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Integrating IVAS with Anduril’s Lattice software aims to keep soldiers informed of battlespace threats. | Image: Anduril

Anduril Industries, the military tech company started by Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey, is teaming up with Microsoft to improve the mixed-reality headsets used by the United States Army. The project announced by Anduril will embed the company’s Lattice software into the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS), allowing the HoloLens-based goggles to update soldiers with live information pulled from drones, ground vehicles, and aerial defense systems.
The partnership marks a return to the VR headset space for Luckey, having sold Oculus to Meta for $2 billion in 2014. Luckey started Anduril in 2017 with support from venture capitalist Peter Thiel.
The Lattice integration with IVAS could alert wearers to incoming threats picked up by an air defense system, for example, even when outside of visual range. “The idea is to enhance soldiers,” Luckey said in an interview with Wired, “Their visual perception, audible perception — basically to give them all the vision that Superman has, and then some, and make them more lethal.”
Luckey likened the IVAS project to the infantry headsets that featured in Robert Heinlein’s 1950s Starship Troopers novel, telling Wired that the headset is “already coming together exactly the way that the sci-fi authors thought that it would.”
The initial IVAS headset developed by Microsoft in 2021 combined integrated thermal and night-vision imaging sensors into a heads-up display, but reportedly caused headaches, nausea, and eyestrain during testing. Microsoft improved the design to correct these issues last year, and told Wired that the IVAS platform will be “refined further” following additional tests taking place in early 2025. The US Army previously said it plans to spend up to $21.9 billion over the 10-year IVAS project contract.

Integrating IVAS with Anduril’s Lattice software aims to keep soldiers informed of battlespace threats. | Image: Anduril

Anduril Industries, the military tech company started by Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey, is teaming up with Microsoft to improve the mixed-reality headsets used by the United States Army. The project announced by Anduril will embed the company’s Lattice software into the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS), allowing the HoloLens-based goggles to update soldiers with live information pulled from drones, ground vehicles, and aerial defense systems.

The partnership marks a return to the VR headset space for Luckey, having sold Oculus to Meta for $2 billion in 2014. Luckey started Anduril in 2017 with support from venture capitalist Peter Thiel.

The Lattice integration with IVAS could alert wearers to incoming threats picked up by an air defense system, for example, even when outside of visual range. “The idea is to enhance soldiers,” Luckey said in an interview with Wired, “Their visual perception, audible perception — basically to give them all the vision that Superman has, and then some, and make them more lethal.”

Luckey likened the IVAS project to the infantry headsets that featured in Robert Heinlein’s 1950s Starship Troopers novel, telling Wired that the headset is “already coming together exactly the way that the sci-fi authors thought that it would.”

The initial IVAS headset developed by Microsoft in 2021 combined integrated thermal and night-vision imaging sensors into a heads-up display, but reportedly caused headaches, nausea, and eyestrain during testing. Microsoft improved the design to correct these issues last year, and told Wired that the IVAS platform will be “refined further” following additional tests taking place in early 2025. The US Army previously said it plans to spend up to $21.9 billion over the 10-year IVAS project contract.

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Photo by Abigail Bassett for The Verge

BMW of North America struck a deal to recycle lithium-ion batteries from all of its electrified vehicles with Redwood Materials, the companies announced today.
The German automaker said it would instruct its dealers to send old batteries from all of its electrified models, including battery-electric, hybrid, mild hybrid, and plug-in hybrid vehicles from brands like BMW, Mini, and Rolls-Royce, to Redwood for recycling.
Redwood, which was founded by Tesla cofounder and ex-chief technology officer JB Straubel, will handle the end-of-life batteries at its two facilities. One facility is in Reno, Nevada, and the other, which is still under construction, will be in Charleston, South Carolina — somewhat near BMW’s Spartanburg and Woodruff plants. The automaker’s battery cell manufacturer, AESC, is also located nearby in Florence, South Carolina.

Redwood wouldn’t share which specific materials from BMW will be recycled, but in past deals, the company has processed cathode and anode material, which are key ingredients in lithium-ion batteries. The company takes the materials and transforms them into “high-quality” battery materials that can then be sold back to its many partners to make new EV batteries. Around 95–98 percent of these materials are eventually recovered and returned to the supply chain, Redwood says.
Redwood praised BMW as a “pioneer in electrification,” citing the introduction of the i3 hatchback EV in 2013. (BMW later discontinued the i3.) The automaker has said that by 2030 it will have at least six all-electric models under production in the US. BMW currently has several electric models for sale in the US, including the i7, the i4, and the iX SUV.
Redwood Materials was founded in 2017 by Straubel. In addition to breaking down scrap from BMW’s battery-making process, the company also recycles EV batteries from Tesla, Ford, General Motors, Toyota, Nissan, Specialized, Amazon, Lyft, Rad Power Bikes, and others. Redwood is also recycling stationary batteries, like at a storage substation in Hawaii.
Many of the batteries from those first-wave electric vehicles, like the Nissan Leaf, the Tesla Model S, and the BMW i3, are just now reaching the end of their lifespan and are in need of recycling. After receiving batteries from its various partners, Redwood begins a chemical recycling process in which it strips out and refines the relevant elements, like nickel, cobalt, and copper.

Photo by Abigail Bassett for The Verge

BMW of North America struck a deal to recycle lithium-ion batteries from all of its electrified vehicles with Redwood Materials, the companies announced today.

The German automaker said it would instruct its dealers to send old batteries from all of its electrified models, including battery-electric, hybrid, mild hybrid, and plug-in hybrid vehicles from brands like BMW, Mini, and Rolls-Royce, to Redwood for recycling.

