The CEO of Indian grocery ordering app KiranaPro has claimed an attacker deleted its GitHub and AWS resources in a targeted and deliberate attack and vowed to name the perpetrator. From a report: KiranaPro lets users shop at “Kiranas,” the Indian equivalent of convenience stores, which mostly stock basic foodstuffs. Users of the app place an order, which KiranaPro sends to nearby Kiranas who bid to win the sale. The winner arranges delivery of the goods. The elapsed time from ordering to delivery seldom tops 20 minutes.

KiranaPro CEO Deepak Ravindran claims the app “powers the livelihoods of thousands of Kirana store owners” and handles 2,000-plus orders each day. Ravindran also claims the app was destroyed by someone who holds a grudge. “Our startup @Kirana_Pro was deliberately hacked — entire GitHub repo & AWS data wiped. Logs suggest malicious insider action,” he wrote on June 3rd. The attack happened last week, and the app has been inoperable since.

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from IEEE Spectrum: In a development straight out of science fiction, Australian startup Cortical Labs has released what it calls the world’s first code-deployable biological computer. The CL1, which debuted in March, fuses human brain cells on a silicon chip to process information via sub-millisecond electrical feedback loops. Designed as a tool for neuroscience and biotech research, the CL1 offers a new way to study how brain cells process and react to stimuli. Unlike conventional silicon-based systems, the hybrid platform uses live human neurons capable of adapting, learning, and responding to external inputs in real time. “On one view, [the CL1] could be regarded as the first commercially available biomimetic computer, the ultimate in neuromorphic computing that uses real neurons,” says theoretical neuroscientist Karl Friston of University College London. “However, the real gift of this technology is not to computer science. Rather, it’s an enabling technology that allows scientists to perform experiments on a little synthetic brain.”

The first 115 units will begin shipping this summer at $35,000 each, or $20,000 when purchased in 30-unit server racks. Cortical Labs also offers a cloud-based “wetware-as-a-service” at $300 weekly per unit, unlocking remote access to its in-house cell cultures. Each CL1 contains 800,000 lab-grown human neurons, reprogrammed from the skin or blood samples of real adult donors. The cells remain viable for up to six months, fed by a life-support system that supplies nutrients, controls temperature, filters waste, and maintains fluid balance. Meanwhile, the neurons are firing and interpreting signals, adapting from each interaction.

The CL1’s compact energy and hardware footprint could make it attractive for extended experiments. A rack of CL1 units consumes 850-1,000 watts, notably lower than the tens of kilowatts required by a data center setup running AI workloads. “Brain cells generate small electrical pulses to communicate to a broader network,” says Cortical Labs Chief Scientific Officer Brett Kagan. “We can do something similar by inputting small electrical pulses representing bits of information, and then reading their responses. The CL1 does this in real time using simple code abstracted through multiple interacting layers of firmware and hardware. Sub-millisecond loops read information, act on it, and write new information into the cell culture.” The company sees CL1 as foundational for testing neuropsychiatric treatments, leveraging living cells to explore genetic and functional differences. “It allows people to study the effects of stimulation, drugs and synthetic lesions on how neuronal circuits learn and respond in a closed-loop setup, when the neuronal network is in reciprocal exchange with some simulated world,” says theoretical neuroscientist Karl Friston of University College London. “In short, experimentalists now have at hand a little ‘brain in a vat,’ something philosophers have been dreaming about for decades.”

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According to Automotive News (paywalled), the $17,190 base-model Nissan Versa S — the last U.S.-market production car with a five-speed manual — is ending production. A Nissan spokesperson told Auto News that the company is “trimming the fat” to focus on models with the strongest business performance — and the manual Versa S didn’t make the cut. The Drive reports: Looks like Nissan is trying to create as much savings as possible to handle the 25% tariff on cars imported from Mexico. […] When you go to Nissan’s site and check out the Versa, the first thing you see under its name is “Get the Nissan you want free from new tariffs.” So if Nissan is going to eat the additional tariff cost for customers, it can’t be manufacturing cars that won’t sell well. And manuals reportedly only accounted for 5% of Versa sales in 2024.

As the manual Versa dies, it brings the five-speed manual transmission down with it. What was once a common drivetrain configuration is now a memory — when the last stick-shift Versa leaves a Nissan lot, there won’t be any new five-speed manual vehicles for sale in the United States. Only six-speed and a few seven-speed manuals will remain. […] Killing the manual Versa won’t be a big sales hit, since barely any customers wanted it, but it will end Nissan’s ability to market a sub-$18,000 car.

