Monthly Archives: May 2025

Future iPhones Tipped For A 200MP Camera Upgrade To Challenge Samsung

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Future iPhones Tipped For A 200MP Camera Upgrade To Challenge Samsung
Exciting whispers from the tech sphere indicate that Apple might be gearing up to introduce a giant leap in iPhone camera technology, potentially integrating a 200 megapixel sensor in future high-end models. Could this development, if true, mean that perhaps the next iPhone 17 Ultra may rise to challenge other Android imaging powerhouses like

[$] Glibc project revisits infrastructure security

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The GNU C Library
(glibc) is the core C library for most Linux distributions, so it is a
crucial part of the open-source ecosystem—and an attractive
target for any attackers looking to carry out supply-chain
attacks. With that being the case, securing the project’s
infrastructure using industry best practices and improving the
security of its development practices are a frequent topic among glibc
developers. A recent discussion suggests that improvements are not
happening as quickly as some would like.

Japan Post Launches ‘Digital Address’ System

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Japan Post has launched a “digital address” system that links seven-digit combinations of numbers and letters to physical addresses. From a report: Under the system, users can input these seven-digit codes on online shopping websites, and their addresses will automatically appear on the sites.

People can obtain digital addresses by registering with Japan Post’s Yu ID membership service. Their digital addresses will not change even if their physical addresses change. Their new addresses will be linked to the codes if they submit notices of address changes.


Read more of this story at Slashdot.

It was probably always going to end this way for Amazon’s Wheel of Time show

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Late on Friday, Amazon announced that it was canceling its TV adaptation of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, after several uncomfortable weeks of silence that followed the show’s third season finale.

Fans of the series can take some cold comfort in the fact that it apparently wasn’t an easy decision to make. But as we speculated in our write-up of what ended up being the show’s series finale, an expensive show with a huge cast, tons of complicated costuming and effects, and extensive location shooting only makes mathematical sense if it’s a megahit, and The Wheel of Time was never a megahit.

Adapting the unadaptable

I was sad about the cancellation announcement because I believe this season was the one where the show found its footing, both as an adaptation of a complex book series and as a fun TV show in its own right. But I wasn’t surprised by it. The only thing I found surprising was that it took this long to happen.

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My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: The Samsung Galaxy S25

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We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.

Samsung announced the new Galaxy S25 Series back in January, a three-phone lineup with a fourth variation that was teased a month later, which you can preorder right now with a $50 Amazon gift card before its May 30 release. Out of those four, the Galaxy S25 is the most basic model with the lowest price, and currently, it’s hitting a new record low price of $624.99 (originally $799.99), according to price-tracking tools.

The S25 has some upgrades from the S24 lineup: The best features in the OS are shared by all four phones, so you can still enjoy the best features from One UI 7, including exclusive media and notifications features from the cheapest option. Two of the best are Now Bar and Now Brief, which show you brief alerts or notifications personalized to your feed and activities.

The Galaxy S25 runs on the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy, has three rear lenses, including a 50MP wide-angle lens, and a 6.2-inch and 120Hz OLED display. The RAM is a generous 12GB, with the storage options starting at 128 GB. Currently, the mint color is the cheapest available.

PCMag gave the Galaxy S25 an “excellent” review for its useful AI features, a bright screen, good battery life, and excellent build quality. You can expect about 14 hours of juice from this phone. Keep in mind it does not support the S Pen stylus. Given its small size of 5.78 by 2.78 by 0.28 inches, it’s a great option for those who prefer smaller phones.

Pimax Apologizes After Secret Social Media Incentive Program Sparks Astroturfing Concerns

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Brand ambassador and referral programs are everywhere, aiming to drive engagement and sales through influencers and loyal fans alike. But last week, Pimax crossed a line, the company publicly admitted. It was discovered the PC VR headset company was secretly aiming to launch a program that offered rewards for verifiably positive forum posts—an ostensible attempt at astroturfing that quickly unraveled.

