes use of the company’s Gemini 1.5 Pro model to provide more helpful image descriptions. Image Q&A is primarily designed to assist blind and low-vision users, but in reality, anyone can use the feature to get Android to describe a picture in a natural-sounding voice.
  
  Speaking of Gemini, Google is supercharging the AI agent with new extensions that provide better integration with some of the most popular Android apps. For instance, a new Spotify plugin allows Gemini to play your favorite songs for you and find playlists that suit your current mood. In the future, the company is promising tighter integration with Google Maps and even smart home devices that are linked to your Google account.
  
  Additionally, Gemini now features the capability to remember things about you so that it can provide more personalized responses. For example, you can tell Gemini you’re a vegetarian, and the agent will remember that about you the next time you ask it to recommend a new dinner recipe. Google notes it has made it easy to view, edit and delete any personal information you’ve told Gemini to remember.
  Google
  Another more practical update comes in the form of a Google Drive feature called auto-enhancements. The next time you upload a scanned document to the service, it will automatically edit the image to optimize the contrast and adjust the white balance, as well as remove any shadows and blurring.
  
  And if you want to share a file with someone, Google has made that easier, too, with an improvement to Android’s Quick Share functionality. There’s a new feature that allows you to transfer pictures, videos and documents by displaying a QR code on your phone. Using this tool, you don’t need to add the recipient as a contact or fiddle with your Quick Share settings.
  
  Lastly, if you’re a Pixel user, you can look forward to all of the above features and more. Most notably, there are improvements to the Pixel Screenshots app. For one, now you can save things you find with Circle to Search directly to the software. Google suggests this feature will be handy for holiday gift ideas. Pixel Screenshots will now also automatically categorize your snaps for you and provide suggestions, such as calendar invites and directions, based on the information you saved. 
  
  As with most Android updates, it can take some time for Google to roll out all the new features it announced today to every user, so be patient if you don’t see them on your device right away.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/androids-latest-round-of-ai-features-improve-accessibility-file-sharing-and-more-170020518.html?src=rss

• Samsung's One UI 7 is out in beta and it's chock full of security features
  Samsung’s One UI 7 operating system is finally out in the wild, albeit in a beta format. The updated UI focuses a lot of its improvements on security and privacy, which is never a bad thing in today’s world.
  
  There’s further integration with the company’s Knox Matrix security protocol, which began popping up in Samsung devices back in 2023. Knox Matrix continually monitors devices via a “secure private blockchain” and shows all connected gadgets on a dashboard.
  
  This dashboard lets users instantly see the security status of various Samsung smart devices, including other Galaxy handsets, tablets, TVs and appliances. If a device shows as green in the dashboard, that means that it's “up to date and no risks are detected.” If something is at risk, Knox Matrix will provide actionable recommendations. All Samsung devices will soon fall under the One UI umbrella, which should make this integration more seamless.
  Samsung
  There are also new security measures put in place for recovering data from the cloud. Enhanced Data Protection makes sure that all connected devices are synchronized and secure and helps users make a backup plan in the event of data loss. To that end, One UI 7 lets users sign in to a new device by verifying the credentials of their previous device.
  
  One UI 7 lets people create and use passkeys to log into a Samsung account and gives users more control over network connections. To the latter point, folks can block 2G service, which is not that safe, and make it so phones won’t automatically connect to unknown networks.
  
  Text messages and photos have even gotten a bit of tough love to improve security. Users can remove location data from photos and block hyperlinks from text messages. Shared photo albums can also be blocked, as can automatic attachment downloads. Users can block USB connections for an added security boost. The port will still work for charging, but not for anything else.
  Samsung
  Finally, there's a new theft protection tool. Samsung devices could already be remote locked, but now there’s a feature called Identity Check. This opt-in software forces users to prove they are who they say they are if a PIN becomes compromised.
  
  The new UI also brings a simplified design, broader availability of AI tools and a redesigned camera app. The full release will also include something called the Now Bar, which is a new notification system that Samsung promises will "transform the lock screen experience." It sounds a lot like Apple's Dynamic Island and Live Activities feature. Samsung's Now Bar isn't part of the beta, so we have to wait a bit longer to get our hands on it. 
  
