Check out the little wheels on the upper left side. | Image: CAST China’s Chang’e 6 lunar probe mission is bound for the far side of the Moon, and there seems to be a small rover affixed to the side of the lander, as seen in new images released by the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST). China’s National Space Administration announced today that the probe, which launched last week, has successfully entered the Moon’s orbit, a big step toward landing the spacecraft early next month. Yeah, okay. That looks like a previously undisclosed mini rover on the side of the Chang'e-6 lander lol. Via CAST: https://t.co/gS0Jy5L9hw pic.twitter.com/9vvTnribpl— Andrew Jones (@AJ_FI) May 3, 2024 But as Space.com reports, people have noticed that CAST’s published images show a mysterious mini rover — one that... Continue reading…

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge There’s a new streaming bundle coming to town. Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery are teaming up to offer Disney Plus, Hulu, and Max in a bundle that will become available in the US this summer. The new bundle will include both ad-supported and ad-free options, but there’s still no word on how much it will cost. Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery say they will share “additional details” about the bundle in the “coming months.” Once available, you’ll be able to purchase the bundle from Disney Plus, Hulu, or Max’s website. This fall, the Disney-owned ESPN will also offer a live sports streaming service with Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox. The bundle comes at a pivotal point for the streaming industry, where companies are now turning their... Continue reading…

Image: The Verge Microsoft Strategic Missions and Technology CTO William Chappell announced that it’s deployed a GPT-4 large language model in an isolated, air-gapped environment on a government-only network. Bloomberg first reported the setup, citing an unnamed executive who claimed that the Azure Government Top Secret cloud-hosted model represents the first time a “major” LLM has operated separated from the internet. Chappell announced the AI supercomputer on Tuesday afternoon at the “first-ever AI Expo for National Competitiveness” in Washington D.C. Unlike the models behind ChatGPT or other tools, Microsoft says this server is “static,” operating without learning from the files it processes or the wider internet. Chappell told Bloomberg, “It is now... Continue reading…

Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge Recently, motherboard makers have issued BIOS updates to improve the stability of Intel 13th and 14th Gen i9 chips in crashing games. But Intel, which announced last month that it was investigating these issues, is now asking gamers not to implement those settings. The companies now seem to be at odds on how to adjust your CPU. Motherboard makers like Asus are recommending an “Intel Baseline Profile” with “basic functionality” and “lower power limits,” while Intel says you should go with a higher power profile depending on your motherboard and chip. Here’s Intel’s full statement, from Anandtech: Several motherboard manufacturers have released BIOS profiles labeled ‘Intel Baseline Profile’. However, these BIOS profiles are not the same... Continue reading…

Image: Tango Gameworks Today, one day after Microsoft announced that it would shut down four of its games studios, Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios, held a town hall to discuss the division’s future goals. “We need smaller games that give us prestige and awards,” Booty told employees, according to internal remarks shared with The Verge. For some listeners on the call, it was a surprising goal: Microsoft had just shut down the Japanese developer Tango Gameworks, which was coming off the small, prestigious hit title Hi-Fi Rush. Hi-Fi Rush, which was a surprise release last year, was praised for its innovation and charm. The rhythm action game featured music by The Black Keys and Nine Inch Nails, with an art style that evoked the hyper-stylized games of the... Continue reading…

