Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the brutal department: The latest figures from IDC shows that Samsung's share in China's foldable smartphone market was 5.9% in Q1 2024. At one point, Samsung was pulling in a quarterly foldable market share of nearly 30% in China. From a report: It essentially came in dead last, as Samsung finds itself comprehensively beaten by the handful of companies that make foldable phones. This is also a significant decline over the previous year when Samsung's share was at 11%.

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the bizarro-world department: As of today, Walmart is able to sell physical goods directly to users inside Roblox. Digiday adds: The introduction of real-life e-commerce could be a watershed moment for the company's ambitions to become an all-encompassing destination for virtual life. Walmart's Roblox e-commerce experience launches later today, with users inside the pre-existing Walmart Discovered able to have real-life items shipped directly to their doorsteps. Users entering the experience will be greeted with a new storefront showcasing virtual twins of select physical items sold at real-life Walmart stores.

After trying out the virtual items on their avatars, players will be able to load an e-commerce experience that takes the form of a browser window inside Roblox imitating the experience of shopping on Walmart's website -- essentially a virtual laptop set up inside Roblox to access Walmart.com. The commerce feature within Walmart Discovered will be gated specifically to users aged 13 or older in the United States only. "There is a traditional sort of checkout flow where you put your name, your address and your credit card information, and that's all powered by a Walmart API that handles all of the information super securely -- it's very safe," said Walmart director of brand experiences and strategic partnerships Justin Breton. "And once you hit checkout, you'll get your confirmation email from Walmart. All of that is handled by us on the back end, the user will then get their item in the mail, but the virtual twin is granted immediately back on Roblox."

Posted by Black Convoy from TFW2005


The official Mattel Creations Launch Calendar have been updated with an upcoming Mattel Creations Hot Wheels x Transformers Optimus Prime listing. There’s still not much information or images about this new Mattel x Transformers collaboration, but it will be fully revealed and open for sale this Tuesday, May 21 at 9:00 am PT. Stay tuned with this space for more updates! Now click on the discussion link below and share your impressions on the 2005 Boards!

The post Mattel Creations Hot Wheels x Transformers Optimus Prime Listing appeared first on Transformer World 2005 - TFW2005.COM.

Posted by Levi Winslow from Kotaku
All these years later, it seems folks just can’t stop playing Bethesda’s hit open-world game Skyrim. Originally released in 2011, the fantasy action-RPG has been re-re-re-released on just about every platform since, and is one of the most popular games to download mods for. Software-engineer-turned-Twitch-streamer…

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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 Kenneth Shepard from Kotaku
The Life Is Strange series started as French developer Don’t Nod’s baby back when the first game’s episodic rollout began in 2015. After two games, publisher Square Enix has placed the franchise in the hands of Deck Nine Games, which worked on the prequel Before the Storm and the most recent game in the series, True…

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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

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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.

Posted by Randall Munroe from XKCD
The Doppler effect is a mysterious wavelength-shifting phenomenon which seems to primarily affect sirens, which is why the 🚨 emoji is red.

Posted by Kenneth Shepard from Kotaku
The Knuckles Paramount+ show is real bad at giving Sonic the Hedgehog characters the spotlight. Despite having his name at the top, Knuckles is only in the show for half its runtime and barely speaks when he’s there. But despite the lack of anthropomorphic characters throughout, the show does have quite a few…

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Posted by Kenneth Shepard from Kotaku
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…

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Posted by Eric Schulkin from Kotaku
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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the how-about-that department: Razer will have to fork over $1.1 million in refunds to customers who purchased its RGB-clad Zephyr face mask, according to a proposed settlement announced by the Federal Trade Commission on Monday. From a report: The company claimed the face mask used N95-grade filters, but the FTC alleges Razer never submitted them for testing and only "stopped the false advertising following negative press coverage and consumer outrage at the deceptive claims."

