Feb 22
Shower cleaners that require no scrubbing, wrinkle releasing sprays and robot vacuums that clean your floor so you don’t have to.
Feb 22
Sony has today showed off the full and finished design for the PlayStation VR2 headset as well as the VR2 Sense controller. In a blog post, PlayStation SVP Hidekai Nishino detailed the matching design of both devices, which represents the 360-degree view of the virtual world. He added that the look and feel was crafted to feel more congruent with the PlayStation 5’s overall vibe.
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Feb 22
The federal trial of three former Minneapolis police officers charged with violating George Floyd’s civil rights is headed to closing arguments.
Feb 22
Google Messages is now the default messaging and texting app for both Pixel handsets and Samsung phones, and it’s also available as a free download for anyone else with an Android device. If you’ve been using Android for awhile, there’s a good chance you rely on Google Messages. While it might seem like a basic…
Feb 22
Amazon warns 'Lost Ark' players in central Europe that its servers are 'at capacity'
Posted in: Today's ChiliAmazon’s Lost Ark free-to-play MMO exploded in popularity as soon as it was released in Europe and the Americas earlier this month. It became Steam’s most-played MMO ever merely a week after its launch, and players in Europe have had to deal with lengthy queues even earlier than that. In an attempt to solve the problem, Smilegate (the game’s developer) and Amazon have created “Europe West.” It’s a completely new server region meant for new players, however, and those already playing in “Europe Central” might have to keep struggling with long wait times.
“The Europe Central region is at capacity and unfortunately there is no way to increase the number of players per world in Europe Central,” the company’s latest announcement about the situation said. It’s apparently not possible to add more servers in the region “based on the complexity of all the systems that need to work together.” Amazon and the developer are positioning Europe West as an appealing option for those who haven’t made much progress in Central yet, because it’s not possible to transfer server regions at the moment.
The server transfer function has just rolled out in Korea, where the game was first released back in 2019, and it requires the developer to process transfers in weekly batches. It also doesn’t support region transfers yet and won’t do European players any good in its current form, but the companies said they “will not rest until [they’ve] exhausted all options.”
While unfortunate for European players, it’s a nice problem to have for Amazon. In 2020, it pulled the plug on Crucible, the free-to-play shooter it had been developing since 2016, after evaluating the feedback it got from a closed beta. Its New World MMO became a hit in 2021, but the reception for the older game wasn’t quite as intense as Lost Ark’s.
Feb 22
Welcome back! The US Copyright Office (USCO) is again refusing to grant copyright for a work of art that was created by an artificial intelligence system. Dr. Stephen Thaler attempted to copyright a piece of art titled A Recent Entrance to Paradise, claiming in a second request for reconsideration of a 2019 ruling that the USCO’s “human authorship” requirement was unconstitutional.
Current copyright law only offers protections to “the fruits of intellectual labor” that “are founded in the creative powers of the [human] mind,’ according to the USCO. For now, AI has the same access to copyrighting as monkeys – that’s to say, none at all.
-Mat Smith
The biggest stories you might have missed
Lenovo’s new Smart Clock Essential with Alexa is 29 percent off at Amazon
Panasonic’s 25-megapixel GH6 is the highest resolution Micro Four Thirds camera yet
Capcom teases ‘Street Fighter 6’
Expect more details in the coming months.
Capcom
Capcom has announced the development of Street Fighter 6, revealing a teaser trailer featuring Ryu and Luke, a key DLC character appearing at the end of Street Fighter V. The game was announced following Capcom’s Pro Tour fighting game exhibition , but there’s not much more to report at this moment. Check out the teaser – all forty seconds of it.
Trump’s social network has launched on iOS
Remember Truth Social?
Donald Trump’s Twitter-like social media platform has launched on the Apple App Store. The launch will mark the former president’s return to social media. Twitter and Facebook banned Trump following the January 6th attack on the US Capitol.
People can use the network to post “Truths,” the platform’s equivalent to tweets, and it’s possible to reshare posts on one’s timeline to expand their reach. The executive who answered questions from beta users said the company was working on a verification policy that it would publish “in the coming weeks.”
No, Spotify didn’t pull Joe Rogan’s podcast
The company says a technical problem is to blame.
Don’t panic if you couldn’t play The Joe Rogan Experience over the last few days on Spotify. The streaming service has confirmed to Engadget that a “technical issue” prevented users from playing a number of Spotify podcasts, including Joe Rogan’s and The Ringer shows like The Bill Simmons Podcast. It’s bad timing, following controversy over misinformation in Spotify’s podcasts like Rogan’s, which has been accused of spreading and tolerating false claims about COVID-19 vaccines. The company has now addressed the technical problem and the episodes are back online.
Watch one final ‘Elden Ring’ trailer before it arrives
The action RPG comes out on February 25th.
With less than a week before Elden Ring’s February 25th release date, publisher Bandai Namco has shared a new “Overview” trailer detailing the many systems of FromSoftware’s latest action RPG. The clip features nearly six minutes of edited gameplay footage that appears thankfully spoiler-free. In case you haven’t been paying attention, George R. R. Martin (author of Game of Thrones) helped Dark Souls and Bloodborne mastermind Hidetaka Miyazaki create the world of the game.
Feb 22
The U.S. Soccer Federation also committed to providing an equal rate of pay for the women’s and men’s national teams, including World Cup bonuses.
Feb 22
An NFT trader from Texas has filed a lawsuit against trading platform OpenSea, saying the company was responsible when his Bored Ape image was stolen from his crypto wallet. The trader is asking for the return of his ape and $1 million in damages.
Feb 22
Virgin Hyperloop lays off 111 staffers as it abandons plans for passenger transport
Posted in: Today's ChiliVirgin Hyperloop has fired 111 of its employees as it abandons the idea of making its system ready for passenger use. The Financial Times is reporting that the company is exclusively focusing on moving cargo, and has slashed almost half of its total workforce. A spokesperson confirmed to the paper that the shift in business was taking place, with supply chain issues and COVID contributing to the change.
Since its inception, the company has been developing its vacuum-tube system to carry both passengers and freight. One of the earliest concepts VH floated was an “inland port,” in which cargo vessels would put containers onto capsules that are shot inland before they’re processed. That way, the main logistics hub wouldn’t need to be beside the sea, and could instead be at the heart of a transit hub closer to customers.
It’s something that encouraged DP World, the Dubai-owned ports and logistics giant, to invest in the technology. It currently holds a majority stake in Virgin Hyperloop and in 2018 launched “Cargospeed,” as a sub-brand dedicated to moving cargo. VH has, however, been in something of a spin for the last few months after former head Josh Giegel, one of two people to actually travel in a pod, quit the company.
Feb 22
There’s good news (for your bladder) and bad news (for your skin).
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