Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the about-face department: According to The Information (paywalled), Meta is reportedly developing facial recognition capabilities for its Ray-Ban smart glasses -- technology it previously avoided due to privacy concerns. 404 Media's Joseph Cox writes: The move is an obvious about-face from Meta. It's also interesting to me because Meta's PR chewed my ass off when I dared to report in October that a pair of students took Meta's Ray-Ban glasses and combined them with off-the-shelf facial recognition technology. That tool, which the students called I-XRAY, captured a person's face, ran it through an easy to access facial recognition service called Pimeyes, then went a step further and pulled up information about the subject from across the web, including their home address and phone number.

When I contacted Meta for comment for that story, Dave Arnold, a spokesperson for the company, said in an email he had one question for me. "That Pimeyes facial recognition technology could be used with ANY camera, correct? In other words, this isn't something that only is possible because of Meta Ray-Bans? If so, I think that's an important point to note in the piece," he wrote. This is true. But entirely misses the point of why the students created the tool with Meta's Ray-Ban glasses. They said themselves in a demonstration video they identified dozens of people without their knowledge. You do that by wearing a pair of glasses that look like any other. Meta's Ray-Ban's do have a light that turns on when it's recording, but according to the new report, Meta is questioning whether new versions of its glasses need this.

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the how-about-that department: Numerous coffee establishments across the US are actively restricting internet access and laptop use as they push back against remote workers monopolizing their spaces for hours.

New York's Devocion chain limits WiFi to two-hour windows on weekdays and eliminates it entirely on weekends, while Detroit's Alba coffee shop has operated without WiFi since its 2023 opening. Some venues have resorted to physically taping over electrical outlets.

DC-based cafe Elle initially launched without WiFi but reversed course after receiving negative Google reviews, implementing a compromise with access restricted to Monday-Thursday, 8am-3pm, with a 90-minute usage cap. The restrictions primarily aim to increase customer turnover, improve sales figures, and restore the community atmosphere that extended laptop sessions often diminish.

Posted by Zack Zwiezen, Ethan Gach, and Carolyn Petit from Kotaku
This week brought us three more new episodes of Andor, and one step closer to next week’s series finale. This trio was probably the most impressive and devastating yet, bringing the events on Ghorman to an incendiary head and bringing some character arcs to a sudden and permanent end.

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Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the withdrawn-from-consideration department: An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: A Florida bill, which would have required social media companies to provide an encryption backdoor for allowing police to access user accounts and private messages, has failed to pass into law. The Social Media Use by Minors bill was "indefinitely postponed" and "withdrawn from consideration" in the Florida House of Representatives earlier this week. Lawmakers in the Florida Senate had already voted to advance the legislation, but a bill requires both legislative chambers to pass before it can become law.

The bill would have required social media firms to "provide a mechanism to decrypt end-to-end encryption when law enforcement obtains a subpoena," which are typically issued by law enforcement agencies and without judicial oversight. Digital rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation called the bill "dangerous and dumb." Security professionals have long argued that it is impossible to create a secure backdoor that cannot also be maliciously abused, and encryption backdoors put user data at risk of data breaches.

Posted by Randall Munroe from XKCD
Reductio ad absurdum fails when reality is absurd.

Posted by Claire Jackson, John Walker, Ethan Gach, and Carolyn Petit from Kotaku
It’s been a pretty neat week! Maybe even a good one? In 2025? Are we allowed to have those?

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Posted by Zack Zwiezen from Kotaku
A new report indicates that the recent delay of Grand Theft Auto 6, now scheduled to launch in May of 2026, has had a big impact across the gaming industry as studios and publishers try to plan their next moves fearing (or hoping) that Rockstar Games might push the release date back again for what is almost guaranteed…

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Posted by Ethan Gach from Kotaku
Epic Games is taking a victory lap after its recent court win by asking Apple to put Fortnite back in the App Store and giving players bonus V-bucks if they bypass the iPhone maker’s fees and buy directly from the Epic Games Store. It’s the start of a potential revolution on the App Store, but could also have big…

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Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the PSA department: Just days after a radar and communications outage at Newark Liberty International Airport, the FAA confirmed a second incident on May 9 that disrupted radar and radio contact for 90 seconds due to a telecom failure at Philadelphia TRACON. "As of 12:30PM ET, FlightAware stats showed 292 total delays for flights into or out of Newark, which is also experiencing delays due to runway construction," reports The Verge. From the report: After the first outage on April 28th, an air traffic controller who had been on duty that day told CNN it "...was the most dangerous situation you could have." CNN reports that after a change made last July, the airport's radar and radio communication flows over a single data feed from a facility in New York, where controllers used to manage Newark's flights, to Philadelphia.

