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Steam Next Fest demos, a Virtual Boy-inspired shooter and other new indie games worth checking out
Plus, a timely soccer-related management sim that doesn't hit the back of the net. Welcome to our latest roundup of what's going on in the indie game space. As ever, we've got some new releases and news of upcoming games to share with you. However, it's Steam Next Fest time, so there are literally thousands of fresh game demos to jump into. One of the main aims of Steam Next Fest is to help players discover interesting games.
Norway imposes broad restrictions on AI for elementary school kids
This follows a smartphone and tablet ban in classrooms. Norway is imposing a strict ban on the use of generative AI tools by elementary school kids, according to a report by . Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere suggested at a press conference that AI lets children skip crucial steps in their education and that schools should focus on teaching them how to read, write and do mathematics. These standards will be imposed at the start of the new school year, which begins in late August. However, the policy also extends to teens, albeit in a reduced fashion.
Amazon won't release Sam Altman biopic focused on OpenAI's 2023 leadership crisis
Apropos of nothing, in February, Amazon invested $50 billion in OpenAI. Amazon MGM Studios has reportedly dropped the Sam Altman biopic, even though it's nearly finished, after the company deepened its partnership with OpenAI. According to Variety, the film directed by Luca Guadagnino has already had several test screenings that enjoyed positive reception. Amazon had a copy of all iterations of the script even before Guadagnino joined the project, so it knew what kind of film it was greenlighting and even fast-tracking last year. We have the utmost respect and admiration for Luca Guadagnino as an award-winning filmmaker -- not to mention a longstanding relationship that we hope to continue, a spokesperson told the publication.
Amazon is investigating three employees who spoke out against building more AI data centers
They were testifying at a Seattle city council meeting. Five members of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice (AECJ) previously testified at Seattle city council meetings about AI data centers . Now, three of them are apparently under investigation by the company. The AECJ has filed a civil rights complaint against the company on behalf of the three engineers, according to CNBC and GeekWire, accusing Amazon of violating a Seattle law that prohibits companies from discriminating against employees based on their political ideology, race, religion and age. The engineers spoke at Seattle city council hearings over whether to put a pause on AI data center buildouts.
2028 Mercedes-Benz VLE first drive: Your 8K living room on wheels has arrived
Benz's electric Grand Limousine might just make minivans cool. The concept of a living room on wheels is something of a modern cliché in the automotive world, a vision for a car so comfortable, well-appointed and ultimately luxurious that you'd be just as happy to spend hours there as you would lounging at home. The problem is that most of those concepts, like the Cadillac InnerSpace or Mini Urbanaut, have depended on the availability of self-driving technology, something that still only exists in the limited circles of Waymo, Zoox and their ilk. We're still years away from you or I being able to buy a car that can drive itself unsupervised, but that isn't stopping Mercedes from releasing what could be the most compelling of the rolling living spaces. It's called the VLE, and while it requires a human behind the wheel, passengers in the second row will be treated to reclining, massaging seats, a 22-speaker Dolby Atmos sound system and a 31.3-inch
Google has discontinued the Nest Home Mini and Nest Audio
Google just introduced a new smart home speaker yesterday, but the arrival of a new product heralds the end of others. The company has confirmed that it will end production of the Nest Home Mini and Nest Audio. These Nest devices have been on the market for around five years (or longer, if you count 2017's Google Home Mini) and it seems logical for Google to prioritize the newer generation given the current strategy of putting its Gemini chatbot everywhere it possibly can. Although the pair of speakers has been discontinued, any of the two smart home products in the wild will remain operational. Existing Nest Mini and Nest Audio devices will continue to be fully supported with regular software updates, security patches and customer care, a rep from Google told Engadget.
Rivian faces a class action lawsuit over self-driving in its early vehicles
Plaintiffs claim the company overstated the capabilities of the R1T and R1S. Rivian has been sued on allegations that it made misleading statements about the self-driving capabilities of its R1T truck and R1S SUV. According to the class action complaint brought by Rivian customers, the first-generation models of these vehicles are not capable of the offering the self-driving potential that the company had promised. The plaintiffs argued that Rivian represented that those early models would be capable of level 3 autonomous driving, meaning the vehicle would be able to steer, accelerate and break without driver action. In reality, Rivian manufactured its Gen 1 Vehicles without the hardware, cameras, sensors, and compute to enable hands-free driving and/or Level 3 autonomous operation, the complaint states.
Adobe brings its Firefly AI Assistant inside of Premiere, Photoshop and Illustrator
The company is also previewing an upgraded creative AI studio experience. Earlier this year, Adobe debuted Firefly AI Assistant, an AI agent that could work across its family of Creative Cloud apps to complete multi-step workflows on behalf of users. Today, the company is previewing an updated Firefly creative AI studio experience that expands the capabilities of that software, starting with an upgrade to AI Assistant's ability to carry context forward. A new Elements feature allows users to save characters, locations and objects they've previously generated to reuse in future outputs. Adobe suggests this capability will allow AI Assistant to better maintain consistency across stories, campaigns and projects that evolve inside of Firefly.
Waymo recalls over 3,800 robotaxis that might drive onto closed freeways
The company is working on a fix and has restricted freeway driving. Waymo is recalling over 3,800 of its self-driving taxis due to a software issue that could cause them to enter closed freeway construction zones at speed, according to a National Highway Traffic Safety Admininstration (NHTSA) bulletin seen by Reuters . The company is reportedly working on a fix and has restricted freeway driving, the NHTSA safety notice states. It's not known if Waymo had an incident that prompted the recall. We identified an area of improvement regarding performance around freeway construction zones, Waymo told Engadget in a statement.
ChatGPT now has a hub for scheduled tasks
TIL you can schedule prompts in ChatGPT. Did you know you could schedule tasks in ChatGPT? I'll be honest, I never thought to ask OpenAI's chatbot to do something in the future, and it seems like a lot of you didn't either, because the company has begun rolling out an update that better highlights ChatGPT's ability to do just that. The next time you open ChatGPT's sidebar, you'll see a shortcut to a new Scheduled page that gives you a place to see any active tasks you might have assigned to ChatGPT, including when they're set to run. From this page, you can also pause, edit and delete any upcoming requests.