Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the new-era-for-mixed-reality department: Similar to the way Google makes its mobile OS Android open source, Meta announced it is opening up its Quest headset's operating system to rival device makers. Reuters reports: The move will allow partner companies to build their headsets using Meta Horizon OS, a rebranded operating system that brings capabilities like gesture recognition, passthrough, scene understanding and spatial anchors to the devices that run on it, the company said in a blog post. The social media company said partners Asus and Lenovo would use the operating system to build devices tailored for particular activities. Meta is also using it to make a limited edition version of the Quest headset "inspired by" Microsoft's Xbox gaming console, according to the company's statement. [...]
In a video posted on Zuckerberg's Instagram account, he previewed examples of specialized headsets partners might make: a lightweight device with sweat-wicking materials for exercise, an immersive high-resolution one for entertainment and another equipped with sensation-inducing haptics for gaming. Meta said in its blog post that ASUS' Republic of Gamers is developing a gaming headset and Lenovo is working on an MR device for productivity, learning, and entertainment using the Horizon OS. Zuckerberg said it may take a few years for these devices to launch. [...] Meta said the Meta Horizon OS includes Horizon Store, renamed from Quest Store, to download apps and experiences. The platform will work with a mobile companion app now called Meta Horizon app.
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Posted by from MMO Champion
Embrace Two New Races in Cataclysm Classic
Originally Posted by Blizzard
(
Blue Tracker /
Official Forums)
Heroes are called to once again experience a dramatically reforged Azeroth and defend it from utter devastation with a smoother and accelerated leveling experience. Two new races—worgen and goblin—join the Alliance and Horde, each bringing their unique edge to Azeroth.
The Cursed Worgen
Behind the formidable Greymane Wall, a terrible curse transformed many of the stalwart citizens of the isolated kingdom of Gilneas into lupine beasts known as worgen. Unable to cure their affliction and besieged by the dreaded Forsaken, these worgen learned to control their ferocity thanks to the help of the night elves.
The worgen now stand ready to unleash the beast within at a moment’s notice as Death Knight, Druid, Hunter, Mage, Priest, Rogue, Warlock, and Warrior in defense of the Alliance.
A veteran of several wars against the Horde, Genn Greymane, acts as a trusted advisor to the young King Anduin Wrynn of Stormwind. Stalwart and strong, Greymane seeks to secure a lasting peace for the Alliance and remains intent on reclaiming his lost kingdom one day.
Worgen Class Combinations Death Knight ✓
Druid ✓
Hunter ✓
Mage ✓
Paladin
Priest ✓
Rogue ✓
Shaman
Warlock ✓
Warrior ✓
Racial Traits
< This article continues on their website >
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the moving-forward department: Lenovo's latest ThinkPad P1 Gen 7 laptop is set to be the first to use the new LPCAMM2 memory form factor, the successor to SODIMM sticks. From a report: While Lenovo has largely focused on the AI performance of its new laptop, which is equipped with an Intel Core Ultra CPU and Nvidia RTX 3000 Ada GPU, the company also noted that its device was the first in the world to use the LPCAMM2 memory standard. LPCAMM2 uses 64 percent less space than SODIMM and 61 percent less active power, according to Lenovo. This is thanks to it being based on LPDDR5X memory instead of regular DDR5.
Designed specifically for laptops, the LPCAMM2 standard actually has its origins in tech developed by Dell. Simply termed CAMM (Compression Attached Memory Module), it first debuted as a proprietary type of memory in Dell's Precision 7670 in 2022. However, in 2023 the PC giant donated its intellectual property to JEDEC, the organization that standardizes memory technologies. CAMM became LPCAMM2 (Low-Power Compression Attached Memory Module) in September 2023 when JEDEC finally confirmed its specifications. Samsung promptly announced plans to produce LPCAMM2 sticks, and claimed they would have 50 percent more performance and 70 percent more efficiency than their SODIMM-based predecessors. Plus, LPCAMM2 can offer dual-channel memory without requiring a second module.
Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the breaking-news department: According to the Wall Street Journal, a deal for IBM to acquire HashiCorp could materialize in the next few days. Shares of HashiCorp jumped almost 20% on the news.
UPDATE 4/24/24: IBM has confirmed the deal valued at $6.4 billion. "IBM will pay $35 per share for HashiCorp, a 42.6% premium to Monday's closing price," reports Reuters. "The acquisition will be funded by cash on hand and will add to adjusted core profit within the first full year of closing, expected by the end of 2024." HashiCorp's shares continued to surge Tuesday on the news. CNBC reports: Developers use HashiCorp's software to set up and manage infrastructure in public clouds that companies such as Amazon
and Microsoft operate. Organizations also pay HashiCorp for managing security credentials. Founded in 2012, HashiCorp went public on Nasdaq in 2021. The company generated a net loss of nearly $191 million on $583 million in revenue in the fiscal year ending Jan. 31, according to its annual report. In December, Mitchell Hashimoto, co-founder of HashiCorp, whose family name is reflected in the company name, announced that he was leaving.
Revenue jumped almost 23% during that period, compared with 2% for IBM in 2023. IBM executives pointed to a difficult economic climate during a conference call with analysts in January. The hardware, software and consulting provider reports earnings on Wednesday. Cisco held $9 million in HashiCorp shares at the end of March, according to a regulatory filing. Cisco held early acquisition talks with HashiCorp, according to a 2019 report.
