Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the closer-look department: An anonymous reader shares a report: AI firm DeepSeek is aiding China's military and intelligence operations, a senior U.S. official told Reuters, adding that the Chinese tech startup sought to use Southeast Asian shell companies to access high-end semiconductors that cannot be shipped to China under U.S. rules. The U.S. conclusions reflect a growing conviction in Washington that the capabilities behind the rapid rise of one of China's flagship AI enterprises may have been exaggerated and relied heavily on U.S. technology.

[...] "We understand that DeepSeek has willingly provided and will likely continue to provide support to China's military and intelligence operations," a senior State Department official told Reuters in an interview. "This effort goes above and beyond open-source access to DeepSeek's AI models," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to speak about U.S. government information. Chinese law requires companies operating in China to provide data to the government when requested. But the suggestion that DeepSeek is already doing so is likely to raise privacy and other concerns for the firm's tens of millions of daily global users.
Mega Man Wave 3 by Jada Toys 2025-06-23 10:35:03
Posted by Joe Moore from The Toyark


A new assortment of Mega Man 1/12 Scale Action Figures have been announced by Jada Toys. Wave 3 includes Wood Man, Bubble Man, and a new version of Mega Man. Pre-orders are scheduled to open today from sponsor Big Bad ...

The post Mega Man Wave 3 by Jada Toys appeared first on The Toyark - News.
Posted by Joe Moore from The Toyark


Photos and info have been shared by NECA for their upcoming Terrifier – Art The Clown Ultimate 7″ Scale Figure. The figure includes multiple swap out faces, interchangeable hands, a wide assortment of weapons, and a trash bag. It will ...

The post Terrifier – NECA Art The Clown Ultimate Figure appeared first on The Toyark - News.
Posted by Joe Moore from The Toyark


Medicom has revealed a number of upcoming MAFEX action figures. For general release, there is the T-800 and John Connor 2-Pack, and the T-1000 from Terminator 2 Judgment Day, as well as a re-release of the Marvel Comics Miles Morales ...

The post New MAFEX Reveals – T2, Marvel, The Boys, DC appeared first on The Toyark - News.
IYO Sues OpenAI Over IO 2025-06-23 09:55:03
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the vowel-movements department: IYO filed a trademark infringement lawsuit [PDF] against OpenAI and Jony Ive's company earlier this month, alleging the defendants deliberately adopted a confusingly similar name for competing products. The lawsuit surfaced after the Microsoft-backed startup quietly pulled promotional materials about its $6.5 acquisition billion deal with Ive's firm.

The Northern District of California complaint targets OpenAI's $6.5 billion acquisition of "IO Products, Inc.," announced May 21, 2025. IYO, which spun out from Google X in 2021, produces the "IYO ONE," an ear-worn device that allows users to interact with computers and AI through voice commands without screens or keyboards.

IYO has invested over $62 million developing its audio computing technology, it says in the filing. According to the complaint, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Ive's design studio LoveFrom met with IYO representatives multiple times between 2022 and 2025, learning details about IYO's technology and business plans. In March 2025, Altman allegedly told IYO he was "working on something competitive" called "io." IO Products, formed in September 2023, develops hardware for screenless computer interaction similar to IYO's products. The lawsuit seeks injunctive relief and damages for trademark infringement and unfair competition.
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the marching-ahead department: New York will construct the first major new U.S. nuclear power plant in more than 15 years, with Governor Kathy Hochul directing the state's public electric utility to add at least one gigawatt of nuclear generation capacity. The New York Power Authority will identify an upstate location and determine reactor design, either independently or through private partnerships.

The project tests President Trump's May executive orders aimed at accelerating nuclear development through regulatory overhaul, expedited licensing, and expanded use of federal lands for reactors. Only five new commercial reactors have come online since 1991, while nuclear capacity has declined more than 4% from its 2012 peak. Potential sites include grounds of New York's three existing plants owned by Constellation Energy. The state is already collaborating with Constellation on federal grant applications for reactor additions at the Nine Mile Point facility in Oswego and studying Ontario's small modular reactor initiatives.
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the sad-spell department: Apple has quietly removed its day-old "The Parent Presentation" video from YouTube. From a report: The Parent Presentation is a customizable slideshow that explains why a Mac is a useful tool in college. [...] Students can customize the presentation slides, and then show it to their parents to convince them to buy them a Mac. In an accompanying YouTube video shared by Apple, comedian Martin Herlihy showed a group of high school students how to effectively use The Parent Presentation. Some users described the ad as "cringe" and "gross."
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the breaking-news department: The U.S. House chief administrative officer has banned WhatsApp from congressional staffers' government devices citing data vulnerability concerns. The cybersecurity office deemed the messaging app "high-risk" due to lack of transparency in data protection, absence of stored data encryption, and potential security risks, according to an email obtained by Axios.

