Technology - Kalakshar US

NVIDIA shows off its first Blackwell wafer manufactured in the US

NVIDIA has taken a big step towards strengthening its domestic chip manufacturing, revealing the first Blackwell wafer made in the US. The hardware company assembled the wafer, which is the base material for NVIDIA’s AI chips, in TSMC’s semiconductor manufacturing facility in Phoenix, Arizona.

NVIDIA revealed its Blackwell platform last year, boasting a goal of revolutionizing the AI industry through tech giants like Amazon, Google, OpenAI and others who already committed to adopting the next-gen architecture. NVIDIA said the latest platform was more powerful and translated to 25x less cost and energy consumption compared to its predecessor. Now that Blackwell wafers can be made at the TSMC plant, NVIDIA can better insulate itself from the ever-evolving tariff situation and geopolitical tensions.

“It’s the very first time in recent American history that the single most important chip is being manufactured here in the United States by the most advanced fab, by TSMC, here in the United States,” Jensen Huang, NVIDIA’s founder and CEO, said at the celebration event.

With NVIDIA’s Blackwell architecture ready for the volume production stage, the company is still working on expanding its manufacturing footprint across the US. Earlier this year, NVIDIA said it had plans to funnel half a trillion dollars towards building AI infrastructure in the US through partnerships with TSMC, Foxconn and other companies.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/nvidia-shows-off-its-first-blackwell-wafer-manufactured-in-the-us-192836249.html?src=rss

Amazon reveals what one of the US’ first modular nuclear reactors will look like

To meet its massive energy demand for its AI and cloud services, Amazon is investing in nuclear power as a cleaner option. After signing agreements to help build nuclear energy projects last year, the tech giant revealed plans for an upcoming small modular reactor, or SMR, in Richland, Washington. Amazon is working with Energy Northwest, Washington state’s utilities agency, and X-energy, an SMR developer, to build the Cascade Advanced Energy Facility.

The SMR has a smaller footprint than traditional nuclear reactors, but will still offer a modular design that can pump out up to 960 megawatts of power. Amazon is planning to help develop four SMRs in the first phase of the Cascade facility that will provide an initial power capacity of 320 megawatts. After that, the facility has the option to expand to 12 units for the maximum energy output. According to Amazon, construction on the project will start sometime before the end of the decade, while operations are expected to start in the 2030s.

Amazon isn’t the only big tech company to lean into nuclear energy to power its AI operations. In October of last year, Google partnered with a nuclear energy company called Kairos Power to construct seven SMRs across the US. A month later, Meta was also looking to build an AI data center powered by nuclear energy, but reportedly ran into a discovery of a rare bee species that held up plans.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/amazon-reveals-what-one-of-the-us-first-modular-nuclear-reactors-will-look-like-180721637.html?src=rss

Texas hit with a pair of lawsuits for its app store age verification requirements

Texas could have a serious legal battle on its hands thanks to an age verification law for app stores that it recently enacted. In response to the Texas App Store Accountability Act, the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) filed a lawsuit that argues the new order goes against First Amendment rights. The not-for-profit trade association has Amazon, Apple and Google amongst its members.

The law goes into effect on New Year’s Day and requires app store users to verify their age before downloading apps or making in-app purchases. If underage, users have to get parental consent each time they want to download an app or make another in-app purchase. Along with those stipulations, the suit claims that there’s an additional burden on developers, who have to “age-rate” their apps for different age groups.

“This Texas law violates the First Amendment by restricting app stores from offering lawful content, preventing users from seeing that content, and compelling app developers to speak of their offerings in a way pleasing to the state,” Stephanie Joyce, senior vice president and chief of staff for the CCIA, said in a press release.

Along with CCIA, a student advocacy group called Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT) filed a similar lawsuit objecting to Texas’ upcoming app store requirements. Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, the firm representing SEAT and the two high school students named in the lawsuit, said the law “violates the First Amendment by imposing sweeping restrictions on access to protected speech and information.” The law firm also noted the potential dangers associated with collecting personal information, like government IDs, when it comes to verifying identity.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/texas-hit-with-a-pair-of-lawsuits-for-its-app-store-age-verification-requirements-164940290.html?src=rss

Court reduces damages Meta will get from spyware maker NSO Group but bans it from WhatsApp

US District Judge Phyllis Hamilton has reduced the damages Meta is getting from the NSO Group from $167 million to $4 million, but she has also ordered the Israeli spyware maker to stop targeting WhatsApp. If you’ll recall, Meta sued the NSO Group in 2019 over its Pegasus spyware, which it said was used to spy on 1,400 people from 20 countries, including journalists and human rights activists. Meta said at the time that Pegasus can infect targets’ devices even without their participation by sending text messages with malicious codes to WhatsApp. Even a missed call is enough to infect somebody’s device.

