Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the aggressive-expansion department: Microsoft is testing AI-powered text generation in Notepad for Windows 11 Insiders with Copilot Plus PCs, allowing users to draft content from prompts or build on existing text through a right-click menu. The update also introduces Paint's AI sticker generator and Snipping Tool enhancements including automatic screenshot cropping. The Write feature requires Microsoft account sign-in and uses the same credit system as other Windows 11 AI features.

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the no-shame department: Broadcom has upped VMware licensing costs by between eight to 15 times since it took over the organization, and a lack of alternatives in the tech industry means trade and end customers have no choice but to play ball. From a report: This is the according to the European Cloud Competition Observatory (ECCO), an independent body formed by customer organizations, and CISPE -- a trade association of 37 cloud providers in the region -- to monitor the behavior of software vendors accused of abusing their monopoly position. The report also calls for regulatory intervention. The current subscription model "creates a material risk for the company and their shareholders should Regulators investigate and challenge the legality of such model," the report adds.

Posted by John Walker from Kotaku
Apparently there’s a new Mission: Impossible movie coming out soon. But what there isn’t is a new Mission: Impossible video game, and we’d like to hear someone explain why not. It’s outrageous. The 1960s TV show has games. The first of Cruise’s movies, 1996's Mission: Impossible, has a game. (No Tom Cruise likeness in …

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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the become-self-reliant department: China has achieved substantial technological advances across robotics, AI, and semiconductor manufacturing as part of a seven-year self-reliance campaign that has tripled the country's research and development spending to $500 billion annually.

Chinese robot manufacturers captured nearly half of their domestic market by 2023, up from a quarter of installations just years earlier, while AI startups now rival OpenAI and Google in capabilities. The progress extends to semiconductors, where Huawei released a high-end smartphone powered by what industry analysts believe was a locally-produced advanced processor, despite U.S. export controls targeting China's chip access.

Morgan Stanley projects China's self-sufficiency in graphics processing units will jump from 11% in 2021 to 82% by 2027. Chinese companies have been purchasing as many industrial robots as the rest of the world combined, enabling highly automated factories that can operate in darkness. In space technology, Chinese firms won five of 11 gold medals when U.S. think tanks ranked the world's best commercial satellite systems last year, compared to four for American companies.

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the shape-of-things-to-come department: Apple is aiming to release smart glasses at the end of next year as part of a push into AI-enhanced gadgets, Bloomberg News reported Thursday, but it has shelved plans for a smartwatch that can analyze its surroundings with a built-in camera. From the report: Company engineers are ramping up work on the glasses -- a rival to Meta Platforms's popular Ray-Bans -- in a bid to meet the year-end 2026 target, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Apple will start producing large quantities of prototypes at the end of this year with overseas suppliers, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the products haven't been announced.

Posted by Zack Zwiezen from Kotaku
A massive amount of Warhammer 40K games are currently on sale across PlayStation, Xbox, and Steam as part of the annual Warhammer Skulls event. If you’ve been wanting to kill some Orks, there’s never been a better time.

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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the expanding-graveyard department: BrianFagioli writes: In a surprising move that will frustrate longtime fans, Mozilla has announced it will shut down Pocket on July 8, 2025. The once-popular read-it-later service, which helped users save and organize web content for later reading, will no longer function as normal after that date. While existing users can continue saving and reading articles until July, the service will switch to export-only mode afterward, with all user data permanently deleted on October 8. The Firefox-maker will also shut down Fakespot, a service that allows users to identify unreliable reviews, on July 1.

Posted by Ethan Gach from Kotaku
Blue Prince is the second highest-reviewed game of 2025 and now players on PlayStation 5 can finally plumb the depths of its deepest secrets without worrying about a gnarly game-breaking bug corrupting their save files. After weeks of tragically ensnaring some of the puzzle adventure’s biggest fans, a new patch fixes…

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Posted by Zack Zwiezen from Kotaku
Sega and Games Workshop announced that the original Space Marine game, first released on PS3, Xbox 360, and PC over a decade ago, is getting a fancy remaster with improved visuals and controls. And you won’t have to wait long as it launches on June 10 on Xbox Series X/S, and PC. You might notice a platform is missing.

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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the moving-forward department: Anthropic launched Claude Opus 4 and Claude Sonnet 4 today, positioning Opus 4 as the world's leading coding model with 72.5% performance on SWE-bench and 43.2% on Terminal-bench. Both models feature hybrid architecture supporting near-instant responses and extended thinking modes for complex reasoning tasks.

The models introduce parallel tool execution and memory capabilities that allow Claude to extract and save key facts when given local file access. Claude Code, previously in research preview, is now generally available with new VS Code and JetBrains integrations that display edits directly in developers' files. GitHub integration enables Claude to respond to pull request feedback and fix CI errors through a new beta SDK.

