Reblogged by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤"):
LALegault@newsie.social ("LA Legault ✌🏻") wrote:
Psst, someone tell #democrats that no amount of AIPAC money will save the election if they vote for the #TikTok ban on Saturday. It may just be a bigger election issue than Palestine. #uspol
Watch Our New Short Film About a Mother’s Search for Answers on the Crow Reservation
A high-speed police chase. A 17-year-old Crow boy, dead. The police report? Nowhere to be found. The entire police department? Vanished. The excruciating question that still remains: What happened to Braven Glenn? The hunt for answers is at the heart of our searing new short film After the Crash, by reporter Samantha Michaels and filmmaker […]
NYPD breaks up pro-Palestinian protest at Columbia University
Police began making dozens of arrests after Columbia University's president asked for help clearing protesters — citing the "encampment and related disruptions pose a clear and present danger."
Trader Joe's recalls basil linked to 12 salmonella infections in 7 states
The Food and Drug Administration warns Trader Joe's customers in dozens of states to throw out fresh basil after a federal investigation linked the product to a salmonella outbreak.
fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤") wrote:
Anyone else notice some accounts get an automatic phantom boost whenever they post?
I call them boost goblins.
I know specific hashtags are monitored and auto-boosted into private channels, like posts with #Threads and #fediverse in them (notice this post will likely have one of those boosts).
That's weird too.
But there seems to be boost goblins assigned to specific accounts, unbeknownst to the user. Are we monitoring sentiment?
*Jerry Seinfeld voice* What's the deal with boost goblins?
Someone Found A McDonald's N64 Kiosk Filled With Xbox 360 Games In Their Dentist's Office
A Reddit user found something quite odd inside their dentist’s waiting room: An old McDonald’s N64 video game kiosk that had been converted into an Xbox 360 arcade complete with multiple controllers and games.
collinsworth@hachyderm.io ("Josh Collinsworth") wrote:
I've been thinking a lot about this lately because I've noticed we in tech get to make so many of our own decisions, in a way few other fields enjoy.
Whether I'm talking to a contractor who's going to work on our house, a teacher at my kid's school, or a doctor guiding me through medical issues, I *always* have a say. And in the rare cases I don't, I get a full briefing on the choice and why it had to be made.
I think we forget what a privilege that is, and often, abuse it.
What to know about the U.N. vote on whether to admit Palestinians as full members
The U.N. Security Council met Thursday to debate and vote on the Palestinian application for full membership in the United Nations, which would allow it to vote during U.N. proceedings.
Bungie Working To Avoid Launch Day Server Woes For Destiny 2: The Final Shape
If you’ve played an MMO, you’re likely very familiar with the feeling of looking at a queue, waiting for the game to tell you it’s your turn to jump into the action. Multiplayer games have server setups designed to avoid scenarios like this, but high-profile MMO expansions typically draw in returning fans as well as…
collinsworth@hachyderm.io ("Josh Collinsworth") wrote:
I think it's a useful thought experiment, at the very least.
Imagine your users knew everything you do.
How many of them would say "yes, sure, make the decision that's easiest for you. I don't care how long the page takes to load. I don't care how much data is transferred."
How many would disagree?
What would be the commonality in those groups?
Is a Popular Music Genre in India Spreading Hate?
H-Pop is the Indian popular music and poetry of Hindu nationalism. But critics worry that the music is spreading hate and encourages violence against Muslims.
collinsworth@hachyderm.io ("Josh Collinsworth") wrote:
Have you ever stopped to consider that simply by virtue of being developers, we already make a better salary than a significant portion of our users ever have, and experience technology and the web in a way many of them never will?
Have you ever thought about how often we just ask those people—the ones using shittier phones than we'd ever look at, on shittier networks than we'll ever experience—to pay the price for our privileged decisions?
This Street Fighter Cammy Statue Costs More Than A PS5
If you’re a collector of action figures and model statues with money to burn, well then I’ve found something perfect for you. Premium Collectibles Studio, a company that’s been selling pop culture and video game statues for over 10 years, has partnered with Capcom for a Street Fighter figure of the female assassin…
Dickey Betts, founding member of the Allman Brothers Band, dies at 80
The influential guitarist, songwriter and singer was best known for the song "Ramblin' Man." Betts's blues, rock and country-influenced guitar style helped define Southern rock in the 1960s and '70s.
collinsworth@hachyderm.io ("Josh Collinsworth") wrote:
We as developers often get to make our own technology decisions.
But have you ever imagined what it would be like if our *users* could vote on how they wanted the things they use to be built?
Have you ever stopped to think what a massive privilege we enjoy, being allowed to pick what *we* think is best for us, over what any user might pick for themselves, given the requisite understanding?
Netflix is all about the money, not the members
Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge
Netflix is moving beyond subscriber numbers. In its first quarter earnings results released on Thursday, Netflix announced that it will stop reporting quarterly membership numbers in 2025 because subscribers are “just one component” of its growth. The change comes after a quarter where it added 9.3 million subscribers, growing to more than 270 million members globally.
