Players chasing realistic lighting and reflections in games often run into the same frustrations. Ray tracing looks impressive in theory because it simulates how light actually bounces around a scene. In practice, engines fire fewer rays than ideal to protect frame rates, which leaves behind grainy noise that older cleanup tools struggle to fix without blurring details or creating odd trails behind moving objects. NVIDIA addressed those issues with a new version of its Ray Reconstruction feature inside the DLSS family. The update relies on a second generation transformer model trained on far more data than before. It processes 20 percent more parameters and handles 35 percent more computations internally, yet it keeps performance roughly in line with the previous release.

The model now takes critical information straight from the game engine, such as motion data and how the engine samples individual pixels, giving the AI crucial new context to assist it decide what to keep and reject. This means that developers now have far more control over how information accumulates from one frame to the next, allowing them to fine-tune the outcomes to match the artistic vision for every game they’re working on.

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Consider Indiana Jones and the Great Circle as an example: those pesky snow particles no longer leave ugly ghosting trails when a character moves about. PRAGMATA becomes cleaner as the strong laser effects flicker over the image, leaving less junk to deal with once the light fades. Alan Wake 2 makes a much better job of preserving the very fine lines of vintage CRT TVs, which tended to blur and lose all of their wonderful detail for no apparent reason.

These small but significant adjustments may appear insignificant on their own, but they add up and make a tremendous difference over long gaming sessions. The good news is that the improved reconstruction works on all GeForce RTX graphics cards, including previous models from the 20 and 30 series. You don’t need the most recent hardware to benefit from this, either, because everything will be available via the NVIDIA app in August, once the game publishers have issued the necessary modifications. They already have 27 games planned to take advantage of this at launch, including Cyberpunk 2077, Hogwarts Legacy, and Star Wars Outlaws, as well as a number of other titles that will be launched immediately or very soon.

This isn’t just for games; the same AI approach is already being used as a denoiser in Blender. The upcoming version 5.3, which should be ready in the fall, gives 3D artists a far better understanding of how lighting will appear in the scene without having to wait for the full render to complete. Over a thousand games and applications have already benefited from NVIDIA’s extended RTX capabilities, which is fascinating.
[Source]

• Tech and energy giants are among the biggest AI users, report reveals
• The biggest users are also investing in data centers, chips, models and more
• AI is becoming concentrated among the biggest companies, SMBs could struggle with ROI

New data from the AI-Driven Enterprise Institute (AIDE Institute) has revealed that even the top AI adopters aren’t necessarily seeing the most tangible, meaningful returns on investment.

According to the report, Nvidia is one of the highest users of AI even though it’s best known for shipping AI products and services.

ASUS is perhaps the biggest name in the gaming space, and there’s good reason for it. Their Zephyrus lineup caters beautifully towards serious gamers, while the Ally is for the people who’re on the move. There’s something for everyone. And keeping up with that spirit, at Computex 2026, ASUS ROG celebrated its 20th anniversary with what it calls “Edition 20,” a showcase of everything from RTX 5090-powered gaming PCs to limited-edition handhelds and, surprisingly, even a board game.

New Xbox Ally X20, Desktop & Strix SCAR 18

The main highlight of the event was arguably the ROG Xbox Ally X20 Bundle. The limited-edition handheld features a translucent black design with gold accents and is powered by AMD’s new Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme processor. ROG has also upgraded the display to a 7.4-inch Nebula HDR OLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate. There are improvements to the controls, too, including redesigned joysticks and a new D-pad. The bundle also includes the ROG XREAL R1 Edition 20 AR glasses, essentially turning the handheld into a portable gaming setup that feels far more ambitious than a standard gaming console.

If handhelds aren’t your thing, ASUS also introduced the ROG G1000 Edition 20. The desktop can be configured with up to an NVIDIA RTX 5090 graphics card and an AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D processor. ASUS says the system can dissipate up to 1000W of heat thanks to its tri-zone cooling setup and massive 420mm liquid cooler. The most unusual feature, however, is the AniMe Holo display. ASUS calls it the world’s first holographic fan system in a prebuilt gaming PC. Whether that’s genuinely useful is debatable, but it definitely makes the G1000 one of the more unique gaming desktops we’ve seen this year.