Razer first released its Zephyr face mask in 2021 as a nifty, cyberpunk-esque alternative to traditional face masks worn during the covid-19 pandemic. Although Razer initially marketed the $100 mask as having N95-grade filters, it scrubbed any mention of the grade after YouTuber Naomi Wu tore down the mask and found that it wasn't N95 certified after all. N95 masks are supposed to filter out at least 95 percent of airborne particles, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Razer also planned on launching a $150 Zephyr Pro with a voice amplification feature, but that never panned out. At the time, Razer addressed claims about its Zephyr masks, saying in a post on X that "the Razer Zephyr and Zephyr Pro are not medical devices, respirators, surgical masks, or personal protective equipment (PPE) and are not meant to be used in medical or clinical settings."

Posted by Zack Zwiezen from Kotaku
Walmart has launched its Roblox store, letting users buy digital items inside the game that are also sent to them physically via the mail. According to Walmart, it hopes that its stores and tech will power future Roblox commerce. It’s yet another example of companies desperately trying to figure out how to suck money…

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Posted by Ethan Gach from Kotaku
Stellar Blade is a PlayStation 5 sci-fi action exclusive about fighting monsters and saving humanity in a stylish post-apocalyptic world. So why are thousands of its self-identified fans signing a petition to “Free Stellar Blade” from censorship? The answer is surprisingly complicated and kind of sad.

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Posted by Willa Rowe from Kotaku
For a lot of people, indie game POOLS will lean into horror territory. While the walking simulator doesn’t have any monsters chasing you down, the liminal design of its environment is very capable of unsettling the player. Long, interconnected rooms of tiling and oddly-shaped bodies of water sloshing back and forth…

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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the how-about-that department: Countries are for the first time considering restrictions on the global production of plastic -- to reduce it by 40% in 15 years -- in an attempt to protect human health and the environment. From a report: As the world attempts to make a treaty to cut plastic waste at UN talks in Ottawa, Canada, two countries have put forward the first concrete proposal to limit production to reduce its harmful effects including the huge carbon emissions from producing it. The motion submitted by Rwanda and Peru sets out a global reduction target, ambitiously termed a "north star," to cut the production of primary plastic polymers across the world by 40% by 2040, from a 2025 baseline.

It says: "The effectiveness of both supply and demand-side measures will be assessed, in whole or in part, on their success in reducing the production of primary plastic polymers to sustainable levels." The proposal calls for the consideration of mandatory reporting by countries of statistical data on production, imports and exports of primary plastic polymers. A global plastic reduction target would be similar to the legally binding Paris agreement to pursue efforts to limit global temperature increase to 1.5C above preindustrial levels, Rwanda and Peru said.

Posted by Levi Winslow from Kotaku
Gaming frat house and influencer group FaZe Clan is going back to its roots, apparently. Co-founder Richard “Banks” Bengston assumed control of the organization late last year, and on April 27, he decided to purge 17 members in a devastating reboot that left content creators shook by the decision-makkng.

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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the need-for-speed department: Amazon says its deliveries are getting even faster, announcing that it delivered over 2 billion items the same or next day to Prime members during the first three months of 2024, breaking its record for 2023. From a report: The company says it delivered almost 60 percent of Prime orders the same or next day in 60 of the biggest metropolitan areas in the US.

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the tussle-continues department: Austria called on Monday for fresh efforts to regulate the use of AI in weapons systems that could create so-called 'killer robots', as it hosted a conference aimed at reviving largely stalled discussions on the issue. From a report: With AI technology advancing rapidly, weapons systems that could kill without human intervention are coming ever closer, posing ethical and legal challenges that most countries say need addressing soon. "We cannot let this moment pass without taking action. Now is the time to agree on international rules and norms to ensure human control," Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg told the meeting of non-governmental and international organisations as well as envoys from 143 countries.

"At least let us make sure that the most profound and far-reaching decision, who lives and who dies, remains in the hands of humans and not of machines," he said in an opening speech to the conference entitled "Humanity at the Crossroads: Autonomous Weapons Systems and the Challenge of Regulation." Years of discussions at the United Nations have produced few tangible results and many participants at the two-day conference in Vienna said the window for action was closing rapidly.