Despite Microsoft’s market valuation surpassing $3 trillion in 2024, fueled by rising AI demands, the Redmond giant continues to adjust its workforce strategy, cutting roles even as it eyes future growth. Microsoft confirmed on Wednesday it is laying off a […]
The post Microsoft is laying off more employees amid AI growth challenges first appeared on Tech Startups.
GeForce Now is finally bringing Marvel Rivals to the cloud to celebrate the first season in-game. The new title will be available to play soon, following some exciting announcements from Nvidia regarding GeForce Now on more devices.
more…At CES 2025, Satechi has unveiled the SM3 Slim Mechanical Backlit Bluetooth Keyboard, a sleek, low-profile mechanical keyboard built with Mac users in mind. It’s Satechi’s first full-size mechanical keyboard, and it’s designed to balance style, functionality, and comfort — perfect for those who want the mechanical typing experience without the bulk.
The SM3 Slim Mechanical Backlit Bluetooth Keyboard brings a premium typing experience to both Mac and Windows users. Here’s what you need to know:
I’ve been using the little brother of the SM3, for over a year now, and it’s become my go-to keyboard. I’ve never been a fan of traditional mechanical keyboards — they’re often bulky, loud, and tedious for everyday use. But the SM1 changed my mind, offering the perfect blend of mechanical feel and low-profile design.
The SM3 builds on that success by offering a full-size option without sacrificing the sleekness and simplicity that made the SM1 such a hit. With low-profile brown switches, you get the satisfying tactile feedback of a mechanical keyboard, but without the clunky feel or overwhelming noise.
The Satechi SM3 Slim Mechanical Keyboard is available now for $119.99 on Satechi.net. It comes in Light and Dark color variants, making it easy to match any setup.
If you’ve been looking for a mechanical keyboard that’s made for Mac, offers versatile connectivity, and is comfortable for long typing sessions, the Satechi SM3 should be on your radar. It’s a CES 2025 standout that blends style, performance, and practicality in one impressive package.
It says a lot about Apple’s design that the MacBook Air is seen as the ultimate standard targeted by PC laptop brands. Just matching the aesthetics and performance of the machine is seen as a tough goal, but ASUS may have gone one better with its new Zenbook A14.
The new machine not only succeeds in emulating the look of the MacBook Air, but exceeds its specs in no fewer than five different ways – including being even lighter …
more…
The creator of The Password Game has returned with another maddening browser game that threatens to break your brain in the worst way possible. Neal Agarwal's Stimulation Clicker does what it says on the tin. You start by clicking a button to increase your stimulation, which is the game's currency. It doesn't take long before you start buying bouncing DVD logo animations, a news ticker, Subway Surfers gameplay and chill beats from Lofi Girl.
From there, you can toss in the likes of loot boxes, a true crime podcast and a meditation story (which, hilariously, you can double the speed of to turbocharge your stimulation). There's an item shop that you can use to turn the clicker button into a Captcha prompt or Sign in with Google button, or convert your cursor into a cat's paw. Mukbang videos, Duolingo language questions, a Twitch chat and reactions from famed streamer Ludwig add to the chaotic but oh-so-captivating sensory overload. As 80 Level points out, your progress won't be saved, so if you close the tab you'll have to start all over again.
Stimulation Clicker, the worst webpage, is out now! pic.twitter.com/z5AMAFmm9X
— Neal Agarwal (@nealagarwal) January 6, 2025
Clickholding, another clicking game, was the most nightmare-inducing thing I played in 2024 but Stimulation Clicker has absolutely surpassed that. It's a funny, bruising commentary on how practically every app, website and game is constantly trying to lock in your attention to boost engagement by making you momentarily and artificially happy. It's a reminder for us to maybe leave the devices behind and touch grass (or, I suppose, snow for many of us in the northern hemisphere right now) once in a while.
