Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the modern-warfare department: An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Countries are meeting at the United Nations on Monday to revive efforts to regulate the kinds of AI-controlled autonomous weapons increasingly used in modern warfare, as experts warn time is running out to put guardrails on new lethal technology. Autonomous and artificial intelligence-assisted weapons systems are already playing a greater role in conflicts from Ukraine to Gaza. And rising defence spending worldwide promises to provide a further boost for burgeoning AI-assisted military technology.

Progress towards establishing global rules governing their development and use, however, has not kept pace. And internationally binding standards remain virtually non-existent. Since 2014, countries that are part of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) have been meeting in Geneva to discuss a potential ban fully autonomous systems that operate without meaningful human control and regulate others. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has set a 2026 deadline for states to establish clear rules on AI weapon use. But human rights groups warn that consensus among governments is lacking. Alexander Kmentt, head of arms control at Austria's foreign ministry, said that must quickly change.

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Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the G-is-for-gradient department: Google is updating its iconic 'G' logo for the first time in 10 years, replacing the four solid color sections with a smooth gradient transition from red to yellow to green to blue. "This modernization feels inline with the Gemini gradient, while AI Mode in Search uses something similar for a shortcut," notes 9to5Google. The update has already rolled out to the Google Search app on iOS and is in beta for Android. From the report: It's a subtle change that you might not immediately notice, especially if the main place you see it is on your homescreen. It will be even less noticeable as a tiny browser favicon. It does not appear that Google is refreshing its main six-letter logo today, while it's unclear whether any other product logos are changing. In theory, some of the company's four-color logos, like Chrome or Maps, could pretty easily start bleeding in their sections.

Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the government-intervention-gone-right department: Ticketmaster will now show full ticket prices upfront -- fees included. "The company announced the 'All In Prices' initiative on Monday as part of its efforts to comply with the Federal Trade Commission's ban on junk fees, which goes into effect on May 12th," notes The Verge. From the report: Now, when you're shopping for tickets, Ticketmaster will display a ticket's full price, alongside a dropdown menu that you can select to see how much you're paying for the "Face Value" of a ticket and the service fee. You still won't see local taxes or delivery fees until checkout.

Ticketmaster says it has made some improvements to its queue as well, by offering real-time updates about ticket availability and when wait times are expected to last more than 30 minutes. It also allows customers to see exactly how many people are ahead of them in the queue.

Posted by Ethan Gach from Kotaku
Stellar Blade finally has a release date on PC. The very good, vibes-filled action-RPG that began as a PlayStation 5 exclusive will hit Steam in June, according to an apparent early leak of the trailer on YouTube. I can’t wait to see how the modding community reacts.

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Posted by Billy Givens from Kotaku
There are multiple ways to get weapon skins in Doom: The Dark Ages. You can find them scattered throughout levels (indicated by a paintbrush icon), or earn them by completing mission challenges and milestones, both of which you can find by looking through your menus. You can even get some skins for the Doom Slayer,…

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Posted by Zack Zwiezen from Kotaku
The Office’s first spin-off finally has a name and a release date. The new show is called The Paper, is set in the same universe, and will arrive exclusively on Peacock in September.

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Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the technological-transformations department: An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Last Thursday, white smoke emerged from a chimney at the Sistine Chapel, signaling that cardinals had elected a new pope. That's a rare event in itself, but one of the many unprecedented aspects of the election of Chicago-born Robert Prevost as Pope Leo XIV is one of the main reasons he chose his papal name: artificial intelligence. On Saturday, the new pope gave his first address to the College of Cardinals, explaining his name choice as a continuation of Pope Francis' concerns about technological transformation. "Sensing myself called to continue in this same path, I chose to take the name Leo XIV," he said during the address. "There are different reasons for this, but mainly because Pope Leo XIII in his historic Encyclical Rerum Novarum addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution."

In his address, Leo XIV explicitly described "artificial intelligence" developments as "another industrial revolution," positioning himself to address this technological shift as his namesake had done over a century ago. As the head of an ancient religious organization that spans millennia, the pope's talk about AI creates a somewhat head-spinning juxtaposition, but Leo XIV isn't the first pope to focus on defending human dignity in the age of AI. Pope Francis, who died in April, first established AI as a Vatican priority, as we reported in August 2023 when he warned during his 2023 World Day of Peace message that AI should not allow "violence and discrimination to take root." In January of this year, Francis further elaborated on his warnings about AI with reference to a "shadow of evil" that potentially looms over the field in a document called "Antiqua et Nova" (meaning "the old and the new").

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Posted by Billy Givens from Kotaku
If you’re diligent about fully clearing each mission in Doom: The Dark Ages, you’ll eventually have enough gold and rubies to purchase every upgrade in the game to become the ultimate version of the Doom Slayer. In the long run, which upgrade paths you prioritize will be based on which guns and abilities you vibe with…

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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the clever-use-cases department: Apple is planning to use AI technology to address a frequent source of customer frustration: the iPhone's battery life. From a report: The company is planning an AI-powered battery management mode for iOS 19, an iPhone software update due in September, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The enhancement will analyze how a person uses their device and make adjustments to conserve energy, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the service hasn't been announced.

To create the technology -- part of the Apple Intelligence platform -- the company is using battery data it has collected from users' devices to understand trends and make predictions for when it should lower the power draw of certain applications or features. There also will be a lock-screen indicator showing how long it will take to charge up the device, said the people.

