Valve’s Steam client is pretty widely compatible with all kinds of newer and older operating systems—that’s what you do when you want as many people as possible spending their money in your store. But nothing lasts forever, and Valve does eventually end support for old software when it’s time to move on. The company announced in a support note today that it would be ending Steam client support for 32-bit versions of Windows on January 1, 2026.
“Existing Steam Client installations will continue to function for the near term on Windows 10 32-bit but will no longer receive updates of any kind including security updates,” the support note reads. “Steam Support will be unable to offer users technical support for issues related to the old operating systems, and Steam will be unable to guarantee continued functionality of Steam on the unsupported operating system versions.”
When Steam drops support for an older operating system, it’s often because support is also being ended in some other underlying piece of technology that Steam uses to function, like its Chromium-based built-in browser. Valve cited “system drivers and other libraries that are not supported on 32-bit versions of Windows” as the reason for ending 32-bit Windows support.
Gearbox proves it’s once again the best at making looter shooters, but it still struggles with good endings and stability
The post <i>Borderlands 4</i>: The <i>Kotaku</i> Review appeared first on Kotaku.
Summarizing complex scientific findings for a non-expert audience is one of the most important things a science journalist does from day to day. Generating summaries of complex writing has also been frequently mentioned as one of the best use cases for large language models (despite some prominent counterexamples).
With all that in mind, the team at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) ran an informal year-long study to determine whether ChatGPT could produce the kind of “news brief” paper summaries that its “SciPak” team routinely writes for the journal Science and services like EurekAlert. These SciPak articles are designed to follow a specific and simplified format that conveys crucial information, such as the study’s premise, methods, and context, to other journalists who might want to write about it.
Now, in a new blog post and white paper discussing their findings, the AAAS journalists have concluded that ChatGPT can “passably emulate the structure of a SciPak-style brief,” but with prose that “tended to sacrifice accuracy for simplicity” and which “required rigorous fact-checking by SciPak writers.”
Chinese consumer tech giant Xiaomi will remotely fix a flaw in the assisted driving system on over 110,000 of its popular SU7 electric cars, the firm and regulators said Friday, months after a deadly crash involving the model. From a report: China’s tech companies and automakers have poured billions of dollars into smart-driving technology, a new battleground in the country’s cutthroat domestic car market. But Beijing has moved to tighten safety rules after a Xiaomi SU7 in assisted driving mode crashed and killed three college students this year. It also raised concerns over the advertising of cars as being capable of autonomous driving. On Friday, the State Administration for Market Regulation said Xiaomi’s highway assisted driving system showed insufficient recognition, warning and handling ability in some extreme driving conditions.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
In our earlier article about Macintosh project creator Jef Raskin, we looked at his quest for the humane computer, one that was efficient, consistent, useful, and above all else, respectful and adaptable to the natural frailties of humans. From Raskin’s early work on the Apple Macintosh to the Canon Cat and later his unique software implementations, you were guaranteed an interface you could sit down and interact with nearly instantly and—once you’d learned some basic keystrokes and rules—one you could be rapidly productive with.
But no modern computer implements his designs directly, even though some are based on principles he either espoused or outright pioneered. Fortunately, with a little work and the magic of emulation, you can have your very own humane interface at home and see for yourself what computing might have been had we traveled a little further down Raskin’s UI road.
Perhaps the most straightforward of Raskin’s systems to emulate is the Canon Cat. Sold by Canon as an overgrown word processor (billed as a “work processor”), it purported to be a simple editor for office work but is actually a full Motorola 68000-based computer programmable through an intentional backdoor in its own dialect of Forth. It uses a single workspace saved en masse to floppy disk that can be subdivided into multiple “documents” and jumped to quickly with key combinations, and it includes facilities for simple spreadsheets and lists.
Races kick off with a quick rap battle in Sega’s new kart racer
The post <em>Sonic</em> Characters Are Excellent At Talking Trash In <em>Crossworlds</em> appeared first on Kotaku.
The Federal Trade Commission sued Live Nation and Ticketmaster on Thursday, alleging that the companies tacitly worked with scalpers to profit from jacking up ticket prices on the secondary market.
As the FTC alleged in a press release, Ticketmaster’s years of turning a blind eye to scalpers violated the FTC Act and the Better Online Ticket Sales Act, costing customers “billions in inflated prices and additional fees.” Further, artists’ efforts to keep event costs low were repeatedly frustrated by executives’ greedy bid to drive Ticketmaster revenue by reaping as many additional fees as possible, the FTC alleged.
Rather than blocking scalping, Ticketmaster allegedly provided tech support to help so-called brokers exceed “fake” ticket limits that seemingly only applied to genuine customers buying tickets to see events.
This power bank will keep your new iPhone charged up again and again.
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Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source.
If you think fitness trackers are just about step counting and heart rate, get with the times. This week, performance wearable Whoop announced it will integrate clinical laboratory testing directly into its ecosystem, partnering with Quest Diagnostics to launch Whoop Advanced Labs this fall. This adds to a growing trend of more and more wearables aiming to be comprehensive, one-stop health platforms.
Whoop members will be able to purchase Quest’s clinical laboratory testing, schedule an appointment for testing, and receive test results within the Whoop app. The feature is designed to analyze biomarkers spanning metabolism, hormones, inflammation, cardiovascular health, and nutrient status—all data that goes far beyond what can be captured through wearable sensors alone.