  The One UI 7 beta program is available now for Galaxy S24 series devices in a bunch of different countries, including the US, Germany, India, South Korea and Poland. Users have to apply via the Samsung Members program. The full version of UI 7 drops sometime in the first quarter of 2025.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/samsungs-one-ui-7-is-out-in-beta-and-its-chock-full-of-security-features-163820698.html?src=rss

• Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is free on the Epic Games Store
  It9s Thursday, which means that Epic Games has a fresh pair of PC games on its storefront for folks to claim for free. One of this week9s options is a humdinger. Until 11AM on December 12, you can snap up Reports that developers at TT Games were pushed to work long hours to finish the game cast a dark shadow over it. In addition, the collectathon aspects may start to feel like a slog if you plan to reach 100 percent completion. Still, there9s potentially dozens of hours of family fun here, and you9ll be able to hop in gratis.
  
  There9s one other free title on the Epic Games Store this week in the form of Bus Simulator 21 Next Stop. I hope that9s also a fun game for people who check it out, but I9ll never know myself!
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/lego-star-wars-the-skywalker-saga-is-free-on-the-epic-games-store-160712375.html?src=rss

• Oura is rolling out its sickness detection feature to Ring Gen 3 and Ring 4 users
  Oura is moving a respiratory sickness detection feature out of beta and rolling it out to Ring Gen 3 and Ring 4 wearers. Users with an active subscription should be able to take advantage of Symptom Radar by December 11.
  
  Oura started publicly testing the feature earlier this year. The idea is that Symptom Radar looks at metrics including resting heart rate, skin temperature, sleep data and breathing rate to see if there are any differences from your baseline stats. If there are, Oura may let you know that it has detected possible common cold- or flu-like symptoms and offer suggestions on how to rest up and recover, such as putting your device into rest mode so you aren't prompted to meet activity goals.
  
  Following feedback from beta testers, Oura has added a couple of extra features to Symptom Radar. It now has a history graph showing wellness trends and whether the daily Symptom Radar result has been recorded (this should happen when a ring syncs with the Oura app each morning). There’s also a breakdown of each biometric input for those who want more granular detail on which markers have changed and by how much.
  
  Like wellness detection features on other wearables, such as electrocardiogram readings on smart watches, this isn't designed to make any kind of diagnosis. Instead, the aim is notify you of warning signs that a cold or flu may be about to hit so you can take action. Oura claims "Symptom Radar can detect signs of strain accurately and precisely, up to two days before a member selects an illness-related tag" in its tagging feature.
  
  Symptom Radar stems from Oura's work on COVID-19 detection, in which researchers found that the company's smart rings were able to predict symptoms of the virus up to three days early with 90 percent accuracy. That led into the creation of Oura's health management platform and then to a refined algorithm "based on a vastly increased data set, inclusive of millions of tags, that has significantly up-leveled accuracy to produce the new Symptom Radar feature."
  
  While features such as Symptom Radar could be helpful in detecting respiratory sickness, it's still worth listening to your intuition and trusting your knowledge of your own body. After all, Shyamal Patel, Oura’s head of science, told The Verge that the algorithm isn't 100 percent accurate, and as such false positive and negative readings are possible. The company has yet to disclose accuracy data for Symptom Radar.
  
  Correction, December 5, 2024, 3:57pm ET: The availability date was incorrectly stated to be December 9 in a prior version of this story. It has been amended. 
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/oura-is-rolling-out-its-sickness-detection-feature-to-ring-gen-3-and-ring-4-users-155820702.html?src=rss

• Bitcoin price breaks the $100,000 barrier for the first time
  Bitcoin has passed the $100,000 threshold for the first time. At approximately 9:39PM ET this evening, the cryptocurrency’s value hit six figures, moving it past the milestone for the first time in its nearly 16-year history. As of the morning of December 5th, the price has stayed well above that $100,000 mark, and Bitcoin's value has generally been steadily increasing over the past month or so. That's no guarantee it'll stay where it is, but it's clearly having a moment.
  
  That also means the legendary Bitcoin pizza order is now worth $1 billion. For those not in the loop, a Florida man — because, of course it was a Florida man — paid 10,000 BTC for two Papa John’s pizzas over 14 years ago in what’s considered the cryptocurrency’s first commercial transaction.
  
  “I’ll pay 10,000 bitcoins for a couple of pizzas … like maybe 2 large ones so I have some left over for the next day,” Laszlo Hanyecz posted in a crypto forum on May 18, 2010. Four days later, a British man took him up on the offer. That amount was only worth $45 at the time. (And the UK man only paid Papa John’s $25!) But only nine months later, the transaction’s value had skyrocketed to $10,000.
  
