Month: May 2024
Zotac teases OLED gaming handheld to rival the Steam Deck
Image: Zotac
Zotac is getting into portable PC gaming. The company has started to tease the Zotac Zone, a gaming handheld with a seven-inch, high-refresh-rate, touch-enabled screen and two-stage adjustable triggers. Its display will also come with one spec many of its rivals lack: OLED.
Right now, the Steam Deck and the Nintendo Switch are the only two gaming handhelds with OLED display options. This could help set the Zotac Zone apart from an increasingly crowded handheld gaming market, which also includes the Asus Rog Ally, MSI Claw, and the Lenovo Legion Go.
Thanks to @prudis06 for brightening this image up.Looks like @ZOTAC is getting into the handheld game. I wonder if this is just a re-badge. pic.twitter.com/5gkgnPdzPQ— Cary Golomb (@carygolomb) May 29, 2024
Zotac will reveal more details about the handheld during its appearance at Computex next week. But it doesn’t seem like the Zotac Zone is ready to launch just yet, as Zotac says it will have “functional prototypes” at the event for visitors to try.
Meanwhile, other hardware companies are preparing the next iterations of their handhelds. Asus plans on revealing the ROG Ally X on June 2nd, while rumors suggest that Lenovo is working on a “Lite” version of the Legion Go.
Image: Zotac
Zotac is getting into portable PC gaming. The company has started to tease the Zotac Zone, a gaming handheld with a seven-inch, high-refresh-rate, touch-enabled screen and two-stage adjustable triggers. Its display will also come with one spec many of its rivals lack: OLED.
Right now, the Steam Deck and the Nintendo Switch are the only two gaming handhelds with OLED display options. This could help set the Zotac Zone apart from an increasingly crowded handheld gaming market, which also includes the Asus Rog Ally, MSI Claw, and the Lenovo Legion Go.
Thanks to @prudis06 for brightening this image up.
Looks like @ZOTAC is getting into the handheld game.
I wonder if this is just a re-badge. pic.twitter.com/5gkgnPdzPQ
— Cary Golomb (@carygolomb) May 29, 2024
Zotac will reveal more details about the handheld during its appearance at Computex next week. But it doesn’t seem like the Zotac Zone is ready to launch just yet, as Zotac says it will have “functional prototypes” at the event for visitors to try.
Meanwhile, other hardware companies are preparing the next iterations of their handhelds. Asus plans on revealing the ROG Ally X on June 2nd, while rumors suggest that Lenovo is working on a “Lite” version of the Legion Go.
OpenAI announces new Safety and Security Committee as the AI race hots up and concerns grow around ethics
OpenAI has established a Safety and Security Committee to address ethical concerns amid its pursuit of AGI.
OpenAI, the tech company behind ChatGPT, has announced that it’s formed a ‘Safety and Security Committee’ that’s intended to make the firm’s approach to AI more responsible and consistent in terms of security.
It’s no secret that OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman – who will be on the committee – want to be the first to reach AGI (Artificial General Intelligence), which is broadly considered as achieving artificial intelligence that will resemble human-like intelligence and can teach itself. Having recently debuted GPT-4o to the public, OpenAI is already training the next-generation GPT model, which it expects to be one step closer to AGI.
GPT-4o was debuted on May 13 to the public as a next-level multimodal (capable of processing in multiple ‘modes’) generative AI model, able to deal with input and respond with audio, text, and images. It was met with a generally positive reception, but more discussion around the innovation has since arisen regarding its actual capabilities, implications, and the ethics around technologies like it.
Just over a week ago, OpenAI confirmed to Wired that its previous team responsible for overseeing the safety of its AI models had been disbanded and reabsorbed into other existing teams. This followed the notable departures of key company figures like OpenAI co-founder and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, and co-lead of the AI safety ‘superalignment’ team Jan Leike. Their departure was reportedly related to their concerns that OpenAI, and Altman in particular, was not doing enough to develop its technologies responsibly, and was forgoing conducting due diligence.
This has seemingly given OpenAI a lot to reflect on and it’s formed the oversight committee in response. In the announcement post about the committee being formed, OpenAI also states that it welcomes a ‘robust debate at this important moment.’ The first job of the committee will be to “evaluate and further develop OpenAI’s processes and safeguards” over the next 90 days, and then share recommendations with the company’s board.
(Image credit: Bild von Free Photos auf Pixabay)
What happens after the 90 days?
The recommendations that are subsequently agreed upon to be adopted will be shared publicly “in a manner that is consistent with safety and security.”
