Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the step-in-the-right-direction department: An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: Apple's next step for CarPlay is a version you'll only get to try if you're a fan of luxury cruisers or a popular spy film franchise. CarPlay Ultra, with its new suite of exclusive features like custom gauges, is coming first to Aston Martin vehicles with the largest, most blaring dash screens. The more advanced version of CarPlay won't necessarily fix the lingering issues the software has with some modern vehicles. Segmenting CarPlay into newer and older systems may make things worse for those with aging cars. Apple's CarPlay Ultra includes a new kind of dashboard alongside real-time information that can include car diagnostics -- like tire pressure -- or dashboard gauges. You should be able to control temperature and other car-based features as well. The new version of the software includes options for dashboards or console screens, and it will work with on-screen controls, Siri, and "physical buttons."

CarPlay Ultra was supposed to launch in 2024, but Apple missed its release date by close to half a year. The new feature suite was first revealed at WWDC in 2022, where Apple promised a "unified and consistent" suite of informational dashboards offering more control over radio and AC "without ever leaving the CarPlay experience." Last year, Apple showed off "the next generation" of its car-focused app that included custom gauges and other layouts made for a variety of automakers. It lacked much of the full-width, busy design of the initial iteration from two years prior. [...]

< This article continues on their website >

Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the public-statements department: MIT has formally requested the withdrawal of a preprint paper on AI and scientific discovery due to serious concerns about the integrity and validity of its data and findings. It didn't provide specific details on what it believes is wrong with the paper. From a post: "Earlier this year, the COD conducted a confidential internal review based upon allegations it received regarding certain aspects of this paper. While student privacy laws and MIT policy prohibit the disclosure of the outcome of this review, we are writing to inform you that MIT has no confidence in the provenance, reliability or validity of the data and has no confidence in the veracity of the research contained in the paper. Based upon this finding, we also believe that the inclusion of this paper in arXiv may violate arXiv's Code of Conduct.

"Our understanding is that only authors of papers appearing on arXiv can submit withdrawal requests. We have directed the author to submit such a request, but to date, the author has not done so. Therefore, in an effort to clarify the research record, MIT respectfully request that the paper be marked as withdrawn from arXiv as soon as possible." Preprints, by definition, have not yet undergone peer review. MIT took this step in light of the publication's prominence in the research conversation and because it was a formal step it could take to mitigate the effects of misconduct. The author is no longer at MIT. [...]

< This article continues on their website >

Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the cloud-based-agents department: OpenAI has launched Codex, a powerful AI coding agent in ChatGPT that autonomously handles tasks like writing features, fixing bugs, and testing code in a cloud-based environment. TechCrunch reports: Codex is powered by codex-1, a version of the company's o3 AI reasoning model optimized for software engineering tasks. OpenAI says codex-1 produces "cleaner" code than o3, adheres more precisely to instructions, and will iteratively run tests on its code until passing results are achieved.

The Codex agent runs in a sandboxed, virtual computer in the cloud. By connecting with GitHub, Codex's environment can come preloaded with your code repositories. OpenAI says the AI coding agent will take anywhere from one to 30 minutes to write simple features, fix bugs, answer questions about your codebase, and run tests, among other tasks. Codex can handle multiple software engineering tasks simultaneously, says OpenAI, and it doesn't limit users from accessing their computer and browser while it's running.

Codex is rolling out starting today to subscribers to ChatGPT Pro, Enterprise, and Team. OpenAI says users will have "generous access" to Codex to start, but in the coming weeks, the company will implement rate limits for the tool. Users will then have the option to purchase additional credits to use Codex, an OpenAI spokesperson tells TechCrunch. OpenAI plans to expand Codex access to ChatGPT Plus and Edu users soon.

Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the plead-thy-case department: An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Meta thinks there's no reason to carry on with its defense after the Federal Trade Commission closed its monopoly case, and the company has moved to end the trial early by claiming that the FTC utterly failed to prove its case. "The FTC has no proof that Meta has monopoly power," Meta's motion for judgment (PDF) filed Thursday said, "and therefore the court should rule in favor of Meta." According to Meta, the FTC failed to show evidence that "the overall quality of Meta's apps has declined" or that the company shows too many ads to users. Meta says that's "fatal" to the FTC's case that the company wielded monopoly power to pursue more ad revenue while degrading user experience over time (an Internet trend known as "enshittification"). And on top of allegedly showing no evidence of "ad load, privacy, integrity, and features" degradation on Meta apps, Meta argued there's no precedent for an antitrust claim rooted in this alleged harm.

