Larian Studios founder and CEO Sven Vincke hits out at the recent comments made by Ubisoft’s Director of Subscriptions Phillippe Tremblay.

Tremblay made the headlines for all the wrong reasons after comparing digital gaming ownership to that of Netflix or Spotify subscriptions.

This would mean gamers could only access the titles laid out by the platform and not directly own the titles in a standalone personal library.

Get comfortable

Tremblay said gamers would need to “get comfortable” with the idea of subscriptions overtaking the direct ownership of gaming titles.

Tremblay continued in an interview with Gamesindustry.biz, “You don’t lose your progress. If you resume your game at another time, your progress file is still there. That’s not been deleted. You don’t lose what you’ve built in the game or your engagement with the game. So it’s about feeling comfortable with not owning your game.”

Developer direct

Wicke, an award-wining head of Larian, has other thoughts about the comments made by the Ubisoft head. He took to X to say,

”Whatever the future of games looks like, content will always be king. But it will be a lot harder to get good content if subscription becomes the dominant model and a select group gets to decide what goes to market and what not. Direct from developer to players is the way.”

Whatever the future of games looks like, content will always be king. But it’s going to be a lot harder to get good content if subscription becomes the dominant model and a select group gets to decide what goes to market and what not. Direct from developer to players is the way. https://t.co/wEUvd5adt0

— Swen Vincke @where? (@LarAtLarian) January 17, 2024

Vincke would go on to elaborate in a series of posts that set out the Larian chief’s stall.

“In such a world, by definition, the preference of the subscription service will determine what games get made.” He said of the subscription service driving the development of games, “Trust me – you really don’t want that.”

Vincke has been adamant that the Game Awards 2023 winning Baldur’s Gate will not appear on Game Pass.

Last month, Vincke spoke to IGN about the possibility of Baldur’s Gate 3 appearing on game pass. Vincke said, “Oh, we always said from the get-go, it wasn’t going to be on Game Pass, it’s not going to be on Game Pass. We made a big game, so I think there’s a fair price to be paid for that, and I think that that is okay.”

Two titles hitting Game Pass are Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2, as announced via an incorrect social media notification to Xbox Game Pass subscribers.

So, at least one or two adventures in Faerûn will be accessible on the platform, but according to Vincke, the latest installment never will.

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A new study from BMJ Public Health shows that gamers who have the volume at unsafe levels could be at risk of hearing loss.

The report shows that ”gamers who are listening at high-intensity sound levels and for long periods of time may be at risk of permanent sound-induced hearing loss and tinnitus.”

Headset levels

Gamers typically play for hours at a time, especially on popular online multiplayer titles like Fortnite.

The report shows that ”the average measured sound levels of video games nearly exceeded, or exceeded, permissible sound exposure limits, and on average, individuals played video games for approximately 3 hours per week.”

Sound off

The ideal range for adult listeners was 80 Decibels across a 40-hour working period, according to the World Health Organisation. Still, in the case of video games, there are more infrequent and louder noises — like the noise of a shooter game.

The BJM report calls these ‘impulse sounds’ and ranges in different acceptable limits for adults and children.

The document states that the “audio of video games comprises of (1) sounds of similar intensities, and (2) often (particularly in shooter games), impulse sounds. Permissible exposure limits for impulse sounds vary but are approximately 100 dB for children and 130–140 dB for adults.”

Across the three studies conducted by BMJ that made up the report, there was a difference in gaming behavior; boys, compared to girls, would play video games for a more extended period of time and at a higher sound intensity.

In other gaming listening news, the new Nancon headset boasts an ‘unbreakable headband’ that will delight rage quitters worldwide.

The RIG brand, the 600 PRO HS and 600 PRO HX, are hitting the shelves and work fine with a PC and Nintendo Switch but differ only in the Xbox and PlayStation variants.

Image credit: Cottonbros Studio;  Pexels

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888 Holdings today released its 2023 Post-Close trading update and announced it will cut jobs in a bid to cut costs.

The international betting and gambling company, which owns brands UK bookmaker William Hill, 888, and Mr Green, revealed a £30 million ($37 million) saving plan.

The company noted an 8% decline in total sales across 2023, from £ 1.8 billion ($ 2.2 billion) last year to £ 1.7 billion ($ 2.2 billion) in 2023.

CEO stays positive despite drop in sales

Per Widerström was announced as CEO in July of 2023 and has taken over William Hill amid a rocky year for the firm.

Widerström said, “The financial performance of the Group must improve, and the actions we are taking will build a leaner, more agile, and more effective organization structure.”

“I have been working hard with the Board, our strengthened executive team and the talented people across the business to refine our strategic framework.”

The CEO remained positive about the company’s outlook despite the fall in share price, confidently stating that he is “looking forward to outlining our 2024-2026 plan alongside our full-year results in late March.”

Safer Gambling rules affect 888 profits

The UK will be implementing checks on gamblers across 2024. The move has been made to tighten regulation on betting companies and offer more support to those who are vulnerable to problem gambling.

888 recognized this change to gambling legislation in the trading update, noting that “revenue was further impacted by customer mix changes in the UK as a result of additional safer gambling measures, alongside the change in the Group’s marketing approach to focus more on sustainable revenue and profitability.”

