OFFBEAT

Spoiler: It doesn’t end well for Team Register

The team behind the AI Octopus Euro 2024 predictor has updated its simulator for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, this time allowing users to throw natural-language scenarios at the model and see how the tournament might shake out.

“Sensible questions work – a red card, a key injury, a heat wave, a squad switching base camp – but so do the daft ones, e.g. ‘What if the tournament were played with rugby rules?’” said Luzmo CTO and co-founder Haroen Vermylen.

The system is simple: enter a scenario in a prompt box, and the predictor spits out how the results might go. The raw data includes squad quality based on player information, heat and altitude factors, injury data, and so on. A Monte Carlo simulation of the tournament is used to generate win/lose/draw probabilities, and the score line is derived from 5,000 match runs.

The engine behind the Euro 2024 AI Octopus was written in TypeScript. This time around, the team used Rust. “We moved to Rust to also be able to run things more quickly, as now there is a real-time component to this,” Vermylen told The Register.

“Before it could run for five minutes or so. Now we want the predictions to actually come out within two to three seconds of actual simulation time.”

OpenAI models parse the request and generate summaries, and an agent is used to create or transform scenarios, call the calculation engine, answer questions, and so on. A user doesn’t need to be a data scientist to ask questions and understand the answers.

It’s certainly rapid, recalculating the results based on suggested scenarios (even one in which we pondered the effect of politically dubious emissions from a certain world leader). Not that all scenarios will work. Vermylen told us that filtering was in place to ignore profanities and “to avoid scenarios that would just be harmful to certain groups.”

And then there is the age-old issue of an AI parser simply not understanding the prompt. Clarity is key. Using natural language is a great alternative to a UI with settings and sliders, but that ease of use can result in misunderstandings.

As the tournament progresses, the data will be refined. At the time of writing, the baseline reckons that Spain will beat England in the final. Spain currently has an 18 percent chance of lifting the trophy and a 26.8 percent chance of reaching the finals. Those figures can, of course, be altered by feeding in scenarios.

For example, we asked: “What if the Spanish team eats a bad paella?” Spain’s chance of winning the tournament then dropped to 1.5 percent, with France as the projected champion.

We also asked it what would happen if we replaced the England team with Register writers. Suffice to say that scenario did not end well.

We asked Vermylen what was next. “The Olympics would be nice… or the Eurovision. We’d like to give the United Kingdom a win.” ®

The point-and-click adventure game based on the horror anthology series arrives in August.

Four years on from their first appearance at the FIFA World Cup, Qatar will hope to fare rather better in North America than they did in 2022.

The Maroons were the first nation to play at the finals without ever previously qualifying when they hosted the tournament in 2022, but they quickly set another unwanted record as they became the first host country to be eliminated after two games. Now managed by experienced Spanish head coach Julen Lopetegui, Qatar will hope to use the lessons from their home humbling to pick up their first-ever points at the tournament, although their opener against Switzerland is the first of three tricky games in Group B.

Becoming a Voices of Change fellow empowered me to believe I could be a teacher with all my flaws — that “perfection” is not necessary. In fact, it is antithetical to good teaching. I remember sitting in our first workshop where we learned how to write a pitch and discussed what successful pitching looks like.

My takeaway from that workshop was that this fellowship was going to push me in ways I’d always been afraid of, that I’d have to practice a kind of vulnerability that went deeper than what I modeled for my students. I’d have to face myself.

The fellowship taught me that what makes me unique is what makes me the best teacher I can be. My individual voice and reflections were what I had to offer, and not just the restatement of well-researched best practices. During my fellowship, I learned that the more vulnerable and specific I was in telling my story as a classroom teacher, the more my voice as a writer would shine through. This sense of authenticity translated into my teaching, as I felt empowered to be myself and to see my differences as gifts.

My essay describing the time when two birds flew into my classroom taught me that play is education, and to this day, I can breathe when things go awry because, through writing that essay, I reaffirmed to myself that it’s okay for curriculum to slow down, for community building to be at the center.

