Ubisoft’s Star Wars Outlaws is set to launch with Nvidia’s advanced AI technology, the company has revealed.

In a blog post, Nvidia said several RTX games will have DLSS 3 and ray-traced effects. Alongside Star Wars Outlaws, The First Berserker: Khazan will also use this propriety technology. Meanwhile, Sengoku Destiny already introduced support for DLSS 3 earlier this week.

The galaxy is full of opportunity.

Star Wars Outlaws is launching with performance multiplying NVIDIA DLSS 3, Ray Tracing and Reflex. #RTXOn → https://t.co/CTgHmnLlK7 pic.twitter.com/6H8S3tZhaS

— NVIDIA GeForce (@NVIDIAGeForce) March 14, 2024

Star Wars Outlaws on PC are also being enhanced with NVIDIA RTX Direct Illumination (RTXDI) and ray-traced Global Illumination lighting, which they say will take visuals to the next level.

Not much has been disclosed about the forthcoming open-world Star Wars game other than it is the first time it has been attempted, and it’s set somewhere in the timeline between The Empire Strikes Back and the Return of the Jedi movies. The official trailer was released in June 2023.

The protagonist Kay Vess, said to be a smuggler seeking freedom and the means to start a new life, along with her companion Nix. Players will have to fight, steal, and outwit their way through the galaxy’s crime syndicates, joining the galaxy’s most wanted.

How will Nvidia’s technologies improve the new Star Wars game?

Swedish video game company Massive Entertainment’s technical director Tobias Carlsson said Nvidia’s AI would help bring “our vision to life.”

He added: “DLSS 3 gives us the performance headroom to bring our vision to life and to support additional ray tracing features, helping gamers fully immerse themselves in the adventures of Kay Vess and Nix.”

The multibillion-dollar firm elaborated that NVIDIA Reflex will also reduce system latency in the game.

It continued: “The RTXDI figures out the most important light samples in Star Wars Outlaws to cast physically accurate ray-traced shadows.

“Performance remains fast thanks to RTXDI’s innovative design, and on GeForce RTX 40 Series GPUs, ray tracing gets even faster thanks to each card’s fourth-generation, super-fast Ray Tracing Cores.”

In the same announcement as Star Wars Outlaws, Nvidia also detailed that several games, including Balatro, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Hellbreach: Vegas, Outcast – A New Beginning, Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo, Space Engineers, Star Ocean: The Second Story R along with its demo, and Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun, will be updated to include GeForce Now support this week.

Featured image: Canva / Nvidia GeForce

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Nvidia is set to offer a peek at its new next-generation AI chip at the company’s annual developer conference on Monday (March 18).

Around 16,000 people are expected to attend the event, and chipmaker CEO Jensen Huang will unveil new flagship products.

In late February, Nvidia’s market value surpassed $2 trillion, positioning it just $400 billion short of overtaking Apple as the second-most valuable company on Wall Street, with Microsoft leading the pack.

Wall Street anticipates a rise of 81% in its revenue this year, reaching $110 billion, as businesses aggressively purchase its premium chips in large quantities to drive chatbots, image generators, and various AI systems.

Dell Technologies COO Jeff Clarke revealed the GPU earlier this month. Its new B100 chip is thought to be at the center of the event and is set to consume 1000 watts — an increase of 42% from its predecessor, the H100.

The supply of Nvidia’s existing AI chips has been unable to meet the overwhelming demand, resulting in developers enduring months-long waits to use AI-optimized computers available through cloud providers.

Bank of America analyst Vivek Arya expects the price of B100 products to be 10% to 30% higher than the popular H100 system, reported the Wall Street Journal.

Why is Nvidia’s stock falling?

Despite its success, the chip maker did see a 4.7% fall in its stock price in February, with claims that investors weren’t confident the company could sustain this level of growth in the short term.

“The biggest concern is the numbers have just gotten so big, so quickly, you just worry they can’t last,” Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon told Reuters. “The more new products they’ve got coming out at higher performance and higher prices, the more runway they have.”

The price of the stock is still at an all-time high, having climbed 1783% across the past five years.

However, the price drop was not limited to Nvidia. Rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) was down 1.3% in premarket trading, and Intel was down 0.4% at the same time.

Featured image: Canva / DALL-E

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Video game publisher Paradox Interactive has announced Stellaris: The Machine Age, a new technological-themed expansion for the sci-fi strategy game.

It comes with a new endgame crisis, individualistic machines, new situations, and three new origins to choose from as well.

In a blog post on their site, they explained that this expansion would be released alongside the Stellaris 3.12 ‘Andromeda’ update.

The game is due to be released in the second quarter of 2024 — but the exact date is still unknown.

Users will have the opportunity to confront the synthetic threat directly in a new endgame crisis, or they can choose to tackle the danger on their own through an entirely new crisis path.

There is also the option to customize gamers’ machine empires to be more individualistic and less gestalt, with three new machine ascension paths available as well.

Additionally, there will be new machine-related scenarios accompanied by three new origins, which include Cybernetic Creed, Synthetic Fertility, and Arc Welders. Whether addressing genetic diseases or searching for resources, there is a host of additional features, including seven new music tracks and two new mid-game structures, called the Molten Arc Furnace and the Dyson Swarm.

Stellaris: The Machine Age is available from GOG, Humble Store, and Steam.

Paradox Interactive’s other major works

Paradox Interactive also bought the rights to the popular incarceration-based strategy game Prison Architect in January.

Besides this, the developer has three other grand strategy games on the go, with Hearts of Iron IV, Europa Universalis IV, and Crusader Kings III, each offering a different flavor of history.

The latter is the youngest of the trio and will receive a huge update in March, with Paradox unveiling a 2024 roadmap that will have fans of the game readying their armies for an invasion of foreign soil, medieval style.

