Fugutabetai

Video games are such funny things, because I think if you were to tell someone unfamiliar with them that there is genuine enjoyment to be had in pushing some blocks around in a virtual space they'd look at you as if you'd told them there's genuine enjoyment to be hand in pushing some blocks around in a virtual space. And yet it's true! It's one of the classic puzzle game genres, going way back to 1982 with Sokoban. And here we are now, many years later, with a new entry to the genre in the form of Hazard Pay, a dystopian take that sees you cleaning up mysterious messes in secret labs.

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OpenAI has announced that Denise Dresser, the current CEO of Slack, will be the company's new Chief Revenue Officer. Dresser will oversee the company's revenue strategy "across enterprise and customer success," according to OpenAI's announcement, and will presumably play a key role in leading the company towards profitability now that it's reorganized as a public benefit corporation.

"We're on a path to put AI tools into the hands of millions of workers, across every industry," Fidji Simo, OpenAI's CEO of Products said in the announcement. "Denise has led that kind of shift before, and her experience will help us make AI useful, reliable, and accessible for businesses everywhere."

Simo joined OpenAI in May of this year, after serving as CEO of Instacart, and before that, the head of Facebook at Meta. Hiring Simo and Dresser could be a good indication of how OpenAI plans to approach ChatGPT going forward. Which is to say, the company is taking a very Silicon Valley approach to growing its chatbot business and focusing on scale and monetizing as many AI interactions as possible. It's not a mistake that Simo helped establish Meta's ads business and OpenAI is reportedly planning to introduce ads into chats with its AI models.

Even with the possibility of ad revenue, Dresser will still have to overcome what OpenAI continues to spend to offer its various AI products. OpenAI pays for multiple partnerships for data center access and has commitments to both buy and build server components for those data centers. Add in the cost of just processing a ChatGPT query itself, and growing the company’s revenue seems like a tall order.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/slacks-ceo-is-joining-openai-to-find-the-money-to-pay-for-all-those-data-centers-220411962.html?src=rss

The rulebooks give you the ability to create worlds of incredible complexity. There’s a thousand ways to resolve a situation, and a thousand different ways to butcher it and kill the tension of the moment.

-Shamus, Friday Aug 31, 2007

Google I/O 2025 was full of tons of announcements, lots of launches and plenty of demos! And if you just can’t get enough of all things I/O, you can dive deeper into the…

Hello friends. I just transferred two hydrangeas from pots into the ground and one of them didn’t make it. Just a reminder to live every moment, and also, don’t be ungrateful when someone frees you from your terra cotta prison and places you gently into the very earth, your supposed home. 

First, as always, JoCo Cruise YES JoCo Cruise! March 2-9, 2025, sailing to San Juan, St. Maarten, and Half Moon Cay with They Might Be Giants and many more fantastic performers and events and parties and games. Cabins still available!

Second, I’m excited to be doing a show at Origins Game Fair in Columbus, OH in June. It’s been a while since I did a convention hall gig, so I’ve already begun praying regularly to the sound gods. My show is Saturday night, and I’ll be at a booth somewhere in there on Saturday and Sunday to do signings and photos and sell merch and receive cupcakes, so please come on by.

And finally, more good news! I’m coming back to The Birchmere in Alexandria, and Rams Head in Annapolis, and I’m bringing my good “friends” Paul and Storm.

(Also, you didn’t hear it from me, but I’ll be touring with Aimee Mann in November. Dates to come. OK I guess you did hear it from me.)

Dates I know so far below! Love your hydrangeas while you can and/or curse them when they betray you!

Columbus, OH – Greater Columbus Convention Center
Origins Game Fair
June 22
You must have a convention badge to attend!
Tickets

Alexandria, VA – The Birchmere
with Paul and Storm
September 29
Tickets

Annapolis, MD – Rams Head On Stage
with Paul and Storm
September 30
Tickets

Sony promised earlier this year that it would free the PlayStation VR2 from the shackles of the PS5 by letting folks use it with their PC. We’re starting to get a fuller picture of what that might look like, as the company appears to be working on a PC adapter for the headset.

A Korean filing recently unearthed by VR and mixed-reality enthusiast Brad Lynch (as noted by The Verge) indicates that the company has created such a peripheral. There are no details on how the adapter works, what it looks like or how much it will cost, but it lends credence to previous evidence that the headset would have a wired PC connection.

It’s unclear what kind of connectivity Sony is looking at here. Unlike its convoluted predecessor, PS VR2 hooks up to the PS5 with a single USB-C cable. Meta Quest headsets, meanwhile, use a USB 3 connection for PC gaming. Perhaps Sony is looking at tapping into DisplayPort or HDMI ports to improve image fidelity.

The company will be hoping that PC support will help drive sales of its headset, which hasn’t exactly set the world alight. The PS VR2 hardware is actually pretty great, but it's been held back by several factors, including a limited library of games via PS5. Users will have a far larger selection of VR games to dive into on PC.

As it happens, the PS VR2 is currently $100 off as part of Sony’s Days of Play sale. The discount applies to both the standalone headset (down from $550 to $450) and the Horizon: Call of the Mountain bundle, which has dropped to $500.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sony-is-working-on-a-pc-adapter-for-the-playstation-vr2-151529342.html?src=rss

The Vulkan API 1.3.285 spec revision is out today with a handful of fixes/clarifications and another new extension developed by Valve engineering...

