The Changeling (adapted from the novel by Victor LaValle) wrapped its first season on Apple TV+ today with a finale that had more than its fair share of cliffhangers… literally. Check out this exclusive clip to see what we mean.
Source: Gizmodo – Descend Into Terror With The Changeling’s Final Episode
Amazon has a great deal on the Samsung OLED G9 GP5SC right now. This curved gaming monitor features a dual QHD resolution, giving you two monitors’ worth of screen real estate on one display. The monitor typically lists for $1,799.99, but is just $1,349.99 on Amazon for a limited time.
Source: LifeHacker – This Massive Samsung Gaming Monitor Is 0 Off
With the latest Ubuntu Linux release, it[he]#039[/he]s clear that Canonical is taking the Linux desktop seriously.
Source: LXer – Ubuntu Desktop 23.10 arrives: A glimpse into Ubuntu Linuxs future
As Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s February 29 release date grows ever closer folks are getting antsy about seeing beloved characters like Cait Sith (pronounced “Kate Sihth,” apparently) Vincent Valentine, and Cid party up with Cloud. Although creative director Tetsuya Nomura has already confirmed that the aforementioned…
Source: Kotaku – Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Fan Theory Hints At A Major Story Change
If you’ve been looking to upgrade your home with a smart vacuum, now may be a good time to do so: Walmart currently has Shark’s AI Robot Self-Empty XL smart vacuum on sale for $300 off, making it just $298 compared to its regular $600 price tag.
Source: LifeHacker – This Shark Smart Vacuum Is 0 Off Right Now
It’s October, which basically means it’s Halloween, which basically means it’s Thanksgiving, which basically means it’s Christmas. So yes, it’s Christmas time, and that means it’s also time to pick out the geekiest holiday ornaments Hallmark has in store for 2023.
Source: Gizmodo – All the Geekiest, Coolest Hallmark Ornaments for 2023
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: It hasn’t been a great time in recent quarters for PC companies, but with IDC, Gartner and Canalys all reporting data for Q3 2023, it shows an improving landscape. While shipments still declined between 7% and 9%, depending on whose data you look at, the decline was slowing. But perhaps the biggest surprise in these numbers was the fact Apple was the biggest loser this quarter, with numbers declining between 23% and 29%.
First, let’s look at the overall numbers. IDC found the market dropped 7.6% year over year with 68.2 million PCs shipped, Gartner reported a 9% decline with 64.3 million units shipped and Canalys found the market down 7% with 65.6 million units shipped. In spite of that, the consensus was that the long PC market decline may be over, and we could be headed for better days with the holiday shopping season approaching in the final quarter. “There is evidence that the PC market’s decline has finally bottomed out,” Mikako Kitagawa, director analyst at Gartner, said in a statement.
When you look at individual manufacturers, Apple experienced by far the biggest decline, with IDC reporting -23.1%, Gartner reporting -24.2% and Canalys -29.1%. The only other company with double-digit reductions was Asus, with -10.7%, -11.5% and -10.7%, respectively. If you’re looking for the only company in positive territory, that would be HP, with IDC and Gartner reporting an increase of 6.4% and Canalys only slightly different at 6.5%.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – PC Shipments Decline Slows In Q3 2023, But Apple Plunges Over 23%
Unlike a certain mismanaged social network that wants you to pay for the privilege of fixing your typos, Instagram’s Threads app now allows you to edit your posts for free. Along with the ability to post voice messages, it’s yet more evidence that Threads is catching up with or getting ahead of X, formerly known as…
Source: LifeHacker – You Can Now Edit Your Posts on Threads
Grand Theft Auto Online’s latest update unleashes ghosts across the world of Los Santos, letting players track down and photograph them for rewards. And one of these ghosts might look kinda familiar if you’ve played GTA IV’s Lost and the Damned DLC…
Source: Kotaku – How GTA Online’s Halloween Update Made A GTA V Urban Legend Real
Enlarge / Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard, in June, arriving to court in San Francisco to testify in the Federal Trade Commission’s suit to stop Microsoft’s acquisition of the company Kotick has led for 33 years. (credit: Getty Images)
Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard, emailed employees after news of Microsoft’s successful $69 billion acquisition to say that he was “fully committed to helping with the transition” and that he would stay on as CEO through the end of 2023.
