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Elon Musk rumored to spend $40M on Superbowl ads to expose US government waste found by DOGE
Elon Musk is rumored to be spending $40 million of his own money on 5 commercials during one of the most-watched events in the world -- the Superbowl -- highlighting US government waste that DOGE has found.
There have been a few posts and videos that I've seen floating around on X and TikTok saying that the SpaceX and Tesla boss has spent $40 million on Superbowl commercials that would highlight discoveries made by DOGE (the Department of Government Efficiency) through USAID, and President Trump's recent mention that he's tasked Elon with auditing the Pentagon.
It would be nice to see Elon Musk himself confirm that he has personally spent $40M on advertising DOGE's findings during the Superbowl, as it would put US government waste into the eyeballs of hundreds of millions of Americans.
China's humanoid robots slated for mass production by end of 2025
Chinese robotics manufacturer UBTech is marching forward in the AI robotics race, with recent reports stating that mass production for AI-enabled humanoid robots will be ready by end of 2025.
The company plans to deliver between 500-1000 units of its Walker S series to clients including Apple supplier Foxconn, logistics firm SF Express, and various car manufacturers. They stated that 'over 60%' of units delivered this year will be the Walker S2, which is slated for launch in Q2 2025. With a newer model, the Walker S3, to be introduced later this year.
The UBTech Walker S is an industrial humanoid robot designed for use in sophisticated manufacturing environments. Walker S stands at 1.7 meters tall and is equipped with features such as 'force-compliant drive joints' and 'rigid-flexible coupling' systems for walking, navigation, and object handling. The robot is primarily built for automated assembly lines, with a focus on human-robot communication.
Continue reading: China's humanoid robots slated for mass production by end of 2025 (full post)
China's AI expansion continues, DeepSeek now in PCs, Robotics, EVs and more
As reported by SCMP, companies have begun the deployment of DeepSeek AI models into the manufacturing of personal computers, robots and electric vehicles. The move comes in response to the escalating US sanctions, as both countries battle to establish themselves as the world leader in artificial intelligence.
Lenovo is one of the first Chinese firms to incorporate the technology, integrating the DeepSeek model into its Xiaotian AI assistant on its PCs. Lenovo also partnered with GPU manufacturer Muxi Co. Ltd. to launch an 'all-in-one solution' based on the DeepSeek large model as of February 5th. This solution aims to address complexities of enterprise computing power, by incorporating Lenovo servers and workstations with Muxi GPUs.
Chinese robotics firm UBTech, is also reported to be implementing DeepSeek's AI robots into its humanoid robots. With applications such as 'helping robots understand instructions in a complicated real-world environment' and carrying out tasks in factories.
Elon Musk, President Trump, and DOGE working on custom chatbot called GSAi for US government
Elon Musk and President Trump's sweeping new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are working on developing "GSAi", a custom generative AI chatbot for the US General Services Administration.
In a new report from WIRED, we're being told that GSAi is part of the AI-first agenda of President Trump, modernizing the US federal government using advanced AI technology. One of those goals is to boost the day-to-day productivity of GSA's roughly 12,000 employees, who are tasked with managing office buildings, contracts, and IT infrastructure across the federal government.
SpaceX and Tesla boss Elon Musk and his team hope to use the GSAi chatbot alongside other AI tools to analyze huge amounts of contract and procurement data according to WIRED's sources, both of which were granted anonymity because they "aren't authorized to speak publicly about the agency's operations".
GTA+ subscriptions are on the rise, here's what Take-Two thinks about the service
Rockstar's premium subscription service could be a major part of GTA 6's online component at launch, and could offer some other unique benefits to users.
In 2022, Rockstar announced GTA Plus (GTA+), a new subscription service specifically made for Grand Theft Auto Online. The service expanded and Rockstar created its own Game Pass-like service, complete with a rotating lineup of classic games. It's pretty much the most affordable and convenient way to access older Rockstar games because practically half of their catalog is on the service.
The value proposition has worked pretty well. Take-Two Interactive has commented a number of times on the success of GTA+ but hasn't given us actual subscriber figures. One thing's for sure, though: More people are buying into Rockstar's premium GTA+ offering. It's working so well that Rockstar raised the price of the subscription from $5.99 to $7.99 in April 2024.
Meta accused of downloading torrents of 81.7TB of pirated books to train its Llama AI models
Meta has been accused of torrenting an astonishing 81.7TB of pirated books to train its Llama AI models according to a new lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California.