ROG also refreshed its flagship gaming laptop, the Strix SCAR 18. The new model can be configured with up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX processor and an RTX 5090 Laptop GPU. It also features what ASUS claims is the world’s first 18-inch 4K 240Hz Mini LED gaming laptop display. The laptop supports up to 320W of combined system power and retains ROG’s tool-less upgrade design, allowing users to access RAM and SSD slots without needing a screwdriver.

ASUS Even Made a Board Game

One thing nobody expected from a gaming hardware company was a board game. Yet that’s exactly what ASUS announced with ROG Saga: In Search of Lapuntu Edition 20. The game is based on ROG’s cyberpunk-inspired universe and supports up to four players. ASUS says it’s designed as both a collectible and a playable experience, complete with premium accessories and a dedicated gaming tablemat.

Today, more people are part of the market because of the digital world. Getting data and keeping it safe is a big part of how a business works. A lot of web systems use tools to get data, study market trends, and keep watch over sites all the time. But as web security gets tougher, old ways of getting data do not always work. 

Businesses need new and better tools for bigger needs. These tools help them move past new security walls and stop blocks in their area. This helps keep their data working smoothly with no big issues.

Empowering Automation with Smart Network Technology

Creating a good digital plan starts when you pick the right IP setup. The old ways to link datacenters can be fast. But when you try to work with new web setups, they feel fake. If you switch to residential proxies, you fix this problem. You get real IP numbers from internet providers. These numbers point to real homes around the world.

Because this kind of traffic acts just like real people using the web at home, automated bots can look at pages with many scripts without being stopped. This change makes connection drops much less common. It also helps bots skip quick IP blocks and stops CAPTCHA from showing up again and again. This lets data collection work keep going without stopping, even when it needs to be big.

Architectural Features Driving Enterprise Value

Modern data extraction is not just about easy links. A good proxy tool for businesses can give clear ways to handle things. These ways help people do their jobs better and spend less money.

• Sub-Second Response Times: The data moves in the best way to cut down on delay. This helps you get answers fast when you ask for something in real time.
• Detailed Geo-Targeting: You can filter by country, state, and city. This lets you pick content that is close to where you are. It helps you see prices that match your place better.
• Flexible Use of Methods: You can use both SOCKS5 and HTTP. These work well with business tools or your own data grabber scripts.
• Persistent Session Management: Developers use sticky sessions. They keep the connection up for one day. This means all the steps in automation run without stopping.

Safeguarding Operations and Budget Efficiency

Old proxy setups often use up too much of your data. The reason can be silent mistakes, drops in time when talking to the internet, and bigger amounts of data being pulled down. New ways aim to change this. They use smart ideas to filter sessions. They also make the system clear, so you can see what is happening.

When you use built-in traffic filters like ad-blocking tools, you can cut your data use by up to 30%. The tools stop big trackers and other things that you do not need. Pay-as-you-go pricing also helps, because it lets both small and big teams grow when they want to. This way, they will not get stuck with options that cost too much.

Elevating Brand Integrity and Global Insights

Advanced proxy setups do more than just fast scraping. They give a strong shield for companies today. Proxies help keep the IP addresses of these groups safe. This lets people do fair market research and check brand rules in other places without any risk.

With proxies, companies can keep an eye on retail trends around the world. They help protect digital property from fake listings and also let you see local SEO. A trusted proxy layer gives a business the real facts it needs. It also keeps the main parts of the work safe and private.

Conclusion

Building a strong online presence means you need to act fast and be willing to change how you handle data to keep it safe. If you use old or basic systems, things can break, your developers may waste time, and you might end up spending more money trying to fix things. 

To keep your work going well for a long time and cut costs, companies need to pick new tools that use trusted pools and strong setups that always work. If your business wants to grow its web automation over time without any big issues, you should use the proxy and web scraping API tools from evomi.com. With these, you will get an advantage, fair billing, and quick speeds so you can do well online.