Our developers at @CrusaderKings III held an experimental session recently, where they came up with ideas for hypothetical systems and content for their game.

Check it out and make sure to tell the team which ideas are your favorite! https://t.co/3NwqfB8tYh pic.twitter.com/aIXAuIy5kh

— Paradox Interactive (@PdxInteractive) March 8, 2024

It recently announced that its developers at Crusader Kings III held an experimental session, where they came up with ideas for hypothetical systems and content for their game.

Featured image: Paradox International

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The finalists of the 2024 World Video Game Hall of Fame have been announced, with classics such as Resident Evil, Asteroid, and Guitar Hero — making the cut.

Hosted by The Strong National Museum of Play, based in Rochester, New York, it is said to be the only collections-based museum in the world devoted solely to the study of play. The World Video Game Hall of Fame is an international hall of fame that exhibits video games at the venue.

The Strong is excited to announce the 2024 World Video Game Hall of Fame finalists! Fans can vote for Asteroids, Elite, Guitar Hero, Metroid, Myst, Neopets, Resident Evil, SimCity, Tokimeki Memorial, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, Ultima, or You Don’t Know Jack.https://t.co/hMkxaNcJ6e pic.twitter.com/bkHYw12IE2

— The Strong Museum (@museumofplay) March 14, 2024

The public will vote for their favorites on the World Video Game Hall of Fame website, and the three top games will be added to a ballot.

The final inductees will be revealed on Thursday, May 9.

Polygon cited Jon-Paul C. Dyson, the director of The Strong’s International Center for the History of Electronic Games, saying, “Even 10 years in, there’s no shortage of deserving contenders that have had enormous influence on pop culture or the game industry itself. These games span decades.

“Asteroids is an icon of the late 70s arcade. Myst showed the potential of CD-ROM technology in the 90s. Neopets became a staple of browser-based, free games as we entered the 2000s. And Guitar Hero, which is less than 20 years old, has already proven its staying power,” he added.

Who are the finalists of the World Video Game Hall of Fame?

This year’s competition finalists include games spanning across the decades, from Asteroids, released by Atari in 1979, to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, published by Activision in 1999.

It also includes the 1993 adventure video game Myst, the open-ended city-building franchise SimCity, as well as Pocket Neopets, which was a handheld electronic game.

According to Softonic, since the introduction of the series in 1996, the Resident Evil series has sold 150 million units as of 2023, making it Capcom’s best-selling franchise in terms of software sales.

While at the height of its popularity, a song featured in a Guitar Hero game could boost its downloads by as much as 843%.

Space trading game Elite introduced three major foundations of contemporary game development: the open-world format, wire-frame 3D graphics, and procedurally generated levels.

In March 2008, popular video game magazine Next Generation reportedly declared it the number one best game of the 1980s, calling it “the spiritual predecessor of everything from Wing Commander to the Grand Theft Auto series.”

Nintendo’s action-adventure franchise Metroid made the list, alongside the dating simulation series Tokimeki Memorial from fellow Japanese developer Konami.

The final two selected were Open World Fantasy role-playing experience, Ultima, and game-turned-film series You Don’t Know Jack.

Which games are in the Hall of Fame?

These games will join icons such as Pong, Super Mario Bros., and Legend of Zelda in the World.

Classic games, including DOOM, Pac-Man, Tetris, World of Warcraft, and more recently, The Last of Us, have already been inducted.

Featured image: The Strong National Museum of Play / Canva

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CrowdTangle has confirmed that, despite its widespread use by academic researchers, journalists, and others, Meta will be phasing out the data tool.

The public insights tool from the social media giant made it easy to follow, analyze, and report on what’s happening with public content on online networking platforms.

However, Meta has said it would decommission it by August 14, 2024, instead replacing it with a system called the Meta Content Library.

The firm confirmed to ReadWrite that the five-month notice period “should give people time to complete any current projects they are using it for and, if eligible, to get up to speed with our new research tools, Meta Content Library and API, or others that serve their needs.”

The company added that researchers will be able to apply for access to the tools with the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the University of Michigan. It aims to provide near real-time public content from Facebook and Instagram. However, it did not elaborate on whether news outlets will get access to the feature.

According to CrowdTangle’s website, news organizations can only continue to use Insights within Meta’s Business Suite, and they may choose to partner with third-parties who have social listening capabilities built on top of Meta’s APIs.

The platform explained that it was originally created to help organize social causes on Facebook, while showcasing what social content overperformed on Facebook Pages.

In 2019, CrowdTangle then added research, academic and fact-checking partners, and built tools to help these partners study how public content spreads across Facebook and Instagram.

Citing the company, the Wall Street Journal said that Meta has already started taking applications for its new content library and that it would be an upgrade over its previous version.

Meta facing backlash from news outlets

Meta announced that the Facebook News tab will be removed for U.S. and Australian users earlier this month. The section was already shut down last year in the UK, France, and Germany as the company shifted its focus towards providing content that people “want to see more of on the platform.”

However, the Australian government threatened action against Meta, after the California-based social media company said it would stop paying local media companies this year for using their content.

It is also set to stop promoting political content across the company’s social apps, adding that AI would play their part in considering “personalized signals, like survey responses, that help us understand what is informative, meaningful, or worth your time” on Facebook.

In a statement made of Thurday (March 14), the company pledged that it would “continue to gather feedback from researchers and add new features and data sets over time.”

Featured image: Canva

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Spotify has announced adding full music videos to its platforms, amid a flurry of new features. The music streaming giant, however, clarified that the beta phase would only be rolled out to a handful of countries for Premium subscribers.

U.K., Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Brazil, Colombia, Philippines, Indonesia, and Kenya are among the markets which will get access to this new feature.

The beta version of music videos on Spotify was released on Wednesday (March 13) with a limited catalog of music videos, including hits from global artists like Ed Sheeran, Doja Cat, and Ice Spice, or local favorites like Aluna and Asake.