Kotick’s statement left some ambiguity about his plans for 2024, but Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reports that on January 1, Kotick will depart. It’s “a massive change for the video game industry,” Schreier writes, which seems almost restrained, given Kotick’s longevity and recent history. Several employees Schreier spoke to are “very excited for this deal to go through,” specifically to see leadership change.
Kotick, who has led Activision for more than 30 years and orchestrated its merger with Blizzard, had considered stepping down in late 2021. Following a lawsuit from the state of California alleging a “frat boy culture” rife with pay disparity and sexual harassment, a Wall Street Journal report alleged that Kotick failed to act on hundreds of abuse allegations within the company and also kept the company’s board of directors in the dark. Activision was also sued by its shareholders and pressured by state treasurers over its secrecy and responses regarding the California lawsuit. All of this led to an employee walkout and calls for Kotick’s resignation.
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Source: Ars Technica – CEO Bobby Kotick will leave Activision Blizzard on January 1, 2024
Did you check out V/H/S/85, the latest entry in the long-running found-footage horror anthology series, when it hit Shudder last week? A hell of a lot of people did: it was the most-watched film premiere of the year for Shudder and AMC+. It comes as no surprise that a seventh V/H/S entry is officially on the way, this…
Source: Gizmodo – Shudder’s Next V/H/S Film Will Have a Sci-Fi Theme
Did you just update your iPhone and Mac to the latest versions of iOS 17 and macOS Sonoma? Did you also accidentally set off fireworks during your latest work call, or somehow get it to start “raining” when on a FaceTime call with your parents? It’s not your fault, and if you don’t want it to happen again, there’s a…
Source: LifeHacker – Why You Keep Triggering Fireworks During Video Calls (and How to Fix It)
Google is still wondering if it should make major changes to its homepage. The last experiment we saw filled the usually stark white page with info cards showing things like the weather and stocks, but this new experiment has a much bigger focus on news. From a report: Instead of a homepage featuring only the Google logo, a search box, and a few buttons, this latest experiment looks a lot more like the “Google Discover” newsfeed you get on the Google mobile app. That means rows of news articles that Google has algorithmically detected will interest you, often with wild month-to-month quality swings in the sites it promotes. To the right of the newsfeed is a stack of “at a glance” cards featuring sports scores, stocks, and the weather. The change makes Google look a lot busier — and a lot more like Bing and Yahoo.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Google Tests a News-Filled Homepage
Valve has warned Counter-Strike 2 players that AMD’s latest graphics driver could get them banned. The problem lies in AMD’s Anti-Lag+ feature, which triggers the Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC) system, duping it into mistaking the driver’s low-latency mode for cheating.
The problem lies in Anti-Lag+ intercepting and redirecting Dynamic Link Library (DLL) functions. VAC views DLL reroutes as cheats (in other cases, they often are), which could lead to getting booted from Counter-Strike 2.
A Reddit thread about the issue claims “many players” have reported receiving VAC bans from using the latest AMD driver (23.10.1). “It seems that VAC is banning everyone BUT the cheaters,” quipped u/Volfong in the thread. “Can confirm I got banned today and Anti-Lag+ was turned on,” wrote u/trkemrasr. “They better reverse this shit quickly.”
Valve plans to do just that. “Once AMD ships an update we can do the work of identifying affected users and reversing their ban,” the publisher posted on X (formerly Twitter).
AMD’s latest driver has made their “Anti-Lag/+” feature available for CS2, which is implemented by detouring engine dll functions.