According to Courthouse News Service, Hamilton reduced the damages because they would need to follow a legal framework designed to proportionate damages. However, she has also handed down a permanent injunction on the NSO Group’s efforts to break into WhatsApp. In her decision, she took note of statements made by NSO’s lawyers and its own CEO revealing that it hasn’t stopped collecting WhatsApp messages and trying to get around the messaging app’s security measures. The defendants previously said that the injunction Meta was requesting would “put NSO’s entire enterprise at risk” and “force NSO out of business,” since WhatsApp is one of the Pegasus spyware’s main ways to infect targets’ devices.

“Today’s ruling bans spyware maker NSO from ever targeting WhatsApp and our global users again,” said Will Cathcart, Head of WhatsApp. “We applaud this decision that comes after six years of litigation to hold NSO accountable for targeting members of civil society. It sets an important precedent that there are serious consequences to attacking an American company.”

Hamilton wrote that the proposed injunction requires the Israeli company to delete and destroy computer code related to Meta’s platforms, and that she concluded that the provision is “necessary to prevent future violations, especially given the undetectable nature of defendants’ technology.” It’s not quite clear how Meta will ensure that the NSO Group doesn’t use WhatsApp to infect its users’ devices again. Notably, the NSO Group was recently acquired by an American investment group that invested tens of millions of dollars into it to take controlling ownership.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/court-reduces-damages-meta-will-get-from-spyware-maker-nso-group-but-bans-it-from-whatsapp-163016648.html?src=rss

Google has killed Privacy Sandbox

Google’s Privacy Sandbox is officially dead. In an update on the project’s website, Google Vice President Anthony Chavez has announced that the company was sunsetting the remaining technologies developed for Sandbox due to their “low levels of adoption.” A spokesperson has confirmed to AdWeek that Google isn’t just killing those technologies, it’s retiring the whole initiative altogether. “We will be continuing our work to improve privacy across Chrome, Android and the web, but moving away from the Privacy Sandbox branding,” the spokesperson said. “We’re grateful to everyone who contributed to this initiative, and will continue to collaborate with the industry to develop and advance platform technologies that help support a healthy and thriving web.”

The company launched Privacy Sandbox in 2019 as a future replacement to third-party cookies. It’s a set of open standards that are supposed to enable personalized ads without divulging identifying data. Over the years, Google’s plans to deprecate third-party cookies got pushed back again and again due to a series of delays and regulatory hurdles. Specifically, both the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and the US Department of Justice looked into the Privacy Sandbox out of concerns that it could harm smaller advertisers.

In 2024, Google ultimately decided not to kill third-party cookies in Chrome and instead chose to roll out “a new experience in Chrome that lets people make an informed choice that applies across their web browsing.” Just this April, Google announced that it wasn’t going to make any to changes to how third-party cookies work on the Chrome browser at all, and that it was going to “maintain [its] current approach to offering users third-party cookie choice in Chrome.” At the time, the company said that it was going to keep the Privacy Sandbox initiative alive, but things have clearly changed since then. Chavez wrote in the latest update that Google will “continue to utilize learnings from the retired Privacy Sandbox technologies.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/google-has-killed-privacy-sandbox-130029899.html?src=rss

A spooky NES platformer, more N++ and other new indie games worth checking out

Welcome to our latest roundup of what’s going on in the indie game space. I’ve reluctantly paused Ball x Pit for long enough to share some neat new releases and more details on upcoming games — some of which are arriving very soon. We’ve got a notable update for a classic as well.

Steam Next Fest is taking place at the minute, and you still have until Monday to join in by checking out some of the many, many demos that have gone live for the event. Thanks partially (okay, almost entirely) to being unable to escape Ball x Pit, I’ve only tried a fewm Next Fest demos so far.