The FAA has announced a plan to replace the current copper connection with fiber, as well as adding "three new, high-bandwidth telecommunications connections between the New York-based STARS and the Philadelphia TRACON," and more air traffic controllers. Until those and other changes are made, the agency also said a new backup system is being deployed in Philadelphia, but it's unclear when that will be available.

NBC News reports the Friday outage affected a limited number of sectors, but it's another incident in the string of issues that have highlighted the problems with the airport's aging control system and lack of staffing. [...] A statement from the FAA said, "Frequent equipment and telecommunications outages can be stressful for controllers. Some controllers at the Philadelphia TRACON who work Newark arrivals and departures have taken time off to recover from the stress of multiple recent outages."

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the oops department: Wearable startup Whoop just announced its new Whoop 5.0 fitness tracker yesterday, but some existing users are already calling foul. From a report: Previously, Whoop said people who had been members for at least six months would get free upgrades to next-generation hardware. Now, the company says that members hoping to upgrade from a Whoop 4.0 to 5.0 will have to pay up.

Whoop is a bit different from other fitness trackers in that it runs entirely on a subscription membership model. Most wearable makers that have subscriptions will charge you for the hardware, and then customers have the option of subscribing to get extra data or features. A good example is the Oura Ring, where you buy the ring and then have the option of paying a monthly $6 subscription. Whoop, however, has until now said that you get the hardware for "free" while paying a heftier annual subscription. Previously, Whoop promised users that whenever new hardware was released, existing members would be able to upgrade free of charge so long as they'd been a member for at least six months.

Posted by Ethan Gach from Kotaku
Borderlands 4 is now just a few months away, and if it’s anything like the previous games in the looter shooter series it will be one of the top-selling blockbusters of 2025. But how much will it cost? Will publisher 2K try to undercut the competition or match it as some new releases creep up to $80 this year? Gearbox…

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Posted by from MMO Champion
PAX East - Evolving Azeroth: Creating a Living World: Past, Present and Future

Some Blizzard members are live at PAX East for a special World of Warcraft panel, streaming now on the official PAX Twitch and YouTube channels.

The panel explores 20 years of world building and design that brought life to Azeroth. Associate Game Directors Jeremy Feasel and Paul Kubit, Associate Design Director Maria Hamilton, and Principal Game Designer Jesse Kurlancheek reflect on iconic moments like the opening of Ahn'Qiraj and offer a look at what's ahead, such as the player housing feature in Midnight, the upcoming expansion.

The team talked about what makes up a living world, recapping some examples of things that change in the world.

The player base isn't monolithic, there are people that enjoy just specific parts of the game (questing, PvP, PvE, etc)

Daily quests were built out for players that wanted to do quests, helping those players not run out of quests. It also helped the world feel more alive.

In Blade's Edge Mountains there was a bombing run quest and the cannons would fire back at you. The area would get really laggy on Sunday and Monday, because the cannons were shooting an invisible bunny that didn't despawn and they slowly built up over the week.

By Wrath of the Lich King, the team knew that there were going to be expansions in the future, lots of expansions.

The team realized that the world didn't change with you, despite all of your accomplishments. This led to creating phasing.

Phasing is super useful for showing progression in the world. Both for individual players and groups in the world.

The downside of phasing is you may not see your friends, or they may not see the same thing that you are seeing. It separates people, so the team is more careful with it.

Party Sync helps keep friends in the same phase.

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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the taking-a-stand department: A U.S. senator introduced a bill on Friday that would direct the Commerce Department to require location verification mechanisms for export-controlled AI chips, in an effort to curb China's access to advanced semiconductor technology. From a report: Called the "Chip Security Act," the bill calls for AI chips under export regulations, and products containing those chips, to be fitted with location-tracking systems to help detect diversion, smuggling or other unauthorized use of the product.