Redwood, which was founded by Tesla cofounder and ex-chief technology officer JB Straubel, will handle the end-of-life batteries at its two facilities. One facility is in Reno, Nevada, and the other, which is still under construction, will be in Charleston, South Carolina — somewhat near BMW’s Spartanburg and Woodruff plants. The automaker’s battery cell manufacturer, AESC, is also located nearby in Florence, South Carolina.

Redwood wouldn’t share which specific materials from BMW will be recycled, but in past deals, the company has processed cathode and anode material, which are key ingredients in lithium-ion batteries. The company takes the materials and transforms them into “high-quality” battery materials that can then be sold back to its many partners to make new EV batteries. Around 95–98 percent of these materials are eventually recovered and returned to the supply chain, Redwood says.

Redwood praised BMW as a “pioneer in electrification,” citing the introduction of the i3 hatchback EV in 2013. (BMW later discontinued the i3.) The automaker has said that by 2030 it will have at least six all-electric models under production in the US. BMW currently has several electric models for sale in the US, including the i7, the i4, and the iX SUV.

Redwood Materials was founded in 2017 by Straubel. In addition to breaking down scrap from BMW’s battery-making process, the company also recycles EV batteries from Tesla, Ford, General Motors, Toyota, Nissan, Specialized, Amazon, Lyft, Rad Power Bikes, and others. Redwood is also recycling stationary batteries, like at a storage substation in Hawaii.

Many of the batteries from those first-wave electric vehicles, like the Nissan Leaf, the Tesla Model S, and the BMW i3, are just now reaching the end of their lifespan and are in need of recycling. After receiving batteries from its various partners, Redwood begins a chemical recycling process in which it strips out and refines the relevant elements, like nickel, cobalt, and copper.

Read More 

Black and custom blasted, like my soul.

It makes no sense to upgrade based on color alone. Or does it? You don’t need the black Apple Watch Ultra 2.
There’s nothing truly new here. This is the same as the regular Ultra 2. The only difference is that this is black. That’s it. It bears reminding: the Ultra 2 is $800. I think we, rational human beings, can all agree it would be simply ludicrous to upgrade for just a new color. This would be a no-brainer if the black Ultra 2 was ugly.
Alas, it looks sick as hell.

I am channeling vampire assassin. I am corporate goth chic. I am Batman.

This is the Apple Watch Batman would buy. Never mind that it’s a mini brick on my wrists. Sliding it on for a photoshoot, I feel something wash over me. No longer am I a sleep-deprived tech reviewer hunched over an overpriced coffee. I’m a leather-clad vampire assassin calmly sipping espresso on a cobblestone street. With the new Reflections watchface in black, I immediately level up 1,000 mystery points. When I switch to the Flux watchface, I’ve morphed into a tech-savvy corporate goth. A grown-up former emo gal who, by day, files taxes on time but still spiritually sticks it to the man because, look, I wore my combat boots to work. (Never mind that they have orthopedic insoles.) I pose for the pictures here, and a Wall Street girlie walks past me. “Get it, sis,” she says, eyeing my all-black ensemble.
I feel powerful.

You just feel powerful in an all-black ensemble.

When I return to the office, Verge staffers who already have Ultras descend upon my desk. Their faces are pinched, pained. They look at me, eyes hopeful, and ask, “Should I buy this?” And I whisper, “No.” We all know this is futile. The only way to end temptation is to give in to it. We go through the motions anyway.
Nothing I do with this new black Ultra 2 is any different than my regular Ultra 2. And yet, the latter seems forlorn and shabby on the charger next to the matte darkness of this inky usurper. Until I notice a nigh imperceptible nick. Really, you wouldn’t see it unless I pointed it out to you. I only notice it because I keep staring at this watch. But now, I’m wondering how scratch-resistant the custom-blasted black titanium finish with “diamond-like carbon physical vapor deposition coating” really is. The only way to find out is through rigorous long-term testing. I resolve to wear the cool black watch more. For science. Not at all because I want to feel cool.

While writing this, I struggle to pick which of these sick photos will eventually make it onto the site. The aura is impeccable. After a bit, I start to feel philosophical about colors on personal gadgets. Why does the pink iPhone 16 spark joy, while my “deep purple” iPhone 14 Pro Max fills me with incandescent rage? Why do I get irrationally happy when something comes in a color that I like? Why does finding the perfect nail polish color scratch a deep-seated itch in my brain? I fall down a Wikipedia rabbit hole, but the ultimate answer is because I like it and it makes me feel something. Life is hard, the news is bleak, and with each passing year, I am acutely aware of how infrequently I allow myself to feel childlike joy.
It makes absolutely no logical sense to buy the black Ultra 2 — especially if you already have one. Yet, not every purchase has to be made with your brain. Sometimes, and only if it causes no harm, you can buy something simply because it’s fun.

Black and custom blasted, like my soul.

It makes no sense to upgrade based on color alone. Or does it?

You don’t need the black Apple Watch Ultra 2.

There’s nothing truly new here. This is the same as the regular Ultra 2. The only difference is that this is black. That’s it. It bears reminding: the Ultra 2 is $800. I think we, rational human beings, can all agree it would be simply ludicrous to upgrade for just a new color. This would be a no-brainer if the black Ultra 2 was ugly.

Alas, it looks sick as hell.

This is the Apple Watch Batman would buy. Never mind that it’s a mini brick on my wrists. Sliding it on for a photoshoot, I feel something wash over me. No longer am I a sleep-deprived tech reviewer hunched over an overpriced coffee. I’m a leather-clad vampire assassin calmly sipping espresso on a cobblestone street. With the new Reflections watchface in black, I immediately level up 1,000 mystery points. When I switch to the Flux watchface, I’ve morphed into a tech-savvy corporate goth. A grown-up former emo gal who, by day, files taxes on time but still spiritually sticks it to the man because, look, I wore my combat boots to work. (Never mind that they have orthopedic insoles.) I pose for the pictures here, and a Wall Street girlie walks past me. “Get it, sis,” she says, eyeing my all-black ensemble.

