Tech Boys

Meta is reportedly planning to spin off Meta AI into a standalone app to compete with ChatGPT. OpenAI's Sam Altman immediately responded with a heavy dose of snark. According to CNBC , Meta plans to make Meta AI — which currently exists as a tool embedded within Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp — into its own app in the second quarter of this year. This is all part of CEO Mark Zuckerberg's ambition to make Meta AI the go-to AI assistant, aiming to take on competitors like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and xAI's Grok. "This is going to be the year when a highly intelligent and personalized AI assistant reaches more than 1 billion people, and I expect Meta AI to be that leading AI assistant," said Zuckerberg in a fourth quarter earnings call in January. In order to do that, Meta has a steep hill to climb. The world hasn't embraced Meta AI as enthusiastically as ChatGPT, which became the fastest growing app of all time shortly after its launch. When Meta hard-la...

Developer Necrosoft Games has assembled another huge bundle of games on Itch.io to support a good cause. It includes more than 400 games that can be yours if you pony up at least $10 to support wildfire relief efforts in Southern California. Tunic , one of our favorite games of 2022 , is arguably the highest-profile game in the California Fire Relief Bundle. Buying this beautiful, Zelda-esque adventure on Steam right now would cost you $30. That alone makes the bundle great value, though it includes over $3,200 worth of games. There are a few other particularly notable games on the list. You may have heard of restaurant sim Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2!! , the fairly self-explanatory SkateBird or the utterly ridiculous Octodad: Dadliest Catch . There's also Hidden Folks , a charming puzzle title that we reckon is a great way to help you destress . Hundreds of other lesser-known games await your curiosity too. For instance, there's a pretty puzzle-platformer called Hoa th...

At some point in 2025, Twitch plans to offer monetization tools like subscriptions and Bits for all streamers, according to an open letter from Twitch CEO Dan Clancy . Monetizing Twitch streams previously required reaching "Affiliate" status on the platform. Having viewers subscribe to a Twitch channel or cheer with Bits (Twitch's digital currency) during a stream are the two most prominent ways the average streamer can make money from their streams, outside of passive ad revenue or sponsorships. Currently, each subscription earns you a 50/50 split on subscription revenue after processing fees and taxes, while each Bit earned during a stream translates to around $0.01 . Opening up subscriptions and Bits to "most streamers, from day one," should serve to make streaming on Twitch more enticing to anyone worried about the long process of becoming a Twitch Affiliate or Partner. Reaching either status on Twitch requires earning a certain amount of followers and s...

A new Google app automatically installed on Androids has users outraged about the invasion of privacy, but don't worry, it can be uninstalled. ZDNET , which first picked up on the  chatter online , reports that the app SafetyCore, designed to protect sensitive content on users' phones, also scans their entire photo gallery. The tool was introduced in October as part of its latest system update and has been gradually rolling out to users, which is why they have begun to notice it now.  Tweet may have been deleted The feature in question on the app is called Sensitive Content Warnings for Google Messages. It's an "optional feature that blurs images that may contain nudity before viewing, and then prompts with a 'speed bump' that contains help-finding resources and options, including to view the content," according to a description in the Google Security blog. "When the feature is enabled, and an image that may contain nudity is about to be sent o...

Riot Games is hitting "undo" on its recent massively unpopular changes to League of Legends that essentially made everything in the game harder for players to unlock without spending money. After the company saw negative comments spammed across social media, widespread talk of a player boycott and over 32,000 signatures gathered on a petition to fire CEO Dylan Jadeja, the company acknowledged that the recent updates "didn't hit the mark for everyone." As a result, Riot is (among other changes) bringing back Hextech Chests and cutting in half the Blue Essence cost of all champions to win back disgruntled players. For a master class in the corporate art of selling opposing messages with equal gusto, watch Riot Games' last two League Of Legends dev update videos back-to-back. Less than three weeks ago, studio head Andrei van Roon and executive producer Paul Bellezza put on their best Ward Cleaver faces to matter-of-factly explain why too much free stuff fo...