The vision is that Whoop subscribers will be able access the types of clinical testing that physicians order (like from Quest Diagnostics) to deliver patient care. “At Whoop, we’re committed to empowering our members with a highly comprehensive view into their health and performance,” said John Sullivan, Chief Marketing Officer at Whoop.
A third-party provider will review test requests, order tests, deliver results through the Whoop app, and provide phone consultations when requested. Whoop Advanced Labs is set to launch later this fall, and members can join the waitlist now at whoop.com/waitlist.
Again, Whoop isn’t the first wearable company to head in this direction. Ultrahuman, the maker of the Ring AIR smart ring, launched its Blood Vision feature earlier this year.
This feature can help people catch health issues early and take proactive steps to address them. At the same time, it raises questions about whether consumers actually need this level of health monitoring from for-profit wellness companies.
In my opinion, this all points to a sort of “medicalization” of everyday wellness. While access to health data can be empowering, it can also create anxiety and lead people to over-monitor aspects of their health that might not require constant attention. After all, blood biomarkers can fluctuate for many reasons, and abnormal results don’t always indicate health problems.
As Whoop prepares to launch Advanced Labs this fall, it will be interesting to see how consumers respond to this deeper level of health monitoring. For now, it looks like the line between fitness tracker and medical device will continue to blur. Anecdotally, the company’s existing user base already skews toward serious athletes and health optimization devotees; in other words, the sort of people who would be interested in comprehensive biomarker tracking.
Anyone interested in Whoop’s blood testing integration can join the waitlist for Advanced Labs. Whether they’ll actually want to know everything their blood is telling them is another question entirely.
EasyOS version 7.0 reviewed on Distrowatch. The previous review on Distrowatch was version 4.2, three years ago. The review identifies major improvements, in particular for the container technology.
One of the top Windows-loaded mini PCs is this Intel-powered GMKtec, and for a limited time it’s on sale for 36% off.
The post Amazon’s Giving Away This Mini PC Alternative to the Mac Mini for Pennies on the Dollar appeared first on Kotaku.
US wholesale electricity prices have nearly doubled since 2020, rising faster than consumer rates across most regional grid operators. Analysis of location marginal pricing data from 17 trading hubs shows average wholesale costs increased from baseline 2020 levels to peaks 2-4 times higher by 2022, before partially recovering. Consumer electricity prices rose 35% during the same period.
Transmission congestion spreads are widening in most Independent System Operators and Regional Transmission Organizations, particularly in PJM, SPP, and NYISO, where bottlenecks increasingly prevent access to cheaper generation. California’s CAISO stands alone among major grid operators as wholesale prices remain flat or decline in 2025 despite natural gas volatility. The cheapest wholesale electricity continues to trade in SPP’s Oklahoma-Kansas region at $16-17 per megawatt-hour.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
We speak to Puzzle Quest and Warlords creator Steve Fawkner about how a disc retrieved from the trash launched a career
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ABC has pulled the talk show off the air after a monologue regarding the death of Charlie Kirk
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The National Hurricane Center predicts Gabrielle will reach hurricane status by Sunday, September 21.
Also: Intel is still making GPUs, an update on Charlie Kirk’s killer and his gaming history, and Donkey Kong Bananza’s soundtrack arrives on the Nintendo Music app
The post <i>Battlefield 6</i> Reportedly Contains Not One, Not Two, But Three Limp Bizkit Songs appeared first on Kotaku.
If you own a 2025 Volvo EX90, here’s some good news: you’re getting a car computer upgrade. Even better news? It’s free.
The Swedish automaker says that owners of model year 2025 EX90s—like the one we tested earlier this summer—are eligible for an upgrade to the electric vehicle’s core computer. Specifically, the cars will get a new dual Nvidia DRIVE AGX Orin setup, which Volvo says will improve performance and reduce battery drainage, as well as enabling some features that have been TBD so far.
That will presumably be welcome news—the EX90 is a shining example of how the “minimal viable product” idea has infiltrated the auto industry from the tech sphere. That’s because Volvo has had a heck of time with the EX90 development, having to delay the EV not once but twice in order to get a handle on the car’s software.
Right now, you can get one year of Starz streaming service for just $24 when you prepay for the entire year. That’s $46 less than the usual annual cost. There’s also a month-to-month option, which is offering the first three months for $4 per month instead of the usual $11; that’s a 64 percent discount.
Starz may not be one of the most prominent streamers, but it still makes our list of best streaming deals when it’s offered at such a great value. The service offers a deep catalog of recognizable titles as well as original series like Outlander, Spartacus and Ash vs. Evil Dead. The TV shows are almost exclusively Starz originals, with some old western shows mixed in.
A Starz subscription supports streaming on up to three devices simultaneously and offers a live stream of its cable channels for subscribers via the website. The Starz app and streaming service do not offer a 4K streaming option.
There are a ton of great streaming services to choose from these days, though many of them have been repeatedly raising prices. For would-be cord-cutters, subscribing to enough streamers isn’t that much cheaper, if at all, than a cable bill. That’s where more value-minded offerings like Starz fit in.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/one-year-of-starz-is-on-sale-for-just-24-151553382.html?src=rss