A day after seeding the first Release Candidate version of watchOS 10.5, Apple released a second RC version. At the moment, it's unclear why Cupertino had to do this. After a mild update with watchOS 10.4, this next version doesn’t bring many changes as Apple is already preparing for the watchOS 11 preview in June. So far, Apple says watchOS 10.5 RC fixes an issue where the Terms of Service button when viewing a subscription could cause a crash when tapped. Other than that, Apple is specifically adding with watchOS 10.5 RC a new Pride Radiance watch face. Image source: Apple Inc. Apple says is brings “bold, symbolic color to Apple Watch. Signaling hope, strength, and fellowship to LGBTQ+ communities, the beams of light glow against a dark background and stack on top of each other to represent the everlasting impact of LGBTQ+ activism and its role in illuminating the path to greater equality for future generations.” With watchOS 10.4, Apple added 28 new emojis. Although the new figures include a lime, shaking heads, a phoenix, and four new gender-neutral family emojis intended to be represented via silhouettes, skin tone modifiers, and gender variants represent the majority of new emojis. They can be used in iMessage and other messaging apps with your Apple Watch. Besides that, watchOS 10.4 added a new tweak for Apple Vision Pro users. Since both devices rely on double-tap gestures, you can turn on the Ignore Double Tap setting when using Apple’s spatial computer. Here’s how Apple describes this feature: “When this is on, the double tap gesture will be temporarily ignored while using Vision Pro.” For those unaware, pinching your fingers is the way you control Apple Vision Pro, but if you double tap your fingers, this is also how you can control Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2. Thankfully, the owners of both newer Apple Watches and Vision Pro won’t have this issue for longer. watchOS 10.4 also brought improvements to Siri, as you can now wake the personal assistant with only its name by saying “Siri” instead of “Hey Siri.” In addition, Siri can read incoming messages in multiple languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, and more. BGR will let you know if we find anything different with watchOS 10.5 RC 2. Don't Miss: watchOS 11: Features, rumors, release date, beta, Apple Watch compatibility, and more The post Apple releases watchOS 10.5 RC 2 to Apple Watch developers appeared first on BGR. Today's Top Deals Amazon gift card deals, offers & coupons 2024: Get $350+ free Today’s deals: $3 Alexa smart plugs, Peloton sale, $250 HP laptop, Sony XM5 headphones, more Today’s deals: $989 M3 MacBook Air, $20 Echo Pop, TheraGun massagers, Bose headphones, more Best deals: Tech, laptops, TVs, and more sales

I totally get that most people are going to look at the new iPad Air and think, the best thing about this is that it comes in a bigger version now. As valid as that is, I think the base storage bump is actually the sleeper hit for Apple's mid-range tablet. On Tuesday, Apple officially kicked off its long-awaited “Let Loose” event and revealed the next-generation iPad Pro and iPad Air as well as its new Apple Pencil Pro and next-generation Magic Keyboard. In addition, the company announced new versions of Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro and discontinued the 9th-generation iPad and Smart Keyboard Folio for the iPad Pro. Continue reading... The post New larger screen size isn’t the best feature of the new M2 iPad Air appeared first on BGR. Today's Top Deals Best deals: Tech, laptops, TVs, and more sales Today’s deals: $3 Alexa smart plugs, Peloton sale, $250 HP laptop, Sony XM5 headphones, more Best Apple Watch deals for April 2024 Today’s deals: $179 AirPods Pro, $299 Apple Watch Series 9, $300 off Bose Smart Soundbar, more

The rumors were correct: the OLED iPad Pro is more expensive, starting at $999 or $1,299, depending on size. That's a $200 increase compared to the 2022 models. But the price is worth it. For that extra $200, you get the new Tandem OLED screen, the entry-level Apple M4 chip with faster memory, and double the storage. It's not a bad deal, though I will point out you could buy a new MacBook for the same price. Double the storage means you get 256GB of flash memory instead of 128GB, which is a great upgrade in my book for this particular tablet. It also makes me think that Apple's upcoming iPhone 16 Pro models should also start with 256GB of storage. Apple already gave the iPhone 15 Pro Max that upgrade last year, so its successor will likely follow suit. But the smaller iPhone 16 Pro should get the same treatment. Continue reading... The post Apple’s iPhone 16 Pro deserves this big upgrade from the OLED iPad Pro appeared first on BGR. Today's Top Deals Today’s deals: $89 Apple AirPods, $3.75 smart plugs, $89 robot vacuum, Samsung monitors, more Best deals: Tech, laptops, TVs, and more sales Today’s deals: $50 camera drone, $44 Soundcore Q20 headphones, Super Mario Bros Wonder under $50, more Today’s deals: $179 AirPods Pro 2, Mattel toys, Kindles, Fitbit sale, $12.50 Matter smart plugs, more

