The Twitter owner announced that he was looking for a head of a ‘witchcraft and propaganda’ department, after the actress schooled a ‘clout chaser’ on social media.
The Twitter owner announced that he was looking for a head of a ‘witchcraft and propaganda’ department, after the actress schooled a ‘clout chaser’ on social media.
Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sanchez, and Lauren’s children arrived by helicopter at the billionaire’s yacht in Portofino, where they enjoyed some lunch on deck.
Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sanchez, and Lauren’s children arrived by helicopter at the billionaire’s yacht in Portofino, where they enjoyed some lunch on deck.
It’s nearly time for the big Ubisoft Forward Summer Game Fest showcase event, so expect plenty of announcements, trailers, demos and more. With E3 deflating like a sad balloon, this is likely the year’s biggest gaming conference for incredible reveals. The showcase starts at 1:00 PM ET, with a pre-show at 12:45, and there are a bunch of ways to watch live. Ubisoft is hosting its own YouTube stream and Twitch feed for the event, in addition to streams available via the festival itself.
So what’s on the agenda? The publisher has already confirmed that it’ll be releasing information regarding Assassin’s Creed Mirage, a new The Crew racing title and a game adaptation of a little-known film series called Avatar. Ubisoft is extremely prolific, however, and is always working on a diverse array of games. Titles like the oft-delayed pirate sim Skull and Bones could make an appearance, and the same goes for Tom Clancy’s The Division Heartland and the company’s forthcoming multiplayer shooter XDefiant.
The company already announced a Prince of Persia sidescrolling spin-off on the first day of SGF, so more gameplay footage might drop during the event. Those looking for additional information about the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake will have to keep waiting, as Ubisoft recently said that it would not be showing any new footage at the Forward event.
Ubisoft has not announced how long its showcase will run, but similar events have come in at around the 90 minute mark. As always, Engadget has staffers on location to report on the most jaw-dropping announcements, so keep the site open for updates.
Catch up on all of the news from Summer Game Fest right here!
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/watch-the-ubisoft-forward-showcase-at-summer-game-fest-here-at-1pm-et-153042695.html?src=rss
It’s been quite a day for Reddit. Thousands of communities have temporarily closed shop to protest changes the company is making to its API, which is impacting several third-party apps. On top of that, the platform suffered a “major outage” across its desktop and mobile websites, as well as the mobile apps.
“We’re aware of problems loading content and are working to resolve the issues as quickly as possible,” read a message on the Reddit status page as of 10:58AM ET. By 11:30AM, the site was loading again.
“A significant number of subreddits shifting to private caused some expected stability issues, and we’ve been working on resolving the anticipated issue,” Reddit told Engadget in a statement.
A bot was tracking all of the subreddits that were going private as part of the protests. As you might expect, the bot was out of commission while Reddit was down, but it’s up and running again.
Reddit said in April that it would start charging for access to its API, which third-party developers have used in thousands of apps that tie into the platform, such as moderation tools. While the primary target of the API changes may have been companies that are scraping Reddit for content to train language learning models for generative AI systems, the move has been a significant blow for those making third-party clients that many redditors prefer to the company’s own website or apps.
After claiming that he would have to pay $20 million to keep operating Apollo for Reddit as is, Christian Selig ultimately decided to shut down the app. Apollo will close its doors on June 30th. RIF, another popular third-party Reddit app, will shut down on the same day.
Reddit CEO Steve Huffman defended the API changes in an AMA that took place before subreddits went private in protest. He said the new policy was part of an effort to make Reddit profitable. “Reddit needs to be a self-sustaining business, and to do that, we can no longer subsidize commercial entities that require large-scale data use,” he wrote. “Some apps such as Apollo, Reddit is Fun, and Sync have decided this pricing doesn’t work for their businesses and will close before pricing goes into effect.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/reddit-suffers-a-major-outage-after-thousands-of-subreddits-temporarily-shut-down-151741809.html?src=rss
Denee Benton and Michael Arden both used their moments onstage at the Tony Awards to show public support to the LGBTQ+ and Black communities.
Denee Benton and Michael Arden both used their moments onstage at the Tony Awards to show public support to the LGBTQ+ and Black communities.
3 years after Alex Newell responded to the allegations about Lea Michele’s behavior on ‘Glee,’ the duo took a happy selfie together at the 2023 Tony Awards.
3 years after Alex Newell responded to the allegations about Lea Michele’s behavior on ‘Glee,’ the duo took a happy selfie together at the 2023 Tony Awards.
The UK’s AI oversight will include chances to directly study some companies’ technology. In a speech at London Tech Week, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak revealed that Google DeepMind, OpenAI and Anthropic have pledged to provide “early or priority access” to AI models for the sake of research and safety. This will ideally improve inspections of these models and help the government recognize the “opportunities and risks,” Sunak says.
It’s not clear just what data the tech firms will share with the UK government. We’ve asked Google, OpenAI and Anthropic for comment.
The announcement comes weeks after officials said they would conduct an initial assessment of AI model accountability, safety, transparency and other ethical concerns. The country’s Competition and Markets Authority is expected to play a key role. The UK has also committed to spending an initial £100 million (about $125.5 million) to create a Foundation Model Taskforce that will develop “sovereign” AI meant to grow the British economy while minimizing ethical and technical problems.
