Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the accepting-new-world-order department: Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan told employees this week that the company has fallen out of the "top 10 semiconductor companies" and that it's "too late" to catch up with Nvidia in AI training technology.

The remarks came as Intel began laying off thousands of workers globally, including 529 in Oregon and several hundred others in California, Arizona and Israel. "Twenty, 30 years ago, we are really the leader," Tan said during a conversation broadcast to Intel employees worldwide. "Now I think the world has changed. We are not in the top 10 semiconductor companies." Tan said Nvidia's position in AI training is "too strong" and that customers are giving Intel failing grades.

Intel's market value has dropped to around $100 billion, roughly half its value from 18 months ago, while Nvidia briefly hit $4 trillion on Wednesday. Tan said Intel will instead focus on "edge" AI that operates directly on devices rather than centralized computers.

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the grave-concerns department: Researchers have discovered 27 million tonnes of nanoplastics distributed across just the top layer of the temperate to subtropical North Atlantic Ocean, according to a study published in Nature. The team sampled water at three depths across 12 locations during a November 2020 research cruise, finding average concentrations of 18 milligrams per cubic meter of three plastic types: polyethylene terephthalate, polystyrene and polyvinylchloride.

These particles, smaller than one micrometer in diameter, behave differently from larger microplastics by remaining suspended throughout the water column rather than settling to the ocean floor. The nanoplastics can pass through cell walls and enter the marine food web through phytoplankton, said Tony Walker, an environmental scientist at Dalhousie University. The world's oceans contain an estimated 3 million tonnes of floating plastic pollution when excluding nanoplastics.

Posted by Joe Moore from The Toyark


A new addition to the revamped Dynamic 8ction Heroes line has been announced by Beast Kingdom. You can now pre-order their Superman (2025) 1/9 Scale DAH Figure. The figure stands at 8″ tall, with 22 points of articulation. It features ...

The post Superman 2025 Figure by Beast Kingdom appeared first on The Toyark - News.

Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the work-in-progress department: An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: On Sunday, Block CEO and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey launched an open source chat app called Bitchat, promising to deliver "secure" and "private" messaging without a centralized infrastructure. The app relies on Bluetooth and end-to-end encryption, unlike traditional messaging apps that rely on the internet. By being decentralized, Bitchat has potential for being a secure app in high-risk environments where the internet is monitored or inaccessible. According to Dorsey's white paper detailing the app's protocols and privacy mechanisms, Bitchat's system design "prioritizes" security.

But the claims that the app is secure, however, are already facing scrutiny by security researchers, given that the app and its code have not been reviewed or tested for security issues at all -- by Dorsey's own admission. Since launching, Dorsey has added a warning to Bitchat's GitHub page: "This software has not received external security review and may contain vulnerabilities and does not necessarily meet its stated security goals. Do not use it for production use, and do not rely on its security whatsoever until it has been reviewed." This warning now also appears on Bitchat's main GitHub project page but was not there at the time the app debuted.

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Posted by from MMO Champion
New Delve, Mythic+ and PvP Mounts in The War Within Season 3

The War Within Season 3 begins on August 12, bringing new mount rewards from Delves, Mythic+, and Rated PvP. Here's a quick look at what you can earn in the upcoming season, alongside the new raid mounts from Dimensius!

New Delve Mount

Delver's Mana-Skimmer - Reward from the seasonal delve quest Repossessed!



Delver's Mana-Skimmer Schematic: Hyperdrive - Reward from Let Me Solo Her: Nexus-Princess Ky'veza



New Mythic+ Mounts

Azure Void Flyer - Reward from The War Within Keystone Master: Season Three





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Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the would-you-look-at-that department: BrianFagioli shares a report from NERDS.xyz: Red Hat has introduced a new option that gives developers a fast lane to enterprise-grade Linux without needing to go through IT. The new release, called Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Business Developers, is now available for free. It offers direct, self-serve access to the same operating system used in production environments, specifically for business-focused development and testing.

The offering is part of the Red Hat Developer Program and is designed to reduce friction between development and operations teams. Developers can now build and test applications on the same platform that powers critical systems across physical servers, virtual machines, cloud deployments, and edge devices. [...] Each registered user can deploy up to 25 instances, whether virtual, physical, or cloud-based. The program includes signed and curated developer content such as programming languages, open source tools, and databases. Red Hat also includes Podman Desktop, its go-to container development tool, allowing users to work with containers that can closely match production environments.

While access is free, developers can choose to purchase support plans that tap into Red Hat's Linux expertise. This could appeal to developers working in business units or teams that want to build quickly without waiting on formal IT approval. This new option complements Red Hat's existing free Developer Subscription for Individuals and the Enterprise Developer Subscription for Teams, which is available through Red Hat reps or partners.

Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the would-you-look-at-that department: Amazon's Prime Day sales plunged 41% on the first day compared to last year's kickoff, with experts attributing the drop to shoppers delaying purchases in anticipation of better deals during the extended four-day event. From a report: Momentum Commerce reported that figure for Tuesday (July 8), with Momentum's Founder and CEO John Shea saying that the sales numbers for this year's longer event could still surpass those of last year's shorter one, Bloomberg reported Wednesday (July 9). Shea attributed the drop in first-day sales to consumers putting items in their shopping carts but holding off on completing the purchase in case better deals come along, according to the report. Last year's shorter event encouraged shoppers to head to checkout to ensure they wouldn't miss out on the discounts, Shea said, per the report. Amazon Prime Vice President Jamil Ghani remains optimistic, telling Bloomberg Television the company was "pleased by the engagement" with shoppers during the event and that it is "very early." He said the company extended the duration of Prime Day because shoppers wanted more time to discover the deals.

According to numbers provided by Adobe, Prime Day's kickoff surpassed Thanksgiving 2024's $6.1 billion in eCommerce spend. The software company also found that 50.2% of sales came through a mobile device and that buy now, pay later orders for Amazon's Prime Day were up 13.6% year over year.

Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the supply-and-demand department: An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: America's largest power grid is under strain as data centers and AI chatbots consume power faster than new plants can be built. Electricity bills are projected to surge by more than 20% this summer in some parts of PJM Interconnection's territory, which covers 13 states -- from Illinois to Tennessee, Virginia to New Jersey -- serving 67 million customers in a region with the most data centers in the world. The governor of Pennsylvania is threatening to abandon the grid, the CEO has announced his departure and the chair of PJM's board of managers and another board member were voted out.

The upheaval at PJM started a year ago with a more than 800% jump in prices at its annual capacity auction. Rising prices out of the auction trickle down to everyday people's power bills. Now PJM is barreling towards its next capacity auction on Wednesday, when prices may rise even further. The auction aims to avoid blackouts by establishing a rate at which generators agree to pump out electricity during the most extreme periods of stress on the grid, usually the hottest and coldest days of the year. High prices out of the auction should spur new power plant construction, but that hasn't happened quickly enough in PJM's region as aging power plants continue to retire and data center demand explodes. PJM has made the situation worse by delaying auctions and pausing the application process for new plants, according to more than a dozen power developers, regulators, energy attorneys and other experts interviewed by Reuters.

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Posted by from MMO Champion
Scenarios & Challenge Modes in Mists of Pandaria Classic

Originally Posted by Blizzard
(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Step once more into the mystical lands of Pandaria and prepare to test your mettle with Scenarios and Challenge Modes. Whether you’re setting foot in the Jade Forest for the first time or you’re a seasoned champion returning to relive the glory, Mists of Pandaria Classic brings these beloved experiences back and are ready for new adventures.

---

What Are Scenarios?

Scenarios are instanced, story-driven adventures designed for groups of three players. These flexible, fast-paced encounters immerse you in the pivotal moments and hidden corners of Pandaria’s rich narrative tapestry. Unlike dungeons or raids, Scenarios offer a streamlined, cooperative experience with no rigid role requirements—tank, healer, or damage dealer, any combination will do.

Scenarios are perfect for players seeking engaging content that’s accessible and rewarding. Each run unfolds with its own objectives, challenges, and unique lore, inviting players to participate in the living history of Pandaria.

Key Features of Scenarios

Flexible Grouping: Participate with any mix of classes and specializations—no need to wait for a tank or healer.

Quick to Queue, Quick to Complete: Scenarios typically last 10 to 30 minutes, perfect for fitting in a quick adventure.

Story-Focused: Each scenario highlights significant events, characters, or battles, deepening your connection to Pandaria.

Scalable Rewards: Earn Valor Points, achievements, and gear upgrades tailored to your level and performance.

How to Access Scenarios

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Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the full-circle department: "Max" has officially reverted back to "HBO Max," two years after Warner Bros. Discovery dropped the HBO branding. Variety reports: The switch had been anticipated to take place sometime this summer, but Warner Bros. Discovery hadn't revealed an exact day for the reversal until now. The timing is key: Execs wanted to restore the "HBO Max" name prior to next week's Emmy nominations announcement on July 15.

The decision to turn "Max" back into "HBO Max" was first announced in May, timed to Warner Bros. Discovery's upfronts presentation. At the time, WBD said in a press release that "returning the HBO brand into HBO Max will further drive the service forward and amplify the uniqueness that subscribers can expect from the offering. It is also a testament to WBD's willingness to keep boldly iterating its strategy and approach -- leaning heavily on consumer data and insights -- to best position itself for success."

