Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the arrested-in-absentia department: Longtime Slashdot reader ArchieBunker shares a report from The Mirror: The city court in Syktyvkar, the largest city in Russia's northwestern Komi region, announced it had arrested [former world chess champion Garry Kasparov] in absentia alongside former Russian parliament member Gennady Gudkov, Ivan Tyutrin co-founder of the Free Russia Forum -- which has been designated as an "undesirable organization in the country -- as well as former environmental activist Yevgenia Chirikova. All were charged with setting up a terrorist society, according to the court's press service. As all were charged in their absence, none were physically held in custody.
"The court has selected a measure of restraint for Garry Kasparov, Gennady Gudkov, Yevgenia Chirikova and Ivan Tyutrin, charged with establishing and heading a terrorist society, funding terrorist activity and justifying it publicly," the court said according to Kremlin-backed outlet TASS. "The court granted the investigative bodies' motions to remand Kasparov, Gudkov, Chirikova and Tyutrin in custody as a measure of restraint."
Kasparov responded to the court's bizarre arrest statement in an April 24 post shared on X, formerly Twitter. "In absentia is definitely the best way I've ever been arrested," he said. "Good company, as well. I'm sure we're all equally honored that Putin's terror state is spending time on this that would otherwise go persecuting and murdering."
The report notes that Kasparov "found himself in Russian President Vladimir Putin's firing line after he voiced his opposition to the country's leader." The report continues: "He has also pursued pro-democracy initiatives in Russia. But he felt unable to continue living in Russia after he was jailed and allegedly beaten by police in 2012, according to the Guardian. He was granted Croatian citizenship in 2014 following repeated difficulties in Russia."
Posted by from MMO Champion
Season of Discovery Class Tuning - April 30, 2024
Originally Posted by Blizzard
(
Blue Tracker /
Official Forums)
With scheduled weekly maintenance (tomorrow, April 30 in this region), we’ll make the following adjustments to classes in Season of Discovery:
Hunter
Raptor Fury now increases the damage done of Raptor strike and Mongoose Bite by 10% per stack (was 15%).
The Beast Mastery rune now increases pet damage by 10% (was 20%).
Shaman
The Burn rune now also grants a significant bonus to spell power when Flametongue Weapon is imbued on your weapon.
Rolling Thunder now has a 50% chance to trigger (was 30%).
Fixed a bug causing overload procs to not add a charge to Lightning Shield when the Shaman has the Rolling Thunder rune active.
Warlock
Invocation now also applies to Unstable Affliction.
Invocation damage can now deal critical strikes if the Warlock also has the Pandemic rune active.
Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the budget-cuts department: Ahead of its annual I/O developer conference in May, Google has decided to lay off staff across key teams like Flutter, Dart, Python and others. "As we've said, we're responsibly investing in our company's biggest priorities and the significant opportunities ahead," said a Google spokesperson. "To best position us for these opportunities, throughout the second half of 2023 and into 2024, a number of our teams made changes to become more efficient and work better, remove layers, and align their resources to their biggest product priorities. Through this, we're simplifying our structures to give employees more opportunity to work on our most innovative and important advances and our biggest company priorities, while reducing bureaucracy and layers." TechCrunch reports: The company clarified that the layoffs were not company-wide but were reorgs that are part of the normal course of business. Affected employees will be able to apply for other open roles at Google, we're told. [...] Though Google didn't detail headcount, some of the layoffs at Google may have been confirmed in a WARN notice filed on April 24. WARN, or the California Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, requires employers with more than 100 employees to provide 60-day notice in advance of layoffs. In the filing, Google said it was laying off a total of 50 employees across three locations in Sunnyvale.
On social media, commenters raised concerns with the Python layoffs in particular, given the role that Python tooling plays in AI. But others pointed out that Google didn't eliminate its Python team; it replaced that team with another group based in Munich -- at least according to Python Steering Council member Thomas Wouters in a post on Mastodon last Thursday.
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.
< This article continues on their website >
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.
Fallout 76, Bethesda’s MMORPG set in the Fallout universe, is probably more popular today than ever thanks to Amazon’s new TV series. So it makes sense that in a recent interview, Bethesda executive producer Todd Howard was asked about Fallout 76and crossplay. And while the ability for PC and console players to… 
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. 
In 2021, video game accessory manufacturer Razer announced its plans to release a mask that people could wear to help stop the spread of covid-19 during the height of the (ongoing) pandemic. Now, almost three years later, the company owes the Federal Trade Commission over $1 million in fines due to “misrepresenting”… 
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… 
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… 
