Technology - Kalakshar US

Judge rules that Krafton must rehire fired Subnautica director

A judge has ruled that publisher Krafton must reinstate Ted Gill as CEO of Unknown Worlds Entertainment, according to a report by Bloomberg. The company fired Gill and two other co-founders last year as part of a shakeup involving the long-anticipated sequel Subnautica 2.

The Delaware judge said Krafton had violated the terms of its contract with Unknown Worlds when it fired the executives. “To remedy these breaches, Gill is reinstated as CEO of Unknown Worlds with full operational authority over the studio,” wrote judge Lori W. Will.

A Krafton spokesperson said in a statement that “we respectfully disagree with today’s ruling” and that “we are evaluating our options as we determine our path forward.” Further litigation over potential damages is still pending.

This legal battle has been brewing for a while. Krafton bought Unknown Worlds back in 2021 and the contract stipulated that executives and staff would get to share in a $250 million bonus if they hit certain revenue targets by 2025. Those targets were not reached, and could not be reached, because Krafton delayed Subnautica 2.

According to the pre-trial brief, Krafton CEO Changham Kim allegedly nixed the payout because it would be a “professional embarrassment” and make him look like a “pushover.” He reportedly consulted ChatGPT to ask about ways to avoid paying the bonus and, oddly, seemed to consider a hostile takeover by a newly-formed entity.

Judge Will dinged the CEO on both counts, saying that Kim regretted committing to the payout and “consulted an artificial intelligence chatbot to contrive a corporate ‘takeover’ strategy.” Engadget reached out to Krafton and the company re-emphasized it was displeased with the ruling but said that it doesn’t resolve the ongoing litigation.

As for the game, Krafton says Subnautica 2 is coming sooner rather than later. We’ve heard that one before.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/judge-rules-that-krafton-must-rehire-fired-subnautica-director-184702823.html?src=rss

Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight’s release date moves up a week

Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is a game that a whole bunch of people are looking forward to, and they might be pleased to learn Warner Bros. Games is making the wait a bit shorter. The publisher has moved up the game by a week from its previous release date of May 29, meaning it will land on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Steam and Epic Games Store on May 22. A Nintendo Switch 2 version will be released later this year.

Folks who buy the deluxe edition will still be able to jump in three days early. Everyone who pre-orders the game will get access to a The Dark Knight Returns Batsuit from the jump.

TT Games is the team behind Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight. The studio did a fantastic job of folding nine movies worth of material into the fantastic Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. Here’s hoping it can pull off a similar trick this time — it has nearly nine decades of Batman history to work with.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/lego-batman-legacy-of-the-dark-knights-release-date-moves-up-a-week-174035977.html?src=rss

Apple acquires popular video editing software company MotionVFX

Apple’s latest acquisition could be a hint towards improvements for Final Cut Pro. The tech giant acquired MotionVFX, as seen on the company’s website and first reported by MacRumors, which is known for providing plugins, templates, visual effects and more to video editors. MotionVFX currently offers its software for a handful of video-editing apps, like DaVinci Resolve and Adobe Premiere, but is also listed as a trusted Apple partner and found in the Final Cut Pro ecosystem of third-party products.

Apple hasn’t revealed an acquisition price nor details of the deal. On its website announcement, MotionVFX wrote that it’s “thrilled to embrace” similar values seen with Apple products and that it’s the “beginning of something wonderful.”

Considering a lot of MotionVFX’s tools are designed for Final Cut Pro and Apple’s Motion app, we could see native integration of popular visual effects and templates into Apple’s app interfaces. It’s worth noting that MotionVFX already offers an extension that creates a panel directly in Final Cut Pro for users to browse, download and apply visual effects from its repository. The acquisition could also hint at Apple trying to make its Creator Studio more enticing in the future, since it includes both Final Cut Pro and Motion. However, there hasn’t been any clarity on what will happen to MotionVFX’s monthly or annual subscription plans, nor its support for competing products.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/apple-acquires-popular-video-editing-software-company-motionvfx-175429480.html?src=rss

Samsung ends Galaxy Z TriFold sales three months after launch

Samsung will reportedly end Galaxy Z TriFold sales in South Korea on March 17, three months after the device went on sale, according to South Korean newspaper Dong-A Ilbo. Samsung has not yet confirmed the report, but Engadget has reached out for comment. In the US, where the TriFold arrived in January, the phone will remain available until existing inventory runs out. A unit at retail (if you can find it) will run you almost $3,000.

