A universal ‘Plug and Charge’ protocol for EV charging is coming in 2025
Photo by Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge
The fragmented and frustrating nature of our current EV charging landscape has been widely — and correctly — cited as one of the most significant barriers to EV adoption. Why buy a plug-in car when every time you plug it in, you have to sign up for another EV charging app, fumble through your payment information, authorize the account, and pray it results in a successful charging experience?
What if you could instead plug in and everything just worked automatically? That’s the goal of a partnership between nonprofit SAE International, a consortium of automakers and EV charging operators, and the Biden administration, which just announced a new framework for “universal Plug and Charge” that will be officially rolled out early next year.
“You just go anywhere you want, boom, you plug in, it accounts for everything in the cloud, charges your card, and you walk away,” said Gabe Klein, executive director of the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation.
“You just go anywhere you want, boom, you plug in, it accounts for everything in the cloud, charges your card, and you walk away.”
“It’s a security solution for EV charging,” added Tim Weisenberger, project manager for emerging technologies standards at SAE International.
The framework aims to deliver a truly seamless and hassle-free charging experience in which every electric vehicle can plug into any public charger without any additional steps required from the vehicle owner.
This was the intention of the official international standard (ISO 15118), also called Plug & Charge, that enables automatic charging and payment as soon as the car is plugged in. In vehicles with Plug & Charge, the charger communicates securely with the vehicle and bills the owner without the need for app signups or additional billing information.
The technology is currently available in dozens of models but hasn’t been embraced universally. Tesla helped originate the Plug & Charge experience by making its Superchargers interoperable with its passenger vehicles from the very beginning. But Tesla is a unique example as both a vehicle manufacturer and EV charging operator.
The framework aims to deliver a truly seamless and hassle-free charging experience
To adopt Plug & Charge, other automakers need to make individual deals with third-party charging companies to ensure their vehicles can communicate seamlessly with the charging companies’ equipment.
This new framework developed by SAE International and its partners aims to complement and enhance the ISO standard with a universal protocol that is both secure and simplified. This works because the SAE-led effort includes several unique features, including a Certified Trust List to enable secure, automated authentication right at the onset, when the vehicle is plugged in.
“A little bit more robust system would probably be appropriate,” said Sarah Hipel, acting chief technology officer at the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation. “This group... they are focused on that authorization and authentication mechanism specifically, and that is unrelated to the ISO owned 15118-2 standard.”
And the trust list enables roaming, meaning the technology can use multiple PKIs, or Public Key Infrastructure, which describes a collection of tools and procedures that help secure digital communications and transactions. These PKIs can be used interoperably, meaning there can be competition in the marketplace. (The current ISO standard only describes one nonroaming PKI.)
“The trust list is kind of like a big file folder.”
“The trust list is kind of like a big file folder,” Hipel said. “And once you put your anchor in it and it’s been audited — it’s a very rigorous process in order for you to be able to put your anchor in there — but once you put your anchor in there... and they’ve signed their commercial business agreements that they want to access the different routes in the file folder, then you can free roam with anyone.”
Hipel said she expects most manufacturers to use the existing ISO standard for their charging controls and then the PKI mechanism to secure the charge through authorization and authentication.
The framework was an agreement reached between SAE International’s Industry Technologies Consortia, the group’s Electric Vehicle Public Key Infrastructure Consortium, and the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, which consists of employees of both the US Department of Transportation and the Department of Energy. Members of the SAE consortium include major charging providers, like BP Pulse, ChargePoint, and Electrify America as well as automakers like Ford, General Motors, Tesla, Rivian, Toyota, and BMW. More are expected to join over time.
But ultimately, this is an industry-led project that was initially requested by the automakers and is being funded by them, Weisenberger said. Thus far, the project has cost around $1.5 million, and future funding will be provided by the participating companies.
“Nobody’s free riding,” he added. “Everybody’s involved, working hard. It’s really cool to see that they’re all just in it to make this all work.”
And there will be benefits beyond seamless charging for EV owners, such as secure vehicle-to-grid (V2G) communication and bidirectional charging that will enable EVs to send energy back to the grid to help balance out power loads. This will help create a more resilient grid and should also head off criticism that the current energy system can’t tolerate an all-electric vehicle fleet.
And since it’s been an industry-led project, the participants believe it will survive through the next Trump administration, despite President-elect Donald Trump’s stated goal of rolling back his predecessor’s EV funding projects.
“The ship has sort of sailed, if you will,” Klein said. “And the market dynamics I think have taken over, which is great.”
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The new Surf browser shows why everyone’s trying to connect AI to the web
Surf’s “contexts” are like folders, only AI-powered and more automated. | Image: Deta
Let me just explain the demo that got me excited about Surf, a new browser coming from a startup called Deta. Max Eusterbrock, one of Deta’s cofounders, shared his screen with me over Zoom and asked me to pick a YouTube video. I told him to search for Cleo Abram’s latest, about digging through the center of the Earth. “Do you have a question for the video?” Eusterbrock asked. I took a second to figure out what he meant, then remembered Abram had mentioned something about exactly how deep the Earth is. Eusterbrock opened the browser’s built-in chat window and typed in my question. A moment later, it returned the answer, plus a timestamp and a link to the exact spot in the video that addressed it.
What Surf did was both very cool and, in an AI-processing sense, actually pretty straightforward. It grabbed the automatically generated transcript from the YouTube page and quickly used an AI model — a combination of OpenAI tech and Deta’s own — to run my question as a semantic search to see where the video answered it. It found the right spot, generated the answer and the link, and was done.
Surf is still in its early stages. Deta is calling it version 0.1, with a full public release planned for next year. It’s only a desktop browser for now, and Eusterbrock says he expects most people won’t use it as their only browser anytime soon. Other than all the AI stuff, it’s pretty basic — it’s based on Chromium, shows a bunch of horizontal tabs at the top, you already know the drill. It’s a browser.
But inside that demo is the big idea behind this browser, and a peek at why everyone’s so interested in connecting AI to the open web. Surf’s main character is the chatbot, which lives in the sidebar and has total access to everything you see and do in your browser. (Terrifying security nightmare? Maybe! Deta’s planning to do as much processing as possible locally, which should help.) You tell the chatbot what to look for, and you tell it which things to care about. Because it’s a browser and not a ChatGPT clone, it can also see your private docs, your email, and everything else you see online.
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Image: Deta
By adding sites and files to your stuff, you give Surf’s AI more to work with.
Surf’s core construct is the “context.” A context is like a folder — in early versions of the app, it’s actually called a folder — and you can fill each one with notes, links, and even screenshots and files, all of which live natively in your browser. Surf’s chat can then query anywhere from a single file to an entire context all at once. It’s a bit like Google’s NotebookLM — another way to find things and ask questions across links and documents — but it’s built right into the browser. When you save something to your “stuff,” the app’s space for unsorted things, Surf can automatically suggest you add it to a related context.
There are lots of other AI-powered features inside of Surf, too. When you select text in a PDF, rather than copy and paste the gobbledygook that sometimes comes out, the browser will use OCR to take a screenshot, read the text, and paste it out more cleanly. You can use the chatbot to tweak webpages, too; Eusterbrock navigated to Hacker News, told the bot to hide everything other than “Show HN” posts, and it automatically did so. Surf can’t actively use web apps on your behalf, but it can see everything currently on the page and make use of it however you’d like.
Deta has been working on future-of-computing stuff for a while, starting with a whole cloud-based operating system called Space that could run in a browser tab. But Eusterbrock and his colleagues discovered that building a new OS also required building countless new apps and services. “We had all these apps — like a Notion clone, but a lot worse than Notion,” he said. “And the big limitation of being a browser tab is you can’t support Notion inside a browser tab.”
Instead of building the whole OS from scratch, Deta decided that the most powerful thing to be was actually the browser itself, able to operate across tabs and apps and websites. (This is roughly the same theory that animates The Browser Company’s work on Arc and Dia, it’s why OpenAI is looking into building a browser, and you could even say the same about Google and Chrome. If you control the browser, you can control the web.) There is some Space DNA in Surf, though, like the desktop-style homescreen where you can pin stuff for easy access and a universal search system.
Deta’s plan is ultimately to charge for the AI features, Eusterbrock says. He compares it to apps like Obsidian, which have a basic app for free but charge for extra and connected services like sync and publishing. “Once we have costs on the cloud side,” he says, “that’s where we think we can make a business out of this.” Deta has a lot of feature ideas, a lot of new ways to organize your life through AI. And if it can build a browser you’re willing to use, it can do almost anything.
Apple’s ‘HomePod with a screen’ may come later in 2025
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
Apple’s rumored smart display, sometimes reported as a “HomePod with a screen,” could come as late as next year’s third quarter, according to Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. It’s previously been pegged for a March 2025 release.
The display, which Kuo notes is expected to have a 6 or 7-inch screen and A18 chip like the current iPhone 16 line, has been rumored to be a square, magnetically mountable iPad-like device. It may run some Apple apps and Apple Intelligence, unlike the current lineup of HomePods and Apple TVs.
