Jan 22

Samsung Galaxy S25 Series, Improved Performance, A New 50MP Ultrawide Camera For The Ultra, And Deeper AI Integration

Posted in: Today's Chili

Samsung has officially announced its latest flagship smartphones—the Galaxy S25 Ultra, Galaxy S25 Plus, and Galaxy S25. All models feature the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor combined with 12GB of RAM, and storage options vary according to each model, from 128GB only for the S25 up to 1TB only for the Ultra version.
Besides Qualcomm’s most powerful new chipset, Samsung’s flagship series includes only a few hardware upgrades and subtle design refinements.

For this year’s S series edition, Samsung focused heavily on artificial intelligence (AI) integration and new software features designed to deliver intuitive and context-aware user experiences.

Design Refinements

Samsung has refined the design of the Galaxy S25 Series, focusing on both aesthetics and functionality.

Rounded Edges and Slimmer Bezels: The Ultra model now features slightly rounded edges for improved ergonomics. Bezels have been reduced by 15%, allowing for a larger 6.9-inch display while maintaining the same device footprint.

Corning Gorilla Glass Armor 2 on the Ultra’s front: The new glass offers improved scratch resistance and anti-reflective properties over the Gorilla Glass Armor found in the Galaxy S24 Ultra. In addition to enhanced durability, it offers better visibility in various lighting conditions.

Weight Reduction: The Ultra model is 15 grams lighter than its predecessor, offering better balance without compromising durability.

Display

The S25 Ultra Dynamic AMOLED 2X gets a slightly larger display than its predecessor, with the same QHD+ resolution with a 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate.

Improved Performance

The Snapdragon 8 Elite, developed in collaboration with Qualcomm, powers the Galaxy S25 Series. This new processor enhances performance across the board.

Processing Capabilities: The 3nm processor delivers a 40% increase in Neural Processing Unit (NPU) performance, a 37% boost in CPU efficiency, and a 30% improvement in GPU capabilities over the previous generation. These enhancements allow the device to handle demanding tasks, including gaming and AI computations, more efficiently.

Advanced Cooling System: A new cooling system features a 40% larger vapor chamber in the S25 Ultra and 15% larger one in the S25 Plus and S25 than the previous generation.

A new tailored Thermal Interface Material (TIM) further improves heat dissipation, enhancing battery life and device longevity. Those improvements ensure sustained performance during intensive use, such as extended gaming sessions.

Battery

The S25 Ultra features an unsurprising 5000 mAh; the S25 Plus gets a 4900 mah capacity, and the S25 is 4000 mAh.

Camera Upgrades

The camera system of the S25 Ultra features a new 50MP ultra-wide lens, complementing the 50MP 5X telephoto, the 10 MP 3X zoom, and the 200MP main camera that are similar to the ones found in the S24 Ultra. All lenses offer Optical Image Stabilization (OIS).
This upgrade enhances clarity for wide-angle and macro photography, capturing impressive detail photos taken as close as 2 cm from the subject.

Macro photography captures fine detail thanks to the 50MP Ultrawide camera

The S25 Plus and S25 have a triple rear shooter with a 50MP primary sensor (OIS), a 12MP ultrawide camera, and a 10MP 3x optical zoom (OIS), the same configuration as the S24 Plus and S24.

Low-Light Photography: New technologies such as double-analysis noise removal and spatial-temporal filtering address common issues in low-light photography. These systems reduce noise at the pixel level and enhance clarity for moving objects, resulting in sharper night photos and videos.

Professional Features: The addition of Galaxy Log and virtual aperture settings in the Pro Video and Expert RAW photo mode allows more control for advanced users. LOG (logarithmic) video is a format that stores more image information in the highlights and the shadows, offering better color editing options.

Virtual aperture in ExpertRAW mode

Generative editing features have been improved for greater accuracy and faster processing, making on-device photo and video editing more efficient.

Improved Audio Features For Video Editing: The new audio eraser tool allows users to isolate or adjust specific sound elements in videos, such as removing background noise while preserving voice clarity.

A New AI-Integrated Operating System

Thanks to Samsung has significantly expanded its AI capabilities with the Galaxy S25, making the devices more intuitive and user-friendly. While the Galaxy S24 introduced Galaxy AI as Samsung’s first global AI platform, the S25 builds on this foundation by embedding AI more deeply into the One UI 7 operating system and user interface.

AI Agents: The S25 Series includes multiple AI agents designed to streamline various tasks. These agents can handle a wide range of functions using natural language input. For example, users can summarize long texts, convert videos into GIFs, and identify audio or visual content with minimal effort. The integration allows for cross-application commands, such as scheduling events in a calendar and sharing them with contacts in one step.

Personal Data Engine: A key new feature is the personal data engine, which learns user behavior, preferences, and routines. This system helps automate repetitive tasks, such as adjusting device settings for better sleep or suggesting contextual routines based on usage patterns.