Engineers working at the University of Southern Denmark have created a vampire drone capable of living forever. The drone is able to fly for extended periods of time without landing, as it can take breaks and leech power from nearby power lines to recharge its onboard batteries. The maneuver is made possible thanks to a docking mechanism, several sensors, and an AI system loaded on board. This allows the drone to recognize power lines and then attach to them each time it needs to recharge its batteries. The team told Fast Company that the vampire drone can “essentially live on the grid and operate completely autonomously for extended periods of time,” all without needing a human to babysit it. Apparently, the concept of leeching power from power lines has been explored in one capacity or another since 2017, when Emad Ebeid, a professor at the University of Southern Denmark, first proposed the idea. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-uekD6VTIQ The main goal of drones like this seems to revolve around being able to fly for extended periods of time, checking the integrity of power lines. This process is currently a very expensive maintenance effort, as it requires both helicopters and found personnel. However, a drone that can literally leech power from the power lines and run for extended periods of time could indeed make that job much more efficient. I’m sure there are also plenty of other ways that we could come up with to put these vampire drones to use. Testing the drone was a process in and of itself, though. Drones aren’t typically designed to interact with anything physically, which meant the engineers had to have folks on hand to help deal with anything that went wrong, especially since interacting with a power line has the potential to cause major damage or even wildfires. That’s why the team eventually settled on approaching the wire from the bottom, as it lowered the risk of collision. Then, the engineers fixed grippers to the drone, allowing it to attach itself to the power line and then securely attach itself to the wire. From there, the drone can recharge its batteries, and then unclamp itself once the batteries are fully charged. You can see the vampire drone in action in the video above. It’s actually a cool design, and a far cry from the concerning AI attack drones we’ve seen other engineers putting together. Don't Miss: New NASA black hole simulation video is equally terrifying and mesmerizing The post Revolutionary new drone feeds on electricity from power lines and flies forever appeared first on BGR. Today's Top Deals Amazon gift card deals, offers & coupons 2024: Get $350+ free Today’s deals: $989 M3 MacBook Air, $20 Echo Pop, TheraGun massagers, Bose headphones, more Best Apple Watch deals for April 2024 Today’s deals: $50 camera drone, $44 Soundcore Q20 headphones, Super Mario Bros Wonder under $50, more

A new report from Bloomberg relays that Microsoft recently introduced a customized version of ChatGPT-4 for US Intelligence agencies. One of the key differentiating features is that the modified software is “entirely divorced from the Internet." This will allow spy agencies to use it in a manner that protects classified information. Specifically, agencies will not have to worry about their data being hacked or leaked. Additionally, they won’t have to worry about ChatGPT incorporating inputed data into its training and inadvertently using it when providing answers to users not affiliated with the US government. As Microsoft CTO William Chappell opined: "You don’t want it to learn on the questions that you’re asking and then somehow reveal that information.” The ChatGPT software runs on a specialized network inaccessible to outsiders and is currently being used by upwards of 10,000 employees across several Intelligence agencies. Still, the software remains in the testing phase as Intelligence agencies will closely monitor its efficacy. US spy agencies have a strong interest in generative AI software Notably, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen US spy agencies take a strong interest in ChatGPT and generative AI in general. Just a few months ago, word surfaced that the CIA has been working on AI software similar to ChatGPT. The software is designed to summarize and, in some cases, analyze open-source intelligence reports. The end result is that analysts will be able to crystalize what could otherwise be an avalanche of incoming data and reports. Speaking to the matter, Randy Nixon of the CIA said the following during an interview a few months back: Then you can take it to the next level and start chatting and asking questions of the machines to give you answers, also sourced. Our collection can just continue to grow and grow with no limitations other than how much things cost. We’ve gone from newspapers and radio, to newspapers and television, to newspapers and cable television, to basic internet, to big data, and it just keeps going. Microsoft says that work on the modified ChatGPT software reportedly took about 18 months to finish. This timeline reveals that Microsoft began work on the initiative immediately after its deal with OpenAI was finalized back in early 2023. Don't Miss: Today’s deals: $79 AirPods, $249 iPad 9, free smart bulbs, Lexar memory sale, 20% off Galaxy S24, more The post Microsoft modifies ChatGPT software for US spy agencies appeared first on BGR. Today's Top Deals Amazon gift card deals, offers & coupons 2024: Get $350+ free Best Echo Dot deals for May 2024 Today’s deals: $179 AirPods Pro 2, $599 Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano laptop, COSORI air fryers, Bose sale, more Today’s deals: $89 Apple AirPods, $3.75 smart plugs, $89 robot vacuum, Samsung monitors, more