Listeners can head to their iOS, Android, desktop, or TV devices and select the “Switch to Video” toggle for supported music tracks. Then, the music video will start playing from the beginning within the Now Playing view.

It will also allow users to watch videos in full screen by turning their mobile device to watch in landscape mode.

In a statement posted on Spotify’s website, Vice President and Head of Music Product Charlie Hellman said: “So many times in my own experience and for countless others, music videos play a key role in hooking you: taking you from being a listener to leaning in and becoming a fan.

“They’re an important part of so many artists’ tool kits, and it’s a natural fit for them to live in the same place that more than half a billion people choose to listen to music,” he added.

It comes as Spotify revealed that it would cut 17% of its workforce in December 2023.

A potentially positive year ahead for Spotify

Despite the job losses, Spotify stock went up around 11% after the announcement. CEO Daniel Ek stated at the time, “Over the last two years, we’ve put significant emphasis on building Spotify into a truly great and sustainable business – one designed to achieve our goal of being the world’s leading audio company and one that will consistently drive profitability and growth into the future.”

It aims to cut operating costs at a time when capital costs are increasing, undoing several investments made during 2020 and 2021. Ek continued: “We now find ourselves in a very different environment. And despite our efforts to reduce costs this past year, our cost structure for where we need to be is still too big.”

Featured image: Canva

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There are so many buzzwords in the tech world these days that keeping up with the latest trends can be challenging. Artificial intelligence (AI) has been dominating the news, so much so that AI was named the most notable word of 2023 by Collins Dictionary. However, specific terms like ‘machine learning’ have often been used instead of AI.

Introduced by American computer scientist Arthur Samuel in 1959, the term ‘machine learning’ is described as a “computer’s ability to learn without being explicitly programmed.”

So, what is the difference between AI and machine learning?

For one, machine learning (ML) is a subset of artificial intelligence (AI). While they are often used interchangeably, especially when discussing big data, these popular technologies have several distinctions, including differences in their scope, applications, and beyond.

What is artificial intelligence?

Most people are now aware of this concept. Still, artificial intelligence actually refers to a collection of technologies integrated into a system, allowing it to think, learn, and solve complex problems. It has the capacity to copy cognitive abilities similar to human beings, enabling it to see, understand, and react to spoken or written language, analyze data, offer suggestions, and beyond.

What is machine learning?

Meanwhile, machine learning is just one area of AI that automatically enables a machine or system to learn and improve from experience. Rather than relying on explicit programming, it uses algorithms to sift through vast datasets, extract learning from the data, and then utilize this to make well-informed decisions. The learning part is that it improves over time through training and exposure to more data.

‘Machine learning models’ are the results or knowledge the program acquires by running an algorithm on training data. The more data used, the better the model’s performance.

How are machine learning and AI related?

Machine learning is an aspect of AI that enables machines to take knowledge from data and learn from it. In contrast, AI represents the overarching principle of allowing machines or systems to understand, reason, act, or adapt like humans.

Hence, think of AI as the entire ocean, encompassing various forms of marine life. Machine learning is like a specific species of fish in that ocean. Just as this species lives within the broader environment of the ocean, machine learning exists within the realm of AI, representing just one of many elements or aspects. However, it is still a significant and dynamic part of the entire ecosystem.

What are the differences between machine learning and AI?

Machine learning cannot impersonate human intelligence, which is not its aim. Instead, it focuses on building systems that can independently learn from and adapt to new data through identifying patterns. AI’s goal, on the other hand, is to create machines that can operate intelligently and independently, simulating human intelligence to perform a wide range of tasks, from simple to highly complex ones.

For example, when you receive emails, your email service uses machine learning algorithms to filter out spam. The ML system has been trained on vast datasets of emails, learning to distinguish between spam and non-spam by recognizing patterns in the text, sender information, and other attributes. Over time, it adapts to new types of spam and your personal preferences — like which emails you mark as spam or not — continually improving its accuracy.

In this scenario, your email provider may use AI to offer smart replies, sort emails into categories (like social, promotions, primary), and even prioritize essential emails. This AI system understands the context of your emails, categorizes them, and suggests short responses based on the content it analyzes. It mimics a high level of understanding and response generation that usually requires human intelligence.

What are the 4 types of machine learning?

There are three main types of machine learning and some specialized forms, including supervised, unsupervised, semi-supervised, and reinforcement learning.

Machine learning algorithms are classified into 4 types:
1. Supervised
2. Unsupervised
3. Semi-supervised
4. Reinforcement

1. Supervised learning, the algorithm learns from a labeled dataset where both input features and their corresponding target labels are provided. The… pic.twitter.com/2bwW3qFrkB

— Danny.28 (@drifterddm) May 29, 2023

In supervised learning, the machine is taught by an operator. The user supplies the machine learning algorithm with a recognized dataset containing specific inputs paired with their correct outputs, and the algorithm has to figure out how to produce these outputs from the given inputs. Although the user is aware of the correct solutions, the algorithm needs to identify patterns, all while learning from them and making predictions. If the predictions have errors, the user has to correct them, and this cycle repeats until the algorithm reaches a substantial degree of accuracy or performance.

Semi-supervised learning falls between supervised and unsupervised learning. Labeled data consists of information tagged with meaningful labels, allowing the algorithm to understand the data, whereas unlabeled data does not contain these informative tags. Using this mix, machine learning algorithms can be trained to assign labels to unlabeled data.

Unsupervised learning involves training the algorithm on a dataset without explicit labels or correct answers. The goal is for the model to identify patterns and relationships in the data by itself. It tries to learn the underlying structure of the data to categorize it into clusters or spread it along dimensions.