Contextual Smart Features: Improved search capabilities allow users to locate photos, settings, or information using conversational queries. For instance, users can say, “Show me wedding photos from Pittsburgh,” or “Help me adjust text size,” and the device will respond accordingly. This makes navigating the phone’s features faster and more intuitive.

One UI 7.0 and Software Features

The Galaxy S25 Series debuts One UI 7.0, a redesigned user interface that integrates AI features seamlessly.

Now Brief and Now Bar: These widgets provide real-time updates tailored to user habits, including weather forecasts, calendar events, and news. The interface adjusts throughout the day to offer relevant information at a glance.

Enhanced AI Capabilities: The AI platform can now execute complex, multi-step tasks. For example, users can ask the device to find the next basketball game, add it to the calendar, and notify a contact—all in one command.

SmartThings Integration: The SmartThings ecosystem has been enhanced to provide better control over connected devices. Features like automated routines and contextual suggestions improve the overall user experience.

Sustainability and Security

Samsung has incorporated sustainable practices into the Galaxy S25 Series while enhancing device security.

Circular Battery Supply Chain: Samsung uses recycled materials in its devices and recycles rare elements from old batteries. This initiative reduces waste and supports sustainability goals.

Knox Vault 2: Security has been improved with end-to-end encryption and post-quantum cryptography. This ensures user data is protected against current and future security threats.

Pricing and Availability

Pre-orders for the series begin today, with general availability starting February 7.

The Galaxy S25 Ultra comes in Titanium Silverblue, Titanium WhiteSilver, Titanium Gray Titanium Black starts at $1299 for the 512GB model. Online colors exclusives are TitaniumPinkGold, Titanium Jetblack and Titanium Jadegreen.

The Galaxy S25 Plus and S25 offer four flavors Navy, Icyblue, Mint, and Silver Shadow. The S25 Plus starts at $999.99 for the 256GB model and the S25 is priced at $799.99 for the 128GB model. Online color exclusives are Blueblack, Coralred, and Pinkgold.

 

 

Samsung Galaxy S25 Series, Improved Performance, A New 50MP Ultrawide Camera For The Ultra, And Deeper AI Integration

, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

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Jan 22

Everything Samsung announced at the Galaxy S25 Unpacked event

Posted in: Today's Chili

Samsung’s first Unpacked event of 2025 delivered the Galaxy S25 series — as expected. Although the phones don’t have dramatically upgraded specs, the company stuffed — you guessed it! — more AI into the devices. This latest batch is more context-sensitive and predictive, and some of it even squeezes more out of the phones’ mildly upgraded hardware.

Galaxy S25 Ultra
Sam Rutherford for Engadget

The Galaxy S25 Ultra is still the biggest, best and most expensive of the bunch. It has a 6.9-inch display and a more rounded edge for a “comfortable grip.” Samsung says it’s the “slimmest, lightest, and most durable Galaxy Ultra device ever,” rocking a titanium body with Corning’s Gorilla Armor 2 for “advanced drop protection” and scratch resistance.

Unlike the two smaller models, the Ultra’s camera sensors got a spec upgrade: Its ultrawide lens is now 50MP, up from the mere 12MP one in last year’s model.

Like its siblings, the S25 Ultra is powered by a customized version of the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, which lets the trio of phones process many of their AI experiences on-device. Of course, that’s better for privacy.

The Galaxy S25 Ultra has 12GB of RAM, and it ships in 256GB, 512GB and 1TB storage tiers. It’s still quite the investment, though — starting at $1,300.

Galaxy S25 and S25+
Sam Rutherford for Engadget

The Galaxy S25 and S25+ saw their RAM upgraded to 12GB (same as the Ultra), up from 8GB in their 2024 predecessors. It combines with the Snapdragon 8 Elite to better handle the phones’ many AI features. (More in a minute.)

The rest of their hardware is remarkably similar to the S24 and S24+. They still have 6.2-inch and 6.7-inch displays, respectively. But Samsung’s new ProScaler AI tool can upscale images in real time to perhaps make up for the unchanged specs. Samsung says it can boost the quality of what you see by 40 percent.

Storage is also unchanged from the S24 series: 128GB or 256GB in the Galaxy S25 and 256GB or 512GB in the Galaxy S25+. Fortunately, pricing is also unchanged. You’ll pay $800 or more for the S25 and $1,000 and up for the S25+.

Galaxy S25 AI
Sam Rutherford for Engadget

With most hardware upgrades (apart from the Snapdragon chip) coming in soft this generation, Samsung is leaning hard on AI features to make you want to throw down hard-earned cash on the new models. This year, Samsung’s One UI 7 on top of Android 15 combines to create what Samsung calls “a new AI-integrated OS.” It aims for a more personalized and context-sensitive AI, rather than just a series of one-off tools.