I've long suspected that my mind started to fry when I first switched to Firefox to use tabbed browsing. Stimulation Clicker is a harsh reminder of how the constant dopamine hits of notifications, video game trophies and tiny increases in my investment portfolio have only made things worse.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/stimulation-clicker-is-a-nightmarish-free-browser-game-powered-by-internet-brainrot-134537169.html?src=rss
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© Neal Agarwal
There's more nuance to Doomguy than him just being a fella who eradicates hellspawn with the BFG. He's quite the art connoisseur as well — or at least that's what a new Doom mod might have you believe.
Modders Filippo Meozzi and Liam Stone turned E1M1, the first map in the original game, into an interactive art gallery. Doom: The Gallery Experience, which is a free browser game on Itch.io and Newgrounds, sees Doomguy wielding a glass of wine or can of beer as he peruses classic works of art, collects cash and listens to Johann Sebastian Bach's "Suite No. 1 in G major."
"Doom: The Gallery Experience was created as an art piece designed to parody the wonderfully pretentious world of gallery openings," the game's Itch.io page reads. "In this experience, you will be able to walk around and appreciate some fine art while sipping some wine and enjoying the complimentary hors d’oeuvres in the beautifully renovated and re-imagined E1M1 of id Software's Doom (1993)."
You can use the cash to buy items like socks and a tote from the gift shop, and munch on hors d'oeuvres to fill up a cheese meter (there's one for drinks too). Doomguy even sports a pair of fashionable glasses here.
When you interact with artworks such as Jacopo da Sellaio's Scenes from the Story of the Argonauts or Piero di Cosimo's The Return from the Hunt, you'll see a link to the relevant Metropolitan Museum of Art webpage. Alternatively, Doomguy might tell you he doesn't want to look at a particular piece anymore. Maybe he just wants to get back to shooting demons. Same, Doomguy, same.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/modders-turn-doom-into-a-classic-art-gallery-133100725.html?src=rss
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© id Software/Filippo Meozzi/Liam Stone
Meta’s overhaul of its content moderation and fact-checking policies in the US is bringing into focus a key geopolitical tension likely to grow under the incoming Trump administration: the regulation of speech online.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg made no secret of his attempt to align his interests with those of President-elect Donald Trump, saying he planned to work with Trump to “push back on governments around the world that are going after American companies and pushing to censor more” — naming Europe specifically. The US and the European Union have long had different approaches when it comes to digital regulation, which has at times inflamed tensions since many of the largest tech companies that end up being targeted by Europe’s rules are the US’s crown jewels. That dynamic is likely to be exacerbated under a second Trump administration, with the incoming president’s protectionist policies.
“The inflection point is Trump, and Facebook is just following along,” says Daphne Keller, director of the program on platform regulation at Stanford University’s Cyber Policy Center. Through the policy change, Meta is signaling to Trump that “we want to be part of a fight with Europe. We’re on...
Google knows a lot about you and your interests, and it uses that information to try and get more of your time and attention. A new Search Labs experiment called "Daily Listen," for instance, can turn your Discover feed into a professional podcast. Google's Discover is a curated feed on mobile devices filled with articles and videos that the company's algorithms believe are aligned with your interests based on your search queries and other activities. As 9to5Google notes, this feature is similar to the one Google released for NotebookLM last year. That NotebookLM tool can turn materials you feed it into a podcast with two hosts who even banter like they're real people.
Daily Listen can create a podcast episode around 5 minutes in length that you can listen to for an overview on the latest about the topics you typically follow. You will have to opt into Search Labs if this is something you'd like to try by tapping on the flask icon at the top left of the Google app. Once it's on, you can find the Daily Listen Card underneath the Search bar in the Google app on Android and iOS. Click it to generate a podcast, which brings up a screen with a text transcript and audio controls.
You can clearly see where each section of the podcast begins and ends in the audio scrubber, and you can pause, stop, rewind and fast forward it anytime. You can also give it a thumbs up or down to send Google your feedback. If you scroll down, you'll see a bunch of related stories grouped together based on the sections of the podcast in case you're looking for more information.
