Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the tens-of-billions-of-dollars department: If 2023 was the tech industry's year of the A.I. chatbot, 2024 is turning out to be the year of A.I. plumbing. From a report: It may not sound as exciting, but tens of billions of dollars are quickly being spent on behind-the-scenes technology for the industry's A.I. boom. Companies from Amazon to Meta are revamping their data centers to support artificial intelligence. They are investing in huge new facilities, while even places like Saudi Arabia are racing to build supercomputers to handle A.I. Nearly everyone with a foot in tech or giant piles of money, it seems, is jumping into a spending frenzy that some believe could last for years.
Microsoft, Meta, and Google's parent company, Alphabet, disclosed this week that they had spent more than $32 billion combined on data centers and other capital expenses in just the first three months of the year. The companies all said in calls with investors that they had no plans to slow down their A.I. spending. In the clearest sign of how A.I. has become a story about building a massive technology infrastructure, Meta said on Wednesday that it needed to spend billions more on the chips and data centers for A.I. than it had previously signaled. "I think it makes sense to go for it, and we're going to," Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's chief executive, said in a call with investors.
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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the know-your-rights department: Millions of Americans pay for Netflix, doling out anywhere from $6.99 to $22.99 a month. It's a common belief that you can get out of recurring charges like this by canceling your credit card. Netflix won't be able to find you, and your account will just go away, right? You wouldn't be crazy for believing it, but it's a myth that canceling a credit card will definitely stop your recurring charges. From a report: Nearly 46% of Americans opened a new credit card last year, according to Forbes, which means millions of Americans also canceled old ones. When you switch cards, Netflix doesn't just stop your service -- they just start charging your new card. Granted, it might be easier to just cancel your Netflix subscription directly. There's a largely hidden service that enables Netflix and most other subscription services to keep throwing charges at you indefinitely.
"Banks may automatically update credit or debit card numbers when a new card is issued. This update allows your card to continue to be charged, even if it's expired," Netflix says in its help center. Most major card providers offer a feature that enables this, including Visa. In 2003, Visa U.S.A. started offering a new software product to merchants called Visa Account Updater (VAU), according to a 2003 American Banker article. The service works with a network of banks to create a virtual tracking service of Americans' financial profiles. Whenever someone renews, or switches a credit card within their bank, the institution automatically update the VAU. This system lets Netflix and countless other corporations charge whatever card you have on file.
Posted by from MMO Champion
Arena World Championship Returns May 3
Originally Posted by Blizzard
(
Blue Tracker /
Official Forums)
Beginning May 3, the arena gates will open once more for the 2024 Dragonflight Season 4 Arena World Championship (AWC)! Tune in to the final two Cups on
Twitch and
YouTube to see how far the gladiators will go.
The high-stakes competition continues in Season 4, with only two opportunities for the top gladiators to emerge victorious from the arenas. Competitors will clash in Cups 3 and 4 for their chance to earn a spot in the Dragonflight Grand Finals! Tune in to the Tournament for close combat, near-death encounters, and exhilarating action.
Details
Venue: Online: Twitch.tv/Warcraft and YouTube.com/Warcraft
Co-streaming: Co-streaming is back! Check with your favorite competitor to see if they will stream their POV during the tournament, or gather your own audience and host a Watch Party. To sign up for co-streaming, use the
AWC Watch Party Form.
Dates:
Cup 3: May 3–5
Cup 4: May 10–12
Finals: May 17–19
Broadcast Start Time: 10:00 am (PDT) / 7:00 pm (CEST)
Format: Double Elimination, Best-of-5. Grand Finals Best-of-7.
Talent
Eiya Lythi Supatease Venruki Ziqo < This article continues on their website >
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the ghost-town department: An anonymous reader shares a report: I paid a lot of money for the privilege of getting an Apple Vision Pro brand-new in February. All-in, with optical inserts and taxes, I financed a little over $3,900 for the 256GB version of the headset. A day or so ago, I made a mistake that I'm sure many early adopters are familiar with: I looked up how much it's been selling for on eBay. On Wednesday, a 1TB Vision Pro, complete with all the included gear, Apple's fluffy $200 travel case, $500 AppleCare Plus, and claimed to have been "worn maybe about an hour" sold for $3,200 after 21 bids. The listed shipping estimate was $20.30. Brand new, that combination is $5,007.03 on Apple's site for me.