Google has secured FDA clearance for its first-to-market pulse detection feature intended to aid smartwatch wearers who may experience isolated medical emergencies. Powered by an AI-based algorithm and a device "multipath heart rate sensor," the smartwatch can detect "pulselessness" caused by various medical emergencies , such as cardiac arrest, poisoning, or respiratory arrest. The watch will then automatically call and request a dispatch of emergency services. The feature was designed with input from cardiologists, global authorities on resuscitation, and Emergency Medical Service leaders, dispatchers, and paramedics, according to the company. SEE ALSO: It's now easier to remove personal information from Google Search results "When a loss of pulse event happens, it’s usually up to a bystander to give or get help," the company explains. "However, half of all loss of pulse events related to cardiac arrest, for example, are unwitnessed – ...

Warner Bros Discovery made sweeping cuts to its games division today, closing three studios and ending development on its planned Wonder Woman project. Monolith Productions, Player First Games and WB Games San Diego will be shuttered due to a “disappointing 2024” for WB's gaming business, according to an internal memo from JB Perrette, the company's CEO and president of global streaming and games. Bloomberg broke the news of the restructuring. Monolith Productions made two well-regarded Lord of the Rings games, Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War . The studio was going to apply its popular Nemesis system from those titles to a Wonder Woman game, which was announced back in 2021. WB acquired Player First Games last year. The team was responsible for MultiVersus , a platform fighting game that reached 20 million players in its early days before dwindling to a planned shutdown of the online services when its fifth season ends this May. WB Games San Diego w...

SPEND $25, SAVE $5: Through 3 a.m. ET (12 a.m. PT) on Feb. 25, you can save $5 when you spend $25 on over 4,000 eligible paperback and hardcover books at Target. Opens in a new window Credit: Red Tower Books / Entangled Publishing Spend $25 on books, save $5 Shop Now E-book deals are popping up pretty much every week these days. But if physical page turning is what really gets your dopamine dopamine-ing, Target's current book sale is about to do a real number on your 2025 reading list — and perhaps provide inspo for a spring refresh of your coffee table decor. Through 3 a.m. ET (midnight PT) on Feb. 25, Target will shave off $5 when you spend $25 on books. SEE ALSO: I read over 50 books a year. Here are my favorite e-readers. The discount is applied at checkout for Target Circle members, which is a quick, free membership you'll want to join — Target offers little coupons like this all the time. The list of eligible books is more than 4,000 long — sift...

The new iOS 18.4 developer beta was released, and with it came many new features. Apple's latest iPhone operating system, iOS 18.4, adds AI capabilities and more news features. Here's a quick breakdown of what to expect. The developer beta was released last week and will become fully available to the public in April. More Apple Intelligence options Apple noted that iOS 18.4 would add numerous languages for Apple Intelligence, "including French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese (simplified) — as well as localized English for Singapore and India." SEE ALSO: What is Apple Intelligence? With the operating system update, users in the European Union will also get access to Apple Intelligence, which had been delayed as the tech company worked to ensure it complied with local laws. Priority notifications Apple promised Apple Intelligence would continue to add capabilities as time passes. With the 18.4 developer beta, A...

Another week, and there's another new AI model ready for public use. This time, it's Anthropic with the introduction of Claude 3.7 Sonnet . The company describes its latest release as the market's first "hybrid reasoning model," meaning the new version of Claude can both answer a question nearly instantaneously or take its time to work through it step by step. As the user you can decide what approach Claude takes, with a dropdown menu allowing you to select the "thinking mode" you want it to take. "We've developed Claude 3.7 Sonnet with a different philosophy from other reasoning models on the market. Just as humans use a single brain for both quick responses and deep reflection, we believe reasoning should be an integrated capability of frontier models rather than a separate model entirely," writes Anthropic. "This unified approach also creates a more seamless experience for users." Anthropic doesn't name OpenAI explici...

Oh hey there! If you're here, it must be time for Wordle . As always, we're serving up our daily hints and tips to help you figure out today's answer. If you just want to be told today's word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for today's Wordle solution revealed. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you. SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable SEE ALSO: NYT Connections today: Hints and answers for February 24 Where did Wordle come from? Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble , music identification game Heardle , and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once .  ...

