Latest News - Page 850

Hollywood actors have officially announced a strike against studios that want to scan actors and use their digital likeness in future projects.

SAG-AFTRA actors, led by President Fran Drescher and National Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland held a news conference following a break down of talks between the actors and Hollywood studios.

Drescher delivered a fiery speech blasting Hollywood studios for their treatment of actors and the overall business model that she says has drastically changed with the emergence of streaming platforms and generative artificial intelligence tools.

Using technology to improve productivity and organization is one of the many benefits of adopting it into your life, and now people around the world can utilize an AI-powered extension to get their own "personal assistant".

Virtual assistants are here, or at least in the form of Google calendar assistant. If you are a Google calendar user, or are interested in organizing your day with to-do lists with specific times, Reclaim AI may be the extension you are looking for. Izzy Mignone has posted a viral TikTok showcasing the power of Reclaim AI, and according to the video, users tell Reclaim AI when they want, for example, to take a lunch break that's between 30 minutes and 1 hour.

Reclaim AI will automatically put the lunch break into the user's Google Calendar and between events that are already scheduled. For example, if you have a meeting scheduled from 11:00 AM until 12:00 PM and another meeting at 1:00 PM and 2:00 PM, Reclaim AI will automatically put your lunch break right in the middle of those meetings. However, that is not all. Here's where it gets cool. If something comes up and you are unable to take your lunch break, Reclaim AI will automatically schedule your break in the next possible timeslot.

Hogwarts Legacy players will be glad to know they can now push their graphics to the absolute limit with the Ultra Plus Ultimate Visual mod.

The mod comes from "ElAnalistaDeBits", who has posted a video showcasing an epic side-by-side of the differences between vanilla Hogwarts Legacy and the modded version. The mod clearly provides gamers with massive visual improvements in various aspects of the game, such as increased global illumination, reflections, ray tracing, and ambient occlusion.

Hogwarts Legacy already looks fantastic, as showcased by the vanilla version of the game, but with this new mod from "ElAnalistaDeBits," the game's graphics have been taken to a whole new level. However, gamers should know that these graphical improvements will come at a cost to in-game performance. Judging by the massive improvements, it can be safely assumed you will need a higher-end PC to fully enjoy the mod without suffering from low FPS.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti launched in May, and with its MSRP of USD 399 (similar to the launch price of its predecessor, the RTX 3060 Ti), a lot of the feedback around the more mainstream Ada Lovelace GPUs release was that it should have been cheaper based on its performance relative to the competition at that price range.

Just the other day, we reported one of the best deals for graphics cards going around - with the flagship RDNA 3 GPU from AMD, the Radeon RX 7900 XTX, dropping down to USD 799 as part of a promotion over at retailer Newegg - a 20% discount from the USD 999 MSRP. And that comes with a free copy of Starfield as part of AMD's new partnership with Bethesda.

Today, it's the RTX 4060 Ti's turn. No Starfield but a sizable discount from the MSRP, with the MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Ti VENTUS 2X BLACK 8G OC model seeing its already discounted USD 379.99 price dropping even lower - down to USD 334.39. As we saw with the Radeon RX 7900 XTX, the discounted price is applied after using the "ZIPTECH" code during checkout.

We first looked at the new ASRock's new Z790 Taichi Lite and B650E Taichi Lite motherboards back at Computex 2023 during our tour of the company's impressive booth and product line-up. The 'Lite' branding is all about releasing a range of premium Taichi boards with affordability in mind without sacrificing features and build quality.

And now, the Z790 Taichi Lite for Intel CPUs and B650E Taichi Lite for AMD CPUs are here, featuring a robust 24-phase VRM and support for PCIe 5.0 graphics cards and M.2 SSDs. Both feature IO support the latest USB 4 spec, too, with the only big thing bringing the cost down is the lack of RGB lighting - though you do get RGB headers for devices like CPU fans and other cooling.