The UK is not the only EU nation to enhance the current rules around gambling legislation as Italy announced a set of changes earlier this month.

Italian gambling agencies have criticized the move by the Economy and Finance (MEF) department of the Italian Government for being too costly.

Image credit: Jonathan Petersson, Pexels.

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A survey of global CEOs found a quarter expect to cut over 5% of staff this year as generative artificial intelligence (AI) rolls out.

In a recently published report ahead of the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, UK accounting giant, Pricewaterhouse Cooper (PwC) found that media, entertainment, banking, insurance, and logistics firms are most likely to cut jobs due to AI automation. These industries anticipate generative tools handling tasks currently done by white-collar workers. Meanwhile, engineering, construction, and technology companies are less likely (but not immune) to be hit by AI disruption.

Industry leaders estimate that inefficient systems and processes cost companies the equivalent of a $10 trillion productivity tax each year. However, roughly 60% of CEOs believe that by adopting generative AI tools that can automate routine tasks, businesses could greatly increase productivity.

The survey takes into account the responses of 4,702 international CEOs, and just under half (45%) believe their current businesses will be out of business in a decade if they do not adapt to emerging technology:

More than half (56%) of the CEOs who responded believe that technological change will drive the way their businesses operate for the next three years.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom. PwC’s Senior Partner, Kevin Ellis found reasons to be optimistic for those in the UK:

“Investment in GenAI does not appear to be at the expense of jobs, with UK bosses predicting more headcount increases than their counterparts overseas, reflecting the resources needed to adopt GenAI and the growth it could bring.”

What is generative AI?

Generative AI is a technology that allows for informational responses, media and content to be generated via text prompts to an artificial intelligence learning model.

Generative AI has been a topic the current U.S. administration wants to have a conclusive say in, ensuring that both workers’ rights and the benefits of the technology are applied ethically.

The U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said “President Biden has been clear — AI is the defining technology of our generation, and we must harness the power of AI for good while protecting people from its risks.”

One such risk has been identified ahead of the U.S. primary elections with state legislators moving to ban AI-generated images, deepfakes and other content that could imitate a candidate.

AI has many applications, but ensuring the safe and ethical use of the technology will no doubt be a dominating factor across 2024.

Image Credit: Unsplash.

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Canadian energy producer Clearview Resources Ltd announced findings surrounding the cyber attack that cost the company $1.1m.

The company released an earlier press statement flagging the events on December 6, 2023.

”Clearview is in the process of assessing the impact on the Company’s operations. We are not aware of any evidence that customer, supplier or employee data has been compromised or misused due to the situation. “

The company brought in Independent security experts to investigate the incident, leading to today’s information on the cyber-attack.

$1.1 million lost

It has now been disclosed that a cybersecurity incident was perpetrated through a compromised email address, which was then used to funnel company funds to a third-party account.

According to the most recent update from the company, Clearview ”experienced a cybersecurity incident whereby an internal email address was compromised and used by fraudulent actors to redirect the transfer of certain Company funds to a third-party account. The crime resulted in the loss of $1.5 million.”

The technology partner of the energy company was contacted immediately, and Clearview restricted several functions. Still, luckily, “no material impact to operations” was recorded once these key business systems were restored.

The company has said it will continue to investigate the events that took place in December last year and hopes to recover the lost funds alongside third-party experts and members of law enforcement.

However the energy provider is realistic that “due to the nature of the cybersecurity

incident, these efforts may not result in the return of all or some of the stolen funds.”

North American data and security

In other data and security news, the Biden Administration has announced new cybersecurity requirements for hospitals.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, a branch of the Department of Health and Human Services, is expected to propose these rules within the next month.

This should lead to further jobs in this sector. In a recent post, we looked at the top Cybersecurity roles across the United States, detailing the best places to work in this emerging American market.

Image Credit: Pixabay; Pexels

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The Billionaire took to X to set out his stall for more voting control in Tesla.

Musk states that he would like a quarter of a say in the technology company’s future:

”I am uncomfortable growing Tesla to be a leader in AI & robotics without having ~25% voting control. Enough to be influential, but not so much that I can’t be overturned.”

I am uncomfortable growing Tesla to be a leader in AI & robotics without having ~25% voting control. Enough to be influential, but not so much that I can’t be overturned.

Unless that is the case, I would prefer to build products outside of Tesla. You don’t seem to understand…

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 15, 2024

AI and robotic voting rights

Musk currently owns 13% of Tesla, so this proposed ultimatum to take hold of 12% would give him a larger voice in the company’s direction.

He would then go on to make a statement on his desire to further develop AI and robotics with Tesla.

However if he has a lack of voting power then Musk said “Unless that (12% increase in shares) is the case, I would prefer to build products outside of Tesla.”

Tesla mainly makes its money from automotive sales rather than any forays into AI or robotics.

Recently a whistleblower stepped forward to raise safety doubts over Tesla’s self-driving cars.

In November of last year a judge ruled that Musk, alongside other chief figures and executives at Telsa knew about shortcomings and defects in the company’s driverless models.