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Luca Guadagnino is in talks to direct Artificial, a dramatization of Sam Altman’s dramatic firing and rehiring at OpenAI in 2023. The Amazon-MGM film is rumored to star Andrew Garfield, ‘A Complete Unknown’ scene-stealer Monica Barbaro, and ‘Anora’ actor Yura Borisov as lead roles in the story. From the Hollywood Reporter: Heyday Films’ David Heyman and Jeffrey Clifford are producing the feature that is being put together at lightning speed at Amazon MGM Studios. Simon Rich wrote the script and will also produce, with Jennifer Fox also in talks to produce. How fast is this moving? Sources say Amazon is looking to get production going this summer, with an eye to shoot in San Francisco and Italy.

Altman co-founded OpenAI, but in the fall of 2023, after mounting safety concerns regarding AI, and reports of abusive behavior, was ousted as the head of the company by his board. Five days later, after a revolt, he was reinstated. Sources say that if all goes as planned, Garfield would play Altman, Barbaro would play chief technology office Mira Murati, and Borisov would play Ilya Sutskever, a co-founder who led the movement to get rid of Altman.

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Yoshua Bengio, a pioneer in AI and Turing Award winner, has launched a $30 million non-profit aimed at developing “honest” AI systems that detect and prevent deceptive or harmful behavior in autonomous agents. The Guardian reports: Yoshua Bengio, a renowned computer scientist described as one of the “godfathers” of AI, will be president of LawZero, an organization committed to the safe design of the cutting-edge technology that has sparked a $1 trillion arms race. Starting with funding of approximately $30m and more than a dozen researchers, Bengio is developing a system called Scientist AI that will act as a guardrail against AI agents — which carry out tasks without human intervention — showing deceptive or self-preserving behavior, such as trying to avoid being turned off.

Describing the current suite of AI agents as “actors” seeking to imitate humans and please users, he said the Scientist AI system would be more like a “psychologist” that can understand and predict bad behavior. “We want to build AIs that will be honest and not deceptive,” Bengio said. He added: “It is theoretically possible to imagine machines that have no self, no goal for themselves, that are just pure knowledge machines — like a scientist who knows a lot of stuff.”

However, unlike current generative AI tools, Bengio’s system will not give definitive answers and will instead give probabilities for whether an answer is correct. “It has a sense of humility that it isn’t sure about the answer,” he said. Deployed alongside an AI agent, Bengio’s model would flag potentially harmful behaviour by an autonomous system — having gauged the probability of its actions causing harm. Scientist AI will “predict the probability that an agent’s actions will lead to harm” and, if that probability is above a certain threshold, that agent’s proposed action will then be blocked. “The point is to demonstrate the methodology so that then we can convince either donors or governments or AI labs to put the resources that are needed to train this at the same scale as the current frontier AIs. It is really important that the guardrail AI be at least as smart as the AI agent that it is trying to monitor and control,” he said.

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Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune will have a new streaming home this fall. Sony Pictures Television has inked multi-year deals for the pair of iconic game shows to stream on Peacock, Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ in the US. The agreement includes both in-season syndicated episodes and library episodes. It’s a next-day deal, so broadcast channels are still the first spot to see the newest content. However, this remains a very exciting development for Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune fans, since it’s the first time currently syndicated seasons will be available on the major national streaming platforms.

Both shows will begin this new streaming arrangement in September, when Jeopardy! will start its 42nd season in syndication. The quiz show has amassed a whopping 45 Emmy Awards and was also honored with a Peabody Award. Wheel of Fortune will be going into its 43rd season in syndication this fall.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/jeopardy-and-wheel-of-fortune-will-stream-next-day-on-hulu-and-peacock-225901653.html?src=rss

TikTok no longer shows search results for the hashtag #SkinnyTok. Critics who supported this block said some videos with that label were promoting disordered eating and other unhealthy or risky diet behaviors. We’ve reached out to TikTok for comment on this development. 

France’s Minister of State for Digital Affairs Clara Chappaz was one of the politicians leading the pushback against this particular hashtag. She has been campaigning against #SkinnyTok with both French and EU regulators since April. “These videos promoting extreme thinness are revolting and absolutely unacceptable,” Chappaz said. “Digital tools are marvellous in terms of progress and freedom, but badly used they can shatter lives … the social networks cannot escape their responsibility.”