AI plays a central role in the phones’ camera features, with the Qualcomm chip making the phones better at analyzing noise — leading to what Samsung says is better low-lit performance. Audio Eraser is an AI tool that separates audio channels, letting you cut out unwanted ones like wind or a random stranger talking.

Samsung gathers its new collection of on-device AI tools into what it calls the Personal Data Engine. The series of multimodal (text, images, video, audio) machine learning agents leads to features like AI Select, which builds on Samsung’s legacy Smart Select tool. The new AI-powered version can scan your screen and suggest context-aware tasks — like creating a GIF from a YouTube video you’re watching.

Galaxy S25 Now Brief
Sam Rutherford for Engadget

You could say the AI-powered Now Bar is Samsung’s answer to the iPhone’s Dynamic Island. The pill-shaped bar sits at the bottom of the lock screen and below the digital clock when the phone is unlocked. It generates a series of reminders based on context. Within the Now Bar is another AI feature, the Now Brief, which generates morning, midday and evening summaries of info it thinks will be relevant to you.

Samsung’s Sketch to Image tool has been rebranded as Drawing Assist, and Samsung says the feature is more polished and accurate. It also adds an option to import existing images for your prompt. The S25 series also adds an upgraded version of Google’s Circle to Search (activated by long-pressing the home button). It can now recognize phone numbers, emails and URLs, letting you trigger their corresponding actions with a single tap.

Developing…

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/everything-samsung-announced-at-the-galaxy-s25-unpacked-event-183331979.html?src=rss

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Jan 22

Samsung Galaxy S25 Series, Improved Performance, A New 50MP Ultrawide Camera For The Ultra, And Deeper AI Integration

Posted in: Today's Chili

Samsung has officially announced its latest flagship smartphones—the Galaxy S25 Ultra, Galaxy S25 Plus, and Galaxy S25. All models feature the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor combined with 12GB of RAM, and storage options vary according to each model, from 128GB only for the S25 up to 1TB only for the Ultra version.
Besides Qualcomm’s most powerful new chipset, Samsung’s flagship series includes only a few hardware upgrades and subtle design refinements.

For this year’s S series edition, Samsung focused heavily on artificial intelligence (AI) integration and new software features designed to deliver intuitive and context-aware user experiences.

Design Refinements

Samsung has refined the design of the Galaxy S25 Series, focusing on both aesthetics and functionality.

Rounded Edges and Slimmer Bezels: The Ultra model now features slightly rounded edges for improved ergonomics. Bezels have been reduced by 15%, allowing for a larger 6.9-inch display while maintaining the same device footprint.

Corning Gorilla Glass Armor 2 on the Ultra’s front: The new glass offers improved scratch resistance and anti-reflective properties over the Gorilla Glass Armor found in the Galaxy S24 Ultra. In addition to enhanced durability, it offers better visibility in various lighting conditions.

Weight Reduction: The Ultra model is 15 grams lighter than its predecessor, offering better balance without compromising durability.

Display

The S25 Ultra Dynamic AMOLED 2X gets a slightly larger display than its predecessor, with the same QHD+ resolution with a 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate.

Improved Performance

The Snapdragon 8 Elite, developed in collaboration with Qualcomm, powers the Galaxy S25 Series. This new processor enhances performance across the board.

Processing Capabilities: The 3nm processor delivers a 40% increase in Neural Processing Unit (NPU) performance, a 37% boost in CPU efficiency, and a 30% improvement in GPU capabilities over the previous generation. These enhancements allow the device to handle demanding tasks, including gaming and AI computations, more efficiently.

Advanced Cooling System: A new cooling system features a 40% larger vapor chamber in the S25 Ultra and 15% larger one in the S25 Plus and S25 than the previous generation.

A new tailored Thermal Interface Material (TIM) further improves heat dissipation, enhancing battery life and device longevity. Those improvements ensure sustained performance during intensive use, such as extended gaming sessions.

Battery

The S25 Ultra features an unsurprising 5000 mAh; the S25 Plus gets a 4900 mah capacity, and the S25 is 4000 mAh.

Camera Upgrades

The camera system of the S25 Ultra features a new 50MP ultra-wide lens, complementing the 50MP 5X telephoto, the 10 MP 3X zoom, and the 200MP main camera that are similar to the ones found in the S24 Ultra. All lenses offer Optical Image Stabilization (OIS).
This upgrade enhances clarity for wide-angle and macro photography, capturing impressive detail photos taken as close as 2 cm from the subject.

Macro photography captures fine detail thanks to the 50MP Ultrawide camera

The S25 Plus and S25 have a triple rear shooter with a 50MP primary sensor (OIS), a 12MP ultrawide camera, and a 10MP 3x optical zoom (OIS), the same configuration as the S24 Plus and S24.