It all started with Reddit user ‘Mavgaming1’ last week, who leaked a private conversation initiated by Pimax through its official Discord. The proposition was clear: Pimax was looking for users willing to take part in a new Community Engagement Program, which would allow them to collect points to unlock tiered rewards by posting about the company on social media.

The program, which Pimax confirmed with Road to VR to indeed be genuine before being discontinued following the leak, featured everything from $5 Steam gift cards to hundreds of dollars in discounts off future purchases of Pimax hardware. The top reward tier even offered a $1,000 subsidized trip to the company’s Shanghai headquarters.

The only thing selected participants needed to do was type up a verifiably positive post for Reddit “or any other forums you visit,” submit it to Pimax for approval, post it online, and rack up the points. Below is an excerpt from the posting guidelines given to Mavgaming1 via Discord.

Image courtesy Mavgaming1

Suggested topics included “Your First VR Experience with Pimax”, “Tips for Getting the Best Experience with Pimax” or anything else relevant to bringing a positive light to the company’s XR headsets.

The company was also prepared to give out redeemable points for making positive comments on Pimax-sanctioned social media posts. In effect, it resembled a coordinated astroturfing effort—an attempt to simulate grassroots support for the company’s PC VR headsets, including its upcoming modular flagship Crystal Super, and new slim and light entrants Dream Air and Dream Air SE.

Pimax’s response in a nutshell: The company claims it wasn’t an officially sanctioned program, but rather one regrettably devised by employees acting independently. The company quickly moved to shut it down. Additionally, Pimax says it has never paid for positive coverage in the past.

In all, the company admits to contacting nine Discord users about the program, three of which received the full pitch of content guidelines and reward structure.

Pimax’s Head of Communications Jaap Grolleman, who has largely become the face of the company over the last three years, tell Road to VR those messages “didn’t go through our internal application process for any external communication, but was sent privately over Discord messages by colleagues.”

“We have never demanded any journalist, developer or user to use any other voice but their own to describe our products, and never demanded a review or comment to be positive. That is in all 10 years of Pimax,” Grolleman tells Road to VR. “That is, with the exception of three messages being sent out around the 22nd of May.”

Grolleman characterizes the program as “a big judgment error in several areas from some individuals, who did nonetheless represent Pimax.” What’s more, he affirms “no reviews were published under this program.”

It’s more than just a marketing misstep though. While only three users received the pitch before the program was shut down, the initiative potentially could have violated marketing laws in multiple countries.

According to Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. § 45), “unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce are hereby declared unlawful.”

This language underpins the FTC’s endorsement guidelines, which dictates that companies must not solicit or compensate for positive reviews without clear, conspicuous disclosure of that material relationship. In other words, paying users for good coverage—especially when disclosure is omitted or downplayed—isn’t just unethical, it’s potentially a violation of federal law.

Similar standards are enforced across the globe, including by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and the European Union’s Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, both of which prohibit misleading or covert marketing tactics designed to simulate organic consumer opinion—aka astroturfing.

Continue on Page 2: Paying For Positive Coverage Went “too far,” Pimax Says »

The post Pimax Apologizes After Secret Social Media Incentive Program Sparks Astroturfing Concerns appeared first on Road to VR.

Discord launches a virtual currency

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Going on a quest to gather orbs sounds like a magical journey. Images of old-school Sierra adventure games come to mind. Well, bad news. In this case, it’s a virtual currency earned by being a captive audience for advertisers on Discord. Welcome to 2025, baby!

Currently in beta, Orbs are Discord’s latest addition to its Quests. That’s the company’s system that lets advertisers launch interactive challenges. These can be things like watching promotional videos or playing games. You aren’t watching an ad, silly. You’re venturing out on a Video Quest!! Godspeed.

