Posted by from MMO Champion
The War Within: Ghosts of K'aresh Key Art and Wallpapers

Blizzard has unveiled the key art and wallpapers for Patch 11.2 Ghosts of K'aresh. To check out the full-resolution images, click the links below or visit the Blizzard Press Center.

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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the how-about-that department: Microsoft is keen to show employees how much AI is transforming its own workplace, even as the company terminates thousands of personnel. From a report: During a presentation this week, Chief Commercial Officer Judson Althoff said artificial intelligence tools are boosting productivity in everything from sales and customer service to software engineering, according to a person familiar with his remarks.

Althoff said AI saved Microsoft more than $500 million last year in its call centers alone and increased both employee and customer satisfaction, according to the person, who requested anonymity to discuss an internal matter. The company is also starting to use AI to handle interactions with smaller customers, Althoff said. This effort is nascent, but already generating tens of millions of dollars, he said.

Posted by Randall Munroe from XKCD
We're building on our earlier success getting web developers to pay to change the backslashes in our displayed payment URL to forward slashes.

Posted by from MMO Champion
Patch 11.2 Ghosts of K'aresh Teaser Trailer

Blizzard has posted a teaser trailer for Patch 11.2 Ghosts of K'aresh, set to release on August 5.

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the troubling-signs department: Western Europe sweltered through its hottest June on record last month, as "extreme" temperatures blasted the region in punishing back-to-back heatwaves, the EU climate monitor Copernicus said Wednesday. From a report: Globally, this past June was the third warmest on record, continuing a blistering heat streak in recent years as the planet warms as a result of humanity's emissions of greenhouse gases. The previous hottest June was in 2024 and the second hottest was in 2023, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said. Sweltering extremes were particularly pronounced in Europe, which is warming several times faster than the global average.

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the aggressive-expansion department: OpenAI is close to releasing an AI-powered web browser that will challenge market-dominating Google Chrome, Reuters reported Wednesday. From the report: The browser is slated to launch in the coming weeks, three of the people said, and aims to use artificial intelligence to fundamentally change how consumers browse the web. It will give OpenAI more direct access to a cornerstone of Google's success: user data.

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the shape-of-things-to-come department: Apple plans to release its first Vision Pro upgrade as early as this year, according to Bloomberg. The updated $3,499 headset will feature an M4 processor, replacing the current M2 chip, and components designed to better handle AI tasks.

The company is also developing new straps to reduce neck strain and head pain from the 1.4-pound device. The Vision Pro launched in February 2024 but has sold only hundreds of thousands of units. Apple is working on a significantly lighter redesigned model for 2027, the report added.

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the moving-forward department: Microsoft has pledged more than $4 billion in cash and technology services to train millions of people in AI use, targeting schools, community colleges, technical colleges and nonprofits. The company said it will launch Microsoft Elevate Academy to help 20 million people earn AI certificates.

Microsoft President Brad Smith said the company would "serve as an advocate to ensure that students in every school across the country have access to A.I. education." The announcement follows Tuesday's news that the American Federation of Teachers received $23 million from Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic for a national AI training center. Last week, dozens of companies including Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and OpenAI signed a White House pledge promising schools funding, technology and training materials for AI education.

Posted by Tony_Bacala from The Toyark


Some reruns for recent Star Wars Black Series and The Vintage Collection figures are live today.  Fan faves Starkiller, Darth Malgus and Phase II Clone Trooper on the TBS front, while TVC gets Darth Revan.  All are pre-orders and will ...

The post New Star Wars Reissues – Starkiller, Malgus Revan and More appeared first on The Toyark - News.

Posted by Tony_Bacala from The Toyark


New McFarlane Elite drop today with a proper articulated Fallout (TV) figure for Lucy.  All the joints, paint and extra accessories you’d expect in the 7 inch scale.  Retail is ~$49.99 with a ship date of Feb 26.  Read on ...

The post McFarlane Elite Edition Fallout Lucy appeared first on The Toyark - News.

Posted by from MMO Champion
Unveiling Pandaria: A Journey Through the Zones of Mists of Pandaria Classic

Originally Posted by Blizzard
(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Hidden by mists for millennia, Pandaria emerges on the horizon—a land of ancient secrets, breathtaking landscapes, and soul-stirring new adventures. Mists of Pandaria Classic invites heroes to step ashore and discover a world that is both serene and savage, where harmony and conflict dance in equal measure.

Each zone of Pandaria is a chapter in a saga that unfolds across rolling jade hills, mist-shrouded peaks, and vibrant villages. Whether you are a fresh-faced wanderer or a seasoned champion, Pandaria’s seven main zones teem with stories to unravel, challenges to conquer, and wonders to explore.

---

The Jade Forest: Gateway to Discovery



The journey begins in the lush expanse of the Jade Forest, where towering bamboo groves sway beneath the watchful gaze of jade statues and cloud-piercing mountains. This is the gateway to Pandaria—a place where the Alliance and Horde’s first steps are met with both opportunity and danger.

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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the closer-look department: Researchers analyzing DNA from 1,313 ancient humans across Eurasia found that zoonotic pathogens first appeared in human populations around 6,500 years ago, coinciding with the transition from hunter-gatherer societies to livestock farming.