Finally, reinforcement learning looks at structured learning approaches, in which a machine learning algorithm is given a set of actions, parameters, and goals. The algorithm then has to navigate through various scenarios by experimenting with different strategies, assessing each outcome to identify the most effective approach. It employs a trial-and-error approach, drawing on previous experiences to refine its strategy and adjust its actions according to the given situation, all to achieve the best possible result.

How AI and machine learning apply in the real world

In financial contexts, AI and machine learning serve as essential tools for tasks like identifying fraudulent activities, forecasting risks, and offering enhanced proactive financial guidance. Apparently, AI-driven platforms can now offer personalized educational content based on an individual’s financial behavior and needs. By delivering bite-sized, relevant information, these platforms ensure users are well-equipped to make informed financial decisions, leading to better credit scores over time. Nvidia AI posted on X that generative AI was being incorporated into curricula.

Learn how educators are integrating #GenerativeAI, Design & Sim into their curricula. Join professors from @UTAustin & @UW as they share insights on revolutionizing education with immersive learning on NVIDIA's Omniverse platform.

Mar. 21 #GTC24
https://t.co/6vcNiH6BuU pic.twitter.com/c04tf6J06a

— NVIDIA AI (@NVIDIAAI) February 27, 2024

During the Covid-19 pandemic, machine learning also gave insights into the most urgent events. They are also powerful weapons for cybersecurity, helping organizations protect themselves and their customers by detecting anomalies. Mobile app developers have actively integrated numerous algorithms and explicit programming to make their apps fraud-free for financial institutions.

Featured image: Canva

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OpenAI has announced that its ChatGPT program can now read aloud to its users. The function with the same name can recite the responses in one of five voice options. Read Aloud can be accessed through the web version of ChatGPT as well as the ChatGPT apps for iOS and Android.

ChatGPT can now read responses to you.

On iOS or Android, tap and hold the message and then tap “Read Aloud”. We’ve also started rolling on web – click the "Read Aloud" button below the message. pic.twitter.com/KevIkgAFbG

— OpenAI (@OpenAI) March 4, 2024

The new feature is available in 37 languages and can automatically detect the language of the text it is reading. So far, the option is available for GPT-4 and GPT-3.5 users.

OpenAI announced the feature in a post on X: “ChatGPT can now read responses to you. On iOS or Android, tap and hold the message and then tap “Read Aloud.” We’ve also started rolling on the web — click the “Read Aloud” button below the message.”

The company has been striving to enhance its multimodal capabilities, hence it introduced a voice chat feature in September 2023, which allows users to input prompts verbally without needing to type. However, this will allow people to have the chatbot responses read out aloud as well.

Users can press and hold the text to access the Read Aloud player on the mobile app, enabling them to play, pause, or rewind the narration. Meanwhile, the web version displays a speaker icon beneath the text.

The update comes as Anthropic launched its Claude 3 AI chatbot, which it claims has reached “near-human” levels in some tests. Many users took to X to respond to the announcement, saying it fell short of their expectations.

Yikes if this is your answer to Claude 3

— Wilson (@Wilson00000009) March 4, 2024

Read aloud on other AI platforms

In July 2023, Google incorporated the same feature into its Gemini chatbot — formerly known as Bard —  adding the option for it to vocalize its responses aloud. It supported 40 new languages, including  Arabic, Chinese, German, Hindi, and Spanish. 

Microsoft Edge’s Read Aloud feature now works in its Windows 11 Copilot chatbot. The feature is in the testing phase and is now available for everyone.

Featured image: Canva / DALL-E

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Binance has reportedly announced that it will discontinue all currency services in Nigeria amidst an ongoing legal dispute.

According to an update on its website quoted by CNBC, the U.S. cryptocurrency firm said on March 5 that the platform will suspend Naira (NGN) withdrawals after March 8. Any leftover NGN in user accounts will be automatically exchanged for Tether, a stablecoin cryptocurrency that is tied to the U.S. dollar.

Binance will also immediately cease NGN deposits, as transactions of this nature will no longer be accepted after 2:00 pm UTC on Friday.

The company will also eliminate all trading pairs that include the NGN on March 7. In addition, Binance Pay, the platform’s payment service, will discontinue supporting the NGN as a payment option on March 6.

Nigeria ranks among the largest cryptocurrency markets globally. However, the country’s authorities have sought nearly $10 billion in damages from Binance, alleging that the company engaged in currency speculation and rate-fixing to manipulate foreign exchange rates.

Following these accusations, two senior executives from the firm were detained last week, as reported by the Financial Times.

In February, Nigeria’s central bank, governor Olayemi Cardoso told reporters, “We are concerned that certain practices go on that indicate illicit flows going through a number of these entities [crypto platforms] and suspicious flows at best.

“In the case of Binance, in the last year alone, $26bn has passed through Binance Nigeria from sources and users who we cannot adequately identify,” he added.

Reuters said that blockchain research firm Chainalysis said in a September 2023 report that the volume of crypto transactions in Nigeria grew 9% year-over-year to $56.7 billion between July 2022 and June 2023.

Is crypto allowed in Nigeria?

Cryptocurrencies are allowed in Nigeria, as stated by the Crypto Council for Innovation. In December 2023, the government rescinded its prohibition on cryptocurrencies. This shift followed the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) changing its position, leading to the Central Bank issuing instructions in January 2024 for banks to facilitate the opening of cryptocurrency accounts.

This reversal is seen as an acknowledgment of the ineffectiveness of the ban, given Nigeria’s status as the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency user and the recognition of the significant commercial prospects presented by such a vast and evolving market.

A 2023 ConsenSys report found that 99% of Nigerians and 98% of South Africans are more knowledgeable about Web3 than people in major economies like the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, and Germany.

Amidst the challenges with cryptocurrency in the country, it is attempting to contain soaring inflation, which hit an annual 29.9% in January. It is thought to be driven by rising food prices that have triggered a cost-of-living crisis in Africa’s largest economy.

