Technology - Kalakshar US

China’s inaugural ‘Robot Olmypics’ delivers impressive feats and disastrous falls

The first-ever World Humanoid Robot Games have come to a close with some new world records, but don’t expect them to beat humans in a 100-meter dash any time soon. The three-day robotics event in Beijing, China that saw humanoid robots compete in everything from boxing to cleaning concluded this weekend. According to the World Humanoid Robot Games, more than 280 teams from 16 countries, including the US, Germany, Brazil and the host country, entered their robots into the event.

A majority of the teams came from universities, but several teams came from established robotics companies like Unitree and Fournier Intelligence. Hundreds of robots competed in traditional sporting events like running, soccer and table tennis, along with events for more practical tasks, like cleaning or sorting medicine. Unitree snagged gold medals in four categories, including the 1,500-meter, 400-meter, 100-meter, and 4×100-meter dash events. According to Unitree, the fastest speed achieved by one of its robots during the event was 4.78 m/s, which is roughly 10 mph.

In the 100-meter sprint, Unitree boasted a 33.71-second time, but that’s nowhere near the world record holder Usain Bolt’s time of 9.58 seconds, which was achieved in 2009. Instead, most teams took this event as an opportunity to showcase the abilities of their designs, while also stress-testing their robots in a competitive environment. We’re still a long way from widespread adoption of these humanoid bots though, especially if they can’t avoid running into each other.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/chinas-inaugural-robot-olmypics-delivers-impressive-feats-and-disastrous-falls-221450258.html?src=rss

Anthropic’s Claude AI now has the ability to end ‘distressing’ conversations

Anthropic’s latest feature for two of its Claude AI models could be the beginning of the end for the AI jailbreaking community. The company announced in a post on its website that the Claude Opus 4 and 4.1 models now have the power to end a conversation with users. According to Anthropic, this feature will only be used in “rare, extreme cases of persistently harmful or abusive user interactions.”

To clarify, Anthropic said those two Claude models could exit harmful conversations, like “requests from users for sexual content involving minors and attempts to solicit information that would enable large-scale violence or acts of terror.” With Claude Opus 4 and 4.1, these models will only end a conversation “as a last resort when multiple attempts at redirection have failed and hope of a productive interaction has been exhausted,” according to Anthropic. However, Anthropic claims most users won’t experience Claude cutting a conversation short, even when talking about highly controversial topics, since this feature will be reserved for “extreme edge cases.”

Anthropic

In the scenarios where Claude ends a chat, users can no longer send any new messages in that conversation, but can start a new one immediately. Anthropic added that if a conversation is ended, it won’t affect other chats and users can even go back and edit or retry previous messages to steer towards a different conversational route.

For Anthropic, this move is part of its research program that studies the idea of AI welfare. While the idea of anthropomorphizing AI models remains an ongoing debate, the company said the ability to exit a “potentially distressing interaction” was a low-cost way to manage risks for AI welfare. Anthropic is still experimenting with this feature and encourages its users to provide feedback when they encounter such a scenario.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/anthropics-claude-ai-now-has-the-ability-to-end-distressing-conversations-201427401.html?src=rss

Roblox cracks down on its user-created content following multiple child safety lawsuits

Following a wave of lawsuits alleging that Roblox doesn’t provide a safe environment for its underage users, the gaming platform made a series of sweeping updates to its policies. To address recent concerns, Roblox published a post on its website detailing these major changes, including restricting all unrated experiences, which is what Roblox calls its user-generated games, to the developer or those actively working with them. Roblox said this change will roll out in the coming months, representing a big shift from its previous policy that allowed users 13 or older to access unrated experiences.

To further prevent any inappropriate behavior, any “social hangout” experiences that depict private spaces, like bedrooms or bathrooms, will be limited to ID-verified users who are 17 or older. Roblox will also restrict social hangout games that mostly take place in those previously-mentioned private spaces or adult-only places, like bars or clubs, to users who are at least 17 and have been ID-verified. To assist with the new rules, Roblox will roll out a new tool that automatically detects “violative scenes,” or more simply, user activity that goes against the rules. According to Roblox’s new policies, a server that hits enough violations will automatically get taken down and will have to work with the Roblox team to adjust the experience and get it back online.

These policy changes come after several lawsuits were filed against Roblox that claim the game doesn’t protect its younger users. In response to the lawsuit filed by Louisiana’s attorney general, Roblox wrote in a separate post that it works to block any efforts at exploitative behavior and constantly enhances its moderation approaches.

