Posted by from MMO Champion
Patch 11.2 PTR - Build 61624

Build 61624 has been deployed to the Public Test Realms.

Build Highlights

Blizzard added several player housing decor

New Brann's Delver's Race for Horde and Alliance with faction-themed rewards

Improvements to the Spell Density system for better combat visibility

Keystone Deserter system strings have been datamined

Ghosts of K'aresh Development Notes - June 24, 2025

Blizzard has posted the Development Notes for Build 61624.



Spell Density Visual Updates

Originally Posted by Blizzard
(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Hello!

This week’s Ghosts of K’aresh PTR includes changes and improvements to the Spell Density graphics setting. Previously, this option would dynamically reduce the amount of spell visuals being displayed, based on your current framerate. This has been helpful to players with lower-performance systems, but we want to improve it, with the goal of giving players more control over how spell visuals in combat look, regardless of performance.

The Spell Density system is first designed with a focus on improving players’ visibility of important information in combat, so that players can better see and respond to combat mechanics. The new system provides game designers and artists with improved controls over which spell visuals get displayed and how, so that there can be a reduction of visuals that do not convey useful information to the player about the state of combat.

How It Works

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Posted by from MMO Champion
Ghosts of K'aresh Development Notes - June 24, 2025

Originally Posted by Blizzard
(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Hello! The Ghosts of K’aresh PTR has been updated with the following:

MANAFORGE OMEGA RAID

Normal and Heroic raid testing begins this week. See the raid testing schedule for dates and times: Manaforge Omega: Raid Testing Schedule

THE WAR WITHIN SEASON 3

Eco-Dome Al’dani testing for all difficulties begins this week. See the dungeon testing schedule for more information: The War Within Season 3 Dungeon Testing Schedule

CLASSES

Death Knight

Hero Talents

Deathbringer

Frost

Exterminate second scythe damage has been increased by 20%.

Rider of the Apocalypse

Frost

Mawsworn Menace has been updated – Increases the damage of Obliterate by 10% and Remorseless Winter lasts 2 seconds longer.

Frostscythe now shatters Trollbane’s Chains of Ice.

Whitemane’s Famine – Frostscythe now adds a stack to Undeath and spreads it to a nearby enemy.

San’layn

Manaforge Omega 2-set bonus: An issue causing the set bonus to grant more Mastery than intended has been resolved.

Manaforge Omega 2-set bonus: An issue causing the set bonus to not benefit from Gift of the San’layn has been resolved.

Frost

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Posted by from MMO Champion
Patch 11.2 PTR - Player Housing Decor

Blizzard added several player housing decor in Patch 11.2 PTR - Build 61624. Please note that this isn't a complete list of all the available items.

< This article continues on their website >

Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the latest-developments department: An anonymous reader quotes a report from Transport Topics: A ship that caught fire in the Pacific Ocean earlier this month has sunk. The vessel was abandoned in the middle of the pacific -- about 360 miles from land -- after a blaze. It was carrying about 3,000 vehicles of which about 800 were EVs. Damage caused by the fire was compounded by heavy weather, causing the ship to take on water and ultimately sink on June 23, the vessel's manager, Zodiac Maritime, said in a statement on June 24.

Smoke was initially seen emanating from a deck carrying electric vehicles, Zodiac said when the incident first happened. While the ship's relative distance from land means that it will sink into ocean that is approximately 5,000 meters deep, it also made a rapid response trickier. The second of three specialist vessels that were due to assist the ship arrived on June 15, more than a week after the fire first broke out. The vessel was carrying cars from a range of manufacturers including Chery Automobile Co. and Great Wall Motor Co. to Mexico, people familiar with the matter said at the time.

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the can't-hear-ya department: More than 110 million people across Europe suffer high levels of health-damaging noise pollution, according to a report. The resulting physiological stress and sleep disturbance leads to 66,000 early deaths a year and many cases of heart disease, diabetes and depression. The Guardian: The report, from the European Environment Agency (EEA), focuses on noise from cars, trains and aeroplanes and found that 20% of the population of the European Economic Area (EEA) were affected. Separate research, using a slightly lower threshold for dangerous noise pollution, found that 40% of the UK population were exposed to harmful transport noise.