My essay exploring the power of neurodivergence led me to connect with other neurodivergent teachers and reminded me that my experiences are what make me the best teacher I can be. I used to be sad that my brain was built differently, but both the process and the outcome of that essay taught me that being different is a gift to share with others. I was most afraid to write that essay, but now I am most proud of it. I was once again reminded of the power in speaking my truth, especially when I’m most afraid to.

Overall, my essays taught me to pay attention to every moment of teaching, that sometimes the most mundane days of instruction offer kernels of truth and exploration. Topics such as boredom, artificial intelligence and allyship have been explored ad nauseam, but my editor empowered me to see that despite this, I still have a voice worth sharing, even when I didn’t think so.

As a result, I developed a confidence in myself that I carry with me to this day. I became more embodied as a human being, more present, because I realized that what made me me was actually what would allow me to connect more meaningfully with my students and the world. In extending that expansiveness and empathy towards myself, I had more empathy to give my students on their off days and more encouragement to give them on their better days. Ultimately, realizing that the most important stories I had to tell were topics I was too afraid to address publicly made me see that the core of education will always be about courage. Courage to be all of myself, to try new activities outside of and inside the classroom. I had to be ready to share myself to have the biggest impact as a writer. Similarly, I would have to do the same to be the best teacher I could be.

Since completing this fellowship, my identity as a human being has expanded. I now see myself not just as a teacher, but as a writer, a thinker, and an observer who has something to say. I feel more comfortable being me, and even empowered to do so. With each essay, I chipped away at my fears and accepted that the joy was in the process itself. Now, I tell my students something I have had to tell myself repeatedly during this fellowship: trust your voice.

Humans Matter: The ever-growing financial investments in AI development have so far caused two major reactions. Some people see AI as a ruinous technology that will drag everything down, while others are still keeping their optimistic view of the traditional evolution cycle of computer technology. Brad Smith definitely belongs to the latter, although he is asking his colleagues to have a closer look at how “normals” are expressing their dissatisfaction with the current state of the (tech) world.

Microsoft president and vice chairman Brad Smith recently shared his – definitely informed – opinion about the growing backlash against AI. Smith thinks that other leaders in the industry should listen when people express their disdain for “pro-AI” speakers attending graduation events. Smith believes that they should take the backlash as a significant wake-up call, because younger generations have always been the most eager early adopters of the latest technology products and trends.

Tech executives are definitely loving the concept that AI will revolutionize everything – although they might overestimate its capabilities because of what Box’s CEO called AI psychosis. At the other end of the spectrum, students who have completed their education are now looking at an increasingly complex job market.

Some executives have so far proposed AI as a transformative technology that is going to profoundly reshape the workforce. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei famously said that LLMs and chatbots are going to erase half of entry-level white-collar jobs within the next five years, while Microsoft AI chief Mustafa Suleyman stated that “most” white-collar jobs will be taken by AI over the next 12 to 18 months.

Smith said that graduates are definitely recognizing the benefits of AI, but they want to keep it where an automation technology should belong. They want agency over chatbots, and they want to decide the future role of machines for themselves and not the other way around.

Microsoft’s president is even trying to revive the concept of the “American Dream,” stating that the dignity of work has always given life meaning and purpose.

“To those in the tech sector who seemingly want to pursue a future where computers replace jobs and AI becomes more capable than people, the next generation of people has offered a compelling response: ‘not so fast,’” Smith said in his post.

Microsoft’s stance appears to align with the recent shift in tone in pro-AI enthusiasm coming from technology leaders. CEOs of AI corporations are trying to highlight the potential benefits of automation technology, arguing that it will make workers more productive and efficient rather than simply replacing them.

Smith still thinks that AI is a transformative technology, an evolutionary leap that’s going to have significant implications for both individuals and organizations over the next few years. However, he also thinks that Microsoft is going to play a major role in this transformation, just like it did with the personal computer revolution.

“Workers have been Microsoft’s lifeblood from the start. If the world’s people don’t have jobs, then neither do we,” he said.