  Hanyecz told The New York Times in 2013 that he had no regrets about the then-$6 million pizza order. “It wasn’t like Bitcoins had any value back then, so the idea of trading them for a pizza was incredibly cool,” he said. “No one knew it was going to get so big.”
  
  I wonder if Florida Man has any regrets now that his fee for those two Papa John’s pizzas is worth a billion dollars.
  
  Looking at it another way, Papa John’s current market cap is $1.567 billion. So, had Hanyecz saved his crypto instead of ordering those two pizzas, he could have bought nearly two-thirds of the company that baked his pie today.
  
  Then, there’s the story of a writer who, in 2017, helped a friend recover (at the time) $200,000 worth of Bitcoin from a broken laptop. Those 40 Bitcoins stuck in a MultiBit wallet for three-and-a-half years are worth more than $4 million today (so long as the cryptocurrency stays above the $100,000 mark).
  
  Update, 10:35AM ET: This story has been updated with details about Bitcoin's current value after it hit the $100,000 mark. 
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/bitcoin-price-breaks-the-100000-barrier-for-the-first-time-042918884.html?src=rss

• One of our favorite Bluetooth speakers is 41 percent off right now
  You know that feeling when the snow is falling outside but you're inside curled up or cooking something warm as music plays around you? That movie moment is reason enough to invest in a good speaker but, by invest, I mean shop a great deal on one of our favorite Bluetooth speakers for 2024. Marshall's Emberton II Portable Bluetooth Speaker is currently down to $100 from $170 — a 41 percent discount. 
  
  Marshall's Emberton II Speaker is one of our top picks thanks to its 360-degree sound that provides a good quality listening experience for any small gathering (or solo dance party). It offers 30 hours of battery, charges up in only three hours and is IP67 dust and water resistant so you don't have to be too precious with it. 
  
  
  
  In August, Marshall did release a new version of this speaker, aptly named the Emberton III. It has a few upgrades from its predecessor, including an extra two hours of battery life, a built-in microphone and taking only two hours to fully charge. It's normally the same price as the second generation Emberton but, since it's not on sale, we'd say the Emberton II is a much better buy. 
  
  Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/one-of-our-favorite-bluetooth-speakers-is-41-percent-off-right-now-150156828.html?src=rss

• Amazon is giving away games to promote its Secret Level anthology series
  We've got a little bit longer to wait until offering some solid freebies for Prime members on many of the games that inspired episodes in Secret Level. Roguelike masterpiece Spelunky and story-laden space adventure The Outer Worlds are must-haves if they aren't already in your library. Here's the full list of free titles:
  
  Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition (GOG code)
  
  Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition (GOG code)
  
  Necromunda: Hired Gun (Epic Games Store)
  
  Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition (GOG code)
  
  The Outer Worlds (GOG code)
  
  Space Hulk: Deathwing - Enhanced Edition (Amazon Games App)
  
  Spelunky (GOG code)
  
  Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine (Amazon Games App)
  
  Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War (Amazon Games App)
  
  And if that wasn't enough free stuff, a code for Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II in the Amazon Games App will also drop on December 12. Those Prime Gaming members using the Amazon Luna streaming service will also see the addition of Mega Man 11. 
  
  The final facet of this announcement is some steep discounts on retail purchases of games through Amazon's platform. Most notably in this batch is up to 65 percent off God of War: Ragnarok for the PlayStation 5 and up to 80 percent off the PC version of Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut. These titles are all in addition to the previously announced free games lineup Prime Gaming members can add to their collections this month.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/amazon-is-giving-away-games-to-promote-its-secret-level-anthology-series-150033246.html?src=rss

• Telegram finally takes action to remove CSAM from its platform
  Telegram is taking a significant step to reduce child sexual abuse material (CSAM), partnering with the International Watch Foundation (IWF) four months after the former9s founder and CEO Pavel Durov was arrested. The French authorities issued 12 charges against Durov in August, including complicity in "distributing, offering or making available pornographic images of minors, in an organized group" and "possessing pornographic images of minors." 
  
  The UK-based IWF works with social media platforms, tech companies, governments and more to prevent the spread of CSAM. Telegram9s membership to the IWF grants it access to the organization9s tools that block links to CSAM content and "non-photographic depictions," including AI-created images. It also provides Telegram with hashes of known CSAM content and any harmful content the organization detects. The IWF reports having found thousands of confirmed instances of CSAM on Telegram since 2022.
  