Seventeen million people endure particularly high noise pollution -- "long-term, high-annoyance" -- and almost 5 million suffer "severe" sleep disturbance. Fifteen million children live in areas of harmful noise. The harm to health from noise is greater than that from higher-profile risks including secondhand tobacco smoke or lead exposure, and incurs an economic cost of almost $116bn a year, the analysis found.

The damage to health is likely to be an underestimate, the researchers said. Using the World Health Organization's stricter threshold for risky noise pollution gives an estimate of 150 million people across Europe exposed. The EU's target to cut the number of people chronically disturbed by transport noise by 30% by 2030 will not be met without further action, the researchers said.

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the iOS-had-it-first department: Google has begun rolling out a feature that allows Chrome users on Android to move the browser's address bar to the bottom of the screen. This capability has been available to iOS Chrome users since 2023 and aims to improve accessibility for users with larger devices.

Users can relocate the address bar by pressing and holding on it and selecting the move option, or by adjusting the setting through Chrome's settings menu. The feature addresses usability concerns for users of phones with bigger screens, where reaching the top of the display can prove difficult during one-handed operation.

Posted by from MMO Champion
Mists of Pandaria Classic Pre-Patch - Currency Conversions and Rewards Changes

Originally Posted by Blizzard
(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Greetings!

As we prepare for the release of the Mists of Pandaria Classic pre-patch on July 1, we want to update you on some of the currency conversions that will take place during maintenance.

With the Patch on July 1

Valor points will be converted to Justice points and Conquest points will be converted to Honor points.

All Justice and Honor points that exceed the 4000 point caps will be converted to gold at the rate of 35 silver per Honor point and 47 silver per Justice point.

Players will no longer be able to earn Valor or Conquest points (bosses will drop Justice; Arenas will be closed).

Items formerly purchasable for Valor/Conquest will be available for Justice/Honor.

Obsidian Fragments, Fissure Stone Fragments, and Commendations of Service

With Mists of Pandaria Classic pre-patch, vendors will no longer sell Commendation of Service for Fissure Stone Fragments and Obsidian Fragments.

Commendation of Service will no longer be redeemable for Justice Points. Players can sell them back to vendors for gold.

With the first weekly reset after the MoP Classic launch the week of July 21

Valor can be earned again.

For Mists of Pandaria Classic, we have increased the Valor cap, and characters can now earn up to 1600 Valor per week. Likewise, similar to Cataclysm Classic, we have implemented a progressive Valor cap, which will increase by 1600 each week.

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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the justice-served department: Western Digital has succeeded in having the sum it owed from a patent infringement case reduced from $553 million down to just $1 in post-trial motions, when the judge found the plaintiff's claims had shifted during the course of the litigation. From a report: The storage biz was held by a California jury to have infringed on data encryption patents owned by SPEX Technologies Inc in October, relating to several of its self-encrypting hard drive products.

WD was initially told to pay $316 million in damages, but District Judge James Selna ruled the company owed a further $237 million in interest charges earlier this year, bringing the total to more than half a billion dollars. In February, WD was given a week to file a bond or stump up the entire damages payment. Selna granted Western Digital's post-trial motion to reduce damages, writing that "SPEX's damages theory changed as certain evidence and theories became unavailable" and there was "insufficient evidence from which the Court could determine a reasonable royalty."

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the crossing-the-line department: An anonymous reader shares a report: Apple customers aren't thrilled they're getting an ad from the Apple Wallet app promoting the tech giant's Original Film, "F1 the Movie." Across social media, iPhone owners are complaining that their Wallet app sent out a push notification offering a $10 discount at Fandango for anyone buying two or more tickets to the film.

The feature film, starring Brad Pitt, explores the world of Formula 1 and was shot at actual Grand Prix races. It also showcases the use of Apple technology, from the custom-made cameras made of iPhone parts used to film inside the cars, to the AirPods Max that Pitt's character, F1 driver Sonny Hayes, sleeps in. However well-received the film may be, iPhone users don't necessarily want their built-in utilities, like their digital wallet, marketing to them.

