Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the cease-and-desist department: An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: On Thursday, Telegram announced it had removed two huge black markets estimated to have generated more than $35 billion since 2021 by serving cybercriminals and scammers. Blockchain research firm Elliptic told Reuters that the Chinese-language markets Xinbi Guarantee and Huione Guarantee together were far more lucrative than Silk Road, an illegal drug marketplace that the FBI notoriously seized in 2013, which was valued at about $3.4 billion. Both markets were forced offline on Tuesday, Elliptic reported, and already, Huione Guarantee has confirmed that its market will cease to operate entirely due to the Telegram removal.
The disruption of both markets will be "a big blow for online fraudsters," Elliptic confirmed, cutting them off from a dependable source for "stolen data, money laundering services, and telecoms infrastructure." [...] Elliptic reported that Telegram connected black markets with an audience of a billion users, noting that Telegram tried to remove several Huione Guarantee channels earlier this year, but "the marketplace was ready" with backups and remained online until this week. Wired suggested that Huione Guarantee "operated in plain sight" on Telegram for years. But Telegram suggested it just discovered it. Huione Guarantee is a subsidiary of Huione Group, which was recently sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury for supporting "criminal syndicates who have stolen billions of dollars from Americans." According to Reuters, that included allegedly laundering "at least $37 million in crypto from cyber heists by North Korea and $36 million of crypto from so-called 'pig butchering' scams."
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the under-control department: Uber's autonomous vehicle chief Andrew Macdonald predicted this week that the company will employ more human drivers in a decade despite aggressively expanding robotaxi operations. Speaking at the Financial Times' Future of the Car conference, Macdonald outlined a "hybrid marketplace" where autonomous vehicles dominate city centers while human drivers serve areas beyond robotaxi coverage, handle airport runs, and respond during extreme weather events.
"I am almost certain that there will be more Uber drivers in 10 years, not less, because I think the world will move from individual car ownership to mobility as a service," Macdonald said. The ride-hailing giant has struck partnerships with Waymo, Volkswagen, Wayve, WeRide, and Pony AI. Robotaxis are already operational in Austin and Phoenix, with CEO Dara Khosrowshahi claiming Waymo vehicles in Austin are busier than "99%" of human drivers.
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the closer-look department: School districts across the United States were woefully unprepared for ChatGPT's impact on education, according to thousands of pages of public records obtained by 404 Media. Documents from early 2023, the publication reports, show a "total crapshoot" in responses, with some state education departments admitting they hadn't considered ChatGPT's implications while others hired pro-AI consultants to train educators.
In California, when principals sought guidance, state officials responded that "unfortunately, the topic of ChatGPT has not come up in our circles." One California official admitted, "I have never heard of ChatGPT prior to your email." Meanwhile, Louisiana's education department circulated presentations suggesting AI "is like giving a computer a brain" and warning that "going back to writing essays - only in class - can hurt struggling learners."
Some administrators accepted the technology enthusiastically, with one Idaho curriculum head calling ChatGPT "AMAZING" and comparing resistance to early reactions against spell-check.
Posted by from MMO Champion
Player Housing Press Event - Gameplay and Interviews
Several influencers attended a press event for Player Housing! We'll be recapping new information from the videos below, so check back later today.
Preach and Dratnos Interview
Preach and Dratnos had the chance to talk to Toby Ragaini - Lead Designer on WoW and Design Lead on Housing: Neighborhoods and Jay Hwang - Principal Artist and Design Lead on Housing: Decorations.
The team started playing with prototypes early on and using them informed what things that they needed to add or change. They also had played other games with housing such as Wildstar and FFXIV.
Neighborhoods are zone sized social spaces. Some new tech was added to make neighborhoods unique, expressed by the players that live there.
The team worked to accommodate all sorts of players with differing expectations of how their neighborhood would work.
The team wanted to start with the core fantasy for players and expand from there.
When new patches come out, the design team will look through the new assets and pick some to add to housing.
Garrisons were an isolating experience and the team is determined to not recreate that. Neighborhoods exist to bring people together. There will be reasons to leave, come back, and repeat the cycle.
It would be a disaster if players came in, decorated their house, and had no reason to come back to it.
Housing won't be standalone, it needs to synergize with the rest of the game.
The team talked about uprezing old 2004 assets, but decided against it, allowing players to lean in to the nostalgia if they want (Create a house with only Vanilla assets if you want!)
Player shouldn't be forced to go and run old content for rewards and the team is thinking about how that will work. For example, if you have already done a dungeon, maybe there will be a vendor outside that sells the item you would have earned from running the dungeon the first time.
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Nintendo Of America President Won't Commit To Switch 2 Staying $450 After Launch 2025-05-15 14:25:02
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Marvel Rivals is still the new hero-shooter hotness, but like most free-to-play live-service games, over its six months NetEase’s Overwatch-like has run into a fair bit of controversy. An entire subset of the playerbase went on strike, the team has added new microtransactions, and now it’s added an item that the…
The ad-supported tier of Netflix is going to get way worse, starting some time in 2026. That’s when the streaming giant is promising to implement AI-generated ads and pause ad formats in the middle of watching shows and movies, according to a new report by Media Play News. It’s a privilege for which users will be…
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