The company demoed Solara on an Echo Show-style smart display and a smart key badge.

Horror fans can’t get enough of the movie Obsession. Written and directed by Curry Barker, Obsession follows Bear (Michael Johnston), a hopeless romantic who makes a wish on a One Wish Willow to make his friend and crush, Nikki (Inde Navarrette), fall in love with him. While his wish comes true, his dream romance turns into a bloody nightmare that threatens to destroy him and everyone around him.

After it was made on a budget of less than $1 million, Obsession achieved universal acclaim in theaters, receiving a 96% Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It also grossed over $100 million at the box office in just three weeks, according to Box Office Mojo, making it one of the most successful horror movies of the decade.

In an interview with Digital Trends, Obsession actor Megan Lawless, who portrayed Bear’s friend and secondary love interest, Sarah, in the film, discussed how she brought her beloved character to life, what it was like making the movie with the cast and crew, and what the future holds for her after its unprecedented success.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Digital Trends: Megan, thank you so much for joining me today. Let’s get started. How [are] you doing?

Lawless: I’m great. How are you?

Digital Trends: I’m fantastic. Everyone, including myself, can’t get enough of Obsession. It just grossed over $100 million at the box office, and I’ve been seeing a lot of people online saying how much they loved your performance as Sarah in the film. So I was wondering if you could tell us how it feels to see so many people react to your character in this way.

Lawless: It’s great. I mean, I’ve always loved Sarah, and I was hoping that people could extrapolate a lot from the time that I was on screen and really root for her. That was always my goal: for people to root for her. So now that I’m seeing everyone rooting for her…in the comments, it just makes me really happy that they love her the way I love her, and that all the elements came together to get fans to support her and root for her.

Digital Trends: Awesome. I’m really curious about what your inspirations were for bringing [Sarah’s] character to life.

Lawless: Oh, that’s a great question. I don’t know if I had any specific inspirations, per se. I think I just read her off the page, and I understood her pretty immediately. And then after talking with Curry and just making sure that our vision aligned, I felt that just bringing a lot of myself into it and perspective. Her perspectives on everything, I think, shape her as a character as well a lot. So, yeah, that was pretty much it.

I stylistically drew inspiration from Hayley Williams and more punk rock-type girls, more than myself. We have very different styles, me and Sarah. So, that was really fun. And then, I was looking at different punky cool chicks on Pinterest and stuff to get inspiration on my hair because we changed my hair for me to play Sarah. So I was looking for a haircut that I thought would embody how I viewed Sarah to be. And then, Blair [James], the costume designer, got everything aligned, and then she came together visually, and that was the really fun part of the process.

Digital Trends: Awesome. What was it like working with everyone on the set of this film? I’ve seen behind the scenes [footage]. It seems like you were all having the time of your lives on it. So I wonder if you can tell us more about that.

Lawless: Oh, we did have the time of our lives. It was just incredible. I say this time and time again, but I’ve never been so close with my castmates…and crew members than I have been with Obsession. Me and Inde, she slept in my bed. We had sleepovers twice last weekend, and we do so much together.

And me and Haley Johnson, our producer, I can call her up anytime. And we also hang out outside of work. We are really good friends. I’ve developed such deep friendships with people I work with. We throw game nights sometimes, and we still are maintaining a really great friendship and rapport.

Even after stopping filming and after the film has been released, we’re making an effort to keep seeing each other. And that has never happened for me to this level. And it’s just another huge blessing that comes out of Obsession. It’s just so special, every part of it.

Digital Trends: That’s really fantastic to hear. It’s so great to have a community of friends [who] get together to make films together. It’s just really great to see that dynamic brought to life on the screen.

Speaking of Inde, I’ve seen videos online. You really seem like the best of friends right now. But compared to your characters in the film, they were really clashing over what was going on. A lot of the terror came from [Inde’s] character as Nikki. Were there times during the production where you were genuinely terrified of her and what she was bringing to the film?