The streamer launched as HBO Max in 2020, but then WBD opted to excise HBO from the streamer's name in 2023, changing it to just "Max." (HBO and Max continued to compete under one "HBO/Max" label for industry awards; for next week's Emmy noms, they can once again just be called "HBO Max.") The streaming giant put out a marketing spot announcing that the change was done.

Posted by Black Convoy from TFW2005


Via Emgo on Youtube, we have our first in-hand image images of the new Studio Series Deluxe Transformers One Starscream. Starscream is part of the Studio Series Wave 29 Deluxe and he’s the latest addition to the Studio Series TFOne collection (together with his wave partner Elita-1). He’s a nice and detailed Deluxe, with an interesting transformation for his size. We have clear pics on robot and alt mode plus comparison shots next to other Studio Series TFOne toys. See the images as well as a video review after the jump. Let us know what you think on the 2005 Boards!

The post Transformers Studio Series Deluxe Transformers One Starscream In-Hand Images appeared first on Transformer World 2005 - TFW2005.COM.

Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the PSA department: Over 240 browser extensions with nearly a million total installs have been covertly turning users' browsers into web-scraping bots. "The extensions serve a wide range of purposes, including managing bookmarks and clipboards, boosting speaker volumes, and generating random numbers," reports Ars Technica. "The common thread among all of them: They incorporate MellowTel-js, an open source JavaScript library that allows developers to monetize their extensions." Ars Technica reports:
Some of the data swept up in the collection free-for-all included surveillance videos hosted on Nest, tax returns, billing invoices, business documents, and presentation slides posted to, or hosted on, Microsoft OneDrive and Intuit.com, vehicle identification numbers of recently bought automobiles along with the names and addresses of the buyers, patient names and the doctors they saw, travel itineraries hosted on Priceline, Booking.com, and airline websites, Facebook Messenger attachments and Facebook photos, even when the photos were set to be private. The dragnet also collected proprietary information belonging to Tesla, Blue Origin, Amgen, Merck, Pfizer, Roche, and dozens of other companies.

Tuckner said in an email Wednesday that the most recent status of the affected extensions is:

- Of 45 known Chrome extensions, 12 are now inactive. Some of the extensions were removed for malware explicitly. Others have removed the library.
- Of 129 Edge extensions incorporating the library, eight are now inactive.
- Of 71 affected Firefox extensions, two are now inactive.
Some of the inactive extensions were removed for malware explicitly. Others have removed the library in more recent updates. A complete list of extensions found by Tuckner is here.

Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the fake-it-til-devs-make-it department: After discovering that ChatGPT was falsely telling users that Soundslice could convert ASCII tablature into playable music, founder Adrian Holovaty decided to actually build the feature -- even though the app was never designed to support that format. TechCrunch reports: Soundslice is an app for teaching music, used by students and teachers. It's known for its video player synchronized to the music notations that guide users on how the notes should be played. It also offers a feature called "sheet music scanner" that allows users to upload an image of paper sheet music and, using AI, will automatically turn that into an interactive sheet, complete with notations. [Adrian Holovaty, founder of music-teaching platform Soundslice] carefully watches this feature's error logs to see what problems occur, where to add improvements, he said. That's where he started seeing the uploaded ChatGPT sessions.

They were creating a bunch of error logs. Instead of images of sheet music, these were images of words and a box of symbols known as ASCII tablature. That's a basic text-based system used for guitar notations that uses a regular keyboard. (There's no treble key, for instance, on your standard QWERTY keyboard.) The volume of these ChatGPT session images was not so onerous that it was costing his company money to store them and crushing his app's bandwidth, Holovaty said. He was baffled, he wrote in a blog post about the situation.

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Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the democratizing-robotics-development department: An anonymous reader quotes a report from VentureBeat: Hugging Face, the $4.5 billion artificial intelligence platform that has become the GitHub of machine learning, announced Tuesday the launch of Reachy Mini, a $299 desktop robot designed to bring AI-powered robotics to millions of developers worldwide. The 11-inch humanoid companion represents the company's boldest move yet to democratize robotics development and challenge the industry's traditional closed-source, high-cost model.

The announcement comes as Hugging Face crosses a significant milestone of 10 million AI builders using its platform, with CEO Clement Delangue revealing in an exclusive interview that "more and more of them are building in relation to robotics." The compact robot, which can sit on any desk next to a laptop, addresses what Delangue calls a fundamental barrier in robotics development: accessibility. "One of the challenges with robotics is that you know you can't just build on your laptop. You need to have some sort of robotics partner to help in your building, and most people won't be able to buy $70,000 robots," Delangue explained, referring to traditional industrial robotics systems and even newer humanoid robots like Tesla's Optimus, which is expected to cost $20,000-$30,000.

