Drug commercials in the U.S. are set to become more intelligible. On Monday, the Food and Drug Administration updated its regulations regarding prescription drug ads that air on TV or radio. The change will specifically mandate that a drug’s side effects and other potential dangers “must be presented in a clear,…
Source: Gizmodo – Say Goodbye to Those Absurd Side-Effects Readouts in Drug Commercials
Cities: Skylines II developer Colossal Order is delaying the city building simulation’s expansion roadmap. After numerous complaints about the PC game’s performance (and the delay of console versions until 2024), the team decided to pause rapid patches, digging instead into more time-consuming performance and bug fixes. CEO Mariina Hallikainen apologized for the delay in a blog post, explaining, “We must not rush new content out before the base [game] is ready for it.”
The development delay pushes most Cities: Skylines II expansion pass content back by a quarter. The Beach Properties asset pack has been postponed to Q1 2024 from Q4 2023. Two creator packs (Modern Architecture and Urban Promenades), initially scheduled for Q1 2024, will arrive in Q2 2024. Finally, the Deluxe Relax and Soft Rock radio stations are knocked back to Q1 and Q2 2024, respectively. Meanwhile, the Bridges & Ports expansion remains in the Q2 2024 slot.
Hallikainen’s blog post cited a need to address more time-consuming bug fixes and performance problems before rolling out new content. “We have made it through the quicker fixes and we’re now digging into the ones that require a bit more work,” she wrote. The CEO mentioned applying fixes for graphical details to improve GPU performance before moving on to CPU optimizations, including stutter fixes, while ensuring a fast and smooth experience. She said the development team is currently sifting through players’ bug reports, identifying 100 reproducible issues the team will look into and another 100 reports requiring more investigation.
Weeks before launch, Colossal Order raised the game’s minimum and recommended specs, warning, “We have not achieved the benchmark we targeted.” However, it and its publisher, Paradox Interactive, opted to continue with Cities: Skylines II’s planned release date. When it arrived in late October, fans, hoping for a stable experience expanding on the 2015 original, panned the product they got. They complained about shoddy performance, buggy core gameplay elements and an overall lack of optimization relative to the PC hardware it runs on — even, in some cases, on fairly high-end setups.
Despite fans’ disappointment with the stability of the hotly anticipated title, Colossal Order seems to have received the message. “Once the PC version is where we want it to be, we will be focusing on the console release and DLC content,” Hallikainen wrote.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cities-skylines-ii-developer-delays-dlc-to-to-focus-on-fixing-the-base-game-180702925.html?src=rss
Source: Engadget – Cities: Skylines II developer delays DLC to to focus on fixing the base game
Enlarge / Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on Tuesday, July 25, 2023, during a hearing on AI held by the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law. (credit: Getty Images | Bloomberg)
After firing CEO Sam Altman, OpenAI’s board of directors reached out to the CEO of its rival, Anthropic, to propose a merger, but the proposal was quickly rejected, according to news reports. The board approached Anthropic co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei “about a potential merger of the two companies” as “part of an effort by OpenAI to persuade Amodei to replace Altman as CEO,” The Information reported yesterday, citing “a person with direct knowledge” of the contact.
“It’s not clear whether the merger proposal led to any serious discussion. Amodei quickly turned down the CEO offer due to his position at Anthropic,” The Information wrote.
The report was subsequently confirmed by Reuters. “OpenAI’s board of directors approached rival Anthropic’s CEO about replacing chief Sam Altman and potentially merging the two AI startups, according to two people briefed on the matter,” Reuters wrote. “Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei declined on both fronts, the people said.”
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Source: Ars Technica – Report: After Altman firing, OpenAI tried to merge with rival—and was rejected
It was discovered that a sequence of processor instructions for some Intel processors leads to unexpected behavior that could allow an authenticated local user to escalate privileges (CVE-2023-23583). This bug, dubbed “Reptar,” could expose sensitive information or cause system crashes, resulting in a denial of service.
The post Intel Fixes Microcode Bug that Could Expose Your Sensitive Data appeared first on Linux Today.
Source: Linux Today – Intel Fixes Microcode Bug that Could Expose Your Sensitive Data
Your tires lose air pressure in cold weather, so it’s important to check them regularly.