Subscriber count meant everything in the early days of streaming. It allows investors, studios, and everyone else to gauge just how well a streaming service is doing compared to the competition, and Netflix has leaned on its lead in that area.
But now, Netflix says it is flipping this idea on its head because it has multiple sources of revenue that don’t hinge solely on...
Gaza cease-fire resolutions roil U.S. local communities
As local elected officials continue to face pressure to pass resolutions calling for an end to the fighting in Gaza, some aren't sure how or whether to take a stand at all.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Will Be Twice As Big And More Diverse
Warhorse Studios announced Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, the sequel to an ambitious and intriguing 2018 medieval RPG that had plenty of technical flaws and also became a lightning rod for controversy over its director’s comments about race and historical accuracy. The development team is promising the next game, which…
10 Things To Do Before Final Fantasy XIV's Dawntrail Expansion
With Final Fantasy XIV’s Dawntrail expansion launching for players who pre-ordered it on June 28, it’s time to start thinking about how to make the most of your downtime now. If you’re already at level 90, and caught up with the main scenario, there are still plenty of useful ways to ensure you’re in the best position…
Senate advances vote on reauthorizing warrantless surveillance program
Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images
The Senate is moving forward on a vote to reauthorize a controversial program that allows warrantless surveillance of foreign “targets.” Before voting on the reauthorization bill, senators had to vote on a cloture motion to begin voting. The cloture motion passed 67–32, just one day ahead of the program’s expiration.
Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is set to expire at midnight on April 19th, a deadline some senators emphasized as they urged their colleagues to vote in favor of reauthorization. “It’s hard to overstate either the importance — the gravity — of allowing it to sunset, yet we are 36 hours away from that happening,” Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) said on the Senate floor. “I understand that some of my...
A Third and Very Dramatic Day for Trump’s Jury Selection
The challenge to secure jurors for Donald Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan bumbled further on Thursday morning after two jurors were excused—one after prosecutors questioned their truthfulness and another, an oncology nurse, who expressed concerns that the media had effectively outed her. The latter dismissal follows several media reports that featured biographical information about selected jurors. Fox […]
Fan-Made Star Wars Horror Game Featuring Zombie Stormtroopers Goes Viral
A short Star Wars fan game about a stormtrooper fighting off his undead comrades (and its sequel set on Endor) have both gone viral online as fans realize that a horror game set in the popular sci-fi franchise would be awesome.
Your Happy Hacking Keyboard deserves some fresh caps
Ursa is a new keycap profile for Topre keyboards. I want it. | Render: FKCaps
Listen, I don’t want to be the guy who always posts about weird keyboard stuff. I have other interests. But I need to tell the dozens of Verge readers with Topre keyboards about these keycaps. Ursa is a new spherical doubleshot keycap profile for Topre that is available for group buy until May 15th.
Reactions to the previous sentence will likely fall into three camps:
- I recognize some of those words
- Already smashed that checkout button
- A keycap group buy? In 2024? In a new profile? For Topre boards? What could go wrong?
I am usually a group three, but today, I am in group two. If you’re in group one, here is what some of those words mean. Topre keyboards, like the Happy Hacking Keyboard Professional, use different switches than...
All the news on Qi2 wireless charging
Anker is amongst the first accessory makers to rerelease MagSafe-compatible accessories that now support the Qi2 standard. | Image: Nathan Edwards / The Verge
Qi2 brings MagSafe-like fast magnetic wireless charging for any device.
Meta says Llama 3 beats most other models, including Gemini
Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge
The next generation of Meta’s large language model Llama, which releases today to cloud providers like AWS and to model libraries like Hugging Face soon, performs better than most current AI models, the company said in a blog post.
Llama 3 currently features two model weights, with 8B and 70B parameters. (The B is for billions and represents how complex a model is and how much of its training it understands.) It only offers text-based responses so far, but Meta says these are “a major leap” over the previous version. Llama 3 showed more diversity in answering prompts, had fewer false refusals where it declined to respond to questions, and could reason better. Meta also says Llama 3 understands more instructions and writes better code...
Fallout 4 Is The Best-Selling Game In Europe Right Now
Whether you’re watching it or not, everybody’s talking about Amazon Prime’s Fallout. It’s a great show, so it’s not surprising to see the ardent discourse about it online. And as people fall in love with the post-apocalyptic world and wry humor of the show, many are flocking to the games to visit (or revisit) that…
pzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
Insightful graffiti.
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2024/04/18/on-a-wall-in-austin/
Attachments:
Unsurprisingly, Hades 2 Whoops So Much Ass
The Hades 2 technical test is currently live for those lucky enough to have gotten access, and I can confirm that Supergiant Games’ highly anticipated (and first ever) sequel is exactly what it should be, and then some. I had a feeling Hades 2 would be good from the moment I booted up the game and heard the…
The podcast industry keeps reinventing itself
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
This is Hot Pod_,_ The Verge_’s newsletter about podcasting and the audio industry._
Today is my last day at The Verge, and this will be my final issue of Hot Pod. I’ll have one more story coming out in the next week or two. But until then, I wanted to offer some parting thoughts on the industry I have covered so closely for the past two years.
