Perplexity AI has submitted a revised proposal to merge with TikTok, in an arrangement that would give the U.S. government up to 50 percent ownership of the new entity. The Associated Press first reported on the new proposal. A source with knowledge of the bid confirmed to TechCrunch that the AP’s reporting is accurate. The […]
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I didn’t set out to play jump rope STAR! when I picked up my Playdate this weekend. I was actually looking for something else, but lazily searched only half of the correct title and found myself staring at jump rope STAR! at the top of the results instead. Curious — in part because “Hot Rope Jump” was one of my favorite minigames in Mario Party 2 back in the day — I clicked on it, and was greeted by pictures that look like something I’d tape to my refrigerator if given by a 5-year-old. It was kind of a “say no more” moment; I purchased it immediately.
As you’d expect from the title, jump rope STAR! is a jump rope game for Playdate. It offers a few different modes for solo and co-op play, the latter involving two players sharing one device. I haven’t run into many multiplayer games for Playdate, so that alone is pretty cool. The game was made by Chris Corciega (Soinksters Games), but the art was “designed by a talented 5-year old,” Maya. And it is adorable. As you try to set new high scores, you use the crank to control the swing of a jump rope held by a bipedal bunny and a… striped pig (?). Okay I’m not entirely sure what the second character is, but those two are swinging the rope, and the goal is to do so in time with the little stick-figure girl’s jumps so you don’t trip her up.
Her timing isn’t always consistent and she speeds up as you progress, so it starts to get pretty tricky after a minute or so. But, achieving perfect swings will earn you points in the Star Meter that’s on the side of the screen, and once it’s filled, you can use that power to temporarily slow down time and get more swings in while the girl is in the air. In the other modes, things get a little more complicated. Playing with a friend in the two-player catch mode, for example, one of you will have to press buttons to move the girl around so she can catch falling stars while the other person swings the rope. (Very hard to do on your own, I discovered).
It’s a simple but fun little game, made even better by the fact that you can involve someone else in the silliness. Both adults and children would be able to enjoy it, and there is a kid mode for a more forgiving style of play if you don’t want family game night to get too competitive. This strikes me as another one of those perfectly Playdate games — the kind that just seems like a natural fit for the device, and that you’d show your friends to try to get them to understand its charm.
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© Soinksters Games
A bug with Ambient Mode on Cast-powered Chromecasts drastically shrinks the time and weather that’s displayed in the bottom-right corner.
more…Since Chinese AI company DeepSeek released an open version of its reasoning model R1 at the beginning of this week, many in the tech industry have been making grand pronouncements about what the company achieved, and what it means for the state of AI. Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, for example, posted that DeepSeek is “one […]
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At the start of 2025, Google announced a Pixel 4a Battery Performance Program with a new Android 13 OTA update, free battery replacement, and/or appeasement option. As part of this, Google has removed all previous Pixel 4a updates.
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According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is planning on releasing iOS 18.4 in April. Apple hasn’t started the beta cycle for iOS 18.4 quite yet, but there are a handful of things we can likely expect with iOS 18.4 so far.
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The Hubble Space Telescope is still trucking along more than 30 years after its launch, observing the universe and sending home images for us to marvel at. This week, NASA and ESA highlighted an image captured by Hubble of the highly productive Tarantula Nebula (officially named 30 Doradus) in the Large Magellanic Cloud, and it’s a sight to behold.
The Large Magellanic Cloud may be only 10-20% as massive as our Milky Way galaxy, but it boasts some of the most impressive star-forming regions in the nearby Universe! 1/3 pic.twitter.com/juulDT44mD
— HUBBLE (@HUBBLE_space) January 23, 2025
The Tarantula Nebula is “the largest and most productive star-forming region in the local universe,” with stars roughly 200 times as massive as the sun at its center, according to NASA. This Hubble view gives us a look at the outskirts of the nebula, revealing layers of colorful gas and stars. The Tarantula Nebula sits within the Large Magellanic Cloud, a nearby dwarf galaxy.