Source: LifeHacker – Why You Should Check Your Tire Pressure Every Month This Winter
Enlarge (credit: NurPhoto / Contributor | NurPhoto)
On Monday, Elon Musk followed through with his promise to sue Media Matters over reporting that helped spark the latest advertiser backlash against antisemitic content posted on Musk’s X (formerly Twitter).
Musk’s complaint—bizarrely filed in a Texas court despite X Corp. being based in California and Media Matters in the District of Columbia—accused Media Matters of interference with X Corp.’s contract with advertisers, business disparagement, and interference with a prospective economic advantage by allegedly disrupting X Corp.’s relationship with advertisers.
The lawsuit’s business disparagement claim marks the first time that Musk has sued a group monitoring hate speech on X for defaming the platform. Where individuals can sue for defamation, businesses can sue over disparagement. In this case, Musk must prove that Media Matters knowingly published false statements intended to harm X Corp.’s business to succeed in his lawsuit.
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Source: Ars Technica – Musk files lawsuit claiming Media Matters manipulated X by scrolling down
Just when you thought The Karate Kid universe couldn’t get any bigger, it just did. The star of the original franchise as well as Cobra Kai, Ralph Macchio, is teaming up with action movie legend, and star of the 2010 Karate Kid remake, Jackie Chan, for a brand new Karate Kid movie.
Source: io9 – A New Karate Kid Movie Will Star Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio
Stream new comedy, Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro,” and the end of “The Crown.”
Source: LifeHacker – What’s New on Netflix in December 2023
The chief executive of Binance, the largest global cryptocurrency exchange, plans to step down and plead guilty to violating criminal U.S. anti-money laundering requirements, in a deal that may preserve the company’s ability to continue operating, WSJ reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. From the report: Changpeng Zhao is scheduled to appear in Seattle federal court Tuesday afternoon and enter his plea, the people said. Binance, which Zhao owns, will also plead guilty to a criminal charge and agree to pay fines totaling $4.3 billion, which includes amounts to settle civil allegations made by regulators, the people said. The deal would end long-running investigations of Binance. […] The deal would allow Zhao to retain his majority ownership of Binance, although he won’t be able to have an executive role at the company. He would face sentencing at a later date.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Binance Founder Changpeng Zhao Agrees To Step Down, Plead Guilty
An anonymous reader writes: Christopher Nolan made headlines earlier this month when he took a playful jab at streaming platforms while discussing the upcoming home release of “Oppenheimer.” The atomic bomb drama, which grossed a staggering $950 million in theaters worldwide, is hitting Blu-ray and other digital platforms this month. Nolan said at a recent “Oppenheimer” screening that it’s important to own the film on Blu-ray so that “no evil streaming service can come steal it from you.” He told The Washington Post in a follow-up interview: “It was a joke when I said it. But nothing’s a joke when it’s transcribed onto the internet. There is a danger, these days, that if things only exist in the streaming version they do get taken down, they come and go,” the director added.
Streamers have become notoriously known in the last year for pulling original titles from their platforms in order to license them out elsewhere and open up potential revenue streams. When such titles are streaming-only offerings, their removal makes it impossible to view the films elsewhere. Such was the case this year with the Disney+ movie “Crater,” for instance. The streaming-only family adventure was pulled from Disney+ in June and could not be viewed anywhere until it was reissued as a digital release months later in September. For Nolan, owning physical media is the only way to combat such streaming trends. Guillermo del Toro agrees, having shared Nolan’s recent quotes on X (formerly Twitter) and adding his own commentary on the issue. “Physical media is almost a Fahrenheit 451 (where people memorized entire books and thus became the book they loved) level of responsibility,” del Toro wrote to his followers. “If you own a great 4K HD, Blu-ray, DVD etc etc of a film or films you love…you are the custodian of those films for generations to come.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Christopher Nolan Says Streaming-Only Content Is a ‘Danger’
The original Simpsons: Hit & Run, released 20 years ago in 2003, ended up being a massive hit and sold millions of copies. So a sequel, featuring planes, was planned. But then the publisher shocked everyone when it passed on a sweetheart deal to create more Hit & Run games.
