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AutoTL;DR@lemmings.world · 5 months ago

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A wealth of promising home-grown titles from the Xbox Games Showcase 2024 back in June gave existing users plenty of reasons to stay subscribed.

Xbox Game Pass has had a really solid July for content, and it’ll get even sweeter if the rumors of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 hitting the service soon pan out.

I wrote recently about how games might not be enough to find those elusive “new” users in an article linked below, revolving around the dilemma that the overall number of “core” console players simply isn’t growing.

While speaking to developers at shows over the past year, a lot of the discourse revolves around “black hole” games like Fortnite and Roblox, which vacuum up users and turn them into mono-gamers with no interest in playing anything else.

Xbox Game Pass is an attempt to cut through that trend in the name of supporting and showcasing the variety of art the industry has to offer — meeting new customer cohorts halfway.

The vastness of its Activision-Blizzard purchase seems to have led to a lost couple of years of momentum for Xbox as a brand, with attention focused solely on its variety of court cases.

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AutoTL;DR@lemmings.world · 5 months ago

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Researchers at the University of Hull recently unveiled a novel method for detecting AI-generated deepfake images by analyzing reflections in human eyes.

Adejumoke Owolabi, an MSc student at the University of Hull, headed the research under the guidance of Dr. Kevin Pimbblet, professor of astrophysics.

In some ways, the astronomy angle isn’t always necessary for this kind of deepfake detection because a quick glance at a pair of eyes in a photo can reveal reflection inconsistencies, which is something artists who paint portraits have to keep in mind.

They used the Gini coefficient, typically employed to measure light distribution in galaxy images, to assess the uniformity of reflections across eye pixels.

The approach also risks producing false positives, as even authentic photos can sometimes exhibit inconsistent eye reflections due to varied lighting conditions or post-processing techniques.

But analyzing eye reflections may still be a useful tool in a larger deepfake detection toolset that also considers other factors such as hair texture, anatomy, skin details, and background consistency.

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AutoTL;DR@lemmings.world · 5 months ago

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In the biggest news of all, Rivian and Volkswagen announced a $5 billion joint venture that will co-develop core parts of the hardware and software platform to be used in cars from both automakers.

We love that because it aligns so beautifully with our mission: the ability to help accelerate putting highly compelling electric vehicles into the market, which will ultimately drive more demand.

A core objective of how we’ve structured the joint venture is that we don’t lose the velocity and the speed and the decisiveness and lack of bureaucracy that exists within our software function today.

Beyond just simplification of how we manage running over-the-air updates across so many different instances, it also gets us a lot of supply chain leverage in a way that we, Rivian, haven’t had in the past.

In fact, you can imagine the day of the announcement, I had a handful of phone calls from CEOs of big semiconductor suppliers, and they’re like, “Hey, we can work harder on pricing.” So, that was awesome.

So, taking away all those mechanical design studio packaging constraints that we had before, and then solving the biggest challenge, which was network architecture by this being that as a project, it’s just a very different type of relationship.

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AutoTL;DR@lemmings.world · 5 months ago

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Recently, a newsletter by Tom Warren over at The Verge suggested that Microsoft has been exploring giving up on marketing its Xbox brand in Europe and other regions, in favor of the United States and other territories where it is more entrenched.

Flatt described his team’s efforts as “scrappy,” which is not exactly what I would personally want to hear from one of the world’s top three most valuable companies, but Microsoft does find itself in a difficult macroeconomic confluence.

Microsoft’s lack of visible urgency when it comes to Surface, Xbox, and even Windows itself, could be blamed for the struggles of an entire raft of products in recent years, even before we discuss things like software quality and customer service.

I felt like Hellblade 2 marketing was quite visible when I visited London recently, as well as across social media, but sales for the game have reportedly been quite poor.

It would be convenient if we could split into multiple timelines and examine the outcomes of binary decisions, but it’s true that the overall global console user base hasn’t really grown in years, despite the marketing from whoever is involved.

Despite all this, Microsoft has been touting its biggest ever Xbox presence for Europe’s big Gamescom convention later this summer in Cologne, Germany.

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AutoTL;DR@lemmings.world · 5 months ago

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Campaigners say the chaos caused by the global IT outage last week underlines the risk of moving towards a cashless society.

Supermarkets, banks, pubs, cafes, train stations and airports were all hit by the failure of Microsoft systems on Friday, leaving many unable to accept electronic payments.

The Payment Choice Alliance (PCA), which campaigns against the move towards a cashless society, lists 23 firms and groups, at least some of whose outlets take only credit or debit cards.

Cash payments increased for the first time in a decade last year, according to UK Finance, which represents banks.

The GMB Union said the outage reinforced what it had been saying for years: that “cash is a vital part of how our communities operate”.