Tesla stocks take a dip

After Musk’s public statement Tesla shares dropped to $214.2, down around 2.1% from Monday. This continues a poor start to the year for the automotive manufacturer.

This is not an isolated occurrence, nor is it the first time an investment led by Musk has failed to improve.

He sold shares in Tesla to fund the takeover of X, formerly known as Twitter. In this move to take over the social media giant Musk assured investors they would not lose out financially.

This was not the case as the $13bn investment to buy the platform left lenders at a loss estimated in the hundreds of millions.

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Saturday witnessed a cyberattack on the Spanish city of Calvià in Majorca, with hackers now demanding 10 million euros to be paid to restore functionality to integral systems.

The Calvià City Council website has been offering updates on the situation, saying the local authority is “working to recover normality as soon as possible, after having been subject, early last Saturday, to a Ransomware cyber attack, through which it is intended to extort money from the council.”

Majorca’s mayor, Juan Antonio Amengual, has reiterated that the extortion attempt will not be answered, as reported in the Majorca Daily Bulletin.

Ransomware attack slows Spanish council.

Amengual took to X to post about the current state of play and mentioned that the council continues to work with experts to stop the attack:

Trabajamos con expertos y otras instituciones para atajar el ciberataque

El Ayuntamiento no se detiene, sigue funcionando algo más lento, pero en marcha

Los hechos han sido denunciados a Guardia Civil pic.twitter.com/GS5a1L0Y0x

— Ajuntament de Calvià – Ayuntamiento de Calviá (@_Calvia) January 15, 2024

In the social media post, he said, “We (Calvià City Council) work with experts and other institutions to stop the cyber attack. The City Council does not stop, it continues to function a little slower, but moving.”

The Calvià City Council will work with the Telematic Crimes Group of the Spanish Civil Guard and hopes to keep residents and onlookers updated through the official website.

Spain and Ukraine are seeing cyberattacks.

Spain is not the only country that has been battling against cyber-security threats like the Ukraine, which has seen national impact of hacking late last year.

The largest telecommunications company, Kiyvstar, and banking power Monobank were subject to the hacking attempt. The cell provider going down would cause a communications blackout for millions.

In the United States, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks and hacking attempts were seen across 2023 for Sony and Open-AI.

Open-AI, creator of ChatGPT reported the “an abnormal traffic pattern” that caused outages for developers in November.

Sony-owned studio Insomniac Games was the focus of one of the most scathing cyber attacks in December 2023.  This would lead to the blackmail of the studio for 50 Bitcoin (BTC), equivalent to around $2 million.

The studio and Sony refused to give in to these demands, resulting in sensitive information being released to the public alongside business strategy and company documents.

Image Credit: Pexels

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The Sci-Fi fantasy robots of the future have gotten a little closer to becoming a reality with record funding announced for 1X Technologies.

The Oslo-based company closed a Series B round with a notable investment of $100 million.

The Norwegian company, backed by Open-AI and Tiger Global, raised $23.5 million in April 2023. This initial Series A2 round of funding paved the path to the recently announced investment milestone.

With the Series A2 and Series B funding rounds closed, the overall backing of the AI and robotics company is an impressive $125 million in less than 12 months.

Sweden’s EQT Ventures led the round alongside global investors such as Samsung NEXT, Skagerak Capital, and Nistad Group.

Ted Persson, Partner, EQT Ventures, said, “From Leonardo da Vinci to today’s sci-fi, humans have dreamt of humanoid robots for over 500 years. It’s a privilege to witness the enabling technologies form in front of our eyes in real-time.”

NEO

The second-generation android known as NEO is the key focus of this new funding.

1X hopes to bring to life the robots seen only in far-flung fantasy settings to undertake household tasks and hopes to offer an “android safe to work among people.”

”We are thrilled that these leading investors are supporting 1X’s mission of safely deploying Androids with Smart Behavior into new markets. Our next milestone will be scaling our data collection strategy for Embodied AI and offering NEO to consumers,” says Bernt Øivind Børnich, CEO of 1X.

Robotics and workers’ rights

Robots operating in the workplace have been a concern of labor activists for some time, prompting the current White House administration to wade into the conversation surrounding AI and the rights of U.S. workers.

The U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo, said, “President Biden has been clear — AI is the defining technology of our generation, and we have an obligation to harness the power of AI for good while protecting people from its risks.”

American companies are unveiling the practical applications of AI chatbots and their integration into existing household names. Volkswagen recently announced at CES 2024 that the new models released by the company will support generative-AI built as standard.

Persson goes on to say, “The impact of androids joining our human workforce, on our terms, will be transformative (to say the least). We’re convinced 1X, with their NEO androids, will play a crucial role in the pioneering steps towards the first forays of our technological and human future.”

Open-AI, one of the significant investors in 1X,  has seen a meteoric surge in interest for ChatGPT across 2023.

With third-party developers looking to adapt the open-source elements of the AI to create more practical uses.

The generative AI software has since released it’s own app marketplace this month, and independent company WeHead has created a human-like visage for the chatbot.

Image credit: 1x Technologies.

