Nearly nine in ten Windows games can now run on Linux systems, according to data from ProtonDB compiled by Boiling Steam. The gains came through work by developers of WINE and Proton translation layers and through interest in hardware like the Steam Deck.

ProtonDB tracks games across five categories. Platinum-rated games run perfectly without adjustment. Gold titles need minor tweaks. Silver games are playable but imperfect. Bronze exists between silver and borked. Borked games refuse to launch. The proportion of new releases earning platinum ratings has grown. The red and dark red zones have thinned. Some popular titles remain incompatible, however. Boiling Steam noted that other developers appear averse to non-Windows gamers.

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Humanity has failed to limit global heating to 1.5C and must change course immediately, the secretary general of the UN has warned. From a report: In his only interview before next month’s Cop30 climate summit, Antonio Guterres acknowledged it is now “inevitable” that humanity will overshoot the target in the Paris climate agreement, with “devastating consequences” for the world. He urged the leaders who will gather in the Brazilian rainforest city of Belem to realise that the longer they delay cutting emissions, the greater the danger of passing catastrophic “tipping points” in the Amazon, the Arctic and the oceans.

“Let’s recognise our failure,” he told the Guardian and Amazon-based news organisation Sumauma. “The truth is that we have failed to avoid an overshooting above 1.5C in the next few years. And that going above 1.5C has devastating consequences. Some of these devastating consequences are tipping points, be it in the Amazon, be it in Greenland, or western Antarctica or the coral reefs.

He said the priority at Cop30 was to shift direction: “It is absolutely indispensable to change course in order to make sure that the overshoot is as short as possible and as low in intensity as possible to avoid tipping points like the Amazon. We don’t want to see the Amazon as a savannah. But that is a real risk if we don’t change course and if we don’t make a dramatic decrease of emissions as soon as possible.”

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With digital games outselling physical ones by embarrassing margins, it’s easy to conclude that the latter is done for. But sometimes, approaching extinction leads to pockets of nostalgic enthusiasm. (Think the modest resurgence that point-and-shoot cameras are currently enjoying.) That leaves room for Limited Run Games, which specializes in physical copies. The company’s latest showcase, LRG3, is happening on Wednesday.

This month marks the 10th anniversary of Limited Run Games. There’s been plenty of fun stuff during that decade. LRG has launched physical editions of Doom and Doom II — complete with a game box that plays (yep!) Doom. For LucasArts fans, there was a Monkey Island box set (Guybrush statue in tow!). LRG also launched physical editions of indie games like Celeste and Runner 2.

What’s on tap for the anniversary event? Well, your guess is as good as ours. But the company did tease some of the partners who will have announcements. They include Ubisoft, Square Enix Collective, Astral Shift, Retroware, The MIX and WayForward.

LRG3 begins on Wednesday, October 29, at noon ET. You can stream the shindig on LRG’s YouTube and Twitch channels.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/how-to-watch-limited-run-games-2025-showcase-200050327.html?src=rss

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While wireless earbuds can be convenient and allow for greater freedom of movement, Bluetooth earbuds connected by a wire are harder to misplace and are significantly more affordable. The Beats Flex earbuds are Apple’s budget-friendly wired neckband earphones, and right now, they’re just $30.01 (originally $69.95) in black at Walmart—about 57% off the usual price.

Beats Flex Earbuds

$30.01
at Walmart

$69.95
Save $39.94

$30.01
at Walmart

$69.95
Save $39.94

If you’re prone to losing your wireless earbuds, the Flex’s earpieces magnetically snap together when you’re not wearing them, allowing you to keep them securely around your neck. When they snap together, audio automatically pauses, saving your battery life. The tangle-free neckband design houses a charging port, microphones, and volume controls.

According to PCMag’s review, which rates them as “Excellent,” they feature a secure in-ear fit with a design that eliminates cable tug and provide balanced sound with powerful bass with 8.2mm drivers. Battery life is around 12 hours on a full charge, and 10 minutes of “Fast Fuel” charging will give you about 90 minutes of listening time.

The earbuds use Class 1 Bluetooth for extended range and Apple’s W1 chip for seamless pairing. Two pairs of Flex can share the same sound source; when a second pair is nearby, you’ll get an onscreen prompt to connect. They’re compatible with Bluetooth 5.0 and support AAC and SBC Bluetooth codecs, but not AptX. Charging is via USB-C. They do lack an official IP rating, so you’ll want to be mindful when wearing them in heavy rain. 

