An anonymous reader shares a report: Video game developer and distributor Valve must face a 656 million-pound ($897.7 million) lawsuit in Britain, which alleges it charged publishers excessive commissions for its Steam online store, after a tribunal ruled on Monday the case could continue. Valve was sued in 2024 on behalf of up to 14 million people in the United Kingdom who bought games or additional content through Steam or other platforms since 2018.
Lawyers representing children’s welfare advocate Vicki Shotbolt, who is bringing the case, allege Valve prevents publishers selling products more cheaply or earlier on rival platforms to Steam by imposing conditions on them. They say Valve requires users to buy all additional content through Steam if they’ve bought that game through the platform, effectively “locking in” users to make purchases on its platform. This allows Valve to charge “unfair and excessive” commissions of up to 30%, Shotbolt’s lawyers said at a hearing in October.
Apple is introducing a new version of its AirTag tracking device—simply dubbed “the new AirTag”—and claims it offers substantial improvements thanks to a new Bluetooth chip.
The original AirTag came out five years ago now, and it became popular in a variety of contexts. There were some problems, though—there was real concern about unwanted tracking and stalking with the devices, based on real stories of it being used for that. The company gradually introduced new features and protections against that, getting it to a much better place.
This new version is focused on making the device more effective in general. Thanks to the inclusion of the second-generation Ultra Wideband chip (the same one found in other recently released Apple devices like the iPhone 17), Apple says the new AirTag can work with the Precision Finding feature in the Find My app to direct users to the AirTag (and whatever lost item it’s stored with or attached to) from up to 50 percent farther away.
The US Department of Transportation apparently thinks it’s a good idea to use artificial intelligence to draft rules impacting the safety of airplanes, cars, and pipelines, a ProPublica investigation revealed Monday.
It could be a problem if DOT becomes the first agency to use AI to draft rules, ProPublica pointed out, since AI is known to confidently get things wrong and hallucinate fabricated information. Staffers fear that any failure to catch AI errors could result in flawed laws, leading to lawsuits, injuries, or even deaths in the transportation system.
But the DOT’s top lawyer, Gregory Zerzan, isn’t worried about that, December meeting notes revealed, because the point isn’t for AI to be perfect. It’s for AI to help speed up the rule-making process, so that rules that take weeks or months to draft can instead be written within 30 days. According to Zerzan, DOT’s preferred tool, Google Gemini, can draft rules in under 30 minutes.
California house hunters now have legal protection against the kind of real estate photo trickery that has long plagued the home-buying process, as a new state law requiring disclosure of digitally altered listing images took effect on January 1.
Assembly Bill 723 mandates that real estate agents and brokers include a “reasonably conspicuous” statement whenever photos have been altered using editing software or AI to add, remove, or change elements like furniture, appliances, flooring, views or landscaping. Agents must also provide access to the original, unaltered image through a QR code, link, or placement next to the altered photo.
The law does not cover wide-angle lenses — a perennial complaint among buyers who find rooms smaller than they appeared — nor does it apply to routine adjustments like cropping, color correction or exposure. California is the first state to require such disclosures, though Wisconsin passed a similar law in December that takes effect next year.
Compiler profile guided optimization (PGO) techniques have paid off well for increasing CPU performance via application/workload-specific profiles fed back to the compiler to make more informed decisions. AMD compiler engineers have been working on crafting device-side PGO for their AMDGPU LLVM back-end for allowing ROCm/HIP workloads to achieve greater GPU performance. An initial merge request is now open for upstream LLVM…
Microsoft’s Windows 11 January 2026 Update woes continue, and now the company is confirming that some users are no longer able to boot their PCs, receiving the BSOD stop code “UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME” instead. The issue is limited to physical devices, and doesn’t seem to impact virtual machines at all. But since this is the same update that
With the handheld gaming scene taking thanks to hot products like the Steam Deck and ASUS ROG Xbox Ally X, PlayStation fans have been yearning for one of their own. Sony delivered a half-hearted effort with the ever-evolving PlayStation Portable and is rumored to be introducing a full-fledged device alongside the PlayStation 6, but that’s
Next, they’ve modified and expanded the list of routes used by RoboPacers “to include more pacer-friendly routes from our recent world expansions.” This means you can expect to see a much wider variety of routes, especially on maps with lots of routes like Watopia, Makuri Islands, and New York. And you can expect to see newer routes in the rotation, especially on recently-updated maps like France and New York.