Thunderbolt, Killer 2.5 GbE LAN, Wi-Fi 6E, and plenty of USB expansion make up the design of ASRock's new Z790 Taichi Lite and B650E Taichi Lite motherboards, and you can check out the full specs below.

Corsair has launched a pair of new high-performance peripherals for PC games in the form of the new NIGHTSABRE WIRELESS RGB Gaming Mouse (USD 169.99) and K65 PRO MINI RGB 65% Optical-Mechanical Gaming Keyboard (USD 129.99). Designed for responsiveness and performance, both are available now through Corsair's online store.

Kicking things off with Corsair's latest wireless gaming mouse, the new NIGHTSABRE WIRELESS RGB, supports the company's sub-1ms Slipstream Wireless technology and Bluetooth. It also features 11 fully programmable buttons and six RGB lighting zones-enough buttons to suit any FPS, MOBA, or Battle Royale player.

Battery life is up there, too, with 100 hours available on a single charge - or 20 hours after a quick 15-minute charge. Sensor-wise, you've got the CORSAIR MARKSMAN 26,000 DPI optical sensor backed up by optical switches on the buttons to eliminate debounce delay. Plus, the ability to save up to five onboard profiles for easy access to different setups for gaming and general typing.

Nixxes Software, the PlayStation studio behind ports for previously PlayStation-only games, is behind the upcoming PC release of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. The PlayStation 5 showcase and excellent action platformer was a notable launch-window release for the console due to its use of stunning ray-traced reflections and detail that made it look like a Pixar animation come to life.

In terms of features, the PC version uses all the cutting-edge tech and expands the ray-tracing in the game to support both ray-traced ambient occlusion and ray-traced shadows. And with that, Nixxes has confirmed NVIDIA DLSS 3, AMD FSR 2, and Intel XeSS support on day one, alongside NVIDIA Reflex and even NVIDIA DLAA. On top of this, there's in-depth visual customization and support for multiple resolutions including ultrawide.

Today we've got the hardware requirements for the game covering everything from minimum specs to the 'Ultimate Ray Tracing' experience in 4K that requires either an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 or AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX with the aid of NVIDIA DLSS or AMD FSR. The good news is that the 'Amazing Ray Tracing' experience at 1440p requires an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 or AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT - which should present a PS5-like experience.

XPG, the gaming and esports arm of ADATA, has announced the launch of its new high-performance LANCER BLADE RGB DDR5 and LANCER BLADE DDR5 memory. Sporting a low-profile heatsink design, these new memory modules have been designed with small cases and builds with limited space in mind.

The new LANCER BLADE DDR5 series arrive in two speed flavors (with or without RGB lighting) with top speeds of 6,000 MT/s and 6,400 MT/s and capacities of 16GB or 32GB utilizing Hynex chips. XPG's LANCER BLADE series is also designed for overclocking, supporting Intel XMP 3.0 and AMD EXPO profiles.

There's also an additional model for enthusiasts, the LANCER RGB ROG CERTIFIED DDR5 memory module that pushes speeds to 6,600 MT/s and even 6,800 MT/s when paired with an Intel Z790 ROG-compatible motherboard. The 6,800 MT/s speed is available when enabling the "ROG Certified" mode in the motherboard BIOS for one-click overclocking.

The Microsoft-Activision merger has a deadline of July 18, but the termination date can be extended and the parties can renegotiate a deal.

Microsoft gave itself 18 months to close its proposed merger with games publisher Activision Blizzard King in the largest-ever video games acquisition in the history of the industry. The deal sees Microsoft buying out Activision shares at a $95 per share premium, culminating in a deal worth $68.7 billion. The merger has been tested by regulators both foreign and domestic, and now the FTC's aggressive pursuit could keep the tech firms from closing before the merger's July 18 termination date.