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Japanese gaming review site Famitsu published its annual report with Nintendo on top of hardware and packaged software sales in Japan.

The Nintendo Switch is the company’s flagship console. It is now the ripe old age of seven and still hitting the monetary heights.

Switch beats Playstation 5

For the fourth consecutive year, the Japanese hardware market exceeded the previous year’s. Selling an estimated 4.063 million units, the Switch took pride in its place at the top of the charts.

The Nintendo handheld was ahead of second-placed Sony, whose Playstation 5 would move 2.587 million units in the same period. This was double the 2022 figures recorded.

The surge in the Sony device has also been attributed to the easing of the Japanese console shortage.

Nintendo’s top 10 domination

The top 10 games of the year were all Nintendo and Switch titles:

1) The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
2) Super Mario Bros. Wonder
3) Pikmin 4
4) Pokemon Scarlet Violet
5) Momotaro Dentetsu World – The earth revolves around hope!
6) Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
7) Kirby of the Stars Wii Deluxe
8) Dragon Quest Monsters 3: Journey of the Demon Prince and the Elf
9) Splatoon 3
10) Super Mario RPG

The number one spot went to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom in an announcement that surprised no one. As the wait for the iconic character Link ended, his battle to save Hyrule raged on in a new epic adventure.

An estimated 2.264 million units were sold, cementing another year of domination for the iconic brand in the gaming market.

Other Nintendo news

Portable storage partner for the Switch Sandisk announced a new 1TB model with a sleek black-and-good design earlier this month. The new microSDXC somehow succeeds the previous Sandisk models and boasts faster load and transfer times for titles.

Rumors abound of a possible Switch 2 announcement sometime in 2024. However, the news surrounding the release and the hypothetical specs aren’t all good news.

Image credit: Tobiah Ens, Unsplash.

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A Belgian watchdog organization has asked for the age of legal gambling to be raised.

The Flemish Center of expertise on alcohol and other drugs (VAD) has asked Belgium’s government to act on increasing the legal age of all gambling activities to 21.

The partner organization of the Flemish government takes an active approach to prevention and education on topics such as drug and alcohol abuse.

Current minimum age for Belgians

Currently Belgian gambling law allows online betting and lotteries to accept bets from people of 18 years or older, with physical betting accounts restricted to 21 years of age.

Across Europe the average age for gambling accounts is 18, compared to most United States regulators. Many U.S. states require any would-be gambler to have reached 21 before placing their first online or physical bet.

Duty of care introduced by Belgian big six

“Our focus is on creating an environment in which players can participate in games of chance responsibly and safely,” says Tom De Clercq, Chairman of the Belgian Association of Gaming Operators (BAGO).

In November 2023, several Belgian gambling operators signed the Duty of Care Agreement. BAGO comprises the Ardent Group, Betfirst, Golden Palace, Kindred, Napoléon Sports & Casinos, and Star Casino groups.

All made it clear they take political pressure to increase transparency and reform seriously. Damien Thiéry, Secretary General of BAGO, said, “Legal gaming operators want to offer a safe form of entertainment. You simply do not build sustainable economic activity based on addictions.”

The Duty of Care Act has introduced an algorithm-based detection system to identify patterns of  ‘risky behavior’ otherwise known by the act as ‘markers of harm.’

Alongside this, the Belgian Gaming Commission will be given access to the prevention policy to ensure that BAGO’s staff are trained and educated correctly. This will ensure that reality checks and intervention by gambling operators are valuable and helpful to those most at risk.

Belgium isn’t the only EU nation taking on gambling reform, as the Italian Government announced sweeping changes to current gambling legislation. Known as the Reorganisation Decree, the legislation was proposed by the Ministry of the Economy and Finance (MEF).

Image credit: Paul Deetman, Pexels.

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At the Consumer Electronics Show 2024 (CES 2024) car manufacturer Volskwagen announced the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) software in manufacturing.

This first for the automotive industry was presented alongside technology partner Cerence in Las Vegas.

The vehicle powerhouse is set to incorporate the chatbot into the IDA voice assistant feature of forthcoming cars as soon as March 2024.

Democratizing technology

Member of the Board of Management Volkswagen Brand for Technical Development, Kai Grünitz, said, “Volkswagen has always democratized technology and made it accessible to the many.”

Volskwagen’s CES 2024 announcement stated the ID.7, ID.4, ID.5, ID.3, the all-new Tiguan, and the all-new Passat, as well as the new Golf, will all feature this integrated chatbot.

The Volkswagen board member goes on to say, “As a result, we are now the first volume manufacturer to make this innovative technology a standard feature in vehicles from the compact segment upwards. Thanks to the seamless integration of ChatGPT and strong collaboration with our partner, Cerence, we are offering our drivers added value and direct access to the AI-based research tool.”

Current Volkswagen owners with the MEB and MQB EVO models from VW Group will have access to the IDA voice assistant and the Ai chatbot via Cerence Chat Pro.

CEO of Cerence, Stefan Ortmanns, said of the partnership, “With Cerence Chat Pro, VW is empowered with an automotive-grade ChatGPT integration that offers unmatched flexibility, customization, and ease of deployment while prioritizing security and usability for drivers.”