If you don’t need active noise cancellation, don’t need water resistance, and are fine with USB-C charging, the Beats Flex earbuds are an affordable option with a bass-heavy sound and Apple’s W1 chip, making them a particularly good option for budget-conscious iOS users.

NVIDIA has entered a partnership with Uber to equip more of the rideshare company’s vehicles with its autonomous driving infrastructure. The deal centers on NVIDIA’s Drive AGX Hyperion 10 autonomous vehicle development platform, a computer and sensor system that can make any vehicle capable of level 4 self-driving, as well as its Drive software. According to the press release, this partnership will see Uber’s global fleet of autonomous vehicles growing to 100,000 vehicles over time, beginning in 2027.

Several notable auto brands are also collaborating with NVIDIA on the push toward developing truly autonomous vehicles. Stellantis, Lucid and Mercedes-Benz are working on vehicles that would support NVIDIA’s L4 technology. Aurora, Volvo Autonomous Solutions and Waabi are pursuing work on implementing Drive AGX Hyperion 10 into long-haul freight vehicles.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/nvidias-next-move-in-autonomous-driving-is-a-partnership-with-uber-stellantis-lucid-and-mercedes-benz-194442126.html?src=rss

Nearly three out of every four restaurant orders are no longer eaten in a restaurant, according to the National Restaurant Association. The share of customers using delivery more than doubled from 2019 to 2024, and 41% of respondents in a recent poll said delivery was an essential part of their lifestyle. The transformation has fundamentally altered restaurant economics. Delivery companies charge restaurants commissions between 5 and 30%, along with fees for payment processing, advertising, and search placement.

Shannon Orr runs an eight-restaurant group on the West Coast. One of her restaurants generated $1.7 million in delivery sales last year. Of that, $400,000 went to delivery companies. The restaurant, previously among her most profitable, made no money in 2024, she told the Atlantic.

About a third of full-service restaurants have modified their physical spaces to accommodate the delivery boom, installing dedicated entrances, bike parking, and banks of lockers.

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While the underlying cause or causes of autism spectrum disorder remain elusive and appear likely to be a complex interplay of genetic and environmental factors, President Trump and his anti-vaccine health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—neither of whom have any scientific or medical background whatsoever—have decided to pin the blame on Tylenol, a common pain reliever and fever reducer that has no proven link to autism.

And now, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing the maker of Tylenol, Kenvue and Johnson & Johnson, who previously sold Tylenol, claiming that they have been “deceptively marketing Tylenol” knowing that it “leads to a significantly increased risk of autism and other disorders.”

To back that claim, Paxton relies on the “considerable body of evidence… recently highlighted by the Trump Administration.”

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OpenAI has committed to spend about $1.4 trillion on infrastructure so far, equating to roughly 30 gigawatts of data center capacity, CEO Sam Altman said on Tuesday. From a report: The statement helps clarify the many announcements the company has made with its chip, data center and financing partners. That total includes the already announced deals with AMD, Broadcom, Nvidia, Oracle and other partners. That’s just the starting point, Altman said. Over time, the company would like to have in place a technical and financial apparatus that would allow it to build a gigawatt of new capacity per week at a cost of around $20 billion per gigawatt.

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Don’t Nod has a long history of making memorable narrative games, and it looks like the studio’s next project will come from Netflix programming. In the company’s half-year financial report, Don’t Nod noted that it has signed “a development agreement with Netflix for the creation of a new narrative video game based on a major IP.” Its Montreal studio is helming the project, while Netflix will publish the game. There are no other details available about the project, including what show or movie it will be based on, so place your guesses now. 

Netflix’s game strategy took some hits over the past year with the closure of its Team Blue studio for AAA game development and walking back plans to add six titles to its lineup. Leadership for games at Netflix also changed at the start of 2025, and since then the strategy has pivoted towards party games and kid-friendly content, mainstream titles and narrative experiences. 