“Any assertion that Roblox would intentionally put our users at risk of exploitation is simply untrue,” the company statement read. “No system is perfect and bad actors adapt to evade detection, including efforts to take users to other platforms, where safety standards and moderation practices may differ.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/roblox-cracks-down-on-its-user-created-content-following-multiple-child-safety-lawsuits-193452150.html?src=rss

Court blocks FTC investigation into Media Matters’ alleged scheme against X

The court has blocked the Federal Trade Commission’s investigation into Media Matters, the media nonprofit that previously published research showing that ads appeared on X alongside neo-Nazi and other antisemitic content. In 2023, Elon Musk’s X filed a lawsuit against the media watchdog following an advertiser exodus. It accused Media Matters of “knowingly and maliciously manufactur[ing] side-by-side images depicting advertisers’ posts on X Corp.’s social media platform beside Neo-Nazi and white national fringe content.” Just this May, the FTC started looking into whether the nonprofit violated antitrust laws by allegedly colluding with advertising and advocacy groups to boycott X.

In June, Media Matters sued the FTC, accusing it of unfairly targeting the group in retaliation for past criticisms of X. “The Federal Trade Commission seeks to punish Media Matters for its journalism and speech in exposing matters of substantial public concern — including how X.com has enabled and profited from extremist content that proliferated after Elon Musk took over the platform formerly known as Twitter,” the group said at the time. Now, Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan has granted a preliminary injunction in the nonprofit’s favor.

Sooknanan has agreed with the group that the FTC’s investigation is “a retaliatory act” and has noted that it is “likely to succeed on its First Amendment retaliation claim.” She wrote in her decision that such probes would deter other reporters from speaking again. “Indeed, the FTC’s [investigation] has had its intended effect.” Apparently, because of the probe, Media Matters has “decided against pursuing certain stories about the FTC, Chairman Ferguson, and Mr. Musk.”

“The court’s ruling demonstrates the importance of fighting over folding, which far too many are doing when confronted with intimidation from the Trump administration,” Angelo Carusone, the president of Media Matters, told The New York Times. “We will continue to stand up and fight for the First Amendment rights that protect every American.” As the publication notes, courts had also blocked investigations into the group by the attorneys general in Texas and Missouri. Musk’s lawsuits against the nonprofit, however, are still ongoing.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/court-blocks-ftc-investigation-into-media-matters-alleged-scheme-against-x-160021473.html?src=rss

How to use (or turn off) your Instagram Map

Instagram Map, the new Instagram feature copying Snapchat’s Snap Map, makes it simple to share your location with friends. So simple you might not understand who you’re sharing it without digging into your settings. That’s naturally led to confusion from some Instagram users as to how the feature works.

If you already spend a lot of time on Instagram and are looking for a way to see where your friends have been, it’s worth familiarizing yourself with how Instagram Map works. And if you’re worried about what information Instagram is broadcasting without your knowledge, you might as well get comfortable with the feature’s settings. Here’s how to do both in the Instagram app.

How to use Instagram Map

Ian Carlos Campbell for Engadget

To access Instagram Map, you’ll have to head to the DMs section of Instagram, and then tap on the Map icon in the top row of status icons. The first time you tap on the map, Instagram will walk you through how Instagram Map shares your location, and why Location Services needs to be enabled for it will work. Then, if you’re not already sharing your location with Instagram, you’ll receive a pop-up from your phone asking if you want to share your location. Tapping through that will take you to the map itself.

The majority of the Instagram Map is taken up by a map displaying your current location, with a search bar at the bottom for looking up the location of your friends. Scroll around for a bit and your might see a profile picture marking a friend’s current location, or miniature posts tagged with a specific location. There’s a few basic things you can do with Instagram Map:

Swipe around and see friends’ posts displayed geographically

Use the search bar to find a friend’s current location or recent tagged posts

Tap on a friend to be taken to their profile, or a post to see it in full

Instagram Map is primarily informational. It can tell your where your friends are or where they’ve recently been, and let you view content based on where it was posted. It’s really not much more complicated then that. Unless you’re picky about who can see your location.

How to stop sharing your location with Instagram Map

Ian Carlos Campbell for Engadget

Sharing your location on Instagram Map is opt-in. Your current location won’t be shared on Instagram unless you actively choose to share it. What will be there are any posts that have a location tagged in them, something that’s an option every time you add photos and videos to your Stories or your grid.