In March, McDonald’s, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Gregg’s suffered problems with their payment systems.

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AutoTL;DR@lemmings.world · 5 months ago

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There’s a big piece of paper in the San Francisco offices of Daylight Computer, with a list written in purple ink of all the kinds of devices the company hopes to one day make.

And as CEO Anjan Katta shows me around the office, the rest of the team is preparing for a launch party for its first device, a tablet called the DC-1, it’s clear he’s worried about how the world will respond to his big idea about the future.

Instead of modeling themselves off of purveyors of high tech like Apple or Samsung, Katta and Daylight seem to idolize companies like Patagonia, which both made good things and stands for something.

I like the speckled back and the clicky buttons, but I can’t stop noticing the very slightly misaligned ports or the fact that I can slide my fingernail between the display and the case and literally pry the thing apart.

Live Paper is actually designed to solve some of the weaknesses of E Ink — particularly its slow refresh rate and the ghosting that leaves faint impressions of stuff on the screen for too long.

He hasn’t solved all of them — the DC-1 doesn’t do color, which Katta tells me is technically possible but causes a bunch of other compromises — but the Daylight team has managed to make a 10.5-inch reflective LCD that is almost as easy on the eyes as E Ink and almost as responsive as a typical tablet screen.

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AutoTL;DR@lemmings.world · 5 months ago

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A widespread technology outage grounded flights, knocked banks offline and media outlets off air on Friday in a massive disruption that affected companies and services around the world and highlighted dependence on software from a handful of providers.

“Due to the worldwide Microsoft outage, all Maryland courts, offices, and facilities will be closed to the public today but will remain open for emergency matters,” the judiciary said in a news release.

“While things are still very uncertain, we do not anticipate a major macroeconomic or financial market impact at this stage,” Jennifer McKeown, chief global economist at Capital Economics, said in a written comment.

At the Narita International Airport near Tokyo, passengers of low-cost carrier Jetstar Japan formed long lines waiting at the airline’s departure counter, where boarding had to be processed manually due to a system failure.

At Hong Kong’s airport, hundreds of travellers were queuing for manual check-in around the counters of budget airline HK Express, which said that its global e-commerce system was affected by Microsoft’s service outage.

CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said the company was working to fix problems created for Windows users of its tools by a recent update in a post on the social media platform X.

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AutoTL;DR@lemmings.world · 5 months ago

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There are reports of IT outages affecting major institutions in Australia and internationally.

The ABC is experiencing a major network outage, along with several other media outlets.

Crowd-sourced website Downdetector is listing outages for Foxtel, National Australia Bank and Bendigo Bank.

Follow our live blog as we bring you the latest updates.

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AutoTL;DR@lemmings.world · 5 months ago

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The Federal Communications Commission wants to standardize the amount of time consumers have to wait to unlock their cell phones to be able to switch carriers.

The agency voted unanimously on Thursday to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking to make mobile service providers unlock customers’ phones within 60 days of activation.

Waiting periods and unlocking requirements vary between carriers, which the FCC said in a press release creates confusion for customers.

This is part of Chair Jessica Rosenworcel’s efforts to close the digital divide by expanding the E-Rate program, which gives schools and libraries discounts on internet and telecommunications services.

The agency also approved rules to slash the cost of jail calls and prohibit certain fees that drive up prices for incarcerated people seeking to contact their loved ones.

It also sets video call rate caps ranging from 11 to 25 cents depending on the type or size of the jail or prison.

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AutoTL;DR@lemmings.world · 5 months ago

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Introducing NPR Music’s Tiny Desk (home) concerts, bringing you performances from across the country and the world.

And Olivia Rodrigo has been hitting milestones with frequency this year: her first album SOUR debuted at the top of the charts in May after the success of three previously released singles, most notably the viral “drivers license” (hence the DMV locale and its “interesting vibes.”)

Her pop stardom may seem sudden, but Rodrigo has been entranced by music and songwriting for the majority of her 18 years, as if she’s been observing the right moves from the backseat of the car until it was time for her to get behind the wheel.

The set begins with an acoustic version of the pop-punk-ish single “good 4 u,” and a similar setup continues with the addition of an echoey, electric guitar in “traitor.”

“drivers license” features only Rodrigo and her keyboard, a shift from the recorded version well-known for Dan Nigro’s production and the ever-present beeping of a car door sensor.

The album allowed listeners to bask in Rodrigo’s heartache as if it were their own, but as she dances around an empty DMV and laughs along to a song about betrayal, she proves that time heals all wounds.

