Technology
Soulbound unveils Web3 livestreaming at TwitchCon
Soulbound unveiled its Web3 livestreaming platform today at TwitchCon 2024 in San Diego, California.
Soulbound went to the big event for streamers and creators to showcase how blockchain technology can transform the livestreaming experience for gamers, streamers, and developers.
Backed by investors including Animoca Brands, NGC Ventures, and Big Brain Holdings, Soulbound raised $4 million recently. It is introducing its decentralized technology platform to a global audience of gaming enthusiasts.
The platform aims to provide gamers and content creators with tools to connect, compete, and earn in a transparent and secure Web3 environment. Game studios can also benefit from access to an engaged Web3 gaming community, offering new ways to boost visibility and drive participation, the company said.
Join us for GamesBeat Next!
GamesBeat Next is connecting the next generation of video game leaders. And you can join us, coming up October 28th and 29th in San Francisco! Take advantage of our buy one, get one free pass offer. Sale ends this Friday, August 16th. Join us by registering here.
Soulbound’s Web3 livestreaming platform changes how content creators and gamers can interact with their audiences. Leveraging blockchain, Soulbound introduces features like stream-to-earn, a non-fungible token (NFT) sticker marketplace, and a prediction market, encouraging users to engage more deeply with the content while generating revenue.
These blockchain-powered mechanisms create transparent and automated interactions and allow streamers to monetize their activities fairly and efficiently, Soulbound said.
Through the platform’s bounty system, game developers can set up prize pools for streamers. Developers deposit funds into a smart contract, coming up with streaming challenges that incentivize participation. Bounty Hunters, or streamers, participate in these challenges over a set period, with rewards distributed based on audience size and time streamed. This transparent mechanism ensures that streamers are compensated proportionally, cultivating a fair and competitive environment.
With a unique prediction market feature viewers can place bets on games or individual players, which generates additional revenue for streamers. This option enhances viewer engagement while allowing streamers to boost their earnings in new, dynamic ways.
Founded in 2021 by A.I. Mansbridge and Casey Grooms, Soulbound is a SocialFi platform designed to help streamers monetize and grow their audiences.
Source link
Technology
We need transparency from the companies disseminating misinformation
Here in the US, we are deep into election season, and it is impossible to debate politics without also debating how technology is distorting it. There are the AI-generated deepfake images Donald Trump circulated of Taylor Swift appearing to endorse his campaign, as well as disproven conspiracy theories about rigged voting machines. And then there are the malicious disinformation campaigns on social media, which are coming from everywhere – with seemingly no solutions in sight.
The Microsoft Threat Analysis Center released a report charting a recent rise in fake activist and news websites, as well as fake accounts on social media, created by operatives in Russia, Iran and China. Generally, their goals are to create chaos during the election and exacerbate tensions over race, gender and other hot-button cultural issues.
On X, Elon Musk released a chatbot called Grok, which was spouting misinformation for several weeks about when to vote. Meanwhile, Meta, owner of Facebook, announced it has a solution to the political misinformation conundrum: its social platform Threads won’t “recommend” political content. This is akin to claiming one can remove butter from shortbread – it sounds like a healthy goal until you try to separate out what is “political” from everything else.
I recently talked about all this at the National Book Festival in Washington DC on a panel with propaganda expert Peter Pomerantsev. Our moderator asked us if the 2024 election is better or worse than the 2020 one in terms of misinformation and disinformation, with the latter being false information intended to deceive or mislead. It is a complicated question, because social media has changed so much since 2020.
I think people are more aware of online misinformation, but they are more confused by it than ever. Partly that is because the previous generation of social platforms is crumbling away, and the new ones have fragmented us into dozens of spaces. But in the US, this confusion is also engineered. Politicians have sued and hamstrung academic groups like the Stanford Internet Observatory in California, which tracked US election misinformation online in 2020. We know the propaganda is out there, but nobody is able to analyse it adequately.
Plus, as Pomerantsev said, it isn’t as if online disinformation will evaporate after the elections. Indeed, many people crave it. Propaganda makes us feel like we are part of a community, united against a common enemy. This insight is particularly profound when it comes to social media, which is also designed to make people feel like they are part of a community even when they are alone with their glowing screen.
We are at a weird historical juncture. Experts may understand why propaganda works, but no longer know how it reaches us on a technical level. When the military sent propaganda to adversaries in the past century, they loaded pamphlets into planes and dropped them behind enemy lines. It was pretty obvious where the information was coming from, and why. Today, companies hide the way false information rockets across their platforms. Their algorithms for surfacing content are secret, and so are the identities of many people posting. We don’t need better technology to solve our misinformation problems; we need transparency from the companies disseminating it. They should be honest about where the content in our feeds is coming from, because most of what we see is determined by algorithm, and comes from strangers we never opted to follow. If researchers knew how information got into our feeds, and how people respond to it, they might come up with tools that prevent dangerous lies from spreading.
