Hasta La Gadget!

Following a string of misfires, Ubisoft is shutting down a support studio and downsizing elsewhere, with the company firing around 185 workers in its latest cost-cutting measure. Ubisoft Leamington, situated in the English town of Royal Leamington Spa, is no more as the publisher is scuttling the 50-person studio. It’s also laying off employees in Stockholm; Düsseldorf, Germany; and Newcastle, England (Ubisoft Reflections).

“As part of our ongoing efforts to prioritize projects and reduce costs that ensure long-term stability at Ubisoft, we have announced targeted restructurings at Ubisoft Düsseldorf, Ubisoft Stockholm and Ubisoft Reflections and the permanent closure of Ubisoft Leamington site,” Ubisoft told Eurogamer in a statement. “Unfortunately, this should impact 185 employees overall. We are deeply grateful for their contributions and are committed to supporting them through this transition.”

Ubisoft bought the Leamington studio from Activision in 2017. It was previously known as FreeStyleGames and the team was behind Guitar Hero Live and the DJ Hero series. Since joining Ubisoft, the studio has assisted with development on the Tom Clancy’s The Division games, Star Wars Outlaws, Skull and Bones and Far Cry 5.

Things have been tumultuous at Ubisoft recently, as the company is dealing with the fallout of several underperforming games, such as Star Wars Outlaws, which didn’t meet sales targets. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown fell short of Ubisoft’s sales expectations too, and the company shifted many of the game’s developers to other teams. Ubisoft is also shutting down XDefiant in the coming months, with the publisher shutting three studios and laying off 277 workers as part of that decision. As Eurogamer notes, Ubisoft’s headcount dropped from 20,279 to 18,666 by the end of September.

Perhaps aligned with those recent woes, there have been numerous reports that Ubisoft is seeking a buyer or that it may create a joint venture with Tencent with some of its assets included. The company said earlier this month (PDF) that it would “continue to drive significant cost reductions” and it had “appointed leading advisors to review and pursue various transformational strategic and capitalistic options to extract the best value for stakeholders.”

Suffice to say, there’s a lot riding on the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Assassin’s Creed has been a reliably bankable series for Ubisoft and it’s arguably the company’s flagship franchise at this point. Based on my early impressions, the game looks good enough and plays well enough for what the company needs it to do, and it seems to cater to both long-standing fans and series newcomers. There’s a chance that Shadows could be successful for the company, but it’s a mighty tall order for a single game to right a ship that’s as large and unsteady as Ubisoft.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/ubisoft-shuts-down-a-support-studio-and-lays-off-185-workers-191048262.html?src=rss

Chinese AI assistant DeepSeek has become the top rated free app on Apple’s App Store in the US and elsewhere, beating out ChatGPT and other rivals. It’s powered by the open-source DeepSeek V3 model, which reportedly requires far less computing power than competitors and was developed for under $6 million, according to (disputed) claims by the company. At the same time, it offers performance that’s on par with Claude-3.5, GPT-4o and other rivals, DeepSeek said last week.

The news that DeepSeek topped the App Store charts caused a sharp drop in tech stocks like NVIDIA and ASML this morning. Google parent company Alphabet and Microsoft were also down this morning. As the New York Times notes, the overall Nasdaq and S&P 500 dropped as well, and markets in Europe and Japan also took a bit of a hit. 

Available on web, app and API, DeepSeek is similar to AI Assistant like ChatGPT with features like coding content creation and research. Its first DeepSeek-R1 release is available under an MIT license, so it can be used commercially and without restrictions. 

The company is headquartered in Hangzhou, China and was founded in 2023 by Liang Wenfeng, who also launched the hedge fund backing DeepSeek. To develop the tech, he reportedly stockpiled NVIDIA A100 chips prior to the US export ban and paired those with less powerful chips that can still be imported, according to MIT Technology Review. 

However, DeepSeek was still at a significant hardware disadvantage next to rival models from OpenAI, Google and others. That forced the company to be more efficient with its AI models, and it has supposedly been able to build and train them at a far lower cost than previously thought possible. 

Analysts from Citi and elsewhere have questioned those claims, though, and pointed out that China is a “more restrictive environment” for AI development than the US. Still, the rise of DeepSeek has raised concerns about the potential profits of rivals like OpenAI that have already invested billions in AI infrastructure.

All the attention today around DeepSeek appears to have attracted some bad actors, though. According to CNBC, DeepSeek says it is temporarily limiting registrations for the service in light of “large-scale malicious attacks.” Existing users should be able to log in as usual, however. But if all the buzz around the tool made you want to check it out, you might have to be patient. 

Update, January 27 2025, 11:47AM ET: This story has been updated with details on the cyber-attack on DeepSeek that has limited registrations for the service.

