Technology

Microsoft is apparently having just as much trouble procuring Xbox consoles as everyone else, as some of the players at the first major Halo Infinite tournament in Raleigh, North Carolina are forced to play on Xbox Series X development kits (via Kotaku). Game dev kits consist of hardware that developers use to create games and typically aren’t available to the public, let alone used at official gaming tournaments. Heads up open bracket players – you’ll be playing this weekend on Series X development consoles. They’re functionally identical and will be operating in “Retail” mode so it’s the exact same experience, they just look a little different. Why? Global supply chain shortage is real. — Tashi (@Tashi343i) December 15, 2021 Tahir Hasandjekic, the Halo...

TikTok is partnering with Virtual Dining Concepts (VDC) to launch TikTok Kitchens, a delivery-only service that will cook up some of the trendiest recipes on the app, first reported by Bloomberg. TikTok and VDC will reportedly open around 300 locations across the US to start, but plan on expanding to around 1,000 by the end of 2022. TikTok Kitchens will operate out of existing restaurants, including chains owned by VDC co-founder Robert Earl, such as Buca di Beppo and Bertucci’s. It’s essentially a ghost kitchen service, but unlike some companies in this niche, VDC’s kitchens don’t appear to operate out of satellite, trailer-converted kitchens in parking lots. As the VDC’s description of the service notes, TikTok Kitchens will make use of a restaurant’s existing kitchen and employees...

Latitude, the startup behind text game AI Dungeon, is expanding into a new artificial intelligence-powered game platform called Voyage. The company announced the closed beta on Friday, opening a waitlist for current AI Dungeon users. It’s the next step for a company that began with a university hackathon project, but that ultimately hopes to help other people create their own games using trained AI models. AI Dungeon, which launched as AI Dungeon 2 in 2019, is powered by OpenAI’s GPT-2 and GPT-3 text generation algorithms. To start, you generate some introductory text or write your own adventure setup. Then you can enter any command you want and a Dungeons & Dragons-style virtual game master will improvise some text describing the outcome. It’s very weird and a lot of fun, but it’s lig...

Dr. Seuss Enterprises rides on the wave of digitalization and releases NFT collectibles — “Seussibles!” — in partnership with the NFT startup Tibles and Dabber Labs, the company behind CryptoKitties and NBA Top Shot. From Cat in the Hat to How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, the digital experience built on Dabber Lab’s Flow blockchain draws on the nostalgic sticker collections based on the beloved characters. Not only can fans purchase over 600 collectibles featuring the whimsical Seuss universe on the Seussibles! iOS app, but they can also expand their collection by real-time trading through live chats. Besides hopping on the trend of showing off NFTs as social profile pictures, collectors can also organize and exhibit their inventory on the app wall. The app also includes a forum that allow...

Nvidia’s upcoming RTX 2050 laptop GPUs don’t sound “new” at all, considering that the company already released the RTX 3050 and 3050 Ti GPUs for laptops earlier this year (via VideoCardz). But it’s clear that Nvidia isn’t ready to retire its 20 series GPUs just yet — Nvidia says that the RTX 2050 will be available in laptops starting in the spring of 2022. The RTX 2050 is based on Ampere GA107 architecture, not Turing The RTX 2050 isn’t just a piece of old hardware brought back from the dead. Unlike other 20 series chips, the RTX 2050 is based on Ampere GA107 architecture, not Turing. Ampere is the same architecture that the RTX 3050 (and all other 30 series cards) is powered by, and packaging it within a 20-series card could potentially offer some of the same ray-tracing improvements at a...

Amazon has finally rolled out an update for its Appstore, and it’s supposed to fix the issues that have been plaguing Android 12 users for over a month (via Engadget). After users downloaded Android 12, they noticed that the Amazon Appstore wasn’t functioning correctly, an issue likely caused by the lack of compatibility between Amazon’s built-in DRM and the operating system. The fix doesn’t seem to solve the problem for everyone In an update on the Amazon support forum where the issue first came to light, an Amazon staff member notes that the technical team has issued an update to address the issue between the Appstore and Android 12. He says that you can download the update from Amazon’s website, and that you should sign out and sign in of the Appstore after installing the update. You’ll...

A troubling report from the Wall Street Journal digs into the personal experiences of young girls who were sent down rabbit holes of extreme weight loss challenges, purging techniques, and deadly diets through TikTok, contributing to the development of eating disorders, or making existing ones worse. The WSJ did its own experiment to see how TikTok’s algorithm can potentially promote this kind of harmful content — its findings may explain TikTok’s sudden decision to alter the way its video recommendation system operates. As detailed in the report, the WSJ created over 100 accounts “that browsed the app with little human intervention,” 12 of which were bots registered to 13-year-olds that spent time on videos surrounding weight loss, alcohol, and gambling. A chart included in the report sho...

This weekend, you can be sure that much of The Verge staff will be adding to their pile of PC shame. The Epic Games Store has officially kicked off its annual Winter Sale, bringing sizable discounts on fresh titles like Jurassic World Evolution 2, Battlefield 2042, and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. What’s really cool though, is that Epic is discounting any title that’s more than $14.99 by an additional $10. And don’t sweat it too much if you’re having a tough time figuring out what to buy, as the sale will be running until January 6th. Regularly $49.99, you can currently grab the Logitech G305 Lightspeed in a variety of colors at Amazon for $29.99. This discount isn’t out of the ordinary, but it’s pretty difficult to find a wireless gaming mouse with these specs for this price. I...