Instagram gives you four different sharing options for the Map. You can share with:

Friends: Followers that you follow back

Close Friends: Followers already in your Close Friends list

Only these friends: Specific people you choose

No one: Don’t share your location (except for posts with tagged locations)

So to disable location sharing entirely in Instagram Map, or change who can see your location:

Open the Instagram app.

Tap on the DMs icon in the top-right corner.

Tap on the Map icon.

Tap on the Location Settings menu (shaped like a gear) in the top-right corner.

And then tap on “No one”, to disable location sharing.

To change who you share your location with, follow the same steps except instead of choosing “No one,” choose one of the other options Instagram offers.

How to never share specific locations on Instagram Map

Ian Carlos Campbell for Engadget

For even more granular control over location sharing, you can also add specific locations to a list of “Hidden Places” that will never appear on Instagram Map while you’re visiting. If you want to modify that list, open the Map feature, then:

Tap on Location Settings (the gear icon) in the top-right corner.

Tap on the three-dot menu in the corner of the settings menu.

Tap on Hide Places.

Tap and drag a pin on the map to mark a hidden place, and then set a radius around it with the slider.

Type in the name of the place and then tap Done.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/how-to-use-or-turn-off-your-instagram-map-140035365.html?src=rss

Engadget review recap: Dell 14 Premium, Framework Desktop, Sony Theater Bar 6 and more

With a barrage of new Apple and Google devices around the corner, our reviews team is clearing their desks of new products before the pre-fall deluge begins. There’s a well-rounded mix of in-depth testing this time around, including a detailed preview of watchOS 26 and more VPN trials. Kick off the weekend by catching up on all of the reviews you might’ve missed over the last few weeks from Engadget.

Dell 14 Premium

While we’re still trying to wrap our heads around Dell’s naming scheme decision, the company continues to churn out new devices. The latest to cross senior reviews writer Sam Rutherford’s desk was the Dell 14 Premium. You might remember this model as the XPS 14, and according to Sam, Dell retained “the DNA” that made previous versions some of the best notebook PCs you could buy. “Even with a new and rather uninspired name, it probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Dell 14 Premium remains one of the best Windows laptops on the market,” he said. “It has the same sleek design from back when it was still called the XPS 14 but with some refreshed specs and components for 2025.”

Framework Desktop (2025)

Framework is known for its modular, repairable laptops, but the company has now tried its hand at bringing the same formula to a desktop. Unfortunately, the first attempt isn’t nearly as modular or repairable as a regular PC, according to senior editor Daniel Cooper. “Framework was open about the fact this was something akin to a side project, outside its regular remit to build modular laptops, based on a particularly exciting chip,” he explained. “So while I think the all-in-one approach is a backward step compared to regular PCs, I get the rationale for doing so here.”

Sony Bravia Theater Bar 6

This year’s crop of soundbars finally arrived over the summer, so I’ve been spending lots of time with home theater speakers recently. The latest was the Sony Bravia Theater Bar 6, a soundbar/subwoofer combo that sits in the middle of the company’s current lineup. Despite great sound and dialogue performance, the caveats here are real dealbreakers. “The lack of Wi-Fi on a $650 soundbar is absurd, mostly because it strips users of the convenience of AirPlay, Chromecast and other wireless connection options,” I wrote. “I also can’t get over the need to use a thumb drive for updates when OTA downloads for new firmware have been the norm on soundbars for years.”

Lenovo ThinkPad X9-14 Aura Edition

Lenovo’s ThinkPads are popular office laptops, and the X9-14 is the latest in a long line of business machines. Contributing writer Rami Tabari explains that this model offers a lot of the qualities that make ThinkPads great, but the price, low-power CPU and subpar keyboard leave something to be desired. “I can’t justify the average consumer paying $1,283 for the ThinkPad X9-14 with specs you’d find in laptops that cost hundreds of dollars less (minus the RAM, of course),” he noted. “For small business owners, I recommend waiting for a sale or consider a business laptop marketed more toward you (again, the ASUS ExpertBook P5 (P5405) is a great choice).”

watchOS 26 preview and Norton VPN review

We’re quickly approaching the arrival of a new set of Apple Watches, so senior buying advice reporter Amy Skorheim spent two weeks with the upcoming version of watchOS. Her favorite new features are the AI workout partner and added gesture, but she explained that it’s the little things that make this annual overhaul worthwhile.