This is an entirely fresh set of routes, although it appears that we’ll be seeing the old routes rotated in as well. So instead of Watopia’s RoboPacers just rotating through the same 9 routes (changing weekly), they will be rotating through, perhaps, 15-20 routes.
Another good example is France, where RoboPacers are now mostly on routes that include the new cobbled roads from the April 2025 expansion:
While three of the routes on France’s new rotation were included in the old rotation as well, I have a hunch we’ll see this and other maps’ rotations change in the coming weeks as Zwift tightens up their route selections based on user feedback and metrics.
What do you think?
What do you think of Zwift’s RoboPacer changes? Share your thoughts below!
This newest model improves upon what were already excellent headphones. Sony upped the microphone count from eight to 12 when compared to the XM5, which improves more than just how well you sound to someone on a phone call. The microphones are used in almost all of its features, like ANC, Adaptive Sound Control, and the headphones’ Ambient Sound mode. They hear your surroundings to adapt their features accordingly. If you switch from a noisy room to a quiet one, the XM6 can switch from ANC to aware mode.
These headphones have a lot more features that you can nerd out on in the companion app, too. The sound is second to none, with LE Bluetooth Audio compatibility, which makes Bluetooth more efficient and improves audio quality. Spatial Audio upmixes the audio you’re listening to and processes it to create a more immersive experience. There’s also a fully customizable EQ giving you plenty of options to get the sound how you like it. I really like being able to see what codec you’re listening to in the app’s main menu. That way, there’s no guessing if you’re getting the best audio quality or not.
These headphones will give you 30 hours of battery life with ANC on and 40 hours with ANC off. There’s an AUX (3.5mm) jack for wired listening, which is a nice touch for audiophiles who still rock iPod Classics (or is that just me?).
The XM6s are not just the best headphones of 2025, but are likely to be the best ones for years to come. For $398, you’ll be securing the best for a record low price we likely won’t see again for a while.
An anonymous reader shares a report: An insider who correctly leaked information about Oblivion: Remastered and other titles is warning that GTA 6’s physical release could be pushed back. GTA 6 is set to finally launch on November 19, 2026, but fans hoping to get their hands on a physical copy could be stuck waiting even longer.
According to a report from Polish site PPE, insider Graczdari says Rockstar’s parent company, Take-Two, isn’t planning to release a physical edition of GTA 6 at launch. “We are getting more and more information that the box version will not be released simultaneously with the digital version to prevent leaks,” the report says.
It looks like Ubisoft is planning even more layoffs to accompany last week’s studio closures and game cancellations, according to reporting by IGN. The company is planning a massive reduction of the workforce in its Paris headquarters. It has proposed the loss of up to 200 jobs, which is nearly 20 percent of the current staff.
This will be organized under France’s Rupture Conventionnelle Collective (RCC) process, in which staff can agree to form a collective, voluntary mutual termination agreement. It’s not a done deal just yet, with a company spokesperson saying “at this stage, this remains a proposal and no decision will be final until a collective agreement is reached.”
The RCC process is voluntary, which is good for Ubisoft Paris employees, but the company hasn’t made any statement regarding what it would do if it doesn’t get 200 willing participants. The company recently introduced a mandate for employees to return to the office for five days each week, which could entice staffers with one foot out the door.
This is just the latest cost-cutting measure by Ubisoft, as the company has been experiencing difficulties for months. It shut down its Halifax studio just 16 days after employees entered into a unionization agreement. Last week, it shuttered its Stockholm studio and announced various restructuring efforts at several other developers under its umbrella.