Alongside its lineup of new iPads, Apple revealed an overhauled Pencil today too. The Apple Pencil Pro has a new sensor in the barrel that accepts your squeezes. This action can do things like bring up tool palettes so you don't have to manually tap into them with your free hand. Apple says you can also use the gesture to activate shortcuts or and other actions. What's more, haptic feedback lets you know when the squeeze was accepted or when something you moved has snapped into place. Apple also added a roll gesture "for precise control" of whatever tool you're using, powered by a new gyroscope.

The new Apple Pencil works with Find My, so you'll have some extra assistance when you lose it. And, as always, the new version still pairs, charges and stores magnetically on iPad Pro. Apple says developers can make their own actions with the new gestures, so you can expect to see customizations based on the iPad apps you're using. Apple Pencil Pro works with the new iPad Air in addition to the new iPad Pro, so you have multiple Pencil options for the more affordable iPad. 

Apple Pencil Pro is $129 and is up for pre-order today. It will ship next week. 

Follow all of the news live from Apple's 'Let Loose' event right here.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-pencil-pro-adds-squeeze-roll-and-haptic-feedback-to-its-bag-of-tricks-144712885.html?src=rss

Immersion Corporation has been suing companies over its rumble haptic technology since at least (checks archives) 2004, and now it has a new company in its sights. Immersion has accused Valve of infringing its patents with the Steam Deck handheld, the Valve Index VR platform, Steam VR software and games including Half-Life: Alyx, The Verge has reported.

Immersion wants an injunction against Valve "from deploying, operating, maintaining, testing and using the Accused Handheld Instrumentalities and Accused VR Instrumentalities," it stated in some fine legalese, and is asking for damages and royalties as well. It cited seven specific patents dating from 2002 to 2016.

If Valve wants to fight this, they've got a mountain of precedent to overcome. Both Sony and Microsoft ended up licensing Immersion's patents after settling lawsuits, and Apple, Google, Motorola and Fitbit did the same. Nintendo and Sony use a different form of rumble tech, but both elected to license Immersion's patents. Valve uses the same type of rumble tech as Nintendo and Sony.

It appears that Immersion didn't sue Valve for its Steam Controller, which was killed back in 2019. The Steam Deck appears to be a much bigger success in terms of sales, however, and has generally been a hit with both critics and gamers.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/valve-is-the-latest-company-to-be-sued-by-immersion-over-its-steam-deck-rumble-tech-095043279.html?src=rss

"TikTok is not just another video app. That's the sheep’s clothing." That's what Brendan Carr wrote in his tweet along with a copy of the letter he sent Apple and Google, asking the companies to remove TikTok from their app stores. The agency's senior Republican commissioner references a recent BuzzFeed News report that examined leaked audio from 80 internal TikTok meetings. Based on those leaked audio recordings, China-based employees of TikTok parent company ByteDance had repeatedly accessed private information on users in the US. 

One member of TikTok's Trust and Safety department reportedly said during a meeting in September 2021 that "everything is seen in China." A director said in another meeting that a Beijing-based engineer referred to as "Master Admin" has "access to everything." Just hours before BuzzFeed News published its report, TikTok announced that it migrated 100 percent of US user traffic to a new Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. It's part of the company's efforts to address concerns by US authorities about how it handles information from users in the country. 

In his letter, though, Carr listed other reports showing "concerning evidence and determinations regarding TikTok's data practices" that include previous instances wherein researchers discovered that the app can circumvent Android and iOS safeguards to access users' sensitive data. He also cited TikTok's 2021 decision to pay $92 million to settle dozens of lawsuit, mostly from minors, accusing it of collecting their personal data without consent and selling it to advertisers.

Carr wrote:

"It is clear that TikTok poses an unacceptable national security risk due its extensive data harvesting being combined with Beijing's apparently unchecked access to that sensitive data."

He's giving Apple and Google until July 8th to explain why they aren't removing the app from their stores if they refuse to do so. That said, Carr was the letter's lone signee — it doesn't look like the other FCC Commissioners are involved. We've reached out to all parties to ask for their official statement on the issue. 

Apple plans to release a “deluge” of new products this fall and in the first half of 2023, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. And while many of the devices the company is reportedly working on won’t come won’t come as much of a surprise, one is interesting.

In his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman reports Apple is readying a new HomePod speaker that will look and sound similar to the original 2018 model. As you may recall, the company discontinued the HomePod in 2021 without announcing a direct replacement. If you want a smart speaker with Siri built-in, your only option at the moment is the $99 HomePod mini.

According to Gurman, the new model will feature Apple’s forthcoming S8 chip and an updated display on the top of the speaker that may include multi-touch functionality. For context, the HomePod mini features an S5 chip, suggesting the new model will come with more processing power. Presumably, Apple also plans to price the speaker more competitively than it did the 2018 model. At $349, the HomePod was one of the more expensive smart speakers you could buy at the time, and it never felt like it lived up to that price.

Outside of an updated HomePod, Gurman says Apple is working on at least four new Mac models and an AirPods Pro refresh, among other devices. You can find the full details of Apple’s near-term product roadmap, “one of the most ambitious” in the company’s recent history, on Bloomberg.

Panasonic Launches LUMIX PRO Unrivalled global support for creative photographers A repair service that travels with you* Register now for service updates 25th September 2018 – Panasonic has announced the launch of LUMIX PRO, a hub for its LUMIX professional…

The post Press text: Panasonic Launches LUMIX PRO appeared first on 43 Rumors.

​Companies including Apple, Facebook and Google recently updated their privacy policies to disclose all government data requests to the individual users in question, a move meant to appease web denizens worldwide. While US telecoms like AT&T and...