Low-Light Photography: New technologies such as double-analysis noise removal and spatial-temporal filtering address common issues in low-light photography. These systems reduce noise at the pixel level and enhance clarity for moving objects, resulting in sharper night photos and videos.

Professional Features: The addition of Galaxy Log and virtual aperture settings in the Pro Video and Expert RAW photo mode allows more control for advanced users. LOG (logarithmic) video is a format that stores more image information in the highlights and the shadows, offering better color editing options.

Virtual aperture in ExpertRAW mode

Generative editing features have been improved for greater accuracy and faster processing, making on-device photo and video editing more efficient.

Improved Audio Features For Video Editing: The new audio eraser tool allows users to isolate or adjust specific sound elements in videos, such as removing background noise while preserving voice clarity.

A New AI-Integrated Operating System

Thanks to Samsung has significantly expanded its AI capabilities with the Galaxy S25, making the devices more intuitive and user-friendly. While the Galaxy S24 introduced Galaxy AI as Samsung’s first global AI platform, the S25 builds on this foundation by embedding AI more deeply into the One UI 7 operating system and user interface.

AI Agents: The S25 Series includes multiple AI agents designed to streamline various tasks. These agents can handle a wide range of functions using natural language input. For example, users can summarize long texts, convert videos into GIFs, and identify audio or visual content with minimal effort. The integration allows for cross-application commands, such as scheduling events in a calendar and sharing them with contacts in one step.

Personal Data Engine: A key new feature is the personal data engine, which learns user behavior, preferences, and routines. This system helps automate repetitive tasks, such as adjusting device settings for better sleep or suggesting contextual routines based on usage patterns.

Contextual Smart Features: Improved search capabilities allow users to locate photos, settings, or information using conversational queries. For instance, users can say, “Show me wedding photos from Pittsburgh,” or “Help me adjust text size,” and the device will respond accordingly. This makes navigating the phone’s features faster and more intuitive.

One UI 7.0 and Software Features

The Galaxy S25 Series debuts One UI 7.0, a redesigned user interface that integrates AI features seamlessly.

Now Brief and Now Bar: These widgets provide real-time updates tailored to user habits, including weather forecasts, calendar events, and news. The interface adjusts throughout the day to offer relevant information at a glance.

Enhanced AI Capabilities: The AI platform can now execute complex, multi-step tasks. For example, users can ask the device to find the next basketball game, add it to the calendar, and notify a contact—all in one command.

SmartThings Integration: The SmartThings ecosystem has been enhanced to provide better control over connected devices. Features like automated routines and contextual suggestions improve the overall user experience.

Sustainability and Security

Samsung has incorporated sustainable practices into the Galaxy S25 Series while enhancing device security.

Circular Battery Supply Chain: Samsung uses recycled materials in its devices and recycles rare elements from old batteries. This initiative reduces waste and supports sustainability goals.

Knox Vault 2: Security has been improved with end-to-end encryption and post-quantum cryptography. This ensures user data is protected against current and future security threats.

Pricing and Availability

Pre-orders for the series begin today, with general availability starting February 7.

The Galaxy S25 Ultra comes in Titanium Silverblue, Titanium WhiteSilver, Titanium Gray Titanium Black starts at $1299 for the 512GB model. Online colors exclusives are TitaniumPinkGold, Titanium Jetblack and Titanium Jadegreen.

The Galaxy S25 Plus and S25 offer four flavors Navy, Icyblue, Mint, and Silver Shadow. The S25 Plus starts at $999.99 for the 256GB model and the S25 is priced at $799.99 for the 128GB model. Online color exclusives are Blueblack, Coralred, and Pinkgold.

 

 

Samsung Galaxy S25 Series, Improved Performance, A New 50MP Ultrawide Camera For The Ultra, And Deeper AI Integration

, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

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Jan 22

Here's a look at Mike Mignola’s new book set in a macabre, folklore-inspired universe

Posted in: Today's Chili

Mike Mignola, the creator of Hellboy, has been cooking up a whole new fantasy universe, and the first book set in it is out now. Bowling with Corpses and Other Strange Tales From Lands Unknown, is an anthology that reads like a collection of myths and folklore. The stories are macabre with a touch of whimsy (as in, occasional animal narrators), ranging from a boy’s bizarre adventure after he becomes the unexpected wielder of a powerful dead hand, to the creation of the world and gods in the eponymous Lands Unknown.

Mignola said when the project was announced last year that “it all started with an Italian folktale about a boy who goes bowling with corpses,” which he wanted to adapt, but also to “play fast and loose” in doing so. “So I created a whole new world,” he said. Bowling with Corpses hits comic stores today, and you can read a snippet from “Una and the Devil” (one of my favorite stories in the book) below.