The announcement by Volkswagen reassures owners that personal data is not shared and that the questions and related answers are deleted immediately “to ensure the highest possible level of data protection.”

CES 2024

It has been a busy slate of updates across technology and digital at this year’s Consumer Electronics show.

Check out our CES 2024 preview: How to watch livestreams and the keynote speakers.

CES 2024 runs January 8-11, with over 1,000 exhibitors convening to unveil the next generation of technology products and services.

Image Credit: Volkswagen.

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Promotional social media marketing for Wizards of the Coast’s (WotC) new line contained AI art, sparking frustration amongst the fanbase.

In a post on X, the gaming giant apologized to fans, saying, “We made a mistake earlier when we said that a marketing image we posted was not created using AI.”

Well, we made a mistake earlier when we said that a marketing image we posted was not created using AI. Read on for more. (1/5)

— Magic: The Gathering (@wizards_magic) January 7, 2024

Rethinking the creative

The now-deleted advertising for the new set boasts it is “shocking how good these lands look in a retro frame.”

The Ravnica Remastered set considers art spanning 13 Magic sets across 16 years and hundreds of artists. So, the timing of this faux pas couldn’t have come at a worse time for the gaming industry leader.

In December 2023, Wizards posted an article in the wake of a turbulent month for the Hasbro-owned company. Reiterating to fans that:

“Our internal guidelines remain the same about artificial intelligence tools: We require artists, writers, and creatives contributing to the Magic TCG to refrain from using AI generative tools to create final Magic products.”

Hasbro has recently announced record profits for the last year and massive job cuts totaling 2,000 staff across 2023.

This included members of the Wizards of the Coast art team, so mentions of a need for art and artists in the wake of such a blunder has left an already frustrated community more in doubt about the future of the card game.

Artist takes a stand

Dave Rapoza, whose work with MTG spans multiple sets across recent years, announced he was cutting ties with the company over the furor on X.

And just like that, poof, I’m done working for wizards of the coast – you can’t say you stand against this then blatantly use AI to promote your products, emails sent, good bye you all! https://t.co/RAfJi5NhxR

— Dave Rapoza (@DaveRapoza) January 6, 2024

He would then say, “If you’re gonna stand for something, you better make sure you’re actually paying attention, don’t be lazy, don’t lie.”

Rapoza reiterated that he had the means to retire from MTG art making, but “also, to be clear, I’m quitting because they took a moral stand against AI art like a week ago and then did this, if they said they were going to use AI that’s a different story, but they want to grandstand like heroes and also pull this, that’s goofball shit I won’t support.”

Wizards would then publish an article to their announcements section, stating, “We are rethinking our process of how we work with vendors for our marketing creative.”

Another gaming studio, Square Enix, is facing a community backlash for the upcoming Apex Legends and Final Fantasy collaboration. Fans have been alleging that AI art generation tools were used to craft the new promotional trailer.

In another AI news, an automaton artist gave a journalist pause when interviewing the robot about the application of sources she uses in painting.

Image credit: Wizards of the Coast.

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A U.S. lunar lander launched for the Moon on Monday, the first in over 50 years, has suffered an anomaly.

Peregrine Mission-1 aimed to be the first US craft to moon-land since 1972’s Apollo 17. The launch appeared fine at first but company Astrobotic later said an anomaly occurred post take-off.

An Update on Peregrine Mission One: pic.twitter.com/Q20dGVOMml

— Astrobotic (@astrobotic) January 8, 2024

The launch marks private firms joining the space race to make lunar deliveries for NASA and other clients. It signals a shift towards commercial space travel as NASA relies on companies offering services in place of government-run missions alone. This spacecraft built by a private contractor ushers in new ambitions for corporate involvement in exploration to the moon and beyond after a half-century dry spell since Apollo landings ceased.

NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis program, United Launch Alliance (ULA) and Astrobotic set off from Cape Canaveral. The delivery service is packed full of assorted items including a chunk of Mount Everest, tiny robot cars developed by Mexican university students, and even the remains of legendary fathers of science fiction Gene Roddenberry and Arthur C. Clarke.

Rod Roddenberry the son of Gene, is working with space-memorial company Celestis, to send his father’s and some other notable genetic information into space. This includes Star Trek cast members cremated remains, memory files and DNA capsules of icons Nichelle “Uhura” Nichols, James “Scotty” Doohan, and DeForest “Bones” Kelley.

As reported by space.com, the DNA of George Washington, Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy will also go up amongst the stars in the Celestis payload.

The first U.S. commercial robotic launch to the Moon successfully lifted off Jan. 8 on the first flight of @ULALaunch’s #VulcanRocket. @Astrobotic’s Peregrine Mission 1 lander is expected to reach the lunar surface in February: https://t.co/csvx73ZqgP pic.twitter.com/N7Mxiqi8GC

— NASA (@NASA) January 8, 2024

CEO of Astrobotic, John Thornton praised the launch. “Today Peregrine Mission One achieved a number of big milestones. Peregrine powered on, acquired a signal with Earth, and is now moving through space on its way to the Moon. These successes bring us one step closer to seven nations landing on the Moon, six of which have never been to the Moon before.”