  Telegram has previously refused to join any programs that could help limit CSAM. In a release, Telegram9s Head of Press and Media Relations Remi Vaughn claimed the platform "removes hundreds of thousands of child abuse materials each month" through reports and moderation through AI, hash-matching and more. Though Vaughn conceded IWF9s support will strengthen the company9s ability to delete CSAM before it reaches anyone.
  
  Telegram has taken other steps since Durov9s arrest, announcing in September that it would hand over IP addresses and phone numbers in legal requests — something it fought in the past. Durov must remain in France for the foreseeable future.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/telegram-finally-takes-action-to-remove-csam-from-its-platform-134514444.html?src=rss

• New 'Mirrored' Network Mode Introduced in Windows Subsystem for Linux
  
  Microsoft's Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) continues to evolve with the release of WSL 2 version 0.0.2. This update introduces a set of opt-in preview features designed to enhance performance and compatibility.
  
  Key additions include "Automatic memory reclaim" which dynamically optimizes WSL's memory footprint, and "Sparse VHD" to shrink the size of the virtual hard disk file. These improvements aim to streamline resource usage.
  
  Additionally, a new "mirrored networking mode" brings expanded networking capabilities like IPv6 and multicast support. Microsoft claims this will improve VPN and LAN connectivity from both the Windows host and Linux guest. 
  
  Complementing this is a new "DNS Tunneling" feature that changes how DNS queries are resolved to avoid compatibility issues with certain network setups. According to Microsoft, this should reduce problems connecting to the internet or local network resources within WSL.
  
  Advanced firewall configuration options are also now available through Hyper-V integration. The new "autoProxy" feature ensures WSL seamlessly utilizes the Windows system proxy configuration.
  
  Microsoft states these features are currently rolling out to Windows Insiders running Windows 11 22H2 Build 22621.2359 or later. They remain opt-in previews to allow testing before final integration into WSL.
  
  By expanding WSL 2 with compelling new capabilities in areas like resource efficiency, networking, and security, Microsoft aims to make Linux on Windows more performant and compatible. This evolutionary approach based on user feedback highlights Microsoft's commitment to WSL as a key part of the Windows ecosystem.
  Windows

• Linux Threat Report: Earth Lusca Deploys Novel SprySOCKS Backdoor in Attacks on Government Entities
  
  The threat actor Earth Lusca, linked to Chinese state-sponsored hacking groups, has been observed utilizing a new Linux backdoor dubbed SprySOCKS to target government organizations globally. 
  
  As initially reported in January 2022 by Trend Micro, Earth Lusca has been active since at least 2021 conducting cyber espionage campaigns against public and private sector targets in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. Their tactics include spear-phishing and watering hole attacks to gain initial access. Some of Earth Lusca's activities overlap with another Chinese threat cluster known as RedHotel.
  
  In new research, Trend Micro reveals Earth Lusca remains highly active, even expanding operations in the first half of 2023. Primary victims are government departments focused on foreign affairs, technology, and telecommunications. Attacks concentrate in Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and the Balkans regions. 
  
  After breaching internet-facing systems by exploiting flaws in Fortinet, GitLab, Microsoft Exchange, Telerik UI, and Zimbra software, Earth Lusca uses web shells and Cobalt Strike to move laterally. Their goal is exfiltrating documents and credentials, while also installing additional backdoors like ShadowPad and Winnti for long-term spying.
  
  The Command and Control server delivering Cobalt Strike was also found hosting SprySOCKS - an advanced backdoor not previously publicly reported. With roots in the Windows malware Trochilus, SprySOCKS contains reconnaissance, remote shell, proxy, and file operation capabilities. It communicates over TCP mimicking patterns used by a Windows trojan called RedLeaves, itself built on Trochilus.
  
  At least two SprySOCKS versions have been identified, indicating ongoing development. This novel Linux backdoor deployed by Earth Lusca highlights the increasing sophistication of Chinese state-sponsored threats. Robust patching, access controls, monitoring for unusual activities, and other proactive defenses remain essential to counter this advanced malware.
  