While blocking search results for potentially harmful hashtags is a positive step, it only places hurdles in the path of people who want to seek out similar videos. “Users are savvy,” Cornell University professor Brooke Erin Duffy told The New York Times. “They know how to work these platforms and how to evade their content moderation systems.”

A block on one hashtag is just the latest in TikTok’s piecemeal approach toward content that could encourage eating disorders. In 2020 it placed restrictions on ads that might “promote a negative or harmful body image,” such as fasting apps and weight loss supplements. TikTok began a partnership with the National Eating Disorder Association in 2021 to offer more resources for users with eating disorders. Later that year, it also introduced a new approach to the For You page in an effort to reduce the impact of watching too many repeated clips on a negative topic.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/tiktok-now-blocks-search-results-for-skinnytok-222836828.html?src=rss

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Register: In a nod to European customers’ growing mistrust of American hyperscalers, Amazon Web Services says it is establishing a new organization in the region “backed by strong technical controls, sovereign assurances, and legal protections.” Ever since the Trump 2.0 administration assumed office and implemented an erratic and unprecedented foreign policy stance, including aggressive tariffs and threats to the national sovereignty of Greenland and Canada, customers in Europe have voiced unease about placing their data in the hands of big U.S. tech companies. The Register understands that data sovereignty is now one of the primary questions that customers at European businesses ask sales reps at hyperscalers when they have conversations about new services.

[…] AWS is forming a new European organization with a locally controlled parent company and three subsidiaries incorporated in Germany, as part of its European Sovereign Cloud (ESC) rollout, set to launch by the end of 2025. Kathrin Renz, an AWS Industries VP based in Munich, will lead the operation as the first managing director of the AWS ESC. The other leaders, we’re told, include a government security official and a privacy official – all EU citizens. The cloud giant stated: “AWS will establish an independent advisory board for the AWS European Sovereign Cloud, legally obligated to act in the best interest of the AWS European Sovereign Cloud. Reinforcing the sovereign control of the AWS European Sovereign Cloud, the advisory board will consist of four members, all EU citizens residing in the EU, including at least one independent board member who is not affiliated with Amazon. The advisory board will act as a source of expertise and provide accountability for AWS European Sovereign Cloud operations, including strong security and access controls and the ability to operate independently in the event of disruption.”

The AWS ESC allows the business to continue operations indefinitely, “even in the event of a connectivity interruption between the AWS European Sovereign Cloud and the rest of the world.” Authorized ESC staff who are EU residents will have independent access to a replica of the source code needed to maintain services under “extreme circumstances.” The services will have “no critical dependencies on non-EU infrastructure,” with staff, tech, and leadership all based on the continent, AWS said. “The AWS European Sovereign Cloud will have its own dedicated Amazon Route 53, providing customers with a highly available and scalable Domain Name System (DNS), domain name registration, and health-checking web services,” the company said. “The Route 53 name servers for the AWS European Sovereign Cloud will use only European Top Level Domains (TLDs) for their own names,” added AWS. “AWS will also launch a dedicated ‘root’ European Certificate Authority, so that the key material, certificates, and identity verification needed for Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security certificates can all run autonomously within the AWS European Sovereign Cloud.”

The Register also notes that the sovereign cloud will be “supported by a dedicated European Security Operations Center (SOC), led by an EU citizen residing in the EU.” That said, the parent company “remains under American ownership and may be subject to the Cloud Act, which requires U.S. companies to turn over data to law enforcement authorities with the proper warrants, no matter where that data is stored.”

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Longtime Slashdot reader schwit1 shares a report: A Romanian national pleaded guilty on Monday to charges related to his role in a “swatting” ring that targeted dozens of public officials, including a former US president. Going by the aliases “Plank,” “Jonah” and “Cypher,” 26-year-old Thomasz Szabo took part in a years-long conspiracy to place bogus 911 calls, claiming emergencies were taking place at the homes of top government officials, and make bomb threats against government buildings and houses of worship, according to the Justice Department.

Szabo and a co-conspirator, 21-year-old Serbian national Nemanja Radovanovic, allegedly targeted about 100 people, including members of Congress, governors, cabinet-level executive branch officials and state officials. Szabo, who was extradited from Romania last November, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of making bomb threats. He is slated to be sentenced in a Washington, DC, federal court in October. […] Charges against Radovanovic are still pending.

