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Meta announced its opening up the Quests operating system to third-party companies, allowing them to build headsets of their own. The Quest OS is being rebranded to Meta Horizon OS and already has two companies interested. ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) brand is working on new performance gaming headsets, while Lenovos focus is on devices for productivity, learning and entertainment. However, most intriguingly, perhaps, Meta says its also working on a limited-edition Xbox inspired Quest headset. (Microsoft and Meta also worked together recently to bring Xbox cloud gaming to the Quest.) While this could just be a reskinned Quest 3, this collaboration could lead to future headsets made entirely for Microsofts consoles. If PlayStation can have VR, then surely Xbox can too. Mat Smith The biggest stories you might have missed Grindr sued for allegedly sharing users HIV status and other info with ad companies What we watched: Blueys joyful finales Amazon halts drone deliveries in California, but kicks off tests in Phoenix You can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here! The EU opens an investigation into TikTok Lite, citing addiction concerns This follows a more comprehensive probe from February. The European Union (EU) has opened a second formal investigation into TikTok. The probe involves the addictive nature of TikTok Lite, a smaller version of the app that takes up less memory and was built to perform over slower internet connections. The wrinkle might be a design aspect that allows users to earn points by watching and liking videos. These points can be exchanged for TikToks proprietary digital currency and even Amazon vouchers. The EUs Commission has expressed concern that this type of task and reward design language could impact the mental health of young users by stimulating addictive behavior. Continue reading. Russian court sentences Meta spokesperson in absentia to six years in prison Andy Stone was convicted after publicly defending terrorism. A few months after Russian officials placed Meta spokesperson Andy Stone on a wanted list and started a criminal investigation, a Moscow court has issued an arrest warrant for him on several terrorism-related charges in February. It cited Stones alleged promotion of terrorist activities, public calls for terrorist activities, public justification of terrorism or propaganda of terrorism and public calls for extremist activities. Russias investigative committee opened a probe into Meta in March 2022. It claimed Stone had incited extremist activity after lifting a ban on calls for violence against the Russian military on its platforms. Stone said Meta was temporarily allowing some posts to stay on its platforms that would have previously been taken down for inciting violence, but noted the company would still outlaw credible calls for violence against Russian civilians. Continue reading. Embracer splits up its messy gaming empire into three companies Theyll specialize in AAA, tabletop and indie titles. Embracer The company has announced plans to split into three separate parts. The first is Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends, specializing in AAA games like Tomb Raider and Dead Island and, of course, anything Lord of the Rings. Asmodee will handle the tabletop gaming segment, which includes Ticket to Ride, 7 Wonders, Azul, CATAN, Dobble and Exploding Kittens. Coffee Stain & Friends will be the companys indie-centric group, with properties including Deep Rock Galactic and Goat Simulator. Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-meta-teases-a-limited-edition-quest-headset-inspired-by-xbox-111520584.html?src=rss
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Atlus first teased that it was working on a new RPG with a fantasy setting in mid-2023 it also said way back then that it will be available sometime this year. Now, the developer has revealed that the game, Metaphor: ReFantazio, will come out on October 11 at a special livestream event. Katsura Hashino, the director of the game, as well as of Persona 3, 4 and 5, also introduced a 30-minute hands-on gameplay that gives you quite a lengthy look at its story and combat mechanics. Similar to the Persona games, Metaphor: ReFantazio has a turn-based combat system with what Atlus says is a "blend of real-time action." Also, like the Persona games, you'll have to manage your time, so that you can build bonds with your allies and increase your "virtues" outside of dungeon-crawling. Metaphor: ReFantazio is set in the fictional United Kingdom of Euchronia, which was plunged into chaos after the assassination of its king. In the middle of the royal tournament for the throne, the protagonist and his partner fairy Galica go on a journey to find the cursed prince that was thought to be dead and team up with new allies along the way. Physical copies of the game, both standard and limited Collector's editions, are now available for pre-order, but you'll have to wait a bit if you'd rather get the digital version. Upon launch, the game will be available for various consoles, namely the Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4, as well as on Windows and Steam on PC. If the 30-minute gameplay footage is too long for you, here's a new trailer you can watch instead: This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/metaphor-refantazio-a-fantasy-rpg-from-the-persona-5-team-comes-out-in-october-100359581.html?src=rss
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Microsoft has unveiled its latest light AI model called the Phi-3 Mini designed to run on smartphones and other local devices, it revealed in a new research paper. Trained on 3.8 billion parameters, it's the first of three small Phi-3 language models the company will release in the near future. The aim is to provide a cheaper alternative to cloud-powered LLMs, allowing smaller organizations to adopt AI. According to Microsoft, the new model handily outperforms its previous Phi-2 small model and is on par with larger models like Llama 2. In fact, the company says Phi-3 Mini provides responses close to the level of a model 10 times its size. "The innovation lies entirely in our dataset for training," according to the research paper. That dataset is based on the Phi-2 model, but uses "heavily filtered web data and synthetic data," the team states. In fact, a separate LLM was used to do both of those chores, effectively creating new data that allows the smaller language model to be more efficient. The team was supposedly inspired by children's books that use simpler language to get across complex topics, according to The Verge. Microsoft While it still can't produce the results of cloud-powered LLMs, Phi-3 Mini can outperform Phi-2 and other small language models (Mistral, Gemma, Llama-3-In) in tasks ranging from math to programming to academic tests. At the same time, it runs on devices as simple as smartphones, with no internet connection required. Its main limitation is breadth of "factual knowledge" due to the smaller dataset size hence why it doesn't perform well in the "TriviaQA" test. Still, it should be good for models that only require smallish internal data sets. That could allow companies that can't afford cloud-connected LLMs to jump into AI, Microsoft hopes. Phi-3 Mini is now available on Azure, Hugging Face and Ollama. Microsoft is next set to release Phi-3 Small and Phi-3 Medium with significantly higher capabilities (7 billion and 14 billion parameters, respectively). This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsofts-lightweight-phi-3-mini-model-can-run-on-smartphones-100223483.html?src=rss