Source: Kotaku – Simpsons Hit & Run 2 Would Have Added Planes, But The Publisher Passed
Ahead of AMD’s Advancing AI event coming up quickly in early December, AMD today announced ROCm and PyTorch support has been extended to supporting the Radeon RX 7900 XT graphics card…
Source: Phoronix – AMD Extends PyTorch + ROCm Support To The Radeon RX 7900 XT
Amazon’s Echo Buds just got a spate of new features via a software update, though most of these tools are only available for the recently-released 2023 lineup of earbuds. First up, you can now tap the earbuds to start a recommended playlist, so you don’t need to fumble with your phone to launch a playlist or even speak out loud to ask Alexa for help. It’s all in the tap.
You can launch playlists via one triple tap or a single long press, which is adjusted via the settings in the associated Alexa app. It looks like this feature works with all of the major streaming platforms, as Amazon says it accesses “your preferred audio provider” to find the playlist. Just look for “Tap Controls” in the Echo Buds device settings to get started.
There’s also a new audio personalization tool that lets you tailor the sound to better integrate with your physical environment and the content you’re consuming. For instance, you can tune the frequencies to accentuate the bass during a walk, to provide a fuller sound. The company lists other examples where this feature comes in handy, including watching movies on a laptop. This could actually be quite handy, as all sound sources are not created equal.
Again, head to the Echo Buds device settings via the Alexa app and look for the audio personalization options. You can even adjust each ear independently of one another, so your right ear can be louder or offer a different range of frequencies than the left ear. Amazon says the setup process here takes around four minutes. It’s also worth noting that this feature is available for both 2023’s model and 2021’s second-gen Echo Buds.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazons-latest-echo-buds-get-new-features-including-tap-to-start-playlists-170939952.html?src=rss
Source: Engadget – Amazon’s latest Echo Buds get new features including tap-to-start playlists
Collabora announced today that its open-source NVK graphics driver in Mesa is now officially conformant with the Vulkan 1.0 graphics API on NVIDIA Turing hardware.
The post Open-Source NVIDIA Vulkan Driver NVK Reaches Vulkan 1.0 Conformance appeared first on Linux Today.
Source: Linux Today – Open-Source NVIDIA Vulkan Driver NVK Reaches Vulkan 1.0 Conformance
You can finally sign into WhatsApp from anywhere, even if you don’t have a cell signal.
Source: LifeHacker – You Can Now Log Into WhatsApp With Your Email Address
WandaVision—the very first Marvel series to hit Disney+, all the way back in January 2021—is finally getting a snazzy home release. It’s nicely timed, now that series co-star Teyonah Parris is currently featuring in The Marvels, and WandaVision spin-off Agatha: Darkhold Diaries waits in the wings.
Source: Gizmodo – WandaVision Creator Jac Schaeffer Explains Her Approach to the Marvel Series
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 players are mocking Mary Jane “MJ” Watson for something that is both hilariously silly and professionally questionable: her meek podcast setup.
Source: Kotaku – Spider-Man 2 Players Are Roasting MJ’s ‘Trash’ Podcast Setup
Mediatek is aiming for the premium-oriented midrange smartphone market with the release of the Dimensity 8300 chipset. This new chip uses TSMC’s 2nd generation 4nm process and Arm’s latest v9 CPU architecture. It’s an eight core CPU that packs 4 Arm Cortex-A715 cores along with 4 Cortex-A510 cores. There is also an Arm Mali-G615 GPU onboard.
With
Source: Hot Hardware – MediaTek Dimensity 8300 Flexes Generative AI Muscle To Arm Wrestle Snapdragon 7 Gen 3
The center of our galaxy is a menagerie of exotic objects; a supermassive black hole, clouds of hot gas, and giant stars that can help inform the origin story of much of the universe. Using the Webb telescope, scientists got to see this chaotic region of the Milky Way in a different light, revealing new features and…
Source: Gizmodo – The Heart of the Milky Way Glows With Unprecedented Detail in New Webb Image
The GNU Name System has now been formalized as RFC 9498.
GNS addresses long-standing security and privacy issues in the
ubiquitous Domain Name System (DNS). Previous attempts to secure
DNS (DNSSEC) fail to address critical security issues such as
end-to-end security, query privacy, censorship, and centralization
of root zone governance. After 40 years of patching, it is time for
a new beginning.
Source: LWN.net – RFC 9498: The GNU Name System