Apple introduced its first in-house cellular modem, the C1, last week with the announcement of the not-so-budget iPhone 16e , and while it didn’t get into too much detail about it, the company reportedly has some big plans for future iterations. According to Bloomberg ’ s Mark Gurman, “Apple intends to eventually meld the modem component into the main processor.” Integrating the modem into the main processor could have energy and cost benefits, but that design is still a ways off. We’ll likely see the C2 and C3 without it first, which the company is already testing according to Gurman, and the integrated design won’t follow until “2028 at the earliest During its unveiling, Apple called the new C1 modem its “most power-efficient modem ever in an iPhone.” The $599 iPhone 16e also has an A18 chip (but with four GPU cores) and supports Apple Intelligence, even if that’s not what people actually wanted out of it . This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://ift.tt/wGyWb2d fr...

Netflix dropped a blooper reel this weekend from the first season of its live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender show, giving fans a look at some cute behind the scenes antics while they wait for the next season. The first season was released a year ago, and Netflix announced shortly after that the show had been renewed for two more. There’s no release date yet for the new episodes, but the streaming service said on Saturday that production for the second season is underway. The third season will be its last. It's been 1 year since the release of Avatar: The Last Airbender, so here's the official blooper reel to celebrate! pic.twitter.com/lFDjuW1if4 — Netflix (@netflix) February 22, 2025 News surrounding Avatar: The Last Airbender has been surprisingly plentiful this week. On top of the updates from Netflix, Deadline reported that there’s a new animated series on the way that’ll pick up after the events of The Legend of Korra . That series will be called Avatar: Seve...

Apple 's plans to add Google Gemini to Apple Intelligence are well underway, according to backend iOS code. 9To5Mac analyst Aaron Perris looked into the backend update for the iOS 18.4 beta and discovered mentions of "Google" alongside "OpenAI" and "Third Party Model." This suggests Google's AI model Gemini might soon be another option for Apple users to choose from as an alternative to ChatGPT. Tweet may have been deleted This discovery is not unexpected. Following the keynote announcement of Apple Intelligence at WWDC 2024 , software exec Craig Federighi confirmed rumors of an Apple and Google partnership, saying, "We’re looking forward to doing integrations with other models, including Google Gemini, for instance, in the future." SEE ALSO: Apple revokes iCloud's Advanced Data Protection in the UK over government privacy dispute Of course, this came after Apple had announced a partnership with OpenAI, bringing ChatGPT ...

Oh hey there! If you're here, it must be time for Wordle . As always, we're serving up our daily hints and tips to help you figure out today's answer. If you just want to be told today's word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for today's Wordle solution revealed. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you. SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable SEE ALSO: NYT Connections today: Hints and answers for February 23 Where did Wordle come from? Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble , music identification game Heardle , and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once .  ...

South Korean game development studio Pixelity says it’s working on a series of XR games based on Neon Genesis Evangelion , and the first one will be released next year. In an emailed announcement, the studio said it’s planning a trilogy “based on the world and events of all 26 episodes” of the beloved anime. We don’t have much in the way of details just yet, but Pixelity says, “Players will experience the narrative through the eyes of an original character, exploring the world of Neon Genesis Evangelion , taking on quests, and engaging in thrilling battles — all while following the timeline and key events of the anime.” The trilogy will offer “interactive and cooperative gameplay with familiar characters.” The developer hasn’t revealed what platforms the games will be available on. Pixelity has previously made games for the Meta Quest family of headsets, as well as Pico and other platforms. It also recently launched a couple of titles for Apple Vision Pro, Shooting Break and Rollin...

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It’s not every day that we get to see a glimpse of what a mysterious space plane is up to in orbit. This week, the US Space Force shared a picture it says was snapped last year by the X-37B, showing Earth in the distance and a bit of the craft itself. X-37B launched on its seventh mission at the end of 2023, though not much is known about what that mission entails. Its previous flight, which wrapped up in 2022, set a new endurance record for the space plane, logging 908 days in orbit. There isn't too much information to glean from the photo, but it does offer a rare look at X-37B in space. “An X-37B onboard camera, used to ensure the health and safety of the vehicle, captures an image of Earth while conducting experiments in HEO in 2024,” the Space Force wrote on X . US Space Force One thing we have been told about the current mission is that it marks the first time the Boeing-made X-37B has tried out a maneuver known as aerobraking, or a more fuel-efficient method of changi...