Space, the final frontier

The payload carried by the new Vulcan rocket originates from seven different nations and 16 commercial customers for Astrobotic. With some of the first lunar space payloads from Mexican and German space agencies and the UK’s Peregrine Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer, we reported last week.

The tiny Mexican space robots named COLMENA will be flung from the lander and Mexico’s National Autonomous University (UNAM) hopes they will scrub the surface and atmosphere of the Moon for sample data.

Gustavo Medina-Tanco, Head of Laboratory of Space Instrumentation at UNAM thanked Astrobiotic in a post on Linked in, saying “Dear Astrobotic operations team, thanks for taking care of COLMENA to the Moon.”

Vulcan sets new standards in exploration

United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan is a 61-metre rocket that will replace the Atlas V. It was assembled at Astrobotic’s headquarters in Pittsburgh, PA. The rocket contains parts made by hundreds of suppliers from across the US, including 184 Pennsylvania-based companies.

The development project with Boeing-Lockheed Martin includes engines from Jeff Bezos’s space company Blue Origin.

“Astrobotic would like to thank its suppliers, customers, sponsors, supporters, and 250-employee team, who have worked tirelessly for years to make this moment possible,” said Thornton.

Earlier this month, space exploration rival Space X launched the Starlink program. This satellite hopes to give network service anywhere on Earth.

Image credit: Astrobiotic.

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Věra Jourová, the Vice-President of the European Commission publicly asked for aid from major media companies such as Google and Meta  in the promotion of independent media in Belarus.

In a recent interview with the Financial Times, Jourová said “Fighting disinformation and promoting media freedom are two sides of the same coin — and we want Big Tech to do both.”

Journalists displaced by the current regime of President Alexander Lukashenko – in power since 1994 – have argued that Belarus is at risk of being dominated by state-controlled media that promotes disinformation and leading EU political figures have questioned the way major tech companies promote news articles in the country.

Chair of the delegation for relations with Belarus, Juozas Olekas said “After some time all independent media channels are at the very back of the news feeds,” while “the top news are dominated by Lukashenko’s media and Russian media channels”.

Exiled leader supports decision

Belarus has been in turmoil politically with Lushenko’s heavy involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war and the alleged rigged elections in 2020.

Opposition leader, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya had to leave the country over safety fears amidst her win in the polls, which Lushenko’s regime covered up and responded with a brutal crackdown on protesters. Leading to the arrests of 6,000 individuals and over 500 Belarusian journalists in exile.

She took to X to support the European Commission’s support of “Belarusian independent media fighting the regime’s propaganda”:

Important call by @EU_Commission Vice-President @VeraJourova urging Big-Tech to support Belarusian independent media fighting the regime's propaganda. Especially, platforms should support content in the Belarusian language.https://t.co/8pgDUjAWXL

— Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (@Tsihanouskaya) January 8, 2024

Jouranova goes on to say in her interview that “there are laws and initiatives in the EU to make sure that online platforms are doing the right thing.”

European Media Freedom Act

Last month the European Commission agreed to the European Media Freedom Act, which hopes to bring new rules into place to protect journalists and media freedom across the EU member states – which Belarus is not.

The act is determined to support no interference in editorial decisions of media and to provide a governing European Board for media services, stating that “The Board will also coordinate measures regarding non-EU media that present a risk to public security, and it will organise a structured dialogue between Very Large Online Platforms, the media and the civil society.”

Jourova said “This paramount piece of legislation sets out clear principles and safeguards for media independence. The European Media Freedom Act makes sure that journalists are protected in their work, also against intrusive spyware and that public media does not become a propaganda tool of one party.”

In other security news, Ukrainian media infrastructure was dealt a heavy blow last month with concentrated cyber attacks. This left 24.3 million people across the Russia-Ukraine warzone without access to cell devices and one of the largest banks, Monobank was targeted with a massive denial of service (DDoS).

Image credit: EU Commission.

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OpenAI is set to launch an app store for custom versions of ChatGPT.

The move by OpenAI would allow the GPTs (Generative Pre-trained Transformers) that developers have created with the base version of ChatGPT to be hosted in one repository.

This would be similar to the Google Play or Apple Store, but specifically for the chatbots that can carry out custom tasks.

What is Chat GPT?

ChatGPT is trained on vast amounts of text data from various sources, allowing it to learn patterns, context, and relationships between words.

Although not technically a memory, the pattern process allows the AI to produce an answer to a ‘prompt’ or query.

App library for open-source developers

OpenAI has contacted some of the developers of bespoke GPT apps, as reported by Tech Crunch.

The site is said to have viewed correspondence that asks these developers to follow guidelines to have their creations hosted on the site.

Developers like Rowan Cheung have been posting on X today about the correspondence:

BREAKING: OpenAI GPT store is launching next week.

Users will be able to create and sell their own GPTs for profit. pic.twitter.com/I2BU85nNEc

— Rowan Cheung (@rowancheung) January 4, 2024

OpenAI’s website, updated in November 2023, has a mention of the app store launching “in a month”, however this has been extended to January 2024:

”Starting today, you can create GPTs and share them publicly. Later this month, we’re launching the GPT Store, featuring creations by verified builders. “ The site also states that there will be a competitive ranked leaderboard for the apps.