I have this thing in my career where I always get to the party too late. I joined my college newspaper just as it was becoming clear that printing a daily no longer mathed out. I had a good year at the Melissa Harris-Perry show on MSNBC shortly before the beloved executive producer left and the program imploded. I missed the heady old days at Forbes when magazine writers would drink champagne on a...
The Humane AI Pin is lost in translation
As funny as it was when the AI Pin utterly failed at translating Korean and Japanese, it also broke my heart. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
Of all the things the Humane AI Pin promised, I was most intrigued by translation. In a demo, a man speaks to Humane co-founder Imran Chaudhri in Spanish. The AI Pin automatically translates it to English. Chaudhri replies in English. Again, the AI Pin translates his words back into Spanish. There are notable pauses when the AI is processing, but it’s a powerful concept. Unlike with Google Translate, there was solid eye contact between both people. The AI voice sounded more natural and less robotic. And crucially, there were no screens. The language barrier was still there, but it was much more permeable.
That’s not what happened when I tried it myself.
I spoke some simple phrases in Japanese and Korean. Instead of translating, the AI...
nadim@symbolic.software ("Nadim Kobeissi") wrote:
New blog post: We Need to Talk About the State of Calendar Software on Desktop https://nadim.computer/posts/2024-04-18-calendar.html
China's cities are sinking, putting tens of millions at risk
Nearly a third of China's urban population lives in areas that are subsiding, according to a sweeping national survey of 82 major Chinese cities. In coastal areas, that makes sea level rise worse.
bcrypt@infosec.exchange ("yan") wrote:
who likes their job and is hiring in security engineering (bay area / remote)? asking for a friend!
fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤") wrote:
The public relations decision to make Mark Zuckerberg look like he sells shrooms out of a surf shop is objectively fascinating.
Attachments:
You should be playing Music League
When was the last time your friends made you a playlist? | Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo from Getty Images
Writing about the decline of Pitchfork made me sad about the music industry — and also about the state of music discovery. Besides the fact that TikTok doesn’t prioritize music as anything other than background noise, it means that artists have to win the viral lottery in order to make a hit. And that’s entirely out of their control.
But about two weeks ago, a friend of mine introduced me to Music League, a game where everyone in the league submits a song to a playlist, and a group of us started playing. About a day after the first one formed, I made two more: one for another friend group and one for family.
Music League makes music social in a way that social media algorithms, ironically, do not
I’ve enjoyed hearing new songs. The...
fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤") wrote:
Obscurest Vinyl is the best account on the web
https://obscurestvinyl.bandcamp.com/track/this-baptism-fucking-blows-dunk-the-kid-already
Attachments:
Helldivers 2’s R-36 Eruptor Is Your New Best Friend For Clearing Bug Holes
Arrowhead Studios continues loading up Helldivers 2 with new content including a new powerhouse rifle with jet-propelled shells that explode on impact. It’s called the R-36 Eruptor and it makes clearing out Automaton Fabricators and Terminid bug holes a breeze. You’ll need to fork over some cash or grind super credits…
slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:
Today Edge is launching a new dashboard that, together with Interop '24 (wpt.fyi/interop-2024) , provides a more complete picture into what we have heard from developers about their pain-points:
https://blogs.windows.com/msedgedev/2024/04/18/2024-web-platform-top-developer-needs-dashboard/
Dashboard here: https://microsoftedge.github.io/TopDeveloperNeeds/
Hades II Is Addressing The First Game’s Lack Of Body Diversity
Hades is famously known for its tight action gameplay, unmatched ability to weave narrative into a run-based roguelike, and for Supergiant Games making the pantheon of Greek gods fine as hell. The team said that beauty was a virtue in its character design, but the fact that the original game lacked body diversity…
Maine lawmakers pass sweeping gun legislation following the Lewiston mass shooting
The Maine Legislature approved gun safety legislation including background checks on private gun sales, waiting periods for gun purchases and criminalizing gun sales to prohibited people.
The Witcher Series Is Ending After Fifth Season
It is official: Netflix’s series based on The Witcher has been renewed for a fifth and final season. The fourth season is currently in production and both seasons will be shot back-to-back. Get ready to bid the Continent farewell, folks.
Meta is adding real-time AI image generation to WhatsApp
Illustration: The Verge
Meta is rolling out real-time AI image generation in beta for WhatsApp users in the US. As soon as you start typing a text-to-image prompt in a chat with Meta AI, you’ll see how the image changes as you add more detail about what you want to create.
In the example shared by Meta, a user types in the prompt, “Imagine a soccer game on mars.” The generated image quickly changes from a typical soccer player to showing an entire soccer field on a Martian landscape. If you have access to the beta, you can try out the feature for yourself by opening a chat with Meta AI and then start a prompt with the word “Imagine.”
GIF: Meta
Additionally, Meta says its Meta Llama 3 model can now produce “sharper and higher quality” images...