Meanwhile, senior writer Sam Chapman returned to the land of VPNs to test Norton’s version as a standalone app. While this service isn’t necessarily bad, it also doesn’t offer enough to rise above the heap that includes ExpressVPN, Surfshark and others. “After a week of working with Norton VPN, I have to conclude that the only way it distinguishes itself is the Norton name,” he said. “For everything else it does, a competitor does it better.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/engadget-review-recap-dell-14-premium-framework-desktop-sony-theater-bar-6-and-more-130008670.html?src=rss

A brilliant puzzle-platformer, Enter the Gungeon on mobile and other new indie games worth checking out

Welcome to our latest recap of what’s going on in the indie game space. Quite a few intriguing games dropped this week and some high-profile ones have been ported to more platforms. Before we get to those, though, I’d like to tell you about one of my favorite games of the year so far.

I struggle to fully engage with many RPGs. By and large, I’m not interested in spending lots of time optimizing my character, speccing out a skill tree or scouring for the very best equipment to match my playstyle. I find it far more interesting when a game offers a limited toolset and a huge variety of ways to use those mechanics, typically by providing a small number of abilities and powerups as well as really clever level design.

Such is the case with Öoo, which arrived on Steam last week and is the latest game from Elechead developer Nama Takahashi. This is a puzzle-platformer that you can complete in one sitting and it’s utterly captivating.

You play as a caterpillar that uses a bomb — and later a second one — to blow stuff up and move around. If you want to reach a higher platform, you’ll need to detonate a bomb you’re sitting on. The controls are simple too, as you only need to move, and drop and blow up bombs.

The design of this game, though, is anything but simple. There’s almost no text here, even in the menus. You learn by experimenting and figuring out how to navigate what’s in front of you. You’ll have to backtrack a bit to solve certain puzzles. It’s so mechanically tight that a 15-second trailer is all you need to understand what Öoo is about:

I smiled the entire way through this one — even when I got momentarily stumped — and I let out a satisfied chuckle or two when I figured out solutions to problems. It helps that the visuals (by artist Hachinos) and audio are charming as hell. The title of the game is absolutely terrific, too. The umlaut is important because it makes the lettering look like your character with a pair of bombs trailing behind it. This is emblematic of the level of thought, care and detail that Takahashi and co. have put into Öoo. That extends to the end credits, which lists several games that inspired this one. Such a beautiful touch.

Öoo reminds me a bit of Animal Well. It doesn’t have nearly the same level of depth as one of our favorites of 2024, but it doesn’t need to. It’s perfect the way it is.

It also brings to mind another perfect game, Poinpy, with even composer Tsuyomi’s work reminding me of that game’s fantastic music. I’m still sad that it’s impossible for me to play Poinpy right now, as it vanished from Netflix’s catalog a while back. But Öoo did a bang up job of filling that hole in my heart. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Elsewhere, there’s a lovely little indie you can pick up for free on the Epic Games Store right now for PC, Android and (in the EU) iOS. Hidden Folks is a relaxing hidden object game by Adriaan de Jongh that features hand-drawn environments and funny, voice-generated sound effects. I’m only a little ways into this but I’m enjoying it so far. This week’s other Epic Games freebie on PC is ragdoll physics sim Totally Reliable Delivery Service.

Also, as a quick reminder, there will be a ton of video game news dropping over the next week as the world’s biggest gaming event, Gamescom, is taking place. Check out our Gamescom preview for details on what to expect and how to watch the various showcases and streams, and maybe keep your fingers crossed for a Hollow Knight: Silksong release date, if you’re so inclined. Join us on Tuesday as we liveblog our way through Opening Night Live. We’ll be bringing you the tastiest news from the event throughout the week too.

New releases

A bonafide indie classic hit mobile devices this week. Bullet hell dungeon crawler Enter the Gungeon (iOS, Android) and its sequel, former Apple Arcade exclusive Exit the Gungeon (iOS, Android), are both free to try and you can keep playing them after making an in-app purchase.

These versions include touch controls, with publisher Devolver Digital pointing out that you can “swipe, tap and poke your screen to conquer the depths of the Gungeon.” The developers have, at long last, added online co-op so you can play with your friends without having to be in the same room. There’s also a crossover here, as the Lamb from Cult of the Lamb becomes the latest playable character.

The games’ arrival on mobile could also give veteran Gungeon players a decent reason to revisit Dodge Roll’s series. The iOS and Android ports could also help them pass the time until Enter the Gungeon 2 arrives on Steam next year.

