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Tech giant IBM expects its autonomous ship artificial intelligence technology used by commercial and research ships one day. The software is able to optimize decision-making by simulating different alternative choices and identifying possible issues while a ship is on the ocean.

Earlier in 2022, the unmanned Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS) traveled 3,500 unmanned miles from Plymouth, United Kingdom to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The Atlantic Ocean crossing took 40 days and featured no human ship captain or onboard crew as it made the journey.

Since naval companies tend to be slower to newer trends, fully autonomous ships probably won't happen for quite some time - but an AI-powered first officer might prove useful. The majority of marine accidents tend to involve human error, so autonomous software might be able to help a human captain make critical decisions.

Microsoft and Mercedes-Benz announced a working partnership to connect the MO360 data platform to Microsoft's cloud service. The German automaker is looking to greatly boost its car manufacturing efficiency and thinks connecting its global car plants together can help a more seamless production pipeline.

MO360 is a digital production ecosystem made up of multiple software applications that are able to share interfaces and standardized user interfaces. Many elements of MO360 were already in place at various factories, but will now be consolidated for a more holistic approach to utilizing digital solutions.

When implemented properly, the data platform can identify supply chain bottlenecks when information is collected through the entire production lifecycle - from logistics and supplies to the assembly line, and then finally when the vehicles hit the dealerships. This virtual simulation allows operations managers to test different processes before trying them on the shop floor.

Ford recently announced the opening of its Ford Atlanta Research and Innovation Center (FARIC) facility to develop digital transformation in the auto industry. The new office is located in Atlanta, Georgia, and also serves as a recruiting tool for developers in the local area.

Ford says it is currently undergoing the "most profound transformation" in the company's history, so preparing for future demands in tech-focused vehicles is extremely important.

As said by Jim Buczkowski, executive director for Ford Research, Advanced Engineering, in a statement:

The confusing market of cloud streaming handhelds expands with the most expensive

Today Razer has introduced the world's most powerful Android gaming handheld. It's called the Razer Edge, and it's the latest in an emerging market for enthusiast mobile gaming, a kind of strange hybridized market that sits between consoles and on-the-go mobiles.

The Razer Edge features decent specs, powered by the Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 SoC for "high-end Android gaming" with a 6.8-inch 144Hz OLED display to match. It's built specifically to play Xbox cloud games and Android mobile games. Everything sounds pretty good except for the price.

Korean automaker Hyundai wants to connect as many as 20 million vehicles to a custom platform tailored to their personal services. Hyundai has an ambitious road map for the program as they want to reach 20M software-defined vehicles (SDVs) with over-the-air (OTA) software updates that are tailored based on data from the connected car.

Car owners will be able to modify and upgrade performance and functionality without visiting an official service center. Starting next year, feature-on-demand services will be added, so car owners can select and purchase the technology that best fits their needs - and offers a unique layer of customization to every Hyundai on the road.

Beginning in 2023, all new launches from Hyundai will ship with the OTA software updates ready to go - and isn't just for electric vehicles, but internal combustion engines will also have their own software to offer customized functionality.

Bayonetta voice actor Hellena Taylor alleges that PlatinumGames and/or Nintendo only offered to pay her $4,000 to voice the witch heroine in the third game, and is now standing up against big business.

Following the significant failure of Babylon's Fall, PlatinumGames is embroiled in another big gaming controversy. Nintendo too is also involved, fresh off the heels of a controversy surrounding a fired game tester.

Hellena Taylor says that Nintendo and PlatinumGames offered an "insulting" $4,000 to do the entirety of voice acting in Bayonetta 3. Taylor has issued two videos on Twitter claiming that she suffered from depression and anxiety because the offer was so low that she worried about becoming homeless, and at one point became suicidal from the depression.

Gotham Knights is locked to just 30FPS on both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles...two systems that are technically capable of 120FPS gaming.

Warner Bros. Montreal is facing a big controversy ahead of its new game launch. The studio has confirmed that Gotham Knights, its new open-city Batman brawler game, will not perform above 30 frames-per-second even when leveraging the upgraded power of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles.

So why is Gotham Knights locked to just 30FPS on systems that can output at 120FPS? It appears the two-player co-op is to blame, but exact technical reasons were not touched upon.

The saga of Elon Musk purchasing the world's second-largest social media platform continues with a new court filing revealing that Musk is now under federal investigation.

In a new court filing that was made public on Thursday, Elon Musk, who is currently moving forward with purchasing Twitter for $44 billion, now is now being looked into by federal authorities. Notably, the filing didn't specify what Musk was under investigation for exactly. Twitter moved to sue Musk back in July in an attempt to force the Tesla CEO to close the $44 billion acquisition, with Twitter's lawyers saying that Musk's legal team claimed "investigative privilege" when it was asked for specific documents.