The FTC is currently appealing its loss in federal court with the aim of temporarily blocking Microsoft and Activision from merging until the Appeals Court makes a decision of the Commission's appeal request. This could take months. The Federal Trade Commission's tactic is seen as running out the clock and pushing the companies towards one of two outcomes: The merger dissolving, and Microsoft paying Activision a $3 billion termination fee, or both Microsoft and Activision extending the date through new negotiations.

UPDATE: Judge Corley has denied the FTC's request. Now it's up to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to make their decision.

Following its defeat in the FTC v Microsoft case, the Federal Trade Commission now asks the judge who denied their preliminary injunction request for another separate injunction that would block Microsoft from joining with Activision until after an appeals decision has been made.

Two days ago, the FTC's preliminary injunction request was denied by district judge Jacqueline Scott Corley, a big win that would effectively allow Microsoft to merge with Activision. The temporary restraining order enjoining the two companies expires on Friday night, and the firms are expected to merge over the weekend.

If Microsoft successfully takes Activision off the market in its $68.7 billion merger deal, then other big tech firms could be spurred to snap up studios and maybe even big publishers like Electronic Arts and Take-Two Interactive.

The outcome of the FTC v Microsoft case caused a stir in the interactive entertainment market, with both EA and Take-Two hitting 52-week highs shortly after the FTC's loss was announced. While the FTC is appealing the federal order in an attempt to stall the Microsoft-Activision merger, the deal could still close as early as this weekend. If it does, then major tech companies could make acquisitions in an attempt to secure a slice of the $200 billion market.

In a recent interview with CNBC, Jefferies managing director Andrew Uerkwitz shares his thoughts on how the merger's completion could spark more consolidation as the pool of available talent continues to shrink.

Former FTC chair and current law professor William Kovacic comments on how Microsoft successfully won over a federal judge and defeated the Federal Trade Commission in the Activision merger case.

Two days ago, federal judge Jacqueline Scott Corley denied the FTC a preliminary injunction order that the Commission sought to stall the $68.7 billion Microsoft-Activision deal. The FTC has appealed Judge Corley's order, and pending the appeal, Microsoft and Activision may combine as early as this weekend.

How was Microsoft able to win over Judge Corley? In a recent interview with Bloomberg Technology, former FTC chair William Kovacic gave key insight into how Microsoft's willingness to make concessions could have persuaded the judge. Microsoft had signed multiple 10-year licensing agreements with major competitors across cloud and console markets in an effort to alleviate anti-competitive concerns. This, combined with ineffective evidence from the FTC, helped secure Microsoft's win.

Threads is taking the world by storm right now and the Instagram-owned social network is taking on plenty of users. More than 100 million have signed up for Threads to date, and now Instagram has fixed a major bug that was impacting a whole ton of them.

That bug caused the Threads app on iOS 17 to crash whenever someone tried to add a photo or video to a new post. There were workarounds, including pasting the media rather than adding it via the usual photo and video picker. But they were less than ideal. Now, the issue has been fixed in what is the first big software update for the Threads app in the App Store.

Now yes, it's obvious that iOS 17 is indeed beta software and that Instagram can't necessarily be held responsible for its app not working on beta software so early in the cycle. But still, we're willing to bet that a lot of people who are using beta versions of iOS 17 on their iPhones are also likely to be early adopters of a new social network like Threads. The result? This was a bug that needed to be fixed, and quickly.

Apple released the first public beta version of iOS 17 yesterday and that came after it also released the third developer beta the day before. Now, it turns out that both updates bring with them a new feature that will be music to the ears of people who find themselves taking longer screenshots.

The new update adds support for taking full-page screenshots and then saving them as images to the Photos app for the first time. While Apple has long made it possible for people to screenshot long documents and web pages, it only allowed those screenshots to be saved as PDF files. Now, they can be saved as images instead.

This is of course good news for people who didn't want a PDF in the first place and this falls under the category of things that we are surprised it took Apple so long to implement. Unfortunately, iOS 17 is unlikely to be available to everyone until September, so most people will have to wait a little while before enjoying this feature.

