Posted by from MMO Champion
Warcraft Audio Novella: "The Doom of K'aresh"
Originally Posted by Blizzard
(
Blue Tracker /
Official Forums)
Embark on a legendary narrative journey with "The Doom of K’aresh," a new 3-part audio novella written by Adam Christopher and illustrated by Cynthia Sheppard.
Join Ray Porter, the voice of Locus-Walker, for a reading of the thrilling and tragic tale behind the fall of K’aresh, shattered home world of the brokers and the ethereals, and setting for the second major patch of World of Warcraft: The War Within.
Chapter 1: The Voice from the Void
Shortly before the fall of Dalaran, Alleria Windrunner seeks answers from Locus-Walker about the fall of his home world, K’aresh, and the part Xal’atath played in it. Locus-Walker weaves Alleria a tale of K’aresh at the height of its beauty, and of the day its Worldsoul called to him for aid.
View the PDF
Chapter 2: The Devouring War
After the darkening of K’aresh’s skies, Locus-Walker learns the name of the threat facing them: Dimensius the All-Devouring. As hope fails, Locus-Walker and the Ravel struggle to launch a desperate ploy that might save their world.
View the PDF
Chapter 3: Ethereum
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Posted by Tony_Bacala from TFW2005
Hasbro continues the reprint train today with a new reissue for a semi-recent release – Studio Series 86 Blaster and Eject. For those that missed him the first go around, he’s available again now at Entertainment Earth (we’ll update if other retailers carry him). Retail is ~$34.99 with a ship date of October 2025. Read on for pics and details. Transformers Studio Series 86 Voyager Autobot Blaster & Eject
TFSource,
Entertainment Earth,
Big Bad Toy Store,
Robot Kingdom,
The Chosen Prime,
Ages » Continue Reading.
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Reissue Alert – Transformers SS86 Blaster appeared first on
Transformer World 2005 - TFW2005.COM.
Posted by Tony_Bacala from The Toyark
Batman (No Manâs Land) Entertainment Earth, Big Bad Toy Store, The Chosen Prime, ToyGeek, Amazon (#ad) Nightwing (Teen Titans) Entertainment Earth, Big Bad Toy Store, The Chosen Prime, ToyGeek, Amazon (#ad) Monarch (DC Countdown) Entertainment Earth, Big Bad Toy Store, ...
The post
McFarlane Digital Wave 5 – Classic Nightwing, Monarch, No Man’s Batman & More appeared first on
The Toyark - News.
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the black-mirror department: An impostor pretending to be Secretary of State Marco Rubio contacted foreign ministers, a U.S. governor and a member of Congress by sending them voice and text messages that mimic Rubio's voice and writing style using AI-powered software, Washington Post reported Tuesday, citing a senior U.S. official and a State Department cable. From the report: U.S. authorities do not know who is behind the string of impersonation attempts but they believe the culprit was probably attempting to manipulate powerful government officials "with the goal of gaining access to information or accounts," according to a cable sent by Rubio's office to State Department employees.
Using both text messaging and the encrypted messaging app Signal, which the Trump administration uses extensively, the impostor "contacted at least five non-Department individuals, including three foreign ministers, a U.S. governor, and a U.S. member of Congress," said the cable, dated July 3. The impersonation campaign began in mid-June when the impostor created a Signal account using the display name "
[email protected]" to contact unsuspecting foreign and domestic diplomats and politicians, said the cable.
Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the salad-days-are-over department: An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: The herbicide ingredient used to replace glyphosate in Roundup and other weedkiller products can kill gut bacteria and damage organs in multiple ways, new research shows. The ingredient, diquat, is widely employed in the US as a weedkiller in vineyards and orchards, and is increasingly sprayed elsewhere as the use of controversial herbicide substances such as glyphosate and paraquat drops in the US. But the new piece of data suggests diquat is more toxic than glyphosate, and the substance is banned over its risks in the UK, EU, China and many other countries. Still, the EPA has resisted calls for a ban, and Roundup formulas with the ingredient hit the shelves last year. [...]