I feel powerful.

When I return to the office, Verge staffers who already have Ultras descend upon my desk. Their faces are pinched, pained. They look at me, eyes hopeful, and ask, “Should I buy this?” And I whisper, “No.” We all know this is futile. The only way to end temptation is to give in to it. We go through the motions anyway.

Nothing I do with this new black Ultra 2 is any different than my regular Ultra 2. And yet, the latter seems forlorn and shabby on the charger next to the matte darkness of this inky usurper. Until I notice a nigh imperceptible nick. Really, you wouldn’t see it unless I pointed it out to you. I only notice it because I keep staring at this watch. But now, I’m wondering how scratch-resistant the custom-blasted black titanium finish with “diamond-like carbon physical vapor deposition coating” really is. The only way to find out is through rigorous long-term testing. I resolve to wear the cool black watch more. For science. Not at all because I want to feel cool.

While writing this, I struggle to pick which of these sick photos will eventually make it onto the site. The aura is impeccable. After a bit, I start to feel philosophical about colors on personal gadgets. Why does the pink iPhone 16 spark joy, while my “deep purple” iPhone 14 Pro Max fills me with incandescent rage? Why do I get irrationally happy when something comes in a color that I like? Why does finding the perfect nail polish color scratch a deep-seated itch in my brain? I fall down a Wikipedia rabbit hole, but the ultimate answer is because I like it and it makes me feel something. Life is hard, the news is bleak, and with each passing year, I am acutely aware of how infrequently I allow myself to feel childlike joy.

It makes absolutely no logical sense to buy the black Ultra 2 — especially if you already have one. Yet, not every purchase has to be made with your brain. Sometimes, and only if it causes no harm, you can buy something simply because it’s fun.

Read More 

Image: Disney

Disney Plus’ new WandaVision spinoff series steers clear of the franchise’s multiversal messiness to do its own thing. WandaVision’s inventive approach to blending different storytelling genres made it one of the most compelling pieces of television Marvel has ever produced. The show became appointment viewing week after week as it fleshed out its central mystery in a way that was fun to follow along with. And for a while, it felt like WandaVision’s story was part of an ambitious plan to push Marvel’s films in an interesting new direction.
Marvel seemingly lost the thread of that plan somewhere between WandaVision and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness — a follow-up film that glossed over the show’s juicy emotional beats in favor of dizzying spectacle and more explicitly horror vibes. But Agatha All Along, Disney Plus’ newest MCU series from showrunner Jac Schaeffer, feels like a sign that the studio has learned a few valuable lessons from its messy multiversal experiment.
Set a few years after the events of WandaVision and Multiverse of Madness, Agatha All Along picks up the story of its titular sorceress (Kathryn Hahn) at a time when everything about her world appears to be coming undone yet again — albeit under slightly different circumstances. Though almost everyone remembers what went down the last time witches showed up in Westview, New Jersey, the town’s actually a pretty peaceful place where people have learned to move on with their lives.

While folks like Sharon Davis (Debra Jo Rupp) have gotten used to scurrying past the vacant lot where the Maximoff / Vision family used to live, their collective trauma keeps them from saying her name out of fear that she might come back. But it also makes it easy for them to accept Agnes / Agatha Harkness (Hahn) as an ordinary, if eccentric, woman who’s trying to handle something they’ve all gone through. To them, Agatha’s mood swings and insistence on being called “Agnes” are just quirky coping mechanisms. But in truth, those are some of the first signs of Agatha becoming aware of the magical prison she became trapped in when last we saw her.
Agatha All Along seems like it’s angling for a slow burn at first as it drops you into a WandaVision-esque send-up of crime dramas (rather than sitcoms) like Mare of Easttown and True Detective. But the show quickly switches gears in a way that reads like Marvel understanding the show’s need to move past its predecessors’ inspired gimmick. It isn’t long before Agatha snaps back to her senses with the help of former lover Rio Vidal (Aubrey Plaza) and a magically adept teen she calls Teen (Joe Locke). With all of Agatha’s powers now gone, however, she has to form a coven and journey on the Witches’ Road in order to restore herself to her former glory.
Whereas WandaVision only really became properly witchy in its last few episodes, Agatha All Along dives right into the magic as it focuses on painting a more detailed picture of who Harkness is and how witchcraft (which is distinct from Doctor Strange’s whole deal) works. WandaVision alluded to Agatha’s treacherous past, but the new show explores how her centuries-long path to acquiring power made her a reviled villain in the witch community long before she ever set foot in Westview.
Sitcom Agnes / Agatha was a highlight in WandaVision, where her unhinged energy helped sell the show’s conceit and leave viewers guessing as to who was really pulling everyone’s strings. But Agatha All Along gives Hahn even more room to flex and vamp as Agatha’s hunt for a coven leads her to other witches like wellness guru Jennifer Kale (Sasheer Zamata), fortune teller Lilia Calderu (Patti LuPone), and security guard Alice Wu-Gulliver (Ali Ahn) — all of whom see her as a threat. They know Agatha’s killed members of her own coven before and that there’s something off about the way that Teen is unable to tell them anything about where he comes from. But the Witches’ Road can give each of them something they desperately want if they join Agatha on her quest.

