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Veteran designer Warren Spector calls time on 40-year gaming career
Veteran video game designer Warren Spector has announced his retirement after a career spanning more than four decades, saying he feels he has accomplished what he set out to do in interactive entertainment. Spector is best known for creating influential titles including Ultima Underworld, System Shock and Deus Ex, works widely credited with shaping immersive-sim…
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Mysterious polling firm behind fake election surveys closes after admitting ‘social experiment’
Median Strategies, a little-known polling firm, has shut down after admitting that surveys it published on the Los Angeles mayoral race and the Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial primary were fabricated. The firm claimed the fake polls were part of a short-term “social experiment” intended to study political misinformation, but the admission has raised concerns about the…
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Apple TV’s 3-Part Sci-Fi Masterpiece Demands More Than One Watch
Apple TV’s sci-fi series Foundation, based on Isaac Asimov’s classic novels, has recently concluded its third season, prompting renewed praise for its ambitious, densely layered storytelling. Created by David S. Goyer and Josh Friedman, the show follows mathematician Hari Seldon (Jared Harris), whose prediction of the Galactic Empire’s collapse sets in motion a sprawling, multi-generational…
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“Sabotage”: Experts, lawmakers blast RFK Jr. for destroying healthcare research
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the US federal body dedicated to improving patient safety and healthcare quality, is described as “on the brink” of collapse after sweeping cuts under the Trump administration and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Health policy experts and 30 Democratic senators have accused Kennedy of “sabotage”, warning…
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Introducing Ulez was my hardest decision as mayor of London – but now we know its astonishing impact | Sadiq Khan
Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, reflects on introducing and expanding the ultra-low emission zone (Ulez), describing it as his hardest decision in office but one now vindicated by evidence of its health benefits. Initially fiercely opposed by critics who accused him of attacking motorists, the scheme has since been credited with sharply reducing air…
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Former Fauci associate David Morens pleads guilty to conspiracy
David Morens, former senior adviser at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and once an associate to Anthony Fauci, pleaded guilty on Thursday to a conspiracy to defraud the U.S. in relation to efforts to evade Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. The Justice Department announced the guilty plea Tuesday. In April, the…
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The Indian activist jailed after taking on a luxury hotel plan
Pranab Doley, a prominent activist in Assam, India, has been detained under the country’s National Security Act after taking part in a June protest against a planned luxury hotel near Kaziranga National Park, a Unesco World Heritage Site renowned for its rhinos, tigers and elephants. Although a court granted him bail on 29 July, the…
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DEVIN TOWNSEND: ‘Since ‘The Moth’ Was Done, I’ve Written About 100 Songs’
Canadian metal musician Devin Townsend has revealed he has written around 100 songs since completing his orchestral metal opus “The Moth”, which was released in May 2026 via InsideOut Music. Speaking to Metal Insider, Townsend said he is now developing roughly five different projects simultaneously, crediting an increasingly efficient creative process and a dedicated team…
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Meta hooked children on Facebook and Instagram, court hears
A landmark trial began in Oakland, California, in which lawyers for 29 US states, including California and New York, accuse Meta of deliberately designing Facebook and Instagram to be addictive to children and failing to keep users under 13 off its platforms. The case, described as the biggest legal challenge Meta has faced, will run…
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Industry legend Warren Spector is retiring: ‘I’m feeling like I’ve done what I set out to do’
Warren Spector, the veteran video game designer known for classics such as Deus Ex and System Shock, has announced his retirement from the games industry. In a farewell statement, he said he feels he has “done what I set out to do,” marking the end of a career that helped shape the immersive sim genre…