Unsurprisingly, Mignola’s style lends itself well to the concept of creepy folk tales, and there are some really stunning visuals that bring it all to life: a woman rising from a blood-filled casket; a man following a floating dagger through a forest bathed in red; a newly transformed creature of the night spreading her wings for the first time. The book contains eight stories across its 112 pages (and a promise for more to come!), so there’s plenty of good stuff to sink your teeth into. 

Mignola collaborated once again with Ben Stenbeck (Our Bones Dust) to create the Lands Unknown universe, and the book is the first to be published under Mignola’s new imprint, Curious Objects, from Dark Horse Comics. Bowling with Corpses and Other Strange Tales From Lands Unknown was written and illustrated by Mignola, colored by Dave Stewart and lettered by Clem Robins.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/heres-a-look-at-mike-mignolas-new-book-set-in-a-macabre-folklore-inspired-universe-170009280.html?src=rss

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Jan 22

YouTube Premium adds 256kbps audio 'experiment' for music videos

Posted in: Today's Chili

YouTube is rolling out new perks for paying users, starting with the ability to switch on more than one experiment. If you’re paying for a Premium subscription, you can test out the video streaming service’s experimental features by going to youtube.com/new. It was only previously possible to try one experiment at a time, but now you can activate multiple options so you can try out a few at once. YouTube even added new features you can test out now that you can activate more than one, including the ability to play music videos with your audio set to 256kbps. Previously, you could only listen to 256kbps audio on YouTube Music. 

Another new test feature is Picture-in-Picture for YouTube Shorts on iOS, so you can watch short-form videos while you have other apps open. You can also activate Smart Downloads on iOS if you want YouTube to automatically save recommended Shorts on your phone to view offline. Another thing YouTube is testing is “Jump ahead” for web viewing, which lets you skip ahead to specific parts of a video. It used to be exclusively available on YouTube apps. Finally, you’ll soon be able to play videos even faster on mobile, with expanded playback options of up to 4x the speed. 

If you’re in the US, take note that Google is rolling out a bundle with YouTube Premium and 2 TB of cloud storage with Google One, which will cost you $21.98 a month. That’s slightly less than the typical price of $24 a month together ($10 for Google One and $14 for the YouTube Premium individual plan).

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/youtube/youtube-premium-adds-256kbps-audio-experiment-for-music-videos-160043945.html?src=rss

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Jan 22

Can our climate be saved by vacuuming carbon out of the skies

Posted in: Today's Chili

Imagine: A switch is flicked and, in a heartbeat, every process spewing deadly pollution into the heavens is replaced with something clean and sustainable. Sadly, even then, the Earth would still tip towards being uninhabitable thanks to all of the carbon we’ve already dumped up there. If we as a species are to survive then all of that junk needs to be pulled back to Earth, and fast. Proponents of Direct Air Capture believe it’s a vital weapon to accomplish that task; its critics say it’s so inefficient that we’d be better off trying anything else first.

Direct Air Capture

Image of Mission Zero's Direct Air Capture plant
Mission Zero

Put simply, Direct Air Capture (DAC) is the practice of removing CO2 from the atmosphere by pulling air through a mechanical or chemical filter. Air is typically drawn through a DAC system via one or more fans, while filtering is done with a solid (known as a sorbent) or with a liquid (known as a solvent). Once captured, heat or electricity is applied to the filter material to remove the CO2, both to re-use the filter and get the CO2 ready to move on. It’s this last stage that’s often the most energy-intensive, and therefore costly, part of the process. Given the amount of air that will need to be cleaned (all of it) for this to work, DAC needs to be as energy efficient as possible.

The most cost-effective way to do this is by capping the smokestacks of a carbon-intensive process, like a factory or fossil fuel power plant to prevent more CO2 release. But that does nothing to reduce the excess CO2 already in the atmosphere. That’s why some scientists and entrepreneurs are inclined to gamble on DAC plants in free air to scrub the heavens clean.

The NOAA explains that in 1960, humanity was pumping out 11 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the air each year. Half a century later, and that figure now stands closer to 40 billion, which is why emissions-reduction work is so vital. But even if we did manage to reduce all of our new emissions to zero, we’d still have to address the 950 gigatons or so of CO2 lurking in the atmosphere already. At the time of writing, the CO2 in the atmosphere as recorded by the NOAA’s Global Monitoring Lab at Mauna Loa is 422.38ppm. The scientific consensus is any figure over 350ppm will spell catastrophic doom for humanity and the state of the planet more generally.

This June, the University of Oxford published research saying that if we want to limit warming to just 1.5 degrees (which would be catastrophic), humanity will need to extract between seven and nine billion tons of carbon dioxide out of the air each year by 2050. The COP28 declaration supports signatory nations throwing their weight behind carbon capture technologies. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says there is no viable pathway to averting climate change unless large volumes of CO2 are pulled from the air. This has been the status quo for a while: In 2017, a coalition of prominent scientists led by Professor Jim Hansen said it was imperative that humanity began mass-removing atmospheric CO2.