Binance has been approached for further comment.

Featured image: Canva

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Google has introduced changes to its search results and unveiled new features for app developers, enabling them to advertise their offerings on third-party applications and competitor app marketplaces. This move comes as the company attempts to comply with landmark EU regulations to restrain the influence of major tech firms.

In a blog post, the tech giant stated that there are 20 product changes, “including the introduction of dedicated units and chips to help users find comparison sites in areas like flights, hotels and shopping.” However, it added that some features, such as the Google Flights unit, had been removed.

Google is among several leading tech companies that must adhere to the Digital Markets Act (DMA) by March 7. Others include Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, and TikTok owner ByteDance.

What features has Google introduced?

In January, the California-based company published several new features to its range of services, but they were only available to those in the EU. In the statement, Google said that changes to search results would increase traffic for major intermediaries and aggregators. In contrast, hotels, airlines, merchants, and restaurants will experience a decrease in traffic.

In addition to this, users will be asked for their consent to allow Google to share their data across Google products and services. The Alphabet-owned company explained, “Users may also see new consent banners asking them whether they would like to link their Google services.”

The DMA also requires gatekeeper operating systems to allow users to use third-party apps and app stores. This means that app developers can implement alternative billing systems instead of being restricted to the Google Play Store. A new program will also enable them to direct European users from the app to external platforms to promote their products.

This week, Google is set to introduce data portability software in Europe, simplifying the process for developers to transfer user data to a third-party app or service.

While Google said it will continue to work with the European Commission, it added, “We have approached compliance with transparency and meaningful product changes, even where we have concerns that some rules will reduce the choices available to people and businesses in Europe.”

Featured image: Canva

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Facebook and Instagram have reportedly gone down, suggesting a widespread outage affecting the platforms of their parent company, Meta.

Users reported receiving error messages and were subsequently logged out of both the app and the desktop site, preventing the feeds from refreshing.

Has Facebook and Messenger logged you out and then rejects your password?

Don't panic, you're not alone, LOADS of people seem to be experiencing this right now.

I guess we just gotta wait and see what the heck this is pic.twitter.com/YiQz17AeXR

— Talha Ali (@TalhaAli781) March 5, 2024

According to Downdetector, there were more than 250,000 reports of outages on Facebook and 45,000 reports on Instagram. WhatsApp had almost 1,000 incidents, and Threads was also encountering some issues.

Reports indicate that the impact has been felt in multiple countries worldwide.

ReadWrite has approached Meta for a comment. The tech giant’s own status page shows that a number of products, including some of the developer tools and business platforms, were experiencing some disruptions.

In a statement on their site, it said: “We are aware of an issue users are having logging into our platforms. Our engineering teams are aware and are actively looking to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.

“We are currently recovering from an earlier outage affecting the ability to log in to our platforms. Services are in the process of being restored. We apologize for any inconvenience that this may have caused,” it later updated.

However, some users report that Facebook has resumed its services, while Instagram remains down.

A Meta spokesperson told ReadWrite: “Earlier today, a technical issue caused people to have difficulty accessing some of our services. We resolved the issue as quickly as possible for everyone who was impacted, and we apologize for any inconvenience.”

Update: Services definitely seem to be returning for some, but others are still unable to get in with their existing passwords, so it seems things are not quite back to normal.

Meta’s previous outages

It’s not the first time Meta has experienced an outage. In 2019, there was a worldwide disruption where Facebook’s services and servers encountered technical issues, particularly affecting Europe, some parts of the US, and Asia. This occurred just one month following another significant outage.

At the time, Facebook posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) a short statement blaming their issues on a server configuration change. 

Featured image: Pexels

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Microsoft has filed a motion seeking to dismiss parts of The New York Times lawsuit against OpenAI, claiming it was “doomsday futurology.”

The New York Times initiated legal action against both companies, accusing them of using their articles for the training of ChatGPT’s large language models, as well as profiting from them.

In February, OpenAI requested a federal judge to dismiss parts of the same copyright lawsuit, accusing the newspaper of employing deceptive tactics to generate misleading evidence.

In the filing, lawyers representing the tech giant quoted the former head of the Motion Picture Association of America, Jack Valenti, who said, “The VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston Strangler is to the woman home alone.” They assert that the analogy represents “alarmism” against technology and note that the U.S. Supreme Court eventually rejected the motion on the same grounds.

Microsoft alluded that the VCR actually bolstered the entertainment sector by creating new avenues for revenue. Like OpenAI’s countersuit, the company elaborated on its stance regarding LLMs, describing them as a breakthrough in artificial intelligence.

Through its partnership with OpenAI, Microsoft said it aimed to “help bring their extraordinary power to the public,” because it “believes in LLMs’ capacity to improve the way people live and work.”

It also accused the NYT of using “might and its megaphone to challenge the latest profound technological advance: the Large Language Model.” It called for their case to be dismissed on three grounds including unfounded copyright infringement through GPT tools, and unproven Digital Millennium Copyright Act violations.

The Washington-based company also alleged that the news organization mischaracterized its copyright claims based on GPT-model outputs as state law misappropriation torts, suggesting that the GPT-based tools appropriate “time-sensitive” news and Wirecutter reviews.

What has The New York Times said?

Ian Crosby, a partner at Susman Godfrey and the lead attorney for The New York Times in this lawsuit, stated on Monday (March 6), “Microsoft doesn’t dispute that it worked with OpenAI to copy millions of The Times’s works without its permission to build its tools.

“Instead, it oddly compares L.L.M.s to the VCR even though VCR makers never argued that it was necessary to engage in massive copyright infringement to build their products,” he added.

Featured image: Canva

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There have been reports that Sony has given full refunds for the first high-profile game since Cyberpunk 2077. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, which holds an AAA rating, received mixed reviews upon its release in January, with some players complaining about game-breaking issues and a low player count.