The committee will be made up of Chairman Bret Taylor, CEO of Quora Adam D’Angelo, and Nicole Seligman, a former executive of Sony Entertainment, alongside six OpenAI employees which includes Sam Altman as mentioned, and John Schulman, a researcher and cofounder of OpenAI. According to Bloomberg, OpenAI stated that it will also consult external experts as part of this process.
I’ll reserve my judgment for when OpenAI’s adopted recommendations are published, and I can see how they’re implemented, but intuitively, I don’t have the greatest confidence that OpenAI (or any major tech firm) is prioritizing safety and ethics as much as they are trying to win the AI race.
That’s a shame, and it’s unfortunate that generally speaking, those who are striving to be the best no matter what are often slow to consider the cost and effects of their actions, and how they might impact others in a very real way – even if large numbers of people are potentially going to be affected.
I’ll be happy to be proven wrong and I hope I am, and in an ideal world, all tech companies, whether they’re in the AI race or not, should prioritize the ethics and safety of what they’re doing at the same level that they strive for innovation. So far in the realm of AI, that does not appear to be the case from where I’m standing, and unless there are real consequences, I don’t see companies like OpenAI being swayed that much to change their overall ethos or behavior.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE…
What is OpenAI’s Sora? The text-to-video tool explainedSam Altman is back in the driver’s seat at OpenAI – next stop Judgement Day?Stack Overflow signs deal with OpenAI to strengthen models on its data
Vox Media and The Atlantic sign content deals with OpenAI
Image: The Verge
Two more media companies have signed licensing agreements with OpenAI, allowing their content to be used to train its AI models and be shared inside of ChatGPT. The Atlantic and Vox Media — The Verge’s parent company — both announced deals with OpenAI on Wednesday.
OpenAI has been quickly signing partnerships across the media world as it seeks to license training data and avoid copyright lawsuits. It’s recently reached deals with News Corp (The Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, and The Daily Telegraph), Axel Springer (Business Insider and Politico), DotDash Meredith (People, Better Homes & Gardens, Investopedia, Food & Wine, and InStyle), the Financial Times, and The Associated Press.
The deals appear to range in price based on the number of publications included. News Corp’s deal with OpenAI is estimated to be worth $250 million over the next five years, according to the Journal, while the deal with the Financial Times is believed to be worth $5 to $10 million. Terms for the deals with The Atlantic and Vox Media weren’t disclosed.
OpenAI has been trying to avoid copyright lawsuits over training data and attribution
The agreements also cover how content from the publishers is displayed inside of ChatGPT. Content from Vox Media — including articles from The Verge, Vox, New York Magazine, Eater, SBNation, and their archives — and The Atlantic will get attribution links when it’s cited.
Vox Media will begin sharing content with OpenAI beginning next week, Lauren Starke, a Vox Media spokesperson, tells The Verge. Starke declined to share the terms of the deal. Vox Media says in a press release that it will use OpenAI’s technology to “enhance its affiliate commerce product, The Strategist Gift Scout” and expand its ad data platform, Forte.
The Atlantic says it is developing a microsite called Atlantic Labs, where its teams can experiment with developing AI tools “to serve its journalism and readers better.” Anna Bross, a spokesperson for The Atlantic, declined to disclose the terms of its deals in an email to The Verge.
The deals also appear to provide OpenAI with protection against copyright lawsuits. Content creators ranging from comedians to newspapers have argued that OpenAI’s training of its tools on their work — and ChatGPT’s subsequent ability to recite parts of their work — is a violation of their copyright.
The New York Times is currently suing OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement over ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot. The paper has said it’s spent $1 million so far on the lawsuit. The New York Daily News, the Chicago Tribune, The Intercept, and six other publishers later filed a lawsuit over similar claims.
Image: The Verge
Two more media companies have signed licensing agreements with OpenAI, allowing their content to be used to train its AI models and be shared inside of ChatGPT. The Atlantic and Vox Media — The Verge’s parent company — both announced deals with OpenAI on Wednesday.
OpenAI has been quickly signing partnerships across the media world as it seeks to license training data and avoid copyright lawsuits. It’s recently reached deals with News Corp (The Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, and The Daily Telegraph), Axel Springer (Business Insider and Politico), DotDash Meredith (People, Better Homes & Gardens, Investopedia, Food & Wine, and InStyle), the Financial Times, and The Associated Press.
The deals appear to range in price based on the number of publications included. News Corp’s deal with OpenAI is estimated to be worth $250 million over the next five years, according to the Journal, while the deal with the Financial Times is believed to be worth $5 to $10 million. Terms for the deals with The Atlantic and Vox Media weren’t disclosed.