Still, there are non-technical solutions too. Bestselling author Rebecca Yarros, whose fantasy novel Fourth Wing is about a group of students at a war college for dragon riders, also spoke at the National Book Festival . As Yarros’s main character Violet gains more experience, she realises that the leaders of the college have been rewriting history books to justify a centuries-long war. In reality, her people started the war by colonising the group Violet once thought were the baddies.
Yarros explained that she wrote the book in part to protest US politicians who are removing references to slavery from history books. Many audience members thanked her for telling a story that debunked propaganda and was on the side of colonised people.
I walked around with a smile for a while afterwards. Partly it was the fizz of being in a real-life community, not one fabricated by propaganda. But it was more than that. Popular stories like Fourth Wing give me hope that the escape from propaganda can be just as compelling as the escape into it.
Annalee’s week
What I’m listening to
The podcast Tested, by Rose Eveleth, about the history and science of sex testing at the Olympics (see review, page 30)
What I’m reading
Peter Pomerantsev’s How to Win an Information War, a tale of British psychological operations in the second world war
What I’m working on
Learning about the history of biang biang noodles
Annalee Newitz is a science journalist and author. Their latest book is Stories Are Weapons: Psychological warfare and the American mind. They are the co-host of the Hugo-winning podcast Our Opinions Are Correct. You can follow them @annaleen and their website is techsploitation.com
Topics:
Technology
NFL Week 3 games today: schedule, channels, live streams for September 22
Week 3 started on a high note for the Jets (2-1). In their home opener, the New York Jets dominated the New England Patriots (1-2) from start to finish. Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers was fantastic, completing 27 of 35 passes for 281 yards and two touchdowns. The Jets defense was the real story, allowing only 139 yards and recording seven sacks.
Thirteen Week 3 NFL games will be played on September 22. The most interesting game of the day pits the Baltimore Ravens (0-2) against the Dallas Cowboys (1-1). Fans can watch every game on NFL Sunday Ticket through YouTube TV. Below, check out the NFL Week 3 schedule, with times, channels, and streaming information.
New York Giants at Cleveland Browns start time, channel, and live stream
- Start Time: 1 p.m. ET
- Channel: Fox
- Stream: NFL+, YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV, ,
It’s been a rough start for the New York Giants (0-2). In Week 2, the Giants became the first team to score three touchdowns, not allow a single touchdown, and still lose.
After a rough Week 1 loss, the Cleveland Browns (1-1) bounced back with an 18-13 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Browns’ defense had a great day, sacking Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence four times and holding him to under 200 yards passing.
Chicago Bears at Indianapolis Colts start time, channel, and live stream
Pedal to the metal 💨 pic.twitter.com/E4T86hY72Z
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) September 20, 2024
- Start Time: 1 p.m. ET
- Channel: CBS
- Stream: NFL+, Paramount+, YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV,
It’s been a tough two weeks for Caleb Williams. The Chicago Bears (1-1) quarterback has thrown for 267 yards, zero touchdowns, and two interceptions. However, the Bears’ offensive line has done a terrible job protecting Williams.
The Indianapolis Colts (0-2) and their star quarterback, Anthony Richardson, have also experienced growing pains early in the season. Look for the Colts to get running back Jonathan Taylor more involved in the offense.
Houston Texans at Minnesota Vikings start time, channel, and live stream
Justin Jefferson gives an update pic.twitter.com/03LF9soufj
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) September 19, 2024
- Start Time: 1 p.m. ET
- Channel: CBS
- Stream: NFL+, Paramount+, YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV,
It’s no surprise the Houston Texans (2-0) are undefeated to start the season. Houston made the Divisional Round a season ago and have high expectations this season. However, the Minnesota Vikings (2-0) are one of the surprising teams of the year thanks to quarterback Sam Darnold, who is in the midst of a career renaissance.
Philadelphia Eagles at New Orleans Saints start time, channel, and live stream
- Start Time: 1 p.m. ET
- Channel: Fox
- Stream: NFL+, YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV, ,
After leading for the majority of the night, the Philadelphia Eagles (1-1) collapsed in the final moments of their Week 2 game to lose to the Atlanta Falcons. A lot of conversation this week surrounded head coach Nick Sirianni and his questionable coaching decisions.
Like the Vikings, the New Orleans Saints (2-0) have stunned the football world with an undefeated start. The Saints offense is firing on all cylinders, scoring on their first 15 possessions of the season.
Los Angeles Chargers at Pittsburgh Steelers start time, channel, and live stream
- Start Time: 1 p.m. ET
- Channel: CBS
- Stream: NFL+, Paramount+, YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV,
Jim Harbaugh is off to a hot start as the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers (2-0). The team is undefeated thanks to their second-ranked rushing attack (197.5 yards per game).
In Pittsburgh, Mike Tomlin has the Steelers (2-0) undefeated thanks to a defense that has allowed eight points per game. Justin Fields is in line to start for a third consecutive week in place of the injured Russell Wilson.
