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What sense can we make of the madness at id Software?
Id Software, the studio behind Doom and Quake, cut 136 staff — more than half its workforce — as part of Microsoft’s wider layoffs, which saw 1,600 Xbox jobs lost with another 1,600 at risk. The scale of the cuts sparked fears that id’s proprietary id-tech engine could be abandoned in favour of Unreal Engine,…
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Mitie agrees £3.1bn takeover by OCS in blow to London stock market
Mitie has agreed to a £3.1bn takeover by rival facilities management firm OCS Group, bringing to an end nearly four decades as a London-listed company and making it the latest in a lengthening list of UK firms to leave the stock market this year. The board of the government contractor, which counts defence, health and…
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Thames Water investors offer ‘golden share’ in bid to head off nationalisation
A consortium of Thames Water creditors has offered the government a “golden share” giving it veto power over major decisions and hostile takeovers, in a bid to dissuade the new prime minister, Andy Burnham, from nationalising Britain’s biggest water company. The move comes after Burnham signalled he wants greater public control of the debt-laden utility,…
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UK employers cut job vacancies as Burnham aims to lift living standards
UK employers reduced the number of job vacancies in the three months to May, according to official figures, as the labour market showed further signs of strain amid global instability including conflict in the Middle East. Unemployment held steady at 4.9%, unchanged from April, underscoring the difficult economic backdrop facing new prime minister Andy Burnham…
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A.R. Rahman Launches ARR Immersive App for Apple Vision Pro (EXCLUSIVE)
Composer A.R. Rahman is launching ARR Immersive, an app for Apple Vision Pro that brings together a decade of his immersive storytelling projects. The launch, arriving on 22 July, matters because it marks the first time footage from “Le Musk” — Rahman’s 360-degree virtual reality film that premiered at the Cannes XR Festival — has…
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Man of his word: Pope Leo speeches declared human-authored by Australian AI detection tool
A collection of speeches and writings by Pope Leo XIV, titled Maps of Hope, has been certified as human-authored by the Australian firm Proudly Human, less than two months after the pontiff himself warned that artificial intelligence posed the greatest threat to humanity. The certification, carried out with the Australian Catholic University and Vatican cardinals,…
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Nine to axe 30 jobs at the Age and SMH due to ‘extreme’ AI disruption
Australia’s largest locally owned media company, Nine Entertainment, is cutting around 30 newsroom jobs at the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age, blaming what it called an “extreme state of disruption” caused by artificial intelligence. Publishing managing director Tory Maguire told staff on Tuesday the cuts, a mix of voluntary and targeted redundancies, were not…
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British Gas mixed up our energy meter – but now I’m being penalised
A reader in Shropshire has described how British Gas muddled up energy meter registrations across a new-build housing estate, leading to residents being billed for each other’s energy. The mix-up left the reader paying charges intended for the estate’s developer, receiving contradictory bills, and having their bank details wrongly shared, before finally being penalised with…
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Donkey Kong Arcade LEGO Set Official Images Surface, Already In-Store
Official images of a rumoured Donkey Kong Arcade LEGO set have surfaced ahead of an expected announcement, after copies were spotted on sale at retailers before Lego or Nintendo confirmed the product. Photos originating from UK retailer Argos, since removed, and a further sighting at a US Target store have given fans their clearest look…
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Nolan’s The Odyssey Charts Record Course With $263M Global Opening, Dominates Box Office
Christopher Nolan’s film adaptation of Homer’s classic has rewritten the blockbuster playbook with a historic $263.7 million global opening weekend, marking the filmmaker’s strongest ever international start at $140.2 mi