Kuo writes that Apple could ship between 500,000 and a million of the displays in the second half of next year. The display could be part of a new push into the smart home world by Apple. Beyond the affordable tablet-style screen, Apple’s plans may also include a pricier tabletop device with a screen on the end of a robotic arm, cameras, and potentially a TV.
Max is testing always-on HBO channels
Curb Your Enthusiasm is just one of the HBO shows that will play on the 24/7 channels. | Image: John Johnson / HBO
Max is joining the growing list of streaming services that offer 24/7 cable-like channels. On Wednesday, Warner Bros. Discovery announced that it’s testing a set of always-on channels that mirror the shows and movies playing on its linear HBO channels, and it’s rolling them out to a small group of ad-free subscribers in the US.
That includes HBO Comedy for original series like Curb Your Enthusiasm, documentaries about comedians, and comedy films. There’s also the HBO Signature channel for dramas, HBO Zone for classic series and movies, and HBO and HBO 2 channels dedicated to premieres and current content.
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Image: Warner Bros. Discovery
The live channels will appear on the Max homepage.
Just like the free ad-supported streaming services like Pluto, along with the curated channels on Disney Plus, Amazon Prime Video (RIP Freevee), Paramount Plus, and Peacock, the new HBO channels on Max are supposed to make it easier to jump into content when you’re not sure what exactly you want to watch (or maybe just want to listen to something in the background). Max has already launched a similar always-on channel feature in Europe.
The test opens up the opportunity for Max to experiment with curated or themed channels, which it plans on bringing to the service next year. It’s also considering live channels tailored to users’ preferences. “We’re excited about even longer term, about personalizing more of that experience and potentially bringing channels oriented to the specific interests of a specific user,” Tyler Whitworth, Warner Bros. Discovery’s chief product officer, said during an interview with The Verge. He added that this would roll out in the “later phases” of the channels experience.
If you’re included in the test, you’ll see a row called “Channels” on your Max homepage. When you select a channel, you’ll jump into the show or movie that’s playing and have controls to restart, rewind, and fast-forward the content.
Update, December 4th: Clarified that the content will mirror live HBO channels.
pzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
Hard to believe, I know, but Catholic priests still make the news for their abuses.
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2024/12/04/shocking-unbelievable-news/
Attachments:
Spotify Wrapped 2024 adds an AI podcast to recap your listening habits
Image: Spotify
This year, Spotify teamed up with Google to let you generate a podcast with two AI ‘hosts’ based on what you’ve listened to.
This year’s Spotify Wrapped has arrived. As you look at your stats for 2024, you’ll find a few new features you can use to interact with your data, including one that lets you listen to and share an AI-generated podcast summarizing your listening habits.
Spotify built this feature using Google’s AI note-taking tech, NotebookLM, which can generate a podcast with two AI “hosts” based on your research. On Spotify, the AI hosts will tailor their conversation to your top songs, artists, and genres of the year. This feature is available to free and Premium users in English across the US, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, and Sweden.
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Image: Spotify
The NotebookLM-powered AI podcast will recap your yearly stats.
“At Spotify, of course, we love audio, we love podcasts, and we’re always looking to be where our users are listening,” Molly Holder, Spotify’s senior director of product for personalization, said during a press briefing. “This partnership with Google seemed like a very exciting integration and a way for us to do just that.”
Spotify Wrapped will also attempt to track how your taste evolved throughout the year with a new feature that will assign you up to three musical phrases for each month, like “heatwave,” “beach,” and “reggaeton.” The app will come up with a personalized “music evolution” playlist as well, containing your favorite songs throughout the year and new music tailored to your taste.
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Image: Spotify
Spotify will show how your tastes changed throughout the year.
Spotify’s AI DJ will again have a role in this year’s Wrapped, as Premium subscribers can use it to create playlists based on the year’s data with prompts like “Make me a playlist of songs that represent my music journey over the year.”
Some other changes include the ability to see your longest listening streak for your top five artists and an update to the “share” button that will show you whether the audio you’re sharing is in your top 100 songs, top 20 artists, or top five podcasts.
Apple Music, YouTube Music, and even Amazon Music all got the jump on Wrapped this year, releasing personalized recaps before Spotify. Still, there’s no doubt which entry in recap season is the most discussed one.
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Growl’s interactive bag lets you punch your boxing trainer in the face
The Growl trainer has a screen you can punch without regretting it later. | Image: Growl
Growl is a startup launching a wall-mounted fitness device that uses a combination of projectors and sensors to give you a life-size boxing coach to train with. Unlike similar interactive trainers such as the Lululemon Mirror or Tonal, the Growl encourages physical interactivity with its screen that doubles as a punching bag you can actually hit. However, just like those smart home workout machines, it’s pretty expensive, even with the hardware costs spread across a monthly subscription.
Pricing for unlimited family access is “anticipated” to start at $150 per month on a 48-month plan or $190 per month for 36 months when preorders open in April 2025. That puts the price tag at $7,200 for four years or $6,840 for three. That’s not far off from the $7,407 cost of a Peloton Tread Plus over four years, including monthly subscription fees, and as with Peloton’s hardware, you’ll own the Growl at the end of the subscription period.
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Image: Growl
Growl uses projectors instead of LCD or OLED screens to create larger, more immersive displays.
By using projectors instead of LCD or OLED screens, its makers say that the Growl creates a more immersive experience without adding extra size. (Although it stays mostly out of the way, its design is described as “compact as a wall shelf.”) Your progress and other useful metrics are projected on the walls around the Growl. At the same time, its main screen, which is essentially half a punching bag that the company says offers similar resistance to the real thing, displays a life-size virtual trainer that’s more engaging.
The Growl detects when and where you’ve punched it using a series of infrared time-of-flight sensors, turning its flexible surface into a large touchscreen, while multiple cameras track your movements in 3D and provide real-time feedback using AI analysis.
You can spar with the virtual trainer as they show you where to throw punches, or you can play interactive fitness games including a title that looks like the boxing equivalent of Beat Saber that has you punching a series of targets flying toward you.
It’s not just designed to track how long you’ve worked out or how many calories you’ve burned. It can suggest how to improve your form and technique without ever having to step into a ring and risk getting punched back.
Google’s new generative AI video model is now available
Image: Google
Veo, Google’s latest generative AI video model, is now available for businesses to start incorporating into their content creation pipelines. After first being unveiled in May — three months after OpenAI demoed its competing Sora product — Veo has beaten it to market by launching in a private preview via Google’s Vertex AI platform.
Veo is capable of generating “high-quality” 1080p resolution videos in a range of different visual and cinematic styles from text or image-based prompts. When the model was first announced these generated clips could be vaguely “beyond a minute” in length, but Google doesn’t specify length restrictions for the preview release. Some new example clips in Google’s announcement are on par with what we’ve already seen from Veo — without a keen eye, it’s extremely difficult to tell that the videos are AI-generated.
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Gif: Google
The dog example in these Veo clips is especially impressive — note how its fur pattern and collar remain consistent through its movement.
The latest version of Google’s Imagen 3 text-to-image generator will also be available to all Google Cloud customers via Vertex “starting next week,” expanding its initial US release on Google’s AI Test Kitchen back in August. Users on Google’s allow list can also access new features like prompt-based photo editing, and the ability to “infuse your own brand, style, logo, subject or product features” into generated images.
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Image: Google
Veo isn’t perfect though — see how light is shining through someone's hand at the top-left of the ai-generated concert video.
Google says Veo and Imagen 3 carry built-in safeguards to prevent them from generating harmful content or violating copyright protections — though we’ve found the latter wasn’t difficult to bypass. Everything produced by Veo and Imagen 3 is also embedded with DeepMind’s SynthID technology — a kind of invisible digital watermark that Google says can “decrease misinformation and misattribution concerns.” It’s a similar concept to Adobe’s Content Credentials system, which can be embedded into content produced by the creative software giant’s own image and video generative AI models.
With Google’s video model now in the wild, OpenAI is notably behind its competitors and running out of time to make good on its promise to release Sora by the end of 2024. We’re already seeing AI-generated content appearing in ads like Coca-Cola’s recent holiday campaign, and companies have an incentive not to wait around for Sora — according to Google, 86 percent of organizations already using generative AI are seeing an increase in revenue.
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Apple Arcade’s best exclusive game is finally on console and PC
Image: Square Enix
Fantasian was an easy game to recommend when it launched in 2021. Developed by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi’s Mistwalker studio, Fantasian was an approachable old-school roleplaying game that had a lot of clever ideas, along with an adorable aesthetic thanks to its world made out of hand-crafted dioramas. There was just one problem: it was exclusive to Apple Arcade, so anyone who wasn’t a subscriber missed out. Now, that has finally changed as the game launches this week on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and the Switch.