Update, January 27 2025, 11:27AM ET: This story and its headline were updated with more details on the stock price drops that appear to have hit this morning in conjunction with the news around DeepSeek.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/chinas-deepseek-ai-assistant-becomes-top-free-iphone-app-as-us-tech-stocks-take-a-hit-134445151.html?src=rss

January is almost over, and Amazon has some new Apple deals for us. The 13-inch M4 iPad Pro is now down to a record-low price of $1,099 if you get the 256GB model. Additionally, the 11-inch M4 iPad Pro is also on sale for $899, and both color options have an extra $50 coupon to reduce the price even further to $849.

The M4 is Apple’s latest chipset, and it boasts 10 cores in its CPU for high-settings gaming and video editing. The 2,752 x 2,064 Ultra Retina XDR OLED screen’s color accuracy is also great for streaming content on Netflix, YouTube and more. The high refresh rate ProMotion, P3 wide color and True Tone display technologies further improve the experience by improving the refresh rate and colors — in our review, we called it one of the nicest portable screens we’ve seen.

Some users also like capturing pictures and videos with their iPads, and the M4 iPads are equipped with a 12MP ultra wide front camera that performs superbly on video calls. The 12MP wide rear camera captures video up to 4K resolution with ProRes support.

If you’re still not sure, the M4 iPad is on our list of best Apple tablets. It’s a premium device, but one that won’t let you down when it comes to processing power and screen quality.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/apples-m4-ipad-pro-is-up-to-200-off-right-now-150555119.html?src=rss

Calling all iPhone lovers: we might just have a full look at Apple’s iPhone SE 4 on our hands. X (formerly Twitter) user Majin Bu shared what Bu claims is the new iPhone SE 4. The leaker posted a video of the device from all angles and then four photos of both a black and white model from the back.

There’s no guarantee that these posts aren’t just highlighting a well-done dummy unit — a version typically made for accessory manufacturers. But, if real, then there’s a few things we can glean. One of the most significant bits is that this iPhone SE 4 still has a notch. In 2022, Apple released its Dynamic Island design on the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max, foregoing the front camera’s notch for a more integrated appearance. The iPhone 15 and 16 also got the Dynamic Island but, despite rumors it would come to the next SE, this leak indicates the notch will remain.

One big change, however, on the iPhone SE 4 is a switch from the lightning port to a USB-C. New regulations mean this move is necessary for the device to be on sale in the European Union. The posts also show a single rear camera, the same as previous iPhone SE phones. Again, most of this is just a possibility at the moment. The leaker has been wrong in the past, such as a 2022 prediction for an iPhone 15 Ultra with two front cameras. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/a-convincing-dummy-iphone-se-4-suggests-the-return-of-the-notch-130049779.html?src=rss

Roli just introduced the simply-named Piano at NAMM, a 49-key smart keyboard that’s primarily intended for learners, but has some neat bells and whistles for experienced musicians. It features light-up keys across all octaves, to help newbies get a handle on chords. These keys will also glow to show scales, arpeggios and more. It’s basically a larger version of the company’s beloved Piano M teaching keyboard.

For veterans, the Roli Piano offers per-key pitch bend and polyphonic aftertouch, which should make for expressive playing. It also tracks fingers in four different ways while playing. This will allow the keyboard to successfully control MIDI Polyphonic Expression (MPE) instruments. The additional controllable parameters helps narrow the gap between digital and acoustic instruments.

This is also a modern tech device, so Roli stuffed in some AI tools. The Piano AI Assistant uses generative AI to streamline the learning process. The company says it can help players get started with drills, teach music history and even go over theory. This tech will be improved upon as the year goes on, via software updates. Speaking of software, buyers also get Roli Studio, which is a collection of instruments and presets.

The Roli Piano also offers some neat integration with the company’s recently-released Airwave keyboard teaching tool. This theremin-like device tracks a player’s fingers and sends teaching data to a tablet. The Airwave is also an instrument in its own right, as users can raise their hands like a conductor to create and play sounds.

“The ways we learn and play music are improving exponentially thanks to innovations like the Airwave, and now the Roli Piano and Piano AI Assistant,” Roland Lamb, Founder and CEO of Roli, told Engadget. “Players now have access to the most intelligent and intuitive music system out there.”

Roli Piano connects via USB-C or wirelessly with Bluetooth. It works with all major DAWs and a whole lot of virtual instruments. Pre-orders are available right now, with shipments going out in May. Early adopters get a serious discount here, as the price right now is $400. However, it goes up to $600 upon official release. There’s also a bundle with the Airwave that costs $650 for early birds, but $950 in May.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/music/roli-finally-introduces-a-larger-teaching-piano-keyboard-complete-with-ai-191551398.html?src=rss