"Meta knows of no case finding monopoly power based solely on a claimed degradation in product quality, and the FTC has cited none," Meta argued. Meta has maintained throughout the trial that its users actually like seeing ads. In the company's recent motion, Meta argued that the FTC provided no insights into what "the right number of ads" should be, "let alone" provide proof that "Meta showed more ads" than it would in a competitive market where users could easily switch services if ad load became overwhelming. Further, Meta argued that the FTC did not show evidence that users sharing friends-and-family content were shown more ads. Meta noted that it "does not profit by showing more ads to users who do not click on them," so it only shows more ads to users who click ads.

< This article continues on their website >

Posted by Claire Jackson, Carolyn Petit, Ethan Gach, and Kenneth Shepard from Kotaku
This week was an odd one. We shook our heads at Bungie doing an absurdly obvious plagiarism with Marathon and were provided no assurances the Switch 2 will stay at its launch price (it could go higher), all while Sony also called to say “hey, the PS5 might have a price hike.” We’re also dealing with our new reality in…

< This article continues on their website >

Posted by Ethan Gach from Kotaku
An AI Darth Vader chatbot voiced by a digital clone of James Earl Jones’ voice joined Fortnite on Friday and players wasted no time trying to break it. It took no time at all for them to get it to start cursing at them, but the controversial Star Wars experiment has yielded all kinds of other weird interactions as…

< This article continues on their website >

Posted by Randall Munroe from XKCD
Turning in other directions can be accomplished by using a magnetized centerboard and ocean currents, since a current flowing through a magnetic field induces a Laplace force.

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the whatever-it-takes department: The Federal Communications Commission has approved Verizon's $9.6 billion acquisition of Frontier Communications, valuing the Dallas-based company at $20 billion including debt. The approval comes after Verizon agreed to scale back diversity initiatives to comply with Trump administration policies.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who previously threatened to block mergers over DEI practices, praised the deal for its potential to "unleash billions in new infrastructure builds" and "accelerate the transition away from old, copper line networks to modern, high-speed ones." The acquisition positions America's largest phone carrier to expand its high-speed internet footprint across Frontier's 25-state network. Verizon plans to deploy fiber to more than one million U.S. homes annually following the transaction.

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the tussle-continues department: Charter Communications announced a $21.9 billion deal Friday to acquire Cox Communications, combining two major cable providers as they face mounting competition from wireless carriers offering 5G home internet. The transaction merges Charter's 31.4 million customers with Cox's 6.3 million, creating a larger entity to defend against aggressive expansion from Verizon and T-Mobile.

Charter lost 60,000 internet customers in the March quarter, underscoring the industry's vulnerability as traditional cable broadband growth stalls. Wireless carriers have successfully marketed their fixed wireless access services at lower price points while delivering competitive speeds, turning what was once cable's most profitable segment into contested territory.

The combined company, which will be headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, plans to adopt the Cox Communications name within a year of closing while retaining Spectrum as its consumer-facing brand.

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the PSA department: Health authorities in densely-populated Hong Kong and Singapore have warned that Covid-19 cases are spiking, as a resurgent wave spreads through Asia. Bloomberg: The virus' activity in Hong Kong is now "quite high," Albert Au, head of the Communicable Disease Branch of the city's Center for Health Protection, told local media this week. The percentage of respiratory samples testing Covid-positive in Hong Kong recently reached its highest in a year.

Severe cases -- including deaths -- also reached its highest level in about a year to 31 in the week through May 3, the center's data shows. While the resurgence is yet to match the infection peaks seen in the past two years, rising viral load found in sewage water and Covid-related medical consultations and hospitalizations suggest the virus is actively spreading in the city of over 7 million people.

Rival financial hub Singapore is also on Covid alert. The city-state's health ministry released its first update on infection numbers in almost a year this month, as the estimated number of cases jumped 28% to 14,200 in the week through May 3 from the previous seven days while daily hospitalization rose around 30%. Singapore now only provides case updates when there is a noticeable spike.

Posted by Justin Clark from Kotaku
No matter who it is, from Goro to General Grievous, you just can’t trust a guy with more than two arms. The creep factor is part of it, but I think you just learn fast that while two of those arms are fine, the most devastating attack always comes, from the other two arms you didn’t even know were there.

< This article continues on their website >

Posted by Billy Givens from Kotaku
Little Kitty, Big City packs a lot to do in its meowtropolis (sorry, that’s my first and only cat pun), all of which is as cute and fun as you’d expect for a game about a lost kitty in a big ‘ol city. But this city is actually more bite-sized than you might anticipate by the game’s name, offering a brief but enjoyable…

< This article continues on their website >

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the how-about-that department: Boys and young men in the United States are experiencing declining outcomes in education, mental health, and transition to adulthood compared to their female counterparts, according to comprehensive data analyzed by researchers. High school graduation rates for boys stand at 83% versus 89% for girls, while college enrollment of recent male high school graduates has barely increased to 57% from 54% in 1960, compared to women's surge to 66% from 38% in the same period.