Some tech observers had thought this blip in progress could be attributed to a problematic December for ChatGPT. With some speculation, the AI chatbot had gotten lazy.

Open AI “will also spotlight the most useful and delightful GPTs we come across in categories like productivity, education, and “just for fun.”

Monetization of ChatGPT has been a significant topic. Critics and developers alike wonder what charges and funds will be generated for using the OpenAI-built system.

”In the coming months, you’ll also be able to earn money based on how many people are using your GPT,” according to ChatGPT’s site.

ChatGPT was the most searched Wikipedia page of 2023, showing the domination of the emerging chatbot across emerging technology.

Image Credit: Photographer, Levart; Unsplash

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Italy is to see sweeping reform brought to its online gambling sector, in the first reorganization of igaming since 2011.

Known as the Reorganisation Decree, the legislation was proposed by the Ministry of the Economy and Finance (MEF) of the Italian Government.

The now-approved decree hopes to protect those vulnerable to gambling such as minors and promote cautionary messaging awhile introducing self-limitation on gambling platforms.

License reform

Italy will now enact a new licensing reform framework with the hope of generating funds to promote responsible gambling campaigns, as reports SBC News.

Operators in Italy known as ‘concessionaires’ will be taxed 3% tax for operating gambling services. Applications for online gambling licenses will now come with a €7m authorization fee.

This is a healthy jump from the current fee of €200,000 and has been criticized by gambling unions in Italy.

Alphabet Inc’s YouTube and popular streaming platform Twitch were fined by Italian lawmakers last month for breaching the terms of the 2019 Dignity Decree which bans gambling advertising.

YouTube was fined €2.25m and Twitch a fee of €900,000, showing Italy is serious about its decision to tighten gambling reform. Italy is not the only country to turn to stricter laws to combat the trials and tribulations of gambling.

The Australian Media and Communications Agency (AMCA) found that some of the top betting sites in Australia have breached in-play betting rules.

This has prompted the parties responsible for the breach to revise their in-play trading rules to avoid a heavy penalty.

Earlier in December 2023 the Australian Federal Parliament also passed legislation banning the use of credit cards to fund online betting accounts.

The New South Wales Government was forced to act as locals in the area had lost a reported $4.3bn to poker machines. A report will be generated by a panel of 16 industry experts to the Australian government that covers 4500 poker machines across 24 local government areas.

Photo Credit: JÉSHOOTS, Pexels.

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Gaming in 2023 has been dominated by the award-winning Baldur’s Gate 3, but the older takes of the fantasy classic have made the headlines.

News of the two previous iterations of the fantasy role-playing setting was mistakenly announced via mobile notifications on the Xbox Game Pass app, according to True Achievements.

Returning to Faerûn

The Xbox Game Pass app seems to have notified subscribers that they can “rediscover two RPG Classics. Customize your hero, recruit brave allies, and explore mystical realms in your search for adventure, profit… and the truth. Play Baldur’s Gate I and II with Game Pass.”

The only thing to be found is the game store page for the vintage gems and they are currently unavailable to Game Pass subscribers.

We can only hope this is a slip from the gaming platform and a sign of things to come with these two highly regarded fantasy adventures.

Baldur’s Gate 3 on Xbox

Baldur’s Gate 3 was released after Larian Studio’s Game Award win in December to the Microsoft-owned console.

Despite the critical acclaim, there has been a bit of a rocky patch for the Xbox version of the game. Coming in at a huge 138GB, the game has required multiple patches to run on the system.

There was also the issue of save games being corrupted and progress being irrecoverable as we reported last week.

Users have complained of losing those long hours tailoring characters and deciding the fate of Faerûn.

After a fix by Larian and Microsoft, there seemed to be some success, but more users are reporting the self-same errors on the console.

Baldur’s Gate has been both a gaming success story and a financial one with license holder Hasbro recording record profits. The CEO of Hasbro decided to axe 1,000 jobs before Christmas and has received universal criticism for the decision to make redundant many Dungeons and Dragons staff who were integral to the game’s success.

Image Credit: Pixabay.

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Student researchers at Google’s DeepMind artificial intelligence (AI) lab have announced the Mobile ALOHA, a bimanual mobile manipulation system to carry out kitchen routines. Or in simpler terms, a robot cook.

Using a blend of robotics and AI imitation learning to complete tasks such as cooking, cleaning, and putting away chairs. The system learns from human behavioral patterns and carries out these instructions set by the human operator.

How does Mobile ALOHA work?

The system aims to focus on more dexterous tasks that robotics generally can’t achieve.

Mobile ALOHA hopes that when shown a task the bimanual robotic system will pick up the steps needed to complete it through the data collected by observing a human.

The team at Standford said of the data collected “with Mobile ALOHA, we then perform supervised behavior cloning and find that co-training with existing static ALOHA datasets boosts performance on mobile manipulation tasks.”