The agreements also cover how content from the publishers is displayed inside of ChatGPT. Content from Vox Media — including articles from The Verge, Vox, New York Magazine, Eater, SBNation, and their archives — and The Atlantic will get attribution links when it’s cited.
Vox Media will begin sharing content with OpenAI beginning next week, Lauren Starke, a Vox Media spokesperson, tells The Verge. Starke declined to share the terms of the deal. Vox Media says in a press release that it will use OpenAI’s technology to “enhance its affiliate commerce product, The Strategist Gift Scout” and expand its ad data platform, Forte.
The Atlantic says it is developing a microsite called Atlantic Labs, where its teams can experiment with developing AI tools “to serve its journalism and readers better.” Anna Bross, a spokesperson for The Atlantic, declined to disclose the terms of its deals in an email to The Verge.
The deals also appear to provide OpenAI with protection against copyright lawsuits. Content creators ranging from comedians to newspapers have argued that OpenAI’s training of its tools on their work — and ChatGPT’s subsequent ability to recite parts of their work — is a violation of their copyright.
The New York Times is currently suing OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement over ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot. The paper has said it’s spent $1 million so far on the lawsuit. The New York Daily News, the Chicago Tribune, The Intercept, and six other publishers later filed a lawsuit over similar claims.
Snag Our Favorite Durable Bluetooth Speaker for Only $60 – CNET
For a limited time only, one of our favorite Bluetooth speakers can be yours for 40% off retail price.
For a limited time only, one of our favorite Bluetooth speakers can be yours for 40% off retail price.
Best Vector class in XDefiant and how to unlock
There are a bunch of different weapons you can wield in XDefiant but most struggle to match the up close… Continue reading Best Vector class in XDefiant and how to unlock
The post Best Vector class in XDefiant and how to unlock appeared first on ReadWrite.
There are a bunch of different weapons you can wield in XDefiant but most struggle to match the up close and personal power of the Vector.
It is however a gun that needs tweaks to make it work in a variety of scenarios, so we’ve gone ahead and crafted the best Vector loadout for you so you can get to using it to its fullest.
It will also need unlocking though, so we’ll walk you through what you need to do to add the Vector to your XDefiant arsenal.
Best Vector loadout in XDefiant
As promised, here is the best Vector class we’ve found, allowing for the gun to be used on a variety of maps without having to worry about it being too short-ranged.
Muzzle: Barrel Extender
Front Rail: Vertical Grip
Magazine: Ex Mag
Rear Grip: Heavy Grip
Stock: Reinforced Stock
When you look at the stats of how these influence the gun, the Mobility appears to be in the red but since it’s an SMG, you should be moving fluidly anyway.
The Vertical Grip and Ex Mag are absolute non-negotiables on a gun like this since it kicks so much and goes through bullets in almost an instant. Obviously, these two attachments effectively counter this directly and will enable you to also be more accurate in those medium to long-range battles.
Speaking of longer-range fights, the Barrel Extender will definitely aid you here but since the Vector is supposed to be used in more close-range combat, it does still require you to be smart and play the angles a bit more.
How to unlock Vector in XDefiant
Like other guns like the MP7 and ACR, the Vector is unfortunately not made available until you complete a challenge.
The challenge that you’ll need to focus on for this one is pretty simple as it isn’t overly specific, it’ll just take a little time.
Your task is to deal 10,000 damage with SMGs, which is an easy one in the grand scheme of things since you can just use the default MP5 class right out of the gate and spray in those close-quarter situations.
Once you make the gun yours, grind those attachments out and you’ll have what is probably the best close-range loadout in the game, making mince meat of your opponents on tighter maps.
The post Best Vector class in XDefiant and how to unlock appeared first on ReadWrite.
Google launches Fitbit Ace LTE, a new connected smartwatch that lets kids call, chat, and play
As Google grapples with backlash from the hasty rollout of its AI Overview, the tech behemoth is forging ahead with notable advancements in the wearable tech sector. On Wednesday, Google debuted the Fitbit Ace LTE, a pioneering connected smartwatch designed
The post Google launches Fitbit Ace LTE, a new connected smartwatch that lets kids call, chat, and play first appeared on Tech Startups.
As Google grapples with backlash from the hasty rollout of its AI Overview, the tech behemoth is forging ahead with notable advancements in the wearable tech sector. On Wednesday, Google debuted the Fitbit Ace LTE, a pioneering connected smartwatch designed […]
The post Google launches Fitbit Ace LTE, a new connected smartwatch that lets kids call, chat, and play first appeared on Tech Startups.