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I didn’t think I’d be talking about iOS 26 before the year 2032, but here we are. At WWDC 2025, Apple will likely announce the latest update for iPhones, complete with new features and a fresh naming scheme.

We won’t know for sure what Apple is planning until they officially announce it, but there’s reason to believe some leaks and rumors are accurate. I’ve been following those leaks and rumors closely as they’ve trickled in, and have a good sense of what to expect with iOS 26. Not all of the rumored features are winners—cough cough, Apple Intelligence—but there are others I’m genuinely excited for. Here are six of the features I hope really do make it to iOS 26.

RCS End-to-end encryption

RCS support was probably my favorite new feature of the iOS 18 era. For the first time since iMessage launched in 2011, iPhones and Android could text each other natively without resorting to SMS. The bubbles might still be green, but at least group chats are intact.

One major RCS perk has been missing since it launched on iOS, however: encryption. While RCS currently supports high-quality images and videos, your messages sent with this protocol are as unprotected as they are over SMS. End-to-end encryption (E2EE) guarantees that only the devices involved in the chat can decrypt and read the messages that are sent. No one else, not even Apple, can read E2EE. It’s a bummer, because RCS does support encryption (though even Android devices need to deal with some quirks here, as well).

Luckily, we know that E2EE is coming to RCS on iPhone—we just don’t know exactly when. Apple confirmed back in March that RCS encryption is on its way “in future software updates,” which could mean iOS 26, but also iOS 26.1 or any other number of updates. Personally, I hope it’s sooner rather than later.

Live Translate for AirPods

Picture this: You’re talking to someone who speaks a language you don’t. But as they speak, you hear their words translated to your language in your ear. It sounds like the future, but it’s very much the present—and it might be coming to AirPods.

That’s according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who reported in March that certain AirPods models would be getting this “live translate” feature. While Apple is apparently trying to keep this feature as secret as possible, Gurman says that AirPods will translate your conversationalist’s words in your ears, while your iPhone will translate your words in the other person’s language.

And actually, the feature is nothing new: Google’s Pixel Buds have had live translation for years at this point, via Conversation mode in the Translate app. It works the same way as Gurman describes Apple’s vision, so there is a clear precedent here. Still, I’d love if this feature really did ship with iOS 26.

A new look for iOS

If you know anything about iOS 26, you might know that Apple is planning a visual overhaul for the iPhone. If the rumors are true, the changes go beyond the mobile device: Apple is reportedly working on a design change across all of its products, to unify the look of iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS.

The main UI inspiration seems to come from Apple’s newest product of the bunch, Apple Vision Pro: Icons and elements are rounded, windows and menu bars are floating and translucent, and there are fresh animations.

You can see an example of what this might look like from this Jon Prosser video, which showcases an iOS 26 mock-up based on leaked designs:

It’s not necessarily the design itself I’m excited about, but the change in general. While Apple has mixed up its UI a bit over the years, the general design language has been building off iOS 7, which dropped over a decade ago. While my nostalgic side would love to see Apple bring back the skeuomorphic design of iOS 6 and earlier, I welcome any new UI that looks good. And if I get a similar experience across my iPhone, Mac, and iPad, all the better.

A Stage Manager-like interface

If you have a compatible iPad, you can plug it into an external monitor, and extend your display like you would with a laptop. It’s part of a feature Apple calls Stage Manager, and it’s a cool way to make your iPad a bit more useful for serious computing tasks.

Rumor has it Apple is working on something similar for the iPhone. Should the leaks be true, you’ll be able to plug your USB-C iPhone into a monitor, and while you won’t be able to use it like a computer, you’ll be able to extend your screen space to match the display.

This is a great idea, and something that would make the iPhone a portable presentation station. If you have a slideshow, a video, or any type of demonstration on your iPhone, you could share it full-screen on any connected monitor. It’d pale in comparison to something like Samsung DeX, which turns your Galaxy phone into a true desktop experience, but I feel this could be the start of something similar on iOS.

Fewer glitches

I don’t need much from Apple when it comes to the iPhone, but if I had a single request, I’d ask for a more stable experience. In general, thing are good, but I do run into a lot of small issues day to day, and I’m willing to bet you do too if you have an iPhone.