There are some notable titles in the Netflix library such as Kentucky Route Zero and Oxenfree that seem like a good match for Don’t Nod’s niche. After arriving on the gaming scene with Life is Strange, Don’t Nod continued its work with projects including Life is Strange 2, Tell Me Why and Lost Records, in addition to several more stories under the Life is Strange banner. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/life-is-strange-developer-dont-nod-is-making-a-narrative-game-for-netflix-184506442.html?src=rss

Is it possible to be a CEO in 2025 and not catch a case of AI fever? The latest company to catch this particular cold is Lucid, the Saudi-backed electric vehicle startup. Today, it announced a new collaboration with Nvidia to use the latter’s hardware and software, with the aim of creating an autonomous vehicle for consumers. Oh, and the AI will apparently design Lucid’s production lines.

Formed by refugees from Tesla who saw a chance to improve on their past work, Lucid has already built the most efficient EV on sale in North America. But until recently, it also just had variants of the same Air sedan to offer consumers, before the Gravity SUV joined the range this year.

The company will need to start selling tens of thousands of EVs a year before too long, especially if it’s ever to become profitable. And that will involve some smaller, cheaper models, starting with a midsize crossover sometime in 2027. A major goal for the first of those EVs is a starting price of less than $50,000, so I hope they’re getting a good deal on the Nvidia GPUs that Lucid now says will enable a “true eyes-off, hands-off, and mind-off” autonomous driving system for consumer-owned vehicles.

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If you’ve been considering getting one of Peloton’s new Bikes, Treads, or Rows, this might be the time—as long as you know someone who is already an All-Access Member. Until Nov. 11, referral codes from existing members get you more money off your hardware purchases.

The discount details

Last month, Peloton rolled out upgraded versions of its fleet, including the Bike, Bike+, Tread+, Tread+, and Row. The new devices are known as the Cross Training series and, as such, are named the Cross Training Bike, Crosstraining Tread+, etc. If you want to know how they differ from the old models, I wrote an explainer here, but the basic gist is that the proprietary touchscreens on which you follow guided classes now swivel around, making it easier to hop off your machine and do, say, a strength or yoga class. The Plus line also comes with a movement-tracking camera that uses AI to correct your form, suggest when it’s time to add more weights or reps, and monitor your workouts.

As you can assume, these are pricier than their predecessors, which is why the current referral promotion might be of interest to you. If you get a referral code from an existing All-Access Member, here’s what you can get off at checkout:

• $300 (instead of the usual $250) off your cart when you purchase a new Peloton Cross Training Bike

• $700 off your cart (instead of $500) when you purchase a new Peloton Cross Training Bike+

• $500 off (instead of $300) when you get a Peloton Cross Training Tread

• $1,200 off (instead of $600) a purchase of a new Peloton Cross Training Tread+

• $200 off a new Peloton Cross Training Row+

All the discounts will return to normal after Nov. 11. (Note: This probably isn’t the best time to get a Cross Training Row+, as the typical referral discount on that is $300.)

Your referrer has to be an All Access Member, not someone who uses one of the less-expensive, app-only versions of Peloton’s digital offerings. The referrer can’t be renting their machine, their membership can’t be paused, and they can’t be a Peloton employee.

Notice, too, that this specifically applies to new devices. That means you can’t use the referral code to get money off a purchase on Peloton’s resale platform, Repowered, although that’s always a solid option if you’re looking for equipment on a budget. You don’t have to have the Cross Training series to get a good workout (although I enjoyed my demos of those devices); I have been using the same Peloton Bike for nearly five years and love it—I ride it every day.

You can redeem your code on the Peloton website or at Peloton stores. Bear in mind, however, you have to be a new customer.

How to find a referral code

If you want to be the referrer, not the referee, here’s how to generate the code that will get you some brownie points with your fitness-focused friends. The easiest way is to go to this link and log into your Peloton account.

Otherwise, head to members.onepeloton.com and select the hamburger menu in the top right corner, then hit Refer friends. If you’re not seeing that or the link above didn’t work, you’re not eligible to share a code. You can also do this on your mobile app by tapping the Community tab, then Add Friends on the upper right, then Refer Friends.

Remember how I said you’ll get brownie points with the people you refer? You get something else, too: You can give out up to $1,200 in referrals, but you also get a free month of your All Access Membership for every person you refer. Once someone makes a purchase with your code, you’ll get en email containing a code of your own, plus instructions on how to redeem it, after three to five business days. The voucher codes are valid for three months after their issue date.