Project Co-Lead Tony Z. Zhao posted a video to X about the robot’s autonomous cooking displays:

Introducing 𝐌𝐨𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐀𝐋𝐎𝐇𝐀 — Hardware!
A low-cost, open-source, mobile manipulator.

One of the most high-effort projects in my past 5yrs! Not possible without co-lead @zipengfu and @chelseabfinn.

At the end, what's better than cooking yourself a meal with the pic.twitter.com/iNBIY1tkcB

— Tony Z. Zhao (@tonyzzhao) January 3, 2024

The team has also stated that with 50 demonstrations of a set task, the Mobile ALOHA can perform “sauteing and serving a piece of shrimp, opening a two-door wall cabinet to store heavy cooking pots, calling and entering an elevator, and lightly rinsing a used pan using a kitchen faucet.”

However, there are significant outtakes where the robotic bumbles, bashes, and gets the tasks wrong, but the display is impressive when the mechanical chef gets it right.

Although this is not exactly the sentient robot chef of the future this does show a significant development in robotic learning from instruction.

The impact of AI on human jobs is yet to be seen, but the current U.S. Administration has taken the first steps to draft AI governance and guidance.

The hope is to find a healthy balance to safeguard current jobs, but to also address the fact that “Artificial intelligence (AI) holds extraordinary potential for both promise and peril.” according to the White House.

One of the key anxieties surrounding AI is the replacement theory that robots will take over the roles of humans. After a recent demonstration of an ultra-realistic robot artist, a journalist was left unnerved by the responses and awareness of the painting automaton.

A robot also bested a human in a physical and mental challenge for the very first time thanks to the AI process of modular learning.

CyberRunnerAI is a robot that learns through progressively storing ‘memories’ of the mistakes and successes that have come before to adapt to real-world challenges.

Image Credit: Pexels.

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Portable storage company Sandisk has announced a new 1TB microSDXC card to give Nintendo Switch users more games on the go.

The model displays one of the most popular Nintendo and Switch logos with Zelda’s Hyrule crest branded in black and gold.

Storage matters for Nintendo Switch

Nintendo Switch users commonly have to delete and reinstall games to manage their extensive libraries on the console.

With the average large game coming in at 10 GB or more, this means a lot of deleting and watching the small progress bar fill up before being able to save the Mushroom Kingdom or traverse the plains of Hyrule.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom takes up 16GB for example, which is one of the biggest on the console.

Sandisk has released previous microSD cards to enable more storage for the Switch, with the most notable being the previous Zelda microSD with 400GB max capacity and a smaller Fortnite version at 256GB.

The new 1TB microSDXC succeeds the previous model in some way and also boasts faster load and transfer times for titles.

Western Digital, the parent company of Sandisk says the portable storage gives “transfer rates up to 100MB/s2, the SanDisk microSDXC card for Nintendo Switch Systems delivers consistent high performance so you can load games fast.”

With a rumored new portable console coming from Nintendo, possibly a Nintendo Switch 2, gamers will be happy that storage support is available for the original and OLED models.

Nintendo reportedly showed off new hardware at Germany’s Gamescom last September.

The Japanese gaming institution is also closing the lid on services for its 3DS and Wii U platforms in early April 2024.

Both of the platforms were discontinued on the Nintendo eshop, but gamers were reassured that they could still download and access these titles until Spring.

Last month Nintendo allowed gamers to look back on their 2023 in review, with progress tracking and an accessible snapshot of the titles played, achievements unlocked, and the digital places they adventured across.

Picture: Pexels

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Xbox Game Pass is a staple for players who have chosen the Microsoft side of the street when it comes to console gaming, and they gave gamers nearly $9000 worth of games to play in the year 2023.

Prices rose for Game Pass in the latter part of last year, but overall, there is a lot of value to be had in the monthly gaming subscription.

According to True Achievement’s math, this would work out at a healthy $8763 for all the games available to Xbox gamers in 2023.

Game Pass allows subscribers to play some of the larger games on the day of release — unlike competitor Sony, which keeps the newest games separate from its online PlayStation Plus monthly subscription package.

XBox’s 2023

Xbox announced its year in review for gamers. With over 36,000 games played, 4.5 billion individual achievements unlocked, and a total gaming score of 91 billion.

Microsoft’s monthly gaming pass had some real marquee exclusives last year, including Bethesda’s Starfield and Forza Motorsport.

Forza Motorsport kept driving simulation fans happy, and the developers took home Best Sports / Racing and the Innovation in Accessibility trophies at the Game Awards 2023.

Hi-Fi Rush, the cell-shaded combat game, Sea of Stars and Pinoccio-inspired horror game, and Lives of P, were also notable highlights of a busy 2023 on Game Pass.

Microsoft eclipses Sony for the first time

Sony was overtaken by Microsoft for the very first time in the wake of the takeover of Activision/Blizzzard in late 2023.

Sony was also the target of hacks that disclosed confidential documents and strategic information about Microsoft “overtaking” the Japanese tech giant’s gaming arm.

Gamers on the Microsoft console have a lot to look forward to in 2024. With games like Ubisoft’s Skull and Bones and an open-world Star Wars Outlaws planned.

Image Credit: Bryce Carithers, Pexels.

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