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Arc Raiders introduces separate Solo, Duo and Trio tracking so you can be friendly in one and a rat in the others
Arc Raiders is evolving its matchmaking behaviour yet again. The game’s latest update introduced a feature players have long requested. Patch 1.36.0, available now across PC, PlayStation, and Xbox allows the game to track your playstyle separately for its different matchmaking pools: Solo, Duo, and Trio. Read more
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Can AI equalize political campaign ads – or will it remain a tool for spreading lies?
A candidate for a New York City council seat, Jonathan Rinaldi, was arrested in June on misdemeanour forgery charges after using an AI chatbot to fabricate fake news stories and endorsements during his campaign, including a bogus CNN-branded report falsely claiming his opponent had quit the race. The case appears to be one of the…
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IMF upgrades UK growth forecast as fears over impact of Iran war diminish
The International Monetary Fund has raised its growth forecast for the UK economy, now projecting gross domestic product to expand by 1% in 2026, up 0.2 percentage points from its April estimate. The upgrade, part of the IMF’s July World Economic Outlook update, reflects hopes that the economic fallout from the Iran war may prove…
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Venus Williams-backed WeWard can now lock your apps until you hit your steps
WeWard, a France-based app that rewards users for logging their steps, is launching a feature called “Walking Mode” that locks chosen apps until the user reaches a set step count. Backed by tennis star and angel investor Venus Williams, the app is positioning the tool as a way to encourage physical activity while cutting screen…
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Fi Ultra pet tracker uses T-Mobile’s Starlink satellite service for coverage
Fi has launched the Fi Ultra, a new dog tracker that uses T-Mobile’s T-Satellite with Starlink service to keep tracking pets even when they roam beyond the reach of cell towers. This matters because it promises continuous location data anywhere in the US, including rural areas and remote backcountry, appealing to owners of adventurous dogs…
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Rosie O’Donnell ‘Horrified’ by Trump’s World Cup Intervention and AI Video of Her: ‘A Failure at Everything He’s Ever Tried’
Comedian Rosie O’Donnell told Variety she was “horrified” by Donald Trump’s alleged intervention at this year’s World Cup, in which she says the US president personally lobbied FIFA president Gianni Infantino to overturn a red card issued to American player Folarin Balogun. According to the article, the reversal — described as the first of its…
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AI Start-Up Kaon AI Raises $60 Million in Funding Round in Quest to Build a ‘Personalized Story Engine’ for Users
Kaon AI, a Berkeley, California-based start-up that builds personalised, generative-AI story worlds, has raised $60 million in its latest funding round, valuing the company in the several hundreds of millions. Backers included B Capital, Redpoint Ace, Goodwater Capital and DCM. The raise signals growing investor appetite for interactive AI entertainment, which one investor described as…
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Fi’s Starlink-enabled pet tracker found my dog when LTE couldn’t
The Verge has published a hands-on review of the Fi Ultra, described as the first Starlink-enabled pet tracker available to buy. Building on existing GPS and LTE trackers, the device automatically switches to T-Mobile’s T-Satellite direct-to-cell service — which taps SpaceX’s low Earth orbit Starlink satellites — when a dog wanders into a cellular dead…
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Outcry as Meta lets users make AI images from public Instagram profile pics
Meta is facing criticism over Muse Image, a new text-to-image tool that can generate pictures using other people’s public Instagram profile photos without notifying them. The feature matters because it feeds into wider concerns about non-consensual AI-altered imagery, arriving as regulators and campaigners intensify scrutiny of such technology. Critics including the tech justice non-profit Foxglove…
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Villagers’ fury as property developer is given permission for new build home to become holiday let as council lifts strict ‘no Airbnb’ rule
Residents of Langton Matravers, a coastal village on Dorset’s Isle of Purbeck, have reacted angrily after Dorset Council granted a property developer permission to convert one of the homes on a new estate into a holiday let, despite a condition that had barred second homes and holiday lets. The decision matters because the area is…