Samsung seemingly never intended the model for mass production. It sold the device in small batches through its website, with each selling out within minutes. Samsung reportedly moved roughly 3,000 units across the first two allotments and did not send review units to the media.

Industry sources told Dong-A Ilbo that the TriFold was a technology showcase rather than a revenue-generating product. Rising costs of components like DRAM and NAND flash have left virtually no profit margin on the device. In South Korea, the phone briefly traded for nearly three times its retail price on the secondary market.

In Engadget’s limited time with the TriFold, the device felt solid, despite not having been built for a true production run. The original Galaxy Fold had to be delayed in 2019 after multiple review units sent to the press broke within days.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/samsung-ends-galaxy-z-trifold-sales-three-months-after-launch-182903503.html?src=rss

Encyclopedia Britannica sues OpenAI for copyright and trademark infringement

OpenAI has been hit with another lawsuit. This time, Encyclopedia Britannica took legal action against OpenAI, accusing the company of copyright and trademark infringements, as first reported by Reuters. More specifically, Britannica alleged that OpenAI illegally used its “copyrighted content at a massive scale” when training its AI models. Not just with training, the encyclopedia company claimed that ChatGPT’s responses to user queries sometimes contain “full or partial verbatim reproductions of [Britannica’s] copyright articles.”

Along with claims of copyright violations, Britannica argued that OpenAI was also responsible for trademark infringement. According to the lawsuit, ChatGPT generates “made-up content or ‘hallucinations‘ and falsely attributes them” to Encyclopedia Britannica. The lawsuit doesn’t specify an amount for monetary damages, but Britannica is also seeking an injunction to prevent OpenAI from repeating these accusations.

When reached out for comment, a spokesperson for OpenAI told Engadget that, “ChatGPT helps enhance human creativity, advance scientific discovery and medical research, and enable hundreds of millions of people to improve their daily lives. Our models empower innovation, and are trained on publicly available data and grounded in fair use.”

It’s not the first time that Britannica has filed a lawsuit against an AI company. In September, the company, which owns Merriam-Webster, also sued Perplexity for similar reasons. On the other side, OpenAI is still embroiled in a legal battle with The New York Times, which also sued the AI giant for copyright infringement.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/encyclopedia-britannica-sues-openai-for-copyright-and-trademark-infringement-164747991.html?src=rss

Tech companies are teaming up to combat scammers

A coalition of Big Tech companies is working on a more comprehensive solution to combat online scams. As first reported by Axios, Google, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Meta, Amazon, OpenAI, Adobe and Match Group announced the signing of the Online Services Accord Against Scams. The new agreement is meant to put up a united industry-wide front against online fraud and scams, particularly those from sophisticated criminal networks that use multiple platforms.

According to the Axios report, the measures will include adding fraud detection tools, introducing new user security features, and requiring more robust verification for financial transactions. The agreement will also set up best practices for scam detection, prevention and reporting, while encouraging the sharing of information between companies and law enforcement. On the policy side, the coalition will call on the governments to “declare scam prevention a national priority,” according to Axios. While these measures are extensive, the report noted that they’re all voluntary since the accord doesn’t mention any penalties if the companies don’t follow through.