The new port is called Fantasian Neo Dimension, but it’s mostly identical to the Apple Arcade version, aside from the very welcome addition of voice acting. (In a nice bit of circular storytelling, Neo Dimension is being published by Final Fantasy maker Square Enix.) In many ways, Fantasian is classic Final Fantasy in all but name. It stars a hero named Leo, who — with the help of a tough princess, a mysterious magic wielder, and a grizzled ship captain — gets pulled into a quest that spans multiple realms, as they attempt to thwart a mechanical infestation led by a tall, dark, and dangerous villain.
There’s plenty that Final Fantasy fans will recognize: the amnesiac lead character, the playful love triangle, a world that blends fantasy and sci-fi, similar spells and items, and a beautiful soundtrack from famed composer Nobuo Uematsu. Hell, there’s even a character named Sid. The basis of Fantasian is Sakaguchi and his team working with the framework they know but building on top of it in interesting ways. So you’re left with a rock-solid RPG that makes some nice tweaks to the formula.
The most obvious difference is the visual style, which is like a hand-crafted take on the old prerendered backgrounds from PlayStation-era Final Fantasy. It lends the game a very tactile aesthetic, and it’s surprisingly flexible; there are warm and cozy forests and cabins but also cold mechanical areas made of metal and old circuit boards. And while the game has its origins on mobile, it still looks sharp and clear on console. I’ve been replaying it on the Switch, and the only issue has been the occasionally long load time before a battle.
Fantasian also makes some tweaks to the turn-based RPG formula that make it both more approachable and less frustrating. The first is a fun twist on combat that lets you aim many of your attacks, which can be incredibly satisfying when you line things up just right and hit a whole bunch of enemies in one shot.
Even more useful is the awkwardly named feature Dimengeon — a portmanteau of dungeon and dimension — which takes the sting out of random battles. When you have it switched on, those pesky monsters are zapped to another dimension, where you can battle them at your leisure. The twist is that they accumulate. So when the device fills up and you have to finally fight them, you can get into a battle against a whole bunch of bad guys at once. These fights have a strategic, almost puzzle-like feel.
Those seemingly subtle tweaks are more than enough to make Fantasian an easy recommendation if you’re looking for a classic RPG. Much like the recent remake of Dragon Quest III, a large part of the appeal of Fantasian is how traditional it is, while smoothing out the rough edges that can make the genre feel clunky and tedious. And as Final Fantasy itself continues to expand in different ways, Fantasian is a comforting look back at how things used to be.
Fantasian Neo Dimension launches on December 5th on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and the Switch.
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How Long Is Fantasian Neo Dimension?
Role-playing games tend to rank among the most emotionally-charged video games out there, with many franchises in the genre becoming popular largely based on their deeply-realized characters, heart-stopping soundtracks, and recurring themes that can invoke a wide range of emotions, such as a sense of nostalgia. It’s…
Microsoft closes the door on Windows 11 supporting older hardware
Image: Microsoft
Microsoft has poured cold water on any hopes of lower hardware requirements for Windows 11. With Windows 10 end of support approaching in October 2025, the software giant now says that its Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 requirement for Windows 11 is “non-negotiable.”
In a blog post entitled “TPM 2.0 – a necessity for a secure and future-proof Windows 11,” Microsoft makes it very clear that it won’t lower Windows 11’s strict hardware requirements to encourage people to upgrade from Windows 10.
TPM was a surprise requirement for Windows 11 when it was first announced in 2021, and now practically every modern PC ships with support for TPM 2.0. It’s a hardware-level chip or firmware capability that helps encrypt or decrypt data, confirm digital signatures, and assist with any other cryptographic operations.
“TPM 2.0 plays a crucial role in enhancing identity and data protection on Windows devices, as well as maintaining the integrity of your system,” says Steven Hosking, a senior product manager at Microsoft. “TPM 2.0 also helps future-proof Windows 11. One way it does so is by helping to protect sensitive information as more AI capabilities come to physical, cloud, and server architecture.”
Microsoft details how TPM integrates with new security features in Windows 11 like Credential Guard and Windows Hello for Business, as well as BitLocker disk encryption. TPM 2.0 also helps support Secure Boot, a key technology that secures the boot process from any unauthorized changes.
Hosking says Microsoft has implemented TPM 2.0 “as a non-negotiable standard for the future of Windows,” so there’s no going back on the hardware requirements here. Microsoft also requires that Windows 11 devices are capable of virtualization-based security and hypervisor-protected code integrity (HVCI), which means Windows 11 is only supported on CPUs released from 2018 onward.
Despite the requirements, there have been several workarounds over the years to allow Windows 11 to run on unsupported hardware. Microsoft didn’t apply a hardware-compliance check initially for virtualized versions of Windows 11, but the company has been gradually locking down the upgrade and setup process in recent years — especially with the 24H2 update.
The improved compatibility checks with 24H2 have forced tools like Flyby11 to leverage a feature of the Windows 11 setup that uses a Windows Server variant of the installation to bypass the hardware compatibility checks. Businesses can also use Microsoft’s official Windows 11 LTSC 2024 release, which makes TPM an optional requirement but still enforces a list of compatible CPUs.
Microsoft is now trying to convince Windows 10 users to buy a new PC with full-screen prompts. The latest prompts follow warnings about the Windows 10 end of support date earlier this year. Microsoft has used similar prompts like this in the past, with the company pushing Windows 10 upgrades for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users.
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rust@social.rust-lang.org ("Rust Language") wrote:
Rust 1.83.0 has been released! 🦀✨
This release includes mutable references and pointers in const, references to statics in const, new `ErrorKind`s, and many new const methods on pointers, slices, floats, and more!
Check out the announcement: https://blog.rust-lang.org/2024/11/28/Rust-1.83.0.html
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isagalaev ("Ivan Sagalaev :flag_wbw:") wrote:
This is sugar with a couple of teaspoons of juice and a little of food coloring. The color is correct, and I see some sign of crystallization after 24 hours. No telling if it's going to solidify without discolor, or if I'll be able to scrape it off. But there's hope! I'll keep you posted.
Attachments:
Dear Lazyweb,
Using the authorize.net API, how can I get a list of transactions that have chargebacks? I can get *aggregate* chargebacks with getBatchStatistics, but I want to specifically know which transaction IDs had chargebacks. getTransactionDetails does not seem to contain this.
For example, someone who came to a show and then did a chargeback on their ticket is someone whose credit card I would like to blacklist in the future.
https://jwz.org/b/ykeC
Gargron ("Eugen Rochko") wrote:
There's a new #HalfMoonRun single, Loose Ends.
Ubisoft Shutting Down Call Of Duty Competitor After Executive Producer Swore It Wasn't Dying
Ubisoft has announced that XDefiant, its multiplatform free-to-play Call of Duty-like FPS, is shutting down in June despite the game’s executive producer saying that it wasn’t dying and was “doing well” in September.
Ubisoft shooter XDefiant is shutting down and sending refunds to players
Image: Ubisoft
Despite only officially launching the game in spring of this year, Ubisoft has already announced that it’s ending development and sunsetting its free-to-play team-based shooter XDefiant. Like Hyper Scape before it, XDefiant had high expectations, with Ubisoft touting more than 1 million players in its closed beta last year. Now, it will disappear quickly, as it’s no longer accepting new players as of today and is scheduled to shut off the servers entirely next June.
Despite a delayed launch, Ubisoft said that XDefiant had reached more than 10 million players in its first two weeks and “outperformed expectations thanks to acquisition and strong average revenue per session day.” However, it couldn’t maintain that momentum, and by this fall, rumors of trouble surfaced, with Insider Gaming reporting that concurrent player numbers across all platforms had fallen below 20,000.
Ubisoft states, “The game will remain available to all players who joined XDefiant before December 3rd, 2024. All functionalities, including progression, events, rewards, and achievements, will continue to be available until June 3rd, 2025.” The planned Season 3 content will still launch, and the company is refunding anyone who bought the Ultimate Founders Pack, as well as players who bought VC and DLC in the last month.
Like with Concord developer Firewalk Studios, this shutdown comes with job losses. According to Ubisoft, “difficult consequences” are leading to “the closing of our San Francisco and Osaka production studios and to the ramp down of our Sydney production site, with 143 people departing in San Francisco and 134 people likely to depart in Osaka and Sydney.”
Reblogged by bcantrill ("Bryan Cantrill"):
jay@macaw.social ("Jay Holler") wrote:
Startups on hard mode: Oxide. Part 1: Hardware https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/oxide // finally catching up on old articles I wanted to read. This was great @bcantrill @ahl
Reblogged by bcantrill ("Bryan Cantrill"):
Pat Gelsinger "retired"... so clearly @bcantrill and I knew what we'd talk about on Oxide and Friends last night! We discuss how Intel got here and what their future might look like... and Bryan has some tantalizing picks for their next CEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMqrE2G3gBQ
Walmart bought Vizio
Image: Vizio
After announcing plans to acquire Vizio in February, Walmart officially owns the company after the $2.3 billion transaction closed on Tuesday. The retail giant says the acquisition will help bolster its advertising business, as Platform Plus — the TV-maker’s advertising and data division — “accounts for all the company’s [Vizio's] gross profit.”