  The Trend Micro researchers emphasize that organizations must minimize attack surfaces, regularly update systems, and ensure robust security hygiene to interrupt the tactics, techniques, and procedures of relentless threat groups like Earth Lusca.
  Security

• Linux Kernel Faces Reduction in Long-Term Support Due to Maintenance Challenges
  
  The Linux kernel is undergoing major changes that will shape its future development and adoption, according to Jonathan Corbet, Linux kernel developer and executive editor of Linux Weekly News. Speaking at the Open Source Summit Europe, Corbet provided an update on the latest Linux kernel developments and a glimpse of what's to come.
  
  A major change on the horizon is a reduction in long-term support (LTS) for kernel versions from six years to just two years. Corbet explained that maintaining old kernel branches indefinitely is unsustainable and most users have migrated to newer versions, so there's little point in continuing six years of support. While some may grumble about shortened support lifecycles, the reality is that constantly backporting fixes to ancient kernels strains maintainers.
  
  This maintainer burnout poses a serious threat, as Corbet highlighted. Maintaining Linux is largely a volunteer effort, with only about 200 of the 2,000+ developers paid for their contributions. The endless demands on maintainers' time from fuzz testing, fixing minor bugs, and reviewing contributions takes a toll. Prominent maintainers have warned they need help to avoid collapse. Companies relying on Linux must realize giving back financially is in their interest to sustain this vital ecosystem. 
  
  The Linux kernel is also wading into waters new with the introduction of Rust code. While Rust solves many problems, it also introduces new complexities around language integration, evolving standards, and maintainer expertise. Corbet believes Rust will pass the point of no return when core features depend on it, which may occur soon with additions like Apple M1 GPU drivers. Despite skepticism in some corners, Rust's benefits likely outweigh any transition costs.
  
  On the distro front, Red Hat's decision to restrict RHEL cloning sparked community backlash. While business considerations were at play, Corbet noted technical factors too. Using older kernels with backported fixes, as RHEL does, risks creating divergent, vendor-specific branches. The Android model of tracking mainline kernel dev more closely has shown security benefits. Ultimately, Linux works best when aligned with the broader community.
  
  In closing, Corbet recalled the saying "Linux is free like a puppy is free." Using open source seems easy at first, but sustaining it long-term requires significant care and feeding. As Linux is incorporated into more critical systems, that maintenance becomes ever more crucial. The kernel changes ahead are aimed at keeping Linux healthy and vibrant for the next generation of users, businesses, and developers.
  kernel

• Linux Celebrates 32 Years with the Release of 6.6-rc2 Version
  
  Today marks the 32nd anniversary of Linus Torvalds introducing the inaugural Linux 0.01 kernel version, and celebrating this milestone, Torvalds has launched the Linux 6.6-rc2. Among the noteworthy updates are the inclusion of a feature catering to the ASUS ROG Flow X16 tablet's mode handling and the renaming of the new GenPD subsystem to pmdomain.
  
  The Linux 6.6 edition is progressing well, brimming with exciting new features that promise to enhance user experience. Early benchmarks are indicating promising results, especially on high-core-count servers, pointing to a potentially robust and efficient update in the Linux series.
  
  Here is what Linus Torvalds had to say in today's announcement:
  Another week, another -rc.I think the most notable thing about 6.6-rc2 is simply that it'sexactly 32 years to the day since the 0.01 release. And that's a roundnumber if you are a computer person.Because other than the random date, I don't see anything that reallystands out here. We've got random fixes all over, and none of it looksparticularly strange. The genpd -> pmdomain rename shows up in thediffstat, but there's no actual code changes involved (make sure touse "git diff -M" to see them as zero-line renames).And other than that, things look very normal. Sure, the architecturefixes happen to be mostly parisc this week, which isn't exactly theusual pattern, but it's also not exactly a huge amount of changes.Most of the (small) changes here are in drivers, with some tracingfixes and just random things. The shortlog below is short enough toscroll through and get a taste of what's been going on. Linus Torvalds

• Introducing Bavarder: A User-Friendly Linux Desktop App for Quick ChatGPT Interaction
  
  Want to interact with ChatGPT from your Linux desktop without using a web browser?
  
  Bavarder, a new app, allows you to do just that.
  
  Developed with Python and GTK4/libadwaita, Bavarder offers a simple concept: pose a question to ChatGPT, receive a response, and promptly copy the answer (or your inquiry) to the clipboard for pasting elsewhere.
  
