The big day is approaching and there’s plenty of pressure for you to hand over a gift that says a lot all at once. It may be called Father’s Day, but this is an event for you to say a loving thank you to whatever person held that special role in your life, irrespective of gender. Here’s a list of the best gifts you can give to show your appreciation for all of the parenting they did, and may even still do.
Tag Archives: region|US
The Morning After: Xbox’s Call of Duty Black Ops 6 gamble
Ahead of Microsoft finishing up its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, it said bringing that publisher’s titles to Xbox Game Pass might take some time. We’ve only seen one so far(Diablo IV), but the company now has added a notable one. In fact, it’s a game that isn’t even here yet. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be available on Game Pass on its release day, later this year.
In Black Ops style, it’s a tactical play. Almost every year in recent memory, the latest Call of Duty release has been the best-selling game. Microsoft is relying on the debut of a new Call of Duty game to draw players to its Game Pass. $10 a month is cheaper than the price of the game, but it’s also a subscription. And the company is banking on Xbox gamers continuing that sub.
If you do pick up Xbox Game Pass, you’ll get to play the game on the day of release, as well as access to the ever-increasing Game Pass game library, including recent addition Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2.
Check out the teaser trailer here.
— Mat Smith
The biggest stories you might have missed
OpenAI’s new safety team is led by board members, including CEO Sam Altman
T-Mobile is acquiring the majority of US Cellular
VR classics Job Simulator and Vacation Simulator come to Apple Vision Pro
You can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!
Lego announced its first-ever Zelda playset
With a Great Deku Tree.
Lego
Mario, done. Sonic, done. Finally, Zelda is the latest video game to transition to official Lego kits. The Great Deku Tree set includes 2,500 pieces and is two sets in one. Both include a giant tree. The Ocarina of Time set includes a section inspired by the game’s first dungeon as well as a replica of Link’s house in Kokiri Village. The Breath of the Wild build includes plenty of hidden Koroks. And a Master Sword!
The TikTok ban law heads to court this September
A group of creators is also challenging the law.
Oh, you thought it was over? You. Thought. It. Was. Over? It hasn’t even started. TikTok will face off with the Justice Department this fall to attempt to stop a law that could lead to a ban of the app in the United States. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia set a September date for arguments.
Apple’s WWDC 2024 keynote kicks off June 10 at 1PM ET
What AI tricks are up its sleeve?
It’s coming. What should we expect at Apple’s keynote this year? WWDC is typically a software-centric event, so we’re expecting new AI tricks as well as updates, like iOS 18, iPadOS 18, tvOS 18, macOS 15 and watchOS 11. There are even rumors Apple might integrate Google’s Gemini AI with Siri and various iPhone apps. We’ll have to wait for June 10 to learn the truth.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-xboxs-call-of-duty-black-ops-6-gamble-111524996.html?src=rssThe Morning After: Xbox’s Call of Duty Black Ops 6 gamble
Ahead of Microsoft finishing up its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, it said bringing that publisher’s titles to Xbox Game Pass might take some time. We’ve only seen one so far(Diablo IV), but the company now has added a notable one. In fact, it’s a game that isn’t even here yet. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be available on Game Pass on its release day, later this year.
In Black Ops style, it’s a tactical play. Almost every year in recent memory, the latest Call of Duty release has been the best-selling game. Microsoft is relying on the debut of a new Call of Duty game to draw players to its Game Pass. $10 a month is cheaper than the price of the game, but it’s also a subscription. And the company is banking on Xbox gamers continuing that sub.
If you do pick up Xbox Game Pass, you’ll get to play the game on the day of release, as well as access to the ever-increasing Game Pass game library, including recent addition Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2.
Check out the teaser trailer here.
— Mat Smith
The biggest stories you might have missed
OpenAI’s new safety team is led by board members, including CEO Sam Altman
T-Mobile is acquiring the majority of US Cellular
VR classics Job Simulator and Vacation Simulator come to Apple Vision Pro
You can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!
Lego announced its first-ever Zelda playset
With a Great Deku Tree.
Lego
Mario, done. Sonic, done. Finally, Zelda is the latest video game to transition to official Lego kits. The Great Deku Tree set includes 2,500 pieces and is two sets in one. Both include a giant tree. The Ocarina of Time set includes a section inspired by the game’s first dungeon as well as a replica of Link’s house in Kokiri Village. The Breath of the Wild build includes plenty of hidden Koroks. And a Master Sword!
The TikTok ban law heads to court this September
A group of creators is also challenging the law.