This Company Will Give You A Fortnite Batman Skin If You Generate Enough AI Porn
Salad, a cloud computing and AI tech company, is renting high-end graphics cards found in gamers’ computers and using all that power to create AI-generated pornography. In return, the gamers who lend the company their GPUs are paid in Fortnite skins, Minecraft cosmetics, Roblox bux, and other gaming-related gift cards…
The future of the Xbox looks a lot like a PC
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
When I reviewed the Xbox Series X nearly four years ago, I called the console a “next-gen PC.” Not only did the Xbox look like a PC with its boxy, rectangular, tower-like case but it also felt like one thanks to hardware upgrades that allowed it to run games with a variety of PC-like graphical modes. Now, as we approach the next generation of Xbox, it looks like Microsoft is about to close the gap between Xbox and PC even further.
Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has teased some potentially massive Xbox platform changes in recent weeks. At the same time, leaked internal memos have revealed an increased focus inside Microsoft on Xbox game preservation and forward compatibility. When you put all the breadcrumbs together, it feels like...
Florida kicked their son off Medicaid in the 'unwinding' but not their daughter
Nearly 1-in-4 adults who lost Medicaid coverage in the past year are now uninsured, according to a new survey. As states winnow the rolls, many families are caught in confusing red tape.
Netflix’s The Witcher will end with season 5
Henry Cavill as Geralt. | Image: Netflix
We still don’t know what Liam Hemsworth will look (or sound) like when he takes up the role of Geralt of Rivia in The Witcher. But we do know how long he’ll be wearing the white wig: Netflix has confirmed that the show’s fifth season will be its last.
The news comes as Netflix has confirmed that it has started production on season 4 of The Witcher — the first that won’t feature Henry Cavill in the lead role — and that it and season 5 will be filmed back to back. The two upcoming seasons will “complete the adaptation of Andrzej Sapkowski’s books,” according to Netflix. That means they will cover a trio of Witcher books: Baptism of Fire, The Tower of the Swallow, and Lady of the Lake.
Netflix first announced that Hemsworth would be taking...
fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤") wrote:
Fun read from a 1996 Wired Article
https://www.wired.com/1996/12/when-web-and-chaos-theory-meet-the-future-could-be-weird/
Everything you need to know about Disney, ESPN, and Bob Iger’s return as CEO
Image: The Verge
Disney has big decisions to make about streaming, sports, Marvel, and more.
TikTok divest-or-ban legislation could suddenly be fast-tracked in the Senate
Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo by Brendan Hoffman, Getty Images
A bill that could oust TikTok from the US looked like it could linger for months in the Senate, even after the House overwhelmingly voted to approve it. But a move by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) could change that.
An updated version of the bill, which would enforce a ban of TikTok unless it divests from its China-based parent company, ByteDance, appears in a bill about sanctions on Russia and Iran. A separate bill that would prohibit data brokers from transferring US users’ information to foreign adversaries is also included. It’s part of a package on foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Gaza. By combining the legislation, it could make the TikTok bill harder for the Senate to ignore.
The foreign aid bill still needs to be approved...
At Kernel, your veggie burger will be served by a robot
Its robotic arm heats vegan burgers and crispy potatoes while relegating humans to assembly line jobs.
Meta’s battle with ChatGPT begins now
Mark Zuckerberg announcing Meta’s AI assistant at Connect 2023. | Image: Meta
Meta’s AI assistant is being put everywhere across Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook. Meanwhile, the company’s next major AI model, Llama 3, has arrived.
Lethal heat in West Africa is driven by human-caused climate change
The recent deadly heat in West Africa is driven by human activities, including the burning of fossil fuels, particularly in the wealthy Northern Hemisphere, according to an international report.
Helldivers 2 CEO Says ‘Just Fix, Don’t Add’ Isn’t A Viable Option
Helldivers 2 has spent the last several months on fire. On one hand, it’s easily one of the most popular games of the year, and folks have loved jumping into the exciting co-op shooter and keeping up with its galactic war story. Players log on for a few hours at a time, fighting off bugs or robots and propelling one…
Reblogged by slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell"):
FirefoxNightly@mozilla.social ("Firefox Nightly") wrote:
Networking decompression (gzip, brotli) have been moved off-main-thread as part of ongoing efforts to reduce main thread contention. This work has delivered huge performance wins on our high level page load metrics, reducing FCP and LCP by 10%. See https://bugzil.la/1356686
How to tame notifications on your Android phone
Quiet, please. | Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge
Notifications are the soundtrack to modern digital life. When they’re out of control, they make it hard to hear anything else going on. But if you manage them well, you can turn them into a subtle background noise. App developers want you to opt in to every notification possible, but thankfully, Android provides a lot of tools to help you tune in to the helpful stuff and tune out the distractions. It takes a little work upfront, but the payoff is worth it.
I used a Google Pixel 8 Pro running Android 14 and a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 running One UI 6.1 to write the following guide — steps may be slightly different on other Android phones.