  With an incredibly user-friendly interface, you won't require AI expertise (or a novice blogger) to comprehend it. Type your question in the top box, click the blue send button, and wait for a generated response to appear at the bottom. You can edit or modify your message and repeat the process as needed.
  
  During our evaluation, Bavarder employed BAI Chat, a GPT-3.5/ChatGPT API-based chatbot that's free and doesn't require signups or API keys. Future app versions will incorporate support for alternative backends, such as ChatGPT 4 and Hugging Chat, and allow users to input an API key to utilize ChatGPT3.
  
  At present, there's no option to regenerate a response (though you can resend the same question for a potentially different answer). Due to the lack of a "conversation" view, tracking a dialogue or following up on answers can be challenging — but Bavarder excels for rapid-fire questions.
  
  As with any AI, standard disclaimers apply. Responses might seem plausible but could contain inaccurate or false information. Additionally, it's relatively easy to lead these models into irrational loops, like convincing them that 2 + 2 equals 106 — so stay alert!
  
  Overall, Bavarder is an attractive app with a well-defined purpose. If you enjoy ChatGPT and similar technologies, it's worth exploring.
  ChatGPT AI

• LibreOffice 7.5.3 Released: Third Maintenance Update Brings 119 Bug Fixes to Popular Open-Source Office Suite
  
  Today, The Document Foundation unveiled the release and widespread availability of LibreOffice 7.5.3, which serves as the third maintenance update to the current LibreOffice 7.5 open-source and complimentary office suite series.
  
  Approximately five weeks after the launch of LibreOffice 7.5.2, LibreOffice 7.5.3 arrives with a new set of bug fixes for those who have successfully updated their GNU/Linux system to the LibreOffice 7.5 series.
  
  LibreOffice 7.5.3 addresses a total of 119 bugs identified by users or uncovered by LibreOffice developers. For a more comprehensive understanding of these bug fixes, consult the RC1 and RC2 changelogs.
  
  You can download LibreOffice 7.5.3 directly from the LibreOffice website��or from SourceForge as binary installers for DEB or RPM-based GNU/Linux distributions. A source tarball is also accessible for individuals who prefer to compile the software from sources or for system integrators.
  
  All users operating the LibreOffice 7.5 office suite series should promptly update their installations to the new point release, which will soon appear in the stable software repositories of your GNU/Linux distributions.
  
  In early February 2023, LibreOffice 7.5 debuted as a substantial upgrade to the widely-used open-source office suite, introducing numerous features and improvements. These enhancements encompass major upgrades to dark mode support, new application and MIME-type icons, a refined Single Toolbar UI, enhanced PDF Export, and more.
  
  Seven maintenance updates will support LibreOffice 7.5 until November 30th, 2023. The next point release, LibreOffice 7.5.4, is scheduled for early June and will include additional bug fixes.
  
  The Document Foundation once again emphasizes that the LibreOffice office suite's "Community" edition is maintained by volunteers and members of the Open Source community. For enterprise implementations, they suggest using the LibreOffice Enterprise family of applications from ecosystem partners.
  LibreOffice

• Raspberry Pi OS Debuts New Version Featuring Linux Kernel 6.1, Improved Performance, and App Updates
  
  Today, the Raspberry Pi Foundation unveiled a fresh edition of their official Raspberry Pi OS distribution tailored for Raspberry Pi computers, featuring component updates, bug fixes, and several performance enhancements.
  
  The most significant alteration in the Raspberry Pi OS 2023-05-03 release is the transition from the long-term supported Linux 5.15 LTS kernel to the long-term supported Linux 6.1 LTS kernel. This shift is expected to boost the performance of Raspberry Pi devices.
  
  Indeed, current Raspberry Pi OS users, like myself, were already utilizing the Linux 6.1 LTS kernel when executing the rpi-update command via a terminal emulator. However, Linux 6.1 LTS is now the standard kernel in new Raspberry Pi OS images, available for download from the official website for those planning to install it on their Raspberry Pi computer.
  
  Various applications have received updates in this new Raspberry Pi OS version. The most notable is Chromium 113, the default browser for Raspberry Pi OS. In addition to incorporating the latest security patches, Chromium 113 introduces WebGPU support by default, potentially enhancing the performance of web apps and overall browsing experience.
  
  Other updates include Raspberry Pi Imager 1.7.4, RealVNC Viewer 7.0.1.48981, RealVNC Server 7.0.1.49073, Mathematica 13.2.1, and Matlab 23.1.0. Another intriguing update is the revised VLC hardware acceleration patch, designed to enhance video playback performance.
  