Oh, you thought it was over? You. Thought. It. Was. Over? It hasn’t even started. TikTok will face off with the Justice Department this fall to attempt to stop a law that could lead to a ban of the app in the United States. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia set a September date for arguments.
Apple’s WWDC 2024 keynote kicks off June 10 at 1PM ET
What AI tricks are up its sleeve?
It’s coming. What should we expect at Apple’s keynote this year? WWDC is typically a software-centric event, so we’re expecting new AI tricks as well as updates, like iOS 18, iPadOS 18, tvOS 18, macOS 15 and watchOS 11. There are even rumors Apple might integrate Google’s Gemini AI with Siri and various iPhone apps. We’ll have to wait for June 10 to learn the truth.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-xboxs-call-of-duty-black-ops-6-gamble-111524996.html?src=rssThe Internet Archive has been fending off DDoS attacks for days
If you couldn't access the Internet Archive and its Wayback Machine over the past few days, that's because the website has been under attack. In fact, the nonprofit organization has announced that it's currently in its "third day of warding off an intermittent DDoS cyber-attack" in a blog post. Over the Memorial Day weekend, the organization posted on Twitter/X that most of its services aren't available due to bad actors pummeling its website with "tens of thousands of fake information requests per second." On Tuesday morning, it warned that it's "continuing to experience service disruptions" because the attackers haven't stopped targeting it.
The website's data doesn't seem to be affected, though, and you could still look up previous pages' content whenever you could access it. "Thankfully the collections are safe, but we are sorry that the denial-of-service attack has knocked us offline intermittently during these last three days," Brewster Kahle, the founder of the the Internet Archive, said in a statement. "With the support from others and the hard work of staff we are hardening our defenses to provide more reliable access to our library. What is new is this attack has been sustained, impactful, targeted, adaptive, and importantly, mean."
The Internet Archive has yet to identify the source of the attacks, but it did talk about how libraries and similar institutions are being targeted more frequently these days. One of the institutions it mentioned was the British Library whose online information system was held hostage for ransom by a hacker group last year. It also talked about how it's being sued by the US book publishing and US recording industries, which accuse it of copyright infringement.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-internet-archive-has-been-fending-off-ddos-attacks-for-days-035950028.html?src=rssThe Internet Archive has been fending off DDoS attacks for days
If you couldn't access the Internet Archive and its Wayback Machine over the past few days, that's because the website has been under attack. In fact, the nonprofit organization has announced that it's currently in its "third day of warding off an intermittent DDoS cyber-attack" in a blog post. Over the Memorial Day weekend, the organization posted on Twitter/X that most of its services aren't available due to bad actors pummeling its website with "tens of thousands of fake information requests per second." On Tuesday morning, it warned that it's "continuing to experience service disruptions" because the attackers haven't stopped targeting it.
The website's data doesn't seem to be affected, though, and you could still look up previous pages' content whenever you could access it. "Thankfully the collections are safe, but we are sorry that the denial-of-service attack has knocked us offline intermittently during these last three days," Brewster Kahle, the founder of the the Internet Archive, said in a statement. "With the support from others and the hard work of staff we are hardening our defenses to provide more reliable access to our library. What is new is this attack has been sustained, impactful, targeted, adaptive, and importantly, mean."
The Internet Archive has yet to identify the source of the attacks, but it did talk about how libraries and similar institutions are being targeted more frequently these days. One of the institutions it mentioned was the British Library whose online information system was held hostage for ransom by a hacker group last year. It also talked about how it's being sued by the US book publishing and US recording industries, which accuse it of copyright infringement.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-internet-archive-has-been-fending-off-ddos-attacks-for-days-035950028.html?src=rssOpenAI’s board allegedly learned about ChatGPT launch on Twitter
Helen Toner, one of OpenAI’s former board members who was responsible for firing CEO Sam Altman last year, revealed that the company’s board didn’t know about the launch of ChatGPT until it was released in November 2022. “[The] board was not informed in advance of that,” Toner said on Tuesday on a podcast called The Ted AI Show. “We learned about ChatGPT on Twitter.”
Toner’s comments came just two days after she criticized the way OpenAI was governed in an Economist piece that she co-wrote with Tasha McCauley, another former OpenAI board member. This is the first time that Toner has spoken openly about the circumstances that led to Altman’s dramatic ouster from the company he co-founded in 2015, and his quick reinstatement following protests from employees.
In the podcast, Toner, who is current a director of strategy at the Centre for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown, said that Altman had made it hard for OpenAI’s board to do its job by withholding information, misrepresenting things, and, “in some cases outright lying to the board.” She added that Altman also hid the company’s ownership structure from the board. “Sam didn’t inform the board that he owned the OpenAI startup fund, even though he constantly was claiming to be an independent board member with no financial interest in the company,” Toner said. Altman’s actions “really damaged our ability to trust him,” she said, and by October 2023, the board was “already talking pretty seriously about whether we needed to fire him.”