According to Mark Gurman, reducing glitches is a high priority for Apple. He says the company is “pushing engineers to ensure that this year’s releases are more functional and less glitchy. Past upgrades were criticized for bugs and features that sometimes didn’t work properly.”

Sounds good to me, Apple.

AI-powered battery life enhancements

I might not be excited for any of Apple’s new generative AI features, but I’d be lying if battery life improvements powered by AI didn’t pique my interest. We all want our iPhones to last longer between charges, after all.

In the same report that spilled the beans on the “less glichy” goal, Gurman says Apple is working on a feature that will analyze your iPhone usage, and make changes to conserve battery life when possible. Maybe the AI notices that you don’t take advantage of intensive features in certain apps, and as such, reduces the performance of those apps to prioritize energy conservation.

What I like even better, though, is that Apple is reportedly working on a Lock Screen utility that tells you how long it’ll take to finish charging your iPhone. These are the small yet mighty changes I want to see from Apple.

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We all need a little laughter, right? Whether your idea of “funny” is sharp social satire, complete absurdism, a comforting, old school sitcom, or anything in between, there is a show streaming on Netflix right now that will satisfy you.

The ten comedy series below are all ranked at above 95% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, so you can count on smart writing, the dialed-in performance, and critically approved laughs.

Detroiters (2017-2018)

Before he took off by making the best sketch show in the last decade, I Think You Should Leave‘s Tim Robinson created and starred in Detroiters, an absurdist sitcom about a couple of best friends who run a low-rent ad firm in Detroit. Detroiters takes the anarchic energy of I Think You Should Leave and plops it into the kind of persistent sitcom universe people are comfortable with, then upends the formula constantly. This show was criminally under-watched when it originally aired on Comedy Central, so if you missed it, catch up now.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 95%

North of North (2025-Present)

For a show set on the literal frozen tundra, North of North sure is warm. Anna Lambe stars as Siaja, a young single mother who talks her way into a job as the assistant to the town manager of Ice Cove, Nunavut. Siaja may be an Inuit from a place way too cold for you to ever have visited, but her struggles and triumphs are universal, and North of North presents it all in such a loving way, it’s impossible to not like it. I mean, 100% of TV critics dig it, and they’re some cynical folks.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 100%

Resident Alien (2021-Present)

In this fish-way-out-of-water series, Alan Tudyk plays a space alien who crashes on Earth and is forced to hide inside the skin of small-town doctor Harry Vanderspeigle. The alien’s mission to kill all people depends on assimilating with the local population of a Colorado mountain town and impersonating a human doctor, a task made more difficult when he starts falling for one of the natives and discovers a kid who can see what he really is. The premise is innovative, the cast is stellar, and the jokes are actually funny. Don’t sleep on Resident Alien.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 97%

Documentary Now! (2015-present)

In the universe of Documentary Now!, Helen Mirren hosts a PBS-style documentary series that’s been around for 53 years. Mirren introduces self-contained short films that parody famous documentaries and documentary styles. Created by Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, Seth Meyers, and Rhys Thomas and starring a who’s-who of comedic heavyweights too long to list, Documentary Now! is a comedy show for huge fans of D.A. Pennebaker who think it’s about time someone parody Grey Gardens. Pointy-heads need comedy too, right?

Rotten Tomatoes score: 95%

One Day at a Time (2017-Present)

While this comedy-drama was inspired by Norman Lear’s 70s sitcom of the same name, it doesn’t feel dusty or dated—the universal struggle to get by is timeless. Justina Machado stars as Penelope, a newly single nurse raising two kids with the help of her old-school mom, played by Rita Moreno, and her building manager Schneider, played by Todd Grinnell. If you like comfort comedy filmed in that familiar three-camera style, and you like it when love and family conquer all (but not in a cheesy way), check out One Day at a Time. (If you like sitcoms in general, here’s Lifehacker’s list of the top situation comedies on Netflix.)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 99%

Cunk on Earth (2022)

I love this very British mockumentary series. In Cunk on Earth, Diane Morgan plays Philomena Cunk, an absolute idiot who’s been given the job of hosting a BBC documentary series that explores the history of human civilization. Cunk visits real academics and experts—some of the smartest people on Earth—who are not in on the joke. She then asks them incredibly stupid questions like “do we know if China has a roof?” The reactions are hilarious as they try to gently explain basic concepts to a moron.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 100%

A Man on the Inside (2024-present)

In this Netflix original comedy series, Ted Danson plays a retired professor who finds a new lease on life when he goes undercover to investigate a series of crimes in a retirement home. A Man on the Inside is a gentle show, but it’s not afraid to take on big topics like loneliness, aging, and death while striking a perfect balance between comedy and heart.