Notifications in the settings menu
On either a Pixel or Galaxy phone, a good place to start is by...
pzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
Here we go, the dire consequences are already being rolled out in the UK.
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2024/04/18/the-proof-is-in-the-damnable-pudding/
Attachments:
Stability AI lays off roughly 10 percent of its workforce
Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images
Stability AI laid off 20 employees just a day after announcing the expansion of access to its new flagship model. This comes after weeks of upheaval that saw its founding CEO leave the company.
CNBC reports that the layoffs at the UK-based AI company, which runs the Stable Diffusion text-to-image model, represent roughly 10 percent of its workforce. In a memo to staff, interim CEOs Shan Shan Wong and Christian LaForte say the decision to let go of employees is part of a “strategic plan to reduce our cost-base, strengthen support with our investors and partners, and enable teams to continue developing and releasing innovative products.”
The company did not say which departments were affected by layoffs, according to reports.
Stability...
Google is combining its Android and hardware teams — and it’s all about AI
Illustration: The Verge
AI is taking over at Google, and the company is changing in big ways to try to make it happen even faster. Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced substantial internal reorganizations on Thursday, including the creation of a new team called “Platforms and Devices” that will oversee all of Google’s Pixel products, all of Android, Chrome, ChromeOS, Photos, and more. The team will be run by Rick Osterloh, who was previously the SVP of devices and services, overseeing all of Google’s hardware efforts. Hiroshi Lockheimer, the longtime head of Android, Chrome, and ChromeOS, will be taking on other projects inside of Google and Alphabet.
This is a huge change for Google, and it likely won’t be the last one. There’s only one reason for all of it,...
8BitDo’s NES-inspired mechanical keyboard hits all-time low price
It’s not an official Nintendo accessory, but everything about 8BitDo’s Retro Mechanical Keyboard screams NES regardless. | Photo by Jon Porter / The Verge
If you’re craving all things Nintendo after yesterday’s Indie World showcase event, right now, 8BitDo’s Retro Mechanical Keyboard has plunged to a new all-time low price. Normally $99.99, right now, you can buy the keyboard for $83.69 from Amazon. The Famicom-inspired Fami Edition, meanwhile, is available for about $2 more.
From “Super Buttons” labeled “A” and “B” right down to the color scheme, everything about the keyboard is designed to mimic the original NES controller’s style. Yet, while it looks like it’s straight from the ’80s, it’s got modern conveniences like programmable Super Buttons and clicky, hot-swappable switches you can easily replace. It also sports multiple connectivity modes, including Bluetooth, 2.4GHz wireless via...
Apple is making progress cleaning up its dirty supply chain
Photo by Christian Charisius / picture alliance via Getty Images
Apple’s latest sustainability report shows that its greenhouse gas emissions are falling as it pushes suppliers to clean up their operations.
Dig into the data in the report, and you’ll find that Apple’s gross carbon dioxide emissions dropped from 20.6 million metric tons in 2022 to 16.1 million metric tons in 2023. That’s a 22 percent reduction over the year.
The progress is mostly thanks to its suppliers using cleaner sources of electricity, the company says in a press release today. Looking back further, Apple says it has reduced its gross emissions by more than 55 percent since 2015. If it keeps up, Apple could be well on its way toward meeting its commitment to slash emissions by 75 percent by 2030.
A dirty supply chain is probably...
The Kennedys are endorsing Biden, not their family member RFK Jr.
The Kennedys have been critical of Robert F. Kennedy's third-party run, which has the potential to draw votes away from President Biden — who the family is formally endorsing on Thursday.
10 Things You Need To Do Before Destiny 2: The Final Shape Arrives
Destiny 2 is gradually getting closer to ending a 10-year-old story saga with The Final Shape. The expansion, releasing on June 4, isn’t the last we’ll see for developer Bungie’s online shooter, but it will close a few long-standing character arcs and story lines, like pitting you against The Witness, an entity that…
Reblogged by slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell"):
kennwhite ("Kenn White") wrote:
Incredible research at BlackHat Asia today by Tong Liu and team from the Institute of Information Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences (在iie.ac.cn 的电子邮件经过验证)
A dozen+ RCEs on popular LLM framework libraries like LangChain and LlamaIndex - used in lots of chat-assisted apps including GitHub. These guys got a reverse shell in two prompts, and even managed to exploit SetUID for full root on the underlying VM!
Attachments:
Starfield Feels Forgotten But Bethesda Promises Updates Are Still Coming
Starfield’s updates have been sporadic and underwhelming since it arrived over seven months ago. It’s clear the team at Bethesda has been diligently fixing bugs and adding small improvements, but it doesn’t feel like the open-world RPG has gotten the same amount of post-launch love as some of its peers. Director Todd…
Transformers One turns Cybertron’s greatest warriors into bumbling youths in first trailer
Paramount’s live-action Transformers movies have always made its alien robots seem like they were born ready for battle and knowing how to navigate the world, but the first trailer for director Josh Cooley’s Transformers One animated prequel reveals that to be anything but the case.