Discord splash screen introducing Orbs virtual currency.
Discord

If you choose to be a Quest test subject, you can spend your Orbs in several ways. Discord Nitro credits could be a popular redemption option. You can also trade Orbs for profile cosmetics and first-party shop items. Unfortunately, you can’t exchange them for real money. Nor can you spend them anywhere outside of Discord.

Before today, Quest advertisers were limited to offering their own rewards. However, they can still do that. The new virtual currency is merely another option.

Orbs are launching in a limited beta, so you may not have access yet. They’re also desktop-only (app and browser), at least for now. You can find Quests by heading to Discover > Quests on Discord. Once you have access to Orbs, you can claim them in the Direct Messages > Shop section.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/discord-launches-a-virtual-currency-162136575.html?src=rss

Elon Musk’s xAI is paying Telegram $300 million to adopt Grok

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Elon Musk‘s xAI is paying the messaging platform Telegram a cool $300 million to introduce the chatbot Grok to its users. The terms of the deal are extremely favorable to Telegram, as the $300 million only covers a single year and xAI will evenly split any subscription sales to Grok Premium and Premium+ with the messaging platform. Telegram will be paid in both cash and equity.

Telegram and xAI have agreed to a 1-year partnership to distribute Grok to Telegram’s billion+ users and integrate it into its apps. Telegram will receive $300M in cash and equity from xAI, plus 50% of revenue from xAI subscriptions sold via Telegram. Together, we win! ❤️�� pic.twitter.com/JxTNQr4MTy

— Pavel Durov (@durov) May 28, 2025

This will introduce Grok to gobs of new people, as Telegram boasts over one billion monthly users. X, on the other hand, handles half that amount. X leverages public posts from users to train Grok, though not in the EU, and it remains to be seen if the deal includes language to do the same thing with Telegram. The platform includes a feature called Channels that’s sort of like a social media network, which could house data that’s ripe for the picking. 

Engadget reached out to Telegram to ask about Grok and training data and will update this post if we hear back. Both companies have remained mum on this question to other publications, like Reuters. It’s worth noting that AI companies are running out of easily accessible data troves.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/elon-musks-xai-is-paying-telegram-300-million-to-adopt-grok-154232007.html?src=rss

Blue Book Sales Surge As Universities Combat AI Cheating

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Sales of blue book exam booklets have surged dramatically across the nation as professors turn to analog solutions to prevent ChatGPT cheating. The University of California, Berkeley reported an 80% increase in blue book sales over the past two academic years, while Texas A&M saw 30% growth and the University of Florida recorded nearly 50% increases this school year. The surge comes as students who were freshmen when ChatGPT launched in 2022 approach senior year, having had access to AI throughout their college careers.


Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A arrives October 16

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Pokémon Legends: Z-A, the follow-up to 2022’s Pokémon Legends: Arceus, now has a release date of October 16.

Along with the release date announcement, The Pokémon Company also confirmed that a new Pokémon Presents presentation will broadcast on July 22. Presumably we’ll see more of the monsters we’re going to be catching and battling with in Lumiose City, including the Mega-Evolved Pokémon featured on the newly revealed box art. The last Pokémon Presents took place back in February and showcased the three starter pokémon in Z-A, as well as the new real-time combat system.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A will launch on both the outgoing Nintendo Switch and its successor, with Pokémon Legends: Z-A – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition featuring “improved graphics and frame rates”. You’ll be able to upgrade to the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition by purchasing a $10 upgrade pack on the Nintendo eShop or My Nintendo Store.

An October release date for Pokémon Legends: Z-A means it’s unlikely that we’ll see Metroid Prime 4 in the same month, as Nintendo traditionally likes to spread out its first-party releases. Donkey Kong Bananza arrives on July 17, but beyond that we don’t know a whole lot about what else Nintendo has planned for the remainder of the year. As reported by VGC, a new Nintendo Direct presentation could happen in June, where the company would likely fill in the blanks regarding its plans for what’s left of 2025.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/pokemon-legends-z-a-arrives-october-16-150835791.html?src=rss