While the final result we see is filled with brilliant colors, Hubble’s images initially come back in grayscale. As NASA has explained, “scientists can create a composite color image by taking exposures using different color filters on the telescope, assigning a color to each filter that corresponds to the wavelength of that filter, and combining the images.” The new image of the Tarantula Nebula doesn’t just represent visible light, but ultraviolet and infrared too. In such a case, colors are assigned to those wavelengths we can’t normally see.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasa-and-esa-share-a-breathtaking-hubble-image-of-the-tarantula-nebulas-outer-edge-202349788.html?src=rss
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© ESA/Hubble & NASA, C. Murray
Despite offering some magnetic accessories, Samsung hasn’t spent any time talking about the Galaxy S25 series being ready for Qi2. Yet, the Galaxy S25 series is the first set of smartphones with Qi 2.1 support, but without any upgrades to charging speed.
more…In Reid Hoffman’s new book Superagency: What Could Possibly Go Right With Our AI Future, the LinkedIn co-founder makes the case that AI can extend human agency — giving us more knowledge, better jobs, and improved lives — rather than reducing it. That doesn’t mean he’s ignoring the technology’s potential downsides. In fact, Hoffman (who […]
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An obscure horror game from the late ‘80s that gained a cult following by way of shareware is coming back from the grave. Last Half of Darkness, a point and click horror adventure created by developer Bill Fisher, has been completely remade with modern graphics, along with a new soundtrack and updates to the story and puzzles, according to Eurogamer. Fisher’s WRF Studios shared a teaser for the remake on Friday, and the game is due to be released on Steam on February 7.
In the game, you’re tasked with exploring the creepy property of the player character’s dead aunt, solving puzzles and making choices that hopefully won’t get you killed. The description explains:
Your aunt sure was a strange one. She was some sort of witch or something. A good witch though, practicing only good spells and magic. In fact, she was working on a potion just before she was killed. Now the secret will go to the grave with her... unless you can find the missing ingredients.
The original Last Half of Darkness is available to play for free from the official website, too. In a playthrough a few years ago, one streamer (and some commenters) remembered it as “the first game to ever scare me.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-1989-point-and-click-horror-game-last-half-of-darkness-has-been-remade-for-2025-184458750.html?src=rss
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© WRF Studios
This week, Samsung launched its new Galaxy S25 series and, in so many ways, it’s just a slightly newer version of the same thing. From the perspective of someone who’s job is to talk about these devices, it’s getting really boring, yet these devices still continue to sell. So, are you actually happy with these devices?
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I absolutely love the new Camera Control button on iPhone 16, but the default settings aren’t for me. By default, I find it too slow to activate and too accident prone when taking photos. Fortunately, Apple gives you fairly granular control over Camera Control — even if the toggles are scattered around in the Settings app.
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Following a report by NPR that said the Trump administration is working on a deal with Oracle and other investors to take over TikTok in the US, Trump has denied any talks with Oracle but says he has “spoken to many people about TikTok” and may make a decision in the next month, according to Reuters. Trump signed an executive order shortly after taking office on Monday that delays the enforcement of the TikTok ban by 75 days, giving the app’s parent company ByteDance more time to figure out a deal that would allow it to continue US operations.
NPR, citing sources “with direct knowledge of the talks,” originally reported that Oracle met with White House officials on Friday to discuss a deal in which Oracle and other American investors would end up with a majority stake in TikTok and oversee things like data collection. Microsoft has also been involved with the talks, according to NPR. “The goal is for Oracle to effectively monitor and provide oversight with what is going on with TikTok,” an unnamed source told NPR. “ByteDance wouldn't completely go away, but it would minimize Chinese ownership.”
When asked about a potential deal with Oracle by reporters during an Air Force One flight Saturday night, though, Trump said, per Reuters, “No, not with Oracle. Numerous people are talking to me, very substantial people, about buying it and I will make that decision probably over the next 30 days.”
Prior to the ban going into effect on January 19, ByteDance pushed back against the idea of selling TikTok to appease US lawmakers. But it changed its tune on Sunday after Trump stepped in to temporarily bring the app back online, issuing a statement on TikTok’s X account saying that the company “will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.”
It came a few hours after Trump wrote in a Truth Social post during the short-lived TikTok blackout that he “would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture.” Still, his exact plan remains unclear. According to one of the sources that spoke with NPR, “Nobody seems to know what he means with the 50 percent equity comments.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/trump-denies-talks-with-oracle-about-a-tiktok-deal-but-says-a-decision-will-likely-be-made-within-30-days-163755199.html?src=rss
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© TikTok
After selling out in barely 48 hours when it launched earlier this month, Lenovo has re-stocked the Legion Tab, its small yet powerful Android tablet.
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