What to do with all the CO2

Once DAC has sucked the unwanted carbon out of the air, it needs to be put somewhere. One option, The British Geological Survey explains, is to easily and affordably convert CO2 to its supercritical form, which behaves like a runny liquid. This liquid can then be stored underground after being injected into porous rocks, with old oil fields and coal seams appearing to be ideal places. The oil and gas industry actually uses this approach to boost production in existing fields, as the liquid CO2 fills up the space, pushing more oil toward the extraction site. But the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) briefing paper on Direct Air Capture suggests more than half of all atmospheric CO2 emissions recovered will need to be sequestered.

Obviously, getting more fossil fuels out of the ground to burn does not do very much for the climate, and ideally the governments of the world would just invest in effective carbon capture to prevent us from boiling to death. Fortunately for humanity’s fixation on market solutions, recycling some of the non-sequestered CO2 could become an industry unto itself.

CO2 can also be turned into synthetic fuels in traditional combustion engines. Air travel is the most obvious example, especially given that the size and weight of batteries make it nearly impossible to build an electric jumbo jet. Recovered CO2 can also be used as the base for common non-fuel products including construction materials, in chemical and agricultural products, not to mention putting the fizz in our drinks.

Holocene is one of many companies looking to turn CO2 extraction into a viable, long term business by selling carbon removal credits to big businesses. Its approach is to pull air through water which has been embedded with an amnio acid that binds to CO2. The water and CO2 mix is then combined with guanidine, which turns the CO2 into a solid that can be easily filtered out, allowing the amino acid water to be reused. The solid CO2 is then heated to a low temperature, which separates the guanidine from gaseous CO2, ready for use or sequestration. Holocene believes a reusable solvent (and reusable chemical treatment) combined with the low-temperature heat makes its approach far more cost-effective than that of its rivals.

Mission Zero is also looking to develop a low-cost way of procuring large quantities of CO2 from the atmosphere. It draws air into its hardware and then applies a water-based solvent. But rather than treating this mix chemically, it uses electrodialysis and an ion exchange process to purify the liquid and extract the CO2. From there, the liquid can be reused and the CO2, again, can either be buried underground or, turned into viable products. The company says that its electro-chemical process is similarly far more cost and energy-efficient than many of the other companies operating in this space.

Given the commercial sensitivities involved, it’s not easy to get a real handle on how much it costs to extract CO2 from the atmosphere using DAC in open air. Depending on where you look, the figure can be as much as $600 per ton, but a more common figure is between the $300 and $400 mark. For years, the received wisdom has been that DAC needs to reach a cost of $100 per ton in order to become economically viable.

Earlier this year, a German climate-focused VC firm, Extantia Capital went digging into the source of that $100 shibboleth and traced it back to a paper from early DAC firm Carbon Engineering in 2018 when it published a paper projecting its long-term cost would fall to as little as $94 per ton. Suddenly, the phrase “less than $100 per ton” became the benchmark to which all other DAC companies were held. But, as Extantia’s Torben Schreiter wrote, that figure was also pegged to 2016 dollar prices, so it hasn’t grown with inflation. In 2023, the World Economic Forum said the cost of Direct Air Capture had to fall “below $200 per ton” before it would be widely adopted.

It doesn’t matter if your aims are environmental or industrial, we know the volume of CO2 that needs to be extracted from the atmosphere is significant. For that to be viable, the cost of extraction needs to fall by a significant degree. A more mature metric would be that pricing falls in line with, or below, the perpetually in-flux cost of carbon dioxide as a commodity.

Image inside Holocene's Pilot Plant
Holocene

“All these DAC approaches use a bunch of energy,” said Holocene’s CEO Keeton Ross. Ross says it’s the cost of this energy that is keeping the price of Direct Air Capture higher than it needs to be. He believes heat-based systems (like Holocene’s) will likely win out in the end because heat can come from any number of affordable sources. These claims of being able to cut the costs of DAC were compelling enough that in September Google invested in Holocene and pledged to buy carbon credits from it in future.

Dr. Nicholas Chadwick, CEO of Mission Zero, told Engadget his company is targeting around $350 per ton by 2026, but that figure is “dependent on a specific price of electricity.” That price, he believes, is “substantially better than what’s available in the commodity market,” making it a no-brainer for industries that are reliant on CO2 to start buying from Mission Zero.

Roadblocks

The obvious objection to Direct Air Capture is that while there’s a lot of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, it’s still a relatively small proportion of the whole. I’ve heard the process described as panning for gold in the ocean, and the energy costs alone will make it unfeasible on the scale necessary. In 2022, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis bluntly claimed the process “simply won’t work.” Part of the objection was that it can be (and is) used for enhanced oil recovery, but also that when DAC facilities are up and running, they’re often far less effective at capturing CO2 than initially promised.