Rocksteady Studios’ most recent release is a continuation of the Batman: Arkham franchise, taking place five years after 2015’s Batman: Arkham Knight. In an earnings discussion, Warner Bros. Discovery’s CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels informed analysts that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League did not meet the firm’s anticipated sales figures, noting that its Steam player count was surpassed by their nine-year-old game Batman: Arkham Knight.

Playstation has started Refunding Suicide Squad pic.twitter.com/g2ylR9Jjrf

— PC_Focus (@PC_Focus_) March 4, 2024

As a result, a Reddit user was reportedly issued a refund upon request for the Suicide Squad game, although the post and a Twitter discussion about it appear to have been deleted. 

The player said that they managed to secure a refund for the game, even with Sony’s stringent refund policy in place. Sony allegedly honored the request and processed the full refund, potentially causing others to do the same.

The user, identified as Tris, explained that they contacted PlayStation’s customer service via the live chat on their website, providing details about the problems disrupting their gameplay. They said: “Once I did that, I was told my case would be sent to a specialist team and would be updated via email in a few days.” After a review, PlayStation reportedly processed a refund for the purchase. 

Within the Reddit thread, some users confirmed receiving refunds, whereas others reported their requests were declined, indicating that refunds are granted or denied on an individual basis.

How many people are playing Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League?

According to publicly accessible data, there has been a consistent decline in the Steam player count for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League over the month. The game’s daily peak of concurrent players dropped from approximately 13,500 at launch to an average of 2,109 by March 5.

On top of this, due to technical problems affecting the game, Rocksteady Studios delayed the release of Joker as a playable character from the originally scheduled March 8 to March 28. The developer said it was committed to addressing the various stability and multiplayer glitches that are causing gameplay issues, so that all players have the best experience with the upcoming update.

Featured image: Warner Bros / Rocksteady

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Playstation has revealed the ten games you can play this month for free to score some extra store credit. Through the PlayStation Stars program, players can earn additional points by completing various tasks in games.

The games available to play from March 5th include Sifu, Destiny 2: The Witch Queen, Hello Neighbor 2, and F1 2023.

Six more games are also playable through which you can accumulate credit and all of these games are accessible through PlayStation Plus Extra.

As of March 1st, the games offering bonus points include Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Kena: Bridge of Spirits, Control: Ultimate Edition, Sea of Stars, NieR Replicant, and Horizon Zero Dawn: Complete Edition. Indeed, these are some fantastic titles.

Additional points are also available for any purchases made through any of their three subscription tiers. The services include PlayStation Plus Essential, PlayStation Plus Extra, and PlayStation Plus Premium.

While all the games are accessible through PlayStation Plus, a subscription is not necessary to claim points. If users already have any of these games, they can simply start the game and claim their rewards.

Ever since Sony implemented a new tiered system, retailers have lost the ability to sell their own cards for specific programs. Hence, users must depend on the PS Store for new discounts or PS wallet top-up cards.

What is Playstation Stars?

In 2023, PlayStation introduced a new loyalty program named PlayStation Stars, through which participants can accumulate points. These points are generally earned by completing a range of tasks within games and can be exchanged for store credit. It is free to sign up to, and you can obtain points just for buying games, so it can add up without much effort.

From March 5, all gamers need to do is play one of this month’s PlayStation Plus free games to earn 50 points. According to a PlayStation blog post, there will be a number of digital collectibles available from Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 “Exterminator” Trophy Hunt, MLB The Show 24 Launch Day, Far Cry, and four games from Rock Music Games.

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For the first time since November 2021, the price of Bitcoin has surged past $60,000, setting new record highs in local currencies across numerous global markets.

The Bitcoin price rose to $63,968 on Wednesday before falling back to around $60,000. At the time of writing, it stood at $61,463, marking an increase of more than 39% year to date.

The currency has reached new peaks in various places in local terms, including in financially robust countries such as China, Japan, the U.K., and India, as well as emerging markets like Argentina, Turkey, and Egypt.

The swift rise has rekindled memories of the cryptocurrency bull market, which pushed the token to its all-time high of nearly $69,000 in November 2021, as investors rushed in, driven by the fear of “missing out” on potential further increases in price.

Some investors posted on social media about the rapid increase, celebrating the sudden surge.

#Bitcoin is forming a lower-timeframe bullish pennant, right below the last resistance before all-time highs.

Hold tight, and enjoy the ride. pic.twitter.com/AHtkCEo5Ii

— Jelle (@CryptoJelleNL) March 1, 2024

Best month ever for the fund. By far.

Not a solicitation to invest.

Shout out to the #Bitcoin growth engine.

— Dr. Jeff Ross (@VailshireCap) March 1, 2024

One anonymous analyst said that, “Bull market has started. If history is any guide, we will see ~10 months of face-melting [fear of missing out] FOMO: extreme price pumps combined with multiple -30% drops.”

RED DOT !!

Accumulation phase has ended: no more easy buying opportunities in orderly and slowly increasing markets.

Bull market has started. If history is any guide, we will see ~10 months of face melting fomo: extreme price pumps combined with multiple -30% drops. Enjoy! pic.twitter.com/8MyZJUSUlb

— PlanB (@100trillionUSD) March 1, 2024

Bitcoin ETFs make history

Last month, U.S. authorities gave the green light for the introduction of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by prominent asset managers such as BlackRock and Invesco, setting the stage for a surge of fresh investment from individuals aiming to speculate on the cryptocurrency via a regulated framework.

“Investors should remain cautious about the myriad risks associated with Bitcoin and products whose value is tied to crypto,” stated Gary Gensler, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chairman.

BREAKING: BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF, $IBIT, hits a record $10 billion in assets under management.

This is the fastest an ETF has hit $10 billion in assets under management, at 37 trading days.