I’m a fan of Aerial_Knight’s Never Yield and after last year’s sequel, it’s cool to see solo developer Neil Jones (aka Aerial_Knight) trying something totally different. Aerial_Knight’s DropShot is a skydiving first-person shooter with finger guns and dragons. It’s a single-player game in which the aim is to take out your opponents and reach the ground first. Like Jones’ previous games, it’s stylish and fast-paced. I’m planning to check out the full game when it arrives down the line.

It certainly helps to be a fast, accurate typer when you put words together for a living, but I wasn’t quick or precise enough to win any rounds in the Final Sentence demo. This is a battle royale for up to 100 players in which you’re at a typewriter and have to bash out sentences (or other strings of letters, numbers and symbols) in a race to the finish. If you run out of time, make too many mistakes or don’t win, it’s lights out, courtesy of the masked figure with a revolver who’s standing in front of you.

There are some nice touches here. Having to type out the rules in the first few rounds is a clever idea on the part of developer Button Mash. I haven’t won a round myself yet (I finished in second place a couple of times), but watched some streamers play. It’s very funny when the winning player flips the bird at the guy holding a revolver in front of them.

Final Sentence is coming to Steam later this year. Maybe I’ll have learned how to spell “sphinx” by then.

There are a few other Next Fest demos I’d like to try this weekend, namely:

Crashout Crew (Overcooked-style co-op chaos with forklifts)

Reanimal (co-op horror from the team behind Little Nightmares and Little Nightmares 2)

Slots & Daggers (as if I need another slot-machine-based roguelite in my life right now)

The Last Caretaker (sci-fi survival)

Goodnight Universe (we’ll get to that)

I’ve been looking forward to Skate Story for forever, but I think I’m going to skip that demo. I’m already sold and I’m fine with waiting a couple more months before playing the whole thing.

There are a couple of showcases coming up next week that might be worth keeping an eye on. The third annual edition of DreadXP’s indie horror showcase is set for 1PM ET on October 23. You can catch that on the publisher’s YouTube channel.

Two hours later, you’ll be able to tune into the Galaxies Autumn showcase. This will feature more than 50 games, including world premieres, gameplay trailers and other announcements. Games that will be featured include PowerWash Simulator 2, Mouse: PI For Hire and Denshattack, all of which are firmly on my to-play list.

New releases

Mister Scary is a weird little guy. I love when you get to play a game as a weird little guy. The game of the same name is a spooky NES homebrew platformer from Calgames.

Mister Scary can stomp on his enemies, or freeze or burn them after eating a snack. When Mister Scary ducks, he becomes immune to damage because he’s taking a nap. I appreciate that. Nothing scary can happen while you’re snoozing.

Mister Scary is $10 on Itch. You’ll need to plug the ROM into a NES emulator to become Mister Scary.

The only reason I still have Flash Player installed on my PC is so I can open N, which sits on my desktop, once in a while. I’ve been playing that classic freeware platformer for a long time, and now there’s a good reason for many people to revisit the third entry in the series.

As a thank you to the N++ community, Metanet Software is releasing a free update to mark the 10th anniversary of the game’s PS4 debut. TEN++ is said to include the developer’s “most challenging levels yet.” Given how darn tough these games are already, that’s saying something. The update is available now on Steam and it’s coming to the console versions of N++ soon.

The Cabin Factory is an anomaly-hunting (i.e. spot the difference) game in the style of The Exit 8. You’ll examine horror-themed cabins that are built for use in movies and theme parks to make sure they aren’t actually haunted. If you spot an anomaly, you’ll want to get out of the cabin post haste.

This $3 horror walking sim from International Cat Studios and publisher Future Friends Games debuted on Steam last year, and it just hit consoles in time for Halloween. It’s out now on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch.

Upcoming

After CloverPit and Ball x Pit, I was planning to take a break from roguelikes/roguelites before diving into Hades 2. Alas, the latest game from the legendary Ron Gilbert now has a release date, and it’s very soon!

In Death by Scrolling, the aim is to collect enough gold to pay a ferryman so you can escape purgatory. However, there’s a wall of fire coming after you the whole time, so you’ll need to keep moving in order to try to stay alive. You’ll also need to avoid or stun an unkillable grim reaper as you collect gold and gems that unlock upgrades.

Death by Scrolling is from Gilbert’s Terrible Toybox and MicroProse Software. It’s coming to Steam on October 28.