Image: Marvel Television

Though it’s interesting to see more of Marvel’s more “grounded” magical world fleshed out through Agatha All Along’s new characters, the show has a pronounced “I’m putting together a rag-tag team” vibe that makes its beats feel formulaic in moments. Teen — a gothy Agatha fanboy Locke plays with charm and with a noticeably difficult-to-place accent — is meant to be one of the show’s compelling mysteries. But he’s also an audience surrogate whose inquisitive exchanges with the other witches sometimes come across like the show taking a moment to overexplain plot points that don’t really need spelling out.
Every bit of worldbuilding lore the show establishes — within a three-mile radius, there are always enough “witchy enough” people to form a coven, for instance — is followed up with a reiteration of why everyone’s following Agatha. Occasionally, it makes the show feel uncertain of whether it’s introducing too much lore. But when Agatha All Along leans into its weirdness and trusts you to piece things together, the series becomes much more of a spooky joyride that feels reflective of Schaeffer once again trying to bring a genuinely unique energy to the MCU.
You can feel and see this clearly once the gang is actually on the Witches’ Road — an otherworldly realm where they face a series of trials meant to test their knowledge of magic. Similar to the way WandaVision embodied the styles of various sitcoms, Agatha All Along feels like an ode (music features largely) to horror classics like Rosemary’s Baby and newer fare like American Horror Story: Coven.

Image: Chuck Zlotnick

Though some of the trials skew a bit cheesy — at one point, the witches fight a generational curse — they each highlight just how much of Agatha All Along’s magic is practically produced to compliment the show’s intricate sets. It makes the show stand out compared to Marvel’s usual CGI-laden projects and feel like a solid example of the studio prioritizing art over whizbang spectacle.
Agatha All Along is still a late-stage Marvel show, meaning that there are moments where your appreciation of what it’s doing will hinge on how familiar you are with the larger cinematic universe’s most recent events. But for viewers who’ve been following along and holding out hope for the studio to get back into putting out genuinely weird and playful riffs on the comics rather than hyping up the next big event, Agatha All Along should be a delight to watch — especially once it starts revealing its big secrets later this fall.
Agatha All Along also stars Paul Adelstein, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Okwui Okpokwasili, Emma Caulfield, David Payton, Kate Forbes, and Asif Ali. The series’ first two episodes hit Disney Plus on September 18th.

Image: Disney

Disney Plus’ new WandaVision spinoff series steers clear of the franchise’s multiversal messiness to do its own thing.

WandaVision’s inventive approach to blending different storytelling genres made it one of the most compelling pieces of television Marvel has ever produced. The show became appointment viewing week after week as it fleshed out its central mystery in a way that was fun to follow along with. And for a while, it felt like WandaVision’s story was part of an ambitious plan to push Marvel’s films in an interesting new direction.

Marvel seemingly lost the thread of that plan somewhere between WandaVision and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness — a follow-up film that glossed over the show’s juicy emotional beats in favor of dizzying spectacle and more explicitly horror vibes. But Agatha All Along, Disney Plus’ newest MCU series from showrunner Jac Schaeffer, feels like a sign that the studio has learned a few valuable lessons from its messy multiversal experiment.

Set a few years after the events of WandaVision and Multiverse of Madness, Agatha All Along picks up the story of its titular sorceress (Kathryn Hahn) at a time when everything about her world appears to be coming undone yet again — albeit under slightly different circumstances. Though almost everyone remembers what went down the last time witches showed up in Westview, New Jersey, the town’s actually a pretty peaceful place where people have learned to move on with their lives.

While folks like Sharon Davis (Debra Jo Rupp) have gotten used to scurrying past the vacant lot where the Maximoff / Vision family used to live, their collective trauma keeps them from saying her name out of fear that she might come back. But it also makes it easy for them to accept Agnes / Agatha Harkness (Hahn) as an ordinary, if eccentric, woman who’s trying to handle something they’ve all gone through. To them, Agatha’s mood swings and insistence on being called “Agnes” are just quirky coping mechanisms. But in truth, those are some of the first signs of Agatha becoming aware of the magical prison she became trapped in when last we saw her.

Agatha All Along seems like it’s angling for a slow burn at first as it drops you into a WandaVision-esque send-up of crime dramas (rather than sitcoms) like Mare of Easttown and True Detective. But the show quickly switches gears in a way that reads like Marvel understanding the show’s need to move past its predecessors’ inspired gimmick. It isn’t long before Agatha snaps back to her senses with the help of former lover Rio Vidal (Aubrey Plaza) and a magically adept teen she calls Teen (Joe Locke). With all of Agatha’s powers now gone, however, she has to form a coven and journey on the Witches’ Road in order to restore herself to her former glory.

Whereas WandaVision only really became properly witchy in its last few episodes, Agatha All Along dives right into the magic as it focuses on painting a more detailed picture of who Harkness is and how witchcraft (which is distinct from Doctor Strange’s whole deal) works. WandaVision alluded to Agatha’s treacherous past, but the new show explores how her centuries-long path to acquiring power made her a reviled villain in the witch community long before she ever set foot in Westview.

Sitcom Agnes / Agatha was a highlight in WandaVision, where her unhinged energy helped sell the show’s conceit and leave viewers guessing as to who was really pulling everyone’s strings. But Agatha All Along gives Hahn even more room to flex and vamp as Agatha’s hunt for a coven leads her to other witches like wellness guru Jennifer Kale (Sasheer Zamata), fortune teller Lilia Calderu (Patti LuPone), and security guard Alice Wu-Gulliver (Ali Ahn) — all of whom see her as a threat. They know Agatha’s killed members of her own coven before and that there’s something off about the way that Teen is unable to tell them anything about where he comes from. But the Witches’ Road can give each of them something they desperately want if they join Agatha on her quest.

Though it’s interesting to see more of Marvel’s more “grounded” magical world fleshed out through Agatha All Along’s new characters, the show has a pronounced “I’m putting together a rag-tag team” vibe that makes its beats feel formulaic in moments. Teen — a gothy Agatha fanboy Locke plays with charm and with a noticeably difficult-to-place accent — is meant to be one of the show’s compelling mysteries. But he’s also an audience surrogate whose inquisitive exchanges with the other witches sometimes come across like the show taking a moment to overexplain plot points that don’t really need spelling out.