She criticized Altman’s leadership on safety concerns around AI, saying that he often gave the board inaccurate information on the company’s safety processes, “meaning that it was basically impossible for the board to know how well those safety processes were working or what might need to change.”
When asked for comment, an OpenAI spokesperson referred Engadget to the statement the company provided to The TED AI Show. “We are disappointed that Ms. Toner continues to revisit these issues,” Bret Taylor, OpenAI’s current board chief and co-CEO of Salesforce told the podcast. An independent review of Altman’s firing, he added, “concluded that the prior board’s decision was not based on concerns regarding product safety or security, the pace of development, OpenAI’s finances, or its statements to investors, customers, or business partners.”
The exact reasons for Altman’s abrupt ouster last year were still unclear and have been a source of intense speculation in Silicon Valley. In March, Altman was reinstated to the board by a group of temporary board members which included Taylor, economist Larry Summers, OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman, Instacart CEO and former Meta executive Fiji Simo, former Sony executive Nicole Seligman, and former CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Dr. Sue Desmond-Hellmann. In an independent investigation, law firm WilmerHale found that Toner’s decision to fire Altman along with the rest of OpenAI’s previous Board “was a consequence of a breakdown in the relationship and loss of trust between the prior Board and Mr. Altman.” WilmerHale also found that OpenAI’s previous board had fired Altman “abruptly” and without giving him a chance to respond to its concerns.
Toner’s revelations are the latest controversy that OpenAI, company that sparked off the modern AI revolution, has been involved in. Over the last few days, multiple safety researchers left the company, publicly criticizing its leadership on their way out. OpenAI also backtracked on non-disparagement agreements it had required departing employees to sign after a Vox investigation, and forced to explain itself after actor Scarlet Johansson accused the company of copying her voice for ChatGPT despite denying permission.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/openais-board-allegedly-learned-about-chatgpt-launch-on-twitter-235643014.html?src=rssOpenAI’s board allegedly learned about ChatGPT launch on Twitter
Helen Toner, one of OpenAI’s former board members who was responsible for firing CEO Sam Altman last year, revealed that the company’s board didn’t know about the launch of ChatGPT until it was released in November 2022. “[The] board was not informed in advance of that,” Toner said on Tuesday on a podcast called The Ted AI Show. “We learned about ChatGPT on Twitter.”
Toner’s comments came just two days after she criticized the way OpenAI was governed in an Economist piece that she co-wrote with Tasha McCauley, another former OpenAI board member. This is the first time that Toner has spoken openly about the circumstances that led to Altman’s dramatic ouster from the company he co-founded in 2015, and his quick reinstatement following protests from employees.
In the podcast, Toner, who is current a director of strategy at the Centre for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown, said that Altman had made it hard for OpenAI’s board to do its job by withholding information, misrepresenting things, and, “in some cases outright lying to the board.” She added that Altman also hid the company’s ownership structure from the board. “Sam didn’t inform the board that he owned the OpenAI startup fund, even though he constantly was claiming to be an independent board member with no financial interest in the company,” Toner said. Altman’s actions “really damaged our ability to trust him,” she said, and by October 2023, the board was “already talking pretty seriously about whether we needed to fire him.”
She criticized Altman’s leadership on safety concerns around AI, saying that he often gave the board inaccurate information on the company’s safety processes, “meaning that it was basically impossible for the board to know how well those safety processes were working or what might need to change.”
When asked for comment, an OpenAI spokesperson referred Engadget to the statement the company provided to The TED AI Show. “We are disappointed that Ms. Toner continues to revisit these issues,” Bret Taylor, OpenAI’s current board chief and co-CEO of Salesforce told the podcast. An independent review of Altman’s firing, he added, “concluded that the prior board’s decision was not based on concerns regarding product safety or security, the pace of development, OpenAI’s finances, or its statements to investors, customers, or business partners.”
The exact reasons for Altman’s abrupt ouster last year were still unclear and have been a source of intense speculation in Silicon Valley. In March, Altman was reinstated to the board by a group of temporary board members which included Taylor, economist Larry Summers, OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman, Instacart CEO and former Meta executive Fiji Simo, former Sony executive Nicole Seligman, and former CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Dr. Sue Desmond-Hellmann. In an independent investigation, law firm WilmerHale found that Toner’s decision to fire Altman along with the rest of OpenAI’s previous Board “was a consequence of a breakdown in the relationship and loss of trust between the prior Board and Mr. Altman.” WilmerHale also found that OpenAI’s previous board had fired Altman “abruptly” and without giving him a chance to respond to its concerns.