All that data will be a boon for Walmart’s growing advertising business, which has already started leveraging shopper information to target ads on Disney Plus and Hulu. The move will likely open up more opportunities for Walmart to sell more ads on Vizio TVs in stores, something it talked about expanding earlier this year, and maybe even stick ads on the Vizio TVs in people’s living rooms.
The deal has raised concerns among privacy advocates, as Vizio has gotten in trouble over advertising and data tracking in the past. In 2017, it paid a $2.2 million fine to settle a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit that accused it of tracking viewers without their consent.
An acquisition by Walmart could help Vizio compete with other budget-friendly TV brands that rely on advertising as a significant source of revenue. Roku, which started selling its own TVs last year, made $908.2 million in advertising sales and subscriptions in the third quarter of 2024, with an average revenue per user of $41.10, while Vizio’s last earnings report showed it was making about $37.17 per user.
There’s also Amazon’s ad-friendly Fire TVs, Telly — the company that promises free TVs in exchange for showing persistent advertisements, and an incoming platform from advertising firm The Trade Desk that Sonos will use.
Despite the acquisition, Walmart and Vizio will continue operating independently “for the foreseeable future.” Vizio CEO William Wang will also remain in his position.
“VIZIO has also expertly changed their business over time, like building and quickly scaling a profitable advertising business,” Seth Dallaire, the executive vice president and chief growth officer of Walmart US, said in the announcement. “Pairing it with Walmart Connect will be impactful and allow us to invest in our business even further on behalf of our customers.”
To many residents in southern Lebanon, life doesn't feel like there's a ceasefire
Israel's military has imposed a curfew and created a no-go zone where villagers are prohibited from going home to villages across southern Lebanon. NPR speaks to residents inside.
Reblogged by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻"):
catsalad@infosec.exchange ("CatSalad🐈🥗 (D.Burch) :blobcatrainbow:") wrote:
Please help. My child is very sick.
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SwiftOnSecurity@infosec.exchange wrote:
Attachments:
North Carolina's voter ID law just got its first big test
For more than a decade, North Carolina has seen a bitter back-and-forth over voter identification rules. The requirement finally got its first major test in last month's presidential election.
SecureOwl@infosec.exchange ("Mike Sheward") wrote:
Crazy how a president of a country did a really bad thing for democracy and the democratic system in that country was able to withstand it because everyone entrusted to enforce that democratic system was like “wait this is like really bad for democracy”, rather than, you know, being all like “whelp, guess we have a dictator now, glad I said nice things about his steaks.”
ACAB definitely includes the cop from the Village People.
Victor Willis says he will take legal action against any news organization that suggest "YMCA" is a gay anthem:
Willis explained, Trump "seems to genuinely like YMCA and he's having a lot of fun with it," and "I simply didn't have the heart to prevent his continued use of my song in the face of so many artists withdrawing his use of their material.
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Trump team signs an agreement with the DOJ for security clearances
The new agreement will help Trump officials on agency landing teams access classified information needed to prepare to take over on Jan. 20.
Grab 18 Free Amazon Prime Games This Month That You'll Definitely Play One Day
‘Tis the season for gifts and more gifts, and Amazon is in the gift-giving mood. The company is providing Prime members with 18 free video games this December.
Two data brokers banned from selling ‘sensitive’ location data by the FTC
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is banning data brokers Gravy Analytics and Mobilewalla from collecting, using, and selling “sensitive” location data of Americans, the agency announced on Tuesday. The FTC targeted Gravy Analytics, its subsidiary Venntel, and Mobilewalla for allegedly violating the FTC Act by collecting and selling information that could be used to track people to healthcare facilities, military bases, religious sites, labor union gatherings, and other sensitive locations.
The FTC says (PDF) Mobilewalla “relied primarily on consumer information that Mobilewalla collected from real-time bidding exchanges” by bidding to show people personalized ads on their mobile devices and then retaining tracking info identifying them.
It also bought info from other sources and used additional data to build out the profiles attached to each advertising ID. Combining that data, according to the complaint, allowed Mobilewalla to create audience segments targeting pregnant women, as well as provide analysis of people who attended protests over the death of George Floyd.
Meanwhile, Venntel’s scheme is explained (PDF) as collecting location data from otherwise ordinary mobile apps, and then selling access to the data to other businesses or government agencies. 404 Media reports that the IRS, DEA, FBI, CBP, and ICE have all purchased Venntel data.
Now, the companies must comply by never “selling, disclosing, or using sensitive location data in any product or service, and must establish a sensitive data location program.”
Mobilewalla’s proposed settlement order will prohibit the company from:
Misrepresenting how it collects, maintains, uses, deletes or discloses consumers’ personal information, and the extent to which consumers’ location data is deidentified.
Using, transferring, selling and disclosing sensitive location data from health clinics, religious organizations, correctional facilities, labor union offices, LGBTQ+-related locations, political gatherings and military installations.
Senator Ron Wyden from Oregon, who led efforts to target a loophole data brokers used to sell sensitive personal data on the market, applauded the FTC and CFPB for limiting what the companies can collect. In a statement sent to The Verge, Wyden said these companies could sell information about “law enforcement, judges and members of the armed forces is on the open market” to “anyone with a credit card,” putting citizens and military personnel in danger.
Wyden also said US government agencies spied on Americans by obtaining this data without a warrant. “Many federal agencies hid behind the flimsy claim that Americans consented to the sale of their data, but the FTC’s orders make it clear how untrue these claims were,” said Wyden.
Will Trump's next term make him richer?
Just before Donald Trump took office the first time, he held a press conference, announcing that he would turn over control of his business empire to his sons. He said he wanted to address concerns about conflicts of interest even though he maintained he didn't really have to. Saying, "I could actually run my business. I could actually run my business and run government at the same time. I don't like the way that looks, but I would be able to do that if I wanted to."Trump's second term may put that theory to the test. The former and future president hasn't yet announced any plan to wall himself off from his businesses while in office, and Trump's businesses like his many hotels and resorts could benefit substantially from his actions as President.For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
Reblogged by slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell"):
ok @slightlyoff @muan, there are some bright spots!
What on Earth is Happening In South Korea?
In a shocking turn of events, martial law was declared late at night by the president of South Korea, giving him extraordinary powers. Then after protests and an act of parliament, the order was reversed seven hours later. To try to understand what is happening with this key U.S. ally and trading partner, we hear from NPR's correspondent in Seoul.
Elon Musk's more than $50 billion pay deal at Tesla was rejected again. Here is why
A judge in Delaware has for the second time struck down a compensation package for Elon Musk after a Tesla shareholder filed suit.
Dear Lazyweb, have you succeeded in installing Rockbox on an iPod 5 via macOS 14 or Raspbian 12? **Please note the extreme specificity of this question.**
The changelog says "1.5.1: Fix bootloader installation for Ipods" but the 1.5.1 DMG of RockboxUtility actually has 1.5.0 in it and does not work. Compiling from source on a Pi took nearly 24 hours to build the gcc toolchain and eventually failed with a bunch of undefined OPLL symbols.
https://jwz.org/b/ykd7
19 Neat Games Releasing In December You Should Be Keeping Tabs On
December is here and 2024 is almost over, but not before some of the year’s biggest games launch just in time for the winter doldrums. My console SSDs are already groaning under the weight of all those downloads. How will I find room for another 350GB of games?
Putin's planes took Ukrainian kids into 'coerced' Russian adoption, a Yale report says
Russia's president and senior Kremlin officials financed and facilitated the transport of at least 314 Ukrainian children into "coerced" foster care and adoptions, a new Yale University report says.
Snow White's Live-Action Seven Dwarfs Are Pure Nightmare Fuel
Disney has released the official trailer for Snow White, the studio’s upcoming live-action remake of the animated classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. And if you were hoping the dwarfs in the film would be bloated and terrifying CGI human monsters sitting right in the deepest part of the uncanny valley, well, I’ve…
Microsoft accuses FTC of leaking news of its antitrust investigation
Illustration: The Verge
Microsoft is asking the inspector general at the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether agency management improperly leaked news of its antitrust investigation into the company, and make their findings public.
Bloomberg first reported that the probe was underway last week, which The Verge later confirmed. The investigation covers Microsoft’s cloud and software licensing businesses, AI, and cybersecurity offerings.
Now, Microsoft’s corporate vice president and deputy general counsel Rima Alaily is accusing FTC management of leaking details of the probe, in violation of the agency’s own ethics guidelines. The agency instructs new employees that “the existence of an FTC investigation is nonpublic information,” though it may be disclosed after the Office of Public Affairs determines the target of a probe already made it public in a press release or government filing. Still, the guidelines add that the Commission has authority to make “appropriate disclosures” when “it determines that doing so would be in the public interest.”