Diquat is also thought to be a neurotoxin, carcinogen and linked to Parkinson's disease. An October analysis of EPA data by the Friends of the Earth non-profit found it is about 200 times more toxic than glyphosate in terms of chronic exposure. [...] The new review of scientific literature in part focuses on the multiple ways in which diquat damages organs and gut bacteria, including by reducing the level of proteins that are key pieces of the gut lining. The weakening can allow toxins and pathogens to move from the stomach into the bloodstream, and trigger inflammation in the intestines and throughout the body. Meanwhile, diquat can inhibit the production of beneficial bacteria that maintain the gut lining. Damage to the lining also inhibits the absorption of nutrients and energy metabolism, the authors said.
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Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the would-you-look-at-that department: A team of U.S. and German researchers analyzed over 15 million biomedical papers and found that AI-generated content has subtly infiltrated academic writing, with telltale stylistic shifts -- such as a rise in flowery verbs and adjectives. "Their investigation revealed that since the emergence of LLMs there has been a corresponding increase in the frequency of certain stylist word choices within the academic literature," reports Phys.Org. "These data suggest that at least 13.5% of the papers published in 2024 were written with some amount of LLM processing." From the report: The researchers modeled their investigation on prior COVID-19 public-health research, which was able to infer COVID-19's impact on mortality by comparing excess deaths before and after the pandemic. By applying the same before-and-after approach, the new study analyzed patterns of excess word use prior to the emergence of LLMs and after. The researchers found that after the release of LLMs, there was a significant shift away from the excess use of "content words" to an excess use of "stylistic and flowery" word choices, such as "showcasing," "pivotal," and "grappling."
By manually assigning parts of speech to each excess word, the authors determined that before 2024, 79.2% of excess word choices were nouns. During 2024 there was a clearly identifiable shift. 66% of excess word choices were verbs and 14% were adjectives. The team also identified notable differences in LLM usage between research fields, countries, and venues.
The findings have been published in the journal Science Advances.
Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the virtual-spirit-guides department: An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: Trey had struggled with alcoholism for 15 years, eventually drinking heavily each night before quitting in December. But staying sober was a struggle for the 36-year-old first responder from Atlanta, who did not wish to use his real name due to professional concerns.
Then he discovered Alterd, an AI-powered journaling app that invites users to "explore new dimensions" geared towards psychedelics and cannabis consumers, meditators, and alcohol drinkers. In April, using the app as a tripsitter -- a term for someone who soberly watches over another while they trip on psychedelics to provide reassurance and support -- he took a huge dose of 700 micrograms of LSD. (A typicalrecreational doseis considered to be 100 micrograms.) "I went from craving compulsions to feeling true freedom and not needing or wanting alcohol," he says.
He recently asked the app's "chat with your mind" function how he had become more wise through all his AI-assisted psychedelic trips. It responded: "I trust my own guidance now, not just external rules or what others think. I'm more creative, less trapped by fear, and I actually live by my values, not just talk about them. The way I see, reflect, and act in the world is clearer and more grounded every day." "It's almost like your own self that you're communicating with," says Trey, adding he's tripped with his AI chatbot about a dozen times since April. "It's like your best friend. It's kind of crazy." The article mentions several different chatbot tools and AI systems that are being used for psychedelic therapy.
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Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the human-oversight-required department: Wimbledon's use of AI-powered electronic line-calling has sparked backlash from players who say the system made several incorrect calls, affecting match outcomes and creating accessibility issues. "This is the first year the prestigious tennis tournament, which is still ongoing, replaced human line judges, who determine if a ball is in or out, with an electronic line calling system (ELC)," notes TechCrunch. From the report: British tennis star Emma Raducanu called out the technology for missing a ball that her opponent hit out, but instead had to be played as if it were in. On a television replay, the ball indeed looked out, the Telegraph reported. Jack Draper, the British No. 1, also said he felt some line calls were wrong, saying he did not think the AI technology was "100 percent accurate."
Player Ben Shelton had to speed up his match after being told that the new AI line system was about to stop working because of the dimming sunlight. Elsewhere, players said they couldn't hear the new automated speaker system, with one deaf player saying that without the human hand signals from the line judges, she was unable to tell when she won a point or not.
The technology also met a blip at a key point during a match this weekend between British player Sonay Kartal and the Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, where a ball went out, but the technology failed to make the call. The umpire had to step in to stop the rally and told the players to replay the point because the ELC failed to track the point. Wimbledon later apologized, saying it was a "human error," and that the technology was accidentally shut off during the match. It also adjusted the technology so that, ideally, the mistake could not be repeated.
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