Rotten Tomato score: 96%

The End of the F***ing World (2017-2019)

In this stylish, edgy, pitch-dark series, teenage misfits James and Alyssa meet and embark on a road trip/crime spree while searching for Alyssa’s estranged father. But James is a wannabe serial killer, and he’s chosen Alyssa as his first victim. As you’d probably guess, everything spirals violently out of control. The End of the F***ing World isn’t for the faint-of-heart, but it’s darkly funny, with an off-kilter sensibility and real affection for the weirdos and outcasts it features. (Yeah, I know it’s 94% fresh not 95%, but I’m a rebel like that.)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 94%

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015-2020)

In the opening episode of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, the title character escapes the apocalypse cult where she spent most of her life and moves to New York. Schmidt, played by Ellie Kemper, unleashes her wide-eyed innocence on modern life in the Big City. This show’s sharp writing, and amazing performances set it way above most comedy. If you like funny things, you’ll love this one.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 96%

Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return (2017)

The original MST3K, a long-running, bad-movie-watching marathon, was pulled from obscurity by its fans via a Kickstarter. The Return breathes fresh life into the old formula courtesy of a new cast that includes Patton Oswalt, Jonah Ray, and Felicia Day. The plot (mad scientists imprison a guy to make him watch bad movies with wise-cracking robots) is really just an excuse for hilarious jokes at the expense of terrible films. Not every joke is a winner, but so many of them are that it becomes addictive. Mystery Science Theater 3000: the Return is the kind of show you settle into like a comfy couch.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 100%

A federal judge ruled today that Florida cannot enforce a law that requires social media platforms to block kids from using their platforms. The state law “is likely unconstitutional,” US Judge Mark Walker of the Northern District of Florida ruled while granting the tech industry’s request for a preliminary injunction.

The Florida law “prohibits some social media platforms from allowing youth in the state who are under the age of 14 to create or hold an account on their platforms, and similarly prohibits allowing youth who are 14 or 15 to create or hold an account unless a parent or guardian provides affirmative consent for them to do so,” Walker wrote.

The law is subject to intermediate scrutiny under the First Amendment, meaning it must be “narrowly tailored to serve a significant governmental interest,” must “leave open ample alternative channels for communication,” and must not “burden substantially more speech than is necessary to further the government’s legitimate interests,” the ruling said.

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A deck-building game with soulslike elements is an odd genre mashup, to say the least. But that’s what the three-person Danish studio The Outer Zone is creating with Death Howl. The second demo for the indie PC title launches next week on Steam.

The unusual blend of genres isn’t the game’s only hallmark. Death Howl also has a gorgeous art style and music to match its rich themes. You play as Ro, a hunter from a small tribe, who is grieving her son’s death. Mystical voices beckon her toward a spirit realm as she tries to bring him back. Ro’s adventure leads her on a journey of “love, loss and the slow path toward acceptance.”

The game’s deck-based combat will unlock various melee and ranged spell attacks. As you progress, you’ll craft cards built around your preferred tactical style. Meanwhile, shamanic totems will enhance your deck and buff up your strikes.

The Outer Zone / 11 Bit Studios

What makes it soulslike, besides being hard? Publisher 11 Bit Studios offered some insight on Reddit. “Initially, we thought about a different label for Death Howl,” the publisher wrote. “But as we played it more and brought in random testers, we noticed something surprising. The game, despite not being an action RPG, does feel like a soulslike. It evoked emotions similar to what you experience in a soulslike.” Meanwhile, the game’s difficulty reveals itself most in boss battles and side quests.

Death Howl doesn’t arrive until sometime later this year. But the second demo will be playable from June 9 to 16. Head to the game’s Steam page to check it out. In the meantime, you can watch its new trailer below.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/the-gorgeous-indie-game-death-howl-will-have-a-new-demo-on-june-9-205057519.html?src=rss

TikTok is giving users more options to personalize their For You feeds, so you can see more of what you want and less of what you don’t. The platform is rolling out “Manage Topics,” a new feature that piloted in the U.S. last year and is now available to users globally.