Alaily writes that the information and sourcing in the Bloomberg story “strongly suggests” the details came from “within the FTC.” She says that the story “appears to be consistent with an unfortunate trend over the last two years of the FTC strategically leaking nonpublic information,” citing a September report from the FTC IG that found a “steadily increasing” volume of “unauthorized disclosures” of nonpublic information to the press. The FTC declined to comment on the Microsoft letter.
Microsoft claims it learned about the FTC’s information demand “like the rest of the world, through the Bloomberg story.” Even when it inquired with FTC staff about the validity of the story, Alaily says, they wouldn’t confirm the information demand existed, and she adds that Microsoft still hasn’t seen the information demand reported by the press.
The letter is the latest example of a more aggressive approach Microsoft has taken in recent months when it comes to antitrust scrutiny of its business. In October, Alaily accused Google in a blog post of launching an astroturf group “to discredit Microsoft with competition authorities, and policymakers and mislead the public.”
Microsoft has mostly flown under the radar in past years as a target of antitrust lawsuits while its Big Tech peers were hit with complaints from US regulators. But it’s increasingly faced scrutiny in both the US and in Europe amid major cybersecurity issues, its acquisition of game studio Activision Blizzard, and its partnership with OpenAI. Still, the fate of any existing investigation will ultimately depend on how officials in the incoming Trump administration view the matter.
DNA Lounge Update, Wherein we negotiate with the mob
https://www.dnalounge.com/backstage/log/2024/12/03.html
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nadim@infosec.exchange ("Nadim Kobeissi") wrote:
I absolutely love driving around in my car. #1 favorite activity. Exploring the world in my little quiet comfy spaceship
What happened to Intel?
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger holds up an early Intel 18A wafer in late 2023. | Image: Intel
On Monday, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger abruptly decided to retire after less than four years on the job. That was the official story, anyhow. Within hours, Reuters, Bloomberg, and The New York Times had a different one: the board of directors pushed him out.
Three and a half years ago, Gelsinger announced an ambitious plan to turn around the troubled chipmaker within four years — now, he’s reportedly been kicked out of the company before he could see it through. It happened so abruptly that Intel doesn’t have a planned successor in mind, and so completely that Gelsinger won’t even stick around as an adviser. He’s gone.
Intel has been in a tailspin for years. It missed the smartphone revolution, has been plagued by quality control issues with its chips, lost customers like Apple to alternative processors, and now is at risk of missing out on AI, too.
This isn’t just about stock price and golden parachutes
If Intel is falling apart, this isn’t just a business story. The United States government has called it a national security story, too. Intel isn’t just the world’s former leading maker of computer chips; it’s one of the last companies to both design and manufacture them itself...
Amazon announces its own set of Nova AI models
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Amazon has announced a series of new AI foundation models under a new “Nova” branding that will be available as part of the Amazon Bedrock model library in AWS.
There are three “understanding” models available now, Amazon says in a blog post:
- Amazon Nova Micro, a text model that’s “optimized for speed and cost.”
- Amazon Nova Lite, a “very low-cost” multimodal model that can take in images, video, and text to generate text.
- Amazon Nova Pro, a “highly capable” multimodal model.
The company is also training a model called Amazon Nova Premier, which it says will be “our most capable multimodal model for complex reasoning tasks.” Amazon aims to make Nova Premier available in “early 2025.”
Amazon is releasing content generation models, too: Amazon Nova Canvas, an image generation model, and Amazon Nova Reel, a video generation model. The company says that these models have “watermarking capabilities” to “promote responsible AI use.” As an example of what’s possible with Nova Reel, Amazon has shared this mock ad for a fake pasta brand.
Later in 2025, Amazon plans to release a speech-to-speech model and “a native multimodal-to-multimodal” model, according to a blog post.
Amazon announced these new models at its AWS re:Invent conference, which is happening now in Las Vegas. At the show, the company also said that it’s building a huge AI compute cluster that relies on its Trainium 2 chips in partnership with Anthropic (which it has invested $8 billion in). “When completed, it is expected to be the world’s largest AI compute cluster reported to date available for Anthropic to build and deploy its future models on,” according to Amazon.
The company, like many other big tech players, is racing to release new AI products and features to stay ahead of newer companies like OpenAI. Where Amazon could have an advantage is how much internet infrastructure is already powered by AWS — large enterprises may be more willing to use Amazon’s AI offerings because the company has already a trusted reputation. An Apple exec even appeared onstage today at re:Invent to talk about how the company relies on Amazon’s custom AI chips.
Amazon is also working on a revamped, AI-powered Alexa, but while voice assistant was reportedly set to launch this fall, the launch has apparently slipped into next year.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s Ending Succeeds Where Mass Effect 3’s Failed
I am a noted defender of Mass Effect 3’s ending. I think its final choice is a meaningful reminder that war is not won without sacrifice, and I love how the original, unedited version made no attempts to reassure you that you made the right decision. However, one criticism that has always lingered over the…
Eve’s new app unlocks more smart features for Android users
Eve’s Android app has finally arrived, but it only supports the Eve Thermo at launch. | Image: Eve Systems
Eve Systems has finally launched its first Android app — over two years after announcing it was working on one. This week, the once Apple-only smart home device maker launched the Eve for Matter app on the Google Play Store. The app will allow Android users to access the custom features of Eve’s devices that Matter doesn't support, something previously only accessible to iOS users.
However, at launch, the new app will only work with Google Home and only with one Eve device, the new Eve Thermo (79.99 Euros) — a Matter-over-Thread smart radiator valve designed for European homes. While the earlier version of the Eve Thermo can be upgraded to support Matter and Thread, the new version has them pre-installed.
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Image: Eve Systems
The newest version of Eve’s smart radiator valve — the Eve Thermo — comes with Matter-over-Thread on board.
“The plan is to continuously expand support for other Eve devices and platforms and turn the app into a comprehensive tool,” Lars Felber, director of PR at Eve Systems, told The Verge. “Nevertheless, we wanted to make the app available to our Eve Thermo customers with Android and Google Home as early as possible in the heating season, hence the initial exclusive release for this hardware,” he said.
There hasn’t been an Android app for Eve products before because the company’s commitment to privacy, along with eschewing cloud-to-cloud connections or requiring users to sign up for an account, meant it focused all its development efforts on Apple Home. However, the advent of the Matter smart home standard and its option for local control has allowed the company to branch out and work with the other platforms while maintaining its core values.
The new Eve app lets you add the Eve Thermo to Google Home through Matter and control it on that platform, as well as share it with any other Matter-compatible platform. But it also simultaneously adds it to the Eve app, where you can access additional features, such as creating and managing autonomous on-device schedules. Without the Eve app, you only get basic controls.
Currently, Android users can add any of Eve’s other Matter devices — such as the Eve Energy smart plug and Eve Motion blinds — to compatible platforms, including Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Samsung SmartThings.
But, until Eve adds support for more devices, Android users will be limited to those devices' capabilities in Matter. In contrast, Apple Home users can access all of Eve’s innovative features, including in-depth energy data for smart plugs and adaptive shading for smart shades, through the Eve for Matter & HomeKit iOS app.
The Android app only works with Google Home as it was built on the Google Home APIs released earlier this year. Eve CEO Jerome Gackel said that these enabled the company to “turbo-charge the development of Eve for Android.” Felber said support for additional platforms, including Amazon Alexa and Samsung SmartThings, is coming in future versions.
Everything You Need To Know About The Dynasty Warriors Origins Demo
Ahead of the January 16 release of Dynasty Warriors Origins, Koei Tecmo has launched a demo of the upcoming Musou on Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. The enormously prolific Dynasty Warriors series has entered a somewhat experimental phase since 2013’s Dynasty Warriors 8, as Dynasty Warriors 9 embraced a…
Our #GivingTuesday campaign is officially LIVE!
We’re raising $75,000 to fund a new hire: ✨ Trust & Safety Lead ✨
A crucial role in protecting Mastodon’s growing community by strengthening our trust & safety tools incl. #moderation & server blocklists.
Your support is an investment in the future of a decentralised, free and respectful online community, where every user feels safe & supported.
Thank you for being part of this movement! 💪
Donate what you can today: https://givebutter.com/givingmastodon
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Turns Out Most Of You Spend More Time Watching Games Than Playing Them
A new report reveals that most gamers typically play video games for about 7 hours a week. In that same period, however, they watch over 8 hours of video game-related videos and streams. In other words, a lot of people reading this are spending more time watching Twitch than playing video games.
Stellantis and Samsung to get $7.54 billion federal loan for two EV battery factories
Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
The Department of Energy preliminarily approved another loan to help fund the construction of electric vehicle battery factories in the US. This time, a joint venture between Stellantis and Samsung SDI will receive $7.54 billion to build two EV battery plants in Kokomo, Indiana.