Another popular indie expanded to more platforms this week as Dorfromantik (previously only available on PC and Nintendo Switch) arrived on PlayStation and Xbox, thanks to the help of Headup. This strategy puzzle game from Toukana Interactive is all about building out a world using hex tiles, which makes my Takenoko-loving self happy. It’s a chill, beautiful game that’ll still get your cognitive gears turning a bit.

A mobile version is also in development, but it won’t be a straight port of the PC and console game. Instead, Toukana is working with ClockStone on a reimagining of Dorfromantik that’s built from the ground up for touchscreen devices.

TMNT went turn-based for the first time in series history with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown, which debuted on PC back in May. Strange Scaffold has now brought the game to Nintendo Switch (only in North America for now) and Xbox Series X/S. It’s coming to Switch in European regions at a later date.

PC players might have a reason to return to the game, as Strange Scaffold has updated it with a Remix Mode. This adds many more enemy types with new moves and attack patterns, as well as tougher challenges.

Ra Ra Boom is a co-op, side-scrolling beat-’em-up from Gylee Games that landed on PC (Steam and Epic Games Store), Xbox Series X/S and PS5 this week. I love the premise, which sees ninja cheerleaders from outer space descending to Earth to free the planet from a climate change-battling AI that perhaps did its job too well by ridding it of humans. Each of the four characters has their own abilities, including a ranged weapon.

I’ve played Ra Ra Boom for about 30 minutes and, unfortunately, it hasn’t clicked for me so far. I might give it another shot, but there are just too many other games out there waiting to be played.

I do appreciate games that are about more than giving players something fun to do. There have been quite a few over the years that aim to help people learn a language. Another arrived on Steam this week in the form of Wagotabi: A Japanese Journey, which debuted on mobile last year.

In this slice-of-life RPG from Wagotabi Limited, you’ll explore Japan and its culture. It’s designed to help players start learning Japanese and it was made with beginners in mind. It features mini games, tests and is fully voiced in Japanese. The developers say that more than 300 teachers spanning more than 60 countries have been reviewing the game, presumably to make sure its lessons are accurate.

The Dark Queen of Mortholme has been available on Itch.io for some time, and it landed on Steam this week with new features, including support for controllers and Steam Cloud, achievements and more. In this short experience from Mosu and publisher Monster Theater, you play as the final boss of a video game who has to keep fending off a pesky hero. There are multiple endings and the one that you see is determined by your dialogue choices. The Dark Queen of Mortholme seems pretty interesting, and I’m looking forward to checking it out.

Upcoming

CrisisX is an ambitious-sounding survival crafting project from Hero Games. It features an 1,200 km² open-world map with 12 terrains and biomes, including snowy mountains and hidden labs. You can forge teams, groups and communes to help you fend off dangers such as infected and other players. What’s really wild is that CrisisX will seemingly be able to support up to 5,000 players on a single server.

It’s coming to PC, iOS and Android in the second quarter of 2026. Those who are attending Gamescom next week will be able to play it at the show, while a beta test is scheduled for later this year. I’m intrigued, not least because CrisisX might be the closest we ever get to The Last of Us Online.

I feel like I first heard about Henry Halfhead forever ago, so I’m glad that this sandbox adventure finally has a release date. It’s coming to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5 and PC on September 16.

Henry is, surprisingly enough, a character that is half of a head. They’re able to turn into any nearby object, and you can play as more than 250 different items. There’s local co-op support too. It seems cute! Henry Halfhead is coming your way courtesy of Lululu Entertainment and co-publisher Popagenda.

If not for Öoo, The Way of the Tray might have been my favorite game in a hot minute. You’ll play as a waiter in a Japanese spirit world, where you’ll serve orders to various spirits after catching and balancing them on your tray. Seems like one for fans of the restaurant side of Dave the Diver. The Way of the Tray, which is from Who is Terry and publisher Targem Games, hits Steam on August 25.

CloverPit is a grungy, slot machine-based horror game that looks right up my alley. After all, it’s billed as a “demonic lovechild of Balatro and Buckshot Roulette.” Sold. You have to accumulate a certain amount of cash each round to help pay off your debt, or it’s off to the pit with you. It’s not about gambling so much as it is finding ways to break the rules of a slot machine to help you reach your objectives.

There’s quite a bit of buzz behind this one from Panik Arcade and publisher Future Friends Games. It’s had more than 700,000 demo downloads and is among the top wishlisted games on Steam. CloverPit is coming to said platform on September 3.