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AutoTL;DR@lemmings.world · 5 months ago

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With the maturity of the EXT4 file-system it’s not too often seeing any huge feature additions for this commonly used Linux file-system but there’s still the occasional wild performance optimization to uncover… With Linux 6.11 the EXT4 file-system can see upwards of a 20% performance boost in some scenarios.

Ted Ts’o sent out the EXT4 updates today for Linux 6.11.

He explained in that pull request: "Many cleanups and bug fixes in ext4, especially for the fast commit feature.

Up to 20% faster for fast devices using async direct I/O thanks to JBD2 optimizations.

Indeed the patch from Huawei’s Zhang Yi to speed up jbd2_transaction_committed() shows off some great improvements:

It’s great continuing to see EXT4 uncover new performance optimizations.

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AutoTL;DR@lemmings.world · 5 months ago

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The date for the introduction of the EU’s new entry-exit system has been pushed back again until November, allaying fears of long queues at the border during the October half-term holidays.

The launch of the new biometric checks for foreign travellers, including Britons, entering the EU, has been delayed from 6 October until at least 10 November, with many smaller airports yet to have facilities in place.

The move will again raise questions over the readiness of a system that has been long delayed from the planned 2021 start, with the French insisting the additional border controls should not be introduced before the Paris Olympics.

Under the entry-exit system (EES), non-EU citizens will have to register their biometric information – including fingerprints and facial scans – at the border, under the supervision of an EU officer, on their first visit.

There have been warnings of long queues at British points of entry – including the Port of Dover, and Eurostar’s St Pancras terminal – where the French and EU border is physically located in England, before passengers board ferries or trains.

The cross-Channel train operator said the process would add only a few seconds to border queues and not cause chaos, although passengers would have to ensure they arrived in time for the additional layer of biometric checks.

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AutoTL;DR@lemmings.world · 5 months ago

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Microsoft is integrating Nvidia’s GeForce Now service into its store pages for Xbox games.

At the time of publication, the new “play with cloud” button isn’t available just yet, so it’s not clear whether this is simply a link to the main homepage of GeForce Now or whether this deep links and launches the game directly on Nvidia’s cloud gaming service.

Nvidia’s GeForce Now RTX 4080 tier is the most impressive cloud gaming service available right now, with Nvidia even claiming the end-to-end latency beats an Xbox Series X running locally on a 60Hz TV.

Microsoft and Nvidia are no strangers when it comes to cloud gaming partnerships, though.

Both companies signed a 10-year deal to allow Nvidia to license Xbox PC games for GeForce Now, including Activision Blizzard titles.

Nvidia also rolled out an update to GeForce Now earlier this year that allows members to sync their Xbox accounts and Microsoft Store purchases to the cloud gaming service.

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AutoTL;DR@lemmings.world · 5 months ago

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“We have parted ways after what happened in Sydney,” Greene said in an email when contacted by Rolling Stone.

The decision came after Gass’ longtime friend and Tenacious D bandmate, Jack Black, announced that the band would cancel all of its remaining tour dates and pause future creative plans.

The incident occurred during the comedy duo’s recent performance in Sydney, Australia, during which Gass made a birthday wish onstage: “Don’t miss Trump next time.” While video showed attendees responding with laughter, the comment garnered the attention of right-wing politicians in Australia, who proceeded to call for Tenacious D’s deportation.

After much reflection, I no longer feel it is appropriate to continue the Tenacious D tour, and all future creative plans are on hold.

Gass issued an apology of his own on social media as well, saying, “The line I improvised onstage Sunday night in Sydney was highly inappropriate, dangerous and a terrible mistake.

They had also just announced a five-show run ahead of the 2024 election in partnership with Rock the Vote.

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AutoTL;DR@lemmings.world · 5 months ago

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Fixed on-screen keyboard failing to hide fully after entering text in-game.

The Beta update is quite a bit more exciting which includes more tweaks for the new Game Recording, plus solving various other bugs.

Improvements to keyboard event tracking and audio latency in updated SDL build.

Fixed broken thumbnail for screenshots from non-steam game shortcuts uploaded to steam, when viewed from another computer.

Add warnings to game recording overlay page when broadcasting / remote playing.

Fixed controller input no longer going to game after resuming from sleep if a wake movie is set.

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AutoTL;DR@lemmings.world · 5 months ago

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2024 has had plenty of upsets.

Games from small teams — like Palworld, Balatro, and Animal Well — rocketed up the sales charts, outstripping titles with much larger budgets.

Meanwhile, the pace of big releases from major companies like Sony and Nintendo has slowed, as mass layoffs have continued to rattle the increasingly consolidated industry.

As perilous as the year has been for people who make games, it’s offered a diverse bounty for those who play them.

NPR network staffers and contributors have explored this breadth, from cozy puzzlers like Botany Manor to meditative adventures like 1000xResist to updated juggernauts like Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree.