There’s a lot going on in Silly Polly Beast. It’s safe to say this game is a shooter, but the release date trailer rapidly flits between perspectives and genres. There’s an emphasis on survival horror, along with puzzles and stealth segments. Polly will even sometimes remove the board that’s strapped to her back for some skateboarding sequences.

This is said to have a story that morphs and evolves as much as the gameplay does. After escaping her hellish orphanage, Polly lands right in the underworld and has to navigate her way out of that too.

Developer Andrei Chernyshov and publisher Top Hat Studios are behind Silly Polly Beast. It’s coming to Steam, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch on October 28.

Also coming to Steam on October 28 is a project from Autoscopia Interactive that’s designed to be played in a single sitting. As Long As You’re Here is a first-person game that places you in the role of a woman with Alzheimer’s disease. Her memories of the past, including her late brother, blend into the present as Annie settles into living with her family.

As Long As You’re Here started as a student project by Marlène Delrive, who was trying to better understand what her grandmother was experiencing in her final years. “The aim is to create a mature and nuanced experience that shows the difficult repercussions of losing not only your memory, but also your agency and sense of time and place,” the developers said.

Let’s close things out with a new trailer for Goodnight Universe. This is a cinematic adventure in which you play as a six-month-old baby. This particular infant is incredibly intelligent and has psychic powers. Isaac simply desires familial love and acceptance but (shock horror!) a tech company wants to take away the tot.

As with Nice Dreams’ last game (the stupendous Before Your Eyes), you control Goodnight Universe with your peepers via your device’s camera. It seems fascinating, and I really have to check out the Next Fest demo. Publisher Skybound Games is bringing it to Steam, Xbox Series X/S, PS5, Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 on November 11.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/a-spooky-nes-platformer-more-n-and-other-new-indie-games-worth-checking-out-110000259.html?src=rss

SpaceX’s Starshield satellites are reportedly transmitting signals on unauthorized frequencies

SpaceX may be violating international telecommunication standards by allowing its Starshield satellites to transmit to Earth on frequencies it’s not supposed to use, NPR reports. Starshield is a classified version of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network offered on contract to government agencies “to support national security efforts,” according to the company’s website.

The report is based on findings from amateur satellite tracker Scott Tilley, who observed what appeared to be Starshield satellites broadcasting on frequencies normally dedicated to “uplink” transmissions from the Earth to satellites in orbit. Using the frequencies that way violates standards set by the International Telecommunication Union, a United Nations agency dedicated to coordinating the use of radio spectrum across the world.

Standards around which frequencies are used for uplink and downlink broadcasts to satellites were created to avoid interference, among other technical issues. “Nearby satellites could receive radio-frequency interference and could perhaps not respond properly to commands — or ignore commands — from Earth,” Tilley told NPR. It’s not clear yet whether SpaceX ignoring these rules is causing any issues with satellite communication, but should problems arise, there’s now a possible cause.

SpaceX’s first major Starshield project was a $70 million contract with US Space Force in 2023. More recently in 2024, there were reports that SpaceX’s Starshield division had been tasked with building out a network of spy satellites to gather imagery of Earth for the Department of Defense’s National Reconnaissance Office.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/spacexs-starshield-satellites-are-reportedly-transmitting-signals-on-unauthorized-frequencies-212939991.html?src=rss

Ring’s latest partnership allows police to access camera footage through Flock

Amazon’s Ring brand is entering into a new partnership with surveillance company Flock Safety to make it possible for law enforcement to request footage from smart doorbell owners. The move is part of a pivot back to collaborating with police, after Ring spent several years distancing itself and its products from law enforcement agencies.

As part of the partnership, “public safety agencies” using Flock’s Nova platform or FlockOS will be able to use Ring’s previously announced “Community Requests” program to receive footage captured by the camera of a Ring customer. Agencies investigating an event that might have been captured on camera will have to provide details like the “specific location and timeframe of the incident, a unique investigation code, and details about what is being investigated” before the request is passed on to relevant users. Throughout the process, the identity of Ring users is kept anonymous, as is whether they agree to share footage. The entire process is also entirely optional.

Amazon and Ring’s approach to working with law enforcement has varied over the years. While Ring reportedly removed the ability for police to make warrantless video requests in 2024, there were documented cases of the company providing access to law enforcement in years prior. This pivot back towards a more police-friendly stance might have been prompted by Ring founder Jamie Siminoff returning to the Amazon-subsidiary in April 2025. Now Amazon is reportedly pitching its cloud and AI services to law enforcement agencies and Ring is looking to work with Flock and other surveillance companies.