Industry leaders and experts have called for a temporary halt to AI development over worries creators are pressing forward without enough consideration for safety. Generative AI models like OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Anthropic’s Claude have been praised for their potential, but have also raised concerns about inaccuracies, misinformation and abuses like cheating. The UK’s move theoretically limits these issues and catches problematic models before they’ve done much damage.
This doesn’t necessarily give the UK complete access to these models and the underlying code. Likewise, there are no guarantees the government will catch every major issue. The access may provide relevant insights, though. If nothing else, the effort promises increased transparency for AI at a time when the long-term impact of these systems isn’t entirely clear.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-openai-will-share-ai-models-with-the-uk-government-134318263.html?src=rss
I’m worried about Saga Anderson. She’s a seasoned FBI agent investigating a string of ritualistic deaths around Cauldron Lake, and she’s a little too impressed by all the supernatural gore she encounters. At one point, she’s talking to her partner about the cult activity they’ve seen – the dismembered body parts and necromancy and murderous villagers roaming the forests – and she says, “this place just keeps getting crazier… but this is exciting.”
A few scenes later, she’s shoving a heart through a portal to another realm and inviting a witch to show her “the terror.”
So, yeah, I’m nervous about Saga’s fate in Alan Wake II – and that only makes me more excited for the full game. I saw a 30-minute hands-off preview of Alan Wake II at Summer Game Fest, set in the second chapter. By this time, Saga has made her peace with the paranormal darkness of the case she’s investigating; she’s already pulled a manuscript page out of a corpse’s chest cavity and followed its instructions to Cauldron Lake, the setting of the original game.
Alan Wake came out 13 years ago, and the timeline in the sequel has also progressed 13 years. The writer Alan Wake has been missing that whole time, and Saga is hunting the ghost of FBI agent Robert Nightingale, who was killed at the end of the first game. In chapter two, Saga and her partner are deep in the Pacific Northwest woods. The preview shows off gorgeous lighting, character models and environments, plus satisfying-looking gunplay and flashlight-play.
Dialogue scenes between Saga and her partner aren’t rushed, establishing the narrative and letting it breathe, and there are a few moments where players can choose how to respond. The two agents split up and there are a series of simple puzzles for Saga to solve, like collecting a fuse or finding the right numbers to crack a lock, all while a sense of dread constantly builds in the background. The preview provides some serious early Resident Evil vibes — Alan Wake II is a survival-horror experience, while the original was an action-thriller.
As Saga attempts to solve the mysteries around her, she can jump into her Mind Place (no, not Mind Palace) to organize clues and connect the dots. Her Mind Place looks like the living room of a ’90s conspiracy theorist, with photos and notes connected by red string along one wood-paneled wall. This is where Saga can manipulate the evidence she’s found, placing clues near each other to see if they’re related, unlocking the path forward. If she gets stuck, she can go to the desk in the center of the room and commune with her subjects, asking them for answers based on the clues she’s gathered; this is called Profiling. Saga can enter her Mind Place at any time.
There are a few jump-scares in the preview, where the screen quickly cuts to a screaming face or an enemy suddenly bursts through a doorway, but they’re well placed and not overdone. Saga feels capable and curious – maybe a little too curious for her own good, but we’ll have to see how that plays out in the full game. At the end of the preview, Alan suddenly appears in the woods with Saga, screaming about dark forces and confused by how long he’s been missing.
The big innovation in Alan Wake II is the ability to swap between Saga and Alan himself, playing as both characters throughout the game. Chapter one begins with Saga in the driver’s seat, and after that players can choose to play as her or Alan at the beginning of each new section. A Remedy spokesperson said developers are still fine-tuning the swap mechanic; they don’t necessarily want to give players the ability to change characters every five minutes, for the sake of the narrative flow, but they still want to provide real instances of meaningful choice.
Alan Wake II is a contained single-player experience and it doesn’t have a bunch of side quests, according to Remedy. There are a few errands to complete and secrets to find parallel to the main story, but this is first-and-foremost a linear, narrative-driven game.
There were plenty of sequels at the Summer Game Fest showcase, and Alan Wake II stands out in this crowded field. The preview showcased a clear vision: Alan Wake II retains the themes of the original game, but introduces a fresh perspective with the protagonist, mechanics and genre. It feels like Remedy knows the story it’s trying to tell — even if Alan and Saga don’t.
Alan Wake II is due to hit PC, Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 on October 17th.
Catch up on all of the news from Summer Game Fest right here!
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/alan-wake-ii-stands-out-in-a-sea-of-sequels-140010178.html?src=rss
The actor and model were all smiles as they enjoyed a day of tennis together on a rare public outing with one another.
The actor and model were all smiles as they enjoyed a day of tennis together on a rare public outing with one another.
The Tony Awards red carpet doubled as a chance for Uzo Aduba to make an exciting announcement: She’s pregnant with her first child!
The Tony Awards red carpet doubled as a chance for Uzo Aduba to make an exciting announcement: She’s pregnant with her first child!