Just ~4% of all ETFs have reached the $10 billion mark.

More history made by #Bitcoin. pic.twitter.com/aCgZ7jOB2V

— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) March 1, 2024

According to K33 Research as cited by the Financial Times, the 11 funds currently possess 303,000 bitcoins, valued at $18 billion, which corresponds to approximately 1.5% of the total bitcoin supply. Today (1st March), BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF reached a record $10 billion in assets under management, reportedly marking the quickest time an ETF has achieved this milestone, in just 37 trading days.

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YouTube is planning to roll out its picture-in-picture (PIP) feature to more countries, according to reports. The video platform has been offering this in the U.S. since 2022, but it appears that Google recently released this option on YouTube to some of the free users in Europe for the last couple of weeks.

While Google hasn’t made a formal announcement, Android Police reported that the latest change is available on Android as well as iOS devices. Last week, Google even reiterated that it was still only providing this service to paid subscribers.

you can check out this resource to make sure picture-in-picture setting is turned on: https://t.co/T8tIYDNNKb note: if you’re outside the US, you’ll need a YouTube Premium membership to use PiP with any content on YouTube

— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) February 25, 2024

Several Reddit discussions highlight users discovering picture-in-picture (PiP) features on non-Premium accounts. In a different conversation, two European users reported encountering the same functionality. 

Meanwhile, I managed to access this feature twice in the UK before it disappeared again. This suggests that it could be part of an experiment currently limited to users in Europe or merely an error on YouTube’s part.

In order to access this feature in general, you have to manually activate the picture-in-picture feature. To do this, go to YouTube, select the profile icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen, hit the Settings icon in the top-right corner, choose General, and enable the picture-in-picture option. If Google has truly begun providing PIP at no cost in Europe, there’s a possibility the feature will be rolled out for free in other regions incrementally.

On YouTube’s support page, it states that PiP is not available for ad-supported users outside the US. If you have YouTube Premium, these limitations do not apply globally. One Reddit user mentioned that, besides music videos, free users might also be unable to use PiP for certain videos that could contain copyrighted material, such as songs.

Other features coming to YouTube

Earlier this month, Neal Mohan, the CEO of YouTube, announced the platform’s strategic plan for 2024, focusing on artificial intelligence (AI), amplifying the influence of content creators, improving user safety, and broadening its reach into living room entertainment and subscription-based models.

On the other end of the spectrum, the platform is also cracking down on cyberbullying and harassment by updating its policies to prohibit content that uses artificial intelligence to simulate minors and other crime victims narrating their own deaths or experiences of violence.

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Israel’s NSO Group, best known for its spyware, has been ordered by a U.S. court to hand over its Pegasus code to WhatsApp.

It’s the latest hurdle for the company, having been blacklisted in the U.S., subjected to a lawsuit by Apple, and experienced significant financial difficulties.

According to the Guardian, Judge Phyllis Hamilton reviewed NSO’s request to be released from all its discovery duties in the lawsuit, citing “various US and Israeli restrictions.” Despite this, she ruled in favor of WhatsApp, mandating that NSO produce “all relevant spyware” data spanning one year before and after the timeframe when 1,400 WhatsApp users were reportedly targeted by the Pegasus spyware, covering the dates from April 29, 2018, to May 10, 2020. 

NSO is also required to provide WhatsApp with details about the complete capabilities of the specific spyware. However, Hamilton ruled in favor of NSO on a separate issue, deciding that the company is not obligated to reveal the identities of its customers or details about its server setup at this stage.

A WhatsApp spokesperson told the Guardian, “The recent court ruling is an important milestone in our long-running goal of protecting WhatsApp users against unlawful attacks. Spyware companies and other malicious actors need to understand they can be caught and will not be able to ignore the law.”

What are the dangers of Pegasus spyware?

Pegasus is advanced spyware designed for military use, capable of infiltrating mobile phones remotely to gain complete dominance over the device. When Pegasus covertly installs itself on a phone, it can duplicate texts, images, emails, and record conversations, as well as turn on microphones and cameras for uninterrupted spying, all without the user’s awareness. 

It was developed by the cyber-arms firm and was subsequently blacklisted by the U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration in 2021. The government stated that the company knowingly provided spyware used by foreign governments to maliciously target the phones of dissidents, human rights activists, and journalists.

Meta has been approached for further comment.

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Figure AI has reportedly been given a valuation of $2.6 billion from investors including Jeff Bezos, Nvidia, and Microsoft.

The startup working to build humanoid robots that can perform dangerous and undesirable jobs was able to raise $675 million, when it was seeking $500 million in a funding round led by Microsoft Corp.

Founded in 2022, the California-based company said that its priority will be in industries such as manufacturing, shipping and logistics, warehousing, and retail, “where labor shortages are the most severe.” Its founder Brett Adcock shared the news on X, stating that, “OpenAI & Figure signed a collaboration agreement to develop next-generation AI models for robots”

Excited to share: Figure raises $675M at $2.6B Valuation

+ OpenAI & Figure signed a collaboration agreement to develop next generation AI models for robots

Below are the details: pic.twitter.com/V57nn9P3oA

— Brett Adcock (@adcock_brett) February 29, 2024

“Our vision at Figure is to bring humanoid robots into commercial operations as soon as possible. This investment, combined with our partnership with OpenAI and Microsoft, ensures that we are well-prepared to bring embodied AI into the world to make a transformative impact on humanity,” said Adcock in a statement.

He added, “AI and robotics are the future, and I am grateful to have the support of investors and partners who believe in being at the forefront.”

Earlier this week, the company unveiled a video demonstrating Figure 01’s capabilities. This robot, connected by a tether, can walk on two legs and uses its fingers to lift a plastic crate. It then proceeds to walk a few additional steps before setting the crate down on a conveyor belt. The company already showcased a robot making coffee in January.