Many of the companies involved in the new accord already have experience in dealing with scams found on their own platforms. Earlier this month, Meta announced several new features across Facebook, Messenger and WhatsApp that would alert users about suspicious friend requests or accounts. Last year, LinkedIn introduced a new verification requirement for company recruiters or executives to address scams targeting job seekers on its platform.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/tech-companies-are-teaming-up-to-combat-scammers-144616545.html?src=rss

OpenAI’s adult mode reportedly won’t generate pornographic audio, images or video

OpenAI’s forthcoming “adult mode” will allow users to engage in lewd conversations with ChatGPT, but not use the chatbot to generate explicit images, audio or video. In response to reporting from The Wall Street Journal, an OpenAI spokesperson characterized the upcoming release as capable of producing smut rather than pornography.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman first floated the idea of allowing people to use ChatGPT for erotica last October, saying the company wanted to “treat adult users like adults.” OpenAI originally planned to release adult mode at the start of 2026. Since then, the company has pushed back the feature a handful of times, with the most recent delay coming at the start of March so that OpenAI could “focus on work that is a higher priority for more users.”

Through The Journal’s reporting, we’re learning OpenAI forged ahead with work on adult mode despite reservations from its council on wellbeing and AI. The group of eight researchers and experts were reportedly unanimous in warning the company AI-generated erotica could lead to people developing an unhealthy emotional dependence on ChatGPT, and that underage users would almost certainly find ways to access the feature. According to The Journal, one council member, citing cases where people have taken their own lives after becoming attached to ChatGPT, said the company was at risk of creating a “sexy suicide coach.”

Those concerns appear to have been well-founded. At one point, the company’s age verification technology was misidentifying underage users as adults about 12 percent of the time, according to The Journal. At OpenAI’s scale, with around 100 million teens using ChatGPT every week, that error rate would have translated to millions of minors accessing erotic chats. OpenAI told The Journal its prediction algorithm performs to industry standards, adding no such system will ever be completely foolproof.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openais-adult-mode-reportedly-wont-generate-pornographic-audio-images-or-video-150744035.html?src=rss

Apple announces the AirPods Max 2 with improved noise cancelation and H2 chip

The AirPods Max 2 are almost here. Apple announced this morning that the first true update to its over-hear phones are up for pre-order on March 25 and will be shipping in early April. They look identical to the predecessor, with large, colorful earcups and a matching headband. But inside is the H2 chip that Apple first introduced with the AirPods Pro 2, which enables a host of new features. Chief among those is improved noise cancellation — Apple says with the H2 and improved audio algorithms, the AirPods Max 2 are 1.5 times more effective at reducing noise than the old model.

From an audio perspective, there’s a new amplifier on board here as well for clearer music and improved spatial audio performance. If you want lossless music, you can get that by using the included USB-C cable.

There are also a host of non-music features enabled by the H2. These include an “Adaptive Audio” mode that balances between transparency and ANC modes depending on the environment so you can hear things when you need to while still blocking extraneous noise. Similarly, the conversation awareness features lower the volume of your content and increase transparency when your’e speaking. Live Translation comes to the AirPods Max 2 as well, a feature that uses your AirPods and iPhone to translate incoming speech to and from the language of your choosing.

Essentially, the AirPods Max 2 now have almost all the features you’ll find in the AirPods Pro 3, just in an over-ear design. What hasn’t changed is the price — AirPods Max 2 still cost $549, notably more than most of the competition. Despite the high price, the first AirPods Max did sound exceptional — they’ve just been hard to recommend for years because of the aging feature set and cost.

Given that the first AirPods Max were released in 2020, these new headphones are long overdue and are probably what we should have got in 2024 when Apple added USB-C but otherwise didn’t change anything besides refreshing the colors.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/apple-announces-the-airpods-max-2-with-improved-noise-cancelation-and-h2-chip-133319594.html?src=rss

MacBook Pro M5 Max 16-inch review: Still the pinnacle

We’ve loved Apple’s 2021-era MacBook Pro design from the start, and the M5 Max edition is once again the professional notebook to beat. But it’s hard to deny that the star of Apple’s recent laptop rollout wasn’t its most powerful Pro systems — all eyes were on the $599 MacBook Neo. The MacBook Pro’s next time to shine is likely this fall, when Apple is expected to finally deliver OLED models and a dynamic touchscreen interface. (I’ve argued before that, at this point, Apple has no excuse not to give us touchscreen Macs.)