Vampire Survivors just dropped a free update that includes an expansion based on the indie sensation Balatro. The expansion is called Ante Chamber and includes a new stage, new characters and a new power ups that makes the top-down rogue shooter feel more like, well, Balatro.

First up, the titular Ante Chamber stage is filled with playing cards, calling to mind the source material. The new characters include the iconic joker Jimbo and there are new power-ups and weapons pulled from Balatro. These include jokers that increase points combos, just like the card game, and riffs on pre-existing Balatro mechanics like those planet cards. It looks fun.

The Ante Chamber update is free and available to download now via Steam, Android, iOS, PS4 and PS5. It’s coming to the Switch and Epic Game Store on October 31.

However, this free update is more than just a Balatro-adjacent expansion. It also introduces online co-op, in addition to new stages, characters, weapons and more.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/balatro-comes-to-vampire-survivors-in-the-form-of-a-free-expansion-183005013.html?src=rss

The US will weigh a ban on children’s access to companion bots, as two senators announced bipartisan legislation Tuesday that would criminalize making chatbots that encourage harms like suicidal ideation or engage kids in sexually explicit chats.

At a press conference, Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) introduced the GUARD Act, joined by grieving parents holding up photos of their children lost after engaging with chatbots.

If passed, the law would require chatbot makers to check IDs or use “any other commercially reasonable method” to accurately assess if a user is a minor who must be blocked. Companion bots would also have to repeatedly remind users of all ages that they aren’t real humans or trusted professionals.

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Jensen Huang unveiled NVQLink at Nvidia’s Washington conference on Tuesday. The interconnect links quantum processors to the AI supercomputers they require to function effectively. Nvidia is not building its own quantum computers but is positioning itself as critical infrastructure for the technology’s future. Quantum processors harness principles of quantum physics to solve problems classical computers cannot address, but they need classical supercomputers to perform calculations beyond their capability and to correct the errors that naturally occur in their outputs.

Tim Costa, Nvidia’s general manager of industrial engineering and quantum, said AI will be necessary for full-scale error correction. Earlier attempts to integrate quantum processors with AI supercomputers failed to deliver the speed and scale needed for fast error correction at scale. Nvidia developed NVQLink with more than a dozen quantum companies including IonQ, Quantinuum and Infleqtion and worked with national labs including Sandia, Oak Ridge and Fermi. The interconnect operates on open architecture and works across different quantum modalities including trapped ion, superconducting and photonic systems.

Costa declined to predict when quantum computing will produce meaningful commercial value, though some quantum companies estimate two to four years.

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An AI language model like the kind that powers ChatGPT is a gigantic statistical web of data relationships. You give it a prompt (such as a question), and it provides a response that is statistically related and hopefully helpful. At first, ChatGPT was a tech amusement, but now hundreds of millions of people are relying on this statistical process to guide them through life’s challenges. It’s the first time in history that large numbers of people have begun to confide their feelings to a talking machine, and mitigating the potential harm the systems can cause has been an ongoing challenge.

On Monday, OpenAI released data estimating that 0.15 percent of ChatGPT’s active users in a given week have conversations that include explicit indicators of potential suicidal planning or intent. It’s a tiny fraction of the overall user base, but with more than 800 million weekly active users, that translates to over a million people each week, reports TechCrunch.

OpenAI also estimates that a similar percentage of users show heightened levels of emotional attachment to ChatGPT, and that hundreds of thousands of people show signs of psychosis or mania in their weekly conversations with the chatbot.

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After kicking off an unpopular pilot test last month, Samsung made the practice of having its expensive smart fridges display ads official this week.

The ads will be shown on Samsung’s 2024 Family Hub smart fridges. As of this writing, Samsung’s Family Hub fridges have MSRPs ranging from $1,899 to $3,499. The ads will arrive through a software update that Samsung will start issuing this month and display on the fridge’s integrated 21.5- or 32-inch (depending on the model) screen. The ads will show when the fridges are idle and display what Samsung calls Cover Screens.

As part of the Family Hub software update, we are piloting a new widget for select Cover Screens themes of Family Hub refrigerators. The widget will display useful day-to-day information such as news, calendar and weather forecasts, along with curated advertisements.

Samsung also said that its fridges will only show contextualized ads, instead of personalized ads, which rely on collecting data on users.

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