Denver Broncos at Tampa Bay Buccaneers start time, channel, and live stream
👀 on #DENvsTB.
📸 » https://t.co/umn0YInFvP pic.twitter.com/aDK3afJYx3
— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) September 19, 2024
- Start Time: 1 p.m. ET
- Channel: Fox
- Stream: NFL+, YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV, ,
The Denver Broncos (0-2) lost by six points in Week 1 and seven points in Week 2. The defense has held up their end of the bargain. However, rookie quarterback Bo Nix has struggled mightily with zero touchdowns and four interceptions.
Everything is good in Tampa Bay after the Buccaneers (2-0) went into Detroit and won 20-16. This marks the fourth straight season where the Buccaneers have started 2-0.
Green Bay Packers at Tennessee Titans start time, channel, and live stream
Facing Week 3’s test in the Titans.
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) September 19, 2024
- Start Time: 1 p.m. ET
- Channel: Fox
- Stream: NFL+, YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV, ,
All you need is love … unless you’re the Green Bay Packers (1-1). Without starting quarterback Jordan Love, the Packers defeated the Colts 16-10 behind 261 rushing yards.
The Tennessee Titans (0-2) have now lost two winnable games. Quarterback Will Levis has made two crucial turnovers in key moments. For the Titans to win, Levis must take care of the ball.
Carolina Panthers at Las Vegas Raiders start time, channel, and live stream
- Start Time: 4:05 p.m. ET
- Channel: CBS
- Stream: NFL+, Paramount+, YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV,
Nothing has gone right for the Carolina Panthers (0-2) this season. To make matters worse, quarterback Bryce Young has been benched for veteran Andy Dalton.
The Las Vegas Raiders (1-1) had one of the most stunning wins in Week 2. Down 10 points in the fourth quarter, the Raiders scored the final 13 points of the game to win 26-23 against the Ravens in overtime.
Miami Dolphins at Seattle Seahawks start time, channel, and live stream
Taking on the Emerald City 🏙️ pic.twitter.com/jcJPn6fOf3
— Miami Dolphins (@MiamiDolphins) September 19, 2024
- Start Time: 4:05 p.m. ET
- Channel: CBS
- Stream: NFL+, Paramount+, YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV,
Not only did the Miami Dolphins (1-1) lose in Week 2 but quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered another concussion that knocked him out of the game. Tagovailoa will now miss several weeks and cannot return until he’s medically cleared.
How about Geno Smith? The Seattle Seahawks (2-0) quarterback threw for 327 yards, one touchdown, and one interception in a 23-20 overtime win over the New England Patriots.
Detroit Lions at Arizona Cardinals start time, channel, and live stream
- Start Time: 4:25 p.m. ET
- Channel: Fox
- Stream: NFL+, YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV, ,
It was a tough Week 2 for the Detroit Lions (1-1). Jared Goff completed only 61.8% of his passes and threw two interceptions in the team’s 20-16 loss over the Buccaneers.
Arizona Cardinals (1-1) quarterback Kyler Murray turned back the clock in Week 2 and looked like a Pro Bowler. Murray completed 17 of 21 passes for 266 yards and three touchdowns in the Cardinals’ 41-10 win.
Baltimore Ravens at Dallas Cowboys start time, channel, and live stream
- Start Time: 4:25 p.m. ET
- Channel: Fox
- Stream: NFL+, YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV, ,
After making the 2023 AFC Championship, the Baltimore Ravens have struggled to start the season. The Ravens have made uncharacteristic mistakes in their first two games and must clean them up.
Speaking of cleaning things up, the Dallas Cowboys’ defense was atrocious in a 44-19 loss to the Saints. The loser of the game between the Ravens and Cowboys will see their playoff hopes dwindle.
San Francisco 49ers at Los Angeles Rams start time, channel, and live stream
- Start Time: 4:25 p.m. ET
- Channel: Fox
- Stream: NFL+, YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV, ,
The San Francisco 49ers (1-1) are the NFL’s equivalent to The Walking Dead. Christian McCaffrey and Deebo Samuel will miss Sunday’s game with injuries. Plus, George Kittle is questionable with a hamstring injury.
The Los Angeles Rams (0-2) are also missing multiple players, including wide receivers Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp. If the Rams cannot protect Matthew Stafford, it will be a long day for the offense.
Kansas City Chiefs at Atlanta Falcons start time, channel, and live stream
- Start Time: 8:20 p.m. ET
- Channel: NBC
- Stream: NFL+, , YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV, ,
With Patrick Mahomes as quarterback, the Kansas City Chiefs (2-0) always find a way to win. The Chiefs escaped Arrowhead with a win for the second consecutive week thanks to a Harrison Butker game-winning field goal.
The Atlanta Falcons (1-1) are flying high after coming from behind to beat the Eagles 22-21. If the Falcons can upset the Chiefs, look for Atlanta to go on a run.