This generation of MacBook Pro might just be the last gasp of the 2021 remodel. It’s still an incredibly powerful machine that’s been honed to near-perfection, but if you’re looking for something that feels truly new, it may be worth waiting several months.

It’s not too surprising to see the M5 Pro and Max MacBook Pros be relatively low-key efforts. Apple launched the M5 14-inch MacBook last fall with a mere press release. But at least that model delivered a noticeable leap in graphics performance. The new M5 Pro and Max chips are a bit faster than before, but they don’t really have any major features to call out. (Unless you’re super excited about Neural Accelerators for AI work.)

I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining too much, though. The 16-inch M5 Max MacBook Pro I’m reviewing is still a gorgeous laptop, with an overall design that most premium Windows PC makers are still trying to copy. Apple’s unibody metal frame design still feels rock solid. There’s a generous amount of ports, including three Thunderbolt 5 USB-C connections, HDMI, a headphone jack and a SD card reader. Its 16-inch Liquid RetinaXDR screen also looks incredible, thanks to its bright Mini LED backlighting, and there’s once again a nano-texture option to reduce glare.

What else could you want in a laptop? I suppose there’s the lingering feeling that an OLED screen would look better, with sharper contrast and pure black levels. But you’d be hard pressed to find much else to complain about with the MacBook Pro’s screen. I’m also intrigued to see how Apple implements a touchscreen interface alongside macOS in upcoming MacBook Pros, but I’ll admit, I haven’t really been compelled to touch this laptop’s display much.

Touchscreens always seemed like a quixotic effort for laptops — they’re nice to have, but Microsoft has been trying to shove them into PCs for 15 years now. The addition of touchscreens really didn’t improve the overall Windows experience much. So I wasn’t surprised to see Apple take its time bringing the technology to macOS — if you really want to swipe around screens, just get an iPad.

MacBook Pro 16-inch (2026, M5 Max) keyboard and trackpad

Devindra Hardawar for Engadget

But back to this MacBook Pro: I still love everything about Apple’s current design. Sure, the keyboard could have a bit more depth, but it withstood my furious typing like a champ. (Unlike Dell’s XPS 14, which tried so hard to be a MacBook Pro-killer.) And the MacBook Pro’s glass touchpad is still one of the best I’ve ever seen in a laptop.

Our review unit was also equipped with 32GB of RAM, a 4TB SSD, a 40-core GPU and Apple’s $150 nano-texture display upgrade, bringing the total for this M5 Max system to a whopping $6,149. That may seem excessive to most consumers, but for creative professionals who actually need the power of the M5 Max chip, it’s not that unusual. You can also save over $1,000 by opting for the M5 Pro chip instead.

So what does the M5 Max bring to the party? Obviously, it’s speedier than the M4 Max. Our review unit was 30 percent faster than the M4 Max-equipped MacBook Studio in the Geekbench 6 multi-threaded CPU benchmark. It’s only 10 percent faster in Geekbench’s single-threaded test, but that still gives Apple room to claim that it has the fastest chip core around. If you’ve got an M4 Max machine, you certainly don’t need to dump it for this lineup. But if you’ve been hammering on an M1 Max or M2 Max system for years, you’ll see some meaningful benefits from upgrading now.

Computer

Geekbench 6

Geekbench 6 GPU

Cinebench 2024

Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch (M5 Max, 2026)

4,338/ 29,261

145,309

192/2,150 | GPU: 22,374

Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch (M5, 2025)

4,310/18,003

48,840

197/1,034 | GPU: 6,143

Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch (M4 Pro, 2026)

3,925/22,456

70,197

178/1,689 GPU 9,295

Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch (M3 Max, 2024)

3,202/21,312

92,344

143/1,686 GPU 13,182

Apple says this new line of MacBook Pros also feature its latest SSD technology, which is up to twice as fast as before. Our review unit reached 13.8 GB/s write speeds and 13 GB/s read speeds in the ATTO disk speed test, whereas previous MacBook Pros hovered around 6 GB/s for read/write speeds. If you’re working with huge data files every day, you’ll likely notice the difference. Another benefit to the new hardware? Apple is now equipping every MacBook Pro with 1TB of storage by default.