Lawless: I must say, no. Inde does not genuinely terrify me because I just know her so well, and it’s hard to remove. But I will say that I was constantly in awe of her performances. I just thought they were incredible. The way she would transform.

But yeah, behind all the movie magic and like, just in between takes coming and being able to joke around and have fun, that removed all of the fear for me when I watch it now as a whole. I watched it in a theater or something. Then I can remove myself from the story and really be engaged with the story from more of an outside perspective, I would say, but never on set.

Digital Trends: Right. And speaking of story, one of the most talked about parts of the movie is that scene in the car when Nikki attacks you with that brick. That had my jaw on the floor. It was so shocking, and the tragedy [that] comes afterwards after Bear opens that acceptance letter. That broke my heart. So I was wondering if you could tell us more about what you thought about that scene being in the film.

Lawless: Oh, my gosh. Yeah. I mean, I loved the scene. I had a feeling, even before I started reading it, that my character would be killed off. All anyone can hope for is that her death scene is iconic, and people will talk about it, and it will really make audiences feel something. And I can say without a doubt…it really is a strong moment in the film where everything changes for Bear.

It’s the catalyst that leads us to the finale of the film, and it’s just so momentous, and I love how much gravitas it has. When I was reading it, it was just so insane, I was really stoked about it. And I was really curious as well to see how we would pull all the pieces together to make it happen. So the whole process was really fun, making that scene what you see on the film.

Digital Trends: Absolutely. I mean, it reminded me of this similar scene from The Haunting of Hill House…There’s, like, a similar jump-scare sort of scene in the car that changes everything. And I got that same feeling watching that scene in the theater.

And another thing I was really intrigued by the film is the dynamic between Sarah and her friends. With Bear, Ian, and Nikki. Once the wish has been made and Freaky Nikki is just dominating [Nikki’s] life, everyone just tries to keep [their] distance while saying she just needs psychiatric help, not knowing what’s really going on with her. But it really feels like they’re just trying to distance themselves from the issue.

In your opinion, do you think Sarah really considers Nikki like a friend or more just [as] competition for Bear’s affection?

Lawless: I was talking about this the other day a little bit with Inde, actually. I think they’ve been friends for a long time. But I think this is one of those friend groups where they go way back. They’ve known each other since high school. And I think this might be a point in their lives where, if the events of the film didn’t unfold, they would start moving in different directions.

So they’re moving on to different chapters of their life. I want to go to art school. Nikki wants to quit [her] job so that she can work more on her writing. And so it might be a friend-group dynamic [where] they’ve outgrown each other a little.

I definitely think Nikki and Sarah are friends, and they’ve known each other a while, and obviously, at the start of the film, I’m comfortable enough with Nikki to confide in her that I have feelings for Bear, and that’s why she brings it up to Bear in the car that Sarah was talking about [him] all day. You know? She has a crush on [him]. And we definitely have a good enough friendship to have that sort of rapport.

But I think from Sarah’s perspective, when everything starts to unfold, and her friend has now kind of betrayed her. She exposed her feelings for Bear to Nikki, and then all of a sudden, Nikki is dating Bear the next day.

I think that would feel like a huge betrayal and probably sows a lot of seeds of doubt in Sarah’s mind [about] her friend and these friendships that she has… and she is trying to figure out why her friends would change their tune so suddenly.

And it must feel kind of personal. It would feel personal, or personal to me, if my best friend started dating the guy I’ve been telling her all about that I like the next day. [It] would feel like an attack.

Digital Trends: Right. Going back to what you said. The wish is really what causes the friend group to unravel. Part of me was wondering, “If Bear had never made that wish, do you think he would have ended up with Nikki, or would he have eventually been with Sarah?”

Don’t get me wrong. What he did later on in the film was awful. But there was some glimmers of hope for all their characters before that fateful wish.

Lawless: Yeah. I’m not quite sure what would have happened. I like to believe that Sarah was close to telling Bear herself about her feelings. I even like to believe at [the trivia night], she has been telling Nikki about her feelings, and Nikki’s supposed to probe it all and eventually [Sarah] would get to tell Bear how she feels. After gauging his feelings, though, Bear has no feelings for her. So maybe, if she had heard that, she would have been like, “OK, never mind.”