The social networking giant has been accused of illegally torrenting copyrighted materials from sources including Z-Library and LibGen, with the plaintiffs led by author Richard Kadrey and others representing a proposed class, filing a motion objecting to a pre-trial discovery ruling that the authors argue limits their ability to gather critical evidence against Meta.
The authors claim that Meta's last-minute disclosure of over 2000 documents on December 13, 2024 just hours before the close of fact discovery revealed admissions from Meta employees about using pirated materials for its AI training. The newly-unsealed emails reveal damning evidence against Meta in a copyright lawsuit filed by book authors, claiming that Meta unlawfully trained its AI models using pirated books downloaded over torrents.
GTA franchise may hit $10 billion revenue between GTA 5 and GTA 6
If sales trends are any indicator, Rockstar Games could finish Grand Theft Auto V's megaton legacy with $10 billion in cumulative earnings.
Grand Theft Auto VI is on the horizon, and when (if) it drops in Fall 2025 as executives have reaffirmed, GTA V's playerbase could tank. If everything goes according to plan, then GTA 6 could launch in Q2 or Q3 of Take-Two Interactive's fiscal year.
This gives the current GTA moneymakers--GTA V, GTA Online, and the GTA trilogy remaster on consoles/mobiles--up to 3 quarters to rake in money before everyone presumably moves to GTA 6.
Continue reading: GTA franchise may hit $10 billion revenue between GTA 5 and GTA 6 (full post)
NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 5080 Laptop GPU tested: 16% faster than RTX 4080 in 3DMark TimeSpy
NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 5080 Laptop GPU has appeared in new 3DMark TimeSpy benchmark results, tested against the current-gen RTX 4080 Laptop GPU.
The new GeForce RTX 5080 Laptop GPU is 16.2% faster in TimeSpy versus the RTX 4080 Laptop GPU in new results shared by Top Player on Bilibili, with 21,948 points in TimeSpy's Graphics test. Compared to my own recent personal testing of the RTX 4060 Laptop GPU which scored 9316 points in the same test, and the RTX 4070 Laptop GPU which scored 12,131 points, the RTX 5080 Laptop GPU is shaping up very well indeed.
However, it falls radically short of the purported performance pushed by leakers like Moore's Law is Dead, who reported that we should expect 45-65% more performance out of the RTX 5080 Laptop GPU compared to the RTX 4080 Laptop GPU.
Grand Theft Auto has made $9.54 billion since GTA V's launch
The Grand Theft Auto franchise has made over $9.5 billion in cumulative earnings since GTA V's release, new earnings documents reveal.
Take-Two's latest Q3FY25 results gave us a closer look at how much money the company made from the megaton GTA series. According to the reports, Grand Theft Auto products and services have made approximately $9.54 billion since the launch of GTA V in September 2013 to the end of 2024.
In Q3FY25, Take-Two made $179.465 million from the Grand Theft Auto series, up 4.42% quarter-over-quarter but down slightly year-over-year.
Continue reading: Grand Theft Auto has made $9.54 billion since GTA V's launch (full post)
Ukrainian military says Call of Duty gamers would make 'great' drone pilots in a real war
Have you ever sat there playing Call of Duty and thought 'man, I'd make for an awesome drone pilot in a real war', well, the Ukrainian military agrees with you... saying that COD players make great drone pilots in a war.
In a chat between battling it out in a war, Ukraine's special drone unit somehow had the time to speak with Business Insider. The unit is called Typhoon, saying that real drone warfare is far more complicated and more dangerous than using drones in games like Call of Duty.
Uncrewed systems, including a range of first-person view drones (FPV) are being used on Russia's special military operation in Ukraine, with Ukrainian operators comparing how they fly their drones, and how they play video games. FPV headsets aren't like VR systems, and while the controllers can be similar, they're different beasts.
Take-Two stock leaps 15% after GTA 6 release date 'reaffirmed' by CEO
Take-Two Interactive sees a substantial boost in stock value following yesterday's earnings results.
In a call to investors, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick expressed confidence that Grand Theft Auto 6 would release in 2025. "Yes, we did today reaffirm our schedule through the remainder of the calendar year. And I think we were pretty clear about that," Zelnick said. GTA 6 is listed for a Fall 2025 launch on the sheets provided to investors.
The news was spread far and wide, and the market took notice. TTWO stock is currently trading at, $210.88, up +$27.80 or 15.19% in day-to-day trading.