Staff cannot download or keep WhatsApp on any House device, including mobile, desktop, or web browser versions.
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the what-could-possibly-seep department: Bruce66423 writes (slightly edited to add more context): A former potash mine at Wittelsheim in Alsace now entombs about 42,000 tonnes of toxic industrial waste, and scientists warn that, over time, contaminants could seep upward into the Alsace aquifer, which in turn feeds the transboundary Upper Rhine groundwater system supplying drinking water to millions in France, Germany and Switzerland. Campaigners argue that leaving the waste underground instead of removing it creates a long-term 'time-bomb' for people and wildlife.
Posted by Black Convoy from TFW2005


Coming to us via Weibo user NOTRAB we have a very nice gallery of in-hand images of the hightly anticipated Transformers Studio Series 86 Leader Class G1 Megatron. We have clear shots of the robot mode, showing off posability, accessories, tank alt mode and some comparison images next to Studio Series Commander Optimus Prime. Robot mode will sure please your optics. Now, while this figure is already up for pre-order in China and other Asian markets, we are still waiting for US pre-orders. We could bet that Studio Series Megatron official reveal and pre-orders for the US market will happen tomorrow » Continue Reading.

The post Transformers Studio Series 86 Leader Class G1 Megatron Additional In-Hand Images appeared first on Transformer World 2005 - TFW2005.COM.
Posted by from MMO Champion
World of Warcraft at Gamescom 2025: Midnight Expansion Preview

Originally Posted by Blizzard
(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

World of Warcraft will be at gamescom 2025! Join us for five days of non-stop community celebration. Get ready for a Mythic Dungeon and Arena Showcase, Cosplay Showcase, Developer and Creator Meet and Greets, and much more.

During the show you’ll get exclusive news and updates on the next chapter of the World of Warcraft®: Worldsoul Saga—Midnight —directly from the development team, along with a few additional surprises we have in store.

Where: World of Warcraft booth in Hall 8

When: Wednesday, August 20 – Sunday, August 24 in Cologne, Germany


We can’t wait to see you there! Can’t attend? We’ll have you covered on the official news site and social media channels. Stay tuned for more as we get closer to the event.
Posted by Joe Moore from The Toyark


Blitzway is relaunching their Ghostbusters 1/6 Scale Figures with updated sculpts and new accessories. Pre-orders went live over the weekend. The figures are based on the original Ghostbusters movie from 1984, and includes Egon Spengler, Ray Stantz, Peter Venkman, and ...

The post Ghostbusters Version 2 1/6 Scale Figures by Blitzway appeared first on The Toyark - News.
Posted by Joe Moore from The Toyark


Pre-orders opened for a new COPS ‘N CROOKS – Bulletproof 1/12 Scale Action Figure over the weekend. The new figure is based on the classic toyline from the late 80’s. The figure stands at 6″ tall, with a removable fabric ...

The post COPS ‘N CROOKS – Bulletproof 6-Inch Figure appeared first on The Toyark - News.
S.H. Figuarts Gameverse Cyclops 2025-06-23 05:35:03
Posted by Joe Moore from The Toyark


Hasbro recently launched a series of Marvel Legends action figures based on the Marvel vs Capcom 2 video game. Tamashii Nations is now joining the fray, revealing a S.H. Figuarts Cyclops 6″ Scale Figure based on the game as well. ...

The post S.H. Figuarts Gameverse Cyclops appeared first on The Toyark - News.
Posted by EditorDavid from Slashdot
From the needing-some-space department: Perched in Chile's Andes mountains, "A revolutionary new space telescope has just taken its first pictures of the cosmos," reports National Geographic — "and they're spectacular." Formerly known as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, it's expected to bring "unprecedented detail" to space photography:

The observatory has a few key components: A giant telescope, called the Simonyi Survey Telescope, is connected to the world's largest and highest resolution digital camera. Rubin's 27-foot primary mirror, paired with a mind-boggling 3,200-megapixel camera, will repeatedly take 30-second exposure images of vast swaths of the sky with unrivaled speed and detail. Each image will cover an area of sky as big as 40 full moons. Every three nights for the next 10 years, Rubin will produce a new, ultra-high-definition map of the entire visible southern sky. With this much coverage, scientists hope to create an updated and detailed "movie" they can use to view how the cosmos changes over time....

For the next decade, Rubin will capture millions of astronomical objects each day — or more than 100 every second. Ultimately, it's expected to discover about 17 billion stars and 20 billion galaxies that we've never seen before... When the observatory begins science operations in earnest later in 2025, its instruments will yield a deluge of astronomical data that will be too overwhelming to process manually. (Each night, the observatory will generate around 20 terabytes of data.) Astronomers expect high-quality observations taken with the telescope will help map out the structure of the universe, find comets and potentially hazardous asteroids in our solar system, and detect exploding stars and black holes in distant galaxies.
< This article continues on their website >
Posted by EditorDavid from Slashdot
From the creating-a-buzz department: The classic VW bus got an all-electric update — but that was just the beginning. Now there's an autonomous driving version (that's intended for commercial fleets, reports Jalopnik, "a level 4 vehicle that drives set routes" that's "going into full production" as the ID Buzz AD. (The AD stands for "autonomous driving")