World Cup 2026 has kicked off — and if you’re looking to keep up with the latest matches wherever you are, or just keep your connection secure, it’s a good idea to use one of the best VPNs while streaming.

It’s well known that most major VPN providers offer apps for desktop, mobile, and tablets, but some go a step further with apps that you can install straight onto your TV.

Lara Croft moves through thick Peruvian jungle undergrowth with familiar purpose. The new four-minute gameplay video, captured during Summer Game Fest hands-on sessions, drops players straight into a reimagined Lost Valley. It offers the clearest view yet of how the upcoming Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis game refreshes the 1996 original while carrying forward lessons from more recent entries in the series.

Water pours over the old stonework just in front of Lara. The immediate challenge is to manage the flow so that water levels rise in the lower area and clear a path for her to follow. She climbs the mossy temple walls with jagged rock formations that mix in with the landscape rather than feeling like a staged game marker, which is a comfort. A wrist-mounted grapple then fires, capturing a massive cog, which she hauls into position, redirecting the current and fixing the system. Her scanner detects critical objects when realistic greenery makes them impossible to locate, even when you know they’re there. The entire method runs smoothly with almost no on-screen assistance, and it rewards you for paying attention and testing to see what works.

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• PlayStation 5 Console – 1TB, includes wireless controller, 1TBSSD, Disc Drive, 2 Horizontal Stand Feet, HDMI cable, AC power cord, USB cable, printed…
• 1TB of Storage, keep your favorite games ready and waiting for you to jump in and play
• Ultra-High Speed SSD, maximize you play sessions with near instant load times for installed PS5 games

The visuals are simply stunning from the start, owing to Unreal Engine 5, which provides thick canopy cover, dynamic water, wonderfully detailed ruins, and extremely powerful theatrical lighting. The style effectively blends the sense of discovery from previous games with the more realistic visuals that we’ve come to expect today. Nothing seems overly planned or manufactured.

This small sample is only a taste of what the entire game has to offer. It follows Lara as she seeks for components of the Scion, a tremendously powerful device that transports her around the world: she starts in the Peruvian jungles and then travels to ancient Greek ruins, Egyptian deserts, and a mysterious Mediterranean island steeped in myth and legend. Each new site will feature its own unique blend of exploration, traps, and secrets.

The series’ core gameplay focuses on environmental puzzles, fluid movement, and precision combat. The new Focus system features some amazing slow-motion sequences that emphasize timing and movement. The grappling naturally extends to puzzle solving and crossing challenging terrain. Players can adjust the level of puzzle aid and combat complexity independently, allowing you to tailor the experience to your preferences. For those eager to dig in, there are trinkets and a skill tree to explore. Alix Wilton Regan is Lara’s new voice actress. She provides the usual calm assurance to the role, as well as some emotional range and situational knowledge, and she remains in character throughout, whether scaling cliffs, solving a mechanism, or dodging predators. The continuity really makes you feel like you’re walking in her shoes.

Crystal Dynamics and Flying Wild Hog worked together to produce the game. Their stated goal was to keep the sense of wonder and discovery from the original 1996 version while modernizing the mechanisms to ensure optimal operation on modern hardware and how people play now. They kept the essence of what made the early Tomb Raider so special while also providing new tools that allow players to use Lara’s full range of powers. We may expect the game to be released on February 12, 2027, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2.
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What just happened? The US government has seized two domains accused of hosting non-consensual deepfake pornography of female celebrities, marking what prosecutors say is the first domain seizure under the Take it down Act. CFake.com and SOCFake.com now point to law enforcement notices after the Justice Department and Homeland Security Investigations obtained federal warrants to redirect the sites.

The DOJ says the domains were used to publish digitally forged nude and sexual images and videos of women without their consent. According to the Justice Department, the material involved thousands of “digital forgeries,” while the US Attorney’s Office for New Jersey describes the sites as hosting hundreds of thousands of deepfake pornographic images and videos.