It also announced the cancellation of six games, including the long-awaited Prince of Persia: Sands of Time remake. It didn’t reveal the other five games that were scrapped. Ubisoft did announce, however, that seven additional games were being delayed. Inexplicably, Beyond Good and Evil 2wasn’t cancelled, so we have that to (one day) look forward to.
Ubisoft’s stock has absolutely plunged in the past several years. The company was riding high at $20 per share in 2021, but now the stock rests at around $1 per share.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/ubisoft-proposes-even-more-layoffs-after-last-weeks-studio-closures-and-game-cancellations-192703241.html?src=rss
Despite CEO Satya Nadella already having “a bunch of chips sitting in inventory” due to a shortage of power, Microsoft just announced its own next-gen AI silicon: the Maia 200 accelerator, built to run large models in the cloud faster and cheaper than what’s in Azure today. It’s part of a broader push to reduce dependence on third-party AI
We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.
The JBL Charge 6 is waterproof, dust-proof, and drop-resistant—and it’s selling right now for $129.95 on Woot—$70 off its usual $199.95 listing on Amazon. That deal runs for the next six days (or until it sells out), and Prime members get free shipping. It includes a 90-day limited warranty through Woot, which is shorter than JBL’s standard coverage but still decent. That said, it ships without a charging brick or USB-C cable, which feels like an oversight at this price.
JBL didn’t overhaul the design here. The Charge 6 keeps the durable, travel-friendly build that made the Charge 5 so popular, with IP68 dust- and water-resistance and a new looped handle for better grip. Internally, the upgrade is real. A 2.1-by-3.7-inch woofer and 0.8-inch tweeter push out 45 watts of power, backed by those familiar side radiators that give it surprisingly strong bass for its size. It’s not going to rival a subwoofer, but for a pool party or small outdoor hang, it holds its own with clean, full sound that doesn’t distort at a high volume, according to this PCMag review.
Battery life is rated up to 24 hours depending on how hard you push it, and the speaker can even charge your phone using the USB-C port, which now also supports lossless audio when connected directly. Bluetooth 5.4 is on board, and JBL added support for Auracast—useful if you want to pair speakers or join public streams. The app offers a seven-band EQ for people who like to tinker, but codec support is limited to SBC and AAC, which means no aptX or LDAC if you care about high-res streaming. Still, this is a powerful speaker made for people who spend more time outdoors than in, and $129.95 is the lowest it’s been so far for a new-in-box unit, according to price-trackers.
Nike says it is investigating a potential data breach, after a group known for cyber attacks reportedly claimed to have leaked a trove of data related to its business operations. From a report: “We always take consumer privacy and data security very seriously,” Nike said in a statement. “We are investigating a potential cyber security incident and are actively assessing the situation.”
The ransomware group World Leaks said on its website that it had published 1.4 terabytes of data from Nike.
Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth offered the first bit of insight into the company’s recent Reality Labs shakeup, publicly acknowledging that Meta’s metaverse efforts suffered from a “lack of focus” that ultimately hurt the user experience on Quest.
Speaking at Axios House in Davos, Switzerland alongside the World Economic Forum last week, Bosworth discussed several issues that led Meta to refocus its metaverse and VR strategy—something that also included layoffs affecting 10 percent of its Reality Labs XR team.
Meta is refocusing its approach, and doubling down on AI and smart glasses while narrowing and reorganizing its VR and metaverse efforts. Bosworth, who is also head of Reality Labs, frames the pivot as a three-point problem: poor communication around the metaverse vision, high development costs, and an over-integration of Horizon Worlds with Meta’s VR strategy.
Horizon World teases (2022) | Based on images courtesy Mark Zuckerberg
Horizon Worlds wasn’t the company’s first social VR platform, although it did represent the first real concerted effort to bring to Quest users a ‘default’ shared VR space when it was initially released in 2021. Bosworth notes that Meta’s metaverse ambitions were to build a “rich version” of the mental “transportation” people already experience when socializing through smartphones.