Continue reading: Take-Two stock leaps 15% after GTA 6 release date 'reaffirmed' by CEO (full post)
HP's new EliteBook X laptop features AMD Strix Point APU, up to 128GB of LPDDR5X-8533 memory
HP's new EliteBook X G1a laptop will feature AMD's new Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 "Strix Point" APU and a bonkers 128GB of LPDDR5X-8533 memory.
This is the first laptop featuring 128GB of LPDDR5X-8533 memory, as spotted by X user @AnhPhuH with HP offering multiple different configurations of its new EliteBook X G1a laptop. The highest-end configuration finds the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 "Strix Point" APU with 12 cores and 24 threads at up to 5.1GHz, but there's the option for the Ryzen AI 7 Pro 360 "Strix POint" APU, too.
On the GPU side of things, we've got the RDNA 3.5-based integrated Radeon 890M GPU that is found inside of the Strix Point APU, but the laptop comes with a huge 128GB of RAM no matter which APU you opt for. AnhPhuH notes on X that all three of the major DRAM manufacturers only have 128Gb x32 modules, and not 256Gb x32, and that the 128GB memory option is only available because of the 256Gb x32 modules.
Acer unveils new Predator Helios Neo AI gaming laptops: up to RTX 5070 Ti Laptop GPU
Acer has just announced an expansion of its Predator Helios Neo family of gaming laptops, powered by up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor and NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Laptop GPU.
The new Acer Predator Helios Neo 18 AI gaming laptop features an 18-inch Mini-LED display with a 2560 x 1600 native resolution and super-smooth 250Hz refresh rate with a 3ms response time. Acer provides some other display configurations: an 18-inch LED with 1600p @ 240Hz, an 18-inch LED with 1600p @ 165Hz, and finally an 18-inch LED with 1200p @ 165Hz.
We have up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor (with the option for the Core Ultra 7 255HX), up to 64GB of DDR5-6400 memory, and up to 2TB of Gen4 SSDs. On the GPU side of things, Acer's new Predator Helios Neo 18 AI gaming laptop is configured with up to NVIDIA's new Blackwell-based GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Laptop GPU, with another option for the RTX 5070 Laptop GPU.
Intel Nova Lake flagship CPU rumor claims 52-cores: 16 performance, 32 efficiency, 4 low-power
Intel's Nova Lake processors continue to be the subject of rumors, some of which have floated the idea that this might be the next generation of desktop CPUs from Team Blue, even though the silicon isn't due until 2026.
However, a fresh rumor has suggested that there could be an Arrow Lake Refresh in the cards for desktop, but regardless, we've just heard more about the Nova Lake flagship CPU - and how it might have more cores than previous speculation indicated.
According to well-known hardware leaker Jaykihn on X (see the above post), there will be 52 cores in total with the flagship for Nova Lake, as opposed to 48 as previous aired via the rumor mill. Jaykihn reminds us that LPe (low-power efficiency) cores will also be present with Nova Lake, for the first time ever with Intel's desktop processors.
AI agents are evolving beyond tools into full-fledged 'coworkers'
Job displacement is one of the most common concerns surrounding the rise of artificial intelligence. AI agents in particular, as speculated by NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, are the technology with the largest potential for this to occur.
A recent article published by industry experts from BCG (Boston Consulting Group) and INSEAD, shed some light on how modern companies are integrating AI co-workers into their operations. The piece introduces the term 'hybrid organization', which refers to a mixture of humans, machines, and AI coworkers within a company. This type of company is referred to as 'the next frontier': a future where operations are defined by the interactions between humans and AI.
Continue reading: AI agents are evolving beyond tools into full-fledged 'coworkers' (full post)
GTA 6 publisher commits full support Nintendo Switch 2
Take-Two Interactive recently wrapped up its earnings call, where company boss Strauss Zelnick was asked about the publisher's perception of the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2.
Take-Two Interactive, the publisher of the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto VI, was asked if Nintendo's upcoming console, which is scheduled to get more details in early April, will get various Take-Two-published games when it finally makes its way into the hands of gamers. Zelnick responded by revealing Take-Two's perception of Nintendo's platform has shifted recently, with the CEO saying the days of Nintendo platforms being "geared at younger audiences" are now over.