How “Manage Topics” changes your TikTok feed

With Manage Topics, TikTok users can adjust how often they want to see content related to popular topics in their For You feed—some examples include creative arts, dance, travel, food & drinks, and health & fitness. According to the announcement explaining the update, changing your preferences won’t eliminate topics entirely, but it will affect how often related content is recommended over time.

If you do want to restrict certain types of content, you can use TikTok’s new AI-powered Smart Keyword Filtering, which builds on existing keyword filters to limit content based on synonyms or related words found in captions, hashtags, and descriptions. You’ll also be able to select or deselect specific keywords identified by the AI filter.

Of course, TikTok has a range of other features for customizing your For You feed, including liking, following, and searching content to adjust what the algorithm shows you. You can also turn on Restricted Mode or mute accounts you don’t want to see.

How to update Manage Topics

To personalize your topics, go to Settings > Content preferences > Manage topics (or tap Share on any post in your feed and select Why this video > Adjust your For You > Manage Topics.) You see a list of topics with slider bars, which you can adjust to see less or more of that type of content. TikTok will also show you a pop-up describing the content typically included in that topic. Then hit Save to confirm your preferences.

In 1979, Atari released the Atari 400 and 800, groundbreaking home computers that included custom graphics and sound chips, four joystick ports, and the ability to run the most advanced home video games of their era. These machines, which retailed for $549 and $999, respectively, represented a leap in consumer-friendly personal computing, with their modular design and serial I/O bus that presaged USB. Now, 46 years later, a hobbyist has shrunk down the system hardware to a size that would have seemed like science fiction in the 1970s.

Polish engineer Piotr “Osa” Ostapowicz recently unveiled “Atarino,” which may be the world’s smallest 8-bit Atari computer re-creation, according to retro computing site Atariteca. The entire system—processor, graphics chips, sound hardware, and memory controllers—fits on a module measuring just 2×1.5 centimeters (about 0.79×0.59 inches), which is roughly the size of a postage stamp.

Ostapowicz’s creation reimplements the classic Atari XL/XE architecture using modern FPGA (field-programmable gate array) technology. Unlike software emulators that simulate old hardware (and modern recreations that run them, like the Atari 400 Mini console) on a complete computer system of another architecture, Atarino reproduces the original Atari components faithfully at the logic level, allowing it to run vintage software while maintaining compatibility with original peripherals.

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Latin Times: A once-hyped AI startup backed by Microsoft has filed for bankruptcy after it was revealed that its so-called artificial intelligence was actually hundreds of human workers in India pretending to be chatbots. Builder.ai, a London-based company previously valued at $1.5 billion, marketed its platform as an AI-powered solution that made building apps as simple as ordering pizza. Its virtual assistant, “Natasha,” was supposed to generate software using artificial intelligence. In reality, nearly 700 engineers in India were manually coding customer requests behind the scenes, the Times of India reported.

The ruse began to collapse in May when lender Viola Credit seized $37 million from the company’s accounts, uncovering that Builder.ai had inflated its 2024 revenue projections by 300%. An audit revealed the company generated just $50 million in revenue, far below the $220 million it claimed to investors. A Wall Street Journal report from 2019 had already questioned Builder.ai’s AI claims, and a former executive sued the company that same year for allegedly misleading investors and overstating its technical capabilities. Despite that, the company raised over $445 million from big names including Microsoft and the Qatar Investment Authority. Builder.ai’s collapse has triggered a federal investigation in the U.S., with prosecutors in New York requesting financial documents and customer records.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Everyone knows that a lottery is a tax on people who can’t do math—your odds of ever winning are laughably low. That doesn’t stop a lot of people from playing, whether it’s the occasional scratcher for fun or an organized effort to win a billion bucks or so.

But a lottery is just a system of collecting entry fees and awarding a prize—a price that doesn’t have to be money. Sometimes the best and most equitable way to award something, sell something, or give access to something is a lottery, because it leaves everything up to chance, removing bias—and because it can actually be a more profitable way to transfer property than through a straightforward sale. Here are some of the coolest lotteries where you won’t win any cash.

Liquor

You might not think you’d need a lottery to buy whiskey, a product that’s available in most places at relatively reasonable prices. But what about rare and expensive whiskies? A bottle of Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve 23 Years Old will run you thousands of dollars at a store, for example—but this year the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board holds a lottery of limited-release whiskies, and the 2025 lottery included the chance to buy a bottle for just $400.