Toner’s revelations are the latest controversy that OpenAI, company that sparked off the modern AI revolution, has been involved in. Over the last few days, multiple safety researchers left the company, publicly criticizing its leadership on their way out. OpenAI also backtracked on non-disparagement agreements it had required departing employees to sign after a Vox investigation, and forced to explain itself after actor Scarlet Johansson accused the company of copying her voice for ChatGPT despite denying permission.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/openais-board-allegedly-learned-about-chatgpt-launch-on-twitter-235643014.html?src=rssVR classics Job Simulator and Vacation Simulator come to Apple Vision Pro
The Apple Vision Pro was marketed primarily as a productivity machine, but as any active VR user can tell you, it’s the games that sell these devices. Apple’s headset offers access to hundreds of games, but mostly as quick and dirty iPad ports that show up as a virtual screen in your field of vision. This, however, is starting to change.
Developer Owlchemy Labs just announced that two of its marquee titles, Job Simulator and Vacation Simulator, are now available for the Apple Vision Pro. These aren’t iPad ports. Both games are fully immersive VR experiences that have been optimized for Apple’s headset. This means that controls have been mapped to hand-and-eye tracking. The AVP’s lack of a dedicated controller would absolutely hamper some pre-existing VR games, but these two should work perfectly.
For the uninitiated, Job Simulator was one of the first “must have” titles in the VR space. It’s a hilarious riff on corporate culture that tasks players with designing a cubicle, making coffee and participating in all kinds of shenanigans. Vacation Simulator extends the tomfoolery to leisure, with a colorful beachside location, the ability to take picturesque hikes and, well, knitting. Players can also relax in a fake hot tub, splash in a fake sea and even get in some fake yoga.
Job Simulator costs $20 and Vacation Simulator costs $30, which are the same prices as rival platforms like the Meta Quest Store and Steam. It’s good to know there isn’t an Apple Vision Pro tax, beyond the initial $3,500.
Interestingly, developer Owlchemy Labs is actually owned by Google, which doesn’t really have a horse in the VR race. As for the Apple Vision Pro, the games and unique experiences are starting to appear. There’s an interactive story based on Marvel’s What If…? that releases on May 30 and the tabletop RPG Demeo hit the platform earlier this week. The sales numbers for the headset haven’t exactly been rosy, so we’ll see if that discourages companies from developing software for the platform.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/vr-classics-job-simulator-and-vacation-simulator-come-to-apple-vision-pro-190545280.html?src=rssThe TikTok ban law will be argued in court this September
TikTok will face off with the Justice Department this fall in its bid to stop a law that could lead to a ban of the app in the United States. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia set a September date for oral arguments in two cases challenging a law that requires ByteDance to sell the app or face a ban.
TikTok filed a lawsuit claiming that the law was unconstitutional earlier this month. The company has said that divesting from ByteDance is “simply not possible” and that it had already negotiated with the US government to address national security concerns. Separately, a group of TikTok creators are also challenging the law. They claim that the law violates their First Amendment rights because they would lose their ability to communicate on the platform. TikTok is reportedly paying the creators’ legal fees in the case.
In September, the appeals court will hear challenges in both cases, which have been consolidated. As Reuters notes, the September date lines up with TikTok’s desire for a “fast-track” schedule in the case, which could eventually end up before the Supreme Court.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-tiktok-ban-law-will-be-argued-in-court-this-september-185025724.html?src=rssThe TikTok ban law will be argued in court this September
TikTok will face off with the Justice Department this fall in its bid to stop a law that could lead to a ban of the app in the United States. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia set a September date for oral arguments in two cases challenging a law that requires ByteDance to sell the app or face a ban.
TikTok filed a lawsuit claiming that the law was unconstitutional earlier this month. The company has said that divesting from ByteDance is “simply not possible” and that it had already negotiated with the US government to address national security concerns. Separately, a group of TikTok creators are also challenging the law. They claim that the law violates their First Amendment rights because they would lose their ability to communicate on the platform. TikTok is reportedly paying the creators’ legal fees in the case.
In September, the appeals court will hear challenges in both cases, which have been consolidated. As Reuters notes, the September date lines up with TikTok’s desire for a “fast-track” schedule in the case, which could eventually end up before the Supreme Court.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-tiktok-ban-law-will-be-argued-in-court-this-september-185025724.html?src=rss