Zelnick pointed to the release of Civilization 7 on the Switch and stated that in the past, Take-Two has supported the platform "when it made sense for the individual release." But, "today with Switch and potentially with Switch 2, the Switch device can support any audience." Notably, Zelnick didn't confirm any specific Take-Two title coming to the Nintendo Switch 2, but given the previous statements, from Take-Two's perspective, nothing is off the table -- begging the question, "Will GTA 6 release on the Nintendo Switch 2?"
Continue reading: GTA 6 publisher commits full support Nintendo Switch 2 (full post)
Marvel responds to claims Fantastic Four marketing was created with AI
Marvel Studios recently released the trailer for "The Fantastic Four: First Steps," and to go along with the trailer were other marketing materials, such as posters, which weren't as well received as the trailer.
The trailer for the upcoming movie has gained more than 23 million views at the time of reporting, and while reception has been generally good (based on the Like to Dislike ratio on the YouTube video), Marvel fans were quick to accuse Marvel of using artificial intelligence tools for the movie's marketing posters. The four posters that were released showcased telltale signs of being AI-generated, with hands only having four fingers, two women with the same face, floating objects, and other unnatural inconsistencies.
However, according to The Wrap, a Marvel spokesperson has told the publication that none of the posters were created using AI, which only leaves the possibility of these inconsistencies being human errors made by the artists. For those wondering, this isn't the first time Marvel has been embroiled in accusations of using AI to generate media, as AI was used to generate images shown in the opening credits of the TV miniseries "Secret Wars."
Continue reading: Marvel responds to claims Fantastic Four marketing was created with AI (full post)
Apple stays cautious on AI as DeepSeek's budget model shakes up the industry
The AI landscape has been in flux since DeepSeek's R1 model shook the industry in late January. While OpenAI and Google aggressively push new AI tools and models, Apple has remained patient, a strategy that could pay off long-term.
Back in October 2024, Apple's CEO Tim Cook described the company's strategy towards AI in simple terms:
Four months later, this deliberate approach appears justified. Few could have anticipated that DeepSeek would build a competitor to OpenAI and Google on a budget of just $6 million - turning the entire market on its back. As a result, both OpenAI and Google have been forced to alter their business models and release offerings cheaper, and faster, to maintain their market share.
If hostile aliens exist they could detect Earth from 12,000 light-years away
A team of researchers set out to answer a simple question - If an extraterrestrial civilization existed with technology similar to the level of the technology we have on Earth today, would they be able to detect Earth and the evidence of humanity on its surface? And from how far away?
The team was led by Dr. Sofia Sheikh of the SETI Institute, with collaborators from the Characterizing Atmospheric Technosignatures project and the Penn State Extraterrestrial Intelligence Center. Using a theoretical, modeling-based method, the team looked at the technosignatures emitted from Earth, such as radar emissions from observatories, and discovered the maximum distance a hypothetical civilization with technology similar to ours could detect them. What the team found was these technosignatures are detectable from up to 12,000 light-years away.
The team proposed the idea of how Earth would look to the rest of the galaxy through creating a hypothetical "mirror Earth." The team found that different forms of technosignatures have different ranges, such as atmospheric technosignatures, such as nitrogen dioxide emissions have increased in their detectability compared to a year ago, with the team finding instruments such as the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is capable of detecting such signatures from as far as 5.7 light-years away.
Microsoft could soon bring three staple Xbox titles over to PS5
Microsoft is continuing its plan to remove the walls of exclusivity surrounding Xbox games and bring some of its best first-party titles over to competing platforms such as the PS5 and the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2.
For quite some time, it has been rumored Microsoft is working on several ports for first-party Xbox titles that are destined for the PS5, and now a new article by The Verge's Tom Warren details PS5 ports for Halo, Gears of War and Microsoft's Flight Simulator. It was only last week Microsoft confirmed Forza Horizon 5 is coming to the PS5, and it was only yesterday that Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition and Age of Mythology: Retold were also confirmed to be coming to the PS5.
Notably, all three of these titles were announced via blog posts and not during a dedicated PlayStation or Xbox event, which seemingly highlights the normalcy of ports from Xbox's perspective. Warren writes he heard in June 2024 that Age of Empires and Age of Mythology were both coming to the PS5 and at the same time that Microsoft was currently "working on some form of a Halo: Combat Evolved remaster that [was] also being considered for rival consoles." The rumor of the Age games coming to PS5 ended up being true, which leaves us with Halo.
Continue reading: Microsoft could soon bring three staple Xbox titles over to PS5 (full post)






