  The libcamera and libcamera-apps elements have also been updated to refine IMX296 sensor tuning, enhance audio resampling and encoding management using the libav library, boost the performance of Qt preview window rendering, optimize thumbnail rendering, support 16-bit Bayer in the DNG writer, manage generalized statistics, and rectify an overflow problem that caused inaccurate calculations in the AGC algorithm.
  
  The picamera2 library has also been updated, incorporating an MJPEG server example that utilizes the hardware MJPEG encoder, an example showcasing a preview from two cameras within a single Qt app, the capacity for the H.264 encoder to accept frame time intervals for SPS headers, promote the correct profile/level, and support constant quality parameters, as well as introduce new Exif DateTime and DateTimeOriginal tags.
  
  Several bugs were addressed, including an occasional segfault in the CPU temperature plugin, an X11 server crash when altering screen orientation, X11 server DPMS malfunctions, and the addition of new language translations.
  kernel

• Debian 11.7 Released: Seventh ISO Update Brings Enhanced Security and Bug Fixes to "Bullseye" Operating System Series
  
  The Debian Project has unveiled the release and widespread availability of Debian 11.7, serving as the seventh ISO update to the current Debian GNU/Linux 11 "Bullseye" operating system series.
  
  Arriving approximately four and a half months after Debian 11.6, Debian 11.7 delivers updated installation media for those seeking to install the Debian GNU/Linux 11 "Bullseye" operating system series on new computers. This ensures that users won't need to download numerous updates from repositories following installation.
  
  Debian 11.7 incorporates all security and software updates from December 17th, 2022, the release date of Debian GNU/Linux 11.6, up until today. In total, Debian 11.7 consists of 102 security updates and various bug fixes for 92 packages.
  
  For more information on these security updates and bug fixes, consult the release announcement. The Debian Project emphasizes that this Debian Bullseye point release does not represent a new version of Debian GNU/Linux 11 but merely updates certain included packages.
  
  The Debian 11.7 installation images can be downloaded from the Debian website or via this direct link for 64-bit (amd64), 32-bit (i386), PowerPC 64-bit Little Endian (ppc64el), IBM System z (s390x), MIPS 64-bit Little Endian (mips64el), MIPS 32-bit Little Endian (mipsel), MIPS, Armel, ARMhf, and AArch64 (arm64) hardware architectures.
  
  Debian 11.7 live images, pre-installed with the KDE Plasma, GNOME, Xfce, LXQt, LXDE, Cinnamon, and MATE desktop environments, can also be downloaded from the aforementioned link, but only for 64-bit and 32-bit systems.
  
  Current Debian GNU/Linux 11 "Bullseye" users do not need to download these new ISO images to maintain up-to-date installations. Instead, they should regularly execute the sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade commands in a terminal emulator.
  Debian