Other states have similar lotteries for rare liquors—Ohio holds an annual Bottle Lottery in the fall, and the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority holds one every year as well. These lotteries aren’t restricted to whiskey—tequilas and other spirits are often included—but they all operate similarly: Winners get the chance to purchase extremely rare and pricey bottles at heavy discounts.

A house

If you’ve thought about buying a house recently, you may have noticed that they are a bit expensive—housing prices have risen 30% in five years, on average. One solution might be to win a house in a lottery.

This is a thing that actually happens. Recently, a woman in Ireland put her house up in a lottery using the site Raffall.com. She charged people $7 per ticket, figuring she’d actually make more from ticket sales than she would from a traditional sale—and it seems to have worked, as an American woman won the lottery, and the house.

Other house lotteries pop up from time to time—the CHEO Foundation holds an annual lottery that includes a “dream home,” for example, and in some communities, lotteries are being used to help people afford houses. In Uniondale, N.Y., for example, the Uniondale Community Land Trust uses a lottery to sell houses in the town—though the house isn’t free. The final price tag is determined by the lottery winner’s income, though it’s expected to be about one-third of market value. And Newark, N.J. recently held a lottery to sell homes for just $1.

Fireflies

If you’ve never lived in an area where fireflies thrive—or if you live in an area where the fireflies have vanished—you know how cool they are. If you want the chance to see some truly spectacular firefly displays out in nature, however, you’ll need to enter a lottery to win the chance.

Every year some national parks hold lotteries to grant a limited number of people access to prime firefly viewing. The Great Smoky Mountains Firefly Viewing Lottery is held every year for dates in late May and early June when the bugs’ mating season is in high gear. Similarly, Congaree National Park hosts firefly events around the same time of year. Access to both events is granted through a lottery.

Some state parks are getting in on the firefly action as well—this year Lamar Alexander Rocky Form State Park in Tennessee launched its own lottery to view nature’s tiny light show.

Outdoor activities

Keeping our natural wonders clean and well-maintained typically means restricting access. Too many visitors to national parks and protected wilderness areas leads to erosion, damage, and pollution. Since the best way to lessen the damage is to restrict the number of people with access, lotteries are often used to limit access in an equitable way. A few examples of outdoor activities you won’t be able to experience unless you win a lottery include:

• The challenging Half Dome hike in Yosemite National Park requires a permit you can only get via lottery.

• Rafting the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon can only be done if you get a permit via lottery.

• Hiking the Left Form North Creek (aka the Subway Hike) canyon requires winning a seasonal lottery.

You can check recreation.gov for open lotteries if you don’t have a specific plan in mind; if something is managed via lottery, it’s probably pretty special.

Broadway shows

Broadway Shows remain an exciting experience for both native New Yorkers and tourists—and an expensive one. The average ticket price for a Broadway show is about $119, and nothing is getting any cheaper. Even if you live in or near New York, the cost of seeing a show could easily be $1,000 depending on how many people are going and other details.

If that’s too rich for your blood, you can always try the lottery. Individual shows frequently hold ticket lotteries (Hamilton is probably one of the best-known, offering $10 tickets to all performances), so doing a little research on the shows you want to see might reveal a chance to win. The site Broadway Direct maintains a listing of open lotteries you can enter as well.

Winning a lottery is always a thrill—but since winning huge amounts of money isn’t the slam dunk of happiness and problem-solving you might think it is, winning a non-cash prize in one of these lotteries is probably a better experience.

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney anticipated his company’s battle with Apple would create “fireworks,” but he never expected Fortnite to disappear from the iOS App Store for nearly five years. When Epic deliberately violated App Store rules in 2020 by inserting its own payment system into Fortnite, Sweeney thought the resulting legal clash would be brief. “I had actually hoped that we would get an injunction against Apple blocking Fortnite and that we’d only be off for a few weeks,” Sweeney told The Verge. “But the court process dragged out, and we were off for five years.”

Fortnite returned to iOS last month and has quickly reclaimed its position as the top free game in the App Store, accumulating roughly 10 million downloads since May 20th. The game now offers players a choice between Epic’s payment system, which provides 20% back in Epic Rewards, and Apple’s traditional in-app purchase system. About 60% of users have chosen Apple’s system while 40% have opted for Epic’s alternative, according to Sweeney. He expects that ratio to shift toward Epic’s system as more players associate payment methods with their Epic accounts.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.