The project is expected to create 3,200 jobs, as well as 2,800 operations jobs at the plants and hundreds more at a nearby supplier park. The conditional loan commitment will provide $7.54 billion — $6.85 billion in principal and $688 million in capitalized interest — to StarPlus Energy LLC, which is jointly owned by Stellantis and Samsung SDI.
The loan will come from the DOE’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) program, which was resurrected by President Joe Biden in 2022 to help fund the developing EV manufacturing industry in the US.
The project is expected to create 3,200 jobs, as well as 2,800 operations jobs
Much like the $6.6 billion loan conditionally approved for Rivian last month, the new loan to StarPlus Energy will need to beat the clock if it's going to finalize its approval before Donald Trump takes over the White House.
Trump has promised to reverse or cancel much of the spending by Biden on EVs once he assumes office. He has said he will kill the $7,500 tax credit for new EV purchases, as well as wipe out the rest of the spending from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Assumedly, that will include the ATVM loan program as well — even though it predates the IRA.
The loan program attained almost mythical status in the EV startup world thanks to its timely $465 million loan to Tesla in 2009, which is credited with helping save the company from an early death. But the program went fallow during the first Trump administration with a number of cash-strapped EV startups getting no response to requests for funding.
Biden brought the program back in 2022 with a $2.5 billion loan to a joint venture of General Motors and LG Energy Solution to help fund the construction of a new lithium-ion battery manufacturing facility. Since then, the program has made other commitments, including $9.2 billion to a joint venture between Ford and SK Innovation and $2 billion to Redwood Materials.
The Stellantis-Samsung plants are the latest beneficiaries of the program. According to DOE, the StarPlus project will produce about 67 GWh of batteries, enough to supply approximately 670,000 vehicles annually when it's operating at full capacity.
Stellantis, which owns brands like Jeep, Dodge, Chrysler, and Ram, and international brands like Peugeot and Fiat, is going through some corporate upheaval that could determine its ability to meet the program's demands. The company’s CEO, Carlos Tavares, recently announced that he would step down amid a sharp decline in sales in the US and abroad. And Stellantis is struggling to keep pace with its competitors in the shift to electric- and software-defined vehicles.
Reblogged by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻"):
kagan@wandering.shop ("Kagan MacTane") wrote:
Folks are very rightly upset about Facebook, Google, and Amazon partnering with company that listened in on people's conversations to figure out what ads to show them.
But I'm not hearing enough about the company that actually did the spying:
Cox Media Group, aka CMG.
Say their name. Say it with venom. Hold them accountable.
#CoxMediaGroup #spying #malware #advertising #surveillance #SurveillanceAdvertising #Cox #CoxMedia #Facebook #Google #Amazon
ChatGPT’s search results for news are ‘unpredictable’ and frequently inaccurate
Illustration: The Verge
Based on testing done by Columbia’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism researchers, OpenAI’s ChatGPT search tool has some issues when it comes to responding with the truth.
OpenAI launched the tool for subscribers in October, saying it could give “fast, timely answers with links to relevant web sources.” Instead, Futurism points out that the researchers said ChatGPT search struggled to correctly identify quotes from articles, even when they came from publishers with arrangements to share data with OpenAI_._
The authors asked ChatGPT to identify the source of “two hundred quotes from twenty publications.” Forty of those quotes were taken from publishers who’d disallowed OpenAI’s search crawler from accessing their site. Yet, the chatbot confidently replied with false information anyway, rarely admitting it was unsure about the details it gave:
In total, ChatGPT returned partially or entirely incorrect responses on a hundred and fifty-three occasions, though it only acknowledged an inability to accurately respond to a query seven times. Only in those seven outputs did the chatbot use qualifying words and phrases like “appears,” “it’s possible,” or “might,” or statements like “I couldn’t locate the exact article.”
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Image: Columbia Journalism Review
ChatGPT was fully or partially wrong more than right, but almost always confidently so.
The Tow Center test’s authors documented ChatGPT search results that misattributed a letter-to-the-editor quote from the Orlando Sentinel to a story published in Time. In another example, when asked to identify the source of a quote from a New York Times article about endangered whales, it returned a link to a different website that had wholly plagiarized the story.
“Misattribution is hard to address without the data and methodology that the Tow Center withheld,” OpenAI told the Columbia Journalism Review_, “_and the study represents an atypical test of our product.” The company went on to promise to “keep enhancing search results.”
maxleibman@beige.party ("Max Leibman (Taylor's Version)") wrote:
Hey, everyone—it’s flu season again! Make sure you’ve been vaccinated against influencers.
i remember reading about bitcoin in 2009 or something and being like. why would i want to generate world of warcraft money on my computer while im not using it? im already generating proteins. im deciphering communications from aliens. theres no time for this eve online neopets fake economy bullshit for nerds. im doing real science on this pentium 4, buddy
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is much better without microtransactions
Image: Nintendo
Though it started out pretty chill, over the years, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp steadily became bloated with monetization. There were all kinds of things to spend real money on, including loot boxes for unlocking rare items. When I logged in to the game last week after months away, my screen was dominated by notifications vying for my attention, most of them involving spending some kind of cash.
That’s what makes the new paid version of the app so intriguing. The original Pocket Camp has technically shut down, replaced by Pocket Camp Complete, which gets rid of all the in-app purchases in exchange for a one-time fee. (It’s $9.99 at launch on both iOS and Android, which will jump to $19.99 in January.) And without the looming specter of having to spend real money, this version of Pocket Camp is a whole lot more relaxing.
Fundamentally, the game is the same. You’re tasked with running a campground for a bunch of friendly animals, which involves designing various spots for them to hang out, while also doing traditional Animal Crossing activities like fishing and catching bugs. The game allows existing Pocket Camp players to transfer their saves — all you need to do is link a...
Here Are the Republicans Kash Patel Wants to Target
For years, Kash Patel, the MAGA provocateur, conspiracy theory-monger, and seller of pills he claims reverse the effects of Covid vaccines, who Donald Trump has announced as his pick to replace FBI director Chris Wray, has made his mission plain: He wants to crush the supposed Deep State that has conspired against Trump. Last year, […]
Ford’s new electric Puma Gen-E looks like a mini-Mustang Mach-E
Image: Ford
Ford continues to exhibit a dedication to diversifying its EV lineup in Europe — a dedication that, frankly, I wish could also be applied here at home — with the reveal of the new all-electric Puma Gen-E.
The Puma is a familiar nameplate in Europe, as the automaker’s bestselling vehicle there since it surpassed the Fiesta in sales in 2021. Now, it’s getting a fully electric powertrain to complement the hybrid EcoBoost options that were added four years ago.
The small, sporty Mustang Mach-E-looking subcompact crossover will get 376km (233 miles) on a full charge, can charge from 10 to 80 percent in 23 minutes when hooked up to a 100kW DC fast charger, and will accelerate from zero to 100km/h in a not-totally-disappointing eight seconds.
Storage is a key selling point for the Puma Gen-E, with Ford promising extra space in the extremely compact trunk thanks to something the company is calling the “GigaBox.” It’s basically an extra storage space underneath the floor of the trunk for additional items, a feature found in most EVs today but of added relevance to the Puma thanks to its small stature.
Ford says the GigaBox can hold 145 liters (five cubic feet) of storage, which is a bit more than what most vehicles offer and certainly bigger than the 2.8 cubic feet of space offered by the gas-powered Puma’s understorage.
How small are we talking for this subcompact? The Puma Gen-E is 4,214 millimeters (165.9 inches) long, 1,930mm (75.9 inches) wide, and 1,555mm (61.2 inches) tall. That’s smaller than the 2023 Chevy Bolt EV and by far the smallest vehicle in Ford’s lineup.
Storage is a key selling point for the Puma Gen-E
To compensate, Ford is giving its electric Puma a facelift in a variety of ways, including a very literal facelift with a new Mustang Mach-E-inspired shield design replacing the traditional grille. It’s also getting “unique alloy” wheels for an added “electric vibe” that come in two sizes: 17 inches for the standard trim or 18 inches for the Premium version.
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Image: Ford
Inside, a 12.8-inch center display will run on Ford’s Sync 4 operating system (no Android-based Digital Experience in Europe yet) and supports wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
Ford is clearly hoping that the small, sporty Bumblebee yellow Puma Gen-E can lift its sagging fortunes in Europe after the company was forced to idle the plant in Cologne where it makes the electric Explorer and Capri. The company also recently laid off 14 percent of its workers in Europe, with most of the cuts affecting operations in Germany and the UK.
Ford says the Puma Gen-E will go into production at its assembly plant in Craiova, Romania, using electric drive units built in Halewood, England. The new EV is available to order today and will begin to make deliveries in spring 2025. Pricing has not been announced yet.
fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻") wrote:
I'm serious. The trend is towards massive cloud computing farms for everything we do. Eventually, local computing will disappear completely.
I call this The Computational Web, aka Web 3.0.
fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻") wrote:
Microsoft launches an Apple Mini-like thin client beholden to its cloud services.