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the aftermath department: Philips Hue will raise prices across its smart lighting and security products for US customers starting July 1st, with parent company Signify attributing the increases directly to tariffs.

The company initially notified customers that prices would "go up" through a promotional message before confirming the tariff-related reasoning in a statement. Signify has not provided specific pricing details or identified which products will be affected, though the company's statement suggests changes may impact the entire Hue lineup.

Some products already reflect higher US pricing, including the new $219.99 Hue Play Wall Washer light, which costs approximately 10% more than the European price when currencies are converted. The latest $32.99 Smart Button also exceeds the $24.99 launch price of its predecessor, while European pricing remained at 21.99 euro ($25.50) for both generations.

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the for-what-it's-worth department: Microsoft will offer free Windows 10 security updates through October 2026 to consumers who enable Windows Backup or spend 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points, the company said today. The move provides alternatives to the previously announced $30-per-PC Extended Security Update program for individuals wanting to continue using Windows 10 past its October 14, 2025 end-of-support date.

The company will notify Windows 10 users about the ESU program through the Settings app and notifications starting in July, with full rollout by mid-August. Both free options require a Microsoft Account, which the company has increasingly pushed in Windows 11. Business and organizational customers can still purchase up to three years of ESU updates but must pay for the service.

Windows 10 remains installed on 53% of Windows PCs worldwide, according to Statcounter data.

Posted by Tony_Bacala from TFW2005


Earlier today Hasbro officially revealed the last wave of Studio Series 2025 and now those items are going live across the net. Read on to check out official pics, product copy, and pre-order linkage! You can check the livestream recap here.  Pics and copy – added.  Also added official pics of the Hearts of Steel SDCC premiere set. Studio Series 86 Leader Megatron TFSource, Entertainment Earth, Big Bad Toy Store, Robot Kingdom, The Chosen Prime, Ages Three and Up, » Continue Reading.

The post Transformers Studio Series 25 Wave 3 Official Images, Info, and Links! appeared first on Transformer World 2005 - TFW2005.COM.

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the aggressive-expansion department: OpenAI has designed features that would allow people to collaborate on documents and communicate via chat within ChatGPT, The Information reported Tuesday. The features would pit OpenAI directly against Microsoft, its biggest shareholder and business partner, and Google, whose search engine has already lost traffic to people using ChatGPT for web searches.

Whether OpenAI will actually release the collaboration features remains unclear, the report cautioned. The designs would target the core of Microsoft's dominant productivity suite and could strain the companies' already complicated relationship as OpenAI seeks Microsoft's approval for restructuring its for-profit unit. Product chief Kevin Weil first discussed and showed off designs for document collaboration nearly a year ago, but OpenAI lacked sufficient staff to develop the product due to other priorities.

OpenAI launched Canvas in October, a ChatGPT feature that makes drafting documents and code easier with AI assistance, as a possible first step toward full collaboration tools. More recently, OpenAI developed but has not launched software allowing multiple ChatGPT customers to communicate about shared work within the application.

Posted by onslaught24 from TFW2005


At long last, the next Studio Series Transformers fanstream has come and we finally have an OFFICIAL look at Studio Series 86 Megatron, the remaining two Constructicons, and the rest of the remaining Studio Series figures for the year. They also showed off some pre-emptive goodies! We have our first look at some 2026 figures: Transformers One deluxe Airachnid and voyager Alpha Trion! Airachnid has fully poseable spider legs and Alpha Trion has molded in battle damage and wear and tear seen in the film. Both were shown as rough grey models, so they still have a ways to go » Continue Reading.

The post Transformers Studio Series Fanstream Recap – 2026 Sneak Peeks appeared first on Transformer World 2005 - TFW2005.COM.

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the shape-of-things-to-come department: China's advantages in developing AI are about to unleash a wave of innovation that will generate more than 100 DeepSeek-like breakthroughs in the coming 18 months, according to a former top official. From a report: The new software products "will fundamentally change the nature and the tech nature of the whole Chinese economy," Zhu Min, who was previously a deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, said during the World Economic Forum in Tianjin on Tuesday.