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the shape-of-things-to-come department: Glance, which operates a popular lockscreen platform targeting Android smartphones, is setting its sights on the U.S. market. From a report: The Indian startup recently commenced a pilot program in partnership with Motorola and Verizon in the U.S., with plans for a full launch in the country later this year, sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. The Bengaluru-headquartered startup, backed by investors, including Google and Jio Platforms, has already made significant inroads in India, Southeast Asia, and Japan, where it expanded last year. According to a person familiar with the matter, Glanceâ(TM)s lockscreen platform today reaches more than 450 million smartphones and is active on about 300 million of them, delivering those customers a customized feed of news, local events, sports updates, media content, and interactive games directly to their lockscreens without requiring them to install additional apps. The recently launched Moto G Power smartphone in the U.S. shipped with Glance's platform, the report says.
Further reading: Motorola Spoiled a Good Budget Phone With Bloatware.
Posted by from MMO Champion
Cataclysm Classic Beta - Brawl With The Blues RBG Testing on April 26
Originally Posted by Blizzard
(
Blue Tracker /
Official Forums)
Please join Blizzard developers in the Cataclysm Beta on Friday, April 26 at 1:00 p.m. PDT (4:00 p.m. EDT) as we test Rated Battlegrounds. Here are the details:
When
1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. PDT on Friday, April 26 (4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. EDT)
Where
The Cataclysm Classic Beta
Realm name: Classic Beta PvP
Who
Everyone should be able to select level 85 template characters, join a guild, and build out your talents and gear. You can be either Horde or Alliance (faction is not a concern).
What
Starting at 1:00 p.m., form groups of 10 and queue for Rated Battlegrounds.
We’ll be there looking to help you in any way we can, and we’ll open a new feedback thread here in this forum. Please use the in-game bug report tool for any issues you come across.
Thank you very much!
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the new-ground-rules department: An anonymous reader shares a report: "Early Access" was once a novel, quirky thing, giving a select set of Steam PC games a way to involve enthusiastic fans in pre-alpha-level play-testing and feedback. Now loads of games launch in various forms of Early Access, in a wide variety of readiness. It's been a boon for games like Baldur's Gate 3, which came a long way across years of Early Access. Early Access, and the "Advanced Access" provided for complete games by major publishers for "Deluxe Editions" and the like, has also been a boon to freeloaders.
Craven types could play a game for hours and hours, then demand a refund within the standard two hours of play, 14 days after the purchase window of the game's "official" release. Steam-maker Valve has noticed and, as of Tuesday night, updated its refund policy. "Playtime acquired during the Advanced Access period will now count towards the Steam refund period," reads the update. In other words: Playtime is playtime now, so if you've played more than two hours of a game in any state, you don't get a refund. That closes at least one way that people could, with time-crunched effort, play and enjoy games for free in either Early or Advanced access.
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the how-about-that department: Just as Google, Samsung and Microsoft continue to push their efforts with generative AI on PCs and mobile devices, Apple is moving to join the party with OpenELM, a new family of open source large language models (LLMs) that can run entirely on a single device rather than having to connect to cloud servers. From a report: Released a few hours ago on AI code community Hugging Face, OpenELM consists of small models designed to perform efficiently at text generation tasks. There are eight OpenELM models in total -- four pre-trained and four instruction-tuned -- covering different parameter sizes between 270 million and 3 billion parameters (referring to the connections between artificial neurons in an LLM, and more parameters typically denote greater performance and more capabilities, though not always).
[...] Apple is offering the weights of its OpenELM models under what it deems a "sample code license," along with different checkpoints from training, stats on how the models perform as well as instructions for pre-training, evaluation, instruction tuning and parameter-efficient fine tuning. The sample code license does not prohibit commercial usage or modification, only mandating that "if you redistribute the Apple Software in its entirety and without modifications, you must retain this notice and the following text and disclaimers in all such redistributions of the Apple Software." The company further notes that the models "are made available without any safety guarantees. Consequently, there exists the possibility of these models producing outputs that are inaccurate, harmful, biased, or objectionable in response to user prompts."
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the how-about-that department: Today, Framework is the modular repairable laptop company. Tomorrow, it wants to be a consumer electronics company, period. From a report: That's one of the biggest reasons it just raised another $18 million in funding -- it wants to expand beyond the laptop into "additional product categories." Framework CEO Nirav Patel tells me that has always been the plan. The company originally had other viable ideas beyond laptops, too. "We chose to take on the notebook space first," he says, partly because Framework knew it could bootstrap its ambitions by catering to the PC builders and tinkerers and Linux enthusiasts left behind by big OEMs -- and partly because it wanted to go big or go home.
If Framework could succeed in laptops, he thought, it would be able to build almost anything. After five years building laptops, what might Framework add to the portfolio? Patel won't say -- I only get the barest hints, no matter how many different ways I ask. He won't even say if they'll make less or more of a splash than laptops. Framework might choose an "equally difficult" category or might instead try something "a bit smaller and simpler to execute, streamlined now that we have all this infrastructure."
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The past year or so has been a slow-moving trainwreck for Embracer Group, following the large company’s unprecedented studio acquisition spree. And, after announcing on April 22 that the company was planning to split itself up into three different companies, the CEO of Embracer is only filled with excuses as to why… 
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