Musk's legal team eventually provided Twitter with a "privilege log" that identified documents that would be withheld. Twitter said that Musk's privilege log referenced an email that was sent to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) along with a slide presentation that was sent to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). In a turn of events, one of Musk's lawyers, Alex Spiro, spoke to Reuters and said that Twitter's recent filing was a "misdirection... It is Twitter's executives that are under federal investigation."

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs died in 2011, but seemingly the brainchild behind what made Apple what it is today has appeared in a post-mortem interview with Joe Rogan.

For starters, neither Joe Rogan nor Steve Jobs was aware the conversation took place as the entire 20-minute podcast was completely generated by an artificial intelligence system called Play.ht. The podcast was posted to the "podcast.ai" website, where it states that the entire podcast was generated by AI and that every week a new podcast is posted based on suggested topics/guests by fans.

Within the website's "about" section, it states that each episode is rendered with Play.ht's "ultra-realistic voices", which has been fed hours of conversations of whoever is featured in the episode. For example, the Steve Jobs interview with Joe Rogan, the AI was trained on Jobs' biography and all recordings of him that could be found online by the creators. The very same was done for Joe Rogan's part in the podcast.

NASA's Perseverance rover is currently exploring the surface of Mars, collecting samples that will eventually be sent back to Earth.

Perseverance, accompanied by its scout helicopter named Ingenuity, are scouring the surface of the Red Planet for viable locations to sample, and so far, the rover has collected fourteen samples that are stored within the vehicle. On October 5, NASA announced that Perseverance successfully collected its thirteenth sample, which was described as "fine-grained". Notably, NASA stated that it planned on collecting an additional sample from the same area.

On October 12, NASA took to the Perseverance Twitter account, where it announced that the fourteenth sample had been collected, but the rover encountered an issue when attempting to seal and store it. NASA explained that the rover was unable to seal the sample tube, but the sample itself remained safe within Perseverance's caching assembly. NASA added that Perseverance's team was currently working on a fix for this issue, and as of October 15, there hasn't been an update.

Researchers have proven for the first time that cells living in a petri dish can be taught how to play a simple game, like Pong.

A newly published study in the scientific journal Neuron details a group of researchers that took 800,000 mouse and human brain cells, placing them in a petri dish that they named DishBrain. The team was able to grow the cells by placing them on top of a microelectrode arrays, which stimulated the cells and also read their activity. Through this technology, the team was able to teach the cells to be able to perform goal-directed tasks and in this instance, to successfully teach the group of cells to play the classic computer game, Pong.

Using the microelectrode arrays and close up monitoring of the cells activity, the scientists were able to inform the cells on where the Pong ball was located and how to move the paddle up and down to deflect the incoming ball. The researchers explain that this new capacity to be able to teach cells to perform tasks and have those tasked represented in a virtual environment hasn't been achieved before.

Alex Jones, the host of InfoWars, has been ordered to pay nearly $1 billion in damages over his comments on the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that happened on December 14, 2012.

A Texas jury ordered Jones on Friday to pay $965 million to the victims' families and an FBI over causing years-long trauma by publicly claiming that the entire school shooting was a hoax. Jones claimed that the entire event was faked by the US government in an attempt to take guns away from Americans, a claim that has been proved to be false by the court, resulting in Jones becoming liable for damages, etc.

Jones claimed on multiple occasions over the years that the event never happened and that the individuals involved were hired crisis actors involved in a plot to remove guns from Americans. Jones wasn't present in court to hear the verdict but reacted to the reading on his InfoWars show, describing the entire court process as a "show trial" and saying that it's "all made up".

The creator of one of the most popular trading card games in the world, Yu-Gi-Oh!, has sadly passed away, but reports indicate his final moments were extremely heroic.

Kazuki Takahashi created the immensely popular trading card game Yu-Gi-Oh! in 1996 via manga releases in the Japanese magazine Shonen Jump. Using the manga releases as the foundation, Takahashi went on to create the worldwide, culturally popular trading card game that spawned TV shows and movies in the following years. Twenty-two years later, the world learned the tragic news that the creator behind the trading card game had passed away in July, with officials reporting that Takahashi drowned.

However, new details are emerging from a US military newspaper and a story on Stars & Stripes, the Department of Defence's news service, which states that a US Army Officer was present at Takahashi's drowning as the officer was the one that saved three individuals from a riptide at a dive spot in Okinawa, Japan. The US military officer, 49-year-old Major Robert Bourgeau, explained that he saw three swimmers, one being an 11-year-old girl, and a US soldier struggling in the riptide while six-foot waves crashed around them.