Another eBay listing, this one with my headset's configuration (but sans optical inserts) went for just $2,600 -- again with most, if not all, of the included accessories. Several other 256GB and 512GB models sold for around that amount this week. The story is no different over on Swappa, a popular reselling site among Apple users. Bloomberg News, over the weekend: In related news, employees at some Apple retail stores are now being asked to fill out surveys after giving Vision Pro demonstrations to potential buyers. Apple wants to know if they were able to close a sale and get any feedback from the would-be buyer. Apple also wants to ensure employees are following the 20-minute demo script.
As I wrote last week, Vision Pro demand has dropped considerably at many Apple stores. One retail employee says they haven't seen one Vision Pro purchase in weeks and that the number of returns equaled the device's sales in the first month that it was available.
Posted by from MMO Champion
May 2024 Trading Post Rewards
Originally Posted by blizzard
(
Blue Tracker)
A variety of new items are flowering in this month’s Trading Post. Embrace the spirit of spring when you gild your back with the Wings of the Amber Monarch.
Visit T&W** (Tawney and Wilder) just outside the Mage District in Stormwind or the Zen’shiri Trading Post next to Grommash Hold in Orgrimmar to check out all the latest items*** they have available.
Here's What's in Stock for May
Pets, Mounts, and Toys
Buzzworth
Pokee
Amber Skitterfly
Royal Swarmer(Royal Swarmer’s Reins)
Name Item Type Trader’s Tender
Buzzworth (Returning) Pet 600
Pokee Pet 400
Amber Skitterfly Mount 600
Blazing Hippogryph Mount 800
Royal Swarmer’s Reins (Returning) Mount 800
Armor Transmogs
Ensemble: Vagabond’s Midnight Threads
< This article continues on their website >
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the how-about-that department: An anonymous reader shares a report: Earlier this month, we wrote that some of Intel's recent high-end Core i9 and Core i7 processors had been crashing and exhibiting other weird issues in some games and that Intel was investigating the cause. An Intel statement obtained by Igor's Lab suggests that Intel's investigation is wrapping up, and the company is pointing squarely in the direction of enthusiast motherboard makers that are turning up power limits and disabling safeguards to try to wring a little more performance out of the processors.
"While the root cause has not yet been identified, Intel has observed the majority of reports of this issue are from users with unlocked/overclock capable motherboards," the statement reads. "Intel has observed 600/700 Series chipset boards often set BIOS defaults to disable thermal and power delivery safeguards designed to limit processor exposure to sustained periods of high voltage and frequency."
These are the specific settings that Intel believes are causing problems:
Disabling Current Excursion Protection (CEP)
Enabling the IccMax Unlimited bit
Disabling Thermal Velocity Boost (TVB) and/or Enhanced Thermal Velocity Boost (eTVB)
Additional settings which may increase the risk of system instability:
Disabling C-states
Using Windows Ultimate Performance mode
Increasing PL1 and PL2 beyond Intel recommended limits.
We’ve gotten some Lego sets based on video games over the last few years. Stuff like the Atari 2600 set, or all the Super Mario Bros. playsets featuring various characters and obstacles. But none of them are as cool as this fan-made Lego set that turns Tetris into a playable tabletop game. 
We might be getting another chance to revisit our favorite people and places from Game of Thrones. That’s according to a new report from Witcher and Game of Thrones news site Redanian Intelligence, which claims that an MMORPG set during the height of the HBO series is in the works. Here’s what we know. 
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Don’t Nod has spent a lot of the past decade writing about teenagers and young adults. After creating the Life Is Strange franchise in 2015, much of the studio’s most well-known portfolio has been made up of adventure games capturing the raw, unbridled emotion of being in your developing years, but with a supernatural… 