Technology
Qualcomm is reportedly interested in acquiring Intel
A new report states that Qualcomm is interested in acquiring Intel and that the former company has approached Intel about the possible acquisition. This would make Qualcomm a much larger player in the industry than it already is. Details about the interest in buying Intel come from The Wall Street Journal (via The Verge and Yahoo! Finance) which cites unnamed sources. The report says that the deal was not a certainty and Intel has not agreed to any such proposal at this time.
There’s also no word on whether or not Intel would even be perceptive to the acquisition. It would undoubtedly be a massive deal for both parties. Intel’s shares recently closed up 3.3%, but it’s been struggling of late due to issues with its last two generations of chips having issues that resulted in the chips crashing. Intel also recently announced it would be cutting back staff by at least 15 percent as of last month. Qualcomm shares, meanwhile, recently fell 2.9 percent. Acquiring Intel and its chip designs could help boost its recent re-entry into the PC chip market.
Intel recently announced it would be spinning off its foundry business as an independent entity. This was just two days after it was reported Intel was seeking government help in more or less convincing US companies like Apple and NVIDIA to use Intel’s fabrication for their AI-based chip manufacturing.
Qualcomm acquiring Intel would probably need regulatory approval
Qualcomm buying Intel would be a massive acquisition. Even if it could benefit both companies, regulatory bodies might see this as handing Qualcomm too much power in the industry. It’s a deal that, even if Intel agreed to it, would likely draw the attention of the FTC over potential antitrust concerns. That being said, it would also be an acquisition of an American-owned company by another American-owned company. So it wouldn’t necessarily be out of the realm of possibility in terms of approval.
And yet, Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard was also between two American-owned companies. And it still garnered tons of attention and pushback from regulators. This is all assuming things ever go that far for Qualcomm and Intel. As of right now all that’s been said is that Qualcomm was interested and approached Intel about that interest.
News of the acquisition proposal comes just a few weeks after it was reported that Qualcomm was interested in buying parts of Intel’s chip business. Specifically, its chip design department. Intel had reportedly been looking to shed some weight and offload parts of its business to save cash. Following a steep decline in its share prices that have fallen by about 57 percent this year.
Qualcomm recently laid off hundreds of employees
Reports of Qualcomm’s interest in buying Intel come at a time when it has just recently announced layoffs of hundreds of employees. The company said it would be laying around 226 employees later this year. Impacting staff at 16 facilities across the San Diego area.
This doesn’t necessarily have any ties to Qualcomm’s interest in buying Intel. However, it’s a move that Qualcomm is making that will help the company save some cash. Cash that be very useful in an Intel acquisition should things move forward.
Technology
New features make Google’s Spanner a database for AI
Google Cloud on Thursday unveiled a series of new capabilities for its Spanner database designed to enable development and deployment of AI applications.
The new features, which the tech giant introduced during a user conference in Tokyo and are now in preview, include Spanner Graph to add graph processing, vector search and full-text search.
Spanner, which Google Cloud first made generally available as Cloud Spanner in 2017, is a multimodal database that has historically supported structured data. To develop AI models and applications, including generative AI, unstructured data is also critical.
Vector search, full-text search and graph processing all help application developers discover and operationalize unstructured data. As a result, the new capabilities — once generally available — will make Spanner an AI database in addition to its other multimodal capabilities in what is a significant move, said Kevin Petrie, an analyst at BARC U.S.
Enterprises are no longer simply combining their data with large language models to enable generative AI exploration and analysis. Instead, they are developing their own generative AI applications that work in concert with one another. That requires features such as those Google Cloud is adding to Spanner.
“Google’s announcement signals a critical trend in the market,” Petrie said. “AI is a multi-faceted, multi-model endeavor. Companies are not implementing GenAI language models or other types of models in isolation. They are building applications in which multiple models complement one another. In this context, you need an AI database.”
In addition to the new capabilities in Spanner, Google Cloud unveiled new features for its Bigtable database to aid developers as well as new pricing options for its Cloud SQL for SQL server database.
Developing an AI database
Generative AI has the potential to transform business. When combined with an organization’s proprietary data, large language models such as Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s GPT models enable users to model, query and analyze data using true natural language.
In turn, by enabling the use of natural language to work with data, generative AI lets non-technical workers who previously didn’t possess the coding skills or data literacy training to use complex analytics and data management platforms to do so. In addition, true natural language enables data experts such as developers and engineers to be more efficient by reducing coding requirements and other manual tasks that occupy much of their time.
As a result, many vendors have made it a priority to develop generative AI tools such as text-to-code translators an AI-powered assistants.
Some enterprises, however, want more. They want to develop their own generative AI applications, tools that understand their business and can be used in conjunction with one another to drive decision-making.
To do so, they not only need access to their data but also must easily and efficiently find the right data to train an individual model. That’s where databases can support AI development.