The targeted women included heads of state, first ladies, royalty, legislators, government officials, journalists, TV presenters, athletes, entertainers, and other public figures. Investigators said users could browse material by tags including “rape,” “forced,” “degradation,” and “slave.” Those categories are a big reason why prosecutors framed the case as abuse and exploitation rather than a copyright or impersonation dispute.

The affidavit supporting the seizure says CFake’s landing page described the content as digitally retouched and altered photos of well-known people. Its terms and conditions reportedly told any upset celebrity to contact the operators, then asked why they felt disadvantaged when “practically every female celebrity in the world” was also on the site. HSI also interviewed one victim in February who said the images were forged, non-consensual, and had caused psychological harm.

The Take it down Act, enacted in May 2025, makes it a federal crime to publish sexually explicit digital forgeries of identifiable adults without consent when the material is not a matter of public concern and is intended to cause harm or actually does so. It also gives authorities forfeiture powers over property used to facilitate violations, which in this case meant the domains themselves.

US authorities were alerted to the site by Italian cyber police, who shared evidence with France under the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime. French authorities arrested a 47-year-old man in Nice on June 10, accusing him of being a CFake administrator. CyberScoop reports that French investigators identified about 300,000 images and 7,000 videos depicting 14,000 people, along with 200,000 user accounts and 4 million monthly views.

Deepfakes have been a problem for years, from Scarlett Johansson calling attempts to stop them a “lost cause” in 2019 to the Taylor Swift AI nude images that spread across X in 2024. Google later banned ads for deepfake porn services, while San Francisco sued 16 AI “undressing” websites. As generative AI becomes more advanced, easier to use, and convincing in its output, the issue is arguably getting worse, not better.

Every time Apple released a new iOS update, people swore their iPhones suddenly felt slower. This rumor has followed Apple for years and while the company always denied it, the suspicion never really went away. With its latest iOS 27 update, I believe Apple has finally put this rumor to rest. 

I installed the beta on my iPhone Air, but the bigger story is what’s happening on the older models. Reports from people running iOS 27 on even older iPhones say their phones feel faster, not slower.

That’s the opposite of what the planned obsolescence crowd has been claiming all these years, and it’s happening in a developer beta, which is usually the buggiest, least-optimized version you can get.

So what changed this time around?

According to Apple, the speed gains come from rebuilding how the system handles things like CPU scheduling, memory, and background tasks. In plain terms, your iPhone is now smarter about where it spends its energy, so older chips don’t get bogged down doing work they don’t need to.

Apple is throwing out some crazy numbers. It claims app launches are up to 30% faster, AirDrop is 80% faster, Photos load about 70% faster, and a few other improvements across the board. I usually take these figures with a pinch of salt, since there’s no way to quantitatively test them. But with the results I am seeing on my iPhone Air, I will say that something genuinely feels different. 

I am especially impressed by the new AirDrop. You can actually feel the improvement in transfer speeds. Smaller files transfer in a jiffy, and even larger video files take almost half as long to transfer as they did on iOS 26.

But the best part is that Apple didn’t lock these improvements behind the newest iPhones. Every device that can run iOS 26 can run iOS 27, going all the way back to the iPhone 11. Yes, older devices might miss out on the new AI features, but they all get the speed and stability improvements that will prolong the life of these devices. 

Does this mean the rumors were always wrong?

I wouldn’t say so. Older iPhones do slow down over time, but it’s not some evil master plan. New features require more powerful chips, apps get heavier, and battery health naturally declines, which can throttle performance. Apple itself admitted to slowing down the performance of older iPhones to eke out more battery. The company even had to pay more than $600 million to settle lawsuits. 

iOS 27 update has changed this narrative. Instead of adding flashy new features that need the latest hardware to run well, Apple spent this year making the experience better for everyone, including people holding on to older phones. For this reason, the iOS 27 is the most important update Apple has released in years.

It ensures that my iPhone will last me for a long time, and that I’m not on some invisible countdown to my next upgrade. I have always argued for a maintenance update every few year if not every other year. If Apple keeps on delivering such updates, these planned obsolescence rumors will quietly fade away.