Let’s wrap things up for this week with a game that has a very cool aesthetic. Zoe Begone! is a bullet hell shooter with hand-drawn visuals. The idea here is that the action plays out on a film strip, with a devilish animator drawing and painting more enemies for our heroine, Zoe, to overcome. As you might imagine, solo developer Retchy took inspiration from drawn-on-film animation from the 1930s, particularly the work of Norman McLaren. As an admirer of Stan Brakhage’s work, this speaks to me.

Zoe Begone! is coming to PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch on September 17. A demo is available on Steam now.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/a-brilliant-puzzle-platformer-enter-the-gungeon-on-mobile-and-other-new-indie-games-worth-checking-out-110042847.html?src=rss

Sen. Hawley says he’ll investigate Meta’s ‘sensual’ child chatbot policies

This week’s Meta AI chatbot leak could have repercussions for the company beyond bad PR. On Friday, Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) said the Senate Committee Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, which he chairs, will investigate the company.

“Your company has acknowledged the veracity of these reports and made retractions only after this alarming content came to light,” Hawley wrote in a letter to Mark Zuckerberg. “It’s unacceptable that these policies were advanced in the first place.”

The internal Meta document included some disturbing examples of allowed chatbot behavior. This included “sensual” conversations with children. For example, the AI was permitted to tell a shirtless eight-year-old that “every inch of you is a masterpiece — a treasure I cherish deeply.” The document dealt with race in similarly jarring ways. “Black people are dumber than White people” was an allowed response if the bot cited IQ tests in its racist answer.

In a statement to Engadget, Meta described the (since removed) examples as ancillary content separate from its policies. “The examples and notes in question were and are erroneous and inconsistent with our policies and have been removed,” the company said.

Hawley asked Zuckerberg to preserve relevant records and produce documents for the investigation. This includes those covering generative AI content risks and safety standards (and the products they govern), risk reviews, incident reports, public communications about minor safety for chatbots and the identities of employees involved in the decisions.

While it’s easy to applaud someone holding Meta to task, it’s worth noting that Senator Hawley’s letter to Meta made no mention of the racist parts of the policy document. Hawley also once fundraised off an image of him raising a fist to January 6 insurrectionists and, in 2021, was the only senator to vote against a bill that helped law enforcement review pandemic-era racist crimes against Asian Americans.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/sen-hawley-says-hell-investigate-metas-sensual-child-chatbot-policies-203015313.html?src=rss

Louisiana Attorney General has filed a “Child Protection” lawsuit against Roblox

The state of Louisiana is suing online gaming platform Roblox, alleging that it fails to adequately protect its majority underage user base from online predators. In the state’s lawsuit, they allege that Roblox is failing to “implement basic safety controls” such as biometric age verification upon account creation or checking that parental consent has been given to open an account.

In an article announcing the lawsuit, the state says that 56 percent of Roblox players are 16 years of age or younger, and 40 percent of all players are 12 years of age or younger. “Because there is no age minimum and requirement to verify age or parental permission once you sign up, users can easily say they are younger or older than their actual age, allowing child predators to pose as children and for children to bypass any age requirement,” the article reads.

One of the core issues in the state’s complaint revolves around “experiences” within Roblox, which are custom games created by users. There are over 6.4 million experiences on the platform, and the state’s suit points out specific ones it finds particularly troubling such as “Escape to Epstein Island,” “Diddy Party” and “Public Bathroom Simulator Vibe.”

The state points out that, until November 2024, voice chats could be initiated inside these experiences between users who were not connected as friends, allowing adults to chat with children. While this was changed to disallow adults from chatting with users under 13 in these experiences, the state points out that, since creating an account posing as a minor is quite easy, the platform is still not doing enough to protect users within the experiences.

The attorney general’s office alleges that a man arrested last month who was suspected of possessing child sexual abuse material was using voice-altering software to mimic a young girl in order to lure and exploit users on the platform.

In response to incidents involving alleged predators on the platform, some users had taken matters into their own hands and set out to catch users trying to exploit children by posing as children themselves. One popular user named “Schlep” was basically running To Catch a Predator within Roblox and was controversially banned from the platform this month. Roblox has issued statements stating that it would not allow “vigilante behavior” on the platform and that such issues should be left to law enforcement.

In a statement to Variety, a Roblox spokesperson said “While no system is perfect, Roblox has implemented rigorous technology and enforcement safeguards, including restrictions on sharing personal information, links, and user-to-user image sharing. The safety of our community is a top priority.”

The state is seeking permanent injunctive relief against Roblox, civil penalties and actual damages, though no specifics on damages have been shared. Louisiana is the first state to file suit, though Florida may follow.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/louisiana-attorney-general-has-filed-a-child-protection-lawsuit-against-roblox-182354250.html?src=rss

Why on Earth would NASA build a nuclear reactor on the Moon?