Technologies such as graph processing, vector search and text search enable data discovery for AI models and applications, which includes both structured data, such as financial records, and unstructured data, such as text, images and audio files.
In response, vector search has become a core component of many databases over the past year. AWS, Databricks and Oracle are among the many vendors that have added vector search capabilities to deliver the relevant data needed to train generative AI models and applications.
Now, Google Cloud is not just working to add vector search to its Spanner database but also doing so in concert with other technologies that make data retrieval more efficient.
Kevin PetrieAnalyst, BARC U.S.
“Operational data is critical to bridging the gap between foundation models and truly delivering the promise of AI in the enterprise,” said Andi Gutmans, Google Cloud’s general manager and vice president for databases, during a media briefing on July 26. “A big focus of ours is to enhance our databases to make sure they can deliver the best, most contextually relevant data to enterprise applications.”
Graph technology differs from traditional relational database technology by enabling data points to simultaneously connect to an unlimited number of related data points rather than just one other data point at a time. Consequently, it speeds up the discovery of data that can be used together to inform an application.
Spanner Graph is a graph processing feature designed to enable developers to use graph query language — the industry standard for graph databases — along with SQL to discover and query connected data.
Vector search, likewise, enables similarity searches to discover more than just one data point or dataset at a time that can be used to train models and applications. Full-text search enables users to simultaneously search large numbers of documents to find relevant data.
“Combining full-text search and vector similarity search capabilities makes perfect sense,” Petrie said.
One potential real-world example of an enterprise using graph processing, vector search and full-text search — also known as semantic search — within the same database to develop a AI application is customer service, he continued.
The application could be trained to find the right product guide for a customer by using keyword matching, summarize the guide using natural language and then converse with the customer with generative AI. In addition, with machine learning, the application could potentially recommend additional products based on that conversation and the customer’s purchase history.
Vespa is another database that enables multiple search types to facilitate AI development, Petrie noted.
Like Petrie, Doug Henschen, an analyst at Constellation Research, said that the additions of Spanner Graph, vector search and full-text search are important because of what they add to the database’s pre-existing multimodal capabilities.
Beyond the capabilities themselves, also important are new pricing options for Spanner that add transparency and better enable customers to control their cloud spending.
Spanner Editions provides tier-based pricing at Standard, Enterprise and Enterprise Plus levels. The new search capabilities are available to Enterprise and Enterprise Plus users, though the vendor did not publicize what it costs to use each edition.
“Spanner Graph is clearly the headline, as it fills a gap that Google had in its portfolio,” Henschen said. “But the Spanner Graph feature name falls short of telling the full story, which is that Spanner is becoming a multi-capable, high-scale database offering SQL, graph, full-text search and vector search capabilities through the new Spanner Enterprise and Enterprise Plus editions.”
In addition, by combining different search types in one service within Spanner, Google Cloud is differentiating itself from other database providers such as AWS and Oracle that separate each service within their databases, Henschen continued.
“I see it as an attractive and compelling combination of capabilities,” he said. “But there’s still room for best-of-breed Google partners, such as Neo4J which offers a dedicated graph database with vector embedding and search capabilities.”
Beyond the new search features in Spanner aimed at enabling AI development, Google Cloud also unveiled the following new database features:
- Bigtable SQL support to enable customers to use any of more than 100 SQL functions to develop applications.
- Bigtable distributed counters to simplify embedded application development.
- An Enterprise Plus edition for Cloud SQL for SQL Server that aims to provide more cost certainty for SQL Server users just as Spanner Editions does for Spanner users.
- Hosting for Oracle database services including Exadata and Autonomous database services in concert with the recent formation of a strategic partnership between Google Cloud and Oracle.
Petrie noted that the partnership between Google Cloud and Oracle is both interesting and odd given that the two are rivals. However, with Oracle likely generating most of its profit from database services rather than its cloud strategy, he said it makes sense for Oracle to enable customers to deploy databases on Google Cloud’s infrastructure.
Next steps
By adding multiple search types that turn Spanner into a database for facilitating AI development, Google Cloud is making an innovative move, according to Petrie.
“Google has a significant advantage given its massive resources and long expertise with text search and analytics,” he said.
There is, however, still room for specialized database vendors whose platforms enable customers to carry out many of the same tasks while not tying them to a single data ecosystem such as the Google Cloud Platform, he continued.
Henschen, meanwhile, said that despite what Google Cloud has done to make Spanner a database for AI development, including adding new pricing options, it has customers who use the database for reasons other than AI.
Some use the database, which provides global scalability, for its multi-region and geo-partitioning capabilities but are suddenly being classified as Enterprise Plus customers due to the amount of computational storage they use across regions, according to Henschen. As a result, those users are not served by the database’s new pricing tiers.
“I’d like to see another edition whereby customers who are only interested in Spanner for its multi-region and geo-partitioning capabilities don’t have to choose the highest-priced edition if they’re not interested in using the new graph, text-search and vector-search capabilities,” Henschen said.