Posted by Zack Zwiezen from Kotaku
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 is set to launch in July. But even though the latest entry in the long-running franchise is not even out yet, fans are already looking beyond it to the series’ future. Specifically, many want to know if Tony Hawk’s Underground and Underground 2 will get fancy remakes one day. According to…

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Posted by Billy Givens from Kotaku
Doom: The Dark Ages puts players back in the role of the Doom Slayer once more; but things look quite a bit different than they did in previous outings. Serving as a prequel to 2016's Doom, this newest entry in the franchise features a heavy medieval flavor, so you’ll need to master using a shield and flail alongside…

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Posted by Billy Givens from Kotaku
Whether you’re used to ripping through Imps and Hell Knights in previous Doom titles or have found yourself intrigued for the first time by Doom: The Dark Ages’ medieval demon butchering, it’s never been a better time to be a Doom Slayer. This thrilling first-person shooter once again sends you to shoot and pummel…

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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the how-about-that department: An anonymous reader shares a report: A new report claims that Nvidia has recently raised the official prices of nearly all of its products to combat the impact of tariffs and surging manufacturing costs on its business, with gaming graphics cards receiving a 5 to 10% hike while AI GPUs see up to a 15% increase.

As reported by Digitimes Taiwan, Nvidia is facing "multiple crises," including a $5.5 billion hit to its quarterly earnings over export restrictions on AI chips, including a ban on sales of its H20 chips to China.

Digitimes reports that CEO Jensen Huang has been "shuttling back and forth" between the US and China to minimize the impact of tariffs, and that "in order to maintain stable profitability," Nvidia has reportedly recently raised official prices for almost all its products, allowing its partners to increase prices accordingly.

Posted by AzT from TFW2005


In this midst of this Completely Uneventful Year, we finally have our first proper podcast of 2025! Don’t feel dishwasher lukewarm about it and keep your tips going forward, our usual trio is here and ready to fill your earholes for nearly four hours of toys. We’ve got all the Primes, Construction Vehicles and expensive laser sticks you could possibly want. You can download and comment on it here: WTF @ TFW – 651 – April 7 2025 Check out the WTF@TFW blog here. If you use iTunes and regularly subscribe to podcasts, you can add » Continue Reading.

The post WTF @ TFW Podcast Episode 651 Now Online appeared first on Transformer World 2005 - TFW2005.COM.

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the deepening-cuts department: Chegg said on Monday it would lay off about 22% of its workforce, or 248 employees, to cut costs and streamline its operations as students increasingly turn to AI-powered tools such as ChatGPT over traditional edtech platforms. From a report: The company, an online education firm that offers textbook rentals, homework help and tutoring, has been grappling with a decline in web traffic for months and warned that the trend would likely worsen before improving.

Google's expansion of AI Overviews is keeping web traffic confined within its search ecosystem while gradually shifting searches to its Gemini AI platform, Chegg said, adding that other AI companies including OpenAI and Anthropic were courting academics with free access to subscriptions. As part of the restructuring announced on Monday, Chegg will also shut its U.S. and Canada offices by the end of the year and aim to reduce its marketing, product development efforts and general and administrative expenses.

Posted by Zack Zwiezen from Kotaku
20 years ago on May 12, 2005, the Xbox 360 and the future of video games was unveiled on MTV, and it was hosted by Elijah Wood. And while going back to this 20 minute show is a bit embarrassing now, it’s wild how Microsoft and Xbox really did see the future coming before the rest of the industry.

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Posted by Kenneth Shepard from Kotaku
It’s been weeks since Joel (Pedro Pascal) met a violent end in HBO’s The Last of Us. People who played The Last of Us Part II knew this was coming, but newcomers have been in a state of mourning since season two’s second episode took away their TV peepaw. Like a lot of players did in 2020, they went into this…

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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the going-bananas department: The climate crisis is threatening the future of the world's most popular fruit, as almost two-thirds of banana-growing areas in Latin America and the Caribbean may no longer be suitable for growing the fruit by 2080, new research has found. From a report: Rising temperatures, extreme weather and climate-related pests are pummeling banana-growing countries such as Guatemala, Costa Rica and Colombia, reducing yields and devastating rural communities across the region, according to Christian Aid's new report, Going Bananas: How Climate Change Threatens the World's Favourite Fruit.

Bananas are the world's most consumed fruit -- and the fourth most important food crop globally, after wheat, rice and maize. About 80% of bananas grown globally are for local consumption, and more than 400 million people rely on the fruit for 15% to 27% of their daily calories.

Posted by Ethan Gach from Kotaku
I’ve somehow seen every live-action Star Wars show, all of the movies except Solo, and played many of the video game spin-offs and adaptations, yet I still don’t really consider myself a Star Wars fan. These days it feels like you need a pedantic, encyclopedia-level recall of in-universe minutiae to really call…

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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the how-about-that department: Western Digital has made a strategic investment in German startup Cerabyte, a company developing nearly indestructible ceramic-based data storage technology. The partnership aims to accelerate commercialization of Cerabyte's ceramic-on-glass material, which the company claims can preserve data for 5,000 years.

Cerabyte recently demonstrated its technology's resilience by boiling storage devices in salt water and subjecting them to oven-level heat. The company states its ceramic storage withstands fire, moisture, UV light, radiation, corrosion, and EMP bursts. Beyond durability, Cerabyte aims to enable massive capacity increases as the industry moves toward what it calls the "Yottabyte era," while targeting storage costs below $1 per TB by 2030.