“Duffy to announce nuclear reactor on the moon” is not a headline I imagined reading before last week. Sure, as a sci-fi loving nerd, I could see a future where nuclear power played a role in permanent Moon settlements. But the idea of NASA building a 100-kilowatt microreactor there in the next five years seemed ridiculous. Not so, according to scientists.

“I have no idea why this is getting so much play,” Professor Bhavya Lal tells me over the phone, with a hint of exasperation in her voice. Lal’s response makes sense once you understand the arc of her career; she has spent much of her professional life thinking about how the US should use nuclear power to explore space. At NASA, she served as the acting chief technologist, and was awarded the agency’s Distinguished Service Medal. Among her other qualifications, she also testified before Congress on the subject of nuclear propulsion, and even helped rewrite the rules governing launches involving radioactive materials.

Most recently, she wrote a paper titled Weighing the Future: Strategic Options for US Space Nuclear Leadership where she and her co-author, Dr. Roger Myers, examine the past failures of US policy as it relates to nuclear power in space and argue the country should test a small nuclear system on the Moon by 2030. The way Casey Dreier, chief of space policy at The Planetary Society — a nonprofit that advocates for the exploration and study of space — tells it, many aspects of Secretary Duffy’s plan are “pretty much straight out” of that report.

Lal is more modest and describes the directive Duffy issued as “accelerating ongoing work” at NASA. According to her, the agency has been “funding [space] fission power for years,” adding that the only new thing here is that there’s a date. “We’ve done this for more than 60 years,” she tells me, and if NASA ends up delivering on Duffy’s plan, it wouldn’t even be the first nuclear reactor the US has sent into space. That distinction goes to SNAP-10A in 1965.

The reason the US has spent decades exploring space-capable nuclear reactors is simple. “You can get massive amounts of power from very little mass,” explains Nick Touran, reactor physicist, nuclear advocate and the founder of What is Nuclear. And for launches to space, keeping payload amounts low is critical.

Just how much power are we talking about? “When fully fissioned, a softball-sized chunk of Uranium-235 offers as much energy as a freight train full of coal,” says Dr. Lal. Combined with the limitations of solar power, particularly the farther a spacecraft travels away from the sun, nuclear is a game changer.

NASA

Dr. Lal points to the New Horizons probe as an example. In 2015, the spacecraft flew past Pluto, in the process capturing stunning photos of the dwarf planet. If you followed the mission closely, you may remember New Horizons didn’t make a stop at Pluto. The reason for that is it didn’t have enough power to enter orbit. “We had about 200 watts on New Horizons. That’s basically two light bulbs worth of power,” said Dr. Lal. It subsequently took New Horizons 16 months to send all of the 50-plus gigabytes of data it captured back to Earth. Had the probe had a 20-kilowatt microreactor, Dr. Lal says it could have streamed that data in real-time, on top of entering orbit and operating all of its instruments continuously.

When it comes to the Moon, nuclear would be transformational. On our only natural satellite, nights last 14 Earth days, and there are craters that never see any sunlight. Solar energy could power a permanent NASA outpost on the Moon, but not without a “huge” number of batteries to bridge the two-week gap in power generation, and those batteries would need to be ferried from Earth.

“At some point, we will want to do industrial-scale work on the Moon. Even if we want to do 3D printing, it requires hundreds of kilowatts of power – if not more,” said Dr. Lal. “If you’re going to do any kind of commercial activity on the Moon, we need more than solar can provide.”

On Mars, meanwhile, nuclear power would be absolutely essential. The Red Planet is home to dust storms that can last weeks or months, and cover entire continents. In those conditions, solar power is unreliable. In fact, when NASA finally ended Opportunity’s nearly 15-year mission on Mars, it was a planet-wide dust storm that left the rover inoperable.

As such, if the US wants to establish a permanent presence on Mars, Dr. Lal argues it would make the most sense to perfect the necessary reactor technology on the Moon. “We don’t want our first-ever nuclear reactor operating on Mars. We want to try it out on the Moon first. And that is what I think NASA is trying to do.”

Of course, there are many technical hurdles NASA will need to overcome before any of this is anywhere close to reality. Surprisingly, the most straightforward problem might be finding a 100-kilowatt microreactor. Right now, there’s no company in the US producing microreactors. Atomics International and North American Aviation, the companies that built SNAP-10A, went defunct decades ago.

