Feb 28
Honda announced a new “Extended Reality Mobility Experience” debuting at this year’s SXSW festival in Austin, where the company will invite attendees to strap on a VR headset and strap into a fancy wheelchair. The future is here, maybe.
Feb 28
After a nail-biting touchdown on the lunar surface that left Odysseus bent over on its side, the lander is ready for its nap. Intuitive Machines is getting ready to power down its lunar lander, with hopes that Odie may wake up once the Sun illuminates its functioning solar array again.
Feb 28
Rick and Morty's Dan Harmon and Scott Marder Tease Season 8—and Evil Morty's Return
Posted in: Today's Chili
Season seven of Rick and Morty made it clear: Rick Prime, long the nemesis of the show’s main Rick, won’t be around anymore. Instead, his absence is something Rick will have to reckon with. But another of the show’s big villains, Evil Morty, has plenty of runway to return—something the show is already teasing.
Feb 28
EA is laying off over 650 employees
Posted in: Today's ChiliVideo game company Electronic Arts will lay off 5 precent of its workforce according to a report it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday. More than 650 EA employees will lose their jobs as a result of the move, part of a broader restricting that will see the company cutting back on office space and ending work on some video games.
EA’s cuts are the latest in a long line of layoffs that have rocked the video game industry since last year. In 2023, more than 10,500 video game workers lost their jobs, and more than 6,000 people in the industry were cut in January 2024 alone. The video game companies that have laid off workers so far include Microsoft, Riot Games, and Unity among many others. On Tuesday, Sony announced that it was laying off 900 people from its PlayStation division, roughly 8 percent of its headcount.
In a memo sent to EA employees, CEO Andrew Wilson wrote that the company is “streamlining our company operations to deliver deeper, more connected experiences for fans everywhere.” EA expects to finish making the cuts by early next quarter, the memo says. The cuts, Wilson adds, will let EA focus more on its “biggest opportunities — including our owned IP, sports, and massive online communities.”
One of the games that the move will directly impact is a Star Wars first-person shooter being worked upon by Respawn, a game development studio that EA acquired in 2017, according to IGN. “It’s always hard to walk away from a project, and this decision is not a reflection of the team’s talent, tenacity, or passion they have for the game,” EA Entertainment president Laura Miele reportedly told staff in a note. “Giving fans the next installments of the iconic franchises they want is the definition of blockbuster storytelling and the right place to focus.”
Update, February 28 2024, 5:45 PM ET: This story has been updated with more details of the canceled Star Wars game.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ea-is-laying-off-over-650-employees-221221637.html?src=rss
Feb 28
OnePlus 12R Genshin Impact Edition Now Available For Pre-order With Cool Extras
Posted in: Today's ChiliOnePlus has unveiled its latest collaboration with the popular game Genshin Impact at the MWC 2024. The OnePlus 12R Genshin Impact Edition, available for pre-order for $650, is designed to enhance the gaming experience, particularly for Genshin Impact players. The collaboration was anticipated following a teaser from Da Wei, CEO of HoYoverse, during the Genshin Impact Version 4.4 Special Program.
The OnePlus 12R Genshin Impact Edition is themed after the character named Keqing, promising improved performance and graphical fidelity. The brand has worked extensively with Genshin Impact to optimize device performance, including accelerated loading, network optimization, and power consumption improvements. The phone features a fully customized OS, a unique design, and enhancements aimed at delivering an high-quality gaming experience.
The device comes with 16GB of RAM, OnePlus’s HyperRendering technology, and runs on a custom OxygenOS 14 build. The Keqing-themed OnePlus 12R arrives in an exclusive gift box containing collectible Genshin Impact merchandise and accessories, such as a Lightning Stiletto-shaped SIM tray ejector, a violet charging adapter matching Keqing’s Electro vision, and a violet USB Type-C charging cable with a violet LED light.
OnePlus emphasizes the device’s unique performance-boosting technologies, graphical enhancements, and power-saving features, making it an attractive option for Genshin Impact enthusiasts. The phone sports a 1.5K 1-120Hz ProXDR display with 4th Gen LTPO, supporting up to 2,160Hz PWM dimming and reaching 4500 nits of brightness.
The device will be available for open sale on March 21 at 9 am ET, with a trade-in option allowing users to knock $100 off the retail price by trading in any phone in any condition. However, given the limited quantities of previous Genshin Impact OnePlus-themed phones in North America, potential buyers are encouraged to act quickly.
OnePlus 12R Genshin Impact Edition Now Available For Pre-order With Cool Extras
, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Feb 28
Nearly three decades ago, Dark Forces hit the PC with all the firepower of a fully armed and operational battle station—and in doing so helped revolutionize gaming, Star Wars or otherwise. But even after it changed the genre as we knew it, its legacy has persisted; its view of the galaxy far, far away has continued to…
Feb 28
While normal, middle-class Americans struggle to buy starter homes or even just afford rent, American billionaires are busy buying up huge tracts of land all over the world for nebulous reasons. Case in point: Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, who is estimated to be worth over $10 billion, is said to be buying up huge…
Feb 28
Substack has direct messages now
Posted in: Today's ChiliSubstack newsletter writers and readers can now send direct messages to each other. The company says this was a highly requested feature and it adds to the platform’s slate of social networking tools.