Eric Avidon is a senior news writer for TechTarget Editorial and a journalist with more than 25 years of experience. He covers analytics and data management.
Technology
A PS5 system update squashes those pesky Final Fantasy XVI bugs
Sony pushed a PS5 system update on Friday that Square Enix says is a response to Final Fantasy XVI bugs created by the console’s last firmware update. The publisher addressed the update on X (Twitter). “In response to the crashes and graphical bugs that were occurring on the PlayStation5 version of Final Fantasy XVI, [Sony Interactive Entertainment] have released a new system update,” the account posted. “Please try downloading and installing this update.”
Before today’s alleged fix, users reported that last week’s PS5 system update (24.06-10.00.00) triggered Final Fantasy XVI crashes while loading saves or fast-traveling. It could also add annoying black squares obstructing the in-game camera.
Sony has kept things vague, only describing the update with the alleged fix (24.06-10.01.00) as improving “system software performance and stability.” Earlier this week, IGN reported similar bugs in Star Wars Outlaws, Death Stranding and No Man’s Sky. It isn’t yet clear if the update fixes those games’ glitches.
Users on Reddit claimed today’s update has fixed the problems with Final Fantasy XVI. “Played for an hour post update with no issues,” u/AdSweaty411 wrote. “Yup no issues so far,” Redditor u/Icy-Confection-312 added. (We’ll update this story if any additional bug reports arise.)
You can update your PS5 by heading to Settings > System, then System Software > System Software Update and Settings. After the update appears, choose Update System Software. If you don’t see the available update (and haven’t already installed it), restart your console and try again.
Technology
Dcode Capital, Albedo and Biofire are coming to Disrupt 2024
In a world where innovation knows no borders, a new trend is rising in the tech ecosystem: national-interest startups. From aerospace and defense to critical infrastructure, these firms are ensuring that innovation directly supports national growth, security, and prosperity. As we approach an inflection point in Silicon Valley’s evolution, the question arises: Can startups rebuild the foundations of an entire nation?
TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 is excited to bring together three distinguished leaders who are making waves in the national-interest startup space. Together, they will share their insights on how new technologies can scale rapidly while serving the strategic interests of their home countries.
Meet the speakers
Rebecca Gevalt, Managing Partner, Dcode Capital
Rebecca Gevalt is the managing partner at Dcode Capital, a venture fund that invests in high-growth technology companies that are poised to revolutionize the U.S. government. With her deep background in both the private and public sectors — including over a decade at the CIA — Rebecca is uniquely positioned to navigate the intersection of government and cutting-edge technology. Her expertise lies in scaling commercial technologies into the federal market, a mission that began with her role at Dcode’s accelerator program and now expands to the broader reach of Dcode Capital.
Topher Haddad, Co-Founder and CEO, Albedo
Topher Haddad, co-founder and CEO of Albedo, is pioneering the commercialization of very low Earth orbit (VLEO) imagery, which will allow for unprecedented levels of resolution previously limited to government and defense. His company’s upcoming satellite launch is set to disrupt the commercial Earth observation industry, enabling new applications across sectors like defense, agriculture, and utilities. Haddad’s background as an engineer at Lockheed Martin and his technical expertise in national security space programs make him a leader in the race to leverage space for national-interest applications.
Kai Kloepfer, Founder and CEO, Biofire
Kai Kloepfer, founder and CEO of Biofire, has brought to market the first biometric “smart gun” in the U.S., a feat that many believed impossible. His firearm, equipped with fingerprint and facial recognition, aims to prevent unauthorized access, significantly enhancing safety for users, law enforcement, and even national defense. Kloepfer’s journey from high school inventor to CEO of a venture-backed company speaks to his commitment to innovation in a highly regulated, politically sensitive space.
Join the conversation at Disrupt 2024
Join us on the Builders Stage at Disrupt 2024 and learn how these trailblazers are positioning technology at the heart of American dynamism — morphing entire industries in ways that prioritize national security, infrastructure, and economic growth. Their collective work is not just about disruptive technology; it’s about building the future of a nation.
Secure your spot today to be among 10,000 startup, tech, and VC leaders who’ll be at Disrupt 2024, taking place at Moscone West in San Francisco from October 28-30. This is your opportunity to participate in a dynamic discussion panel and experience the startup epicenter of the year. Register for your pass here.
-
News4 days ago
You’re a Hypocrite, And So Am I
-
Sport3 days ago
Joshua vs Dubois: Chris Eubank Jr says ‘AJ’ could beat Tyson Fury and any other heavyweight in the world
-
CryptoCurrency3 days ago
Ethereum is a 'contrarian bet' into 2025, says Bitwise exec
-
Science & Environment4 days ago
How to unsnarl a tangle of threads, according to physics
-
CryptoCurrency3 days ago
Dorsey’s ‘marketplace of algorithms’ could fix social media… so why hasn’t it?