Every bit of worldbuilding lore the show establishes — within a three-mile radius, there are always enough “witchy enough” people to form a coven, for instance — is followed up with a reiteration of why everyone’s following Agatha. Occasionally, it makes the show feel uncertain of whether it’s introducing too much lore. But when Agatha All Along leans into its weirdness and trusts you to piece things together, the series becomes much more of a spooky joyride that feels reflective of Schaeffer once again trying to bring a genuinely unique energy to the MCU.

You can feel and see this clearly once the gang is actually on the Witches’ Road — an otherworldly realm where they face a series of trials meant to test their knowledge of magic. Similar to the way WandaVision embodied the styles of various sitcoms, Agatha All Along feels like an ode (music features largely) to horror classics like Rosemary’s Baby and newer fare like American Horror Story: Coven.

Though some of the trials skew a bit cheesy — at one point, the witches fight a generational curse — they each highlight just how much of Agatha All Along’s magic is practically produced to compliment the show’s intricate sets. It makes the show stand out compared to Marvel’s usual CGI-laden projects and feel like a solid example of the studio prioritizing art over whizbang spectacle.

Agatha All Along is still a late-stage Marvel show, meaning that there are moments where your appreciation of what it’s doing will hinge on how familiar you are with the larger cinematic universe’s most recent events. But for viewers who’ve been following along and holding out hope for the studio to get back into putting out genuinely weird and playful riffs on the comics rather than hyping up the next big event, Agatha All Along should be a delight to watch — especially once it starts revealing its big secrets later this fall.

Agatha All Along also stars Paul Adelstein, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Okwui Okpokwasili, Emma Caulfield, David Payton, Kate Forbes, and Asif Ali. The series’ first two episodes hit Disney Plus on September 18th.

Read More 

Image: Rockstar Games

Grand Theft Auto V was one of the top ten most played games on Valve’s Steam Deck handheld this past week. It’s been in the top twenty for at least two years. But as of today, Valve now lists the game as “unsupported” — because developer Rockstar mysteriously broke compatibility with Valve’s handheld for its online modes.

As you can see in the image above, this is the latest fight around Linux anti-cheat: like the developers of Fortnite and Roblox, Rockstar has decided not to support the Steam Deck with its new anti-cheat software for GTA Online — a game that, by all accounts, badly needs to deal with cheaters.
But here, Rockstar is taking the multiplayer chunk of the game away from people, rather than not bringing it to the Steam Deck in the first place. It’s blaming Valve for the problem, claiming that “Steam Deck does not support BattlEye for GTA Online” and directing all further questions to Valve.
And it’s not answering one key question: why didn’t it flip the switch that lets BattlEye anti-cheat work on the Steam Deck?
Because it does work, last I checked. Valve enabled BattlEye for the Steam Deck years ago, and a number of games with the anti-cheat software successfully made the jump. Valve has said that enabling a game with BattlEye to run on Steam Deck is literally as easy as sending an email. But Rockstar didn’t reply when I asked about that. I also pinged Valve’s Pierre-Loup Griffais to see if anything has changed in the anticheat scene since, but haven’t yet heard back.
I have repeatedly heard it suggested that letting Linux users play around with anti-cheat invites them to figure out ways to dismantle it, but Epic’s Tim Sweeney suggested last year that it might be more about economics.
On the plus side, GTA V’s single player should still work. “You will be able to play GTAV Story Mode but unable to play GTA Online,” reads Rockstar’s FAQ.

Image: Rockstar Games

Grand Theft Auto V was one of the top ten most played games on Valve’s Steam Deck handheld this past week. It’s been in the top twenty for at least two years. But as of today, Valve now lists the game as “unsupported” — because developer Rockstar mysteriously broke compatibility with Valve’s handheld for its online modes.

As you can see in the image above, this is the latest fight around Linux anti-cheat: like the developers of Fortnite and Roblox, Rockstar has decided not to support the Steam Deck with its new anti-cheat software for GTA Online — a game that, by all accounts, badly needs to deal with cheaters.

But here, Rockstar is taking the multiplayer chunk of the game away from people, rather than not bringing it to the Steam Deck in the first place. It’s blaming Valve for the problem, claiming that “Steam Deck does not support BattlEye for GTA Online” and directing all further questions to Valve.

And it’s not answering one key question: why didn’t it flip the switch that lets BattlEye anti-cheat work on the Steam Deck?

Because it does work, last I checked. Valve enabled BattlEye for the Steam Deck years ago, and a number of games with the anti-cheat software successfully made the jump. Valve has said that enabling a game with BattlEye to run on Steam Deck is literally as easy as sending an email. But Rockstar didn’t reply when I asked about that. I also pinged Valve’s Pierre-Loup Griffais to see if anything has changed in the anticheat scene since, but haven’t yet heard back.

I have repeatedly heard it suggested that letting Linux users play around with anti-cheat invites them to figure out ways to dismantle it, but Epic’s Tim Sweeney suggested last year that it might be more about economics.

On the plus side, GTA V’s single player should still work. “You will be able to play GTAV Story Mode but unable to play GTA Online,” reads Rockstar’s FAQ.

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A screenshot from Palworld. | Image: Pocketpair

Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Pocketpair, which makes the game Palworld.
According to Nintendo’s press release:

Nintendo Co., Ltd. (HQ: Kyoto, Minami-ku, Japan; Representative Director and President: Shuntaro Furukawa, “Nintendo” hereafter), together with The Pokémon Company, filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the Tokyo District Court against Pocketpair, Inc. (HQ: 2-10-2 Higashigotanda, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, “Defendant” hereafter) on September 18, 2024.
This lawsuit seeks an injunction against infringement and compensation for damages on the grounds that Palworld, a game developed and released by the Defendant, infringes multiple patent rights.