In 2023, a piece published by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists expressed outrage that the US Department of Energy invested $600 million in one such project. Its authors said the energy costs required to filter that much air to extract just 0.04 percent of its total are far in excess of other, already less expensive ways to reduce emissions, and that there won’t be any dramatic improvement in the physics and chemistry that will make Direct Air Capture dramatically more efficient. They said, bluntly, “It’s just dumb to build today something that we won’t need for 50 years, if ever.”

Chadwick said a lot of the criticisms around DAC center on its technical feasibility, which he says is the wrong point. “There are tons of industrial processes where the thermodynamics are terrible, look at ammonia,” he said, “it took years and years to get the yields to where they are right now.” What drove those otherwise inefficient processes was the “economic imperative for it in the marketplace,” he said. “When someone proves they can do [Direct Air Capture] for $200 a ton, all of these arguments go away.”

Both Chadwick and Ross spoke about the importance of scale to help accelerate the still quite nascent industry. In 2023, Carbon Engineering, 1PointFive and Occidental broke ground on the Stratos plant in Texas that, when completed, is expected to suck 500,000 tons of CO2 out of the air per year. Both are optimistic, however, that the projects that are currency under construction will help engineers solve those questions. It’s a long, long way to go before we get to the billions of tons experts believe we’ll need to be extracting to have a hope of survival.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/can-our-climate-be-saved-by-vacuuming-carbon-out-of-the-skies-145944818.html?src=rss

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Jan 22

Many Akai devices will soon support Native Instruments sound packs

Posted in: Today's Chili

Akai and Native Instruments are sort of like the Nintendo and Sega of music production. These long-time rivals offer many similar products, but some musicians get drawn to Akai’s MPC workflow while others choose NI’s Maschine platform. Soon, folks may not have to choose at all. These two icons of the space are teaming up. The MPC platform will soon be home to Native Instruments sound packs.

This means that if you currently use an MPC Live II or a Key 61, or any other number of standalone music-making machines by Akai, you’ll be able to pull up legit Native Instruments sounds for your tracks. This is a truly big deal. The MPC workflow is iconic and many genres of music wouldn’t be the same without it. At the same time, NI is known for its top-tier instruments and sounds.

NI software running on Akai hardware.
Akai

“This collaboration bridges two iconic brands to provide creators with a fully integrated ecosystem,” said Matt Dircks, CEO of Native Instruments. “By combining Akai’s legendary hardware with our expansive sound libraries and tools, we’re pushing the boundaries of music creation.”

We spoke to legendary instrument designer Roger Linn, who originally invented the MPC platform all the way back in 1988, about this partnership. He’s no longer with Akai in an official capacity but said that putting NI instruments on Akai products will “really benefit both companies.” He also said that the move perfectly positions MPC devices “to be the next standard musical instrument like the guitar or piano.” 

Linn, who also invented modern digital music-making concepts like swing and quantization, heaped praise on newer MPC devices, as the platform has come a long way since the MPC60 in 1988. He says that products like the Live II are “still warm and fuzzy for the people who are familiar with the MPC, while moving toward a DAW (digital audio workstation).” The Native Instruments integration promises to make these products even warmer and fuzzier. 

The only caveat? MPC devices can only access Play Series instruments and official Expansions, which are genre-specific sound packs. You won’t be able to pull up, say, the full Massive X synthesizer or Kontakt. All told, there are five instruments that will be available in the middle of February, along with five Expansions. These have all been “expertly tailored for the MPC platform.” More releases are likely to follow, assuming positive user feedback. 

We asked Native Instruments CPO Simon Cross if there are plans for compatibility in the other direction. Will the Native Instruments Maschine+ standalone groovebox be able to pull up Akai plugins and sound packs? There are no current plans, which is something of a bummer. It’s a bit understandable, given that the company only has one standalone device, but still.

A Midi controller.
Akai

Finally, the partnership extends to MPK controllers. Akai’s line of MIDI controllers will soon integrate with Native Instruments’ Native Kontrol Standard (NKS). This means that Akai controllers will be able to “seamlessly control all NKS-compatible plugins.” The integration allows for pre-mapped controls and “intuitive navigation” directly from MPK devices. The software update drops at end of February. 

This expands controller compatibility to over 1,800 new instruments and plugins. The NKS standard is also coming to third-party controllers in the near future from companies like M-Audio, Novation and Korg, among others. 

To celebrate the burgeoning partnership, all current MPK Series owners will receive a free copy of Komplete 15 Select. This is a curated bundle of Native Instruments instruments and effects. Again, this is free for all MPK Series owners, and not just new purchasers. 