-
CryptoCurrency3 days ago
DZ Bank partners with Boerse Stuttgart for crypto trading
-
Science & Environment3 days ago
‘Running of the bulls’ festival crowds move like charged particles
-
News3 days ago
Israel strikes Lebanese targets as Hizbollah chief warns of ‘red lines’ crossed
-
CryptoCurrency3 days ago
Bitcoin miners steamrolled after electricity thefts, exchange ‘closure’ scam: Asia Express
-
CryptoCurrency3 days ago
RedStone integrates first oracle price feeds on TON blockchain
-
CryptoCurrency3 days ago
Low users, sex predators kill Korean metaverses, 3AC sues Terra: Asia Express
-
CryptoCurrency3 days ago
Bitcoin bulls target $64K BTC price hurdle as US stocks eye new record
-
CryptoCurrency3 days ago
Vitalik tells Ethereum L2s ‘Stage 1 or GTFO’ — Who makes the cut?
-
CryptoCurrency3 days ago
Blockdaemon mulls 2026 IPO: Report
-
Sport3 days ago
UFC Edmonton fight card revealed, including Brandon Moreno vs. Amir Albazi headliner
-
Science & Environment3 days ago
Hyperelastic gel is one of the stretchiest materials known to science
-
Health & fitness4 days ago
The secret to a six pack – and how to keep your washboard abs in 2022
-
CryptoCurrency3 days ago
Cardano founder to meet Argentina president Javier Milei
-
CryptoCurrency3 days ago
CertiK Ventures discloses $45M investment plan to boost Web3
-
CryptoCurrency3 days ago
VonMises bought 60 CryptoPunks in a month before the price spiked: NFT Collector
-
CryptoCurrency3 days ago
SEC asks court for four months to produce documents for Coinbase
-
CryptoCurrency3 days ago
‘Silly’ to shade Ethereum, the ‘Microsoft of blockchains’ — Bitwise exec
-
CryptoCurrency3 days ago
‘No matter how bad it gets, there’s a lot going on with NFTs’: 24 Hours of Art, NFT Creator
-
CryptoCurrency3 days ago
Coinbase’s cbBTC surges to third-largest wrapped BTC token in just one week
-
Science & Environment3 days ago
Quantum ‘supersolid’ matter stirred using magnets
-
Science & Environment3 days ago
How one theory ties together everything we know about the universe
-
Science & Environment3 days ago
Sunlight-trapping device can generate temperatures over 1000°C
-
Technology4 days ago
Would-be reality TV contestants ‘not looking real’
-
Science & Environment4 days ago
ITER: Is the world’s biggest fusion experiment dead after new delay to 2035?
-
Science & Environment3 days ago
Liquid crystals could improve quantum communication devices
-
Science & Environment3 days ago
How to wrap your mind around the real multiverse
-
Science & Environment3 days ago
Physicists are grappling with their own reproducibility crisis
-
Science & Environment3 days ago
Nuclear fusion experiment overcomes two key operating hurdles
-
CryptoCurrency3 days ago
Ethereum falls to new 42-month low vs. Bitcoin — Bottom or more pain ahead?
-
CryptoCurrency3 days ago
ETH falls 6% amid Trump assassination attempt, looming rate cuts, ‘FUD’ wave
-
CryptoCurrency3 days ago
Bitcoin options markets reduce risk hedges — Are new range highs in sight?
-
News3 days ago
Church same-sex split affecting bishop appointments
-
Politics4 days ago
Trump says he will meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi next week
-
Science & Environment4 days ago
Why this is a golden age for life to thrive across the universe
-
Technology4 days ago
Can technology fix the ‘broken’ concert ticketing system?