The genomic study, published in Nature, identified 5,486 DNA sequences from bacteria, viruses and parasites in blood remnants from bones and teeth spanning 37,000 years. Zoonotic pathogens were detected only in remains 6,500 years old or younger, peaking around 5,000 years ago when pastoralist communities from the Steppe region migrated into Europe with large herds. The plague bacterium Yersinia pestis first appears in the dataset between 5,700-5,300 years ago.

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the facing-the-music department: Restaurants and bars face mounting financial pressure from music licensing fees as the number of Performing Rights Organizations has expanded from three dominant players to at least six nationwide. The National Restaurant Association reports members pay an average of $4,500 annually for music licenses, representing 0.5% of total sales for small establishments. Hotels have experienced even steeper increases, with one major chain seeing costs rise 200% from 2021-2025, and some properties facing 400% jumps.

The proliferation stems from streaming's revenue surge, which attracted new PROs seeking market share. Since many songs involve multiple songwriters affiliated with different organizations, venues must secure licenses from each PRO or risk lawsuits carrying penalties up to $150,000 per infringement.

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the tough-luck department: A federal appeals court struck down a "click-to-cancel" rule that would have required companies to make cancelling services as easy as signing up. The Federal Trade Commission rule was scheduled to take effect on July 14 but was vacated by the US Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit. The three-judge panel ruled unanimously that the Biden-era FTC failed to follow the full rulemaking process required under US law.

The FTC is required to conduct a preliminary regulatory analysis when a rule has an estimated annual economic effect of $100 million or more. The FTC initially estimated the rule would not reach that threshold, but an administrative law judge later found compliance costs would exceed $100 million. Despite this finding, the FTC did not conduct the required preliminary analysis.

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the enough-is-enough department: Monmouthshire schools have launched what they believe is the first countywide policy in the UK asking parents not to give smartphones to children under 14, affecting more than 9,000 students across state and private schools.

The initiative follows rising cyber-bullying reports and concerns that some children spend up to eight hours daily on devices, with students reportedly online at 2, 3, and 4 in the morning. Hugo Hutchinson, headteacher at Monmouth Comprehensive, said schools experience "much higher levels of mental health issues" linked to smartphone addiction, noting that children's time is largely spent outside school where many have unrestricted device access despite existing school bans.

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the new-heights department: Nvidia shares jumped more than 2% on Wednesday, topping a $4 trillion market cap for the first time as investors scooped stock in the tech giant building the hardware for the generative AI boom. From a report: The chipmaker is the first company to ever achieve this market value. Nvidia is the world's most valuable company, surpassing Microsoft and Apple, both of which hit the $3 trillion mark before Nvidia. Microsoft is also one of Nvidia's biggest and most important customers. The California-based company, which was founded in 1993, first passed the $2 trillion mark in February 2024, and surpassed $3 trillion in June.

Nvidia has profited heavily off of growing demand for artificial intelligence hardware and chips since the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022. The company has positioned itself as the decisive leader in the creating the graphics processing units that power large language models.

Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the hide-and-seek department: An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: WIMPs (weakly interacting massive particles) are one of the most serious contenders for dark matter -- the "missing" mass supposedly constituting 85% of our universe. Given its elusiveness, dark matter tests the patience and creativity of physicists. But the latest results from LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ), the South Dakota-based detector, may have brought scientists a small step closer to catching WIMPs in action. In a recent Physical Review Letters paper, scientists analyzed 280 days' worth of data from LUX-ZEPLIN, reporting the tightest ever upper limit on the interaction strength of WIMPs. The result -- a near fivefold improvement -- demonstrates how physicists are increasingly getting better at circumventing the problem that dark matter is, well, dark; the elusive stuff evades any detection method that depends on materials interacting with visible light or other types of radiation.

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Posted by Joe Moore from The Toyark


US pre-orders are now available for the Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire – Heat Ray Godzilla Evolved Version Figure from Hiya Toys. The 7″ tall figure includes swap out face pieces, interchangeable hands, and a heat ray effect. The ...

The post Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire – Hiya Toys Heat Ray Godzilla Evolved Version appeared first on The Toyark - News.

Posted by Joe Moore from The Toyark


Joy Toy has released new photos for some of their upcoming King of Fighter ’98: Ultimate Match 1/18 Scale Figures.  The first three figures are from the Ikari Warriors Team of Leona Heidern, Ralf Jones, and Clark Still. Also debuting ...

The post King of Fighters ’98 – Joy Toy Ikari Warriors Team Figures – US Pre-Orders Live appeared first on The Toyark - News.

Posted by Black Convoy from TFW2005


The official PUGB Mobile YouTube have released the first PUBG Mobile x Transformers Collaboration Official Trailer for your viewing pleasure. PUBG Mobile is a free-to-play battle royale video game co-developed by LightSpeed & Quantum Studio and PUBG Studios for Android and IOS. Read on for details: Prepare for Battle Like Never Before! 🚀🤖 The PUBG MOBILE x TRANSFORMERS collaboration is officially LIVE in Version 3.9! Step onto the battlegrounds and witness the ultimate clash as Optimus Prime faces Megatron in a legendary showdown. Experience the perfect fusion of battle royale intensity with Cybertronian power in the new themed mode. Gear up, convert, » Continue Reading.

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