I shouldn’t even try, but I think without the wish…Bear is not suitable to be in any relationship. [They] are mature enough to avoid someone that, if they were to get keyed on in that, they would avoid being with Bear because they understand that he has a lot of development and growth that he needs to work through before being in a relationship.

Digital Trends: Yeah, that’s what I thought, too. Sometimes in these situations, people just kind of like to learn to be comfortable with themselves before they can really be with others. So that’s something that Bear was never able to really get over. He was so desperate not to be alone that he basically just destroyed everyone’s lives.

Lawless: Yeah, that is just really, really dangerous…It’s just really damaging for all parties.

Digital Trends: Absolutely. So, after Obsession, what other projects are you working on right now?

Lawless: So I’m going to start filming another project, another film, it’s a thriller, next month. I’m not quite sure if I can name what it is, but you’ll see something in the news soon, I’m sure. I think there’ll be an article that is released about the cast eventually. But I do have plans to do that. And then, that’ll be really fun, another feature horror. Totally different kicker, which I like.

And then, we’ll see about that. I’ve been talking to a lot of people, meeting a lot of people, and reading a lot of scripts. So the possibilities are kind of endless. And it’s very exciting. I would love to do another film, but like a drama or work on a show, a dramatic show. I would love to just really explore my craft even more on a larger scale. So we will see.

Digital Trends: Yeah. I’m really looking forward to seeing whatever you do next. I think it’s going to be really great.

Lawless: Aw, thanks.

Digital Trends: Oh, you’re welcome. Now, as far as the future, I mean, do you see yourself working with Curry and anyone else from Obsession again? I know the cast of Curry’s next film, Anything But Ghosts, was just announced, but what about his Texas Chain Saw film? Do you see yourself working with any of them?

Lawless: Absolutely. I would love to work with all of them again. I got the opportunity to work with Haley Johnson, our producer, again on a short that we did before Obsession actually came out in theaters, but after we had filmed Obsession. And it was just so nice to have so many crew members and stuff, all of us together, because sometimes when you film, it’s like you wrap, and then you don’t get the opportunity to relive what you just did. This incredible thing you just did.

I would just love to work with Curry again. I would [with] Inde again. I mean, the whole cast I would work together again…you never know. We’ll see how things pan out. But we all have such good relationships with each other. I wouldn’t be surprised.

Digital Trends: That’s all really terrific to hear. I can’t wait to see what you all do next.

“Partiful will not make money. There is no pitch at scale,” Partiful once posted via tweet in 2023, adding, “Investors gave us money to help u party, and that is what we are here to do. Enjoy it babes.”

In a call with WIRED, Murthy said the tweet was always meant to be a joke.

“It’s kind of funny how many people took it literally, and now it’s followed us around everywhere, and it’s become a meme,” Murthy said. “But it is nice to say that Partiful is monetizing now.”

Last Call

Courtesy of Partiful

Partiful has done well partly due to its ability to channel a kind of public whimsy and weirdness people are looking to partake in. Just a cursory glance through a list of events in the Bay Area shows events like “Open Paint Night,” “Capture the Flag,” and “Bean-Up.” (The description reads, “Do you love beans?” 42 people say they are going at the time of writing.) The service has its detractors, but it has proved very popular for people looking to arrange quick get-togethers or off-kilter social experiments.

Partiful couldn’t have coasted along on good vibes alone forever. Especially when it faces challengers like Facebook Events, Apple Invites, or the hot new invite app, Luma. But the move to build out a financial future is likely to make users nervous. Enshittification is en vogue, after all, and users have seen service after service get bogged down by growth-driven monetization machinations that eventually bloat the experience and alienate its users.

“I would contend that with the launch of ticketing, this is an act of unshittification,” Murthy says. “The experience today is janky for hosts, and it’s janky for guests. That process that people were already going through is now streamlined directly in Partiful.”