Pricing remains consistent with previous generations at $15/$75 per million tokens for Opus 4 and $3/$15 for Sonnet 4. Both models are available through Claude's web interface, the Anthropic API, Amazon Bedrock, and Google Cloud's Vertex AI. Extended thinking capabilities are included in Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans, with Sonnet 4 also available to free users.

The startup, which counts Amazon and Google among its investors, said Claude Opus 4 could autonomously work for nearly a full corporate workday -- seven hours. CNBC adds: "I do a lot of writing with Claude, and I think prior to Opus 4 and Sonnet 4, I was mostly using the models as a thinking partner, but still doing most of the writing myself," Mike Krieger, Anthropic's chief product officer, said in an interview. "And they've crossed this threshold where now most of my writing is actually ... Opus mostly, and it now is unrecognizable from my writing."

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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the end-of-an-era department: An anonymous reader writes: The US Treasury is phasing out production of the penny and will stop putting new one-cent coins into circulation. The US Treasury has made its final order of penny blanks this month, and the mint will continue to manufacture pennies as long as its supply of penny blanks exist.

President Donald Trump stated that production of pennies are wasteful, as the coins cost more to produce than their one-cent value.

Posted by Kenneth Shepard from Kotaku
You might not know it based on my scathing recaps of The Last of Us’ second season, but I love this series. I love the moral conundrums it presents, the violent grief it depicts, and the games’ excellent writing that poignantly brings all of those complicated emotions to the surface. What I don’t like is listening to…

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Posted by Zack Zwiezen from Kotaku
Marvel Rivals’ next big seasonal update is nearly here, and with it, some major balance changes are coming as well as a new map. And for fans of evil robots, the upcoming 2.5 season will add Ultron to the free-to-play shooter’s ever-growing roster.

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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the when-in-Moscow department: The Russian government has introduced a new law that makes installing a tracking app mandatory for all foreign nationals in the Moscow region. From a report: The new proposal was announced by the chairman of the State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, who presented it as a measure to tackle migrant crimes. "The adopted mechanism will allow, using modern technologies, to strengthen control in the field of migration and will also contribute to reducing the number of violations and crimes in this area," stated Volodin.

Using a mobile application that all foreigners will have to install on their smartphones, the Russian state will receive the following information: Residence location, fingerprint, face photograph, real-time geo-location monitoring.

Posted by Ethan Gach from Kotaku
RPG fans love their Collector’s Editions, but few guessed just how big or good Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 would turn out to be, including its own developers. The result was that a very limited set of physical releases, including Collector’s Editions exclusive to certain retailers, immediately vanished from store…

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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the how-about-that department: Verizon is officially asking for a waiver of the FCC's phone unlocking requirements. From a report: "Given the substantial and growing harms to consumers, competition and Verizon from this obligation -- and the lack of offsetting benefits -- the commission should waive this rule," the operator wrote.

Verizon faces phone unlocking requirements stemming from its acquisition of 700MHz spectrum in 2008, and also from conditions the FCC placed on the operator's acquisition of prepaid provider TracFone in 2021. The requirements mean that when a customer buys a phone from Verizon it's locked to Verizon's network for 60 days, so that they can only use it with a Verizon SIM card. After 60 days, Verizon automatically unlocks the phone, allowing that customer to use their phone on another carrier's network.

Posted by Black Convoy from TFW2005


Overlord, specialized in premium and rugged retro brand caps, have teamed with Transformers to offer some new G1 Transformers Caps.  These are four trucker caps featuring Evergreen art of Optimus Prime, Bunblebee, Megatron and Starscream. They are already available to order for $32.00 each via Overlord website. See the images after the break and then share your thoughts on the 2005 Boards!

The post Overlord x Transformers Collaboration: G1 Transformers Caps appeared first on Transformer World 2005 - TFW2005.COM.

Posted by Kenneth Shepard from Kotaku
Way back in 2019, Blizzard confirmed that Soldier: 76, Overwatch’s grumpy grandpa, is a member of the queer community. The titular organization’s ex-commander, whose real name is Jack Morrison, is gay and was involved with a man named Vincent many years before the events of the game. This was revealed in a short story…

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Posted by Samuel Moreno from Kotaku
The general gameplay loop of Monster Hunter Wilds is using cool weapons to fight strong monsters—and then using their parts to make even cooler weapons to fight even stronger monsters. That cycle likely doesn’t have many hitches until you have to wrestle with Zoh Shia. While their debut hunt can be a strong wall, the…

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Posted by George Yang from Kotaku
In Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, you’ll come across quests where you can help out the expedition’s enemies, Nevrons. While most Nevrons are hostile, there are a few that’ll ask for help. One early Nevron quest takes place in the Flying Waters dungeon with a fellow named Demineur.

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