You’ll find DMs in the Chat tab on the app and website. You can start a private conversation from that tab, someone’s profile page or by selecting the Share option on a note or post. When you get a DM, Substack will let you know in the app and by email.
By default, DMs from people you’re connected to will land in your inbox and those from others will drop into a Requests folder. Writers can restrict incoming DM requests to paid or founding subscribers. Free subscribers who try to message you will then see a prompt to become a paid subscriber. Writers can include a “send a message” button on their posts if they wish.
If you’ve blocked or banned someone, they won’t be able to send you a DM. You can also turn off DMs entirely by disabling message requests in your settings. If you receive a message that breaks Substack’s rules, you can report it.
Substack has added a number of social networking features over the last year or so, such as the X-like Notes function for short-form posts. It also last week updated a system that allows writers to recommend other scribes to readers.
The platform came under fire last month over its handling of pro-Nazi content. It removed five newsletters that promoted white nationalist and Nazi views. However, some prominent newsletter writers left Substack in protest over its approach to content moderation.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/substack-has-direct-messages-now-184154827.html?src=rss
Feb 28
Samsung’s upcoming microSD card will offer a dramatic speed boost. The company’s 256GB SD Express microSD — Samsung’s first SD Express card — can read data at up to 800 MB/s, significantly faster than the microSDs you can buy today. However, we don’t yet know how much it will cost, and the card won’t be available until later this year.
The 256GB SD Express microSD will have (theoretical) sequential read speeds of up to 800 MB/s, which is over 2.5 times as fast as the read speeds in UHS-II microSD cards and 1.4 times faster than SATA SSDs. So, at least in theory, Samsung’s new card should be noticeably faster than the cheapest solid-state drives.
Samsung added heat management capabilities to help keep temperatures in check. “To ensure stable performance and reliability for the small form factor, Dynamic Thermal Guard (DTG) technology maintains the optimum temperature for the SD Express microSD card, even during long usage sessions,” the company wrote in a press release announcing the new card.
Samsung (perhaps unsurprisingly) is shoehorning the almighty “AI” buzzword into the card’s zippier speeds. “With our two new microSD cards, Samsung has provided effective solutions to address the growing demands of mobile computing and on-device AI,” Samsung VP Hangu Sohn wrote.
The company’s Galaxy S24 series goes big on AI, but Samsung hasn’t included a microSD slot in its flagship phones for the last four generations. (Nor has most of the rest of the smartphone playing field.) So, while future AI-powered devices could benefit from the extra speeds, Samsung’s current batch of high-end phones aren’t on that list. In addition, although SD Express is backward compatible, not many devices (yet) support SD Express, which requires an extra row of pins on the host device. In other words, the card’s full potential won’t be realized until we have new gear to support it.
Samsung
Although unrelated to the speedy SD Express card, Samsung also unveiled a new 1TB microSD with UHS-1 speeds. “Samsung’s new 1TB microSD card stacks eight layers of the company’s 8th generation 1-terabit (Tb) V-NAND within a microSD form factor, realizing the high-capacity package that used to be possible only in SSDs,” the company wrote. The 1TB card includes protection against water, extreme temperatures, drops, X-rays and magnets.
Samsung’s zippy 256GB SD Express microSD card will launch “later this year,” while the 1TB UHS-1 microSD arrives in the third quarter of 2024. The company hasn’t said how much either will cost.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/samsungs-new-microsd-card-is-faster-than-some-ssds-191251687.html?src=rss
Feb 28
OnePlus 12R Genshin Impact Edition Now Available For Pre-order With Cool Extras
Posted in: Today's ChiliOnePlus has unveiled its latest collaboration with the popular game Genshin Impact at the MWC 2024. The OnePlus 12R Genshin Impact Edition, available for pre-order for $650, is designed to enhance the gaming experience, particularly for Genshin Impact players. The collaboration was anticipated following a teaser from Da Wei, CEO of HoYoverse, during the Genshin Impact Version 4.4 Special Program.
The OnePlus 12R Genshin Impact Edition is themed after the character named Keqing, promising improved performance and graphical fidelity. The brand has worked extensively with Genshin Impact to optimize device performance, including accelerated loading, network optimization, and power consumption improvements. The phone features a fully customized OS, a unique design, and enhancements aimed at delivering an high-quality gaming experience.
The device comes with 16GB of RAM, OnePlus’s HyperRendering technology, and runs on a custom OxygenOS 14 build. The Keqing-themed OnePlus 12R arrives in an exclusive gift box containing collectible Genshin Impact merchandise and accessories, such as a Lightning Stiletto-shaped SIM tray ejector, a violet charging adapter matching Keqing’s Electro vision, and a violet USB Type-C charging cable with a violet LED light.
OnePlus emphasizes the device’s unique performance-boosting technologies, graphical enhancements, and power-saving features, making it an attractive option for Genshin Impact enthusiasts. The phone sports a 1.5K 1-120Hz ProXDR display with 4th Gen LTPO, supporting up to 2,160Hz PWM dimming and reaching 4500 nits of brightness.
The device will be available for open sale on March 21 at 9 am ET, with a trade-in option allowing users to knock $100 off the retail price by trading in any phone in any condition. However, given the limited quantities of previous Genshin Impact OnePlus-themed phones in North America, potential buyers are encouraged to act quickly.
OnePlus 12R Genshin Impact Edition Now Available For Pre-order With Cool Extras
, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
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