Palworld became a huge hit earlier this year, selling more than five million copies within three days of its launch. The survival / crafting game has your character working with monsters (“Pals”) that certainly seem to have very Pokémon-like designs.
Developing…

A screenshot from Palworld. | Image: Pocketpair

Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Pocketpair, which makes the game Palworld.

According to Nintendo’s press release:

Nintendo Co., Ltd. (HQ: Kyoto, Minami-ku, Japan; Representative Director and President: Shuntaro Furukawa, “Nintendo” hereafter), together with The Pokémon Company, filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the Tokyo District Court against Pocketpair, Inc. (HQ: 2-10-2 Higashigotanda, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, “Defendant” hereafter) on September 18, 2024.

This lawsuit seeks an injunction against infringement and compensation for damages on the grounds that Palworld, a game developed and released by the Defendant, infringes multiple patent rights.

Palworld became a huge hit earlier this year, selling more than five million copies within three days of its launch. The survival / crafting game has your character working with monsters (“Pals”) that certainly seem to have very Pokémon-like designs.

Developing…

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Image: The Verge

If you’re on LinkedIn, then you should know that the social network has, without asking, opted accounts into training generative AI models. 404Media reports that LinkedIn introduced the new privacy setting and opt-out form before rolling out an updated privacy policy saying that data from the platform is being used to train AI models. As TechCrunch notes, it has since updated the policy.
We may use your personal data to improve, develop, and provide products and Services, develop and train artificial intelligence (AI) models, develop, provide, and personalize our Services, and gain insights with the help of AI, automated systems, and inferences, so that our Services can be more relevant and useful to you and others.
LinkedIn writes on a help page that it uses generative AI for purposes like writing assistant features. You can revoke permission by heading to the Data privacy tab in your account settings and clicking on “Data for Generative AI Improvement” to find the toggle. Turn it to “off” to opt-out.
According to LinkedIn: “Opting out means that LinkedIn and its affiliates won’t use your personal data or content on LinkedIn to train models going forward, but does not affect training that has already taken place.”
The FAQ posted for its AI training says it uses “privacy enhancing technologies to redact or remove personal data” from its training sets, and that it doesn’t train its models on those who live in the EU, EEA, or Switzerland.

Screenshot: LinkedIn
If you see this, you’re in the right place for opting out.

That setting is for data used to train generative AI models, but LinkedIn has other machine learning tools at work for things like personalization and moderation that don’t generate content. To opt your data out of being used to train those, you’ll have to also fill out the LinkedIn Data Processing Objection Form.
LinkedIn’s apparent silent opt-in of all, or at least most, of its platform’s users comes only days after Meta admitted to having scraped non-private user data for model training going as far back as 2007.

Image: The Verge

If you’re on LinkedIn, then you should know that the social network has, without asking, opted accounts into training generative AI models. 404Media reports that LinkedIn introduced the new privacy setting and opt-out form before rolling out an updated privacy policy saying that data from the platform is being used to train AI models. As TechCrunch notes, it has since updated the policy.

We may use your personal data to improve, develop, and provide products and Services, develop and train artificial intelligence (AI) models, develop, provide, and personalize our Services, and gain insights with the help of AI, automated systems, and inferences, so that our Services can be more relevant and useful to you and others.

LinkedIn writes on a help page that it uses generative AI for purposes like writing assistant features. You can revoke permission by heading to the Data privacy tab in your account settings and clicking on “Data for Generative AI Improvement” to find the toggle. Turn it to “off” to opt-out.

According to LinkedIn: “Opting out means that LinkedIn and its affiliates won’t use your personal data or content on LinkedIn to train models going forward, but does not affect training that has already taken place.”

The FAQ posted for its AI training says it uses “privacy enhancing technologies to redact or remove personal data” from its training sets, and that it doesn’t train its models on those who live in the EU, EEA, or Switzerland.

Screenshot: LinkedIn
If you see this, you’re in the right place for opting out.

That setting is for data used to train generative AI models, but LinkedIn has other machine learning tools at work for things like personalization and moderation that don’t generate content. To opt your data out of being used to train those, you’ll have to also fill out the LinkedIn Data Processing Objection Form.

LinkedIn’s apparent silent opt-in of all, or at least most, of its platform’s users comes only days after Meta admitted to having scraped non-private user data for model training going as far back as 2007.

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Google Calendar on a new tab sounds kinda useful, actually. | Image: Google

Google is adding a new daily calendar overview in newly opened Chrome tabs for Workspace users with easy access to schedules and video calls. That way, when you’re signed in with your organization’s account, the first thing you’ll see is your appointments and meetings, in addition to files stored in Google Drive.
The new feature comes alongside several other Google Workspace updates, including new enterprise-managed site shortcuts, which let IT set up quick links to frequently used sites on the URL dropdown.
Regular Chrome users could already set up site shortcuts for themselves — for instance, you could program it to bring up a site search for Reddit just by typing “red.” Now, a group policy can be applied to departments and automatically get workers the most useful shortcuts without asking them to figure it out on their own.
The feature is rolling out now and will work even if users aren’t on Workspace, and for all Chrome users, the browser will start nudging you about tabs you may have forgotten, no matter which device you opened them on originally.

Image: Google
Site shortcuts can be programmed by IT now.

IT teams are also getting more granular management controls, including profile-level security policies and managed browsing designed to keep personal and work data separate in BYOD environments. On the end user side, when people sign in to their work accounts, there will be a new UI to more clearly show users what data the company has access to on the device and help keep personal bookmarks, extensions, and browser data in separate profiles.

