Microsoft Lays Off 650 People in Its Gaming Division

Stephen Totilo at theGame Filepublished a copy of the email. To hear him tell it, the people who lost their jobs were mostly corporate and supporting functions. The move would not, Spencer said, end any current projects. Phil Spencer arrives at federal court on June 28, 2023 in San Francisco, California.© Photo by Loren Elliott/Getty Images Microsoft attempted to buy its way to a victory this console generation and it hasnt been going well....

September 12, 2024 · 2 min · 252 words · Michelle Aguilar

New Map Shows Where You’re Most Likely to Encounter Landslides in the US

The map reveals that a surprisingly large part of the country is at risk for landslides. Landslides are often deadly and can cause costly damage. Previous maps were limited due to several factors. © United States Geological Survey The data that was used was often fairly low-resolution, which affected accuracy. Also included in their calculations is a database documenting over 600,000 landslides. According to the new map, there are some notable problem areas....

September 12, 2024 · 1 min · 160 words · Beth Wright

OpenAI Releases Its Highly Anticipated GPT-o1 Model

But in o1 models, versions of those processes happen behind the scenes without additional prompting. It learns to recognize and correct its mistakes. It learns to break down tricky steps into simpler ones. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman walks the halls of Congress.Photo: Kent Nishimura It learns to try a different approach when the current one isnt working, thecompany said. News from the future, delivered to your present. Why the Hell Is OpenAI Building an X Clone?...

September 12, 2024 · 1 min · 117 words · Christie Casey

Palmer Luckey Uses Anime-Inspired Trailer to Announce New Cruise Missile

The trailers aesthetic is extremely Evangelion. It opens with a faceless man in a Hawaiian shirt (presumably Luckey) reading a newspaper. Urgently Needs More Missiles to Deter China, screams the headline. A frozen moment from Anduril’s anime-inspired trailer for its new cruise missiles.© YouTube screengrab. Then it cuts to a NERV-style factory thats churning out tons of the new Barracuda-M missile. The pitch is that Anduril can make missiles faster, cheaper, and easier than the competition....

September 12, 2024 · 1 min · 212 words · Mark Patel

Please Stop Putting Your Tech in Checked Bags

Its stressful when the airport staff is rushing you while in the check-in queue. Where are Li-ion batteries used? A Li-ion battery is inside any tech thats rechargeable. © CBS Some examples of Li-ion devices are laptops, mobile phones, e-bikes, vapes, e-cigarettes, and chargers. Why are Li-ion batteries a threat? A Li-on battery in itself is not dangerous. It only becomes a threat when it overheats. Whats worse is that most of these incidents resulted from insufficient knowledge of the issue....

September 12, 2024 · 2 min · 221 words · Joseph Butler

Polaris Dawn Billionaire Pulls Off Historic First Commercial Spacewalk

Unlike the International Space Station, the Dragon spacecraft is not equipped with an airlock. ThePolaris Dawn missionlaunched on Tuesday at 5:23 a.m. ET on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Billionaire Jared Isaacman emerging from Dragon.SpaceX Its the first of three private missions on board a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft purchased by tech entrepreneur Isaacman. The mission set out to accomplish many firsts....

September 12, 2024 · 1 min · 126 words · Ashley Brock

Razer’s New Wireless Keyboard Is Hot-Swappable and Sports an OLED Screen

Razer demoed abunchof new products at a RazerCon private briefing last week. Trust me, it was two packed hours of going table to table. The BlackWidow V4 Pro 75% is a wireless, hot-swappable gaming keyboard with an OLED screen. Three different ways the Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro was customized by keyboard YouTubers.© Dua Rashid, Artem Golub / Gizmodo Hot-swappable means you might replace all its switches and keycaps if you wish to personalize it....

September 12, 2024 · 2 min · 262 words · Michele Ross

Remarkably Preserved ‘Lazarus’ Fossil Suggests Fish Evolved Based on Earth’s Crust

(Its worth noting that locals were almost certainly aware of the coelacanths persistence prior to 1938.) Today, there are two known extant species of coelacanth, inhabiting the waters off South Africa and Indonesia. The coelacanth continues to evolve, even if it does so at a slower rate than its pre-dinosaur days. An ancient coelacanth’s bones, acid etched out of rock.Photo: J Long (Flinders University) News from the future, delivered to your present....

September 12, 2024 · 1 min · 91 words · Amber Walsh

Rings of PowerIs Smashing a Pick Axe Into Its Slowly Formed Cracks

Rings of Powerhas always, by and large, been a slow-paced show. That means when the show breaks that pace, its notable. And sometimes it worksa short sharp shockthat reminds you whats really at stake. © Prime Video And sometimes… its just kind of a weird reminder about the very nature of this whole adaptive endeavor. Turns out, everyones still pretty miserable! At least in one of our storylines, down with the dwarves, things startoutokay in relative comparison....

September 12, 2024 · 1 min · 137 words · Barry Russell

Smarter Savings: The 11″ Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ Is Already 23% off

The Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ features an LCD screen with 1200p resolution and a refresh rate of 90 Hz. Thats cinema-quality sound right in your hand. Okay, we know its not cinema-quality but thats how Samsung wanted to phrase it in the product description. © Samsung But you get the idea. The Galaxy Tab A9+ still has pretty damn good sound as far as tablets go. Travel between home and the office or your local coffee shop to get work done....

September 12, 2024 · 1 min · 181 words · Angel Sweeney

Space Marine 2Is Too Busy Making You Feel Heroic to Show the Farce atWarhammer 40K’s Heart

Youre an 8-foot tall, walking tank. That is the central theme, the beating heart ofWarhammer 40K. Never does it ask you to engage with its satire. © Gizmodo/Focus Interactive It reminds me first of a series of video essays from Lindsay Ellis discussing the Michael BayTransformersmovies. Ellis ends her essay with a quote that can help us understand howSpace Marine 2doesnt doWarhammers satire justice. Framing and aesthetics supersede the rest of the textalways, always, always....

September 12, 2024 · 3 min · 523 words · William Blankenship

Steam Families Might End Shared Account Bickering at Home

Growing up, I shared my Steam account with my brother. Valve described in its news post how the system works. The new system replaces Family Sharing. © Steam Youll find that not all games support Steams new library sharing feature. For one, it wont work with any game that requires third-party authentication. If a developer doesnt want their game enabled for Steam Families, they need to opt-out. That system restricted users from playing games simultaneously from shared accounts....

September 12, 2024 · 1 min · 91 words · Charles Gomez

Texas Startup Keeps Launching These Obnoxiously Large Satellites—and the Worst Is Yet to Come

Now, theres five more of them, as the company builds out its satellite constellation. AST SpaceMobile is seeking to create the first space-based cellular broadband web connection directly accessible by cell phones. On its own, one satellite is bright enough to mess with observations of the cosmos. Conceptual image of AST Spacemobile’s Bluewalker satellite.AST Spacemobile The prototype satellite, BlueWalker 3,launched in September 2022and unfurled its array around two months later....

September 12, 2024 · 1 min · 197 words · Alexander Galvan