The experimental feature is going live today in the US, according to 9to5Google, though it might take a while to start seeing the option to generate a podcast. It's not clear yet if Google has plans to roll it out to other regions, and there are no guarantees that it will get a wide release.
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© Elena Shevchuk via Getty Images
French startup Rounded believes AI voice agents are going to become the default way customers interact with companies, so instead of building AI voice agents that are ready to use, the company is building an orchestration platform that lets companies build their own voice agent. Rounded started off working on a web3 product before shifting […]
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Watch Duty, a nonprofit-run app that tracks wildfires with live maps and alerts, has shot to the top of Apple’s App Store charts this week as Californian residents look to navigate catastrophic blazes devastating the area.
The app launched in 2021 and is now available in 22 states, providing evacuation warnings, real-time text, photo and video updates, and a map interface with flame icons to show regions where fires are blazing. Users can access information on evacuation routes, shelter locations, and firefighting efforts, alongside zooming in on the map view to see the latest updates for precise locations. It’s a one-stop shop for everything needed during a fire emergency.
Watch Duty is powered by a team of around 200 volunteers, many of which are retired or active firefighters, dispatchers, or first responders. The app pulls its wildfire information from official government reports, volunteer reporters, and 911 dispatch calls which are then vetted and monitored using radio scanners, wildlife cameras, satellites, and local announcements from law enforcement and fire services.
Watch Duty says that the community-bolstered network allows it to provide more real-time information than fire-tracking services like CalFire and InciWeb which rely on government alerts. The app is used by active firefighters and has become a lifeline for people across the western United States who live in areas deemed to be high-risk fire zones — Watch Duty says its active users increased to 7.2 million by December 2024 compared to 1.9 million in 2023.
Californians on social media are encouraging each other to download the app in light of the ongoing LA fires raging across thousands of acres of land fueled by high winds and extremely dry conditions. As of Thursday morning, the LA Times reports that the fires have killed five people and destroyed more than 2,000 buildings, including the homes of celebrities like Paris Hilton, Billy Crystal, Adam Brody, and James Woods.
Over 367,000 California households are currently without power according to PowerOutage, and at least 130,000 LA residents are now under evacuation orders.
“Seconding the Watch Duty app so hard,” said one Californian on a Threads post encouraging users to download the app. “I live in Butte County, CA, (near where the Camp Fire was in 2018) and Watch Duty has been immeasurably helpful during fires like the Park Fire last summer.”
Watch Duty’s vice president of operations Nick Russell says that users are drawn to the app because it’s more accessible than manually checking several sources and social media updates, and because of its network for vetting and verifying factual information. Conspiracy theories surrounding natural disasters and climate change have become a common occurrence online, with misinformation regarding weather-related events being shared by users across social media platforms.
“One of the big things for us, our big theme, is quality over quantity. We’re not in a big hurry to get information that we’re going to have to go and retract later,” Russell told NBC News on Wednesday. “And so if it takes a few extra minutes to get it out there, that’s fine, but we want it to be that official info; and because we built a one-way communication platform, we don’t offer that venue for people to circulate nonsense ... And so it really puts the ball in our court for good information.”
Russell also noted that Watch Duty doesn’t collect or sell user data, instead relying on premium app subscriptions and funding from private donations to stay up and running. The core features of the app that are essential for fire monitoring, safety, and evacuation, are entirely available for free.
“I think it’s really important in today’s world, where so many people are trying to profit off disaster, to really understand that that’s not what Watch Duty is,” Russell said. “Watch Duty will remain free forever.”
Using LEDs has the potential to bring down the cost of biomanufacturing, allowing such processes to make materials that previously would have been too expensive.
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Mandiant says a Chinese cyberespionage group has been exploiting the critical-rated vulnerability since at least mid-December.
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