Google Calendar on a new tab sounds kinda useful, actually. | Image: Google

Google is adding a new daily calendar overview in newly opened Chrome tabs for Workspace users with easy access to schedules and video calls. That way, when you’re signed in with your organization’s account, the first thing you’ll see is your appointments and meetings, in addition to files stored in Google Drive.

The new feature comes alongside several other Google Workspace updates, including new enterprise-managed site shortcuts, which let IT set up quick links to frequently used sites on the URL dropdown.

Regular Chrome users could already set up site shortcuts for themselves — for instance, you could program it to bring up a site search for Reddit just by typing “red.” Now, a group policy can be applied to departments and automatically get workers the most useful shortcuts without asking them to figure it out on their own.

The feature is rolling out now and will work even if users aren’t on Workspace, and for all Chrome users, the browser will start nudging you about tabs you may have forgotten, no matter which device you opened them on originally.

Image: Google
Site shortcuts can be programmed by IT now.

IT teams are also getting more granular management controls, including profile-level security policies and managed browsing designed to keep personal and work data separate in BYOD environments. On the end user side, when people sign in to their work accounts, there will be a new UI to more clearly show users what data the company has access to on the device and help keep personal bookmarks, extensions, and browser data in separate profiles.

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Image: The Verge

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce has advanced two high-profile child safety bills that could remake large parts of the internet: the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0). The proposed laws passed on a voice vote despite discontent over last-minute changes to KOSA, in particular, that were aimed at quelling persistent criticism.
KOSA and COPPA 2.0 would give government agencies more regulatory power over tech companies with users under 18 years of age. The former imposes a “duty of care” on major social media companies, making them potentially liable for harm to underage users. The latter raises the age of enforcement for the 1998 COPPA law and adds new rules around topics like targeted advertising. Versions of both bills were passed by the Senate in July. Now that they’ve passed a House committee, they can proceed to a vote on the floor, after which they may need to be reconciled with their Senate counterparts before passing to President Joe Biden’s desk — where Biden has indicated he’ll sign them.
Earlier this year, it wasn’t clear KOSA would get a vote in the House. While it passed in the Senate by an overwhelming majority, a Punchbowl News report suggested House Republicans had concerns about the bill. The House’s version of KOSA diverges sharply from its Senate counterpart, however, and numerous lawmakers expressed a desire for changes before a full House vote. Both KOSA and COPPA 2.0 saw last-minute changes that were voted on in committee, leading some lawmakers to protest or withdraw support.
The House’s KOSA amendment modified a list of harms that large social media companies are supposed to prevent. It removed a duty of care for mitigating “anxiety, depression, eating disorders, substance use disorders, and suicidal behaviors” and added one for clamping down on the “promotion of inherently dangerous acts that are likely to cause serious bodily harm, serious emotional disturbance, or death.”
The change garnered significant criticism. Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), who said he would vote for the bill “reluctantly,” complained that the amendment could lead to regulatory agencies censoring potentially “disturbing” content. “Doesn’t all political speech induce some kind of emotional distress for those who disagree with it?” he contended. (Crenshaw supports a flat ban on social media access for younger teens.) Conversely, a number of lawmakers were concerned that removing conditions like depression would make the bill useless for addressing the alleged mental health harms of social media for kids.
KOSA cosponsor Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL), who backed the amendment, said it offered a “weakened” version of the bill with the aim of passing it to a full House vote. But neither version seems likely to satisfy critics who argue the bill could let regulators pressure companies into banning kids’ access to content a particular administration doesn’t like. The Electronic Frontier Foundation and others have raised concerns it could let a Republican president suppress abortion- and LGBTQ+-related content, while some Republican lawmakers are concerned a Democratic president could suppress anti-abortion messaging and other conservative speech.
The vote on COPPA 2.0 was less contentious. But Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) questioned a House provision that would let parents obtain information about their teen’s social media use from the site operators, even against the child’s wishes. Pallone warned the rule could let abusive parents monitor a child’s access to the internet. “In a bill purportedly providing more privacy protection for teens, Congress is creating, in my opinion, a backdoor by which their parents can snoop on their teens’ every click online,” he said. “Teens have a right to privacy as well.”

Image: The Verge

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce has advanced two high-profile child safety bills that could remake large parts of the internet: the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0). The proposed laws passed on a voice vote despite discontent over last-minute changes to KOSA, in particular, that were aimed at quelling persistent criticism.

KOSA and COPPA 2.0 would give government agencies more regulatory power over tech companies with users under 18 years of age. The former imposes a “duty of care” on major social media companies, making them potentially liable for harm to underage users. The latter raises the age of enforcement for the 1998 COPPA law and adds new rules around topics like targeted advertising. Versions of both bills were passed by the Senate in July. Now that they’ve passed a House committee, they can proceed to a vote on the floor, after which they may need to be reconciled with their Senate counterparts before passing to President Joe Biden’s desk — where Biden has indicated he’ll sign them.

Earlier this year, it wasn’t clear KOSA would get a vote in the House. While it passed in the Senate by an overwhelming majority, a Punchbowl News report suggested House Republicans had concerns about the bill. The House’s version of KOSA diverges sharply from its Senate counterpart, however, and numerous lawmakers expressed a desire for changes before a full House vote. Both KOSA and COPPA 2.0 saw last-minute changes that were voted on in committee, leading some lawmakers to protest or withdraw support.

The House’s KOSA amendment modified a list of harms that large social media companies are supposed to prevent. It removed a duty of care for mitigating “anxiety, depression, eating disorders, substance use disorders, and suicidal behaviors” and added one for clamping down on the “promotion of inherently dangerous acts that are likely to cause serious bodily harm, serious emotional disturbance, or death.”