Set in the distant past on the Cybertronian homeworld, Transformers One tells the story of how Orion Pax / Optimus Prime (Chris Hemsworth) and D-16 / Megatron (Brian Tyree Henry) went from being best friends to mortal enemies soon after discovering their powers to turn into various kinds of vehicles.
Cybertron’s surface seems to be a mysterious, dangerous place where young transformers are forbidden to go in the new trailer, but Orion and D-16 have much more...
Baldur’s Gate 3 Dev Is Working On Two New Games Based On Its Own IP
Larian Studios has given a few details on what it’s up to after Baldur’s Gate 3. And it’s projects plural! The team is apparently working on two new games after the success of its Dungeons & Dragons RPG last year.
It Sounds Like Aaron Paul Kinda Wants To Be In The Fallout Show
The hottest show right now, aside from FX’s Shogun—which has been living rent-free in my head since its February 27 debut—is Amazon Prime’s Fallout. The series is great, hitting on the game’s comedy and drama in interesting and surprising ways. Everyone’s loving it, myself included. So, too, are the celebrities, like B…
What are 'orphan crops'? And why is there a new campaign to get them adopted?
The grass pea is one: a hardy crop that can thrive in a drought. An agriculturist is spearheading an effort to diversity what farmers grow as climate change threatens staples like corn and wheat.
Photos: UAE sees its heaviest rains in 75 years
Schools and businesses were closed across the United Arab Emirates after about a year's worth of rain fell in a single day. Flooding has also disrupted travel at Dubai International Airport.
Make robots hairy
A less creepy iteration. | Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos courtesy of Boston Dynamics and Getty Images
On Wednesday, Boston Dynamics announced the new version of its Atlas robot with a characteristically unsettling video. In it, a humanoid android lifts itself up from the floor by bending its legs backward and then swivels its fathomless void of a head a full 180 degrees like it’s Linda Blair in The Exorcist. The footage is obviously creepy.
In a press release, the company said that it decided to make the new, fully electric Atlas robot move like an undead Cirque du Soleil performer (paraphrasing) because it can more efficiently complete tasks when it is not “constrained by a human range of motion.” I am OKAY with this! Boston Dynamics is doing exciting things with technology!
I do, however, have a novel suggestion for Boston Dynamics:...
Pokémon GO's New Character Creator Is Out And Everyone Hates It
Pretty much every change Niantic makes to Pokémon GO results in enormous backlash from its vast community of players. That’s usually because pretty much every change Niantic makes to Pokémon GO is disastrous and stupid. The latest is a new avatar creator, and guess what.
Apple is finally rolling out AirPlay in hotel rooms
Image: IHG
After some delay, Apple is finally bringing AirPlay to hotel room TVs — but you can only use it if you’re staying in one of the “more than” 60 IHG hotels it’s available in starting today.
Apple first announced the ability to use AirPlay in hotels with LG TVs during its Worldwide Developer Conference in 2023. The feature lets you stream shows, movies, and music from your phone to your hotel TV, as well as view photos or play games from a bigger screen.
Although Apple previously said AirPlay in hotels would arrive by the end of 2023, it ended up pushing back its launch until this year. The feature finally popped up with the release of iOS 17.3 earlier this year.
For now, AirPlay is currently only supported in select IHG hotels — such as...
How To Start Final Fantasy XVI's The Rising Tide DLC
The second DLC pack for Final Fantasy 16, The Rising Tide, is officially playable around the world. Compared to its predecessor, Echoes of the Fallen, The Rising Tide promises a longer campaign and new Eikonic powers for Mr. Clive Rosfield to bring into battle. That said, if you’re still early in your journey across…
Apple’s new series Sunny pairs Rashida Jones with a mystery-solving robot
Rashida Jones as Suzie. | Image: Apple
Apple TV Plus has been killing it on the sci-fi front lately, but this summer, the streamer’s taking another stab at the murder mystery genre with Sunny, a new A24-produced series from showrunner Katie Robbins, director Lucy Tcherniak, and executive producer Rashida Jones.
Based on Colin O’Sullivan’s novel The Dark Manual, Sunny revolves around Suzie Sakamoto (Jones), an American woman living in Kyoto whose life is thrown into turmoil following the disappearances of her roboticist husband Masa (Hidetoshi Nishijima) and their son in a catastrophic plane crash.
Though all Suzie wants is her family back, what she receives (as a gift from the company Masa works for) is Sunny (Joanna Sotomura), an experimental robot designed to assist...
US Air Force confirms first successful AI dogfight
Image: DARPA
The US Air Force is putting AI in the pilot’s seat. In an update on Thursday, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) revealed that an AI-controlled jet successfully faced a human pilot during an in-air dogfight test carried out last year.
DARPA began experimenting with AI applications in December 2022 as part of its Air Combat Evolution (ACE) program. It worked to develop an AI system capable of autonomously flying a fighter jet, while also adhering to the Air Force’s safety protocols.