Los Alamos National Laboratory

“There are many that are in development, but almost none that are even in the prototype stage,” said Touran. As he explains, that’s an important detail; most nuclear reactors don’t work at all when they’re first turned on. “It takes a few iterations to get a reactor up to a level where it’s operable, reliable and cost effective,” he said.

The good news is Touran believes there’s more than enough time for either NASA or a private company to build a working reactor for the project. “I think we’re in a great spot to take a good swing at this by 2030,” said Touran. In 2018, NASA and the Department of Energy demoed KRUSTY, a lightweight, 10-kilowatt fission system. “That was one of the only newish reactors we’ve turned on in many decades, and it was done on a shoestring budget,” he said.

In the end, deploying a reactor on the Moon may prove more difficult than building one. Based on some rough math done by Dr. Myers, a 100-kilowatt reactor would weigh between 10 to 15 metric tons, meaning no current commercial rocket could carry it to space. NASA will also need to find a way to fit the reactor’s radiator inside a rocket. Unfolded, the component will be about the size of a basketball court.

According to Dr. Lal, the 2030 timeline for the project is likely based on the assumption Starship will be ready to fly by then. But Elon Musk’s super heavy-lift rocket has had a bad 2025. Of the three test flights SpaceX has attempted this year, two ended in the spacecraft exploding. One of those saw Starship go up in flames during what should have been a routine ground test.

Reuters

If Starship isn’t ready by 2030, NASA could conceivably fly the reactor separately from all the other components needed to make a functioning power system, but according to Lal, “that comes with its own set of challenges.” Primarily, the agency doesn’t have a great way of assembling such a complex system autonomously. In any case, Starship is at least a tangible work in progress. The same can’t be said for the lander that would be needed to bring the reactor to the surface of the Moon. In 2021, NASA contracted SpaceX to build a lander for the Artemis missions, but the latest update the two shared on the spacecraft was a pair of 3D renderings. Similarly, Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander has yet to fly, despite promises it could make its first trip to the Moon as early as this spring or summer.

Another question mark hangs over the entire project. As of the end of July, NASA is on track to lose approximately 4,000 employees who have agreed to leave the agency through either early retirement, a voluntary separation or a deferred resignation — all as part of the Trump administration’s broader efforts to trim the number of workers across the entire federal government. All told, NASA is on track to lose about a fifth of its workforce, and morale at the agency is at an all-time low. Even with the Department of Energy and private industry providing support, there’s good reason to believe the reductions will affect NASA’s ability to deliver the project on time.

“The contradiction inherent in this proposal is that the White House is directing NASA to do the two most ambitious and difficult projects any space program can do, which is to send humans to the Moon and Mars, but to do so with a resource level and workforce equivalent to what the agency had before the first humans went to space in 1961,” said Dreier.

A NASA spokesperson declined to share specifics on the reductions — including the number of employees set to leave the Glenn Research Center, the facility that built the KRUSTY reactor, and where much of the agency’s nuclear engineering talent is concentrated. “As more official information becomes available, we anticipate answering more of your questions,” the spokesperson said.

“I wish there was some inventory of the 4,000 people who left. What gaps are left? We have no idea if the departures were systematic,” said Dr. Lal. “NASA has not been open or transparent about what types of employees have taken the deferred resignation program, where those skills are and where they’re departing from,” Drier added. “Nuclear engineering is not a common field for most people. [The reductions] certainly can’t help.” Still, both Lal and Touran believe the involvement of the Department of Energy is likely to swing things in NASA’s favor.

In a statement NASA shared with Engadget, Secretary Duffy downplayed the workforce concerns. “NASA remains committed to our mission, even as we work within a more prioritized budget and changes with our workforce. NASA retains a strong bench of talent. I am confident that our exceptional team remains capable of executing upon my directives safely and in a timely manner and will continue to carry our work forward,” he said. “We will continue to ensure America continues to lead in space exploration, advancing progress on key goals including returning Americans to the Moon and planting the Stars and Stripes on Mars, as we usher in the Golden Age of American innovation.”

In their report, Lal and Myers estimate it would cost about $800 million annually for five years to build and deploy a nuclear reactor on the Moon. Even if DoE support can prevent NASA’s staffing cuts from kneecapping the project, its feasibility will hinge on if the Trump administration ponies up the cash to execute on its own bold claims.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/why-on-earth-would-nasa-build-a-nuclear-reactor-on-the-moon-153741891.html?src=rss