Murthy says she wants Partiful to focus on smaller, community-oriented events, rather than take direct aim at ticket behemoths like AXS or Ticketmaster that run ticket sales for larger events. The immediate plan isn’t to become a platform that sells Taylor Swift Eras tour tickets, though when asked if that’s the goal, Murthy is not not down.

“Look, if Taylor Swift reads this article, please print that I would love for her to have her concert on Partiful,” Murthy says. “She can have her people contact my people.”

Speaking on Monday night at a Build event, Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott said one of the difficulties with new AI tools is “how do we figure out how to make these capabilities more valuable” so that people will actually use them. 

“Pure human psychology … is throttling things,” Scott said. 

In other words, people need proof that this new way of doing things is better than the way they’re used to. That’s particularly so when it comes to agentic AI, which he said requires a lot of trust. 

“We need to think really quite hard about what does it mean to build trustworthy software,” Scott said, adding that not until people trust the software will they hand over control of their devices to an autonomous assistant. 

And last, he said that creating a tool with artificial intelligence doesn’t automatically make it useful.

“Just because you are using AI to create a lot of activity does not necessarily mean the activity you’re creating is valuable,” he said, referencing a “meme chat app” he created solely to irritate his children. 

Multiple Instagram users had their accounts hijacked after attackers convinced Meta’s AI-powered support tools that they were the legitimate owners.

In many cases, impacted users are unable to recover access due to the platform’s use of automated assistance that involves only AI/chatbot loops and no human support agents.

On Monday, multiple holders of rare and high-value accounts reported suddenly losing access to their accounts, claiming that their identities had been verified via facial scans and that they had enabled safeguards such as two-factor authentication (2FA).

Among the impacted accounts were one previously used by the Obama White House team, one belonging to app researcher Jane Manchun Wong, @hey, and @korn.

The owner of the @korn account, who noted that the band never officially claimed the account and is using another one, expressed frustration with Meta’s recovery mechanism, which had put them in a time-wasting loop.

“I spent 6 hours trying to get human support, and Meta’s support AI gave me 4 broken links in a row,” explained the user identifying as Kornel.

“We’re at the point where one AI stole it, and another can’t fix it, zero humans in the loop anywhere,” the @korn account owner said.

According to some reporters, the account-hijacking attacks were trivial. The activity involved chatting with Meta’s AI assistant, convincing it that the attacker was the legitimate account owner, and tricking it into changing the associated email address.

The takeover process starts with the threat actor activating the “forgot password” protocol due to the account being hacked. When Instagram’s AI-powered assistance asks the user to verify with a selfie, the attacker uses a photo from the target’s account, passes it through an AI video generator to turn it into an animation, and uploads it to Meta for verification.

User André says that “Meta’s AI just accepts it because it can’t tell the difference between a real selfie and an AI-generated video of someone’s face.” They also added that the takeover method bypasses 2FA protections.

“Then you try to recover your account, and you’re talking to a chatbot that has zero ability to help. You can’t escalate to a human. You’re just stuck. Your asset is gone, and there’s no one to call,” André said.

Some reports claim that attackers used VPN services to appear as if they connected from the target’s usual region, to pass geolocation checks that would trigger a more complex login flow for added security.

After changing the email address, the attacker could initiate a password reset process and receive the required security code for gaining access to the account.

Some online reports claim that the @e and @f one-letter accounts on Instagram were obtained through an active exploit. However, others dispute this information, arguing that the usernames were secured by an individual with internal privileges. BleepingComputer was not able to independently verify either claim.

Because single-letter social media accounts are very rare, they have a high value on the black market, typically in the tens of thousands of U.S. dollars.

While Meta has yet to publish a press release with an official response to the situation, the company’s vice president of communications, Andy Stone, replied on social media to an affected user stating that the “issue has been resolved, and we are securing impacted accounts.”

BleepingComputer has contacted Meta with a request for a comment, but we have not heard back as of publishing.

Automated pentesting tools deliver real value, but they were built to answer one question: can an attacker move through the network? They were not built to test whether your controls block threats, your detection rules fire, or your cloud configs hold.

This guide covers the 6 surfaces you actually need to validate.

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