After carrying out dogfighting simulations using the AI pilot, DARPA put its work to the test by installing the AI system inside its experimental X-62A aircraft. That allowed it to get the AI-controlled craft into the air at the Edwards...
Richard Linklater’s Hit Man looks like a goofy roleplaying romcom in new trailer
A woman standing behind a man close enough to lean her head over his shouler as he stretches his arm outward. | Image: Netflix
The idea of pretending to be a contract killer while working undercover for the police sounds stressful as hell, but the first trailer for Richard Linklater’s Hit Manmakes the gig seem like a fun way to work out those improv muscles.
Loosely based on journalist Skip Hollandsworth’s 2001 Texas Monthly article by the same name, Hit Man tells the tale of Gary Johnson (Glen Powell), an unassuming college professor who spends his free time pretending to be a mercenary to help police flush out folks who intend to put hits on people. Though Gary’s disguises make him look like a cheesy character out of a film or show about shady criminals, that seems to be what convinces people that he’s legit before the officers he works for (Retta, Sanjay...
'Sesame Street' writers authorize a strike if they don't reach a contract by Friday
Writers for the children's program want better residuals and annual raises, and for auxiliary works, such as social media segments, to be covered by union benefits. Their contract expires Friday.
Playing Final Fantasy VIII In 2024: Everything You Need To Know
Originally released in 1999, Final Fantasy VIII may not have gone on to enjoy the critical acclaim of its predecessor, that being the one and only Final Fantasy 7, but it’s certainly earned its place in the hearts of many a Final Fantasy fan.
Baldur’s Gate 3's Patch 7 Will Add New Endings
Larian Studios may not be making Baldur’s Gate 4 and Hasbro is talking with new partners about the series’ future, but Baldur’s Gate 3 still has some juice left in it. The development team has released some new information about the game’s big Patch 7, and it sounds like it will be another substantial update with new…
Reblogged by kornel ("Kornel"):
janl@narrativ.es ("Jan Lehnardt :couchdb:") wrote:
Is there a sci hub for ISO standards? I’m asking for a friend.
Chevy Silverado EV turns into a mobile generator with GM’s new home energy bundle
Image: GM
General Motors’ initial new home energy products are now available to purchase, including the equipment necessary to turn your GM-made electric vehicle into a mobile power generator for your home.
GM has been teasing its new home energy products for months, including a home EV charger and vehicle-to-home (V2H) kit that enables a home to pull energy from an EV battery in the event of a blackout. That equipment is now available to customers but only those who live in California, Florida, Texas, Michigan, and New York. The company says it plans to expand to more states in the months to come.
GM has been teasing its new home energy products for months
The new bundle, which includes the GM Energy Powershift Charger ($1,699) and GM Energy...
Elgato won over creators — its new Neo line is for everyone else
The Neo family of devices. | Image: Elgato
If you watch a Twitch streamer, it’s almost guaranteed that they will be using at least one Elgato product. After dominating this part of the market for years, Elgato is now shifting its primary focus away from gaming with its new Neo line while also preparing a bevy of AI features to improve new and existing gear.
Neo is a collection of Elgato’s most popular products made simpler, more affordable, and more compact so they can be used easily with a laptop or iPad. “They look more accessible, they look more friendly,” says Julian Fest, general manager of Elgato, in an interview with The Verge. “The entire industrial design is focused on being more appealing to a less technical audience.”
The $99.99 Stream Deck Neo is the star of the show,...
Reblogged by kornel ("Kornel"):
There are so many innovations in the modern tech industry, it's easy to lose track. I knew about the fake unregulated taxis, the fake unregulated hotels, the fake unregulated banks, and the fake unregulated gambling, but I did *not* know about the fake, unregulated student loans.
Thanks, Y Combinator!
pzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
Worst. Teaching. Job. Ever.
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2024/04/18/how-desperate-are-you-for-a-job-as-a-teacher/
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Samsung shifts executives to six-day workweeks to ‘inject a sense of crisis’
The Korean tech giant is now expanding the previously voluntary policy to executives across its entire workforce. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Samsung is introducing a companywide six-day workweek policy for executives as the Korean tech giant takes emergency measures to tackle ongoing business uncertainty. This new policy comes off the back of Samsung’s disappointing financial results last year, alongside wider economic concerns like rising borrowing costs and oil prices and a rapid depreciation of Korean currency.
As reported by The Korea Economic Daily, a Samsung Group executive said, “Considering that performance of our major units, including Samsung Electronics Co, fell short of expectations in 2023, we are introducing the six-day work week for executives to inject a sense of crisis and make all-out efforts to overcome this crisis.”
Samsung is also facing increased...
Reblogged by kornel ("Kornel"):
junglegeorge@mastodon.africa ("Jungle George 🌿🌳🌴") wrote:
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Announcing the Neon Serverless Driver on JSR
Neon, a performant, edge-compatible, serverless Postgres driver, arrives on JSR.