As for Linn, his company currently manufactures the ultra-expressive MIDI controller LinnStrument. The device tracks finger movements in five ways, to bring acoustic-like expressiveness to digital instruments. He also (relatively) recently co-designed one of my all-time favorite drum machines, the Tempest, along with MIDI and synthesizer luminary Dave Smith, who passed away in 2022. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/music/many-akai-devices-will-soon-support-native-instruments-sound-packs-140059822.html?src=rss

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Jan 22

Eleven percent of game developers were laid off in 2024, according to GDC survey

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It’s a challenging time to be a developer these days, according to GDC’s 2025 State of the Game Industry report that surveyed over 3,000 game devs and industry professionals. In one of the worst years ever for game industry job losses, 11 percent of developers said they were let go from their positions in 2024 and 29 percent observed direct colleagues being laid off. All of that is part of an unfortunate trend caused in part by consolidation that could see around 14,000 layoffs in 2024 when final tallies are done.

Meanwhile, live service games appear to be here to stay, despite the spectacular flameout of Concord and the axing of several Sony projects. One-third of AAA developers said they’re currently working on live service games (GaaS), with 16 percent across the entire developer base working on such titles. That doesn’t mean they all like it though, as 41 percent expressed that they weren’t interested at all on working on GaaS style games. That lines up with a general malaise among gamers with regard to live service titles. 

One encouraging upward trend is in PC games, where 80 percent of developers reported that they were working — up massively from 66 percent last year. That could be due in part to Valve’s Steam deck, as 44 precent of devs said they were interested in working specifically on that platform. Browser games are also on the upswing, with 16 percent of respondents working on releases. Finally, while gaming execs seem to love the potential for AI in gaming, developers hate it, with 30 percent saying it’s having a negative impact on the industry — up 12 percent from last year. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/eleven-percent-of-game-developers-were-laid-off-in-2024-according-to-gdc-survey-130003228.html?src=rss

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Jan 22

OpenAI and Softbank team up for a $500 billion AI data center venture

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OpenAI will build and open AI infrastructure worth $500 billion in the United States over the next four years in partnership with SoftBank. The two entities have teamed up to establish a new company called the Stargate Project to build AI data centers for the ChatGPT maker, and according to their announcement, it will “secure American leadership in AI” as well as “create hundreds of thousands of American jobs.” SoftBank will finance the project, while OpenAI will be in charge of its operations. Masayoshi Son, the CEO of SoftBank, will serve as its chairman. 

While OpenAI and SoftBank will serve as the Stargate Project’s lead partners, there are several other companies involved in the initiative. In addition to OpenAI, Arm, NVIDIA, Oracle and, of course, Microsoft will be its key initial technology partners. The company’s official announcement says OpenAI, NVIDIA and Oracle will work together to “build and operate this computing system,” though it didn’t expound on what that means. 

As for Microsoft, the company has posted an announcement about its involvement in the project and said that it will continue its “strategic partnership” with OpenAI. Microsoft will still have the right to use OpenAI IP on its products, and the OpenAI API will still exclusively run on Azure. However, it will no longer be OpenAI’s exclusive provider for computing capacity. Whenever OpenAI needs additional capacity as its needs grow, Microsoft will have the “right of first refusal,” which means the ChatGPT-maker has to check with it first before working with other parties. 

The Stargate Project is releasing $100 billion immediately for its first data center buildouts, starting with one in Texas. As TechCrunch notes, it was previously reported that OpenAI was in talks with Oracle to lease a data center in Abilene, Texas that can reach almost a gigawatt of electricity by 2026. It didn’t mention any other sites, but it did say that it’s “evaluating potential” locations across the country.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/openai-and-softbank-team-up-for-a-500-billion-ai-data-center-venture-120018021.html?src=rss

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Jan 22

Transit app Moovit adds ticket-purchasing functionality throughout Europe

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Transit app Moovit has partnered with the travel marketplace Distribusion Technologies to let users plan and book long-distance trips throughout Europe. The app now includes a ticketing system that works in 40 European countries.

The company says travelers can book trains, buses and ferries straight from the app, as well as learning directions to a station, checking out schedules and keeping an up-to-the-minute eye on trip timing. This should help alleviate much of the stress of long-distance travel, as various aspects of the journey will all be viewable and adjustable via a single app. Moovit says this is a “first for urban mobility platforms.”

It’s also the first time that Moovit has enabled mobile ticketing for inter-city journeys throughout Europe, including cross-border trips. The company has partnered with carriers like Deutsche Bahn, Trenitalia and National Express to make this happen.

These tools are available right now on Android, iOS and the web client. The big caveat? It’s only in Europe, for now. The app is available in 3,500 cities across 112 countries. We’ll let you know when other regions get access to this tech.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/transit-app-moovit-adds-ticket-purchasing-functionality-throughout-europe-110043997.html?src=rss

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