John Shirley

Google Celebrates Pac-Man’s 45th Anniversary with a Halloween Doodle Google Doodle is marking a special occasion for gamers today with a tribute to Pac-Man on its 45th anniversary, arriving just in time for Halloween. For today and tomorrow, players can access four specially designed haunted-house mazes created for the event by Bandai Namco Entertainment, the […]

WhatsApp Adds Passkey Security for Cloud Backups WhatsApp is introducing a new security feature for its millions of users by enabling passkeys for chat backups stored in the cloud. This move is designed to add a powerful layer of protection for years of personal data. The update applies to backups that users save to services

OpenAI has expanded the creative toolkit within its Sora video generation app, introducing a feature that allows users to create character cameos. This new capability lets you design digital avatars of virtually anything, from your pets and personal doodles to original fictional personas or even inanimate objects, and then insert them into AI-generated videos. The

Forget the tiny, forgettable chocolates. The modern advent calendar has evolved into a daily dose of fandom, offering a month-long build-up of collectible joy for geeks of all stripes. Why settle for a sugar rush when you can unwrap a miniature Pokémon card, a pocket-sized Funko Pop, or a piece of a Star Wars LEGO

YouTube Announces AI Reorganization and Employee Buyouts In a significant move signaling a strategic pivot, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan has announced a company-wide reorganization centered on artificial intelligence. This shift comes with an offer of voluntary buyouts for employees, as detailed in an internal memo. Mohan framed the changes as essential for YouTube’s future, stating

Apple Should Build a Vision Air, Not Just a Cheaper Vision Pro Forget Samsungs upcoming Galaxy XR headset, priced around eighteen hundred dollars. The Android XR device that actually captures my interest is Xreals Project Aura. This is an evolution of the companys smart glasses, which are fundamentally different from bulky headsets like the Galaxy

A Clever Alleged Legal Sidestep in Big Techs Israeli Cloud Deal Chalk this one up under the most clever alleged legal sidesteps. A new report details a so-called winking mechanism within Israels Project Nimbus cloud computing contracts with Amazon and Google. The alleged system, dating back to 2021, would require the US tech giants to

General Motors Slashes Over 1,700 Jobs in Electric Vehicle and Battery Manufacturing General Motors is cutting more than 1,700 manufacturing jobs, a direct reaction to shifting dynamics in the electric vehicle market. The company stated it is realigning its EV capacity in response to slower than expected near-term adoption of electric vehicles and an evolving

Character.AI Bans Teen Access to Chatbots Amid Safety Crackdown In a significant policy shift, Character.AI has announced it will completely ban users under the age of 18 from engaging in open-ended conversations with its chatbots. The move comes as the AI industry faces mounting pressure from regulators and the public to implement stronger safeguards for

YouTube TV Gets a Major Upgrade with AI Video Upscaling and New Discovery Features YouTube is rolling out a suite of new features specifically for its TV apps, with a headline upgrade being the introduction of automatic AI video upscaling. This new technology, which YouTube calls Super Resolution, is designed to enhance the visual quality