Playdate has sold 150,000 games in the last year
Image: Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
Last March, Panic launched a curated game shop called Catalog for its Playdate handheld. And one year later, the company says it has sold more than 150,000 games through the store. “We want to let everyone who enjoys games know that there is a vibrant game dev community making hundreds of inventive and thoughtful games for Playdate,” Arisa Sudangnoi, head of Playdate developer relations, said in a statement. The news comes exactly two years after the handheld first launched.
At the beginning of 2024, Panic revealed that it had sold 70,000 Playdate units, and it now says that more than half of those users — 38,000 — have purchased a game through Catalog. For context, the Playdate launched with a “season” of 24 games from notable...
Housing costs keep inflation stubborn; New report on Maui wildfires released
Inflation is proving stubborn this year, and the cost of rent may be to blame. Hawaii's attorney general has released the first report into last year's Maui fires.
Gmail’s tabs are actually useful now that I’ve found this extension
Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge
I’ve always hated the fact Gmail only gives us five predefined categories — “Inbox,” “Social,” “Promotions,” “Updates,” and “Forum” — that we can’t customize. When the feature first launched in 2013, it felt like such an obvious omission I assumed Google would address it with a future update. But it’s been over 10 years, and the tabs are still as limiting as they were back then.
That’s why I felt like I hit the jackpot last week when I stumbled upon CloudHQ’s Gmail Tabs, a free extension that adds flexibility Gmail should have had from the beginning.
Basically, the desktop app extension lets you turn labels you’ve created or search queries into tabs you can pin at the top of your inbox right above Gmail’s useless “Social,”...
jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
Opinion: "In many ways Mr. Trump’s success outside of New York is a function of a characteristic he has that the city itself does not: an inferiority complex. Even when confronted with evidence of his wrongdoing, he insists that he is a victim, and now so are the people who vote for him. "
jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
"Mr. Yass is financing a libertarian group that is defending TikTok. He is also the largest donor this election cycle, with more than $46 million in contributions through the end of last year"
MrBeast and T-Series are battling for the most-subscribed YouTube channel
MrBeast’s 252 million YouTube subscribers are nipping at the heels of T-Series. | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Despite his immense popularity and online presence, Jimmy Donaldson (aka MrBeast) has never been the most subscribed channel on YouTube — though that may not be the case for long. T-Series, India’s largest music label and movie studio, currently holds the top spot with 263 million YouTube subscribers, but MrBeast is rapidly closing in on that figure with 252 million subs.
With its leading position now threatened, T-Series published a new video on Monday encouraging viewers to subscribe to the channel. It opens with the quote “I want to put India and my people at the top of the international platform,” attributed to T-Series founder Gulshan Kumar (who passed away in 1997), before calling for prospective subscribers to “make history...
ChatGPT is coming to Nothing’s earbuds
Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge
Nothing has announced that it plans to more deeply integrate ChatGPT with its smartphones and earbuds. The move will give the company’s customers quicker access to the service. “Through the new integration, users with the latest Nothing OS and ChatGPT installed on their Nothing phones will be able to pinch-to-speak to the most popular consumer AI tool in the world directly from Nothing earbuds,” the company wrote in a blog post. And yes, the new Nothing Ear and Ear (a) are both supported.
Spokesperson Jane Nho told me by email that “gradual rollout of the integration will commence on April 18th with Phone 2 followed by Phone 1 and Phone 2A in the coming weeks.” Once the update lands, you’ll be able to query ChatGPT using the company’s...
Nothing’s new earbuds prove that it can (mostly) hang with the heavyweights
Nothing is churning out new earbuds at a faster clip than smartphones. The company just introduced the Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear (a), priced at $149 and $99, respectively. Together, they mark Nothing’s fourth and fifth products in the headphone category. First came the original Ear 1, which stood out for its partly transparent design but suffered from bugs and inconsistent audio performance. Then, Nothing went after a different audience with the open-style (and oddly named) Ear Stick. And a year ago, the company shored up reliability and sound quality concerns with the Ear 2. Now it’s back for another go-round.
And guess what? Yep, they still look pretty much exactly the same.
The Nothing Ear and Ear (a) both preserve the design that...
Good Recipes for Tough Times
This article was produced by The Bittman Project and the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. which supports independent journalists as they forward fresh narratives about inequality. It is co-published here with permission. EHRP’s high-quality journalism is co-published with mainstream media outlets, to help readers understand and address systemic hardship. Cooking and food shopping are very different in America […]
“We Need Shade”: America’s Hottest City Rushes to Plant More Trees
This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. It was a relatively cool spring day in Phoenix, Arizona, as a tree-planting crew dug large holes in one of the desert city’s hottest and least shaded neighborhoods. Still, it was sweaty backbreaking work as they carefully positioned, watered and staked a […]
Guns are killing more U.S. children. Shooting survivors can face lifelong challenges
Guns are now the leading cause of death among American children. And many more children are injured in shootings, putting them at risk for life-altering disability, pain, and mental trauma.
Amid concerns about kids and guns, some say training is the answer
The number of U.S. children dying from gunshot wounds has climbed in recent years. Keeping guns out of reach is one way to curb the trend — others argue to teach kids to handle guns responsibly.