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Posted by onslaught24 from TFW2005


Yet another first sighting out of Waterford Lakes, Florida, Commander Class Silverbolt has been found at Target! Found by user stickdynasty, the Aerialbot leader has started appearing on shelves and showing up in the Target system, confirming it’s not an error. Like other commanders it also seems Silverbolt is 2 per case and if previous Commander releases are any indication, his shelf presence will be shortlived. Silverbolt remains at $89.99 USD on shelves to match his online price, but with Target’s reset deals he may be a tad cheaper (YMMV). Happy hunting!  

The post Transformers: Age of the Primes Commander Class Silverbolt Sighted at US Retail appeared first on Transformer World 2005 - TFW2005.COM.

Posted by Black Convoy from TFW2005


Japanese website Kujico.com, online store specializing in anime goods, have released some new exclusive Transformers Beast Wars & Beast Wars Metals Merchandise.  We have several new Beast Wars items which will be offered via a lottery. Each ticket is priced 770 Yen (about $5.26 USD) with a sales period frmo 12:00 on July 11, 2025 to 23:59 on August 11, 2025. Read on for details: Prize S: Convoy (Optimus Primal) T-shirt (2% chance to win) Prize A: Acrylic stand set. Robot and beast mode  (8% chance to win) Prize B: Beast Wars scene acrylic stand (12% chance to win) Prize C: Clear files 2-pack » Continue Reading.

The post KujiColle Lottery New Beast Wars & Beast Wars Metals Merchandise appeared first on Transformer World 2005 - TFW2005.COM.

Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the what-to-expect department: IKEA is relaunching its smart home line with over 20 new Matter-over-Thread devices that will work across ecosystems such as Apple Home and Amazon Alexa, with or without IKEA's own hub. This marks a major shift toward openness, affordability, and interoperability, and positions IKEA as one of the first major retailers to bring Matter to the mainstream while maintaining backward compatibility with Zigbee products. The Verge reports: We don't have a lot of details on the over 20 new devices coming next year, but [David Granath of IKEA of Sweden] confirmed that they are replacing existing functions. So, new smart bulbs, plugs, sensors, remotes, buttons, and air-quality devices, including temperature and humidity monitors. They will also come with a new design. Although "not necessarily what's been leaked," says Granath, referring to images of the Bilresa Dual Button that appeared earlier this year. He did confirm that some new product categories will arrive in January, with more to follow in April and beyond, including potentially Matter-over-Wi-Fi products. Pricing will be comparable to or lower than that of previous products, which start under $10. "Affordability remains a key priority for us."

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Posted by Matthew Inman from The Oatmeal
A comic about a toddler telling his first joke.
View on my website

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the encouraging-signs department: The UK has transformed its broadband infrastructure in five years -- with full-fiber coverage jumping from 12% of properties in January 2020 to more than 78% by 2025, according to communications regulator Ofcom and ThinkBroadband data. Northern Ireland leads with 96% of premises in postcodes served with full-fiber connections.

The rollout accelerated after Ofcom's May 2021 regulatory framework gave other providers access to BT's Openreach ducts and poles while promising the company regulatory certainty through a "fair bet" approach that avoided price caps. The framework sparked investment from alternative networks, or "altnets," which increased homes passed from 8.2 million in 2022 to 16.4 million by 2025.

Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the new-and-shiny department: Samsung on Wednesday unveiled three new foldable smartphones at a time when the company is facing increased competition from Chinese rivals such as Honor and Oppo, reports CNBC. The company's share of the global foldable phone market slipped to 45% in 2024, down from 54% a year earlier. Today's new devices include the ultra-thin Galaxy Z Fold 7, the clamshell-style Galaxy Z Flip 7, and the more affordable Flip 7 FE. Here's a breakdown of each: The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is super thin at a thickness of 8.9 millimeters (0.35 inches) closed and only 4.2 millimeters open. It's also much lighter than its predecessor, weighing 215 grams (7.62 ounces). These stats put the phone on par with both Honor's Magic V5 and the Oppo Find N5. The new Fold device has a 6.5-inch cover screen and an 8-inch main display when opened, making it bigger than its predecessor. It's also decked out with premium new cameras, featuring a 200-megapixel main lens, as well as a 10-megapixel telephoto sensor, 12-megapixel ultra-wide and two 10-megapixel front cameras on both the cover screen and on the main display.

Samsung's new Fold generation is, nevertheless, much more limited than other devices in the market when it comes to battery capacity. The Galaxy Z Fold 7 has a 4,400 milliampere-hour (mAh) battery -- far less than the 6,100 mAh power pack in Honor's Magic V5's or the Oppo Find N5's 5,600 mAh battery. Samsung says its device is capable of 24 hours of video playback.

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