If you are an AMD customer and play CS2, DO NOT ENABLE ANTI-LAG/+; any tampering with CS code will result in a VAC ban.
Once AMD ships an update we…
— CS2 (@CounterStrike) October 13, 2023
Until the problem is resolved, Valve recommends turning off Anti-Lag+ in the graphics card settings. If you haven’t changed the default, you can disable Anti-Lag+ with the hotkey of Alt+L. You can double-check the shortcut’s setting by opening AMD Radeon Software, clicking on the gear icon and choosing Hotkeys from the sub-menu. Selecting the existing hotkey for Anti-Lag+ allows you to customize it.
Engadget has contacted AMD for comment and will update this article if we hear back.
Counter-Strike 2 launched in September after months of hype. The update, which replaced Counter-Strike: Global Offensive on Steam, adds upgraded graphics and maps alongside more realistic smoke. The game uses Valve’s Source 2 engine for improved lighting, clearer textures and updated geometry. You’ll need a somewhat modern Windows machine to play it as Valve says it has no plans to bring the sequel to macOS or older PCs.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/valve-warns-that-amds-anti-lag-feature-can-lead-to-counter-strike-2-bans-210239729.html?src=rss
Source: Engadget – Valve warns that AMD’s anti-lag feature can lead to Counter-Strike 2 bans
Google says it will defend users in a legal setting if copyright issues arise with their generative artificial intelligence. It joins the ranks of other big tech players who have done the same.
“Put simply: if customers are challenged on copyright grounds, we will assume responsibility for the potential legal risks…
Source: Gizmodo – Google Has Your Back If Its AI Lands You in Copyright Trouble
Though people talk about the auteur revolution of the 1970s, or the warm, populist glow of neon-soaked ‘80s movies, the 1990s were an incredibly assured time in filmmaking. Romantic comedies went deeper and darker; Black filmmakers were rising to the forefront and telling their own stories; and technology had advanced…
Source: LifeHacker – The 36 Best ’90s Movies You Can Stream Right Now
The game Five Nights at Freddy’s gained an immense cult following not just for its jump scares, as popularized by the then-burgeoning “let’s play” YouTube channels back in 2014, but for the swath of theories and hidden lore behind the series’ murderous animatronics and the history of the haunted Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza.
Source: Gizmodo – Five Nights at Freddy’s Director Discusses Recreating FNAF Lore
Computer networking company Sandvine has scrapped an effort to sell US law enforcement agencies a controversial internet surveillance technology that tracks encrypted messages and laid off most of the employees involved in the initiative, Bloomberg News reported Friday, citing four people with knowledge of the matter. From the report: Sandvine had pitched the new product, called “Digital Witness,” to governments and law enforcement agencies in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and North America. It was marketed as a tool to covertly monitor people’s internet use and encrypted messages sent using popular applications such as Meta Platform’s WhatsApp and Signal, according to the people, who asked not to be identified to discuss confidential matters.
Sandvine had already provided trial versions of the technology in the US, these people said. But a combination of broader economic woes and lingering concern over the company’s previous work with authoritarian governments hindered the product’s success, the people said. Sandvine declined to comment when asked about Digital Witness. The company’s marketing materials indicate the product is sold only to law enforcement and government agencies, and it is still listed on Sandvine’s website.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Sandvine Scraps Plan To Market Tool in US That Tracks Encrypted Messages
“Wahoo, wahee,” indeed. After months of speculation, Nintendo affirmed the new VO actor for Mario is the Los Angeles-based voice actor Kevin Afghani.
Source: Gizmodo – Nintendo Finally Confirms Mario’s New Voice Actor
Look, what you do on the internet is between you and your ISP. Or, at least it should be. Hand someone your phone, however, and all of a sudden they have access to anything and everything in your browsing history. Yikes.
Source: LifeHacker – Chrome Just Made It Easier to Delete the Evidence of What You’ve Been Doing