That might not bother the average Ring customer who already planned to opt out of sharing, but there’s reasons to be concerned that Amazon is budding up with Flock. 404 Media reports the company’s surveillance tools have been used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to find and detain people, without a formal contract. Navy and Secret Service employees also reportedly had access to Flock’s network. That doesn’t implicate Ring in anything, but it does make the connection between the two camera networks feel more fraught.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/rings-latest-partnership-allows-police-to-access-camera-footage-through-flock-194609879.html?src=rss

Facebook’s latest AI feature can scan your phone’s camera roll

A Facebook feature that scans your phone’s photo library to make AI collages and edits is now available in North America. Meta tested it earlier this year. It’s an opt-in feature, but the company may train its models on your media if you use its AI editing or share the results.

From a user experience perspective, the idea is to help you find “hidden gems” in your library and turn them into something shareable. After scanning your photo library (with your permission), it will cough up suggestions. For example, it might recommend a collage based on a vacation, a recap of a graduation party or simply spruce up some photos with AI. For better or worse, it’s another step in the direction of automating creativity and skill.

Zooming out to Meta’s business motives, it’s easy to imagine this is a move for more AI training data. The company says it won’t train its AI on your camera roll “unless you choose to edit this media with our AI tools, or share.” If you find it useful enough to use, your media may help train Meta’s AI models.

The company says the feature’s suggestions are private to you until you choose to share them. Its permissions state, “To create ideas for you, we’ll select media from your camera roll and upload it to our cloud on an ongoing basis, based on info like time, location or themes.” However, Meta says your media won’t be used for ad targeting.

Fortunately, it’s opt-in, so you can safely ignore this altogether without privacy worries. If you grant it permission, you’ll see its suggestions (visible only to you) in Stories and Feed. And should you activate it but change your mind later, you can turn it back off through Facebook’s camera roll settings.

The feature is available now in the US and Canada. Meta says it will soon begin testing it in other countries.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/facebooks-latest-ai-feature-can-scan-your-phones-camera-roll-200056906.html?src=rss

The US and Saudi Arabia just derailed a global plan to cut shipping emissions

The US and Saudi Arabia have managed to derail negotiations regarding a landmark deal to cut global shipping emissions, according to a report by the BBC. The deal had already been approved and would have made shipping the world’s first industry to adopt internationally mandated emissions guidelines.

Representatives from more than 100 countries had gathered in London to formally approve the so-called global carbon tax, after nearly ten years of negotiations. However, the US government had been pressuring countries to vote “no” on the measure, threatening tariffs if met with noncompliance.

The US also threatened other sanctions, including blocking vessels from ports and visa restrictions. President Trump has called it a “global green new scam.” The country withdrew from talks back in April, just before the plan was approved.

Saudi Arabia instituted a plan to derail negotiations. The country tabled a motion to adjourn talks for a year, at a time when most countries were set to vote on it. That passed by just a handful of votes, with approving votes coming from both the US and Russia.

This essentially destroys the plan, despite technically being just a delay, as timelines will have to be renegotiated. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared the outcome a “huge win” for Trump.

Even the shipping industry was on-board with the plan, as it offered consistent global standards that don’t currently exist. Industries like certainty. Thomas Kazakos, secretary-general of the International Chamber of Shipping, said that the organization is “disappointed that member states have not been able to agree a way forward at this meeting.” He also said that the “industry needs clarity to be able to make the investments.”

📣 Statement from International Chamber of Shipping following conclusion of MEPC ES 📣

International Chamber of Shipping disappointed that Member States have not been able to agree

For the full statement click here – https://t.co/PXNiDhh9QG #MEPCES #IMO #ICS

— International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) (@shippingics) October 17, 2025

Meanwhile, carbon dioxide levels reached record highs in 2024 and we aren’t doing too much about it. This agreement would’ve forced ship owners to use cleaner fuels beginning in 2028, or face fines. Shipping currently makes up around three percent of global carbon emissions, but that’s expected to rise by anywhere from ten percent to 150 percent by 2050.

Countries are expected to reconvene in April to discuss the plan, but this will likely not feature a vote. It’ll likely be a renegotiation from the ground up.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/the-us-and-saudi-arabia-just-derailed-a-global-plan-to-cut-shipping-emissions-184204170.html?src=rss