Following the FTC's big loss in federal court, Microsoft and UK antitrust regulators have paused their ongoing legal battle in appeals court in an effort to find solutions regarding the $68.7 billion Activision merger.

Two days ago, the FTC lost its federal court case against the Microsoft-Activision merger. While the FTC has appealed the decision, Microsoft and Activision may be able to close the deal as early as this weekend. Since UK regulators at the CMA identified similar anti-competitive concerns as the FTC, the CMA is now under intense pressure by opposing the case.

As it looks like Microsoft could close and integrate with Activision in the coming days, UK regulators have agreed to Microsoft's proposal to issue a stay of litigation, or a pause, for their ongoing appeals court battle. The CMA chose to block the Microsoft-Activision merger in April and the tech firms have chosen to appeal the decision in the Competition Appeals Tribunal. Now that appeal has been put on hold.

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, which is soon to arrive on PC, has had its hardware requirements aired, and we've also discovered that it'll support DirectStorage on PC.

DirectStorage offers speedier load times on SSDs - and better performance in-game with loading assets on-the-fly - so it's unsurprising that there's been a lot of disappointment around how game devs aren't being so quick to adopt it on the PC platform (or even announce the tech for future titles, for that matter).

So far only Forspoken sports DirectStorage, but both Diablo IV and Hunt: Showdown will get it at some point in the future. Now at least we have another game to add to that very brief list.

Microsoft's key management and leadership give official comments on the recent win in federal courts, and also remark on the FTC's recent appeal to the preliminary injunction decision.

Two days ago, Microsoft won a big victory in federal courts. A district judge denied the Federal Trade Commission's request for a specific court order that would have prohibited Microsoft and Activision from merging for many months. The decision effectively saw the FTC losing, and Microsoft winning its bid to acquire Activision for $68.7 billion. The FTC isn't ready to give up yet, though, and has filed an appeal to contest the decision in appeals courts. For the FTC, the race is on--the temporary restraining order that's currently blocking Xbox and Activision from joining together expires on Friday. If the appeals courts do not grant the FTC's emergency order request, then the two tech companies will combine over the weekend.

Over the course of the last two days, we've seen multiple high-profile Microsoft figures speak out on Judge Corley's decision.

Microsoft fixed 132 vulnerabilities in its latest releases for Patch Tuesday this week, including six zero-day flaws.

Those fixes spanned the entirety of its software ecosystem, meaning Windows 11 and Windows 10, as well as the Office apps and various other Microsoft products.

As mentioned, six were zero-day vulnerabilities, meaning they became public knowledge before a fix was issued, and were exploited as such. But the good news is that the cures are here with these new patches.

Elden Ring just got a clever new mod on PC which forces the casting of dynamic shadows as an upgrade to the visuals.

As you can see from the two grabs above, which show the same in-game scene, but with the mod enabled (directly above) and without, the differences are pretty clear. Although if you're struggling to see them, check out the shadow cast by the player's legs - that's the most obvious change.

The mod, created by Chainfailure and uploaded by Vswarte, can be grabbed from Nexus Mods, but there are some caveats you should be aware of.

The Google One VPN is getting an upgrade that will make it work better with location-based apps, it's reported.

While many people use a VPN to make it appear like they are in another country in order to get around location-based restrictions, that isn't what the One VPN is for. Instead, it's designed for privacy and security with an eye on preventing third parties from tracking a user's activity. And while it already connects people to a server in their home country, it hasn't always been one nearby. And that's caused issues with apps that use IP addresses as a means of locating a user for specific features like weather forecasts. But that's changing.

In an email to Google One VPN users, the company says that from July 29 it'll instead connect people to servers that are in the same local region to try and ensure that location-based apps and services aren't impacted in their ability to do what they need to do. The change will app for all of the One VPN apps but can also be undone - a new option to use a broader IP address region will be offered as an option inside those apps. When enabled, the VPN will choose a server in the user's country rather than their specific local region.