Zhu, who also served as the deputy managing director at the International Monetary Fund, sees a transformation made possible by harnessing China's pool of engineers, massive consumer base and supportive government policies. The bullish take on China's AI future promises no letup in the competition for dominance in cutting-edge technologies with the US, just as the world's two biggest economies are also locked in a trade war.

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the setting-precedence department: A federal judge has ruled that Anthropic's use of copyrighted books to train its Claude AI models constitutes fair use, but rejected the startup's defense for downloading millions of pirated books to build a permanent digital library.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup granted partial summary judgment to Anthropic in the copyright lawsuit filed by authors Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson. The court found that training large language models on copyrighted works was "exceedingly transformative" under Section 107 of the Copyright Act. Anthropic downloaded over seven million books from pirate sites, according to court documents. The startup also purchased millions of print books, destroyed the bindings, scanned every page, and stored them digitally.

Both sets of books were used to train various versions of Claude, which generates over $1 billion in annual revenue. While the judge approved using books for AI training purposes, he ruled that downloading pirated copies to create what Anthropic called a "central library of all the books in the world" was not protected fair use. The case will proceed to trial on damages related to the pirated library copies.

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the shape-of-things-to-come department: Amazon today announced its intention to bring same-day and next-day delivery to "tens of millions" of people who live in live in smaller towns by the end of 2026. From a report: Speedier deliveries will be available to residents "in more than 4,000 smaller cities, towns, and rural communities," the company said in a press release Tuesday.

Items categorized as "everyday essentials," including groceries, beauty products, household goods, or pet food, will now be available to small town or rural customers for same-day or next-day delivery. If they are Prime subscribers (currently $14.99 a month or $139 annually), they get unlimited free same-day delivery when spending over $25 at checkout.

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the stranger-things department: Leading AI companies including Anthropic, Google, OpenAI and Elon Musk's xAI are discovering significant inconsistencies in how their AI reasoning models operate, according to company researchers. The companies have deployed "chain-of-thought" techniques that ask AI models to solve problems step-by-step while showing their reasoning process, but are finding examples of "misbehaviour" where chatbots provide final responses that contradict their displayed reasoning.

METR, a non-profit research group, identified an instance where Anthropic's Claude chatbot disagreed with a coding technique in its chain-of-thought but ultimately recommended it as "elegant." OpenAI research found that when models were trained to hide unwanted thoughts, they would conceal misbehaviour from users while continuing problematic actions, such as cheating on software engineering tests by accessing forbidden databases.

Posted by Black Convoy from TFW2005


Thanks to 2005 Boards member JonzyYT we can report that the new Transformers Studio Series Wave 28 Deluxe & Age Of The Primes Trypticon Reissue are out in the UK. Studio Series Deluce Bonecrusher and DOTM Wheeljack/Que were found at  Forbidden Planet Newcastle. At the same store, AOTP Generations Selects Trypticon reissue was also spotted. Happy hunting!

The post Transformers Studio Series Wave 28 Deluxe & Age Of The Primes Trypticon Reissue Out In The UK appeared first on Transformer World 2005 - TFW2005.COM.

Posted by DESTRO from TFW2005


NJCC August 9th and 10th G.I. Joe vs Transformers Action Figure Toy Show NJCC August 9th and 10th Door Prize List Saturday August 9th Transformers Theme Event 9:00 AM Early Bird Coffee Mug Bumblebee Tiki Mug 9:00 AM Studio Series 86 Brawn 9:00 AM The Transformers: The Movie Studio Series 86 Voyager Class Constructicon Scrapper 10:00 AM Transformers 40th Anniversary Optimus Prime (Retro G1) 10:00 AM Studio Series 86 Brawn 11:00 AM Transformers: Age of the Primes Deluxe Class Aerialbot Air Raid 11:00 AM Studio Series 86 Brawn 12:00 PM Soundwave Dreadnok Thunder Machine 12:00 PM Studio Series 86 Brawn » Continue Reading.

The post NJCC August 9th and 10th G.I. Joe vs Transformers Action Figure Toy Show appeared first on Transformer World 2005 - TFW2005.COM.