Another step towards forcing all computing to occur on Big Tech’s proprietary infrastructure. https://youtu.be/AJFtwODOjhc?si=iGinmC9jtG0aVCD5
NES Tetris Is Being Re-Released For The First Time Ever
Nintendo is adding a steady flow of classic games to its Switch Online platform, from the most obvious to the most obscure, but perhaps never something as significant as the NES version of Tetris. Why such a big deal? Because not only will this be the very first time the game has been made available on any platform…
Reblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
crmsnbleyd@hachyderm.io ("Drew") wrote:
welcome back guile emacs
Internal Google documents reveal concerns about its cloud contract with Israel
Illustration: The Verge
Google officials had concerns about potential human rights violations that might be linked to its $1.2 billion contract with the Israeli government before ever even signing the deal, according to documents first reported on by The New York Times today.
“Google Cloud services could be used for, or linked to, the facilitation of human rights violations, including Israeli activity in the West Bank,” Google lawyers, members of the company’s policy team, and outside consultants wrote in the documents prepared for executives and reviewed by the Times. The documents date to several months before Google announced the deal in May 2021 and show that the company was worried about whether the contract might be bad for its reputation.
“Google Cloud services could be used for, or linked to, the facilitation of human rights violations”
The company has staunchly defended the deal since inking it in 2021, going so far as to fire dozens of employees who protested the contract they believed might involve them in violence against Palestinians. Now, it seems Google was weighing those risks, too — but ultimately decided to move forward with the deal anyway.
Dubbed Project Nimbus, the contract gives the Israeli government access to cloud services from Google and Amazon. Project Nimbus enabled the use of AI tools to analyze and identify objects in images and videos, according to the Times. It also included videoconferencing and “services to store and analyze large amounts of data.”
The most profitable part of the deal was $525 million from Israel’s Ministry of Defense expected between 2021 and 2028, the Times reports. That’s not a huge sum for Google, which reportedly made $258 billion in sales in 2021. But it was enough to give the company some clout with other potential military and intelligence customers.
Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from The Verge. But in April, it said in an emailed statement that “the Nimbus contract is for workloads running on our commercial cloud by Israeli government ministries, who agree to comply with our Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy. This work is not directed at highly sensitive, classified, or military workloads relevant to weapons or intelligence services.” A Google spokesperson provided a similar statement to the Times.
However, separate Israeli government contract documents recently reported on by The Intercept suggest that Project Nimbus is subject to “adjusted” terms of service rather than Google’s general terms of service.
In the months leading up to the contract in 2021, Google reportedly sought input from consultants including the firm Business for Social Responsibility (BSR). Consultants apparently recommended that the contract bar the sale and use of its AI tools to the Israeli military “and other sensitive customers,” the report says. BSR reportedly recommended “due diligence” on Google’s part to make sure its services weren’t being misused and that Google add its AI principles that prohibit surveillance or weapons to the contract.
Ultimately, the contract reportedly didn’t reflect those recommendations. The contract did, however, include a right to suspend customers for breaching Google’s terms of service and acceptable use policy.
Before signing the deal, the Times says, Google had additional concerns about the company itself potentially running into legal quandaries because of the contract:
The company also worried that it would be forced to accept “onerous” risks, such as the possibility that it could run into conflicts with foreign or international authorities if they sought Israeli data and that it might have to “breach international legal orders” under the deal terms, according to the documents.
Project Nimbus has become an even bigger flashpoint within the company since the Israel-Hamas war, which has killed more than 44,000 people in Gaza. Google has fired roughly 50 employees for their alleged involvement in protests against Project Nimbus.
“We did not come to Google to work on technology that kills. By engaging in this contract leadership has betrayed our trust, our AI Principles, and our humanity,” Billy Van Der Laar, a Google software engineer, said in an emailed statement following protests in April that called on Google to exit Project Nimbus.
How to get The Verge’s new print magazine
Last year, we published a series about what Google had done to the web, capped off by a feature about search engine optimization titled “The People Who Ruined the Internet.” It made more than a few SEO experts upset (which was tremendously fun for me because I love watching people yell at Nilay on various social platforms).
But a year has passed, and we’ve had a change of heart. Maybe search engine optimization is actually a good thing. Maybe appeasing the search algorithm is not only a sustainable strategy for building a loyal audience, but also a strategic way to plan and produce content. What are journalists, if not content creators?
Anyway, SEO community, consider this our apology. And what better way to say “our bad, your industry is not a cesspool of AI slop but a brilliant vision of what a useful internet could look like” than collecting all the things we’ve learned in one handy print magazine? Which is why I’m proud to introduce The Verge Guide to Search Engine Optimization: All the Tips, Tricks, Hints, Schemes, and Techniques for Promoting High-Quality Content!
Just kidding! (You weren’t fooled for a second, were you?)
...
pzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
OH NO. The bully is making ugly "jokes".
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2024/12/03/hes-priming-the-magats/
Attachments:
Here we go: The Verge now has a subscription
Okay, we’re doing this.
Today we’re launching a Verge subscription that lets you get rid of a bunch of ads, gets you unlimited access to our top-notch reporting and analysis across the site and our killer premium newsletters, and generally lets you support independent tech journalism in a world of sponsored influencer content. It’ll cost $7 / month or $50 / year — and for a limited time, if you sign up for the annual plan, we’ll send you an absolutely stunning print edition of our CONTENT GOBLINS series, with very fun new photography and design. (Our art team is delightfully good at print; we’ve even won a major magazine award for it.)
A surprising number of you have asked us to launch something like this, and we’re happy to deliver. If you don’t want to pay, rest assured that big chunks of The Verge will remain free — we’re thinking about subscriptions a lot differently than everyone else.
Let me explain.
If you’re a Verge reader, you know we’ve been covering massive, fundamental changes to how the internet works for years now. Most major social media platforms are openly hostile to links, huge changes to search have led to the death of small websites, and everything is...
pzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
South Korea is melting down, and I have family connections there.
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2024/12/03/uh-oh-south-korea-has-gone-authoritarian/
Attachments:
isagalaev ("Ivan Sagalaev :flag_wbw:") wrote:
Opinion poll: does it still make sense to donate to Software Freedom Conservancy? Are they legit?
Companies Can Pay Disabled People Below Minimum Wage. The Department of Labor Wants to Change That.
On Tuesday, the Department of Labor filed a proposed rule that could end the subminimum wage for disabled people—beginning the process of closing a loophole that can let companies pay disabled employees less than a dollar per hour. When the federal minimum wage was established in 1938, it included a carveout that would permit companies […]
Apple Music’s yearly recap is finally available in the app
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Apple Music’s yearly recap is back — and this time, it’s available to see and share from directly within the app. If your iPhone runs iOS 18.1 or later, you can now access Apple Music Replay 2024 from the Home, New, and Search tabs. Otherwise, you’ll have to view your yearly stats from the Apple Replay site, as was the case previously.
Apple has added some new insights to Replay 2024, including whether you’ve made it onto the list of the top 500, or 1,000 listeners for a particular genre or artist. Additionally, it will display the longest number of days you’ve consecutively used Apple Music, as well as show your top artists, albums, and songs from each month during 2024.
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Image: Apple
Now you can find all your yearly stats in the Apple Music app.
You can also see how many consecutive months you’ve listened to your top artist and find out which dates you started listening to your top song, artist, or album of the year. But in case you find some unwanted songs or artists appearing in your Replay — maybe as a result of sharing your account with a partner or kids — Apple Music business manager David Emery has posted some handy instructions on how to keep them from muddying up your results.
Apple is adding new Replay features for artists on the app as well, allowing them to view and share stats like the total minutes users listened to their music this year, how many listeners they had, which cities listened to them the most, and their most-Shazamed song.
This year’s recap season has only just begun. We’re still waiting for Spotify Wrapped to drop, and Amazon Music has even launched a recap feature of its own.
'Bread & Roses' is a guerrilla film about Afghan women protesters
Getting footage from the ground was essential for filmmaker Sahra Mani, the director of Bread & Roses. Her documentary, which profiles three women who engage in protests, is now streaming on Apple TV+.
Xbox Game Pass Subscribers Are Losing Big This Month
Xbox giveth and Xbox taketh away. November saw some big names come to the Game Pass subscription service, like Stalker 2, Flight Simulator 2024, and Aliens: Dark Descent, but December sees some some real bangers removed. One of them—Forza Horizon 4—is even worse affected, entering the misery of a storefront delisting.
The Flexbar resurrects the MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar as a standalone device
The creators of the Flexbar think Apple’s Touch Bar deserves a second chance as a standalone solution. | Screenshot: YouTube
Apple may have said goodbye to the MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar last year, but a team of four engineers believes the concept deserves a second chance. They’ve created the Flexbar, which is essentially a standalone version of the MBP’s thin touchscreen display that can be used with multiple devices and platforms through a USB connection.