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Nearly a year after adding generative AI-powered editing capabilities to Photoshop, Adobe is souping up its flagship product with even more AI. On Tuesday, the company announced that Photoshop is getting the ability to generate images with simple text prompts directly within the app. There are also new features to let the AI draw inspiration from reference images to create new ones and generate backgrounds more easily. The tools will make using Photoshop easier for both professionals as well as casual enthusiasts who may have found the apps learning curve to be steep, Adobe thinks. A big, blank canvas can sometimes be the biggest barrier, Erin Boyce, Photoshops senior marketing director, told Engadget in an interview. This really speeds up time to creation. The idea of getting something from your mind to the canvas has never been easier. The new feature is simply called Generate Image and will be available as an option in Photoshop right alongside the traditional option that lets you import images into the app. An existing AI-powered feature called Generative Fill that previously let you add, extend or remove specific parts of an image has been upgraded too. It now allows users to add AI-generated images to an existing image that blend in seamlessly with the original. In a demo shown to Engadget, an Adobe executive was able to circle a picture of an empty salad dish, for instance, and ask Photoshop to fill it with a picture of AI-generated tomatoes. She was also able to generate variations of the tomatoes and choose one of them to be part of the final image. In another example, the executive replaced an acoustic guitar held by an AI-generated bear with multiple versions of electric guitars just by using text prompts, and without resorting to Photoshops complex tools or brushes. Adobe These updates are powered by Firefly Image 3, the latest version of Adobes family of generative AI models that the company also unveiled today. Adobe said Firefly 3 produces images of a higher quality than previous models, provides more variations, and understands your prompts better. The company claims that more than 7 billion images have been generated so far using Firefly. Adobe is far from the only company stuffing generative AI features into its products. Over the last year, companies, big and small, have revamped up their products and services with AI. Both Google and Microsoft, for instance, have upgraded their cash cows, Search and Office respectively, with AI features. More recently, Meta has started putting its own AI chatbot into Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram. But while its still unclear how these bets will pan out, Adobes updates to Photoshop seem more materially useful for creators. The company said Photoshops new AI features had driven a 30 percent increase in Photoshop subscriptions. Meanwhile, generative AI has been in the crosshairs of artists, authors, and other creative professionals, who say that the foundational models that power the tech were trained on copyrighted media without consent or compensation. Generative AI companies are currently battling lawsuits from dozens of artists and authors. Adobe says that Firefly was trained on licensed media from Adobe Stock, since it was designed to create content for commercial use, unlike competitors like Midjourney whose models are trained in part by illegally scraping images off the internet. But a recent report from Bloomberg showed that Firefly, too, was trained, in part, on AI-generated images from the same rivals including Midjourney (an Adobe spokesperson told Bloomberg that less than 5 percent of images in its training data came from other AI rivals). To address concerns about the use of generative AI to create disinformation, Adobe said that all images created in Photoshop using generative AI tools will automatically include tamper-proof Content Credentials, which act like digital nutrition labels indicating that an image was generated with AI, in the files metadata. However, it's still not a perfect defense against image misuse, with several ways to sidestep metadata and watermarks. The new features will be available in beta in Photoshop starting today and will roll out to everyone later this year. Meanwhile, you can play with Firefly 3 on Adobes website for free. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/adobe-photoshops-latest-beta-makes-ai-generated-images-from-simple-text-prompts-090056096.html?src=rss
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Amazon customers in California won't be able to get drone deliveries anymore. The e-commerce company has closed its delivery site in Lockeford, which has been operational since 2022, and will now offer its personnel in the area opportunities at other sites. Amazon made the revelation almost as an aside in an announcement that it's launching drone deliveries in the West Valley Phoenix Metro area later this year. Its drones will be deployed from facilities near its Tolleson fulfillment center. Amazon says it's the first time drone deliveries will be fully integrated into its network, and it will allow the company to fulfill and deliver purchases more quickly. The company doesn't have an exact launch date for its drone deliveries in Phoenix, because it's still working with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and local officials to get the permits it needs. It does have the support of Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, though, who called drone deliveries "the future" and said it would help her city "reduce local pollution" and further cement it "as a hotbed for the innovative technology of tomorrow." While Amazon's drone delivery operations are shutting down in California, it'll continue its activities in College Station, Texas. Shortly after it started using drones as couriers in those two areas, The Information reported that the company has made just a handful of deliveries via the method, mostly due to FAA limitations that prohibit the machines from flying over roads or people unless Amazon gets permission for every case. It eventually reached 100 drone deliveries by the middle of 2023, though that was likely far from what the company had hoped to get by then, since it aimed to reach 10,000 deliveries by the end of the year. Those setbacks, however, don't seem to have deterred Amazon. It's currently testing its next-gen MK30 drones that can fly twice as far as its current drones, and it also said that it's deploying drone deliveries in more locations in the US next year. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-halts-drone-deliveries-in-california-but-kicks-off-tests-in-phoenix-074053856.html?src=rss
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