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Xbox warns of a ‘reset’ as it prepares for layoffs

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Microsoft's Xbox division will be hit with significant layoffs next month, according to people familiar with Microsoft's plans. The company has been preparing for the layoffs internally for weeks, with Xbox CEO Asha Sharma hinting about "making hard choices" last month . Sources suggest the cuts could even involve a studio closure, or changes to the Xbox studio lineup. In a recent Giant Bomb episode , rumors of 1,000 layoffs for Microsoft's Xbox division were mentioned. Bloomberg also reported today that the cuts would be "major," and involve budget cuts for marketing and other areas of Microsoft's Xbox business. Moments before Bloomberg 's r … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/3YjEe2o

Kalshi adds required employment verification for some prediction market bets

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The CFTC is considering its first regulation for prediction markets, as arrests over "insider trading" on everything from military operations to Google Search data continue to stack up. As CoinDesk reports, a notice of proposed rulemaking says "the proposal would establish a structured framework for evaluating whether such contracts involve an activity enumerated in Section 5c(c)(5)(C) of the Commodity Exchange Act -activity that involves terrorism, assassination, war, gaming, or conduct that is unlawful under federal or state law-and, if so, whether that contract is contrary to the public interest." Separately, Kalshi announced on Wednesda … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/qSk4DtA

Claude Fable won’t answer basic biology questions

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Anthropic just released Claude Fable 5 , calling it the most powerful AI model it has ever made widely available and praising its skills in biology, among others. But the model won't answer basic biology questions - the kind you'd expect a high schooler to handle. Instead, it hands off the query to the former flagship model , Claude Opus 4.8. It isn't because Fable doesn't know the answers. It's because Anthropic won't let it, by design. Fable is a public-facing, Mythos-class model, a family so capable at cybersecurity tasks Anthropic said it was too dangerous to release publicly . But while Anthropic has spent much of the extended Mythos rol … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/U0huAco

The App Store is going to add subscription bundles soon

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Later this year, you will be able to get bundled subscriptions for iPhone apps, as Apple announced it's expanding App Store bundles so they can include offers from different companies. It's similar to streaming video bundles that have combined offers for Apple TV and Peacock , but it also could put together subscriptions for completely different services, like Instagram Plus and Tinder Platinum. Another option on the way is Suites, "a set of subscriptions that aren't available standalone, which people can purchase as a single subscription." TechCrunch and 9to5Mac report the new additions were announced during WWDC, along with other App S … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/sP97AR0

Microsoft AI head calls out Anthropic for acting like Claude is conscious

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Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman says it's "really, really dangerous" for Anthropic to speculate about Claude's consciousness inside its "constitution," or the instructions that tell the model how to behave. During an episode of Decoder , Suleyman argues that this kind of speculation may have set up the chatbot to act as though it's conscious: I think that it's almost as though some of the folks at Anthropic have anthropomorphized the design of Claude so much that it has then gone and wireheaded them and kind of tricked them into believing that it has these glimmers of consciousness that they put into it in the first place. View … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/VF2ZG4Q

Nintendo is playing things too safe

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Tuesday's Nintendo Direct showcase felt like an important moment for the company. With the Switch 2 heading into its second holiday season, one in which the hardware will be even more expensive thanks to a price hike , it was a chance for Nintendo to really sell new audiences on its latest console - but that's not exactly what happened. While there were some impressive-looking titles, there wasn't much that felt truly new. Instead, the two major Switch 2 exclusives that will round out the 2026 calendar are both remakes from the Nintendo 64 era. If you missed it, the final reveal of the Direct was a remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of T … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/fLjVGxz

Apple announces visionOS 27 with Siri AI

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Along with new software for Macs and iPhones, Apple announced visionOS 27 during its keynote presentation at WWDC on Monday. Like its other platforms, visionOS 27 will feature Apple's updated Siri AI assistant and the new dedicated Siri app. While wearing the Vision Pro, you can use visual intelligence to ask Siri "about anything in your physical or digital space, instantly." It will also support using the panoramas you've photographed as immersive scenes and environments in visionOS. Apple said the Vision Pro will be able to connect to Wi-Fi "up to 3x faster," and a new "extra-small" widget size will allow more customizations. When you ge … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/BPa0L4q