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NASA Astronaut Mike Fincke retires, logging 549 days in space
Mike Fincke, the NASA astronaut with the fourth highest accumulated space time — at 549 days — has retired, the agency announced Wednesday. Fincke flew four missions with the agency and embarked on over 48 hours of space walks, according to NASA. Months before his retirement, he also became the first astronaut in NASA’s history…
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Pokémon Officially Unveils New Release Covering All 1,025 Monsters
The Pokémon Company has announced Pokémon — Official National Pokédex: 1996–2026, a reference book intended to mark the franchise’s 30th anniversary. It will catalogue all 1,025 Pokémon introduced since the series began with Pokémon Red and Green in 1996, reflecting the scale of a franchise that has expanded across nine generations. The book includes details…
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OpenAI ad service can bill customers for up to one day after they pause campaigns
OpenAI’s ChatGPT advertising service may continue displaying and charging for adverts for up to one business day after an advertiser pauses or changes a campaign. The issue matters because it limits advertisers’ immediate control over spending, even where campaigns have been marked as paused. A UK business, Excel4Business, said it saw ads run overnight after…
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StubHub Is Spending Millions Trying to Stop a Bill That Would Cap Concert Ticket Resale Prices
StubHub has sharply increased its lobbying in California as lawmakers consider a bill that would restrict concert ticket resale mark-ups. The proposed law, AB 1720, is intended to curb ticket touting by limiting resale prices, while StubHub argues that its marketplace gives fans greater choice and access. The company spent nearly $2.6 million on California…
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Xbox Gamers Can Play Co-Op RPG Sunderfolk for a Limited Time
Sunderfolk, a co-operative tactical role-playing game from Secret Door, is free to play on Xbox between 13 and 16 August through Xbox Free Play Days. The limited offer gives players a chance to try a tabletop-inspired game designed to remove the scheduling, rule-learning and bookkeeping barriers often associated with traditional tabletop RPGs. Players select from…
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Ticketmaster Users Can Now Prompt Google’s Gemini AI Chatbot to Find Live Events
Ticketmaster has integrated with Google’s Gemini chatbot, allowing US users to search conversationally for concerts, sport and other live events. The move matters because it gives fans another route to discover tickets while directing purchases back to Ticketmaster’s marketplace, potentially reaching customers earlier in their planning. Users connect Ticketmaster within Gemini, ask it to search…
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A rare two-player Computer Space arcade machine is up for auction
A rare, fully working two-player Computer Space arcade cabinet is being auctioned, drawing interest because it is among the earliest and least commonly available video-game machines. The 1973 model followed the single-player Computer Space, widely regarded as the first arcade video game, and represents an important link between early computer games and the later success…
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San Francisco-area estate sells for $70m in sign of AI-fueled wealth explosion
A Lake Como-inspired estate in Hillsborough, south of San Francisco, has sold for a record $70m to an unnamed man said to work in artificial intelligence. The sale is being presented as evidence that AI-linked wealth is intensifying competition for high-end homes across Silicon Valley, widening the gap between luxury and ordinary housing markets. The…
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Why Japanese firms are being so slow to use AI
Japanese firms are adopting artificial intelligence more slowly than counterparts in the US, UK and Singapore, despite labour shortages, an ageing population and weak productivity that could make automation especially valuable. The article attributes this caution largely to conservative corporate cultures, consensus-based decision-making and a low tolerance for errors or reputational risk, particularly in customer-facing…