The Flexbar’s creators have started a new company, Eniac, which is attempting to bring the accessory to consumers through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. The earliest backers can preorder one discounted to $119 from the full MSRP of $179, with delivery expected as early as February 2025.
This is the company’s first product, however, and while it has demonstrated functional hardware in several videos, there’s still an element of risk when backing it. The company told The Verge it was sourcing “components through standard supply channels” but didn’t confirm where the Flexbar’s uniquely sized 10-inch 2K OLED screen was coming from. Ideally, it’s not repurposing Apple’s Touch Bar screens, which have a limited supply stock.
Screenshot: YouTube
The Flexbar is designed to provide more customizability than the MacBook Pro’s Touch...
FromSoftware Is Working On A Bunch Of New Games But Not Elden Ring 2
It wouldn’t be shocking if FromSoftware decided to follow its most successful game with a sequel, but the studio recently confirmed that Elden Ring 2 isn’t currently in the works. Instead, the company behind the open-world RPG is working on other projects. I hope one of them is Armored Core VII.
fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻") wrote:
What We Saw on Our Platforms During 2024’s Global Elections | Meta
"We allow people to ask questions or raise concerns about election processes in organic content. However, we do not allow claims or speculation about election-related corruption, irregularities, or bias when combined with a signal that content is threatening violence."
Translation: We wait until its too late. https://about.fb.com/news/2024/12/2024-global-elections-meta-platforms/
MSI’s Claw handhelds get an Intel Lunar Lake do-over with a $799 starting price
MSI has officially announced its next crack at handheld gaming is here with the Lunar Lake-powered MSI Claw 7 AI Plus and MSI Claw 8 AI Plus. The two Windows-based handhelds come with 32GB of RAM and larger batteries than their predecessors. They release on December 25th, but you can preorder them now, starting at $799 for the Claw 7 and $899 for the Claw 8.
When the original MSI Claw shipped last spring, MSI needed to address battery life and performance, both of which were both sticking points in Sean Hollister’s Verge review. The Claw 8 brings more significant changes here; its 80-watt-hour battery is a big jump over the original model’s 53 watt hours. The Claw 7 has a much smaller increase at 54.5 watt hours. The Claw 8 also has an “easy access” SSD storage slot that the Claw 7 lacks.
Both devices have a 120Hz variable refresh rate LCD display, but the Claw 8’s 8-inch screen is slightly higher resolution (1920 x 1200) than the Claw 7’s 7-inch one (1920 x 1080). Performance-wise, MSI claims the handhelds will have a 113 percent higher peak FPS and 20 percent higher average FPS than its competitors “under identical power conditions.” MSI doesn’t say which competitors it’s referring to, but in Sean’s review, the previous model was outdone by the Steam Deck OLED, Asus ROG Ally Z1E, and the Lenovo Legion Go.
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Image: MSI
The new MSI Claw 8 AI Plus and Claw 7 AI Plus.
Other changes to both handhelds include redesigned Hall effect sticks and triggers, and updated bumpers and D-pad. MSI also added a second Thunderbolt 4 port to each one’s complement of I / O ports that includes an audio jack and a microSD card reader.
Apparent Switch 2 Accessories Are Already Appearing In The Wild
With no official announcement yet in sight, hints at the upcoming Switch 2 continue to leak. The latest apparent indicators of Nintendo’s approaching console announcement are accessories that have appeared on the Chinese commerce site Alibaba, and point to a similar design and device dimensions from previous alleged…
jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
jail, for refusing to end a boycott call.
China limits US export of chipmaking materials following sanctions
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
China has imposed new limits on the sale of chip-making materials to the US, a move that comes just one day after the Biden Administration announced sanctions that will make it harder for Chinese companies to produce advanced semiconductors, as reported earlier by CNN.
On Tuesday, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said it will no longer allow the sale of gallium, germanium, antimony, and other key minerals with potential military applications to the US to safeguard national security. The country will also closely scrutinize the export of graphite.
The US Department of Commerce introduced new rules on Monday to “further impair” China’s ability to produce semiconductors for AI and weapons systems. The rules put new limitations on the equipment and software used to manufacture semiconductors, along with high-bandwidth memory chips. It also began barring exports to 140 new Chinese companies.
“This action is the culmination of the Biden-Harris Administration’s targeted approach, in concert with our allies and partners, to impair the PRC’s ability to indigenize the production of advanced technologies that pose a risk to our national security,” US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said in a statement.
Over the past several months, China has started tightening control over its supply of rare materials. It started limiting the export of antimony — a mineral used for chipmaking and to create military equipment — in September and later began requiring exporters to explain in detail how they’ll be used in Western supply chains, according to The New York Times.
Things could get even more heated in the coming months, with President-Elect Donald Trump vowing to impose additional tariffs on Chinese goods.
A gadget lover’s guide to the great outdoors
Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge
If you could guarantee you’d have plenty of power and super-fast Wi-Fi, where would you work? You might pick the backyard instead of the office. Or you might throw your laptop and some clothes in the car, and take your Zoom calls in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Just for the day. Maybe the year. Maybe forever.
That dream is becoming increasingly possible — and The Verge’s Thomas Ricker is starting to live it. On this episode of The Vergecast, Thomas joins to tell us about his latest vanlife adventures, including converting a Sprinter van into the perfect mobile apartment / office setup. He’s been testing the Starlink Mini, has lots of ideas about solar panels and batteries and how to keep everything charged an online, and even has strong feelings about the new Peak Design backpack that promises to make it all portable. As he prepares for a long trip out of civilization, Thomas takes us inside his new setup.
After that, The Verge’s Andru Marino joins for another mic test. This time, instead of earbuds or fancy headphones, he’s testing the wearable mics from companies like DJI and Rode, which promise better audio for your social videos with almost no additional work. Andru...
South Korea's president declares martial law
South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol declared an "emergency martial law" on Tuesday, accusing the opposition of paralyzing the government with anti-state activities.
Unlock Neva's Cryptic 'Memories' Achievement
Neva is an emotional rollercoaster of a game. It’s easy to recommend it to anyone willing to shed a tear. Though the game seems to function primarily as an allegory for pollution and protecting the planet, it can also hit particularly hard for those of us who have lost pets, as it deals with love, loss, grief, and…
As Israel bans UNRWA, Palestinians stand to lose schools and clinics not only in Gaza
Israel is severing ties with the main United Nations agency that provides aid to Palestinians. With the focus largely on Gaza, the move also threatens key services in the occupied West Bank.
Intel announces $249 Arc B580 and $219 Arc B570 ‘Battlemage’ graphics cards
Image: Intel
Intel’s next — and possibly last — desktop graphics cards will begin arriving in just 10 days. Right on cue, the company has announced the budget $249 Arc B580 and $219 Arc B570, shipping December 13th and January 16th, respectively, as the “best-in-class performance per dollar” options in the GPU market.
They’re based on the same Xe2 “Battlemage” GPU architecture you’ll find in Intel’s Lunar Lake laptop chips but with more than double the graphics cores, up to 12GB of dedicated video memory, and up to 190W of power compared to their limited laptop forms — enough power to see the B580 slightly beat Nvidia’s $299 RTX 4060 and AMD’s $269 RX 7600, according to Intel’s benchmarks, but sometimes still trading blows.
For example, Intel claims the B580 runs 10 percent faster on average than the RTX 4060 in a wide array of games at 1440p and ultra settings, assuming you pair both with Intel’s pricey Core i9-14900K CPU. There, Intel says that combo can break a 60fps average in Cyberpunk 2077, Hogwarts Legacy, Returnal, and The Witcher 3 where the 4060 can’t.
Image: Intel
Tap for a larger image you can zoom and read.
And yet the Nvidia card is still ahead in S...
The fight against medical debt is pivoting to the states after Trump's election
Patient and consumer advocates fear a new Trump administration will scale back federal efforts to expand financial protections for patients and shield them from debt.
Meta says it’s mistakenly moderating too much
Illustration: Nick Barclay / The Verge
Meta is mistakenly removing too much content across its apps, according to a top executive.
Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs, told reporters on Monday that the company’s moderation “error rates are still too high” and pledged to “improve the precision and accuracy with which we act on our rules.”
“We know that when enforcing our policies, our error rates are still too high, which gets in the way of the free expression that we set out to enable,” Clegg said during a press call I attended. “Too often, harmless content gets taken down, or restricted, and too many people get penalized unfairly.”
He said the company regrets aggressively removing posts about the COVID-19 pandemic. CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently told the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee the decision was influenced by pressure from the Biden administration.
“We had very stringent rules removing very large volumes of content through the pandemic,” Clegg said. “No one during the pandemic knew how the pandemic was going to unfold, so this really is wisdom in hindsight. But with that hindsight, we feel that we overdid it a bit. We’re acutely aware because users quite rightly raised their voice and...
The 2024 popular vote margin is tight. And, the history of Oxford's word of the year
The 2024 popular vote margin between President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President Harris is tight. Here's what that says about America. And, the history of 'brain rot,' Oxford's word of the year.