“We still plan on doing that,” Bosworth told Axios’ Ina Fried, referring to Horizon Worlds. “But it’s like any investment. You’re going to look at how you do over the course of years and you’re going to reinvest in some areas and trim your losses in others. For us, we’re seeing tremendous growth of the our metaverse on mobile.”
Image courtesy Meta
While the launch across Android and iOS mobile devices in 2023 pushed Horizon Worlds reach beyond Quest for the first time, it eventually led to higher costs and a more difficult development process.
“Having to build everything twice—once for mobile and once for VR—is a tremendous tax on the team. You’d rather grow a giant audience and then work from a position of strength.”
A second issue was Meta’s decision to tightly bind Horizon Worlds to the Quest platform—something Bosworth admits wasn’t for everyone.
“When you put the headset on, you’re immediately in this kind of co-present accessible space. That is a real challenging piece of work to land from a standpoint of there’s lots of people who put this headset on for lots of different reasons. You want to support all those different use cases, [but] the lack of focus comes at an expense of user experience and a great expense in terms of development cost.”
Bosworth says that while the company now has “two much more focused bets,” those essentially come down to supporting third-party VR content and Horizon Worlds on mobile.
“To do this, of course, it’s tragic anytime your plans change and there’s a human cost; we found a bunch of roles that we just didn’t need anymore,” Bosworth said, referring to layoffs. “So, we did end up downsizing the effort on the metaverse specifically. Though on net, Reality Labs isn’t downsizing. We’re taking basically taking all of those [positions] and taking the investment on wearables, which is growing so rapidly for us.”
Notably, Reality Labs’ operating costs have consistently exceeded $4 billion per quarter since late 2021. Q4 is the XR division’s most performant in terms of revenue, however Reality Labs typically only generates a max of around $1 billion, with Q1-Q3 bringing in significantly less. We’re sure to learn more about Q4 2025 when the company reports its after market close on Wednesday, January 28th.
You can watch the full interview below. Thanks go to Reddit user ‘gogodboss’ for pointing us to the news.
When Apple introduced Liquid Glass to the public in June of last year, it kicked off a saga that’s still ongoing. The company’s toned down the effect multiple times, and in November, it added controls for tinting it. Some have even found out ways to disable Liquid Glass entirely. It’s not a quagmire I’d jump into willingly, but apparently, that’s exactly what Android’s about to do.
According to “images of internal builds” seen by 9to5Google, Android’s next update will add significant amounts of blur “across Android 17.”
“Throughout the OS, you can expect a system UI that switches from solid light or dark backgrounds to a blur effect that allows you to see what’s immediately behind the component you’re interacting with,” writes 9to5Google’s Abner Li.
That sounds a lot like Liquid Glass to me, and Li further confirms that elements like the volume bar and mode switcher will be translucent, allowing you to see your wallpaper and app icons in the background.
Credit: Google
This actually isn’t Google’s first time experimenting with transparency effects. In Android 16 QPR1, Google already added blur to the notification and quick settings panels. What’s new is that we can now expect it in other parts of the OS as well, for a more cohesive look. So if it hasn’t bothered you yet, you don’t need to worry about opening your phone on Android 17’s release date and seeing a brand new interface.
Li also says that “Compared to Liquid Glass on iOS, Android’s new look is more subtle,” although some are likely to be more sensitive to it than others.
Personally, I haven’t noticed the blur that’s already there much, but even if you don’t mind the aesthetic, the effect can be a slight drain on battery life. Luckily, even before it’s been introduced across the OS at large, there’s a way to turn off blur in Android.
This came in Android QPR2, specifically as a response to the new effects (although it was technically available in developer options before then). To do this, open your Settings app, and then navigate to Accessibility > Color & Motion. From there, tap on Reduce blur effects. The change will take place immediately, so you’ll be able to test then and there which look you prefer.
Like other new Android features, the blur is likely to come to Pixels first, and because Google’s branding it as part of its own Material 3 Expressive design language, it might not make the jump to Samsung Galaxy or other Android phones. The exception could be in Google-branded apps, although Li said “it remains to be seen” whether Google will add blur to its apps in addition to the OS.