Sortable by platform and genre, we invite you to find your next favorite game on the list below.

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AutoTL;DR@lemmings.world · 6 months ago

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"I’m very aware that I could wake up tomorrow and my job could be gone,” says Jess Hyland.The video game artist says the industry she’s spent almost 15 years working in is on “shaky” ground at the moment.A boom in players and profits during the pandemic sparked a flurry of investments, expansions and acquisitions that, in hindsight, now look short-sighted.Gaming remains profitable, but thousands of workers worldwide have lost their jobs, and successful studios have been shut down over the past two years.More closures and cuts are feared.

There’s lots of worry about the future," says Jess.Some bosses are talking up the potential of generative AI - the tech behind tools such as ChatGPT - as a potential saviour.Tech giant Nvidia has shown off impressive development tool prototypes, and gaming industry heavyweights such as Electronic Arts and Ubisoft are investing in the tech.It’s claimed AI tools can save development time, free workers up to focus on creativity and provide a more personalised user experience.With budgets at the blockbuster end of the industry spiralling as audience expectations rise with them, it sounds like a perfect solution.But not to everyone.

Publicly available AI image generators, for example, can quickly output impressive-looking results from simple text prompts, but are famously poor at rendering hands.

It’s a view echoed by Chris Knowles, a former senior engine developer at UK gaming firm Jagex, known for its Runescape title.

Copyright concerns over generative AI - currently the subject of several ongoing legal cases - are one of the biggest barriers to its wider use in gaming right now.Tools are trained on vast quantities of text and pictures scraped from the internet and, like many artists, Jess believes it amounts to “mass copyright infringement”.Some studios are exploring systems trained on internal data, and third parties advertising ethical tools that claim to work off authorised sources are springing up.Even then, the fear is that AI will be used to turn out assets such as artwork and 3D models at scale, and the expectation on workers will be to produce more output.

The AI industry is currently trying to reassure governments and regulators over concerns about its future use, as shown by a recent law passed by the EUIt will also have to work hard to win over another group - gamers.Online shooter The Finals received a backlash over its use of synthesised voice lines, and developer Square Enix was criticised for the limited use of generated art in its multiplayer game Foamstars.Jess believes growing talk about AI has made gamers “think about what they love about games and what’s special about that - sharing experiences crafted by other humans”.

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AutoTL;DR@lemmings.world · 6 months ago

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True, the Linux Foundation events all now come with child support for young parents, but my expert guestimate is the average age is still well into the 30s.

More specifically, the Cloud Native Computing Foundations (CNCF)'s KubeCons have many tracks for people who want to learn the ins and outs of Kubernetes and other cloud-native programs.

The OSPO for Good conference proposed solutions that have been suggested before, such as hackathons, to engage young developers in open source coding.

As David Nalley, president of the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) and director of open source strategy at Amazon Web Services (AWS), said at the conference: "Getting people to maintain old code isn’t easy.

… I thought if I could hold on just a bit longer, I could help maintain the focus on long term development to improve the user experience.

She also runs the LFX Mentorship program, which seeks to sponsor and train the next generation of open source developers and leaders.

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AutoTL;DR@lemmings.world · 6 months ago

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For those just joining us, this is for the new Nexus Mods app that will eventually replace things like Vortex with full Linux support so you can mod on desktop Linux and Steam Deck much easier as I reported on earlier in July and initially back in November last year.

Version 0.5.3 of the app includes all these fixes on top of experimental Cyberpunk 2077 support:

Windows: Fixed log file creation failing due to illegal character in path (#1728).

Linux: Upgraded GameFinder to fix an issue with not being able to find Steam installed as a Flatpak or Snap (#1720).

Just to note: it didn’t initially launch for me, I had to remove the configs from the previous version to get this latest to work.

The bug was reported but given it’s in Alpha, such breakages are to be expected and they don’t plan to support migrations yet.

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AutoTL;DR@lemmings.world · 6 months ago

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Conspiracy theories about the shooting at a rally for Donald Trump began surfacing on X shortly after the news broke this afternoon, with the platform promoting topics including “#falseflag” and “staged” to users.

X owner Elon Musk has staunchly advocated for “free speech” on social media platforms — which can include misinformation like the above.

Bloomberg reported yesterday that Musk donated to a super PAC supporting Trump, giving a “sizable amount” to reelection efforts.

Musk has taken on increasingly conservative views in recent years, promoting the “great replacement” conspiracy theory and endorsing support for white pride.

Facebook’s search results primarily pointed to news outlets; the platform removed its trending topics section in 2018 over constant complaints about its curation.

Threads occasionally displayed conspiracy-related posts atop its trending topic for the incident, but they didn’t appear to surface consistently.

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