The AD version sports a longer wheelbase and a higher roofline than its mere human-driven sibling, which helps it to fit in the 13 cameras, nine LiDARs, and five radars that will (hopefully) allow the car to drive without crashing into anybody. These are intended for large-fleet customers providing taxi services, either ones run by local governments or private companies. [Volkswagen Group software subsidiary MOIA] has already lined up its first customer, the German city of Hamburg, which will provide the automated Buzz as a public transit option alongside traditional bus and subway services. If all goes well, after Hamburg MOIA "will bring sustainable, autonomous mobility to large-scale deployment in Europe and the U.S.," according to VW Group CEO Oliver Blume. Down the road, VW has also signed an agreement for rideshare juggernaut Uber to use the ID Buzz AD across America, starting with Los Angeles in 2026.
The ID Buzz AD is the first vehicle in Germany to reach SAE International's threshold for Level 4 autonomous driving, meaning that the car can drive itself, with no need for a driver behind the wheel, within designated areas.

It comes with "a full suite of tools for public and private transit providers," notes the EV news site Electrek. "That includes everything from the self-driving tech to fleet management software, passenger support, and operator training. That will allow cities and companies to launch driverless fleets quickly, safely, and at scale."

< This article continues on their website >
Posted by EditorDavid from Slashdot
From the code-monkey-go-to-job department: The Python Software Foundation ("made up of, governed, and led by the community") does more than just host Python and its documnation, the Python Package Repository, and the development workflows of core CPython developers. This week the PSF released its 28-page Annual Impact Report this week, noting that 2024 was their first year with three CPython developers-in-residence — and "Between Lukasz, Petr, and Serhiy, over 750 pull requests were authored, and another 1,500 pull requests by other authors were reviewed and merged."

Lukasz Langa co-implemented the new colorful shell included in Python 3.13, along with Pablo Galindo Salgado, Emily Morehouse-Valcarcel, and Lysandros Nikolaou.... Code-wise, some of the most interesting contributions by Petr Viktorin were around the ctypes module that allows interaction between Python and C.... These are just a few of Serhiy Storchaka's many contributions in 2024: improving error messages for strings, bytes, and bytearrays; reworking support for var-arguments in the C argument handling generator called "Argument Clinic"; fixing memory leaks in regular expressions; raising the limits for Python integers on 64-bit platforms; adding support for arbitrary code page encodings on Windows; improving complex and fraction number support...

< This article continues on their website >
Posted by EditorDavid from Slashdot
From the charging-ahead department: U.S. consumers "rank problems with public electric vehicle charging and the time it takes to recharge as their top two reasons for rejecting electric vehicles," writes the New York Times, citing figures from data analytics firm J.D. Power.

But are things getting better?
Automakers and charging companies are building new stations and updating their cars to allow drivers to more easily and quickly recharge their vehicles. They're also outfitting charging stations with items such as food and bathrooms, and making the devices more reliable. Because chargers are only as fast as the cars they connect with, automakers are designing new cars to absorb electricity at higher speeds. In addition, many automakers have cut deals with Tesla to allow owners of other cars to use the company's fast-charging network, the largest in the country and widely considered the most reliable.

Early evidence suggests efforts to improve electric vehicle charging are paying off. In recent years, J.D. Power surveys showed about 20% of attempts to charge electric vehicles at all public stations ended in failure because of faulty chargers, long lines or payment glitches. But in the first three months of 2025, overall failure rates fell to 16%, the biggest improvement since the surveys began in 2021. "The industry is finally elevating as a whole," said Brent Gruber, an executive director at J.D. Power.

The number of chargers has also increased. There were about 55,200 fast chargers in the United States in May, up from 42,200 a year earlier, according to federal data.

< This article continues on their website >
Posted by AzT from TFW2005


TFNation makes another guest announcement: writer and artist Nick Roche. Roche has most recently been in charge of character design for Transformers: EarthSpark, bringing some recognisable angles to classic designs and newcomers to the franchise. He has also written the last IDW Transformers comic before the license passed on to Skybound, Last Bot Standing with artist E.J. Su, and co-authored the fan-favourite Wreckers Saga, taking on main writing and art duties in Sins of the Wreckers, and collaborating with other Transformers artists for Requiem of the Wreckers. Stay tuned to the TFNation blog for more details and join in the discussion » Continue Reading.

The post Nick Roche To Attend TFNation 2025 appeared first on Transformer World 2005 - TFW2005.COM.
Posted by AzT from TFW2005


TFW2005 member Protoman revealed the latest officially licensed Symbiote Studios Transformers plush, scheduled for purchase availability at Comic-Con International: San Diego next month: Transformers Shoulder Sitter Laserbeak. Score your Soundwave Superior, Autobot and Decepticon logo plushes which are available now then join in the discussion on the 2005 boards!

The post Symbiote Studios Transformers Laserbeak Plush Revealed appeared first on Transformer World 2005 - TFW2005.COM.
© Z-R0E