The change garnered significant criticism. Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), who said he would vote for the bill “reluctantly,” complained that the amendment could lead to regulatory agencies censoring potentially “disturbing” content. “Doesn’t all political speech induce some kind of emotional distress for those who disagree with it?” he contended. (Crenshaw supports a flat ban on social media access for younger teens.) Conversely, a number of lawmakers were concerned that removing conditions like depression would make the bill useless for addressing the alleged mental health harms of social media for kids.

KOSA cosponsor Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL), who backed the amendment, said it offered a “weakened” version of the bill with the aim of passing it to a full House vote. But neither version seems likely to satisfy critics who argue the bill could let regulators pressure companies into banning kids’ access to content a particular administration doesn’t like. The Electronic Frontier Foundation and others have raised concerns it could let a Republican president suppress abortion- and LGBTQ+-related content, while some Republican lawmakers are concerned a Democratic president could suppress anti-abortion messaging and other conservative speech.

The vote on COPPA 2.0 was less contentious. But Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) questioned a House provision that would let parents obtain information about their teen’s social media use from the site operators, even against the child’s wishes. Pallone warned the rule could let abusive parents monitor a child’s access to the internet. “In a bill purportedly providing more privacy protection for teens, Congress is creating, in my opinion, a backdoor by which their parents can snoop on their teens’ every click online,” he said. “Teens have a right to privacy as well.”

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A radio device exploded in the city of Baalbek is seen as wireless communications device explosions continued for a second day across Lebanon. | Photo by Suleiman Amhaz / Anadolu via Getty Images

A day after exploding pagers targeting Hezbollah members killed 12 people, including two children, and injured nearly 3,000 people in Lebanon and Syria, the attacks started again. The New York Times reports 14 people have died, along with hundreds injured in the second wave of explosions. Lebanese state media agency NNA reports they resulted from wireless devices like walkie-talkies and fingerprint analysis devices that also damaged cars and motorcycles and started fires, including one at a lithium battery store.
At least one of the exploding devices on Wednesday went off in the middle of a funeral procession for several of the people killed in the previous attack, causing additional panic as people ran for safety and were asked to remove the batteries from their cellphones.
According to Reuters, a source said the walkie-talkies were purchased months ago, around the same time as the booby-trapped pagers.
Overnight, media outlets like CNN and Reuters reported that the pager blasts were the result of an operation by Israel that placed a board with up to three grams of explosive material inside the devices before they were shipped out. Israeli officials have not commented on the attacks directly. CNN reports that Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, “The IDF brings excellent achievements, together with the Shin Bet, together with Mossad, all the bodies and all the frameworks and the results are very impressive results… I appreciate that we are at the beginning of a new era in this war and we need to adapt ourselves.”

The pagers bore the brand of a Taiwanese company, Gold Apollo, but its CEO told reporters that they did not make the devices purchased by Hezbollah. Instead, BAC, a distributor in Hungary, produced them under license. On Wednesday, the Hungarian government said the pagers were not manufactured there and that “the company in question is a trading intermediary, with no manufacturing or operational site in Hungary,” wrote government spokesperson Zoltán Kovács.
In response to Tuesday’s explosions, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said:

Simultaneous targeting of thousands of individuals, whether civilians or members of armed groups, without knowledge as to who was in possession of the targeted devices, their location and their surroundings at the time of the attack, violates international human rights law and, to the extent applicable, international humanitarian law.
There must be an independent, thorough and transparent investigation as to the circumstances of these mass explosions, and those who ordered and carried out such an attack must be held to account.

A radio device exploded in the city of Baalbek is seen as wireless communications device explosions continued for a second day across Lebanon. | Photo by Suleiman Amhaz / Anadolu via Getty Images

A day after exploding pagers targeting Hezbollah members killed 12 people, including two children, and injured nearly 3,000 people in Lebanon and Syria, the attacks started again. The New York Times reports 14 people have died, along with hundreds injured in the second wave of explosions. Lebanese state media agency NNA reports they resulted from wireless devices like walkie-talkies and fingerprint analysis devices that also damaged cars and motorcycles and started fires, including one at a lithium battery store.

At least one of the exploding devices on Wednesday went off in the middle of a funeral procession for several of the people killed in the previous attack, causing additional panic as people ran for safety and were asked to remove the batteries from their cellphones.

According to Reuters, a source said the walkie-talkies were purchased months ago, around the same time as the booby-trapped pagers.

Overnight, media outlets like CNN and Reuters reported that the pager blasts were the result of an operation by Israel that placed a board with up to three grams of explosive material inside the devices before they were shipped out. Israeli officials have not commented on the attacks directly. CNN reports that Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, “The IDF brings excellent achievements, together with the Shin Bet, together with Mossad, all the bodies and all the frameworks and the results are very impressive results… I appreciate that we are at the beginning of a new era in this war and we need to adapt ourselves.”

The pagers bore the brand of a Taiwanese company, Gold Apollo, but its CEO told reporters that they did not make the devices purchased by Hezbollah. Instead, BAC, a distributor in Hungary, produced them under license. On Wednesday, the Hungarian government said the pagers were not manufactured there and that “the company in question is a trading intermediary, with no manufacturing or operational site in Hungary,” wrote government spokesperson Zoltán Kovács.

In response to Tuesday’s explosions, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said:

Simultaneous targeting of thousands of individuals, whether civilians or members of armed groups, without knowledge as to who was in possession of the targeted devices, their location and their surroundings at the time of the attack, violates international human rights law and, to the extent applicable, international humanitarian law.

There must be an independent, thorough and transparent investigation as to the circumstances of these mass explosions, and those who ordered and carried out such an attack must be held to account.

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