Last month we demonstrated Figure 01 making coffee only using neural networks

This is a fully learned, end-to-end visuomotor policy mapping onboard images to low level actions at 200hz

Next up: excited to push the boundaries on AI learning with OpenAIpic.twitter.com/DNAZWnaYK3

— Figure (@Figure_robot) February 29, 2024

The beginning of humanoid robots

Last year, the UN’s International Telecommunication Union held its first news conference featuring humanoid social robots. Nine robots, carefully crafted to resemble humans, took center stage at the news conference. One of the robots named Sophia was developed by Hanson Robotics, while others were programmed by Beyond Imagination, the University of Geneva, Hiroshi Ishiguro, Neura Robotics, Aidan Meller, SingularityNET, and Engineered Arts.

The event looked at networking to build new projects, calls to action, and partnerships. It featured talks from thought leaders as well as demonstrations of state-of-the-art AI solutions that could achieve global scale with the support of the international AI for Good community. 

1X Technologies also confirmed a breakthrough in teaching skills to its android EVE, thanks to special neural networks, which allow the bots to learn by watching videos of people doing activities. Like Figure AI, the Norway-based humanoid robotics firm is backed by OpenAI.

Featured image: Canva / DoD photo by Senior Master Sgt. Adrian Cadiz

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Elon Musk is suing OpenAI, its CEO Sam Altman, as well as others, accusing them of violating contractual commitments established during the company’s inception in 2015, when he helped to found the company in 2015.

The legal action initiated by the Tesla CEO also includes OpenAI’s co-founder Greg Brockman. The suit states that Brockman, alongside Altman, initially engaged Musk with the proposition of creating an open-source, nonprofit entity aimed at advancing artificial intelligence technology for the “benefit of humanity.” Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 but stepped down from the company’s board in 2018.

The lawsuit contends that the Microsoft-backed company’s shift towards profit-oriented objectives goes against the original agreement. It highlights that Musk believed that this pivot was an “existential threat in AGI.”

Lawyers representing Musk stated that “Mr. Altman approached Mr. Musk with a proposal: that they join forces to form a non-profit AI lab that would try to catch up to Google in the race for AGI, but it would be the opposite of Google.”

Together with Brockman, the lawsuit added that they reached a consensus on the foundational ethos of the new AI lab. According to this agreement, OpenAI “would be a nonprofit developing AGI for the benefit of humanity, not for a for-profit company seeking to maximize shareholder profits; and (b) would be open-source, balancing only countervailing safety considerations, and would not keep its technology closed and secret for proprietary commercial reasons.” 

The organization was reportedly created to stand as a counterbalance to Google’s DeepMind project. However, unlike its counterparts, OpenAI’s mission was to advance the cause of humanity, steering clear of the profit-driven motives that typically underpin private, for-profit entities.

Elon Musk competes with OpenAI

In January, the billionaire entrepreneur‘s artificial intelligence start-up xAI was in talks to “raise up to $6 billion.” xAI made headlines in 2023 when “Grok,” a chatbot positioned as an adversary to OpenAI‘s ChatGPT, was introduced.

Another company known as Groq trademarked its name during its fledgling stage in 2016, so it’s no surprise they sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Tesla billionaire over his decision to title his firm with such a similar name.

Featured image: Canva / U.S. Air Force / Trevor Cokley / TechCrunch

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Meta has announced that the Facebook News tab will be removed for U.S. and Australian users. The section was already shut down last year in the UK, France, and Germany as the company shifted its focus towards providing content that people “want to see more of on the platform.”

The section had provided news content since 2019, as a way to “bring people closer to the stories that affect their lives.” However, following the rise of TikTok, the company has shifted its resources toward short-form video content through its Reels feature.

“As a company, we have to focus our time and resources on things people tell us they want to see more of on the platform, including short-form video,” its corporate blog post said. “The number of people using Facebook News in Australia and the U.S. has dropped by over 80% last year.”

The social networking giant stated that despite shuttering the feature, users will still be able to view links to news articles on Facebook, while news publishers will continue to have access to their Facebook accounts and Pages, “where they can post links to their stories and direct people to their websites.”

The update will not affect the existing Facebook News agreements that Meta holds with publishers in Australia, France, and Germany. The company highlighted that similar news-related agreements “have already expired in the US and the UK,” as stated in the blog post.

Australia threatens action against Meta over Facebook News

Amid the changes, the Australian government threatened action against Meta, after the California-based social media company said it would stop paying local media companies this year for using their content. 

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese expressed that he was “very concerned” about the repercussions of Meta’s decision. His administration announced its commitment to “work through all available options under the News Media Bargaining Code.”

Speaking to an Australian newspaper, Albanese said, “We know that it’s absolutely critical that media is able to function properly and be properly funded. Journalism is important and the idea that research and work done by others can be taken free is simply untenable.”

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland wrote on X that “Australian news publishers deserve fair compensation for the content they provide,” whilst Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones called it a “dereliction” of their commitment to Australian media.

This decision removes a significant source of revenue for Australian news media businesses.

Australian news publishers deserve fair compensation for the content they provide. pic.twitter.com/lIdYZEndyU

— Michelle Rowland (@MRowlandMP) March 1, 2024

The Albanese Government is deeply disappointed in Meta's decision to no longer pay for news content in a number of jurisdictions.

It represents a dereliction of commitment to the sustainability of Australian news media.

Our Government is backing Australian journalism. pic.twitter.com/oOKT9TOqxg

— Stephen Jones MP (@StephenJonesMP) March 1, 2024

According to the Guardian, Jones added, “Nobody should be under any doubts about the government’s resolve to ensure that we have a viable media industry in this country.”

As a result, the ministers stated that the government is consulting with the Treasury and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for guidance on the forthcoming steps, which will be determined promptly.

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