All of the M5 chips feature faster GPUs than before, but that’s less noticeable on the M5 Max. I’ve never had trouble running a high-end game like Lies of P on the M2, M3 or M4 Max hardware, and once again it still runs incredibly well with the M5 Max in its native resolution, and with all of the graphics settings cranked up. All I’m looking for is a smooth 60 fps frame rate, and the MacBook Pros have delivered on that for years. macOS isn’t the sort of platform where you’ll be playing many high fps games, but the MacBook Pro’s 120Hz refresh rate is equipped to handle them.

MacBook Pro 16-inch (2026, M5 Max) on a doorstep.

Devindra Hardawar for Engadget

Beyond raw performance, the MacBook Pro continues to be a joy to use. Its screen is gloriously bright, and its smooth refresh rate makes scrolling through documents and websites easy on the eyes. Its six-speaker setup remains the best audio experience I’ve ever heard on a laptop, allowing for crisp, detailed and surprisingly dynamic bass. When I’m too lazy to cast music to my Sonos speakers, I can still have a decent jam session on the MacBook Pro’s built-in setup.

It’s hard to improve much on the 30 hours and 16 minutes of battery life we saw on last year’s 16-inch MacBook Pro, but the M5 Max model managed to beat that by 30 minutes. Realistically, it means you can likely use the MacBook Pro for a few days without needing to recharge, assuming you’re not doing heavy-duty work the entire time.

MacBook Pro 16-inch (2026, M5 Max)

Devindra Hardawar for Engadget

You don’t need me to sell you on the MacBook Pro; all you need to know is that the M5 Max actually delivers. Given how well the standard M5 14-inch MacBook Pro performed, I’d also expect a decent speed bump from the M5 Pro model. The only downside to the M5 systems is that they’ll feel out of date quickly if the rumored OLED and touchscreen models arrive later this year. But if you need the best performance now, it’s hard to go wrong with any MacBook Pro.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/macbook-pro-m5-max-16-inch-review-still-the-pinnacle-120000325.html?src=rss

Firefly is getting rebooted as an animated series

Firefly aired for just one season in 2002 before Fox canceled it. In the 24 years since, the sci-fi show has skyrocketed in popularity and now fans are finally getting more. Nathan Fillion has announced that an animated Firefly series is currently in advanced development, Deadline first reported.

Fillion shared the news at AwesomeCon during a live taping of his podcast Once We Were Spacemen with his Firefly co-stars Gina Torres, Morena Baccarin, Summer Glau, Sean Maher, Jewel Staite and Alan Tudyk. Tudyk co-hosts the podcast, in which the duo look back at their careers and interview past coworkers. Each of the actors present at AwesomeCon are expected to voice the animated versions of their characters.

This isn’t one of those maybe one day it will happen announcements, with many steps already being taken. The animated reboot is under the direction of showrunners Tara Butters (Agent Carter, Reaper) and Marc Guggenheim (DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow) — original creator Joss Whedon is not involved, but has given his blessing. It has early concept art from ShadowMachine, an Oscar- and Emmy-winning animation studio. Fillion is producing the show through Collision33, his production company, and with 20th Television Animation. There’s even already a script in place.

According to Fillion, the one thing left is a home for the series. He and his co-stars took to Once We Were Spacemen‘s Instagram to provide more details and implore FireFly fans to show demand for the reboot.

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A post shared by Once We Were Spacemen (@oncewewerespacemen)

Firefly took place in 2517, centuries after a universal civil war. It followed a group of people living aboard a transport ship, Serenity, flying through the galaxy. In 2005, the show got a sequel in the form of a movie, Serenity.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/firefly-is-getting-rebooted-as-an-animated-series-120604649.html?src=rss