-
Technology3 days ago
iPhone 15 Pro Max Camera Review: Depth and Reach
-
Science & Environment4 days ago
Maxwell’s demon charges quantum batteries inside of a quantum computer
-
Science & Environment3 days ago
Quantum forces used to automatically assemble tiny device
-
News3 days ago
Brian Tyree Henry on voicing young Megatron, his love for villain roles
-
Science & Environment4 days ago
Time travel sci-fi novel is a rip-roaringly good thought experiment
-
Science & Environment4 days ago
Laser helps turn an electron into a coil of mass and charge
-
Science & Environment3 days ago
Quantum time travel: The experiment to ‘send a particle into the past’
-
CryptoCurrency3 days ago
2 auditors miss $27M Penpie flaw, Pythia’s ‘claim rewards’ bug: Crypto-Sec
-
CryptoCurrency3 days ago
Help! My parents are addicted to Pi Network crypto tapper
-
CryptoCurrency3 days ago
$12.1M fraud suspect with ‘new face’ arrested, crypto scam boiler rooms busted: Asia Express
-
Science & Environment3 days ago
Why we need to invoke philosophy to judge bizarre concepts in science
-
CryptoCurrency3 days ago
Bitcoin price hits $62.6K as Fed 'crisis' move sparks US stocks warning
-
CryptoCurrency3 days ago
CZ and Binance face new lawsuit, RFK Jr suspends campaign, and more: Hodler’s Digest Aug. 18 – 24
-
CryptoCurrency3 days ago
Beat crypto airdrop bots, Illuvium’s new features coming, PGA Tour Rise: Web3 Gamer
-
CryptoCurrency3 days ago
Memecoins not the ‘right move’ for celebs, but DApps might be — Skale Labs CMO
-
CryptoCurrency3 days ago
Telegram bot Banana Gun’s users drained of over $1.9M
-
Politics3 days ago
The Guardian view on 10 Downing Street: Labour risks losing the plot | Editorial
-
Business3 days ago
How Labour donor’s largesse tarnished government’s squeaky clean image
-
Politics3 days ago
‘Appalling’ rows over Sue Gray must stop, senior ministers say | Sue Gray
-
Business3 days ago
UK hospitals with potentially dangerous concrete to be redeveloped
-
News3 days ago
Sean “Diddy” Combs denied bail again in federal sex trafficking case
-
Technology3 days ago
Fivetran targets data security by adding Hybrid Deployment
-
Politics5 days ago
Starmer ally Hollie Ridley appointed as Labour general secretary | Labour
-
Money4 days ago
What estate agents get up to in your home – and how they’re being caught
-
Business5 days ago
Guardian in talks to sell world’s oldest Sunday paper
-
News3 days ago
Freed Between the Lines: Banned Books Week
-
MMA3 days ago
UFC’s Cory Sandhagen says Deiveson Figueiredo turned down fight offer
-
MMA3 days ago
Diego Lopes declines Movsar Evloev’s request to step in at UFC 307
-
Football3 days ago
Slot's midfield tweak key to Liverpool victory in Milan
-
Science & Environment3 days ago
How to wrap your head around the most mind-bending theories of reality
-
Fashion Models3 days ago
“Playmate of the Year” magazine covers of Playboy from 1971–1980
-
News5 days ago
Did the Pandemic Break Our Brains?
-
Politics5 days ago
Trump Media breached ARC Global share agreement, judge rules
-
Science & Environment3 days ago
A new kind of experiment at the Large Hadron Collider could unravel quantum reality
-
Politics3 days ago
Labour MP urges UK government to nationalise Grangemouth refinery
-
Science & Environment3 days ago
How Peter Higgs revealed the forces that hold the universe together
-
Science & Environment3 days ago
Odd quantum property may let us chill things closer to absolute zero
-
Science & Environment3 days ago
Rethinking space and time could let us do away with dark matter
-
News4 days ago
Road rage suspects in custody after gunshots, drivers ramming vehicles near Boise
-
Science & Environment4 days ago
Nerve fibres in the brain could generate quantum entanglement
-
Business5 days ago
Glasgow to host scaled-back Commonwealth Games in 2026
-
Science & Environment3 days ago
X-ray laser fires most powerful pulse ever recorded
-
Science & Environment3 days ago
Being in two places at once could make a quantum battery charge faster
-
Health & fitness4 days ago
What ‘elite sleepers’ can tell us all about the eight hour myth
-
Science & Environment3 days ago
We may have spotted a parallel universe going backwards in time
-
CryptoCurrency3 days ago
Journeys: Robby Yung on Animoca’s Web3 investments, TON and the Mocaverse
-
CryptoCurrency3 days ago
Louisiana takes first crypto payment over Bitcoin Lightning
-
CryptoCurrency3 days ago
Are there ‘too many’ blockchains for gaming? Sui’s randomness feature: Web3 Gamer
-
CryptoCurrency3 days ago
Crypto scammers orchestrate massive hack on X but barely made $8K
-
CryptoCurrency3 days ago
‘Everything feels like it’s going to shit’: Peter McCormack reveals new podcast
-
Science & Environment3 days ago
A single atom could drive a piston in a quantum engine
-
Science & Environment3 days ago
Tiny magnet could help measure gravity on the quantum scale
-
CryptoCurrency3 days ago
Real-world asset tokenization is the crypto killer app — Polygon exec
-
Science & Environment3 days ago
UK spurns European invitation to join ITER nuclear fusion project
-
Science & Environment3 days ago
A tale of two mysteries: ghostly neutrinos and the proton decay puzzle
-
Science & Environment3 days ago
Future of fusion: How the UK’s JET reactor paved the way for ITER
-
Politics3 days ago
Owen Paterson loses ECHR appeal against report that preceded downfall | Owen Paterson
-
Politics3 days ago
Biden speaks at the Economic Club of Washington, D.C.
-
CryptoCurrency3 days ago
SEC sues ‘fake’ crypto exchanges in first action on pig butchering scams
-
CryptoCurrency3 days ago
Fed rate cut may be politically motivated, will increase inflation: Arthur Hayes
You must be logged in to post a comment Login