"With these enhanced security measures, we can continue to expand access to U.S. technology without compromising our national security," Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas said. The bill also calls for companies exporting the AI chips to report to the Bureau of Industry and Security if their products have been diverted away from their intended location or subject to tampering attempts.

Posted by Zack Zwiezen and Andy Mills from Kotaku
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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the clear-sky department: Software firm 37signals is completing its migration from AWS to on-premises infrastructure, expecting to save $1.3 million annually on storage costs alone. CTO David Heinemeier Hansson announced the company has begun migrating 18 petabytes of data from Amazon S3 to Pure Storage arrays costing $1.5 million upfront but only $200,000 yearly to operate.

AWS waived $250,000 in data egress fees for the transition, which will allow 37signals to completely delete its AWS account this summer. The company has already slashed $2 million in annual costs after replacing cloud compute with $700,000 worth of Dell servers in 2024. "Cloud can be a good choice in certain circumstances, but the industry pulled a fast one convincing everyone it's the only way," wrote Hansson, who began the repatriation effort in 2022 after discovering their annual AWS bill exceeded $3.2 million.

Posted by Ethan Gach from Kotaku
The Overwatch 2 team at Blizzard has unionized. That includes nearly 200 developers across disciplines ranging from art and testing to engineering and design. Basically anyone who doesn’t have someone else reporting to them. It’s the second wall-to-wall union at the storied game maker since the World of Warcraft team…

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Posted by George Yang from Kotaku
In Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, you’ll come across a few Nevrons who aren’t hostile and will offer quests for the group to take on. One such quest is located in an optional dungeon called The Small Bourgeon.

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Posted by from MMO Champion
How to Gear Up in Delves - The War Within Season 2

One of the major changes for World of Warcraft: The War Within Season 2 is the ability to get quality gear through Delves.

Gearing in a Delve isn’t entirely a new concept; it was something that was possible in Season 1, but it has been greatly expanded for Season 2. One major way Blizzard is accomplishing this is by overhauling how the tiers in Delves work. In the patch notes for 11.1, Blizzard stated that any Delve above tier 8 in Season 1 was “meant purely for players who wanted a challenge.” Blizzard is now letting players obtain more desirable rewards, such as Gilded Crests on a Tier 11 Bountiful Delve.

Our guide on gearing in Delves will go over everything you need to know about obtaining the best gear through Delves in The War Within Season 2.

How to Obtain Gear in Delves

The gear you get from Delves depends on the Tier you run and whether or not you’re unlocking a Bountiful Chest.



Delve Rewards in The War Within Season 2tbody>tr"> Delve Tier Level Bountiful Delve Rewards Initial Upgrade Level Great Vault Level Initial Great Vault Upgrade Level
1 610 Adventurer 1/8 623 Veteran 1/8
2 613 Adventurer 2/8 626 Veteran 2/8
3 616 Adventurer 3/8 629 Veteran 3/8
4 619 Adventurer 4/8 632 Veteran 4/8
5 623 Veteran 1/8 639 Champion 2/8
6 626 Veteran 2/8 642 Champion 3/8
7 636 Champion 1/8 645 Champion 4/8
8 639 Champion 2/8 649 Hero 1/6
9 639 Champion 2/8 649 Hero 2/6
10 639 Champion 2/8 649 Hero 3/6
11 639 Champion 2/8 649 Hero 4/6

If you are not running a Bountiful Delve, loot will be capped at Tier 3 and drop ilvl 593 gear.

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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the barely-scratched-surface department: A comprehensive analysis in Science Advances reveals that humans have explored less than 0.001% of the deep seafloor -- an area equivalent to merely one-tenth the size of Belgium. Oceanographer Katherine Bell and colleagues at the Ocean Discovery League compiled data from approximately 44,000 deep-sea dives conducted between 1958 and 2024, finding that expeditions have concentrated overwhelmingly around waters near the United States, Japan, and New Zealand.

The study exposes significant gaps in ocean exploration, with vast regions -- particularly the Indian Ocean -- remaining virtually untouched by direct observation. Much of the existing dive data remains inaccessible to scientists, locked away by private companies.

Posted by Billy Givens from Kotaku
Soulslike fans continue to eat well in recent years as every developer under the sun seems eager to take a swing at the genre. Developer Silent Games’ Empyreal is among the newest attempts to capture the all-important thrill of challenging combat and dangerous exploration, casting players as a mercenary exploring a…

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