• What’s New in Debian 11 “Bullseye”?
  Image
  Debian is a preferred choice of millions of Linux users for some of the most popular and powerful operating systems, like Ubuntu and its derivatives are based on Debian.
  Debian 11has finally been released, finally, after a long development work of two years. Bullseye – that’s the name given to this latest Debian Linux distro. So what are the updates and upgrades? In this article, let’s check out what’s new in Debian 11.
  Debian 11’s ArchitectureDebian supports a good range of hardware architectures. 
  Supported Architectures
  ARM EABI (armel) ARMv7 (EABI hard-float ABI and armhf) 64-bit ARM (arm64) 32-bit PC (i386) 64-bit PC (amd64) Little-endian MIPS (mipsel) 64-bit little-endian PowerPC 64-bit little-endian MIPS IBM System z (s390x)Not Supported Hardware
  Old MIPS 32-bit CPUsLinux Kernel InformationDebian 11 supports the Linux Kernel 5.10 LTS. Debian 10 Buster, the earlier version to Debian 11, used Linux Kernel 4.19 while released. A newer kernel means a new set of bug fixes, new hardware support, and improved performance.
  This is the perfect kernel for Debian bullseye considering the Debian lifecycle.   
  Supports exFATexFAT is the shortened form of the Extensible File Allocation Table. It’s a filesystem used for flash memory, such as SD cards and USB flash drives.
  Now Debian 11 provides support for the exFAT. For mounting the exFAT filesystem, you don’t need the filesystem-in-userspace implementation provided by the exfat-fuse package additionally anymore. Thanks to kernel 5.10! exFAT comes in handy with it. Tools for checking and creating an exFAT are given in the exfatprogs package.
  Bauhaus Movement Inspired Theme & WallpaperDebian features cool wallpapers and a default theme for each of the major releases. Debian 11’s theme is inspired by the Bauhaus movement. Bauhaus means “building house” and it was an art and design movement from 20th century Germany. The Bauhaus movement revolved around abstract, geometric style featuring little emotion or sentiments. 
  Its modern aesthetic still is immensely influential for designers, architects, and artists. You can see this theme all through Debian 11 whether it’s the installer, login window, or the Grub menu.
  Newer Desktop Environment VersionsDebian 11 offers newer desktop environment versions. Desktop flavors you get here are, KDE Plasma 5.20, GNOME 3.38, LXDE 11, LXQt 0.16, Xfce 4.16, and MATE 1.24. Debian prefers stability and it’s quite clear from the desktop environments. You might not get the latest cutting-edge distributions like Fedora or Arch/Manjaro.
  Updated PackagesDebian 11 consists of more than 11,294 new packages out of 59,551 packages. It also reduced over 9,519 “obsolete” packages and removed 42,821 that were updated. A total of 5,434 packages remained as they were.
  A good number of software applications and package updates are included in Debian bullseye, such as Apache 2.4.48, Calligra 3.2, Emacs 27.1, LibreOffice 7.0, Inkscape 1.0.2, Linux kernel 5.10 series, Perl 5.32, PHP 7.4, Vim 8.2, PostgreSQL 13, and the list goes on. All these ready-to-use software packages are built with over 30,000 source packages.
  With this huge selection of packages and wide architecture support, Debian has always stayed committed to its aim of being The Universal Operating System.
  Improved Printer and Scanner FeaturesDebian 11 presents a new ipp-usb package. It is built with a vendor-neutral IPP-over-USB protocol that is supported by many latest printers. So, many modern-day printers will be supported now by Debian. And you won’t need the drivers for that.
  SANE driverless backend lets you use scanners without any trouble.
  EndnotesWant to try Debian Bullseye? Get it from here. You can also check “bullseye” with Live Images without installing it on your PC. This will load and run the entire OS in read-only mode. These live images are available for the i386 and amd64 architectures in the form of USB sticks, DVDs, and netboot setups. Debian Live has a standard image. So you can try a basic Debian without any GUIs.
  And that’s the ending of this article. Hope you find our Debian 11 guide helpful.
  #Linux Debian News

• Nvidia Linux drivers causing random hard crashes and now a major security risk still not fixed after 5+ months
  Image The recent fiasco with Nvidia trying to block Hardware Unboxed from future GPU review samples for the content of their review is one example of how they choose to play this game. This hatred is not only shared by reviewers, but also developers and especially Linux users.
  The infamous Torvalds videos still traverse the web today as Nvidia conjures up another evil plan to suck up more of your money and market share. This is not just one off shoot case; oh how much I wish it was. I just want my computer to work.
  If anyone has used Sway-WM with an Nvidia GPU I’m sure they would remember the –my-next-gpu-wont-be-nvidia option.
  These are a few examples of many.
  The Nvidia Linux drivers have never been good but whatever has been happening at Nvidia for the past decade has to stop today. The topic in question today is this bug: [https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/bug-report-455-23-04-kernel-panic-due-to-null-pointer-dereference]
  This bug causes hard irrecoverable crashes from driver 440+. This issue is still happening 5+ months later with no end in sight. At first users could work around this by using an older DKMS driver along with a LTS kernel. However today this is no longer possible. Many distributions of Linux are now dropping the old kernels. DKMS cannot build. The users are now FORCED with this “choice”:
  {Use an older driver and risk security implications} or {“use” the new drivers that cause random irrecoverable crashes.}
  This issue is only going to get more and more prevalent as the kernel is a core dependency by definition. This is just another example of the implications of an unsafe older kernel causing issue for users: https://archlinux.org/news/moving-to-zstandard-images-by-default-on-mkinitcpio/
  If you use Linux or care about the implications of a GPU monopoly, consider AMD. Nvidia is already rearing its ugly head and AMD is actually putting up a fight this year.
  #Linux NVIDIA News