Robots are able to conduct a lot of tasks more efficiently than their human counterparts, but activities that require fine motor skill were once out of grasp - but researchers are moving in the right direction. Touchlab aims to give robots the ability to use custom grippers that give robots tacticity and the ability to manipulate objects in a more precise manner.

Robots might be ideal for some factory automation, but tasks that require honed motor skills remain extremely challenging to figure out. Touchlab hopes its electronic skin will give doctors full immersion with its full-body Telerobot technology - even if a medical specialist is working remotely.

The electronic skin is thinner than the skin covering our bodies, with the ability to withstand severe temperature changes. The robot makes use of sensors and custom software so they'll have better dexterity when handling objects.

Data suggests that the addition of Call of Duty into Xbox Game Pass could indeed be a so-called "tipping point" that pushes Microsoft into the market leader position for multi-game subscriptions by revenues.

Microsoft recently published a response to the concerns raised by the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) regarding its merger with Activision. The trillion-dollar corporation makes an interesting claim as part of the response, saying that acquiring Call of Duty won't "'tip subscription services in Xbox's favor." Data suggests otherwise, however.

We'll be focusing just on Call of Duty, however other series like Diablo and Overwatch (both of which are billion-dollar franchises) will add further compounded value to the Game Pass subscription.

How much are gaming's big 3 platform holders making from subscriptions? Quite a bit.

Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony are all making considerable revenue streams from their respective subscription services. Thanks to figures made public by Brazil's CADE competition authority, we're now able to compare the Big 3's subscription revenues for calendar year 2021.

According to the data, PlayStation's subscription lead over Xbox is not as substantial as many had thought. PlayStation's subscription duo--PS Plus and PS Now--only beat Xbox subscriptions by some $700 million throughout 2021. Those numbers do not include the full extent of Xbox Game Pass revenues and are only limited to consoles, not including PC earnings.

Startup Synop aims to provide electric vehicle operations and energy management to a single platform, so it becomes easier for buses, trucks, and EV fleets to make use of that energy. The company has specific interest in vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology, allowing electric vehicles to reverse the power and send energy back into their local power grid.

Snop understands companies are switching to electric to run their fleet, but there is still work to be done to make sure mass adoption leads to a sustainable infrastructure.

As said by Andrew Blejde, co-founder of Synop, in a statement published by CNBC: "We helped deliver 10 megawatt hours of energy back into the grid, and we did that every single day for the entire duration of the summer. Really that's about charging when it's cheap and selling energy back when it's most advantageous."

Researchers from the Stanford University Biomechatronics Laboratory have moved their exoskeleton beyond lab-based emulators and out into the real-world. The custom boot is particularly aimed towards older citizens and people with mobility impairments that make just walking around a difficult task.

The exoskeleton is designed to help a wearer receive an extra push with every step, greatly aiding the calf muscles with natural walking motion. What sets this "robotic boot" apart from other exoskeletons, however, is that researchers used machine learning that was based on the model developed using emulators.

The device was found to provide "twice the energy savings of previous exoskeletons," which will greatly enhance walking speed and significant energy savings while used in the real-world. The functionality of it being custom tailored to each person wearing it is something unique, as it can support people of different heights, weights, leg strides, and walking speeds.

Brazilian's economic competition regulators note that Sony would be materially impacted from the loss of Call of Duty, but at a catastrophic level for the company.

A bit ago, Brazil's CADE regulatory body had approved the Microsoft-Activision merger without restrictions. The branch had published a 76-page document (now 75 pages after a very important redaction) outlining their reasoning behind the decision.

Included in the document is discussion on Call of Duty exclusivity and what would happen to Sony if the franchise were made exclusive to Xbox. Microsoft has doubled-down on assertions that Call of Duty will remain on PlayStation, but for the sake of argument let's take a look at what CADE has to say about this situation.

The newly-formed company, Sony Honda Mobility, became official when executives from Sony and Honda met with one another during a press conference. The company will become software-oriented and reach customers through a focus on online sales.

Automakers pairing with software and tech companies isn't anything new, but this announcement shows how blurred together both verticals are. Sony will bring experience and knowledge about software and technology, while Honda brings its car R&D and production to the table. For example, Sony reportedly wants to offer a monthly subscription for its software system, so the company will need to step up its functionality and customization to make it worthwhile.

Interested customers can look ahead to Q1 and Q2 of 2025, when pre-orders for the first vehicle are expected to launch. Sony Honda didn't offer details about the vehicle, pricing, or battery range - those details will hopefully be available sometime in 2023.