Mental health indicators show 28% of boys ages 3-17 have mental, emotional, behavioral or developmental problems versus 23% of girls. Male suicide rates for ages 15-24 have nearly doubled to 21 per 100,000 in 2023 from 11 in 1968. Labor force participation among men ages 25-54 has declined to 89% from 94% in 1975, while women's participation rose to 78% from 55%. Additionally, 19% of men ages 25-34 now live with parents, compared to 13% of women. "The contemporary American economy is not rewarding a lot of the characteristics associated with men and masculinity," said Robb Willer, professor of sociology at Stanford.

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the tussle-continues department: Apple and Epic Games sparred over whether the iPhone maker was obstructing access to the hit game Fortnite, the latest tussle in a long-running feud over Apple's control of game distribution revenue. From a report: The game developer said that Apple "blocked" its latest Fortnite app submission so that it can't be released in the US or on the third-party Epic Games Store in the EU.

"Now, sadly, Fortnite on iOS will be offline worldwide until Apple unblocks it," the company wrote on its X account. An Apple spokesperson responded later on Friday, saying that the company "did not take any action to remove the live version of Fortnite from alternative distribution marketplaces" in the EU. Apple said that it asked the game company's European division, Epic Sweden, to "resubmit the app update without including the US storefront of the App Store so as not to impact Fortnite in other geographies."

Posted by Zack Zwiezen and Andy Mills from Kotaku
< This article continues on their website >

Posted by Justin Clark from Kotaku
The murder train continues to roll on in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. This time, we have the sordid tale of the aristocrat Ukita Naoie who sends his kid out of town so he doesn’t have to be there to see him completely betray his countrymen to an army of murderous ninjas. He’s a poet; he plays Go; he’s a good man; we like…

< This article continues on their website >

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the PSA department: MIT said Friday it can no longer stand behind a widely circulated paper on AI written by a doctoral student in its economics program. The paper said that the introduction of an AI tool in a materials-science lab led to gains in new discoveries, but had more ambiguous effects on the scientists who used it. WSJ: MIT didn't name the student in its statement Friday, but it did name the paper. That paper, by Aidan Toner-Rodgers, was covered by The Wall Street Journal and other media outlets. In a press release, MIT said it "has no confidence in the provenance, reliability or validity of the data and has no confidence in the veracity of the research contained in the paper."

The university said the author of the paper is no longer at MIT. The paper said that after an AI tool was implemented at a large materials-science lab, researchers discovered significantly more materials -- a result that suggested that, in certain settings, AI could substantially improve worker productivity. But it also showed that most of the productivity gains went to scientists who were already highly effective, and that overall the AI tool made scientists less happy about their work.

Posted by AzT from TFW2005


Transformers #23 and Void Rivals #22 land in August: ENTER THE MATRIX. The last hope for the Autobots exists within the Matrix of Leadership. But will the Decepticons triumph before those answers are found? SPRINGER VS PROXIMUS! And what is Skuxxoid planning? Discuss the details revealed so far with fellow readers on the 2005 boards! Transformers #23 Creator credits: (W) Daniel Warren Johnson, (A) Jorge Corona, Mike Spicer, (CA) Daniel Warren Johnson, Mike Spicer, (A/CA) Jorge Corona, Mike Spicer, featured, (CA) David Nakayama, (CA) Doug Mahnke, David Baron, (CA) Pye Parr   Void Rivals #22 Creator credits: (W) Robert Kirkman, (A) Conor Hughes, Patricio Delpeche, (CA) Lorenzo » Continue Reading.

The post Skybound’s Transformers Comics Solicitations: August 2025 appeared first on Transformer World 2005 - TFW2005.COM.

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the expensive-paperweight department: Early adopters of Apple's $3,500 Vision Pro mixed-reality headset report widespread disappointment a year after its February 2024 launch, with many devices now unused due to physical discomfort and social awkwardness, according to customers who spoke with WSJ.

"It's just collecting dust," said Dustin Fox, a Virginia realtor who has used his headset only four times in the past year. "It's way too heavy. I can't wear it for more than 20 or 30 minutes without it hurting my neck." Customers told the paper that the device's one-pound weight causes neck strain. The device is also reeling from limited app selection and negative public reactions as primary complaints.

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the PSA department: Broadcom employees have had their personal data compromised following a September 2024 ransomware attack on Business Systems House (BSH), a Middle Eastern subsidiary of payroll company ADP.

The breach, claimed by the Russian-speaking El Dorado ransomware group, wasn't fully identified until December when stolen data appeared online, according to The Register. Broadcom only received details of affected employees on May 12, 2025. Compromised information potentially includes national ID numbers, financial account numbers, health insurance details, dates of birth, salary information, and contact details.

Five employee accounts were initially compromised, ultimately affecting 560 users. ADP has distanced itself from the incident, stating only "a small subset of ADP clients" in "certain countries in the Middle East" were affected.